Chapter 19- Royalty Goes at its Own Pace

Almost eight years ago, a peculiar Kokiri boy set out on a quest to save Hyrule. More than half of the warriors don't understand this, but two do. They met this Kokiri boy.

Eight years in the past, Chieftain Darunia has himself locked in his room, protecting a very special artifact of his people. It is almost as if his own people have lost all common sense. They have been the protectors of this artifact since as far back as the ancient scrolls have recorded, and now, their stomachs are getting the best of them.

Meanwhile, a young Zora princess goes about her day-to-day business. She also possesses and artifact that her people have passed down for generations. She thinks it is precious, like a pearl to a clam. Today, an ominous vibe hints at bad things to come. The princess, nonetheless, fulfills her duties as usual. Her job is to feed the sacred being that protects her people. Though none of her people are trying to eat the artifact she possesses, she is swallowed whole by the great fish.

Like his people, Darunia too is tempted to indulge on something hard, and hopefully flavorful. The Fire Stone is his people's prized artifact, and right now, it looks like it tastes great. Darunia is the chief of the Gorons, the title passing onto him from his mother's side of the family. He was a cheerful child, bent on having adventure. In his teen years, his strength naturally came to him from his father's genes. As he matured, he mellowed, becoming serious and a dependable leader. However, he never lost his love of dancing. Neither of his parents knows where this trait came from. Back to the matter at hand, Darunia's resistance is being challenged. He hasn't eaten in days; oh what would he give for a decent-tasting bowl of pebbles right now. The reason he hasn't eaten is because his people's source of delicious edible material has been overthrown. Now all his people have to eat are ordinary, tasteless boulders, but they have grown too accustom to the gourmet food selection that they refuse to snack on the mediocre rocks. Darunia is no exception, and like all of his people, the Fire Stone looks good enough to eat.

The Zora princess, Ruto, doesn't quite face the same temptations as the much older leader of the Gorons, but she too faces a problem. Her artifact is the Water Stone, passed down to her by her mother. Her mother gave her instructions to gift this stone to the man she intends to betroth. During the process of getting swallowed, the string which held the stone like a necklace around her neck slid off, falling into the depths of the great fish. Ruto refuses to leave the beast until she finds that stone. At the same time, she does want someone to know where she it. She writes a letter to her father and tosses it out of the fish, hoping the river will carry it to her domain. This is exactly the kind of reaction all of her acquaintances would suspect she would do in this situation. Ruto is expressive, making sure everyone knows exactly what she feels at any given time. Her vanity is shown through her sassy attitude. Her pride makes her no pushover. Whatever she has to do, she is determined to do it herself, and right now, she is determined to find the Water Stone.

A hungry Goron chief. A swallowed Zora princess. Very different people; very similar problems.

All of the things above happened eight years ago. The same Kokiri boy mentioned earlier helped solve their problems. That Kokiri boy was Link. In a different time; a different era, Link lives another life, shared by the same two rulers as mentioned above.

Chieftain Darunia crashes onto the battlefield, loud and large. On the other hand, the now grown-up Princess Ruto gracefully emerges from the crystal waters of Lake Hylia. Both warriors strike fear into the hearts of the rebel army that stands before them.

Darunia looks back. "Zelda, Link, rescue Lana and Impa. We'll hold off these rascals for you."

Ruto looks back at Link with a smile and wink. She watches as Link and Zelda enter the water temple, disappearing behind the temple walls.

Darunia is the first to strike. One of the wisest, most experienced, and most colorful army generals under a villainous commander (Wizzro) once described Darunia's hammer as "three tons at the least of pure steel. Could snap a bone by simply falling on it from a thumb's length away. A wrecking ball if I ever saw one." Nobody really knows how heavy the hammer is, or what metal it is actually made of. The hammer possesses fire magic, and only the forgers of the hammer know exactly what gives the hammer magical properties. Needless to say, Darunia is called into battle when a very large and heavy enemy needs to be brought down to size, and Darunia is always happy to help.

The remainder of enemies that Darunia failed to smash with his hammer gets swept away by Ruto's waves. Zoras can't control water on their own, which is why Ruto possesses a magical pair of scale bracelets. These bracelets, like Darunia's hammer, are enchanted. Some say that it is the large bead that hangs from each bracelet that gives the bracelets their magical properties, but no one is certain.

One enemy slips away. As instructed, it destroys the gate levers of the temple. Ruto stops battling at the sound of the gates falling shut. On instinct, she runs for the temple door. She can see Link and the others running for the gate. Darunia notices.

"Ruto!"

Ruto looks back, and her running slows. The gate closes before she can get in. The water from the lake filters back in, hiding the door, the stairs, and Ruto under water. Darunia watches in suspense. He's not concerned about Ruto; why would he be concerned about her? What he's worried about is Link, Zelda, and the others who are now trapped in the water temple.

Ruto makes her grand splash, emerging from the water. She immediately starts scowling at Darunia. "If you hadn't screamed at me, I would have made it into the temple!"

"And what would that have accomplished?" Darunia calmly responds, turning to the princess.

Ruto can't make a rebuttal, so she stands there, full of attitude.

Darunia turns his attention to the temple. "Well, that didn't go as planned. Back to the drawing board," he says, trying to lighten the mood.

"Actually, the temple has a pretty high chance of filling with water while closed," Ruto explains. "That's why it is always so damp in there."

Reality dawns on both of them. Last they checked, all four trapped in the temple can't hold their breaths for more than 3 minutes. Link tried to break the record once, staying under for 6 minutes. After the 6 minute mark, everybody realized that Link wasn't moving. They had to rescue him. He obviously lived, but nobody has attempted to ask him to see how long he can hold his breath since.

"How long will it take before they are completely submerged?" Darunia asks, knowing nothing about the physics of water.

Ruto shrugs. "I'd say twenty or thirty minutes. It really depends on how many cracks in the walls and doors there are."

Darunia smiles. "Sweet. We've got loads of time. Let's go do something else."

The next 10 minutes are spent dancing to Ruto's rock music. Then Ruto gets tired, and she spends 3 minutes digging for buried treasure while Darunia continues to dance. Next, Ruto complains for a minute about not finding any treasure. Darunia danced during that minute to a tune in his head. Ruto spends the next minute complaining about a stinky odor in the air, and once she stops talking, Darunia admits that he caused the smell. After Ruto contemplates this for the remaining 40 seconds of that minute, she draws in the dirt while Darunia continues to dance. This lasts for two minutes. During the last two minutes, Ruto asks Darunia a series of questions, including the following: 'how are you still dancing', 'where are we going to go for lunch', and 'what were we doing before we started procrastinating'.

"Yeah, what were we doing before we started to procrastinate?" Darunia asks while scratching his head.

A lightbulb goes off in Ruto's head. "Oh! I know! Link, Zelda, Impa, and Lana are stuck in the water temple, and we need to rescue them before they drown."

"Oh yeah."

Seconds go by in complete silence. Then, the two start to panic.

"Darunia," Ruto yells. "how long have we been doing random nonsense?!"

Darunia yells back, "I don't know! Let's make a clock to find out!"

For the next ten minutes, the two collect materials for and build a sundial to answer their question.

They sit there with mouths agape, gaping at the sundial's readings.

Finally, Ruto speaks up. She says, "We've been doing completely worthless tasks for thirty minutes, and our friends could be drowning right now."

Darunia rubs the back of his head. "Gees. Way to make a Goron feel like he has betrayed his brother."

Ruto hops onto her feet. "We don't have time for this! We have to open the temple doors!" She rushes to the water, disappearing underneath the surface. Suddenly, Darunia remembers a lever in the nearby keep that opens the floodgates. He rushes to that. Sure enough, the lever has been broken. 'Broken' actually means a gear has simply come off. Darunia isn't a mechanic, so it takes him a minute to figure out where it goes. One he does, he uses his strength to lift the lever. The combination of using all his strength and the mental pressure almost makes him pee.

Ruto hears the temple doors open and swims for the entrance. The lake water starts to drain. Darunia rushes to the steps, slipping on the fourth step. He tumbles down the remaining stairs, taking Ruto with him. Link, Impa, Zelda, and Lana stand in the middle of the temple. They jog over to the entrance, where their fellow warriors lie.

Link waves and says, "Hey guys." Ruto looks up. The first thing she notices is that all four of them are dry. DRY. Darunia gets up, cracking his back in the process.

"You guys aren't even wet! We thought you were drowning!" Ruto exclaims. Then Darunia notices that his fellow warriors are dry.

Zelda shakes her head and says, "We're just fine."

"Where have you guys been for the last thirty minutes? Were you even trying to free us?" Lana asks, slightly concerned.

Darunia and Ruto shift their eyes, glancing at each other.

"Of course."

"We've been trying to free you guys for the past thirty minutes."

The four warriors accept Darunia and Ruto's fibs. To celebrate their victory, they dance.

After reading this story, remember that Darunia and Ruto are two of the seven stages. Yep. Hyrule is in goods hands.

Author's Notes- To be honest, I have only played Ocarina of Time up to when Link becomes old. The power of research did the rest! Now, it is time for chapter 20. Please, please vote if you haven't already. I hope to have a winning chapter. Perhaps the winning chapter will help inspire chapter 20. Tee hee! I'm excited.