Lear awoke to the sound of heavy rainfall on her window. She slowly pulled herself out of bed and got dressed, buckled a cape around her neck, and stepped out on the damp balcony. Only a few people were in the market today, and they were hurrying to get out of the sheet of rain that was mercilessly falling. She smiled and held her hand out to the water, listening to it's happy melody as she did. She spoke to it for a while, until it's cries for her to join in the fun became too tempting.

"Not today." she said aloud. She turned and walked down into the inn. Link was already there with a glum expression on his face.

"You were right...it's pouring." She sat down next to him and gave a smug smile.

"Were you planning on going somewhere?" He jutted his jaw out and rested his head on his hand.

"Yeah I was, I was planning on finding that monster that's been attacking the Zoras! Now we'll have to wait until the rain lets up...or, maybe we don't have to!" He had a cocky expression on his face when Lear looked over at him.

"Hm?" Link stepped up and grabbed her arm, pulling her up as he did so.

"Hey...what the? Let go!" He pushed her towards the door, calling to Pippa as he did.

"Thanks for everything, Pippa! See you later." She waved back at them with a puzzled expression on her face. Lear yelped as she practically fell out the door and into the rain outside. Link already had a hold of her arm and he pulled her back to her feet before she could fall.

"Link, let go! Or thanks, or...what...? Where are you going?!" He'd let go of her arm and pulled the hood from his cape over his head. His hair was already dripping as he turned and ran into the market. Lear looked up at Navi, whom was hovering nearby, with an incredulous expression on her face.

"Has he gone mad?!" Navi shook herself free of the water that was falling off of her and sighed.

"C'mon, when Link hears a cry of distress, he follows it. Best to follow him too!" She zipped off into the rain. Lear folded her arms and scowled. The rain around her laughed and teased her until she pulled the hood from her cloak up around her head.

Lear ran hard to catch up to Link, slipping and sliding as she went. The rain made waterfalls of the streets and her hood barely protected her hair beneath. Her curls were ratted out and dripping when she finally caught up to Link.

"Glad you made it. Now, have you had enough of the rain so we can go fight that monster?" His expression was innocent enough, but she glared and put on a fake smile.

"Get up on your horse, Fairy boy. You want to fight a monster, you reach it in the rain." She mounted Fala and began to gallop towards the lake. She heard a scoff behind her.

"Oh and what if I catch a cold? Then they'll be nobody to fight the monster and we'll all be doomed." The rain, to Lear's amazement, fell harder still as they neared the lake.

It was different rain than she'd felt before. The voices were dark and confusing...they didn't invite her to play but invited her to go into the lake, far into the lake.

"Link," She shouted through the downpour, "The rain! It's not normal. I think it's coming from whatever's in the lake!" He spurred Epona to a stop and jumped off.

"The monster's controlling the rain? Well tell it to stop, I've had enough!" Lear hopped off of Fala and turned on him.

"Link, I'm deadly serious. If it can control the rain, then maybe it can control the water in the lake too. Don't go in there!" Link frowned at her and opened his mouth to say something, but turned around as a group of Zoras ran to them.

"The monster! It's there, in the lake! Please, Hero...please defeat him!" Link nodded and turned to Lear. "I need to do this, they need my help! Stand by." With that he turned and ran towards the lake, Navi floating close to his head. Lear was furious and terrified at the same time. He would be killed! Her world began to fall around her. She watched and began to ran towards him as he slipped into a blue tunic and dove into the raging water. Running up a hill that overlooked the lake, she scanned the water frantically. She couldn't see Link anywhere, but she watched as a huge shadow moved under the water beneath her. Taking a deep breath and summoning her courage, she dove in after the monster.

Lear hit the water and the cold held her down. She opened her eyes and looked straight back at what looked like a giant fish with spikes and shards running the length of it's entire body. The water yelled information at her; how it could control the water around it, it's weak points, strengths, everything. It made her dizzy and she rose to the surface to grab another breath. On the surface, a tail the size of a tree whipped around her as the monster circled. She dove again, this time using the full potential of her water element. She pushed all the currents of the water into the fish as it snapped it's jaws just inches above her head. The currents grew stronger and it thrashed it's tail to reach Lear. She concentrated harder, willing the water to push the monster onto dry land.

The water built up pressure around the thrashing fish and pushed it towards land. Lear felt dizzy and kicked to the surface for air, breaking the water's force as she did so. As she broke the surface and gasped for air, a searing pain shot through her leg and she was dragged back underwater. The fish had her leg in it's mouth and biting hard, it dragged her to the bottom of the lake. She tried to gather up enough pressure to hit the monster-fish again, but she'd not taken a big enough breath at the surface and her mind swam with the loss of air and the pain in her leg. The fish released her at the bottom and opened it's jaws again, swimming full force at her. She closed her eyes and prepared for impact when a click sounded near her and the fish roared like a jackhammer somewhere above her.

The fish turned completely around and swam fast in the opposite direction. Lear looked through the darkness that was clouding her vision to see Link with his hookshot in hand. He lowered it and keeping it in his left hand, bent and picked Lear up off of the lakebed. He began to run for the shore, which seemed days away to her as her lungs burned and her leg ached. She let out one last stream of bubbles before the darkness overtook her and she could feel no more.

Lear heard voices coming out of the darkness. She thought she was still underwater, as they sounded like the hushed voice of the velvet lake. She was surprised that she wasn't more afraid to die. 'In fact,' she thought, 'It's kind of peaceful here.' Then the pain returned with a biting vengeance. Her leg screamed with hot, searing pain and her mind threatened to shut down again. She squinted her eyes open and saw a group of Zoras talking a couple of feet in front of her. Her hands reached down to her aching leg and felt the wrappings that surrounded it. She moaned with pain and a young Zora yelped as he noticed her awake. Shouting something to another Zora beside him, he ran and grabbed something from a shelf on the other side of the room.

"Here, eat this! It will make the pain go away."

Lear didn't care what she had to do to make the pain go away, and she stuffed the odd object into her mouth. It tasted wretched and she gagged, but swallowed it down. The pain instantaneously withdrew, and she sighed with relief.

"Thanks. What...was that I just ate?" She said to the Zora sitting near her.

"It was plant that grows on the lake bed. Our people use it to heal and help with injuries such as yours." She smiled at him and looked around. The room she was in looked like the inside of a seashell, and she could hear water nearby. Coral decorated the walls, and the room was lit by soft white light coming from carved shells adorning the walls. There were no doors, just an archway. She was about to say something to this when the group from before burst through the archway, Link at the front.

Lear stared as Link ran over to her, nearly knocking the Zora who'd been sitting with her off his chair. "Are you alright?! You're not in pain, are you? What were you thinking?! I had that monster taken care of and you nearly got yourself killed! That water force hitting it, was that you? Incredible! Next time, make sure you ask me BEFORE diving in after a lunatic fish! What were you THINKING?!" He spoke at a million miles an hour and Lear just stared. When he stopped to take a breath, she glared and began her own accusations.

"I TOLD you not to go into the water! For heaven's sake, Link, when will you ever LEARN TO LISTEN?!" The Zoras heads went back and forth as a furious Link and a hurt Lear yelled back and forth. They both stopped suddenly and fumed. Link looked down at her leg and back at her face.

"Is it hurting?"

Lear shook her head. "He," she nodded her head with a smile in the Zora's direction, "helped me out with that." Link sighed and took a seat next to the bed she was lying on.

"The fish ripped a gash down your calf. Your lucky he didn't take your whole leg with him. Then you'd have been fish chow for sure." He smiled wearily at her. Lear felt a familiar pang of guilt gnaw at her insides.

"Link...I'm sorry. I wanted to help you and I just...well, I'm sorry. And thank-you, so much, for saving me." She shut her mouth and couldn't look at him. He laughed, however, and rested his arms on the bedside.

"Your very welcome. You'd have me really worried for a while there...when you passed out underwater, I thought it was too late. And you're wrong, by the way. You did help me. When I first dove in, the monster-fish knocked the hookshot clean out of my hands. He was about to make a meal out of me when you appeared and began to push him towards the shore. That gave me enough time to grab my hookshot and retaliate." She stared. So she wasn't so much of a burden after all.

"How did you finally defeat it?"

He frowned. "I placed you in the Zora's care and went back in the water. His weak spot was a scale on his forehead. I took care of it with the hookshot, thanks to Navi's sharp intuition." Here the little fairy glowed brilliantly with pride. Lear noticed his hands and arms were also bandaged.

"You're hurt?"

He smiled. "Just a scratch or two. I'm more concerned about you being able to walk on that leg! But the Zora's said that it should only be a couple of days before you're good as new. These Zora's are excellent doctors!" Here he grinned at the Zora who'd been attending Lear, who bowed and smiled humbly. Lear had so much buzzing around in her brain. She laid her head back and stared at the ceiling with her brow furrowed. Link followed her gaze and found nothing of interest up there.

"...You'd better rest," he said, grinning back at her, "We need you to heal quick! I'll...I'll see you tomorrow morning. 'Bye Lear!" She stared and found herself wanting him to stay. She felt safe from anything with him around.

"Oh, ok. Well, thanks again, Link. See-ya." The Zora's exited the room, and Link rose to follow them. Lear felt a sadness creep into her as she watched him start for the door.

He turned suddenly and said. "I forgot something." Stooping down, he kissed her on the cheek and smiled. "Get well, ok?" Lear stared as he left he room.

"Well...that went well."