Akko finished the dungeon of Wangari's temple with only three more to go to complete all the dungeons of the nine witches. Arriving at the Gerudo castle, she took a rest that day, before leaving the next day for the next point of the journey, which would be to return to Wedinburgh with Amanda before going to the seventh dungeon, which would be in the land of the Zoras, which has many mysteries surrounding it, as it is another place not conquered byAppleton.
She wakes up in the morning and prepares things for her departure, having her last meal with Gerudo, receiving the full support of Queen Nayla and the local people, but just as she is about to leave, Atsuko is met byAmanda, who wants to tell her something before they go that would be very important, as she has decided to change her plans.
"Akko, I'm not going with you on this one, go to Wedinburgh on your own, I'm going to stay here in Gerudo until all this is over, I think I've come to like my hometown a bit" said O'Neill.
"What about Chelsea, Holly, Chariot, Croix and us?" Kagari asks.
"Look, I know how important you all are to us, I know about the many, many good times we've had together and with these wonderful people, but I've always felt very out of place, for the first time I feel like I'm in a place where I'm with other people who are like me, you know what it's like to have been in Edo, I felt the same thing, only more intense, I could finally feel included in a place that has people like me... Look Akko, I'll miss you a lot, don't stop visiting us here in the Gerudo desert, I'll keep thinking about all of you too, but I want to stay here in a place that's more comfortable for me, where I'm just a person like them, like any other, I'm not a stranger, do you understand that? Anyway... Goodbye Akko, I hope you make it to the end of this journey, I'm sure you'll be strong enough to defeat Andrew once and for all" said Gerudo, hugging her friend.
"Oh it's okayAmanda, I understand your motivations, it's your people after all, don't worry I'll let everyone know, now I'm going, I'm going to Wedinburgh, to say goodbye to the girls before I go to the Zoras" said the crimson-eyed girl who was even producing a few tears as she said goodbye to her friend.
"Go on, girl, you'll win the trust of the Zoras just as you did the Gerudo and the Gorons, I'm sure you will" said Queen Nayla, patting the girl on the back.
The brown-haired woman nods to the Gerudos and then sets off on her broom towards Wedinburgh, leaving at full speed. As she has improved her magic, she is able to travel much faster to distant places, which used to be more difficult, as well as consuming less magic.
In just over two hours, travelling at a very considerable speed, she approaches the outskirts of the castle, landing on one of the towers, entering the inner corridors, arriving at the throne room where Hellene and Marianne are standing, the two of them already assuming positions as if they were two queens
"Akko, you've arrived, we've been missing you, and wow, I love the new hat, is that the item you got in the dungeon?" McLaren said curiously.
"Yes, it was quite a labour-intensive dungeon, you'd literally melt in there if you weren't wearing a tunic like mine" said the warrior from Luna Nova.
"And Amanda? Where is she? Has she been to the castle for a while, not even to see us?" asks Leclerc, who is also very curious.
"Amanda decided to stay in Gerudo, you know how it is, she has the same feeling I had when I went to Edo, those are her people, I've never seen her so comfortable around people as when she was in Gerudo, she really felt at ease, well anyway it's the best for her to have made that decision, I wouldn't make a different one" Hyllian told the two temporary queens.
"We understand, that's her place of origin, but anyway, now it's time to leave Akko, the next dungeon ahead is with the Zoras, as you may know, even my mum couldn't build diplomatic relations with them, they're a very stubborn people and intolerant of Hyllians, we have to be careful" said the redhead.
"I'll keep an eye out for any danger that might occur, I'm glad to see you again, I know it's only been a short time since I left, but it's a good feeling, you two being the queens of Wedinburgh while we're away, it suits you" said Akko.
"This is only temporary, you're the real deal, but for now people are reacting well to our presence, it seems Appleton is weakening a lot, there are no more monster attacks around here, from what Frank always
records, since attacks always happened at night and people tried to hide so they wouldn't die, but it doesn't happen anymore, it seems it was the effect of the dungeon itself" Said the purple-eyed one.
"And now Akko, what are you going to do, are you going to leave now for the land of the Zoras or are you going to stay here for a day to rest?" asks the dark-haired girl with the reddish streaks.
"I'm leaving now, I just wanted to see them, tell them about Amanda and say goodbye to my best friends for good" said the smiling Atsuko.
"Then we'll have a proper farewell, won't we?" said the brown-eyed girl.
Kagari nods in agreement and, with this conversation, there's a bit of an event going on around the castle, with the right to a small party to celebrate the girl's journey, her having conquered the sixth dungeon, getting closer and closer, something very short, since it was going to be the crimson-eyed girl's departure for the key point of the journey.
But in the midst of these celebrations, the brown-haired girl's wrist began to beep; it was her wife calling her to talk.
"Love, I've missed you my life" said the warrior from Luna Nova.
"Me too, I've been missing you a lot, although we spoke yesterday and from what we can see you really made it past Wangari's temple dungeon, I'm listening to music here, are you in Wedinburgh?" Diana said.
"Exactly, I've already returned from Gerudo,Amanda has decided to stay, I'm just having a little farewell party with your sister and Mari, after which I'll leave for Zoras" said Akko.
"Oh you're talking to sis, tell her I said hi and I miss her" said Hellene.
"Oh hey little sister, I miss you too, how are things in Wedinburgh? Are you managing? Are the monsters bothering you?" Cavendish asks.
"Incredibly there are no monsters, we can even work at night and as there are no such things to destroy the houses, the reconstruction is going faster, we can soon have the kingdom looking beautiful again, finally Akko will soon leave for the seventh dungeon, who would have thought that she is going this far, it seems like yesterday that she invaded the castle with Mari to play with us" McLaren said.
"It doesn't even remind me of that, it gives me the feeling that time is passing and reminds me of when mums were alive... Well, at least now we're bringing in new children who won't go through what we did, I'm sure" said the platinum blonde-haired girl.
"Look, we've got a surprise for you, don't think you'll be the only ones to have a daughter, because Mari and I performed the ritual too, soon we'll find out who of the two of us is pregnant, in other words, your girl is going to have a cousin, and I'll make it clear that her name will be Moira" said the redhead.
"You really don't waste time, do you, I hope the cousins aren't born on the same day, I'm going now, I just wanted to see if Akko was okay and apparently my wife is very well, by the way I loved the hat, she looks like a witch, with each passing dungeon she gets more beautiful, good luck with the Zoras" said the blue-eyed woman who soon left the conversation.
The conversation between the sisters ended there and the party went on for a while, until it was time for Atsuko to say goodbye to the two of them. She went to one of the castle towers, pointing in the direction of the land of the Zoras, took a deep breath and prepared to go there.
"Go on Akko, finish one more dungeon, we'll look after Wedinburgh very well in the meantime, soon you'll have the power of the nine witches in your hands and you'll become so powerful that you'll defeat Andrew Hanbridge, I know you can do it, smash his face in, thank you for everything girl, I've never regretted meeting you that day you came as a mere peasant working for Mrs McLaren, when we got into mischief that day in town, we entered the castle and all that changed your life, it seems that even Mrs McLaren knew that you would be great by sending you specifically to Wedinburgh, I also knew, I knew that I had made the best decision to show a stranger the places that I enjoy, I met my best friend and the heroine of Wedinburgh" Marianne said hugging her friend and even coming to tears.
"I say the same thing, you arriving at the castle was the best surprise that could happen, I was really hoping that Marianne would bring a friend for us to play with more, I didn't get along with Diana's friends, apparently she brought the most legendary of them all, go on girl, kick Andrew's arse, I know you'll be able to defeat him
once and for all, thank you for existing Akko, thank you for being the person who most helped my sister discover who she really is, you'll undoubtedly be the best queen of all" said Hellene who also hugged the crimson-eyed girl who was tearing up.
"Thank you both, you have no idea how important you've both been in my life, if it hadn't been for everything that's happened since I met you, maybe we wouldn't be here, you've been marvellous enough people to never care that I'm a mere commoner, you've always seen me as another friend like you, you've always seen me as an equal and that's always made me happy and comfortable, it's a pity we couldn't live six years as we wanted, but we'll live the next six years with great prosperity and bringing all the happiness to Hyrule, our girls too, now we're mums" said the brown-haired one who climbs one of the tower's walls, waves to the two and jumps down from there, starting to fly on her journey.
After a very sweet farewell between the girls, it was time to leave, with a few tears falling as the broom travelled at high speed in a westerly direction towards Lake Doras, home to that peculiar civilisation that has some intrigues with the Hyllians, in a place that until then had not seen a Hyllian in many years, it was the moment when a girl would finally set foot there, a warrior who would carry on the history of the place.
It was a very smooth journey for the warrior from Luna Nova, taking just over an hour and a half since the broom allows such agility without consuming too much magic, she managed to land in the place with enormous tranquillity, seeing the surroundings where there was a huge lake and at the bottom an icy mountain, as well as some snow on the ground since it was winter.
(Well, this is the land of the Zoras, it's strange that there aren't any of them here, really strange, I don't think they're on the surface, I can't see any buildings either, I know they're aquatic, but that's really strange)
Akko looks around and all she sees are trees and a huge lake in front of her, which she finds strange, tries to walk around it and sees only a single house. She goes with all the care in the world so as not to be noticed and soon notices that on the surface there was a Zoras who was simply living like a Hyllian.
She was catching fish, wearing clothes and sitting on the pier, which Atsuko tried to approach and she immediately faced the Hyllian with a little fear, getting into a defensive pose.
"Woah calm down, I didn't come to attack, I just want to know where your people are, I have an important mission" said Kagari.
"You're a peaceful Hyllian then, well I haven't heard much about Hyllians, but I'd like to get to know the world outside Lake Hyrule one day, unfortunately my father at most only lets me stay here in this little house outside the lake, he says that Hyllians are dangerous, I don't know why I'm telling you this, but even so, I'm fascinated by Hyllians, I wear clothes, I'd like to get to know more about their world, can you help me, I'm Ruto, nice to meet you" said the Zoras girl.
"I'm Atsuko Kagari, but you can call me Akko. How am I supposed to talk to the Zoras?" asks the crimson-eyed girl.
- It's quite simple, you just have to send a message in a bottle and my father will fulfil your request within a few months, if he can find it, but I think it's difficult in winter, since we're at the bottom of the lake anyway, but you could go and talk to him, but I don't know if they'll like you being there, I also know that Hylilans can't breathe in water" said Ruto.
"Pff, there's a way I can solve this quickly, I can swim there" said the auburn-haired woman, taking her staff in hand.
The warrior from Luna Nova uses the second word that makes her have like flippers on her feet, then the Zoras girl takes off her clothes and walks towards the water, jumping in and then the somewhat fearful Hyllian also jumps in as the water was cold, but she soon realises that it wasn't that cold and her clothes help.
"I thought I'd take my clothes off, they get very soggy and heavy when swimming, you Hyllians are very strange" said Ruto.
"I have special clothes that don't get wet, I'm waterproof down here, these fins help me a bit more because I can not only swim, but I also have a magic that allows me to breathe underwater and also speak, wow I've never tested this in a lake before, look how marvellous" said the enchanted Akko swimming and testing what it's like to be submerged.
"Come with me Akko, I'll show you where the Zoras kingdom is, just be careful, I don't know how well they'll react to a Hyllian being here, I'll let you know when you have to wait" said the girl as Atsuko followed her.
The two of them were swimming around the lake, seeing some fish around, which the Zoras girl was even devouring along the way, with Kagari getting a disgusted look on her face as a bit of blood came out of the water, as they approached where the Zoras kingdom is, the crimson-eyed girl was standing behind a rock near the entrance to the kingdom.
Ruto swims through the area to where the entrance to the kingdom is, arriving there she is greeted by the guards, then she goes through the city until she reaches the castle, swimming up to the throne room she is greeted by King Zoras who even gives the girl a hug.
"Ruto, I'm glad you've finally turned up, I thought you were going to stay in the shallows all the time, remember that Daddy cares about you a lot" said King Zoras.
"Dad, I have a visitor to bring you, someone who said they wanted to talk to you, but there's a problem..." Said the princess.
"Oh, don't tell me a Hyllian turned up here and you went to talk to him" said his father, who had already changed his tune.
"Dad, it's a female Hyllian, she's peaceful, she didn't show me any aggression, she just came to me calmly, I swear" said the girl.
"And how do you intend to bring a Hyllian here, Hyllians don't breathe, Ruto I want you to stay away from this female Hyllian" said the king.
"But Dad, she came here swimming, she can breathe underwater, she came here to talk" said Ruto and the monarch's expression changed completely.
"Wait a minute, the Hyllian hero who can breathe underwater? You're telling me he exists and he's a female Hyllian? Girl, it's got to be one of us posing as a Hyllian, we're not much like Hyllians, but remember that your brother already pretended to be one to fool you, it can only be him again" said King Zoras.
"I'll bring her here and you'll shut up when you see her, Dad" said the princess.
And off went Ruto to Akko, going along with Hyllian. As soon as they passed through the gates, the guards were surprised to see that Hyllian was breathing underwater and immediately approached her, pointing tridents at her, which Atsuko put her hand in the sheath of her katana.
"Touch me with one finger and I'll turn you into sushi" said Kagari.
"Woah, calm down, I have my father's permission to enter, don't disrespect an order from Princess Ruto" said Zoras.
"What? You didn't tell me you were a princess" said the shocked crimson-eyed girl.
"I don't like to say I'm part of royalty, but come on, we're going to the castle, my father told me he doesn't believe you can breathe underwater" said Ruto laughing.
The two of them made their way through the city, some of the scared Zoras entering their houses along the way, since they didn't like Hyllians at all, being frightened by the presence of the brown-haired woman. They swam until they reached the castle, where the royal guards barred them, but the princess once again forced them to open the door, and they even became afraid of the presence of the warrior from Luna Nova,
who stared back. They both arrived in the throne room and the king simply dropped his jaw when he realised that his daughter was right.
"I didn't tell you, she breathes underwater" said the princess, which even shocked the king, who went to stand behind his throne chair in fear.
"Ruto! What have you done! I didn't have Hyllian brought here, do you have any idea how dangerous they are?" Said King Zoras.
"I'm dangerous, but you shouldn't be afraid of me, you should be afraid of who I'm trying to defeat, if I don't manage to defeat him it could be the end even for you Zoras, have you thought about it, you don't have to be afraid of me, you're twice my size" Hyllian said laughing.
"Oh I can't know, you Hyllians may be smaller, but I know you have strong resistance and very powerful weapons, I've seen a lot of what you've done to us, the last Hyllian I could trust was Louise Du Nord and her
friends, the nine witches, they built a temple here and brought us prosperity, apart from that we don't trust any Hyllian, since for the centuries they've come they've hunted us, eaten our flesh, you have no idea the horrors they do to us Zoras, we've had our population reduced to this lake" said King Zoras.
"I know a lot about this story, so much so that you must know about the peace agreement that the kingdom of Wedinburgh tried to make to compensate for the evils that the Hyllians caused you Zoras, but I assure you that it will be much worse if I can't help, you are under threat of something much worse" said Akko.
"I saw the last message, Bernadette Cavendish wanted to make a coalition agreement between our kingdoms to be at peace and bring prosperity, but I don't trust you Hyllians, the last time something like this happened we were almost extinguished" said the monarch.
"Ah yes Bernadette, she is my mother-in-law and she was brutally murdered because she is threatening even you Zoras, Andrew Hanbridge, a Hyllian who has the spirit of Ganondorf in him and intends to cause all evil to Hyrule, I need your help to defeat him" said Atsuko.
"Ganondorf!" All the Zoras in the throne room shout in fright, even Ruto.
"Oh come on, you're a bunch of fear-mongers, you point tridents in my face and now you're terrified by a mention of Ganondorf, give me a break, I just want to be able to continue my journey, I need to enter the water temple of Louise Du Nord or whatever you call it, I'll defeat Ganon, don't worry" said Kagari rolling her eyes and soon the king himself, who was with his daughter hiding behind the throne chair, was sticking his head out.
"You really have no idea, don't you, little girl Hyllian? Ganondorf was responsible for the greatest extermination of Zoras in history, he was the one who ended up hunting us down for our meat, if it hadn't been for the hero Link we would have been completely extinct, we're talking about a huge danger here, girl, it's not something that someone with your power can stand up to" said the king.
"You're right, I fought him once, but if I can beat all the dungeons of the nine witches, free them from the seal, I'll be able to have the power of the triforce in my hands and defeat Andrew once and for all, I can do it if you let me, I'm your hope that Ganondorf won't come back, Unfortunately, I didn't want to be, I just wanted to be some girl living in a cottage in the countryside with my family, having fun with my friends around, but here I am, wife of the Queen of Wedinburgh and chosen by the nine witches to be the one to defeat Ganondorf" said the one with the crimson eyes.
At that moment, the Zoras, hiding in fear, began to realise that these weren't just loose words and that the brown-haired girl really wasn't bluffing. As they looked more closely at her and noticed her resemblance to the drawing they had made of the legendary hero who would appear a thousand years after the nine witches and who really did turn up, they even began to kind of adore the girl.
"Cut it out, I'm not a goddess or anything like that, I just want to save you, I'm a Hyllian who came here to save you and maybe in the future we can get along too, I promise I'll bring the Zoras back to the map and forbid all of Hyrule from attacking them, after all they are important to Hyrule, we'll bring all our cultures together, build a prosperity and growth that has never been seen here before" Akko said.
"Very well, you must be the chosen Hyllian, but if you really want to gain entry to the sacred temple of Louise Du Nord, you must pass an ordeal that we will give you, only the legendary hero will make it" said King Zoras.
"Ah OK, I'll do it, but first I can go back to the surface, this whole conversation with you has made me hungry and I prefer surface food, don't get me wrong, but I can't eat underwater, even though I have a magic that helps me breathe underwater and even gives me gills on my chest, I prefer to eat on the surface" said Atsuko.
"Oh, all right, but the ordeal will be very complicated, you'll have to beat my son in a course full of obstacles and show that you can swim faster than him, so I can think that you can gain access to the temple, in addition to also having to beat our great champion, the strongest Zoras in our kingdom in a combat, can you do it, without using any weapons" said the monarch and the girl simply shrugged.
"I can try, but tell me more about this nine witches thing, I'm curious, you seem to like Louise a lot, don't you" said Kagari.
"Louise Du Nord was a girl who grew up with us Zoras, she lived in the little house where Ruto used to go, we kept her all these years, as a mark of respect and remembrance for Hyllian who brought us the magic of
the world outside the Zoras, my ancestors the first Queen Ruto, she was very good friends with Louise, the two of them were really good friends, they went for walks together, they swam from one side to the other, they grew up together, we Zoras started to be friends with her too, until the day she had to leave when a group of girls met up with her, Louise set off on a mission to become a witch as she had always dreamed, she made the journey and when Ruto thought that her friend would never return, she came back, she came back to stay, she decided to use a legendary magic that made her become a Hyllian mermaid, being able to breathe underwater, she was our first queen together with the first queen Ruto, they got married and many of the current Zoras are descendants of that marriage, including me and my daughter, we are from this hybrid lineage, which was not the only one, others came... Most of the Zoras are hybrids of this union, it can bring us a lot of modernity and peace, which we are very grateful to Louise for, she embraced the aquatic side like no one else and lived until one day she had an important mission, she had to return to Hyllian form again... This time she didn't come back, we only know that it was something important for Hyrule and since then we haven't opened the temple out of respect for Louise" explains King Zoras.
"Now it all makes sense, well she went on an important mission, she had to sacrifice herself by creating a seal with the other eight of her friends, a seal that will be broken now, since a thousand years have passed, the person to break the seal will be the one to defeat Ganondorf, according to legend, she went to save Hyrule from the threat of Ganon, unfortunately he came back" said the one with the crimson eyes.
"Louise is grander than we thought, finally give it a rest, come back later for your ordeal, if you prove yourself capable and worthy we will open the door to Louise's temple, we only seal it because the open door causes monsters to appear in the kingdom" said the monarch.
The brown-haired girl nods and starts to swim back to the surface to take a break. She is accompanied by Ruto, and when she returns to the surface, she removes the spell to take the second word, breathing in the outside air again, which gives her a little relief as Ruto drapes a towel over her body, putting Hyllian's clothes back on, with a smile on her face.
"It's a shame you're marriedAkko, otherwise I'd love to see the story of a Hyllian and a Zoras return" said the Zoras girl.
"Hey, take it easy there, my wife wouldn't like to hear such things, but anyway it was fun going to your kingdom, you'll be a good queen, the Zoras are really fearful, you're on alert all the time by the looks of it, but I don't judge, I would be too, especially since there's an Andrew Hanbridge out there who's a real demon, well now it's onwards and upwards, how are these trials of swimming in the obstacle courses, can your brother swim well?" asks the curious warrior from Luna Nova.
"He's the champion of the Zoras, the one who swims the fastest of us and the brute is the strongest Zoras, he can lift rocks, even stronger than a Hyllian, you have to be afraid of him, I've seen that he can swim well" said Ruto.
"I can handle a fight, I'm used to it, I've beaten a Gerudo, so I think I can handle a Zoras" said Hyllian confidently.
"He's three times your size Akko, even my father is small next to this brute, no Zoras has ever come out alive when he's tried to fight him, that's no small feat girl, don't underestimate our strength, we may be afraid of Hyllians, but we also have a way of protecting ourselves against them if something happens, know this" Zoras said worriedly.
"Well, let's see how he does, I'm not weak either, Ruto" said Akko, pulling up the sleeve of her tunic to show off her defined arms.
"Woah, look at that, you've got muscles too, this is going to be the battle of the century, just imagine a Hyllian against the strongest Zoras of all" said Ruto with a smile on his face.
Akko and Ruto continue to talk, as Zoras becomes very interested in finding out more about what the Hyllian world is like outside the water, due to her fascination with the outside world, which Atsuko begins to describe from recent events and also some peculiarities, making Zoras even more fascinated.
Akko says goodbye to her friends, this time arriving at the point in the journey where she will be travelling completely alone, already on her way to the seventh dungeon where she arrives in the kingdom of the Zoras discovering that they have a very expressive fear of Hyllians, but that with her little way and the sayings of the legends, Kagari has simply gained the trust of King Zoras, but she still has a very complicated journey ahead of her to gain access to the legendary place protected by the aquatic beings.
See you, Zoras witches...