"How much longer?"

Kali raised her voice over the rhythmic thumping of horse shoes against the grassy plain. There was a little bit of a whine to her tone. They had been traveling for the better part of about three hours without stopping, and her lack of experience riding horses became quite clear to her from the way her thighs and back ached.

Link's shoulders shook with what she assumed was laughter that got carried off in the wind. He turned his head so that she could see the blue of his iris peeking at the corner of his eye.

"Just a little bit further, I promise we're only minutes away." His cheeks were raised with a smile.

Well at least her whining hadn't annoyed him. It had been the fourth time she'd asked on this trip how long it would take for them to get there. If anything, he seemed amused with her impatience.

She gazed up towards the position of the sun , and quickly realized it would be hopeless for her to attempt to tell the time of day accurately. The best she could guess at was sometime after noon, since the sun was slightly past its highest point in the sky. Kali had always been so reliant on clocks and technology to keep track of the time, and now there was nothing like it, at least not abundantly. But something about it all felt off, like time shifted differently here in ways she couldn't even begin to describe.

"What's so special about this lake anyways?" She called into his ear.

When she envisioned a lake, she thought of the only one she knew of back home. And perhaps calling it a lake was being too generous. It was more like a pretty large pond, with murky, brown water that rippled with frogs and mosquitoes. Her dad had warned her about snakes in the water, probably so she didn't get close enough to fall in while she was still so small. She wrinkled her nose at the memory, remembering why she never really bothered to go fishing again.

Link looked back again, a glimmer of anticipation in his eyes. "You'll see."

He seemed awfully sure of himself. So, she just nodded her head. She couldn't do much more than trust him.

"It's just around this bend." Link said.

Kali could probably cry at the relief of knowing she'd get off this horse and stretch her legs. And she was practically about to jump off as she strained to peer over Link to see if they reached their destination. He suddenly pulled a sharp turn and she gripped his torso tighter to keep from flying from the saddle. And when she looked up, instead of throwing herself to the grass like she'd hoped, she was left stunned in her seat.

There was so much water, almost like a sea. Perhaps she would have been convinced it truly was a sea if she couldn't just make out a thin, distant strip of forest on the other side. She had to remember to breathe as she took in the way the sun gleamed off the shimmering, impossible blue of the water.

"Oh." she breathed, pulling back the hood of her cloak.

Link pulled him down as well, keeping his green hat on his head. "Yeah." He seemed quite satisfied with her reaction if that smug little grin on his face was any indication.

Kali leaned to carefully slide off of his horse, barely keeping her knees from buckling both from aching muscles, and the wide eyed splendor of this place. She jogged to the edge of the water, not waiting for Link to catch up. It wasn't murky at all. It was practically like shifting, glimmering glass. She appreciated, perhaps for the first time, the phrase "crystal clear".

She wondered if this is what lakes and rivers would look like if her world hadn't filled them with trash, or dump waste into them. It appeared the only thing that kept her from seeing the bottom of the lake was the sheer depth of it. And when she peered out on the surface, she could see an island that looked too small for the tree that perched upon it. The only way to get to that tiny island were pillars of land with connecting bridges. She assumed it was for people who visited the place. How was it that the area was empty of people? It was gorgeous.

"It's called Lake Hylia." Link's voice said, suddenly next to her.

Kali hadn't even heard him walk up, but she didn't startle.

"Lake Hylia." She tried out the strange name.

It sounded odd to her, like most of the names from this world. But it was lovely, perfectly suitable for such a pretty place.

A gentle gust of wind blew back her cloak. Kali closed her eyes against it and took in a deep breath, suddenly feeling how warm she was beneath the thick fabric. She unclasped the snap at her neck and shrugged it off, folding it over her arm. It must have been at least ten degrees warmer here. It wasn't especially hot, but not cold either.

"I honestly thought you were kidding when you said it was warmer here. I didn't think it would be possible for such a short journey." she admitted.

Link had removed his cloak as well and took hers from her grasp.

"Why? The weather doesn't change where you're from?" he asked, his brow raised quizzically.

He seemed genuinely curious. She watched as he walked towards the horse and tucked the cloaks away in one of the packs attached at the saddle. His sword and shield were still strapped to his back, as they usually were whenever he returned to the village. Were there really things here that called for weapons like that? The thought threw back her own experience in the fields, and decided to try not to think about what potentially worse things were lurking out there, or here.

When he returned, he squatted to find a seat right at the water's edge in the cool grass, looking at her expectantly. Right, he asked her a question.

"Well..." she started, taking a pause to sit on her knees at the edge of the water. She couldn't help but lean forward to peer into it, wondering if there were shells somewhere in there.

"Of course, the weather changes, but... I feel like it takes farther distances to change from cold to warm so drastically. Maybe my world is larger than yours." Even though most days, at least to her, it felt painfully small.

She tried her best to explain things so that it would make sense to him. Talk of cars and planes would be impossible to explain, at least for her, who didn't have much knowledge of the intricacies of her own world's technology. And there was nothing in this world to even compare it to, not that she's seen anyway.

Link leaned back on his hands, gazing out at the shining surface of the lake as he considered her answer.

"Maybe." he finally said, shrugging his shoulders with a smile – like he couldn't care less. She smiled a little, relieved to not have to try to explain herself as she followed his gaze.

"If yours is so much bigger, does that mean you've seen a lot of it?" He asked, curious again.

That startled a laugh out of her. The thought of her traveling before had been ridiculous.

"Absolutely not." she answered with a rueful smile, "It was hard for me to be able to leave home because..." she came up short.

Kali knew she was about to blame her boyfriend for it. For every reason she had been so unhappy. No money, no time, no traveling, no new experiences to share with people she cared about. But it gave her pause. He hadn't really stopped her. His only sin in that department had been not bothering to help. She could have left sooner, a long time ago.

So to avoid that conversation, she rephrased,"I didn't have much of a choice other than to stay home, study and work. There was no time or money for traveling."

Kali could feel his gaze on her, boring into the back of her head. She didn't want to face that stare, knowing it was best not to, knowing it would only bring on more personal questions she wasn't ready to answer yet.

Her lips pressed into a thin line as the breeze picked up again, tossing locks of her hair into her eyes. Her fingers circled a small pebble in the grass, and slowly nudged it into the water, barely casting a ripple on its glass-like surface.

"We?"

Damn it. Nothing got past him.

"Uh, yeah." she flicked another pebble into the lake as she fought back a wince at the question, "Me and my...well. I'm not sure what he is to me now. My previous lover, I guess?"

She didn't intend for the words to sound so shameful, but she couldn't really help it. She was ashamed to have put herself in that situation for so long, and for what? To be taken for granted, cheated on, and used. She had always been a terrible liar - no point in trying to lie now.

"I see." he muttered, almost sounding sad, "That's...unfortunate."

Kali could practically feel his pity scraping against her skin with a few words. Her answer made it obvious to anyone listening how unhappy she'd been. She bit the inside of her cheek, swallowing the bitter feeling.

"It's not." she shot back, forcing a sort of finality in her words, "I will sort things out, one way or another. I have to."

She didn't want to think of anything involving her ex. Not the way he just did whatever he wanted without consideration for her feelings or needs. The way he'd just ignore her even if she'd waited a whole day for him to come home and spend time with her. How he didn't bother looking for a job because she was foolishly willing to work hard to be allowed to live with in his mother's home. And definitely not the way he took everything she had to give, and more, and chose to put that energy into someone else.

She sighed and closed her eyes to mentally shove those thoughts deep, deep down.

"Well in any case, I'm sure there are reasons you decided to give life a shot here. It's not my place to question all that. But, I think I can question how much fun you're having here." Link said, his tone outright cherry, but with a lilt that sounded off. Almost sly. "And it seems like you need a lot more fun."

Kali furrowed her brows, puzzled by the statement. What did that even mean? Was he the fun police or something?

Just as she was about to turn to ask there were hands on her back, pitching her forward. She met the water head first with her hands following to scrabble for the bottom of the shallows. Her palms scraped the rocks below and pushed herself above the surface.

She gasped and clumsily swept her now dripping blonde hair from her eyes to gape at him, absolutely stunned. Link burst into laughter at the sight of her, sitting in the shallows with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Oh, that's your idea of fun huh?" she asked without a second thought, all that heavy conversation from before swept away with the ripples. She wasn't able to resist the pull of her own smile as she moved back towards the water's edge.

She locked an iron grip on his arm while he was too distracted with laughter to escape her. She planted her feet firmly into the silt at the water's edge and launched herself backwards, yanking him with her.

Link gave a shout as he tumbled into the water with a splash. Kali grinned wide and scooted away while he flailed before emerging from the water with an expression that probably had mirrored her own when she resurfaced.

Kali began to laugh. She practically doubled over, her belly aching with it. Damn it felt so good to laugh. She couldn't remember the last time she'd done something this stupid with a friend. Something so dumb and childlike that it was impossible to not laugh so hard you could cry.

He joined in the laughter before whipping her with a splash. Kali caught a mouth full of water and then she was coughing and laughing at the same time.

"That was j-just mean." she laughed, swiping the water from her cheeks.

Link's smile lit up his face and he moved deeper into the water. Kali paused and scooted to the edge to remove her sopping leather boots – being careful to shake the water out. When she moved to follow him, she noticed the weight and drag of her own clothing. At the thought, she glanced at Link and tried to imagine how he managed with all his clothes as well as his equipment. Then tried again to imagine how physically fit one would have to be to handle it all. What has he had to do to be in such a condition?

She dipped her head back to sweep her hair from her face before she waded farther out to meet him. Link watched her with great care, probably concerned about her ability to swim. Thankfully, she'd learned from a very young age now to navigate water. Then again, that was never fully clothed like this.

She tested herself first once she was neck deep, unsure of how buoyant she would be with the extra weight. After getting the feel for the weight she kicked off, breathing slow and deep to keep herself afloat. She swept her arms just below the water's surface to propel herself forward.

"So, people where you're from know how to swim. That's a relief." Link said right next to her.

She turned and raised a brow at him, gently kicking her feet. She hadn't even heard him paddling.

"Oh, so you just shoved me in without knowing if I could swim? How kind of you." she joked, biting back a grin and failing.

Link grinned again and shrugged his shoulders with a tilt of his head, "I could have kept you from drowning no problem."

Link seemed like he was considering his next words carefully, his eyes searching the waters below. When he glanced at her again, his eyes glinted with curiosity.

"So how long do you think you could hold your breath?" he asked.

She wasn't sure she liked where this was going. "I'm not sure to be honest. Why?"

"You should see what's underneath. Do you trust me?" he asked suddenly, raising his blonde eyebrows with the question. He tried to maintain that playful tone, but something about the question felt a bit heavier than just that. Perhaps he really hoped she would.

Kali took the moment to assess the waters beneath her, the deep azure mystery beneath her feet. She hadn't even considered what kind of creatures lived at the bottom, if any at all. She bit her lip, and then looked up to Link to study him.

His expression was unwavering, but not demanding. Perhaps he was hopeful, or excited. But ultimately sincere as he waited patiently for her.

She drew in a deep breath and blew out a sigh of equal size, before saying, "I'll trust you."

"Good." Link grinned wider and swam close to her before grasping her wrist and drawing in a deep breath as if to give her a cue to do the same.

She sucked in a gulp of air before he slowly dragged her down. She held onto his wrist around his leather gauntlet, and forced her eyes to open. It didn't take much to adjust to the water, and barely stung at all. The worst part was the pressure making her ears pop.

But when her vision came into focus it was incredible. The shafts of light coming from above and the glimmer of silvery fish casting bubbles into the light gave it this surreal, dream-like shimmer that would have left her as breathless as before. Link just continued to sink effortlessly, pulling her down to his level by her arm, no doubt to keep her from drifting away in the subtle ebb and flow of the water.

She peered at the approaching slope that led to the bottom of the lake. She could see little flecks of light that didn't seem consistent with the glint of fish she'd been seeing already. Were there coins or something metal stuck at the bottom?

Kali's chest began to grow tight and she squeezed Link's arm to get his attention, and then pointed up. He nodded and gave her arm a push upwards. She kicked and swept her arms wide, having no trouble making it to the surface again.

Once she drew in a fresh breath of air, she blinked the water from her eyes and smiled at Link when he came up to meet her.

"It's gorgeous down there! I've never seen water so clear!" she gasped excitedly.

She couldn't remember the last time she had been so thrilled to experience something new. And this was like nothing she thought she could even have the opportunity to experience back home. "And the fish, and... Oh! What was at the bottom? There were shiny things down there, but they didn't move."

Link just grinned and paddled lazily on his side around her. He wasn't even a little out of breath.

"Those are probably letters in glass bottles. People like to throw letters that they'll never send, or secrets written on paper in bottles to the bottom. It's mostly something younger people do, and the Zoras tend to make it a topic of gossip. Sometimes it's funny." Link explained. His smile faltered a bit as he added, "Sometimes there is some dark stuff written down there. But the only people who can find them are people who can swim to the bottom and not drown. Most don't like risking it."

That was fascinating! Maybe a little scary, but still exciting. The sudden spark of interest in Hylian customs gripped her with such force, she suddenly wished she had books to read about it. To learn about this world! When was the last time she felt so compelled to learn something interesting or fun in her own world? Then she stopped herself.

"The Zoras?" she asked, tilting her head as she drew in a breath to float to her back, careful to keep her ears above water to hear Link.

"Oh yeah," he said, taken a bit off guard. He chuckled and then shook his head, "I keep forgetting you don't know about…well, anything here."

As he paddled around, he pinched his eyebrows together, as if trying to find the right words. "Well, I guess I'll just have to take you to see them sometime. It's...difficult to explain what they are to someone who doesn't already know," He seemed sheepish now, apologetic.

Kali smiled at that and righted herself in the water. "Gives you a good reason to take me somewhere else then right?"

It didn't take long for them to lose track of time. They spent the evening teaching each other games they could play in the water. Kali taught him Marco Polo, but she assumed his long ears gave him an edge because he was suspiciously good at it. He taught her some kind of diving game that the Zoras taught him in his travels. It took him a while of coaxing and coaching to get her to just leap off of one of the bridges into a dive. She knew the lake was deep, but she'd never jumped from anywhere so high. It was terrifying and invigorating and she did it! He even said that her dive wasn't that bad either.

They had a few races, and he tried to show her how to swim faster after she kept losing. It would take her a lot of practice. By the time they pulled themselves onto the lakeside to rest, she could feel exhaustion beginning to settle over her. The sun dipped low in the sky as she splayed on her back in the grass to dry herself off. Link cast out a fishing line for dinner.

Kali couldn't help but feel serene in that moment for the first time in years, her eyes closed, soaking in the warmth of the setting sun. None of her friends were nearly as active as Link was, even when they were still inviting her places. This single visit showed her how much she was missing out on by just sitting at home playing house wife for someone who didn't give back.

"So, can we be serious for a little bit?" Link asked quietly, his tone a little more somber than before.

Kali opened her eyes a little and turned her head in the grass to look at him.

He didn't meet her eyes as he went on, "I want to talk to you about what happened before, when I found you in the field."

Kali tensed up, realizing what all this must really be about. He was trying to get her to relax, so she'd open up. She had been avoiding the subject since the incident, for fear of drawing up that bone chilling fear that she associated with the whole thing.

"Ahhh, I see." she sighed softly before pushing herself up to lean on the palms of her hands. "So, you're trying to soften me up, huh?"

Link whirled to face her fully, his expression filled with both concern and guilt. "This is important, Kali. You must know that." he said grimly.

She nodded, and drew her knees up close with her arms. "Yeah, I do. I understand. I had just hoped…" she sighed, then shook her head before meeting his eyes. "What do you want to talk about then?"

Link shifted uncomfortably, probably chafing against how obviously she did not want to have this conversation. He watched her carefully, no doubt gauging how to approach the topic, trying to read her mood. At least he seemed to care enough about how she felt to approach it with care.

"Just to be clear, there were definitely two right?" He asked.

Kali nodded, "Yes. Men. Identical twins. Or maybe one was a shadow. Either way, they looked exactly the same."

Thinking about it made goosebumps rise on her arms, and tried to rub them away with her hands, while also smearing their leering gazes from her mind's eye.

Link nodded thoughtfully, "And what did they say they wanted from you? As precisely as you can recall."

Kali had to consider it for a moment, double checking in her mind exactly what they had said. It was difficult to be sure in a moment of panic. But the fear had been so much, all at once. And they were going to kill her–"I'm pretty sure that they said, 'We know that you know where the rip is.'" She recited.

But there was definitely more. They had said more to her. Her breath hitched as the memory of the icy rain raking over her skin as she trembled, trapped beneath that tree by the presence of the menacing pair. "Like…" her voice wavered a little, "They said a portal."

He considered her longer this time, eyeing her cautiously. "Well, did you know?"

She frowned at him and shook her head, "I don't even know where I am most of the time right now. Why would I know about a portal?"

Link seemed to find a particular patch of grass very interesting all of a sudden as he stared it down, unable or unwilling to meet her eyes. Her eyebrows pinched together at his expression. More guilt. But for what?

"What?" she asked, sounding tired.

"Well," he hesitated and then shrugged one shoulder, "Impa had some theories, most of them including you unknowingly having the information they wanted. But I don't see how you could. But perhaps you did come through…something. A portal. Like they said."

Kali bit her lip and played around with some thoughts in her mind, but there was only one thing that made any measure of sense.

"The only thing I can think of now is where you two found me. I was walking in the woods, and then….I was upset. But I didn't see anything, or…or feel anything besides– Well, what I felt wasn't that important." She felt Link cast a sidelong glance at her, but she wouldn't look at him, "But at some point, I was home, and then I was here. So where you found me is the only thing that makes sense, right?"

When she finally looked his way, he was staring at her but then nodded, "Yeah, that's what I thought too. But there's no way you would know where that was. You were practically passed out already, for who knows how long. And the only way we found you was by... sensing something. I assume when the portal formed. We must not have noticed it..." He trailed off, lost in his train of thought as he placed a hand over his mouth and chin.

So he was going to have to go back and find where she stumbled into this place, and he was probably going to leave her behind. It seemed like it was too soon already to be attempting to find where she stumbled out of her cold, miserable world. She'd barely gotten an opportunity to see much of this one. And as she turned to take in the enormity and wonder of Lake Hylia she couldn't help but marvel at this world. Beautiful, mysterious, and bigger than it seems at first.

Kali gazed at the sky, spotting a few stars beginning to dot the heavens, and hoped that she'd get to see more of it before being sent back home..

"What was it that you hoped?" Link asked, drawing her from her worrisome thoughts.

Kali blinked uncomprehendingly, "What?"

Link huffed a short laugh, shaking his head and then tilted her head at her, "Earlier, you started to say you'd hoped something. What was it?"

She pressed her lips together in a thin line and looked away, feeling silly for even thinking such a childish, foolish thing. "It was stupid."

"I'll decide that." He shot back.

She blew out a frustrated sigh and then laughed, "You'll think it's dumb. And you'll laugh."

Link straightened dramatically and placed his fist over his heart in some kind of salute, "I swear I will not laugh at it, no matter how stupid you think it is." And in that moment, he looked for all the world like a boy, about her age, who she could have known and yearned to be friends with back in her world.

It was such a normal, silly gesture to her that she just blurted out the answer, "Instead of this being about getting information from me, I had hoped...That this was your way of just wanting to try and be my friend."

A long pause followed, and she felt her cheeks heating with embarrassment at how...juvenile she sounded, and perhaps how much she had really wanted exactly that. A friend. A real, true friend. She immediately regretted opening her stupid mouth and was mentally cursing herself out when his voice wiped it all away completely.

"I do want to be your friend."

Hello readers! (oops i disappeared forever)

What a fun, more light hearted chapter this was. I hope you all enjoyed it. Also to address some people confused about the story being up twice. I am re-writing it and making small changes as well as big ones. You can see more about that on the "notice to readers new and old" on the original story if you feel so inclined.

I hope to write more of this way more often. And I do notice every time i spot a new follower of this story, and yall are the only reason I keep writing it haha

Thank you!

-K