Chapter Text
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One week went by quickly.
When the day of the low tide arrived Link packed an unusually large bag and paired the zora tunic with a new set of opal earrings, before teleporting to the Ne’ez Yohma Shrine. To his surprise Sidon sat at the bottom of the stairs waiting for him. He was decked out in even more ornate regalia then usual. As soon as their eyes met Links heart clenched with joy.
“Link! Welcome back!” Sidon said and stood up. Today Link wasn’t greeted with the usual confident gestures instead Sidon seemed to be brimming with nervous excitement. A fateful mood vibrated in the air.
“I think I should explain before we go the significance of what we are about to do. Going to the circles is not just like a hylian date, by taking you there I’m choosing you as my life partner. If that is too much, and I understand if it is, we can do something else today. What do you think?” Sidon’s tail was shivering in anticipation, visibly nervous about how Link would react. But this time Link had come prepared. He had asked around and read up as much as he could about Zora courting in that past week. With a determined step forward Link caught hold of Sidon’s hand. Sidon’s gills fluttered and his fins unfurled on his arms. The air was tense.
“You caught me, now take me to the circles.” It was the traditional phrase. Sidon let out a shaky gasp before scooping Link up in his arms to kiss him. Link grabbed on to the fins at the sides of Sidon’s face and for a long time they just stayed like that, Link sitting in Sidon’s arms while they covered each others faces with kisses. When Link had to stop for air Sidon rested his crest on Link’s forehead.
“I still can’t believe it…” He sounded in awe. Link laughed.
“Well, that should be my line. Now let me down so we can get going.” He gave a last stroke to Sidon’s crest before the prince reluctantly set him down. Link went back to pick up his bag that was left by the podium.
“Do you want me to carry that for you? It looks heavy.” Sidon asked as Link laboriously heaved the big bag onto his back. The hero shot him a sidelong glance.
“No! I’ll take care of it, it won’t be very heavy once we get in the water anyway.” Sidon eyed him skeptically, but let the issue go. As he turned towards the stairs Link let out a sigh of relief.
“If you say so, Let's go then. I'll give you a head start.” Sidon said while putting his hands on his hips with a toothy grin. Link smirked at him and took to the stairs in long strides, seemingly unhindered by his burden.
As he came out onto the terrace he could hear Sidon starting to run up the stairs. He was chasing him. Link bit his lips and picked up his pace. With the bag he would unable to do his usual quick maneuvers, Link had to find another tactic. He ducked in behind Mipha's statue just as Sidon came thundering up onto the terrace.
“I see you!” The prince called out, but as he rounded the statue Link circled back the other way, keeping it between them. They went back and forth around it, Sidon trying to keep his moves unpredictable but getting anticipated at every turn by Link. At a moment when Sidon hesitated on the other side Link broke the deadlock by sprinting of towards the edge of the terrace. He could hear Sidon bounding after him. Just as Link was about to dive of the waterfall Sidon came crashing into him, sending them both into an uncontrolled tumble towards the lake below. Link scrambled to catch onto Sidon and pulled himself towards him with a panicked grip. Sidon let out a loud barking laugh and, just as they were about to hit the water, effortlessly flipped them in the air so that they cut through the surface cleanly.
“Caught you!” Sidon exclaimed, a cloud of bubbles escaping from his mouth. Link felt the unpleasant feeling of his lungs filling up with water, but the tunic worked just as the week before and as the last bubble of air left him he could breathe normally again. He gave Sidon a relieved kiss on the cheek. The prince squeezed him in return and then guided Links arm to loop around his neck.
“Let’s get down there. Hold on to me.” He said before pulling Link along at an impressive speed down into the dark abyss. Link felt the water rushing past him and had to shield his eyes from the strong current. Once they reached the bottom of the lake the water around them was pitch black. Link stared at Sidon in surprise. The prince’s amber eyes and the light spots running down the sides of his crest and limbs were all glowing brightly.
“I didn’t know you could shine like that.” Link said, amazed. Sidon let go of Link to flex his arms in a flashy pose. He shot him a charming smile before asking “Do you like it?”
“Yeah, you look amazing…” Link let his eyes wander over Sidon’s body. “Can all zora do that?” Sidon pulled Link into his arms to continue swimming along the bottom of the lake.
“Yeah, to some extent. We only do it of we want to impress someone though…” Link blushed and Sidon brought a hand to his face.
“That! It’s like that thing you do where you change the color of your face. It’s the same isn’t it?” Sidon seemed excited. Changing the color of his face?
“Do you mean when I blush?” Sidon cocked his head to the side in confusion.
“When my face turn red?” Link clarified and Sidon nodded eagerly.
“I don’t have any control over that, it’s involuntary. It happens if I’m embarrassed or exited.” Link explained. Sidon looked thoughtful for a bit, then he grinned.
“What kind of excited?” Link blushed again and Sidon laughed. “But I think I understand, it is more like a flutter then, you know when a zora’s gills open and move.” Link didn’t know that was called a flutter, but he had seen it on Sidon before.
“Oh, here we are!” Sidon exclaimed as he spotted two blue lanterns in the distance. As they came closer Link could see that they stood on either side of a big opening in the mountainside. Four guards were posted in front of the entrance to the cave. As they noticed the approach of Link and Sidon, who was still glowing brightly, they raised their arms in celebration and waved joyously.
As they passed by them Sidon held Link close to his chest with an exuberant expression. Link pressed his lips together in embarrassment, but couldn’t help the feeling of pride that welled up inside him. Sidon had chosen him among everyone else.
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After a dark tunnel the cave opened up to a large cavern where smaller openings and stone lanterns were scattered along the walls. Below them was a flat field of fine white sand. The high ceiling was made out of that glass-like blue stone that Link had had such trouble climbing when he first entered Zora's Domain. Light from above seemed to shine through it and gave the cave a almost spiritual ambiance. Sidon gestured up at the ceiling.
“It is only when the tide is at its lowest that the daylight reach all the way down here. Otherwise we only have the lanterns. It's beautiful, isn't it?” Link nodded. “Each of these openings lead to a family cave.”
They passed through the chamber to get to the largest opening on the opposite wall. It was flanked by more ornate lanterns then the other ones. Sidon headed inside, Link still in his arms.
“This is the cave of the royal family.” Sidon looked ahead wistfully. At first the cave stayed narrow, then it opened up into a cavern similar to the one before, with a luminous high ceiling and a wide plane of white sand. Only here the sand was shaped into a pattern of numerous circles. Each circle like a mandala with its own intricate design framing a flat center like the petals of a flower. They were wide enough that Link could have laid down in the center space without being close to reaching the edges on either side. Some of them were overlapping each other, as if the newer circles had been made on top of older ones when space in the cavern ran out. Sidon looked at Link, his eyes brighter than ever.
“Link, let me show you my circle.” They swam out over the circles and Links eyes fell on two particularly large ones in the middle of the room, one slightly on top of the other. Sidon pointed to bigger one below.
“That circle belongs to my father, the king. It is where I was hatched. You can see my grandfather's circle below it, and so on, all the way back to the founder of Zora's Domain. And this, the newest one, is mine.” Link felt a lump in his throat. This room was filled with so much history, and now Sidon was inviting him to be a part of it. It was touching, especially as Link had lost all memories of his own family. Thankfully down here in the water Sidon could not see the tears filling his eyes.
Sidon held on to Link’s hands and slowly led him down until they were standing in the center of his circle, soft white sand beneath their feet. The warm glow Sidon gave of fell onto the ridges in the sand and brought the design to life with incredible detail and contrast. Link felt spellbound.
“Did you make this?” He asked as his eyes roamed over the pattern. Sidon nodded.
“I did, I made it for you.” Link could feel his heart beating against his ribs. “There have been quite a rumor mill going on about it. I suppose people think I’ve held of making my circle for longer than a prince should, but I didn’t have anyone to make it for, until now.” Sidon's gills were puffing out from his sides. He sat down in the sand to get on eye-level with Link.
“Sidon… I… I don’t know what to say. This is so much more than I ever could have hoped for. I was prepared to just pine for you indefinitely.” Link said astonished. Sidon broke into shaky laughter.
“And I was dreading that it was just a matter of time until I went to far and drove you away. Ah, we are such fools…” He rested his crest against Link’s head and added softly “I love you Link.”
Link’s heart ached with affection and he excitedly threw his arms around Sidon. Their lips met in a searing kiss. Link could feel his soul dancing as Sidon’s arms wound around him tightly. When Link finally moved to pull away Sidon chased after him and the kiss resumed with renewed fervor. Link traced his lips with his tongue and was rewarded with a dark moan. Sidon’s fingers raked through Link’s hair and a strong hand clutched the back of his head. Link traced his hands down Sidon’s back and when his fingers softly ghosted over his gills the prince let out a frustrated whine of arousal and broke the kiss.
Before Sidon had time to speak up Link cut in. “I love you too.” Sidon’s face split into a bright smile and he pulled Link in for another kiss that turned out to be a bit too toothy as both of them were unable to stop themselves from grinning widely.
When they pulled apart Sidon forced a serious expression onto his face.
“Actually there is still more I have to show you. Before we get ahead of ourselves.” He moved to set Link down back onto the sand and Link complied, even though the tightness in his pants was vividly disagreeing.
“I’m probably overstepping again. Definitely... “ His eyes were cast to the side, down at the sand. “We should actually wait with that. I’m sorry, forget I said anything.” Sidon reached for Link, as to resume the kissing but Link grabbed onto his wrists, halting him.
“Sidon, what are you talking about?” The lights on Sidon’s body dimmed and he was biting into his lip nervously. He looked at Link in contemplation. Finally he took a deep breath as if preparing for a plunge.
“I have laid eggs.”
Link’s head broke into a million pieces and it took him quite a while to piece it back together again. He really should be used to this by now but apparently Sidon was an unending well of surprises. Link swallowed.
“You have laid eggs?” Sidon nodded and slowly as if not to break the delicate mood he moved out to the side of the flat center of the circle. WIth careful hands he dug up three large eggs that were buried in the sand. He brought them over to Link.
“These are your eggs? You made these?” Link asked, wishing for his wits to catch up with reality. Sidon nodded again. The eggs were round and pale. They fit into Sidon’s palms but would be too big for Link to hold like that.
“When will they hatch?” Link asked, the question seemed to surprise Sidon.
“Never. Not if they are not fertilized. If we put them back in the sand we can save them for later.” Sidon said and it looked like he was about to do just that. Link gingerly took hold of his hands. Sidon’s eyes snapped back onto Link in surprise.
“And if we fertilized them, then how long would they take to hatch?” Sidon looked floored. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he managed to answer.
“Maybe 5 or 6 years… Not long. It’s fine to wait.” His voice was shaky. Link shook his head.
“5 or 6 years IS a long time. I’m hylian Sidon, that's why we really don’t have any time to waste. And I think we have spent to much time on hesitation already.” Link stated. Sidon sat with the eggs trembling in his hands, seemingly unable to wrap his head around what he just heard. Link stroked his hands down Sidon's arms to quell the shaking and then took his backpack of and placed it between them.
“I'm serious. I'll show you.” Link opened the backpack and pulled out the bulking cloth bundle that had been filling out the entire bag. Then he put the backpack to the side and unwrapped the package, spreading the contents out in the center of the circle. Sidon gasped. Between them lay a gleaming black and gold set of armor and two large swords. Sidon carefully set the eggs down so that he could pick up one of the gauntlets tentatively and marvel at it. It fit perfectly on his hand.
“Is this for me?” He sounded choked with emotion. “Where did you get it?”
“I made it. Dento taught me how. I felt really foolish bringing it this morning but now-” Link was broken of by Sidon who had scrambled over to him and pressed his face to Link's chest. Link was lifted of the sand in Sidon's arms as the zora chanted in joy.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This is like a dream come true!” He stood up and pulled Link along for a jubilant somersault in the water before floating down and landing on his back in the sand with Link sitting on his chest. Sidon's eyes were glowing like flames and he threw his head back with a relieved sigh, white teeth gleaming as he smiled.
“I've been worried at every step of the way that I would finally scare you of, and it turns out that both of us were preparing for the same thing.” Link chuckled and leaned over to kiss him.
“Is this it then? No more worries?” He said, lips brushing over Sidon's jawline.
“Yeah, I think we are on the same page now.” Sidon said as his fingers snaked under Link's tunic.
Link grabbed on to the fins framing Sidon's face and planted a kiss on his lips. He could feel Sidon's fingers tracing the scars on his back, edging down until they were tucked under the hem of his pants. As he leaned down to kiss along Sidon's jawline Sidon turned his face to whisper in Link's ear.
“I know the Zora tunic has to stay on down here, but as for the rest of it I would really like to undress you now. If that is ok with you?”
Link was, very much so.
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They spent the entire day together inside Sidon's circle, kissing, talking and exploring each other. By the time the blue light from the ceiling started to dim as the sun set outside they had three fertilized eggs that Sidon placed carefully in the very center of the circle.
After a short debate where Sidon starkly refused to leave, wanting to follow tradition by guarding the eggs for the first two days, Link finally had to help him into his new armor and swim back up alone. Both of them staying was no option as they had ran out of food by early afternoon. Link vowed to come back down as fast has he could, feeling uneasy about leaving Sidon all alone down there.
As Link passed by the guards on the way up they informed him that the king wanted to see him. Not long after Link found himself in the throne room facing a very pleased King Dorephan and an especially surly Muzu, trying to not feel too awkward while he told them where Sidon was and why. He was soon sent on his way with a huge bundle of food, the king’s blessing and a sense of anticipation for the new life he had just begun. This was going to be an adventure of a whole new proportion.
But that is a story for another time...
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