Chapter 12: Serenade of Water I: A Princess in Love

"H-Huh? What makes you think that?" Riku stutters out upon hearing Link suggest that Shiek, the calm, mysterious ninja that had been helping him up until now, was actually the long lost Princess Zelda. Of course naturally, the teenage Overlord knew the truth about the whole matter, but this very knowledge was working against him now because he didn't actually expect the Hero of Time to come up with this conclusion before the truth was revealed to him. With arms folded in front of his chest as his eyes wander towards the ceiling, Link slants his mouth downward and says responds to his ally in a hesitant tone of voice "Every time I've encountered Shiek I've always felt this strange…Connection to 'him' that I feel I just can't explain." Riku, understanding how nervous Link had to be feeling at this moment, says to the Hero of Time "Try anyways, if you wish. I'm willing to listen."

Link turns his head back to face Riku and nods once, unfurling his arms before saying to him with a gesture of his right hand "Its like I've been around Shiek before despite never meeting him before my emergence from the Chamber of Sages. And every time I try to get close to him he steps away as if he doesn't want me to get in contact with him…As if his physical appearance would give away his true identity. Not only that, but my right hand always feel unnaturally warm until he leaves…Whether or not Shiek is Zelda, there is, at the very least, something very strange about him." After Link finished expressing his thoughts on his unease around Shiek, Riku said to him in an understanding tone "Yeah, I can agree with that…But its not like he will reveal his true identity to us. If there is something to reveal, he will do it on his own, not because he asked."

Holding his right arm back against his hips, the Hero of Time nods his head and says with slight reluctance in his voice "No, you're right, there's no point in worrying about that matter right now…We should probably get moving to the Water Temple." Pulling out his Ocarina of Time and readying it close to his mouth, the Hero of Time prepares to play the Serenade of Water and transport himself and hopefully Riku to the area where the Water Temple lies, but as the teenage Overlord's memories are called upon in his head he holds his right hand out in panic and says "Wait Link, not yet!" As the first two notes echo across the room, Link opens his eyelids and draws his Ocarina away from his mouth, a curious glance pointed down at his ally as he asks "What's up?"

With hand still extended and his mind frantically thinking about how he has to word the next sentence correctly to avoid revealing to Link about his knowledge of this world, Riku mutters out while drawing his arm back beside himself "We should probably go thaw out King Zora before we head to the Water Temple. After all, he might have some advice on what to do there." "Alright, that's good Riku…Keep this up and we won't let anything slip…" He then thinks to himself as Link scratches his chin in thought and proceeds to say "Good idea, actually. Defeating the monster won't thaw King Zora out from the red ice, so we should save him now to avoid panic amongst the Zoras when they are thawed. The question is though, how do we get back to the domain from here?" With Link proposing a rather straightforward question to his ally, Riku quickly turned himself around and noted the hole of water in the back of the room.

"If you put on those new boots of yours, you should be able to dip into the water and walk along the floor to the other side." Riku says while pointing one hand over at the hole itself and having his head tilted over his left shoulder to look back at Link. "Though…" The teenage Overlord smirks and turns the rest of his body around before saying to Link "You may have to hold your breath for a bit." With a curious raise of his eyebrows as he notices his ally failing to mention himself in that sentence, Link asks "And what about you?" Riku holds his arms out besides himself and with fingers extended he conjures up a light gale that flows up around the sides of his head and blows across his hair to wave it around as a veil of air slowly comes into being around his form. He then says to the Hero of Time "I'll manage just fine with this. I wish I could give you one Link, but I need to be able to concentrate to keep these up and if I'm suddenly disrupted by an enemy attack you'll suffocate."

It was a terrible lie that Riku thought made him come off as a bit of an idiot, but since the teenage Overlord had confidence in Link's ability to get through a simple underwater passage while also knowing that the breathing problem would soon be remedied for the Hero of Time he figured that the lie was harmless. After taking a moment to switch boots and putting the regular ones away in a mysterious location that Riku had no intention of questioning about at this point, Link walked past the air veiled teenage Overlord and jumped off into the water, the weight of his boots carrying him down into the damp depths as he puffs his cheeks with air and bears the liquid against his eyes as he lands on the floor and begins walking forward, with Riku slowly descending behind him a couple seconds later. The two heroes traverse the murky depths with only Riku having much in the way of vision due to the lack of water in his face, but with how the water worked he would be unable to communicate with him on just where to go.

Though, in the end, Riku didn't need to be too concerned, for the underwater passage was short and the two heroes arrived on the cold land on the other side, where a dampened Link stands in place for a moment and lets the cold deal with the water on his clothing while Riku dispels his air veil for the time being and asks Link "How do you feel?" The Hero of Time, faintly hearing his ally due to the water in his ears, taps the side of his head to knock some of it out before responding to Riku with "Pretty well honestly…Though I definitely don't want to have to walk through the water often if I'm incapable of breathing normally." Link takes a moment to take his boots off and put on his old ones, especially since his movements were greatly impaired when back on land because of them.

"Also, these Iron Boots are really hard to walk around in, even in the water…I hope I don't have to use them often." As Link makes that comment while putting said boots away, the teenage Overlord can't help but let a bit of his knowledge slip due to a barely concealed chuckle, and the Hero of Time tilts his head after standing up to say to Riku "What's so funny?" The teenage Overlord says with a smile after regaining his composure "Its nothing Link. Just was thinking of something to myself…Lets get a move on, we don't want to waste time here anymore." And thus, after dropping the matter of Riku's oddly timed chuckle, the two heroes made their way back through the Ice Cavern, crossing back outside into Zoras Fountain before a few hops across the icy platforms led them to the cavern that would take them back to where the trapped King Zora lied.

At Riku's behest, Link leaped down to the pedestal where one would usually speak gracefully to the royal Zora at his request, and with arms extended around the thick red ice covering the regal king the teenage Overlord conjured up a series of blue flames that covered the ice and slowly began to melt it off of King Zora. Making sure not to overdo it, Riku dials back on the intensity of the flames as bits of the Zoras scaly skin began to become prominent, and only once the king is truly freed from his icy prison does he dispel the blue fire and quickly perform a sideways leap swiftly through the air to land beside the Hero of Time as the mighty, regal Zora springs to life and immediately wiggles about to the best of his ability to remove any traces of red liquid on his body.

"Brrr…That was a rather horrific nightmare…" King Zora mutters out in a frigid yet fairly jolly tone of voice as he finishes quivering and slowly adjusts his vision to focus on the two figures standing on the pedestal below him. "Oh! Are you two the ones responsible for bringing me back to life?" Giving the two heroes a rather naïve inquiry regarding what happened to him, Link nervously chuckles to himself as he reluctantly tries to avoid saying anything about what really happened to the King. The regal Zora says with a jolly guffaw preceding his words "Don't be so nervous, its obvious that you are to thank for saving me! But…who are you exactly?" Failing to quickly recognize the Hero of Time as the fairy boy that traversed his domain all those years ago, King Zora's terrible memory is met with a look of surprise from Link and a disbelieving shutting of the eyelids by Riku.

With an appropriately polite gesture of his left hand, Link says to the Zora King "You might not remember me, but my name is Link." After giving his name out to the mighty Zora, the large scaly being hums to himself momentarily as he squints his eyelids and looks over the Hylian's appearance. He continues to hum for a few more seconds after widening his eyelids as he concentrates deeply on the matter, but when he finally puts two and two together the Zora King lifts his body up spectacularly and says to Link "Ah yes! You're the fairy boy who rescued my fair Princess Ruto from the belly of Lord Jabu Jabu all those years ago! My dear boy, how have you been lately?" Though it was nice to see King Zora treating Link with the respect he deserved for his endeavor from long ago, Riku takes a step forward to take the attention away from the Hero of Time momentarily in order to say to him with the utmost respect "Forgive me for the intrusion sire, but there will be time for catching up later. Don't you see what's going on around here?"

King Zora, unable to recognize just who the kid who is addressing him is, says in a tone of slight irritation "And just who are you?" Not wanting to speak out of line, Riku went silent for the time being as Link stepped forward to the edge of the pedestal and said to the King "This is Riku, he's a companion of mine who helped free you from the red ice." Relaxing his suspicions towards the strange boy and returning to his jolly demeanor, the mighty King says in a fairly apologetic tone "Forgive me for suspecting you of being an enemy…Its just that I'm a little weary right now after being trapped in that horrible, frigid prison." "Do you have any idea as to what is even going on with your domain?" Riku then asks while folding his arms in front of his chest. "…" King Zora glances around the room, taking in the frozen environment and saying in turn with a slow shake of his head "I'm afraid I do not."

Link gestures towards the King with his right hand, saying to him gently "Long story short, a monster buried within the Water Temple was unleashed by Ganondorf and it cursed your domain to become a frozen wasteland. But a helpful man by the name of Shiek managed to free Princess Ruto…" King Zora's eyes light up with relief upon hearing that his fair daughter is safe and sound "However, Ruto went off to the Water Temple to stop the monster herself." Only for them to widen in fear and panic once he hears that she has gone and put herself in danger by traversing that dangerous temple. In fact, King Zora nearly has a heart attack upon hearing this news. "NO NO NO! What is she thinking going off into the Water Temple alone?! She can't stop that monster by herself, no way no how! This is terrible news…I don't know what to do…Oh dear oh dear oh dear…" Frantically trying to think of a situation to this problem between his panicked words, the Zora King eventually looks down at the heroes and instantly comes up with an idea.

"You two…Would you be so kind as to go to the Water Temple, save Princess Ruto, and stop the monster in order to break the curse inflicted upon my our wondrous domain?" As he requests a dire favor from the two heroes, Link happily points out to the King "We were already planning on heading over there. We just stopped here to save you first." "Excellent, excellent! Then if you are on your way, I must give you something that will help you along with your quest." Fidgeting around a bit with his hands inside of his red cape, the King seeks out a specific garb that will help Link out in the Water Temple. He draws out a dark blue tunic from within, using his thin little arms to toss it through the air for Link to grab and quickly hold high into the air above his head like he has many other items thus far.

Link got a Zora Tunic! This diving suit, just like the Goron Tunic, was conveniently created to fit a Hylian despite being made in a Zora's domain…This lightweight clothing will allow its user to breathe underwater.

Of course, since King Zora didn't notice the mysterious italic text floating between paragraphs, he had to state the obvious to the Hero of Time by saying "This tunic was crafted out of a special breathing fiber that infuses the user with the magic of the Zoras in order to give them the ability to move around underwater as they would on land…Unfortunately, we do not have one in your size, Riku." In response to the King's honest apology, the teenage Overlord nods his head and says to him "Its alright, I can manage just fine underwater" without at all displaying his veil of air. Link, after placing the tunic along his arms, looks up at the King and says with a thankful nod "Don't worry, we won't let you down sir. Your people will be free in no time." Also nodding to the heroes out of courtesy for their help, the King says in turn "Please be quick…I can't imagine my people surviving very long underneath the ice…"

Link turns to face Riku afterwards with tunic still in his arms, and says to him "Give me a moment to change into this before I play the Serenade of Water, ok?" Agreeing to give him privacy with a light nod, the teenage Overlord watches as the Hero of Time heads off to the left passage and covers himself behind the curved wall in order to change clothes. It only takes Link a few seconds to get this done as Riku patiently stands at the pedestal and folds his arms in front of his chest. When the Hero of Time emerges, he is seen not only wearing the tunic but a cap of the same color as well. He also already has his Ocarina of Time grasped in his right hand, and after leaping off the pedestal the teenage Overlord walks beside him and says "You ready to go?" Link nods his head as he slowly moves the instrument before his mouth and says with eyelids sealing up "Just stay close to me and you should be carried to our destination."

Wrapped his lips around the mouthpiece, the Hero of Time plays the harmonious Serenade of Water, as Riku realizes that this will be the first time that he will teleport with Link via one of these songs. When the melody has reached its crescendo, Link puts the Ocarina of Time away while his element wielding companion finds himself feeling increasingly lighter with each passing second as a series of light blue sparkles of light swirl around both himself and the Hero of Time. In a flash of light that the two heroes only have a second to react to, they find themselves both swept away by the energies that Riku clearly recognizes as coming from the Sacred Realm, and in a solemn blink of the eyelids the heroes find themselves transported onto a hexagon stone platform with a symbol of the Water Medallion etched onto the surface.

The lights disappear from sight as Riku stands still in utter disbelief towards the feeling of weightlessness that flowed through his body for those few fleeting moments, and he in turn is surprised as he looks towards Link and notices how well he was taking the experience. Composing himself as well as he could, the teenage Overlord folds his arms in front of his chest and asks with a sly smile "You used the song for the Forest Temple beforehand, didn't you?" Link replies while walking off the stone "Yeah. It is rather disorienting at first to feel your weight completely leave you, even if it is for a moment, but it is also rather nice to have a swift way to travel to each temple…Though, if I have to be honest…"

The Hero of Time steps towards the edge of the former island, past tense being used here simply because of the nearly dehydrated lakebed the two heroes see before them, and as the clouds above them burst and bring a torrent of raindrops down upon their bodies Link finishes his sentence with "I never expected to see Lake Hylia end up like this…" Riku looks over the edge of the island after walking beside the Hero of Time, his attention moving towards the bit of water surrounding the bottom of this 'island' after he looks past the dampened sky towards the ice sealed passage near the edge of the lake. After lifting his head up and humming to himself to secure his focus, the teenage Overlord mentions to Link "Zora's Domain is connected to Lake Hylia, right? That means the monster's curse also deprived the lake of its main source of water…"

"Yeah. So the curse isn't just threatening the Zora's lives, but its also ruining the ecosystem in Lake Hylia…Does Ganondorf's evil know no end?" As Link poses that question to his ally, Riku says to him "He is consumed by his own desire for power…He believes himself to be a god now, and thus feels that he has every right to use his power to harm others against their will. This is why madmen should never be allowed to gain any type of power…" Surprised by how seriously Riku was taking the subject at hand, the Hero of Time glances over at him and says while drawing the Master Sword and holding it in front of his body to see his brave-eyed expression reflecting off the blade "He won't keep getting away with this, not so long as we are alive to stop him." Putting on a more optimistic expression, the Riku turns and says to Link "Yeah. Lets get to work then…"

With a simple thought and a swing of his arms the teenage Overlord summons forth a gentle gale to cover his body and give him the perfect ability to breathe underwater, while Link puts on his Iron Boots. The two heroes, now ready to delve into the depths below, leap off the edge of the former island and land into the water. The Hero of Time is dragged down to the bottom floor, but finds that it is easier for him to see around him underwater while he can also open his mouth and take in oxygen as if he was on land. "Huh, this feels strange…" Link comments, his eyes widening in surprise as he realizes that he is now capable of speaking underwater too. Without the flow of water disrupting his voice, the Hero of Time is heard by Riku as the teenage Overlord floats above the bottom of the lakebed and says to him "You'll get used to it. Its kind of a shame that you won't be able swim while wearing those Iron Boots though."

The Hero of Time merely shrugs at this news though and says "Eh, I'll manage. Though I get the feeling that it'll be much harder to use some of my equipment while underwater, since they aren't affected by the Zora Tunic." After Link says that, Riku spins his body around and looks up at the strange aquamarine jewel floating above the iron bars, his head peeking over his right shoulder before he mentions to Link "Do you think you can use the Hookshot?" Nodding his head gently, the Hero of Time reaches into his tunic and draws out said item, pointing it up through the water towards the jewel and with a single activation the metal hook pokes the jewel and causes it to come out of its confinements once the chain retracts back into the main device. Thanks to the removal of the jewel, the irons bars rise up and give the heroes entrance to the Water Temple.

Cautiously moving into the temple itself, both heroes go through a short dark tunnel before meeting a tall light brown wall that leads up to a ledge on dry land. To reach this ledge, Link has to put his normal boots back on and let buoyancy carry him to the surface, where he then grabs onto the ledge and pulls himself onto dry land with Riku following close behind. The two walk through the lightened passage and make their way into the central area of the Water Temple. They are greeted by a gigantic, multi-story tower that reaches into the damp ceiling. As far as Link could tell there was a door on each floor, though a couple were locked at the moment. There are also a couple other doors and ledges across the room that the heroes, to Link's best of knowledge, couldn't reach at the moment.

As the Hero of Time tries to determine where the two of them should go, Riku stands behind him with his right hand floating before his chest as he tries to determine which of his elemental powers he still has control over now that he was inside of the temple. "So…This time I am able to use Fire, Earth, and Wind…Makes sense anyways, but it feels so strange to be limited again…" Riku comments as he places his arms besides his hips and thinks to himself "This is weird…Unlike with Zora's Domain, I don't feel any dark magic in this temple…In fact, I can't feel anything at all, like whoever is gimping my powers is trying their hardest to mask their presence…" Before he can think more about it, the teenage Overlord watches as Link puts his Iron Boots back on and says with a glance behind his shoulders "Lets head underwater and see what we can find." He then jumps into the water and lets himself slowly sink to the bottom before Riku joins up behind him as usual.

Once on the ground, Link glances back and forth after taking a step forward on the ground, his eyes focusing on a passageway guarded by two unlit torches before he says "Riku, follow me" to alert his ally as to where he was going with a gesture of his right over to the aforementioned passage. The two heroes walk and float over to the square sea stone passage, traveling around the corners until they arrive at the small room at the very end…And are greeted by a eloquent, female Zora. She has a nimble, graceful figure that meshes well with her species' aquamarine skin and translucent blue-green hip fins. These very same type of wavy fins are attached to the lower halves of her arms, their size being double that of the ones on her hips. On the lobes of her fish-like ears are sapphire water droplet shaped earrings, and attached to the top of her head is an amphibious mound of flesh that looks like the body of a jellyfish minus the tentacles. On the front of her face are two gorgeous yet innocent looking dark blue eyes, both of which light up with joy upon seeing the blue tunic wearing man standing before her.

"Oh! Y-You are Link, aren't you?!" She merrily and swiftly recognizes the Hero of Time at just a first glance while Link merely stands in place on the ground and, much like when he reunited with Malon, finds himself feeling strange when graced with this person's presence. Sensing the Hylian's hesitation and misinterpreting it as a sign that he didn't recognize her, the Zora concernedly places her right hand against her chest and leans forward before asking "Link? Do you remember who I am? I'm your fiancée, Ruto! Princess of the Zoras!" Speaking with such enthusiasm and confidence in what she said, Ruto watches as Link flinches in shock and Riku tries his hardest to contain his laughter. "Oh man Link…" Riku says with a his head held down slightly and a sly grin coming across his face. "How did this happen?" He then asks while chuckling at this whole scenario.

Trying to maintain his composure despite how overwhelming this surprise is on his mind, the Hero of Time looks at the overjoyed Ruto and asks her "Yeah, what do you mean by 'fiancée'?" Finding it rather curious that Link is questioning her statement, Ruto says to him in a puzzled tone "You don't remember? When you accepted the Zora Sapphire you pretty much became engaged to me…Don't you remember the vows we made to each other seven years ago?" The Hero of Time, trying his hardest to think back to the aftermath of being inside of Lord Jabu Jabu, vaguely recalls said vows and nervously mutters to Ruto while biting the bottom of his lips "Errr…Yeah, I guess I did make some vows, didn't I? But in all fairness Ruto, I-" Ruto interrupts the Hero of Time and says to him "Well, you're a terrible man to keep me waiting for seven long years, Link!" Her berating tone is combined with her agitated glare, but with a reluctant relaxation of her facial expression she says with a heavy sigh "But…Now is not the time to discuss our marriage, is it?"

Riku, still cracking up as he hears all this through, notes Ruto's sudden shift in demeanor and calms down instantly to hear the Zora Princess out. "I'm sure you've already seen it…How Zora's Domain has become totally frozen in ice…A young man by the name of Shiek rescued me from under the ice…But my father and the other Zoras have not…yet…" Looking ready to tear up despite how hard it would be to do so underwater, Princess Ruto is comforted by a more composed Hero of Time, who says to her "Don't worry about the King. We freed him from the ice before coming here…And we will help save the rest of the Zoras as well by stopping the monster." Ruto, upon hearing this news, relaxes and lets out a sigh of relief while placing one hand against her heaving chest.

Link then goes on to say "Ruto, please leave this temple and let us handle the monster." He had nothing but the Princess' safety on his mind at the moment, and thus was vastly surprised when Ruto shook her head in defiance of his concern and said to him maturely "I'm sorry Link, but I can't do that. I want to save them all…I have to be the one to save Zora's Domain!" Confused by Ruto's insistence, the Hero of Time simply asks "But why?" With a gentle smile and longing expression on her face, the princess of the Zoras replies with "Because I want to be a brave hero, just like you are, Link….But, that's not going to be enough to convince you to let me be, is it?" Without a word, the Hero of Time confirms Ruto's thoughts with a simple nod, and after she sighs she says to him in turn "…I see. I know a gentleman like you is not going to just force me out of this temple against my will, so if you want to stay you are more than welcome to help me…But I won't leave, not until that monster is dead and my people are free…"

Turning herself around with her head hung low and one eye looking at the two heroes, she says mainly to the Hero of Time "Farewell for now Link…And may we find each other again where the monster lies…" With that solemn farewell, the princess lifts her head up and swims upward into the hole in the ceiling, leaving Link to lament the fact that despite his efforts Ruto was following her destiny… "To become the Sage of Water…" Is all that the Hero of Time mutters out, and as Riku turns his head to face Link upon hearing that he asks him "What was that Link?" With a simple shake of his head, the Hero of Time forgoes his sorrow and fakes his normal demeanor before saying to his ally "Riku…Lets get moving, we need to make it through this temple, at any cost..."

Next Time: An Annoying Underwater Maze