Prince Sidon hopped into the waters of East Reservoir Lake, helping Zelda onto his back, then Link. They were back to back, with Zelda secured tightly facing backwards in the saddle with the Sheikah slate securely attached to wrist. Link was facing front, ready with his Zora Armor, Lynel bow, shock arrows, and paraglider.
"Are you ready?" Sidon called back to them, the rushing waters of Vah Ruta ahead of them loud enough in their ears that he had to shout.
He heard their cries of "Ready!" and shouted, "Ladies and gentleman, keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle! We'll be off in three... two...one!" He shot forward, reaching maximum speed within seconds as Zelda and Link felt the wind and splashes of water rushing at them.
They were close enough before they knew it, and Ruta had detected them with a loud trumpet blast. The massive nearly square ice blocks materialized at the side of the giant elephant as Zelda readied the Cryonis rune. She was having trouble aiming at them because they hurled her way much faster than she was expecting, but she managed to destroy the first round of blocks just before they made contact.
With the ice destroyed successfully, Sidon swam like a liquid arrow toward the first of four waterfalls. They reached it within a matter of seconds. Link hopped off Sidon's back and into the water in a single, swift movement. He swam up the waterfall as Sidon and Zelda waited at the bottom for him to float back down to them on the paraglider.
"You're doing a superb job, Princess!" Sidon shouted back at her, while Link was out of earshot up the waterfall, and she grinned.
Link opened his paraglider at the top of his jump, carefully aiming at the orb in midair as time slowed around him. He took too long doing so, and he quickly grew tired, missing the first shot. He frantically tried to avoid falling out of the sky from lack of energy to hold on to the paraglider. He landed in the water in front of Sidon and Zelda with a loud splash, and Sidon easily scooped him up onto his back.
Sidon encouraged him. "It's okay, Link. We'll go again. It was your first try." They swam back around Vah Ruta, circling it like a cyclone as they rushed around Vah Ruta through the water.
Zelda again broke every ice block as they violently hurled toward them, with the Divine Beast obviously not appreciating their relentless intrusion. Zelda was better prepared for the speed of the ice blocks this time, destroying them all with ease, and they made their way to another waterfall.
This time Link was better at his timing, and with time slowing while aiming his arrow, he easily hit the orb at the top, supplying it with the power of electricity and stopping the water flow above the first waterfall. Zelda and Sidon let out a whoop as the water stopped flowing in front of them, and Link landed in the water again, opening his paraglider just before he hit the water.
They worked together perfectly, breaking the ice again and stopping the flow of water one more time without a hitch. They were halfway done.
Vah Ruta trumpeted again, wildly enraged, and she began hurling the spiked ice bombs. Zelda found they were almost as easy for her to shatter as the normal blocks had been. She easily destroyed them before they came close to the three of them, until one hurled their way that she didn't see.
"Watch that ice!" Sidon shouted the warning as it came closer to them. She heard a loud beeping sound in her ear gradually getting louder and saw the spiked bomb at the last second, destroying it just before it exploded.
"Close call, Ari! Try to keep an eye on your periphery!" She nodded and took a deep breath, and Sidon again swam to the next waterfall, with Link swimming upward and effortlessly electrifying the third orb several seconds later, with the ancient elephant's enraged trumpet sounding again.
Link climbed back onto Sidon as the Zora shouted, "Well done! One to go! How are you feeling?" They gave affirmative cries as he took off like a bullet in East Reservoir Lake. They furiously coursed through the water on a thrill ride neither Link nor Zelda ever thought they'd experience.
None of them expected Vah Ruta to hurl ice blocks and bombs at the same time, but that was exactly what she did in her desperate, last-ditch attempt to prevent its last orb from being activated. The blocks aimed for Sidon's head and the bombs aimed for his tail. Zelda had to swing herself around widely back and forth to face in front of her and then behind her while in the saddle.
"Let's finish this!" Link shouted. As fun as this was, he was ready for the wild ride to be over.
Zelda destroyed each bomb one by one effortlessly and thought she was finished, but she heard the sound of beeping again getting closer to them. She took aim, but the saddle slightly shifted in Sidon's rush to get away from the bomb, and the slight jolt made her miss. Sidon noticed what was happening a little too late, and the bomb exploded right next to them before he could attempt to swim far enough away from it to lessen the impact. The force of the blast sent her and Sidon hurling through the water and landing on his side hard against the top of water. Link lost his grip before Sidon landed and quickly opened his paraglider, landing softly in the lake.
Sidon was a little bruised but otherwise fine.
"Are you hurt?" Sidon shouted back to Zelda on his back as he swam toward an unharmed Link and scooped him up. Zelda didn't respond. The impact of the side of her head hard against the water at the speeds they had reached made her lose consciousness.
"Ari!" Link shouted desperately.
"We're heading to the shore, Link! She needs help!" Sidon's voice was urgent. Link turned around, watching as her head bobbed helplessly with Sidon's furious swim to the shore. He tried his hardest to hold onto Sidon and hold her head steady. Hold on Ari! Please! With only one orb left they had nearly finished, but this break was beyond necessary.
They reached the shore in what seemed to Link like ages, and they were greeted by a small crowd of concerned Zora who had been watching the entire performance. An older Zora doctor came rushing forward to the lakeshore to check on Zelda. She was starting to regain consciousness and fluttered her eyes open, to Sidon and Link's relief. She was surprised to see a small crowd of mostly unfamiliar concerned Zora faces above her, along with Link and Sidon.
She weakly shouted she was okay, but her vision was blurry. Link removed the slate from her wrist and placed it back onto his hip to get it out of the way, and he and Sidon helped her to her feet. She slowly stood up to the wild applause of the gathered crowd. Instant dizziness struck her, and she couldn't stop herself from the sudden violent round of vomit that escaped her.
Someone shouted, "Get her to the infirmary! Now!" That was all Zelda heard before everything went black for the second time.
..
Zelda was hooked up to cords and monitors that were beeping faintly in the background of her mind as she woke up, then slowly became louder in her ears as she entered into reality. She slowly opened her eyes, finding herself in an unfamiliar bed, with Link and Sidon sitting in chairs beside her.
Link beamed at her. "Ari! Oh thank Hylia! He bent down to kiss her softly, and he embraced her gently.
"Glad to see you're finally awake, sleepyhead," Prince Sidon joked with a wide smile.
"What happened?" Zelda frowned, confused and without any memory of what had occured. The last thing she remembered was riding on Sidon's back trying to destroy ice bombs.
Prince Sidon relayed the story, and then Link told her the news that she had been asleep for three days. She suffered a major concussion when her head hit the water surface after the bomb exploded next to them.
"Three days? What about Vah Ruta?"
Sidon explained, "We waited by your bedside constantly for the first two days. Vah Ruta was showing signs of attempting to deactivate the orbs that we had already activated. The doctor reassured us that you were going to be okay and nearly shoved us out the door to take care of the last orb. Master Link and I were able to activate it this morning, with Link taking on the task of manipulating the controls on the Sheikah slate and destroying the ice, in addition to swimming up the last waterfall and shooting the remaining orb. The uncontrolled waters of Vah Ruta are no more. The Divine Beast is still spraying recycled water from its trunk, but with the cascades of water from the waterfalls gone, it is no longer a threat. Not to mention the constant rainfall plaguing our region has stopped."
Zelda breathed a sigh of relief, then said, "I'm so sorry I failed—"
Link interrupted her. "Don't even say that, Ari. You accomplished so much. You destroyed most of the ice all on your own. We just had an accident. It's not your fault at all."
Sidon agreed, and Link brought her hand to his lips and kissed it sweetly. "You were absolutely incredible out there, my love. Don't ever doubt yourself again." His eyes were full of pure adoration. Zelda's stomach fluttered. He called me "his love" again.
"I assume you both were okay then? Was it just me causing trouble?" Zelda laughed. Sidon chuckled and said as a Zora he was made for hitting the water, and he explained how Link used his paraglider to land safely. Zelda breathed a sigh of relief as she reached for them to give them each a hug.
There was a knock at the door as a kindly looking older Zora doctor stepped into the room. "Ah, wonderful! You're awake! I see that Bone Balm and Bruise Balm Sir Link put on your head has worked! I've never seen anything like it. Where on earth did you find something like that? I asked Sir Link the same question, and he told me you made them, but I am curious where you really got them from."
She looked at him seriously. "I did make them." She asked Link to get her travel bag out of the Sheikah slate, and he did. She brought out her research notebook where she had kept detailed notes on her formulations, and Link took a few other varieties of balms out of the slate to show the doctor. He could only stare, gaping at her as he briefly scanned the notes and materials in front of him.
"Well, I stand corrected. This is...unbelievable!" He had a huge smile on his face. Link and Sidon exchanged glances.
"Thanks, but it's really just a hobby of mine," Zelda replied humbly.
"Forgive me, but if you really wanted to, you could market these. Those Balms repaired your concussion within a matter of hours, and you only needed a long sleep to fully recover. I've never seen such a thing!
The doctor cleared his throat. "If I may, in the future I would be interested in placing an order for use on a large scale for my patients. Consider this a down payment." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a large handful of gold rupees.
The doctor continued. "I realize you have a…rather important job to do. I don't expect you to fulfill any orders before your mission is complete. Please contact me when you find the time. But by all means, please, take the rupees as a thank you in advance."
She stared, mouth open and wide-eyed at the rupees and then at him. She was shocked at the offer and couldn't speak for a moment. Her father had always discouraged her passions, continually pushing her to focus on awakening her power for over a decade. She only wished he could see her now.
"Doctor, I'm at a loss for words. Nobody has ever offered anything like this to me before. I would be honored to make them for you and your patients. Just let me know what varieties of balms you'd like, and I will make them as soon as I can."
She tentatively took the gold rupees, which the slate told her was equivalent to over ten thousand rupees! That was more than Link paid for their home!
Link and Sidon were positively beaming at her as she and the doctor spoke. Zelda thought of how good it felt for her passion for research and developing medicines to be acknowledged and praised instead of discouraged.
"Thank you, kind sir. I-I don't know what to say."
"You really have something there. Thank you for allowing me the honor of seeing it firsthand." The doctor shook her hand. He continued. "Now then. Let's see how you're doing." After a brief examination, he unhooked her from all of the wires and monitors that had been attached to her. "You are free to go. Everything looks good. You are completely healed, thanks to that miraculous medicine of yours."
The Zora doctor turned to walk away, then faced her once more. "Oh and uh, Ari, is it? Thank you, and of course Prince Sidon and Sir Link here, for stopping the waters of Vah Ruta. You saved our village."
Prince Sidon bent down to her ear and whispered so only she could hear. "He knows who you are. Don't worry, Link doesn't." Her eyes grew wide.
Prince Sidon and Link helped her to her feet. They left the infirmary to the sound of roaring applause from the small crowd of Zora that had gathered outside, and she even saw Muzu among them smiling kindly at the three of them as they passed.