Chapter 8
Music...so harmonic and pearlescent...
Lights...like one thousand stars all whispering at once...
Singing...from reality into dreams...
Ruto's eyes fluttered open as she opened her mouth to speak. Where was she? Wasn't she...dead? She looked down at her chest, expecting the deep wound made by her own hand, but saw only skin, clear and undimmed as ever.
"Where am..." blood spurted from her mouth and she began to choke. Her head throbbed and she felt feverish and hot. Above her, she realized the lights were faeries, all clustered over her in fear. If one person would cry because of your death...
She felt herself flushing with regret; the faeries had healed her. Not on accident, not from a slight brush with her skin, but because they weren't ready to see her pass.
"Don't you see," she gasped, her breath sporadic and uneven, "I don't want to live."
The faeries whispered among each other, their voices twinkling and sweet.
"There is nothing left to save my lord, and I don't wish to live alone forever. No one would want that," Ruto sighed, watching the faeries as they began to flitter away, upset by her saddened words.
Only one stayed. Only one did not fly away. Only one would not leave her. It began to chirp to her in its own tongue.
"I can't understand you," Ruto muttered, "I know you think I shouldn't give up but..." she broke off, "please, I don't know what you're trying to say."
More glimmering sounds and beating of wings, "Listen..."
"What?" Ruto gasped, standing up abruptly.
"There's always something greater..."
Ruto spun on her heels, her eyes narrowing. "Who's there?"
Silence. Pure silence.
Only the wind and the water...
"What do you mean? Who are you?" Ruto grimaced, beginning to pace about. Quiet. Complete Quiet. "I...there's nothing I can do," she sighed, sitting herself down on the fountain's edge. She trailed her feet in the water, feeling a pure sensation trilling up her body. "What's greater then these waters? Filled with faeries and healing waters? These little faeries are..." her heart almost ceased its beating, her breath almost failed to leave her chest, as she leapt up.
"I forgot. These fountains are plentiful, abundant in Hyrule. But Link once told me that there were six fountains in Hyrule that were even more powerful, that could heal all wounds, and even bestow gifts on those who stumbled into them. I must find one," she raced over to Jabu-Jabu, and encased him in the thin sheet. Draping the end of it over her shoulder, and grasping it in her hands, she began to pull the whale from the sanctuary, into the outside sun.
* * * *
"I...can't...go on..." Ruto gasped. The trail that wound up the mountain seemed everlasting, and it was tedious to constantly climb the boulders and obstacles that deterred her from reaching the peak. Not to mention the enormous weight that she had to drag behind her the entire way. She breathed heavily...on top, so far away was a fountain...cool...refreshing...
She collapsed on the ground, her head pounding with heat, her body moist with her own sweat. Only creatures of the thickest skin could survive here...
"SHRIEK!" Ruto bounded up, her hand still ensnared in the sheet. "What are you?"
She'd heard of the residents that resided on Death Mountain. Their minds were dense and their skin as hard as brick. But she'd never actually believed that. Before her, was a stout creature that did fit this bizarre description.
"Do you need help?" Its voice was thick and round, but somehow consoling and real.
"I need to get to the top of this mountain," Ruto stated. She was to rushed and ill to be choosy in the least.
"Follow me."
"You're a Goron?" Ruto asked, her eyes flashing with curiosity. She couldn't help her complete captivation with this rarity before her.
"Yes. I'm a Goron," it nodded to her, continuing its slow but steady pace as it ascended the mountain.
"How do you live here? Will you help me carry this? What's it like?" Ruto became animated, enthralled.
It stared up at her, its eyes an endless midnight black, yet its expression vacant. Slowly moving, it pried her grip from the sheet, and took it in its hand. They continued their trek up to the fountain, never speaking once more.
* * * *
Ruto stood outside a cavern. From inside, she could here dirges, or so they sounded, baleful to the ear and poisoned to the touch. Her feet were plastered to the ground, but her heart was racing ahead, urging her to enter the forbidden place.
She walked forward, inside a darkening passageway, filled with the din of the coronach. Biting her lip, she pressed onward. Abruptly, the tunnel came to an end, and before her was a vast space. Directly in front was a fountain, so enhancive that is was almost hypnotic. Enraptured by the beauty before her, she stepped forward.
The water was so blue that it was almost transparent. The edges of the room were tinged with gold, and they glistened with silvern lights. She ran her hand over an embossed symbol of the Triforce, her entire body quivering under the pressure. Suddenly, ripples spread from the center of the pool, the music changing to a sweet harmony of spirit and life.
The Zora stepped back, hearing a cryptical laughter that descended upon the entire room. From the fountain, a fairy spun upwards. Ruto was tempted to flee right there.
Her hair was pulled into braids, all of the brightest shade of pink, and intertwined with ivy. Her body was clad in a thick armor, gold, silver, and bay in color. Her feet were covered in boots, that reached up to her knees. And her face was covered in vines, her very voice echoing with all of nature.
"I am the Great Faerie, ruler of all I survey. For stumbling upon my oasis, I bestow upon you my healing powers," she began to reach out, her body trembling and surging with vibrance.
"Wait!" Ruto gasped, her voice hoarse and afraid. "I ask of you a favor," she knelt down, cowering before the faerie woman.
"I am doing you one already," she said sourly, glaring at the Zora before her.
"Use your powers not on me, but on my lord, " she pulled the body of Jabu-Jabu closer, unwrapping his great form. "Will you heal him, rather then me?"
"Very well, if that is what you wish," The Great Faerie stretched out her slender hands, summoning power beyond mortal control. Gold powder twinkled from her fingertips, finally encasing the entire body of the whale in its cool shimmer.
Ruto lost track of time, the entire room seemed to spin in and out of oblivion. Had it been mere seconds since she'd arrived? A few minutes until she'd leave? And hour past the time she'd come? It all swirled together, clouding her thoughts.
Soon enough she'd know the Zora's fate...
Eternal imprisonment or liberty?
Soon enough she'd know her fate...
Life or death?
The Faerie snapped her back into reality, as Ruto felt the entire room being pulled forward. The powder filtered from the whale, whispering and sparkling as it dove back into the sacred waters. The faerie's laughter filled the space, almost diabolical, and she watched as the strange woman disappeared into the waters without a trace.
Ruto approached Jabu-Jabu with utmost forethought, not sure if she'd be more afraid to see him twitch to life, or to again see his still form. She stroked his fins, feeling for a sign of life, but feeling nothing. Keeping her movements leveled, she let go and began to back out of the fountain.
What was that? A moan?
She whirled around, her heart beating so rapidly she thought that detonate like a bomb at any second...
Standing so still that the faintest breeze might make her fall, the Zora watched with hungry eyes as the whale began to shake ever so slightly. She could make out his chest rising and falling unevenly. And she knew that he was alive.
She felt a wave of fulfillment, a surge of proudness, and then her entire body filled with complete relief that her life would once again be worth living.
Her body was engulfed in a refreshing, azure light, and she felt herself toppling in all directions but never falling.
Never again could she possibly fall.
Not now that she had her life back.
