Chapter 19
Fish out of Water.

A fork in the river showed one stream coming from Zora's domain almost dry, while the joining stream continued what should be a much deeper flow all the way to the Lost Woods.

"Zora's domain is just over those mountains, Link."

"Still no sign of beavers." Link jumped into the dry banks at the fork to refill his water bottle and soak his hair. "It's a nice day today,"

"Very warm." Navi floated by before landing on his hand. "Hey um, could you pour some on me?"

"What about your wings?"

"They'll be fine." Navi's wings rolled up into little buds on her back. "Go for it." Holding her eyes and nose closed, Navi cheered out as a cold dousing of refreshing water soaked her whole body. "Woo!"

Letting her wings free, she flew back up and embraced the sunlight while following Link up the dry river.
"Not sticking to the path?"

"Too boring…" Link found the waterbed much more fun. The rocks were fun to climb on and leap between.

Flying overhead, Navi spotted Bokoblins on the hunt in the fields.
They were far enough away that they shouldn't be an issue, but she still felt warning Link was smart.
"then again…" She could also see him sticking his head up to look. So until they make a threat of themselves, she decided not to tell him anything.

Link continued stone hopping. It may not be the most energy conserved way to travel, and no doubt he'll tire himself out before too long.
However, it was undeniable that he was enjoying himself. So Navi saw no harm in letting him be a child for a bit.

When the midday sun started beating down on them, Link started climbing out from the river to find shade to rest and eat.
Navi flew down to let him know that there was a bridge up ahead.

"And take my word for it, there are no trees."

"None?"

"I'm just as stumped as they are." She laughed as Link slammed into the dirt and slid back down in defeat, regretting everything that has ever led to this moment. "Oh C'mon! that was funny!"

"I want another fairy."

"Shut up~" Navi circled him as they followed the bend to the bridge just coming into view.

Link hopped and skipped between the stones while Navi watched over head.
She could see birds flocking on the ground, fighting each other to get at something.

"Hold up, I'm going to hide in your hat." Navi had no intention of being bird food.

"What do you think it is?"

"Probably some unlucky fish that got trapped in one small pool of water." Navi sighed.

"Should we do something?"

"Well it won't live long enough to reach the river." Navi told him. "I hate to say it Link but, you might have to let this one go."

As Link got closer, he could hear the gulls fighting and squawking.
"I don't want to watch…" He said as he waited in the shade of the bridge.

"Me neither…" Navi closed her eyes.

The noise was awful, but a sound neither of them expected to hear and a sight neither expected to see.

A pale blue hand reached out from the flock of flapping feathers, followed by a dry and desperate cry.
"Please! Help me!"

Link's hat nearly blew off his head when he sprang forward.
Navi clung to his hair as he almost tackled the flock into submission before scaring them away.

Lying on the ground, whimpering and covered in scratches and small wounds from where her scales had been pecked off, Navi saw a young Zora girl, frightened and shivering from shock.

With the birds still circling overhead, Link stood over the girl, sword in hand this time.

"Link, you need to get her under the bridge. It's too hot."

Dropping his sword, Link reached under the cold skinned girl and carried her under the shade.
The girl cried openly from the pain she was in.

Not only had she been stuck in a dry riverbed for days, dehydrating bit by bit with the bridge being her only shelter from the sun, but she was starved, and when the birds found her, she was certain she was going to die.

Link set her down, then offered her water from his bottle.
The girl drank the whole thing in seconds, too busy gasping and crying to say thank you.

Link took a minute to look her over as he handed her the second and third bottle.
Her eyes were a deep sky blue, and her skin was covered in soft white and blue scales. She had a large head, with an extra two small eyes on either side.
Her fingers were webbed at the second knuckles, as were her feet all the way to the tips of her toes.

Dropping his rucksack but pulling out his water bottles, he told the girl to stay where she was.

"Where are you going?" Navi demanded.

"I'll get her more water. I'll be faster without my bag."

Hearing this, the girl reached out to the boy.
"P-ease, please don't leave me!" She begged, looking up at the birds standing near the edge of the bridge sheltering them.

Link quickly rushed out to retrieve his sword, then offered it to her.
"Can you use this?"

The girl nodded at the question. Although she'd never used a sword in her life, she could at least swing it at birds.

"Link, wait!" Navi shot around in front of him. "There are Bokoblins back there! If you get into a fight, you'll need your sword!"

Link looked back the way he'd came, then looked at the scared girl.
"What else can I do? She needs water."

Navi was anxious. She had no idea what to do, but Link was her priority.
"Could you… Carry her to the river?"

Not perfect by any means. But he'd be able to keep her safe and stay armed at the same time. Nothing is stopping him from placing her down as soon as a fight starts, If it starts.

And sadly, it was the plan Link went for.
He knew navigating through the rocky riverbed would be too dangerous to carry the injured and weak girl, so that meant climbing up onto the grassy verge.

First, he tossed his bag up. Then helped the girl onto his back.
"I'm Link by the way, what's your name?"

"P, princess Ruto…"

"Really?" Link asked as he crawled on all fours up the verge. "wait, I wasn't meant to give you the warning about Ganondorf, was I?"

"What's a Ganondorf?"

"Don't worry, the Deku tree said to give the warning to the Princess of Hyrule."

"is that fairy talking?" Ruto asked, wide eyed in amazement.

"Meeting people is fun." Link managed to reach the top and carefully placed Ruto down while he got his knapsack on, then lifted her back into his arms. "Are you going to be okay once we get you in the river?"

"The river is dry."

"Not further down, it's not."

Ruto was excited at the idea of getting wet again, but when she arrived, she was more than just a little disappointed.
The water didn't even cover her shoulders while sitting down. Not nearly deep enough for a swim.

"Thanks…" She lay back, letting the river flow over her entire body.
It stung over her missing scales, but she felt so much better as she filled her mouth and drank until she was perfectly quenched.

Unexpectedly, a set of warm hands pulled her out by the shoulders.

"Ouch!" Link objected, pulling his hand back. Only now his hand was streaming blood. "What?"

"What did you do?" Navi flew in and tried to advise him on what to do to stop the bleeding, while Ruto sat there giving him an accusing stare.

"You shouldn't have grabbed me! It's not my fault."

"Did you just bite me?" Link's bloody hand had clenched into a fist, but he noticed that her smooth scales had fluffed up like feathers. Some of which had blood trickling from them.
Not near her mouth, however. The blood stains were only at her shoulder.
Ruto explained that as a defence, Zora scales are very hard and sharp to the touch, meaning if someone were to grab her unexpectedly, it hurts.

"I'm sorry, okay!" Ruto yelled, covering her shoulder and splashing water over herself.

"Well I just thought you were going to drown."

"I'm a Zora princess, how could I drown?" Ruto exclaimed, looking at him weird.

"Well excuse me, Princess." Link felt his tunic getting wet as he stood in the water. Since it was unclear how long Ruto would need, he stripped out of his clothes and shoved them in his bag. "It's too hot today."

"It is." Navi sat in his hair, curling up her wings to make sure no splashes gets her. "Are you okay, Link?"

"I'm fine..." He hissed, soaking his hand in the river. When the water washed off the blood, he saw there was a trail of small red cuts under his fingers and knuckles.
He was afraid his whole hand had been sliced.

Navi watched the Zora girl as she sat quietly not looking at anything in particular. Even if she doesn't show outright remorse, it's clear she's almost as upset as Link is.
"I really don't think she meant to hurt you." The fairy sighed.

Link lowered his head.
He knew it too. He just didn't have the will to admit it at the moment. How often does he have to help someone in or near a river and get hurt to the point of drawing blood?

Navi was worried for them both.
But while Link was free to walk away from the situation, Ruto was something else.
"So tell me, Princess. Why are you here all alone?"

Ruto sunk her face under the water until only her eyes were above the stream.
All she recalled was trying to safely store the Zora eggs to the bottom of the spawning lake, then next thing she knew she was up to her waist in a block of ice, stuck between the rocks and the support beams of the bridge. Helplessly waiting for the sun to thaw her out, which took hours before she was able to pry herself free.
"I don't remember."

"Well Link and I are looking for whatever it is blocking the water. Do you want to come with us?"

"I, I'll be fine on my own." She splashed water over herself. Trying to give off the sense of security. "Just tell my people that I'm here, if you will."

"You'll stay here...?" Link asked, looking up and down the shallow river. "I had to kill a Lizalfos in this river."

Ruto suddenly started crawling nearer the shallows beside Link.
She didn't have to say anything else.
Link wasn't going to leave her to choose between being pecked at by gulls or ripped apart by a Lizalfos.
"I'll walk you home."

Ruto looked up at him with big eyes. Despite how bratty she is, she couldn't hide how vulnerable she was. How desperately in need of help she'll be if Anything nasty comes by.
The independence she likes to have back home means nothing out of the water.

"How long will it take?" She asked.

"Eh, maybe a day?"

Ruto hated the idea of being out in the sun that long, especially with the river so dry.

"okay…"

As Link got redressed and put himself together with his bag, hat and sword, Ruto stayed in the water, keeping as much of her body covered until the very last second.

"Ready to go?"

She nodded, then slowly crawled out.
It didn't take Link long to notice that her arms were shaking as she pulled herself onto the stony banks.
She seemed to have no balance at all when she tried to stand.

"Are you alright?" Navi asked.

"I'm fi-" She didn't even get a chance to finish before falling on the ground, unable to move but shake slightly with her cries of pain.

Link sat her up, seeing that she's burst her lip when she fell.
"Can't you walk?" He asked, wiping her blood with his arm.

"n-no…" She squeaked. Her face turned a darker shade of blue as she spoke.
One of the reasons she couldn't escape the ice or the gulls, is that young Zora, like tadpoles, are built for swimming. Walking on dry land won't come easily for her until later in life.
The muscle is there, just not the bone strength.
All the effort that left her with a bloody lip and in tears was her best attempt.

"Put your arm over my neck, but don't cut me this time." Like before, Link slid his arms under her and lifted her close as he made his way up to the grass.
Unlike at the bridge, it was a more gradual climb to get over the banks.

Ruto, feeling less desperate for her very life, was suddenly able to appreciate the generousness of the boy for helping her.
"Thank you… Are you sure this is alright?"

"It's not so bad." Link told her as he shifted her weight up a little. "You're not the first naked blue girl I've had to carry."

"Hey!" Ruto's was dark blue now. She desperately covered her face to hide from him. "I didn't know I was going to see a Hylian today! Or else I would have worn something!"

Link chuckled but noticed Navi giving him the death stare.
15 years she'd been in the nude, and only now at his mentioning had she suddenly got a little self-conscious about it. Only a little.

"Let's just go." She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Grinning devilishly.
"Maron could walk and see in the dark." He teased. Though only Navi got offended, which was good because her slap was more adorable than painful.

Link would take frequent breaks from walking to relax his arms and to give Ruto some water.
As much as she'd love to have it poured over her scales, Ruto understood that some luxuries aren't affordable.

Occasionally, a traveller would stare at the odd pairing, not counting the fairy hiding in Link's hood. But all had their own task to follow. Why a ten year old boy was carrying a Zora was none of their concern.

But once sitting in the shade of an old oak tree, Ruto was spreading her hand on the cool blades of grass for the first time in her life.
So different from sea grass, she actually enjoyed the chance to experience so many things on land before she could even walk.

In a strange way, Navi saw a bit of Link in her.
He was in the forest his whole life, she was stuck in Zora's Domain.
The greater world was a mystery to them.

"What is it like to live underwater?" Navi asked.

"It's really boring. It's dark, loud, and compared to up here, it tastes bad."

"Tastes bad?" Link asked, sipping water.

"The air is so breathable up here~" Ruto smiled once she realised she has to explain. "I can breathe either. If I didn't have to wet my skin every day, I'd stay up here."

"That's funny. I can't get wet or else my wings get too heavy to fly." Navi laughed. "Then we have this boy, who can walk and swim."

"I'll get to walk one day." Ruto clarified, stretching out her legs on the grass. "I'm just not strong enough, yet."

"Okay, so I can walk, swim, and climb. Navi can walk and fly. And-"

"And I can sense where my friends are. That has to count for something."

"Sure. And Ruto can swim, breath under water, and one day will be able to walk."

"AND I can find my way about with my eyes closed." Ruto grinned, proudly as she shut her the set of eyes on her face, and the pair on either side of her head and made clicking sounds. "wait… where are you?" She clicked again and again but saw nothing. "I guess that only works under water."

"Do you make those sounds with your head?" Link asked, leaning his head closer to hear her.

"Not my head, my melon." Ruto rubbed what Link and Navi would know as a forehead.

Link didn't want to say anything before, but Ruto did have a large head compared to the rest of her body.
"Do all Zora have big melons?"

"My sisters' melons are smaller than mine." She said shyly.

Navi was really interested in Ruto's little ability.
"I guess we're more alike than I thought~?"

After a calm break of getting to know each other more, Link gave Ruto one more gulp of water before lifting her again.
Ruto leaned in as he carried her across the grass and back onto the road running parallel with the river.

It was still a day's walk, but the road started aiming through a narrow valley with high cliffs which Navi promised marked the start of Zora's domain.

Author's Note: So I was 2 minutes away from missing the last ferry home. Lucky me.
And also 2 minutes away from missing my deadline for the upload. I uploaded the chapter, but forgot to publish.

Navi: Idiot.

Author: Damn it! This is going to be a thing.