When (Y/n) finally went to retire for the night, she felt herself get drawn to a deep sleep. Unsure if it was just her weariness from her journey or the effects of the blissful water bed, it mattered not as she soon felt herself pulled into a dream.
A dream, that was quite strange, and not like the dreams she was accustomed to having, which usually had to do with her daily life or past memories of hers.
This... Was far too peculiar.
As if watching a play in real time, (Y/n) spotted a woman in strange robes, donning jewelry that looked quite familiar to the jewelry she would make at her shop.
The woman had her hands clasped in prayer, and she appeared to be in a snowy area, in a spring where she kneeled before a goddess statue before her.
"Please, Goddess Hylia, give me the answers I seek. These visions of mine... What do they mean? What is this darkness I sense approaching, and the light that comes to combat it? Please, answer my prayers." She murmured softly, her eyes closed in concentration.
Upon watching her, (Y/n) felt a strange sense of Deja Vu.
What was this darkness she was talking about, and this light?
After being still for a moment, the woman's eyes then opened, a sort of... peaceful look appearing in her striking eyes. "I... see. Then I shall head there straight away."
The world then seemed to fade in a bright light, and (Y/n) felt herself returning back to reality.
Though her eyes were closed, she could sense that it was now morning. She stirred a bit in the bed for a while, before Kodah was lightly shaking her awake, amused by how (Y/n) would slowly stretch and yawn before getting up.
"Good morning, (Y/n). If you hurry, you can get some fish stew from the public kitchen!" She pointed out, which made (Y/n) more eager to fully wake up, and go to get this food. Luckily for her, living in Lurelin Village meant that she had eaten a lot of seafood, and was accustomed to it.
Though this fish stew was a bit more on the... blander side, admittedly, it was still quite filling, which is what she needed to start the day. She couldn't complain about free food!
After all, today would be the first day she set her shop up in Zora's Domain. She would set it in a corner in the square, where everyone could see it. Given the only things the Zora seem to wear are accessories, (Y/n)'s shop would no doubt bring a new style of fashion that the Zora are not accustomed to.
Upon setting up her shop, the little ones immediately made a beeline to her, their big golden eyes going to look at the shop in awe. They have never seen such trinkets before!
"What is that, Miss? Is it a mask of a monster?" One of the young Zora girls asked, nervously pointing to one of the masks (Y/n) had made.
(Y/n) giggled. "I do not believe so, no. According to what I have been told, it is supposed to depict the face of the ruler of an ancient race of people that lived up in the sky." She mused with a smile. That was what she was told about the mask... When she was a child. Obviously, it had to be some story made up by someone long ago in her family, since there was no way anyone could have lived up in the sky.
However, the whole truth of the mask, having just been a design made up from her ancestor, wouldn't be as interesting to tell the little minnows. Where was the splendor in that?
"People in the sky?! That sounds incredible! We have to find a way to go up there to meet them!" One of the other little Zora chirped with an excited bounce.
"We can't go up there. The sun is in the sky, and if we go up, we'll burn!" One of the minnows shuddered with fear.
"Then we need a way to go up there and not burn because of the sun..." The other little Zora hummed, before all the little ones were escorted away from (Y/n)'s shop by one of the older Zora.
"Now, now, run along now, little minnows. (Y/n) is running a shop, and you know what we say about a Zora who runs a shop." The female Zora smiled at them, as they all pouted. "Do not disturb a working fish." They all repeated with less-than-enthusiasm, all going to whine before the group was then running off elsewhere.
"Those little ones sure can be quite the handful for us working Zora. One of my own little ones claimed to have seen a monster staring at me while I was fishing. They sure do have quite the vivid imagination." She joked to (Y/n), who laughed along, though she mentally made a note of possible river monsters to be wary of.
"It really is not a big deal. I am more than happy to talk about my wares, especially if I can get a sale." (Y/n) winked playfully to the female Zora known as Mei, which caused the two of them to laugh.
"I really do understand that. Since my little boys are growing, I have to catch a lot of fish so I can feed them and sell the rest at the Coral Reef. Then there is my husband, Fronk, who is always hammering away for his job." Mei sighed, as her gaze then went to flick over to her husband, who was busy up keeping one of the many pillars that made up the Domain. A fond, loving smile then crossed her face.
"The little time we spend together when we put our little ones to sleep is so precious... I'd go bug him now, but I am afraid that will just make my leave for the day even more harder on him." Mei then turned to (Y/n). "Remember this when you get married, (Y/n). Married life isn't always going to be perfect, there are going to be some squabbles in between. But, it is the most beautiful thing to sleep next to your family after such a hard day of work. I wouldn't want to live my life any other way than the way I am living it now." Mei giggled, before she was bidding (Y/n) goodbye and going to head out to fish for the day.
Being as single as she was, (Y/n) found Mei's advice to be something she would have to stow away for a rather distant future. After all, just look where her luck had landed her thus far!
After making a few sales from her shop, night time had arrived, which meant (Y/n) would be closing shop, her mind recalling both the strange dream she had, and the promise the prince has made to her.
Still having her handy map, (Y/n) went to look up just where Mikau Lake was before heading there, being very mindful of making sure no one saw her leave. She did not want anyone too into her business, it would be a whole bunch of nasty that she was just not prepared to handle. She was barely prepared to handle what had just happened to her!
"Up the stairs... Across the bridge... Up this h-hill..." (Y/n) wheezed as she was stomping her way over the rather small uphill pathway that led to Mikau Lake. Despite traveling quite a couple times, (Y/n) still wasn't much of a runner, especially for long durations of time. She didn't notice just how big the Domain was until she had to run out of it.
"Alright... Here we... Are..." (Y/n) trailed off, having spotted her mentor near the waterfall of the lake, standing on top of a rock.
It could be a trick of the moonlight, but standing there, all majestic and refined, made the prince look like he wasn't even of this world.
A moment later, the prince spotted her, and broke out into a bright smile. "(Y/n), you were able to make it! I was growing worried that perhaps something had happened to keep you." Sidon chuckled, before leaping off the rock, and approaching (Y/n), going to guide her into the rather shallow waters of the lake.
"Here will be the perfect place to practice, since most of the water is rather shallow. Being a Zora, you need to learn to become one with the water. Feel the way it moves, understand the way it flows. In doing that, you too will be able to master swimming, and even climb up waterfalls." Sidon smiled, before he was walking towards the deeper end. "Here, I will give you a demonstration, and you will try to copy what I am doing, alright?" He grinned at her, before dipping into the water, and going to slowly swim, so she could watch.
Unlike the way a Hylian would swim, the Zora wouldn't even need to use their arms, or kick their legs. The way Sidon would move... It was like he was just floating, but underwater. He swayed with the soft flow of the water, and the way he made it look made the act of swimming look far easier than the Hylian way.
Going into deeper waters as well, (Y/n) tried to replicate what he was doing, but found she would only get softly pushed away by the gentle waves, before hitting the lake floor.
Sidon, quick to help her up, went to ponder up a solution to her problem. "It seems to me... As if you are too tense. Like a rock in the water. You must think like a fish, instead. Think of yourself as weightless, floating in place. Once you do that, then we can get to the moving part of swimming, alright?" He gave her an encouraging smile, patting her softly on the back, before he was then gently guiding her back into position in the water.
"Let your body grow lax... Remember, float in the water." He suggested to her, holding her up by her waist.
(Y/n) found herself having to get used to a whole bunch of new sensations, mainly the feeling of actually being able to breathe underwater. It was the strangest feeling to breathe through the sides of her torso instead of the area in the middle of her face. That, and the feeling of Sidon's hands holding her up, being mindful of the area where her gills were.
She was able to float for a few moments, which encouraged Sidon to slowly let her go, before she was once again slowly being drifted by the gentle current once more.
After helping (Y/n) up to the surface on her two feet, Sidon looked at her. "This... Is going to take some time to master, but we will have plenty of time to get this right. I promise you that you will be able to swim one day, or my name is not Sidon!"
He then gave her a confident fist pump, with an equally confident, and dazzling, bright, toothy smile. He really looked self assured that he will be able to teach her how to swim, which really gave (Y/n) some hope that it would actually be possible to swim one day.
"You... really do believe you can teach my rock of a self how to swim?" (Y/n) smiled softly, which made Sidon give a firm nod. "I do. After all, there have been some legends from the past concerning... strange ailments, such as the one you have, happening. However, it seemed to have usually effected the princess, or the king." Sidon told her, before a playful grin graced his face. "(Y/n)... May you secretly be a princess?"
(Y/n) laughed. "Not to my knowledge, no. Though that does sound very interesting... The strange ailments, I mean. What did they have?" She questioned him, as he went to hum, and hold a hand to his chin. "Well, it has been told that one of our princesses in the distant past did at one point lose her voice... But she was able to regain it back, through the wonder of a song. Unfortunately, how that song sounded or what it was has been lost to us from history." Sidon sighed, before eyeing (Y/n).
"However, for as long as we have nights, I will help you every night in any way that I can, until you can swim. Shall we get back to it?" He asked her, to which she nodded. The more practice she got in, the better.
This wouldn't be an issue that would resolve overnight, or even a few nights from now. She knew that this inability of hers will take some time to resolve, and it made (Y/n) ever so grateful with how truly generous the prince of Zora was to help a practical stranger of his Domain to gain this ability that came to the usual Zora as soon as they were born.