As Malon and Saria walked towards the shore, two heads rose above the water's surface and stared curiously at them. Dark eyes watched them approach before one of the Zoras decided to walk out and greet them. The Zora swam towards the shore before reaching the shallows and standing up, waiting for them to meet him there.
"You are the girl that came with Princess Zelda when she arrested our princess," He called out, crossing his arms across his chest while glaring at Malon. Malon felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment.
"Uh, yes I was with her," Malon answered sheepishly, ignoring Saria's inquiring glance. The Zora glanced back at the other Zora peering over the water's surface, which signaled to the second zora that it was okay to come out to the shore. The second Zora jumped up as she noticed the signal and splashed her way to the shore, a bright playful smile on her face as she splashed them. The older Zora glared at her, but it didn't seem to disturb the younger one.
"Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against you or your princess. It is just strange for our princess to be gone for so long and under such circumstances. I'm Quon and this is my apprentice Rue," He said, glaring reproachfully at Rue before glancing back at Malon and Saria.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Malon and this is my friend Saria," Malon said. The younger Zora smiled before she focused on Saria. Her smile vanished momentarily when she spotted Saria's sleeping fairy, although it quickly came back.
"Is that a fairy? I've only seen fairies in pictures from books, it's so pretty," Rue asked, staring at the sleeping fairy on Saria's shoulder with unsuppressed excitement and curiosity.
"Yes, this is my guardian fairy," Saria replied.
"A guardian fairy, I've never heard of such a thing," Rue stated in confusion.
"Hush, you do not know everything," Quon quickly admonished. The younger Zora blushed at the sudden chide and glowered at him.
"Yes, whatever you say," She growled under her breath. He turned towards her and she quickly stared down at her feet to avoid meeting eyes with the older Zora. Quon glared at her for a few seconds before deciding to reprimand her later and returning his attention to Malon and Saria.
"What did you come here for?" He asked.
"Well, Saria here wanted to visit the Zora Temple and no one else would bring her. Is there a chance we can go down and visit the Temple?" Malon asked. Saria glanced up at her in confusion, but a quick warning glance from Malon kept her from asking in front of the two zoras.
"Our temple? I do not believe anyone can go visit the temple right now," He said, glancing towards the direction of the sunken temple. Malon bit her lip as she tried thinking of something, but Saria thought of something to say before Malon could.
"But, I really want to visit the temple. You promised I could," Saria whined, glaring up at Malon. This startled the Zora, who glanced at the younger girl nervously.
"Saria," Malon warned, worried that Saria's words would annoy Quon.
"Maybe we should talk to the captain about this, since it is so important for you, little one. Rue, stay here and wait with them. I'll be back shortly with the captain and you can talk to him about the visit," He said, smiling down at Saria before he turned and rushed off back into the water. Rue huffed angrily to herself as she watched him dive into the lake and out of sight.
"I can't do anything interesting," She grumbled as she crossed her arms and sat down in the shallows. The water closed over Rue's head as she sank to the bottom of the shallows. Saria stared at the Zora sitting beneath the surface of the water before she leaned against Malon and smiled mischievously up at the elder girl. Malon returned her smile, although her smile was much weaker and less certain as Saria's.
As Nabooru came out of the Elder's room, accompanied by a bandaged but smiling Cedrin, she was greeted by a group of annoyed and worried Gerudos. Two girls Cedrin's age stared wide-eyed at Cedrin's wounds and quickly surrounded the girl. Cedrin glanced back at Nabooru before she was escorted away, bombarded with questions and concerns.
"What was the decision?" One of the older Gerudos asked.
"The bastard will be punished, right?" A second Gerudo called out from the back of the group. The other Gerudos, encouraged by the first two outspoken women, started muttering to each other and asking about the punishment that was going to be performed on the prisoner that had attacked Cedrin.
"Sisters, be quiet!" Nabooru shouted. The murmers instantly quieted as they all focused on Nabooru.
"We will not congregate out here and disturb Elder Nimona and the other elders. Follow me and I will tell you what our decision was," Nabooru called out before she pushed through the crowd of women and started walking down the corridor. The crowd of annoyed Gerudos followed her, grumbling to each other about what they thought her decision would be. It took all of Nabooru's self-control to keep herself from laughing at some of the silliest and wildest of the ideas, although she couldn't resist smiling to herself. After several minutes of walking, they reached an open spacious hall. Several girls, ones who were not old enough to participate in the Wild Hunt, glanced up from their duties of decorating the huge hall and stared at them in astonishment.
"Children, please leave the hall until we are finished. We're holding a quick meeting. You can return to your duties in a few minutes," Nabooru said as she walked towards them. The young girls nodded before retreating to the hallways. Nabooru turned to the crowd and noticed that the crowd had swelled with more curious and angry Gerudos. Nabooru glanced around before she noticed a half-decorated table nearby. She leapt on top of the table and turned to the crowd. They all stared up at her, waiting impatiantly for her explanation.
"Can you all hear me?" She called out. The Gerudos returned her call with a chorus of yes's and good-hearted jeers. Nabooru smiled at several of the women who had jeered at her before she continued.
"I have talked to Elder Nimona about this issue and we have decided that the prisoner will not get away with attacking our young sister Cedrin. He will be punished for his rash actions," She called out. Several of the younger Gerudos cheered before their elders quieted them.
"What sort of punishment shall the bastard get?" One of the women called out. Nabooru glanced at the direction of the voice and noticed the guard who had asked for the punishment earlier was standing in the crowd. The silent woman appeared calm, but Nabooru could see the rage in the woman's eyes as she waited for Nabooru's response.
"We have decided to publicly flog him in front of the other prisoners, as a warning to keep them from doing something similar to any of our other sisters," Nabooru answered. A loud roar of pleased and excited cheers echoed across the large hall. Nabooru smiled at the women's reaction and felt pleased with herself for figuring out a good punishment.
Link was checking to see if the mortar around the post that connected the chain to the wall when the door suddenly slammed open and startled him. He looked away from the post and stared up at the Gerudo that had entered. An excited grin was plastered on her thin angular face as she glared down at him.
"Stand up, prisoner. There's something that you would want to see," The Gerudo said as she unlocked the chain connected to the post and pulled Link to his feet. Link glanced at the door and noticed a group of excited and armed Gerudos standing in the hallway, waiting to see if he would try to escape.
"Let's go, prisoner. We don't have all day," The woman growled as she shoved Link forward towards the door and the waiting escort. With yet another idea blasted apart, Link allowed the Gerudo to roughly escort him. The group swarmed around them and followed him down the hall, whispering to each other with their words interrupted with excited giggles. Link realized quickly that something was going to happen that the Gerudos wanted him to see, something that was most likely going to be really bad.