Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda world and its characters belong to Nintendo.
Author's Note: In this chapter, we go back to Ruto and see a little of how she has been since Link left the day of Ganondorf's invasion of Zelda's castle. I love these characters and hope I am doing them justice. Thanks to my readers for being kind and supportive. My inbox is open if you have any comments, questions, or just want to chat about anything LOZ-related. My break from Uni is over, so I may not be as quick to get new chapters out. I have every intention of finishing this. Anyway, enjoy. Again, thanks!
"Ruto? Are you paying any attention at all?"
Zephyra, an elder Zora tasked with the education of the princess, regarded her charge with a stern look. Ruto seemed dazed, almost as though she were somewhere else entirely. It took her a few seconds to realize that Zephyra had asked her a question.
"Wha… well, of course I am!" Ruto snapped. She straightened up in her chair. "You've just been blathering on about the Hyrulean Civil War for the past hour. History is so boring, Zephyra. Can't we switch to another subject? I don't want to think about wars right now. Too much… death and killing."
There had been no word from Link for months. It was as though he had vanished. Ruto often wondered if perhaps he was hiding away with Princess Zelda, a thought she did not relish. But even worse than him being alone with another woman would be if he were hurt or suffering. Or dead.
Her tutor's expression softened, and she approached the Princess, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I know times are difficult right now, Ruto. But King Zora specifically requested that I get you better versed in your history." The truth was, with all that was going on, he feared that something might happen to him, and the Zora crown would prematurely fall to Ruto. He wanted her to be prepared, but Zephyra could not bring herself to tell Ruto this.
"Yes, Father has always enjoyed my suffering," Ruto shot back. This was another sore subject. Her father had commanded that a banquet be held the coming evening to celebrate his daughter's engagement to Jireto, a Zora warrior that her father had selected for her. Jireto was handsome and strong, but also a know-it-all and a braggart. Ruto could hardly stand to listen to him for more than a few minutes. She could not imagine spending her entire life with him. His nature combined with Ruto's spoiled upbringing and sense of importance made for a disastrous pairing.
King Zora had demanded that Ruto hand over her sapphire so that it could be presented to her fiancé. When Ruto told him she didn't have the sapphire anymore, her father thought it was simply her way of being obstinate. The two had not spoken for several days.
Zephyra was taken aback by her strong words about the King. "King Zora wants nothing but your happiness and protection—"
"You know what? I'm leaving." Ruto slammed her book shut and began to pack up her things. Zephyra knew nothing of what King Zora wanted, and if she believed that Ruto's happiness had anything to do with it, then clearly she had not been paying attention.
"Ruto! Stop this now. This is not how a princess acts. This is the behavior of a… a brute!"
Ruto shrugged. Zephyra knew the Princess could be stubborn, but she had never been this bad before.
She could only watch, helpless, as Ruto turned from the cavernous room where they studied and headed in the direction of the waterfall.
Zephyra shook her head, muttering to herself. "Teenagers."
She had no choice but to report Ruto's behavior to King Zora. To her surprise, he was not angry.
"She has not been herself lately," he told Zephyra from his throne room. "I suppose she has taken Princess Zelda's disappearance and her engagement much harder than I imagined she would. I think perhaps I was too harsh with her the other day. I will talk with her if you could ask her to come and see me. Thank you for reporting to me, Zephyra."
Zephyra curtsied and made her way to the main cavern of the domain. She spotted Ruto near the waterfall talking to her maid, Honu, and approached them. The two young ladies fell silent as she drew near.
"King Zora would like to see you, Princess." Zephyra curtsied again and departed for her study.
Ruto waited until her tutor was out of earshot and remarked, "I'm going to get it. I just know it."
"I don't understand how you could not want to marry Jireto. I mean, look at him!" Honu glanced in his direction. He was several years older than Ruto, his sculpted arms covered in markings that supposedly represented trials he had passed, battles he had won, to become one of the most trusted and highly-esteemed of the Zora. He liked to etch his achievements on himself for the world to see, as if they didn't already know from how much he talked about them. "Oh, he is dreamy!"
Ruto rolled her eyes. "Maybe I can convince Father to let you marry him."
"Oh, would you? I would love to! I mean… if you don't want him… I don't mean any disrespect to you, of course, Your Highness." Honu curtsied.
"None taken." Ruto snickered and turned to go to King Zora's throne room.
She went up the steps to the platform before him and stood straight, folding her hands in front of her. "You wished to see me."
"Sweetling. Please come and sit by me." He scooted over to make room for her. "I wish to talk to you as an equal today, as the future queen of the Zora, but I cannot do so while you stand there."
Ruto crossed the room to go and sit by her father, again folding her hands and placing them in her lap. She waited for him to speak first.
"I know you are disappointed by the match I have made for you, though I have chosen a man I feel is the best of the best. Someday, when I am gone, he will protect you. He will be a good king to our people." King Zora paused, waiting for her to say something. When she did not, he continued. "Love is a strange thing, Ruto. It can be terribly elusive when we go looking for it. Your mother and I were not in love when we married, and yet, we managed to spark a steady flame that lasted. We did so by placing no pressure on the marriage to live up to our expectations. We looked out for the good of our people first, and gradually, love found us. We forced nothing."
Ruto avoided her father's gaze.
"You may wonder why I never remarried after your mother passed. I knew she would wish for me to seek companionship if I so desired, but whenever I tried, I found that no one else could live up to her. No one could fill the void she left." He paused again, sighing when Ruto remained quiet. "Ah well, to you, these are just the ramblings of an old man. My point is, give Jireto a chance. Please, my sweetling. Try to be happy tonight when we announce your engagement… and please find that stone, when you can. Speaking of stones, I have something for you."
At this, Ruto looked over at him. She remained unsmiling, but he could see the curiosity in her expression. He couldn't help but smile himself. He reached into his cloak pocket and pulled out a pair of amethyst earrings.
"These were your mother's. I was going to wait until your sixteenth birthday to give them to you. But now seems as good a time as any, to apologize for how I treated you when we last spoke. I was much too harsh on you, considering all that you have been going through." He held them out to her, and she hesitated before picking them up. "I hope you can forgive me," he said.
Ruto held the earrings in her hand, watching how they sparkled in the light of the torches nearby. Her mother had died when she was too young to remember much about her, but the loss still saddened her. It was not so much a feeling of missing someone, for to miss someone, she had to know them. The Zora who were able to remember recounted to Ruto the stories of her mother, and according to them, she had been a great queen and a kind woman. For the young Princess, there was only a sense of missing what might have been.
"You are awfully quiet, my darling," the King said.
She shook her head. "I don't mean to be. I was just thinking… wondering, really… if things could be any different. If she were still here."
Would her mother have encouraged her feelings for Link, her valiant knight? He possessed a kindness that she did not sense in Jireto. He did not brag about the things he had done, and even his asking for her stone seemed to be for some greater purpose. Even so, he had asked in a way that did not make her feel as though she had no choice in the matter, and he had helped her first. Jireto just expected things to be handed to him whether he had earned them or not. Ruto hoped that her mother would be the type who would stand up for a daughter, who would tell her husband that Jireto was not the man for Ruto.
Both father and daughter fell silent for a time. Finally, it was the King who broke the silence. "I often wonder the same thing."
Ruto stood and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you for the gift, Daddy. I will always cherish it."
He patted her back. "Of course, of course. Now go and get ready for the banquet. Your maid has another surprise for you. It will match your earrings."
She hurried off to the little alcove that was hers, where she could go to be alone when she needed. It was to the northern side of the Zora Domain in a wall that faced away from the main area. Her maid had laid out the most beautiful lilac-colored gown on the chaise where Ruto liked to sit and daydream or read. It was an off-the-shoulder dress embroidered with white flowers at the bottom. It was the most exquisite thing she had ever seen, and no doubt it had come from the most prestigious dressmakers in Hyrule. She wondered how much her father had paid for it, but at the same time, she didn't want to know.
For a moment, she forgot how much she hated the entire idea of this banquet. She forgot how much she despised the man that her father had selected as her husband and future King of the Zora. She forgot how much she missed and worried about Link. She reached out to feel the fabric, uttering a small squeal of delight.
Honu popped around the corner and grinned. "Do you love it?"
"It is a gown fit for a princess!" Ruto answered. "I want to try it on right now!"
"It will fit. We took your measurements and started planning this ages ago," Honu assured her. "Besides, you don't want to risk wrinkling or getting it wet – we still have time before the banquet begins. Are you feeling any better about things?"
Ruto shrugged. "I don't know. The gown is beautiful, though I don't much like what it symbolizes."
The Zora had no need for clothes, but it was custom for royalty to wear them on important occasions. A dinner to announce a royal engagement was one such occasion.
In the ballroom, Jireto, fueled by wine and applause, made a pompous show of kneeling before Ruto and kissing her hand when King Zora announced the engagement. She tried to smile and seem happy in front of the cheering onlookers, and King Zora beamed at her over the copious plates of food and wine in front of him.
"When you are my wife, you will be the happiest woman in the realm," Jireto whispered to her.
What do you know of my happiness? she thought. It was all for show anyway. That was how Jireto was. When they were alone together, he would talk endlessly about himself and chide her for boring him. But how could she be anything but boring when she couldn't get a word in edgewise? The fake smile she had plastered on her face began to hurt, but she would not let it waver. She acted as though Jireto had said something charming and amusing so that their audience would not catch on.
Then there was dancing, and naturally, Ruto and Jireto had to be the first couple on the floor. Her dress was a blur of lilac and white as Jireto twirled her, always pulling her back in his arms too quickly, not allowing her freedom to move. It felt overbearing to Ruto. She was a water princess, and she had to be free…
She thought of Link and wondered what he would say if he could see her now. She had given her stone to him and promised herself to him, and yet here she was, bending to the will of her father. She would have no choice but to marry this man, and Link would feel betrayed. Yet, she reminded herself, he had been the one to leave her.
She heard a disturbance close to the entrance of the domain and stopped for a moment. Jireto continued moving, pulling her along in step with him.
"Stop! Jireto, stop it. Do you hear that?" she hissed.
She felt him tense, as if readying himself for a fight. Both looked toward the entrance, and she saw her friend Ganristian carrying something bloody in his arms. He had a few scratches on his own face but did not look to be mortally wounded. The music stopped, and everyone went still.
"So sorry to disturb, so sorry," he said. "This was the only place I knew to bring 'im."
Honu tugged at Ruto's arm. "Isn't that him? The boy who found you?" Honu nodded toward the figure in Ganristian's arms, and Ruto gasped when she recognized the handsome face that was covered with blood, bruises, and dirt, which also matted his hair. She felt sick to her stomach and froze in Jireto's grasp, too afraid to move closer to get a better look. Was he still breathing?
"Ganristian, what is the meaning of this?" King Zora barked at his friend, indignant that anyone would dare to interrupt the evening despite seeing a boy on the brink of his death.
This was too much for Ruto, who forced her way out of Jireto's hold and made her way toward their family friend. "Ignore my father. He is being inexcusably rude," Ruto said, throwing the King a dirty look. King Zora's mouth fell agape at his daughter's blatant defiance. Ruto turned back to Ganristian. "Where did you find him, Uncle?" Though they were not related by blood, the Princess had become accustomed to calling him by this title.
Ruto approached and lay her hand on the boy's chest, feeling his heartbeat. She could see that he breathed slowly. She let out a breath that she did not realize she had been holding.
"He was ambushed in Hyrule Field. Seemed to be headin' this direction anyway. After I got rid of his attackers – beggin' your pardon, Princess – after I made sure they wouldn't be bothering him no more, I figured this would be the safest place for him. I could've taken 'im back with me, but, well, you know how the missus gets about anything out of the ordin'ry. She won't want no trouble. I thought he could stay here 'til he gets better."
"And what if his assailants only trail him here? You'll be the ruin of our city!" the King bellowed. "You would dare to—"
"Daddy, please," Ruto cut him off. "This is Link, the boy who found me inside Jabu Jabu. If he hadn't, I don't know if I would be here right now. We can't just leave him to die."
King Zora seemed to have forgotten about that in his feast and wine stupor. Or perhaps he had not recognized Link, filthy as he was. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, then opened it, giving an incoherent reply. The Zora looked from him to Ruto nervously, waiting to see who the ultimate winner of this verbal tennis match would be.
The Princess decided to take charge. "Uncle, please take Link to my room. Honu, we can make a bed for him using the chaise in there. I will come and help you tend his wounds."
"King Zora is right," Jireto said, stepping forward. "This boy is a danger to us all. Innocent he may be, but we need to retain the peace in our city. As your fiancé, I demand that you think of the safety of our people."
Ganristian cleared his throat before the Princess could speak. She had a cold rage in her eyes as she regarded Jireto. "Actually, I've already thought of that, I have," Ganristian said. "I'd be happy to place an enchantment on the domain so that the lad can't be tracked by magic. I made sure no one saw me bring 'im here. I really doubt anyone would be willin' to search all of Hyrule by hand, especially if they figure he's already half dead. Had I not gotten there when I did, those thugs would've finished the job, they would. Perhaps whoever sent 'em will just think they've deserted, when they don't come back."
Ruto's expression turned to one of smug satisfaction as she looked at her fiancé again. She was not so sure about Ganristian's optimism that there would not be consequences, but that was something they could deal with later. "Yes, Uncle, that would be wonderful. Please work your magic after we get Link safely to my room. Please, be gentle with him... he looks to be in so much pain."
Jireto looked down, frowning. He had been defeated for now and did not wish to make a scene in front of the Zora that could cast him in an unfavorable light, but he was not going to give up on getting his way.
"Everyone, get back to your dancing and feasting. There is nothing more to see here," the Princess declared.
She turned and walked to her alcove, Ganristian and Honu trailing after her.