A chill.
Mipha's eyes slowly began to open, peering ever so weakly up toward the dark ceiling that sheltered her. As though her mind had yet to awaken, itself, her eyes simply took in that muddled, cloudy shade of darkened chestnut, almost unaware of what it even was. She took in the form, but her mind couldn't properly translate what it was or even what purpose it was. Instinctively, her eyes narrowed, her spinal cord churning with electricity as it wondered whether to be frightened or to fight, her body entering into mutiny. Her brain stem began to make primal decisions that her body could not take action toward. Her mind, switched off, couldn't even process the mounting terror of uncertainty.
All she could feel was that chill. That chill of having awoken, depriving herself of that strange sleep that had taken her without warning.
Suddenly, in a sharp second of surreal shock, her brain lit up, a heavy breath heaving in through her gills, taking in the musky air beneath the blankets that covered her, eyes widening in realization.
"Mipha," she suddenly heard, the downturned intonation indicating that it was being repeated.
Might that have been what returned her to this state?
She suddenly loosened an exhale as her head arose from her pillow, catching the faint appearance of Link in the darkness, his eyes glinting like pearlescent topaz as he watched her, worryingly.
It was him. The owner of that warmth that had traveled with her throughout that odd sleep. That warmth that had been all she could recognize in that span of nothingness.
"Are you okay?" Link asked tenderly, carefully placing what had been in his hands onto the chest of drawers he'd been leaning on before steadily approaching the side of Mipha's bed, "You're not-"
He paused, cautiously. That look in her eyes was one of fright- of one who hadn't a clue upon whom they were looking. For a moment, Link's heart sank as he paused, watching this Zora Princess with weakness in his own eyes.
In a split span of time that might have lasted lifetimes, a hollow breath finally left Mipha, a raspy sort of thing, as she noted, "..Link."
A shaking breath split from Link's body as he started up once more, hastening his pace before falling to his knees at Mipha's bedside, pressing his hand tightly into the mattress as he peered into those eyes that had followed him, resulting in Mipha's head turning to its side, even amidst the aching motion compelling her to remain still otherwise.
"M-" Link battled for language, suddenly eeking out, "Mipha-…"
Vibration tore through his body. Not by any external force, but by his own trembling form. In that moment, Link realized he needed to anchor himself to the only part of this world worth latching onto- the only part ready to accept him in such a sullen state.
He reached over to Mipha's face, resting his palm against her cheek, sending the Zora's eyes closed once again as the welcoming warmth permeated across her chillingly frosty scales. This man's warmth, she recognized, only made her realize just how cold she became in his absence.
"Mipha-" Link repeated, almost tasting the sounds in hopes of its sweetness combatting the bitter terror still needing to be reigned in within his gut.
At the sound of her name, feeling that warmth, Mipha let loose a near-sickly smile, as weak as Link had ever seen upon her- but it was there. It was there, when such an occurrence, at all, seemed to have met its bitter end.
Link released a shaking chuckle, his relief manifesting as such, before running his hand up her face, delicately tucking her crown's fin back behind her head, the tender length of skin having half-slid down her face.
"Look at you," Link smiled weakly, "You look like you've been asleep for a week. I didn't think Zoras could get bed-head, but-"
He grinned widely at his bout of humor, the sight of which caused Mipha to smile herself. A flimsy breath left Link as he watched her beauty flash with such a serene stretch of her lips. He shook his head in disbelief before reaching in close, resting his own lips upon the crest at her forehead.
"That tickles," came her voice, echoing as if in ghostly revelation.
Link grinned, making sure to keep his lips against her scales as he did so, leaving her to decipher that movement while he replied, "Sorry."
Silent elation settling in, Link returned his lips to kiss her, leaving Mipha to complain in slavish reply to her body's exhaustion, "Then why do you keep doing it..?"
"Sorry," Link replied, finally pulling away with a smile of his own signaling his happiness, "I'm just-"
Once again, words failed the soldier as he peered into her eyes, nearly certain he could forget his own name within those lustrous pearls that began to find their warmth now that Mipha had awoke.
"You-" Link began to explain, feeling a choking tightness within his throat as he attempted to fight down a breath.
Mipha watched his struggle, figuring she would ease his suffering.
"I died."
A pang of sorrow flushed through Link's mind at the plain explanation. Those moments of momentous, anguished loss- It all came back to him at that moment, surrendering only to the fact that Mipha was now alive, close enough for him to ensure that she might be within his embrace.
"W-" Link stammered, "W- What..?"
Mipha's lips curled into a sort of teasing smile, "Thought you'd pull a fast one on me, did you..?"
"N- I mean-" Link continued his incomplete verbiage, stopping only as Mipha began to stir beneath the blankets, working her arm free from the netherous space under the thick covers.
"It's okay," she assured, reaching out where Link could take her hand into his, her scaled lips curling weakly, "You didn't think I'd go without a fight, did you?"
Link broke into a sudden, sharp laugh before bringing her hand to his cheek, pressing it in between that spot and his hand.
"You died and you're the one comforting me," Link noted bitterly, though still with some good humor.
Mipha shut her eyes, shaking her head softly, "You've been the one comforting me this whole time."
"I mean," Link began, "I wasn't going to let those wild people out there shovel food down your gullet."
Shaking her head, Mipha clarified, "You've been that comfort ever since-"
Her smile began to fade as recollection ran through her mind, "I was lying on you. Back on Death Mountain. Looking into your eyes, unable to bear the thought of averting my eyes to catch the scrapes and bruises upon your face."
Link felt her hand tighten its grasp along his.
"Ever since that cave in- My body felt as though it was being torn apart. As though it were melting. I could feel my stomach dropping down my body- My brain had slowed to a churn. Laying atop of you, I- My body began to shake as my mind collapsed within itself. I could feel my last breaths escaping me, leaving me for dead, but-"
Her voice had grown cold, but then, after a moment's respite, it warmed once again.
"I felt your arms around me," she explained, tears rolling down the side of her face like starlit trails echoing the lanternlight, "My mind left me. My body. Everything about this world that makes me a part of it- It all abandoned me."
Her fingers constricted.
"You didn't."
Link took in a tight swallow as he lowered his head, wiping his own tears away onto the bed sheets before returning his whetted eyes back toward his beloved, "I just- I couldn't do anything else."
"But, when my life all but left me," Mipha went on in solemn explanation, "That warmth- That presence- Like a flame in an infinite darkness, it accompanied me. I recognized that I had died, and yet- That flame tied me to it."
Her eyes shook.
"Tied me to you."
Link fought down another rough breath as he began to tremble once again, his hand's rapid movements hushed only by Mipha's still grasp.
"Whenever I was brought back- It was that flame," Mipha smiled behind that shroud of teardrops along her face, "That flame was fanned by some- some force. I watched it sit there, battling, wanting to rage into some wildfire of life. Only then did I realize- That flame- That warmth- It was always you."
Link slid her hand across his face until it met his lips, allowing him to kiss her before dropping his head, taking in all he had heard with serious realization.
His breath wavered as he replied, "It was always you."
Link's thumb spread across the back of Mipha's hand in tender repletion as he went on, "-always you, whom I love."
He could feel her smile crossing the space between them in ineffable understanding. Link's eyes sparkled as they returned to Mipha's view, the two of them sharing a moment of silence, simply reminded themselves in breathless repetition, every second that crawled by, how much they loved this other part of themselves.
Suddenly swallowing a breath, Link broke from her spell, looking around the room as he prepared to stand up, "Do, uh- Do you need anything? I mean- You've been out for some time, I-"
Mipha's body began to stir once again as feeling resumes, her face twisting in curiosity as she felt her nerves spring back to life, "I just-"
She slowly pushed herself back so that she could sit up against the headboard, leaving Link to hurry to her side to assist her. He reached along her sides, feeling that tender spread of skin that covered her gills, before gently pulling her up, leaving her upright as he slid his hands away from her.
"I was kind of aware of my surroundings," Mipha noted blankly, "Enough so, I guess, that I'm quite bored with laying down."
Link grinned, "I mean, some people would kill to lead that life for a week's time."
Mipha shook her head, "I'd have gladly traded places with them."
A teasing smirk crossed Link's face as he returned to his feet, looking back toward the chest of drawers, "I was, uh- I brought you some soup, just in case, but- You looked so peaceful, so I stuck around, cutting up a piece of wood, but-"
His reply had been weak, leaving Mipha to ascertain plainly, "Just creeping around, huh?"
"I mean- I believe the term 'caregiving' would be a tad more appropriate, given the circumstances," Link explained with meandering eyes.
Mipha grinned, deciding to leave the line of questioning incomplete as she instead replied, "Yes, I would like some soup."
"Good," Link shot back, more in response to the previous line having gone unfinished, before explaining, "Daruk and Urbosa kind of cleaned out the stable, so- I kind of had to forage and make this in secret."
With a smirk, Mipha retorted, "They were that desperate, huh?"
"Like a pair of ravenous wolves, yes," Link nodded, carefully bringing the half-full bowl of watery soup across the room, "It's mostly broth, but- There's some Hylian spices in there, just to give it flavor. I figured, were you to wake, you'd probably prefer softer foods."
He eyed the bowl from above, "Or, you know, no food at all."
Mipha smiled serenely, "I'm sure it's wonderful."
"Hopefully," Link prayed aloud, sitting at the edge of the bed before bringing his leg up as he twisted toward his lover, "It's a bit cold, but I guess it won't much affect the taste."
He carefully stirred the spoon within the mixture of watery broth and spice. Mipha watched him with patient eyes, taking the moment to scan the room, finding the bed across from her devoid of its inhabitant.
Link's eyes rose to find her gaze, smiling as he returned to the bowl, "Zelda? Don't worry; you beat her in the sleeping category."
Nodding absently, Mipha noted, "I felt her there as I slept. as well as her absence once she awoke."
Her eyes turned to Link as he scooped up a spoonful of the liquid, speaking up quietly, "It was her, wasn't it?"
"That-" Link paused, the spoon hovering overtop the soup.
Mipha finished graciously, "She brought life back to me."
Dropping his head once again, Link sighed deeply, "Y- Yes, she did."
"So she has those powers after all," Mipha muttered with a soft smile, "I knew it…"
Link nodded before leaning over to carefully send the soup toward her, "But, uh- We aren't exactly telling her that. She was unconscious at the time, and-"
As she took the soup into her mouth, Mipha's brow narrowed in surprise, leaving Link to a sigh, "Urbosa's demand, not mine."
Her eyes lowering, Mipha swallowed the broth before grinning lightly, "So that's what she was getting at."
Her lips crawled wider in amusement, "She came in here while I slept to relay it to me. I don't know if it was just to relieve herself of the pressure, or if she thought I might actually hear her, but- It was kind of cute seeing her all secretive."
Link's eyes widened sarcastically as he dipped the spoon into the soup once again, "Well, when you tell her that, let me know beforehand so I can see her look of grotesque fury."
He watched the spoon attentively as he drifted back toward her mouth, holding his opposite hand beneath the wetted spoon, "She might hide in a hole if she heard you calling her that."
Mipha loosened a quiet giggle in reply before accepting the next bite, slurping daintily as she attempted to take all that she could from the spoon, smiling simply as Link pulled his hand away.
"It's good, " she noted with quiet pride.
"Yeah?" Link replied, "It's a pretty basic thing, but- You've haven't had much Hylian food, have you?"
She shook her head, "Not outside of what you've made during this trip."
"Even then, I'm mostly improvising," Link admitted, stirring up the bowl once again to better mix in the spices with the broth, "You really haven't had much of anything that can be consider Hylian cuisine, or whatever you'd call it."
Mipha smiled sweetly, "Perhaps when this expedition has finished…"
Darting up to meet her eyes, Link turned toward her with a plain expression, "Oh, that's not even in doubt."
He smiled as he scooped up another helping, "I'll make you whatever you want. a million times."
"And if you're still not satisfied," Link noted easily, "A million and one."
Mipha smiled beneath shimmering eyes as she took another bite, watching Link as he cautiously prepared her next portion, leaving the air between silent as the two of them simply enjoy one another. Link cracked a serene smile, thinking how had so missed such interactions with Mipha, even within this single week that, for all I gents and purposed, they were separated by more than distance.
He took another spoonful, but Mipha's shaking voice caused him pause as she spoke up.
"Perhaps it is a bit cold."
Link peered down toward the soup for a moment before returning to Mipha with a shrug, "Yeah. I'll got warm it over the fire and-"
A sudden sensation of snatched skin caught his attention as Mipha quickly reached out to grab his arm, keeping him seated, while also sending the bowl near-teetering out of the soldier's hand. Link turned to her to ascertain what had happened, only to find her eyes twinkling like the cosmos, its infinite vastness indicative of just how entrancing those eyes had become to him.
He peered into her face, uncertain how to progress now that Mipha's firm grasp had halted him. Yet the atmosphere was so thick that he felt uncomfortable speaking.
"You could-" Mipha whispered, eyes flailing toward the empty space of the room.
She worked up the courage, thinking only fleetingly how she had survived death, only to encounter confrontation with her feelings regarding the man she had come to love.
"You could warm it-" she spoke in halting breaths.
Link's brow curled in confusion, forcing his mind to race until finally understanding what she might have been getting at, sending a shade of crimson to encapsulate his face.
"I, uh-" Link stammered unsurely, "You share this room with Zelda, so- I don't think we should-"
Mipha frowned, goading him with a tease, "Perhaps this is that millionth -and-first time…"
Sighing, Link caught a glimpse of the door before returning to the bowl in his hands, grinning, "Not satisfied, huh?"
"After feeling how warm you are and being forced to live with the feeling of being deprived of such a thing? How could I ever be?" Mipha uttered quietly, almost with a longing in her voice.
Link turned his eyes toward her, still grinning, "I suppose it is my duty to do what I m
He carefully pulled the spoonful of soup up toward his mouth, slurping what he could all while his eyes remained upon Mipha, the flickering of orange flames painting a blush upon her face that matched the racing of her heart.
Sliding the bowl onto the nearby end table, Link leaned in close, reaching a hand around her head to lay gently between her head and dorsal fin, sending his skin into a minor shock at the sensation of her chilly enclosure juxtaposed to his steaming face. Still, he persevered.
He reached closer with intoxicating lethargy, attempting to heighten the tension, while simultaneously raising the temperature of the soup drowning his tongue, but such antics left Mipha wanting. She raised her head with a sudden burst of speed, closing the gap between them as she took a ravenous kiss from him, her hands quickly grasping either side of his head as she tugged him closer, desperate to keep him from, once again, vanishing into the world opposite her own.
Taken aback, Link was nonetheless inviting of the sudden show of lust from this being of such beauty. He accepted her kiss, leaving their lips awash with soup as he only half-attempted to carefully withdraw the warming broth, his mind far more focused upon those saintly lips that accompanied his own. He only faintly battled Mipha's tongue as it slithered along his lips, attempting to accept every bit of soup, now tinged with the flavor of her lover's mouth, a taste Mipha had now long considered to be a true delicacy worthy of Hylian cuisine.
Link was left breathless as Mipha's gills allowed her to ravage his mouth to her heart's content. So entranced was he by her very lips, by the forward motion of this woman so often reserved, all for his own benefit, that he had forgotten the use of his nose, leaving his lungs on the verge of collapse as he accepted Mipha's lips, her tongue, forcing him, finally, to pull away with an amorous *schlip* breaking the air as Mipha's tasting lips lost his own pair.
"That's what I felt," she whispered in loving chorus with the deep, heated breaths of Link.
Before he could bear to resist her body in favor of his own snaps of air, Link succumbed without a shadowy doubt as Mipha pulled him back into her lips, taking another supple, tender grasp between her own pair, taking was she was freely given before returning Link to his breathless gasps, the crown of her head pressed so delicately against his forehead all while their eyes continued their motionless dance.
"That was-" Link managed plainly, still heartily gathering his breath, "-unexpected."
Mipha smiled in sneaky intonation, "You said I should eat soft foods."
"I-" Link began to fire back, only to wrangle in his reply, blushing as he caught on to her insinuation, "That's a low blow."
She snuck in another kiss, thing one far more weak, allowing him his chance to catch up while also signaling her next teasing request.
"I'm cold."
Link's eyes remained stoic in their lost voyage within her gaze, reaching over for a kiss of his own, "You're not soup. You're supposed to be cold."
"I'm your partner," Mipha noted quietly, turning her head down toward her chest as if in defensive posture, "I'm- meant to be warm. now. By you."
Watching her listlessly enough, Link smiled at her honestly. He reached his hand up, cupping her chin before gently directing her gaze back toward him.
"I was never scared, you know," Link recounted in a whisper, "Such a trait is rather unbecoming of a Knight, after all. Everything that a person is naturally frighten of, early on in life, I spent enough time and blood attempting to ween myself of the feeling of being frightened."
His stare wavered, "-and then I fell in love. and, suddenly, I was terrified of so much. How you might think of me were you to catch me in a bad habit. How your affections might wane- How might you grow disgusted by my appearance as I age. So many tiny things."
"And then-" he paused, his breath shaking, nearly ringing as it quaked, "-then I watched you die. and my entire existence- I grew terrified of a life without you. My heart tore in two and-"
His eyes fell, "Were you not to wake… It was a wound no magic could ever hope to heal…"
Mipha's eyes had curled in anguish, her own heart falling at her powerful lover's sudden weakness breaking through his usual zeal. For however alluring she found his body, it was but a shell for such still waters that ran so incredibly deep- the kind of watery depths Mipha had always thought of as home. It was a trait that had so endeared her to this man.
She pulled him close, resting her lips upon his once again before releasing him, staring into his eyes.
"I promised you," she started, slowly, "I wouldn't allow any harm to befall you."
Her hand reached down from his cheek to press against his chest. Her wiry fingers stroked his wide presence through his shirt, sending a shiver down her spine; not only due to the coarse fabric, but of the sheer breadth of the man she so desperately wished to be concealed within.
"When I promised you that-" she noted quietly, "I had no inclination that it would ever extend beyond the physical. But, now-"
Her fingers curled inward at the center ridge of his chest, her lips closing in onto his own, Link feeling her chilly breath breaking against his skin.
"Now, I love you. and it's my duty to protect you from harm," she declared, "Your body. and your soul."
Link gave a meager smile at the thought, never having thought he might ever encounter another being who would ever consider him for such things. But that wasn't a mere being, he knew. Mipha was something far more, especially after all that he'd seen.
She was angelic in so many senses of the word.
For every minute moment of time spent lost within her eyes, Link fell into her lips, losing himself all over again as her hand slid across his chest, feeling his powerful tendons that so carefully concealed his heart- that magnificent engine of warmth that had kept her bound, not only to this world, but to the most precious part of it.
Her lips pulled away, only long enough for her to mutter with that air of loss that accompanies such wistful moments, "I want to feel like you do."
Link returned to her lips, finding her wanting as she dove in once more, leaving his reply silent. His hands found her shoulders, remaining there for only a brief moment before Link slid them down her body, forcing away the encroaching blankets with his wrists as he found the briskly tender skin of her stomach.
She shook at the sensation, causing a particularly devilish smirk to accompany Link's kisses, before she felt where Link had been trailing. As delicately as his hands would move, they separated toward her sides, finding the frail lines of scaleless skin that made up her gills. Mipha suddenly awoke into tremors between his hands, though Link held onto her tight enough, keeping her gill slits shut, leaving her with but her mouth to breath.
Their heads rose and fell with every kiss, their tongues and mouths entranced within a dance that was theirs, and theirs alone. Their eyes shut, all they had attached to the world was that space which was currently surrounded by their lover, keeping the two of them in heavenly reverie.
Link felt her gills tremble as she suddenly leapt for a breath, only for Link to prevent her from doing so. Her kisses continued, ravenous as they were, until she began to surrender such lustful advances, a point that Link rapidly took note of. Just as she began considering breaking away, Link leaned his body forward, sending Mipha's eyes wide as she became entrapped between Link and the headboard, preventing her from yanking herself away for a breath. Her eyes began to water as her lungs began to constrict, the very breath of life being consumed by Link's hungry lips.
"Mmm!" she whined under his unending worship.
Her fingers constricted. Her claws dug into Link's chest just as she decided to give herself up for dead if it meant sating this man's loving appetite, but at that moment, Link retreated, his hands tenderly pulled away from her sides, leaving Mipha lying there devoid of breath, cloudy eyes peering back up toward him.
"G- Goddess…" she groaned with a tinge of lascivious zeal.
Link smirked at his, apparently, appreciated work. All he could do was watch her in that state, taking in the imagery set before him; such a beauteous being that wanted him as much as he hoped to have her. Her chest rose and fell in succession, the orange glow of the lantern's flame bouncing along her crimson scales, leaving an entrancing hue of seduction that lined her chest.
He gently closed in on her lips, only this time, his mark was lower. Link placed his lips along her cheek, kissing those rough scales there as Mipha's eyes narrowed in confusion.
"W- What're-"
He interrupted with a solemn, "Cleaning you. You've got soup all over you."
"O- Oh."
Link smirked, "I suppose supper wasn't ever on your mind."
Were she able to, Mipha was sure a blush would have been in order, but even if it were possible, she might have been too breathless to do so. Her skin and scales crawled as Link contorted his neck to allow his lips to trail along her neck, to a particularly stimulating area along her shoulder, where his tongue ran between her scales to catch each speck of soup to be found, causing a shiver to explode along Mipha's body.
"G- Gah!" she whimpered in listless delight.
Link could only grin at his work, feeling a particular sense of pride knowing what he could do to her.
The thrill of adoration lost behind her breathless reverie, Mipha could only reciprocate with her hands, wrapping them around Link's head as he diligently tasted her scales in search of cleanliness; her fingers brushed along his fuzzy mass of hair, tickling herself in the process, all while admiring, so much, how soft he was there.
Before she could comprehend the progression of his movements, Link had found himself between those delicate protrusions at her chest, kissing into that valley that endlessly found itself within proximity of her heart. They weren't breasts, but as Link's eyes opened weakly, he found himself buried there, surrounded my Mipha's skin, her scales; caught in that place where her wintery temperature was so apparent. He spun her head beneath her hands, taking a tender kiss against that nearest mound, leaving Mipha to shiver.
"Gah…" she quietly whispered in verbal shock.
Link's eyes turned up her body, "You okay?"
"Yes, I-" she began, pausing as she lowered her head, finding Link's face finely framed between her chest and hands.
She smiled at the sight, "I'm fine. Just a bit tender, is all."
Link nodded within her grasp, within the soft confines of her chest, before pressing into her once again with his lips, leaving a trail of tremors that followed up along Mipha's spine, causing her to shiver.
"I used to-" she paused as she constricted for a moment, "-be so afraid of the idea of your heat upon me. I knew we were different, the Zora; but the thought of warm-blooded things out in the world. Even you, I- When we first kissed, I was so terrified that you might burn my lips."
Link ceased his adoration, turning his head up toward her as their eyes met, forcing Mipha's heart to skip a beat.
"There are moments where you're so fiercely- immensely burning against my skin. inside my body. But I know, now, that, soon enough- we'll reach this magnificent equilibrium, as if our bodies are dancing in time with one another's, subconsciously, not even requiring our thoughts to match."
Link turned his face back into her chest, taking another kiss from her scales.
"Let's stay here. like this. Together," he uttered weakly, "I don't ever want to leave your skin."
He felt Mipha's fingers crawl loving along his head.
"As much as I hate to be the one to admit- I don't think that's possible."
Link retorted with tamed ferocity, "Then we'll try. Make them show up and pull us apart."
Mipha grinned at such a childish dream that she, herself, hoped could be attained.
"I went without you," Link suddenly whispered beneath a wavering breath, "And my world went dark."
A tug from Mipha's fingers.
She assured simply, "You won't ever have to go without me ever again."
His eyes emerged once again from her chest, locking upon her own once more, adding a world's worth of gravity to her words as her thumb ran along his cheek, battling back a teardrop.
"Never again," she confirmed.
Link's eyes shook with withheld emotion, causing Mipha to smile at the jump within her heart.
"I said I would heal your heart," she grinned, "and I intend to mend it as best I can. However long that may take."
She stroked Link's golden hair.
"They can tear us apart, if need be."
Link smiled almost with a boyish charm before determinately proclaiming to the empty room, "Let them come."
A kiss from Mipha atop his forehead.
A crookedly mischievous smile.
"I'll know I'll have done so as well," she smirked.