Chapter 10
Their Blessing: Ruto
When I woke up this time, it was still the middle of the night. And I quickly found out what had torn me from my slumber; Link was tossing and turning next to me, mumbling to himself.
I grabbed him by the shoulders and gently shook him to wake him up. „Link. Link, wake up!"
Finally, he opened his eyes, still panting from the nightmare. „W-what?"
„You were having a nightmare, love", I said, keeping my voice low.
He looked around, still panicked, until he finally calmed down. „Oh, Rebecca... by the Goddesses, I'm so glad that that was just a dream."
I hugged him. „Do you want to talk about it?"
„Not really." He hugged me back and planted a kiss on my collarbone. „But I don't think that I'll be able to go back to sleep now."
„That's okay."
He took a while until he fully calmed down, but when he did, he looked at me thoughtfully and then blushed. „You know, before I came to you to ask you to marry me, I read some books about... you know, about marriage, and married couples, and what married couples do."
„Really? Did they give you any good ideas?"
„Well, there's one thing..." He grinned, as if to hide his embarrassment. „Close your eyes. And... if you want me to stop, just tell me."
Slowly beginning to suspect what he was on about, I followed his instructions, only to feel his hands slowly wander under the hem of my undershirt.
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After we were done, Link sank down on top of me, still panting but looking at me lovingly through half-closed eyes.
„I love you so much", he whispered.
I kissed him. „I love you, too."
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
We spent the rest of the night dozing in each other's arms, until the sun rose and it was time for us to leave. Link paid for our room, and we went to the stable to get our horses, leaving a purple rupee as a tip for the stable boy.
The road to Zora's Domain led us over a bridge and along the river that flowed into the canals of Hyrule City, where my mother and I used to do our laundry.
„The bridge wasn't there when I left Hyrule", Link informed me. „So I could never take Epona to Zora's Domain. I always had to walk. It was such a drag, especially since some parts of the road were blocked off so I had to jump over some stone pillars to get across that roadblock. I'm glad that this got fixed."
„Uhm... do they have the means to accomodate horses in Zora's Domain? I mean, from what I've heard, Zoras travel mainly by swimming."
„That's true. But don't worry, we just have to find a safe place where Epona and Glory can wait for us. I've let Epona wait for me out in the open plenty of times. And I'm sure Glory will stay with her."
That's not very safe, I thought, but didn't say anything. Link had been travelling for so long, so I was sure I could trust his instinct. At the moment, I was just glad that he seemed more relaxed now.
So I began to look at my sorroundings. This place was actually very pretty. The lush, green grass seemed even brighter in the warm summer sun. When combined with the soft mumbling of the river, it all felt so serene.
We dismounted our horses when the path became steep and lifted like a naturally grown bridge. I gave Glory a gentle pat on the neck and asked her to wait for me before following Link onward.
And finally, we reached the entrance to Zora's Domain, behind a waterfall, covering it up like a curtain, and marked by a Triforce on the ground.
Link played a short, unfamiliar melody on his ocarina, and the waterfall parted.
In between time-travel and my own erased death, I did not even think to question that.
„I don't think I can jump that far"; I said as I tried to gauge the distance between the rock-bridge we were standing on and the entrance.
„But I can", Link said, lifted me up bridal style and took the gap with a mighty leap, during which my heart did a similar jump right into my throat.
When he let my down again on the other side, I almost dropped to the ground because my knees were shaking so badly. „Link... sweetheart... the next time to plan to do something like that, please warn me beforehand."
„Sorry", he said, scratching the back of his neck. „Come, let's go visit Ruto."
„You make it sound as if you wanted to get this particular visit over with as soon as possible. Why? When you talked about her, you sounded like you liked Princess Ruto a lot", I questioned as we went deeper into the tunnel.
„I did, but not the way she liked me. And I never got around to telling her."
„Oh." I looked at the path before us, wondering if there was any woman he had met during his travels that didn't immediately fall in love with him.
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Zora's Domain was in a giant cave, like Goron City had been. We walked along a narrow path that led us past a vast pool of water, in which a couple of Zora's were playing some kind of ballgame.
The Zora only left their domain occasionally, so I had only seen one once in my life, and that had been years ago, and from a distance. But I remembered how awed I had been at their natural beauty, and that feeling hadn't diminished over time.
„We might want to go greet King Zora, first", Link said as he guided me through up a staircase. „We'll have to go past him to get to Ruto's shrine, anyway."
We stepped into another chamber in the cave system, and on a ledge before us sat the most massive Zora I could have ever imagined. He was about twice the height of a grown man, and four times as wide. But when he saw Link, he smiled, as far as his almost beak-like mouth allowed it. „Link! How good to see you. Did you come to visit my dear little Ruto's shrine? And who's this you're bringing?"
Link pulled me to his side and answered:„This is Rebecca. She and I will get married soon."
King Zora sighed sadly. „Oh, I see. Yes, I already thought that you wouldn't remain alone for Ruto's sake, and it would be terrible to ask it of you. So you came to visit Ruto one last time before getting married? How very kind of you. Or cruel, depending on one's point of view. Anyway, go right ahead. The shrine is right in front of Lord Jabu-Jabu."
Link bowed, and so did I. „Thank you, Your Majesty." Then he led me up a slope leading to a pathway behind the king, and from there, to Zora's Fountain.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The very first thing I saw as we stepped out of the cave was the podium and the whale swimming next to it. Upon seeing my horrified face, Link explained:„This is Lord Jabu-Jabu. A kind of... guardian deity of the Zora. I told you about how I had to go through his body to retrieve the Zora Sapphire, right?"
„Yes, I remember, but I never thought I would actually come face to face with him", I replied. Then Link grabbed a bottle from his pouch and used it to catch one of the small fish swimming in the shallow water around our feet. He waved the bottle in front of me. „People say that offering a fish to Lord Jabu-Jabu would bring the person making the offering happiness and luck. Since Lord Jabu-Jabu is not cursed anymore and won't swallow us this time... uh... hopefully... why don't we try it? Maybe it'll bring us luck in in our fight against Ganondorf!"
„I think we can use all the luck we can get", I replied with a smile.
We stepped onto the podium and Link turned the bottle so the fish fell out. Lord Jabu-Jabu opened his giant mouth and inhaled it. Then he blinked in satisfaction.
Link and I bowed to Lord Jabu-Jabu before approaching the shrine. It started to glow blue, and the transparent figure of a lovely Zora-woman appeared.
She squealed in delight. „Link, my love! Oh it has been so long since I last saw you! Did you miss your bride? I missed you, too! If only it were under better circumstances..." She sniffed. „To think that this terrible man could return an begin ravaging Hyrule once more!"
„It's okay, Ruto", Link tried to soothe her. „I will do anything I can to make sure it won't get that far. In the meantime, there's something I have to discuss with you. About our... engagement."
The Zora went eerily quiet, and like on cue, her purple eyes wandered over to me. „Who's this?"
„That's Rebecca", Link said, something akin to defeat in his voice. „And she's my fiancée."
I had expected Princess Ruto to be angry. Or sad. Or a combination of those. But instead, she fell quiet again, tears shimmering in her eyes but never quite making their way down her cheeks.
„It was dumb of me, wasn't it?", she said after a while. „To expect you to wait for me." Then she lifted her gaze, meeting Link's. „Why have you brought her here?"
Link looked to the side, as if he was ashamed. „I came to ask for your blessing. And to tell you that I'm sorry."
Her bitter laugh seemed to echo in the sudden tense silence over the Fountain. „Ask for my blessing? Do you not realize how cruel this is of you, to parade you new love in front of me as if you wanted me to suffer?"
„I did not mean for you to suffer", Link assured her. „I'm... I'm sorry."
„'Sorry' does not make the hurt go away", she hissed. Then she said. „You can have my blessing. Under a single condition. Give me a few minutes alone with your... fiancée."
Link shot me a somewhat desperate look, but I nodded. „I'll be alright. Just wait for me in the throne room."
He seemed to want to hug me before he left, but with another look at Ruto, decided that it would be ill advised to do so. So he just went back into the cave.
I turned to Ruto, expecting the worst. She levitated closer to me. „Make him happy. I swear if I hear that you hurt him, I will personally leave the Sacred Realm just to make you regret being born at all."
I tried to swallow the lump in my throat before answering:„I swear on my life that I will make him happy."
Ruto leaned back, regarding me with her sharp eyes. „Fine. Tell Link that the two of you have my blessing. But remember what I just told you. And now leave."
I bowed to her, turned around and left, my heart still beating somewhere in my throat.
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Link was waiting for me next to King Zora, catching me in his arms as I came running up to him.
„What did Ruto tell you?", he asked, concern in his voice.
„She just told me to make you happy." I kissed him. „She was a bit rude about it, but considering the proverbial bomb you just dropped on her, that was to be expected. Either way, we have her blessing."
„That's great." He took my hand. „So, our next stop will be Kokiri Forest, to visit Saria's shrine. This is the one I've been looking forward to the most."
„Because Saria was your childhood-friend, right?", I said, remembering everything he had told me.
He grinned. „Yes. The best friend I could ever ask for."
„Then let's go", I said, going towards the exit with him.