The Legend of Zelda: TriSpirit, Episode 5: Fish Out of Water

Chapter 3
The Royal Zoras

Water droplets drip down from the Zora princess's fins and onto Link as she stands over him, pinning him to the ground with her foot with her bladed rod to his throat. She looks down on him with great prejudice. Her eyes burning with ferocity, her pearl-white toga gleaming in the twilight like the pale moon, the jewels and metals adorning her body reflecting the radiant luminescence emitted from her weapon, she is ready to strike him dead where he lies.

Is this how it ends?

The scowl on the attacking Zora's face fades. The hatred in her violet eyes has vanished and is now replaced with a look of disappointment. "Aw, never mind," says Ruto to her brother, looking down at the Hylian beneath her. "It's just a human..." She steps off of Link and lifts her weapon away from his throat.

Link lies on the ground still dazed as he tries to make sense of what just happened. His vision blurred, ears ringing, and head throbbing, his consciousness is slipping from him by the second.

"Then I hope you checked before you attacked..." calls the Zora prince from inside the moat.

"Bah! He'll be fine," Princess Ruto assures, unconcerned of Link. "We have more important things to worry about."

"...You hit him without checking, didn't you?" says Prince Zora Jr.

"Oh, stop it!" the flustered princess scolds. "You speak as if I'm reckless or something! How impulsive do you think I am?!"

"I'll take that as a 'yes'."

"I was just being cautious! These Hylians have already proven that they cannot be trusted not to attack without reason either!"

"Well, whatever... Does he need me to come up there and heal him?"

"He's fine! He's getting up right now, as a matter of fact." She quickly (and roughly) yanks Link to his feet to avoid being wrong. "There! He's standing! No damage at all!" insists Ruto while holding Link up to keep him from falling with his current lack of balance. "See? He is perfectly fine." She then takes her hands of the bruised Hylian as her brother peers out from the moat so he can see him standing unsupported.

...Resulting in Link toppling to the ground from his lack of coordination.

*Thud!*

The unimpressed prince stares blankly at his sister from in the water. His countenance says it all.

Ruto palms her face with an exasperated sigh. "Okay! Fine! Heal the little dork already! Just quit giving me that look!"

Junior shakes his head and lets out a sigh. Sisters can be such a mess! The little prince reaches up and grips the paved shore to pull himself out of the moat.

But he is unable to scale the height. He slips back into the water with a splash. The water's surface being over two feet below ground-level, climbing out proves to be much more difficult for the little one than it is for his bigger sister. Ruto rolls her eyes and bends down to give her brother a hand.

He declines. "No. I can do this! I just need a better run at it..." He circles around and then charges forward at full speed to leap from the water as his sister had just done herself a moment ago.

*Splash!*

He clears the water gracefully. With a determined leap upward, he lunges for the land and hits the pavement.

...With a crash. Once again, he falls back into the water with a splash. "Oof! Okay, one more try..!"

Ruto heaves a sigh and shakes her head. This may take awhile...

Swimming down to the bottom of the moat, Junior charges forward again and lunges out for the land once more. Though his chest collides with the pavement, the little Zora manages to grab the earth with his hands and barely keeps himself from falling back. With much effort, he at last succeeds to pull himself to the surface and plops himself on the ground. "Got it!" he says triumphantly, raising his hand in a thumbs-up gesture.

"I'm so proud..." says Ruto dryly. "Now hurry up and heal the wretch before something else spots us."

"Right." The little prince pulls himself off the ground and kneels beside the half-conscious human lying before him. A blue glow, soothing as the calming waves of a scenic ocean, emits eerily from his palms. He holds them over the Hylian's forehead and lets the radiance shine upon the wound. "Hey! I think I saw this Hylian earlier!" he remarks while healing Link. "He was one of the first humans we passed coming in this morning."

"Hm?" Ruto illuminates her rod, casting its light over Link for a better look. "Now that you mention it, he does look familiar... Ah, yes. I recognize that hat. Come to think of it... I don't recall seeing any other recruits wearing one?"

"Me neither. Maybe he was given some kind of special rank?"

"Or maybe all the others just found their hats too dorky to wear and opted not to. I know I sure wouldn't want to be seen with something as ridiculous-looking as that upon my head!"

Slowly and steadily, Link's senses return to him. His wound closes, the painful throbbing in his head ceases, the aches in his body fade, and even the damage taken from his previous battle against the Lynel is soon no more. His life-force is completely restored. The blur of his vision clearing by the second, the revitalized Hylian is soon able to make out the face of the child who healed him.

As well as that of the Zora who assaulted him.

His awareness fully recovered, Link sits up with a startled jolt at the sight of the Zoras. He stares silently with eyes widened in alarm, unsure how to react and wary of the Zora princess's presence. Did she not just execute a slaughter-spree in the castle moments ago?

"Hello," greets the little Zora prince. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?"

Link nods awkwardly. He is still trying to comprehend the situation.

"I apologize for my sister's carelessness," says Zora Jr. "She doesn't always think to check before attacking."

"I'm not careless!" Ruto protests. "At least I made sure to only attack with the side of my rod and not the bladed end! I could have killed him if I wanted to, but I didn't!"

"...She can actually be pretty nice during that very rare occasion when you can finally catch her in a good mood," Junior continues to Link, paying his sister no heed.

"Oh, shut it," says an unamused Ruto, shoving her little brother back into the moat.

*Splash!*

Link only continues to stare, completely baffled. It is true that this Zora princess could have easily killed him -just like he had seen her intentionally do to the royal family and those soldiers trying to defend them- and yet, not only did she refrain from slaying Link just now, but she even approved for her brother to heal him.

What is going on?

"You there!" addresses Ruto to Link. "The dork with the bump on his forehead! You are one of the Royal Guard's recruits, yes? Have you any information on the whereabouts of the visiting Zoras?"

Link is caught unprepared for this question. "...Huh?"

"The Zoras!" shouts the annoyed princess. "Tell me what you know about the remaining Zoras!"

Her eyes stare expectantly into his as she impatiently awaits the news regarding her people's whereabouts. No longer do those eyes burn so pale and soulless as when she went berserk in the castle. Nay. They currently look once again as those same eyes that his had accidentally locked with when he first saw her come in; a vivid violet bright as coral, ever lovely to behold, but tainted with unwelcoming contempt for his kind.

Link knows not if she is allied with the Devastati or a fellow victim of theirs, but her question is one that deserves an answer, and so answer it he does.

Even if the only answer he has to offer is not much.

"I... I haven't heard anything about the Zoras..." he says with genuine sympathy. "I don't know if...they even made it out..."

She falls silent at this news. "...Wh_ What?" she says after a pause. She had assumed that at least some of them would have survived.

Prince Zora Jr, trying hard to climb back out from the moat, is just as shaken to hear this. "They're...gone..?" he asks.

...Before losing his grip and slipping back into the water again.

*Splash!*

The princess's breathing grows heavy as mixed emotions seize her. She realizes now that she and her brother are completely on their own, with no family or servants to guide them at all. "No..." she mutters softly before growing louder. "No. No! NO..!" She tries to hide her pain behind anger.

But it is obvious that she is fighting back tears.

"This is all Zelda's fault!" she screams in an emotional rage. "This only happened because of her stupid birthday ceremony! If she didn't go and invite trouble-making commoners into the castle, none of this would be happening! I never even wanted to be here! She made us come! Of all the stupid things she's done, this is the absolute worst! I'll never forgive her for this one!" She drops to her knees and begins to weep on the inside, still fighting her tears to her best effort.

There is a brief moment of silence. Link knows not what to say or do, which is nothing unusual for him.

But now is a moment where anyone else would feel the same.

Although she may not be the most pleasant person he has encountered, he cannot help but feel deep compassion for this Zora right now. He kneels down beside her. His gentle hand is placed with wordless sympathy upon her shoulder. He still knows not if she is a friend or foe, but looking her over, it is obvious she is no longer in that corrupted condition that he saw her attacking the royal family in. She seems perfectly approachable.

Surprised by this quiet Hylian's gesture, Ruto is snapped out of her internal weeping. Her eyes widened, she looks to her sudden comforter with a silent gasp. She then reacts to his touch in a most unexpected way that catches Link with even greater surprise...

She lashes him with a magical whip from her rod.

*Snap!*

"You insolent!" scolds she, springing to her feet. "Who do you think you are to be laying a hand on royalty?! You are in no place to approach me without permission...much less touch me! Keep your filthy hands to yourself!"

_Make that relatively approachable...

"Ow! S-sorry..!" Link replies remorsefully, feeling both startled and awkward by this response. His peers surely will not envy him for his encounter with THIS princess!

"Sorry about my sister..." apologizes Prince Zora Jr on Ruto's behalf as he at last manages to climb back out of the moat. "She tends to get pretty huffy..."

"I'm not huffy!" Ruto protests with an annoyed huff. "I just want respect to be given where respect is due! Commoners need to know their place, you know!"

Junior pays her no mind. "...But don't worry. This is far from one of the worst tantrums she's thrown today."

Without another word, Ruto shoves him back into the moat.

*Splash!*

"I apologize..." stutters Link timidly, trying to explain himself. "I only meant to_"

*Snap!*

"Silence!" scolds Ruto, whipping him again without hearing him out. "You should know that a commoner like you is not permitted to speak unless spoken to! How many times must you disgrace me with your uncivilized behaviour, you arrogant human?! Now tell me; where can I find an official of this castle? Even just a soldier will do."

Link is afraid to speak. He had just been whipped for that, after all.

"I asked you a question!" yells the princess. "Answer me!"

"Uh..." stutters Link. "Am I...permitted to speak..?"

"I just spoke to you, didn't I?" replies the huffy princess. "Now are you going to answer me or not?!"

"You can't blame him for being afraid to speak," says the prince, managing with difficulty to climb out of the moat once again. "You did just hit him for that... Twice."

"No one asked you!" she says as she shoves him back into the moat again.

*Splash!*

"Oh, come on!" complains Junior. "Not again!"

These two siblings do not appear to have a very good relationship...

"Well?! Go on already!" says Ruto to Link. "Answer my question!"

"Uh..." Link stutters again, trying to find the words to say. "I... I don't think...there is anyone left..."

"What's that supposed to mean..?!"

"As far as I know...they're all still in there..." Link replies, pointing to the encased castle nearby. "That evil wizard took control of everything. He surprised us all with a small attack to draw all of the swordsmen into the castle so he could trap them inside that barrier, eliminating the entire Hyrulean Unit at once... I haven't come across any other survivors yet."

"You mean to tell me that none of them remain..?!" she asks with panic. "You can't be the only one left! How is it that you -a novice recruit- made it out when the other, more experienced, soldiers didn't?!"

"There could be a few more who survived..." Link replies. "But if there are, they'd be few and powerless like me... The only reason I wasn't trapped with the rest was because I was trying to retrieve a stolen scroll at the moment that barrier was cast..."

"A scroll..?" Ruto looks over the Hylian with interest at the sound of this. She quickly scans him up and down before locking her eyes upon the mysterious scroll tucked into his belt. "Is that_? It is!"

*Snatch!*

Before Link can react, the scroll is nabbed from his belt and taken into the hands of the Zora princess. "The Scroll of Insight!" exclaims she.

The young Hylian stares blankly.

The what..?


Thanks for reading! And now Ruto is revealed to actually be back to her senses again. But how? Wait and see... ;) Things have indeed changed a lot since the original edition of this story; previously, Ruto was never even seen until now since after that scene in Ch. 3-1 where she was giving Zelda a hard time. Her entire rampage is something new and exclusive to this revised edition, as is that scroll Link retrieved that is about to be explained in the very next chapter...