CHAPTER 24
"Ruto! I'm back!"
Scarcely an hour had passed since Link had departed – but, for Ruto, said hour might as well have been an eternity. She leapt from the water with every ounce of might that she had, landing delicately in his waiting arms. They held each other tightly for a moment, but no more, before Link pulled away.
"We should get you away from this place," he said, suddenly pulling away. "You're quivering like mad. How could I be stupid enough to –?"
"I'm all right, Link. Really," she replied, despite the tremors that had abruptly overtaken her small body and, for some reason, refused to stop. "Just keep me close by while you prepare the fish."
Fish. Right. Prepare the fish.
It wouldn't do for the fish to spoil before he and Ruto could eat them.
Link raised his hand toward his hat, intending to remove it and place Ruto inside, but realized that his hands and arms. . . . . . . . .were still fins. He was still wearing the Zora Mask. (Thankfully, Dr. Mizumi hadn't recognized him in this form.) Should he bother removing it? As long as he wore it, he looked much like a Zora father traveling with his child or, at the very least, a Zora brother traveling with his sister. And, when Ruto was old enough, this version of him would be a far worthier suitor. . . . . . . . .
"Ruto? I've, uh – I've been thinking," he said, struggling for the words. "Perhaps I could – I don't know – remain a Zora? Forever?"
From the look on her face, one would think that he'd slapped her. " What?! And keep the mask on until we're both dead? Why on Din's red earth would you want to do that?"
"Surely, a Zora being married to a Hylian would seem. . . . . . . . .odd to some people?"
"Fair point, but still," Ruto replied, gesturing toward him. "I won't deny that you're quite fetching in Zora form. . . . . . . . ."
"Thank you. . . . . . . . .I think?"
". . . . . . . . .but that's not who you are, Link," she finished. "The Link that I love is a Hylian boy – not only handsome, but courageous and compassionate. No Zora could ever compare to him!"
"Not even Link in Zora form?"
Ruto shook her head and smiled. "Not even Link in Zora form."
Link just barely stopped himself from arguing the point further. In the long run, it would be much, much more practical for him to keep the Zora Mask on indefinitely – but Ruto wanted him the way that he was when they first met. Who was he to deny her so simple a pleasure?
Without another word, therefore, he raised his hand toward his face and removed the Zora Mask – and, within mere moments, he was Hylian once more. Ruto swiftly buried herself in his chest and clung to his tunic, as though she hadn't seen him in years, and Link decided that he would never again propose this "permanent Zora form" nonsense to her.