Our Childhood Memories

Swimming Lessons

Swimming. Lessons. Two things I didn't really want to do and could care less. Just hearing them mentioned made my tail fin twitch uncomfortably.

It has been two weeks since mother's passing, and I still haven't gotten over it completely. In reality, no one in the Domain kept from mourning over her loss. The heartache and pain was still visibly there, gnawing at our everyday lives. We just weren't the same, joyful Zoras everyone knew us for. Sure, our shops and tourism still flourished, but it was missing that cheerful atmosphere. Father kept to himself most of the time, and no one dared appear before his throne. Even Muzu visited him with only the purpose of delivering urgent news. He... I think father suffered the most. I just... I hated to think about it at all.

Although with all these past events, my lessons haven't dwindled down one bit. Not at all! Muzu still kept onto me about perfecting all the "swimming skills a Zora must know" and never gave me a break. I hated it. I couldn't stand the lessons at all. But of course, Muzu was backed up by father who encouraged me daily on improving the techniques. Talking back to him was out of the question. No one dared complain to father up front, except for Muzu as he was his personal advisor. I still wonder how he really gets away with it.

To be honest though... the lessons did help me forget about all the pain. They numbed me to the point where I would sometimes forget about it... about mom... about who I was. It was scary at the moment but much more so when I wouldn't realize it.

"Come along now Mipha dear." Muzu's already familiar voice rang out, disrupting my train of thought. "We're already late now and you still haven't finished your breakfast!"

Right. How was I supposed to eat knowing that it will be followed by several hours of intense training? Maybe he should try swimming several dozen laps on a full stomach.

"Coming Muzu." I muttered annoyingly.

Seeing that he was already making his way up the steps, I quickly ran after him. Muzu hated when Zoras were late and the last thing I needed was an angry teacher. Of course there was no happy ending to that except receiving extra homework and we know how that goes.

I ran so fast however, that I bumped into someone who came from the Domain entrance and we both fell down with a thump. My head was aching a little and I rose up to apologize, but to my surprise... it was Link!

"L-Link!?" I gasped, still shocked and excited at the same time. "What are you doing here?!"

The Hylian quickly sprang to his feet and dusted himself off awkwardly. Ahh... he never fails to surprise me still.

"Well... I don't know where to start...." He smiled with a toothy grin. "An uncle of father's said he was taking a group to inspect something at the Domain, and I was allowed to tag along."

Inspect something at the Domain? What could the Hylians find of interest here? The only thing I could think worthy of seeing was our breathtaking architecture. We did get a fair number of tourists every year just for that reason alone, but... this was different.

"What are they interested in Link? Where are they anyway?" I asked curiously. I must know. I should know. I am the Princess of the Zoras technically speaking.

"I don't know.... uncle allowed me to run ahead and see you so I might've missed anything they talked about." He muttered, scratching his head. " Well... they did mention something about the East... Reservoir Lake but that's all I heard."

That was peculiar indeed. I didn't really visit the East Reservoir Lake much except when Muzu would take me up there to swim laps. Those exercises were brutal so I really wasn't fond of the place. Fish weren't even that abundant there either  aside the few Hyrule Bass which... tasted horrible.