"How long has it been Master Barbel?" Link asked while he and Nagina were escorted through the coral halls of the Zora Domain. "Fourteen months? Fifteen maybe?"
"Far too few," their temporary host said in his most sincerely annoyed voice.
"Ahh don't be like that." Link wasn't sure why he was being so familiar with the Zora. His first time through Zora territory he had been walking on eggshells, worried about offending the elegant water people. For whatever reason he felt incredibly comfortable this visit. Maybe it was this past year of training that had made him more confident, he mused.
"Despite your distance it appears you've found a way to agitate our kingdom from afar," Barbel said without turning his head. Right after pulling Link and Nagina out of the water he had adopted his incredibly brisk pace, forcing Link to almost jog to keep up with him. Nagina seemed particularly annoyed at the Zora's impolite behavior but thus far had restrained her tongue, something Link was grateful for.
"The Zora have not been to war in more than a century, Master Link. There are none alive who remember a true battlefield, and so our young were practically leaping out of the water to volunteer for your cause." Barbel did not sound excited or happy, Link had expected neither from the arrogant nobleman.
"The last war your people fought was against the Hylians over the ownership of Lake Hylia, was it not?"
Without slowing down the Zora looked over his shoulder and raised a scaly eyebrow.
"I see these past months have minimized your ignorance," facing forward again, "You are correct. When the Hylians began overfishing our sacred lake and polluting it with their filth King Zora XIV demanded they right their wrongs and repent."
"And when they refused, he declared war," Link finished. Again he reminded himself to thank Impa for the mandatory history lessons.
"Every able-bodied Zora volunteered to fight in that war too." He came to an abrupt halt and turned to face the two foreigners. "Thousands died."
"This won't have that same outcome," Link said confidently. "Needless Sanguinem Mar will not be shed." Link covered his heart with his hand as emphasized his promise.
"Hmmm," was all Barbel would offer. With his hand he gestured towards an ornamented door, pink, blue, yellow and white coral decorating the portal in a mosaic fashion. "Master Angler will assist you with the last leg of your journey. As I said before, if His Majesty or the princess return before you depart, I will send for you immediately." As curt as always the Zora turned and resumed his intense pace down the hall.
"Thank you, Master Barbel!" Link called after him.
"Ugh, why do you waste your time with manners on that one?" Nagina asked crossing her arms in front of her. She had been ignored from the moment they had surfaced, something she obviously wasn't used to.
Link chuckled. "I asked myself the same question when I met you."
"Hmph."
Link knocked on the door.
"Coming!" called a deep voice from within. Seconds later the door swung open, the most muscular Zora Link had ever met greeted them in his doorway.
"Master Link!" Angler exclaimed. He touched his palm to his forehead then extended it out to the boy. Link met the hand with the same gesture.
"Master Angler, it's good to see you again." Link pulled his hand back and stepped aside so the Zora Master Diver could see the Gerudo. "Master Angler this is Sahib Nagina."
The woman gave Link a side glance but made no comment about his use of her Gerudo title. She bowed respectfully to Angler and he to her.
"A pleasure," he said then gestured for the duo to join him in his home.
"It sounds as though you've been busy this past year, my friend," Angler remarked after Link caught him up on everything that had happened since his last visit.
"We all have," Link said just before stuffing a crabmeat pastry into his mouth. Hylian seafood never agreed with his stomach but Zora food was irresistible. Even Nagina seemed to be enjoying the bizarre looking dishes their host had laid out.
Angler was seated across from them, hands in his lap, one leg over the other. He nodded and said "I've seen your handiwork stretch all the way up to our domain. I can't remember the last time the Zora Domain was in such an excited frenzy."
Link swallowed his mouthful before speaking. "Master Barbel doesn't seem too excited."
"Few things excite that bristle-finned Zora," Angler said with a dismissing wave of his hand. "So you came to see me about our secret passage to your forest, yes?"
Link could only nod as his face was stuffed with sashimi.
Angler looked from Link to Nagina. "I can take you to the passage but you may have a problem," he leaned forward as he spoke. "That tunnel between Lake Hylia and here was blessed with a magical current which carries travelers from one end to the other in as few as thirty seconds. The passage to your forest has no such current, only still dark water. It takes even the fastest Zora almost two hours to cross the whole thing."
Link almost choked on his food.
Angler continued with a concerned look towards his friend. "There are a few caves with air pockets along the way but some of them are miles apart." The Zora shook his head. "That path was not meant for Popterro to use."
"Popterro?" Nagina asked quickly, likely assuming she was being insulted. Even though they'd been allowed to keep their weapons Link was grateful Nagina was not so brash as to reach for them. Angler would make for a terrifying opponent.
"People of the earth," Angler clarified in his deep calm voice. He turned back to Link, who had survived his battle against the fiendish choking seafood. "Is there no other way for you to return to your forest?"
"Not without being detected by Ganondorf's men," Link answered while swatting Navi away from his ear. She was lecturing him about eating too fast.
Angler leaned back in his seat and looked at the ceiling contemplatively. Link and Nagina shared a look but said nothing.
"There may be a way to get you two through the tunnel, but it won't be easy."
"We're accustomed to difficult paths," Link said determinedly. He didn't jump off that canyon wall and almost drown in the rapids just to be stopped halfway from home.
A smile spread across the Zora's face. Angler rose to his feet and bid his guests to pardon him for one moment while he retreated into one of his rooms. Link took the opportunity to examine what must be the living room of Angler's quarters.
Like most of the Zora Domain the walls were made of a combination of smooth coral, polished stone, and bedrock. Instead of carpet, wood or marble the floor was made of a firm, dark green sponge material that Link had no doubt would tickle his bare feet. All of the furniture was carved from stone, or marble or even the bones of some great sea creature. Link wasn't sure which monster from the depths the hand-carved skull that made up the desk in the corner of the room had come from. He supposed something worse than Lord Jabu Jabu could indeed have swallowed Princess Ruto, then him.
Shallow pools of crystal clear water were placed throughout the room and likely the whole complex. Link wondered what the couch he and Nagina were sitting on was made of. It felt firm yet gave way to his butt. A shiver ran up Link's back as it reminded him of a Like Like he'd come across inside Lord Jabu Jabu. Eaten by a monster inside a monster, that was his luck.
Nagina leaned over so she could speak quietly. "Am I correct in assuming your friend's physique is superior to the rest of the Zora?"
Link gave her a curious look. "Yea," he answered skeptically. "Master Angler is the champion diver and host of the Zora Games. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more athletic specimen."
A mischievous smile spread across the red woman's face. "I DO love seafood," she said licking her lips. Link squinted his eyes at her, thinking there might be some sort of implication there.
"You don't mean—" he stopped when Angler walked back into the room.
"This," he said holding out a blue pile of cloth, "is an enchanted tunic. Designed to grant whoever dons it hours of uninhibited breathing, even in the depths of the sea. It's an heirloom of mine, said to have been a gift from Queen Rasbora to one of her Hylian lovers so that he could spend a night with her in her underwater lair." He gestured for Nagina to take the tunic. "I can't attest to the truth of that story but the tunic's magical properties are indeed real. You may borrow this for your journey."
With a girlish giggle, the sort Link never would have expected from the Gerudo warrior, Nagina accepted the enchanted garment. Angler's eyes lingered curiously on the Gerudo woman before he turned to Link.
"For you, I have the golden scale." He opened his hand and revealed a translucent yellow orb that almost seemed to float in his palm. "Since you've already been bestowed the silver scale I'm assuming you can guess this one's potency."
Excitement welled up inside Link. This might be the greatest gift he'd ever received! The silver scale had worked miracles in him, not only allowing him to hold his breath underwater but also to improve his endurance and cardio to impossible limits. He reached out for the golden orb, appreciation already spouting from his lips, when Angler pulled his hand away. Link looked up at his friend warily.
"This is the last golden scale in existence, Master Link," Angler said. "It was entrusted to me to bestow upon only the most worthy of Popterro. I'm afraid I cannot just hand it over to you."
Link sat back in his chair, slightly offended that his friend did not find him worthy of the honor. "What do I need to do to earn it?" the boy asked trying not to let his disappointment resonate through his voice.
A wry grin from the officiator of the Zora Games. "Dive with me."
Link had earned the silver scale through a combination of diving games and saving Princess Ruto. While that had been dangerous, taxing, shocking, and painful, it paled in comparison to the challenge Master Angler presented now. The wind whipped at his tunic, as if it was angry he had climbed so high into its domain. The boy, twelve years old and with his whole life ahead of him, was standing on a ledge over the Zora Waterfall. The water, one hundred feet below, mocked the boy, churning and rolling with laughter at the boy's fear. A strong scaly hand landed on Link's shoulder.
"No Hylian, Human, Gerudo or Sheikah has ever survived this dive!" Angler said over the roar of the waterfall. "But YOU are MY student. If any Popterro can do this, it's you."
Link tried to swallow his anxiety but he could feel it bubbling to the surface. This was insane! He had a war to fight! An evil king to overthrow! What was he doing risking his life on some breakneck jump?
"Remember," Angler said into his former pupil's ear "the most important factor for a comfortable entry is that your bodyline is parallel with your flight line, so that you slice cleanly into the water. Any rotational motion you impart at the start of the jump will continue to act on your body position throughout the flight."
"Maybe we should go back inside and practice on the small waterfall one more time!" Link called back.
Angler, the Zora who Link originally thought was his friend, only laughed and patted Link on the head. "Don't keep me waiting!" he said before stepping up to the ledge. In an awesome display of athleticism he careened into the air, spinning and flipping and twisting every which way. Past the apex of the jump, on the descent he continued to spin and flip. Link peaked his head over the ledge just in time to see his teacher disappear into the water with only the tiniest of a splash.
"I hate him," Link said to himself. "I hate him so much."
"Are you sure about this Link?" Navi asked from behind his ear.
No.
"Don't have much choice!" Link called back. "I need that gold scale to get back home."
"Just be careful!" Navi warned. She knew Link had to do it too.
After a quick prayer to the Goddesses Link walked up to the ledge, then turned around so his heels were hanging over the one hundred foot drop. It took every ounce of willpower for Link to push on to the next step.
He leaned forward, placed his hands on the cool, damp, stone, then shifted all of his weight onto his hands until he was doing a perfect handstand. His core muscles fully tightened Link walked backwards on his hands so that the very end of his wrist was hanging over the ledge. Surely Angler didn't expect Link to do a crazy somersault. Wasn't this the best way to safely perform a high dive? Link recalled something about this position keeping your core tight, and lining your body up with your flight path. Less risk of over rotating.
With one last prayer to the Goddesses Link lowered himself so that his chin was touching the edge, then shoved the stone ledge as hard as he could. His hands left the edge of the cliff, and his body sailed through the air.
"You're coming with us?"
Angler nodded his head. "Even with the golden scale you might not be able to swim fast enough to get from one air pocket to the next. The steward has asked that the fastest swimmer carry you two through."
Nagina cocked her hip to the side and shocked Link by showing Angler a genuinely cute smile. "And of course that would be you, Master Angler?"
Angler shrugged his powerful shoulders. "The fastest one available," he said humbly.
"And we can leave now?" Link asked. He was anxious to get home, the dive of death having frayed his nerves.
Another nod from Angler. "The entrance to the tunnel is just outside our domain."
"Then let's go, the sooner we can notify Impa the better."
The Zora Master Diver led the way through the Zora Domain at a reasonable walking pace. Every time a Zora passed them on their way out he or she would praise Link for his skill and courage. Link didn't know what to do but grin stupidly.
Nagina was fully occupied by Angler, and was insistent upon engaging him in conversation. Link couldn't hear what they were saying but Nagina's body language was far less hostile than any time she had conversed with Link.
"What do you think they are talking about?" Link quietly asked Navi.
"Adult matters," Navi answered curtly. Multiple times in the past she had scolded him for eavesdropping when there was no need.
Link grumbled to himself.
"This is it," Angler said after they had exited the waterfall that hid the entrance to the Zora Domain. A pool, barely discernible on the side of the mountain wall, appeared to have a marble lined opening at the bottom of it.
Nagina pulled her new tunic over her head. It looked strange with her Gerudo pants underneath but it fit her well enough, if a little too big. Angler showered her how to don the cloth mask that was part of the front of the tunic and covered her mouth and nose completely. Link wondered if the tunic came with a blue pointed hat.
"Now, one of you will need to grab onto my front and one of you will need to hold on to my back."
Without hesitating Nagina stepped right up to Angler and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself tight against his body. The Zora opened his mouth to say something but just looked at Link with a grin instead.
Link rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around the Zora's waist. The fish-man was solid muscle. Without a second's more delay Angler stepped into the pool. He warned Link to hold his breath then plunged into the cool water.
Darkness enveloped them just seconds after passing through the marbled portal. The sort of darkness Link had never witnessed before. It was a crushing darkness, almost sentient, threatening to consume Link if his grip around the powerful Zora slipped. The only indication of Angler's impressive speed was the force of the water rushing past Link's ears. Despite Angler's humility, Link suspected they were flying at a speed similar to that of the current from Lake Hylia's tunnel.
Link remembered Princess Ruto telling him that the average Zora could swim fifty miles per hour. He could only speculate at how fast Angler was. He could feel the Zora's awesome legs propelling the three bodies through the water with ease. That sort of athleticism amazed the boy.
How long have I been holding my breath? Link realized that his thoughts had wandered and yet he didn't feel any tightness in his chest. Angler slowed, then surfaced long before Link felt he was reaching his limit.
"Everyone good?" Angler asked. His voice echoed loudly suggesting the air pocket they were in wasn't very big. The darkness was still as malevolent as ever.
"Good," Link said. He pulled his water-proof pouch above the surface and peered inside.
"I'm fine!" Navi squeaked from inside her warm dry carriage.
"So fine," Nagina said in a smooth, salacious voice.
"Good! Everyone hold tight." And they were back underwater.
"Master Angler! We. . . we weren't expecting you," a surprised Zora sentry sputtered as he clambered to take up a military posture.
The rest of the ride through the tunnel had been uneventful. Once, Link had felt the limit of his breathe hold approaching but they had surfaced before he could panic. Somehow, Goddesses only knew, Angler had kept his incredible pace the whole time.
He must be the Zora version of Impa Link had thought.
Angler brought his hand up to put the young Zora at ease. "Not to worry, I hadn't expected to be here myself. Had to make a delivery."
Link pulled himself out of the pool into the clearing of his beloved forest. He doubted if he would ever be able to get all of the water out of his ears.
"Master Link," Angler said after Nagina had begrudgingly detached herself. "Give Master Impa my most humble regards." He bowed, hand over his heart. "And thank you for being my student. May the Goddesses bless you in your endeavors."
Link returned the gesture. "And thank you for being my teacher, Master Angler. I look forward to our next visit."
"And will you and I ever visit again?" Nagina asked cocking her hip to the side and tilting her chin down.
"Of course Sahib Nagina," Angler responded with a wink. "I'll be expecting that tunic back." Without another word he turned around and dove into the pool.
"Mmmmmm," Nagina hummed licking her lips again.
"Come on," Link said turning his back to the hungry woman. "We need to find Impa, and get some dry clothes."
Author's Note: Not a whole lot going on this chapter but I had to bring them home. The battle is only nine days (way less than nine chapters) away so be excited for that!
Also for those of you that read Chapter 15: Half-breed vs Half-god, I wrote a short story devoted to that little dialogue. It's called DISCOURAGED: THE SHADOW PEOPLE. It's going to be a compilation of stories about young Impa, Vurugu (The Fierce Deity) and Prince Daniel, as part of this DISCOURAGED universe. Hope you guys check it out and let me know what you think!
You guys have been too good to me with PM's and helping me improve my writing and this piece. Thank you!