***
Link wakened once more.
At first, only darkness and peace. He wondered if he had just up and died. Last he remembered, a pain strong enough to make any man wish for death had seized his entire body.
Gradually though, as his mind cleared, he realized that while the pain had truly vanished, the blackness persisted only because he had not yet opened his eyes.
Doing so, blackness still met him. A blackness dotted by twinkling white stars, and he soon knew he stared at the night-time sky.
Sitting up slowly, he observed several things. He sat once more on the plush fields of Hyrule. Midna knelt before him, smiling with instant relief, sighing, and closing her eyes to mouth a prayer of thanks before turning her eyes back upon him; they gleamed vividly with their keen fires, trying not to look exhilarated but failing entirely.
Next to Midna knelt another being, and it was she which baffled him so entirely that he thought one of two things: perhaps he really was dead, and Midna too, and they’d both found their way into the Spirit Realm. Or else he was still asleep and woke up into a truly miraculous dream of sorts.
Link frowned, not in a sad or disapproving way, but in confusion, even disbelief. She was not one of the winged Zorita of his world. She bore no wings, only the elegant flippers streaming like gentle falls from her arms, the brilliant sapphire eyes, and the delicate, fin-shaped ears, thin and soft as silk. She had no hair to speak of, her nose was long, slender, and ended with an intelligent point, and her skin glistened a lovely cerulean hue. In short, she looked nothing like a Zorita because she looked everything like one of the Zora of old. That people which had dwelt on land and water and over time had morphed into the Rito of the Sky, and finally into the lovers of sky and water esteemed in Hyrule today, the Zorita. She was a Zora. Of that, there was no mistake....
But there was much mystery.
“Link...Link..? Link!”
Midna’s warbled voice finally broke clearly through to his yet foggy mind. Looking up, he saw concern glittering fervently in her eyes. Stretching forth a delicate hand to rest upon his, she asked quietly, “Are you okay?”
He nodded, and the worry dissipated gradually from her eyes.
“The pain was intense; he might yet be recovering.”
Link’s eyes snapped with full alertness now to that other which spoke. Her voice flowed with a smooth quiet, but also with a clear and commanding wisdom such as when Midna spoke of something very important. Her eyes were just as intense as Midna’s—and just as concealing. Beyond their gentility, he could not be certain what she felt.
“Forgive me, young Hero, for coming to you only as a voice until this moment. Even now, it is a risk for me to aid you here, and in person....
“But now, I owe what explanation I can give to appease your curiosity, even if only in part.
“I am indeed, as baffles you, a Zora of old, from the ancient Hyrule. This is the form I take as I travel between the Realms, guiding and watching over you as I may. I regret I cannot show my true form nor even share its identity with you; to do such would cause detriment to you, Midna, and any others involved with your quest—thus, I would harm all of Hyrule, Termina, and Twilight; all are affected for the future by how we spend every waking moment in the present.
“I must depart from you; already, I tarry longer than I feel comfortable with. Yet my heart could not leave you unhealed without regret, and the time wasted in your healing on your own would have proven a greater bane on your quest.
“Travel now to the falls of the Zorita of Hyrule. There, your path will prove a little easier, as before. After that, the final and truest tests remain....”
She rose fluidly to her feet. Then, stepping back, she floated into the shadows of the night, merging with them like a wave rejoining its fellow ripples.
“Good night, dear Heroes. Rest in peace and greet the dawn with new vigilance. The goddesses continue to bless thee....”
The night consumed her delicate form even as distance drowned her last, fading words.
Link stared at that space a long time before realizing that, with her departure, he’d stood to his feet at some point. He couldn’t say when. He could say only that her leaving tore a deeper pain within him than his wounds from the volcano. The pain was brief but intense, leaving him stunned a moment, and then, to wonder. Why should her separation be anything to him? And even more so, why should he feel, quite suddenly for that she was so much a stranger, that he belonged by her side?
Though its wonder lingered, the feeling passed quickly enough. Glancing down, he saw Midna watching him intently, eyes aglow with confusion and concern. He smiled softly and lay on the ground, eyes beckoning her to do the same. Returning the smile, her eyes trusting, she did so. Their hands touched, fingertips kissing ever so slightly.
It was that smallest connection which soothed Link’s heart, telling him everything would be all right—at least until morning, at least so long as they could own these few, precious moments to just touch and sleep and be in the wide, open fields of Hyrule. The fields were so calm, quiet save the occasional chirping of a cricket, as though no harm had ever befallen those fields and none ever would. He knew such a thought was a mere dream. He knew what was and that such imaginings were not. All the same, until dawn called to a new day and a new danger, to dream was possible. To dream was real. To dream was enough, for as long as the dream could endure.