Mystique rubbed her hands together close to her face as the first cold winds of winter blew across the docks of Jetier. A few days in front of her Nivan clutched his coat tighter around his chest, Lumina tucked inside one of his pockets. Many steps in front of them, Mrs. Luriken briskly walked across the wooden planks and past small quiet boats as they rocked with the water. Several Hylians walked, bundled in piles of scarves and hats, their heads down. Several firmly held baskets filled with cloth that reeked of fish as Mystique passed them.

At the end of a dock they walked down, a tall Zora stood. His long blue head fin curled around his waist as he looked frantically back and forth across the lake. Once his eyes locked onto Mrs. Luriken, his stiff body slightly loosened, only to become more rigid when he saw Mystique and Nivan behind her mother.

"Cerise you brought kids?" The Zora exclaimed, slightly panicked.

"This is my daughter Mystique," Mrs. Luriken gestured towards Mystique. "She has been assisting my husband with delivering his shoes across Hyrule. Someone from Zora's Domain ordered a pair." Cerise smiled warmly towards the Zora.

The Zora frowned as it stared in confusion at Mystique. She pulled the knapsack from her back and opened it to show two pairs of simple leather sandals inside.

"Who ordered shoes?" The Zora said, frustrated. "We don't wear shoes."

Mrs. Luriken shrugged. "I'm just here to help my family Orujan."

Orujan grumbled. "Glad I brought the boat then."

Mrs. Luriken nodded as she delicately stepped onto the tiny wooden dinghy. Nivan cautiously followed while Mystique tumbled onto the seat. The Dinghy slowly started drifting away from the force, but did not get far before the frayed and old rope tugged it back towards the docks. Orujan quickly untied the boat before he took one long step into the boat. Before he had entered the boat everyone had fit with plenty of space. Now, they all crammed up next to each other as the Zora began to row away from the quiet little town of Jetier.

Across the lake, the dinghy rowed past a tiny island with a cloud of seagulls which circled around the roof. Several seagulls sat on the doorstep, their beaks pointed up towards the sky. As the boat curved around the island, Mystique saw several Zora as they kicked their legs in the icy cold waters of the lake.

"Why is Lake Hylia not frozen?" Mystique asked out loud.

"Parts of the lake are," Orujan answered. "The parts where there is water constantly moving, not so much." He paused. "Later in the dead of winter it might, but for now it is too early in the season."

Mystique drifted one of her hands towards the lake. Instantly she swiped back her hand from the water as if it had attacked her fingers.

"The water is deadly cold, you shouldn't touch it," Mrs. Luriken said, her gaze away from Mystique and towards the other side of the lake.

"Do the Zoras like the cold?" Mystique asked as she clutched her wet hand.

"Yes and no." Orujan answered. "A lot of us work in the ice mines just on the other side of Zora's Domain, which is even colder than this water, but we also tolerate cold better than the average Hylian."

As the boat made its way across the lake, the hills on the other side towered into cliffs and mountains. In the middle of the cliffs many seagulls and birds flapped in the air and rested on branches jammed into cracks on the sides. Orujan turned the boat with his head fin so that they were all heading straight for the cliffs. Mystique squeezed her eyes shut.

"We're not going to crash," everyone in the boat responded.

Mystique opened one eye. What she thought was one massive cliff was actually two, with a river sliced between them. The boat gently slipped between the cliffs and up the river. By now, Orujan used his head fin as well as the oars as he propelled them forward.

Between the two cliffs Mystique looked up to see lines that criss-crossed between the cliffs. Some of the lines crossed under the others while others descended into lower sections of the cliffs. It took her until she saw several dots as they moved across the lines to realize that it was a series of bridges.

When she looked ahead of the boat her eyes widened. In front of them there was nothing but a massive waterfall. She glanced around as their boat crept closer and closer towards the cascading water. Her eyes searched for some sort of secret pathway even when they became so close that she felt water droplets on her skin. Mystique looked back at Nivan who focused his attention towards the back of the boat. Mrs. Luriken and Orujan remained calm as the entire boat became submerged underneath the waterfall.

Past the waterfall there was darkness and the smell of damp stone. Only the glow from Lumina existed underneath the waterfall. There wasn't a lot of light, but it was enough for Mystique as she stared at the rest of the people in the boat. A loud thud echoed from somewhere behind the boat.

"If you were just a bunch of Hylians you would've been met with a wall." Orujan said calmly. "Only Zoras or those with the seal of approval can use this entrance into the 's much faster than traveling through the cliffs."

Mystique's eyes went wide, Lumina's green glow highlighted Mystique's face. "Who has a seal of approval?! That sounds cool!"

"Well," Orujan started. "The leader of the Gorons, Dario, The leader of the Rito Tyto, Deliro and Babel the scientists, the Hylian royal family, and of course any and all Sheikah working under Impa… and any guest approved by any of those people."

"That's a lot of people. Doesn't seem so secret an entrance." Mystique retorted.

The boat drifted through the cave in silence. The kids occasionally yawned, and Lumina may have sneezed once or twice. It had felt like years that they flowed through the darkness. So, as soon as the first sight of light glimmered in the distance, Mystique did not know what to feel. It wasn't a blinding light like the sun outside, but was instead a soft glow that bounced off of the walls of the cave.

From this light, Mystique saw how blue and shiny the walls were. As they got closer she realized that the glow itself came from rocks as they protruded off of the wall in jagged little clusters. Closer to the water, several mushrooms curled up into the air and provided their own soft glow different from the rocks. The rock omitted a greenish blue glow, while the mushrooms gave off a brighter white glow.

Further down, more mushrooms filled the cave, except instead of gently curving out from the water, they hung above the boat, clearly manipulated and twisted into elegant chandeliers. The blues on the wall mingled with the painted swirls of other colors. Mystique thought she saw figures of Zoras painted and woven between the swirls as well as the illustration of a giant fish. She thought back to Gyorg in Salis and wondered if there was a freshwater version of the monster. As she pondered this thought, the boat continued on, and the painting faded into the darkness.

Eventually, the boat drifted next to a dock made from the same shiny blue materials of the walls. Mushrooms curled around the railing and lit up the entire platform to illuminate a statue in the very center. Its arms were outstretched and welcoming despite the secretive nature of the entrance. Cloth fins draped down from the statue's elbows and fell all the way to the floor. Three blue gems connected in gold hung around the statue's neck.

Carefully, each member of the boat departed and placed their feet onto the dock. Mystique and Nivan looked up at the statue. The statue's gaze looked outwards into the darkness, a smirk on its face.

"Hey Misty, do you know who that is?" Nivan asked.

"Nope." Mystique shrugged.

"It's Ruto." Nivan answered. "The great sage of water that Deliro's shark is named after."

"Really?" Mystique thought back to the shark and then thought about what a Zora actually looked like, and it all began to make some sense.

"Stories have passed down for generations about how kind, wonderful, caring, and brave of a warrior Ruto was against the darkness. She saved all of Zoras from being frozen under the ice and going extinct." Orujan stood next to the statue, his head level with the pendant.

Mrs. Luriken was much smaller than Orujan, Mystique noticed as they walked away from the statue and up the stairs. She wondered if all Zoras were as big as Orujan.

Zora's domain hid in a hole surrounded by massive cliffs and water flowed everywhere. The sky above the domain shone a bright blue without a cloud in the sky as the group walked into the space. From the entrance they entered from, a long blue bridge stretched across water that was very far below them. Between the water and the bridge, networks of houses dangled from silver coils with blue paths curved around them which connected them all to a staircase.

"Looks like grape clusters," Mystique whispered.

Nivan held a laugh as they walked towards the center of the domain. This time, when Mystique looked down, she noticed a large metallic tail coiled around the very center pole of the domain. Her eyes followed the tail only to realize that the center building within the domain was sculpted to be a giant fish, its wide open mouth was the entrance.

"Pst Nivan," Mystique whispered. "Do you know what this giant fish is supposed to be?"

Nivan shrugged. "Not sure, I'm not an expert in this stuff you know."

"But you know all about the sages!" Mystique shout whispered.

"Yeah Misty," Nivan laughed. "That's common information from bedtime stories."

In the mouth of the building, a small pink Zora stood with her hands clasped in front of her. A tiny smile crossed her face as the group entered.

"Welcome to the domain." She said sweetly. Her eyes glanced down towards Mystique and Nivan. "I see we have additional guests." She smiled again and tilted her head.

"We are here with a shoe delivery with Luriken's shoes." Mystique excitedly held up the bag with the shoes inside.

"Those must be the Queen's new sandals! She wanted something nice for the next conference, and Impa gave a very good recommendation!" The pink Zora smiled at Mrs. Luriken. "I didn't realize that Impa's fancy new shoes came from your family Cerise."

"My husband is a shoe maker after all." Mrs. Luriken tried to smile back.

The pink Zora turned her attention to Orujan. "Kelpie? Why don't you bring the shoes and Cerise to Queen Rutamina and I can bring these adorable little Hylians to lunch with Rudi.

"Camaron…" Orujan grumbled. "Don't call me that in front of the Hylians."

Camaron smiled. "I already refer to you as that in front of Impa… what's a few more." She laughed.

Orujan grumbled as he took the bag from Mystique and walked into the mouth of the fish building. Mrs. Luriken followed behind. She turned around and waved at the group before she walked up another set of stairs.

"Who's Rudi?" Mystique asked.

"The princess of the Zoras." Camaron answered as she gestured for Mystique and Nivan to follow her inside.

Instead of climbing up stairs, Camaron went down a hallway deeper into the fish. After they followed her, Mystique noticed that she could see everything outside from inside the hallway. Camaron went down a set of stairs, which led into another set of clusters. Mystique felt a slight breeze as they traveled from the fish building and into one of the pods.

The pod was bigger on the inside than Mystique imagined. A circular table sat in the center of the room, and an intricate aquarium circled around the room and exited out of the front door. Several fish stared down from the glass. And, in the very center of the room a young Zora sat down at the table as she poked a dead salted fish with a fork. Her head fin curled up and she had two long wispy strands on either side of her face. She had black stripes against her yellow colored fin to go against bright green eyes. The Zora girl looked confused towards Mystique.

"What are those?" The Zora girl asked.

"Hylians." Camaron answered as she set the table with three more plates of food. "I hope you don't mind salted fish. We weren't expecting guests."

Mystique made a face that Nivan quickly covered up with his hand. "Salted fish sounds lovely, thank you so much." He answered.

"How even old are these Hylians? Like 2?" The Zora girl whined.

"I'm 10, thank you." Mystique said as she sat down in front of the salted fish.

"That's so young," The Zora girl poked the salted fish again.

"You look like you're 10, why are you complaining?" Mystique stared at the salted fish. She could have sworn it blinked at her.

"I'm much older than 10 years." Rudi answered, the salted fish in her mouth. She turned her attention to Camaron. "What are we doing today? I'm soooo bored."

"We could give our lovely guests a tour of the domain." Camaron said a little tired.

"The only interesting place around here is the ice caverns." Rudi answered. "The rest of this place is just water and fish."

"I don't think showing the ice caverns is a good idea." Camaron answered. "Hylians run cold."

Rudi gestured towards Mystique and Nivan. "They came prepared! They're in coats!"

"Princess… even you shouldn't be going in the ice caverns." Camaron ate a piece of fish.

"It's not that dangerous." Rudi answered.

"Why would it be dangerous?" Mystique and Nivan both asked.

"There's rumored to be monsters in there." Rudi said, her eyes went wide only for her to squint them into little slits. "But as Zora royalty I need to remove all threats just like the great Ruto did."

"Nivan's really good at slaying monsters too!" Mystique said excitedly.

Nivan shook his head, "I don't think now's a good time to test my fighting skills."

"Do you have a sword, Hylian?" Rudi asked.

"Well yeah but—"

"Perfect! You can fight! Let's go to the ice caverns!" Rudi quickly stood up from the table.

"No." Camaron sighed. "You can't go there." She placed a smile on her face. "A tour will work just fine." Camaron paused. "It's either that or etiquette training with Echino."

Rudi grumbled and swallowed the last bit of fish on her plate.

Zora's Domain was beautiful, but within a few minutes of the tour Mystique realized that Rudi was right. While everything was scenic and glittered in the sunlight, there was nothing more outside of the categories of fish and water. There was an extensively beautiful bathhouse, full of water, a giant aquarium with fish Mystique didn't recognize, but still all fish, and the market was full of both fish and water. There was a section of the Domain off to the side, where Zora's with spears exited and entered that they weren't allowed to enter. And one very elegant house that Camaron informed Mystique and Nivan that it belonged to the original architecture of the Domain, and that it now housed the head jewelry maker. The building was also apparently larger on the inside.

It was at the market where Mystique and Nivan stared blankly at a table of dead fish. Rudi stood next to them and laughed. "I told you it was a boring tour." She paused. "But lucky for you I know how to get us away from Camaron and to the ice caverns if interested."

"We probably shouldn't," Nivan started to say.

Mystique shushed him. "No, let's go have some fun."

"Ugh, do you really want to go somewhere even colder," Lumina said from inside Nivan's pocket.

Rudi jumped back. "What was that?!"

Nivan opened his pocket. "It's just our friend Lumina."

"A fairy?!" Rudi gasped, she bounced up and down a few times. "Wait." She shook her head. "Nevermind that, we need to go now if you wanna come."

Mystique shook her head and smiled. Rudi grabbed Mystique's arm and dragged her through the crowd and underneath a table. Nivan sighed and ran to catched up.

Behind the table was a secret hatch which Rudi pried open and jumped down. Mystique, without hesitation, followed behind. Both girls had already entered the hatch when Nivan caught up. He grumbled, and closed the hatch behind him as he went down.

Somewhere in the market crowds Camaron bought several bundles of herbs and smiled. She turned her attention back towards the market and immediately frowned. "Shit." She said.


Cerise stood within the throne room. It was lit with a light blue light from something behind the massive thrones as Queen Rutamina stared down from her seat. Her face was painted with small delicate red lips in the shape of a heart. Her long head fin draped around the side of the armrest. The ruffles on her elbow fins matched the end of her head fin. She wore a sash across her chest and shoulder pads decorated with silver metal and jewels.

"Welcome to the Domain Cerise." Queen Rutamina said. "You've grown quite a bit since I've seen you last… I hear you have children now as well?" The Queen smiled. "Who was the lucky Sheikah boy?"

"Thank you for asking your majesty." Cerise bowed. "But I'm not here to talk about my personal life."

The Queen's smile faltered. "Very well. I get it. You're here on business as usual."

Cerise stood up. "Have you considered your search for the sage of water?"

The Queen's face contorted. "Yes, I have."

Cerise stepped back. "What's with that face?"

"I know who the sage would be, but I am not telling your Queen that information." Queen Rutamina glared.

"What?" Cerise fumbled for words. "But why not? If we have the sages we can stop the darkness."

"Because." Queen Rutamina looked away. "A sage must die to fulfill their duty, and I am not willing to sacrifice one of my people for something that we will outlive and the Hylians won't."

Cerise glared back. "My reports tell me that you have a monster problem as well? Just like Dario with Volvagia. Do you really think that the darkness will only spare your people?"

"We have that under control. Morpheel is frozen solid." Queen Rutamina's glare iced over.

"And how do you think you'll have that under control? What will you do if the darkness freezes your people under the Domain? What will happen if that beast escapes into Lake Hylia?" Cerise calmed her voice as it raised higher out of anger.

"I understand that you are a mother willing to protect your child, but so am I. Would you give the Queen your child if they were the Sage of Shadow?" Queen Rutamina folded her arms.

Cerise's face twitched, her hand clasped instinctively around the little dagger hidden between the layers of her skirt. "I…" She paused for a long time. Water droplets dripped down from tiny waterfalls within the throne room. Outside, the bustle of the Domain could be heard. A harp played stummed somewhere in the distance. "I hadn't thought about that." Cerise finally answered.

"That's what I thought." Queen Rutamina stood up. She towered over Cerise as she descended the steps and stood in front of her. "Be grateful that the King isn't here. He would have given you a much harder time. All Zoras mean the world to him."

Cerise bowed. "I understand. I'll report your opinion to my Queen."

The silence thickened between the two as Cerise continued to bow. Off in the corner of the room, a small pink Zora frantically waved her hands towards Orujan, who had been present in the room the entire time. He looked back at Camaron confused, before he silently slipped out of the throne room and followed Camaron down


Mystique was unsure how the trap door led them to the ice caverns, but it had. Several twists and turns within the darkness, and the walls slippery and cold, went in every direction Mystique imagined before they were spit out into a big empty room. In front of the three kids a massive door, etched with carvings of Zoras in a deep blue, wedged itself into a cold grey slab of a wall.

Rudi confidently walked towards the door. It towered over her as she took a key hidden behind her head fin and placed it into the lock. The door creaked loudly as it slowly opened, a gust of wind blew past the kids and into the empty and pale room. Rudi waved towards Mystique and Nivan before she ran inside. Mystique quickly followed while Nivan hesitated.

The three kids stood at the top of what appeared to be a massive cliff that plummeted down into a foggy abyss. None of them could see the other side of the room as a massive pillar stretched high above into the clouds. One rickety bridge connected the cliff to the pillar, and without any pause or consideration Rudi started to cross the bridge.

"Well, this looks dangerous." Nivan said as he looked down.

Lumina peered out from Nivan's pocket. "Well I can fly… not sure about you two."

Mystique looked over towards the pillar, where Rudi already stood. She waved towards Mystique and Nivan. "Come on," Mystique said. "Rudi made it across."

Cautiously, Mystique and Nivan crossed the bridge. It swayed with every breeze and creaked with every footstep. By the time the two had safely made it across the gap Rudi had leaned herself against the pillar. She pressed a button and a door that neither Mystique or Nivan noticed, opened. Rudi gestured for them to enter.

Mystique glanced around the tiny square room confused, her eyes wide. "What is this?"

"Mom calls it an elevator. She got the idea from Dario when he gave her a tour of the Goron Mines."

Mystique watched as the door closed and felt the sudden pull of gravity on her feet. Around her, only the light blue glow from several mushrooms lit the box. She felt like she was going to hurl up the salted fish she had eaten earlier. Mystique opened one eye and stared at Nivan who's face became whiter than snow. Lumina chuckled from somewhere in the room. Or maybe it was Rudi.

She felt the entire floor shake as it abruptly pushed Mystique up into the air while the room shuddered. The doors to the room calmly opened up, and before Rudi could take a step, both Mystique and Nivan raced out of the room. Outside around the pillar was a layer of ice underneath the fog which soared above their heads. Another bridge sat glued frozen to the ice stretched out nothingness.

"That was neat right?" Rudi said loudly. "Before the elevators we used to have Zoras go through the mountain tunnels, but they were prone to collapses. We then tried to scale the cliffs with ice, but…" Rudi shrugged. "Zoras are bad at climbing." She began to walk across the bridge. Mystique and Nivan followed.

"What kind of monsters are around here?" Nivan asked.

"Mostly just Keese from what I've seen." Rudi said nonchalantly. "I'm sure there's more but I have yet to see anything really dangerous." Rudi led the group through a large opening which opened up into another massive room.

This time, the room was covered in ice. Sets of stairs were carved into the floor which led deeper into the mines. Mystique stared at the stairs. "How deep does this go?"

"I dunno." Rudi shrugged. "I've never made it to the bottom before." She began to descend the stairs, her head fin flopped up and down.

Nivan drew his sword as he followed Mystique down the stairs. The room grew colder the further they went down. The stairs felt never ending and soon when Mystique glanced up she could no longer see the top. Occasionally the stairs plateaued and broke off into several small tunnels drilled into the sides of the walls.

"Those tunnels led to more open rooms for us to harvest ice." Rudi added nonchalantly as she continued down. "Each room has a pulley system like the elevator to bring the ice to the top room. Everyone else has to use the stairs though."

"How do you know all of this?" Mystique asked, her breath visible in front of her face.

"I've done a lot of research over the years." Rudi paused. "For a while, our main export to Hyrule was fish, but with the city of Salis having a larger pool to harvest from we needed a different export. That is when my grandparents came up with ice harvesting. Not only do we now make food last longer, we also saved ourselves from the potential threat of Hylians attacking us."

"Why would we attack you?" Mystique said, confused.

"There's a reason why the darkness always takes the form of a Hylian." Rudi flipped her head fin.

"The darkness has also been a Gerudo." Nivan added in.

"But it has never been a Goron, a Zora, a Rito, or a Kokori. It just exploits us for its little game with the Hylians." Rudi answered.

"What would you do if the hero or the darkness was a Zora?" Mystique touched one of the walls and immediately flinched from the cold.

"That would probably never happen." Rudi continued down the steps. "My mom says that all of this is just mythology crafted by the Hylians. Why would we be the heroes in their stories? We're lucky not to be the villains."

"What myths do the Zoras have?" Nivan continued to stay at the end of the group.

"Well we have the great Jabu Jabu and not Hylia for starters." Rudi started. "It was rumored to be a great fish which brought us safely from the depths and dangers of the ocean to the shores of Hyrule. He gave us the gift of life through being able to survive on land and with fresh water. The first Zora princess, Rutella, carried an egg of Jabu Jabu to the Domain where he was reborn to live among us. Every Zora princess after, including the Sage of Water Ruto took care of this reincarnation till he died. When Jabu Jabu passed under the watch of Ruto, she was never able to find an egg. Since then we have built monuments and buildings in praise of him, hoping for him to return again someday." Rudi smiled as she looked back at Mystique and Nivan. Mystique noticed that she had sharp teeth.

By now, they had descended deep enough for the walls to be littered with glowing jellyfish fixtures. They floated and bobbed around the air and provided the only source of light. Yet, they still brightly lit up the whole room.

"We've gone pretty far, we should probably turn back." Nivan said as he watched two jellyfish lights as they bumped into each other.

Rudi opened her mouth to answer, but instead of words a loud thunk filled the air around them. The kids stopped and another thunk filled the air. The thunk repeated again and again and quickened its tempo until it was a constant hum within the air. "Let's see what that is." Rudi began to run down the stairs.

"Uhhhhh." Mystique and Nivan watched her go down. Soon she disappeared around a corner out of sight. A high pitched scream echoed into the air. Mystique and Nivan ran down the stairs.

When they rounded the corner Nivan immediately raised his sword. They had entered a large open room with a giant blue door covered in chains. Rudi stood in the center of the room, frozen in fear as dozens of slimy Octoroks stared back at her, their tentacles suctioned onto the door. The Octoroks wriggled and squirmed against the door and made unintelligible noises as they one by one drew closer to the kids.

"Run!" Rudi screamed as she ran past Nivan and Mystique and back up the stairs. Without questioning anything, Mystique and Nivan followed.

Every once in a while Mystique glanced back down the stairs as they ran to see if the Octoroks had followed. She heard the squelching of the tentacles of the stairs and the high pitched whines of their voices. As the kids ascended the stairs, their legs became tired, and their pace slowed. Mystique turned around again only to see the Octoroks as they caught up. They crawled up the walls and the stairs after them.

"Use your sword, Hylian boy." Rudi panted from the front of the group.

"I have a better idea," Lumina said from inside Nivan's pocket. She shook her wings out into the air and shivered as she floated towards the Octoroks. Several sparks flew off of her wings as she zapped many of the Octoroks in place. Without any remark she floated back up towards the kids who continued to climb up the stairs.

By the time the kids reached the entrance to the ice mines they gasped for air. Rudi leaned her hands against her knees, her head fin drooped as she inhaled a large amount of air. Nivan faced the stairs, his sword drawn as he continued to heavily breath. Somewhere below the stairs the Octoroks whined and chirped as they continued up the stairs. Mystique peer over the edge.

From where they stood, the Octoroks looked like a massive Chu-Chu as it crawled towards them. "We need to move!" Mystique shouted.

The kids quickly walked towards the open doorway just as one of the Octoroks surfaced.

"Shut the door!" Mystique said as all three kids made it to the next room.

Rudi rummaged behind her head fin and gasped. "I must have dropped the key." She groaned. "The door won't stay shut without being locked if all those Octoroks pushed against it."

"We need to keep moving." Nivan added in, he looked down at his pocket. "Lumina, can you shock them again?"

Lumina peered out from the pocket. "I used up all my stamina on the first shock. You gotta give me more time to rest."

Nivan cursed under his breath, but loud another for Lumina to hear, as they continued towards the elevator.

Mystique darted across the frozen bridge and stared at the pillar. She glanced back at Rudi who had just entered the room with the pillar. "Hey, how do I open the door?!" She yelled.

"There's a button!" Rudi yelled back. "Look for the circle."

Mystique frantically scrambled her hands around the pillar until she felt a part of the wall be pushed in. Nothing happened.

"Why isn't the door opening!" Mystique watched as an Octorok entered the pillar room. Nivan stood his ground.

"It must be at the top of the pillar." Rudi stood on the frozen bridge. "Your friend will have to fight the monsters off until it arrives."

Mystique watched as Nivan stumbled as he dodged a swing from the Octorok. Two more had entered the room and crawled their way towards Nivan. He walked backwards onto the ice as he sliced off one of the Octorok's tentacles.

A high pitched screech omitted into the fog above them. Three more Octoroks appeared and tumbled onto the ice where one tentacle sporadically jostled about. Soon Nivan was surrounded. He cut into tentacle after tentacle as all the Octoroks swung at him. Nivan winced as one of the Octorok's tentacles wrapped around his leg. Carefully he sliced through the tentacle, his sword now covered in purple goo. Another tentacle wrapped around Nivan's arm.

A simple bell chimed as the elevator door opened, and a silver spear whirred through the air and into the skulls of one of the Octoroks. Camaron and Orujan ran out of the elevator and onto the frozen bridge. Rudi held the elevator door open and watched.

"Let me get the Hylian," Camaron said as she already began to run across the ice.

"There's too many monsters for you without your spear." Orujan said as he raced past Camaron.

"No Kelp, don't! You're—" Camaron reached out towards Nivan.

But it was too late.

A loud creak filled the air. And, in the blink of an eye, Nivan and all of the Octoroks fell through the ice. Camaron immediately dove into the water followed by Orujan.

Mystique watched, her eyes filled with horror as the water violently churned and splashed around the ice. Orujan's head fin crested out of the water and sent an Octorok flying off into the distance. The elevator door attempted to close several times and created a jarring metallic ring as the doors pushed themselves open again. After what felt like ages, Camaron leapt out of the water as she held onto Nivan. She darted across the ice and into the elevator. Orujan emerged from the water shortly after. Once everyone was inside the doors finally closed and they all ascended. Nivan shivered and Lumina sneezed from inside his pocket.

When the group walked into the throne room, Mrs. Luriken's eyes went wide with horror. She ran over and embraced both Nivan and Mystique. "Nivan you're freezing! Why are you wet!" There was panic in Mrs. Luriken's voice.

"He fell through the ice." Camaron said, her eyes glared daggers at Rudi. "Someone thought it was a good idea to bring two Hylian children to the ice mines."

"I've never seen that many monsters down there before!" Rudi gesticulated wildly with her hands.

"And I told you it was dangerous." Camaron scolded.

"Are there any blankets or warm clothes around?" Mrs. Luriken interrupted. "Something?"

"I'm f-f-fine." Nivan shivered out.

Mrs. Luriken raised her eyebrows only to immediately frown and glare. "No, you're not. You're going to get hypothermia." She turned towards Queen Rutamina. "Can we light a fire?"

"There are fireplaces in the guestrooms. I'm sure there's bound to be some Hylian clothes too, though they might be a little big."

"I'll g-go by m-myself." Nivan said. "Th-thank you." Nivan attempted to bow as his whole body shook.

"No." Mrs. Luriken answered. Without another thought she picked up Nivan and wrapped him in her apron as she brought him out of the room.

Mystique still stood with the Zoras. Lumina had found her way out of the sopping wet coat pocket and onto her head.

"Are you okay little Hylian?" Queen Rutamina asked from her throne. Mystique noticed that the Queen was even bigger than Orujan. Her face hosted no expressions.

"I am worried about my friend." Mystique answered. "There were too many monsters just for him to fight."

Queen Rutamina raised an eyebrow. "Did my daughter not assist?"

"I was holding the door." Rudi answered

"I have one of the finest Zora fighters to teach you and you don't fight a few monsters while a Hylian boy with a sword does?" The Queen crossed her arms.

"There were a lot of them. Battle would have been pointless." Rudi whined.

The Queen looked down at Rudi before she focused her gaze on Camaron. "And how did my daughter even get to take two Hylians to the ice mines under your watchful gaze, Camaron?"

Camaron fumbled for words. "The market. I, uh. They managed to find a path through the market."

"Keep a better eye on them." Queen Rutamina said coldly. "And Rudi, if you ever want to take over the Zora kingdom you need to learn to fight, especially if you were the one to cause the mess."

"I didn't know there would be that many monsters mom!" Rudi shouted. "They were banging and crawling all over a door covered in chains."

Every adult Zora in the room stiffened. They all silently glanced between one another.

"Did you open the door?" Queen Rutamina finally asked.

"No… How could I with all of those monsters on it." Rudi answered, her head hung low.

"Good." The Queen sighed. "Camaron, why don't you bring the little Hylian to a room to stay the night."

Camaron bowed and grabbed Mystique's hand. A gentle smile crossed the pink Zora's face as she guided Mystique out of the throne room.


It was late at night when Cerise walked out onto the second floor deck of the palace. Queen Rutamina stood, her body silhouetted against the moonlight. Water sparked and ran from streams down into waterfalls from the cliffs which surrounded Zora's Domain.

"You asked for me?" Cerise yawned.

"It appears that the monsters are trying to free Morpheel." Queen Rutamina did not turn around.

"What?" Cerise rubbed her eyes as she walked over to the railing. The metal was cold to the touch.

"My daughter took your children to the bottom of the ice mines. They found the monsters crawling all over the door that I chained Morpheel behind. The monster is still frozen in the ice in that room, but it isn't a good sign to see a bunch of monsters trying to break open the door." Queen Rutamina leaned against the railing.

"What are you going to do?" Cerise looked over Zora's Domain. She watched as several fish jumped out from a river which winded through the city.

"I'm unsure. If the monster broke loose it would be easy for my husband to defeat it I'm sure." Queen Rutamina looked in the opposite direction, away from Lake Hylia. "But he is off on a journey looking for the next Jabu Jabu egg. He may not be back for months or even years. "

"Do you think that you could take on Morpheel." Cerise formed her words carefully.

"Not as easily, but I would have to try. If I fail and my husband isn't here then the Domain would fall." The Queen held resentment on her face. "And the only way to receive help from the Hylians would be to accept this quest to assemble the sages." Cerise went to open her mouth, but Queen Rutamina stopped her. "I have heard from Dario about the King's utter lack of disrespect to help him with Volvagia, but he gained help from the Sheikah and the Rito. Neither the Rito nor the Gorons can help with a fish, but the Sheikah could."

"So are you willing to tell me who the Sage of Water is?" Cerise asked.

"It's pretty obvious. Every Sage of Water has been a princess to the Zora throne. It would be Rudi, my daughter." Queen Rutamina's voice wavered.

"You need to prepare her then." Cerise said. "There may be a way to have her awaken her sage powers without dying. She just needs training."

There was silence. Only the sound of flowing water filled the night sky. "I hope so," Queen Rutamina finally said. "How is your little blonde Hylian?"

Cerise winced. "Nivan… he'll be fine from this. The only garments we could find were blue tunics. He looks a little like the hero in that with Mystique's fairy floating around him."

"Do you think he could be the hero?" Queen Rutamina asked.

"Absolutely not." Cerise answered.