#stan writing

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The moon continues to climb to its peak in the night sky, Varius meandering aimlessly around the domain’s courtyard as she waits for Marot Mart’s business hours to be over for the day.

Cleff had sent her out about an hour before the Coral Reef’s closing time. She’d been inside for most of the day on the off-chance she’d be able to even remotely help out in the store and despite the fact that she actually was given a task to do earlier in the afternoon, she had been getting pretty antsy by that point. The shopkeep had noticed this of course, because why wouldn’t he have, and so insisted that she go take a walk until the store closed for the day. When she would be allowed to come back in, Cleff had expressed wanting to check over her injuries and change out her bandages, so all she could do was wait until then, the time seeming to drag on longer and longer, even more so than the rest of the day had felt.

Eventually Varius sees from across the courtyard as Marot heads into the store to talk to Cleff so she waits a bit longer, and around 15 minutes passes before Marot comes back out again and starts walking towards the stairs. As she does so, the bubbly zora woman takes notice of Varius looking at her and she doesn’t say anything but she grins kindly, giving her a friendly wave. Despite it catching her slightly off guard and making her duck her head a little, Varius manages to give her a small wave back, and Marot grins even more when she does so before heading up.

After that little exchange, Varius walks over to the store again and sees as Cleff is almost done with putting things away, stopping just inside the entryway so as to not get in the way as he does so.

“Ready for me to look you over?” Cleff asks when he looks up and sees her, and she nods wordlessly. At that answer, he smiles and tells her, “Ok, go ahead and sit down then, I’ll get the first aid kit,” before he slips into the back room with the last armful of swift violets.

Doing as instructed, Varius goes over to the chair by the counter, pulling it out a bit from where it’s tucked into the corner so that she won’t be squished into such a small space and there’s room for Cleff to actually work. She sits down on the chair then and waits for a little bit before Cleff comes back and walks over to her, first aid kit in hand which he places down and takes some things out from it.

Once everything is set up, Cleff sits down in front of her and starts on removing the old dressings, asking her, “How have they been feeling? Any notable pain or discomfort?”

“No, they’ve been fine. Pain’s not any worse than what was there to begin with,” she tells him and he nods.

“And how about in general? Have you felt off at all?”

“No, I feel normal.”

“Ok, good,” he says as he carefully looks over each of the injured areas. “Given that and the fact that they look alright, I’d say nothing’s gotten infected and they’re healing like they’re supposed to.”

“That’s something at least..” Varius mutters, possibly to Cleff or possibly to herself. All Cleff does is hum in acknowledgment.

The two of them sit in silence for a few minutes as Cleff first takes care of the smaller nicks and cuts on her torso, making sure to clean each one once again before covering up the areas that still need it, which unfortunately is most of them.

After those are taken care of, Cleff then works to unwind the bandages on her arms to reveal the worst of the injuries she’d sustained and definitely the ones that will require the most attention. Luckily cleaning them doesn’t sting as badly as it had the first time around, but it’s still not comfortable and she holds in slight hisses of pain. It’s thankfully over soon enough though and she watches as he starts covering them up with new bandages, even more carefully than the others.

“Cleff?”

“Yes Varius?”

“Can I get back to doing runs tomorrow?”

He doesn’t look up as he tells her, “It’s too soon for me to send you out on a run, Varius, you only got hurt a couple days ago.”

“But I’m fine, it’s only a few scales,” Varius insists.

“Your scrapes haven’t healed yet, you need to give them time to do so before trying to go out again,” Cleff explains. “Otherwise, you could end up hurting yourself even worse than before and need even longer to recover.”

“But we won’t have anything for the store if I don’t go out!”

“We’ll be fine on inventory for a bit while we wait for your scales to start growing back in, there’s no rush,” he assures calmly as he keeps wrapping her arms.

“I can go on another run though, really! I’ll make sure I’m super careful and everything too, I promise!” Varius tries to argue, giving Cleff a pleading look. “I’ll only get the easy stuff, I’ll go slower, I’ll stay as close to the domain as I can, I’ll even get everything checked on by the healers afterwards, just please send me on another run, I can do it-!”

“Varius,” Cleff cuts in calmly as his hands still from their task and she promptly stops talking, avoiding his eyes. “What’s this about?”

“What’s what about?” she mumbles in an effort to dodge the way this conversation is starting to go, her tone not snippy or anything, but pointed enough that she’s hoping Cleff will deem her stubbornness in giving him straightforward answers to be too exasperating to be worth the effort.

To his credit however, Cleff doesn’t heave a sigh or grumble at her response at all, instead remaining just as soft and kind as he takes hold of her hands and gives them a small squeeze. “The insistence that you need to be doing something. As if you aren’t allowed to take a break. Where’s this coming from?” he asks gently, looking up at her from where he’s sitting on the ground in front of her chair.

“I..” Varius starts before trailing off, Cleff waiting patiently all the while. Taking a deep breath as she closes her eyes for a moment, she then lets it back out and finally looks back at him. “The whole reason you hired me was for me to get stuff for the store, and on the first run by myself that you send me out on, I already managed to put myself out of commission. It doesn’t feel right to still be getting paid when I can’t actually do the job I was given in the first place and I’ve barely even done anything for you at this point, I can’t just sit around and do nothing to help!”

“While you may not be able to right now because of your injuries, you still plan to do your job once you’ve healed. I’m willing to pay you even if you currently can’t go out because I know that you’ll work hard once you finally can,” Cleff says.

“But how can you know that? You’ve only known me for two weeks, for all you know I could’ve taken this job just as an excuse to stay in the domain and I’d work hard for a few months before starting to slack off and not do my job!” she posits.

“Trust me, your impatience for me to send you out on another run is proof enough that you’re taking this seriously,” Cleff says with a chuckle and Varius feels her cheeks get a little warm at him being able to call her out so blatantly. “I’m genuinely not worried about whether or not you’re actually going to do your job, because I trust you and I can already tell that you will. All I need you to be focusing on right now is resting so that your scales can grow back in, because the sooner you let yourself heal, the sooner you’ll be able to work on learning the currents around here, and the sooner you learn the currents, the sooner you can go on more runs.”

“But we can’t just wait forever for me to get back in shape for more runs, we’ll run out of stock eventually,” Varius says, frowning slightly.

“The store isn’t going to suddenly go out of business just because you’re unable to go on runs for a couple of weeks, Varius, you don’t need to put that kind of pressure on yourself. Running this store is a team effort, and being a team means that we look out for each other and make sure we’re taking care of ourselves,” he tells her. “We—Marot, Mei, and I—are here to pick up the slack if you aren’t able to help out like you usually can, you’re allowed to take whatever time you need to get back into things.”

“If I’m not able to help you for so long though, how can I..? Why do you still want to..?” she trails off, unable to string together anything coherent from the scattered thoughts in her head, at an utter loss for how to express what she wants to say.

Luckily Cleff takes pity on her and cuts in, adding, “If you’re really that bothered by the idea that I’m paying you for doing nothing, then you can consider it compensation for picking up that first shipment for me. You really helped me out of a bind, it’s the least I can do to thank you.”

“I thought giving me a job was your way of thanking me,” she says, giving him a slightly confused look.

“Ah, well, I suppose it could be seen as one,” he concedes with a tilt of his head. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d consider it that way with that essentially being like me telling you ‘Hello new zora that’s only just arrived at the domain, I know you just did a favor for me when you were under absolutely no obligations to do so but would you be interested in doing even more work for me?’” he jokes slightly, saying the latter half in a silly voice, before he grins up at her.

Varius giggles softly at that. “Well I would’ve had to start the nerve-wracking process of looking for a job when I’m already nervous about talking to new people anyways as you’ve probably picked up on by now, so you unintentionally saved me from needing to do that in the first place. So I consider it a thanks.”

Cleff nods. “Fair enough.”

“But you’re really ok with me not being able to help out much…?” Varius asks hesitantly, looking at him with a slight frown.

“Yes, I’m genuinely ok with that,” Cleff responds, meeting her gaze with steady assurance, and she studies his face for a moment for any possible sign of him changing his mind.

It doesn’t happen however and taking a deep breath in, Varius closes her eyes before letting it back out and hanging her head with a small nod. “Ok, ok yeah.. Sorry for you having to calm me down like that, me freaking out isn’t your problem to deal with,” she murmurs out in apology, opening her eyes again.

Cleff just gives her hands another soft squeeze before he resumes with tending to her injuries, saying, “You don’t need to apologize for that, I understand where your worry is coming from. It’s true that I’ve only known you for two weeks but by that same token, you’ve only known me for two weeks and you don’t yet know who I am either. You don’t know what to expect from me or how I’ll react in these types of situations, it’s only natural that you’re nervous about the fact that you’re not able to work right now.” He then pauses once more to look up at her as he states, “So this is me outright telling you that I don’t mind that you’re going to need some time to heal and then to practice swimming around here. However long it takes is however long it takes, and I’m more than willing to wait if it means it’ll allow you to put in your best effort like I know you already want to.”

“You’re already very trusting of me,” Varius comments a little amusedly.

Cleff hums lightly as he finishes with the last bandage, securing it into place before lowering their arms down to rest against her knees. “Well, you make it easy to trust,” he tells her in response, looking back up at her once more with a smile.

Varius’ face immediately flushes and she sees from her peripherals as the scales on her arms and legs turn pink, no doubt a sign that the rest of her body is the same color, but Cleff doesn’t make fun of her for it at all.

Unsure of how to even approach that, Varius takes a breath before casting her gaze down to their arms, Cleff’s hands still gently holding on to hers, as she says, “Thank you, for taking care of my injuries..” admitting, “They probably wouldn’t’ve been treated as carefully if it was up to me.”

“Yes, I’m very much aware of that,” he states bluntly but the tone in his voice clearly indicates that he’s amused. “But you’re welcome,” he then tells her softly, giving her hands one last squeeze before he starts putting away the remaining first aid supplies, Varius unthinkingly picking at the edges of the bandages that were wrapped around her arms a mere minute ago before she realizes that maybe she shouldn’t be messing with the work Cleff’s just done to help her, and she instead tucks her hands into her lap as she waits for him to finish up.

It’s once again quiet, the sounds of the waterfalls the only thing that can be heard by this point in the evening. Cleff does one more check around the store after putting everything away, peeking into the back room to make sure, before he walks over to her again and she looks up at him.

“Alright, I think it’s about time that we head up to the sleeping pools and get you some rest, yes?” Cleff says with a warm smile, holding out his hands for her own in an offer to help her stand.

“Mhm,” Varius quietly hums out in response as she meets his eyes, placing her hands gingerly into his and he pulls her up gently, taking care to not just yank her to her feet.

Cleff doesn’t let go of her hand after she’s up, instead holding on to it and leading her out of the store and up the stairs to the second terrace where the pools are, most of the other zoras already asleep by this point.

Walking over to one of the pools, Cleff quietly asks her, “This is the one you sleep in, correct?” and she nods, letting him help as she sits down on the edge and lowers herself slowly and carefully into the water to avoid waking the others.

She turns around to face him once she’s in, propping her arms up on the edge of the pool as she looks up at him.

“Settled in?” Cleff whispers, kneeling down in front of her.

“Yeah,” she whispers back.

“Ok good. Sleep well then, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I will, and mhm, see you in the morning.”

“Good night, Varius,” Cleff tells her, smiling at her once more.

“Good night, Cleff,” Varius tells him back, giving him a small smile in return.

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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.