#miphrius

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“Hi, I’m back-“ Varius starts to say as she sets foot back in the Coral Reef before noticing that there’s someone at the counter currently talking with the store’s shopkeep. “Oh, sorry!” she quickly whispers, probably more to herself than anything since it’s likely nobody else actually heard it, and she’s not even sure if they’d heard her initial interruption.

Cleff looks up at the noise however and makes eye contact with her, smiling a little. “Glad to see you back, Varius, just give me a moment to finish helping this customer and I’ll be right with you,” he tells her and she nods slightly, leaning against one of the columns that makes up the entrance of the store, her gaze falling down to the floor as she folds her hands behind her back and waits.

After a minute or so, the customer thanks Cleff before grabbing what they’ve bought and footsteps make their way past Varius and out of the store into the courtyard.

Only after hearing them pass her does she ask “Is the store still open?” Given that Marot wasn’t outside the entrance to welcome her back, she had figured that there would be no one here aside from Cleff (and potentially Dento in the back) but maybe Cleff just works later than their proprietor.

Cleff chuckles a little. “No, that customer had come in before the store closed, so I let him finish up,” he explains, putting away the rupees from that last purchase and starting the usual process of closing up for the night. Varius follows his lead shortly after, working on detaching everything she took with her from her belt.

“So how did things go today?”

“I was able to get all the things you asked me for!” she proudly informs him with an excited smile, gesturing to all of the bags around her, and luckily Cleff seems satisfied with that too as he once again chuckled and gives her a hum of acknowledgment. “It did take me a little bit to remember where to go but I figured it out and was able to find everything. And no monster run-ins so that was good!”

“It sounds like it went well in that case, no problems then?”

“Uh well..” Varius hesitantly replies, avoiding making eye contact with Cleff when he turns to look at her in concern. “I admittedly got a few scratches here and there, nothing super terrible or anything, but just some small things while I was out,” she explains, trying to maintain a fairly casual tone as she quickly walks past him. Hopefully it’s sufficient enough of an explanation that he’ll drop it and continue to clean up, as she continues to do.

It’s quiet for a couple minutes, Varius doing her best to keep busy putting things away as she hears nothing from behind her.

“The fact that you won’t face me is a decent indication that it is more than just a few scratches.”

Darn it.

Varius turns back to him with a resigned grimace, showing him the quite decently scrapped up backs of her arms. “Ok, it’s.. a little more. It’s just because I don’t know the currents yet, I just need some practice is all.”

“Have you gotten it checked out already?” Cleff asks, pointedly ignoring the latter part of what she just said for the moment.

Varius spares him a brief glance as she puts the rest of what she’s collected away. “No,” she simply responds.

“… Are you going to get it checked out?”

Putting down the now empty bags against the back wall, Varius looks herself over in consideration before shrugging slightly, looking back up at him. “I’ll be ok.”

Cleff looks at her and she merely looks back, before he sighs with a shake of his head. “Come on,” he tells her, leading them out of the store, and all Varius can do is let him as she blinks in confusion.

“Uhh, where exactly are we going..?” Varius asks after a moment, eyeing her coworker warily.

“To the princess, she will be able to heal you,” is all Cleff says in response, like it’s not a big deal.

“The princ- No!” Varius yelps, turning in an attempt to run back towards the store but Cleff’s arm promptly blocks off her escape as their goal comes into view. “Really, I promise it’s fine!” she protests quietly as Cleff continues to nudge her towards the zora princess who thankfully hasn’t noticed them yet.

That doesn’t last long though as Cleff calls out, “Princess Mipha,” the aforementioned turning around at the sound of her name to face the two of them.

Varius freezes up as she meets eyes with the princess for a moment, too stunned even after Mipha then looks up at Cleff to try and do something like hide behind her coworker once the two of them stop in front of her.

“Hello Cleff, is there something you needed?” Mipha asks, her attention now fully on the two of them.

“Yes. This is Varius, my new supplier,” Cleff explains, hands resting on Varius’ shoulders, likely so as to hold her in place so she isn’t able to run off, “and she recently got hurt while out on her inventory run today. Do you think you would be able to check her over?”

Mipha looks back at Varius for a second when Cleff introduces her, before letting out a soft “Oh!” when she processes his question. “Yes, of course!” she quickly agrees with an emphatic nod of her head.

“Thank you your highness, it’s much appreciated,” Cleff tells her, and Varius can practically hear the smile in his voice despite not seeing his face at all. There’s a hint of smugness to it, an emotion that one unacquainted with the shopkeeper wouldn’t think to expect from him, but Varius has worked with him just long enough that she’s begun to see past his calm, serious demeanor, and it’s clear that he’s amused that his plan has succeeded. If it weren’t for the zora princess being right in front of them at this very moment, Varius would glare at him a little right now.

“It’s really no trouble at all,” Mipha assures before Cleff walks away, her attention solely on Varius now. “Please, follow me,” she insists, voice soft but sure, and Varius has no choice but to do so, hesitantly trailing after the princess.

How Varius ended up here she will never know.

Mipha takes the two of them over to a more secluded spot before turning around, gracefully sitting down on one of benches. Varius isn’t even sure how someone can make sitting down look graceful but the princess clearly has that ability in spades. “Varius was it?” Mipha asks her, a bit rhetorically but Varius still nods in confirmation. “I don’t believe we’ve had the chance to speak yet.”

Varius takes a seat next to the princess, struggling to put her words together for a moment before she’s barely able to get out a “No uh, we haven’t, I’m new,” before she finds herself internally facepalming. Of course Mipha knows she’s new, Cleff already told her that! “I-I just moved to the domain a few weeks ago, and I’ve mainly been focusing on my job so I haven’t talked with too many people yet,” she quickly tries to elaborate so as to hopefully not completely embarrass herself in the first minute of meeting the princess, though she’s not sure she’s succeeding.

“Well then it’s nice to finally meet you,” Mipha says with a smile.

“It’s uh, nice to meet you too, your highness,” Varius tells her, a bit surprised, but she still finds herself giving the princess a slight smile of her own.

Mipha’s eyes then light up for a second in realization. “Ah yes, Cleff mentioned that you were injured! May I take a look?”

“Y-Yes, your highness,” Varius squeaks out, trying to take the net tied around her off quickly and setting it to the side before gesturing vaguely to her torso and then her arms. “It’s uh, mainly in these spots.”

Mipha leans over to see before gasping. “Oh my, your scales are all torn up!” she exclaims. “However did you manage to do such a thing?”

“I uh.. may have slammed into a rock while swimming up the waterfalls,” Varius admits truthfully to the princess for some reason, despite just how embarrassing of a reason it is. She had kept it pretty vague when explaining it to Cleff, content to just leave it as her needing practice, but there’s something about Mipha that makes her feel compelled to be fully honest about it despite the risk of it making her look pathetic.

“And this was while you were trying to collect items for the store? Are you sure you will be able to continue doing so?” Mipha asks, her tone somehow not making it seem like she’s judging Varius’ apparent inability to swim properly but rather that the question just comes from pure care and concern.

“Ah, yes, I’ll be ok, Princess,” Varius assures, giving her a small smile to hopefully ease her concerns. “It’s just because I grew up in the ocean so I’m still getting used to swimming in fresh water, the currents are pretty different here. You uh, might think I’m lying just to make myself look good when I say this but I actually swam too strongly when trying to go up the waterfalls and I overshot while trying to enter it. So essentially, I jumped directly into a rock wall.”

“I believe you,” Mipha tells her.

“You do?” Varius asks in surprise, looking up at the princess with wide eyes, and the princess lets out a giggle, causing Varius to accidentally stare for an entirely different reason.

“Yes, I do. You wouldn’t have sustained such injuries if you didn’t have that much momentum,” Mipha explains, then adding, “Plus, you don’t strike me as a weak swimmer.”

“Oh uh, thank you, your highness,” Varius replies quietly, rubbing her hand over the back of her neck sheepishly.

Mipha nods before sitting upright again, gaze back on her arms now. “Apologies for my distraction, we should take care of your wounds. May I?” she asks, holding out her hands, and Varius nods as she holds out her own.

The zora princess gently takes a hold of her arms, turning them over to thoroughly look over the various scrapes and cuts, before then examining the assorted spots on her chest, stomach, and sides which hold similar injuries. The softness with which she holds her causes Varius’ cheeks to grow warm as, to her dismay, the color of her scales suddenly change, and she hears the princess gasp once again.

“Astonishing,” Mipha breathes out as she gets to see light blue scales turn to pink in a matter of seconds, and Varius can only feel her cheeks get even warmer at the princess’ compliment, which unfortunately doesn’t help at all with getting the color of her scales to go back to normal.

“Sorry, they uh, change colors like that sometimes. Unfortunately not under my control..”

“No no, no need to apologize,” Mipha insists, meeting her eyes with a gentle gaze. “It’s actually quite beautiful.”

Despite not knowing where to even start with responding to that, Varius fortunately doesn’t have to as Mipha is fine with her awestruck silence, going back to looking over her injuries again.

After a couple minutes, Mipha finally hums to herself and says, “Unfortunately I won’t be able to replace the scales themselves but I can heal where the skin has broken to at least reduce the pain while new ones grow back. It’s not an immediate fix, but it should still help.”

“That’s ok, it’s actually more than I was expecting. I’d just been planning to live with it if Cleff hadn’t insisted otherwise.”

“I’m glad that he did then, because there’s no reason for you to just bear with the pain when you don’t have to,” Mipha states with a shake of her head. “There’s no need to be stubborn when I can heal you.”

“It’s fine though, your highness, I know you’re busy. I’m sure there are things that need your attention more than a few torn scales.”

“Nonsense, it is my duty to help my people,“ Mipha huffs a little, a gentle pout on her lips, “so if you ever get hurt, no matter how small, please come to me so that I can heal you, I insist.”

Varius opens her mouth but stops seconds after doing so, all arguments promptly dying on her tongue as Mipha looks at her with such a stern, serious expression, and so all she can do is nod slightly.

“Good,” Mipha says with finality, seemingly satisfied with the agreement.

“Well hopefully I get the hang of swimming soon so you won’t have to..”

“I’m sure you will.”

“Maybe…”

“Take faith in yourself, as I already have. I’m sure you will be able to figure it out, everything will work out in the end,” Mipha says as if it’s a promise, taking Varius’ hands in her own, and if Varius didn’t understand why all of the zoras in the domain adored their princess before, she certainly does now.

And once again, all she can do is nod, which in turn earns her a sweet smile from the princess.

“And with your permission, I’m going to heal you now,” she then states, positioning her hands over some of the injuries as she looks up for confirmation, to which she gets another nod.

With that, Mipha’s gaze lowers to her hands, her expression turning to one of soft, steady focus as her magic comes to life. Varius feels a sensation like that of cool, soothing waters flow over the scrapes on her arms, taking the place of the slight stinging previously there as the skin is gently mended back together.

It’s quiet as Mipha works on healing all of the injuries she can find, Varius letting her do so without complaint as she just watches, the gentle blue light of the princess’ magic illuminating the space between them.

After a few minutes, Mipha then lowers her hands down to sit in her lap, letting out a calm breath. “You’ll have to be more careful with those areas, but that should do it while we wait for your scales to grow back.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Varius says as she gives her an appreciative smile.

“Of course,“ Mipha tells her. “And don’t forget, come to me if you get hurt again. I will heal you no matter how insignificant you feel it is, alright?”

Varius isn’t sure how much she’ll be able to do so but she still gives Mipha a simple, “Understood.” Even if she can’t keep that promise, the princess’ generosity and kindness makes her willing to try.

“And..” Mipha says softly, glancing off to the side, “if you wanted someone to practice with at any point.. I could always use some more time to train,” she offers, subtly looking up to meet Varius’ gaze from the corner of her eye.

“Oh, that would.. actually be helpful,” Varius admits quietly, nodding, and Mipha nods back.

“Your highness,” a voice says from behind Varius and she and Mipha both look over to see one of the guards walk over to them. “Pardon the interruption, but your father wishes to speak with you,” the guard informs her.

“Ah, I see” Mipha says with a slight frown, but it doesn’t stay for long as she schools her expression and stands up. Turning to face Varius, she smiles softly and tells her, “Unfortunately I must go, but it was lovely finally getting to meet you, Varius. I hope we will get the chance to talk again soon, I wish you luck with your supply runs.”

Varius nods, staring up at the princess now bathed in moonlight, the jewelry adorning her making her glitter. “Me too,” she somehow manages to say.

Mipha’s smile brightens a little more before she turns and she and the guard walk back towards the domain’s courtyard, leaving Varius stunned as she watches them leave.

Once they’re out of sight, she turns to face forward on the bench, staring up at the night sky in silence.

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Staring listlessly at the Coral Reef’s countertops, Varius lets out a sigh from her seat in the back corner, the faint chatter of a typical day in the domain serving as ambient noise while business goes on as usual.

It’s been a few days since she got injured on her first solo run and Cleff had taken her to meet and get healed by Princess Mipha, and in that time she hasn’t been allowed to go back out on another one since. Varius had tried to convince Cleff that she could still go out and get stuff for the store with the promise that she’d be careful, but she was unsuccessful as Cleff had insisted that they would be fine for a bit while they waited for her scales to start growing back in again. She was pretty sure she hadn’t been able to get that much on her collection run, but the countertops didn’t seem to be at risk of being empty so it’s not like she’d be able to refute the claim. So that meant she had to stand by.

It wasn’t as if Cleff was actually keeping her in the store, he’d told her that she was free to spend time around the domain since she wasn’t doing any runs, but it didn’t feel right getting paid when she wasn’t actually able to do her job, so she had offered to at least stay at the store in case Cleff needed any help. He unsurprisingly didn’t, seeing as he’s been running the store by himself just fine for years before she even showed up, but he’d agreed to letting her stay anyways, recognizing that she wouldn’t let herself be convinced otherwise, determined to at least try and help out.

Things have run smoothly these past few days though, and there hasn’t been anything out of the ordinary, meaning she’s been able to just sit and watch as customers walk in and out, occasional conversations here and there as people look around and buy things, Marot’s cheerful voice periodically coming from the store entrance as she greets people, Cleff nearby talking with customers from time to time, nothing of note going on.

Varius has basically been able to not worry about things too much and just take it easy.

So obviously, she‘s bored.

Luckily, it’s only a minute or so more before Cleff tells her they’re taking a lunch break, and she eagerly hops down from her chair with an audible groan of relief, shaking out her hands to try and get rid of some of the restlessness that’s starting to build up. Cleff briefly gives her a sympathetic look, knowing that just sitting around is starting to drive her up the wall, but he doesn’t comment on it because this was her own choice and she’s insisted on staying the previous times he’s tried to give her an out.

The two of them mostly eat in silence, Varius not having much to say as her mind wanders off a bit.

“Are you done?” Cleff asks her eventually, snapping her out of her thoughts and she nods. “In that case, do you think you could restock the counters while I talk to Marot for a moment?”

Varius perks up. “Yes!” she exclaims, shooting up from her seat in an instant and quickly darting past Cleff to grab stuff from the back.

Finally she can do something to help out!

She hears Cleff chuckle a little from behind her as she hurries over to put out more of their stock, passingly noticing as she’s doing so that her scales are bright blue and must give away her excitement from such a basic request, but she’s far too focused on actually having a task to do to feel self-conscious about it, and Cleff leaves her to do so as he walks over to the store’s entrance.

Cleff heads back over to the front counter after a minute, not making any attempts to try and help Varius out, which is good because she’d quite honestly refuse to let him, and neither of them say anything as she continues moving back and forth.

“Oh, good afternoon your highness,” Varius suddenly hears Cleff say when she’s in the back again and her head whips up to see the princess walk into the store. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“No, I’m alright, thank you. I simply wanted to see how business has been doing,” Mipha says as she takes a moment to look around.

“Business has been well, plenty of travelers lately,” Cleff tells her with a nod. “With the heat wave we had last month, it was difficult for people to get to the domain, but luckily we’re starting to get more customers again.”

“That’s good to hear, I’m sure that more people will continue to do so with the weather starting to cool down,” Mipha says as she then walks over to the front counter.

“Yes, I appreciate your concern and I’m sure we’ll be alright.”

Mipha nods. “I also wanted to see if Varius was here and take a look at how her scales are doing,” she says before she looks over and the princess lights up when she spots Varius peeking out from around the corner. “Ah, there you are!” she remarks before turning once again to Cleff and asking, “Would it be alright if I pulled her away for a moment to check on her?”

Cleff glances back at Varius for a second and then at Mipha before he tells her, “Of course,” with a smile. “In fact, Varius, go ahead and take the rest of the day off.”

“Wh- But I haven’t finished yet-“ Varius quietly tries to argue as Cleff takes the box she’s holding out of her hands.

“I’ll take care of it, go and talk with the princess,” Cleff tells her, the tone in his voice kind but also making it clear that he won’t be budging on the issue as he then walks over to the counters and takes over restocking them.

Varius blinks at him for a second before looking over to see the princess giving her an expectant look. What is it with Cleff and him somehow managing to get her into conversations with the princess of all people?

Realizing she probably shouldn’t keep Mipha waiting, Varius finally wills her body to move as she walks over to her, Mipha smiling as she leads them out of the store.

“It’s nice to see you again, hopefully you don’t mind me pulling you away from work like this,” Mipha says, glancing over at her.

“No, it’s alright,” Varius tells her with a shake of her head. “Oh, and uh, it’s nice to see you again too! I should’ve started with that probably..”

Well this conversation is already going much better than their first, even if Varius knows she’s still being awkward, though Mipha hasn’t seemed to mind any of it. Possibly because she gets the impression that Varius is just kind of like that, which is at least part of the reason. The other part is of course that she’s being given the attention of the kind and beautiful zora princess herself, but she’s definitely taking that secret to her grave if she can help it.

“I’m glad you don’t mind. I haven’t seen you around the domain the past few days so I wanted to make sure that everything was ok.”

Stopping in a slightly tucked away little spot from the other zoras to give them some privacy, Mipha sits down and Varius does the same, turning to face her so that Mipha can look her over, though she doesn’t just yet.

“Oh, yeah, Cleff isn’t letting me go on any runs until my scales start to grow back in so I’ve been in the store for most of the day, that’s probably why you haven’t seen me,” Varius explains. “I figured that, you know, if I can’t go on runs right now, I can at least try to help out in other ways! But Cleff can usually handle everything so I haven’t been able to do much..”

“It looked as though you had something to do when I walked in,” Mipha suggests.

“I’m pretty sure Cleff only asked me to do it because he knows I’m starting to go stir crazy just sitting in a chair all day long,” Varius sighs out.

“Possibly, but I feel that says something about how he wants to make sure you can help out. I’m sure keeping you from going on runs isn’t something he enjoys doing.”

“Mm, I suppose..”

“The sooner you heal though, the sooner you can get back out there, and me checking on how things are going will at least help give us an indication of when that will be,” Mipha tells her before gesturing to her arms. “May I?”

Varius nods, letting the princess get to work.

“Now let’s see..” Mipha mutters aloud as she leans over a little to look at the various patches of missing scales on her body, spending a bit more time on her arms. It’s quite different having the princess look her over in broad daylight compared to the hidden, intimate nature of the moon but Varius notices that the one thing that hasn’t changed is the extraordinary focus with which Mipha does so.

After a moment, Mipha sits upright again, appearing satisfied with her observations. “None of the scrapes have opened back up again, which is good, and your scales are growing in quite well so far. At this rate, your scales should be back to normal in about two weeks, but you should be fine to go out on runs again in just one,” she informs Varius, gently setting her arms back down.

Varius nods at that. “Ok, that’s good I guess. For the most part. A bit of a relief cause it’s not as long as I thought it would take, but also annoying cause that’s still a lot of time that I’ll just be sitting around unable to do anything.”

“Yes, though I do understand Cleff’s reluctance to assign you a run just yet.”

“I do tooooo,” Varius sighs somewhat dramatically. “But I still don’t like it,” she finishes with a small pout.

Mipha giggles. “Well fortunately, I have nothing more I need to attend to today and seeing as you have the rest of the day off, I could always accompany you for some practice, as I offered when we last spoke,” she suggests, her expression hopeful but also somewhat expectant, as if she already knows Varius wants to.

The princess is correct with Varius shouting out a quick “Yes, please!” before blushing and covering her face. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that to be so loud,” she mumbles in apology.

“No need to apologize,” Mipha tells her amusedly, standing up and holding out a hand to help her up as well which Varius takes.

“What about Cleff?” Varius asks once they are both standing.

“Seeing as you have me, the princess who has healing powers, with you, I think he’ll be fine with it. After all, if I as the person who healed you and is keeping tabs on your recovery deem you’re well enough to swim, what objections would he have?” Mipha points out with a smile as she starts walking through the courtyard.

“Mmm, you have a good point,” Varius concedes, following after her.

“Let me just let someone know where I’ll be and then we can go, you can stay here if you’d like,” Mipha tells her, and Varius waits as the princess goes to do so.

Once Mipha is done talking with one of the guards, she motions for Varius to follow her as she heads off to one of the bridges connecting the domain to the surrounding mountains and Varius jogs over in order to catch up with the princess, looking back hesitantly as it seems to be just the two of them to leave the courtyard before turning back towards Mipha. “I don’t mean to be rude, your highness, but you don’t need to take any of the guards with you?” she tentatively asks, Mipha looking over at her at the question. “Not that you aren’t capable of taking care of yourself, please don’t think that’s what I’m saying, but I don’t think I’d be able to protect you very well if something happens..” she admits.

It takes Mipha only a moment for her to process what was just said before she smiles gently at her. “There’s no need to worry about that, I promise. We aren’t going far and I have my trident with me, so you don’t have to try to keep me safe,” Mipha reassures her, smile somehow turning even sweeter as she adds, “In fact, I intend to be the one who is protecting you.”

Varius doesn’t even need to lift up her arm to know that her scales have turned fully pink as she feels the heat rush to her cheeks from the princess’ words, and Mipha suddenly letting out a slight giggle practically confirms it. Varius quickly averts her eyes in a partial effort to hide how flustered Mipha’s just managed to make her, even though she’s aware it’s completely pointless, but it at least makes it a little easier to calm down enough to get her scales to go back to normal. “Well, hopefully we.. won’t need to worry about that either,” she says quietly in response, clasping her hands together in front of her as they continue to walk.

Mipha hums and Varius can hear the smile in her voice as she says, “Yes, hopefully not.”

It doesn't take them too long to get to their destination, Mipha stopping at the outskirts of the plunge pool. They’re at the waterfall towards the front of the domain, the one that overlooks Ruto Lake and the beginnings of the Zora River, and Varius can’t help but look around at the view from up here for a moment.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she hears Mipha say from behind her and she nods, turning her head to look at the princess.

“Yeah, very different from where I grew up,” Varius tells her and walks over to stand next to the princess. “Any reason for us coming here specifically?”

Mipha hums and looks out in front of them. “This is Veiled Falls. This is where I myself was taught to swim up waterfalls for the first time,” she explains, something wistful in her eyes as she does so, before continuing, “and I am hoping it will help you do the same.”

It’s not someplace with any special properties that could help or assist her with this, but though she doesn’t know any of the details of it, Varius can tell that it’s something deeply important and personal to Mipha. Given that, Varius realizes she is likely very lucky for the princess wanting to bring her here of all places, and she has to take a steadying breath so that the sudden wave of emotions washing over her doesn’t overwhelm her.

“This waterfall’s current is also not as strong as some of the others, and should be safer in general for you to try going up,” Mipha points out as well, almost as if an afterthought to the first reason.

“What are you going to be doing though, your highness? I can’t imagine your plan was to just watch me swim the entire time.”

“No, though I am certainly not against it should that be what you need,” Mipha states outright. “I intended to train with my trident otherwise if that is alright with you,” she then explains, pulling the object in question out from where it sits on her back and easily spinning it around with a little flair in one of her hands before planting the bottom of the staff on the ground, the action captivating Varius for a moment.

She’s absolutely sure that the princess can do far more impressive things than just a simple twirl, but she does it so effortlessly that Varius can’t help but think just how cool the princess is.

Not the time though.

“Oh, that’s fine, I don’t mind,” Varius tells her. Alright good, she didn’t just drag the princess out here with nothing to do just to help her.

“Excellent! Now then, shall we both begin?”

“Uh, yeah,” Varius says with a small nod, and Mipha nods back, heading over to another part of the pool to train while Varius goes over to the base of the waterfall and looks up at it.

She finds herself just staring up at the cascading wall of water for a moment, motionless.

“Varius?” Mipha calls out at some point.

“Hm?”

“Is everything alright?”

Varius slowly turns to look at her then, hesitating before she admits, “I.. don’t know where to start, Princess. I’m not sure what to practice.”

“Ah.” Mipha sheaths her trident without any further prompting and comes back over to her. “We should figure out what it is that you’re struggling with in that case. Let’s start with what you were doing when you had gotten hurt perhaps, can you tell me about that?”

Varius tilts her head in confusion. “I’m.. not sure I understand the question.”

Luckily the princess doesn’t take offense to it and asks her, “You told me that your scales got torn up because of the rocks, correct?” to which Varius nods. “In what way did you hit the rocks? How did that occur?”

“Oh, well I was swimming up along the outer edges of the waterfalls, in order to collect swift violets, and I usually had too much momentum getting into them and leaping out of the current was a bit difficult to control,” Varius explains, while motioning with her hands to demonstrate what she was describing.

“I see,” the princess says thoughtfully, letting out a contemplative hum.

“What is it, Princess?”

“I can’t say for certain since I wasn’t there to see it of course, but it sounds as if there were multiple skills which you have not had much experience with that you had to do in combination, making it a much harder task than if you were attempting each of them individually. Entering the waterfalls properly, swimming along the sides, leaping out of the current, and with you trying to collect things at the same time, I am in all honesty a bit surprised you ended up as unscathed as you are.”

Varius blinks. “Oh.”

That had never even occurred to her.

“So you think I had too much to focus on?” she asks, just to clarify.

“Yes, I’d say that’s the most likely explanation.”

Well that makes this whole thing feel slightly more manageable than before. Even still, “What do you think I should do then?”

Mipha pauses to think on it for a second before telling her, “I think our first priority should be for you to get used to entering the waterfalls and learn how much momentum you need to do so. If that is taken care of, you will be much less likely to be going at a speed that will get you as hurt when you start working on everything else.”

Varius looks down to think over the suggestion before nodding, looking at her again. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“Perfect. Would you like for me to focus on helping you out?”

“If you don’t mind..” Varius says hesitantly, but Mipha just smiles.

“Not at all,” she assures, taking a step back.

Varius glances over at the waterfall once more.

“Even with a place to start, you still seem nervous,” Mipha notes, an unspoken question in her words that she waits for Varius to answer.

“Well I got injured last time I did this, so I’m not exactly too keen on it happening again, which it might,” she mutters with a halfhearted shrug.

“It sounds as though there’s more to it than that,” Mipha prods as she sits down next to her and Varius joins her. “Is that genuinely your only concern?”

Varius looks over at her from the corner of her eye before letting out a breath, shoulders sagging a little. “It’s just that.. I can’t help but wonder if I’m wasting my time and this is all pointless,” she admits, gaze falling to the ground. “Not because I think my job isn’t important or anything like that, I know it is, but because what if I spend all this time trying to get used to the currents here only to find out I can’t? Or even that I take so long to figure it out that it would’ve just been more efficient for me to not have been hired in the first place? I only ended up getting this job because of Cleff forgetting about one delivery, he’s been able to handle keeping the store running just fine before I moved here, both my tasks and his. My job is important, but maybe I’m not the one who’s capable of doing it. There’s nothing for me to do in the store, I’m struggling with doing what I’m supposed to do outside the store, so if I can’t figure out how to move around in these currents, what else do I have left…?”

Mipha simply listens to her as she talks, waiting until everything has been said that needs saying, before she briefly hums in thought. “There is always a possibility, even if it’s very small, that you won’t be able to do it in the end, I won’t claim that it is an unfounded fear in and of itself,” is the first thing she says, causing Varius to look up at her curiously. That was not something she expected the princess to say, but all the same, it’s somehow reassuring in its own way. “But I am confident you will figure it out. If I know anything about you, it’s that you will get there.”

“With all due respect, your highness, you haven’t exactly known me for very long,” Varius points out, but immediately feels guilty about it as a little bit of sadness slips into Mipha’s expression at that.

Before she can even try to apologize though, the princess’ gaze suddenly turns resolute as she squares her shoulders. “Yes that’s true, for now at least,” Mipha concedes, “but from just what little I’ve seen so far, I can already tell that you aren’t one to give up so easily. Even when you had gotten injured, you still managed to complete your collection run. You had been willing to just deal with your injuries if it weren’t for Cleff bringing you to me. Despite how restless you are, you have still stayed in the store to help out if Cleff needs it. And I know that you won’t be giving up on this either, because if there’s nothing else I know about you, I at least have noticed your dedication,” Mipha states firmly, her entire demeanor unwavering.

The princess really is something, isn’t she?

“And yes, Cleff was handling your job in addition to his own before you arrived, but I don’t know if I’d say that he had been doing so ‘just fine.’ If I were to guess, he might not have been managing it as easily as you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“You must remember that we were dealing with a rather.. unprecedented situation here in Hyrule for the past century before your arrival,” Mipha explains. “There weren’t as many people living here as there are now, and it is only recently that we have truly started being able to rebuild. With the Calamity, it was easy enough for Cleff to handle it then, but there’s more work for him and everyone else in the store to do now, so I’m certain he probably needed someone to take on the job you have now sometime soon.”

The princess’ words are a little reassuring to hear but, “Even still, I don’t know if I’ll end up being able to do it at all…”

“If there was one thing my brother taught me, it was that sometimes we need to take chances, even if we may fail, because you never know how much you might miss if you can never bring yourself to try,” Mipha says, voice growing quiet, just barely able to be heard over the sounds of the waterfall cascading into the pool beneath it. “I had always thought as a child that he was fearless, that he never second-guessed a single step he took, but as I’ve grown older, I’m sure he was unsure of a great many things, even as he continued to push forward. He was still a very confident zora, one of the most I’ve ever known, but even then, what he showed me was never about having full confidence in yourself or not being afraid, just that we often can accomplish many things that we may not think we’re capable of, things we may never think we’re capable of, as long as we have enough faith in ourselves to try anyways. Sometimes faith is all we have, and that can be enough.”

Varius takes in Mipha’s words, hands folded in her lap in silent contemplation for a moment. “He sounds like he was amazing, Princess..” she finally tells her, looking over at her.

Mipha’s smile is a bit sad, a melancholic look in her eyes as she gazes up at the top of the waterfall. “Yes, he was a great zora,” Mipha says and a little bit of the sorrow in her smile melts away, “and a wonderful brother.”

Unwilling to pull the princess from her thoughts before she’s ready, Varius decides to simply continue sitting beside her, the only thing she can think to do in this moment being to wordlessly place her hand in between them in silent invitation, and Mipha accepts it, gently holding it in her own.

After a few minutes, Mipha softly squeezes her hand, before looking back over at her. “Thank you, for listening, even though it’s not what we came here for. It has been a while since I’ve talked about my brother, I think I needed that.”

Varius nods a little as she meets Mipha’s eyes, unsure of what exactly to say, but she hopes that Mipha can see from her expression that she’s glad she was able to help in some way. The airy little laugh Mipha gives her luckily seems to indicate that it did.

“But getting back to your practice, what I meant to convey is that you might just have to try it, even if you are unsure of how it will go,” Mipha says, gently taking hold of her other hand too. “And even if you are to get hurt, there is no need to worry because I will be right here to heal you.”

“What if I still can’t find any faith in myself though? What if I don’t know if I even believe in whether or not I can bring myself to try?”

Mipha smiles. “Then I suppose I’ll just have to have enough faith in you for the both of us,” she says as if it’s the most simple thing in the world, gaze steady and sure. There’s something about it that gives Varius pause for a moment, as if Mipha’s own faith in her is enough to make her believe for even just a second that maybe she can, and there’s something about that that makes her want to try, if not for herself, then for Mipha. Varius honestly wishes she had that type of conviction.

With a hesitant nod, Varius fully turns to look up at the waterfall while Mipha swims off to the side so as to not be in the way while observing, silence settling in as she starts trying to mentally prepare herself.

Moving towards the base of the waterfall, she extends her hand to try to maybe get a feel for the way the water is flowing, as if she’s hoping she can think her way through the problem, but then she recalls Mipha’s words from earlier. She’s not sure if she can do this but she might have to try anyways.

She starts to go through the motions of dropping into the water only to abruptly jump back seconds later, a sudden rush of nerves hitting her as she screws her eyes shut, her heart hammering in her chest more than she would prefer it to.

What is she even so worried about? At this point, getting hurt again isn’t relevant with the princess nearby, so that’s no longer a concern. Is she worried about failing in front of the princess? Whether she succeeds or not at getting up the waterfall doesn’t matter though. There was never any mention of Mipha expecting her to do it on this first try or the second or even the twentieth, the princess won’t think poorly of her if her attempts don’t pan out. The only thing Mipha is looking for is just that she tries, and probably the only way Varius could disappoint her right now is if she doesn’t even make the effort to attempt it at all, but considering the princess’ kindness and compassion, Mipha probably still wouldn’t be disappointed in her.

After calming down a little, she opens her eyes again and takes a deep breath before just going for it before she has enough time to think about it and psych herself out again, diving into the current and using its momentum to shoot upwards, her body breaking through the surface of the wall of water. For a moment she feels herself fighting against the water as she tries to swim up, but remembering Mipha’s words once again, she instead stops trying to think about her movements and allows her instincts to take over entirely, letting her body feel the flow and move with it, and she finds herself nearing the waterfall’s crest mere moments later.

It’s far from a graceful landing when Varius emerges at the top, with her instead having to do a couple very clumsy forward rolls across the stone platform, finally coming to a stop sprawled out on her back in the grass.

She blinks up at the sky for a second, processing what just happened, before she lets out a whoop and scrambles up, hurrying over to the cliff face to see Mipha’s reaction.

“I did it!!” she exclaims, beaming down at the princess from where she’s now sitting on her knees with her arms propped up on the edge of the platform, and Mipha is smiling right back at her.

“I knew you could!”

“I sure didn’t!” Varius tells her, which makes Mipha laugh.

“And despite that, you did it anyways!” Mipha responds, giving her a particular look as if to say ‘Just like I had told you earlier, did I not?’ It doesn’t come off anywhere close to feeling like an ‘I told you so’ however, as there’s simply too much pride in Mipha’s expression, and Varius feels something flutter in her chest at knowing that her success is the reason for it.

“I’m gonna come back down now!” Varius lets Mipha know, standing back up.

“Alright!”

With that, Varius dives down to the water below, cleanly piercing through the pool’s surface without any issues. Very different from her landing at the top of the waterfall, but she smiles as she finds herself thinking that that will come in time.

When she resurfaces, Mipha has already swum over to her, still smiling. “How are you feeling? Nothing hurt?” Mipha asks to check in with her, just to be safe, and Varius beams as she shakes her head.

“Nope, I actually did it! And without any injuries!!” she squeals, unable to help herself from doing a happy little wiggle.

Mipha laughs sweetly at her gleefulness and Varius doesn’t think she will ever tire of hearing her laugh.

“You did wonderfully, I’m proud of you. And even if you hadn’t been successful, thank you for at least trying,” Mipha tells her warmly.

Varius flusters a little at that, ducking her head down, but she still smiles shyly as she nods.

It’s quiet for a brief moment between them as they both bask in the feelings before Varius quickly looks back up at Mipha with wide eyes, excitedly asking, “Can we do it again?”