Life in Zora's Domain

Chapter 100 - Surf's Up

Summary: Link's sleep is troubled after the Lurelin Village incident. Tila takes her husband Link surfing in North Hyrule. Daruk pays a brief farewell visit to Zora's Domain. Link has a short get together with his friends.

It was early morning in Zora's Domain, and the intermittent sound of distant thunder from an approaching storm broke the stillness of the pre-dawn air. As usual, Link and Mipha were sleeping in their slumber pool together, which was something Link was quite accustomed to doing for over thirty years now. But tonight his sleep was troubled.

In the first part of his dream, he was back in North Hyrule hiding from Sopha. He had already told his daughter Mila to escape, and she had left. Now he was moving quietly trying to avoid discovery when he felt the sharp point of a spear at his back and heard Sopha's voice.

"Hello, Link," whispered Sopha. "I thought that was you I spotted from the throne room. I don't sleep much most nights. Be quiet and do as I say. We are going to the throne room."

He moaned and turned in his sleep, and then his dream changed.

This time he was back in Zora's Domain and had returned from freeing Ruta. He was standing before King Dorephan and had the sad duty of taking away the king's last ray of hope by telling him he had met Mipha's spirit. And so, as King Dorephan had feared all those years but prayed was not true, his dear daughter Mipha was indeed dead. King Dorephan took the news bravely, but you could tell from his expression that his heart had just broken. As he spoke to Link, his words came slowly, punctuated by deep breaths that sounded like sobs. It was all so tragic! The two of them had been so close for so long, and a beautiful love that could have been never had a chance.

"Link ... She really loved you, you know. Promise me ... that you will always remember her. Promise me that," said King Dorephan.

Link looked at King Dorephan and didn't need to consider his answer. He replied at once, for though he remembered her only a little, Mipha's spirit had given him her healing grace, and she was part of him now, still caring for him as she had so many times before.

"I'll never forget her," said Link. "We are united now."

Suddenly a loud peal of thunder woke up both Mipha and Link. It was followed immediately by the sound of wind and the splash of heavy rain against the window. Link blinked twice, rubbed his eyes, saw Mipha next to him and reached out for her, a reaction to his nightmare.

"Are you all right, sweetheart?" said Mipha as she embraced him and felt him shiver. "Did the storm frighten you?"

"No, it was another nightmare," said Link without thinking, but it was too late.

"Another?" said Mipha looking sharply at him. "What do you mean 'another'? You've been having nightmares again, and you haven't told me?"

"Ever since that incident in the water at Lurelin Village, I've been having occasional nightmares," said Link. "I don't understand it, but it's how my mind sometimes works when I sense danger. It doesn't happen every night, and I didn't want to tell you about it and have you worry about me. I thought the nightmares would go away by themselves over time."

"You should have told me," said Mipha as she gently rubbed his forehead. "I don't want you to keep things like that from me, sweetheart. Promise me you won't. Don't you know I'm here for you? Do you want to talk about it? Or forget it and move on?"

"Let's forget it," said Link. "It's partly about something from my old timeline, something that didn't happen anymore and I don't like to think about."

Ever since Link's recovery from the Shrine of Resurrection long ago, he suffered from occasional nightmares. The damage to his mind and its attempt to repair itself, to restore order to his fractured memories during sleep was the likely cause. The nightmares had been relatively frequent early in his marriage, sometimes causing him to wake up screaming in the middle of the night. But they had become much less frequent with time. He tended to have them now only when he sensed danger, such as when that evil creature Vera surfaced.