CHAPTER 12

Kaito sat on the cliff side back home near the farmland watching the sunset taking in its beauty. He had finished eating a dinner of mermaid meat, and found it was indeed, quite the delicacy when cooked properly.

He was watching some Zora children play in the courtyard as well, but pretended not to notice them so he could listen in on their games. He thought about his own two kids and how they might play similar games out of the fry stage.

He felt a hand on his arm and turned to look back and see Ruto. He pulled her into his lap and wordlessly they continued to watch the sunset together for a while.

Ruto spoke up first.

"Kaito you still haven't told me how you managed to escape being captured from the mermaids."

"Kaito looked down and smiled, "I don't think you will believe me when I tell you but I got help from a ghost."

"I've seen spirits before, I have a spirit form I can enter as a sage. Why wouldn't I believe you?" Ruto looked at him surprised.

Kaitos' expression was more serious. "Because the ghost had blonde hair and said his name was Link."

Ruto got wide eyed, "Link came to you?"

Kaito then asked, "How come you didn't tell me you wanted to name our daughter Rutella because that was your mothers name?"

Ruto looked down and blushed with embarrassment. She sighed, "It was for a stupid reason. I hadn't told anyone else that, it was one of the things I shared with him before he disappeared for seven years. I said in passing so in a way I'm surprised he remembered. Still, he was the only one I told that too. I guess in my mind it was a secret I held on too. I wanted something for just him and me. I didn't want to say anything because it was a way I could still hold on to him. I'm sorry. Saying this out loud, I realize I should have just told you."

Kaito put his hand under her chin and lifted her eyes to meet his. Her eyes were sad, he remembered what Link said about her still having lingering feelings and feeling guilty about it "It's okay, I understand." He said in a reassuring tone, "I was just surprised because you described him as very quiet and we had quite the conversation in his death."

Ruto looked surprised, "Well, don't keep me in suspense, what did you talk about."

"Remember when you said Zelda sent him back to relive his childhood and there was a possibility of a timeline split? That split indeed happened. In that paradox of a world Link tells your dad about the engagement and he ends it."

"He would do that." Ruto sighed.

"We meet again though," Kaito said, "Link started dating other people when he entered adulthood, because in that timeline your non-aquatic person broke your heart around the same time mine did. You handled your heartbreak in the same way I did, long swims in the ocean. In that timeline I get to avoid my second proposal because of it."

As Kaito spoke he continued to watch the sunset. When he finished he looked back down seeing her smiling.

"It sounds like the goddess fated us then." Ruto smiled up at him. "I love you Kaito"

Kaito looked back down at her, "I love you too."

They kissed and continued to watch the sunset. Until they found themselves watching the stars. They spoke about different things, but there were long periods of silence just the two of them enjoying the bliss of each other's company. When high tide came in the middle of the night, Ruto once again found herself on Kaitos shoulders, and the two decided to head back home.

–—--

Author Notes

So that was the end of this story, as I said in the introduction, I may write part two, depending on how I feel about it, possibly a similar story told from the child timeline, or the hero's fallen timeline. I want to point a few things out with this story though.

I know that it isn't canon exactly how Rutella is related to Ruto, but there are a few theories I don't subscribe to and why.

I don't think Rutella is Ruto's step-mom. Rutella's husband is supposed to be named Zora Don Bon III Ruto's dad is Zora De Bon XVI. This is a different person. While it's possible that the interview with Eiji Aonuma and the book Hyrule Historia managed to contradict each other through some kind of misunderstanding or mistranslation, I assumed for the purpose of this story that they don't.

The names are similar enough that those with the Don Bon and De Bon name might be related, but if they are, I'm going to assume that they are distant enough cousins that the shared genes with Rutella don't matter. 1rst cousins once removed, or second cousins are practically genetic strangers and Rutellas husband was likely further apart from that, if they even were related at all that is.

I know there is another theory that Rutella is an older version of Ruto, but I don't think Ruto would have changed that dramatically from her Zora equivalent of teenage years to adulthood. Zoras do get growths as they get older, but so far they haven't received dramatic color changes, and Rutella is pink, and has more dramatic differences than one would expect as she ages

I suspect it's more likely some kind of descendant of Ruto, and that's what I went with. Although, we have no way of knowing if Rutella is her daughter or a cousin of hers or some other relative. If Ruto was married off and ended up in another country then it's possible that her father made plans for distant family to come in his place.

Still Nintendo has placed a lot of emphasis on descendents taking the place of character roles in the games. So in all likelihood, Rutella is descended from Ruto. Given how slowly Zoras age, it is possible she is her daughter and Ruto is in all likelihood still alive hundreds of years after Ocarina of time, just not in Hyrule anymore.

Another thing I want to note is it was hard for me to figure out exactly how zoras age compared to Hylians. Are Hylians homosapiens? Or are they perhaps some other species of human? They look like elves, but the games suggest they age like humans. Zoras by contrast age much slower. In Breath of the Wild, Mipha mentions she was surprised how much faster Link aged compared to her. I couldn't find an official source on Ruto's age in Ocarina of time so I tried to keep her age in this story vague.

Oracle of ages suggests that their youth is similar but Zoras can possibly live up to 400 years.

It's possible Ruto as a child in Ocarina of time was 30-50 years old and then had a growth spurt in Link's 7 year absence. The growth spurt as described by Finley in Breath of the Wild. With such a long childhood, Rutella couldn't be too far down the line from Ruto as a descendent if that were the case. So I tried to keep their ages vague since it's not really known to a precise degree.

On a separate subject if you're trying to gauge how big Kaito is, and you've played either Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, he's taller than Sidon, but not as tall as King Dorephan. 1.25-1.5 times Sidons height-ish maybe. Or about 0.75 times King Dorephans height.

Ruto by contrast would be about Links height. So big he's big compared to her, but not as big as other giant Zora. Once married, I could see him feeling compelled to carry her a lot, even without her asking, as it just helps him move at his full speed, when he's with her. Perfect right?

I will say while Rulink is one of my favorite ships, I see it being unlikely that they actually got together in the end. Once you receive the zora sapphire in the game, the first thing Ruto says is, "Don't tell my father." I suspect there is a reason for that. So I didn't write it that way. That and the fact that the Link in Twilight Princess was supposed to be a direct descendant of Link from Ocarina of Time. It seems highly unlikely that hylians and zoras can reproduce. Unless Nintendo says otherwise, I'm going to assume that is the case.

On that note, while I do think Link and Zelda care for each other, I do suspect that Zelda's father wouldn't approve of his daughter marrying an orphan peasant. Especially since in the child timeline he would have no real understanding of what Link did.

Since Link is said to have descendents, I suspect the Link in Ocarina of Time married Malon. It makes sense even if it's not my favorite pairing. In Twilight Princess, Link is born in a farm town. A strange place for Ocarina of Time Link's descendent to end up if he had offspring with royalty. I see part of the tragedy in the legend of Zelda being that the two love each other, but can never be together. Not until Gannondorf's final form is destroyed anyway.

Although I will say the only ship I'm outright against is Link/Saria. Unless the fanfic has some sort of mechanism for Saria to grow up, or it's just about them being affectionate as kids then absolutely not. Just no.