Mipha sat in her living quarters, stroking her hands along the length of her dorsal fin, watching herself in the mirror before her while she pulled along that stretch of scales down to her torso. Her eyes gazed through a pallor of melancholy, looking onto the reflection that teased her with its esoteric existence. She had come here to prepare herself for joining her people in their reveries as the night pressed on with no sign of the Yuletide festivities ending; however, in thinking of the Zora opinion of how she was presented for, what was essentially, a state ceremony between foreign dignitaries, she couldn't help but be reminded of those pangs of self-critique she had once suffered by her own hand, particularly while growing into a young adult.
With her mother gone, and Sidon still in the throes of incubation, Mipha grew up a one-in-a-million Zora: the single in a mass of people with red scales. It was very rare, now, that she would remember how she felt back then: so out of place amongst the very people she was meant to identify with. It was only during these moments, really, where "state" business called her to be brought up amongst her people that she felt so different- that she was reminded of her ties to this geographic swath of earth, binding her as much as her name, her scales, her biology.
"Melancholy?" came the low, comforting voice of Link from behind her.
Mipha reached a hand up to her chest, feeling her heart leap at that cozy tone, lowering her head to take it all in. "Kind of," she admitted with a quiet timber. She spun slowly in her seat, "Probably more dour remembrance than melancholy."
Link nodded, crossing his arms, "Not so much an aching happiness for things long gone?"
"Kind of," Mipha frowned, turning her eyes up toward the man she loved, "I originally wanted to take this Yuletide opportunity to gift my father a coat my mother weaved for him, but that he's since outgrown. Zelda and I were going to upsize it, and then all this happened, and I don't know if that is going to happen now, but-" Her brow curled downcast. "Just thinking of that longevity- of how long he's been king."
Mipha's face darkened in worry, "You said there's so much keeping us apart. but that there's even more that pulls us together. When I think about all that with my father- it feels so vast sometimes." Her hazy eyes glance traced back to his face. "In many ways, my love for you blinds me to so much of that duty."
A smile crept across her face, "You said once that you'd kiss me, and hide those kisses between my scales so that I would always have them when I needed them. But times like this, I'm confronted with the realization that I've grown rather addicted to your touch, to your words- and that hidden kisses don't quite sate my desire."
Link gave an uncertain chuckle, scratching the back of his head, "I think in most cases, a man would surrender their ability to stand were they to hear that, but-" He let loose a sigh, frowning in understanding. "I know it's hard. It's difficult for me, too."
Lowering his head once again, Mipha spoke up in meek accord, "I didn't make it so downtrodden, but- That's just what's on my mind."
"Oh, please don't ever think me unable to hear your troubles," Link confirmed, taking a pleading step forward, "It's my responsibility as a Knight to give my life for that of my Princess, if necessary. but as the man you love, and who loves you, it's my responsibility to quell your concerns as best I can."
Mipha smiled up toward him, "You could write those words a million times and they'll never affect me the way hearing you carried upon your heated breath does."
Stepping forward, Link closed the distance between the two, gently wrapping his hand around head, seated as she was, pulling her into an embrace against his torso, using his other hand to stroke her fin, allowing his listless heat to tenderly bite her nerves. He allowed a moment of thought, dropping his head to glance down as the crest of Mipha's crimson head.
"Before I even arrived, that was my greatest distress, seeing you vanish into the distance as I left," Link admitted with ruin in his tone, "So bitter it is, even at our most perfect moments, to know they'll have to end at some point."
He felt her nod against his torso before Mipha pressed her head against him, digging deeper against his skin for more of his warmth.
Link continued lovingly stroking her scaled fin, muttering quietly, "How might we remedy that?"
"Why can't we run?" Mipha asked, "My brother is already the heir apparent. He'll have my father to teach him. I won't be needed anymore."
Link considered her proposition with a weakened smile, playing along, "And Zelda has wholly grown into her own as a leader. She doesn't need her hand held much anymore, and as a Knight, there are any number of grunts who could rise to take my place."
He held her head closer, "Where would we go?"
"Anywhere. I'm at home in your arms," insisted Mipha, "We could explore the Minshi Woods, traipse along the Elma Knolls up north, climb Mount Taran- just anywhere."
Link chuckled, quivering Mipha's head as she delightfully shut her eyes to fully enjoy the sensation, "We could settle along the Exchange Road. The perfect combination of bustling and solitude, with Lake Kolomo right there for you to bathe or soak." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "I could build us a cozy little home, with all the amenities we both seek out at our respective homes. And we could find out all the things in our day-to-day lives that we can't, now. What side of the bed we'd sleep on, how long we'd sleep in every day, devoid of responsibility. How difficult it would be for me to wake you in the morning, how learning where I'd have to poke you to tickle you awake and into a good morning kiss."
"How you'd take your morning coffee," he went on, earning Mipha's sudden attention.
"By the goddess, I still need to try some," Mipha excitedly noted aloud, with Link chuckling as she did so.
He pulled his arms away only so he could direct her up to her feet, pressing a hand against her hip and pulling her close, clasping her opposite hand, outstretched, "And we could dance under the stars every night. No interruptions, no Gorons boisterously breaking the calm air-"
Mipha giggled as the two began to sway, now with her hand taking to his shoulder.
"I'd learn your more hidden habits," Link went on with a grin, "Like how you gnaw at your finger when you're worried, or when you're deep in thought, you lose your ability to feel anything along your dorsal fin."
Her brow curled, "What?!"
"Exactly," Link replied in smarmy retort.
Mipha frowned, "Well, that's not as embarrassing as when you take off your boots, you have to make sure they're exact- in scuffs, in the lace configurations, everything." She pressed with mischievous intent, "Or when you're in a state of undress, and your body is painted in rosy glow, you lose all semblance of good posture and slouch forward to hide yourself."
"That's not really a habit," Link pointed out with a nervous tone.
Mipha teased, "I thought we'd gone past that."
Snickering, Link pointed his eyes directly upon her scalp, "Let's not forget that you're the one who's incensed whenever our body heat intertwines. I know plenty more about you than you, me, in that respect. I know which parts of your body wiggle when that happens, and how you-"
"P- Point taken!" Mipha cried out, abandoning their swaying dance and simply burying her face against his chest, "You don't have to do that!"
Link chuckled in reply, embracing his love in kind.
A few moments passed in this heartfelt reverie before Link spoke, "And we'd visit every shrine we could, asking for children of our own."
Mipha felt her feet tingle.
"We've done the impossible before, why not again?" Link wondered aloud, "Omi and Bassos, maybe."
Smiling longingly, Mipha reminded quietly, "Zora can lay up to seven to eight eggs in any one season, you know."
Link's eyes wandered, "Okay, uh- Umonk… Afiath… Uhh…"
Pulling her head back, Mipha glanced up toward her lover, her face still astride with a smile, "You don't have to hurt that pretty head of yours, dear."
His eyes widening in shone surprise, Link uttered, "I just never really thought to have seven or eight names lined up."
"Hmm," Mipha giggled, "You're adorable."
"You're adorable."
Link watched her glistening eyes speak to him in effervescence, telling him just how deep her eyes were pooled into his own. His throat felt choked as he felt his normally stiff temperament surrender into weakness within those eyes; those eyes which felt so much like home for him, in all its shelter and protection. Her arms a loving embrace, pulling him into security. Her lips a refuge for all his worries and desires.
He couldn't bear to be apart from them any longer. He bent his head down, taking her lips into his own, Mipha offering her own begging reach once she recognized his immediate movement toward her. Their lips deliciously curled and spun between one another's, both tongues exploring one another, tasting that intoxicating breath that had become like oxygen to the both of them.
Link ran his fingers up her chest, caressing that smoothest skin that spun along her belly and up to her breasts, then down again, allowing the stinging warmth of his skin to find its way into the core of Mipha being, causing her heart to jolt, hot and cold mixing within her tepid heart. She whimpered into Link's lips, such a sultry thing forcing Link to shiver while he felt his knees weaken in response.
His hand slid up between her breasts and to her exposed neck, upright as her head was while locked between the lips of her lover, before spinning and covering her chin, Link's thumb and forefinger pushing Mipha's face away while squeezing her lips open, creating a salacious expression beneath the glazed eyes of the woman he loved.
"We can't have children," Link noted cooly, "but there's no reason we can't practice, right?"
Clutched between Link's forceful grip at her chin restricted Mipha from shaking her head, which made the air between them all the more steamed when he simply pulled her into another deep kiss which she readily accepted, pausing only to lap up the remains of their passion that lay strewn along her lover's chin. Link took hold of her tender waist, pulling her against his body as they remained wholly enraptured with one another, feeling Mipha's hand beginning to paw at his body now that her heated reverie had slowly begun to equalize.
"I need a new profession," he muttered between kisses, Mipha resorting to gently biting his lips to pull him back into her sucking embrace, refusing to allow him any breath that didn't involve the flavor of her tongue within its mixture.
She managed a moment to speak as Link threw his arms, his hands, fingers, all along her body, pressing his lower body against her, burying his face into the crick of her neck, leaving broad strokes of his tongue and nibbling kisses, her voice shaking, "I don't want to belong to anything but you. No royal families, no semblance of culture or country. I just want to be yours to do with as you please."
Link took hold of her, taking hold of her supple lips once again with his own, clumsily directing her steps toward the nearby bed, the two battling for coherence in their footfalls, both with hands fumbling at the waistline of Link's trousers. Mipha could feel her hand stinging to the touch, feeling the intense heat within, again feeling lightheaded as her cold heart churned alight like an engine exposed to gasoline. She fought for the next kiss, but her voice forced her lips open, a lusciously desperate moan slipping from her mouth before Link returned for another taste.
Their melting lips parted as Link gently pushed her onto the mattress near the interior of her curtained room, Mipha's limbs sprawled out, helpless, as she watched him with glazed eyes, the last vestiges of his body heat swirling within her body, causing multitudinous sensations across all of her nerve endings. Link stood over her, watching with a devilish grin as she returned to coherence.
Link dropped to a knee before slipping his other leg beneath him, wrapping his arms around Mipha's legs to forcefully pull her to the edge of the mattress, tenderly kissing her thighs, delicately taking in the springy, delicate skin there into his lips, painting her scales with his tongue and face pressed against that sleek canvas.
"As I please?" Link suddenly asked from between her legs.
A leaden nod as Mipha spoke weakly, her voice a plea for tense relief, "Please..?"
"Of course," Link nodded dutifully, adding, "-my princess."
The small collection of firewood crackled in pleasant spurts, filling the air with disjointed pops and crinkly bites of air. The only two present to hear this phenomenon and catch vacant whiffs of its pleasant aroma were the ones curled up in the bed mere yards from its radiating heat, Link and Mipha, who both lay there in contented exhaustion, taking turns making motions with their fingers and hands atop one others body. Mipha cooed in dainty delight as Link crossed his finger along a particularly tender set of scales along her side, burying her head against his side to avoid him bearing witness to the embarrassed expression she was certain was on her face.
He only chuckled, pulling his hand away to stroke a less sensitive portion of her skin.
"I guess we can't really avoid our duties and responsibilities," Link mouthed regretfully, smiling bitterly down at Mipha's waiting glance.
She shook her head, wearing tempered longing on her face, "I guess not. No matter how much we want to." She nuzzled her forehead against his skin. "No matter what, I can't change the color of my scales. I can't change my place of birth." She eyed him once again. "Nor can you."
"Yeah, my scales are pretty set in stone by now," Link teased in semantic review, causing a wry smile to stretch across Mipha's lips. He lowered his head, suffering languidly in speech as he wondered aloud, "The same fate that brought us together is the same fate keeping us apart."
Mipha's eyes grew placid as she thought of his words, muttering quietly, "Maybe there's a reason for that. Some esoteric reason, or some explanation that only Hylia could know."
"That doesn't exactly help us, though, does it," Link grinned with sardonic critique. "If I am some hero, by way of the Master Sword… What good is fate if it only works halfway?"
His brow narrowed,"Were I Hylia, or whatever presence rests within that Sword, I wouldn't be so needlessly neglectful."
Mipha smiled up at him, "And how exactly would you go about changing fate? Strip me of my scales? Go back in time and force your parents to become laborers and still somehow meet one another?"
His eyes weak with recognition of how silly his plight was, Link shrugged, muttering simply, "Well, the back in time thing-"
"Link, my love," Mipha giggled in amusement.
He pressed on, "I'm just saying! I know at one point, Zelda mentioned some lunatics story from the history books who claimed to do just that. I've seen crazier things than that."
Mipha worked her way comfortably into Link's protective arm, nesting there against his skin with his sigh, "Like what?"
"I literally watched Revali control a Divine Beast," he easily pointed out, "And I wouldn't have thought him capable of controlling his urge to coo like a pigeon and begging for peanuts."
He felt Mipha shaking against him in amusement, scolding, "Dear…"
"Zelda just controlled Vah Ruto- that's pretty insane," Link went on,"When I was a kid, a traveling peddler named Aquarose gave my fortune and predicted that I would ace my next exam that I hadn't studied for at all. I take it the next day, I got a fifty percent grade- but our teacher was out sick that day. and our substitute? Karras Aceko. The name signed on the top of the paper? Ace."
Mipha supposed with a meager grin, "And this Aquarose wasn't just telling you what you wanting to hear?"
His face contorting surely, Link pleaded, "Well you explain how she knew the substitute roster! Crazy things, I'm telling you."
"Besides," he went on, casually casting a glance down toward his lover, nuzzled as she was at his side, "Since I was a kid visiting this place, the only thing I ever wanted to hear was you saying you loved me."
Mipha glanced up toward him, their eyes locked, "So we've deduced that she was wrong?"
Shrugging, Link admitted, "I was just giving you some crazy things I've seen is all."
"Yeah, there are some crazy things here, alright," came a teasing smirk from Mipha, earning her a droll stare from the man she was lying astride.
Link gave a wry smirk, "You're so mean. I'm trying to be romantic, and you're poking holes in my arguments."
"Well you're such a good lover, I can't let you get such a stuffy ego," Mipha teased, taking a gentle nibble at his skin.
"Ow! Hey!" he swatted at her, the two laughing while rolling atop the bed, with Mipha poking, biting, tickling the man as Link tried to keep her at bay. Their play progressed until Link began striking back, throwing jabbing fingers at her ticklish spots, the two of them twisting their bodies back and forth amidst a bevy of laughs intermingled with pleading cries to stop despite both readying for further tickling advancements.
The energy died down, allowing Link the chance to reach his head down to kiss her scalp. Mipha pulled her way atop Link's body, basking along his torso, resting her head sidelong above his chest. Link reached up to caress her back, allowing his heat to gently fill up within her awaiting form.
"I'm gonna miss this," she spoke up quietly, "Just having you here, basking, playing."
Link nodded, I know what you mean. I love being intimate, but- When I'm home, I can replicate so much of that- but there's no replacing this. I can't feel your scaly body atop mine. I can't feel your weight upon mine, I can't feel your lips, your cold breaths, your-" He smiled,"Your excitable voice, your eyes. All the truly important things."
Mipha had raised her head to glance up at him, still sidelong atop his chest, smiling longingly as his words passed beyond her ears.
"I sure can't feel as safe knowing you're not there to protect me," Link muttered, wide-eyed in feigned sarcasm, leaving him laughing as Mipha playfully batted him with her open hand.
She scolded with a teasing smirk, "I'm pretty sure I'm well ahead of you when it comes to one of us saving the other." She shut her eyes, continuing with a haughty air. "And I don't recall it being close, either."
Link grew a devilish grin, wrapping his arms around Mipha and spinning the two of them onto their sides, tickling that tender space along her hips, her glassy voice breaking into laughter as he teased, "And whose ego was it that needed to be quelled?"
Amidst the laughing, Link surrendered his advance, watching Mipha recover with adoring eyes, watching her excitable face wane. He placed a gentle kiss upon her lips, the two peering ever deeper into one another's eyes, the two feeling as though their hearts had been stripped as bare as their bodies.
"I love you," Link declared in a whisper.
Mipha smiled, "I love you, too. Now, and forever."
The two watched the others' eyes for a long few moments, Mipha quietly submitting, "Maybe once my brother gets a bit older, I won't be needed here as much. or at all."
Link smiled, "Certainly, I could see a field promotion coming along after I've trounced around all of Hyrule as much as I've done. Maybe one with frequent vacation days."
"Anything," mused Mipha, "to make the space between these meetings easier."
They shared another kiss, tasting that delicious mixture of themselves, but it was laced with the bitter taste of departure, of empty evenings, of this closeness disappearing right before their eyes. For now, at least, as Link pulled Mipha in for a closer embrace, they could pretend they were one body just as much as they were one soul.