Chapter 9

The Zora river had run its course down from the ancient Kingdom of the Zora, West past Castle Town, across the expanse of Hyrule Field, and through the canyon which serves as the border line to Gerudo land, finally emptying out into the low basin of Lake Hylia, far to the South. For untold eons, it had been the primary source of all water in the kingdom of Hyrule, but recently the intense progress of industrialization in the city had made the water putrid and unfit to drink, and the pollution flowing down to Lake Hylia had made the once iconic and beautiful lake into little more than a dead marsh of standing, murky water.

The Zoras had pleaded with the King of Hyrule to end the corruption caused to the river by the monster of industry. They complained that the sky stank of smog and the rain was bitter and noxious. They warned that the trees and the grass would soon follow, for they knew that, save for the sun in sky, water was the most key and primal component to all life. They urged the Hylians to think of the health of the fish they ate, the livestock they kept, and even their own children who would breathe the air and drink from the river. They said all of these things, in a voice strong enough to be heard from the lowest canyon to the highest peaks of Death Mountain, yet for all their effort their pleas fell upon deaf ears. Eventually, the Zora could bear to watch the corruption of their sacred river, the very place of their birth, no longer, and they left the land of Hyrule, never to be seen again.

That was nearly seventy years ago, back when Zelda's grandfather had been king. He hadn't been an evil man, but the fire of industry is an all-consuming flame, and many lost sight of what was vital in nature when tempted by the fruit of new discovery. For some, life in Hyrule had never been better. The machines in the factories produced goods at an alarming rate, and Hyrule was able to export things on a scale never seen anywhere in the entire world. For the first time the kingdom was expanding, and gathering wealth unlike any that had been amassed in history.

There was an imbalance in the kingdom, however. The upper classes, the politicians, lawmakers, and owners of factories and warehouses grew wealthy and fat, while the poor only grew in number, their skin hanging off their bones with the weariness of malnutrition. The readily available conveniences of industrial society, the increased output of manufactured goods, and the amassing of wealth caused the population to rise exponentially, but the supply of food and water could not match the growth. Soon, Castle town was relying on external sources for its consumable goods, and the pollution in the river caused the farm land to shrivel up. The ancient homestead on the big hill in Hyrule field, the oldest farm in the entire country, was forced to close down because the dwindling grass could no longer support the cattle. Eventually, the derelict homestead burned down, causing a wildfire of tremendous proportions, which was only contained well after over eighty percent of the surrounding fields had been scorched. This furthered the problem of pollution in the sky, and unbeknownst to the limited view of modern science, this began to have adverse effects on Hyrule's climate as well.

It was decades before the land could be tilled again, and when that time came the bulk of Hyrule field had been converted into wheat fields, which were more sustainable and yielded a better supply of food than what was realistic with livestock. Grains alone were not enough to support the nutrition of so many workers though, and many would develop weakness of the bones, a condition known as rickets. The city couldn't expand its facilities to accommodate the increase, either, and many people were forced into unsanitary living conditions, and deprived the basic necessity of a safe shelter against the weather.

So the Kingdom did not heed the warning of the Zoras, and it seemed that the Hylians were laying in the bed they'd made for themselves. The Zoras, however, were not so foolish. When they left Hyrule, they went to lands old and forgotten to the decadent Hylians. Places only they knew of, places where only the rich history of a society which still respected the natural world could lead.

The Temple of the Mind, according to legend, had been raised from the depths of a massive lake, even greater than Lake Hylia, by the Zora sage, Princess Ruto, thousands of years before. The legend passed down by the Zora said that Ruto had created the temple through the sheer force of her own will, and it had stood as a bastion of safety for her people for millennia, until eventually it was deserted and used to hide a piece of the ancient treasure which was forbidden from the sight of any mortal being by the will of the sages.

Seventy years ago, when the Zora left Hyrule and its sad, murky waters, they had built a new domain in the depths of the ancient lake, standing guard before the temple, and there their people thrived once again. Peace was with them once more, and together with the spirits of nature they made a life as glorious as that of old in those forgotten, sacred depths. Some called it the new golden age of the Zora, and few suspected that it would not last forever.

Over the bow of the Stalfos, link could see a body of fresh water larger than any he had ever laid eyes on. Islands dotted its surface, and the coast curved away in such a slight arc, he could have believed he was looking upon another ocean.

"Lake Termina," said Scarlett, scanning the surface of the lake carefully with an old brass spyglass. She snapped the thing shut, and turned to regard her landing party, "So named for the fictional fairytale realm of Termina, a place which legend says lies somewhere in the aether adjacent to Hyrule, a beautiful reflection of our own world. The Zora who discovered this lake named it after Termina because when she stood upon its shores she felt like she was gazing into another world. That same Zora, the sage Ruto, was the founder of the Temple of the Mind, which even now slumbers somewhere beneath the depths of this very lake."

"Beneath the lake?" asked Link, "How are we supposed to get to a temple that's under a lake? I can't breathe under water."

"No one can, genius," said Gwendolin, "That's why we have these."

The pirate gestured to the shimmering blue Tunic which she was wearing. Link, Kef and Zelda, and even Scarlett had donned one of these flashy costumes, the shimmering blue clashing electrically with the shocking red of Scarlett's hair and the rest of her ensemble.

"These tunics are made from Zora scales," explained Gwen, "As long as we wear them, the ancient magic which spawned the Zora long ago protects us, and we can breathe under water as easily as if we were in the air."

"They also shield us against the cold. That water is nearly freezing at the bottom," added Kef.

"Yes, our problem won't be the water," said Scarlett, "It'll be whatever is living in it."

Link checked his belt to make sure the Zora tunic was secure. It didn't fit as snugly as his green tunic, which Link much preferred, but Zelda had stolen it away claiming that it needed washing badly. He had protested at first, but he didn't mind as much when he noticed that Zelda had taken to standing much closer to him since he'd traded the weathered garment for the pristine Zora tunic, which, it seemed, had never been worn before.

Link looked a great deal different than he had when they had set out from Hyrule castle nearly two weeks before. His hair had grown longer, his arms were gaining muscle from his constant training and working on the Stalfos, and there was a sharp sense of purpose in his blue eyes which made him look old enough to be one of Scarlett's Shiekah pirates. He had refused to take one of the pirates curved cutlasses, finding that he naturally favored the more traditional Hylian long sword, which Scarlett kept a number of in the Stalfos' armory. The sword was nearly as tall as the boy, but he swung it in his left hand as if it were a mere feather. It hung on his back in a leather baldric, ready for him to draw at a moment's notice. At his side, the hookshot Gwen had given him hung on his belt.

Link watched as the Stalfos came into a low hover over the lake.

"Ms. Gwendolin, if you please," said Scarlett.

"My pleasure, Captain!" said Gwen, saluting before taking a running jump and diving gracefully into the pristine water below. Her form was flawless, and she barely made a splash as she went slipping beneath the rolling blue.

"Try to keep up, little bug," said Kef, patting Link on the shoulder as he rushed past and making his own leap into the frigid water. Kef's dive was less graceful than Gwen's, but still quite impressive.

"Ok, boy," said Scarlett, "You're next."

"Right," Link nodded, "Here goes nothing."

He took a few steps back, summoned all of his courage, sucked a deep breath of air into his lungs, and threw himself over the side of the ship wildly. The air went rushing past, and the water came hurtling up to meet him. He moved into a divers pose, pointing himself like a spear aimed directly at the lake. SPLASH! Under her went, and it was as if he had been born into a strange new world.

The clear blue water surrounded him, seeming like an endless void, no horizon, just a deeper saturation of blue until you could see no further, like a distant fog. Far below him, the floor of the deep lake was barely visible, and thick forests of kelp waved at him like strands of grain being brushed by a gentle breeze. Schools of fish were winding around like massive, animated clouds, their myriad of rainbow scales reflecting every color of the spectrum in dazzling shimmers as their erratic motions caught the sunlight from every angle.

"Beautiful!" said Link, but all that came out was bubbles.

Gwen went swimming up to him, hovering in front of him in the water. The pirate tapped her ear and Link nodded knowingly. Then, she gestured for him to follow. He swam after her, swishing his legs and arms in the manner of a frog. Up ahead, Kef had already made some headway, almost to the kelp forest. Link began to feel nervous about the idea of venturing inside the underwater wood.

No sooner had Link's mind began to concoct images of all the perils that might wait for them under the deceptively peaceful cover of underwater plant life than a great blue fish came speeding from the brush like a torpedo headed straight for Kef. Link watched in terror as Gwen and Kef both drew their swords, the blades dragging slowly through the water with a dreamlike quality.

The man-sized fish was upon Kef at once, and it quickly became apparent that it wasn't a fish at all, but rather a blue-and-white skinned Hylianoid creature, razor fins jutting from its elbows, and flanking its waist like a skirt. Its head was elongated, ending in a tendril like appendage the shape of a dolphin's tail, which trailed gracefully behind it as it swam. The strange creature was carrying a trident of considerable length, which it jabbed at Kef.

The pirate was agile and a decent swimmer, so he was able to dive under the creature's attack with relative ease. Kef brought his own sword up to swat the trident away. Gwen was almost with them, and it appeared that the two pirates would overtake their strange attacker before Link could join the fray, but right at that moment a group of four more of the things came streaming out of the Kelp. Link wanted to scream, but all he could do was blow bubbles.

Watching as the group of fish-men swarmed around his companions, Link suddenly remembered his own combat training, and he unhooked the Hylian sword from its baldric and brandished it as best he could. Underwater, the sword felt light in his grip, but swinging it was a different story. The resistance the water provided made for a slow and ineffective attack. Nonetheless, Link swam forward, seeing no option but to come to the pirate's aid.

Gwen fought viciously, even under the water. She twirled around in a full circle, swishing her curved blade through the water as if it were no handicap at all. The tridents of her attackers were knocked aside. The fish-men dispersed like a swarm of bothered flies, then came barreling back at her with all the ferocity of hunting sharks.

Kef and Gwen each glanced off the jabs of two more attackers, but Link felt his heart jump as another one came rushing up, poised to skewer through Gwen's back like a piece of bread on a fondue fork. Link couldn't get there in time! He let his sword drop from his hand, the blade floating away into the depths of the lake, and drew his hookshot, firing wildly in the direction of Gwen's assailant.

Success! Through sheer luck, Links shot hit true, and the barbed chain of the hookshot snagged the forks of the trident, and brought it sailing right out of the creature's hand. The fish man went barreling into Gwen, harmlessly, and the pirate was in the clear… but Link now had a trident flying at him at incredible speed! The boy jerked to the side, trying to whirl out of the way of the approaching projectile, but he brought the chain of the hookshot with him and the path of the trident was thrown off ever so slightly. The handle of the thing caught him across the gut, and he gasped in pain as the wind was knocked out of his lungs.

Link flailed hectically, twisting around in the water, and found himself looking up at the sparkle of the sun in the sky high over the surface of the ancient lake. Up above, he could see the bulky shadow of the Stalfos, and the rapidly descending form of Scarlett, and… Zelda!

The princess was glowing golden; her arms splayed out like a descending angel, and from around her neck shone a light of brilliant white. A sound seemed to accompany the light, traveling through the water with no distortion, as if carried on pure, sweet air. It was a melody, haunting and beautiful, the melodic piping of some unseen ocarina. Link glanced around for some source to this noise, but what he saw was all the more amazing.

The fish-men were no longer attacking the pirates. Each one of them had lowered his trident, and they were all locked in a gaze of reverent awe focused directly on princess Zelda. One of the creatures swam up to the Princess, his weapon pointed down in a non-threatening manner. He floated in front of her, and gave a graceful underwater bow, flourishing his fins spectacularly.

Link looked on in confused amazement, unsure of what to make of this bizarre turn of events. The fish-man took the princess' hand and Zelda allowed herself to be led along. As the pair went speeding past Link gave the princess a look of utter bewilderment. Zelda smiled brightly at him, trying to say something as she was dragged deeper into the water, but all Link could hear was the glub-glub of rising bubbles. Seconds later, Scarlett went swimming by, and gestured for the boy to follow. At a loss for any other option, Link obeyed.

The strange aquatic men led them over the top of the forest of Kelp, and nearly a league past it, and all the while Link marveled at the graceful movement of their unexpected escort. Once during the trip he looked over to Scarlett, who only shook her head and carried on. Link couldn't guess at the nature of the strange fish-men, but he supposed that if they were going to kill them they would have gotten it over before rather than go to the trouble to lead them anywhere.

After swimming for what seemed like hours, they came to a place where the root of an island rose from the depths like a distant mountain. All along the wall of rock that was the island's base, there were hundreds of little caves, and Link could see an entire village worth of fish-men swimming from portal to portal. Some who had caught sight of them stopped to point and stare, murmuring to each other in some form of speech his Hylian ears could neither decipher nor detect.

The group of fish-men led them into one of the caves, Zelda and her escort in the front. The cave was wide, and well lit by glowing, bio-luminescent anemones which clung to the sides of the walls at regular intervals as if they had been placed there purposefully. A couple hundred feet in, the underwater tunnel shifted ninety degrees straight up, and Link could see the sparkle of a thousand lights glittering every color of the rainbow from somewhere above the surface of the water overhead. They swam straight for the light, eventually emerging in a cave, and Link was happy to feel the cool of air upon his face once again.

The cave was gorgeous! A low ceiling, slightly domed, was dotted with a king's ransom in natural gemstones. Orbs of liquid light, like massive glowing pearls, floated over pointed pylons of unusual design, ringing the circular pool they were now treading in. Zelda's guide began to speak, and as he did his voice echoed off the walls of the cave so that no one had any trouble hearing what he said.

"Welcome to Zora's Domain, Princess of Hyrule," said the fish-man.

"So it is true!" cried Zelda, "In Hyrule the stories of the Zora's secret haven in a faraway land are considered to be mere rumors. Many have supposed that the entire Zora culture had vanished from the face of Hylia entirely!"

"Hidden, perhaps, but not vanished," said the Zora, "Here beneath the waves of Lake Termina, we Zoras have made a home a thousand times more glorious and beautiful than that which we left behind in Hyrule. Here we have stayed for nearly seventy years, and it has been our labor of love to cultivate this land to the very pinnacle of Zora potential."

"Happily met, uh…" Zelda blushed a bit, "I did not catch your name, I am sorry."

"Kato," replied the Zora, "I am the Marshal of the Kelp Forest, and I lead the Zora Guard. You must forgive my soldiers for attacking your companions. When we saw a pirate ship above the waves, we had assumed that more plunderers had come looking for treasure in the depths of the lake, but never did we suspect that among them would be a member of the Hylian Royal Family. Princess… ?"

"I am Zelda Nohansen Hyrule, Princess of the Kingdom of Hyrule," said Zelda, brightly, "and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, noble Marshal. If it is not too much trouble, we would seek an audience with your king."

"But of course, my lady," said the Zora, "Please, come ashore, dry yourself. We are largely separated from the amenities of the upper world, but we still have the famous Zora sense of hospitality, and I urge you to make yourself comfortable. I will inform the King of your arrival, and arrange for you to meet with him presently."

They climbed out of the pool, and Link was happy to have his feet on the ground again, but dismayed when he remembered that he had lost his sword somewhere in the depths of the lake. The Zora soldiers led them down a cavern corridor, floor flat and smooth as polished pearl, ceiling arched and craggy, and bristling with stalactites.

"Captain, do we intend to let the Princess deliver us into the heart of this kingdom of sea serpents without so much as batting an eye?" Link heard Kef whisper to Scarlett, who had remained unusually quite during this whole ordeal.

"Silence, ye daft fool," hissed Scarlett, "These Zoras are powerful magicians, and a hundred times the warriors we are when under the waves. Zelda has connections to them, and she's a trifle better at conversing with royalty than any of the rest of us. It's best if we take a back seat for the time being, supposing we want to suck air above sea level again in our lives."

Link was stunned to hear Scarlett admit weakness. The Zora really must have been powerful. If Zelda hadn't have done whatever she did, then they might have made a very sudden and bloody end to their quest right there on the floor of that lake. Link dashed ahead, catching up with Zelda.

"Zelda!" said the boy, as he ran up alongside the Princess, "These Zoras are really out there. Even Scarlett seems afraid of them. You were really amazing! How did you know what to do back there?"

"Honestly," said Zelda, turning to Link, "I did not. I just kind of... guessed."

"What?!"

"Yes," said Zelda, smiling, "That song was a lullaby my father used to sing to me when I was very small. He told me it was very special, and that only members of the Royal Family were allowed to know it. He said that if I ever found myself far from home, and in need of proof of my heritage, all I had to do was sing that song."

"A lullaby!" cried Link.

"Mmmhmm," hummed Zelda, gliding on down the hall with the noble gait of a Princess. Link stood there for a moment, stunned. Then, he threw his arms up in the air and shrugged. After jumping off a flying boat, breathing underwater, and fighting trident-wielding fish-men, it seemed as good an explanation as any. He jogged down the hall to catch up with Zelda, and together they followed their escort onward to the inner sanctum of the beautiful domain of the Zoras.