Chapter 9

"Zoras Domain"

I inched away from the edge of the hill, uncomfortable with how high it was. Reminder to myself: I hate heights.

"How're we gonna get into the place?" Link asked, totally clueless.

"Their gates don't open for anyone other than the Royal Family, remember?" I said simply, as if that explained everything, "Or did you forget what the huge owl said?"

Not that I blame him for forgetting; the owl dropped us straight from flight into the water that now ran below us while telling us what we needed to know. I wrung my hair out and did my best to wipe the drops of water off my drenched dress. It was a vain attempt for a vain reason and all for vanity.

"You know," Arli began, having just climbed up to where we were, "When I said 'by all means' I didn't mean that one," he finished, pointing to the sky.

I nodded, "And he didn't have to be rough, what with those talons and all."

"Well, Link," Arli said, "go ahead and play, better get in before it gets too late," he looked to the sun starting to sink low in the sky.

Link nodded and took out the Ocarina. He stumbled a bit after finding a rock with his foot, and played the melody. I almost didn't have time to cover my ears, but sure enough, something caused the waterfall to split open.

Arlimand picked us up and tucked us under his arms as he took a running jump into the split waterfall. The jump felt like minutes when, in actuality, it could only have been seconds. There was a split second of darkness before landing in a large cave that was well lit by torches.

"Can you put me down now?" Asked Link.

"Yeah, sorry," Arli said, gazing at a crowd of Zoras gathering around us.

"Oh my God!" I heard a few say, "That's Hylia, Princess Zelda's cousin! What's she doing here? And who're those boys?"

"I have never seen people like this, but I would think they would stick out. Why haven't I seen them?" Arli asked, staring at one of the Zoras in front of us.

"That would probably be because they're an aquatic race, and would die in the Gerudo Desert," Link said.

"Makes sense," Arli replied.

"Let's just go see King Zora, 'kay?" I asked.

I wanted nothing more than to get away from the prying eyes of these people. It looked like one of the Zora men was undressing me with his eyes, or that could have just been his face. Either way, it was creepy. I quickened up my pace as a murmur rippled through the crowd of 'Hylia's going to see the King?' and other phrases akin to that. As we past a group of Zora women, I heard one of them blow a kiss.

"Why did you do that?" One of them said.

"I like muscle-bound guys," The other explained.

I could feel Arlimand's blushing radiating from him to my left and he hid his face in his hand. The Zora woman giggled and waved her fingers, causing Arli's face to go crimson red.

"Can we move any faster?" Arli asked, his face more flushed than anyone I had ever seen.

"Gee, I dunno, my feet ireally/i hurt," I taunted.

"Hylia..." Link warned again.

"Please?" He whispered to us.

"Fine, let's haul it," I said, turning back to notice the one creepy, drooly-lookin' Zora following us, "And now?"

Arli turned to see this drooly Zora and began running away as fast as his legs could carry him. Link and I turned to each other, with matching looks of shock on our faces, and, in tandem, took off as fast as we could run, too. Problem was, I was still the slowest, and the drooly-lookin' Zora was a pretty fast stalker... Erm, I mean walker. I turned my gaze just in time to see Arlimand and Link take a quick turn down a side corridor, and had just enough time to do so as well. I pressed my back against the side wall and hoped drooly-creepy-pedophile-stalker-guy would keep running and fall off one of the cliffs. I looked down at my burning, aching feet to make sure my boots weren't on fire from the friction of running.

Much to my chagrin, after looking back up, there was the drooly guy.

"Hey there, cute stuff," he said in an oily voice.

I turned to the wall far from us, "Sometimes, I think the gods hate me," I mused.

"Hylia!" I heard from somewhere down the hall.

I pointed off in a random direction away from the voice, and drooly-creepy-pedophile-stalker-guy looked that way. I hauled ass while he wasn't looking in the direction of the voice. As I ran past one cave, a pair of arms reached out and pulled me in. One covered my mouth to keep me quiet, the other grabbed the back of my belt to keep me from hitting my legs on the ground. I attempted to scream and run away, anyway.

"Shh," Arli's voice came, "unless you want Mr. & Ms. Drooly to find us,"

He removed his hands.

"I think I'd rather they didn't," Link said.

"Oh what do you know? Neither made sexual advances towards you," I snapped quietly, "oh shit!"

We backed up slightly as Arlimand told us to shush. We saw two forms holding torches run past the opening. Once the forms were out of earshot, we let out a sigh of relief in unison.

"I swear I'd locked that door" mumbled a voice behind us.

We jumped and I let out a shriek that sounded remarkably like a keese. I covered my mouth for fear that Mr. and Ms. drooly would come back, and Arlimand and Link dissolved into fits of silent laughter, and I turned and shushed whoever had spoken. It'd been the shopkeeper who was lighting the lamps.

"The shop doesn't open for another fifteen minutes," he said, carrying a small hand-lamp, "but if you're hiding from someone, I suppose this is a better place than any."

"No one but a couple of drooling Zoras," Link said.

The shopkeeper nodded to himself.

"I'm sorry for my companions' lack of manners," Arli said, "and for barging in on your shop. But would you happen to know how we could possibly beg an audience with King Zora?"

"Y'know I think you rehearsed that line as a slave," I said.

Arlimand turned and glared at me.

"An audience with King Zora would take a few days to approve," the shopkeeper said.

'Well, fuck that,' I thought.

Arlimand glared at me again.

"What?" I wanted to know.

The shopkeeper gave me an odd look.

"Yeah, I know," I said, sheepishly, "I'm nuts."

Link held out a deku nut, "The deku kind."

I gave him an odd look.

"Shut up, I'm funny," he said.

"You just keep telling yourself that," I said.

"So, how would we apply for an audience?" Arlimand pushed.

"There's a ledger to sign," the shopkeeper said, "It's by the King's chamber."

Once we signed the ledger, we asked the Zora guarding the book how much it would take to rent a room for three in the hotel.

"That'd be 150 rupees a person," he replied emotionlessly, "do you have an adult with you?"

Arli, Link and I looked at each other.

"My Uncle is the King..." I said.

"Yeah, right, and I'm princess Zelda," the Zora said.

"No, she's my cousin. You look nothing like the ugly whore," I said.

And I turned my back and walked away toward the hotel.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Link warned, "Don't go insulting your cousin like that! She's your family!"

"That may be, she's my pampered whore of a cousin! When we were six, she stole my best guy friend!" I returned.

"And you're still bitter?" Link said.

"She still refuses to let him talk to me."

"Yeah, that would do it," he said.

"Well, that fiasco went well," Arli said sarcastically to change the subject, "How're we supposed to pay for the room?"

This caused an awkward silence between the three of us.

"Well, y'know, I could always..."

"NO" Link and I interrupted.

We knew exactly what he was going to say. He was going to suggest pick-pocketing a Zora.

"Well, do you guys have any better ideas?"

"We could earn the money," Link suggested.

"Doing what?" I wanted to know.

"Uhh..."

"You mean like room and board?" I clarified.

"Exactly what I mean," Link said.

Arlimand stood rooted to the spot with a stupid expression on his face.

'Room-and-what-what?' Arlimand's thoughts came as we turned a corner.

We were searching out the hotel we'd been told about but the problem was, all the caves looked the same, and the writing on all the signs was completely unfamiliar.

"It'll be hours before we find the hotel! Why can't everyone just write in Hylian instead of having their own languages?" Arli complained loudly.

"Because that'd make things too easy," I complained back.

"Yeah, and goddesses forbid they make things easy!" Link agreed, nodding.

I looked to my left in fear that it was getting dark, and the sun was shining straight through the waterfall that acted as the Zora's front door.

"Ow..." I muttered, blinded by the sun.

"That's why you don't look straight into the sun, smart one," Link taunted.

Arli snorted in laughter

"Oh shut up," I retorted to both of them.

The next tunnel we turned down looked oddly familiar.

"On a different note," Link said, "Does this tunnel look familiar, or have I gone Deku nuts?"

He was referencing his earlier joke, but I didn't really care because I had to agree, this tunnel did look familiar.

Arli nodded and said, "maybe we should ask someone where the inn is."

"What-ho?" I asked, "A man thinking about asking for directions? Is this the end of the world?"

This earned me a 'Shut up, Hylia,' from both Arlimand and Link at the same time. I burst out into laughter, and Link and Arlimand smacked me upside the back of my head in unison.

"Ow..." I complained, rubbing the back of my head.

"Uh-oh, is it me or did Mr. and Ms. Drooly find us?" Arli said gesturing down the cave.

I turned my gaze in the direction of Arlimand's gesture.

"I think 'Uh-oh' is putting it mildly," I said, "I think 'oh shit' is what you were going for."

"Maybe, instead of discussing phrases we should hide" Link suggested, dragging us into the nearest doorway.

"Maybe that's a good idea," I whispered.

A couple minutes passed before we even dared to breathe regularly. We were about to move to look outside when someone cleared their throat behind us. Causing me to shriek like a Keese once more, and Arlimand and Link grabbed me from behind and clamped their hands over my mouth as they shushed me. I mumbled as loudly as I could in protest.

"Um... are you done screaming yet, Hylia?" Navi asked popping out from under Link's hat.

"Mhmph," I muttered beneath Arlimand and Link's hands, nodding

"May I help you?" Came a voice from behind us.

We all jumped in unison in surprise and the hands released me from their grip, as we turned to see who had spoken. A Zora stood at a front desk of something that looked shockingly like the Goron Inn where Link and I had met Arlimand. He cleared his throat again, a wet, choking sound, and repeated his earlier question. Before I could answer, Arlimand interrupted me.

"Yes, we were looking for the Inn, would this be it?" he asked, obviously having come to the same conclusion.

"Yes, this would be the place you're looking for. Will you and your parents be staying the night or for a while?" The Zora behind the counter asked.

'I think we should tell him it's just us, I don't think there is any reason to lie to him,' Arli's thoughts rang in my head, 'Besides, it looks like he could use some help.'

'I'm thinking much the same,' I thought back, 'I mean, I don't sense any reason he wouldn't let us stay. I feel like he's a nice guy!'

'So the question remains, how much do we tell him? Just that we are alone? What we're doing here? Our quest?'

"Um, actually, it's just us; we're here on an errand from the Castle Towne," Arli said

'And so much for 'not lying' to him,' I thought.

'If I told him it was from Zelda, to get the spiritual stones, nice or not he would have written us off as loonies.' he thought back.

'And we're not loonies? We're three kids saving Hyrule!' Rang Link's thoughts.

'If he thinks we're loonies, he's more likely to send us to an asylum than let us work for our pay,' Arli's thoughts played out.

'Sometimes, I wonder if that's not where we belong...' I thought.

'Hard to save Hyrule from inside a padded room...' Arli's thought trailed.

The Zora standing behind the counter cleared his throat again and gave us all odd looks. For some reason, I found this gesture inexplicably funny, and Link and Arlimand followed my lead in laughter.

"Sorry, don't know what came over us," Arli began, still trying to suppress laughter "Our errand involves an audience with King Zora but, we have no where to stay and little money, is there any way we can earn our stay?"

"Well," the old Zora began, "I tend to run the Inn alone. Could always use help. Y'know, room and board."

We all nodded, "Sounds good," Arli said, "just tell us what needs to be done."

"First thing's first, I need to know what you guys are good at," he asked.

"Hylia can climb like nobodies business, Arlimand is strong," Link began, ticking us off on his fingers, "And I'm..."

"He's the most energetic young man I've ever met," I interrupted.

"Wait," Asked the old man, "You're Hylia? Cousin to Princess Zelda?"

"I am, and she's sent me on official business. These two are my companions and best friends, they're under orders from the Princess to help me."

"Well then, I suppose I have to let you guys work for your room and board," he said, nodding to himself, "Young man, exactly how strong are you?"

"He ran full speed at a boulder with naught else but a shield and the boulder shattered," Link said, "We have proof!"

Arlimand pulled out the dented shield from his back and handed it to the Zora.

"Well, young man," said the Zora, "I've gotta say that I'm impressed."

Arlimand beamed, then said, "As for Hylia, she climbed a cliff using stones no one else could have possibly gripped, and Link, he's been running around all over Hyrule, and he's only been stopped once."

"By a head injury!" I said, pointing at the back of my own head.

"Gee, Hylia, don't sound so happy about it," Link teased.

"Yes, yes. I think you could definitely help me," The Zora said slowly, "Young man, we have a bar out back, and we have fights all the time, for one who can shatter a boulder, getting troublemakers out of a building should be no problem. As for you, Hylia, I hope you don't find it below you to work in the shop over there, I can never get to those top shelves, and Link, is it? I hope you wouldn't mind helping with house keeping; it can be tiring running all over the Inn."

Link blushed a little, but nodded anyway, "Sure, so long as I don't have to wear an apron..."

The Zora gave a chuckle, and we agreed to our assignments.