. . .

Zelda

"The Yiga Clan," Urbosa said, leaning to rest the palms of her hands against the surface of the wooden table. "It's a relentless and merciless group of individuals worshiping and entrusting in the arrival of Calamity Ganon. They split from the Sheikah Tribe years ago and this is how they spend their time nowadays. They've been trying to take down anyone and everyone standing against the Calamity ever since they first formed their cult-like group. I think we'll be seeing the likes of them a lot more from now on."

After the unanticipated ambush from the Yiga Clan in Gerudo Town, the group there had come to a collective decision that an immediate discussion of what had happened and how to move on was necessary. Zelda had halted the mission to visit the Divine Beast pilots in person and arranged to briefly return home. Urbosa had left high-ranking Gerudo soldiers in command during her absence and the five of them set off for home. It had been a fairly uneventful journey home, relying on a shortcut that resulted in their arrival deep into the night with plans to meet first thing in the morning. Zelda had even sent word for Revali's attendance—This was a crucial discussion that called for all of the help it could manage.

At the crack of dawn, Zelda, Impa, Link, and Urbosa descended the spiral steps to reach the conference room with the little one scuttling down the stairs after them. It had missed the first meeting when the topic of the Divine Beasts had first been raised, but the travels as a group seemed to intrigue it enough to follow along. Together, Zelda, Link, and Impa had seated themselves at the wooden table beneath a silver chandelier sporting flickering candlelight, though Urbosa remained standing to provide the last chair for Revali. Zelda had offered to bring her another chair, but she had rather stood than to take up time retrieving a chair. Revali had arrived just minutes afterward, passing an impolite sneer to Link on his way before claiming a seat beside Impa. Now, as Urbosa spoke, Zelda, Impa, and Link sat quietly while the little one stood calmly on the table and Revali outstretched his blue-tinged feathers to examine them as if there was somewhere else he wanted to be.

"There must be at least a hundred of them now," Urbosa went on. "I don't know for sure. They all live in a concealed corner of the desert where I have yet to find them. And now that they know who you are, they're going to be hunting you down as often as they have been me."

"Wait a minute," Revali interjected, tearing his focus from his well-groomed wing to shoot an incredulous look at Urbosa. "You're not telling me that these nobodies have been bothering you for years and you don't even know where they live?"

"I know that they're somewhere out there in the desert, but my understanding ends there," Urbosa replied, her green eyes darting to meet his.

Revali spat out a scoff, flexing out his feathers to study them again. "I could have done better," he sneered, earning a curt smack on the arm from Impa beside him.

Urbosa ignored the unprofessional return, slipping her hands from the surface of the table to rise to her full height to resume her summary.

"Anyway, the worst of them has got to be the one they call their leader," Urbosa went on. "His name is Kohga. He established the group several years ago. He's just about the most aggressively power-loving person you'll meet, not to mention the most stupid. He calls himself the Top Banana of the Yiga Clan."

"The Top what?" Revali echoed in further disbelief. This statement seemed to have snatched his attention again. "What is this obsession with bananas? This is becoming the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard about."

"I don't know, and I don't question it," Urbosa replied. "There are usually more important topics to consider when regarding the Yiga Clan."

Revali was satisfied with the answer but not entirely informed, passing off a short and perplexed shrug and giving no more effort towards the break in the discussion.

"Next, we have someone who seemed to be a bit more unfamiliar during the last battle," Urbosa proceeded, folding her arms across her chest. "The one called Sooga. He showed up right at the end with the declaration to withdraw the Yiga Clan from battle. He's Kohga's right hand man. Professionally speaking, they're practically inseparable. There's never a battle where they don't work together. Never one without the other."

"Yes, well, all except for, uh, you know," Revali sarcastically broke in again. "Yesterday?"

Revali's continuous interruptions finally stirred up enough of a disapproval from Zelda. Before Urbosa could speak again, Zelda respectfully raised her voice to divide the tension.

"Revali, please," Zelda said gently. Every pair of eyes turned to meet hers. Even the little one clicked against the surface of the table as it shifted and faced her. "This is a stressful period of time for all of us. Please try to keep that in mind and present your tone as such."

"Actually, he has a point there," Urbosa admitted. The little one's vibrant orb of an eye flicked to glance back at her. "That's a simple observation, Revali, not a compliment. Don't get cocky, now."

Revali sighed heavily and shortly, tucking his wings one over the other in a self-important statement.

"Like I said, Revali brings up a good point," Urbosa added. Her jewelry jingled as she unwound her arms again, resting her fingertips on the surface of the table. "Yesterday might have been our only chance to get Kohga alone long enough to have the chance to genuinely harm him. Sooga isn't going to let us get anywhere near him. The only way we can get to Kohga is after Sooga is out of the picture. I don't yet have a grasp on how we're going to manage something like that."

A presence in a legitimate discussion of harming another didn't settle well with Zelda. Her stomach wrenched into knots as she continued to listen wordlessly. She had witnessed more violence in the past three days than any other time in her life. The booming explosions in the distance as she treaded through the snow deep into the night to check on her closest friends' safety. The persistent combat and bloodshed of yesterday afternoon. It utterly haunted her to consider that she and her kingdom might have been right on the edge of an outright war.

"I don't care what we do," Impa retorted suddenly. It was the first time she had spoken since the meeting had first been initiated and drew the attention of the room over to her as she sat with a resentful glint in her eyes. "I'm just ready to not have to deal with them anymore, no matter what it means."

An outbreak of shock spread sharply through the room. Impa had always been quite stubborn sometimes, but this was completely out of character. Zelda's mouth dropped open, her words frozen over in her chest for a couple of seconds before she forced herself to speak again.

"Oh my goodness, Impa!" Zelda exclaimed. "They may be quite a disrespectful group, but there's never a need to be so hostile."

Impa's answer didn't come right away, and neither did her calmness. Her eyes flitted between the other members of the conference as if awaiting a response, her lips pressed thinly together in a tense way. After a stretch of silence, the anger seemed to melt right from her eyes as the situation sunk in.

"You're right," Impa acknowledged. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I'm just really uncomfortable about this entire idea. All of this violence recently is making me feel so angry all the time and it just comes out like that sometimes."

Urbosa had recovered from the disturbance of the statement more quickly than the rest of the group. Her hands perched upon her hips as her eyes glazed over in thought, but after Impa had finished speaking, she raised her head to look over at Zelda.

"I've just remembered that we never pursued our discussion regarding the Beast of Vah Naboris," Urbosa pointed out. "We might no longer be in reach of it, but surely we could make that conversation here."

"Oh, yes, of course," Zelda replied. Relaxation seemed to droop from Impa as she earned the break from explaining herself. "I planned to extend the question of whether or not you would become the pilot of the Beast."

"Very well." Urbosa gave a nod that quivered her earrings. "I will become the pilot of the Beast."

A little flutter of curious beeps from the machine on the table drew the attention of the room, as if it were talking to itself in accordance to the revealed news. Its metal feet tapped against the wood as it curiously studied everyone seated at the table. Revali's emerald-green eyes lay fixedly upon it with every move, almost in suspicion.

"And then there's you, my little friend," Urbosa went on, bending to address the little one at eye level. The little machine clicked against the table to face her like it knew it was being spoken to. "It's been quite some time. It's a pleasure to see you out and about again."

Zelda's attention was instantly gathered. "Wait—" she began, but her voice was unheard and drowned out as Urbosa continued to speak.

"What's the reason for this one's arrival with you?" Urbosa inquired, lifting her gaze to meet Zelda's again. "Does it play a significant role in your travels, or is it just present for the company?"

"We've theorized that it has traveled from the future by means of supporting us as the Calamity nears," Zelda informed her. For the first time, the words felt foreign in her mouth, almost like she was presenting something untrue. What if she was wrong? She couldn't have been wrong—Robbie had raised the idea of time travel himself. "Beyond that, I cannot bear to leave a dear friend behind on such a crucial journey."

"What about the Calamity?" Urbosa pressed. "What do we know as of right now?"

"We've discovered that the Calamity is far closer to us than we had previously assumed," Zelda told her grimly. "We may be running out of time. Ganon has already managed to begin taking control of the Guardians. We were attacked by one just three days ago. I fear what the near future may hold for us. Because of this, I decided that it was in our best interest to work quickly. This is why I've been gathering pilots for the Divine Beasts."

A low, almost gloomy whine escaped from the little one on the table.

"Good thinking," Urbosa agreed with Zelda, disregarding the little one's input. The light bleeding onto the stone walls flickered with the unsteady candlelights. "In the potential event that we do run out of time, we'll still have the Divine Beasts on our side. What else can be done to prevent it?"

Zelda paused to recount a list of options in her mind. The number surfaced very short, a discouraging image.

"The Master Sword rests in the depths of Korok Forest," Zelda explained. "But there's too many complications to travel there as of right now. Not only is the heavy number of monsters surrounding the area too thick to make it through, but we can't pull the sword until we find a knight who holds that destiny. I wouldn't even know where to begin searching for them. They could be anywhere in the world right now. I'd have to instruct each and every one of my soldiers to try before I'd even rule out the possibility of them living at the castle."

"I'm assuming that your powers haven't proven clear, either," Urbosa said. With the dispirited expression that crept over Zelda's face, she accepted her answer and went on. "I'd recommend that you clear the way to the forest before you begin instructing fighters in that direction. Eliminate the monsters overtaking that space so that you can move freely. But for now, hold your focus to the mission of collecting pilots for the Beasts. Where were you headed next after visiting Gerudo Town?"

"I planned to be on my way to Zora's Domain to visit Princess Mipha," Zelda informed her.

"For Vah Ruta, I presume," Urbosa replied. "Keep moving as you would have. If you leave shortly after this meeting adjourns, you'll arrive today in the late afternoon. Revali and I shall return home to allow you to do so. Good luck, little bird. I wish you all the best."

. . .

Mipha

The trickling water was a sound that washed over Mipha with an unparalleled tranquility. The floor held a distinct coolness beneath her bare feet, burgundy hands loosely holding the railing in front of her as the narrow fins in her elbows protruded from either side of her. On the high balcony, she stood above the land of her home, the land of her family, the land of her memory. The sights of Zora's Domain, so lively and tremendous, were almost magical and positively sparkled in its aqua foundation. Shimmering structures and raised passageways of ice, glistening water trickling from elevated stances. The clouds above were full and gray as if a storm approached, a crisp breeze flitted through the air, and a substantial occasion awaited in timeless anticipation.

At eighteen years old, Mipha had known the domain as princess for the entirety of her life. Not once had she ventured outside of the walls bordering every moment. Lessons of courtesy, combat, and more had swallowed up many years of her childhood. At thirteen, her lovely baby brother, a burgundy Zora fish like herself, came into the world and blessed her life with joy and love, but it had been two years prior at eleven when her life had first completely turned around. On an unusually warm midsummer day, a traveler had appeared amidst the icy land of Zora's Domain. A traveler with no purpose and no home, eager for somebody to help him. It was that day that Mipha had met her closest and most cherished friend, a delicate soul whose presence she learned to adore in ways words couldn't describe. He went on to become a knight in service of Hyrule Kingdom, but he was never too far away. Today, he would have been stopping by with the princess of Hyrule and the royal advisor for a critical discussion regarding Vah Ruta after almost three years of wait.

Conversation buzzed below where Mipha stood on the balcony. Zora civilians greeted each other in passing and continued on along the wide passageways. Mipha herself stood too high to be noticed. It was a good thing. It wasn't often that she could have earned the opportunity to keep her own company and simply breathe. The attention and conversation was pleasant on paper, but the repetition of it was a tiring act, both physically and emotionally. She delighted in the moments she spent by herself or alone with her little brother, who was barely five years old now. Somewhere royal duties or the orders of her father the king couldn't get in the way.

The news had first been broken of Link's visit just after breakfast. It had been a passing comment from a Zora guard as Mipha took her leave from the table. The three would have been arriving during the afternoon to discuss the Divine Beast. She'd never met with the royal advisor before, at least not directly, and she'd only been in the presence of Princess Zelda twice or three times. Still, the reminder of the visit locked firmly into place in her mind as the hours crept by. It was likely that she would remember this day for months to come.

Mipha's eyes drifted down to the main floor. It was a spacious area, containing nothing but a wide slab of empty ice and a dribbling fountain in the middle. There would have been a prolonged flight of stairs towards her left directing to the throne room, but it was obstructed from her view with a curving icy awning. Her father would have been in that room, awaiting the guests' arrival, and her brother must have been there as well. She had stopped in briefly almost half an hour ago to check on his whereabouts to find him slipping and sliding across the slick floor in a flurry of delighted giggles and a shimmer of amusement in his amber eyes. A smile found its way to Mipha's face at the memory, a throb of warmth dwelling within her heart. He really was her everything.

Mipha had ascended to the balcony to look out for her acquaintances the minute she allowed herself to in accordance with the time. The urge had tugged on her for almost forty-five minutes before she had given in, keeping herself busy to keep herself distracted. She roamed the shops of fruits and arrows, ending this period by excusing her time to search for her brother. She had been standing upon the balcony for almost thirty minutes now, peering down at the activity below her and rolling through her memorable morning in her mind.

Movement emerging out onto the visible section of the main floor jolted Mipha back to reality. The regal silver adornments drooping from her head, shoulders, and wrists clinked against each other with the abruptness in which she turned her attention towards it. A group of four whom she could only point out by hair and tops was passing by the fountain on their way to the throne room. She acknowledged the visitor in leading as Princess Zelda, shining yellow-blonde hair hanging over a blue top of royal elegance. Beside her shuffled a young woman not much older than Mipha herself who seemed to be a part of the Sheikah Tribe, traditionally dressed in tan and black with attire nearly fully concealed by a thick sheet of white hair dropping far past her waist. She must have been the royal advisor. A mechanical spider-like creature scuttled across the ice in following, skidding on the surface every couple of seconds and scurrying to catch up. And the last one, a blond low-ponytail spurting onto a sky-blue tunic, was a figure that promptly sent a twinge of familiarity in the depths of Mipha's chest. Link.

Mipha descended a narrow spiral staircase bordered by thin streams of water, jewelry jingling with every swift step. She could almost sense the chill of the falling water as she progressed downwards towards the level flooring. Her fingertips lightly brushed the surface of the railing, her feet hustling to carry her. The sector had been cleared by the time she arrived, climbing the steps towards the throne room where her acquaintances had gone. Voices leaked from the spacious room before she had even emerged.

"I hope we're finding you well today." A youthful, polite voice. It was the voice of Princess Zelda.

"I am very well. And yourself?" A gentle voice that was large enough to boom across the room. Mipha recognized this voice without an ounce of effort. It was the voice of her father.

Mipha reached the throne room at the top of the stairs. An immense, spacious, chill-tinged room of towering icy walls met her there. At the back of the room, seated upon a wide and elegant throne, sat the particularly broad-heightened Zora king that was her father. King Dorephan, the ruler of Zora's Domain, nearly brushed the blue fins atop his head against the ceiling with impressive stature. He was not alone in the room, as several considerably smaller figures scattered throughout. Mipha took a brief scan of the room. The princess and her advisor stood with their backs to Mipha, standing politely before the throne to engage in conversation. A flurry of clicking footsteps against the ice bounced from the walls as the creature ventured throughout the room. Link stood further back from the group and closer towards the entrance where Mipha stood, studying his fingernails in silence, and he turned when Mipha emerged.

A pair of round, almost shimmering blue eyes met Mipha's. Lips flat in a casual expression widened in a rising bright smile. And there he stood, a beautifully and precisely crafted face that Mipha had not seen in person for years. He was truly here, after so long. At long last, their story could continue once more.

An undefined sensation swept sharply through Mipha, an emotion far beyond words. At first, it held the twinge of nervousness, throbbing somewhere in the depths of her heart, and then a warmth like fire and flaming bliss flooded her chest. A pinch sprung to each of her eyes, threatening to pull tears. As if treading through a dream, an image only faintly in reach, Mipha was already carrying herself across the ice and into the tender and secure embrace of his arms.

"Oh, Link," Mipha whispered into the ruffled folds of his short blue sleeve atop his shoulder. "I can't even begin to express how terribly I missed you."

Link had no verbal answer to give—This had become usual, as he had not spoken full sentences for years and his words had grown more and more seldom over time—But instead, his grip tightened as he held her close to make up for it.

"Well, it just seems remarkably dangerous, does it not?" Dorephan's voice boomed across the room in conversation. "I'm hesitant to allow her to go through with that."

Mipha gently eased herself from Link's arms, drawing back as their eyes met again. "Will you be here for long?" she inquired.

Link snuck a glance at Impa and Princess Zelda, observing them in conversation with the king as if the answer was concealed somewhere in their presence. His focus lingered for a few seconds before he looked back at Mipha, thin strips of blond hair framing his face as they couldn't reach his ponytail flicking his chin as he shook his head. Disappointment tugged Mipha's heart into her stomach.

"Let's take a walk," Mipha suggested. A bit of enthusiasm had died out of her voice at the abrupt change of plan. "If we don't have much time, we may as well make the most of it."

The trill of dripping water touched the brisk air around Mipha and Link as they ventured the winding exposed passageways of the domain. They kept a leisure pace, shuffling across the ice as a pair. Mipha made a point to focus on the subtle nip of chill against her feet with every step, the jingling of her bountiful jewelry, or even the position of her arms as they hung at her sides. It was an efficient distraction from the obvious.

The knowledge that Link was standing at her side, that his eyes still strayed upon her, rattled through Mipha's soul. Her heart danced with the rhythm of an irregular drum pattern, her stomach tingling with what she only could describe as shivering jitters. It hardly took a thought for her to accept before Link had arrived that because of the intense feelings towards him she would be restless to some degree, but she hadn't expected to be struck with the sensation so firmly that it was like she'd been smacked over the head with a brick.

Mipha's breath was nearly snatched from her as her slim hand closed around Link's, clasping hold by the motive of nothing but a thought questioning whether she had the courage to. Once reality crashed down again, it did so in such a jolting fashion: What now? Link's hand folded gently around Mipha's, returning the gesture with courtesy and without much evident question. Mipha forced herself to breathe again.

"You know, I'm so grateful for this time that we can spend together," Mipha spoke up. The words had instantly bounced from her lips in the beat of silence after their hands had locked together, a rushed attempt to divert the focus for nonchalance sake. "So much has changed, and still, nothing at all. The feeling of your presence is the very same, and it is nonetheless absolutely cherished."

Thunder rumbled faintly across the dimly painted clouds. Mipha and Link strolled quietly across the ice path, enclosed by thin railings with hands latched as one. Short breezes swept subtly past them as they ventured through. The sounds of the domain, lighthearted conversation and shuffling feet, were behind them, receding into the tranquility.

What a rare moment, Mipha thought to herself, soaking herself with the glistening icy sights, the delicate sounds, and her hand cradled gently in Link's. True simplicity is near impossible to come by, but such is life.

"Might you be able to visit again soon?" Mipha tried again after a while.

Link turned his face to meet Mipha's gaze again and consideration flashed across his enchanting eyes in his silence. The strips of hair framing his face fiddled at his chin again. Mipha could nearly sense the answer putting itself together in his mind as he contemplated his schedule.

"Princess Mipha!" a voice behind them broke through the tranquility.

Mipha instantly wrenched her hand out of Link's at the idea of being caught in such a personal state. She turned around to the discovery that they were no longer alone—A forest-green Zora several inches taller than them both approached at a hurried speed across the ice. Due to the lengthy silver spear fastened to his back, it was clear to see that he was a member of the domain's guards.

"Is something the matter?" Mipha inquired as he arrived at a stop nearby to engage in conversation.

"I apologize for the interruption," the Zora guard began hastily. He struggled to catch his breath, like he had been sprinting at full speed to locate them. "You must get to a place of safety. I've just received word that an ambush is on its way. The popular gathering must have drawn attention. Once you've sheltered yourself, I will send someone back for you to let you know when the danger is done and the damage it has brought."

A sickening, ill-at-ease jab tore Mipha's stomach. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Link take hold on a grip around the handle of his sword as if planning to free it from its sheath at any given moment. An ambush? Everything was fine a moment ago! What could have provoked something quite like this? In a heartbeat, Mipha quickly analyzed the mental image of neighboring areas, attempting to form an idea of which was unsatisfied with Zora's Domain. From Akkala to Lanayru to Hateno, each place was at an unspoken peace with the domain, at least to her knowledge. So what was this now?

"Where is the attack coming from?" Mipha urged to know. "Who is making these orders?"

"It doesn't appear to be a strategized attack, at least in the military sense," the Zora guard informed her. "Monstrous beasts are coming in from the northwest with intentions that don't seem passive. On any other occasion, attacks of this kind could be managed without evacuation, but the numbers are far too great to be dealt with outside of proper retaliation. It is our top priority to take all necessary precautions to ensure that you are safe and secure."

"What of my brother?" Mipha pressed. "Has Sidon been moved to a safe place? I want to see him. I want to be with him."

A shiver of uneasiness seemed to pass through the Zora guard at the mention of Mipha's little brother, a transparent expression of dread draining onto his face. A sense of foreboding crept into the atmosphere. Oh no.

"Princess Mipha," the Zora guard said hesitantly, voice ensnared in a tremble and a touch of apology. "When the prince wandered off from the throne room, it was assumed that he went to follow you as you left. Is he not here with you?"

When the prince wandered off. The words echoed within Mipha's mind, rattling her very mindspace. He was gone. Her brother was missing. Danger was rapidly approaching the domain and Sidon was nowhere to be found.

"No, he's not. I would have seen him," Mipha insisted. "Do you have any idea where he could have gone off to? It makes me sick to think that he's somewhere all alone at such a treacherous time."

"Well, we... We hadn't paid it much thought in the moment," the guard confessed timidly. "I see now how that was a mistake. We took notice of his leave after you and suspected he wished to join you."

Mipha's heart thumped heavily in her chest as she turned her attention back to Link. His arched eyebrows had inched together in concern, his hand still clenched over the handle of his sword.

"We need to find him," Mipha pleaded. "We need to search every possible place he could be right now. With how long he's been away, there's no telling how far he's gone. I won't stop until I find him."

"But the monsters are nearing by the second," the Zora guard instantly interjected. "I beg that you reconsider. You must find a safe place to remain until the battle is finished."

"No," Mipha protested. The word was sharp and unnatural on the tip of her tongue like a blade slicing through exposed flesh. "My little brother's life could be on the line and I will not let that slide. I need you all to guard the perimeter of this region and keep every last threat out. If they have already managed to get inside, move in for defense. If my home and family are at risk, then I have a duty to fulfill rather than hiding and waiting. And believe me, I completely intend to fulfill that duty."

Mipha and Link hustled to descend the steps towards a plot of dewy grass, reaching the point of the outward rim of the domain where the ice ended. Despite the early hour of the afternoon, a dimness hung in the atmosphere. The strategy fixed unmoved within Mipha's mind. They'd search the outer rim of the domain for any sign of her young brother's face and question everyone they passed whether they had noticed anything. If he was still within the region, it was the only area that he could be—If he were somewhere along the winding passageways, a guard would have found him by now. Mipha didn't dare even fully acknowledge the nightmare of discovering that he was gone from the borders of her home. He would be in her arms again, safe and secure, within the hour.

"I don't know for certain if we'll be lucky enough to evade conflict, with the monsters emerging so quickly," Mipha explained as she and Link swept across the damp, swishing grass. A hint of moisture stuck to the air. Perhaps rain was on its way. It wasn't unusual for this time of year. Or any time of the year in this region, really. "You have a sword, but I lack my spear. We'll need to do without for now."

As if on cue, Link took hold of the handle of his sword again and tore it free from the sheath. He swung the weapon in a sharp, swift movement to free his path of a drooping twig of a slender tree and turned his attention back to Mipha.

"How long has it been since we left the throne room?" Mipha inquired, though the question was aimed more towards herself to piece through her thoughts out loud. "It must have been at least twenty minutes. Possibly thirty. He's so small yet, and so I pray that means he hasn't been able to get far. If I could at least have the slightest idea as to what his intentions had been, I might be able to form a prediction as to where he is now, or where he was headed. My instincts tell me that he didn't get lost trying to follow us. I would have taken notice before now. I suppose the best case scenario is that he was uninterested with staying where he was any longer and simply decided to wander off. I just deeply hope that wherever he is, he's safe."

Round, damp leaves on low-hanging branches fiddled in the wind. The shuffle of Mipha's and Link's footsteps swept subtly through the short and dewy grass. An edge of uncertainty hung in the air with every passing minute, clouded in the knowledge that danger could have neared at any angle. With every second in Sidon's absence came a jab tinged with bewilderment and unease. Surely he was out here, but where? Mipha once registered the scuffle of what might have been footsteps somewhere amongst the trees and called out in case it was those of her brother, but Link had instantly caught a firm grip on her arm to silence her. He hadn't said anything but the reminder descended that they might not have been alone, even when it seemed they were. Mipha resumed her search drowned in the shivers of panic.

A timeless moment captured the pursuit, suffocated in the swelling sense of worry. The search had dragged on for almost half an hour and a purely horrible possibility had wriggled its way into Mipha's troubled mindspace. It couldn't have been that something else had already gotten him, could it? That he was already gone from her right when she turned her back? She no longer called out for him, having learned her lesson by Link's gentle reminder, but limitation inconvenienced searching only with eyes. From time to time, they stumbled upon a straying Zora guard patrolling the rim of the domain amidst the dense wood, but not a hint of conflict. Mipha asked of Sidon's whereabouts while Link stood near in guarding and lookout. Not one passing Zora knew even faintly where her little brother had gone off to. With the directions they had, it was as though he had disappeared right off the land of the domain.

"You haven't heard anything?" A tremble hooked in Mipha's voice as she pressed towards answers from a navy-blue Zora guard several inches taller than her, leaving him to peer down at her as she spoke. "Not even a word in passing?"

Another distant crack of thunder snapped through the sky as the guard spoke in response. A sweep of chill-traced air clinked Mipha's jewelry.

"My deepest apologies, Princess Mipha," the Zora mumbled apologetically. "I haven't the slightest clue where the prince is at this very moment. I would guess that he's been brought somewhere safe due to the evacuation from the ambush."

"I've already been told that he hasn't," Mipha insisted. "I've been told he wandered off somewhere. I'm trying to find him. I need to know that he's all right. I won't shelter myself until he can be with me when I do."

"I worry about the decision that you're making, but I understand it's not my place to protest," the Zora admitted. A pinch of frustration reached Mipha's chest. Did no one believe she had a mind of her own? "If I hear anything at all about Prince Sidon's whereabouts, I will send word at once."

"You might be worried for my safety, but my safety hardly matters when my baby brother might be..." Mipha began, but her voice promptly trailed off as an isolated and far commotion of yells and grotesque squeals drew her attention. Both of Link's hands clamped over the handle of his sword as if by instinct as his eyes darted to meet Mipha's. The combat had reached their area.

"My spear," Mipha interrupted herself, turning her focus back to the Zora guard before anyone else could speak up. "Bring me my spear. Please. I need to help."

"Highness," the Zora accepted, returning a brief nod before breaking off into a run back into the direction where Mipha and Link had come from.

Mipha's eyes pried the wooded surroundings as she and Link weaved through the trees to follow the source of the disquiet. Mipha's burgundy hands were bare and inhabited with a weapon or any efficient tool to defend herself, but she closed in at Link's side nevertheless. He would be prepared to leap into combat, even if she would be forced to lay herself low until her weapon would be in her possession at last. With the right strategy, the conflict would be one easily concluded. The strained shouts of the brawl neared as the two advanced closer into the range of utter devastation—The confines of the battlefield where it currently stood.

Mipha and Link broke out of the array of wood and into a wide plot of sticky grass. Multiple Zora soldiers had already claimed their place there, scampering across the grass in diligent retaliation against the arrived threat. As informed, the threat in question was an accumulation that likely was not led by any coordinated attack, at least by the looks of them. Congesting the area streamed in the knobby crimson beasts of Bokoblins, the scaly green lizard-creatures of Lizalfos, and even the towering long-nosed Moblins. Spears flashed through the dimness, wooden clubs flung through the air, and the plot of land was swarming with motion.

"If there's this many here, I can't imagine how many there are everywhere else," Mipha confessed anxiously. Link gave a short nod in grim agreement, eyes straying along the violence. "They must be in the domain by now. That means Sidon is at risk no matter where he is. We'll need to eliminate as many monsters as we can before we reach him. I don't want to think of how many Zora could be hurt if we just leave them rather than fight alongside them."

Link's nod had implied that he was still following the words, but there was no more physical evidence that he continued to listen. His hands clenched over the handles of his sword in rigid fists, creeping forward and closer into the battle. Mipha idled at his side, drifting after him, close and silent like a shadow onto the battlefield. The secrecy in their presence was easily relied on as they inched across the grass, the overlying sounds of combat pounding through their heads, until a burgundy Zora reeled to find them standing there after being removed from confrontation with a snarling Lizalfos.

"Your Highness," the guard blurted out at the immediate sight of Mipha within the battle, but the sentence was just as quickly halted as the Lizalfos's discovery of a new fight was made clear by a screeching wail, the uncoiling of claws, a sheet of drool dripping from a toothy mouth, and the glint of utter hatred in its boggling green eyes.

A strangled gasp tore from Mipha's throat, but Link's feet were already thumping across the grass as he bounded into the action with his sword clasped between his hands and his blond ponytail bouncing against his back. Suppressed by the intensity of the battle, a deep-toned horn blared. For hardly a split second did Mipha catch sight of the thin blade slicing through the air before another sound arrived—A stomach-turning squelching and then a shrill shriek nothing short of agony. The curved claws of the Lizalfos's feet dug through the dirt as it scampered back again, away from Link and their fight. A wide gash had been slit across the creature's smooth belly, oozing with a dark crimson blood that poured out onto the grass. Mipha's stomach wrenched in a spasm of nausea. Leaping at the Lizalfos's disadvantage, Link's hand jerked up with the sword again and then the creature crumpled into a heap on the ground. Blood pooled out onto the ground around it, sinking into the dirt. A fast kill, but only one.

The encounter had begun to gather attention from the other mobbing enemies, diverting the direction from the Zora guards to a sluggish stumble of Bokoblins and Moblins in Link's direction. Finally, Mipha's feet seemed to free themselves from the damp grass beneath them as she whisked to return to his side. Her mouth fell open as she neared, ready to assure him that she was there to help, but the words were snatched right from her lips as Link shot out a hand to hold her back.

"I can help. I promise I can," Mipha insisted. Link's head jolted in a swivel to study the approaching beasts, lacking the eye contact as she spoke. "And I can do more once I have my spear."

It was as if the word sparked a certain and similar retaliation. A silver pointed weapon whizzed past Mipha's ear from somewhere in the crowd with such swiftness that she couldn't identify quite what it was in the time it was inches away and then behind her. Her heart lunged into her throat at the suddenness of the attack, whirling on her heel just as the point of a silver spear lodged at an angle into the grass. Once she had completely processed what had happened, the receding hammering of Link's footsteps yanked her back into reality. She turned back as he shot across the grass in a spurt of movement, heading towards the cluster of enemies sauntering closer.

"Link, wait!" Mipha yelled, but it was as if her voice had made no sound as Link raced forward without any more hesitation than before she had raised her voice at all.

Mipha had hardly a hint of a chance to watch Link hurl himself into battle. A stinging sense gouged into the back of her neck, an instant burst of throbbing pain. The cloudy sky flashed above her, decorated in the border of the flicking leaves on the trees. She struck the ground with a powerful whack, projecting her into such disorientation that her eyes rolled back into her head for just a moment. Something must have grabbed her.

Her mind swam, her hands fumbled along the damp grass to push herself back up. Before she had even fully understood what was happening, the collapsing of the body of a Bokoblin beside her rattled her to her core, shooting a startled jolt through her. It must have been the beast that had taken hold of her. Blood dripped down the side of its large mouth, hanging open in its unfortunate state, and a soaked piercing-wound marked the middle of its chest. Mipha's head jerked up to scan her surroundings. The same burgundy Zora soldier from before stood over her, concern etched into his face and the spear in his hand tipped with smeared blood.

"Princess Mipha, are you hurt?" the soldier urged to know.

Mipha took a hasty mental analysis of her current state. She hadn't been attacked very strongly, yet it had taken her by surprise. Only a faint throb of the sting lingered on the back of her neck, but her bones seemed to vibrate with a queasy shake.

"I'm fine," Mipha answered, but her gaze was already drifting away to pinpoint Link amidst the cluster of monsters.

For several seconds, only the jagged sea of motion caught Mipha's eye. The battle dragged on without her, swallowing Link in its wake. Her focus swerved between figures of Zora and beasts, waiting to detect the Hylian darting amidst the combat. A sky-blue flash of clothing snatched her eye as she followed an opening in the cluster to discover Link in active and lively combat with a Bokoblin. He dodged and weaved to avoid lurching swings of the creature's club, leaping in with the slinging of his sword. He usually fought more efficiently than this, Mipha knew it for sure. Something was distracting him.

The source of the distraction was revealed not long after it was first noticed. After slicing a gouging, leaking slash across the beast's chest, he reeled back again to regain distance, abruptly tossing a hasty glance over his shoulder. A pair of distraught blue eyes locked with Mipha's. He must have realized that she had yet to rise from the ground. The electric tension between the eye contact lasted hardly a moment before an anguished exclamation escaped Link as he jolted sharply back from the Bokoblin once more. That one moment had been just enough for the creature to rip its claws across his cheek.

Mipha barely blinked before she had sprung to her feet. Link was still staggering to attain control over his balance again. In a split second, the next reality that struck Mipha's senses, she was already face to face with the hideous creature. Link vanished behind her, a clenched fist of her own slinging without control or premeditated action. A stab of a needle-like sting drilled into her knuckles as her hand made impact in a whack to the creature's toothy mouth. The scratchy whine leaking from the injured mouth began at the moment of impact, sending the creature flailing back at the hit. It wasn't enough to create enough of a distraction, to knock it off its feet. Mipha's feet stumbled over each other in a clumsy fashion in the haste to leap back into combat, swinging her arm and pummeling her fin-pointed elbow into the side of its face. A bony hand was hurled at Mipha's face, perhaps to leave a mark similar as it had done to Link's, but contact never prevailed as the creature crumpled into the misty grass.

Mipha's grip locked over Link's wrist, tugging him forward and behind the cover of a dense tree among those bordering the battle. Only after she had dropped down into the concealment of the wood did she release his arm, crouching beside the intricate etched marks. She caught the soft sound of Link dropping down beside her, following the action without question, but she did not yet turn her attention towards him. Her palm brushed the ragged wood and the yells and efforts of the battle raged on as she peered around the tree, checking that their evasion hadn't been noticed. The flurry of action endured unbroken, not one pair of eyes turning in their direction.

Mipha adjusted her crouch, turning back to Link. He was crouched beside her, one hand perched upon the wood of the tree for balance and the other still clenched over the handle of his sword. A collection of scratches from the Bokoblin's claws stretched across his cheek, bright with perspirated blood and already streaming down the side of his face. Perhaps it was the adrenaline or the fact that he was seated so close to her, but her heart fluttered from a beat when she met his riveting blue eyes.

"You're losing a lot of blood," Mipha whispered.

Link withdrew his hand from the tree to swipe at his cheek, evidently trying to wipe the blood away and smearing it in the process, but Mipha was already slipping a thin sky-blue shawl from wrapped around her shoulders. The fragile texture wouldn't have done much to soak up the blood, but it was her only source of clothing. Her burgundy fingers shook as she coiled up the shawl into a tight bundle. Link had taken notice of her action and stopped in his unsuccessful attempt to brush away the blood with his hand, passing the hand instead over his tunic to mop the blood. Mipha reached up with the shawl, carefully dabbing it against the side of his face and soaking up the blood that was smeared there. For a moment and nothing more, their eyes met yet again, Mipha's crumpled shawl and hand pressed against Link's face in the stillness of their crouched hiding, a breathless and timeless spurt of a moment.

"Princess Mipha!" a distant shout rose above the others. "Your weapon!"

Mipha eased the shawl back from Link's face. It was as if it hadn't been placed there at all. Blood trickled through the cuts and moistened the part of the cloth that had touched it. They had no more time to consider it.

"Let's go," Mipha commanded, wrenching the shawl to squeeze out the blood and tying it into a tight knot around her shoulders once again.

Link gave a firm nod. The blond ponytail at the base of his head whipped around as he turned his head, sneaking a glance behind the tree. Mipha sprung to her feet, provoking Link to do the same, and they emerged from behind the tree with wary eyes flowing with the streaming motion of Zora and beasts otherwise. Out of the corner of her eye, Mipha caught the sight of Link taking up the handle of his weapon with both hands, outstretching it in front of him for when they would be noticed and shielding them. Mipha still searched the rim of trees, on her toes for the arrival of a guard with her spear in hand, and this sight was granted to her hardly seconds after. Appearing from the wooded region, the same navy-blue Zora guard that she had spoken to before whisked onto the grass, eyes drifting amongst the movement for Mipha's presence. In his gripped hand he carried a silver spear close to his own height, garnished in elaborate blades and embellished with precisely-crafted rubies. Her own spear.

Mipha's feet bounded into motion, carrying her to the guard that had brought her weapon. Fixed to her side like glue, Link gave a cautious survey of the combat before dashing after her. The Zora quickly spotted sight of their arrival, hustling to meet them at the brim of the battle, outstretching the slim weapon before they had even come to a halt.

"Defense around the perimeter has weakened," the guard informed the princess as she seized the spear from his hand, clasping against the twinge of coolness that slicked the surface. "Monsters are swarming the domain directly. The Zora have already evacuated, but we don't have much time before the security of their shelter wears down. I've never seen them act as one in such a number. I believe this may be more of a coordinated attack than we previously thought."

"Are you suggesting mass control?" Mipha urged to know. "Perhaps through brain activity? I can't see them composing a plan amongst themselves."

"The cause is unknown for the moment, but my instincts tell me that this is no ordinary attack," the guard responded.

"Your Highness!" a different yell broke into the discussion. A forest-green Zora soldier approached from amidst the wood, nearing at such a speedy pace that crucial news was bound to be delivered. Both of his hands still clenched around the rim of a spear with a point coated in splattered blood. He must have just arrived from battle. "I bring news of the prince."

Mipha's chest hollowed in a hopeful fashion, her heart leaping to soar at the statement. Instantly, she shifted her focus from the initial discussion, fingers still clamped around her own decorated spear.

"Please tell me," Mipha begged. "Is he all right? Is he hurt?"

"Prince Sidon is currently removed from the conflict, but his safety remains uncertain," the soldier confessed. "Shortly before the assault commenced, few reports stated of sightings of him heading up Polymus Mountain. It's probable that he hasn't left, as he hasn't turned up since then."

Whatever hope had lingered within Mipha was gone in a second, souring with a dismay that crept onto her tongue with a bitter taste. It was not the first time she had heard that name today. Her father had mentioned it briefly in casual conversation where Sidon had been present in the context of eliminating a particular mighty and robust wild animal that had been dwelling up at the top of the mountain for months, if not years, and stirring concern of the Zora's safety in such close quarters. At the top point of the mountain reaching high at the outward rim of the domain resided a ghastly creature like no other, an impressive man-beast called a Lynel risen with the stance of the four legs of a horse—A tenacious one at that. And Sidon had been up at the top of the mountain completely alone with it for more than half an hour.

"If that's true, then he's up there alone against a Lynel." A sort of musty queasiness tugged at Mipha's stomach as she looked at Link. "He might be hurt, if not worse. We need to find him. Follow me."

The sounds of battle sunk back into the trees with the farther Mipha and Link reached towards the mountain. The swishing of the grass and the rhythmic thudding of their feet striking the ground as they tore through the trees was hardly strong enough to muffle the sensation of the distant combat, the shrieks of monsters and distressed shouts of Zora. Mipha's heart thumped heavily against her chest with every hammering step, still clutching her spear in one hand. The ascent of the mountain would have only been a couple of minutes away, perhaps a quicker time due to her fast pace, but with every fleeting second one question pounded through her mind. How could a boy of five stand against such a horrendous beast for so long without sustaining fatal injuries?

It wasn't long before ice peered between the thick trees. They had appeared at the inner rim of the domain where the passageways began once again. They ascended a sleek flight of stairs to return back into the region and followed an especially lengthy bridge over surging water towards the first climb of the mountain. A slim crowd of Moblins had already claimed the middle of the bridge, reeling in distinct outrage at the nearing of Mipha and Link with weapons drawn. The combat kept second-nature to Mipha, her bouncing feet across the smooth surface of the ice beneath them and the twirling of the spear between her hands like a prevalent dance she had performed every day of her life. Her recoiling motions and lunging punctures as well as Link's pounces for attack at her side proved an efficient strategy. The short conflict progressed in nothing more of a blur and a blink, leaving Mipha to plunge back into reality with a bone-rattling pounding heart, a dull spasm settling in her hands, and four tremendous long-nosed beasts sprawled across the ice, wounds on chests and bellies seeping with blood. Mipha and Link resumed their advancements across the bridge, passing over the slaughtered monsters and scaling the grassy rise of the mountain.

The breathy snorting struck Mipha's senses in the leveling of the mountain several minutes from the domain, even before the sights before her. She had seen the beast in person once or twice before now in professional examination, but never ever within this close range. Several yards down the grass, drumming its hooves into the ground, was likely the most massive monster she had ever laid eyes on at more than twice her own height. The well-built creature had a sizable bow tucked onto its shoulder, untamed jets of hair sprouting from various places along its skin, particularly its bushy head where two rounded horns protruded, and a savage glint in its sunken eyes. It hadn't yet taken notice of Mipha and Link as they emerged into the grassy field bordered by pointed fir trees, but its eye was locked fixedly upon something just several feet in front of themselves, a small figure cowering back and into the trees.

Then, Mipha spotted Sidon. He himself was captured in such a bizarre scene that it was a genuine question how he hadn't been noticed earlier. Sidon was a burgundy Zora just like Mipha, one barely taller than her knees at the young age of five, and his pair of tiny webbed hands clumsily fumbled a spear from either a Zora guard or soldier. He steered the weapon out in front of him, struggling to hold it without dragging the other end across the ground, in defense as he eased back from the monstrous beast. Sniffly whimpers that weren't quite tears yet escaped him, but Mipha was behind him and could not see his face. In the flash of a moment where she first saw her baby brother standing against the vile fiend, she knew exactly and finally why he was there. He had picked up on the discussion of killing off the Lynel and decided that it was within his capability to finish the job on his own.

"Sidon!!" Mipha shrieked. The scream had clawed up from her throat before she could stop it. As every head whipped to meet her gaze, it was only then that the realization struck that it was a mistake.

Sidon's mouth moved in what must have been a quiet response, fright distorting every inch of his facial features, but it couldn't be heard over what else had come next. The Lynel seemed to have been startled by the abrupt loud noise, grunting thunderously and pummeling its hooves into the ground. The agitated puff instantly shot Mipha's stomach countless feet underground. The Lynel's head lurched forward, hair slicked against its skin by the pressure of the wind and hooves clobbering against the ground in a burst of movement, and it was nearing Sidon by the second.

Mipha had heard seldom a time of inexplicable strength appearing in someone protecting a loved one in an instant need, but the reaction she surrendered to was far beyond anything she'd experienced before in her life. In a fraction of a second, her mind snapped out of her body, limbs rocketing into motion. Her spear was gone from her hand, dumped onto the ground at the first break of movement. Her feet hammering against the rocky ground to match the skipping of her heart. An unseen miracle. Her hands clasped around a coarse surface, dense and round like the spear she had abandoned. A tug that nearly doubled her over, which she eased by gouging her feet into the dirt. A throaty holler in contact towards her face, far too close for comfort. A tearful, youthful screech. Stillness.

Mipha's arms still hung above her head, but the Lynel's head bent towards her had begun to thrash violently, provoking a significant struggle to sustain a firm grip on the horn. Her feet had sunk almost half a foot into the ground, coating her bare feet with the cool dirt underneath. Now that her eyes had been flung open to the present once again, her head reeled with what it presented to her. How she had completely halted a charging Lynel in its path and continued to hold it back was utterly incomprehensible.

The circumstances didn't last as long as expected. A particularly aggressive flail of the Lynel's head lost Mipha her grip on its horn, hurling her to crumple down onto the dewy grass. An outbreak of scrambled footsteps passed by her ear before she could even raise her head again, heavy enough to only be Link's. Mipha tossed up her head. Link now stood between her and the Lynel, standing at the ready with his sword out in front of him while the creature huffed impatiently at formerly being restrained. Mipha leaped at the opportunity of a distraction, clambering to her feet and returning to Sidon. A pair of round amber eyes stared back up at her as she neared, glistening with tears close to falling, hands grasping at the spear as his only protection. Mipha tore the spear from Sidon's hands, chucking it away where he couldn't harm himself with it, and hastily scooped him up snugly within her arms. He was okay. He was okay.

A muffled cough slipped from Sidon against Mipha's shoulder, closely followed by a weak snivel. Mipha squeezed him closer, taking a hand against the back of his head to cradle him against her.

"Shh," Mipha whispered. The moist, stomach-turning slash of a sword against flesh delivered behind her, provoking a bellowing roar from the Lynel that just about shook the mountain floor. Mipha kept her hand pressed against Sidon's head, preventing his view of the bloody scene that was occurring behind her back. "I'm here. I'm here. It's okay. I won't let anything hurt you."

Sidon seemed to be wrestling with the capability of speech, gasping softly in choking sounds against his sister's shoulder for several seconds before he could manage to force out a single word alone.

"Miffy," he whimpered. For his short number of years, he'd always been unusually quiet and slow in the development of words. This was how he pronounced his older sister's name. A knot clenched in Mipha's throat, tears pooling involuntarily into her eyes at the vulnerable sound, and embraced the precious child warmly within her arms.

There were only two more slashes of the blade behind her, sickening squelches in an unwitnessed slaughter, and then a weighty thud. The Lynel was dead. Mipha continued to hold Sidon's eyes down—Watching the vicious fight would have been traumatic as it was, but being exposed to the slain corpse of the beast was something else entirely—But shifted to examine the situation with her own eyes. Link flicked the blood from his sword in one swift movement, sheathing it with a heavy breath from the effort of the fight. The Lynel lay slumped across the grass in front of him, the ground tinted around it with the blood that seeped out. After sheathing his sword, Link reached down to take a secure grip of one of the creature's horns, straining to drag it away and into the trees to decompose. Mipha watched in silence as he lugged the body further across the ground, waiting until he had fully disappeared from her range of sight before she eased Sidon to the ground again.

"Are you hurt?" Mipha asked him, running a hand softly against the side of his face in comfort. She hadn't noticed anything when she had first studied him, but with the adrenaline of the moment wearing off, it felt to have been nothing but a blink between climbing the mountain and rescuing him.

Sidon shook his head. Mipha noticed his expression harden and his tears shrink away from his eyes as he stood in a strong posture. Even now, he endured such courage. Mipha allowed herself a smile, thriving in the cozy swell of relief in her stomach as she cupped her brother's little face in her hands.

"I cannot believe how brave you are," Mipha told him. Sidon's eyes shifted subtly to look at each of hers, listening intently to every word she spoke. The approach of shuffling footsteps from behind her told her that Link had finished disposing of the Lynel's body and was returning. "I mean it. I'm absolutely blown away. I would say that you're going to be a mighty warrior someday, but it seems you already are."

A smile had begun to inch across Sidon's face. He was evidently content with the compliment, letting loose a soft and childish giggle.

Mipha had lost the chance to answer before she had even tried to speak, the words ripped from her lips as a hand clamped over her shoulder to get her attention. Link had claimed his place by her side once again and by the urgency of his grasp, something was wrong. Mipha withdrew her hands from Sidon's face, rising to full height to meet Link's gaze, but he wasn't looking at her. His gaze was cast out over the land of the domain at the bottom of the mountain, a flare of concern falling over his eyes like a shadow.

Mipha followed Link's focus, pointing her attention down to the lower land encased by ice. Only segments of the ice could have been seen, brief patches and flashes through a sea of collective movement. The variety of ghoulish monsters had begun to take to the passageways, where soldiers were few. They were overrunning the domain. It was too late. The guards hadn't been able to hold them back.

Sidon had noticed that the focus had shifted, turning his head to stare down at the scene below. "Wha's that?" he asked.

Mipha's eyes had locked over the creatures streaming through the passageways. An ambush of this size was more than she had been aware of. It was more than she had seen. There were countless that dawdled in the woods to murder the soldiers, and yet so many in the worst possible place. This was not how the situation had been laid out at the very beginning.

"There's more of them," Mipha immediately warned, flicking her eyes back to Link's. Link met her gaze this time. The blood that had trickled from the Bokoblin's scratches smeared against the side of his face. "The number is growing. I don't know how. If my soldiers couldn't stop them from getting inside, I fear for their safety, not to mention my people. I don't know how we can get rid of them in this number. We'd need a weapon of mass destruction at this point."

It was her own words that sparked the jot of an image as an idea and just as abruptly backed it up with a hefty load of concerns. She'd never attempted to use it. She'd never dared attempt to use it. It was not permitted to her, nor was it hinted to be. She lacked the knowledge even how to use it, how to control it or utilize it. The risk maintained an utterly outstanding factor, and that wasn't even to mention just how much trouble she would have dug herself into simply by considering to use it. Would she be frowned upon? Disgraced? Stripped of her titles? Would she be banished from the domain? Was that even legal?

She'd emerged into a moment of transparent surreality in such impossible contemplation. She stretched out the moment as far that she could, numbly watching the swarming display at the bottom of the mountain. Her eyes present, her body present, though her mind reaching out to touch every corner of the known domain. Each and every one of her soldiers were lashing out in retaliation in this very moment. The blood would have left a stain on the silver by now, marking kills by the lost count. Surely, by the building crowd, hopelessness plagued their minds by now. Some may even prayed and feared for their life. Princess Mipha of Zora's Domain lived to create a sense of security and confidence in all that she did, to carry hope to her people. When it was not seen through any eyes but her own, she lived to tell it like a story until it rang as true as legend, the truth of hope.

Hope. Her people may have had less hope than the soldiers did. Flourishing in the peace of the morning, anticipating the arrival of the princess of Hyrule, and then being forced as one into a narrow place of hiding with security that had become limited. They must have sat huddled together now, like one big family holding each other in the face of danger, holding out for the last breath of hope. While every one held a completely different life, remained a completely different Zora in all of the good ways that were possible, the dread that poisoned their stomachs would have united them as one. If the soldiers feared for their lives, then so did the people. Maybe not even one soul grasped absolute certainty of the fact that the light of day would fall upon their eyes again.

The choice was no question.

Mipha hoisted up Sidon in her arms again, securing a hold on him before she turned back to Link. "Look after him, please," she commanded. "There's somewhere I must go."

Link nodded briefly, outstretching his arms and easing Sidon from her grip. He wrapped his arms around him, sustaining a secure hold on him as Mipha had done, and they both shifted to glance back at her.

"You're leaving?" Sidon asked. The spirit had receded in his voice as he stared back at Mipha with his round amber eyes, leaving an anxious tremble instead.

"I have to, Sidon," Mipha told him, resting her palm against his cheek one last time. "I'll be all right. I promise. You might even see me while I'm gone for where I'm going."

Descending the mountain demanded significantly less time and effort than climbing it. Mipha scampered down paths of grass and rocky dirt, hand clenched around the handle of her spear after plucking it from the ground on her way out. A twinge of chill still hung in the air even now, clouds shaded and otherwise like a painting looming across the sky. Mipha whisked down the plunging path of the mountain, progressing towards the bottom. She knew precisely where she was headed, the vision of a place lodged away in the back of her mind, a clear-cut thought of shimmering ice and still waters. And she would make haste of doing so.

The surrounding wood was an unrelenting sight by now, after crossing it to and from in the demanding pursuit of battle—But now she ventured alone. The bountiful jewelry hanging from Mipha's neck bounced and swung with every hammering footstep that struck the damp grass. Glimpses of ice framework flashed through the trees. Several minutes had slipped from her grasp already before she had carried herself to the route of her access point: A steep incline in the form of a hill at the far back of the domain, rising above the trees in a lower stance than the mountain had. Mipha scrambled to climb the hill that would deliver her onward to her destination, skidding to the stony ground at the middle due to the increasing moisture, and snuck a short glance over her shoulder back at the domain behind her once she had arrived at the top. From where she stood, the thick array of trees was far more visible than the ice structures positioned behind the wood.

Mipha carried on. A towering ice wall ahead like a barrier to the land told of her soon-upcoming appearance. A narrow set of climbing steps brought her up and into the confinement of the compact walls. Close within the ice, a frostiness nipped at every inch of her skin. She followed the stairs to an ascent, thin winding passageways under a heightened ceiling, and descended the next flight. A new space opened up. It wasn't entirely a full room, as it started out looking as a particularly bare one and seemed to lack the construction on the far end as the surface of the floor ended abruptly. At the end of the floor, a waterfall gushed down into an enormous spread of water. The home of the dwelling of a prominently massive weapon. She'd just about arrived.

Mipha didn't so much as hesitate. Her feet hauled her forward towards the edge in a flurry of footsteps, propelling from the brink and sending her head-first into a dive in close coincidence with the waterfall behind her. Sights of ice and water shot around her as she plummeted towards the expanse below her. A misty spray flicked at her face from the waterfall traveling beside her. She struck the water with a tremendous smack, sensing the liquid gush onto her face before the rest of her submerged. An abrupt jolt, limbs slicing through the water, and her head was above the surface again. It was only a second that she could process the situation before she had already wound herself up on the move again, splitting through the water in an urgent and practiced swim in the direction of the colossal machine, settled within the calm waves in the impressive build of an elephant, of the Divine Beast Vah Ruta.

The glowing blue lights spotted along the gears and the trunk of the machine sliced artificially through the dimness of the cloudy afternoon. Mipha divided the calm waters, washing up to the intricate, bronze-colored surface of the Beast. Her hands gripped the corner of a flat surface at her eye level. The exposed passage to the interior. Mipha hoisted herself up and onto the surface, leaving a pool of water where she climbed as it dripped from her body. The texture was smooth beneath her grasp, and yet rough at the same time, like a worn down sandpaper. Mipha centered herself with her hands and feet on the surface, allowing herself hardly a heartbeat of time to survey her balance before she sprung up again.

The interior of the Divine Beast materialized after a downward slope of the pavement into its midst. Mipha raised her head to observe the sights in front of her and her feet instantly came to a halt. Wow. Her spear nearly slid right out of her hand as her eyes floated to take in everything around her. The walls reached tremendously high, far too much so for her to begin to make a genuine estimate. Passageways chiseled in a particularly complex fashion hung overhead every which way, stacking in level. An open wheel of sorts was positioned unmoving in the center of it all, and it wasn't an exaggeration to state it was almost as massive as the entire inside space. Spherical orbs containing a gentle orange illumination placed in seldom places across the area completely and extraordinarily lit up the space with a dusty kind of light.

It was nothing short of the most elaborate and thoroughly stunning place she had ever visited. And it had stood within the borders of her own home for as long as she had lived. It just about washed away the sense that she wasn't meant to be there at all.

The reminder of what had brought her there dropped sharply onto Mipha once again. Obviously there was some way to control the Beast, otherwise it wouldn't move at all. There was a control pad somewhere. Mipha advanced further down the slope, reaching the main floor and tossing up her head to scan the area. Where could she have even begun with something like this? Her eyes darted to and from the passageways, locating where they began and where they led. Nothing that she could have seen from her vantage point. If she would climb the wheel in the center, she could have had a more efficient angle at the entire place.

The base of the wheel began not a foot from the lowest level where Mipha stood. Immediately, she hustled to the side, setting aside her spear and flinging up her hands to grapple the intricate indentations. It wouldn't be a simple surface to climb, but it was doable. She boosted herself up onto the side of the wheel, easing foot after foot and hand after hand against the curving surface. The gaps in the design were small and a challenge to hook her fingers onto, shooting a tremble through the knuckles in the effort. Her heart seemed to quicken and pound more heavily within her chest with every inch she brought herself higher into the air. As she eased herself higher and higher, her thoughts flickered back to Sidon. He was out there somewhere in Link's care, probably wondering at this very moment why she had left him and where she had gone. He wouldn't have had the faintest idea what she would have actually been doing.

Mipha guided herself safely up to the top of the wheel, evening out the surface to the point of crawling rather than climbing. She must have been at least forty feet into the air, maybe fifty. It was impossible to tell. There wasn't a chance that she would let herself look down and check. Instead, she shut her eyes, fingers latched tightly into the tangled surface beneath her on her hands and knees. Her heart clobbered stumblingly. She tried to picture that the surface she kneeled on was somewhere on the main floor and not at a tremendous height in the air. It was all that she could do not to wobble and emotionally rattle herself in the process.

Okay. Keep moving. Mipha's eyes fluttered open again, head swiveling on a second analysis of her surroundings. As expected, they were considerably different than they had been at the bottom. She'd exceeded any of the levels of passages, leaving only a clear view of the flat territories that remained. Among them, directly in front of her, was a small space in comparison with the rest of the Beast, coated in a thin layer of water. Right in the middle of that room stood a broad, round tablet of what appeared to be knobs, buttons, and levers that put together the control pad. That was what controlled Ruta.

Mipha dragged herself across the top of the wheel towards the other side. The platform encasing the water and the control pad was just out of reach for a jump. She'd need to drop down onto one of the passageways and find a way up from there. Mipha gulped down her worries, stiffening her grip on the decoration beneath her and peeking over the end of the wheel to determine her first drop. There was a path reaching across almost ten feet beneath her, conveniently nearby to the edge of the wheel. Even if she had tumbled off of the wheel, she likely would have landed there anyway.

Mipha shifted, finally releasing her grip and plunged down onto the passageway. She landed in a crouch with her hands brushing the surface to steady herself. A shocking pain like lightning cracked through her ankles. She took a running jump to snag a grip on the edge of a risen level, a more narrow platform closer to where she needed to go. The platform was joined with the control segment, separated by nothing more than a five-foot obstruction. Mipha clenched the edge of the floor, clambering up, and in the fumble to steady herself, submerged her hand in chilly water to her wrist.

The control room was just as illuminated as the rest of Ruta, less so even, but a faint radiance twinkled in this space. Mipha climbed upright and strode to cross the room and reach the control pad, kicking through the sheet of water that lapped at her ankles. A fortune of tools and trinkets to operate the Beast stretched across an otherwise flat piece of equipment standing at a curved shape, beckoning its pilot to stand between it. Mipha was not Ruta's pilot and likely never would be, but she would have to do for now. She stepped up onto the raised platform on which the equipment stood around, scrutinizing every appliance there was to offer.

Between the levers and the buttons and the knobs, there was nothing that clearly suggested which instrument completed what motion. There wasn't much that Mipha could do at all in terms of retaliation against the attack before she figured out how to actually move the Beast first. She swept her fingertips across the extensions, examining them to her full potential. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, nearly vibrating with a certain jittery feeling. She tugged at a knob on her left, unsure what to be expecting, but the reaction it brought was not something that could have been called subtle.

An earth-rattling crash thundered through the air. A powerful rumble charged through the floor, rocking the entire machine. Mipha instantly reeled, struggling to sustain her balance, tossing out her arms to steady herself. She'd barely questioned the event before an image flickered into visual display before her eyes—An actual, genuine image, not a hallucination of some kind. It wasn't clear, shimmering and unsteady as it hovered above the control pad. A bit of a blue, a soft blue, not a particularly blue blue. Mipha instantly found herself fixated on the sights, numb in the daze of shock. Every ounce of this situation screamed forbidden in some implicit way.

It was the waterfall. The flicker of the image wasn't the instability of the construction of it itself—Well, how good could an image painted on nothing but the atoms in the air be presented anyway?—But the rapidly-gushing waters of the waterfall that she had sunk past on her way to board Ruta. This must have been how to view the battle when deep within the Beast. If only the image was a little less fuzzy to begin with.

Mipha tried the same knob again, to no avail. It must not have had no use anymore, at least not in the current situation.

All right, what now? she asked herself.

Mipha turned over a lever to the groaning sound of the wheel easing into motion behind her. That wasn't it. She tugged a second knob and released a rapid-traveling missile beam into the water, breaking out an eruption that disrupted the image for just a few seconds. She wrenched a gear to result in the distant groaning of Ruta's trunk lifting towards the sky. The next knob she snagged, one on the right that she twisted, brought another jolt of movement within the machine and caused her to wobble. The waterfall shrunk away off to the side in front of her, clearing the sight for green leveled ground.

Oh. So that was how it was done.

I need to turn this thing around, Mipha reminded herself, steadying her balance and recovering her grip on the movement knob, stabilizing herself with her free hand perched upon the flat edge of the control pad. She wasn't going to get anywhere if she was still somewhat facing the waterfall. She needed to climb up and out of the water and onto dry land.

Mipha steered the knob again, easing it into a twist with her eyes latched fixedly onto the image plastered in front of her. A vibration pulsed within the floor at her feet, the machine groaning and rocking in motion. Flat ground inched further and further into sight as Ruta shifted through the water, turning by command. A twinge throbbed somewhere in her neck as she exerted her full concentration on the replication of the world around her and the movement she produced. When the time arrived to climb the slope onto the dry land, the tumbling waters and then the steady, sluggish, stomping steps of the Beast were not only difficult to miss, but etched into her chest. She was on her way into the battlefield.

In the first conception of a plan, Mipha discovered it in her best interest to reach high ground first, as in the mountains, before descending to the battle within the domain. Even if she was about to wipe out an immense number of monsters' lives, she could at least afford to spare some trees. Her heart skipped like a pounding drum as she scaled the rise of the mountain in Ruta's heavy, lurching fashion. The grassy slope and pointed fir trees came and went on her vision, presenting her lethargic progress. Ruta may have been slow, but it was massive. At this rate, she could be in range within minutes, or as soon as she could catch sight of some kind of conflict.

What had this day turned into? Two hours ago, Mipha had anticipated Link's visit as the most monumental event of her afternoon, the occasion to imprint itself on her thoughts to toy with once it was all over to experiment with what had or could have been. Now, she was piloting a Divine Beast, not to mention all without the knowledge or consent of her father. This was a day to remember.

Shuffling to climb the slope of the mountain, Mipha tested out the remainder of assorted extensions provided across the pad. Most of which, she came to grasp, were fired attacks. A considerably sized flat-button far to the left loosed a missile beam so intense that the entire vision was swallowed by a white light for just a second and a cluster of trees were not just uprooted, but decimated where they lay in the disheveled dirt. The twisting of a grip-sized knob delivered an order of missiles in the direction where the knob pointed. A smaller button towards her on the pad released a roar from the Beast that echoed and rattled the entire place—That was likely to alert enemies of its arrival into battle. Twin bars to be pulled presented themselves in the middle of it all, one to discharge a flurry of missiles for prolonged stretches of time if held and the other to quicken the pace of Ruta's shuffled footsteps, if charging into battle or getting somewhere in a rush. By the time that Mipha had cleared to the very top of the mountain, she had noted each and every device that lay in front of her. All that was left to do was execute the mission.

Mipha advanced onward to the battlefield, rocking from side to side and operating progression with every thunderous step. Batches of monsters still lingered among the trees, waiting about for a smaller fight, and so she took them out with a ray of missiles. The grass, lined with trees, still lurked past the vision and vanished, out of sight behind the Beast. She was getting closer. For a lifetime, her only view was the creeping mountain and the slim crowds of monsters she shot down. This was not a battle. This was hardly practice. It was only after the downward slope grew evident ahead in her path, that movement and combat flooded the grass, that Mipha flicked into the mindset that the real work was just about to begin.

Mipha swayed sharply at the drop of Ruta's foot, squinting her eyes at the vision in front of her as her hand clasped at the knob to initiate direction. In the unbroken convergence of Zora and beasts engaged in battle, there wasn't a lick of hope determining which was which. Not only was the image considerably more hazy than real life, the two sides displayed many of the same colors. Between clumps of burgundy, forest-green, blue, and more, there wasn't a chance in deciding whether it was a Zora fighter or some Moblin to destroy. Suddenly doubting of the dominance over the weapons quite literally at her fingertips, Mipha jolted her hands away. Ruta eased to a halt at the top of the mountain, casting its image down onto the sea of combat. She couldn't shoot blindly into the crowd. It was utterly out of the question. By wiping out the monsters that overtook her lands, she'd be wiping out her own people in doing so. What she needed was a clearer glimpse at what she was looking at.

A knot of tension spasmed within Mipha's chest at the idea of leaving the control pad, even if it was just for a little while, but she abandoned her place. She had submerged into the subtle trace of chill of the outside world in hardly minutes, ascending from the main ramp to the outside surface. Granted a partial view of the scene but lacking a vantage point to see to the end, Mipha decided that she needed to be higher. She clutched ridges and platforms no wider than her own feet, hoisting herself up higher and moving towards the very top of the Beast. The distant sensations of combat barely tinged the air, crisp breezes skimming the land. The sense of how high up she was swelled in the back of Mipha's mind, but she refused to sneak a glance below her. It was something she only worried over for about a minute before she surfaced at the top of the machine.

The wind whistled faintly in Mipha's ears. The brisk air swept across her. It must have been colder up here than it had been on the ground. Her body quivered and teetered as she rose, trying out her balance as she stood on the flat, dusty-colored surface. And there she was, standing atop a Divine Beast she had just educated herself in piloting minutes before. Wait a minute, what was she doing up here? The vantage point was better, certainly, but had she not thought beforehand before climbing all the way up?

Mipha blinked, processing where she was, and sauntered to the front of the Beast. In front of her, the exterior surface sloped down to create the curved trunk of the elephant. At the ground below, an impressive mob of conflict sourced across the grass, but this was not the only thing that became revealed in the more reliable view of her own sight. Her father stood at the border of the conflict to her left, a towering sight overseeing the battle with a gaze cast over it. His thunderous voice boomed across the land in commands of where to go or how diligently to fight, tossing out massive fins like falling curtains to direct movement, and then he saw the Beast.

Mipha was too far to observe even the colors in his eyes, but the gaping expression that tumbled down onto his face failed to hide his astonishment. To her knowledge, he had seen Ruta in person the same number of times that she had—Next to none. And to see it out and about with no prior warning let loose an outbreak of shock.

"The Divine Beast," Dorephan gasped. "But it's not possible. There isn't a Zora alive who knows how to pilot that thing."

Mipha could not see if it was right then that he had noticed her presence atop the Beast, but a disturbance ruffled over her, one of suddenly being exposed. The distance was far too wide to tell for sure, but she knew that their eyes had met, joining as one as the unpredictability of the situation electrified the air. She was being watched, and she was watching in return. There she stood, a long way above from any of the confrontation, a figure of hope soon to divide the violence. Something about this thought straightened her back, hardened her mind to stand firm in the face of her trial.

Dorephan's words resounded through her mind before he had even spoken them. She waited for him to raise his voice and call out to her, for his booming voice to demand she remove herself from the Beast. It would have been counterproductive, of course, but wasn't it his role as a parent?

After a pause at length, his voice did crack across the area, but the words were nothing of what Mipha had already rehearsed within her mind.

"Fall back!" Dorephan commanded loudly. "Clear the way! Leave room for the Beast to make an attack!"

Mipha confined herself back into the interiors of the Beast at the cue for attack. It was an inconvenience to retrace her climbing steps back to where she had come from, but unavoidable. She perched herself back at the control pad, readied the movement knob, and set off to descend the decline towards the battle. The lean was enough to press her belly into the edge of the counter, because of which sent a tug of uneasiness to her stomach. Surrendering to the rhythmic swaying and thuds of Ruta's movement, her eyes glued to the vision in front of her face, she watched the bony and scaly beasts stream over the grass in the retreat of the Zora soldiers. It had been exactly what she needed.

Mipha flung out a hand to provoke an attack, first mistakenly punching in the button that relieved an elephant roar out into the battlefield before gripping a second knob. Brilliant missiles shot past her vision, adjusting angle by the careful regulating of the knob's direction. Her eyes could have cut glass, prying the screen for every single act with intense concentration of retaliation she pursued. She watched monsters topple with every flurry of hits she took. Clusters of creatures went down at once. Mipha sustained this motive for as long as she could, managing a few dragging minutes before the lack of progress had begun to wrench her mind.

There were more approaches to attacks. Several, in fact. Mipha focused the vision towards the middle of the confrontation, centering as much happening as she could within the square. A bulk shot would have eliminated a great number, but it seemed best to be used sparingly. A projectile with that much force would have required a recharge after each use. She'd already wasted her first one while testing out the controls on her way up the mountain. The control for an attack of this fashion was not easily missed, as it waited within the press of the flat button at Mipha's left hip. Mipha withdrew a hand from the firing knob and instead slammed her palm onto the button next to her.

A white light drowned the vision for no longer than a second before the green grass materialized into sight once again. A round patch of grass had been completely singed black where the missile had struck, leaving nothing but scattered bodies of monsters in its range. An efficient attack. She would need to utilize it whenever she could. Tucking the reminder away into the back of her mind, Mipha reclaimed her grip on the knobs in front of her and carried the hurtling Beast into battle.

Mipha's eyes soon tired of the flashing lights that the vision captured with every released missile. The rusty lighting of the Beast and the lapping water behind her developed into a routine, a constant background while she worked the control pad. With every rocking step and glimpse of green grass, it was like she'd never experience anything different ever again. Still, she tore through the mobs of monsters, knocking down row after row. No threat, with a number large or small, would be taking her home today.

At one point, she twisted the right knob to adjust the vision and secure a view of what was left of her opponents. As the monsters united into a single accumulation in front of her, she deduced that she had brought the number down to almost one hundred. With a number that slim, she could round them up and eliminate them at once. An idea tingled into life in her mind, a proposition for the last mode of attack she had yet to experiment with. If she set up a rooted shot, she could have run through the entire line and wipe out the rest of the foes for where they all gathered, scraping their way through the dirt. The final act of defense.

Mipha dislocated the bar to administer speed, shifting it away from her in preparation to make a charge, and did the same to the next one beside it. In lack of delay, flares of light birthed and vanished within the vision as attacks began. She latched a grasp on the speed bar, took up the movement knob, and leaned into the first jolt of motion. And just like that, the Beast was no longer swaying. At least, not in those subtle terms. A convulsion of shock waves rattled the floors, the walls, and even the tablet on which Mipha operated. The machine shuddered with every step in aggressive jerking movements amidst the raised speed.

Mipha slammed her feet apart to sustain her balance, but the intensified tremors led a genuine challenge. Her hands clenched the additions in which she operated the Beast, stubborn to hold a grip. She'd lost a secure view of the combat below her as the repetitive flashing lights interrupted her vision. Clamping tightly onto the control pad with the rocking and jarring of the machine, a strained growl climbed up from her throat. Hold on. Hold on. Just hold on. It's not for much longer. Don't let go too soon, whatever you do.

It was at the first sight of empty green grass where Mipha's hand loosed her grip on the speed bar, altering it and the one next to it back into place before her eyes darted back to the vision. She had ceased the motion, leaving nothing but a fixed view on a desolate patch of grass and the cloudy sky hanging above it. She swiveled the movement knob, running her sight over the horizon, but there was nothing left but scattered corpses of shot-down monsters. Seared grass sprouted wisps of smoke. Not a standing adversary in sight.

Mipha released her grip on the knob—She must have been holding it more tightly than she realized, since sweat had caked between her fingers and the surface—And ran her hands over her face. It was over. She had done it. She had ceased a battle with the assistance of the Divine Beast Vah Ruta. Now that it was done with, the moment finding her standing alone with a flutter in her heart and a wobble in her limbs, the surreality overwhelmed reality. What just happened? Did it actually just happen? Even as she stood amidst the stunning sights of Ruta's interior in front of a counter of adornments she had just taught herself, she distrusted the memory of the past hour, like it had been nothing other than a hallucination or a dream that she pretended to be real.

Dream or not, the choices that had led her here beckoned consequences. Her next move was to acknowledge those consequences. Now that the battle was over, she needed to find her family, to check on the royal visitors, and speak of what she had done.

"I believe it is in our best interest to discuss the events that have unfolded today," Dorephan declared, his voice thundering across the spacious, well-carved icy throne room where it had all begun. His eyes flitted between the occupants of the room before his throne, distributing from the back rim to directly before his throne. "Well, it appears to be our only option. I'm simply too astounded to know just where to begin."

It felt to have only been a moment since Mipha had stood within the remarkable walls of the Divine Beast. After the battle had reached its closure, she disembarked the machine and carried herself numbly back into the origin of Zora's Domain. She traveled the ice passageways back to the throne room, where she discovered that she was not the first to think of heading there. Her father sat upon his throne, something in his posture implying an uptight nature. Princess Zelda and her advisor kept each other company near the throne, standing side by side with one another, and even their mechanical spider-like friend perched collectedly at their feet. Link stood further back in the room, sustaining his promise and supporting little Sidon against his hip. Sidon was lowered to the floor, where his bare feet had slapped across the ice in his flurry to reach Mipha. Now, she stood at the back end of the room, holding her baby brother in her arms.

The same musty queasiness quivered in Mipha's stomach, her limbs still wobbly as she stood to attend the rushed conference. As her face turned up in attention as her father spoke, Sidon silently and inquiringly toyed with the jewelry hung down from her neck.

"As it happens, Princess Zelda of Hyrule stopped by my throne room earlier this afternoon with a request," Dorephan went on. "A request to have Zora's Domain own Princess Mipha pilot the Divine Beast Vah Ruta. This was something I had yet to disclose outside of the direct discussion when the ambush was made. That being said, what I did not expect to witness was the Beast appearing halfway through the battle with my own daughter as its pilot, without having known that the responsibility of doing so could have been hers soon as it was."

Dorephan turned his focus down to Mipha, leaning slightly in his seat to address her as she hoisted Sidon in her arms.

"Mipha, there are actions here that you have not yet spoken to," he pointed out. Worry dipped sharply into Mipha's stomach. This was where she would be punished. "You might not have had the time to confide in me as to whether or not I would allow it, I acknowledge that, but I certainly did not permit you to seek out the Divine Beast. That is a weapon that should only be used under dire circumstances. Perhaps the ambush was one of that sort, but taking the situation into your own hands and plundering our most valuable weapon is not one of your duties."

Shame wrenched Mipha's heart—Hadn't she just been trying to help?

"I apologize, Father," she murmured. "I understand that I made some poor decisions, but I wish to assure you that I made them in protection of the domain. I feared for the safety of the soldiers and couldn't leave them to fight alone. But if a punishment is required, I will accept it without complaint."

"I will not be punishing you today," Dorephan told her. A large portion of the guilt lifted. "In fact, it has offered me a new perspective that has helped me come to a conclusion towards your request, Princess Zelda. The courage that drove my Mipha to assume the responsibility of piloting Vah Ruta for the sake of her people without any prior knowledge of the skill—Well, to my knowledge—Shows to me that she will be the best suited Zora for that duty. Additionally, she appears to have a natural talent for it, as well. Let this be my official statement on the matter. If all is well, I will allow Mipha to pilot Vah Ruta."

"Oh, that's wonderful news!" Princess Zelda exclaimed. The metal creature at her feet agreed with a perky and high-pitched beep.

"However, I ask that you remind me of the extensions of that duty," Dorephan went on. "Am I correct in assuming that this means that she will one day be facing the dangers of the Calamity directly?"

"Yes, that's correct," Princess Zelda replied. The enthusiasm in her voice had swiftly receded at the mention of the Calamity, shriveling into an anxious tremble.

"Then this will be the most crucial duty to ever be offered in the history of the Zora." Dorephan shifted in his seat, peering down at Mipha once again. "What say you, Mipha? Are you willing to accept and rise to the task of piloting this Beast? Will you protect this domain and make all necessary sacrifices for the sake of this kingdom's survival, even against the Calamity? Well, perhaps less sacrifice of yourself. Your brother and I need you as much as your people do, if not more."

When Mipha looked around, every pair of eyes in the room had found their way to her. Everyone waited with bated breath to hear whether or not she would accept her task. Even Sidon had stopped fiddling with her jewelry and quietly listened for her response. The silence rang in the break before she gave an answer.

"I'd say that I'm already there," Mipha said.