CHAPTER 21
Upon reaching the banks of Lake Hylia, Link eased Ruto away from his shoulder and dropped her gently into the water. She ducked beneath the surface, leaped above it, then ducked again.
"Wait here, Link," she said as she surfaced again, laughing. "I'll return when I've caught you – let me think – shall fifty fish suffice for the week?"
"FIFTY?! Ruto, I couldn't eat that many fish in a month, never mind a week!"
"Oh, heavens, you're right. Twenty, then, and the rest for me!"
Ruto ducked back beneath the surface before Link could protest, wiggling her little fins and tail to keep herself steady. Link – intending to catch his own damn fish – proceeded to search his saddle-bags for his fishing-pole. . . . . . . . .which was nowhere to be found.
"Oh, bloody hell," he muttered. "I knew that I forgot to pack something."
Fortunately, he'd at least thought to pack his Zora Mask – and this wasn't the ordinary party-favor that he'd worn when he and Ruto first met. Oh, was Ruto ever in for a surprise. . . . . . . . .
He retrieved the mask from his bags right as Ruto popped up yet again, this time with a fish in her mouth. She spat the fish onto a rock, glaring scornfully at the mask. "Really?"
"What?"
"That stunt was funny before, but this is scarcely the time to play make-believe. We're both much too old for such games, anyway."
"Oh, don't be such a stuffed shirt! Need I remind you that I was only an adult for – ?"
"A few weeks. I know," Ruto moaned, rolling her eyes. "Plenty long enough, I think, to know that one doesn't become a Zora by putting a mask on."
Link cast a knowing smirk in Ruto's direction and snickered. "Oh, really?"
Before she could protest, he raised the mask to his face. Instantly, he began to rock back-and-forth on his feet and grip his forehead, grunting in discomfort.
"Link. . . . . . . . .are you all right?" Ruto asked, her brow furrowing with concern.
Link didn't acknowledge that question, instead looking up and howling in agony. The mask began to animate itself, the lips opening in conjunction with his shriek and revealing a mouth teeming with sharp – and authentically Zora – teeth. The eyes, once precise depictions of a Zora's eyes, were now an ominous pair of black pools with black veins protruding from the rims.
Ruto couldn't help but watch in absolute horror, only to clench her eyes shut and duck underwater as a blinding light began to burst forth from Link's body. . . . . . . . .