Chapter Text
“It was said once, that with a love as pure as the crystal waters and a daylit sky, Hylia would bestow upon the lovers five blessings. And those lovers, are none other than the two of you before us now.”
The Zora king and the Hero stood in the icy waters of the Spring of Wisdom, staring up at the great statue before them, and the three large, benevolent dragons that circled them from above. The king swallowed a lump in his throat, trying to fend off the shivers that threatened to course through his body. Beside him, his husband placed a comforting hand on his back. King Sidon took a deep breath, speaking to the disembodied voice from above, “What exactly were those blessings, oh Great One?”
“The first, was the love itself, ” the voice spoke, booming over Sidon and Link both. “A love that would stand the test of time, that the couple may live out the rest of their days together in harmony.”
Sidon waited for what he could only assume was the Goddess Lanayru herself, given their location and the holiness of the grounds, to continue. However, after great hesitation she still did not speak. He wanted so badly to ask her more questions, keep her talking, seek answers, but he did not know if she would reveal them to him. After all, she was the Goddess of Wisdom, and Sidon had learned the hard way over the years that wisdom was not something someone else could simply grant you, it had to be fought for and earned.
But this time, it was his husband beside him who spoke up: “And the others?”
“The other four, I sense you have already realized, come through your children,” the goddess spoke. “And it was said that the other four blessings born of the love were a King, a Queen, a Gift…”
Sidon swallowed another, much larger lump in his throat, doing everything he could to keep from begging the voice to continue: “And the last?”
“A Curse.”
The final revelation was not one that came unexpected to either man, but the weight of it still bore down on them more than even the greatest of burdens to bare.
Suddenly, the crown atop Sidon’s head seemed to heavy for his neck to carry.
How could he have let this happen?
Why would the Goddesses--? No. Sidon bit back his anger. It was not his place to question a deity as to why such a fate was thrust upon his youngest child, just as it wasn’t his place to question why his husband, his soulmate was cursed with reincarnation and suffering over and over and over again, with no way of Sidon knowing that Link wouldn’t be forced to suffer alone in his next life no matter how many times the Hylian tried to tell him not to worry.
“I sense anger within you, King Sidon,” the voice boomed. Sidon flinched under the watchful light of the sun above and ducked his head.
“Forgive me, Wise One,” Sidon apologized. “I do not intend for my reaction to be so strong.”
While Sidon knew full well what his place was in a place such as this, whether it was his reckless courage or exhaustion from his past lives’ burdens catching up to him, Link on the other hand was much more defiant.
“But I do,” he snarled, glaring up at the statue. He took several quick, angry breaths and even as Sidon placed a hand on Link’s shoulders he knew that there would be no calming Link’s temper. He couldn’t even quell his own. It took several attempts from the Hero, words falling silent on his tongue for several beats before he finally got out, “After all that we’ve done! Why her!? She’s just a child!”
“Link,” Sidon tried to stop his husband, give the man’s bicep a comforting squeeze, but Link just shrugged him away. “Now is not the time.”
Link shot a glare back at Sidon, one that did not need words to express his innermost thoughts and feelings on the situation. On any normal day, Sidon would have retracted in hurt that the man would direct such a fearsome and rage-filled gaze in his direction.
But this was no normal day.
And this was no normal child the Goddess spoke of so freely.
This was his daughter she was speaking about.
Sidon let out a low growl, matching the intensity of Link’s gaze with warning. They were here only to seek advice from the Goddess if she was so kind to offer up any insight, not pick a fight with her. This was their burden to bare and not hers; that’s what they had decided before they climbed up the mountain. And if Sidon was expected to keep his temper under control then Link could too.
Knowing the king was right, Link scoffed and whipped his head back towards the statue, back up to the dragons, visibly trembling.
“If I may be so bold as to say, Your Grace,” Sidon couldn’t keep himself from saying, “But Mipha is by no means a curse in my eyes. She is, as you said before, one of the greatest blessings in my life along with my husband and other children.”
“Those are wise words, King Sidon,” the Goddess returned. “Words that you should keep in mind in the coming days.”
“And why is that?”
“I cannot say, but I’m sure that even you sense a great darkness looming over the world,” the voice spoke. “There is a great imbalance, one that threatens to bring rise to the power of Demise once again. Link may have defeated Calamity Ganon, but his spawns have taken on a new form. Surely you must know what I mean.”
“The Blights,” Link croaked, looking down.
Sidon couldn’t bring himself to look up at the statue, or even the guardian dragons above. He couldn’t even bring himself to look to Link as his voice broke, “So she’s doomed?”
“Whether or not the Waterblight takes her is for the child to decide, and the child alone,” the Goddess explained. “She is not like the other cursed children; she was brought to you by Hylia herself for reasons that I am certain you will come to know. If she were to unlock the key to breaking her curse, her fate, the fate of the other children, and your final blessing from the Goddess have the potential to change.”
“But how?” Sidon begged. “How can we help her?”
“This journey is one she must endure on her own, King Sidon,” the Goddess said, her voice becoming distant. “Her destiny is for her to decide. I’m afraid there is little you can do aside from defending your kingdom…”
As the Goddess of Wisdom’s voice faded, the light shining on the statue began to dim and two of the dragons circling around them lifted higher into the sky, departing from the spring. Sidon lurched forward, calling out to the Goddess, “No! Please, wait!”
The cries of a king did little to affect a Goddess, and just like that, she was gone and for a moment, Sidon allowed himself to fall to his knees in the spring and cry out in agony.
Link didn’t reveal the pain he was truly in until they reached the bottom of the mountain where two Zora guards, the Queen of Hyrule, and the eldest Princess of the Zora waited for them.
“Well?” Zelda asked, taking a hesitant step forward, her golden hair blowing through the wind.
Link and Sidon were both silent, eyes fixated on the ground.
“Dad, Papa,” Minami pressed, her grip around her trident tightening. “Please say something.”
Sidon drew in several breaths, trying to find the words to explain what had just happened, but then suddenly Link caught a sob in his throat and pitched forward. Sidon snapped to attention and reached towards Link with a gasp.
Standing up and spinning around Link let out a scream that echoed the cries of terror in Sidon’s own heart. He drew the master sword from his back and swung it wildly at the trees behind them, cutting into them repeatedly as he screamed and slowly sunk to his knees. Sidon stood frozen in place, watching in horror and unable to move and comfort the love of his life the way he should have been. Instead, Zelda rushed forward and tried to pull him away from the innocent flora in Link’s path, wrapping her arms around his waist as he cried out in protest.
As Sidon watched Link come down from his moment of weakness, he heard his daughter let out her own cry: “What the hell happened up there? What’s going to happen to Mipha!? Dad!!”
The Zora guards were also unable to contain their composure and let out their own cries of concern for their youngest princess. Sidon stood silent, mulling over everything that was happening and failing to tune out the cries from Nami, the shouts from the guards, the screams from Link and Zelda’s chiding to try and calm him down.
When Sidon finally snapped, at least he snapped to a decision, “Enough! All of you!”
Even the Queen of Hyrule silenced at his order, all eyes snapping to Sidon’s attention. Inhaling deeply to steady himself, Sidon channeled his boiling rage into a determination to protect his people and his family. “The fate of Princess Mipha is one that only she can control. She is not our concern at the moment.”
That drew a sharp growl from Nami, “But Dad, that’s my sister --!”
“And that is my daughter!” Sidon growled back, staring her down until she straightened back up and relaxed her gills in submission. Once the tension around them had finally settled, Sidon continued, “Right now we have a much larger problem on our hands with the Beta forces growing stronger each day. We have to be able to defend ourselves against their impending attack.”
“Sidon, whatever you may need, you have my people’s aid,” Zelda responded, rising to her feet and helping Link up.
“Their goal is the Divine Beasts,” Sidon informed. “If they reclaim them, and they revive the Blights, then they revive Ganon. With the Thunderblight under the Beta’s control and the Yiga Clan hidden in the Gerudo Desert I can only imagine that the two are working together somehow and have their sights set on Vah Naboris next. We’ll have to warn Riju immediately.”
“I’ll send my fastest riders to Gerudo Town straight away,” Zelda nodded.
“Thank you,” Sidon said before turning to the three Zora before him. “Bazz, Tumbo, we’ll need to seal off all the waterways leading into the Domain. We don’t know where the Beta will come from or what they have access to. The entire Domain will have to be locked down and we’ll need to evacuate all civilians immediately.”
“Yessir,” the two men nodded, slamming the end of their tridents to the ground as they snapped to attention in unison. Sidon bit back a groan when Link and Nami cried out in defiance.
“Evacuation!?” Link snapped. “But Sidon!”
“You heard the Goddess’s warning, Link!” Sidon snapped back. “I will not risk the blood shed of helpless people.”
“Dad, there’s still time, the Domain is not lost!” Nami protested. “If we fortify our defenses, we can stop them!”
“We could trap ourselves in a box is what we risk doing,” Sidon retorted.
“We can stop this fight from happening!” Nami pleaded. “Dad! If you would just listen to Tipf, he can help us! Those are his people !”
“His people turned their backs on him and swore their allegiance to Ganon!”
“They’re still Zora just the same!” Nami roared. “They deserve a chance! It’s Tipf's father that's the problem!”
The heir to the Zora throne met her father with a gaze that matched his in intensity, and burned all the brighter in resolve, yet seriously lacked in experience. It was enough to make Sidon stand down, and accept that he couldn’t change her mind. She was still a little girl in so many ways, and she had so much to learn.
He just hoped she wouldn’t have to learn the hard way.
“It is with that compassion that you will be a better ruler than I, Minami,” Sidon said in a low voice, stepping around her to finally take his leave from this place that would forever be tainted by his memory. He turned back, not so much to see if those with him would follow, but rather to give his final say, “But for now, I am the King. And if I am doomed to bury my own child, then I will not bury more than necessary nor will I make any other parents suffer the same fate because of my own foolishness. Do you understand? ”
Nami flinched slightly as Sidon’s gaze traveled over her, but she did not look away. Instead, a low growl escaped her throat though she did not argue.
“We go back to the Domain,” Sidon ordered. “We prepare Vah Ruta for battle and we prepare ourselves. Minami.”
“Yes, Father,” Nami said, her voice laced with dread.
“When we return, you are not to enter inside the Divine Beast until Mipha’s curse is broken,” Sidon ordered. “I am not just speaking as your father, I am speaking as the King and that is a direct order. Do you understand?”
“But Dad--”
“Dammit, Nami!" Sidon roared, his fuse finally blowing as he lost his temper for a moment. The princess jumped, letting out a yelp and her eyes growing wide. Sidon shot her a glare to keep from revealing the tears that threatened to spill out of his eyes. "I cannot bare to lose even one child! Don't make me risk losing you too! You will not pilot that beast until I say you can and I will ask once again: Do you understand!?"
This time, when Sidon looked into his child’s eyes, her gaze softened and she nodded, “Perfectly.”
“Good,” Sidon nodded, and with a growl of frustration he spun back around and marched back to his people. When Link finally returned to his side looking worse for wear, Sidon said softly, “We’ll need to call on the heads of our military and our advisors when we get back.”
“I’ll put in the order,” Link signed, visibly trying to collect himself as he put on a strong face again. “I think we should follow Nami’s advice though. We need to know everything Tipf knows.”
“I agree,” Sidon nodded. “And we’ll need to send Cado with Zelda to rally her troops. Hyrule needs him at her side. You’ll need to go too; you are the Hero after all and we can’t risk losing you in a surprise attack. Besides, Cado needs one of us to guide him right now more than ever. And Rhonin will need to be with Minami...they can look out for each other."
"You need to go easy on those two," Link lectured, giving Sidon a stern look as he signed. "Especially, Nami. This is just as hard on her and she will have to step in for you when you're piloting the Beast."
Biting back a sigh, Sidon tried really hard not to think about how he just yelled at her. "I will apologize to her once we return home and when I have a spare moment I will meet with Rho. But those two share a close bond. He is her knight after all and she is very capable of leading military charges in the event of my absence."
Link nodded, sighing heavily before he brought up his next question: “And Mipha?”
Sidon was silent for a long moment. It was hard meeting his husband’s gaze, even though he knew Link knew what he was going to say.
The moment his eyes fell on Link’s, the Hylian’s eyes flickered with panic and Sidon felt his heart sink as his husband cried out loud, “Sidon, you can’t!”
Sidon took Link’s hand firmly and gazed intently into those beautiful blue eyes. “Link. As of right now, I am still the Zora Champion and the Waterblight will be after me regardless. Besides, I’m not going to let some silly curse keep me from protecting our child. She needs me. She needs both of us, I don't care what the Goddesses say.”
Link looked up to Sidon, glaring him down but his expression softening still. They didn’t need words to communicate. They knew what needed to be done. Nodding his head reluctantly, Link closed his eyes and stood up on his toes and Sidon stooped forward as their pressed their foreheads against each other, feeling the strength of their bond.
They needed to protect Nami.
They needed to protect Rho.
They needed to protect Cado.
They needed to protect their peoples.
But mostly, they needed to find a way to save Mipha.