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The cheers and applause faded out, and the crowd dispersed. A few elders remained and tearfully apologized to Link for being so ungrateful and rude when he was hurting just as they were. But his mind was far away as he watched as the Prince descended the steps and disappeared. Link politely waited until they were finished speaking but as soon as they stopped, he ran after where he saw Sidon leave to.
He didn’t see him right away and the feeling of melancholia settled hard on him. Seeing Mipha again made him happy but it also hit him that she was really truly gone, that Ganon murdered her. The love of his life, the champion he was betrothed to – dead. Tears filled Link’s eyes and he descended down to the bottom levels of the Domain where the Zora who praised him as a hero won’t see him like this, in mourning for his and their loss. Once he was out of sight of the throne room, of Mipha’s statue, and the guards he helped train a century ago, he fell to his knees and wept. A hundred years of grief had finally caught up to him. He sobbed out his heart – he was just one person, Ganon was a calamity who had taken so many others who were equal to him, if not braver! What could he do, all alone –
“Link?”
He paused and looked up to see the Prince, standing off a polite distance away, his big gold eyes full of concern. “Are you okay?”
Sniffling, he shook his head, and got up to his feet before running over Sidon and wrapping his arms tightly around him. Link pressed his face into his warm rough belly and cried. He felt Sidon move in surprise at his hug but he stayed where he was, and held him close.
“You saw her, didn’t you?” he murmured, brushing back Link’s hair from his face. He nodded against his belly.
The pair stood like this, holding each other, for some time, with only the sound of the waterfalls and the scuttle of crabs for noise. But Sidon moved first, and he held Link back gently from his body. “Link,” he said, kneeling before him. “I am so sorry to have brought you in this, if I had known what sadness this would cause you…” He cast his eyes down and they are heavy with grief too. Link realized that he was keeping the kingdom together, he had to front for his people when he was feeling the same hopelessness that Link was feeling. “I would have never done this to you. I am so sorry for my selfishness, I –“
Before he could say any more apologies, Link cupped his face in his hands and kissed him on his soft femme lips. Sidon blushed red. “Link?” The Hylian looks down, blushing too. Hearing Sidon made him realize that he wasn’t alone in this fight. His feelings from earlier were like a spell of Ganon’s, now broken by the charms of this sweet Zora prince. Link wrapped his arms around Sidon’s neck and sniffled but smiled and hugged him tight. He realized that he liked him not just because he made him think of Mipha, but because he was kind and handsome and that he loved how big his heart was. It dawned on him like a sunbeam breaking through clouds: Link loved Sidon. He hoped that he conveyed to the Prince that he was grateful to have a friend like him.
They held each other like they had before but this time the feeling was much different. Sidon let out a laugh and sprang up and twirled Link around. “Oh my Hylian hero, oh Link, thank you!” He held Link in his arms as easily as Link would hold a kitten. Link covered Sidon’s face in kisses and happily hugged him again, the Prince’s giddiness was contagious. “You have lifted such a stone on my soul, and you have done me and mine such a favor that we are so grateful for!”
Sidon bounced back up to the main level of the domain, earning some odd glances from the elders and tittering swoons from his fanbase as he carried Link (bridal style, at least in Hylian customs – he wasn’t sure if the pose had the same meaning for Zora). He hurried along to a spot in the domain Link was unfamiliar with – the Prince’s bedchambers. Before Link could take in the view, however, Sidon tossed him onto the bed and leapt on himself. It was like the waterbeds in the inn, only plusher and more…well, royal was the only word coming to Link’s mind. When Sidon jumped on, Link bounced eight feet into the air and almost nailed a backflip. He flopped back down on the bed on his back, laughing. Sidon somersaulted and bounded on the bed, and Link realized that he was getting just a taste of how graceful he could be in the water. He stood back up and jumped with him, giggling.
An attendant knocked on the door and Sidon leapt down, instantly returning to a semi-stoic princely demeanor (though he snuck a flirtatious wink at Link as he crossed the room) as he opened the door and the embarrassed messenger explained that the Hylian was needed with the King.
“Thank you, my hero,” he said, a purr in his voice that reminded Link of how Mipha would address him. “Go and save the world, and know that I and the whole of the Zora’s Domain are right beside you.”