And now part 2 of the Ruto and the Lake Hylia arc, enjoy!
Link found himself walking along the shoreline, the waves slowing out and over his feet as he walked. He was in deep thought of everything going on, especially with Ruto herself.
"Ugh, she was so sincere about what she said, but me having to say what I did just made me feel like an insensitive jerk to her." Link sighed. "What should I do...?"
"Hey there Link, how did it go?" asked the voice of someone coming up to him.
Link turned to see Nabooru strolling up to him, he had to admit it was hard for him to tear his eyes off her, and she gave a knowing smirk.
"Not so good, I think." sighed Link, "I offered to give back the sapphire, but she refused. I thought she'd yell at me, slap me, or even denounce our friendship... but she didn't say anything... I can't tell if that's worse or not."
"A woman's heart is a very complicated thing." nodded Nabooru, "But the fact she didn't say a 'Yes' or 'No' isn't a bad thing, I think she's just conflicted about this right now. The only advice I can give you for this is to just be assertive with her."
"Assertive... about breaking the engagement with her? I tried doing that once and I don't think she paid much mind to it, and I didn't want to come off as too harsh..." he sighed.
"I don't necessarily mean assertive in that way." she said, somewhat cryptically, confusing him for a second, "But the real question you should be thinking about is... what is Princess Ruto to you?"
"What Ruto is to me...?" repeated Link.
"All I'll tell you is just do whatever your heart tells you to." Nabooru said, "Whatever choice you make, I'll support you." With that, Nabooru gave Link a gentle kiss on the cheek and walked off.
Link stood, contemplating what Nabooru said.
"What Ruto is to me..." he muttered, as his thoughts drifted to his past with Ruto. Link closed his eyes as flashbacks ran through his mind as fast as a stream of water.
"Huh? Who are you? How did you get inside Lord Jabu Jabu's belly?"
"Hmph, I won't go walking around aimlessly, you'll have to carry me!"
"There it is! My mother's sapphire!"
"Hey you, help! This thing is scary!"
"You... were pretty cool back there, cooler then I thought."
"Come on, I'll show you how to dive and fish like a zora!"
"Waah! I hurt myself on that rock, please carry me home, Link!"
"Hee hee, daddy was pretty confused at first when you wore that zora mask! I'm sure he's not as angry as he sounded!"
"Hey, wanna go play in Lord Jabu Jabu's belly again? Hey, where are you going?!"
"Link I... want you to have this... I promised my mother that I would give this sapphire to the man who would become my husband, and that's you."
"So you're leaving for a while? Okay, come back big and strong so I can marry you, okay?"
"Link, what are you doing here of all places, and why are you so...?!"
"That power you hold, it's amazing! Are you sure you can handle it?"
"Just please be careful, you mean too much to me to lose..."
"I'm sure I'll see you again someday, when you return."
"There you are! I've been waiting for you for a while now, so are we to marry now?"
"Ohohoho! You sound like you've had many fine adventures! You have to tell me more!"
"If you ever change your mind, I'll be waiting for you!"
It was then that one final thought went through his mind, one of him in the dark future, standing in a strange blue fountain-like room, and standing before him was Ruto, sporting a solemn expression, her eyes filled with sadness and regret.
"I think... we may have to postpone our engagement... indefinitely..."
Link just paused as he reflected on those words, and in that moment, he felt his body tremble.
"Would I have the nerve to make her feel that same sense of sadness...?" Link muttered to himself.
He then felt water going down his cheeks, at first he thought it might have been lake water from his hair, but realized it was his own tears. He was crying, uncontrollably.
"What's happening...?" Link said to himself, trying to wipe the tears from his eyes, "I've never felt this sad about it before... that's not even going to happen anymore, I saw to that... so why am I crying over it now...?"
He then he realized what was different then before, from when he was a naive kid in an adult's body, he covered his eyes with his hand and smiled sadly.
"That's it... the difference now is I understand what love really is..."
He sighed, "I'm such an idiot.."
It was then he suddenly heard a loud scream, jolting him out of his mood, he turned towards the water, and looked in surprise of a giant whirlpool in the center of the lake.
"What the heck?!" Link exclaimed, he was even more surprised to see many of the Gerudo who were in the lake being caught up in the whirlpool, they tried to swim away, but the current was too strong.
"Link!" shouted Aviel, flying down to him, "The lake's acting weird, and our sisters are stuck in it, even Togau!"
It was then the water started to ripple out, and a bunch of tall but thin watery tendrils shot out from the lake, each holding a different Gerudo woman, who were either screaming or outcold. In the center was a large blob of water that was making loud burbling sounds, and a strange pulsating nucleus in the center of it.
"What the heck is that?!" shouted Nemisa, running to come join Link and Aviel.
"It can't be..." Link said with side eyes, having flashbacks from the dark future again.
"This is bad..." said Sarami, running up as well, "Morpha has returned!"
"What's a Morpha?" Aviel asked.
"It's a giant aquatic amoeba, capable of manipulating water around it to give itsefl a body. It has used the Water Temple at the bottom of the lake as it's domain." Sarami explained, adjusting her glasses, "My friend at the Lakeside Labritory has been doing research on it to find out it's origins."
"Whatever it is, it's attacking our people!" Nemisa said.
"But what is it trying to do?" Aviel asked.
"I... believe this excessive heat is causing Morpha to panic, and it's trying to sistain it's form."
"Huh?"
"The human body is approximately 60% water, our theory is that Morpha can potentially drain that water from people." Sarami said.
"So it intends to absorb our sisters?!" snarled Nemisa, "What can we do?!"
"I'm not sure myself," Nabooru said, having arrived as well, "Our archery equipment is all back at the town, so we can't use ranged combat, and there's no boats around here to get close enough."
"Whatever it is, we have to do something!" Link said.
"Hey, look!" Aviel said, pulling down her goggles to get a good look at the water, "Ruto is fighting it!"
The group looked out to see a faint figure shooting through the water. It was Ruto, fighting against the whirlpool and using her zora abilities to slash and spin through the tendrils as they attacked her.
"You unhand these girls you menace!" shouted Ruto, "I won't allow you to hurt them!"
Morpha swung it's tendrils down towards Ruto, but she swam left and right avoid them, before spinning into one tendril to destroy it and free a Gerudo girl. Ruto was quick to swim up and catch her, before retreating back to the shoreline where Link and the others were.
"Ruto, that was an amazing save!" Link said, "Nice work!"
"Thanks, but I'm outnumbered right now with those... ugh... tentrils." she groaned, "Why did it have to be tendrils?"
Sarami immediately went up to the girl to examine her, "I think she's fine." she said as the Gerudo girl hugged Sarami tightly, "But I don't know how much longer the others can wait!"'
"I could go retrieve my people to help, but I doubt we'd make it back in time." Ruto said.
"I'll do whatever I can to save some of them!" Aviel said, taking to the sky with her bird wings.
"Grrr.. I hate being here useless!" Nemisa said, "But I can't fight water, especially in the open lake!"
"Your highness!" shouted a voice, everyone looked up to see Korume and Kesuta, riding on their broomsticks, "We tried to fight off the water tendrils ourselves, but our magic isn't working."
"My fire won't even come close to hurting that stupid thing!" shouted Kesuta in annoyance.
"I even tried freezing the water with my ice, but it wouldn't work." Korume scowled coldly.
"Not even ice would work on it...?" Link muttered, he naarrowed his eyes and pondered to himself until an idea occurred to him.
"Korume, try freezing as much water as you can around the tendrils to form a circular platform we can stand on!" Link shouted, "Kesuta, you help Aviel to save the girls!"
"Of course my liege!" the mystics both said, flying off.
Link then turned to Nabooru, Nemisa and Sarami, "You guys stay on guard to tend to any girls we bring back here."
"Right!" agreed Nabooru, Sarami nodded as well.
"And Ruto," Link said, looking to the zora, "I need your help to carry me to where Morpha is!"
Ruto was rather caught off guard at how quick and authoritative Link was being in that moment. She saw his eyes were full of determination, and she nodded to him.
"Very well, get on and hang on tight!"
With that, Link climbed onto Ruto's back and the two shot out across the water towards the creature and it's captives.
Nemisa herself meanwhile, was watching her king going off to confront the monster, with a strange sense of worry going through her mind.
"Leggo my sisters you jerk!" Aviel shouted, swooping down at Morpha's tendrils. She came down to one of the girls and lacking many other options, stuck out her leg, "Grab on!"
The Gerudo did and held onto Aviel's leg, as the bird girl herself flapped her wings as hard as possible to pull her out of the tendril.
"Damnit..." Aviel groaned, "I'm not strong enough... I wish I could use my crossbow and fly at the same time, then I could shoot that stupid thing..."
It was then she looked down to see Link riding on the back of Ruto, as they shot through the water, weaving and dodging through the attack of tendrils, while Link pulled out his sword and slashed and hacked at the ones that came too close.
"Link, Ruto, over here!" called out Aviel.
Link nodded and sliced his blade through the one tendril that Aviel was fighting against, freeing the captive and allowing Aviel to carry her.
"Thank you so much sister Aviel!" the Gerudo girl sobbed.
"Oof! You can thank me by cutting down on the sweet rolls!" shouted Aviel, flapping her wings as fast as possible to carry the girl back to land safely.
Kesuta flew down at one of the girls and tried to grab her, but the tendril holding her suddenly shot out ice shards in the shape of spears at the mystic.
"Ha, ice is nothing for my flames!" she shouted, shooting fire down on the spears, but the spear shot right through her flames,and came dangerously close to hitting her.
"Not even that worked?!" exclaimed Kesuta, "Not fair!"
Korume meanwhile was dodging the tendrils as they came at her, while she was freezing the lake water in an attempt to make some solid ground, she gasped out at the amount of power she was exerting, but took a look up at the girls being held by Morpha and narrowed her eyes.
"We promised we'd do anything it took to save everyone..." Korume muttered, "Anything..."
"Let go of me ya dang drip!" shouted Togau, waving her arms and legs around as Moepha's tendril was holding her. The giant monster, even as something made almost completely of water, sweatdropped at how difficult it was to restrain her. It didn't help that Imra was flying around smacking and pecking at it's tendril,, distracting it from absorbing the Gerudo.
"Togau!" Link shouted, "Ruto, we have to help her!"
"Of course!" Ruto said, speeding off in the direction of the tendril with Togau. Morpha saw where they were going and fired off a barrage of ice spears at the two, but Ruto did a quick hop out of the water and back in to avoid them. Link couldn't help but think about the look of the ice spear itself before Ruto had dodged them.
"Those didn't look like regular ice..." Link pondered.
"Here it comes!" Ruto announced, knocking Link out his thoughts, as they approached the tendril Togau was held by. Link brought out his sword, charged it with energy, and unleashed a spin attack, slashing through the tendril and freeing Togau.
"Woah nelly!" shouted Togau, she was falling down before Link jumped off of Ruto's back and caught Togau in midair, soon landing down on the ice platform Korume had just finished.
"Ah, my hero!" grinned Togau.
Ruto did a graceful hop out of the water and onto the ice platform and landing on her feet, taking a moment to spread her arms out as if she had just performed a show. She spun around to see Link set Togau down.
"Ruto, thanks so much fer helpin' me too!" Togau said, giving her a hug.
"Yeah..." smiled Ruto warmly, "As if I'd allow you all to get hurt..."
"My king, is this platform suitable?" asked Korume, flying down to their position, she seemed thoroughly exhausted from using so much ice magic.
"It's good and durable Korume, nice work." Link said, stomping his foot against it, "Go ahead and get Togau back to shore and take a rest!"
"Very well." she nodded, getting Togau on her broom and flying back to the beach.
"So what do we do now?" Ruto asked.
"I'll handle as much as I can on this platform, you try to do what you can from the water." Link said.
"Okay, but be careful Link." Ruto slowly walked up to Link and gave him a hug.
"You too." Link said, returning the hug, "I... need to tell you something when this is over."
Ruto's face flushed for a second, and she nodded.
With that, Link ran forward on the ice while Ruto dove back into the water and went back to attacking the tendrils.
As Link charged down the ice platform, using his sword to strike at the tendrils, smaller tendrils emerged out of the water to attack him, he lost his balance on the ice for a bit, giving the tendrils a chance to smack him a few times.
Link soon got an idea and swatted the tendrils away, then taking his shield of his back, doing a jump, and started sliding around on the platform using his shield. With the added speed, he as able to attack the tendrils faster and with more force.
Morpha was getting as aggravated as a giant water blob could get, and started firing off more ice spears at everyone attacking it. Kesuta tried her fire attacks again, bit the spears just shot though it.
"Grrr..." snarled Kesuta, "Why won't this ice melt?!"
"Good question." Link muttered to himself, "Where have I seen ice that won't mel-"
It was then a thought occurred to him, a memory from the dark future.
"Kesuta!" Link shouted from below her, hopping off his shield, "Morpha has the power to create red ice! That's why it's resistant to Korume's magic! The only thing that could melt it is blue fire!"
"Blue fire?" exclaimed Kesuta, "Why didn't you say so?!" With that, Kesuta conjured two fireballs and put them together, they spun at a rapid pace until they combined and turned blue.
Some more spears came at Link, but Kesuta shot the blue fire down and quickly melted away the red ice weapons.
"Wait, you can just make it?!" Link exclaimed.
"It's a little trick I learned a while back." grinned Kesuta.
"Well great trick! Now let's get back to saving the rest of the girls!" Link nodded.
"Okay!" Kesuta said, flying back into action.
Thanks to the efforts of Link, Ruto, Aviel and Kesuta, it wasn't long until they had rescued the last of the girls and hauled them off back to the beach. Link came to a stop in front of the giant monster itself, who wasn't particularity happy that this kid and his friends took it's whole meal. It's tendrils came back out and it let out a bubbly war cry.
Before it could attack though, Ruto spun right through the main body of the beast with a spin attack, displacing it's form a bit.
"Take that!" Ruto shouted.
Morpha burbled in annoyance, then shot off a wave of red ice mist at Ruto as powerful as wind, and while she was able to get far enough away that it didn't blast her completely, it did manage to launch her out of the water and onto the ice platform, and even worse, managed to freeze both her legs in red ice.
"Damnit!" she struggled and squirmed, "I can't move my legs!"
"Hold on Princess!" Kesuta shouted from overhead, "Just give me a second to make more blue fire!"
Morpha meanwhile wasn't going to wait, and slammed it's tendrils down on Link who jumped and evaded its attacks. The creature's rapid attacks were getting hard to dodge on the ice though, and Link soon slipped, giving the monster the chance to smash him with a direct attack.
"Uugh..." Link groaned, but before he could get up, Morpha grabbed Link and puled him into it's clutches, before sinking down into the water.
"No, Link!" shouted Ruto, while Kesuta started to work on carefully melting the red ice without injuring the fish princess.
Meanwhile underwater, with Link in it's clutches, Morpha used the water around it to squeeze around Link's body, causing the young man to shout out, the air leaving his body.
Link was weakening, but his eyes focused through the depths, and he realized by doing this, Morpha left itself open for an attack. He gritted his teeth, brought up his sword, and even with the water normally slowing his movements down, jammed his sword down into Morpha's main weak point, it's nucleus, just as he did when he fought the creature in the dark future.
Morpha trembled and squealed out in pain as it's nucleus shot out of the water and onto the ice, it bounced around harmlessly, cringing and throbbing in pain, until it dried up and disintegrated on the spot.
Link's eyes grew tired, his body was no longer bound by Morpha's power, but his lungs were filling with water, and he started sinking downwards towards the bottom of the lake.
Finally, Kesuta managed to thaw the ice enough that Ruto could smash it apart with her fist, before immediately jumping into the water after Link.
'I did it... I just need... to get... up and...' Link thought to himself, trying to swim back up, but his eyes shut starting to lose consciousness. He was unaware someone was swimming down towards him,
'I have to get to Link before he...' Ruto thought to herself as she sped downwards towards where she saw him fall, 'Please Link, you promised you would make it, and you would tell me what you wanted to say!'
She then realized someone was by Link, and what she saw them doing shocked her.
The mysterious figure had their lips over Link's mouth.
'Wha...?' Link thought to himself, feeling air going into his lungs, as his eyes slowly opened and he saw someone in front of him, with their lips over his, breathing air into his mouth. He looked up and saw familiar long red hair, flowing freely through the water. He felt like he could almost recognize the person...
'Nemisa...?' Link realized.
Nemisa slowly opened her eyes, and in that moment he saw her usual stern and angry look was now full of compassion, but her eyes soon closed as she fell against Link, he caught her just long enough for Ruto to grab the two of them and bring them to the surface.
"Are they going to be okay?" Aviel asked.
"Yes, they both just took in a little too much water, but they'll recover soon." Sarami said, with Link and Nemisa both laying on towels on the beach. All the girls had crowded around with concern for both of them. Ruto in particular was kneeling by Link's side, not moving an inch.
"Link..." Ruto muttered.
"Ugh... Ruto...?" Link groaned, opening his eyes and looking up at the fish princess looking over him.
"You're awake!" squealed Ruto, grabbed Link and hugging him so tightly that he spewed out what little water was left in his lungs. The water splashed onto Nemisa's face, causing her to squirm and suddenly spew water out of her own mouth like a fountain, before coughing and getting up.
"Gack, why did I even think to do tha-" Nemisa was cut off by a hyperactive Gerudo embracing her.
"Yay! Nemisa's okay too!" squealed Aviel, hugging her co-bodyguard tightly with her wings, while the girls all cheered out, and many hugs and thanks were handed out by everyone for the heroes that day.
Later that night with everyone recovered, the group had taken to setting up a large bonfire on the shore. Some of the girls were using it to roast pieces of meat for dinner, while most were using it to stay warm after the chaos that happened earlier that day.
"Aaah, this shaved ice is perfect!' Aviel squealed, enjoying a bowl of it, "I never knew ice made by magic could actually be yummy!"
"Where do you think we get most of our ice around town?" grinned Kesuta, "Korume has a bit of a side business selling ice to the girls."
"A pity I couldn't do much about it earlier, but the weather should start cooling down soon." Korume said.
Link in particular was wrapped in a towel, sniffling and sneezing loudly, while Ruto was by his side trying to comfort him. "Ugh, I think I'm coming down with something... probably from running around on that ice..." he looked over at Ruto and asked, "I hope you don't get sick sitting by me like this."
"Don't worry about me." Ruto said grinning, hugging him softly, "Fish don't catch colds."
"Lucky you." sniffled Link.
"Honestly, only can idiot like you can somehow get a cold on the hottest day on the year." Nemisa rolled her eyes.
Link took a look over to Nemisa, staring at her.
"W-What..?" she asked.
"Nemisa, thanks for saving me." Link he said with a light blush.
"Ah... um... j-just keep in mind that was strictly to save you. That didn't count as a... well... you know!" she said, turning her head away.
"Right, right." chuckled Link. He then looked to Ruto and saw her looking to Nemisa with curiosity.
"Um, so Ruto... I... thank you... you know, for everything you did for us today." Link told her.
"Of course, anything for my man." she smiled.
"Yeah.. about that." he paused, not sue what exactly to say. He took a look over at Nabooru, who was watching them intently, and she just gave Link a small nod.
Link nodded back and took a deep breath, removing his towel and turning to Ruto, staring into her eyes.
"Ruto, let me start off my saying I'm sorry for trying to give you back the Zora's Sapphire, I know how much it means to you, and the meaning behind you giving it to me... and I was a fool to try and make you second guess yourself."
"Hmph, glad you finally acknowledge that." Ruto nodded, she was getting a little too into Link's gaze, but stuck her nose up in an attempt to hide it.
"And with that, I've... done a bit of thinking...about my... situation with the Gerudo, and you know, you and me... " he said, finding himself trying to find the right words. He paused, took a deep breath, and decided to assert himself.
"Ruto, when I first met you, I thought you were just a childish bratty princess, but overtime, I came to see you as a great friend. When you gave me the Zora's Sapphire, I was just a stupid little kid who didn't understand the significance of what you meant by giving it to me, all I had cared about was completing my quest."
He continued, "But over the past years, and recently over the past months, I've grown as a person, and I've come to understand many things, including love itself, and that maybe I was too hasty to say we should just be friends..."
Ruto's eyes widened.
"What I'm trying say is, Princess Ruto..." Link said, his face flushed.
"I'd like to take responsibility for you, and accept the Zora's Sapphire in the way you mother wanted."
Ruto's body trembled, as tears were forming in her eyes.
"Link... you're serious...?"
"Yes." nodded Link, "There is one other thing though. As the future king of the Gerudo, I have a duty to my people, and one of them is helping to save them from dying out. If I follow through with becoming king, I'll be taking other wives besides you and having children with them. What I'm asking is, if you'd be willing to not just become my wife... but become a part of our family as well."
Ruto just sat there, at a loss of what to say in that exact moment. She looked over to the Gerudo, to Lady Nabooru, Dr. Sarami, Togau, Aviel, and she took a long look to Nemisa. They all stared back at her, Aviel in particular smiling brightly in anticipation.
Ruto closed her eyes, smiled lightly, and then looked up to Link, "Of course Link, I'd be honored to."
With that, the future Gerudo king and the zora princess embraced each other, and the whole Gerudo clan cheered out. Many congratulations were handed out to the two of them.
"I'm so happy for you two!" Aviel said excitedly, taking Ruto's hand, "Welcome to the family sister Ruto!"
"Oh, t-thank you Aviel." Ruto said, smiling gently.
"Way to make such a great catch Link!" joked Togau, slapping her knee in enthusiasm, "You two make a great pair!"
"Oohoho, but of course, you doubt the charm of a zora?" laughed Ruto, going back to her usual self..
"Not bad Link." Nabooru grinned, giving the future a thumbs up.
"Aaaw jees," sighed Kesuta, "I can't believe we got beaten to the punch by a zora."
"The early bird gets the worm, in this case the early fish." chuckled Korume, "I'm just glad to see the king so happy."
"They're childhood friends falling in love, I think it's so cute!" squealed out Sarami, putting her hand to her cheek to hold back herself from smiling too much.
"I wonder how this is going to affect the pool." pondered one random Gerudo girl.
"Huh? What do you mean by pool?" asked Nemisa.
"Well," started a third one, "Some of the girls had put together a gambling pool over which of Link's closest friends he was going to take as his first bride!"
"What." Nemisa said deadpanned.
"Yeah, Aviel the Birdbrain and Lady Nabooru were two of the top contenders, but a lot of them voted for you as wel-" the girl was quickly muffled by the others, who looked at Nemisa nervously.
"Uh, ya see what she meant was... uh..." Togau started.
"WHAT." shouted Nemisa, "How dare you, you brats!"
"Kyyaaa! Nemisa's angry again!" shouted the girls, running off.
Ruto herself couldn't help herself but to laugh as she saw the girls running around, and Link just took a look to his fiance, the first of probably many as far as Nabooru was concerned. But that didn't matter right at that moment...
"Well guess it's time to pack up and head back home." Nabooru said later that night, "If we take too long, we might get spotted by Hylian guards."
"Awww, it was so much fun being out here, you know, besides the whole giant water monster thing," Aviel sighed, gathering up various thing they had brought to the lake, "I wish we could go out here more often."
"Less bellyaching, more packing." Nemisa said.
"Hm, if you all really wish to come out here more often..." Ruto pondered, putting a finger to her mouth in thought, "I might be able to speak to my daddy about having the zora take watch over the lake more often and report when the Hylian guard won't be around."
"You'd do that for us?!" exclaimed Aviel.
"Of course," Ruto smirked, "After all, we're family now, right?"
"Yes yes, thank you!" Aviel said cheerfully, hugging Ruto with her bird wings
"We would really respect that a lot, Princess Ruto. While we're at it, we'll have to discuss matters of trading surplus with the zora. We may be rebuilding, but we have plenty of ways to help your own people as well." Nabooru said.
"Yes, I think this could be the beginning a fine friendship between the Zora and the Gerudo." Ruto nodded.
"We should probably keep it secret for a while though." Link pointed out, "If the Hylians find out the Gerudo and Zora are going to be allies now, it could affect the Zora's own reputation with them."
"Good point." nodded Ruto, "I'll speak to daddy about all this, but we'll be careful not to allow the Hylian Parliament to find out about our alliance."
"You think the King Zora will be okay with it?" asked Nabooru.
"It'll take some convincing, but I'm sure I can make daddy see it my way. I'm sure he'll be pleased to know that Morpha has been destroyed, which could earn you his favor. If anything though, I'm sure he'll just be happy I finally found my husband!" Ruto said with a haughty laugh.
"Speaking of which, when's the wedding?" Togau asked, "I need ta know when to shine mah boots."
"For a wedding?" Nemisa asked sweatdropping.
"Well due to the climate of the land at the moment, and that annoying law, we'll have to wait a while before we actually start planning it. I need to get back to my people and address this situation." Ruto said, she then grinned lightly and said, "Now you girls take care of my husband, make sure he's in one piece when I'm finally ready to marry him!"
"I'm sure I'll be fine." chuckled Link.
Ruto then strolled up to her fiance and looked him in the eyes, saying "See that you do, my dear husband." before playfully splashing him with a bit of water from the lake, and then giving him a full kiss on the lips, their first one, and not soon to be their last.
Meanwhile, unknown to all of them, a mysterious figure was standing near the entrance to Lake Hylia, having watched and heard everything that night. The figure didn't say a word or make their presence known, but just turned and left...
Some time later that night, the figure slowly walked into a room at a distant place far away from Lake Hylia, and knelt down before another person
"So what do you have to report?" asked the standing person.
"It seems the rumor I heard form that one zora is true. The Gerudo have selected a king, and it appears to be him."
"O-Oh my, I never would had thought he'd do something such as that. Is there anything else?"
"Yes, they succeeded in destroying the monster Morpha of Lake Hylia... And it seems he's become engaged to the Zora Princess Ruto."
"That's... something I really never would had expected..."
There was a pause between the two of them, before the kneeling person decided to bring something up.
"So I take it we should not report the Gerudo trespassing at the lake to the king?" they asked.
"That won't be necessary, of course. Just keep me posted on whatever you happen to learn, Impa."
"As you wish, Princess Zelda."
And there you go. So Ruto's become part of Link's bizarre family of sorts. She ended up being a lot of fun to write for, so I was glad I went through with including her.
Anyway, thanks for reading, like, follow review if you liked it, look forward to the next chapter, all that good stuff.