Once lunch later, they were now heading down the mountain. At least it was easier than going up. Everyone was relieved as they reached the horses, especially since Linkette was napping again. Out of worry Beau tended to her, using a little of his magic to help her stamina. This woke her up enough for her to be able to ride Epona by herself as they started towards town to get supplies.
"Maybe we should stay at the inn tonight then head out?" Aiden suggested to the menfolk. "I'm worried Linkette is getting sick. This can't be normal."
They all agreed, though all three were making separate prayers to the goddesses that Linkette would pull through whatever was happening to her. Linkette napped at the inn while everyone went to get supplies, Beau staying to watch over her in case she showed any signs of being sick besides tiredness. Aiden led the way to a shop with good produce and meat spelled to stay fresh for those traveling long distances, grabbing as much as their bags could hold. Sheik paid for it all despite the ogling he got for managing it and worked on organizing it better once they got back to the inn. Linkette was still napping at that point, and Aiden pondered if they didn't need to get a doctor. Sheik was already on that while Beau tried his magic again. The hero just tried to thank him but shoo him away, trying to motion that she was just exhausted, not sick. She was proven wrong as she rushed to be ill in the chamberpot once she'd woken up more. A doctor finally arrived and given that she was unmarried, and he recognized her as the prince's fiance, he determined that she must have eaten something that hadn't agreed with her and her body was just fighting off whatever it was. Everyone, especially Sheik, hoped that was the case.
"Just let her rest when you can on the journey and she should be over it in a few days time," The doctor reassured again after giving another examination. Had he'd been informed of her activities, he might have suspected something else.
Once that was settled, Sheik sneaked into her room and silently fussed over her. Linkette awoke to the fussing, and gave him a look requesting cuddles. He quickly did so while trying to gather what info he could about how and why her body would be reacting in such a manner. Linkette tried to convey that she was sorry for being a bit sick and very tired. He assured that it wasn't her fault and was just trying to piece together what she got when and how. Linkette just kept snuggling close, and come dinnertime communicated that she wasn't hungry.
"Linkette, you've barely eaten today. You need to keep up your strength. You even barely touched the curry last night," Aiden was mother henning a bit.
Linkette just picked at her broth and crackers, just feeling bleh and not wanting anything.
"Maybe an apple would do?" Sheik produced one from his stash. He figured it was small enough that it'd be okay.
The smell of the apple had Linkette rushing to be ill again.
"Okay. Apples are off the table."
"Sorry…" Sheik put it away and went to help.
Fortunately it seemed the next day had Linkette feeling a bit better as she ate her bland oatmeal, trying to look wide eyed and bushy tailed. Nobody was convinced and Sheik offered to have her ride with him so she could rest on the trip to Zora's Domain while Beau figured to ride Epona so she didn't get left behind. Aiden took to riding Dusk, who was weary of the new rider but well trained so he didn't outright deny her. So the group was off, racing across the land. As expected, Linkette did fall back asleep, quietly pondering how'd she finish this quest like this. They'd stopped for lunch, but were ambushed just after dismounting, Damia making a repearrance.
"Don't draw her blood, it's likely to motivate her to be merciless!" Sheik warned.
Beau just worked on gathering the horses to hide away and give his support from afar. Damia didn't attack right away, just moving seductively in her black dress, looking like the dark princess she was.
"Too afraid to attack?" It was her voice, but very taunting in nature. "Let me show you how it's done," She rushed forward with her blades to attack, starting with Linkette, who barely drew hers to parry the attack. The young women went back and forth for a while, until Linkette's sword was shattered as Damia mixed in some dark magic, going to hit Linkette with it. She was stopped as Aiden attacked with a fireball.
"Why don't you try me for a fight?!"
"As you wish," She rushed forward again.
While Damia did that, Dale unleashed his own fireball since she seemed too busy to notice. The attack hit her but she didn't quite seem phased as she kept battling. Linkette was digging in her bag for anything to continue the fight with, eventually pulling out a basic bow and some arrows she'd brought for hunting. She took aim and fired, luckily making Damia drop one of her blades. Damia winced and went to retreat. Sheik at least sneaked up and got her in a headlock while trying to snap her out of her thrall state.
"Damia, this isn't you and you know it! Ganondorf isn't your friend, he's using you! Last I checked you hate being used!"
"I have to listen," Damia struggled, trying hard to escape, firmly under Ganon's influence.
"No, you don't!" Sheik tried to pin her down in some vain hope that he could get at that pressure point again.
Damia kept struggling against him, managing to turn the tables and flip them, "You won't defeat me. I'm the second best fighter in my kingdom. Your highness," She whispered that last part, threatening to expose him.
Sheik gulped down at that and did that short-range Sheikah teleporting trick to get away. "And you're our companion, you know we won't let you stay with him."
"Good luck. Only a mage with dark magic can undo his spell!" Damia took the chance to escape.
Was that her helping or gloating…? He wasn't sure. "Everyone okay?"
Nobody was badly hurt but Beau, on his return, used some magic on everyone just to make sure. Linkette just sadly looked at her broken knight's sword, pondering what to do now.
"Well...when it's split like this, it can't be reforged," Dale looked it over too, "guess we gotta hit up a Zora armory an' hope they're willing t' let'cha part with somethin'."
"I'm sure they will, Linkette, and hopefully we'll get the Sapphire and can go get the Master Sword unlocked for you." Aiden encouraged.
"Let's try and work on making up for lost time," Sheik got on his horse, helped Linkette up and led the group.
They made it to the Domain near nightfall, running into a certain young king who was trying to gain entry in order to speed up the quest his sister had gone on. He turned to greet the group.
"Hey. I'm guessing you're the questing group my sister had a vision of? I was trying to speed things up as I got a bad feeling last night, but the Zora's don't recognize my authority," The young man had green eyes and blond hair similar to Damia, along with a similar, though masculine, fashion sense. "Where is my sister, by the way? She's Damia."
Nobody was willing to say, not even Dale.
"Let's try this again. As King of Lorule, I demand to know where my sister is."
"..." The group was still reluctant to say, looking to their de facto leader, Sheik.
Sheik dismounted after making sure Linkette could stay upright on her own, walked over to the king and whispered what happened in his ear. The king cursed slightly and sighed.
"I'll snap her out of it if I can. Luckily I trained in dark magic under Ganon, back when no one could tell Damia and me apart."
"...What."
"The regent thought it'd be good if Damia went to train magic under Ganon when we were little and our parents had just died and we traded places because I wanted to learn magic and she wanted to learn about swords. They didn't figure out we'd switched till we were ten."
"Ooh…" Sheik wasn't sure if that was fortunate or a weird irony, "then we'll help you into Zora's Domain in exchange for freeing your sister, Your Majesty."
"Thanks. Now, quick question. Why is the hero napping?" He pointed to the sleepyhead. "Does she have the sleeping sickness?"
"I...hope not, but so far it seems to be a persistent illness. Don't give her anything with apples in it, it makes it worse." Sheik explained.
"Sounds like my wife when we found out she was pregnant. She went from going a hundred miles an hour to napping and avoiding certain foods."
Oh goddesses, oh goddesses, oh goddesses no! Sheik was trying not to panic, he only managed to keep it from showing on the outside.
The group just shared worried looks.
"What, were she and the prince sharing a bed?" Arew felt confused.
"Let's just get a move on," Aiden was gently waking up Linkette, who thanked her.
Thanks to Sheik knowing the means of getting into the domain, the group quickly crossed the long bridge into its ethereal structure while trying not to be completely distracted by all the cool-colored architecture that surrounded them. Soon they reached the main domain and were allowed to meet the King and Prince. Linkette's court training showed as she curtseyed the best she could. Dale and Sheik bowed in the way their respective cultures showed respect. Aiden curtseyed as well and Arew also bowed a bit.
"I understand you're here for the Zora's Sapphire?" The king was blunt.
"Yes…" Sheik hoped this wouldn't cause issues, "but I assure you that it will be returned."
"I'll trust your words, we have long been allies," the King reluctantly agreed, sending a servant to fetch the gem.
Linkette mentally sobbed as she knew what would happen next as she went to accept the gem. Sure enough she was out like a light as the final vision hit her, and hit her hard. Sheik gave a frantic explanation to the king as everyone worked on bringing her to the doman's local inn and rested for the night. Oddly enough, the Zora prince, Nelis, joined the group. Linkette tossed and turned as her vision seemed to become more of a nightmare.
"What's happenin'?" Dale was getting worried and tried to snap her out of it.
"I'm not sure…" Sheik figured to check if maybe he had a connection to at least the Zora's Sapphire and touched it while everyone was focused on Linkette. It showed him who the chosen sages were, but not much else.
Linkette woke up with a start, rushing to be ill again as she was shaking in fear at the vision.
Dale would've asked but she ran too fast for him to process.
Sheik was quickly by Linkette's side and trying to soothe her.
"Is that normal for Hylian women?" Nelis inquired.
"Well...no, not healthy ones at least." Dale said.
"Visions are magically draining, so that may also be why she's been so tired, if she's had one with each gem," Arew provided more information.
Linkette took some breathes to try and steady herself, but as she turned and looked at Sheik after wiping her mouth, it was like she was seeing someone back from the dead. She was having a hard time keeping herself steady emotionally.
"Linkette…?" Sheik was getting even more worried now and called for a Zora doctor, figuring that there must be one that knows how to handle Hylians. Nelis was on the case and fetched the most experienced in the domain.
The doctor arrived with a calming potion, instructing Linkette to drink it as it was clear she was near a panic attack from what she saw in her vision. She seemed hesitant until the doctor reassured her it was safe, a knowing look in his eyes. Linkette drank it shakily, soon calming down quite a bit. Everyone was wondering what in Hyrule she could have seen to cause such a reaction. Once she was steady, she requested to 'speak' to Sheik alone. Everyone was quick to shuffle out, including the doctor and prince, leaving the two alone.
Sheik made sure the door was tightly shut, covered up any windows and used a kunai knife to assure that the door couldn't be randomly opened before turning back into Zelo. "What happened?"
'You died,' She mouthed.
"I...what?"
She quickly wrote out that Ganon killed him as he jumped in the way of an attack on her. She also went on to say she knew who the sages were and they needed to hurry so that the vision didn't come true, as in the vision they stayed in a group to visit each temple, while the Goddesses hinted splitting up was the way to go so Ganon has less time to gain power. Linkette slid the paper over to him.
Zelo read it over and let out a shaky sigh, "But what about you? While the area surrounding the Master Sword is protected from his magic, you cannot just sit there and wait for everyone to finish going through each one. Especially since…" he couldn't deny it anymore, "you are bearing my child."
Linkette scribbled out that she wasn't pregnant, that it was just the magical strain of having the visions taking a toll on her body and that she'd be fine now that she'd had the final one, once she had a bit of time to recover. She even put down that she hadn't missed her monthly cycle yet, either.
"...Linkette, Damia's brother told me himself that the symptoms you show line with that of pregnancy."
Linkette wrote out that they also line up with magical strain, and her starting her monthly cycle. She even said to ask Dale, as it wasn't uncommon for her to avoid certain foods and get sick during her worse monthly cycles.
Things seem to conflict with each other, but Prince Zelo had very little choices in the matter with how everything was going. "Very well...but please refrain from overdoing anything from here on out."
'I will do what needs done,' she wrote out.
"Just do it carefully. You mean so much to…" he hugged her, "me! I just want you to be safe, regardless of what transpires! If I lost you..." he couldn't bring himself to even think it as he tightened his grip.
She hugged back, before releasing the hug and writing out that she was sorry she made him bed her and causing him so much stress. She also added that he was her life and to please never give his life for hers, as hers would be over the minute his was.
"I can only try," he muttered while nuzzling her head.
She hugged him again, not wanting to let go, though eventually her grip weakened as the calming potion took more effect. He took notice, put two and two together and offered to carry her to bed so she could rest. She accepted the offer, even though she was actually getting tired of resting all the time. After changing back to Sheik, he carried her out and assured everyone it was the magic of the Spiritual Stones that was causing this, she just needed to rest a little more and she'll be fine.
"I suppose we should all rest for the night then, we can take off in the morning to continue the quest and find my sister. I can't be out of my kingdom for too long, Ravia will talk the councils' ears off."
There were some snickered there at that comment and all turned in for the night, aside from Sheik who found the doctor and asked if it really was magic-based.
"You'll just have to wait and see," Came the cryptic answer.
"...Seriously?" Sheik gave him a half-lidded glare, "Chances are you know who she is, so it's very important to know what's going on so we can fix it in order to make sure she wins the last battle in this war!"
"Time will fix it fine, it's just magic drainage," The doctor was a bit worried when Sheik said 'fix it' part of him worried for the unborn child, as there was only one way to fix that rapidly. He knew it was risky, but figured secrecy was better at this stage and he'd provide stamina potions for the Hero to use until her body adjusted better or the fight was done.
It better be or Hylia help me… "Very well then. Goodnight, sir." He went back to Linkette's room out of worry, locked up for the night and turned into Zelo once again after making sure the windows were covered. He muttered a soft apology as he wrapped his arms around her, tucked themselves in and drifted to sleep.