The Legend of Link:

The Bastard Prince

6. Zoras

It was still mostly dark when Alarink woke with a start, his hand immediately rising to rest above his fast beating heart. His hair was plastered to his neck and forehead with cold sweat and he fought the urge to pull the covers closer around him, knowing he was more feverish than cold.

That, and he didn't particularly want to wake his partner, who was still sound asleep next to him.

Running a hand through his hair as his heart beat slowed and breathing evened out, Alarink grinned. Sure, two nights of little sleep and dreams of death and Demise weren't exactly fun, but he'd had a lot of fun before he fell asleep that night. Zoras might not mate in the same way as humans and Hylians did, but that didn't exactly stop them from having sexual relations with one another.

Alarink was still grinning as he began to pull on his trousers, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that Nept was still asleep. It was always odd to him to see a Zora sleep in a human bed rather than their water baths, though he knew that one night in a bed rather than water wouldn't do them much harm. Over the last eight years, Alarink had been shunned by almost all of Hyrule, and yet, the most prideful and honourable race of Hyrulians had always been his favourite. The Zoras had always seemed to welcome him into their scaly arms despite the fact that their King hated him with a passion.

Well... King Ralis hated him more because of his relations with his daughter than anything else.

Alarink smirked as he pulled his tunic on and tied his hair back, he was really looking forward to seeing the King and the Princess today.

It had been a month or so since he had last visited Zoras Domain and he had really missed the general lack of Zora company in that time. Sure, there had been the occasional one-night-stand with Zoras like Nept, or Mika, or… Alarink racked his brain for the name of the other Zora he'd slept with in the last month or so, but it escaped him, just as he escaped his room, leaving Nept to wake up alone later in the morning when the sun was up.

Closing the door behind him as quietly as he could, Alarink made his way out of Telma's Inn, stopping on the front step to lace his boots. There was really no need for him to get up so early, his only task for the day was to get the Zora's blessing and be in Kakariko Village by the end of the night, early morning at the latest. It would likely take half a day for him to get to Zora's Domain, and then another half to get to Kakariko if he ran Malanya fast. Time would have allowed for him to sleep until dawn at least and have a good meal in the Inn.

But, he had made up his mind the day before that he would try to get to the Hidden Village by early evening at the latest. He wanted to see Zoelda's face when she met Lady Sheikah, wanted to see the surprise first hand when she was told who she was, what her part in this legend would be.

As he made his way through town, he was surprise to see how much more the name calling got to him without Zoelda by his side. It wasn't like there were many people up at this hour - only those setting up their market stalls and the guards - and there had been more calling at him the night before after he had left the Castle alone and picked up Nept from the fountain, but Alarink could hardly deny the fact that the girl who had appeared out of nowhere was having a very serious effect on him.

She'd very nearly figured out who his mother was the day before with her questioning of that annoying nickname of his. He'd tried time and time again to get that particular nickname banned, he thought the Princess would want people not to call him-

"Mr. Bastard Prince himself! What are you doing up at this hour? It's a bit late to be looking for lovers, isn't it?"

Alarink glared at the guard as he crossed the drawbridge out of the Goddess-forsaken town. Truly, he hated Castle Town more than any other place in Hyrule, yet he was always drawn back to it for some reason or another, torturing himself with the unending name calling and pushing time and time again.

Stroking Malanya as he refilled hers and Rogue's food and water - something he had to do every morning as Ordon's stable hand - he remembered how his tunic had been ripped in town the day before, how he had sat through a long audience with the Princess with a giant rip down his back. He'd still not bothered to repair it after getting to Telma's, knowing it would end up discarded on the floor sooner or later anyway. It was only now that he thought he probably should have fixed it.

Instead, he just shrugged and went through the bag of clothes he'd given Zoelda yesterday, knowing he would have put something in there that would fit him. As he riffled through the bag of clothes, he recalled how surprised he's been to see a woman as tall as Zoelda when they first met. Hylians were rarely above five foot, and humans rarely above 5' 5", yet Zoelda was not much shorter than him, though he was short for his race.

Alarink pulled out a simple long sleeve wool tunic that had belonged to Ilia from the bag and shrugged it on, putting the torn one at the bottom of the bag, vowing to mend it when he got home. The new tunic was a little tight across the shoulders and the sleeves ended at his elbow, the body resting just on his belt, but it was good enough as he began to put all of his weapons back on. Briefly, he considered going to get his actual armour, before realising it would take too much time for him to get back to the treehouse and find his armour out at this point, he figured there would be time for that later.

He tightened his short sword sheath and went to close the bag of clothes when a cloak caught his eye. Pulling it out, he frowned; he hadn't remembered packing it and prayed to the Goddesses that Zoelda hadn't seen it. Though, as he bundled it up under his other cloak to keep it hidden, he realised that if she had seen it, she would have asked enough questions to make him wish he hadn't killed the Kargarok.

Shaking his head, he realised he would never have wished that on her, even if she had asked him enough questions to figure out where he came from and who his mother was, a fact he wanted to keep from her as long as possible.

Finishing his preparations to Malanya's packs and grabbing an apple from one to eat, he remembered how scared he'd been when he returned to his treehouse the day before and found her missing. After seeing how well she fought later, he realised how foolish it had been for him to worry about her, but the fear had remained unendingly until he found her note. Pulling out the note from his pocket, Alarink wondered why he had bothered to keep it, though he now realised he could use it to write her a good luck note for the day she had ahead of her.

It wasn't much, just some well-wishing for having to suffer the Princess and 'Link' on her own for the day, but he felt it was important that she knew that he would be back to rescue her from them before the day was done. With an honest smile, he tucked it into the bag of clothes on Rogue's back, tossing the apple core into the stallion's food trough.

The sun was beginning to peak over the horizon as Alarink mounted Malanya. Immediately, they started at a run, turning away from the sun as they quickly crossed Southern Hyrule Field into the Lake Hylia region.

As he crossed the Great Bridge of Hylia, he watched the sun continue to climb to his right and wondered if Zoelda had set out with the others yet.

It was just before noon when Alarink arrived at Zora's Domain. Eating a simple lunch of bread and berries in the saddle, he watched as a number of Zoras swam around in the basin and the Zora royal guard swam up and down the waterfall. Zora's Domain had always his favourite place in Hyrule, it was gorgeous and filled with a race of people that somewhat respected him and whose company was by far his favourite to keep.

Plus, it was secluded enough that there was rarely any other race in attendance there, just the Zoras protecting the waterways and living by their own rules.

Smiling, Alarink dismounted from Malanya and took off his boots, socks and weapons, leaving them in the shade of a nearby tree as he prepared himself to dive into the basin. Having visited the Domain a lot since arriving in Hyrule, Alarink knew how it worked and how he should announce his presence - by diving into the basin with as much noise as possible to alert the Princess and have her take him from there.

And since he had had many relations with Zoras, he knew how to swim and behave like one - it had been the Zora Princess herself who had taught him. By Hylia, he could hold his breath longer than everyone but the Zoras and Gorons, though he had to admit that he didn't even know if Gorons needed to breathe.

The Gorons were a mystery to every race but their own.

Grinning as he walked his way to the edge of a small cliff looking over the basin, Alarink leant over the edge and dived in, cutting the water cleanly, but louder than any Zora would have. He swam around for a bit under the water, greeting some of the residents with a grin as he did, watching as some swooned at him and others whispered to their friends. There was no name calling here, though he could feel the hate from the Kings guards who cared for him even less than some Hylians.

Finally - it took much longer than usual today, Alarink noted - the Zora Princess swam down the waterfall to the Throne room to greet him. As he saw her swim down, he surfaced a little ways from fall to wait for her, shaking some of the water from his hair as he waited. Quickly, she swam up to him and pulled him into a close embrace, pecking him with kisses as he laughed.

Princess Rutalis looked a lot like her grandmother, the late Queen Rutela, though Rutalis was much younger and more of a blue than a pink in colour, her scales creating a shorter dress shape that left her arms and legs exposed to be adorned with various jewellery. While her grandmother had had seaweed-esque locks of hair, Rutalis had more the shape of a fishtail for hair, like her father, only hers drifted low down her back. Everyone's issue with her being enamoured with Alarink came from the fact that she was only sixteen, and while that made her only a few years younger than him, to the Zoras, she was still a young child, looking barely over the age of twelve.

With that in mind, Alarink was always very careful to never over step his boundaries with her, fearing the wrath of many Zoras and banishment from the one place he loved more than any other in Hyrule.

Still, if she was going to kiss him as much as she did, he wasn't going to leave her hanging as he rested his fingers against the gills at her natural waist.

"Hey there, Princess," Alarink drawled. "Sorry it's been a while…"

"No, no," Rutalis replied, her voice both girly and high pitched as well as gurgling as though speaking through water. "I'm just glad you came back for me, Linky."

"Well," he chuckled as she pulled him closer, "as much as I would like to stay like this and say that I'm here exclusively for you, I'm actually here on Royal business and need to speak to your father on behalf of Princess Zelda."

"Oh," she sighed sadly, looking up at him. "Can you stay after, so we can spend some time together?"

"Sorry, Princess," Alarink stroked her hair-tail consolingly. "I've got to go afterwards and tell Zelda the news."

"Then I won't take you to Father," Rutalis said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Come on, now, Ruta…"

"After you've told the Princess, will you come back to me?" If she had eyelashes, she would be looking up at him through them, he was sure, as it was now she simply looked up at him with wide golden eyes, waiting for him to say what she wanted to hear.

"...If it works out far better than I could ever hope, yes, I'll come back to you." Alarink answered, not meeting her eye as he tried not to lie, knowing he likely would never return to Zora's domain after this.

"Yay!" The Zora Princess cheered, taking Alarink's hands and spinning him around in the water, he couldn't help but laugh as she did. "Alright, let's go see Father!"

Quite suddenly after the spinning, she pulled him after her up to the waterfall base, still giggling in a way that made her seem younger still. Though, the giggling was infectious and Alarink found himself joining in as they swam, trying to figure out how he was going to get the King's blessings. As they reached the base of the waterfall, Rutalis wrapped arms around him quite tightly and then began to swim upwards.

It was always in the moments that she took him up to the Throne room - which wasn't that often, admittedly - that he was reminded of how strong she was, despite her small stature and young age. Alarink remembered when he had first met her, she'd barely looked over five then, but she was easily the strongest swimmer among the Zoras, her royal blood allowing her to swim faster and longer than many others, some of whom were a century older than her. Even back then, she was just as cute and overwhelming, wrapping Alarink around her fins immediately.

Despite being much shorter than him, Rutalis had no difficulty carrying him up the waterfall, and they arrived at the top much sooner than he had expected. He braced himself for the dismount as Rutalis threw him from her into the basin at the foot of the throne, allowing herself to land with grace just to the side of her father's throne. Coming up sputtering a few seconds later, pulling himself out of the basin and shaking off as much water as he could, Alarink emerged before King Ralis much less gracefully, but performing a deep bow of respect that always appeared too sarcastic.

The King was scowling down at him as he looked up at him through his fringe, smiling his winning smile.

King Ralis hadn't changed much in appearance since the Twilight era, apart from getting much taller and wider, bulking out to traditional royal male size as he got older, he was still slight smaller than his ancestors at present. In Zora terms, he was still quite young, looking as though he was in his mid to late twenties in Hylian eyes, though his face was hardened with age and the knowledge that he was one of very few people who has survived both the Twilight era and the Pestilence. Although, he had been damaged by the Pestilence; the entirety of the right side of his face was marked by what appeared to be third degree burns, his right eye clouded and blind.

Colin had told Alarink the story of how his father had helped to save Ralis' life back in the day, of how the King had always respected Link. Back then, when he first visited the Domain, Alarink had been foolish enough to think that Ralis might respect him too, much like he had his father. Of course, he hadn't. Everyone who had known Link hated the fact that he'd had a son out of wedlock, the King of the Zoras was no exception.

Plus, Ralis didn't particularly care for the fact that his daughter had become enamoured with him.

"Greetings, King Ralis, from Link, son of the Hero," Alarink said formally in his deep bow, knowing it would catch the King's attention - Alarink was only formal if the occasion was truly dire.

"Rise, Alarink, Bastard son of the Twilight Hero, from Ralis, the King of the Zora." The King said in reply, sarcastically and annoyed despite the formality. Slowly Alarink rose from his bow, trying to hide his annoyance at the King as he smoothed his hair down and grinned.

"Ah, it's great to be back in the Domain again!" Said he as he stretched, beginning to walk the circumference of the room. "You've got a truly lovely place here, your Majesty."

"So you tell me everytime we meet, Alarink," Ralis sighed, knowing better than to try and get him to act more formally by now. "Flattery is still not going to redeem my opinion of your father or you, I'm afraid, so why don't you tell me what brings you here?"

"Well, if you insist on getting to the point so quickly…" Alarink muttered as he came to stand in front of the throne, putting on his most serious face as he looked up at the King. "I've been sent here by Princess Zelda herself to gain your blessing to revive Ganondorf one last time."

"Out of question." Ralis responded immediately, turning his good eye to look at his daughter. "I can't be putting Rutalis in that kind of danger."

"I can handle myself, Father." Said the Princess, drawing herself up and challenging him with her eyes.

Fearing an imminent royal argument, Alarink turned his attention to Rutalis. "Ruta, Dear, would you mind if I spoke to your father alone?"

"Whatever you are going to say to him, you can say to me." Said she, a challenge in her voice that made her seem so much older.

"What if I am asking for the King's permission for your hand in marriage?"

"Really?!" Rutalis exclaimed, her eyes wide and smile childish.

Smiling that grin he knew to have charmed so many, he winked at her, "Maybe…"

"Okay!" With that, the Zora Princess turned and dove into the throne basin, making her way back down the waterfall with the current speeding her along. Alarink watched her go with a sad smile, he knew how wrong it was of him to get her hopes up like that, but he also knew there was no other way to get the King's blessing.

"You are not marrying my daughter." Ralis said as soon as his daughter had disappeared over the waterfall, his tone final and commanding.

"I wasn't planning to ask," the brunet sighed as he turned back to the King. "I just needed to be sure she would leave so we could talk candidly."

"It's not right for you to get her hopes up like that, Alarink."

"I know, but it's better to give her false hope than to tell her that reviving Ganondorf will kill me." Alarink began unbuckling his weapons belts, trying not to meet Ralis' good eye.

"Pardon?"

"I know you don't care for me, King Ralis. You, much like everyone else, see me as the greatest mistake Father ever made, a constant reminder that he wasn't as good of a man as he made himself out to be." Alarink spoke frankly, giving no room for interruptions or debates as he pulled the last of his weapons belts over his head. "I understand that everyone would rather I stayed with Mother all those years ago, that everyone would have rather I never showed my face in Hyrule. But, it was fated that I came to Hyrule when I did, just as it is fated that Ganondorf will be revived by my hand one last time."

Slowly, Alarink rose to his full height and looked Ralis in the eye as the Zora King regarded his torso through his wet shirt. His eyes widened as he noticed the thick scar running from his left shoulder to right hip, neatly cutting his torso in half on the diagonal. With sad eyes, Alarink watched at Ralis noticed his Triforce segment lit on his left hand, resting in a fist above his heart.

"It is written in the scar that I will be killed by his hand." The brunette said simply as he started to put his weapon belts back on again, slowly and deliberately covering the scar again as he spoke. "Which is why I asked the Princess to let me gain your blessing in reviving him: 'Link' is the Princess' Knight, everyone will listen to him, and she herself has gone to the Sheikah, but you, Ralis, needed more of a reason than that it is simply in the best interest of Hyrule. You've seen first-hand the damage of Ganondorf, you just barely survived the Pestilence. And now you know that reviving him will get rid of that one last thread that ties you to my Father, and to be quite frank, that's all the persuasion you need."

Alarink grinned slightly manically as the King stared at him, a tense silence descending on them.

Finally, Ralis broke it, chuckling slightly before he spoke. "As much as I wouldn't like to see my friend's line die, you've been a constant thorn in everyone's side since you turned up, Link. I'll gladly give you my blessing to revive Ganondorf, if you promise to bring him down for good and go down with him."

As much as it pained Alarink to know that Ralis was only agreeing to this because he knew it would kill him, the brunet smiled that constant, cover up smile he'd managed to perfect over the years and thanked him, beginning to turn around so he could make his way down the waterfall.

"Link," the Zora King called to him, causing him to turn back halfway through preparing to dive. "How do you plan on getting the blessing of the Twili? How will you retrieve Ganondorf's body and the Master Sword from the Twilight Realm? I'm foreseeing the methods you used to persuade me not being as useful on Queen Midna."

"I've already got a speech planned out for her, your Majesty," Alarink grinned as he turned his back on Ralis to face the waterfall again. "You see, while you only agreed to his revival after finding out it will kill me, Midna will want his revival and ultimate death in spite of the fact that it will kill me. The Twili will want to see him dead more than they want to see me dead, that's the big difference between them and other Hyrulians."

With that, Alarink dove into the throne basin and practically flew down the waterfall as he fled the King's harsh gaze and Rutalis' hopeful embrace. He swam like a man possessed until he reached Malanya, launching himself from the water and grabbing his left possessions quickly before mounting her barefoot. The mare ran immediately after he mounted her, instinctively knowing where he wanted to go and what he wanted to avoid.

Alarink didn't look back once as he left Zora's Domain and Princess Rutalis for the last time, putting his socks and shoes on and weapons away while Malanya ran in the direction of the Hidden Village.

It pained him more than he would ever admit to leave the one place in Hyrule he loved behind him, filled with lies to their Princess and the knowledge that their King only gave him his blessing because he wanted him dead. However, he tried not to think about that as Malanya ran him to the Hidden Village and Zoelda. Guessing the time to be early afternoon, he predicted that, if Malanya could keep this speed, he'd arrive in the Hidden Village a little before dinner time.

Grinning, Alarink's mind turned to happier thoughts of Zoelda, picturing her face when she meets the last Sheikah, Lady Impax.

AN:

I don't really think anyone is reading these notes and I don't really have enough time to write this one today, so I'm just going to leave them from now on, it'll just be pure fanfic for the five of you who read this week in and week out.

On that note, have a happy holidays or whatever you believe in this time of year, I'll update again next week.

~WWQ

PS. If you like Ace Attorney, I wrote a little fanfic during the week for it that's already gotten more views than the entirety of this story combined, so check it out if you like.