Chapter IV A Whole New World
"HEY LANCE! Are we going to stick around here all day? Let's go! I hate the rain! Maybe it's not raining at Lake Hylia…" Navi looked intently at Lance shivering in the pouring rain. He had almost forgotten about the Serenade of Water, the warp song that would bring him to the lake. Lance reached for his new ocarina. He grabbed it and thrust it towards his mouth. He played the beautiful melody. For a moment it seemed as if he could hear all the rivers in Hyrule flowing, the lakes shining, and the waterfalls falling. Although it only lasted a moment, it seemed like an eternity. But it stopped. He had closed his eyes, to savor the music. (And to remember the song correctly.)
When he opened his eyes he was in an unfamiliar place. He was standing on some platform on a cliff of some sort in the middle of a lake! Lance stepped back. His foot fell half way off the side and Lance lost his balance. He slipped and just barely caught himself with his left hand on the slippery side of the cliff. Bad luck for Navi, and Lance now, it was raining here too. Lance's hand started to slip. And out of sheer panic his hanging limbs began to flail in attempt at pulling himself back up. Where was Navi? She was magic, wasn't there some kind of spell or magic-thing-jobbie she could do? Obviously not, because the next minute, Lance was flailing his arms in the middle of Lake Hylia trying to stay afloat.
Some how he made his way to shallow water, where he gasped for air. After he had his breath back, he quickly stepped out of the water and began wringing out his soaked clothes. Navi simple let herself drip-dry. She stared at Lance from a distance as he tried to dry himself.
"What's with you?" she asked almost disgusted, "You act like you've never been wet before!" And she burst in to snickers. But she stopped when she realized Lance wasn't laughing with her. He had a serious look on his face.
"Oh no," Navi whispered. Lance switched his view from Navi to a figure emerging from the water behind her. Navi turned to see who it was.
She zoomed up to Lance and whispered in his ear, "That there is a Zora. Speak politely, they don't take rudeness lightly." Lance took the warning with a nod. The Zora came as close as it could to them without leaving the water.
"Are you looking for the Zora Domain?" the Zora questioned. Lance couldn't decide whether it was a fish, or a Hyland. So he decided was a fish-person. It seemed like a good compromise.
"Yes, please!" Navi shouted. And the Zora looked to Lance for approval.
All Lance could say was, "Sure, I guess." It was enough for the Zora, because the next thing he did was beckon them in towards the water with a wave of his hand. In the water was a small tunnel. The tunnel was completely submerged. Lance would have to hold his breath. The Zora swam through with out thinking twice.
Navi looked at Lance, "Don't tell me you can't hold your breath…" Lance thought back to the last time he'd held his breath. It was seven years ago when he almost drowned in the bathtub. (He took showers after that.) It was as if Navi had read his mind, because the next thing he knew, Navi was instructing him on the proper way to hold one's breath.
"Okay, you take a deep breath and stick your face in the water," Navi smiled, "Now the catch, (there's always a catch, did you know that?) DON'T BREATH IN WHEN YOU'RE UNDERWATER!" Navi's tone softened, "Got it?"
"Uh, yeah," Lance's throat was dry, he couldn't say anything else. Apparently it was enough for Navi, because went ahead through the tunnel with out him. This is it, Lance thought. He took the deep breath and dove into the icy cold water. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt his way through the small confined tunnel. On the other side the Zora and Navi pulled him through.
"You did it! Go Lance! Go Lance! Whoo-whoo! Go Lance! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! YEAH!" Navi began shouting, flying around screaming in everyone's ear bragging that Lance can blow bubbles in the water, when they were practically born underwater.
"Navi, it's cool. I know I did it…that doesn't mean you should go tell the world," Lance whispered to Navi.
Navi flew back over to Lance, "Oh, okay…why are we whispering?"
"Are you that stupid?" Lance said in a normal voice. He headed off out of the shallow water and towards the land.
"Huh? HEY! Wait up!" Navi screamed as she quickly caught up to Lance.
The domain was the most beautiful place Lance had ever seen. It was totally underwater. In the center was a giant pool that went over twenty feet deep. Elegantly pouring into the pool was a waterfall that was almost as tall as the pool was deep. On the land part, there were few shops and rooms where the many Zora slept. Right ahead to the right was a small steep staircase. Next to the stairs was a sign with an arrow. It read: Throne Room this way ུ. Lance decided that "Queen" Ruto would most likely be in the "throne" room. So Lance led Navi up the steep stairs and around the corner into the throne room. The room wasn't very big. In the far center was a small water fall with the water flowing onto the floor and towards a dark tunnel. In the middle was a small platform. Sitting at the top of the smaller waterfall was a Zora that Lance decided was Queen Ruto. He stepped up to the plat form.
"Well, well, well…What do we have here?" the queen wisely asked.
"I'm Lance, I come from—" Lance started but didn't get a chance to finish.
"I know who you are. Do you think I'm stupid or something? I know more about you than you know about yourself…" Ruto said, and then she rattled off his favorite color, food, his hobbies, pet peeves, and his nicknames at home.
Lance freaked, "How do you know all this?"
"Prior knowlegde, you're just like your father." She smiled in a creepy way.
"Any way," Lance continued, "I'm here for—"
"The Zora Sapphire, right?" She finished for him.
"How did you?"
"That's what they all want," she said almost disgusted.
"What must I do to earn it?" Lance questioned.
"Swimming lessons. You have to take lessons from me. Sounds easy, right?" Lance nodded in agreement
"We'll see," she chalenged, "Follow me." The queen gracefully stepped down from her throne and followed the running water into the tunnel. Lance meekly followed. Navi began coaching him on swimming tips again, this made Lance nervous. When they reached the end of the tunnel, Lance saw that they were at the very top of the huge waterfall.
"Your first task is to dive off and into the pool below. Don't worry it's perfectly safe. (Only three have come out with serious injuries.)" Ruto said, shouting the last part out as she herself dove into the pool below.
"Don't think just go!" Navi shouted at him. And that's what Lance did. He brought his hands together above his head and plumeted head first into the refreshingly cool water.
The next two years were spent on advanced swimming lessons. When Lance left he was a mature fourteen. He left the domain with the Zora Sapphire added to his collection.