CHAPTER 2

Ruto found herself waking up just before 10 am. She went to the surface of the pool she slept in and looked around the room. It was very elegantly decorated with all kinds of furniture. Across the room she noticed an opening to another room. She got out of the bedpool to see the other room and found a room with a shower, hot tub, and a normal looking bathtub that had a salt dispenser. The bathtub had a freshwater pump attached. At the back of the room was a door labeled "water closet".

Ruto decided to do a freshwater rinse, just to get a break from the constant feeling of salt everywhere. Living so close to the sea was something that was going to take time getting used to.

Ruto didn't have any sort of routine in the morning to get ready. Although Zoras often wore jewelry, they rarely wore clothes, unless it was for ceremonial purposes, they didn't see the point. Like most species of fish, their genitalia was tucked into their bodies so there wasn't an issue with indecency. Clothing also affected their ability to swim effectively. As a result, being naked most of the time was normal for them, and expected.

Even the shower she took was rare as Zoras spent so much time in the water to begin with. When she was finished she sighed knowing the moment she opened the door she was just going to be bombarded with sea air. She took a minute with her eyes closed just to appreciate the feeling of having it all rinsed off. When she stepped out of her room, the moment she opened the door she had two of Kaitos guards at either side of her they had both turned and bowed.

The first one spoke, "Good morning your majesty. We've been instructed to escort you to the dining hall for your breakfast and alert King Kaito when you have awakened."

"Oh, very well then." She said, The two nodded at each other and began leading Ruto to the dining hall. It made her wonder how her own guards were doing

When she arrived one had dismissed himself to find Kaito, the other poured her coffee and had the kitchen staff bring her a plate of prawns. She ate a couple but mostly just drank coffee. She wasn't that hungry after eating so late the night before.

It took about 20 minutes for Kaito to arrive after the guard had left to go find him.

He greeted her good morning and sat with her again. He then inquired if she was eager to start her scouting trip. He wanted to show her around and was hoping she would agree to a tour where he could escort her personally.

"I'm quite proud of everything my kingdom has accomplished and rarely get a chance to show it off to someone with high status like yourself." Kaito had said. He had a very eager look in his eyes. She agreed, mentioning she was particularly interested in seeing the refugee housing.

"We can start there. We can go as soon as you are finished with breakfast." he said

Ruto replied, "I appreciate this, I really do, but I'm not much of a breakfast person. Between that and the fact that I ate so late last night, I don't think I can finish this."

"Oh. Then should we leave now?" He said standing up offering her a hand. She smiled. She could tell he was trying to hide his excitement in an effort to maintain composure. She took his hand and the two went off.

Ruto wasn't wrong, Kaito was feeling giddy. He hadn't had company like this in a long time. This was the first day he took a day off from tending his business in a long time.

As promised they went to the refugee housing first, which wasn't that different from citizen housing, just a bit smaller. They scoped out Muir and Nehir who were both assigned as roommates. They showed her the inside of their space. The setup wasn't very different from Ruto's room she was staying in, there were two bedpools inside a main room, off to the side was a smaller shower and tub area, and a water closet in the back. The main room also had a dining table and a small kitchen area. The Zora, regardless of breed, were capable of eating fish raw and freshly killed. They usually preferred it raw, but sometimes liked the taste of it cooked depending on the species of fish they were eating. As such there were fire stoves in the kitchen areas.

The rooms weren't decorated the way they were in the royal halls of the Sea caves, as they were very plain, but she could see they were adequate for providing the basics. Plus she could see the guards had playing cards set out, like they were in the middle of a game before she and the King arrived. Muir and Nehir confirmed the number of beds varied in each chamber. Some rooms shared the shower and bath areas with neighboring rooms. When asked about them the showers were for the very thing Ruto found herself craving this morning, a chance to rinse the salt off. "I realize for those coming from fresh water, the sea salt can feel a bit overwhelming at first, that's why all guest and refugee housing have those showers" Kaito clarified. Regular housing had sprayers installed for rinsing wounds and such, but they weren't full on showers and were attached to the baths.

The bathtubs were actually set aside as egg incubators in case anyone was needing them. The ones outside the royal caves didn't have salt dispensers as lagoon sea zoras eggs hatched best in freshwater. Their ancestors used to swim upriver to spawn and then swim back down with their hatchlings.The technology of their world today rendered such a trip unnecessary. Since royal guests could be coming from anywhere and in turn be any breed, and eggs were unpredictable sometimes when they were laid, the royal chambers already had salt dispensers installed. "That reminds me", Kaito interjected. "I will have to have salt dispensers put in for the marine sea zora refugees coming in." They didn't have a hot tub like Ruto's room had, but that was solely there for luxury purposes.

Since Kaito had business to attend to tomorrow, Ruto agreed that she and her guards should meet up both to keep her company and help her plan her scouting trip. Both of them insisted on going with her. She didn't fight them on it. Her father may have assigned them as guards, but at the end of the day, both of them were her best friends, she liked the idea of hanging out with them in the process.

She felt a huge weight being lifted off her shoulders as she looked around the refugee housing more. Seeing people settled in well, seeing kids playing in the walkways and in a playground area, watching as many of the kids had already made friends with the local lagoon zora kids. Just as they were getting ready to leave a huge delivery of fish had come in and was being distributed.

Ruto felt tears in her eyes build up. She had been so worried about everyone staying safe. To see them able to settle in the community felt like for the first time since everything in Hyrule happened, she could finally feel at ease.

"Is everything alright princess?" Kaito looked at her concerned when he saw her eyes.

She looked at him and smiled, "Everything is perfect. Really, I can't thank you enough for this."

He smiled and put his hand on her shoulder. "It really is no trouble. Besides, while my father and your father weren't always on the best of terms, they maintained peace. I have had similar interactions with him. I hope wherever you settle you and I will maintain a much better working relationship."

Ruto smiled and nodded. "I hope so too. You certainly are off to a great start after all."

She could sense that he once again was trying to hide his excitement to maintain his composure in his next sentence. "Come, I have so much more to show you."

She found his excitement adorable. She started to wonder why exactly he was alone at his age.

Then came what he really wanted to show her. They passed the beach in front of the caves of the domain and dived into the ocean. Going deep into a trench. In the first cave of the trench, she saw the operations behind mining zora sapphires. He explained each step with excitement and how he made the whole process more efficient over the years. She could see him beaming with pride with the work he put into his kingdom's business.

He also had caves of less pure sapphires that were exported to the non aquatic people, as well as diamonds and silver. The kingdom of Labyrinna had jewelry manufacturers so occasionally some of the jewelry when manufactured was imported back in, but the majority of it, the non aquatic king of Labrynna used and exported the jewelry elsewhere. He had a good working relationship with Kaito and the two got along well in their leisure time.

The discovery of the diamond caves and silver caves allowed their economy to really take off. The wealth of the domain allowed him to provide everyone with the basics. The zoras who worked for him got to provide their families with luxury. Particularly those who worked in sanitation. They were able to live in chambers that bore resemblance to the royal caves.

"I don't plan on taking you to the sanitation plant. The smell alone is unfit for a princess. I do want to show you something that occurs as a result of it though, but first let's go to town square."

Kaito took Ruto to his favorite restaurant for lunch. He had reservations for a private room in the back. During lunch he talked about how the Gorons also had a gold mine and the two tribes often sent workers to each other's mines. The majority of the time, the zoras couldn't go too deep in the mountains. Even with heat resistant armor, their skin became too dry to tolerate it. Ruto talked a bit about the gorons of Hyrule. They didn't have a working relationship with them, but the two had a mutual respect for each other as they didn't fight with each other during the race war of her childhood. They didn't need to. The gorons preferred the hot and dry conditions of the volcano, the zora preferred the cool wet conditions of the rivers and lake Hylia. Their only common ground was the hylians invading their space and picking the fights that started the civil war. As well as the gerudo following an evil tyrant that influenced many of the tragedies before and after the war. That was common ground enough for the two tribes to make the peace that continued to this day.

After lunch the two explored the town square of the domain where she saw all sorts of business, from restaurants, to trinket shops, and even a surf school to learn to ride waves on top of a board the way non aquatic people do. She could see there were even non aquatic people in the class. They had open borders for visitors with all the communities of Labyrinna so it made sense to see them in this part of the domain. She found it interesting that a food store they looked at had not only fish and kelp but a wide variety of fruits and vegetables that the zora don't normally consume. The number of tourists in the shop didn't make her question the customer base and market for it though.

After purchasing his favorite seaweed candy from the shop he led her up to land above the caves. Where she touched grass for the first time in weeks. The land above was farmland.

"Each of the water closets you see installed in the housing leads to our sanitation plant. It's a huge part of the caves below that most people do not see. In there all of the waste is composted properly into fertilizer for the farmland here. We then sell the vegetables at the market below. This system is a major component in why so many zora can live in one place at one time yet our surroundings stay so clean."

"So you're in the business of food and gems?" Ruto asked

He nodded, "The food doesn't offer much profit but it does offset the cost of the sanitation plant."

She looked onward at everyone working the farm, it smelled nice, it was nice to have something besides salt in the air. "If your goal today was to impress me, Kaito, then you should know you succeeded spectacularly," Ruto said as they walked through the fields a bit. "Your people really benefit from your prosperity. I can see why you are so proud of your accomplishments. This place is truly amazing."

Ruto saw Kaito smile and beam with pride. It wasn't often he got recognized for his accomplishments by someone else of nobility.

They walked through the field for a bit enjoying the scenery.

Kaito then asked if she would be willing to join him for dinner back in the caves. She happily agreed.

When making their way back, Ruto began to sense Kaito had developed a fondness for her. Which only caused the beginning of her feelings to heighten.

During their dinner Ruto spoke up at one point, "I hope this isn't too personal, but with all your success how is it you never married?"

Kaito sighed. He looked down. Part of him didn't want to talk about it, but he didn't want to leave her without an answer when she revealed what happened with her ex fiance. "I've been engaged twice, almost three times. They all fell through for one reason or another. Like you, the first time I was engaged to a non aquatic person. She was the only non aquatic person I ever found myself attracted to. I thought she had such a pure spirit, I still think she did when I first met her. Unfortunately I let myself naively ignore signs that her heart was changing. I hadn't seen her in months and then one day I heard a zora sapphire was for sale in the black market. I hired a goron to go undercover to retrieve it, only to discover it was mine. I was so angry at the time, but since I never saw her again, I have no idea when she sold it, if she sold it, or how exactly or how it ended up in the hands of the illegal trade. It's possible her disappearance was due to something bad happening to her, I'd rather not think that though."

Ruto found herself putting her hand on his. She felt his pain.

He looked up at her and said "At least when your stone was destroyed in the sacred realm, it was for a good cause, and the people of Hyrule, including the zoras, were saved as a result. My non aquatic person just disappeared with no explanation."

He paused for a moment

"The second time I was engaged it was to a princess who I had arranged a marriage with. She backed out at the last minute to step down from her position to marry for love. I can't begrudge her. If anything I envy that she found love, plus she gave me back my stone."

He then looked up thoughtfully

"The almost third time was when the King of Labyrinna offered to talk to his daughter about arranging a marriage but after my first proposal to a non-aquatic person, I declined the offer. I think it would be best to if I try to get married again, It shouldn't be to a non aquatic individual"

Ruto raised her glass, "Perhaps we should both toast to never being engaged to non-aquatic people again?"

Kaito smiled and raised his glass, "I can agree to that, cheers"

They clanked glasses together and both took a drink.

Kaito decided to change the subject.

"As much as I enjoy your company, I will be quite busy tomorrow. Are you going to be okay on your own?" He asked

"I'll be fine" Ruto said, "Besides, I have Nehir and Muir to hang out with. They aren't just my assigned guards, they are my two best friends."

Kaito smiled at that, "That's right you three were talking about that earlier. How nice, I hope you have a good day with them tomorrow."

After dinner the two once again found themselves lost in conversation. They managed to catch themselves at 10 pm though and made it to bed quite a bit earlier.