AN: My piece for miphazine! You can view more info on my Twitter! :)
Divine Beast Vah Ruta. It was a magnificent machine, glorious in its design and shape. Much like with Vah Naboris, first the head and then the rest of its body followed suit in discovery from the surrounding landscape. Mipha, princess of the Zoras, was immediately taken by the elephant divine beast with its gold plating, brown undertones, and its blue hues of the Sheikah technology that matched the similar soft shades of blue present in the Zora's Domain. Each day, after her training, Mipha could be found in the company of the divine beast upon its completed assembly. She felt a kind of affinity for the machine as strange as it seemed. Was it because it was an ancient relic her ancestors had piloted or was it something more?
Ever since Link had come to their home, Mipha felt the strangest feelings bubbling inside of her and it was so strange. The young Zora had once told her mother, the queen, about these feelings and she had just smiled while stroking her daughter's face tenderly. "Oh, my dear sweet Mipha," she had said. Often during those times, her mother had sang to her, the melody soothing Mipha almost instantly. Unfortunately, the queen was no longer with them and Mipha longed for the days when her mother had still been with them. Perhaps it was possible that her mother was still with her in some capacity. Was she watching over her right now? Was she proud of her?
Atop the Divine Beast, Mipha was by herself. Few people came onboard Ruta, seeing it as a sacred object of their past that would help them in their plight against Calamity Ganon, but also to give their precious princess some valuable time alone. Occasionally her father would visit her. Sometimes they would talk and others, they would just sit and watch the sun set over Hyrule or even watch it rise over the land they both cherished so deeply. Most times when she was alone, when she wasn't thinking of her brother and father or friends or her duty, she was thinking about her mother and how often she missed her. Link had come to the domain once not too long ago and seeing him had caused Mipha to remember how her mother used to sing to her during those times that Link was not around, but she couldn't remember the song she had used to sing for the life of her. The corners of her mouth turn down into a frown. How did it go again?
The air around her ripples and the temperature drops just slightly. It's colder than before and the hand that Mipha had been using to gently caress the divine beast comes to a halt. Behind her there is a figure translucent in appearance but bearing the resemblance of a Zora - or so Mipha thought. She couldn't be certain. The ancient past, the one far older than that of the battle with Calamity Ganon 10,000 years ago, was shrouded in almost complete mystery. She had seen pictures of the ancient Zora in her textbooks, on scrolls, and on paintings. Like the pictures of the other ancient races of Hylian and Goron, she had assumed these drawings to be just artistic renderings that paled in comparison to whatever their ancestors had looked like in the past.
Now she was not so sure.
The figure behind her, her gut told her at the very least, was a Zora. One from the ancient past which meant she was one of Mipha's ancestors. There was a kind of sadness in the woman's figure she thought. One moment that sadness was present in the way the woman carried herself and in her gaze, and the next it vanished as if it had never existed. Maybe Mipha was just being silly.
The woman's voice is chipper as she asks, "So you're the one piloting her this time, huh?"
"Y-yes!" Unsure of how to respond to a ghost, Mipha answers quickly despite feeling no ill will from the other.
"Oh. There's no need to worry. I won't bite or anything." She gives Mipha a soft smile.
Mipha blushes in response, hands clasped into fists that now rest in her lap.
With hands on her hips, the woman stares out across the Hyrule they could see from the dam. Under her breath, she murmurs, "This place looks nothing at all like the Hyrule or Zora's Domain of my time, but I suppose that's to be expected. I'm practically a legend now myself." Turning to face Mipha once more, she continues normally, "It's an enormous responsibility manning this girl! Are you sure this is what you want?"
With hands still in fists and in her lap, Mipha doesn't respond. Of course, she thinks, it's what I want.
Although Mipha was primarily a healer, she was also skilled at defending herself and fighting. When she had first started training and even now, it was because she had wanted to remain by Link's side in battle. She had wanted to spend more time with him. But now she thinks about how she wishes to use that same strength and her abilities to protect her people, her father, and her brother. Though most people viewed her as demure and fragile on some level, Mipha didn't really share the same sentiments. Yes, she was soft-spoken with things like love, especially her own, but she has what it takes to be a champion. Not just anyone could defeat a Guardian, and her healing powers were unmatched. If she could protect those she cared about and the future of Hyrule from Calamity Ganon's eventual return, then she would.
"Yes," Mipha responds. "This is what I want. I want to protect the people I love and everyone from Calamity Ganon should he come."
The other Zora comes to sit beside Mipha, still taking in the surroundings before them. There's silence between them for a moment before the stranger breaks it.
"I was just like you once upon a time. Although..." A finger comes to rest on her chin. "I doubt a sage's power is the same as the power of a champion." She turns towards Mipha and winks.
"A… sage?" Mipha cocks her head to the side.
Somewhere in her memory, when she had been learning of Hyrule's ancient past and its many run-ins with Calamity Ganon, she felt as if she had also learned about the sages her ghostly companion had mentioned. Perhaps her companion was from one of those ancient times.
"Do they even have them here in your time? Probably not, huh? You don't have needs for sages when you have champions and… the hero, hmm?" A coy smile wraps around her lips as if there is something she knows that Mipha does not. A sigh escapes the other Zora's lips, and she continues, "The hero… Is your hero as beautiful as mine once was?"
"Wh-what!?"
Mipha feels herself blush once more and her heart races as her companion just lets out a laugh and replies, "I'm only joking!"
There's a moment of silence between the two and Mipha feels herself calm down and wonders what she meant by 'her hero.' Did she mean the hero that fought the calamity 10,000 years ago? Or was she referring to another from the time of sages?
The sun was slowly beginning to set, and it was usually around this time that Mipha would desperately wish to remember the song her mother had sang for her when she was younger. It was always on the tip of her tongue, the edge of her mind, but it always seemed to slip away like water and it frustrated her to no end. But she wouldn't allow herself to shed tears over her frustration. Instead, she would try to play a beat hoping that it would help her remember, but she could play nothing that sounded remotely similar to the notes in her mother's song. Sometimes she wondered if she would've been able to figure it out much sooner if she had been more… musically inclined.
A thought comes to her mind, and she wonders if she should ask her ghostly companion if she could help. The way she had spoken earlier made Mipha wonder just what kind of connection she had with Vah Ruta. Was she the champion who had once ridden it before? It was possible, but the champions of the past hadn't been referred to as sages. Just champions like herself. Or was she the spirit of Vah Ruta herself? Wasn't Vah Ruta named after an ancient Zora princess? One that had been said to have helped the hero of the goddess centuries ago? Whatever the case, she must know of Mipha's struggles, right? How desperate she was to remember her mother's song especially with the threat of Calamity Ganon looming over their heads.
"There's something I'd like to ask you."
"Oh?"
"W-well, my mother always used to sing me a song when I was younger, but I can't remember the specifics for the life of me and I can't ask her what it was."
Thinking of her mother again only brought a fresh wave of sadness which was reflected in her features once more. The other Zora, Ruto, knew all too well what it was like to not have a mother. She'd lost her own when she was young and wondered if it had been the same for Mipha. Her own mother had shared many things with her. One had been telling her to only give the Zora Sapphire to the one she wanted to marry, and the other had been sharing the sacred Serenade of Water, a melody the hero of her time would use to gain entry into the Zora's Water Temple, with the one she trusted most. The Zora Princess of the Past loved her mother fiercely, and she just knew that Mipha felt the same towards her own. If there was some way that she could help, then she would try. There wasn't too much that she could do from the afterlife. A song was probably the most she could do.
"Hmm… Well, I don't know how much help I'll be, but there was one song in particular that my own mother taught me. She called it the 'Serenade of Water' and it was the song of our people." With that she began to sing the notes of the song that was so sacred to her.
At first Mipha was unsure. 'Serenade of Water'... It sounded much too formal to be anything at all similar to a song of her mother's, but she was surprised once the notes reached her ears, how similar it sounded to her mother's song. Mipha closed her eyes as the notes of the Serenade of Water washed over her and memories of her mother floated back to the surface of her mind as if they had happened just moments before.
Once her companion had finished singing, she realized with certainty that the melody she had just heard was none other than the same one that she had been so desperate to remember. Before she can even get a word of thanks out, she feels tears cascade down her cheeks. Her heart almost seemed to pang as she thought of her deceased mother.
"Oh dear. I didn't mean to make you cry." Ruto frowns. Incorporeal as she was, she could offer no handkerchief or anything of the sort for Mipha to dry her tears with. Perhaps just her presence alone would be enough.
Wiping her tears away, the sadness Mipha had felt mere moments before had been washed away. Not just because of the song but because she felt even closer to her mother than ever. Strange how something as simple as a song could do just that.
"Thank you." She places one of her hands over her heart. Even if it had only been a few notes, it had soothed the growing worries she had held that she could never hear her mother's song ever again.
Her companion had said her mother had taught her the 'Serenade of Water' too, and there had been that mention of her 'hero.' How many other similarities did the two share?
"My mother always used to sing me that song whenever I was lonely or feeling sad. Knowing that your mother taught it to you too…" Mipha struggled with the words to continue. "Well, I'm very grateful. To the both of you." She smiles.
Ruto returns her smile. "There's no need to thank me. I doubt there is much need for it as a song for heroes of the goddess to enter temples any longer, but our song is the song of the Zora. To think that it's lived on, even centuries after my time, makes me happy."
'Heroes of the goddess?'
The sun was near the horizon now. The land trying to swallow it whole as the moon and stars prepared to blanket the world in their soft light.
"I'm afraid I have little time left despite being as terrifying as I must look."
"Oh… Do you really have to go so soon?"
There was so much Mipha wanted to ask her friend. About the past. Her 'hero.' About her mother. And about the 'Serenade of Water.'
"I'm afraid so," Ruto frowns, "but don't worry. Us Zora princesses are with each other through it all." She gave her friend a wink and stood.
A kind of urgency rushes over Mipha then, wanting to tell the other her name and to ask a simple question. "I never told you my name. I'm Mipha, and… will we ever see each other again?"
"Of course, Mipha." Ruto smiles. "I, Princess Ruto, promise that we will see each other one day!"
With the last rays of sunlight before it was engulfed by the clouds, Ruto faded from sight, and with the knowledge that she had been talking to none other than Princess Ruto, someone she felt a kind of kinship towards, Mipha was glad that it had been her to come visit her in her time of need.