Link stood along the rail of the Great Zora Bridge, the attention of both eye and mind divided. The events since emerging from Vah Ruta the previous day seemed a blur, and only now was he attempting to take stock of what was and what would be.

Far below, Zora calves played with pent-up enthusiasm on and between the rock islands that dotted Ruta Lake, the great body of water fed by the Domain and that, in turn, supplied the Zora River. Adult caretakers watched their young closely and fondly all at once, happy to let them enjoy a few precious moments of unburdened diversion. Such recreation would be brief. In the Domain itself, the Zora were girding themselves for war.

All those trained in battle were arming themselves from crown to fins, as the saying went. Smithies had worked tirelessly through the night to enhance the Zora's already considerable armory, which was now being emptied as they turned their attention from Divine Beast to Ganonspawn. Dorephan had ordered preparations be complete by the second morning after Link's victory at Vah Ruta. With the sun already beginning its afternoon descent, Zora's Domain was a swarm of silver-and-steel activity.

Link no longer wore his own Zora armor. He had stowed it with his other belongings in preparation for the journey ahead.

The decision had been a difficult one. A very significant part of Link wanted to march (or swim) with Sidon's people to meet the lizalfos to the west. Hylia knew whether the Wetlands Stable still stood. He could only hope their numbers had been enough to keep the lizalfos at bay this long.

Even the stablemen's plight, however, did not pull at Link as strongly as the previous day's revelations. Mipha's spirit had been trapped in Vah Ruta. He could only assume the same held true for the other Champions. A century of incarceration. The thought wrenched Link's stomach. It had to end, both for them and Zelda. Though Link hated himself for thinking it, the Zora's aid allowed him to press on toward his own ends. Too many had already died for him.

"Do not grieve. Only remember. Remember and live."

Mipha's words rang sharply in Link's memory. Though they had been addressed to all, Link knew they had been spoken especially for his benefit. Remembering made him clutch his chest, and his hand wrapped around the jewel hidden beneath his tunic.

Though he no longer wore the Zora armor, Link had, with Dorephan and Mei's help, procured a small portion of Mipha's gift to keep with him at all times. The Zora wife, experienced in the art of craftsmanship, had expertly removed the whitescale pendant from the waterproof tunic. The delicately fashioned pendant now hung from a chain of silver around Link's neck.

Images flashed through his mind's eye whenever he recalled the pendant's presence, the vast majority of them stemming from the previous day's events aboard Vah Ruta. Bazz's spear breaking. Mipha's spirit appearing. Her radiant look of love undimmed. The latter had stolen upon him during the solitary and tear-stained moments before he had mercifully fallen asleep the night before. It was then that another long-lost memory had burst forth into remembrance, and Link grasped the pendant once again as his mind replayed it for the hundredth time…

Dusk's golden tendrils laced the cloud-scudded sky above the reservoir, the surface of which was so still it reflected the heavens in near perfection. Even the monolithic legs of Vah Ruta offered no disturbance, for they were also still. Only its immense trunk moved now, curling until its snout-like end pointed skyward.

Two small figures sat upon the flat end of the trunk. Mipha had been only too enthusiastic to show Link just how expertly she could operate the Divine Beast. She was pleased to see him impressed by Ruta's vast and complex interior, as well as her adept skill in piloting the machine.

Link knew the Zora princess, however, and he smiled quietly as they sat down now to observe the day's glorious conclusion. This was the first time she had stopped speaking since they had set out from the Domain. Mipha was nervous, and Link had no idea why.

Private moments such as these had been all too rare in recent years. Since he had taken up his post as Zelda's appointed knight, Link had scarcely allowed himself time alone, never mind with Mipha. When their mutual affection had been young and new, they had never hesitated to find time for one another whenever Link journeyed to Zora's Domain - or even when Mipha came to Hyrule Castle with her father.

Visitations were still frequent. The work of the Divine Beasts necessitated communication between Zelda and Hyrule's Champions. Business reigned over those meetings, however, and it seemed only moments had passed before Link's formal greeting was already being followed by an equally distant farewell.

Today, however, had been different. Again, Link wondered why, and not for the first time. A raiding band of lizalfos had taken his attention that morning. Between Link and several Zora guards, the encounter had been brief. Still, it was rare for Ganonspawn to penetrate so deeply into the Domain. That had not stopped Zelda from resolutely proclaiming that she was perfectly safe in Dorephan's throne room with the king himself and a half-dozen guards just outside.

It was Dorephan who had suggested that Link occupy his time by joining Mipha on her daily excursion to tend to Vah Ruta. It was an innocent enough idea, but the Zora patriarch had been unusually encouraging in sharing it.

In times past, being alone with Mipha would have set Link's heart racing and flustered him more than single-handedly facing a score of Ganonspawn. Those feelings still tried to assail him, but they were stamped down by the duty that weighed on him like a mountain. Ganon's return was fast approaching, that much was clear. He could hardly give in to something as simple and self-serving as love when Hyrule's fate deserved his full attention.

"Thank you for helping my water brethren today."

Mipha's gentle tones temporarily lifted Link from the depths of his own thoughts. He used to dream of hearing the Zora princess's voice. He still did, but they were contorted cries from the depths of nightmares in which Ganon emerged victorious.

"Of course," Link acknowledged respectfully. He had been about to add the honorific of "Your Highness," but the small part of him still clinging to a future with Mipha whispered doing so would all but sever that hope.

"You weren't hurt, were you?" Mipha asked suddenly, her normally soft eyes hardened in suspicion.

Link reluctantly rolled up the right sleeve of his tunic, revealing a large binding on his forearm. Much of it was red.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Mipha gasped as she scooted closer and reached over to remove the bandages.

"It's nothing," Link flatly insisted. "It will heal well enough on its own. There is no need to trouble yourself."

"I must say, you've changed far more than I thought, and not for the better," Mipha distractedly observed while clearing the rest of Link's forearm. "There was a time you'd come to me with nothing more than a scratch as an excuse to see my power."

Link shrugged uncomfortably. "Things change."

As a child, he had been fascinated with Mipha's ability to heal. That power had taken on new meaning as he had grown older. It was no longer the magic that enthralled him, but the Zora who wielded it.

Now, as she had done countless times before, Mipha held her right hand above Link's wound. Immediately, a soft blue light began to glow between them.

"This reminds me of the time we first met," Mipha said suddenly. Though she was gazing at his unsightly wound, the Zora's expression was fond. "You were just a reckless child, always getting yourself hurt at every turn."

Link said nothing. He was too busy trying to fortify the walls around his heart, which were being assailed by Mipha's voice and magic. He wanted to give in to them. He knew he could not.

"Every time, I would heal you."

Link could not help it. He looked up and met Mipha's eyes. They were as breathtaking as the rest of her, twin portals of golden grace highlighting a heart-shaped face of pale beauty.

"I was… I was always willing to heal your wounds."

The walls cracked. Brilliant light lanced in. Link tried to board it up.

"I doubt you have been unwilling to heal anyone." Hylia, what's wrong with my voice? "You have extended your kindness and help to all who need it."

Mipha's gaze fell suddenly, her attention back on the wound that was now all but gone. Link did not miss the sudden presence of moisture in those eyes. Well that's what you wanted, wasn't it? he told himself viciously.

As soon as the injury disappeared, Mipha removed her hand. Link restrained his own hand from reaching for hers. When she spoke again, the Zora sounded determined.

"So if this Calamity Ganon does in fact return, what can we really do? We just don't seem to know much about what we will face when the time comes."

Link breathed an inward sigh of relief. There, he thought. She's focused on the task at hand. Just as I should be.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. "All we can do is prepare… and hope."

Link had not meant to say those last two words. They had slipped out through the crack he had failed to mend. What good is hoping for my tomorrow, he berated himself, when the coming night threatens the tomorrows of so many? Perhaps all.

Mipha, however, smiled as she looked down at her hands. They were, Link only now realized, clasping a bundle laying atop her legs. It looked as though it might contain clothing, but why Mipha would bring clothes for either of them was a mystery.

Just when Link thought she was about to untie the bundle, Mipha clenched her fists instead. She looked at them with a soft smile as she spoke again.

"Well then, in the meantime, know this."

She lifted her face to meet his once more. The setting sun only added to the radiance suffusing Mipha's delicate features.

"No matter how difficult the days ahead, no matter how dark the hour, if anyone ever does you harm, I will heal you. I want you to know I will always protect you."

It was impossible for Link to ignore the import of Mipha's words, disguised though it might be. On the surface, she was respecting his wishes to keep their love at bay, but their meaning flowed strong and swift and sure in the undercurrents. Link had never seen her more beautiful. Hylia, let me see her like this again after it is done.

"I could not ask for more than that," Link said quietly.

Mipha's hands convulsed over the bundle. Why should that matter now? he wondered.

"Once this is over," she continued haltingly, "maybe things can return to how they were when we were young."

Mipha looked at him once more, her eyes promising everything her words would not. I will do anything to for you, Mipha, Link vowed to himself.

"Perhaps then, we can spend more time together," she all but whispered.

Mipha's face drew near his. The walls crumbled.

Link wiped the tears from his face. For the umpteenth time, he thanked Hylia for that memory. The ache it caused him was considerable, but it also made him feel alive. He was not just a pawn chosen to fight some foreordained battle waged between an uncaring goddess and mindless demon. Maybe he was that, but he had also loved and been loved. To Link, that was better proof of his worth, a better measure of his life, than any divinely appointed mission.

"Good day, Link, Hylian Champion, chosen protector of Princess Zelda, Wielder of the Sword That Seals the Darkness and trusted emissary of Rhoam, late King of Hyrule!"

The bittersweetness of Mipha's memory fled at the sound of Sidon's joyfully issued greeting. Link could not help but smile at the Zora prince, who took up a place alongside him at the bridge rail.

"Surely you don't intend to address me thus from now on?" Link laughed before adding seriously, "Many of those titles no longer apply, you know."

"You are still the Hylian Champion, you are even now striving to protect Zelda, and I have faith you will find the Sword in due course," Sidon returned with an easy grin. "Truth be told, I find it heartening to remind myself such a one fights alongside me and my people."

Link said nothing to this. Sidon's confidence meant more to him than the Zora would ever know.

"How go the preparations?" Link asked instead.

"As well as can be expected," Sidon answered while peering over the bridge at the swimming Zora far below. "All told, five hundred Zora will ride the river tomorrow. I only hope," he added solemnly, "that we arrive in time for those poor souls at the stable."

"Against a force that large, haste and ill-preparedness would only add to the dead," Link returned stoically. He, too, was anxious for the Hylians all but trapped at the wetlands' edge.

"Indeed," Sidon agreed. "That being said, I believe we should-"

"Prince Sidon! Sir Link!"

Champion and prince turned immediately toward the light-blue-skinned guard running towards them.

"What is it Kayden?" Sidon asked sharply. "What's wrong?"

"Hylian… appeared at the shrine," Kayden gasped. "He's… in the throne room. King Dorephan… wants you now!"

"Good Zora!" Sidon assured him before catching up with Link, who had already raced ahead. There had to be some mistake. Without the Sheikah Slate, no one could travel to what few shrines were now active. Unless another slate had survived… but how? And who would possess it?

All these questions and more blurred across Link's mind as he and Sidon vaulted up the stairs to the throne room. What Link found there forced him to halt in disbelieving amazement.

There, in the same audience circle where Link had presented himself just days before, stood Brigo. The patrolman turned at the pair's entrance, a jaunty grin blooming on the tall Hylian's narrow face.

"Well yer a sight fer sore eyes, make no mistake!"

Link's brain seemed unable to function. Words escaped him. His legs, however, carried him forward, and his arm reached out to confirm what his eyes told him was there.

"How… how did… but I thought…"

"Still got a way wi' words, do yeh?" Brigo laughed. "'Tis me, sure enough, lad. Yeh did no think yeh could get rid o' meh so easily?"

Link grasped the patrolman's arm. It felt real. Without another word, he embraced Brigo as hard as he could. Tears poured from his eyes, but he did not care. He heard his friend cough forcefully as he returned the greeting.

"Easy lad," Brigo grunted softly. "I may be taller, but yeh pack a wallop if yeh did no already know that."

"I take it, Link, that this man's story is true. You certainly seem to esteem him as the friend he claims to be."

Link hastily released Brigo from his iron grip and wiped his face before looking up to Dorephan, whose words and broad smile were directed to the reunited Hylians.

"He is, Dorephan," Link assured him before adding, "though you'll want to keep your larders locked up as long as he's here. Brigo is as rude at the table as he is about barging into kingdoms unannounced."

Rolling laughter from Dorephan and Sidon drowned out Brigo's familiar snort. Link turned to face the friend he had been certain was lost forever.

"How did you come to be here?" he asked incredulously. "One of the Zora guards said you appeared at the shrine, but surely he didn't mean with a Sheikah Slate?"

"Yeh mean that ruddy contraption His Highness took from meh?" Brigo answered while gesturing the Dorephan's throne. There, on one of the arms, rested a device that looked identical to the one at Link's hip. "Oh aye, I did, and Hylia help me if I ever have to do it again!"

Link was nonplussed.

"But how? And the lynel?"

"What lynel?" Dorephan interrupted sharply. "Another demonspawn draws near?"

"Slow down, the lot o' yeh!" Brigo interrupted good-naturedly. "Sit still fer a tick an' I'll tell the whole gran' tale! That is, if yeh've a pint to spare. 'Tisn't good to speak fer long periods o' time w'out nary a drop to wet meh whistle."

Sidon came to Link's impatient rescue with a delicate Zora goblet. Brigo downed its contents with a gulp and a satisfied smack of his lips.

"S'good stuff, that," he remarked lightly while nonchalantly turning the cup in his hand. "Zora silver, is it? Oh! Right, then!"

The insufferable patrolman hurried to tell his tale under Link's narrowed gaze.

"Last question first," Brigo began briskly as he turned to Dorephan. "Nay, Yer Highness, the lynel we do speak of made our acquaintance near Mount Lanayru. 'Twas what, a fortnight gone, Link? Aye, more or less. Anyways, Link got away safe - as well Hyrule's hero should! The beast 'ad taken off after you an' Dorian. An' before yeh ask, I'm sorry lad, but I saw nary a sign o' the lad after I got awa'."

Link's nearly spoken question escaped in a sigh of heartbroken disappointment. Remembering the Sheikah's rapidly melting face during the lynel's relentless attack, he was forced to accept that his young friend was truly gone. Link nodded silently for Brigo to continue. The patrolman did so quickly, perhaps to skip past the somber interruption.

"Like I was sayin', the devil had taken off after you lot, so I hid mehself as best I could. The beast hit me with a shock arrow. 'Twas all I could do to lay still under some brush. I did no dare move 'til nightfall, but I knew I could no take the Lanayru Road through the promenade. Lizardscum would've had me in short order by mehself wounded as I was."

"There is no other path to Kakariko, not from there," Dorephan interjected.

"Just so, Yer Highness," Brigo graciously acknowledged. "I only had one choice: go back to Hateno the way we came."

"You went back up the mountain?" Link asked disbelievingly.

"Damn near crawled to it that night," the patrolman irritably confirmed, as though remembering his discomfort. "Hylia must've been smilin' on meh, because I did no cross paths with the lynel again. 'Twas tough goin', but I finally made it back to Hateno and that wee barmy Sheikah girl."

"I assume Purah had some tough questions for you returning alone as you did," Link guessed with a smile.

"Purah?" Dorephan interrupted eagerly. "Purah lives yet? How marvelous! I've not seen her since she was a young maiden, quite lovely too, for a Hylian. Many of Link's fellows were quite besotted with her. How is she?"

"Er… still a young maiden at heart," Link answered awkwardly. Brigo was set upon by a furious bout of coughing which Link hastened to cut short. "So what did Purah say, Brig?"

"Oh, she was right livid when I told her a bloody lynel had separated us," the patrolman confirmed once he'd regained his composure. "Asked me all sorts o' questions. Cheered up when I mentioned glimpsin' some blue light where you an' Dorian were hidin' from the beast. Asked meh about it again an' again, she did. Once she'd wrung me dry, she asked me to wait. That's all. 'Just wait here like a good boy an' we'll see where Linky goes!'"

Now it was Sidon's turn to poorly hide his laughter. Link felt his face flush at the mention of Purah's nickname for him. He tried to focus on what his friend had said.

"See where I'd go?" he asked curiously. "I don't understand."

"Nor did I," Brigo agreed with a shrug of his shoulders. "Waited right up 'til two days ago. I was gettin' impatient. Even if I did no seek yeh out, meh stable had to be wonderin' where I'd run off to. I barged into her hut ready to tell 'er off, that I was goin', even if it meant fightin' her mate wi' the glasses. Just as I was about to do just that, that thing made some kind o' noise. You'd 'ave thought Hylia herself had appeared the way she carried on about that bloody thing."

The patrolman was gesturing to the slate on Dorephan's throne arm, which the king immediately took up and handed to Link. A quick inspection revealed the same marvel shown on his own slate: a partially filled in map, complete with blue sigils marking the towers and shrines he had activated since awakening.

"She gave you her slate?" Link asked in wonder.

"Aye, an' pouted somethin' fierce when she did," Brigo added wryly. "Made a show o' how big a sacrifice she was makin', but she gave it to me and told me to see Impa in Kakariko, then come to this here place."

"Why Impa first?" Link asked, suddenly suspicious of the Sheikah's motives.

"Tell 'er where you were, least where Purah thought you were," the patrolman answered simply. "I could no find a reason not to, mind yeh, otherwise I would've come straight here. Good thing I did, too. She had a message for King Dorephan, here."

"What message?" the Zora asked suddenly. Brigo once again turned to the eldest ruler in Hyrule.

"The Wetlands Stable is under attack," the patrolman answered without a hint of his usual cheek. "The Sheikah 'ave gone to help, but Lady Impa says they won't hold fer long. She said, 'Tell King Dorephan to send as many water spears as can be mustered, and that they swim to the wetlands' aid as though Hylia herself had asked it of them."

The mighty Zora patriarch rose to his feet, and Link saw his friend take an involuntary step backward. He did not blame Brigo. Fiery purpose dominated Dorephan's impressive visage.

"Sidon, tell our captains we swim tonight."

The Zora prince nodded decisively. "Yes, Your Highness," he answered with a bow, then departed speedily out of the throne room.

"I will go with you," Link volunteered. Already his blood raced in anticipation of the forthcoming battle and the stable's need for reinforcements.

"Tha's where yer wrong, lad."

Link turned in surprise to Brigo, who was stubbornly shaking his head.

"Lady Impa," the patrolman continued, "had a message for yeh as well: 'Tell Link his quest is what needs him most now. Tell him to show his bravery by fleeing the easiest battle so he may yet fight those foes only he can face."

Link swallowed hard at hearing his own half-made decision confirmed by the seemingly all-knowing Sheikah elder. Even so, this was far more difficult than he could have imagined. All around him, Zora were preparing themselves for war. Now he must simply let them and not lift a finger in support?

"You must do as Lady Impa asks, Link."

Link raised his eyes to meet Dorephan, who was looking down upon him all too knowingly.

"She is wise and knows what needs to be done - and who should do it," the Zora king said firmly. "She asks much of you - and of my own people. We must each do our part, and be grateful that Hylia has granted us the opportunity to do that much. If you do for others what you have done at Zora's Domain, Ganon will be hard-pressed to match the strength that will gather behind you."

Link nodded against the lump in his throat. Brigo seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Good," Dorephan confirmed, albeit cheerfully before taking the slate from Link and handing it to Brigo. "It seems Hylia is with us, and you have played the part of Her messenger, good patrolman. My thanks and honor are yours, as are the possessions we took from you."

Brigo shook his head and held up his hands in protest.

"I do no need to be seein' that ruddy thing again in this lifetime," the patrolman objected loudly.

"Take it, Brig," Link forcibly ordered his friend. "Purah trusted you with it, and it may yet be useful if we are separated again."

"We will be, lad," Brigo informed him as he reluctantly accepted the slate from Dorephan. "I'd love to come with yeh, but a patrolman can no turn his back on a stable about to be ransacked by Ganonspawn. I've got friends at Wetlands, an' I aim to be with 'em come hell or Hylia."

Link grasped his friend's forearm heartily.

"I'd expect nothing less," he said bracingly. "I'm just glad you're all right, Brig."

The tall patrolman rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Meh too, lad. I did no fancy bein' a lynel's supper just yet. But yeh take care o' yerself. I'd best get packed an' on meh way to the stable. I can no swim like these bl… blessed Zora."

With a sheepish glance toward Dorephan's knowing smile, Brigo returned Link's farewell before departing the throne room. Link soaked in his bittersweet anxiety for his miraculously living friend before shifting his attention to the Zora king.

"I must journey north, Your Highness" Link said, recalling the golden markers on his slate's map. "In what time remains you, what can you tell me of that land and the people who live there?"

The Zora King smiled and beckoned Link to walk with him as he spoke.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Brigo lives! So did the lynel encounter do nothing more than provide a few chapters' worth of grief? Not really. Stay tuned for the epilogue to Book Two, which comes out next week. I'm grateful that that specific branch of the story allowed for Brigo's personality to remain. He's a fun contrast to Link.

Speaking of Link, putting the well-known memory of him and Mipha words was a fun challenge. I wanted context behind her words, as well as Link's own thoughts upon hearing them. The whitescale pendant is a slight alteration from the full Zora armor, but one I felt 1) wasn't two outlandish and 2) will serve its own purpose in the books ahead.

The table is nearly set for Book Three, with war in the wetlands and Link's journey north providing two main arenas in which several story arcs will take prominent place. Brigo, Sidon and others will get their own spotlights. I'm excited for what they reveal.

Thanks again for your time in reading. If you've enjoyed this, feel free to bookmark/follow the story or leave a review/comment. For my U.S. readers, have a great holiday weekend! - mattwrites