"Uh, apprentice?" Sidon asked inelegantly, looking really out of his element for once. Link couldn't blame him.
"Yes", Mageri said, and walked over to them. He held up his hand, palm up, towards Sidon. Sidon blinked at it uncomprehendingly a few times, until he finally, uncertainly, held out his own hand in a similar pose. Mageri grabbed a gentle hold of it with both of his own small hands and examined it curiously. "Like I said, your sister was a genius. It's unusual to manifest your powers in such a way when you're still a child, much less learn to control them even if you do. That's why you couldn't learn the spell when you were the same age; you certainly have the power, but you're not a genius. Like most people, you simply had to wait until the usual age to manifest your powers and now you need a competent teacher to show you how it's done. Only geniuses learn practically on their own or with haphazard guidance."
Did that make Zelda a genius? Clearly not as much of one as Mipha had apparently been, but Zelda did learn on her own in the end.
Wait. Did that make Urbosa, Daruk and Revali geniuses as well? To be fair, he didn't know if Urbosa or Daruk had had teachers, or Yunobo for that matter, but Revali certainly didn't. ...Well, it made a lot of sense that they had been chosen as Champions, if that was the case.
…He had the feeling Revali would be insufferably smug if he knew of Link's current thoughts.
"Regardless, since you're likely only interested in harnessing your aptitude – and potentially only capable of that anyway; I don't know how Zora magic works – I could take you as my personal apprentice instead of rolling you into the academy as a regular student", Mageri continued, still fiddling with Sidon's hand, and suddenly a flash of white-blue light lit the tips of Sidon's fingers. Mageri grinned widely. "Oh, such potential indeed! Hmm, Zora magic feels a bit different from Minish magic; certainly more water-oriented while ours is luck-oriented. But I can work with this. I'm not the master of this academy or carry the name of Mageri for nothing! Hah, I think I can finally justify changing my name to Archmageri when I'm done with your education!"
Sidon stared at his fingers in wonder, seemingly only half-paying attention to Mageri's words. Link, however, was wary. He tapped Sidon's arm to wrestle his attention away from the pretty lights.
'I think you need to set things straight before Mageri drags you to get fitted for a robe', he signed, but Sidon looked indecisive. That was bad. 'Sidon. You can't apprentice yourself away right now. Later, much later, yes. Now, no.'
Sidon frowned, and turned to Mageri. "Please excuse us for a moment."
He freed his hand and turned back to Link. 'This might be a one time only offer, and our trip, after we're done being small, will take months. He may have changed his mind then.'
For a moment Link was too distracted by the fact that Sidon was actually signing to him to pay attention to the actual words. But then they caught up to him and he gave Sidon a disbelieving look. 'Are you kidding me? You can't stay here now. Actually think for a second. You're letting your feelings dictate your decision.'
Sidon's frown deepened, and he looked very displeased. 'You're really not in a position to say that. What, leaving me at the stable was a perfectly fine course of action in your opinion, but me staying here and learning to heal is bad?'
Link glared. How dare he. 'You're bringing that up again, are you? Didn't you tell me it was forgiven and forgotten? Are you gonna bring up the grasshopper, too? Well, how about your own silent starvation and dehydration?'
Sidon bared his teeth, but clenched his fists tightly to, presumably, prevent himself from saying something. He halfway turned away from Link and closed his eyes, visibly trying to calm down.
Link felt slightly ashamed, but he was going to hold his ground. He was right and he knew it. ...Although Sidon did have a small point. He could stay here safely while Link continued alone. But now it was Sidon who was forgetting a teeny tiny little detail, just like Link had before.
Slateri would most likely not understand Link's signing.
He gave Sidon a moment longer to gather his calm, and then tapped his elbow. Sidon sighed, but opened his eyes and looked at him expectantly. Annoyance was still written all over his face.
'Slateri won't be able to understand me', Link signed, slowly and deliberately to emphasize his point.
Sidon stared at his fingers blankly for a second, and then gave a resigned chuckle. "Of course. You're right. I'm sorry for getting carried away. And for bringing up the past."
Link gave him a smile and patted his bicep, and then gestured towards Mageri expectantly. Sidon returned the smile with a sheepish one of his own before turning away.
"Thank you for the very generous offer, Mageri, but I must decline for the time-being", Sidon said, apparently much to Mageri's shock. "Link and I need to find a way to return to our original size in order to let our loved ones – my father the Zora King included – know we're safe. We disappeared quite unexpectedly."
Mageri seemed to be at a loss for words, but eventually shook it off and adopted a grumpy look. "Fine. I can accept that. So when do you expect you would be able to start, instead?"
Sidon exchanged a relieved look with Link. "Ah, we're actually on a rather long journey that simply got sidetracked by our accidental shrinkage. I would like to finish that first, if that is acceptable. I cannot give any exact estimation for the duration, but it will be between a few months at least and a year at most."
Link looked at Sidon with wide eyes and a big smile. He had half-expected their bigger adventure to get canceled because of the better offer, yet here Sidon was, negotiating it in. He really loved this man.
Mageri looked a lot less pleased. "A year? Hmph! Big people will probably be common by that time and I'll be up to my eyeballs in potential apprentices! I can't promise I'll have the time for you anymore."
Link rolled his eyes at the empty threat. Purah and her apprentice were the only ones capable of making more Sheikah Slates, and she had a specific list of people she was going to prioritize when she managed to get more done. The general public would have to wait for a long time, if she was ever going to venture there in the first place. A year was not going to make a difference. Not that Mageri necessarily knew that, so maybe Link should cut him some slack.
Sidon gave Link a worried glance. Oh, right, he probably didn't realize that either.
'No worries', Link signed with a knowing smile. 'It'll probably only be Zelda and Riju by then. Only Purah can make more Slates, and it's slow work.'
Sidon beamed at him and turned to Mageri again. "I have reason to believe otherwise. If you do have the time and an open spot, will you take me as your apprentice in a year?"
Mageri glared at Link like the inconvenient situation was somehow his fault, but nodded at Sidon anyway. "Fine. I will. But I expect you to be fully dedicated to your studies then. If you happen to have any Zora spell books or other information sources or magical artifacts, bring them with you so we can take a look. Teaching you will be easier if we have something of your own heritage to work with."
Sidon gave a delighted laugh, and bent on one knee to enthusiastically shake Mageri's hand. "Thank you! I will come completely prepared when I'm able! You won't regret this, Master Mageri!"
Mageri looked bewildered by the handshake, but visibly pleased at the title. He coughed, and pulled his hand away. "Good. Good. Now, I think the tour is over, since you'll return here eventually and have plenty of time to acquaintance yourself with every room then."
Both Link and Sidon's faces fell at that.
"But we-"
'I won't be-'
Mageri tsked and shook a finger at them. "My school, my rules. This way."
He briskly walked towards a door… that was not the one they had entered from. Link and Sidon exchanged a confused look, but hurried to follow.
The door had red triangles on it, and both red magic smoke and some actual smoke billowed out when it was opened. The inside was similar to the previous rooms, but in addition to desks there were fireplaces, kilns, and anvils available. The room was hot, as well. The Minish students were working on different fiery spells and also doing blacksmithing from the looks of it.
They had no time to take everything in properly before Mageri ushered them through another door and they found themselves in a greenhouse. The Minish were tending to plants that glowed, sparkled, moved or sang…
The next room had rocks being magically sculpted,and statues being magically repaired. Huh, that explained how the obviously ancient statues outside were in such a good condition Also, there was a whole mountain of inactive kinstones laying around; without magic they looked like regular coins, perfectly round and kind of dull. A Minish was sitting at a nearby desk and enchanting one of them. When they finished, the stone glowed brightly and broke into two matching pieces.
Mageri stopped in front of the next door and turned to give Sidon a calculating look. The door had yellow zigzags on it, and Link didn't need any time at all to connect the dots.
Yeah, that would be a terrible idea.
"Considering that your magic is water-based…" Mageri trailed off and gestured at the door.
Sidon shook his head vehemently. "Yes. Let's stay far away from electricity, please."
"In that case, the tour is really over", Mageri said, and led them to another door. It was blank. "There are still a few other rooms, but you can see them the next time."
Damn, now Link was really curious. Whatever could still be left? Air, maybe? Did talking to creatures have its own room? Uhh, some kind of mental powers? Whatever Zelda had, light? Darkness?
He was not about to find out and that sucked. But he supposed Sidon could tell him all about it one day, if he didn't personally drop by when Sidon came back here for his studies.
The door took them back to the first room, where Histori was sitting at the table and sorting the kinstones by their colour. She looked up when they entered, and jumped from her seat with a wide grin.
"Oh, the tour is over already?" she asked, and skipped over to them. "What's the verdict? Are we getting our first ever Zora student at the academy?"
Mageri seemed to have trouble settling on an expression. He looked annoyed for a moment, proud at the next moment, and then a strange mix of the two. "Yes to both. He will be learning healing as my apprentice in a year. Unless I'm too busy."
The last part sounded very tacked on, and cause Link to smirk.
Histori squealed. Actually squealed. And then she jumped to hug Sidon around his middle, causing him to sputter in surprise and also because she didn't know to mind his gills. Link was unfortunately very familiar with doing that.
"WE ARE MAKING HISTORY! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"
"My gills-"
"Ooh, we need to inform Librari! Come on!"
She hopped off of Sidon, grabbed a hold of both his and Link's wrists, and whirlwinded them out of the academy.
...Okay then.