It Begins

The next morning, Zelda was at the foot of his bed. He sighed, groggy but not in the mood, "You better not be saying, 'See this is why I can't let you out of the castle by yourself,' Your Highness. I'm annoyed enough as it is." He felt her squeeze his left hand.

"I actually need to tell you something."

He realized it was serious, "Oh, I'm sorry. What is it?"

"Yesterday, a fortune teller told us about a prophecy and that Ganon is going to come back."

Something didn't feel right when she told him this, it was probably the weird vibes he got off the fortune teller when he met her in town. 'Hm, the ball's rolling now isn't it?' "What does that mean for us? What are we going to do?"

She explained to him about the four champions from the four different regions and how the chosen knight will wield the master sword and defeat Calamity Ganon, meanwhile she'll seal him away. He already knew that the chosen knight was going to be Link, that was obvious.

"I think our first step should be going to Zora's Domain."

"Can I come with?"

The princess glanced at his bandaged arm, "I'll have the doctor come check your wound, and if it's healed enough, you can come. We leave tomorrow in the afternoon."

When she left, the doctor was quick to arrive. He gently took off the bandages and genuinely gasped at what he saw, "I..don't believe it!"

This alarmed him at first, "Huh? What's wrong?"

"It's as if nothing happened to your arm! This is the fastest I've ever seen an injury like this naturally heal!"

He hid his smile, "Does this mean I'm good to go?"

The doctor thought it over, "Hm, yes, I suppose it does. But! Please be careful with it, I don't want to have to see you again anytime soon."

When he left the hospital wing, he couldn't help but do a few skips and leap at being able to get out of bed. Plus he could automatically go with Zelda and them to Zora's Domain! He didn't have to prove himself just yet with those expeditions! Sure, it meant he would have to return to the castle each time, but it was better than nothing and it was less work too. Perhaps he'll just have to complete those later.

He went straight to the dining hall and ate before going to solo practice with a dummy just in case anything bad were to happen while they were out. 'I should be able to protect the princess too! No one Link should be doing all the work!' By the time it got dark he was still pumped about getting to leave the next day.

In fact he could hardly sleep because of it, so he did just a little bit more studying and looking over newer words so he didn't have any moments where he had no idea what was getting said. When dawn broke, he made himself sleep for a few hours before eating one last time, packing his things, and finding a carriage at the gates that lead to Castle Town.

He made sure to bring his nightshirt and another tunic in case the one he was wearing got soiled for any particular reason. To his surprise he was the first one on the carriage. It got awkward between him and the driver while they waited for Link, Zelda, and the two other guards to get in. He was about to make small talk when Zelda quickly came in through the entrance and sat beside him, she looked annoyed. "You okay, princess?"

"I am perfectly fine."

'So she's definitely annoyed,' Young Link soon understood the source of her frustration when Link came into the carriage and sat in front of him, Zelda sighing at his entrance. 'Oooooh, okay. I guess they're not on as equal terms now.' He stared down at his lap and twiddled his thumbs to avoid making eye contact with either of them. His eye caught sight of the triforce still sitting on his left hand. 'When? When will you leave me to go assist him? He's incredibly worthy of you I hope you know.' He covered it for the time being.

The other guards finally got onto the carriage and the silent ride to Zora's Domain painfully began. For starters, about an hour into the ride, it started raining, hard. It was safe to say that all of them hoped the driver was keeping his sanity. Then as they crossed a bridge, hearing the water rushing past beneath them sent a chill through the cabin. No one talked. At all.

Young Link could feel a groan coming on, but he stifled it into a yawn. "Um...maybe I could accompany the driver?"

"It's raining," Zelda simply said, not even turning to look at him, "I'm not letting a child, even of your ability, get soaked and get a cold."

He pulled back the curtains, seeing the gloomy terrain, "Yeah, you're right."

"I must add, I hope your belongings are able to be carried by hand. Tomorrow, we'll reach a point to where the carriage can no longer travel. It's not too far from the domain, but it's a long walk." she crossed her arms, "That is all, thank you."

For the rest of the ride, they all sat in silence. He thought about trying to make another attempt at conversation but the sound of the rain drowned out any idea that came to mind. The next time he pulled back the curtain it was nighttime and he realized that only him and Link were awake. He slowly looked up as to not bring any attention to himself, but it was to absolutely no avail since Link was already staring at him. ' Wow , I can't get away with anything when it comes to him. That's for the better of course.'

"Good evening ," he said in the Old Hylian.

Link smiled for a split second before leaning in, whispering, "I always thought the Old Hylian sounded nice. At least when you speak it."

He was a little surprised, "Ah, well thank you. You can imagine what it was like to learn this one." Zelda suddenly moved, causing them both to sit up straight. They both sighed when it was just her scooting down in her seat. "I guess you should sleep, right?"

His descendant almost looked appalled, "No, I need to keep watch. You should sleep."

"Naaah," Young Link shook his head, "I'll watch over the carriage, you'll get some sleep, and then when the morning arrives, I'll sleep until we hit the walking portion and you'll be rested enough to cover for me."

Link sat back in his seat, "You're too convincing for a child, y'know that?"

"I've been around for awhile. It's an acquired skill."

The young hero was thankful when the sunrise hit the carriage. He poked at Link's knee to wake him and immediately fell asleep after. Zelda was softly nudging him awake when the horses came to a halt and the driver opened the doors.

He bid them farewell, "I'm sure you all know what comes next. I'll see you again in a few days."

"Yes, thank you." Zelda said, thanking him once more before setting off up the trail.

He took in his surroundings. The air was moist, but not sticky, more like cooling. In fact when the sun was reaching to be overhead, there was still dew on the grass and the breeze felt like it carried a spray of water along with it. The sound of the rushing river was rather captivating, and the occasional chirp of a bird paired nicely.

"Ahh, this place has a very natural feel to it," Young Link commented, enjoying the fresh air. His eye caught the shiny rocks and almost sea-like plants, "Although I'm surprised at the rocks and plants. More like, I'm surprised at how much rock there is and how the plants look like coral."

Zelda explained the rocks, "Well, you'll see when we reach the domain, but the entire place was made out of these rocks, so it's fitting that they're everywhere." She pointed to a large structure in the distance, "Oh look, the great bridge is just up ahead, we'll be there in no time at this rate."

The bridge looked massive, causing him to stop in his tracks since he'd never seen one so big. He was scooted forward by one of the trailing knights as a reminder to not get sidetracked.

They were about to cross the bridge when a group of green lizalfos jumped out of the surrounding flora and ambushed them with spears. Link already dispatched one of them, a knight taking on another. Meanwhile, Young Link stood in front of Zelda as a means to keep the other lizalfos at bay. One was getting testy with the lack of combat and prepared to lunge forward with the sharp, wooden spear, but he threw his sword and lodged it in it's head before it could do so. Link took down the last one as the knights finally killed the other, Young Link retrieving his sword and wiping the blood off on the grass. When he put it back he instinctively went to put up his shield, again being reminded that he didn't have one.

He looked back at Zelda, who was moderately concerned at him throwing his weapon, "Do you think they have a shield I can buy? I keep forgetting that I don't have one and that's pretty dangerous."

"Y-yes, I'm sure we could ask about that." She signaled for everyone to keep moving, "I've been meaning to ask, why do you fight like that?"

This caught the attention of Link and the two guards, "Well I know you mean to say that it comes off violent and unconventional at times, but monsters don't follow the same rules we do. In that case, why should we fight them like we fight each other?"

"That's not a bad question, but yes it does come off incredibly violent for someone like you."

'Don't underestimate me then. I feel like this is going to be a common theme of 'oh but he's a kid, he shouldn't be chopping heads off and shoving bombs in their mouths! That's awful!' But that's what I've had to do my whole life and it's not going to change.'

"She's got a point kid. Sometimes it looks like you're just angry and you're taking it out on whatever is in front of you," One of the guards said.

"Huh, I would've never guessed. I don't feel mad when I'm fighting. I wasn't even really thinking just then. It was going to charge us and if I got closer, I would have gotten stabbed, so I threw my sword." He saw Link nodding to himself and decided that was good enough, "However, I do know that if I missed, I would've been in big trouble. No one has to tell me that."

With that they continued across the great bridge and made it into the domain, him, again, being breath-taken by how beautiful it all was. 'Whoooaaa! So pretty!' His eyes landed on a zora sapphire that hung around the neck of one of the two that were guarding that entrance. He ran up to them without warning, "The zora sapphire!? Just out and about?" He looked over and saw the other guard wearing it as well, not paying attention to their shocked faces. Soon he realized it was everywhere, and the gems were not all sapphires, but something else that glowed.

Young Link jumped back once he realized he had made a bit of a fool of himself, "Ah, sorry about that! I was just surprised to see the sapphire on your neck."

They shrugged it off, "No worries! As soon as you said sapphire I knew you were just interested in the armor. I'm impressed that someone as young as you knows about that! It's been a while since a Hylian showed knowledge of zora history. At least a non-royal one."

As the two guards bowed to Zelda, he furthermore realized that the zora don't look the same as the zora from his universe did. However, they weren't all that bad-looking. When they went to the heart of the domain where a beautiful fountain was, one of the children ran up to him. Again, he was surprised at how they looked.

"Ohhhhh! They brought a kid this time!" The zora sounded like a girl and was blue in color.

"Oh, hi. You're a kid as well?"

"Nooooo!" She made a disappointed face, "I'm twenty-three! I knew my mom was lying when she said I looked a bit older today!"

"I feel your pain," He scratched his head, "I'm nearly eighteen myself and have yet to basically hit puberty."

"Whaaat? Silly!" She playfully pushed his shoulder, "That's not how Hylians work! If you were that old you'd look like them!" She pointed to the others.

"Right. I guess you could say that I'm actually ten, but I'm about to be eleven."

She squinted, smiling and revealing sharp teeth, "Aw well you have nothing to worry about!" Now her eyes sparkled, "I can already tell you'll be as cute as Link is when you're older!" She ran off to the other zora 'children.'

'Tell me about it. I'm him.' He turned to face his group, seeing another zora 'child' and an older, more adult-looking one. They were both a bright shade of red, the older one being a girl and the younger appearing to be a boy. He stood behind Link to limit any possible interactions but listened to their conversation.

"Why it's very nice to see you all. Link," she nodded her head, "Zelda," she bowed.

"You too, Mipha," Zelda smiled. She noticed the young zora that hid behind Mipha's leg, "And who is this? I don't recall seeing him the last time I was here."

She gestured to him, "Oh this is Prince Sidon. Would you like to say hello to everyone?" He further disappeared behind her figure, causing her to giggle, "My, I guess not right now. So what is it that you need?"

"Well we were recently told by a fortune teller about Calamity Ganon returning. A thousand years ago, Hyrule appointed four champions from each region along with a Hylian alike, and they, together with the divine beasts and the princess's sealing power, vanquished Ganon. All we hear about is your extraordinary healing abilities, Mipha, and I would like to ask if you would have the honor of working with us."

While Zelda did more talking about the champion stuff, Young Link happened to catch Sidon's eye. He shallowly waved to the zora, getting an extremely toothy smile back. 'So he's shy around older looking people but not kids that are the same size as him? Why am I not surprised?' The prince motioned for him to follow as he walked away from Mipha, him cautiously doing so. He had led him to the hotel portion of the domain and hopped onto one of the beds, the young hero sitting next to him. "So uh," he started, "did you want to tell me something?"

The prince took a deep breath, "No I just wanted to step away from their conversation."

"Oh. I mean, I've heard the princess rehearse that speech a couple of times, so yeah it's gotten old." Young Link glanced over and saw Mipha eyeing Link while Zelda was focused elsewhere. 'I know that look .'

"Y'know, you look a lot like Link."

"You'd be surprised to know that I don't actually get that a lot. To make it even better, my name is Young Link as a matter of fact."

"Ooohh, that makes sense. So are you a prince then?"

"N-no. I'm just a regular ol' Hylian. By the way," He briefly spied Mipha just to make sure, leaning in toward Sidon, "Does your sister like Link?"

Sidon immediately clapped two hands over his mouth, "How did you know?" he mouthed, looking stunned.

He sat back, "Well, I've had a zora crush on me before, so I know what it looks like. Granted, at least she's nice."

"Really? There's been another zora that likes Hylians?"

"This is gonna sound weird, but take my word for it. A long, long time ago, in a different place, I saved the Zora Princess Ruto from the royal fish and she gave me something and told me it meant that we were engaged. I was a little younger at the time, so I freaked out and left as fast as possible." The memory of dashing past her father with the jewel in hand and then tripping in the water and falling on his face was burned into his mind. Oh, and the embarrassment he felt when he realized there was a fairy fountain and then had to pass by the Zora King again.

"Oh wow! I'm learning about her in my studies! I'll be sure to tell my instructor about this new information regarding the princess," Sidon pulled out a small pen and paper.

Young Link chuckled, "Well, don't expect him to believe you. Hearing it from another kid isn't exactly a reliable source, but I swear on it being true." He remembered that even the young zora are actually pretty old, "Wait, how old are you?"

"Oh I'm twenty."

He was in awe, "Twenty!?"

Sidon blinked, a look of realization appearing, "Riiight. See, we age a lot slower than Hylians do. Mipha is actually like forty."

His eyes were practically bursting out of his head, "Geez! You guys live for a really long time then!"

The prince nodded, "Mhm! It's quite sad to see you Hylians go so quickly." He looked back at the group, "I think we should head back now."

He watched the tail-part of the prince's head flop onto the floor when he got down. Now that he thought about it, it was really long in comparison to the other zora's tail-thingies. When they got back, Sidon went off with Zelda and Mipha while he stayed with Link and the other guards.

The knight was leaning up against one of the pillars, "I see you and Sidon are friends." His voice sounded mushy.

The young hero briefly glared at him, "Don't talk to me like I'm five."

"Sorry."

"But yeah, I guess you could say that. He just wanted out of the conversation." A moment of silence passed when they both got distracted by a bird flying overhead.

"Mipha agreed to become the zora champion."

"Oh that's good. You know she likes you right?"

He looked down at him with a confused and concerned look, "No? Like like me? We're just friends."

Young Link grinned, "Dude really, she likes you."

"How would you know? You just barely met her."

"Duh, I've had a zora like me before, and trust me, I know that look she gives you."

Link sat back, folding his arms, "Hm, I guess I'll just ask her later then. I asked to speak with her privately so I could tell you how old she is to prove that she didn't try to get engaged with you."

"You can't do that! Not outright ask! Plus, I said it was Princess Ruto , she's completely different than her!" He sighed, "That and she's like forty."

The descendant was taken aback, "She's forty!?"

"I know right! That's what I said! Prince Sidon is twenty believe it or not! The zora here just age really slowly," he explained.

"Wow, I guess I don't need to ask her about that then."

"Yeah, and don't ask her if she likes you either."

He put a hand on his hip, "Why not?"

"Women don't work like that Link! You should only ask her that if you're going to say you like her back, and not as a friend ," He faced him, Link's expression reading that he was going to do it anyways, " I mean it. If you go and do that, you're gonna make things awkward for a really long time. At least trust me on that."

The knight heftily sighed, "Fine! I really don't see why I can't, but my gut is telling me that you're right." He blinked, looking back to him, "Well what am I supposed to talk about now? That was all I was going to say."

Young Link was appalled, "That's not my problem!" Link made a face, "Okay okay! I don't know, just ask her how things have been at the domain and how Prince Sidon is. Like small talk until you think of something else to do or she needs to go."

"Okay, I think I can do at least that. What if it gets awkward?"

"I'm done talking to you now." He started to walk in the other direction.

"What!?"

"See ya! I'm gonna explore!" He ran up the stairs to another part of the domain, running into an older zora who was looking over an edge where there were no railings. A waterfall was formed as a result. "Oh sorry!"

"It's okay, nothing but a nudge really." The zora took a closer look at him, "Are you interested in diving by any chance?"

'Hey, I've done a challenge like this before.' "Let me guess, you're gonna throw something off the ledge, and I'm gonna dive off to go get it?"

"Oh!" He thought for a moment, "Well no."

'Dang, that was a fun one too.'

"This is just a really high ledge, and I was going to reward whoever could jump off of it."

He nodded his head, "I'll still do it, but how do I get back up?"

"No need to worry about that! I'll dive down after you and bring you back up."

"Works for me!" He sat his sword, hat, and boots off to the side.

Before bringing himself into position, he quickly looked over the edge, mainly to see how long he should expect to fall. After, he went back a couple steps, ran forward, and dived off the ledge. He figured there was time for a short front flip given how high up he jumped from. His ears briefly heard what sounded like cheering as he plunged into the water. Luckily for him, entering the water was rather painless. Only his forehead felt like it got smacked. When he was underwater, he didn't see anything worth getting unless rocks were considered to be of value. He surfaced and wiped his hair out of his face, giving a thumbs up that he was okay.

The blue zora double front flipped off the edge and landed in the water beside him, "That was amazing! Truly a spectacular dive!"

Young Link swam over and held onto his shoulder, "Thanks! I actually really like diving. Also, how do we go up from here?"

"Don't you know? Zoras can swim up waterfalls! Just get on my back and hold on!"

He did as he was told and the next thing he knew, he was clinging onto the shoulders of this zora for dear life as he vertically climbed the waterfall. It didn't help that water was getting in his eyes either, but the feeling was amazing! It was such a thrill! When they reached the top, the Zora instinctively front flipped, sending him flying into the air.

He was prepared though, as his time spent being a warrior of Hyrule in the last universe made him get used to being airborne, even when he couldn't help it. Young Link did whatever turn or twist was necessary in order to land on his feet, making sure to let his knees bend when he hit the ground. He shook the water off his hands when he stood up, "That was awesome! Can I go again?"

The zora tried to hand him his reward for diving, but he refused it, "Of course! I'll be sure to not throw you next time! I'm really sorry about that."

"It's okay! Is there some way I can do that too?" 'Because that would be super super cool and I'd definitely show off. In fact, I bet if I had my zora mask, I could turn into one and fly up any waterfall I felt like.'

"Sorry kiddo, only zoras can swim up waterfalls. Hylians simply don't have the fins to!" He patted him on the shoulder.

Soon the other zora children were over there as well, they had also watched him jump off and were congratulating his bravery. And not too long after, they were all hopping off and getting rides up to the top.

When night came, they all stayed in the hotel. Zelda, of course, being given the privacy of her own room while the others shared the beds out front. Young Link couldn't help but cling to his descendant when he found out that the foot of the beds faced the ledge they sat on.

"Dude really?" Link commented, though he wasn't trying to peel him off, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong!? Our feet hang off the edge!" He hissed. If he weren't hanging onto the knight, he'd be back at the headboard.

"My feet would be the only thing that hangs off, and I'm not even tall enough for that to happen. You'll be fine."

"What if we somehow slide off!?"

"For someone who was criticizing me for being straightforward with girls, you're a real wuss about the way a bed faces."

Young Link's face turned annoyed, "Say that again and I'll let you make every mistake known to mankind when it comes to girls."

Link's eyebrows raised, "Like I should be taking advice from you in the first place." He looked out over the dark domain, briefly glancing at the sky and sighing, "Well, what's gonna make you feel better? Because we can't just pick up the bed and turn it around, and there's no way I'm putting my head down there. I'm not sleeping with the other two either."

An idea came to mind, "How about I sleep sideways, and you can sleep normally but just below me?"

"Works for me. You realize you don't get any of the pillow right?"

"I've slept in worse conditions than this, it's fine. Pillows are no longer a requirement for me."

Link scooted down and plopped his head onto the water-filled pillow, "Whatever you say. Night."

"Night."