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It was late at night in Zora’s Domain and most of the residents were fast asleep in their pools.
One of the few exceptions was a large red and white Zora who was sitting on one of the benches of the open area that resided between the General Store (or Marot Mart, as it was called in his time) and the inn, where a much younger Kodah resided.
Despite having lived through it, Sidon still found the differences of the hundred years he’d travelled through quite profound… especially one key difference.
Ever since it had first been constructed, Sidon had always gone to stand before his sister’s statue.
At first, it had only been to compare the statue to his memories, ‘did her smile really curve like that?’, ‘was her fin really shaped like that?’, ‘did she really hold her trident like that?’, ‘what was the real color of her eyes?’
Then, as he grew older, the statue had become a sort of confidant… or, well, her spirit had, one that he’d shared all his doubts and fears to.
Whether he was strong enough, whether he was smart enough, if he was truly doing everything he could to ensure his people’s happiness and safety.
Even now, here in the past, he’d found himself residing in his usual spot instead of the room his family had prepared for him, staring up at where the statue’s face should be.
It was foolish of him, sitting here and staring into empty air… but he just couldn’t get the events from earlier that day out of his mind.
Things had been going so well at Goponga Village, they had managed to defeat all of the key enemies and Mipha had been allowed to heal their wounded in peace… or so they’d thought.
If it hadn’t been for his sister’s cry, begging his younger self to find safety instead of calling for someone to help her… Goddess, he shuddered to think what would have happened.
It shouldn’t have happened! You should not have let it happen! Sidon silently scolded himself, you should’ve been watching, should’ve anticipated that the enemy might still have forces hiding in wait. If it hadn’t been for your younger self….
His emotions became a far more tangled mess at the thought of that tiny enigma.
How strange it was, to become so enamored by the audacious little boy, who was actually him and yet not him. Who would probably never really be him because… because he would have Mipha.
Utterly pathetic Sidon! To be jealous of yourself, how foolish can you be? Mipha would never harbor such feelings, you must be better—
“Rupee for your thoughts?” a soft voice suddenly called out, snapping Sidon back to reality, where he found Mipha standing next to him, smiling her usual kind smile.
Standing next to her was his younger self, who smiled happily at him before jumping onto the bench and beginning to climb atop Sidon himself.
“I assume this is why you are still awake at this hour, Sister?” Sidon laughed as he grabbed the youngster and lifted him high into the air, causing the little boy to giggle as well.
“Yes, it seems both of my little brothers are having trouble sleeping tonight,” Mipha huffed as her smile took a more exasperated tilt.
“Ah, well,” Sidon stuttered as he set his younger self down, “I suppose it was… a rather exciting day today.”
“Yes, quite,” Mipha hummed, watching as her smaller brother began to run around the room before fixing her gaze back on her bigger brother, “though I do not think excitement is what is keeping you awake, dear brother.”
Sidon felt his body stiffen before he quickly corrected it and laughed heartily, “well, I don’t know about that! I would think one would have nothing but endless excitement once they realize they have travelled back in time!”
Mipha was quiet for a moment as she gazed at Sidon with an unreadable expression before she sighed and took a seat beside him.
She then took his big hand in both of her tiny ones (Goddess, how small she was, how fragile—, no, not fragile, she was a brilliant warrior, he had so much to learn from her example) and gazed up at him with her beautiful amber eyes (he would never forget their color again).
“Sidon, has anyone ever told you that your fin curls ever so slightly to the left whenever you tell a fib?”
“It, it does?!” Sidon cried, his free hand coming to rest on the fin in question.
“Indeed, it’s something I learned rather quickly when you became old enough to start getting into mischief.”
“Ah, it… it does seem that I was quite the handful when I was a child,” Sidon laughed nervously.
Mipha only stared at him with a serious expression on her face, as well as concerned, “Sidon, what is wrong? And do not think I will accept anything but the truth from you.”
Sidon hesitated, still ready to reassure her that everything was perfectly fine… oh, but that look in her eye and the set of her jaw….
“I… just,” he began slowly, rather wishing a distraction would appear and save him from this predicament but knowing it was unlikely, “I… I suppose I was still feeling a bit… unsettled… about what happened before….”
“About the battle?” Mipha asked, eyes becoming even more worried now, “I know it’s quite a lot. But you have been doing so well, your orders to the soldiers are well-informed and easy to follow and your prowess is truly exceptional, alongside your intuition and instincts—”
“But you were still put in danger!” Sidon cried, his emotions bubbling to the surface before he could silence them properly, “if not for my younger self, who knows what might have happened to you?! If you had been hurt or… or worse when I was only a few feet away—”
“But I wasn’t,” Mipha cut in firmly as she squeezed Sidon’s hand reassuringly, “I wasn’t, because the both of you were there. And even if… even if the worst had happened… that wouldn’t have been your fault.”
“But I,” Sidon sniffled, tears beginning to burn his eyes, “I came here to protect you—”
“And you have done a truly marvelous job of it,” Mipha said, “I am here because of you, because you helped me fend off Waterblight Ganon until Link was able to arrive and help us finish him off. But, Sidon, I am capable of taking care of myself, you do not need to protect me all hours of the day.”
“I know,” Sidon replied immediately, “your skill with the Lightscale Trident is just as beautiful and marvelous as Father and the others described it!”
“Yours is quite amazing as well.”
“No, I still have so much to learn from you,” Sidon quickly countered, “not just with the spear, but in everything. Climbing the waterfall, swimming, diving, inspiring our people, diplomacy with the other races—”
“Sidon,” Mipha cut in firmly as a familiar worry came to her mind once more. “While all of that is important and I appreciate that you think I am so accomplished… brother please tell me you have not been comparing yourself to me, all this time?”
The silence and look in Sidon’s eyes were all the answer she needed and Mipha’s heart broke a little bit at the confirmation.
“Oh, little brother,” she sighed sadly as she reached up and wiped away the tears that had managed to fall from his eyes and down his cheeks, “you must know that is not at all good for you… nor something I would ever wish for you.”
“I know,” Sidon sniffed.
“Is it that our people have put too much pressure on you—”
“No, of course not! Our people have been nothing but supportive! It’s just… it’s just, you were taken so suddenly and… and we all loved you so….”
That they could not help but compare us, Mipha finished quietly in her mind as the life this Sidon must have lived came to her mind.
She knew how her people were, how the Elders were and how much they all loved her (she loved them just as much).
Yes, they adored Sidon as well and they all doted on him (perhaps a tad too much)… but it would never change the fact that she was their ‘darling princess’.
And being as long-lived as they were and possessing such long memories… it meant the mourning process for those taken too soon lasted just that much longer.
“…they even constructed a magnificent statue of you, right here, in fact,” Sidon was continuing to say, lapsing into the nervous habit she’d picked up on. “Truly, it is a wonder of architectural beauty, though of course it would be, considering you were the subject.”
“Do you often spend time with it?”
Once again, his silence and eyes spoke volumes and Mipha knew she would have to say something.
“Sidon, my dear brother… you mustn’t put me on a pedestal. I am just like any other Zora. I laugh, I cry, I grow angry and annoyed, and I make many, many mistakes….”
Sidon opened his mouth to argue, but Mipha did not allow him the chance.
“And that is a wonderful thing, because it means that I am Zoran. That I am someone who can feel and admit to my mistakes and learn from them, thus growing wiser and stronger.
“All of this I do, because I have the support of our people, our family and our friends… people that I can ask for help and advice when it is needed. Who will listen to my worries and who I feel comfortable revealing my doubts and weaknesses to….”
Mipha reached up and took Sidon’s large face in her hands, bringing his head down until their foreheads touched.
“Sidon, though it has only been a short time, I know that you are truly a wonderous Zora. You are kind and strong and your optimism brings cheer and hope to everyone around you.
“I have said this before and I will say it as many times as you need to hear it… I am proud of you. I am proud of the Zora you have become and I have full faith that you will be a great ruler to the people of your time one day.
“But you must learn to share your burdens with others. No one is meant to take on the burden of life, let alone the burdens of others alone, that is why we create alliances, friendships, so that they may carry it with us, as we will carry theirs….
“Promise me, Brother… promise that, while you remain here in this time period, that you will speak with me if something troubles you. Or, if you truly feel you cannot, then speak to Father or Muzu, or Link or any of the Champions or your friends of the other future.
“And, when the time comes for you to return to your own time… promise you will find someone to speak to there as well… someone who can talk back to you, mind, not a statue….”
Sidon chuckled wetly at the soft reprimand, though he did manage to choke out a quiet, “I promise, Sister….”
“Good,” Mipha breathed as she wrapped her arms around Sidon’s neck in a warm embrace, “and one last thing… it is perfectly alright to cry when you need to….”
There was a loud sniffle behind her shoulder before a large weight pressed down upon it.
She smiled sadly as the faint sound of muffled sobs reached her ears, but she didn’t comment further… it was, at least, a step in the right direction.
Noticing that the Sidon of her time had come to stand before her and his bigger counterpart and was staring at them worriedly, she extended her arm and beckoned him closer, which he did instantly.
The little darling immediately snuggled into his siblings as much as he could and did his best to wrap his chubby arms around them, causing Mipha to smile once more.
She let them stay like that for a few minutes, then began to quietly sing the lullaby their mother had always sang to her before bed, which she in turn always sang to Sidon, especially when sleep eluded him so.
“Gentle waters, swish to and fro
Moon reflecting gently
A silver glow.
Sleep, my love,
And dream sweet dreams,
Tomorrow will bring joy
And endless glee….”
Mipha’s voice trailed off as the gentle sound of snoring drifted up from the weights on her shoulder and lap and chuckled gently.
“Sweet dreams, my darling princes….”