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Shadowed Waters

11

Down the Rapids

"This can't be a good idea," said Agitha as she walked across the rickety wood landing towards where the boats were tied up. It was ominously dark inside the house and eerily unlived in, despite the fact that Hena had been here a week earlier.

"It's not a good idea," said Ralis, to which Agitha mustered up the most incredulous look possible. He just chuckled his soft laugh and added, "It's a great idea."

"Ha ha, very funny," said Agitha, sticking out her tongue and knowing full well that she looked like a little child.

Upon reaching the far side of the walkway, Agitha peered over the railed edge and gulped involuntarily as she examined one of the small wooden boats tied to the dock. It looked so insubstantial set against the ominously dark depths below. She felt a hand rest softly on her shoulder and pull her close. She looked up to see Ralis's green eyes looking sympathetically down at her.

"Don't worry," said the Zora, "It'll be an experience, like nothing you've ever experienced before."

"You can say that again," muttered Agitha.

"It'll be an ex-"

"Oh, shut up," said Agitha as she nudged him playfully with her shoulder. Ralis just laughed and hugged her close, before going to prepare the boat for departure.

Once Ralis was done putting everything into the boat, including Agitha herself, he dove into the water. Agitha leaned over the side to watch his descent but the depths got too dark too quickly, and for a few moments she found herself utterly alone. Her mind began to wander, trying to make sense of this whole situation.

Everything about this was odd, and she knew it. But something about Ralis was so completely and utterly alluring. He was a mystery, different from any other boy she had known back in Castle Town, and not just because he was a Zora. He was sincerely nice, not just putting on some poorly thought out show for a girl, at least as far as she could tell; and from the amount of time she was forced to spend hanging around with the rich, snobbish sons of father's fellow Castle-workers, she had gotten pretty good at telling. And who knew a fish could look so positively hot? thought Agitha, to which she immediately blushed a deep shade of red.

Agitha started, jerked out of her reverie, as the boat began to move forward. She gripped the wooden edges of the hull so tightly that her knuckles turned a ghastly shade of white. A moment later Ralis popped his head above the surface.

"Are you ready?" he asked in what Agitha thought was an outrageously calm voice considering the circumstances.

"Do I have a choice?" returned Agitha, trying to keep any trembling out of her voice.

Ralis smiled and put his hand over hers. "Of course you do," he said sincerely, "I'm just helping you make the right one."

"Remind me to thank you later," muttered Agitha through a grimace. She could still hear the Zora's chime-like laughter reverberating off the cave walls after he dove back beneath the water.

Agitha was more prepared this time when the boat began to move forward again. It was eerily silent though alone above the water, the only noise coming from the rushing rapids to come. She wished Ralis could have been in the boat with her, but knew that wasn't exactly possible if she wanted to make it down the falls without injury.

Ralis led the boat smoothly through the water, staying a good distance away from the rocky walls of the cave. Agitha could tell Ralis was holding back, not allowing the boat to rocket down the falls at its full speed, but Agitha was perfectly fine with that. After a few minutes of travel, she actually found herself smiling slightly.

Soon a light was visible signaling the end of the cave and the start of the true rapids, a sheet of falling water distorting the sunlight magnificently. Agitha could feel Ralis let up a little on his hold as they approached the exit. She felt as if they were flying over the rapids as they skirted around the waterfall and into the open air.

Agitha found herself grinning hugely as the warm air caressed her face, and blew back her golden hair. The sunlight shimmered on the water's surface as it rushed past, the narrow rock walls funneling it downward. Agitha leaned forward, reveling in the rush and the beauty as it flew by.

She was so entranced by the grandness of the rapids, however, that she failed to notice the coming dip. She gave a small yelp as the boat angled downwards and rapidly descended, but soon her yells turned to laughter as Ralis guided her smoothly around the large gray stone positioned at the bottom of the descent.

The boat slowed as Ralis surfaced, grinning as well. "Having fun yet?" he asked.

Agitha let her smile answer as he dove back beneath the surface and pulled the boat towards the next outlet. Ralis expertly guided the boat around the three mossy stone pillars growing out of the next pool, bringing them close enough to a thin ribbon of falling water that Agitha could reach out her hand and feel its cool touch. Its mist felt nice on her sun-warmed skin.

The water got rougher as they made their way further down the rapids. She gripped the edges of the hull to keep from sliding around on her bench-like seat. Agitha carefully peered over the side of the small wooden boat, looking for Ralis, but all she could see was the occasional flash of a light pink fin set against the gray background. He must be very strong to hold his own and the boat against the rapids, thought Agitha as she eyed the churning water yet to come.

The last parts of the rapids went by quickly as Ralis smoothly avoided all obstacles. Agitha began to think that maybe someday she could learn to traverse the rapids on her own like Iza; it would be quite the adventure, she thought was still grinning as they made their down the final stretch, the white marble half-arches of The Great Hylian Bridge visible high above in the distance. Agitha gave a small but joyful scream as the boat fell over the last falls and glided smoothly out into Lake Hylia.

Ralis let the boat glide through the water, past the wooden dock near the end of the falls and the shallow jetty. The small ripples sent out as the boat slowed were the only movements on the calm water. Agitha stood, blinking in the unhindered sunlight as it streamed down upon the still lake water, and stretched.

"I told you, you'd like it," said Ralis, who had surfaced and was now hanging off the boat, arms and shoulders hoisted out of the water and draped over its wooden hull. Agitha knelt as the rowboat tipped precariously towards the side that the Zora was now attached to. He was looking up at her, his emerald eyes expectant.

"You never said that I'd like it," said Agitha, "Just that it would be an experience." She exaggerated the last word, but found it difficult to mock Ralis's soft tone.

"Eh, technicalities," said Ralis, "Now for the main attraction…" said Ralis as he slid back into the depths. Suddenly the boat moved forward again. Agitha looked put towards their destination and gasped. They were head towards a rocky shore, leading to a massive, ornamented entrance to a cave. The entryway was flanked on both sides by huge stone pillars intricately carved and topped with very realistic sculpted serpents. An eerie glow faintly emanated from the mouth of the impressive stone structure.

When they reached the rocky shore Ralis climbed onto it, using the rope to hold the boat close. "This is our stop," he said, grinning.

Agitha stood. "Who built all of this?" she asked, eyes still roaming over the hugely impressive architecture.

She heard Ralis chuckle in amusement. "I take it you've never been to Lake Hylia before?"

Agitha looked at him, and shook her head. Ralis was no longer looking at her but up at the stone. "This Spring has been here for ages, no one knows who or what built it. It is believed that the Goddesses themselves built these springs throughout Hyrule as safe havens for the Light Spirits," said Ralis, whose face then suddenly twisted into a grin. "They say that when you stand before the pool inside you can hear the whisperings of fate directly from the Spirit's themselves."

Agitha furrowed her brow and looked at him. "You really believe the Goddesses can or will talk to you?" asked Agitha, "And who is 'they' anyway?"

Ralis's grin faded into a slight frown. "My mother told me that Lanayru spoke to her… before she died…"

"Oh," said Agitha, looking down, "Sorry…"

"Don't be," said Ralis quickly, "She died for her people, it's how she would have wanted to go."

Awkward silence, noted Agitha mentally, but said aloud, "Shall we go?"

Ralis's sad eyes seemed to perk up at the subject change, "Definitely."

Agitha carefully passed Ralis the picnic basket which he sat far from the edge of the shore, then he came back to help her out. Agitha stood slowly, with the steadying aid of Ralis's hand. She was about to step out of the boat when the entire area began to rumble, both the land and water shuddering violently. Agitha lost her grip on Ralis's hand as she was pitched forward onto the jagged rock shore.

Agitha felt her palms burn as they scraped across the rock, and a stinging in on her shin told her it had been cut on a particularly sharp crag in the stone. But the pain was slight in comparison to the ear-splitting wail that seemed to emanate out of nowhere and everywhere at once. Agitha gasped and clutched her bloody hands to her ears, and curling into a fetal position. The pain she could hear in the scream was almost as unbearable to listen to as the pain its volume was causing in her own head.

And then it stopped; the ensuing silence pressing down upon her with an almost heavy weight.

Agitha opened her eyes slowly, hands still clutched to her ears, to see Ralis doing the same. He had sunk to one knee during the strange earthquake. Agitha pushed herself into a sitting position. "What was that?" she asked, punctuating each word.

"I wish I knew," said the Zora, looking around helplessly. "Your leg…" he added, upon spying her injured form.

Agitha looked down at her right shin, and was surprised to see a large gash oozing blood just below her knee. A small crimson pool was already beginning to form beneath her. However, this pain was nothing in comparison to the splitting headache left ringing in her ears.

"It needs to bandaged to stop the bleeding," said Ralis as he looked around, presumably looking for cloth to use as a bandage.

Agitha thought for a moment, cloth… cloth… Before the answer became so blatantly obvious that she wanted to smack herself in the forehead. Agitha lifted her dress slightly, revealing the soft white linen of her underskirt. She vaguely noticed Ralis looking away embarrassed, but continued anyway, ripping off a long white strip. She stood and made to hobble over to the water to clean the wound. Within seconds Ralis was next to her, supporting her weight.

Ralis helped her sit, legs dangling into the water, blood washing away in the still rippling water. Ralis sat beside and took the cloth from her hands and ripped of two smaller pieces. She gave him an odd look.

"Your hands," he said, motioning to her scraped palms. Agitha quickly plunged those into the water as well and then back out, then tried to take to the cloth from Ralis.

"Uh-uh, you're injured," he said, "You can't be expected to take care of yourself." He took one of her hands in his own, then tied the cloth around it, then did the same to the other. The already stained bandage, from tearing it with her own bloody hands, turned slightly pink as it stemmed the bleeding.

Agitha lifted her cut leg out of the water, and stretched it out for Ralis to bandage. He tied the white cloth around it, which immediately began to stain a dark crimson, and pressed his cool hands to the wounds, holding them there until the blood stopped flowing.

"There," he said happily, "Good as new." There was a slight hitch in his voice, but whether it was from worrying about her injury, or worrying about whatever made that horrendous noise, Agitha was unsure.

Agitha smiled anyway though, and said, "Thanks."

He stood and grabbed the picnic basket, hanging it over his arm. "Still up for a picnic?"

"Of course," said Agitha, as she made to get up.

"Uh-uh," said Ralis again.

"What now?" asked Agitha blinking in confusion.

"You are severely injured, no walking for you."

"I'm not going to be the only one severely injured if you don't stop treating me like an infirm," said Agitha in a voice that was only partly teasing.

Ralis laughed, and walked over to her, putting a light hand on her shoulder as she made a second attempt to stand. "I was serious," said the Zora.

"So was I," said Agitha through gritted teeth. Although, her clenched jaw was more of a result of the stinging pain in her leg that occurred when she attempted to put weight on it than Ralis's refusal to let her stand.

Ralis just laughed again, and crouched beside her. Then in one swift movement he scooped her up into his arms, bridal style.

Agitha didn't struggle, only looked up into his green eyes and said, "You just wanted an excuse to do this, didn't you?"

Ralis grinned, "It's a possibility."

Agitha just shook her head, thoroughly enjoying the feel of Ralis's cool muscled arms wrapped around her, as he carried through the entrance and into Lanayru Spring.

I hope you enjoyed the bit of mystery... and of course the fluff =)

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