CHAPTER 20
Without another word, Link drew the Ocarina of Time to his mouth and launched into the enticing Serenade of Water. Immediately, a wave of twinkling blue embers enveloped him and Ruto, carrying them skyward. . . . . . . . .and leaving Epona in the Lost Woods to graze in peace.
"Link. . . . . . . . .?" Ruto squeaked with palpable dread.
Before she could finish this thought, however, the pair of them arrived at a glistening lake – a lake that she immediately recognized, for the Zora had worshiped here since time immemorial.
"Lake Hylia. . . . . . . . ."
"I had a feeling that you'd know this place," Link replied, stowing the ocarina away.
"Know it? Why, my mother taught me to swim here!" Ruto's stomach gave another fierce rumble, and she blushed. "And to fish. . . . . . . . .and to worship. . . . . . . . ."
She hesitated, clearly contemplating something. "If only she'd lived to know that. . . . . . . . .that in due time, I'd come to this place and never return. . . . . . . . .not completely, anyway."
The Water Temple. Link had almost forgotten. "Are you all right, Ruto?"
"I'm fine," she replied, dismissing her momentary melancholy. "Shall we? I propose to catch such a bounty of fish that it'll feed us both for a week!"
Link couldn't help but snicker at Ruto's bravado, but fish did sound swell at the moment. As used to forest fare as he was, he wasn't above eating meat – especially not fresh meat.
He stepped forth from the platform (which was engraved with the sacred crest of the Triforce) and ambled past the lone tree on this small island, stopping only to examine the colossal claw-marks scratched into the bark. He'd seen them before, a long time ago, but he hadn't had the time to properly inspect them. "Ruto?" he asked, not even bothering to hide the apprehension in his voice. "You, um, wouldn't happen to know what scratched this tree, would you?"
Ruto shuddered and shook her head. "I asked my mother once. She only said that those marks had been there longer than the Zora have been in Hyrule."
"The culprit's dead, then?"
"Long since so, I assume. My ancestors probably vanquished it when they arrived."
That was good to know, for even Volvagia wasn't large enough to have caused these scrapes – but it couldn't hurt to keep an eye out for the creature, just to be safe. For an instant, Link thought that he saw a little electrical spark leaping forth from the claw-marks, but he shook his head and proceeded toward the water's edge. Surely, he was seeing things. . . . . . . . .