"Ow!" Zelda piped up as she felt the intrusive poke of a needle against her arm.

"Mmmhmm," she heard a quiet laugh behind her, hidden as it was behind closed lips.

Composing herself, Zelda took a deep breath, putting the pain out of her mind as-

"Ow!"

Another laugh.

Zelda muttered, "You know, I can't really- Oww!"

Finally, a giggle broke free from Mipha as she pulled her arm away from the sleeve along the Hylian princess' arm.

"Sorry!" Mipha covered her mouth to hide her giggling, "It's just, we Zora are so scaly and all, so this is kind of- Pfft! I mean- You're just so- so-"

Zelda groaned.

"You're so- squishy!"

Mipha tore into a giggling fit as Zelda spun around, clinging onto the half-sewn coat that rolled along her arm and draped over top her shoulder. She watched her Zora contemporary as she held her stomach, keeling over from the laughter as the Hylian brushed at her skin to remedy the pain.

"Are you sure this is the right time for this?" Zelda groaned, "Not only do we have to get this coat ready for me, it still needs to be upsized from there, and then we only have a few days to make sure all of the accouchements and adornments are prepped and ready to be presented. And then-!"

"It's alright, trust me!" Mipha assured with a swift reply, coming to a gradual halting of her giggling, "This was all my idea, anyway. I'm pretty sure my father is just humoring me, anyway; so what if his coat isn't 100% ready to go."

Sighing, Zelda examined the red, black, and white coat that fell from her shoulder to the slick floor of the Domain, "You know, I never did bother to notice just how mastadonic a task upsizing this thing to your father was going to be…"

"Right? We're just having fun!" Mipha quickly noted with a smile, "I'm just happy to be experiencing so much of your traditions! I mean, who might have thought that peppermint would cause a Zora's operculum to wiggle so forcefully?!"

Still rather fretful, Zelda bit at her thumb, "I know, but- I can't help but see this as a good opportunity for diplomacy. I went all out for a reason, you know? A envoy of pastries and other assorted candies, the merry-rouser; I was rather hoping the big, showy demonstrations would help improve Zora opinion of myself and my Kingdom."

"I'm sure it's helping regardless," Mipha absently answered as her eyes nearly crossed, focused as she was on threading another needle with thread with dexterous fingers, "We've not been blind to the, I guess, merry traditions of other peoples. For ones who so often chose to keep to ourselves, it's rather nice to see how fun guests can be when so many Zora are so focused on the negatives. Not to mention the fashion. There are entire schools of Zora thought on design that would puke upon seeing this!"

She pulled at the thick, red sleeve that ran large along Zelda's arm, "The Renavos believe clothing, at all, to be dishonorable, unless it exactly matches the color of our scales. They'd be up in arms to see this!"

"You know," Zelda complied with a languid groan, "I can believe that, given how silly some Hylians- Ow!"

Another giggle from Mipha.

"It seems so silly," Zelda suddenly, and longingly, lateraled to another idea, the laughing air suddenly quelled with Mipha's quieted attention, "One of those things I'm often told but have never practiced."

Huffing up her chest to emulate her father, Zelda loudly puffed in a breath of hot air, "The needs of the many outweigh those of the few only in times of strife." She dangled her arms up as though an animated evangelist, gesticulating in wild mockery. "We must always aim for compromise, amongst all of us!"

Mipha couldn't hold back her laughter at her friend's pantomime, continuing even as Zelda stopped to examine the cuff astride her wrist.

As though summoned by such a lovely timbre, the flaps at the entrance began fluttering to signal Link's arrival, a shivering gasp accompanying him as he scurried deeper to the room, hurrying to the fire pit that had been sat there.

"Hoooooh! What a breeze!" he gasped almost with youthful excitement, like a snow day free from school, "Wintertime in Zorana! Wow, they don't quite prepare you for this in the academy!"

Mipha's eyes couldn't help but notice his rosy cheeks as he pulled his scarf down from covering his face, the knight happily turning toward the colleague princesses, "You made progress, it looks like."

"Yeah," Zelda sighed, "Not enough, I don't think, to finish it in time. At least at this rate." She frowned in Mipha's direction. "Not helped by a certain poking princess…"

Recoiling with a comical, dastardly zeal, Mipha feigned some semblance of shock at the insinuation, even as Link rolled his eyes, smirking while returning to the entryway, causing Zelda to pipe up excitedly, "Did you bring it?!"

"Of course!" Link answered, following a rousing growl that accompanied him yanking a massive fabric satchel along the slick path that made up Zorana's foundation.

"One gigantic order of Yuletide utilities."

Mipha watched with benign excitement as Zelda swooped over toward the sack as Link sat down beside the fire, burying his hands between his arms and torso. The Hylian princess threw apart the cord that scrunched the opening to close, digging her hands therein to examine the supplies she had so meticulously set up before having come here.

"Did it make it?"

Link chuckled, "Oh, it did."

With eyes narrowed in suspicion, Mipha wondered, "What are you two talking about?"

Zelda's lips curled into a smirk, "Oh, you'll see! It's why our bag arrived after we did! Our artisans needed to track down a few dozen more horses to complete it."

"H- Horses?" Mipha's voice shook, her mind running bereft of understanding.

"Looks like it's all here," Zelda chimed happily, "Operation Zorana Festivities may now commence!"

Still confused, Mipha looked on as Zelda pettered over to Link, muttering in his ear before he frowned.

"This is your thing, isn't it?"

"Well, we'll need a third!" Zelda said in retort, confusing Mipha even further as she hasn't ever been consulted about being their third to anything.

With Link's distasteful reply, Zelda grumbled before returning to the large bag, rummaging along as Mipha took to her feet. She carefully patted at her father's mastadonic cloak, tucking it away before peeking into the sack, which Zelda quickly shut to hide its contents. Deterred, she made her way to Link's side, smiling in time with his own wide grin upon catching her stare.

"It's cold," he complained half-languidly, a touch of complaint in his tone, "I know it's winter, but wow, Zorana's no joke."

Mipha smiled, "The mountains more or less force the wind to spin round like a vortex. Were it not for that, it might be similar enough to what you know back home."

Remaining huddled within the warmth of a nearby blanket, Link glanced at the dancing flames before him, "Back home, it's a blunt cold; the wind does tend to make it sharper. Both very bad sorts of cold."

Grinning at his shivers, Mipha wondered aloud, "It's so fascinating watching you both in this weather. Warm-bloods in general, that is. I just thought they were weird and strange dances or shows of some sort."

"Oh yeah?" Link smirked.

Starting again, Mipha spoke, "Or when your cheeks and nose go red. It's very adorable, though altogether strange how drastically your bodies change just because of a little change in temperature."

"A little change?"

"Even in freezing water, we Zora can survive rather deftly. If it gets too cold, we can become rather sluggish, I suppose, but nothing that might phase us."

Link eyed her smugly, "I suppose that's one advantage we have. It gets cold enough, to us, cold just becomes cold. Barely freezing and frozen scapes all feel the same."

Thinking on that point, imagining herself in those terms as a Hylian, she couldn't truly empathize with his words. Still, she readily returned as Link spoke up.

"Come here."

As if only now recognizing the distance she had put between herself and the man she loved, Mipha nervously explained, "O- Oh, I- I didn't want to make you any colder than you already were, but- I guess if it's all the same."

"You're a good cold," Link wryly explained.

Mipha felt a wave of anticipation cross her chest before scooting closer. With a swift reach, Link gently pulled the blanket down past his shoulders, allowing the chilled air to brush against the exposed skin at his arm. His body shivered at the sensation, though he didn't falter. He simply took Mipha's hand and left it atop his skin.

With a gentle crinkling of her nose, Mipha was surprised to find how different his arm felt; it now took on a feeling of slight roughness, her eyes narrowing in on the miniscule bumps forming there- like tiny scales. Her curiosity grew beyond the best of her thoughts, and she ran her frigid hand further up Link's arm to better explore this new anomaly, only for Link to harshly shiver in place, forcing Mipha away.

"S- Sorry!"

Link grinned, "Don't be."

He ran a thumb over his skin, "Another one of our cute little changes, I suppose."

Mipha couldn't help but offer a childlike smile at his determination, felled deftly by Zelda's assurance behind the two, "Actually, it's an evolutionary trait left behind from when we were wholly hairy beasts. Much like these horse hairs."

She nodded to herself before happily declaring, "Everything's here! Lady Mipha, shall we commence the next step of our little plot?"

"I'm not sure now," Mipha worried, apprehension showing in her voice, "You've clearly prepared for more than I was aware of…"

Link spun around, "Yeah, what is it exactly you're planning? I prepared everything we brough, but I haven't a clue what you two are-"

He paused as Mipha's knowing eyes fell upon him, the two lovers beginning to formulate a plot of their own- one of which Zelda was quickly beginning to catch onto herself.

"N- Now, just- It's a secret to everybody but me!" Zelda cried in desperation.

Mipha explained, "We were supposed to arrange a seasonal celebration here to better improve Hylian/Zorana relationships. Sort of like an attempt to get my people more interested in Hyrule Kingdom's more peaceful traditions."

"Mipha!" cried Zelda.

Link nodded, arms crossed, "Ah, so that explains the massive assortment of Yuletide accouchements she had me bring."

"Link!" Zelda whined before dropping her shoulders to sulk, "So much for the surprise…"

Link stood and shoved a hand into the gigantic satchel, "It didn't seem like you planned it to be; there's enough stuff in here to light up the land from the desert to the Rito plains. I thought you were just going to show them off in an exhibition of some sort, I didn't think you would actually plan on lighting up Zora's Domain."

As quick as a feral fox, Zelda spun around, shedding her previous demeanor in favor of a rather devious one, "Oh, but I am! This year, Zorana. Next year, who knows! It's a full-on holiday PR offensive!"

Link's eyes wandered toward Mipha quizzically, "Was she this crazy-sounding when she proposed it to you?"

"Hey!"

Mipha frowned, "Not really. I thought she was just going to bring a few things for me to experience, but the whole Domain…"

After a quick thought, she smiled, "But now that I'm seeing how excited she is, it is a touch contagious."

"Oh, come on," Link complained, digging further into the bag, "Some of this is- I mean, who did you make this for? It's much too large for any of us!"

He had pulled out the result of the artisans' horse hair experiment: a grandiose, white, faux beard.

"Well, it's not for us," Zelda tutted knowingly, shaking her head, "A shame you didn't think I wouldn't invite others to partake in this celebration."

Link's eyes widened, "Wait…"

Snickering, Zelda simply pilfered the beard from his hand before settling the bag once more for closure, returning to Mipha, "Well, shall we make our case for jubilation for your father?"

"You know, I think he might be excited," the Zora princess spoke with new jubilation, waiting for Zelda to slide on her hefty coat before the two left Link perplexed, wondering just how grandiose these thoughts were, and how long they must have festered in the young princess' mind.