Yay, I've updated before my two week deadline! I'm also a lot happier with this chapter than the last although my work is still not up to scratch...hmmm.. anyway, I hope you enjoy it. And thank you Link's Ocarina Babe, RutoLover, ADD Kyuubi Naruto, Super Goat Grl, QuinKilo1055, tinglehater, SSBMgirl and I.K.A.Valian for your reviews and your support. Pat yourselves on the back for being such lovely people!! And I hope you like the Ocarina of Time cameo(s)... (giggles to self...) ENJOY!!
Chapter Twenty Four – An unexpected encounter
The river was wide, deep and crystal clear, its banks were grassy and wide, marking a steep course that led up the mountain towards the Zora Domain. The ice cold water gushed merrily over boulders and danced along its course, tossing up spray and gurgling its song loudly. Hovering just above the surface, damson flies elegantly courted one another in view of the fish that lurked below the vitreous surface. Occasionally a dragon fly darted past in a flash of turquoise, or a bird trilled ecstatically from the branches of the trees that lined the opposite bank.
Away from the eddies that swirled at its centre, the river flowed smoothly, nary a ripple disturbing its glassy surface. It was here, in amongst the tallest reeds, that Link had been bathing. He was beginning to understand the limitations of Zelda's body and also its strengths and had also, although he would not admit to it, acquired a modicum of modesty. Whether this was Zelda's body acting in self-defence, or a new found mystery made clear to him, but he no longer liked the idea of people spying on him when he was naked (in his 'Link' body he had found the idea rather entertaining). He rubbed the bruises on his bare arms and shivered as gazed into the smooth surface, peering into the deep blue eyes that did not belong to him and sneezed.
"I hate being you." Muttered Link, rubbing his nose and moving away from the reflection of his unhappy blue eyes. He was missing his body. His body, he was quite sure, did not get so damned cold at night. His body could jump into freezing water without feeling like a thousand needles had just slammed into him. His body did not feel that it was in desperate need of a an embrace to recover its spirits. He decided that were he in his own, perfectly delightful body, he would not feel so terribly lonely.
He pulled his sheikah armour back on with some effort. His fingers were numb with cold and his legs were trembling with fatigue. After stopping over in Castletown the night before, he had ridden on from first light to the Zora River and had spent the afternoon trekking up the rather steep path towards the waterfall. He was exhausted and the impromptu bath he had taken had almost resulted in his being swept back down the Zora river. And then he had encountered an octorok and had only realised he couldn't defeat it with his current weaponry ten minutes after trying to volley its attacks with a dagger.
He had been forced to admit defeat and had moved his camp to a spot ten yards away. The Octorok had been satisfied with this and apart from popping its enormous purple head out of the water every hour or so to check the impertinent human was keeping away from its territory, it had let him be. This left Link alone with his thoughts, which were not very pleasant.
He had run away rather than face Zelda, he could not explain to her why he wanted to unlock the power of the Chameleon Stone, and if he could not offer a reasonable excuse for his actions, then she would believe Aganhim's word. Impa, of course, would encourage her to believe the worst about him and by leaving as he had, he would have confirmed that false belief anyway. He just wished he had remembered to take Amber with him. He had hoped to escape to a place where he could not be found again, and planned to help Zelda from the shadows, but having Amber at large detracted from this mission.
Amber had a remarkable talent for finding him.
He had ridden as much as possible and hoped that this would fool his pet for some time, but if she happened to come near the Zora River, she would pick up his scent immediately. There was no way he could ride the horse up that treacherous path so he had been forced to abandon his steed at the river's mouth. Zelda would recognise the horse, and would realise where he had gone. She was not a fool, even though she was trapped in his foolish body.
There was only one thing he could do: continue. He felt his body groan at the thought. Not only was there the octorok to contend with, but the path got narrower and steeper the higher he climbed. Zelda's body was telling him, quite firmly, that it had had enough, but there was no choice, he had to go on. He tried to imagine away the sharp pain in his limbs as he stood again and stretched. A pang of guilt hit him, not for the first time either, he remembered all those times when he had chided Zelda for complaining she was tired, or when he had grinned when she had tripped with exhaustion. Now he could understand why she had not always been able to keep up with him, and admired her more than ever for the times she had kept going without complaint. He decided that if he ever saw her again, he would apologise.
The possibility of seeing her again was slim, in his opinion, and even if he should meet her, she would not allow him chance to talk. She probably hated him more than ever now. He sighed and wound his white scarf around his face obscuring his nose and chin. Had he cared to look in the water, he would have seen his reflection was more boyish now. He might also have noticed the pair of dark eyes that watched him from the opposite bank.
The path grew steadily wetter and dangerous as it followed the sharp, twisting course of the Zora river. More times than he cared to count, he had slipped over and banged his knees, once he fell into a tree and cut his forehead. The river was wilder here, it seemed that the closer to the source it was, the more it tried to dominate the landscape it ran through. Many times streams and pools of water converged on the muddy path, and at one point he had to cross the raging torrent to the opposite bank. The stepping stones towered about a metre out of the water and were set wide apart but even they had been licked by the raging river. As a result they were slimy and slippery. Leaping from one to the other, over such a fast moving, deep river, was not exactly Link's idea of fun.
It had taken him a long time to recover his breath after he made it to the other side. But he was nearing the river's source – the huge waterfall that was fed by the eternally melting snows on the nearby mountains. The noise of the fall, even from where he was, some distance away, was deafening and made the ground tremble softly. Somewhere beyond the waterfall lay the domain of the Zora people, and somewhere in there, a Dream Snatcher was hidden.
Given that he usually crossed bridges when he came to them, Link had decided that he would worry about defeating the Dream Snatcher if and when he found him. For now, he had to climb up the sheer cliff face up to the Zora's Domain and seek sanctuary within their walls. That was easier said than done.
It was whilst he was contemplating the unpleasant climb ahead of him, wondering how he could make it in Zelda's body without falling (he had already established that her muscles were not used to rock climbing, and therefore objected to such activities) when he became aware of a presence near him.
He immediately went into alert mode, one hand hovered over his dagger, the other rested on the ground, he was like a coiled snake – ready to spring into action at a moments notice.
He almost jumped out of his skin when an icy cold hand rested on the exposed skin of his neck. As he was in Zelda's body, the shriek he made did not sound altogether out of place, but it made his companion chuckle. He had sprung to his feet, dagger drawn, body poised in an attacking pose, his back to his opponent. He swung around and as his eyes met those of his companion's, he dropped his dagger and froze in place.
A pair of deep black eyes than shone with golden undertones watched him critically. A wicked smile played in the corners of her ruby red mouth, and she absently twirled a strand of her long, black hair in her fingers. "Well met, Zelda." She said, her rich voice echoing above the din of the water.
Link gulped and opened and closed his mouth, fish-fashion, attempting to respond, but he discovered that his tongue had suddenly become stuck to the roof of his mouth and the only noise he could make was an odd gargling sound. He had never seen anything quite like the Goddess Saeru before.
The goddess's smile became more pronounced as she took in his confounded stare and she giggled. "Or should that be...Link?" She murmured. She took a step back into a more sheltered spot under the sparse branches of a pine tree and beckoned him forward.
Link found his legs were going to obey her with or without his consent and found himself compelled towards her. She grinned again and sat down, her crimson skirts spread across the grass like darkness spreading over the night sky. He took his place at her side, carefully avoiding touching even the fringe of her dress and watched her warily.
"Oh, do not look so worried, Link." Laughed Saeru. "I thought you have been trained to fear nothing."
Link could only goggle at her, he could quite easily imagine himself drowning in those endless black eyes and getting tangled in her wonderfully silky hair. His thoughts of Zelda seemed to be fleeing from his mind.
"Ah, I see - you are not afraid," Saeru nibbled the tip of a finger and tilted her head at him, smirking as she saw his eyes open even wider. "You are fascinated. Given your current guise I would say that such a look does not become you."
"You...are..." Gasped Link, desperately trying to gather his wits.
"Saeru." She answered coolly. "And you are Link, or if I were to be more accurate – you are Lefestra reborn. I have been watching you closely."
"You have?" Link seemed incapable of uttering more than two words at once and even then it was difficult.
"Yes." She smiled impishly at him and lowered her gaze to her fingers. "You are an odd creature. I wonder what game it is you are playing. Be assured though, whatever game it is, I will win. Your father may have been capable of stopping me, but he could not destroy me and I assure you, you will never be half the magician he was."
"I...don't..." Stammered Link.
"Wish to destroy me?" Saeru finished his sentence calmly, if not a little scornfully. "Of course you wish to destroy me. That is the only way you think you can save your little friend and restore your homeland. You know what will happen if you fail – she and I will swap places . I will return to the Overworld, she will sink into the Underworld. It is only fair. Lefestra took away what mattered to me so I shall take away what matters to him."
"Yes, but I'm not Lefestra." Said Link, secretly delighted that he'd managed to construct a sentence. He felt as if his reeling mind was beginning to right itself once again.
"No. You are Link." Saeru smiled irritatingly and her eyes flashed. "However, you are a direct descendant of Lefestra, have had the same life experiences, have the name Free Sword bestowed on you and share the same spirit of adventuring. Your circumstances and nature are too similar to be a coincidence. You may be able to hide your true nature and intentions from lesser creatures but I am a divine being, Link!"
"Yeah, goddesses do tend to be divine beings." Agreed Link, with a grin. "Fine, so you have me sussed out, do you? He leaned back against a tree, watching her lazily and asked cheekily, "Well what are you going to do about it? If you know who I am and my ancestry then you'll know what I am supposed to do to you but what you don't know is what I actually will do. You are a goddess of dreams, not of divination. You hope to scare the truth out of me, but you yourself said that I have been trained to be fearless. Just exactly how do you scare a man who has no fear?
Saeru seemed a little nonplussed by this question. She stared at him, peering deeply into his eyes, her own eyes narrowed slightly and her mouth twisted into a grimace. After a pause she answered, her voice was low and threatening "Nobody is completely fearless. I will discover your weakness."
"Good luck with that." Said Link, his confidence growing as he argued. It reminded him of his sparring matches with Impa, and he always enjoyed his verbal encounters with the sour-natured judge. Saeru stared right through him, and he had the sudden feeling that she was tearing through his very soul, her gaze burned right through to his heart. Her eyes gleamed bright gold and then suddenly she blinked and the searing pain vanished. He caught his breath and then looked up at her, a little confused and angry.
Saeru was grinning wickedly, "I know your secret." She sang. "You are afraid of one thing – how pathetic. You assure me you are not like Lefestra, your forefather, but I know you are. You have exactly the same weakness he did. Shall I tell you?"
Link glared at her, daring her to continue.
"Your heart is your weakness. Or in your case, Zelda is your weakness." She announced triumphantly. Her grin broke into a wild giggle and her dark hair waved and twirled as though lifted by a soft breeze. She saw the confirmation on Link's face and stroked a cold hand across his cheek. "Oh don't worry, silly boy. I will only use this information against you, I will not harm her...yet." She grinned to herself and stood up, "You men are all the same. Show you a pretty, defenceless woman, and you go to jelly. You are not on this stupid quest for the glory of your nation but for the love of her. How very noble of you."
"It is rather, isn't it?" Agreed Link, deciding that his best course of action was to brazen this horrible situation out with all the charm and impudence he was capable of. He wasn't afraid of Saeru, but what she could and would do to Zelda. The goddess smiled cruelly and touched his cheek with a cold finger. The motion made him shiver.
"You fear for her safety, for her welfare...for her heart." She murmured, her finger sliding down to his lips. She smiled again and brought her other hand up to cradle his cheek. Her eyes glowed a deep gold colour as they rested on his. "Of course, I could make your dreams about her come true..." She whispered. Her smile widened as she saw the thought take hold in Link's eyes. "Would that not be a wonderful thing for you. If you choose to assist me, then I will give you what you always wanted: your little farm, with enough gold to live on and a dear little wife by your side."
Her words reminded Link of his thoughts when he had first read that notice posted by the Hylian Judges. Back then he had sought a simple life away from the desert in the soft hills of Hyrule. He had not forgotten his vows made to his King, it had been his job to protect the Chameleon Stone, and when it was stolen, it was his job to recover it and use its powers to restore his homeland. Link gazed up at Saeru, her power was the very lifeblood of Calatia. But Calatia no longer existed. Her soil was now classed as Hylian soil, her people had long since disbursed amongst her neighbours. According to what he had learnt from Impa, he was the last of the Knights alive who had served under King Osira.
As if reading his thoughts, which she probably had, Saeru sighed softly and added, "Or I could do for you what I did for Lefestra, your forefather. I could make Calatia great again. All I ask is for your assistance."
"Assistance doing what?"
"I wish to be free." Answered Saeru. "I hate the darkness that Lefestra confined me to, I hate not feeling soil beneath my feet or wind in my hair. I hate not having the power to break my bonds. I hate being capable of only looking at the world through a mirror. Lend me your strength and I shall give you mine. I have learnt my lesson and I regret my former course. Is that not sufficient for you?"
"If it were true-" Link frowned and bowed his head. "If I helped you, would you lift the curse on Zelda?"
"Of course I would and I would free my hold on your nation forever, never to bother you again, but only after you had fulfilled your vow."
"And what vow is that?"
"Promise to destroy the one who holds my heart." Said Saeru, her eyes flashing gold again. "Destroy that one and return my heart to me and I shall leave this world forever. Promise you will do this and I will give you mastery over my power."
Link sighed "That's all well and good, but I am currently in Zelda's body. How does that help me now? As you said, I'm no sorcerer."
Saeru grinned wickedly and moved her hands so that they were tangled in Links hair. She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "With me you can do anything..." She sat back and smiled. "Do we have a deal?"
"...I suppose..."
"Excellent." Said Saeru, standing up and shaking out her long skirts. She grinned at him. "The first thing I suggest we do is lose that ridiculous body of yours."
"Great, does that mean I can finally be me again?"
Saeru rolled her eyes and replied with a hint of exasperation. "Have you learned nothing of your travels so far? Has Zelda been able to counteract the spell of one Signet Ring without finding another? No! The dream snatchers are unable to enchant themselves and the signet ring's have the same weakness. No, to reverse that spell you must defeat another Dream Snatcher. What you can do, which Zelda did not realise, is use more than one power at once." She pointed at the leather pouch tied to his waist, where the other two signet rings were hidden, "Use the Emerald of Oath to change the way your-no-Zelda's body looks."
Link was confused but obediently drew the emerald signet ring from the pouch and examined it. Memories of how he and Zelda had obtained the ring flashed in his mind and he almost could hear Tingles battle cry of 'Kooolu Limpah' on the breeze. He shuddered involuntarily and slipped the ring over his middle left finger. Nothing happened.
"You actually have to tell the ring what you would like it to do first." Muttered Saeru.
"Oh right." Link grinned at her and then thought of something. "Er, this isn't going to be permanent is it?"
"No. Once you have used a power once you can just take the ring off and the magic will be over. You can only do that because you are wearing another ring, though."
Link moistened his lips and closed his eyes. "I want a body that matches this outfit." He decided. There was a flash of white light, and a strange 'Ping' noise. Link opened his eyes slowly, something had changed, he could tell. He held his arms to his face – they were still clad in the blue and white Sheikah armour. The fringe of hair hanging before his right eye was still blond. He felt taller too, in fact he knew he was, for his eyes were level with Saeru's, and that would mean that he was more or less his usual height. And there was a distinct lack of weight on his chest which could only mean... he quickly checked his chest and sighed. Well the bosom had been nice whilst it had lasted. Still, it was nice to see his body had become comfortably male again, he had missed being a boy!
He smiled at Saeru and then suddenly realised that his cheek muscles in this form were not used to such display of emotion. He ran to the water's edge, noting that his step was light and powerful. He gasped as he saw what he had become. A chunk of blond hair fell over half his face, obscuring the left half of his face. His eyes were a deep crimson colour. His face, hidden by his mask and white scarf was eerily beautiful but strangely cold. His body seemed to be made of nothing but muscle and it made the Sheikah armour look like a second skin. Link felt himself grinning. "Man, I'm hot." He decided.
Saeru's face appeared next to his. Her eyes were gold coloured again and she was laughing at him. He glanced around but she was not there. Her reflection was coming up through the water, he realised. She blinked and smiled, as if bidding him farewell and then was carried off downstream by the current.
The world was silent once more.
In his new body, Link felt like he could actually jump up the cliff and reach the Zora domain. He even went as far as doing a couple of practise hops, only stopping when he smacked the top of his head against a nearby branch. Still this version of Zelda could jump pretty high, he noted. The version of Zelda was also a bundle of suppressed energy. He wasn't even panting after sprinting up hill for at least a hundred metres. And his voice was pleasantly calm and low.
Even though he had decided against hopping up the sheer cliff-face, Link was climbing with a decided spring in his step as he clambered up the side of the waterfall. He even whistled a little ditty to himself. He was enjoying himself so much that he was almost disappointed when he reached the top in record time.
He pulled himself onto a ledge and looked about him. The river feeding the waterfall rushed past his right side. It's course was perfectly straight, and the channel it ran through was very deep. About ten paces away from the waterfall the river widened and became rather shallow. Link could see that it's course was artificial. It was fed from a large blue lagoon which filled the centre of the cave. The lagoon itself was fed by smaller waterfalls which poured over the sides and through the walls of the massive open-air chamber. At its head was another waterfall, which seemed to come from a room high up in the city. A small white path ran along side the edge of the river and right around the lagoon, at various points he could see caves jutting away from the path, leading to other areas within the city and one path actually spiralled around the whole chamber, leading up the room where the second waterfall came from.
As he moved away from the thunder of the waterfall, Link noticed how quiet and tranquil the air became. The chamber was filled with a light tinkling music, that echoed through the air. (He later found of that the music was created using a combination of a tiny waterfall, a waterwheel and the inside of a very large music box). The lagoon was teaming with many varieties of fish, some of which Link had never seen before and there were many Zora around. Most were swimming around effortlessly, some were sat on the rocks under the waterfalls. One or two children were chasing the fish.
Link had never seen anything so serene before. His feet hardly made a sound as wandered. The Zora that noticed him did not seem concerned with his presence. He could encounter the occasional stare from aquamarine eyes, or hear the odd whisper, but he saw that the Zora did not view him as a threat. Even the guards, clad in their fish scale armour, with cod-head helmets, were unconcerned. They merely advised him to go speak to the king if he wanted something. Link had the impression that the Zora were either very confident of their defences or were very ignorant of the ways of the world.
It took him little time to ascend to the highest chamber. The first thing he noticed was that security was much tighter here. For the first time that day, he was stopped by guards, had to explain his business (which he said was coming to pay his respects to the King) and then had to empty his pockets. Obviously the Zora had never come across a person like Link before. Naturally, his sheikah outfit did not have any pockets, but he had his knapsack with him. It was at least an hour (and two arguments about the correct name for a reedy-blowy-notey-makey-thing) before he had sated the curiosity of the Zora enough for them to grant him access to the throne room.
The second thing Link noticed was the hot spring that bubbled up from the centre of this chamber. It looked rather appealing but was swarming with so many Zora that he decided against his initial impulse to dive right in. He also noticed that a lot of the Zora were whispering behind their hands and watching him. Link didn't mind being the centre of attention in the slightest, but this level of scrutiny made him feel a little uneasy. He did grin when he walked past a couple of Zora maidens and heard them sigh something about 'nice butt'.
His object in the Zora domain was to get access to the caves beyond the throne, the same caves where the Dream Snatcher Lukarn was said to have sought refuge in after being cursed. He hadn't quite decided how he was going to manipulate the Zora into granting him access to the caves.
He could see the king ahead. Portly wasn't quite the word for him. He was huge in all senses of the world and he looked like a giant cod. For a second Link wondered how on earth the Zora (notable for being rather attractive creatures) could have such a fright as their leader. And then he noticed something equally as scary. Next to the king, lilac hue eyes fixed intently on him was a Zora girl about his own age. Her nakedness was covered by a long blue robe (fortunately) and there was a definite blush on her cheeks. Her face was pretty, the set of her mouth wilful and her pose, hands on hips, head tilted back and legs slightly apart, was a classic 'tantrum' pose.
"Who are you?" Snapped the girl, her lilac eyes looking him slowly up and down.
"I am...er..." Link suddenly thought that to give his real name out would be a mistake. If he didn't want Zelda to find him, he couldn't call himself Link and as he was currently in a man's form, he couldn't call himself Zelda either. Not without people thinking he was insane anyway. It did not cross his mind that most people thought that he was insane anyway.
"Well out with it!" Almost shouted the girl, her eyes flashed.
"Sheikah." Shouted Link.
"I can see that is what you are." Said the girl, her irritation clear on her face. "But what is your name?"
"Er...Sheik...Sheik...yeah that's it. Sheik. Sheik of the Sheikah."
The Zora girl looked him up and down again very slowly, focussing for a long time on his chest area (he noticed she was smirking) before turning to her father and announcing loudly. "He'll do."
"I'll do what exactly?" Asked Link. The Zora girl swung to face him, a slightly twisted smile on her face. "You are to have the absolute honour, no, privilege of my hand in glorious, eternal and holy matrimony."
"WHAT?!"
"You and I are going to get married. Isn't that great!" She giggled.
Link took one horrified look at her, turned on his heels and ran.
Hehe, I hope you liked the chapter, and don't worry if you like Ruto, I won't be too evil to her. There's a method to my usual madness... oh and also, tell me if you like Link as Sheik! And I hoped you understood why Link decided to make a pact with Saeru.
I also realised, reading this back, at the beginning Ganondorf didn't have the Chameleon Stone. Slight faux pas on my behalf there...er anyway, from now on let's just say that it's in his possession although the Hylians were the ones who stole it in the first place. If anyone things it might be worthwhile, I will write a chapter explaining the history of the Lizard Pebble. Let me know. Anyway, I'll stop my rambling now. Bye XX
