Enjoyer Of Tri Force Heroes and Twilight Princess

Rina sighed, wishing she could swim instead of having to walk. But between the rushing current and amount of debris, you’d have to be pretty stupid to swim in this section of the river. The swamp would take care of the flooding like it always did, but it would still be a bit before the current died down. At least she’d been able to swim through the calmer swamp waters to get here in the first place.

She scanned over the water again, watching a huge branch drag several bits of debris along with it, a small pang of sadness hitting her. Her tribe really wasn’t concerned with Hylian affairs, but nobody deserved this much destruction. It didn’t even look like there was anything here intact enough worth noting, or interesting enough to take home.

I’ll go up to the bend, then head back, Rina decided, and nodded as she started walking again. At least it was a nice morning, humid, but not too hot. If it had been dry, she would’ve already headed back. The last thing she needed was dried-out scales.

A heron took off into the cloudy sky, and Rina glanced at it, then went back to watching the river. Stray rays of sunshine occasionally made it through the cloud cover, and at the moment several were dancing across the churning water, making it sparkle where debris wasn’t clogging it. It was actually rather pretty.

The light caught on something else suddenly, and Rina tilted her head, watching it bob in the water. It looked like some sort of wooden box, and she stood on the shore watching it curiously.

Was it a chest?

Maybe there’s something shiny inside!

Excitement ran through her at the thought, and she moved closer to the bank, debating. The current wasn’t too bad where she was thanks to a bend in the river, and the box wasn’t moving too fast either. She could probably fish it out without much trouble, and if there was something neat inside, it would be more than worth it.

It was an easy decision.

Rina hopped into the river without another thought, and yelped, the current immediately pushing her back. Wow that’s stronger than it looked!

She grunted, trying to adjust to the roaring water, and nearly got flipped upside down from the force of it. Almost too strong...

Rina shook her head, bracing herself determinedly. Her tribe were the best swimmers around, and something as silly as a flooded river wasn’t going to stop her.

Dodging a branch that swept her way, Rina focused on adjusting to the current, cutting through at an angle to better swim through. Her strokes were powerful, but she still moved gracefully towards the chest bobbing in the current. She had to duck under several branches and other bits of debris, trying not to fight the current unless she had to, and her arms were starting to ache by the time she finally made it to the chest.

Rina leaned against it with a tired huff, letting the current carry her and the chest for a moment while she rested. Then she began to push it back towards shore.

Most Zora probably wouldn’t have gone to quite so much effort just to dredge an old chest from a river with such a strong current, but Rina was nothing if not stubborn. Not to mention insanely curious as to the chest’s contents. She’d always liked shiny things.

Maybe it’s rupees, or some weird Hylian clothes, or a special treasure—

Rina’s mind reeled with possibilities as she pushed and tugged and fought her way to the river’s shore with the chest, determined to get it to dry land. She couldn’t wait to pry it open.

Rina’s arms were burning by the time she finally reached the shore, but she barely noticed, eagerly tugging the chest out of the water and to safe ground. Visions of shiny things and treasures sped her movements, and she looked at the chest in excitement as she shook mud from her fins. Maybe this boring trip wasn’t a waste after all!

She quickly plucked some weeds off her scales before crouching down and pulling at the lock of the chest. It had been smashed in a little, probably by debris, but Rina’s claws made short work of it, and she pried the lid open with a grunt, excitedly peering inside.

Then stopped.

And stared.

Grey-green eyes stared back at her, wide and bright even in the shadow of the chest’s lid, and Rina’s breath caught.

A baby.

There was a baby in the chest.

Rina put a hand to her mouth in shock, staring down at the tiny hylian curled up in a blanket. It couldn’t have been more than a year old, and her thoughts spun as it kept staring up at her, seemingly unaware of her world currently being rocked.

“How— how did you—” she gasped, and at the sound of her voice, the baby’s delicate ears pricked up, eyes somehow getting even wider.

Then it began to cry, tears beginning to fall down tiny cheeks.

Rina, already caught completely off guard by her discovery and now the loud noises coming from the baby, began to panic. Why was it crying? What did she do?!

“Uh— hey, hey don’t cry! It’s okay!” she said hurriedly, but the words seemed to have no effect. “Stop! It’s okay!”

Having no clue what to do, and getting rather anxious from the cries, Rina quickly plucked the baby out of the chest, being extra careful not to hurt it with her claws as she lifted it up. The baby kept crying, probably displeased with how she was holding it, and Rina floundered for a moment before deciding to try what seemed to always calm down the hatchlings in the village.

Keeping the blanket around the baby, she tucked it into her arms, making soft chirps to try and calm the wails coming from its tiny lungs.

It took a few moments, but finally the cries slowed, and stopped. Rina sighed in relief. There, now at least she could think straight again. The baby blinked up at her while she mentally patted herself on the back, and then it reached out with tiny, unwebbed hands towards her face.

Rina looked at it, soft and scaleless, no fins or gills to be seen, cold and sniffly in her arms, and something inside her melted.

This tiny Hylian had survived the storm and a flooded river besides, it was a miracle it hadn’t suffocated or drowned. Rina had no clue how far the nearest Hylian village was, but it was far, and based on the debris and where the storm had come from, the poor thing had probably been trapped for a good day or two. It must have been starving, and was probably terrified.

No wonder it had been crying.

A hand pressed against her chin, and Rina crooned at the baby again, happy to see it had fully calmed down. It blinked its bright eyes at her, then nestled up to her with a soft noise, sticking its hand into its mouth.

“Well. You’re not exactly shiny, but this isn’t a bad treasure,” she said, gently petting the baby’s head. “Ooh, that’s soft, it’s like a little patch of moss!”

She petted it more in delight, and as the baby giggled, Rina knew her fate was sealed. She wasn’t going to leave this baby here, no sir. Sure it was Hylian, and weird looking because of that, but it was cute too, and she couldn’t just leave it out here in the swamp, exposed and vulnerable.

Rina looked out at the debris-ridden water, feeling a small prickle of sadness. And wherever the baby had come from, there... probably wasn’t anything left.

“Well I guess we’ll see what Chief Baiyu says about all this,” she hummed, then tucked the blanket a little better around the baby. “Even he wouldn’t be so harsh as to just toss you out. You can come home with me, and we’ll figure out what to do with you there, okay little treasure?” Rina said, and the baby looked at her with those wide eyes again, bright and grey-green. “Yes. Good plan. Thank you.”

The baby made a cooing noise, one like some of the birds that nested in the trees by the village, and Rina smiled.

“Let’s go then, little treasure. We’ve got a bit of a trek ahead, and I’m sure you’re hungry.”

The baby cooed again, and Rina paused a moment, looking at it, then shrugged.

“...I guess we’ll just figure out what you eat somehow. Hope you like fish!”

A fearsome battle raged, more terrible than any of the ones that came before it, water and steel and blood. It’s said the very earth trembled from the force of the clash, and from the strength of the evil that was freed.

But finally, right when it looked like they would lose, the Zora and Hylians together sealed the evil away, never to be seen again.

And with its defeat, the war was finally ended, after years of bloodshed and death.

The Zora may have come together with the Hylians against a greater threat, but their relationship was never the same. The land itself was scarred from the fighting, the rivers changing course, Hyrule flooded in areas that had once been dry. The Zora retreated fully to the waters of Hyrule, while the Hylians moved further inland, away from their former allies and enemies. Even the Zora split into factions— there are three tribes now, one in the river upstream, one in the ocean further south, and one deep in the swamp.

Peace has settled in the many long years since, though tensions still lurk. Scars from the war run deep, and Zora and Hylians still remain separate, interacting only in necessity.

...

“...And so you see, young guppies,” a wizened old Zora told the circle of children sitting around him, listening intently to his tale, “that is why we stay in the swamp, and keep our distance from Hyrule and the Hylians. My tale is finished.”

An awed silence followed his words, round eyes still fixed on the old Zora as he leaned back on his wooden seat. A bird called from somewhere outside, wind rustling vines and leaves on the trees outside where the little Zora sat, and one suddenly grinned.

“Except for Link!” he hollered, and the whole group burst into giggles and poorly-muffled laughter. All except one, who crossed his arms and pouted as he looked at his feet.

To be fair though, he had good reason, seeing as he was the only child in the circle who didn’t sport scales or gills or fins of any kind. Just light, squishy skin, and blondish hair that tended to get in his face.

Link was a Hylian, the only one in the entire tribe of Swamp Zora.

“Yes yes, except Link. That’s enough, that’s enough,” the old Zora said, waving his cane around to quiet the giggles. “Any questions? Ones unrelated to Link?” A webbed hand shot into the air. “Yes Trouyt?”

“What was the evil the Zora and Hy-leens fought?” he asked, bright red-orange fins twitching.

“Nobody truly knows, those details have been lost to time, I’m afraid,” the old Zora hummed. He tapped the reed-matted floor with his cane. “But we know it was a big enough threat to unite two warring peoples, which means it must have been a grave danger indeed.”

“Mister Viyne, why did a Zora start the war if the Zoras and Hylians were friends?” another asked, speckled head tilted in confusion. “Wouldn’t the Zora like them?”

Viyne sighed, tapping claws on his cane. “I don’t know, child. But resentment can be a powerful thing if fed, and when blame begins to be pinned... things get ugly.”

More questions about the story were asked, Viyne patiently answering each one, but Link stayed unusually quiet throughout it all, his chin resting in his hands. Normally he’d pipe up along with everyone about whatever story got told, and ask tons of questions, but this one had made him feel... weird.

Had the Zora and Hylians really had a big war? Was that why some of the Zora didn’t like him much? And what was the evil thing they’d sealed away?

“...Link? Did you have anything to add?” Viyne asked finally, the other children having all said at least something.

Link looked up, and pushed some hair from his face, frowning a little.

“Could the big evil the Zora and Hylians sealed come back?” he asked finally, voice small.

Viyne blinked, then chuckled.

“Of course not, Link. Don’t worry about it,” he reassured, then looked at the group. “That’s enough for today, I think. Time to head home, youngsters.”

A chorus of disappointed noises went through the group, but at Viyne’s prodding, they all slowly got up. Link stayed where he was for a bit longer, waving absently at his friends as they left, but then Viyne pointedly tapped his cane, and Link stood as well.

“Thanks for the story mister Viyne,” he thanked, and the old Zora nodded, giving Link a pat on the head and a wink as he walked by.

“Of course, Link. Heed my words, and have a nice day. Tell your Mama I said hi.”

Link nodded, then scampered out of the hut.

He still had a lot of thoughts about what he’d heard, and so he took a longer way home, walking a little further out from the village than he was technically supposed to go. But he wanted to think things through some more before his mama asked what he’d been up to, and he always thought better when he was alone.

Besides, she kept inviting that Gillian guy over, and while Link liked him, he always seemed sort of nervous around Link.

...Maybe because Link had accidentally sneezed in his face the first time they met.

Link shook his head. Well, whatever. He liked when Mama invited friends over, even if some of them did give funny looks. And Gillian was nice.

Plus Mama was always really happy when he was around.

A chorus of frogs and bugs sang as Link took a meandering path through the swamp, walking across tree roots and occasionally hopping across water with the help of some roots or logs. A flock of white birds in the water caught his attention as he got closer to home, and Link sat next to where they were swimming, and thought while he watched them.

Viyne told stories about Hylians sometimes, though not a lot since some of the bigger Zora didn’t approve of them. The stories had always been interesting, but this one had made Link feel weird, and he didn’t know why. Was he scared?

He thought for a second, then shook his head.

No, he wasn’t scared. That had happened ages ago, and Viyne had said the evil wouldn’t come back. And anyway, even if it did, the swamp would keep them all safe. Nothing could get very far in here, and nobody knew the swamp like the Zora. And if some darkness did get in, a swamp cat would probably eat it!

Link giggled to himself as he looked up at the trees, then out at the water, and smiled as he watched the birds swim away.

Yeah. It would be fine.

Weird stories or not.

Link stood and headed the rest of the way back home, knowing his mama would be done with her afternoon chores and be home waiting for him. And sure enough, he walked around a tree and saw her kneeling on the ground beside the house, humming as she sorted some piles of things.

“Mama!” he said eagerly, and she turned towards him, a bit of surprise on her face. It it turned quickly to warmth though, and she smiled brightly.

“Hi Treasure!” she called, and stood and came to greet him. “I didn’t think you’d come from that direction! You know, I do like it if you bring someone along with you when you take the long way home,” she chided a bit, but still kissed his head.

“I wanted to think,” he explained, and his mama hummed as she scooped him up.

“Well, it must have been something important. What was it you were thinking about, Treasure?” his mother asked, peppering his hair with little kisses. “Did you have a good day?”

“Yeah,” Link replied, snuggling up to her cool scales. At least his mother never cared he wasn’t a Zora. Most of the other kids didn’t, but... some of them did. And comments like the one earlier always stung a little, even when they were funny. “It was good. Viyne told us a scary story.”

His mother’s face creased. “Is he filling your head up with moss again?”

“No! He told us about a big war, with Zora and Hylians and a big scary evil,” Link said, squirming in her grasp. “It wasn’t like his silly stories, Mama. It was real.”

Her fins twitched a little. “Maybe so, but he doesn’t need to be telling you kids about all that. We’re at peace with the Hylians right now— they leave us alone, we leave them alone.”

“...Except me?” Link asked, and his mama smiled and squeezed him again.

“Except you. You were a gift, and I’m very glad I didn’t leave you alone,” she said warmly, nuzzling his head. “Now then, enough of that sort of talk. Can ya help me sort my treasures while you tell me about the rest of your day?”

“Yes ma’am!” Link said as he wriggled in excitement. He was squirming to get down before his mama even fully finished speaking, and she laughed as she swung him around.