New Horizons - A Skyward Sword Aftermath Story

15 - To the Base

"Annnnd behold! Raft number two!" Zelda announced proudly. She stepped away from the pair's creation, and admired it as she stood there with her hands on her hips.

"It looks good!" Link replied, as he brushed some dust off of his leather gloves. "We make a good team."
Zelda smiled. "I know we do! Remember when the class got to make giant paper loftwings back in 5th Grade, and we were paired together? Our bird looked so good!"

Her friend raised an eyebrow.
"The one where we threw it from the roof and it hit Fledge square in the face?"
"Oh, maybe that day didn't go EXACTLY how I remembered it."
The boy chuckled slightly.
"It was still an impressive paper loftwing. It hit him right in between the eyes."
"You shouldn't laugh about it! That's mean!" Scolded the other, trying not to laugh herself.

There was a short pause, before Zelda turned her attention back to the raft.
"So, are we all good to go?"
The hero blinked at the other. "We?"
"Well...yeah? We're adventuring TOGETHER, aren't we?" She replied, emphasising her words.

Link gave her an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry. You can't come along with me-"
The girl's jaw dropped. "What?! Why not?"
"It's just not safe for you. You heard the Zora King! Even his best fighters couldn't defeat them. It would be too risky for you to even just be nearby. You should return to the Zora's domain, where you'll be safe."
Zelda scoffed and rolled her eyes. "So you just made me help you build a raft for the last hour only for you to not even let me test it out with you?!"
"Heh...Sorry about that." He mumbled, awkwardly smiling and scratching the back of his head. "But I did need the help!"
"What if you get hurt?!"

The boy smiled at her reassuringly. "I won't. Don't worry."
His friend frowned.
"So what do I even do while you're gone?!"
"Return to the cave and don't leave it. Even out here there's loads of monsters lurking about. I'll come back when I'm done. Until then, maybe you could tag along with Hikor, or the sisters-"
The other scoffed loudly. "You really think I'm going to spend time with those girls?! I'd actually rather just be out here being attacked by a moblin or something."

Link have her an unimpressed look.
"Just go inside Zelda, I shouldn't be too long. You'll be fine."
The other let out an irritated huff and crossed her arms. "Fine."

She began to walk away, before she stopped briefly. As she turned around, her expression softened slightly. The tone in which she spoke with was much more gentle.
"Come back safely, okay?"
Link smiled again.
"I will, don't worry."

And with that, the girl hesitantly went back inside. The hero turned back to his raft, and began pushing it towards the water.

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Just like what Zelda specifically wished not to happen, it didn't take long for her to bump into the three Zora Princesses.

"You're back here early!" Eleta joked. Her voice was sickly sweet. "Were the Lizalfos too much for you?"
Zelda glared at the other.
"Link sent me back here because he didn't want me to get hurt."

"Hmm, yeah." The older Zora muttered as she looked her up and down. "You didn't seem like much of a fighter to me."
Zelda held back from picking a fight with her, and just remained silent.

The three briefly exchanged glances amongst themselves, before Elena spoke up once more.
"Well, I suppose we'll allow you to tag along with our little group for the time being. Being such an alien, I don't know how comfortable my people would be with you hanging around them right now."

Spinning on their heels, the trio began to walk ahead. Eleta flipped her large head fin over her shoulder and gave her a cold look.
"Come along, but, try not to embarrass us too much."