Woo, next chapter! Enjoy; I'll hold my piece till the end.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Breaking and Entering

“Link.”

“Mm,” came the automatic reply, from behind shut eyes.

“Link...Mikau...whichever one of you it is, wake up.”

There was a pause. Mikau was in control, had been when he’d been knocked out, so Link had had to struggle to get him to the surface, keep him breathing, and attract Kylia’s attention with soft calls. Mikau was unaware because his body was out cold, but Link had been hanging in the back, and though Mikau’s body was still trying to recover, he had used it as best as he could. “Kylia,” was the next word they spoke, though this was more of Link’s will more than Mikau’s. It was hard to tell.

Really, every body Link shared was different—Daeken the Deku had rarely ever taken the control, stating once that the body was really more Link’s anyway. Link and Darmani had been content to share, and switched seamlessly, seeming to identify with thoughts that happened quicker than words and never really arguing about who needed to take control at any given time. Mikau and Link were constantly fighting one another, though, both feeling it was their body and having the other there was a minor convenience or inconvenience depending on the situation.

At that moment they both had a fraction of the control, and it was driving Link bizarre. He didn’t have enough control to do anything, but Mikau was so out of it that he couldn’t be told to give up what he had, either. (Not only that, but Link didn’t enjoy Mikau’s nosiness. He was curious and was always inspecting Link’s thoughts closely when they came by.) He was so stubborn, too. Flighty, when it came to tough situations. Had Mikau just kept a level head, they wouldn’t be in this mess, and—

“Yes,” came Kylia’s voice, from somewhere above him. “Are you all right?”

“Fine,” Link replied. He found it nearly impossible to explain his current predicament, and was going to give up bothering before he remembered Kylia had some experience with her body and mind not quite matching up. “Mikau’s out of it,” Link mumbled, really low. “Can barely open my eyes. He knocked himself out. How’re the eggs?”

“All safe,” Kylia replied. “They look a little, ah...”

“They’ve got gray patches,” came Tatl’s voice, which had been quiet until then. “I think they’re supposed to be solid.”

Mikau’s memory of beautiful blue orbs flashed through Link’s mind. “Yeah,” he said, feeling a little sick. “We need to get them back to the scientist. But I can’t move.”

“Want me to drag you up into the boat?”

“Please,” Link grumbled. “Stupid idiot. The moment of truth, and he panicked.”

“Link, he plays guitar for a living,” Kylia said. He could feel her hands wrap tight around his forearms. “He’s not used to stuff like you and me.”

“I guess. But still...I mean, the thing was right behind us, and it scared me too, but he just freaked out.” He let out a pained noise when his head bumped the boat on the way up, but otherwise kept quiet. He could feel Mikau stirring. “Finally,” he told his friends. “He’s coming around.”

What... Mikau’s thoughts felt hazy and incomplete.

You’re fine. Knocked yourself out. Link sounded more sure of himself. Can you give me the control for a little while?

Yeah, yeah...

Mikau didn’t hesitate. His hold on their body slipped away, and Link felt his limbs lighten. “Finally,” he sighed again, and opened his eyes. To Mikau, he added, Your eggs are fine. A little spotted. But we got ’em.

Mikau didn’t answer. He still felt really fuzzy, not all the way there. Link didn’t try again, but he left the mask on, not sure what would become of Mikau if he took it off now. “We should get these back to that guy,” he said to Kylia and Tatl. “Maybe he can do something for them.”

“Uh...you want me row us?” Kylia asked. “Not that I mind, but you’re just adding weight.”

“I’ll swim. And take the eggs,” Link added. He glanced up at the sky. “We don’t have a lot of time. It’s already past lunch and just one day to go...” The moon was still leering down at them. Link shivered. It was creepy. “Just...follow behind me. If I’m not there when you get there, hang tight. For now...” He collected the three bottles that Kylia had put the eggs in and looked hard at them. Sure enough, they’d lost some luster and had dull patches on them. He grabbed them tight, and Kylia used the rope from the pack Haiken had made to last them to his back.

“But where will you be?”

“Going by Mikau’s place real quick, too,” Link muttered. “He’s completely gone. I might as well.” He had to wake Mikau up, somehow. He needed his human form, too. With that, he gave Kylia one of Johan’s two-finger salutes and dove into the water. He thought the cold would jerk Mikau awake, and it did, a little, but mostly he seemed unconcerned. Link made a face. If Mikau had had this body to himself, a thing like that would have left him unconscious for hours. So he still wasn’t really awake.

Link? Where are we...

To Lulu.

Lu? Mikau seemed to perk up a little, but not enough.

Yeah.

But, the eggs...

We’re dropping them off first.

It wasn’t very long before they reached Haiken’s building. Link was relieved to see that no pirates had come for them yet, and that Sheik and Haiken had been doing nothing but talking about politics the entire time he was gone. Apparently there was some disagreement about monarchies versus democracies—it all went straight over his head, either way. He made sure everyone was okay and showed Haiken the eggs.

“Are they going to hatch okay?”

Haiken looked up at Link with a regretful expression. “At this point...they’ll hatch. But I’m not sure how many of the hatchlings will make it. This one looks really bad, see? Gray all over.”

“Can’t you do anything?”

“Yes, actually.” Haiken smiled, a little. “Thanks to my experiments—which I know good and well you Zoras hate—I know what these little guys need. I’ve got some...egg-medicine, if you want layman’s terms.”

“I do,” Link assured him. “I won’t understand anything else…” He impatiently shifted his weight. “So, now what?”

“Leave these with me. I’ll do all I can for them.”

“All right.” Link gave Haiken the eggs, and turned to Sheik. “You doing okay here? Gonna be all right for a little while?”

“Sure, sure, I’m fine,” she replied, waving a hand. “I haven’t even see a hint of a pirate yet. We’re good here.”

“All right.” Link wished he could explain to her where he was going and why, but he couldn’t, not in front of Haiken. He bade her a quick goodbye and opened the door, diving straight from it down into the ocean below. (Probably one of the nicer parts about being a Zora was that he could get away with stunts like that. Even if Link did hate heights—oh, and did he ever hate heights—diving was still fun.)

Mikau’s thoughts were still fuzzy and incomplete on the way to Zora Hall, and while Link did try his best to get Mikau up, it was no good. Link could barely get directions out of him. He felt anxious, being stuck in another’s body—almost like when he had first been cursed with the Deku Mask. He knew he should have been more patient, maybe...he didn’t know about how much a Zora body could take but he knew a Hylian would be lucky to be alive after frying themselves like that. But Mikau didn’t have time to be unconscious and recover. Link glanced up at the moon, through the hazy level of water above him. No, time was the one thing they didn’t have.

The outcropping of Zora’s Hall where they had first seen Lulu was where she was now. Link could almost sense her, and realized with a start that he could sense others, too, near him, people that he’d never met. Someone called Japas—true friend, best friend. Closeness. Tijo, annoying but faithful, sometimes hilarious. Evan...Link recognized from his own memories, too, from one rude moment where he’d glared at Kylia. Evan, more annoying than Tijo, more annoying than anybody, but there was a grudging respect for him that Link couldn’t ignore. Link wondered if they could feel Mikau too, now that he was nearby, and wondered too if he would feel different in this form, sharing another’s body.

Mikau seemed to perk up. Lulu?

She’s there. Link knew she couldn’t see him, as he was still beneath the waves. They’re all in there. Don’t you want to tell Lulu about the eggs we got back?

Yeah, Mikau replied eagerly. Link backed off, let Mikau have the control, and they floundered for a moment, because Mikau was not totally awake yet. He caught himself quickly, Link was relieved to see, and so Link let out a silent cheer of victory.

You brought me here to wake me up?

I had to, somehow. Go on up if you want to. It won’t take long.

Mikau moved closer to the outcropping, putting both hands on the land above the water and pulling himself up. Lulu must have heard the splash, but she stared at the water, silent as anything. A thousand of Mikau’s memories with this woman played through Link’s head. Unlike Mikau, he didn’t purposely pry, but the remembrance was so strong it would have doubled him over had he had any control.

On the stage, in the middle of Zora’s Hall, the band’s first time practicing together. Mikau had dropped his guitar the first time he met Lulu, when they were both teenagers, and she was laughing at him in front everyone.

“Hey, what are you laughing at, girl? I’m the best guitar player you’ll ever meet.”

“Are you sure it’s not your friend there? He held on to his guitar, after all.”

“What, Japas? No way...”

The memory changed, and Lulu was in Mikau’s arms, nearly asleep. They were floating, in the water, on the surface of an ocean that was too bright and beautiful to even be real. “Mikau...maybe you were right...”

“I’m always right. But what about?”

“You and me...we could work out, the two of us...”

“Evan’ll be jealous.”

“Evan can go to hell...”

Another time—this time, last year, at the Carnival of Time, and they were on the rooftops away from the crowd, watching fireworks explode up in the sky. “So, you got an answer for me yet, Lu? Been waitin’ long enough...”

“I don’t know! Getting married is a big deal...”

“I’d give you everything you wanted. Don’t I, already? Not that much would change...”

“We’d have kids, eventually.”

“I could be a great father!”

“You could, huh?”

“Sure. How many kids you want?”

“Oh, I don’t know...not too many...”

Then, later—Mikau picking her up and swinging her around in a circle. “Oh, Mikau! I don’t...we haven’t even gotten married yet.”

“So? I’m gonna be a daddy! I can’t believe it!”

“I thought you’d leave me.”

“No way, baby. You make me so happy...”

Then, finally, a week ago. Coming into their little room in Zora’s Hall, looking for Lulu, wondering if she’d laid the eggs, and finding blood and Japas instead of her. Fear, alarm. “Lulu? Where is she?”

“She ain’t here, man.”

“Japas, where—”

“Toto’s looking at her. She got hurt. Nothin’ bad, man, not on the outside. But the pirates came, right as she laid the eggs...they’re gone, man...and Lulu ain’t talking.”

“Gone—?”

“Tried to stop them, man. I—I—geez. I’m so sorry. She ain’t talking. She ain’t talking, ain’t singing...ain’t made a sound since they got away...”

And not even three days ago, laying in the water bleeding and dying and scared, thinking of only Lulu, hearing her voice and scared he would never hear it again. “Lulu...?”

With a start Link realized the last word had actually been spoken aloud. The memories were Mikau’s, had always been his, and they weren’t affecting him so much. He was walking towards Lulu, and before Link could remind him that there was another person in their body who had a girl of his own, Mikau reached forward and took Lulu’s hands in his. She reluctantly turned her face towards him, her lips silent but her expression screaming of her loss.

“Hey, baby,” Mikau said gently, squeezing her hands. “I’m okay. Just tellin’ you I’m okay. Got a little banged up on that pirate ship, but I’m gonna be just fine, so don’t worry...”

She didn’t say anything, just looked away.

“Hey, and guess what? I’m already halfway done!” Link could feel what it cost Mikau, to tell her those half-truths. Lulu had always been his support, and now Mikau was frightened and couldn’t lean on her anymore. “Yeah, I got three eggs back. Left them with some good people, sweetheart, and they’re going to fix them up.”

Lulu’s eyes darted back up to Mikau, and she drew in a quick breath, as if she was about to speak, but at the last minute, it seemed to leave her, and she looked down again. Mikau’s hand moved to her back, now, rubbing in slow circles, and Link objected, strongly. Mikau.

Mikau ignored him, and his other hand came up to tilt Lulu’s chin to him. “Hey. Don’t you worry. I’ll have the rest back to you soon. It’s gonna be okay.”

Feeling Mikau’s intentions on what he was about to do, Link fought Mikau for control and jerked it away from him as much as he could. He did not want to kiss Lulu. He had Zelda, and even though Mikau was the one doing this it felt all wrong, and he broadcasted that to the Zora loud and clear.

Fine, Mikau snapped. Out loud, he told Lulu, “I’ve got to go. I’ll be back. Love you.” He let go of her, reluctantly. Link was steering him back towards the water as hard as he could go. All right already! Mikau yelled, in his head, as they dove in. He was swimming fast, venting anger. What’s the big deal? She’s my—

Yeah? Let me go start kissing on Zelda and see how you like it.

Silence.

Better yet, I’ll kiss Sheik. You really want to be in my head when I’m doing that?

Dude, no! I don’t swing that way.

All right then. Back off. That’s how it feels when you get close to her, for me.

You’ve got your own body. I...

There’s a trick where you can get yours back, so—

Not until this mess is over. That’s too long.

I mean without that. When you’re in the mask, you can have your body back, just for a few seconds. Daeken did it.

How? Time doesn’t even pass for me when you take that thing off.

I don’t know. I’ll ask him one day. Link was exhausted, mentally, from the fight for control and the bickering afterwards. I think I liked you better when you were all knocked out.

Ha ha. You’re such a joker, Link.

Link didn’t respond, keeping his thoughts low and unobtrusive (it came with practice). But Mikau was being nosy, again, and was noticing the way Link noticed things like the murky water or the cloudy sky and compared them to Mikau’s memory.

Yeah. This place used to be so beautiful.

I can barely imagine it.

There was no more conversation until they got back to Haiken’s place, and saw the shadow of Kylia’s boat bobbing on the water above. Mikau’s head popped out of the water next to the boat, and he laughed. “Surprise. Back already!”

“Link?” Kylia asked warily.

“Mikau,” Mikau corrected. “But Link’s watching. Been waiting long?”

“No. I didn’t want to go in there, though. Don’t want to be taken for a pirate again. Tatl’s up inside.”

“Guess I see the point in that. Okay, I don’t feel like waiting on you and I bet your arms are tired, so I’m gonna leave the boat here for Zelda—Sheik, whoever. And I’m just gonna carry you with me into the fortress.”

“Are you nuts?” Kylia yelped, and Mikau felt Link’s amusement come on strong. “She’s not coming with us?”

“No,” Mikau said grimly. “For one thing, she’d distract Link. He’ll be too worried about keeping her safe, even though from what I can tell she can take care of herself. Besides that, we’ve gotta leave someone here for back up. If we get in trouble, Tatl can get out and come get her, and we’ll be a little better off.”

“Clever,” Kylia admitted grudgingly. “And Link agrees with you?”

“Link came up with it,” Mikau lied freely. He could feel Link’s strong disapproval, but he ignored it. “He knows we’ve got to leave someone here with the eggs if we can.”

I’d rather have her with me, Mikau...

Yeah, but you’re impressed too. You know I’m right. Who would you rather go into that fortress with? A Gerudo or a princess? Come on, she’ll blend right in. Zelda can magic the boat. If we get in a jam, she’ll get there faster.

I still don’t like it.

You don’t have to. I’m right.

Link didn’t protest again, and stayed quiet as Mikau pulled himself out of the water. “I hope a desert rat doesn’t mind getting wet,” he told Kylia. “I hear the Gerudo from your place never see water.”

“Please,” she scoffed. “Takes a lot more than water to scare me.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Let me go get Tatl. I’ll be back.” Mikau climbed the ladder, nearly slipping once on the metal because he was soaked, and had to try twice to open the doorknob. Sheik was sitting on the floor by the door, and jerked when it open, but she relaxed again when she saw it wasn’t an enemy.

“Hey.”

“Hey. Where’s Tatl?”

“In the tank practicing her swimming. Haiken left to go get us lunch.”

Mikau walked over to the tank and peered in. His eggs were on the bottom, looking worse than they had in the pirate’s ship but better than they had when Link recovered them. Tatl was sitting by one, watching it, and she jumped when Mikau knocked on the tank’s glass. “hey!” she called, and zipped up out of the tank, shaking water off of her. “We going to the fortress, now?”

“Yeah. Zelda—Sheik...do you mind staying here for back up?”

“Are you kidding me?” Sheik asked, annoyed. “I’m bored out of my mind here.”

“I know.” Mikau gave her puppy eyes, tried to get Link to help him convince her, but Link stayed irritatingly quiet, hanging back and watching. “Please? Someone needs to stay with the eggs. I don’t know what I’ll do if we go get those four and then come back to find these three gone...they might die, and—”

“All right, all right,” Sheik relented, softening. “You’re right. Are you at least going to leave Tatl with me...?”

“No can do,” Mikau admitted. “I’m thinkin’ if we get in trouble, she can come get you.”

“I’d be leaving the eggs.”

“Which is why I ain’t asking you unless it’s serious. I can rely on you, right?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

You manipulative bastard.

Call me what you want to. I’m not leaving these eggs unprotected. Not on your life.

“Okay. Thanks, thanks. I appreciate it,” Mikau said, and there was truth in that, at least. “I’d be going crazy, too. I owe you one. C’mon, Tatl.” Mikau opened the door and jumped straight down into the water, next to Kylia’s boat, Tatl following him. “You ready?” Mikau asked her.

“I guess. Been practicing holding my breath, all that.” Link knew Kylia well enough to know she was wary. He couldn’t blame her.

“Okay.” Mikau pulled himself onto the boat, and stretched. “Won’t be a long ride, but you gotta hang on. Get behind me and grab my shoulders, hook your legs around my waist.”

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Mikau muttered, partially annoyed and partially disgusted. “Just because I’m cool with you don’t mean I like Gerudo any—I still hate ’em. Besides, I do have a girlfriend. Planning to get back to her as soon as possible. This is just the way that Zoras around here carry landwalkers. You need air, you can dig your nails in. I can keep you above the surface and keep me below. It’s just easiest.”

“All right,” Kylia agreed. She looked through her pack, trying to decide which items could stand to get soaked and which couldn’t, and she wound up leaving behind everything but her coil of rope, the four bottles for the eggs, and the Ocarina of Time, which was essential if they needed to turn back the days in a hurry. She took off her pendant and earrings, got on Mikau’s back, and Tatl hung onto Kylia’s braid, and when they were all secure Mikau told Kylia to take a big breath and he dived right into the water.

Kylia nearly let her breath out in a cry; the water was cold, to her, and despite what she said she wasn’t used to being wet. She hung on tight, and before long, she felt the cold air of the late afternoon touch her skin. She took another breath, and was plunged down into the waves again.

Mikau tried to keep close to the surface, and jump out as often as possible, but twice he forgot that Kylia couldn’t inhale underwater like he could and got nails digging into his shoulders. “I didn’t mean that literally!” he said, the second time this happened, once they’d gone back under. “That hurts.”

Let me do it, Link urged. I’m used to people needing to breathe.

Relax. I’m not going to drown her. I got this. I can get us there faster.

He was right; they were there pretty quickly. The big gates the Muerte had gone through were shut and locked, so tight Mikau no amount of force he could generate alone would open them up. He made his way over to a few rocks jutted above the surf, and let Kylia go. “You doing okay?”

“Fine,” Kylia said, panting.

“Tatl?”

“Good, I’m good.” She flopped backward onto the rocks, panting too.

“All right. We need a plan, then. Hey, listen, you wanna let your hair out of that braid?”

“No,” Kylia said simply.

“I’m thinking you look so much like Aveil you could trick the guards. But she wears her hair without the braid. Wears a different color, too, but nothing we can do about that. It’s a status symbol, so it’s not like we can just steal you some new threads.”

“I guess I could take my hair down, at least,” Kylia relented, seeing sense in this plan. “Tch, in my world, Red is only the second rank.”

“Purple must be first,” Tatl guessed.

“What? No. I just happened to be wearing this when I left. White is first.”

“Aren’t you the leader, in Hyrule?” Tatl asked.

“Used to be. I stepped down. But that’s a story for another day.” Kylia was undoing her braid, quickly and steadily, not bothering to try and fix the mess her hair had become. She left it in the ponytail, at least, but that was all. “Just how do you plan on getting in there, huh? They’ll kill us if they catch us.”

“You don’t have to tell me that,” Mikau reminded her flatly, and there was an awkward silence. “Gerudo can’t swim like us, so they’re going to have more trouble guarding the waterways. When you get your breath back, we’ll go in through there. Maybe snag us a grunt and see if she knows anything about where they’re keeping the eggs.”

“That’s a bad idea,” Kylia said, shooting down this plan at once. “Schedules will be tight and security will be too. The minute they realize somebody’s missing they’re going to be after you.”

“How would you know?” Mikau grumbled.

“Hey, now. I led a tribe of Gerudo, once. I have three years of experience under my belt.”

“What do you recommend we do, then?”

“What color are footsoldiers, here?”

“Uh...”

“Purple,” Tatl responded. “They wear what you wear.”

“All right, then. Instead of pretending to be Aveil, I’ll cover my face and pretend to be a nobody.” Kylia smiled, raising her eyebrows. “You may not think much of the Gerudo, Mikau, but we think a lot of each other. There’s a strong bond of sisterhood. A new recruit who just showed up for guard duty will be allowed to ask questions.”

“Oh yeah? And what happens if you have to get into it with somebody?”

“I can take care of myself,” Kylia assured Mikau, getting up. “We going in, or not?”

“We’re going in.” Mikau looked over at Tatl. “She can take care of herself?”

“She can,” Tatl agreed.

She can kick my ass any day of the week, Link put in, and Mikau jumped because he’d forgotten Link was there.

So through the waterways they went, everybody hanging tightly onto each other while Mikau fought the current. Link didn’t envy Mikau of having the control just then; the waters were turbulent, specifically so as to keep out swimmers, and traps triggered by movement lay in wait on the walls. It was slow going, and Link could tell that Kylia was running out of air—she was exhaling very slowly, which meant she was on the last stretch of it.

Hurry, Link urged Mikau, panicked.

Chill, I got this. “Hang on,” he told Kylia. “Almost there.”

Just then they reached the end of the tunnel, and Mikau burst out onto the surface. Link thought at first he was being clumsy, because he came right under a moving boat and nearly got them knocked out again. But when Kylia gasped, taking in air, Link realized that the splash of the oars covered the noise they had to make. Mikau was down again almost at once, staying low under the boat, one of at least half a dozen patrolling around the waters just inside the fortress. There were more tunnels under the fortress, traps, designed to look like weaknesses but really a good way of catching prey that drew too close. They were hard to navigate and there was almost no air. Mikau let Kylia up whenever he could, and when they found air pockets he started letting her take as long as she needed to get her breath back.

“Okay?” he kept asking, when this happened.

“Yeah,” Kylia would responded breathlessly, and they’d dive back into the water again.

You’re being nice to her, Link noted, from somewhere in the back of Mikau’s head. Even though she’s Gerudo.

I’m gonna owe her one for this. And you. She’s your friend, I don’t want to drown her. It must really suck not to be able to breathe water.

No kidding.

It was getting dark when they finally reached a small room in the basement of the fort. Mikau’s head just barely popped out of the water, enough for him to see and Kylia to get some air. “See anybody, Tatl?”

“No,” she whispered, flying in and looking around. “Nobody, nothing. Empty here.”

“All right?” Mikau asked Kylia again. “Worst is over.”

“Fine,” Kylia lied. She felt dizzy and sick, pretty lightheaded, and wanted nothing more than to rest for a few minutes or an hour, but they didn’t have the time. Feeling more like a drowned rat than a desert rat, she pulled herself up onto the floor, forcing her arms to work past sheer exhaustion. “I’m fine.” She stood, and even though she was dripping wet, her back was ramrod straight.

Sage of Spirit, all right, Link noted fondly. She looks ready to pass out.

She gonna make it?

She’s going to have to. We can’t exactly leave her or take her back, now can we?

Mikau didn’t answer, just pulled himself up behind Kylia. “If I go out there, I’m dead meat,” he said flatly. “But you can. Tell them a Zora dragged you into the water or something. Create a diversion. Get them all away from this room.”

“We have no idea where we’re going.”

“You’re right,” Mikau agreed. “I was thinkin’ we’d just wing it. Go upstairs, maybe, see if we can get a view of this place.”

That sounds like a brilliant plan.

Shut up.

“I guess that’s all we can do,” Kylia decided. She tossed her hair back, deciding like she must have looked like she got in a fight with a Zora. She was soaking wet and looked like she’d just been sucked down a drain, and besides that fact had a bruise forming on her shoulder where she’d nearly gotten caught in a trap. “All right. Tatl, stay with Link. Mikau. Whatever.” She tried to get herself in the mindset of a Gerudo. Traveling with Link made her feel like a person, not someone of any particular race. But there was a time, she remembered, when she’d had an accent...

She took a deep breath and opened the door just a crack to see. It led out into a wide, open area, closely watched by several guards, who all walked in intervals that were timed so perfectly Kylia knew they’d practiced for hours.

Wing it, huh, she mused, silently. She waited by the door, and told Mikau when she left to shut it very fast behind her and hide underwater. The next time a guard walked by, she leapt out and dragged her inside, knocking her out with the weak points neck. “Won’t be out long. Shut the door,” she said shortly, and leapt outside, body of the guard still in her arms.

“Help!” she called, trying to sound as young and scared as she could. She got the attention of the guards, and drew away from their posts. Good, that was their first mistake. They wouldn’t know someone was missing. “Please—a Zora, outside. Jumped in my boat and knocked her out, dragged me right under the water!”

“Oh, for the love of—”

“I thought Aveil took care of him.”

“Quick! Get out there or she’ll take care of us.”

They started running, and Kylia felt a stab of guilt. They were inexperienced, and they were making the worst mistake of all to leave their posts. But the enemy was the enemy. Kylia went back inside and dumped the body of the guard on the floor, then pulled Mikau out with her and pushed a heavy crate in front of the door. “Hurry,” she hissed.

They wound their away around the building, going up ladders to get to where they needed to be. Since Link was a better runner and had more practice on the land, he wrestled the control away from Mikau and sped up to catch Kylia. She didn’t notice the change, and Link didn’t have time to tell her between running and ignoring Mikau.

Some ten minutes later, they reached the top of the fort. Link, glancing out the window, could see the guards swarming around down below. “that was the worst plan ever,” he panted, hands on his knees.

“Link?” Kylia asked. Mikau wouldn’t say that about his own plan...

“Yeah. Damn! Look down there. They’re onto us.”

“We’re screwed,” said Tatl.

“No. Not yet. Let’s look around.” Link crept to the other end of the hall, chancing a glance down at a big room far below them. “Kylia!” Far below them was what was obviously Aveil’s quarters, a big room decorated lavishly with thick carpeting and other nonessentials. In the center was a tank much like Haiken’s, filled with clear seawater, white sand...and four Zora eggs.

I feel like there's not very much action in this one, sadly. But I also feel that you get a better look at the Zora characters, especially Lulu and really Mikau. Even though the story moves a bit slow in this update, I would really appreciating you to take the time and tell me what you thought of it! I promise the next chapter will move at a faster pace. So feed the author...please?