Zora's are not very curious creatures by nature, but the latest visitors to their domain has caused even the most indifferent to take another look. The latest object of their interest was the unusual conversation had been taking place between their young prince and a member of the royal guardians.
Link arrived at the throne room, thoroughly out of breath. After flopping down on the blue gray stone surrounding the water in the centre of the room Link forced himself upright to begin changing back into his regular green tunic. As he finished settling his trademark hat on his head, he began to hear distorted sounds of voiced echoing off the walls and water. Paying them little attention, he got up and started walking towards prince Rails' throne. As he got closer the voices became slightly clearer and he began to identify that there were only two speakers and not the group that he had initially assumed. As the throne came in sight he identified the two speakers as the prince and Sheik. Though the echo of the walls still made it difficult for him to understand what was being said, but he managed to pick out a few broken words here and there.
"... Are you sure...idea?...Zelda...concern..."
Not wanting to hear too much more of what was clearly a private conversation Link hurried his pace so as to alert Sheik and Ralis of his presence.
Prince Ralis was the first to notice Link. He quickly broke off mid-sentence and greeted him.
"Link, I was just having an interesting conversation with your friend here." He said waving a shaky hand toward Sheik. "Of course you could probably already tell that couldn't you." He amended, laughing nervously. Link looked at the prince questioningly before noticing that the young Zora was frightfully pale. He kept glancing uneasily as Sheik as if trying to tell him something without drawing too much attention. Sheik on the other hand looked as impassive as ever and was staring stubbornly at Link as if refusing to meet Rails' eye.
Link frowned slightly and said
"I don't want to interrupt, I could come back later if you would prefer." He offered mildly.
"No, no it's fine. We were basically finished anyway." Ralis assured him. His colour had begun to return and it looked like he was getting his emotions back under control.
"So," he continued. "Did you find your funny friend with the glasses?" Ralis asked smiling.
Link returned the smile and told him that they had found Shad in Malo's shop.
"That's good. So I guess you will be heading out then."
Link glanced toward Sheik. "As soon as we get everyone together, we'll be leaving." He said with a sad smile. "I am sorry to be leaving so soon -" he began to say when Ralis cut him off.
"Don't be sorry, I understand completely. But I do have something for you before you leave." The prince signalled to another one of his guards.
"It will be here in a few minutes," he said gesturing to the direction the guard left. "But now you must tell me how did you get up to the throne room so quickly? I didn't see any escorts and most of the time you arrive from the other direction."
"I had a theory that I've wanted to test for some time now after observing your people." Link answered with a pleased smile. Ralis raised one eyebrow but didn't interrupt. "I decided to try coming up here by the waterfall."
"What? On your own?" Ralis said incredulously
Link smiled and nodded.
"But it takes years, for a Zora, to become strong enough to climb a waterfall. You don't even have fins! How did you ever manage that?" The Zora asked in disbelief
"Well it definitely wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done, but after your escort at the bottom told me a few tricks I managed." He said, then after a bit more though added. "And the Zora outfit helped of course."
Ralis blink a few times then righted himself again.
"Of course..." He murmured half to himself. "Well, I guess this will save you some time in the future then." He said smiling.
"I don't know, it was very tiring, I think I'll leave that to your escort next time." Link laughed
Ralis joined in laughing and even Sheik looked like he was smiling. Link's ears perked as he heard the guard returning. He turned to look at him just as the Zora turned the corner. In its hands there was a thin rectangular box covered with what looked like fogged glass.
"Ah thank you." Ralis said as the guard handed the box to him. The prince then winced slightly and quickly set the box on the armrest next to him.
Link looked at his friend with some concern. Ralis noticed his face and said
"I'm fine it's just very cold." As he rubbed his hands together to warm up he began to explain.
"You are friends with the snow beasts that live up the mountain, is that correct?" He asked
Link nodded, curious where this was leading.
"Some time ago Yeto, I believe that's what he is called, came to us with a handful of your arrows saying that you had lost these and that he wanted to return them. But since you weren't here we took them to give to you later. The beast clearly wasn't very careful when he was pulling them out because they still had chunks of ice around the tip. Anyway, I asked a few of my people to remove the ice so you would be able to use them when you returned. However, when they examined them closer they realized that the ice could be a help, not a hindrance. They discovered that if one were to slightly change some properties of the arrows themselves, it would give them the ability to freeze things that they come in contact with."
As the prince was saying these things he began to open the fogged box, revealing one of Link's arrows with a chunk of ice around the arrowhead. The strange thing about the ice was that it was continuously circling the head of the arrow.
Ralis handed the arrow to Link. As Link took the arrow in his hands the familiar melody played and the arrow hovered a couple of inches above his leather gauntlets. As the arrow dropped back into his hands he realized what Ralis had been referring to earlier. Any part of his hand that wasn't covered immediately began to freeze so cold it felt like there were a million daggers piercing his skin. Link quickly adjusted the arrow so he would just be holding the wooden part. He frowned a bit as an idea started to crawl its way into his mind. Taking another one of his arrows out of his pack he touched the two points together. The regular arrow's tip froze up like the first. Tucking that small piece of information away to use later, Link put both arrows back into his pockets. He turned to thank Ralis, but found the young prince looking warily at Sheik once again.
The awkward silence was broken by the sounds of Auru and Arnold nearing the throne room. 'Well more the sounds of Arnold, seeing as Auru doesn't seem to be talking much' Link thought to himself with a shake of his head. They came from the opposite direction from the one Link had taken so he had to look past Sheik to see them. As they rounded the corner Link had to put a hand to his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Both Arnold and Auru were sopping wet from head to toe and from the scowl that Auru was pointing at Arnold, Link gathered that, somehow, their being wet was his fault.
Arnold was rambling on about something but from the look of things, no one was really paying attention to anything he was saying.
"What happened?" Sheik finally asked
"What happened is that genius here," Auru said jerking a finger at Arnold. "Decided that he had figured out how to breathe underwater like the Zora folk so he wanted to try it out right away."
"I do think I was on the right track at least," Arnold put in. "I needed to test it that's all. Now that I know, I can look into it a bit more and get it right next time." He finished, crossing his arms and pouting like a sulky child.
"Yeah, well do when I'm not around next time, because I'm not coming to save your drowning butt, got it?"
Arnold drew himself up to his full height (which was still shorter than Auru by at least a head) and told him "You simply do not understand the importance of testing magically properties. One must test theories at the first available opportunity." He said with a shake of his head. He then turned away so as to clearly indicate that he would have nothing further to say on the subject.
As this conversation was taking place Ashei and Shad walked in behind them. Ashei got one look at Auru and burst into gales of laughter.
"You look like something the cat dragged in." She said between gasps. "What happened?"
Auru looked like he was about to respond then thought better of it.
"Oh it doesn't matter." He answered irritably, his shoulders sagging to show that he had given up on the whole thing.
Shad on the other hand hadn't even seen Auru or Arnold, his face in one of his notebooks, writing furiously. About what Link could only guess. He had been about to walk right into Arnold when Ashei grabbed the back of his collar, yanking himself up short.
He looked around in surprise.
"Oh." He said as he looked around, as if just realizing where he was. He then noticed everyone looking at him, he smiled good-naturedly and said "Hey Link, you'll never guess what that Zora lady at the shop gave me." He said grinning with blissful delight
Link didn't get a chance to respond before Shad continued.
"She gave me this silver scale." He said, bringing it out to show him. "Apparently if I wear it I'll be able to breathe underwater for a bit longer than most people." Shad handed the scale to Link. "She gave it to me because she said I looked accident prone, so she didn't want me to drown." He frowned a little.
"Do I really look accident prone?" He asked as Link returned the scale to him
Link looked to the side, debating how to answer. He brought up his hand to make the gesture to indicate 'a little bit' and shrugged with a small sympathetic smile. Shad looked slightly disappointed but quickly shook it off and began looking intently at the scale once again. Just then Arnold popped up behind Shad leaned over trying to get a better look.
"Breathe underwater? Why didn't you say so earlier?" Arnold then tried to grab at the scale from over Shad's shoulder. "Gimme, gimme!" He said as he tried to get at the scale. Shad was now holding the scale at arm's length away from Arnold's eager hands.
"No! Get off of me!" Shad said indignantly.
"Gimme! Gimme!" Arnold cried as he switched to the other side to try and get at the scale.
"Stop it!" Shad told him as he moved the scale to safety again.
Link looked on at this charade with great confusion. He wanted to help Shad but he felt glued to his spot unable to think of a way to help.
Sheik on the other hand wasn't as hesitant. He pushed Arnold to the side and stood between him and Shad his fingers not far from his needle daggers.
"Enough." He said firmly
Link looked at him in surprise. Not only did Sheik not usually put himself in a situation where there would be a lot of focus on him, but he also had been avoiding Arnold, as if he wasn't comfortable being around him.
Arnold looked furious; he drew himself up his eyes gleaming. He started to raise his hand as if to reach for some unseen object but then, just as quickly, sunk back down, his face turning to one like that of a scolded child.
"But I need it." He whimpered in a pathetic tone
"It's not yours to take." Sheik answered just as firmly
Arnold looked at his shoes, twiddling the sleeves of his robe around in his fingers.
"Sorry." He muttered
"Don't say that to me." Sheik said, he then stepped aside so as to indicate that he should be apologizing to Shad. Arnold glanced up at Shad and sighed. He stood up straight and looked Shad in the eye.
"I apologize, master Shad, will you please forgive me?" He asked with what appeared to be complete sincerity.
Shad glanced around, as if unsure how to respond to the old man's request. He cleared his throat and said
"I forgive you, just don't do it again." He finished somewhat uncertainty.
Arnold beamed at him, then bowed extravagantly
"Thank you." he said simply. He then turned to address the rest of the group
"I have made the necessary preparations; including gathering my belongings so we are free to leave whenever would be convenient." He told then with a sweeping gesture to his two oddly shaped bags that were near Auru's feet.
Link cleared his throat and said. "Well then, perhaps we should be leaving now."
"That's the best idea you've had all day." Ashei teased. She then turned and started walking down the path they had taken to get there. She glanced back.
"What wrong with you guys? We're burning daylight come on!"
"Whatever the lady commands." Auru replied sarcastically and began to follow.
Shad ran after the two of them to catch up, all the while keeping a watchful eye on Arnold.
At that time though Arnold was fighting with his strange shaped bags. He would lift one successfully then trip over the other causing both him and the bag to tumble to the ground. Sheik and Link watched this go on for a few minutes until Arnold finally growled his frustration and made a coil of energy pulse out of both hands. He caused the coils to wrap themselves around the bags and hoist them into the air where they stayed suspended. With a satisfied humph he turned and pulled the bags after him by their magical leashes. As he walked he began to hum a cheerful tune to himself.
Link sighed in relief and said to Sheik "Finally, I was beginning to think I would have to carry those bags for him."
Sheik scoffed "You're too soft. I would have just left him." He replied with, what looked like a crooked smile under his cowl.
Link snickered in return. "I guess."
Sheik rolled his eyes. As he walked passed he patted him on the shoulder
"But... I guess that's not always a bad thing. Come on Ashei's right, we're burning daylight." Sheik said as he continued where the rest had already left.
Link smiled and turned to Ralis.
"Thank you... For everything." He said bowing.
"Not at all," the prince replied. "I wish you well on your journey. Though..." He paused and looked the direction the others had already left. "If what I've seen is any indication of what lays ahead, I don't envy your position." He said with a sympathetic smile.
Link also looked along the path.
"Well, what's the worst that could happen?" He asked lightheartedly.
Ralis pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Please don't say that, it increases the chances that those worse things will happen." He said pleadingly.
Link laughed. "Whatever you say your majesty." He said fondly.
After saying his final goodbyes to the young prince Link began to follow after the other members of his funny little group.
They reached the canoe retail shop early afternoon. Link was once again forced to be the talkative one being as he was the only one who knew the owner of the shop.
"Ah! My loyal customer! Wonderful to have you back!" Iza said with a wide smile, her hair quivering slightly from her movement.
"Hello," Link greeted
"Well I guess I should be honest, your kind of my only customer." She continued on somewhat glumly. "But that's beside the point! I should be happy it looks like you've brought some friends, and it just wouldn't do to keep them waiting." She said all enthusiastic once again.
"So, how many canoes will you be needing?"
"3, two people in each." He responded.
"That's enough for a race!" She said excitedly. "Would you like to?"
"A race?" Link asked hesitantly, looking at the others to see what they wanted to do.
"It's only 20 extra rupees, and it's a lot of fun." Iza pushed.
"Is there a prize?" Ashei asked with a mischievous glint in her eye.
"Hmm," The shop owner made as show of considering it, swaying slightly as she did. "Maybe there is... maybe there isn't ..." She said spreading her hands out in front of her, and shrugging. "So, you in?"
Ashei shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
Link and Auru nodded, Sheik and Arnold were looking elsewhere, but neither looked opposed to the idea. Shad looked slightly pale and looked like he was going to object but Ashei cut him off.
"You'll be fine." She said rolling her eyes. "Beside even if you do fall out you have that weird scale thing, you'll be fine." she told him again.
Shad nodded shakily, but his pale disposition hadn't improved much.
"Wonderful!" Iza said happily. "So you and that boy will be in one." She said pointing at Ashei and Shad. "The two gentlemen in the next." She continued pointing at Auru and Arnold. "And that leaves you boys in the last." She finished pointing at Link and Sheik. "Great!" She said without giving anyone the chance to object. "I'll go get them set up." She then scurried off. Each of them looked at each other then reluctantly followed. Within a few minutes all three pairs were seated in each of their respective canoes.
"Now the rules are simple." Iza said from the deck. "Whichever pair scores the most points, wins. You collect points by avoiding hitting any objects, and hitting the balloons I've set up. So you have to decide who will be rowing and who will be shooting."
Link offered to row, which Sheik accepted. Ashei loudly pronounced that she would be shooting and that Shad would be in a bad way if he knocked into anything. Arnold suggested that it would be for the best if Auru were to row.
"I simply don't believe I have the strength for it." He said. "Although I also hope you won't expect me to hit too many targets either seeing as it is that it's been many years since I've shot a bow and arrow."
"Not a problem," Auru responded. "I think these youngsters are more interested in this race anyway, so we'll let them duke it out." He said with a wink
"Alright if you're all ready?" Iza said. "Then on your marks... Get set... GO!"
The start for the race was rather simple as there were no targets or obstacle to distract, it gave the drivers the opportunity to get more or less accustomed to controlling the canoe.
Shad of course had the most difficulty of the three and had managed to spin them a full 180 at least twice. As the first obstacles came into view Ashei began to yell instructions to Shad in some attempt for them to avoid the inevitable crashes. He ended up hitting into 3 of the 5 but also managed to avoid spinning the canoe at all. Link hit into one of the obstacles when he had been distracted by Ashei and Shad's bickering. Auru on the other hand passed through flawlessly. And as they passed the other two Arnold gave a phoney regal wave, as if he were some kind of royalty in a parade. Link could feel Sheik shift into position as the first three targets came into view. Sheik carefully lined up a perfect shot and popped the smallest balloon scoring them a nice 150 points. Ashei shot next, hitting the wall about 10 inches from the second biggest. After much cursing she readied herself for the next shot. Arnold rather comically trying to figure out how to shoot his bow and after becoming thoroughly frustrated threw his hands up muttering something causing the bow and arrow to begin to hover very similarly to when he had been trying to pick up his bags. He moved his hands again and the bow began to move and with pinpoint accuracy hit the largest balloon as they passed under it.
"Hey! That's cheating!" Ashei shouted in protest.
Arnold just responded by sticking his tongue out and wiggling his hands on either side of his head, much like a child taunting a playmate. Link was trying to restrain himself from laughing when he felt Sheik tap him on the shoulder then point in front of the canoe. As Link refocused on the waters ahead he realized that they were about to crash into a large boulder. Taking swift action, he spun the canoe a 180, then kept swivelling to avoid losing any more points. After sighing with relief as they passed the large obstacle Link forced himself to pay more attention. The next set of targets were set up after a series of rapids. Sheik once again readied himself to hit the smallest of the balloons but Ashei was faster. Despite Shad still having difficulty controlling their canoe Ashei managed to line up a next to perfect shoot. Hitting the balloon just slightly off centre she looked at Sheik with a small self-satisfied smirk. Sheik returned the gaze with a slightly flintily one of his own. Then without looking he drew two arrows from his quiver and shot both remaining balloons at the same time, all the while keeping his calm gaze locked on Ashei. After she shook the stunned expressions from her face she granted Sheik a rare impressed expression. The next part of the course was majorly made up of obstacles with a few scattered targets popping up here and there. The majority of the balloons were hit by Sheik and Ashei with a few going to Arnold and his magically enhanced bow. Link managed to avoid most of the rocks blocking their path but still crashed into the odd one. Poor Shad was still hitting two thirds of obstacles whereas Auru breezed through the course with apparent ease, avoiding all of the things set in his way. The course came to an end with a swift drop down the small waterfall leading into Lake Hylia. The unexpected change earned a hi-pitched yelp from Shad and an excited whoop from Arnold.
The six climbed out of their canoes onto the small island just to the left of the waterfall. The Zora that worked at the shop came and collected the three canoes from them.
"Great job by all of you!" They said. "The scores go as follows: 655 points for Link and the Sheikah, earning them first place, 325 points for the two gentlemen, earning them second, and 5 points for the girl and the boy with glasses, coming in last."
Ashei immediately began to protest, mostly out of habit more than actual spite.
"The prize I was instructed to give to you by my employer is thus." The Zora said, completely ignoring Ashei. She held up a compass like device. "It finds water." She said as if that explained everything."
Link reached out to take the device. Then he made it hover so he could view it from all sides with his signature song playing to indicate the arrival of a new item. Sheik crossed his arms.
"One of these days I'm going to find out where that song is playing from." He said half to himself.
"Good luck," Link replied with a chuckle as he stuffed the thing into his pocket. "Midna went looking for it for weeks and still didn't find anything."
"So... Shall we continue?" Auru asked
Link nodded and began to lead them across the small dots of land leading to entrance of the temple of the light spirit Lanayru when Sheik cleared his throat to get their attention. The group turned to see him crouched over the collapsed form of Shad.
"My goodness... Is he dead?" Arnold asked with idle curiosity
"No just overextended, we'll have to carry him for a while." Sheik replied hoisting limp Shad over one shoulder
Link again marvelled at Sheik innate capability to surprise him with new skills. Carrying him like it was nothing Sheik passed Link and began to hop from island to island across the water. Each following quickly after and reached the other side in minutes. As they approached the multi-coloured shop Fyer came strolling out to meet them.
"Hey guy, you here for another high-flyin' adventure?" He asked as they got close enough.
"Regular for 6." Link replied
"Got ya, comin' right up." He said laughing softly to himself and wandering back to his shop.
"You know you'll have to go one at a time, and he," he said with a negligent wave of his hand at Shad. "Won't be able to fly like that."
They turned to look at Sheik with Shad still slung over his shoulder. Sheik glanced at him then gently set him down on the ground. He kneeled on the ground next to him putting two fingers on his neck to check his pulse. He then crouched down with his ear near Shad's face.
"Pulse and breathing are normal; he should be coming around soon." Sheik said at the end of his inspection.
Then without another word, and with the exact same calm facade, he picked up his limp form and unceremoniously dropped him into the water.
This received yelps of surprise from all present and Link quickly ran forward to help his friend but Sheik put his hand out to block him from continuing. Before Link had a chance to give Sheik a piece of his mind Shad resurfaced coughing and sputtering but otherwise unhurt. Link and Sheik helped him out of the water where he sat staring unfocused.
"Are you crazy?! You could have killed him!" Link yelled at Sheik
"It woke him up didn't it?" Sheik replied in a flat tone.
"That's not the poin-" he started to say.
"Goodness gracious! Is that what I think it is?!" Shad broke in suddenly.
They looked at him in confusion. "What?"
"That!" He said pointing towards the Sky Cannon. "Bu-but I thought that that was back in Kakariko! How on earth did it get here?"
Link grimaced a bit.
"I'm sorry Shad; I was going to tell you..."
"Wait, are you saying you brought it here?" He asked in disbelief
"I had help." He avoided meeting his eyes
After not hearing a response Link looked back to where Shad had been and found that he had disappeared. He looked around in complete confusion. At last he realized that he was examining the cannon, how he got there so quickly was beyond Link.
"Well I guess he's feeling better." Auru said with a small laugh
"I'll go get him." Ashei said
A moment later she arrived dragging Shad by the collar of his shirt.
"We're not using that cannon! We're using this one!" She told him pointing at Fyer shop
"But- but," Shad whimpered
"I'm truly sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I did promise to take you to the land of the Oocca, just... Later." Link said trying to refocus the scholar. Shad considered this, then sighed
"You're right you did... I guess I got carried away again, anyway since I held us up, I guess I'll go first." He said with a small smile.