Malon glanced between Saria, the Zora girl, and the crystal-clear water of the lake with increasing nervousness. For a moment, she wondered if the Zora would come back, but remembered that his apprentice was still waiting with them.
"Morning, Saria," Malon jumped in surprise at the new voice. She glanced around before noticing the fairy on Saria's shoulder moving.
"It's not morning, silly. It's about time you woke up," Saria said, glancing down at the fairy.
"That's not nice, Saria. A nap was just what I needed, I feel much better. You should take more naps. Where are we?" the fairy chattered as she finished waking up and began looking around, leaping off of Saria's shoulder to flutter around Saria's head nervously. The Zora girl glanced up when she heard the fairy's voice and smiled as she stood up.
"We are at Lake Hylia," Malon replied.
"Lake Hylia, I think that one tall person told us about that place when he came to visit. Remember, Saria? I can't remember what he said about it though…" the fairy muttered.
"Can I take a closer look at it?" Rue asked reproachfully, biting her lower lip in an effort not to look too curious.
"Who are you?" the fairy said, diving towards the zora girl's face. Rue flinched and held up her hands in case the fairy was going to hit her face. The fairy stopped in front of the upraised hands, confused at the girl's reaction.
"What's wrong? I wasn't going to hit you. That'd be silly, I haven't hit anything for a long time. I can't even remember the last time I hit something, except that it was a tree and I was really young," The fairy scolded. Rue slowly lowered her hands and stared at the fairy in awe.
"Who are you? I don't like repeating myself," the fairy growled in annoyance.
"I'm Rue, apprentice to Master Quon. Nice to meet you, fairy," Rue replied, smiling so her small white teeth shone in the sunlight.
"How old are you, Rue?" Malon asked.
"I'm twelve," Rue replied as she held out her hands for the fairy to land on. The fairy landed cautiously on the outstretched hands.
"You are wet!" the fairy yelped in surprise, jumping back up into the air. Rue and Saria both laughed at the fairy's surprise. The fairy grumbled under its breath as it landed once again on the Zora's outstretched palm, annoyed that it was being laughed at.
"Aren't you too young to be an apprentice," Malon asked nervously.
"No, this is my second year under Master Quon. When did you become an apprentice?" Rue asked in confusion. Malon frowned, not able to think of an answer except that she was never an apprentice.
"I think I see something coming towards us!" the fairy yelped, leaping up from Rue's hands to rush over to Saria for protection. Malon felt relieved at the fairy's interruption, which helped her avoid answering the question. Rue quickly jumped and turned to watch with them as two dark shapes darted towards them. As they reached the shallows, they stood up. Malon smiled as she recognized the captain from when she was in the Zora's Domain rescuing Link.
"Good afternoon. I am the captain of the Zoras. I heard from Quon that you wish to enter the temple," the captain said, smiling courteously down at Saria as he spoke.
"I do not, but my friend here does. I am Malon and this is Saria," Malon replied.
"I remember you from the incident. Why is it you need to visit the temple, little girl?" the captain asked, sinking down to one knee so that he was eye-level with Saria. Saria almost frowned at being called little, but managed to stop herself. She didn't want to explain why she was so far away from the forest.
"I want to visit all the temples. I heard from a friend that the Zora Temple was the most beautiful temple of all," Saria replied, smiling as she spoke. The captain nodded and stared at Saria, thinking about what to do.
"Are you her sister or mother?" Quon asked, glaring at Malon.
"I am friends to her family. I was the only one who would take her to all the temples," Malon replied, blushing at the idea of being a mother at her age. The captain nodded as he heard and continued thinking.
"I think it would be okay for the young one to visit the temple," the captain replied. Saria's smile widened as she heard that she had managed to get access to the temple.
"Who will take her down there?" Malon asked. The two Zoras glanced at each other, waiting to see if the other would take on the task.
"Please! Please, please, please, please, please me!" Rue mumbled under her breath, watching the two older Zoras with dark pleading eyes. Quon glanced down at her sharply, making the girl blush and stare down at her feet as she realized that she had spoken out loud.
"I have other duties to attend to, so I can not escort the girl into the temple. Rue, it is time that you did something on your own. Go ahead and take the girl down into the temple. We shall wait for you here," the captain said, smiling down at the excited girl. She stared up at him in astonishment before she squealed in excitement.
"C'mon, let's go! I'll take you down there!" Rue laughed in excitement, reaching out and grabbing onto Saria's hand. Saria smiled as they started towards the deep waters of the lake.
"Stop, apprentice," the captain shouted. Saria and Rue both jumped at the sudden command and stopped in their tracks.
"Yes?" Rue asked nervously
"You have already made a mistake. What have you done wrong?" Quon growled, crossing his arms across his chest. Rue frowned, glanced between her master and Saria, and thought about what she might have done wrong. She only had to think about it for a moment before a look of shock and horror crossed over her face and she held her hand up to her mouth.
"Sorry, I am so sorry! I forgot that she couldn't breath like us! If you hadn't called me out, I could have hurt her or…" she howled.
"Do not think about what might have happened. Go fetch something to help her and return quickly," the captain snapped, interrupting Rue before she could continue. The girl nodded once and dove out of sight, looking miserable.
"Don't we need Navi to help me?" Saria asked quietly. Malon frowned at the idea of letting Navi free to be annoying, but knew that it was a good idea. Malon tried thinking of a way to avoid letting the fairy out before realizing she had nothing to say and nodded.
"Go free the fairy that is by the horse," Saira said. Her fairy grumbled under her breath before flying off towards Epona. After a few seconds, two fairies came flying towards them.
"How dare you! I'm going to smell like leather forever! I don't like the smell of leather. Or horses, for that matter," Navi shouted angrily, her shouts completely ignored by Malon. The two male Zoras glared at the shouting fairy and decided it would be better to simply ignore the ranting fairy. After a while, Navi realized that no one was paying attention to her and settled down on Saria's shoulder.
"Here, I got a tunic. I think it's too big, but we don't have anything smaller. You can just put it over your clothes," Rue said as she splashed up. The two Zora's frowned as they were splashed, but remained silent. Rue handed the tunic to Saria, the blue fabric spilling down and nearly reaching her feet.
"Where did you get the tunic?" Quon asked quietly as Saria started putting on the tunic, with Malon's help.
"I'm borrowing it from the shop," Rue replied.
"If it gets damaged, you will have to find a way to pay back the shop owner. Remember that," Quon growled. Rue glared at him in annoyance before nodding. By then, Saria had managed to get the tunic on. The tunic looked more like a large dress on her, which made Malon wonder why they didn't make anything for children.
"It's still work fine. Now, the fairy can hide in the pockets and we can go down to the temple," Rue said, not noticing that there were two fairies with Saria. The fairies quickly dove down and found pockets to hide in as Saria followed the Zora girl out towards the water. Saria stared down at the water nervously, unsure if the tunic was truly enough to protect her from drowning.
"Trust me, it will be fine. Nothing bad will happen. Just breathe normally," Rue said as she took Saria by the hand and led her into the water. Saria closed her eyes as the water came up her neck and reached her face, her nervousness now turning to fear. She tried to remind herself to keep breathing normally as the water went over her nose. Despite her attempt to remember what Rue, she held her breath in terror. As her feet left the muddy floor and she began floating, Rue began tugging Saria towards the bottom below. Saria remained motionless, thinking that moving would make her panic. Rue continued swimming before realizing what was going on and turning. Her dark eyes widened with surprise as she noticed that Saria was holding her breath.
"Breathe normally! I know it must be scary, but you can't hold your breath! You can hurt yourself! Come on, breathe!" Rue yelled, her voice clear despite being underwater. A sharp yank on Saria's arm made Saria yelp in surprise and take in a breath. Water rushed in her mouth, but none went into her lungs. She coughed out the water and froze as she realized she had taken a breath under the water. She took another shaky breath and felt a nervous excited laugh burn at the back of her throat. She suppressed it, not knowing what would happen if she laughed underwater. Rue glanced back at her and smiled as she noticed that Saria was breathing normally.
"See, you're fine. You can swim, right?" Rue asked, pointing downwards to the depths. Saria nodded and quietly followed the girl down into the depths of the lake. A few fish swam towards them, darting away when Rue reached out hungrily towards them. They kept descending to the depths until they reached the muddy bottom of the lake.
"The temple is right over there. See," Rue said as she sat down on the muddy floor, pointing away. Saria turned and stared at the huge temple in front of her, entranced by the structure's beauty. The large structure was carved out of stone and glimmered in the light shining down from the surface above.
"Isn't it beautiful? All of our important occasions occur there, except for weddings and such. Coronations, religious festivals, and other sorts of things. Some of the other Zoras say that the temple near the castle is almost as beautiful, but they are liars. Nothing could ever compare to our temple," Rue said as she pushed herself up so that she could float next to Saria, a faint pleased smile on her face as she spoke about the temple. Saria thought about the forest temple for a moment before deciding that even though the Zora Temple was beautiful, she still prefered the natural beauty of the Forest Temple back in the Lost Woods.
"Have you ever seen it?" Saria asked curiously, forgetting for a moment that she was under water. Her words came out in several large bubbles quickly fled up towards the surface, but her voice still managed to escape and be heard. Rue stared at Saria for a moment before another embarresed blush crossed over her face.
"Well, no. I'm not old enough to travel anywhere beside Lake Hylia and the domain. Let's get inside," Rue stammered sheepishly before swimming away, pretending that she was not embarresed. Saria smiled and followed the girl towards the large temple looming before them.