Reviews! Reviews! It's time to reply!

Dragon-Charmer16: Thanks so much for the cookies and the review! Here's your update! And congratulations on being first to review again! It's nice to know that I'm already on so many favorites lists, even though this is my first fiction. By the way, you're on my lists too!

Lil-dragon-blue: Hmm… good point. I didn't think about that. Well, I updated my profile to say that critique is accepted; no, it's appreciated. I only ask that you guys be polite, polite meaning no yelling at me or cursing at me, please! That stuff makes me feel bad and might delay the update… (By the way, you'll probably like the next chapter, considering your disdain towards Ruto… mweeheeheeeheehee!)

Jana+Anthony: Actually, I wrote a book once with the intent to publish, but I never finished the book. Got around to page 57 or so and just lost interest… maybe I'll finish it someday. Also, when you say "UPDATE ASAP", it's really not in my power how long it takes to update. After all, I only request five reviews for each update! Which I suppose means I owe you all another chapter, since last time I had a good 10+ reviews. Um… Heh… ;

He who still does not log in: Yeah, I remember you. I wondered where you went! Heh, not to brag or anything… (Link: cough, cough) …but I got As in English for years! In fact, when I was in kindergarten I would write miniature books for show and tell. I'm such a nerd… u u;

Lil-Miaka: Thank you. And I'd be more than happy to review your story! I think was about to do it a while go, but something came up…

Enough stalling! ONTO THE STORY!

Chapter 6: Let the Dragon Eat the Zoran King!

"Oh, it's so hot!" Hieke complained for the thousandth time. In fact, that was all she ever said anymore. Every time she opened her mouth it was to comment on the heat. Link was only getting hotter listening to such talk. "I'm hot," Hieke prattled on again. "Really hot. Too hot. What if I pass out? What if I die? What if I'm engulfed into fiery oblivion?"

"You'd save me a headache, that's what," Link growled under his breath. Hieke looked at him with a glare of death. "You say something?" she asked with a deadly poison in her voice. Link chuckled nervously, waving her off. That was too close, he thought, his heart racing. She'd have killed me on the spot!

After a few more minutes of walking and listening to Hieke's griping, they came upon the entrance to the Fire Temple. Hieke obviously hadn't already determined that the Fire Spirit was captured as well, for she went through the same routine she did at the Forest Temple.

"This is Hieke, formerly known as Tadaka, calling to the Fire Spirit!"

An image of a small wingless dragon appeared atop a nearby boulder. "Lady Tadaka!" it exclaimed in a whispy voice that reminded Link of a puff of ash. "It is most horrible! I have been captured by an ice demon that wishes to smite the world with an eternal winter! But you are in the wrong place! Please… come for me before… my life is drained away…!"

Hieke watched with horror as the image of the serpentine dragon fell limp and faded into the heat. Link put a comforting hand on her shoulder upon seeing how aghast she was. "He didn't even say where to look for him," she breathed as she fought away tears of fear for the Fire Spirit.

Link contemplated for a few minutes. "He said a demon of ice, did he not?" he reminded. "Sounds like Ice Cavern to me!"

Hieke gave Link an appreciative smile. "Thank goddesses you're here. By the time I thought of that, he'd probably be dead," she giggled as she followed the departing Hylian hero. It was a long way to Ice Cavern.

They made their way back through the Lost Woods and located the entrance to the Zora Domain. "Oh, we have to d-dive?" Hieke asked timidly. Link grinned. "Of course. The Zoras are an aquatic people," he replied simply. "You aren't afraid of water, are you?"

Putting her pride first, Hieke shook her head and stepped closer to the water's edge. Having grown up in Gerudo Valley, she never really got all that close to water. The nearest water source was the gorge at the entrance to the Fortress, a steep drop in which you could fall for hours before reaching the water at the bottom. She had been taught to fear water to keep her away from that perilous gorge. Now she had to overcome years of incessant lectures in the name of Hyrule.

Link was already in the water up to his neck. He kicked his feet slowly to stay afloat. "Come on, Hieke!" he called as he took a deep breath of air and submerged. Afraid of being alone in the labyrinth called the Lost Woods, Hieke tensed her shoulders and summoned all the courage she had. She put both her feet in the water, then gradually progressed until her feet slid out from under her on a steep drop. She uttered a cry of surprise before plummeting into the icy waters. Immediately the Hylian girl emerged and took a few large gulps of air. She wiped some of the water away from her eyes and dove again, trying her hardest to keep Link in sight.

When they finally reached the end of the tunnel, they were in a water-filled grotto to the right of a massive waterfall. Hieke scrambled onto dry land as soon as she was able. Link climbed out shortly after, laughing at his friend. "You look like a wet cat," he snickered. A glower from Hieke shut him up quite nicely.

"Where to now?" she asked as she tried to wring out the excess water from her long braid. Link pointed at the waterfall with a smirk. Hieke stared for a short while, thinking he was going to say that he was only kidding. When that didn't happen, she had to ask. "You must be joking me," she said unbelievingly. "How do we get through that? We'll be pulverized!"

Link reached into his pocket and gasped, then remembered that he had given his ocarina to Hieke. "Let me see that pipe thing," he requested, his hand outstretched and awaiting the item. Hieke pulled the Pipe of Ages from her jacket and handed it to Link. The boy put his lips to the instrument and played Zelda's Lullaby, a multifunctional song that had served him well many times before. The waterfall, miraculously, ceased its flow. He returned the pipe to Hieke for safekeeping and hopped across the gap where the waterfall once blocked the way and gestured for his young friend to do the same.

Hieke approached the ledge confidently and jumped across, but misjudged the distance and started falling. Link grabbed her hand before she fell past his reach and hauled her up onto the ledge.

"Thanks," Hieke smiled, "but it was only a two foot fall."

Link blushed. He had fallen time and time again during that leap and the only injury he ever got was an ambush by a Gold Skulltula waiting under the rock path overhead. And that Skulltula was long since dead. Of course, the dead can come back to life, he reminded himself. That's why we're on this quest…

They ran across the winding trail that snaked its way through Zora Domain until they came across the a wide, well-illuminated chamber with a bloated fish thing sitting on a throne of ice. "Oh my goddesses! It's so hideous!" Hieke exclaimed. Link clamped his hand over her mouth and gave King Zora a nervous smile.

"That is the king of the Zora Domain!" he hissed. "Be respectful!"

Hieke peeked past Link for only a moment, then shut her eyes tightly and uttered a sound of pure disgust. "It's so… intolerable!" she whispered. Link chucked with a bit of a grin. "Wait until you see his daughter," he warned. Hieke shook her head, not wanting to know any more than she absolutely had to.

"King Zora!" Link said with a flourish as he tried not to puke in his own mouth. "We have come seeking passage into Zora's Fountain!"

"On what grounds?" the king asked in a nasally voice choked with bubbles. Hieke cringed and shuddered. "You may have noticed it getting increasingly colder," Link replied. "This is a result of an important creature being held prisoner in the Ice Cavern, a place which is only accessible by means of Zora's Fountain. If this creature is allowed to continue this way, it will die and all of Hyrule will be cast into infinite winter!"

Among other things, Hieke mused grimly. A little chilly weather was the least of their problems. Every moment they were stalled was another moment Ganon had to revive.

"Very well," King Zora answered after a moment of intense contemplation. That or a moment of intense gas. Hieke noticed that the room was beginning to reek of decomposed sea vegetation. Link grabbed Hieke's hand and quickly dragged her past King Zora and into the Zora's Fountain.

"When we find the Fire Spirit, let's feed King Zora to him," Hieke suggested.

Link grinned evilly. "Ruto first…"

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Coming next chapter: Introducing Princess Ruto and the kidnappers of the Fire Spirit! You'll never guess who took the Spirit...

By the way, if you have a story that you want reviewed, tell me in your reviews and I'll try to get around to reviewing it. Keeping up with reviewer responses is more trouble than I bargained for... x.X

Also, since I feel that I owe you a chapter for giving me so many reviews on Chapter 4, I'm only requesting… TWO REVIEWS until I update. This time. Don't get used to it…