Link stood at attention in the presence of the Zora king, Dorephan, even beneath the scrutinizing glance of Muzu, who shook his head dismissively, sending his whisker-like fins to and fro, fluttering through the air. Mipha stood a distance away from her secret companion, having been instructed to by her teacher, and though her head remained low, she still remained with a glance toward the only Hylian in the room.
"I want it on the record, my king; I've been telling you these Hylians are foul news indeed," Muzu's voice shook with a deep-seated rage, "Now you have your own soldier, one of your most loyal and dependable no less, telling us the very same thing I've been spouting for centuries now, to you, and to your father before you. You owe it to your good sir, Zevan, to do away with these monsters before they can do any further harm."
Dorephan eyed his advisor, "This man and his two counterparts and Hylians, yes, but are you not but a single Zora out of many others?"
Muzu scowled toward the massive King, "One in many where such a thing is expected. These Hylians are out of place; what are the odds of there being two parties of them concurrently?"
The King sighed, turning toward Link's sturdy posture with a frown, "My friend, surely you must understand my advisor's apprehension. Our only eyewitness, the victim himself, no less, implicated a Hylian being of some sort."
"I understand."
"Even though I would trust my very life to your sword, and even my daughter to your protection as a Champion," Dorephan continued, shoulders slumped, "I cannot vouch the same for those two downstairs. Despite simply completing a task between our nations, nonetheless they are no less strangers than whomever tore a hole in my soldier's chest."
Mipha objected, stepping forward, "Father, have you lost any sense of justice? Baseless accusations are-"
"Silence!" Muzu shouted, grumblingly, "I won't have a pupil lecture me in this room. You of all people should understand just how vile those Hylians can be; I'm merely doing my duty in defending my home from further evils."
Link turned to Mipha curiously, wondering if her teacher had found the two of them out, but she only lowered her head, stepping back into place, following the instruction of Muzu, who huffed a breath as he shook his head displeasingly. He turned back toward the King, who also had a curious look due to his statement, and began speaking again.
"At the very least, chain them up or something until we figure this out. Even if they weren't the ones to fell Zevan, how could we ever know whether or not they're merely patsies? or wholly aiding in attempted murder?"
Dorephan turned toward his daughter, noticing her drooping fins and shoulders, absolutely dejected from her teacher's slight from earlier. He groaned, covering his face with his fin as he shook his head, as if attempting to disguise the swirling thoughts in his mind before revealing himself once again, shooting a glance toward Muzu.
"My daughter speaks the truth," Dorephan confirmed, much to Muzu's shock, "An advisor can jump to conclusions- and indeed, your differing ideas are what make you quite an outstanding attendant of mine. However, a King has not the luxury of sending bad tidings to other nations merely on speculation. Zevan is alive; other than some wanton assault, no crime has taken-"
Dorephan's eye's narrowed as his body leaned forward, Link and the others present catching his gaze and turning around, watching for themselves Tovar walking hastily toward the throne room, visibly in a state of distress as his hand waved in front of him, almost removing rehearsed speeches from his mind in trying to find a polite one to enter unto the King with. Mipha's eyes widened as she realized the news he must be bringing, her head tilting backward so as to catch the tears at her eyes before they fell.
Tovar entered the throne room, waving his hand in front of himself one last time before kneeling there, his fist pressing into the ground as his lips curled outward, revealing gritted teeth as he held back tears, "Zevan has died."
A silence wove its way into the open-aired room. While Muzu spun away to collect himself at the news, Dorephan actively reacted with sadness, his body falling as he exhaled in horror, "What?"
"He never regained coherence," Tovar managed, weakly, "He died not ten minutes ago. We sent him down the canal, off to the goddess' realm, in as near of condition as was his best, without decay."
Dorephin's eyes shut as he curled forward, wrapping his hand across his face in anguish, shaking his head. Link slowly approached the Zora kneeling there, though Muzu was quick to shout in his wake.
"D-Don't you dare!" he shouted, though it didn't stop Link's advance.
He dropped to a knee beside Tovar and leaned into him, tightly wrapping his arms around him as the Zora quaked, leaving Link with little more to console him other than a slight, "Your son was a good man."
"A good man, indeed," Dorephan suddenly roared, his voice boisterous as though addressing the goddess herself, "A tremendously good man was Zevan."
He turned an eye toward Link as the Hylian stood back up, though his head fell to hide his grimace while the King continued, "I might have allowed some manner of clemency before, but with the death of one of our own, Link... I'm afraid you understand what this means."
He waved a mighty hand toward the entryway as Tovar made his way back to his feet, signaling his prized soldier to turn and retrieve Lall and Jarrol, the two men entering the large, fish-shaped throne room, leaving Lall rather enthralled by the architecture while Jarrol nervously peered toward to the gigantic Zora sitting before him. His only respite came with his noticing their bodyguard, though his heart wavered once more as he saw Link's reservedly upset expression.
"I'm sorry, friend," Dorephan spoke, earning a crude glance from his advisor, "But surely you're aware, with a death such as this, I have no choice but to relegate you to the chambers below until we know what has happened, fully."
Muzu cracked, "Don't apologize; these pests have brought darkness in their wake! on the near-eve of your own daughter's festival when your soldiers are least present! It wouldn't shock me to discover this one, so intimately tied to us Zora, wouldn't reveal such things merely to revel in our destruction!"
"Muzu!" Dorephan shouted, "My respect for your advice trails just so far! As it stands, this man holds the blade he holds; what makes you believe I would doubt his intentions when I offer my own daughter to his care in their band of Champions?!"
Muzu spun toward his King, the two arguing as Jarrol shook nervously, leaning toward his cousin, "W-What's going on?!"
Lall's lips grew crooked with a smarmy expression as he answered, "Well, for one, the fish is going to make for a particularly pungent ride home."
As Dorephan and Muzu continued their boisterous shouting, Tovar took the initiative, waving Link over and frowning as he took his wrist, pulling him close as he apologized, his Zoran voice cracking behind fresh tears, "I'm sorry I have to do this. I never could have expected this, to be sure."
Link shrugged, "I understand. Just be careful for whatever's out there, okay? I don't know what Zevan could have misconstrued as a 'dragon', but the Hylian part is unmistakable. Keep an eye out for anybody; no manifest had any other group coming here after us for weeks."
Tovar nodded, his voice breaking through quietly, "Thank you for your condolences."
He shoved the chained cuffs back into his pocket, Muzu having noticed, leaving him to reply to Dorephan in a frenzy, though leaving Tovar to speak to Link respectfully, "Thank the goddess I don't have to shackle you now."
"Afraid you'd still lose in a fight?" Link answered, smiling weakly, trying to earn something of a grin from the man before him.
Tovar pushed him playfully toward the two other Hylians, grunting authoritatively, "In line, prisoner. I know where the cuffs are."
Link smirked at Tovar's feigned brutishness as he stood beside his two companions, Lall silently watching him from the side in confusion, finally speaking up, "What have we to smile about?!"
"Hey," Link muttered, turning to the two Hylian men, "I'm your bodyguard. I'll keep you safe."
Jarrol's eyes rolled dramatically, his body swooping down as his knees gave way for a moment, shaking his head, "You just had to get the 'free' one."
"I don't want to hear that from you, cousin," Lall retorted, bemusedly, "You're the one telling me to cut expenses."
"Expenses!" Jarrol retorted pitiably, "Cut expenses! Not cut our lives short! Had I any wanting to die in a foreign prison, I'd at least have it be to the Gorons; I hear being incinerated is far less painful than being skewered and set to die in agony while sliding down the pike!"
Lall chuckled, "Old wives tales, cousin! That was long ago, if ever it were a thing! I'm sure these fine people are far more civilized!"
Tovar elbowed Link in the back as he passed behind the three Hylians, stopping between Lall and Jarrol as he leaned in between them, speaking with a sinister tone, "That was my son who died. If I find out it was because of you two, I'll be sure to fashion a particularly lengthy spear."
Unable to speak, Lall's eyes jerked open as Jarrol let loose an anguished whine, "We're doomed."
Their Zoran captor could only release a small grin at their reactions.
Lall sat near the corner of the tiny room that sat near the river waters coming off the falls, his leg popping every other second as he kicked the adjacent wall, his eyes growing heavy from exhaustion as he did his best to kill time. His crossed arms tightened as his head wavered, catching and releasing sleep like a fish that had hopped from the water and imprisoned h-
"This is fantastic, cousin!" Jarrol shouted, his nerves having gone from fear to sarcastic fury since being jailed, waking Lall from his nearing sleep as he did so, pacing back and forth.
Lall's head fell backward against the wall, his eyes straining to peer out the window into the night sky that had appeared, just able to catch the moon's light from just beyond the corner of the barred hole in the wall. He frowned as his cousin continued his tirade, swinging his arms, gesticulating wildly in vocal hyperbole, letting loose a torrent of expletives before finally finding some semblance of direction in his oration.
"Your sister might as well be a witch! Sending me out here to my demise alongside my incorrigible cousin! I'm an apothecary! What have I to do with finances anyway?! Why did I accept this insane death march?!"
Throwing a finger to Lall, he continued, "You k ow how these people are! Just watch! The thought of my poor child seeing her father still atop that pike after these Zora have sent our corpses back to have made us an example! I haven't done any wrong! All I wanted was to pleasure your dear sister and repay her from childhood; now I've got nothing but a free bodyguard!"
Link had been standing silently by the doorway, having been peering out through the bars since they'd been put in here, though Jarrol still flippantly launched a verbal salvo in his direction, "I bet you this one fancies us as mere patsies; ready to abandon us, leaving us for dead!"
"Alright, cousin," Lall groaned, "You can voice your craziness to me; trust me, I've quite learned to deal with it by now. Don't bother a hired hand with-"
"He wasn't hired!" Jarrol cried out, as though the fact had massive significance.
His eyes lowered, noticing Lall having curled up toward the wall, his finger scratching seemingly uselessly upon the rock, Jarrol finally muttering curiously as a hand reached to the back of his head, "W-What are you doing?"
Lall replied, gravely, "Well, I'd like this room's next visitor to have a name to go along with the skeleton."
"COUSIN!" Jarrol exclaimed horrifically, wrapping his arms around his head as he swayed aimlessly, shaking his head to ward off the evil thought swirling around in there.
"Please tell me you have a key."
Lall's head turned toward the door, Link's words catching him off guard, his eyes shooting open at the red tentacle waving back and forth from atop the doorway, Jarrol having much the same reaction as he quickly stepped away from the foreign object dangling there. Soon enough, a body appeared as the crimson tail fell to the ground, a red Zora child picking itself up and grinning toward Link as he approached the door, reaching an arm out to high five the newcomer.
Instead, the child shot a fist out, extending a thumbs up as the moonlight just caught a glimmer off his broad teeth, leaving Link to pull his arm away with a smirk, "Right, right; too cool for high-fives. I gotcha."
A boyish chuckle escaped the child as he yanked a key from his satchel, sending Jarrol's eyes alight as he rushed toward the door, his feet entangling and sending him to the ground. He still scurried on all fours toward the door as Link stepped out from the newly opened door, closing it back in Jarrol's face as the man nearly slammed into the bars in his bid at escape.
"Sorry; we can't let them get too suspicious, can we?" Link asked with a shrug, crouching lower to meet Jarrol on his level near the ground, "You have my word as a soldier of your King. You will not die here; I'll come back for you two. Sidon and I just need to figure out what's going on, right?"
He turned to Sidon who grinned widely, though this time he crossed his chest with a heavy slam of his arm in a salute, nodding and sending his oversized fin half-flying up and down in time with his motions. Link stood and began to leave, with Sidon scampering alongside him, peering reverently up toward Link more than he was watching his step, the two leaving Jarrol to slide his head down along the cell door, pressing his forehead against the freezing foundation below him.
"We're doomed," he whimpered repeatedly, "Doomed... Doomed... Doomed..."