Worlds
Apart
Part II
By Miss Lydia
Chapter 19
Link pulled himself into the third floor corridor with a grunt. He wasn't in the most pleasant of moods, and wanted to finish off whatever was causing trouble in this temple. In fact, he was ready to go tell Ganondorf a thing or two right now.
He raked his fingers through his wet hair and twisted around. Lydia had appeared and was trying to haul herself out of the water. Link grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the hallway. Clinging to her ankle was Gordon. The sorcerer was holding onto his sister with one arm, and holding the huge ruby under the other. Link carefully slipped his hands under Gordon's arms and pulled him in, while being extremely careful not to touch the ruby. He was still standing by his vow not to have anything to do with the thing, and had been going out of his way to avoid even touching it.
Lydia squeezed the water from her hair, then started down the corridor. "Are you guys ready?"
"Of course," Gordon called up to her. "...Hey, do we have any idea what we're supposed to be ready for?"
Link and Lydia stopped abruptly and turned around. They looked at the sorcerer, then at each other. "Hey...," Lydia said, "...Squirt's got a point. Do we even know what's behind those doors?"
Link shrugged. "Whatever's in this temple drained the lake and froze Zora's Domain. Does it really matter what it is?"
"No, I guess not."
Gordon shifted the ruby to a more comfortable spot. "Link's right, as usual. I was just curious. I mean, it could be some kind of monster, a minion of Ganondorf's. Perhaps it isn't. Maybe there's just some magical ward that has to be broken instead."
His sister rolled her eyes. "Come on, G. Why would Ganondorf put a magical ward here when he could put a monster here, instead? He's too sick for that."
Link looked the sorcerer in the eye. "There's really no way to know yet."
Lydia turned and moved down the corridor again. "The sooner we figure out how to open those doors, the sooner we get that question answered."
The boys looked at each other, then followed.
The two enormous iron doors once again came into view up ahead. The trio stopped in front of them. The doors towered high above their heads and looked very forbidding. They had a strange presense of peace to them, and seemed to have an evil atmosphere at the same time.
The sorceress tapped her toes on the floor. "Well, how do we get in?"
After a moment of silence, Link reached up and knocked on the door loudly, then waited, as if expecting a response.
Lydia laughed at him. "What are you doing, Hyrulean? Do you expect the evil monster to open the door and invite us all in for tea and cookies?"
The Hero of Time raised an eyebrow at her. "We don't know what's in there, right? I was just testing it."
"You really do try everything, don't you?"
Link wasn't really listening to her. Instead, he was gazing at the perfectly round hole in the center of the rightmost door. Lydia glanced over and saw that her brother was doing the same thing.
"What do you make of it?" Link asked openly.
Gordon looked the hole over, then glanced at the ruby under his arm. "Wait a minute....," He stepped forward without further words. He lifted the ruby and rammed it into the hole. It was a perfect fit. The ruby slid in and sat snugly in the circular lock.
Almost immediately, the room rumbled slightly and the huge iron doors vibrated. Something unhitched, and the iron doors swung inward with a loud groan of rust and age.
The sorcerer balled his hands into fists, jammed them onto his hips, and beamed brightly. Beside him, his sister looked over at Link and pointed at her brother with her thumb.
"Triforce of Wisdom," she said.
"Let's just face it," Gordon said with a cocky tone, "I'm good."
"You're good," Link agreed.
"Shall we move along, then?"
The group took a few steps into the next room, and suddenly, Gordon stopped and stared at the ruby embedded in the right door. Lydia and Link followed his gaze in time to watch it slowly dissolve. Red dust sparkled in a pile on the stone floor.
Gordon bit his nail, both in astonishment and disappointment. "So much for that,"
Link sighed loudly. "Good. That thing's very presence had my nerves going."
"At least now no more Zoras will come in here." He looked down at the pile of dust on the floor. His face softened and fell. "Still....something like that was probably worth a lot....,"
His sister's arm landed around his shoulders. "I know. Forget it. We have an evil something-or-other to vanquish."
Link cracked his knuckles and adjusted his gauntlets. "Bring it on!"
The room the iron doors had behind them was about half as large as the room the shadow of Link had been in. There was a platform running around the perimeter of the room, then four square platforms near the center. All the rest was a large pool of water.
As soon as they were in, they heard another rumbling and creak behind them. They spun around in time to see the huge iron doors slam shut and lock again.
"With the ruby gone," Lydia guessed, "nothing was holding those doors open."
"Grreeaattt," Gordon moaned. "Now we're locked in here."
They moved ahead and stood next to Link, who was watching the pool of water. His gaze was hard and expectant. "There's something here," he whispered.
Lydia stood next to him and looked the entire room over. The walkway around the perimeter was lined with—what else—iron spikes. Her eyes prodded every wall for a sign of life.
But there was nothing. Just water, lapping quietly against the edges of the platforms.
"....I don't see a thing," she said quietly. She fingered the Sorcerer's Rune nervously.
Gordon appeared next to her. "Nor I."
The Hylian shook his head gently. "I'm not too sure about it....but it feels like there's something....." He walked forward and leapt to one of the square platforms in the pool. Link dropped down to one knee and stared down into the water.
The sorcerers looked at each other questioningly, then followed.
Link stood up to meet them, then shook his head. "I don't see anything, but I can't shake the feeling that we're not alone in here."
Lydia absently tugged at her earring and looked around the room. "We're probably not alone, if this place follows the pattern of all the other crap we've dealt with."
Gordon glanced about. "Maybe a spirit of some kind....?"
He looked over at Link for an answer, and saw the Hylian stiffen. Holding completely still and silent, his eyes darted back and forth. Every nerve ending in his body was screaming at him.
The sorceress saw, too. "Link?"
"Shh...." Link raised one hand. "I can hear it...."
The sorcerers moved close to him and prepared themselves for whatever was in the room with them, without the knowledge of who or what it was.
After a moment of nerve-wracking silence, Link spoke very quietly. "When I give the word, jump back to the outer edge of the room as quickly as you can."
Lydia felt like she'd explode from the horrible fear she was feeling of the unknown. What was coming for them? How will they defeat it?
Link's shout knocked her back into alertness. "Now!"
For the first moment, the sorceress forgot how to move. Link paused long enough to shove her, to get her started – she ran and leapt off the platform, next to her brother, toward the outer walkway. As the sorcerers landed safely by the door, they heard Link cry out, then there was a thud.
The sorcerers spun around in the blink of an eye. Link was still on the platform in the center of the pool, sprawled out on his stomach. He was digging his fingers into the tiles of the floor – something was pulling him. He flew up in the air, upside down. Whatever it was had a good hold on his ankle.
It was a huge tentacle, made of water. It had wormed its way from the water pool and tried to sneak up on them. If Link hadn't felt it coming, it would have gotten all three of them. It was only able to snag him, and was now swinging him around by his leg.
Lydia's chest felt like it was caving in. It wouldn't have gotten him if I had just moved faster!
Gordon appeared next to her and swung his arm back to throw a spell, but Lydia caught his wrist. "Don't! Link's up there, too!"
The tentacle reared back and threw Link, screaming, across the room, where he slammed into the far wall. Again showing his incredible stamina, he was on his feet in seconds and had his sword drawn. The tentacle receded and sunk back into the depths of the pool, blending with the rest of the water.
The sorcerers darted around the perimeter of the room until they reached him. The trio stood together and watched another tentacle, larger this time, rise from the very center of the water.
Lydia edged up to Link's shoulder. "What is that thing?"
"No idea," Link replied. "It doesn't look like it has an obvious weak spot, either. How are we supposed to—" He stopped midsentence and stared at the water with sudden realization.
Gordon leaned over and asked, "What is it?"
"Now I get it!!" Link watched the tentacle sway back and forth, slowly getting closer to them. "Like I said before, the Zoras aren't a greedy race. They'd never come in here after that ruby just for its worth. They knew it was the key to get at this monster! They wanted to fix their home! They didn't want to wait for the legend to come true. They didn't want to wait for the Hero of Time to come and do it!"
"So they came in themselves and were killed while trying to find the key – the ruby!" Gordon looked at Link and Lydia with new motivation reflecting in his green eyes. "We're the first ones to get this far!"
Link twirled the Master Sword in his hands. "Those brave Zoras must be avenged!"
Lydia rubbed her hands together and snarled at the water monster. "Let's do it!"
The trio split off. Link and Gordon ran over to one side – Lydia to the other. The tentacle followed the sorceress to her side of the room.
"Guys, stand back!" she shouted to the other side of the room. "I've wanted to do this since we set foot in this temple!" The water tentacle wobbled back and forth and reared back to grab her. "Deliver O Wind, at my command, the power of lighting into my hand!" The tentacle started down on her and took hold of her waist, then lifted her up into the air.
"Played right into my trap, sucker!" she shouted cockily at it. "Digger Volt!!"
The electricity sparked from her arms, legs, and waist, traveled down the tentacle, and spread across the entire pool of water. The tentacle actually made noise then – a nasty sounding moan and shriek – then it started flailing back and forth, throwing the sorceress away.
"Levitation!"
After landing softly next to the wide-eyed boys, she slapped her hands on her hips. "Was that great, or what?"
"Now that—," Gordon said with a smile, "—was cheese."
Lydia shrugged in a 'whatever' sort of way.
Link couldn't help but laugh as he watched the tentacle sway back and forth as the electricity continued to spark all over the water. "That was pretty sneaky."
"Sneaky is my middle name," the sorceress said. Her smile disappeared suddenly. "Hey...do you see that?"
As the lighting started to die down, something started massing near the bottom of the pool. Particles of material in the water gathered together into a basketball-sized round object. The red and blue colored ball swirled around for a moment as the tentacle that had grabbed Lydia fell apart and landed back in the water. The ball "swam" over to the trio's end of the room, and a new tentacle formed. As it reached up out of the water, the ball swam right up into the tentacle and hung there.
Link tensed. "That must be its core!"
The tentacle reared back and swung down, slamming into only tile floor – the group had jumped in different directions to avoid it.
Gordon was on his feet in seconds. "That's what we aim for! Go for the core!"
The group split apart again. The two sorcerers fired many times at the round nucleus of the monster, but all the spells were blocked or absorbed by the water surrounding it. Link shot his arrows, but the water just caught them and sucked them in, like some kind of horror movie blob.
"That core's gotta come OUT if we're gonna hit it!" Lydia shouted, backing away from the pool. "As long as it's in there, it's well defended!"
Gordon watched the tentacle swing at Link, who easily jumped out of its path. "How could we get it out...?" Then, an idea struck him, just like the tentacle was about to. He jumped out of the way – a near miss – and waved to Link. "Can you snag it with something?"
"Well, I have an idea how," the Hylian shouted back, standing protectively in front of Lydia as the tentacle came close, "but it won't work while this thing is moving so much!"
Lydia looked around Link's shoulder. "Why don't you ask it really nicely to stand still?"
Link twisted his neck and looked back at her, then smiled evilly. "Why don't you distract it?" With those words, he dug something out from under his shield, threw it to Gordon, then ran off somewhere to the side.
The sorceress stood there, no longer hidden behind the Hylian. She felt very exposed as the tentacle swayed in front of her. "Oh boy. Distract it? What am I supposed to do...?"
The water tentacle shuddered in the pool. It's red and blue nucleus hovered inside, silently taunting her.
Lydia breathed in deeply, hoping to draw a little extra courage from somewhere in the air, then started shouting.
"Hey, tall, slimy, and gross!" she yelled at the monster.
It stilled completely and seemed to stare at her with unseen eyes.
"You sorry excuse for a booger!" she continued ranting. She jumped around tauntingly. "You couldn't catch a cold! Too slow!" The tentacle swung down at her, but she easily avoided it. "Do you expect to kill me? Ha! You couldn't kill time if you wanted to!"
The nucleus stopped moving completely. Likewise, the tentacle seemed to freeze in place. It towered above the cocky sorceress, as if anticipating the kill it was planning to make. Time to shut her mouth once and for all.
Lydia had never asked nicely, but the thing was finally standing still.
From the left side of the room came one of Link's ice arrows. The blue-coated projectile struck the base of the tentacle. The monster shrieked as the ice creeped up to the top and held the whole thing taunt.
From the right side of the room, the sharp end of the Hookshot broke through the coating of ice and plunged into the core. At the other end of the chain was Gordon. With a flick of his wrist, the chain retracted, and the core was pulled out of the frozen tentacle, where it plopped down on the floor at the sorcerer's feet. He unhooked his flail from his belt, swung it in circle by the chain, then brought it down hard on the core.
The large nucleus buckled under the swing of the spiked ball, then bounced back into shape with a shriek. It began to bounce away frantically, trying to get back into the pool. Gordon swung his flail like a tennis racket, and managed to knock it away from the water, into the nearby wall. It bounced off the wall, and away, toward the farther corner of the pool, to try to get in again.
There, it was met by Link and his Master Sword. He swung down at it vertically, but the thing did a quick side-roll, and the sword hit the tiles.
"Why you little—!"
He lifted the sword slightly and swung sideways at it, just narrowly missing it as it leapt back into the pool of water and disappeared.
"Damn!"
He ran off to join the sorcerers. Clustered by the door, the trio watched the pool intently, waiting for something to happen. They weren't disappointed.
Right away, the nucleus reappeared near the surface, in the very center of the room. A huge tentacle formed, and the core moved up inside.
"Hmph. Same old thing," Lydia scoffed.
As if responding to her, a second tentacle formed next to the first. And then another, and another, and another, until the room was littered with them.
The adventurers pressed their backs against the wall. They were greatly outnumbered now, and the tentacle containing the core was in the center of the mess, where it would not be easily attacked. They swirled around each other, all the while clustering closer to their attackers, determined to finish them off.
Lydia cleared her throat briskly. "I can't distract ALL of them this time, I hope you know."
All at once, the tentacles attacked. Link and the sorcerers ran in separate directions, trying to avoid them, dodging this way and that. Link swung his sword, and the sorcerers fired spells. Gordon even threw a good-sized fireball, but the water in the room just neutralized the spell. Eventually, all three of them had water tentacles wrapped around their bodies and were lifted from the ground. The tentacles raised them high, but didn't swing or throw them. They just held the trio up there, near the ceiling. The three tentacles that held them moved to the center of the room, where the others gathered and circled around them, shrieking something awful.
"So!" Lydia shouted, kicking her legs. She looked over at her brother, who was also squirming around. "Any ideas?" Gordon shook his head, then continued trying to wrench himself free. The sorceress turned to Link. "What about you, Hero?"
Link's eyes darted back and forth. Below him, the other water tentacles circled and swarmed together. He searched for the one that held the core. There were too many – he just couldn't spot it. He lifted his head and found Gordon.
"Try that spell you used when we defeated Volvagia!" he shouted to him.
Gordon thought back for a moment, and recalled the spell he had used. Ice traveled across the floor like a spider web, then up Volvagia's front legs, which had been clamped to the ground.
"The Van Rehl?" he shouted back. "Not in the position we're in, unless you don't mind being frozen solid along with these things!"
"I have an idea!" Lydia shouted, kicking at the closest tentacle. "If we can't freeze the water, we can vaporize it!"
Link awkwardly swung his sword at a nearby tentacle, slashing right through it. "Maybe...that really big spell you used in the Ice Cavern...!"
Gordon's eyes widened as his tentacle swung him around slightly. "The Burst Flare!"
Lydia mumbled a spell under her breath, then looked up fiercely. "First chance I get, these things will be toasted!"
The tentacles held them in the air for a few more moments, then began to swing them around violently. The water seemed to moan and yell as a whole. The shrieking sound was awful – if exposed to the sound for a long period of time, a man would go mad. The surrounding tentacles circled faster and faster, then all at once, the three in the center slammed their three attackers together hard. The tentacles watched with unseen eyes as the one in the center recovered quickly, grabbed hold of the other two, and shouted something.
"Flare Seal!"
The three tentacles in the center pulled them apart and continued swinging them in circles, preparing to smash them against the wall and destroy them. They had been enough of an annoyance.
All the while, the one in the center kept making noise. "Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright! Let thy power gather in my hand and become an inferno!"
The tentacles all shrieked at once, ready to kill.
"Burst Flare!!"
***
Ruto shifted her weight – her feet were getting tired from standing around for so long. She had been standing at the edge of the dried Lake Hylia for quite some time now, all the while afraid for the safety of her fiancé, who was risking himself in there.
Serious worry had set in a long time before. She began pacing back and forth impatiently.
"They shouldn't be taking this long," she said aloud. "Could something have happened? I really hope that dear Link is all right. The sorcerers too, the boy and the girl. I don't know—"
Her thoughts were interrupted by a rumbling from inside the water temple. A terrible explosion followed. Ruto ran to the edge of the lake and gazed down at the temple's entrance.
There was a rush of heat, and then the water around the entrance started boiling. What little was left of the water in the lake began to drain completely – it was all evaporating into the air. Once the lake was fully dry, huge flames and smoke continued to pour out of the iron gates that had once been blocking the temple entrance.
The Zora princess, gaping in horror, watched until the flames had burned themselves out, leaving only the smoke. "Wh..What the...?!" Her fear for her fiancé and the two humans from another world grew to an extreme. Whatever happened in there...there was no way any of them were still alive after that.
Even so, she continued to wait. She continued to watch and wait, her hope diminishing with each passing minute.
***
Back inside the temple, the three floors of water was now completely dried out. All the water that had once filled the area was hanging near the ceiling in a heavy mist of vapor. The Zora skeletons scattered in the traps had been burned to dust and ash, thereby given their final peace. Through the corridor on the third floor, through two huge iron doors, which had been blown completely off their hinges, a large pool of water was dry and empty. Sitting in the bottom were a Hylian and two humans, laughing amongst themselves about the victory.
"That'll teach them to mess with the Hyrulean Heroes!" Lydia laughed, looking up at the huge cloud of mist at the ceiling that had just before been the water tentacles.
Link waved the surrounding smoke away from his face. He didn't say anything, but kept his eyes on the vapor hanging to the ceiling.
Gordon brushed the dust and soot from his jeans. "So, the monster's been destroyed. Now what? Do you suppose the lake is restored? What about the Zoras?"
Lydia stood up, coughing from the smoke. "We won't find out sitting here. Let's get out of this place. I'll be happy to leave it behind."
Gordon flew up and out of the empty pool and stood on the outer platform, near the destroyed iron doors. Lydia hung back, stroking the pink ribbon tied to the hilt of her longsword.
"Yeah," she whispered to herself. "I still have a promise to keep." She sucked in a breath and turned to Link. "Come on, Hero, let's get out of here."
Link didn't reply. He didn't even hear her. He just kept his eyes glued on the mist at the ceiling.
Lydia strolled over and flicked the tip of his ear. "Hello? Link? Let's go! I know you don't want to stay."
Link looked up at her, then at the mist, then at her again. "Yeah...yeah, let's leave." He stood up slowly and let Lydia grasp his wrist. She flew them out of the pool, and together, they started walking through the now reopened doorway. Scattered in their path were pieces of debris and chunks of the wall that had fallen off in the flames. They sidestepped everything and kept moving forward –
Until Link stopped and perked his ears up.
The sorcerers had learned to recognize that body language. Something wasn't right.
Something grabbed Lydia and dragged her back, screaming. Link reacted quickly and grabbed her arm, then pulled hard. Gordon grabbed the other arm. A game of tug-of-war began with a really large water tentacle on the other side. It had risen out of the empty pool and come after them. The mist at the ceiling was condensing, and raining back into the empty hole, slowly refilling it. The core reappeared and swam up into the tentacle that had a hold of the sorceress's waist. It shrieked with the revenge it wanted.
Lydia glanced over her shoulder. There weren't dozens of tentacles this time. Just the one, although it was larger than any so far. "I don't believe it! How did it survive a Burst Flare that was fired right in its face??"
The tentacle wrenched her arms from the boys' grips, and swung her up high. It repeatedly slammed her against the ceiling, determined to make the death slow and painful.
Gordon was at the edge of the pool almost instantly. "Freeze Bleed!" The ball of ice struck the tentacle at the base, freezing it. But it broke out quickly and began swinging around and shrieking. It swung Lydia down near the floor and used her to slam her brother away and into the wall.
Link watched it all in horror as it kept on slamming the sorceress into walls and the surrounding platforms, trying to kill her. It wanted revenge for that little spell she had used on it.
The nucleus changed colors back and forth, then started charging with electricity. No more playing around with the girl it had in its clutches. Time to destroy her.
As he watched, Link heard her voice in his head again.
Just…promise me. Promise me that you'll always be there to protect me.
Link screamed with anger, and the power of the Triforce of Courage flared up. The mark appeared on his forehead and filled the room with light. In seconds, he had the Master Sword out and was holding it by the blade, which was shimmering brightly with power. With a shout, he heaved the sword with all his might.
It plunged into the tentacle, and through the core. The power of the Triforce of Courage carried the sword all the way through the tentacle, and helped it fly across the room. The sword's tip stuck in the tiles of the wall and hung there, several feet off the ground. Impaled about halfway down the blade's length was the core, squirming in agony.
The tentacle stopped moving and hung in midair. Lydia, seeing her chance, tried to get out of its grasp, but even without its core to control it, it kept its tight grip.
Below her, Gordon was already moving. The sorcerer was running along the perimeter of the room toward where the Master Sword had stuck in the wall. As he ran, the Triforce of Wisdom flared, and the mark glimmered on his forehead. When he got close, he cast the levitation spell and got high enough to grab the handle of the Master Sword. Then, the Triforce of Wisdom released its power.
Yellow-colored energy flared up from his palms and swirled around the sword, then traveled down the length of the blade, where it hit the nucleus. The thing shrieked loudly and shuddered violently as its power was drained. Then, it disintegrated into little fragments and fell down to the floor, where it melted into nothing.
Back in the pool, the water tentacle lost its tenacity and fell apart. All the water swirled around in a column that extended up to the ceiling. The ceiling was soon coated with water as the pool emptied. The water on the ceiling slowly condensed into one big drop in the center, which fell back into the empty pool and disappeared.
The mark of the Triforce of Courage slowly dimmed and vanished, and Link's hair fell back into place. He quickly moved to the edge of the pool and looked down inside. Lydia was sitting in the center of the empty pool. Dazed and bruised, but otherwise all right, she looked back up at him and waved one of her sore arms.
"And another one bites the dust!" she shouted.
In record time, Link was down in the empty pool and helping her stand. "Are you all right?" he asked, his forehead wrinkled with worry.
"I feel like I was just beaten up by a large booger," she replied with a smile, "but I think I'm fine." She reached up and patted his shoulder. "....Thanks. I really don't know what to say besides that."
Link had one of those aw-shucks smiles on his face. "That's all I need."
The sorceress turned and looked up to find her brother. She saw him up on the wall. He was holding the handle of the sword and had his feet planted up on the wall. He grimaced as he tried to yank it free of the tiles. It was pretty well wedged in there, though.
"Hey!" she shouted. "You were really cool! Thanks!"
Gordon let go of the sword with one hand and waved it. "I don't think you deserved it, but I helped save you anyway. You should thank me!" He gave the Master Sword a hard yank, and it slipped free, sending the sorcerer tumbling back to the perimeter platform.
Lydia pressed her lips together. "You little worm. You're just begging to get pounded!"
The sorcerer jumped down and joined them. "I don't have to ask. You like to pound me in any case." He smiled at her. "You're welcome." He then handed Link the sword. "So....what now?"
Something began humming behind them. When they turned around, they saw a familiar circle of blue light. The same thing had appeared after Volvagia was defeated. It had taken Link to the Chamber of the Sages to meet with Darunia, the Sage of Fire.
Link's eyed dulled as he moved toward it. "That's my cue. Time to go meet the Water Sage."
Lydia shook her head and took hold of his arm. "Oh, no. That's our cue," she corrected. "You're not going without us this time."
Gordon appeared on her other side. "The three of us are a team, after all."
"Of course," Link replied. "Let's go then. I want to leave this place and never come back."
"You're not the only one."
The three stepped into the blue ring of light, were encased in a blue crystal of energy, and vanished into thin air.
***
Link remembered this place well. This was his third visit to the Chamber of Sages. The sorcerers, on the other hand, had never seen it before, and were visibly fascinated by their surroundings. They stood on a large Triforce platform and were surrounded by six other platforms of various colors. They appeared to be large medallions of Light, Fire, Water, Forest, Shadow, and Spirit.
The blue medallion platform of Water started glowing with the ring of blue light, and the Sage of Water rose up to meet them.
Everyone's jaw dropped.
"You!" Lydia said in surprise and awe.
Princess Ruto smiled at them. "Dear Link," she said quietly, "there is nothing I could ever do that would fully demonstrate the extent of my gratitude. My thanks also go to your two friends. Because you destroyed the evil monster that inhabited the Water Temple, Zora's Domain and the other Zoras will return to their original state." She fluttered her fins proudly. "As a token of my thanks, I grant my eternal love to you."
Lydia, still clinging to Link's arm like a child, could feel him stiffen. She looked up at him and saw him swallow hard. She had an idea of what he was thinking. Out of respect for Ruto, she let go of his arm and stood quietly. This is just something he had to deal with on his own.
"At least," Ruto added quietly, "that's what I'd like to say. I'm afraid I can't offer that now."
Link slowly let out the breath he had been holding.
"I must stay here as the Water Sage," she continued. "I regret that I cannot spend the rest of my life with you, as I've long hoped to."
"I..I..um...," Link was trying to think of something to say, but the situation was so awkward. What could he say to her?
"All I want," Ruto said, "is a promise from you. Promise me that you will restore Hyrule. Promise me that Ganon will be defeated."
Link straightened up and let his eyes beam. "That's a promise that I made to the people of Hyrule long ago, and to myself. In addition, I personally promise it to you."
"Thank you. I expected no less from you. Also, Mr. Gordon? Will you promise me to keep a leash on that sister of yours?"
Gordon sniggered loudly and nodded. Lydia snarled, but kept otherwise silent.
The Zora turned her head and met Lydia's eyes. "May I also ask a promise of you?"
Lydia raised an eyebrow and glanced over at her brother, who only shrugged. "Me? What do you ask of me? Well, okay, but only if I can be without the leash."
"As a fellow woman," Ruto continued, "I've noticed your feelings. I can read the signs. So, I expect that asking this promise from you is not too much. Will you please promise me one thing – promise me that you will take care of dear Link for me."
That was the last thing the sorceress had expected to hear, especially from her. For the first moment, she didn't even react. Her mouth gaped open, and she turned to Link. His face was turned away in a sorry attempt to hide the fact that he was blushing horribly. Gordon was smiling to himself. "You can handle that, right, Lydia?" he asked her quietly, still keeping the sly smile on his face.
Lydia turned back and tried to look macho, clearing her throat. "Um, yes, I can promise you that." She reached up and playfully ruffled Link's hair. "I'll keep him out of trouble."
Ruto smiled at her. "Thank you so much, I know you will have no problems." Her smile disappeared slowly and her face wrinkled to shame. "..I...I'm sorry I acted like I hated you before...it was very childish."
"You did hate me," she replied with a laugh. "What's to be sorry for?"
The Zora smiled again. "I'm so glad you understand." Her face turned serious again. "One more thing I will do for you is to utilize the power that was keeping the lake empty to strengthen your own force."
Gordon nudged his sister with his elbow. "Just like before. Remember after Volvagia's defeat, our power grew?"
Lydia nodded wordlessly, and kept listening.
The Zora princess looked truly happy. "Thank you all. I never will be able to thank you enough for saving my race."
The three felt the ground disappear from beneath their feet, and everything went white. Ruto's voice echoed at them from the distance. "Please keep your promises to me."
***
In the sky, the sun was beginning to head westward, preparing to set and let the darkness loose. A sound was heard in Lake Hylia – a sound that broke the silence and solitude. It was a sound of rushing water. Slowly, sparkling clear water filled the bottom of the lake, and as time slowly passed, the water level rose.
A blue column of light dropped from the sky and landed on an elevated Triforce platform on the center island. From it, three forms appeared. One of them immediately dashed away from the other two, and at the sight of the lake filling, began jumping and carrying on.
"We did it!" Lydia shouted happily. "We did it we did it we did it! Look! The lake's refilling!"
Link and Gordon ran to her side and gazed excitedly down into the now not-so-empty Lake Hylia. Crystal clear blue water slowly filled the dusty hole that they had sadly grown used to. The ugly brown clouds that had always hung over the lake were dispersing and being replaced by white clouds and gorgeous blue sky.
"Yay!" Lydia continued. She jumped up and down, then ran in circles around the two boys in her excitement. "We rock! We roll! We went on to smite evil and won the day for the forces of good!" She shook her fists in the air as she ran. "Chew on that, Ganon! Whoo-hoo!"
Link sighed happily. "We've taken another step toward peace in Hyrule."
"We're really on a roll," Gordon said with a wide smile. "All we have to do is keep up the pace."
"There's so much more ahead of us yet.... But I think we can worry about it later. Let's not ruin Lydia's fun."
Gordon glanced over at his sister, who was now doing cartwheels around the island. "I don't think anything could ruin this for her."
The two looked over the lake, which was completely filled now. All was as it was meant to be, once again.
Later on that day, close to sunset, the two boys were back at the house in Kakariko. Lydia wanted to hang around the lake for a while longer, so they left her behind. That was a few hours before, and she still hadn't returned.
"What's taking her?" Link wondered aloud, staring out the window. He absently smoothed the wrinkles from his green tunic.
"Beats me," Gordon replied. He was stretched out on his bed, enjoying this time of peace. "She enjoys the lake – she always has. Maybe she's off doing some serious thinking."
"For this long? She doesn't think that much, does she?"
"Oh, you'd be surprised. Especially given the current situation."
"...Hmm?"
"Don't you remember what happened in the temple?"
"...Oh...yeah...." Link remembered all right. Didn't you even stop to think about how I'd feel about that?
Gordon rolled over to face the window. "You know, I think you should go talk to her. I mean, you probably will never catch her in a better mood."
"Perhaps you're right." He sat on his bed and slipped his boots back on. "Yeah, I'm gonna go." He stood, strapped on his sword out of habit, and opened the door. "Don't wait up," he said before disappearing.
The sorcerer stretched, cracked everything, then laid back. "Honestly. Can't those two do anything without me?"
***
Link climbed off Epona and rubbed her nose, then looked up ahead. He looked past the shadows of the late-day sun, past the beautiful lake water, to the island. He could see Lydia sitting on the ground, leaning on the tree, watching the sun go down.
He crossed the bridges, and once on the island, mustered up whatever courage he had left within him. This was going to be really tough.
Lydia glanced over her shoulder, and seeing him, she smiled, then turned back to the sun. Link strolled up beside her and cleared his throat nervously.
"...Is this seat taken?" he asked, gesturing to the spot on the grass next to her.
The sorceress chuckled quietly. "My dignity was going to sit there, but it's been a no-show all day."
Link sat down next to her and leaned against the tree. "I almost forgot how beautiful this lake was," he said after a few moments.
"Yeah," she replied with a sigh of awe.
Silence took over again, save for the birds chirping in the distance. The silence didn't help with the awkwardness. Both of them were thinking about the same thing.
"So," Link tried to start, "...um..well..."
Lydia laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean."
Link reached up and rubbed his arm nervously. "Uh, listen. About...about...what happened in the temple."
The sorceress stiffened visibly. She knew what he was talking about. "Yeah...that doesn't have to mean anything, okay? I mean, I don't know what I was thinking. It must have been a spur of the moment thing..." She cut it off there.
"You're not sure about that though, are you?"
".....You're right, I'm not, I admit it. But why don't we just forget it? It was kinda stupid anyway. That's what I meant when I said my dignity was gone."
"I think you still have your dignity, and it wasn't stupid. And I can't just forget it."
"My mouth is way too big, that's all."
The silence overtook the lake again, until Link finally spoke. "Why didn't you say anything until today?"
Lydia pulled her legs up to her chest. "Because the whole thing was dumb. We're not even from the same world. So I just kept quiet, to keep it simple. Plus, I knew you didn't feel the same way, so keeping my mouth closed was the best thing."
Link swallowed hard. Time to let it out. "Well, I dunno...you might be wrong about that."
She glanced up at him with confused, but hopeful eyes. "I might?"
He only shrugged. "You might."
The sorceress looked back at the sun. "I...I see..."
The distant birds were slowly replaced by owl calls as the sky dimmed. Under the desolate single tree of the beautiful, restored lake, the Hero of Time slipped his arm around his companion's shoulders. In response, she sighed with defeat and rested her head on his shoulder. Together, they watched the lazy sun slowly dip below the western horizon of Hyrule and out of sight, letting the stars come out to twinkle happily.