The passage led out of the cavern that was Zora's Domain, and into a lake surrounded by jutting grey promontories soaring above the grassy hills that defined the region. The water that wasn't flowing into Zora's Domain spilled over an edge protected by timber pylons, which Link figured out, was the waterfall they had gone behind earlier.
"Zora's Lake: nearly all of Hyrule's fresh water," said Navi, "comes from this lake."
"The Royal Family must be very interested in keeping the Zora people happy," Link speculated. The Zora had their own monarchy, which the Hyrulean monarchy must have peacefully allowed in exchange for a supply of clean water. It was their princess he was saving, but he was still on a mission for Princess Zelda.
The one they called Lord Jabu-Jabu was resting at a stone pedestal that acted as a dock. He was enormous, as if he were a great big whale residing in Zora's Lake. His silver scales shimmered in the light of the full moon. His head and snout were decorated with an ornamental headdress, made of knitted fabric, boasting deep colors of maroon, gold, olive, and... sapphire. This blue was featured in a pattern of three circular shapes arranged in a triangle, not unlike the Triforce, situated about a Y-shape that connected them together. Link could tell that this must have been what the Zora Sapphire looked like... a proud sigil extravagantly displayed on their guardian fish.
Lord Jabu-Jabu did seem to have an ill demeanor about him. There was stillness in his eyes, and a pale green color that really did surround his gills, which were producing a saddening noise of belated breathing. It was clear at that point what the dead fish he had was for. Link carefully placed it on the pedestal in front of the great fish. The poor creature hardly noticed... or was disinterested.
Disappointed, he picked the fish back up, wondering what to do. Throwing it up in the air and catching it, he headed to return to King Zora...that is until it got sucked back behind him. Link turned around to see the inside of the great fish's mouth, rapidly sucking in the air around him to feed on the offering.
Link hesitated, but knew what he had to do. He sprung towards the creature's mouth. The whirlwind of air swept him off his feet like a twister, pulling him in with the food offering into the mouth of Lord Jabu-Jabu.
When Link and the fish hit Jabu-Jabu's tongue, it curled up, contracting and relaxing to swallow the fish whole. The throat closed in around him, lathering him with saliva as he was pushed through the tight red esophagus. Link had never expected to do anything like this, and was disgusted... at the feel, at the smell, and though it was pitch dark, at the sight he imagined.
Shortly thereafter, Link was greeted with the surprise of actual sight. He was released into a chamber lit by bioluminescent airborne jellyfish floating around what was surely the stomach. Their pink stingers flapped lazily underneath their translucent dome-shaped heads that shone a brilliant cyan.
"Those are Biri," said Navi, "they will electrocute you on contact."
Despite this caution, Link was impressed by their beauty. The blue light they produced reflected off the walls... and what appeared to be strange pulsating columnar organs throughout the stomach, spanning from floor to ceiling.
Now that Link was in the belly of the great fish, he wondered where the Zora princess ended up. He figured she would stay in this area; it was lit, there was plenty of air, and though it was sickening to think about, there was even food from the fish Jabu-Jabu swallowed whole. Sloshing through the stomach fluid, cautious of the Biri, he looked around the corners of the columnar organs for a Zora.
He stopped. "Ruto!" Link yelled, cupping his hands around his lips, his voice echoing off the moistened walls of the stomach.
There was a slosh of liquid with the step of a bright white webbed foot. There, from behind one of the columns, appeared a girl about Link's age. She was clearly a Zora, but much like her father, her appearance was different than the other Zora. She had ribbed fin-like ears on the sides of her large hammer-shaped head, which somehow complemented her deep violet eyes.
"Who are you?" she asked in a timid voice. "Why are you here?"
"My name is Link," he replied, "I've come to rescue you."
"Oh, I'm a damsel in distress, am I?" she retorted defensively.
Link was taken aback. "I... found your letter in a bottle... it ended up all the way down in Lake Hylia..."
"'Letter in a bottle'?" She scrunched her face in confusion. "I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"You mean to tell me that note... that wasn't you?"
She smirked and said, "I don't need rescuing!" She turned and waded deeper into the stomach.
Link was puzzled. Why did she not want to escape such an awful place?
"Ruto!" Link began to wade after her.
"That's Princess Ruto to you... Keeyaah!" She sunk into the stomach fluid, disappearing from Link's sight.
Link ran to the spot where she went under. He suddenly felt a yank at his feet. A violent current sucked him under, into a passage that was even tighter than the throat. He was forced to hold his breath as he was swiftly squeezed through. Finally, he was spat out onto a dry squishy surface, where Ruto lay, shocked at what had just happened.
"Are you alright...Princess Ruto?" Link asked, gasping for breath.
"You're really worried about me..." she said, in a half-statement, half-question.
"Well, yes... I didn't know where you went!" Link reassured her, "I couldn't face your father if anything happened to you..."
"Are you doing this for my father, or for me?" Ruto stared quizzically into Link's eyes.
Link had always had a heart for others; after all, it was his motivation for his quest, to protect the Hyrulean kingdom from the horrors of the Desert King experienced in his dreams. Link was genuinely concerned for this girl's safety, but there was something larger at stake, and he felt that he should come clean about it. "I'm trying to get the Zora Sapphire..."
Ruto's purple eyes widened with a look of shock, but that look soon turned to one of worry.
"What's wrong?" Link asked, wondering if she knew that Ganondorf was after it as well.
"I lost my precious stone in here," she answered in disappointment.
Link's mouth gaped open, speechless.
"That stone has been in my family for generations. It was my mother who gave it to me before she died. She got it from my father when they were married. I've worn it around my neck ever since she passed," Ruto said, tearing up, "I've been going in Lord Jabu-Jabu's mouth for years, cleaning it. But recently, he's been ill. It's the only reason I can think of for what happened... he swallowed me up! I guess I passed out, because I woke up in his stomach... with my stone missing."
Ruto started to cry. Link hesitantly sat next to her, and tenderly reached around her pale shoulders, attempting to console her. "That note was you."
She laughed. "Lord Jabu-Jabu will swallow anything. Who would have thought a bottle full of paper, ink, and a quill would turn up in here!? I just wish I could have found my stone that easily. Life can be so unfair!"
"Hey," Link reassured, "I'll help you find it."
Ruto locked her piercing violet eyes onto Link's. "If you do, you can have it for sure," she promised, smiling.
"We'll find it," Link promised.
Link got up, but Ruto remained sitting. "I will give you the honor of carrying me!"
Link was taken aback again. A moment ago, she did not need anybody's help, but now she was a damsel in distress. Even so, he couldn't help but chuckle at what she said. "You could've just asked to be carried if you don't want to trudge through here."
Ruto had searched extensively in the stomach with no success. So, Link carried her along Lord Jabu-Jabu's upper bowels, passing and avoiding more of those electric floating jellyfish lighting the way.
As they went on, encountering more and more of them, Link began to wonder about them. "Are these things normal?"
"I don't know," Ruto replied, "I've never seen anything like them, so I don't think Lord Jabu-Jabu swallowed them."
"So... they grew...inside him?" Link recalled the Gohma... the Dodongos. "Are they infecting him?"
"They could be a part of his sickness," Ruto concurred, "they are quite beautiful, though... even if they are pests."
She then reached out to one nearby. Recalling Navi's warning, Link jerked backwards, shouting, "No!" But in the process, he bumped into one behind him. The pain of the jolt was nearly as excruciating as the one Ganondorf sent through his body in his recurring nightmare. Dropping Ruto, he landed on the squishy floor, screaming in agony.
"Keeyaah! Link!" Ruto called out.
In a daze, Link sat up. The electrocution from the Biri was still making his fingers twitch. "I'm okay," he said woozily.
The commotion must have raised attention to them. The other Biri became excited, and something big came around the corner of the dark passage, with the glimmer of something shiny. As the shadow loomed closer, it became clear what the shiny object was.
"That's it!" Ruto flailed her limbs with joy. "That's what I've been looking for!"
The three shining circles of the Zora Sapphire appeared to be held by the shadow. As it loomed closer still, it became clear what the shadow was.
"What is that, an octopus!?" Ruto fearfully posited.
The creature did indeed have tentacles, eight of them, squiggling and slithering, giving the creature its mobility. One of which held the stone in an enveloping grasp. The bulk of the mass was constituted by a head like that of a Biri, with a snout like that of a Deku. The purple squid-like creature opened its eyes, revealing eerily glowing yellow dots.
"That is an Octorok..." Navi came out to inform, "It will shoot projectiles like a Deku Scrub will!"
The Octorok picked up speed. As it charged towards them, Link took the Hylian Shield off his back and the Kokiri Sword from its sheath, preparing to defend the Zora princess. Its snout squirmed, and soon after, a large pellet was flying towards him. The projectile thudded against the steel of his shield, but the swift force was not ignorable. Link charged back, slashing at anything in front of him.
It was resistant, though. Its skin was resilient like leather. The Octorok pressed in on Link, smothering him with its squirming tentacles. It slowly moved over him, compromising his position between it and Ruto.
"Link!!" Ruto screamed in despair.
The Octorok must have got a hold of her. Looking on from behind the Octorok, Link noticed something odd about it: a discolored circle on its backside, with a different texture than the leathery purple skin. He jabbed his blade into it, stabbing the weak spot, drawing a squeal of pain from the foe.
It turned its body around in the tight passage, moving over Link once again, taking the Spiritual Stone of Water and the Zora princess with it. It was making its way deeper into Jabu-Jabu's bowels. With its speed, Link had to run to keep up. As he ran, he unleashed a flurry of slashes, cuts, and stabs into its weak spot on its backside. Fortunately, it was enough, and the creature stopped, collapsing onto its tentacles.
It was quiet. He called Ruto's name. There was no response. He pushed his way to the other side of the fallen Octorok. The tentacles that were carrying its plunder were empty. Link jerked his head to look down the passage. In the faint light of the Biri, he saw a limp Ruto being dragged around the corner from which the Octorok came, by some sort of other tentacle, much larger than those of the Octorok.
Link chased after it, but when he ran around the corner, the tentacle was nowhere to be seen. He pursued it further, deeper and deeper into the bowels of Lord Jabu-Jabu.
He must have reached the lower bowel when he heard the zaps and cracks of electricity. He turned the corner into a spherical chamber, pink and moist, like the rest of Jabu-Jabu's innards. There, he saw the most peculiar and frightening thing: some sort of organism with a bulbous red base, and tentacles sprouting from all over it. There was a bushel of them which supported it, several squirming about the bulbous base, and large ones coming up off the top. Some of which went up into the ceiling, and some of which terminated in sharp ends surrounded by cups.
Accompanying it were some of the same columnar organs from the stomach, throbbing in sync with the organism. Link made the realization that these were not organs, but parasitic tentacles, snaking their way throughout Lord Jabu-Jabu's body, originating from their master down there. Amidst the crowded space, Link saw the tentacle that had abducted Ruto. She was still there, unconsciously hanging in its grasp.
What was more, there were Biri... large ones... floating about. Suddenly, the electric crackling stopped, and the glowing jellyfish started to come together... floating towards the organism, and attaching themselves to the bulbous base.
"This thing... it is a Barinade, a parasite fueled by bioelectricity," Navi realized, "of course, this must be the source of the Biri!"
The bioelectric anemone, Barinade, flailed its free tentacles. The ones that were cupped at the sharp tips sparked, and they were aimed at Link. Link rolled sideways, avoiding another excruciating shock. He had to think quickly. The portion covered in Biri looked too protected to attack effectively. As the shocking tentacles closed in again, he ran towards it. With his veins filling with adrenaline, he jumped onto it. He grabbed hold of the tentacles attaching it to the ceiling, his feet landing on the top of the base. He felt a small current run through his arms, but he didn't care... there was no time to. He took his blade and cut the tentacle, slicing it right in half. The thing squirmed and throbbed, dropping Link to the ground. He noticed one of the columns went dark, shriveling up to nearly nothing right before his eyes.
"That red slimy thing... it's gone!" Navi stated. "Will that work on the other ones too?"
Link knew what he had to do. Repeating the process, Link hopped onto the Barinade, avoiding the electric stingers, and sliced each of the life lines one by one... the tentacles networking throughout the body of Lord Jabu-Jabu.
After the last one, the tentacle holding Ruto released her, and the thing went still. Link ran over to Ruto, shaking her to wake up. Listening for her breath, all he could hear was a buzzing, growing louder and louder. Link turned around... it wasn't over. The Barinade was cut down, but the bulbous base was free now, and it was executing its last defenses.
It started to spin, flinging the Biri outward, hoping to hit its attacker with one. Link dodged them, while also blocking the defenseless Ruto, with a few near misses right past their shoulders. The Biri gathered themselves after being flung, flying vigorously around the chamber. Link saw his opportunity. He ran at the bulb that was now naked, dodging the angry Biri. With all his might, he thrusted his sword into the pink meaty bulb, crippling the heart of this parasitic creature. Throbbing and squirming, it burned up the last of its life. Link removed his blade, and the last of the organism wilted brown, shriveling up right before him. Without their host, the Biri would surely die out. Link had helped rid the vermin from Ruto's guardian, as he once did with his.
"You did it!" In the light of the now calm Biri, Link turned around to see Ruto on her feet. She ran to him and embraced him firmly.
Link hugged her back. She smelled of water blossoms and lily pads, despite being in the belly of Lord Jabu-Jabu. "Your mother's stone..."
Smiling, she raised her hand, revealing the Zora Sapphire pinched between her fingers.
They made their way out of the great fish... into the water of the lake. Ruto swam away from Jabu-Jabu, and upwards to the surface, moving eloquently, with the true grace of a Zora. Link followed suit. At the surface, gasping for air and treading water, Link found himself looking at a bright-eyed Ruto looking back, deep into his own eyes.
"You saved me," she said, giggling, "do you still want my sapphire?"
Link was so close to acquiring the last stone for Princess Zelda. "I would, please, if it is alright," Link said politely.
"Oh, it is alright..." Ruto responded, grinning. She took Link's hand above the water and placed it in his palm. "This stone has been in my family, the Zora Royal Family, for many generations. I bestow it unto you as my father bestowed it unto my mother... you might call it the Zora Engagement Ring!"
"Engagement...!?"
"I shall tell my father at once!" Ruto swam away in the dolphin-like style of a Zora, leaving Link to digest what had just happened.
"Of course," said Navi, "her father, the King, gave it to her mother... who passed it on to her. The Spiritual Stone of Water must be a token of betrothal in the Zora Royal Family Line... even I did not know this."
"Betrothal... like marriage?" Link's mind was racing. It's not that Ruto wouldn't make a fine suitress for him... it's just that he was only a kid... a Kokiri who would always remain that way. Say the two did marry at their young age, Ruto would grow older while Link remained young. "I can't marry her, Navi... Kokiri..."
"Betrothal, Link, as in promised," said Navi, "Princess Ruto, King Zora, and the Zora people will expect you to marry her eventually. What matters right now is that you have all three Spiritual Stones! You need to hurry back to Princess Zelda! Then... this can be sorted out."
The third and final Spiritual Stone! Link's successful completion of his journey for these long-sought artifacts was diminished by this unexpected twist. Though he felt guilty for obtaining the Zora's treasured symbol of royal marriage without matching intentions, he knew he must make haste back to Hyrule Castle, to reunite with the Princess of Hyrule, and put an end to Ganondorf's malevolent scheme.