"Hey! Wake up!" Link yelled, kicking the side of Ganondorf's stomach as a way of awakening the Gerudo leader.

Ganondorf let out a small cry of pain, before slowly arising from the hot, dry grounds of the beginning of Death Mountain. He looked around for the source of the pain in his right side, angrily pushing himself to his feet once he saw Link standing there.

The Gerudo man lunged his fist at the Hylian man's stomach, but luckily Link dodged the attack before it could plummet his stomach area. He furrowed his eyebrows at Ganondorf, taking a step back before unfolding the map he had kept stuffed in one of the many pouches he carried.

"What's the place called again? Zora's Hideout?" Link mumbled, examining the map and pinpointing the location.

"No. It's called Zora's-" Ganondorf began to speak in an unamused tone, before Link loudly shushed him.

"Domain, I got it now," he said, examining the map again and letting out a long groan when he discovered the length between Death Mountain and Zora's Domain.

It was such a long journey - they had to exit Kakariko Village first, and then make their way out of the large land that was known as the Eldin Province of Hyrule. Zora's Domain was located near Lake Hylia, which was apart of the Lanayru Province of Hyrule. That's also where Castle Town and the palace were located, in that same province. Lake Hylia and Zora's Domain were not far from the palace, but it was still a long distance, anyway. Luckily, they had their horses from the Gerudo Village, so it wouldn't be too troubling of a ride to reach Zora's Domain.

"It's going to take so long to get there," Link grumbled to himself, but Ganondorf was listening anyway since he had nothing better to do.

"Yeah, but we have to get there," Ganondorf said sternly. "You don't want Hyrule to collapse, do you?"

"No, I would never wish ill will to this land..." Link mumbled as a reply, shaking his head and smoothing out the map a bit. "It's just...I barely got a wink of sleep last night; I'm sure you didn't get much either. I'm probably going to fall asleep on my horse and fall off."

"You won't," Ganondorf said. "And who knows how long it'll take? It may look far on that map, but on horse it's probably further than you think."

Silence passed between the two for about ten seconds, with Link just staring blankly at the old map and thinking very deeply about the fate of Hyrule. All sorts of possible outcomes - good and bad - began to race through his already troubled mind. The silence ended when Link blinked a few times, shaking his head and then looking back up at Ganondorf.

"Yeah, probably," he muttered. "Sorry for spacing out. Let's just get back to Kakariko and get our horses. The sooner we leave the better."

Ganondorf mumbled a 'mhm' as a reply, following the shorter man as they left the border of Death Mountain and reentered the run down and abandoned village of Kakariko.

The Gerudo man looked at the building that Farona was most likely in, and then he tapped Link's shoulder. Link looked over at his traveling companion, glancing at Farona's house when Ganondorf pointed to it.

"Maybe she'll have some food," Ganondorf whispered. "I mean, we'll need food on our journey to Zora's Domain."

Link bit his lip as he thought about it for a moment, nodding momentarily at Ganondorf's suggestion.

The two knocked on the door of Farona's house, expecting to hear her footsteps approaching the wooden structure and opening it up for them to enter the building. But, that never happened, and Link immediately assumed that Farona wasn't even home anymore.

Cautiously, Link opened the door of the building and stepped inside, to come across and confirm that Farona was not home anymore. There was a small piece of paper laying atop the wooden table they had eaten at two days before, which read:

To anyone reading this,
I have left my house here in Kakariko in search of clues. Clues to find the man who possesses the Triforce of Courage.
I will be in the Faron Province in search of him, so if you do need to meet up with me, I will most likely be there.
-Farona

Link sat down the paper and sighed, looking at Ganondorf and shrugging.

"It'd be wrong to steal her food without her knowing," Link clarified.

"Yeah, but do you want to die of starvation?" Ganondorf grumbled.

"Didn't we bring food when we went to Death Mountain?" Link argued, furrowing his eyebrows a bit.

"Yeah, but I don't see that bag on you. You probably left it at the top of the mountain when you fell asleep there!" Ganondorf retorted, causing Link to slap his sides and his eyes to go wide when he realized he did forget their pouch of food and other necessities on the mountain.

"Dammit," Link grumbled, angrily stomping into Farona's kitchen and raiding it. "Hopefully she doesn't mind."

"Yeah," Ganondorf mumbled, beginning to help Link collect as much food as they thought they would need.

When that was finished, the two packed it all up in the pouches and satchels they had, before exiting Farona's home and finding their horses again. They both mounted the horses they had ridden days before, flicking their reins and setting off for Zora's Domain.

--

By the time they reached Lake Hylia, Link calculated the time by the position the sun was currently at, in the end finding out that it was around one o'clock in the afternoon.

Link dismounted his horse first, with Ganondorf following his action soon after. Link sighed after he had told Ganondorf what time it probably was, looking out at the stunning lake before him.

He had never visited Lake Hylia before, or even seen a large body of water before, so this was a breathtaking first sight to see.

A smile curved up on Link's lips, but faded when he remembered the task that they had.

Some of the land was broken, things like paths made of the earth had large gaps in them and big chunks of land looked like half of what it originally was had been eroded.

"I guess nobody comes around here much," Ganondorf commented.

"Yeah, I guess," Link replied numbly, walking across one of the sturdier looking bridges and noticing a small building, standing dangerously close to the edge. It looked as if it could collapse and fall into the large lake any moment now.

The weather felt calming, with a slight breeze coming from the little waves that emitted in the serene water. The sun shone high in the sky, but with lots of clouds covering those blue skies, signaling that a storm may possibly come across them soon. There was a strangely pleasing saltwater scent in the air, mixed with the smell of grass and all sorts of flowers. Needless to say, it felt gorgeous outside right now, but as mentioned before, the skies may rain on this lovely parade.

"Let's go and visit that building," Link said to Ganondorf, pointing in the building's direction. "Maybe someone in there can tell us how to get to Zora's Domain."

"Good idea, because I can't swim. And even if you can, I don't think we can swim upstream very easily..." Ganondorf murmured, following Link as they began to walk towards the run down-looking building.

Once they reached it, Link knocked on the door and was almost immediately answered by a female and young-looking Zora.

"Hello! I'm Ramire!" she greeted perkily, gesturing for the two to enter the rickety building.

Link and Ganondorf did so with hesitation, looking around the small shack and taking note that this was most definitely a boat store of some sort. The young Zora woman closed the door to her shop, running back over to the duo and smiling again.

"Do you guys want to rent a boat?" she questioned.

"Oh, um...no thank you," Ganondorf said slowly, trying not to hurt the young girl's feelings. He did notice how the glow in her eyes left momentarily, but it quickly returned.

"We were just wondering if you knew of any way that...people like us could get upstream to Zora's Domain," Ganondorf explained, and Ramire's eyes widened at his explanation. She nodded before gesturing for them to follow her, which they hesitantly obliged to.

Ramire brought them outside and onto a small dock that was connected to her small shop. There was a boat and two paddles fastened to one of the poles that held the roof above them upright, and the stream just a few yards away got tougher.

"You guys can use this boat, I've used it before and you can easily make your way upstream with it," Ramire explained, hoping into the boat and grabbing one of the paddles. "But since this is your first time using one of our boats, I'm going to have to come along with you."

"Wait, someone else works here?" Link questioned.

Ramire nodded. "Yep. My younger sister, but she wanted to go to Castle Town to see Zelda's coronation. She's supposed to return tomorrow or so."

Link nodded before jumping into the boat, almost falling out the second he had sat down. Ramire giggled at his mess up, watching as Ganondorf slowly sat down beside her and grabbed the other paddle.

Ramire reached over and untied the boat from its tight hold, dipping her own paddle in the clear water and beginning to move the boat towards the upstream. Ganondorf joined in and began to help her, and soon the small boat shack was far from their view now.

The wind blew in Link's long, chestnut colored hair, slightly annoying him as it kept brushing against his face, but also enjoying this simply stunning moment in this adventure. Everything seemed so relaxing now, but the relaxation of it all ended once the stream began to grow tougher and tougher as they got closer to Zora's Domain.

Water splashed all over the three passengers of the boat, some getting in Link's blue eyes and some droplets entering Ganondorf's mouth whenever he opened it by accident, leaving a salty and unpleasant taste in his mouth.

Link looked all around and noticed how the water kept brushing against the sides of the boat roughly. Some water was even splashing so high up, that it began to enter the boat and fill it up a bit.

Ramire grunted and grunted as she put all the strength she had into this, closing her eyes tightly and keeping her teeth clenched. "You know, it's twice as hard when I'm doing this by myself!" she exclaimed.

About ten more minutes of that struggle continued, until they entered calmer waters and saw a large waterfall straight ahead of them.

Ramire pointed at the small opening that the waterfall was spewing from, looking over at Link and then at Ganondorf with a grin on her face. "That's Zora's Domain. Queen Ruto is currently there, if that's what you're coming here for."

Link nodded, watching as they slowly approached the land and docked the small boat. Ramire, Ganondorf, and Link jumped out of the boat, now standing on the ground and trying to dry off.

Ramire sat down on the ground and dipped her feet in the water, letting out a sigh before waving her hand out to the duo behind her.

"Have fun," she muttered, letting out another sigh before leaning back a bit.

Ganondorf nodded. "Thank you for your help, Ramire. We'll have to repay you sometime."

"Oh, no, it's fine. I love doing this!" Ramire exclaimed happily. "But...some rupees would work. We'll talk later."

Link and Ganondorf took that as their signal to leave, which they eventually did. After climbing the grassy ledges that lead to the entrance of Zora's Domain, they had finally made it to their destination.

Inside was a small throne room, with Zora guards all standing in their rightful positions and protecting the large throne that was straight ahead of them. Link smiled when he made eye contact with the queen, glancing at Ganondorf before walking closer.

Before he did anything else, Link bowed down to the queen, which made her old face smile at his polite gesture.

"Good afternoon, your highness," Link greeted with the most formal voice he could muster. "The leader of the Goron tribe, Darunia, sent us here."

Ruto's eyes widened at his words, but rested after they had sunk into her brain. She nodded as a signal for Link to continue speaking.

"And we were wondering if you knew the man who possesses the Triforce of Courage, or just anything about him," Link explained.

Ruto blinked twice, before clearing her throat. "What is your name? You look familiar."

"Oh, Link's the name," he replied.

"And your name sounds familiar..." Ruto breathed out, images from long, long ago returning to her head.

She could clearly remember the Hero of Time - his name was Link, too. She had become infatuated with him, but her long time crush had chosen someone else in the end, and Ruto eventually gave up on her love for the Hero of Time. She wedded a male Zora named Ray, whom which eventually passed away after they had become parents. Ruto's child was currently in Castle Town as well, and she went there for Zelda's coronation ceremony.

"Link...don't you realize it?" Ruto said with a chuckle, holding out her hand and gesturing for him to come closer.

The Hylian looked over at Ganondorf, only earning a shrug from him. Link breathed out a sigh, before stepping closer to the throne and placing his hand in Ruto's.

"No, your other hand," Ruto said, and Link smacked his lips awkwardly as he switched his hand placements.

Ruto removed the gear he was wearing to protect his hands, mumbling a few words and closing her eyes in concentration. Link watched in bewilderment - was she performing some sort of witchcraft on him? Or maybe a strange Zora ritual? He didn't know, but it was certainly weirding him out.

Eventually, his hand began to glow brightly with the same golden color of the Triforce. Link couldn't see anything for a good thirty seconds, but the light eventually toned down and revealed his fleshy hand again.

Ruto smiled as she let go of Link's hand, watching amusingly as he recognized the symbol on his hand.

The Triforce of Courage.

"Courage!" Link exclaimed, a grin appearing on his chapped lips as he continued to stare at the marking on his hand.

"What?!" Ganondorf yelled, rushing over to Link and grabbing his wrist. He angrily stared at the Triforce piece, throwing Link's hand before groaning loudly.

"You had it the whole time and didn't even know it?!" Ganondorf exclaimed. "We've wasted so much time when...when it was right in front of us!"

Link sighed. "I know. I just didn't think that out of everyone in the world, I'd be the bearer of the Triforce of Courage."

"Yeah, and I didn't think I'd wield the Triforce of Wisdom, either. But I still figured it out sooner than you did," Ganondorf grunted, then shook his head before sighing.

"You both should probably make your way back to Castle Town right now," Ruto interrupted, slowly standing up from her throne. "You need to make things right again. Zelda isn't supposed to have that piece of the Triforce."

"I am one of the Six Sages who helped the Hero of Time seal away Hyrule's evil, and I am willing to do it again," Ruto said. "Darunia is also a Sage. Zelda's nursemaid, Impa, is a Sage. Us three will gather the other three Sages, and when the time is right we will help you make things right again."

"What do we do?" Link asked.

"You fight Zelda until she has reached her weakest point," Ruto replied. "Now that I've entrusted my help to you, we can speak at anytime now. When the time to fight Zelda is right, I will inform you and your friend. For now, get to Castle Town as quickly as possible and find a way into the castle."

Link and Ganondorf nodded, thanking Ruto over and over for her help before hastily leaving Zora's Domain. They ran back to Ramire and told her the urgent news, which alerted her and caused her to jump back into the boat along with them.

As they began to make their way downstream, Link was mesmerized by the Triforce marking on his hand.

I...have the Triforce of Courage? Link thought.

--

A/N: sorry this chapter carried on wayyyy longer than I was intending. Geez almost 3000 words gosh dang.

y'all already knew Link had the Triforce of Courage but now the actual characters in the story know.

kinda rushed the ending but that's because I didn't want this to be too long. yanno.

so this means that his book is about to come to an end soon :))) this is fun to write but also very painful to write. so it'll be mixed emotions of sadness and relief when I finish this mess.

goodbye.

-Katy