Call me princess Zelda

ch 9; the shrine

While Sidon is talking with the king, his father, Link is enjoying himself with his bare legs into the pool in Sidons bedroom. Sitting on the floor.
The water gives him some relax and he is looking curiously at the three Zora eggs. The eggs are laying in the middle of the pool.
The eggs who are from the Zora princess, Mipha. But who are now, his and Sidons eggs. Their future children.
Link supposes the red egg will look like Sidon, with red scale, while the two other will get blue scale.
  Link is looking down onto the water, seeing his reflection getting blurred, by he is moving his legs a bit.
Each movements of his legs in the water creates more rings which distorts his reflection more and more, almost making him not looking like himself.
He is already missing Zelda. It has been three days since he had visited her during the night.
They have always been together as twins. Except during nights at the castle there Zelda and he had separated bedrooms.
So, being parted from each other in days, feels weird. He is feeling alone.
Link is looking into his own blue eyes through the reflection on the surface.
And Siri, who could be the new Zelda, his new friend among Zoras, has avoided him since the day there he got married with Sidon.
Has he done something wrong? Something to make her mad? Or... has something happened to her, he had missed, since he was busy with Sidon?!
Link gulps harshly.
He didn't like the idea of Siri being in trouble and he has been clueless.
Siri, who has been kind to him.
He takes up his legs from the pool and feels how water are falling down onto the snow white floor with ice blue spots here and there.
By taking up his legs from the water, he has upset the surface even more and large rings are dancing in the water and the mirror effect disappear and no reflection can appear.
He moves against the bed with purple-blue corals sheets and sits down while he puts on his kneels long leather boots.
Then he walks out from the bedroom and notice how the two blue-white Zoras outside Sidons bedroom are glancing curiously at him. But they aren't saying anything and stands frozen on their spots with their spears in their hands.
Link raises an eyebrow and gets the annoying feeling he isn't welcome to leave the bedroom.
He shakes his head and tries ignore the feeling.
His blond hair tickles his face when he is shaking his head.
He hadn't care about comb his hair today and let it be down.
Since he isn't knowing where to look, he let's his feet guide him.
He ends up by a huge statue of Princess Mipha with her trident, there small Zora children are playing loudly, shouting of joy while they are trying to catch each other.
Link gasps impressed of the Statue and is examining it from bottom to top.
Then he notices a necklace at the top. The necklace seems not fitting there. It seems being dropped there by accident.
"Excuse me lady..." someone behind Link says.
Link turns around and is looking confused at the four Zora kids.
"Yes?" He asks and kneels down and is looking asking at them.
One of the children, a Zora with red scale, is pointing at the necklace at the statue.
"Can you please take that necklace down to me?"
Link raises a brow and is following the direction the kid points against, with his gazes.
"Is that your necklace?" He asks and is looking at the Zora kid again.
The kid shakes his head.
"No... but that's my sister's... she got it by her boyfriend, but dropped it by accident and has been crying since then..." the small Zora explains and is looking down on the ground while the other three Zoras nods.
The Zora kid clench his fists and is looking determined at Link.
"And I want to help her...so please... I'm too small to reach the necklace... can you help me?"
The three other Zora kids claps their hands together as they are about to pray.
"Pleeease" the three kids begs behind their friend.
Link raises his eyebrows and is looking fascinated at the four kids.
Then he smiles widely.
"I will give it a try " he says nodding.
The four Zora kids shouts of happiness and make small jumps of joy.
Link turns around, standing up and is facing the tall statue.
It wouldn't be a problem to climb the statue since it has many spots to grab.
But.. what if someone sees him and starts yelling at him? And what if it's against some weird law to climb the statue, shaped as their Princesses?!
Link swallow nervously and inhales deeply before he starts climbing the tall statue while the kids are cheering on him.
After some few minutes he reaches the top and grabs the necklace with red pearl. Somehow it had landed on the head of the statue.
The shouting from the kids gets louder after he had grabbed the wanted necklace.
He starts climbing down.
The four kids starts circulating him the moment he reaches the ground.
Link smiles gently against the kid with red scale and hands over the necklace to him.
"Here.."
The small Zora's blue eyes sparkle of happiness and he takes the necklace with trembling hand as he wasn't sure if this was true or not.
"Wow! Thanks...you are the best... now my sister will stop crying...thank you " the kid says and grin widely before he shows the necklace to his friends.
"You are welcome..." Link says smiling.
"See ya" the kid says and waves against Link and starts dashing away with the necklace.
"Bye" the other three says and starts running after their friend.
Link snickers and is smiling against the kids back while they are running away somewhere in the domain.
"Good job my princess" a familiar voice praises him somewhere behind him.
Link raises his eyebrows and turns against the Voice.
"Sidon!" He says surprised before he managed to see the person behind him.
Sidons gives him a toothy grin and give him a thumb up.
"You did an excellent job with helping that kid" he says standing only one meter away.
Link feels how his heart skip a beat.
"You...saw everything?!" Link asks and rest his fingertips from his right hand on his forehead, covering mostly of his face with his palm.
"Pretty much..." Sidon answers with a shrug.
Link starts blushing and is feeling embarrassed.
The Zora Prince chuckles of seeing Link embarrassed. He starts scratching his cheekbone thoughtfully while he is humming.
"Want to take a walk?" Sidon asks.
Link lower his hand and shakes his head.
"Sorry...ehm... I'm looking after Siri"
Sidon lower his hand as well and is looking asking at him.
"Why? Do you need anything? I can send someone if you want"
Link shakes his head again.
"Thanks...but I want to see her...only her... have you seen her today?"
Sidon starts caressing his chin while he tries remember if he has seen her today or not.
Then he shakes his head.
"Sorry... but I haven't seen her today..."
"Okay... tell her I'm looking for her, if you see her"
Sidon gives Link a thumb up while a wide grin spreads on his face.
"I will!"
Link returns a thumb up before he starts walking away.
Where should he looking next?
After many stairs there he both walking upstairs and downstairs, he ends up by some kind of mini temple.
The building is looking weirdly, as it wasn't fitting with the rest of the domain. Like the temple had a different construction.
It was like someone had built that dark grey cone-shaped shrine before the domain were builded. Or after.
Link had seen these kind of temples before. And he notices someone has activate this temple already.
The bottom half of small pedestal to the right of the entrance, is already glowing blue.
Has someone by mistake entered the shrine?
Without giving it a bigger thought, he is entering the temple.
After have walked some meters in totally darkness he comes out to a big room with a ramp to his left side there big boulders are rolling down.
He raises his eyebrows.
It seems pretty hard to walk straight since the boulders keeps rolling down and gives you nearly no chance to pass by.
Link glances to his right side there nothing exist, only a dark abyss.
If he gets hitted by a boulder and throws down there, he will probably never see the light again.
Link is examining the room and see the common platform straight ahead with a black hole there a glowing ball should be placed in.
But, where is the ball?
Since he is used to these kind of shrines he is staring upwards the high ramp there boulders are rolling down on.
He spots the glowing ball at the top of the ramp.
He sighs.
But then he smiles. Finally he has something to do.
Link takes up his sheikah slate from the place he keeps it, close to his left hip.
Since it is running water down on the ramp, he supposes he should use the mechanism of making ice, cryonis.
Link creates two ice blocks on the bottom of the ramp.
Then he starts running upward of the ramp.
It's pretty slippery. And dangerous with the big rolling boulders.
Lucky him, there are some walls on the ramp, there he can hide from the rolling boulders and escape from getting hitted.
Suddenly he slips on the ramp when he tries moves to his right side and escape from the boulder who is rolling against him.
He escapes the boulder, but hits the ramp instead with his chin.
"Gah!" He grits his teeth by mistake when his chin slams against the hard ground.
The taste of blood fills his mouth.
"Fuck..." he mumbles and stands up on all his fours and spits out the blood. He wipes his bloody mouth with his sleeve.
Then he stands up and is caressing his red chin.
The chin is throbbing of pain and he makes a grimace.
With a sighs he keeps going upward on the ramp. This time, he tries taking it more careful.
He reaches the top and sees the big glowing ball. The orange is glowing rhythmically on the grey ball.
Link glances downwards. Feeling grateful of making those two ice blocks on the bottom of the ramp.
What if the glowing ball would have roll down into the dark abyss?!
And he wouldn't want to run down to make two ice blocks since he had forgot to make them, and then run upwards again.
Running upward one time, is enough.
  Link is examining the spot there the ball is placed.
Water are falling behind the ball as a small waterfall.
Link grins and holds up his sheikah slate. Then he walks to the side of the ball and use Cryonis behind the ball.
A big ice block creates on the wall and push off the ball from its place.
Link lower his sheikah slate and sees how the ball starts rolling down on the ramp.
He should probably starts running after it, making sure nothing happens with the ball. Which he does.
  He starts running downwards which goes quicker than running upward.
Link notices in his backhead how the big rolling boulders have stopped appearing.
Happiness starts whirling around inside of him as a drug.
And he couldn't resist from laughing of joy while he is running.
He takes long steps while he is running downwards. Has already forgot to take it carefully.
The sound of something crashing into each other, reaches his pointing ears.
The ball had smashed into the ice blocks on the bottom of the ramp.
Link raises his fist into the air in a victory gesture.
When he stands on the ground, on the bottom of the ramp he tries catch his breath.
He is examining the ball and the abyss thoughtfully.
If he breaks the ice blocks, the ball will keep rolling and fall down into the dark abyss, disappearing. And somehow come back to its original place at the top of the ramp. And he must start all over again.
Link is examining his sheikah slate, trying to get a clue what to do next.
The word; stasis, catches his attention.
Maybe...perhaps if he is quick with his fingers he will be able to break the ice blocks, then stop the time of the ball, and starts punching the ball with his sword. And then, when the time starts again, the ball will throws against the round platform and roll down into the black hole.
Link bites his bottom lip nervously.
He has only one chance to success.
With a trembling index finger he breaks the ice blocks, seeing in the corners of his eyes how the ball starts rolling.
Then he changes the function from cryonis to stasis and stops the time on the ball.
With a loudly exhale he sees how the ball is on the edge of the floor, few seconds more, and the ball would have fallen into the abyss.
He withdraw the sheikah slate and pulls out his master sword.
He stands beside the ball and tries hitting on the right point with his sword.
If his calculations are correct, the ball will throws to its left and moves against the platform.
How many times should he hits the ball?
"Hah!"
*BAAAM*
that was one hit.
"Hiyaah!"
*BAAAM*
The second hit.
A beeping sound starts sounding.
stasis is about to cancel. In any moment the ball will starts moving.
Link lower his sword.
Perhaps two times are enough?
The sound of shattering chains appears and the second after that, the ball throws against the platform.
Links heart starts beating quicker of excitement. Will he success?
To his happiness, the ball hits the right spot and rolls down into the black hole.
A little tune appears which tells him he had succed. Then the glowing ball shifts colour from Orange to blue.
And the sound of a door unlocking reaches his ears.
With a proud smile he starts walking against the cage there the mummified monk is waiting on him.
He reaches the opened door when he hears steps behind him.
"You did it..." a familiar female voice says.
Links lips parts of surprise and he turns around.
"Siri..." he says with an exhale.
A pair of sad purple eyes is looking into his confused ocean blue eyes.
Siri standing some meters away with one hand against her chest, gives him a sadly smile.
"You are really amazing... I can see why the Prince is fond of you, my princess..." She says while some tears leaves her eyes.
Link wides his eyes and feels how his heart starts beating painfully as it's about to shatter into pieces.
"Siri..." he mumbles.
He gulps and tilts his head.
"Why are you down here?"
Siri sighs while she shakes her head.
Then she starts gazing around.
"There are a tale Zoras have'd told each other in centuries... If you seeks happiness in your life you cannot get, you shall visit the mysterious shrine and hold your thumbs, the mysterious  statue of the meditating man, gives you his blessing..." Siri explains and is glancing against the shrine monks before she is looking back at Link.
"But... he has never blessed any of us... and we thinks it's be course we are too far away from him...but none of us have been able to unlock the door to the room he is in...until now..."She says and chuckles.
"Somehow... you knew how to unlock the door... it seems you are the one who are meant to be blessed " She says and chuckles which make her shoulder raises before they falls down again.
Link nods.
"Y-yeah... I have done this before...there are more..."he starts saying before he gets silent and wides his eyes.
Link is examining Siri curiously.
"You said; Zoras have been walking down here since they wants help with seeking their happiness...and now, you are here... are your unhappiness something to do with the Zora you never got?" Link asks and feels how his throat almost got dry by saying this many words.
Siri drops her jaw and is looking shocked at Link.
Then she nods and let her head hangs heavily while she starts crying.
"Y-yes... "She says and cover her eyes with her hands.
Link furrows his eyebrows and walks against Siri and pull his arms around her.
Since she is a female, she isn't as tall as Sidon. But compare to Link, she is taller than him. About a head and half taller.
Link both hear and feels how Siri starts sobbing more of getting Links arms around her.
His chest gets tighter of hearing how sad she is.
After what feels as an eternity Siri calms down and whisper with an exhale.
"It's Prince Sidon..."
Links sad face of concern, turns into confusion and he raises his eyebrows.
"What?"
Siri walks backward, out from Links arms and holds her hands against her chest.
"I'm in loved with him... but he turned me down... those days before your wedding with him, I have'd tried to be strong..."She starts to explain and sighs.
"Deep down... I wished you would fail...and the ceremony would cancelled... but then... you succeed, and when the wedding was about to start... I couldn't stand it anymore... I had to run away..."She continues and is looking ashamed down on the ground"
Drops of salty tears hits the ground below her and make the grey ground getting spots of darker grey.
"I-...I'm so sorry my princess..."She apologies while she starts shaking.
Link let's out a breath he didn't knew he was holding. He wanted to hold Siri into his arms. But isn't, since he thinks she wants some space.
"It's okay..." he starts to say and wet his lips while Siri jolts and is looking confused at him.
"I mean... it's okay being jealous when it comes to love... I as outsider took the Zora you were interested in... it's understanding you wish something would go wrong between me and Sidon"
Siri grimaces.
"The only thing I'm actually getting mad at... is... you are a girl"
Link jolts and tilts his head.
"Be course I'm a girl?"
Siri nods.
"Yes... Sidon turned me down since he isn't interested in girls...and here you comes, a girl " She says and is almost spitting out the word 'girl'.
Then Siri sighs deeply and shoots a gently smile against him.
" But I can't stay angry at you... you are a nice person... please... give me some days to pull me together " She begs.
Link nods.
"Um... then, I'm looking forward to be your friend"
Siri wides her beautiful purple eyes.
" Hah...me too"

Link turns around and is looking curiously at the monk.
He walks inside the cage and against the place there the meditating, mummified monk with a sheikah eye on his face is.
Link reaches out his hand against the weird blue wall you can look through as a window.
"Wait! What are you doing?!" Siri asks behind him.
link touches the wall in front the monk and feels how it shatters.

You who are born to hero will one day meet your destiny.
I will grant you this spirit orb... collect them and prepare for your future, oh mighty hero.
May the Godness smiles on you....