The Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ Gerudo Forest ❯ Chapter 31 ( Chapter 31 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

They made it to the building in the middle without any problems so far. Entering she saw no sign of the hero and his spoiled guardian. She was positive that had been Epona. Where were they? They approached the desk in the front and odd looking little man sat behind it. He wore face paint and looked like he was trying to be a clown with a cigar hanging out of his mouth. “We would like to take a ride up?” Ganon said approaching the man. The clown put down the paper he had been reading. “I'm sorry but we are closed. The Zoras aren't allowing admittance and shut down the top station which is where the pulleys are powered from.” the man replied nonchalantly. “Is there another way up?” He asked but Melissa realized already why she didn't see Link or Heather. They had flown to the top. “Nope. This is the only way if your human.” The man said returning to his paper. “Come on. I know what to do.” Melissa said grabbing his arm and leading him back out. It only to minutes to change and be on their way up. The further up the mountain she flew them the colder the air seemed to get. From the bottom they couldn't see it, but a light dusting of snow seemed to cover the upper part where she spotted a twin to the building below. She landed them a little away from it so she could change back without prying eyes just in case there was someone watching. Up here it was freezing cold. Why did Zoras Domain always get frozen? Was it Agahnim's doing or was it the fragment of the triforce acting up? Ganon pulled out his cape from a bag of things he had brought and wrapped her in it seeing her shivering. “ Thank you.” she said through chattering teeth. The cape helped a lot. She had noticed before that she had always felt a comfortable temperature in his cape. Even when in the hot desert it was comfortable. “It has a spell weaved into it to be the right temperature no mater the climate.”He told her when he saw her curios look. She had wondered how he could wear a cape all the time. “How are you not cold?” she asked as they trudged up the path. “I'm used to the extreme temperatures of the desert. What was the weather like where you are from?” he asked making small talk. “Well it is nothing like the desert. It is a temperate climate. In the summer it gets pretty hot and humid. Nothing as hot as the desert but still pretty hot. In the winters it can get chilly but we rarely see snow. My favorite seasons of course are spring and fall when the temperatures are in between. I'm surprised at how well I did back at the Spirit Temple. I don't usually do well in heat.” She admitted. “Just like my cape the clothes the gerudo wear keep us pretty comfortable in any temperature. The spell only works so much which is why you can still get cold or sweat but it absorbs a good bit of the heat or cold.” He said keeping close to her to add his body heat to keep her warm. The path lead up the mountain and the streams that came out of the sides of the rock face had a thin layer of ice that thickened as they got higher. It began snowing as they trekked and she saw no signs of life. She searched for any indication that Link and Heather had passed this way but the snow had already covered any sign of tracks if there were any. The world around them had turned into a wintery wonderland. The trees were laden with snow which made them sway under the weight. She could hear branches snap and the trees creaking. As they got to the end of the path she finally spotted them sitting around a fire warming themselves. Link and Heather seemed to be discussing something. They sat on a bank near a waterfall that miraculously hadn't frozen over like the rest. The bank seemed to be paved with multi hued pebbles giving the ground a mosaic look. It formed a picture of the triforce in the middle. Standing stones etched with the zora's symbol ringed the perimeter. “Brilliant plan. Now we are stuck out here in the freezing cold.” Melissa heard Heather say haughtily to Link. She hadn't changed at all. Still just as sharp tongued and selfish acting as ever. What did she expect? This was a quest not a vacation. “Mind if we join you?” Ganon called to them startling the two. Link stood up to greet them. “You made it!” Link said apparently glad to have company to stop Heather from berating him. “Come warm yourselves.” he said motioning to the fire. As they approached Heather kept shooting her looks. “How did it go at Death Mountain?” Link asked. “Well we ran into the wizard, fought a giant centipede, and found a piece of the triforce.” Melissa said warming her hands by the fire. “You found a piece? That's great! Can I see it?” Link asked. “Well we can't exactly do that because it disappeared shortly after we acquired it. The statue said it had returned to it's barer who ever that is.” Melissa said wondering if after all this they were going to have to search for this mysterious barer. “Likely story.” Heather said with anger in her voice. “ Just like that statue that was supposed to be at the Spirit Temple.” “What do you mean?” Melissa asked confused. “ We searched all over that temple and looked at every statue. None of them did anything.” Heather spat. “Did you go to the one that was behind the doors that had the glowing symbols? It was on a balcony.” Melissa said unsure what she was being accused of. “We found it but we couldn't get it to open. That is not her fault Heather.” Link said trying to stand up for her. “How do we know there was one in there? For all we know she lied to throw us off track. I mean look at the company she keeps.” Heather shot Ganon a glare who returned it. “Heather! Now stop this. We are supposed to work together to get through this. The Princess told us we must have faith and trust them. I for one trust the Princess's judgment.” Link said chastising Heather on her rude behavior. It shut her up but Melissa could still see she didn't trust them at all. “Well you can obviously change because the only way up is to fly.” Melissa said wishing she could slap the girl. Why couldn't they get in? Shouldn't Heather be able to open the doors like her because she was a guardian? Surely it wasn't Melissa's fault that Heather couldn't do the same as she. Maybe Heather had different talents that Melissa didn't. That made more sense to her. “ I can. No thanks to you. I don't care what the Princess said. We don't need your help.” Heather said indignantly. Melissa decided to just ignore her. “So why are you sitting around in the cold then if you don't need our help?” Ganondorf said giving Heather a smug look. The girl stood up. “I'm not afraid of you! I kicked your butt many a time on the game and I can do it again.” Heather said confronting him. “The Zora won't let us in... and Heather please stop it!” Link said trying to answer Ganon's question while stepping between the two. There looked like there was going to be a stand off and there was nothing Melissa could do to stop it. She then remembered the melody the Zora had hummed to her. That had to be the key. Maybe If she got them in the fighting would stop. Melissa walked just in front of the waterfall and sang the melody as loud as she could hoping the Zoras could hear it over the arguing taking place. Before her eyes the waterfall opened up revealing a doorway leading into the mountain. Her companions hadn't heard her but at least the zoras had. She turned around to see that Heather had changed to her dragon form. She had the head and tail of a wolf with what looked like ram horns and spikes that traveled down her back to the tip of her tail. Her green wings looked more bat like and her body was covered in gray fur mixed with forest green scales. Link had grabbed her front leg trying to calm her but Heather was lunging and snapping at Ganon who gracefully dodged her attacks laughing the entire time. “Hey!” Melissa shouted at them trying to get their attention but they were too occupied with Heather that they couldn't hear her. She had no more patience for this. Changing quickly she pounced the snapping dragon throwing her whole weight into it pining her to the ground. Ganon and Link moved out of the way as they scuffled. Even though Melissa was smaller than Heather the wolf dragon couldn't seem to kick her off. When Heather was done squirming and had given up as far as she could tell she let her up and pointed a claw to the doorway. Heather just growled and sauntered off defeated to change back. Melissa decided to do the same behind a standing stone. Melissa proved to be the quicker of the two. She changed back into her clothes then stood angrily beside a proud looking Ganon. “If you ever threaten Him again I won't refrain from kicking your ass!” Melissa said enraged as Heather came back to stand beside Link. The girl opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again as Melissa continued. “I don't know who you were before you got here but the impression I have gotten from you so far is that you are a spoiled brat who always gets your way through bullying and snide remarks. We have done nothing to you yet you have been hostile to us since we met. I have tried to ignore your rudeness but you just went too far.” Melissa grabbed Ganon's hand. “I'm going in now. If your done acting like a 4 year old we have a quest to continue.” She didn't even bother to wait for an answer. She dragged Ganon behind her fuming and not looking at Link or his Guardian as they passed. Melissa wondered if maybe she had been too harsh on the girl but didn't regret taking her down a peg. Someone need to do it. They were going to have to walk through the frigid water to get to the archway and she hoped her boots were water proof. Passing under the arch she could feel cold air blowing at them. If the zora were trapped under ice again she wouldn't be surprised. They walked down the tunnel to the blue light that danced over the walls showing that the inside wasn't as frozen as the outside. It opened up to a big cavern. Holes in the ceiling let sunlight shine down in rays to light the area. The air had a briney smell that was tolerable. It seemed a welcome committee had gathered to meet them. The zoras waited for all four of them to reach them before The female in the middle stepped forward. She looked confused as to why they were there but smiled when she spotted Link. “Ah hero how have you been? When we heard the song we thought the Indigo- Go's had finally returned to us but seeing you is a pleasant surprise as well. How did you know the entrance song?” The beautiful zora asked. “What song?” Link asked confused. “The song that must be sung to open the waterfall. Was it not one of you that sang it?” the Zora asked looking between Melissa and Heather. “I did.” Melissa said embarrassed. The Zora looked her up and down. “Tell me have you seen them? How are they?” The Zora said taking her hand. “Seen who?” Heather asked confused. “The Indigo-Go's of course.” The Zora woman said smiling at Melissa. “I met them in this tavern. Lulu was supposedly sick but everyone else seemed fine. I filled in for her and the manager taught me that song.” Melissa said trying not to concentrate on how weird the zoras hands felt. They had a very slick texture. “I am glad to hear good news of them. They have been on tour for a long time and we don't allow many visitors now because of the weird weather that followed the last man who came. So unless one of us returns from the outside news is scarce. You must be a very trust worthy girl if he decided to teach you the Serenade of Water.” Heather scoffed at the zora's words but the zora took no notice of it. The bit about the man who visited peaked everyone’s interest. “ What Man? Could you describe him to us?” Link asked. “Well he was dressed in gold armor, he had silver hair , and his eyes shone red as fire. He was a very curious man as far as Hylians go. He asked a lot of questions about the Temple and when I wouldn't answer him he said we would regret it and that he would be back. So after the snow began to fall we feared the worse and blocked the way up.” the Zora said with a look of worry crossing her face. “Each day it gets colder and I fear soon even our home will not be able to keep out the piercing cold.” Melissa had no doubt that it had been Agahnim but wondered if just like the volcano acting up that this cold front had something to do with the triforce piece in the temple. Like the pieces were trying to call attention to themselves so someone would find them. “The man you speak of is an evil wizard that goes by the name of Agahnim. He has taken over the castle imprisoning the princess. If he is still interested in the Temple it means that he hasn't found it yet. Rutulla I implore you to let us into the temple. We need to find what it is he is after and fast.” Link requested bowing respectfully. Rutulla the sage!?!? That made two sages she had met now. “I don't know. You look ill equipped to traverse the underwater temple and there is nothing big enough for your larger companion to wear.” Rutulla said eying Ganon's size. She must mean the zora tunic. “ I need to think about this.” She finally said to them. “ and you must need to freshen up.” The zora said turning to Melissa and Heather. “Please follow my attendants while I have a chat with your companions. There is much I need to know.” Rutulla said motioning to two of the zoras behind her. Melissa didn't want to leave Ganon and go anywhere with Heather but she guessed it wouldn't hurt to clean herself up. She probably looked like a mess. “I won't be gone for long. Go on.” Ganon said giving her a reassuring look seeing her apprehension. Another scoff could be heard from Heather. Melissa guessed the girl would never change. She glanced back as she followed the two zoras. Link and Ganon followed Rutulla in the opposite direction.