Sidon x FTM!Reader ~ The Translator

Chapter 1

You had never experienced relief to the magnitude that you felt it now, reaching the river near the Lanayru Tower, the first river the two of you had come across since descending Death Mountain. You had assumed that everything would feel cold after the heat of the home of the Gorons. Instead, your body seemed to have perfectly preserved the feeling of holy shit I'm burning alive and seemed incapable of feeling cool again on its own.

The river, on the other hand, was soothing as you waded into a calm area, one eye on your horses and gear, grazing aimlessly by the shore. Link had gone to claim the Tower, and judging by the number of monsters you'd seen around it he would be gone for some time, leaving you with plenty of time to recover from your most recent adventure.

You hated getting your binder wet but it was already soaked in enough sweat for it not to matter, and you thought little of your clothing beyond removing your tunic and trousers in your haste to get to the water. You were planning on washing it when you reached the Zora Kingdom anyway.

You floated in the shallows for a little while, a bit concerned by the amount of steam coming off of you and the water but okay with it if it meant you were finally cooling down, which thankfully appeared to be what was happening.

You couldn't pinpoint the exact moment you started to feel that there was somebody else present, just that you came to the sudden realisation that there was someone or something in the water with you.

You tensed but otherwise didn't react for the moment, not wanting to give away that you knew they were there, but your mind working overtime to work out what to do. You figured you were safe, for the moment. You got the sense that whatever was there had been present for a while, and they hadn't made a move on you in that time, so you assumed whatever it was wouldn't so long as they thought you weren't aware of them.

It wasn't Link. That much you knew for sure. For a mute, he was the loudest person you knew. He would've tried to cannonball you by now for sure.

There was no sign of any kind of creature in the water at a surface level, at least in your field of vision, and you were trying to avoid making it apparent that you were looking around so desperately. The horses seemed unbothered, and in your travels, you'd learned that they were both excellent at sensing - and getting away from - any instance of danger (with or without their riders) so perhaps you weren't in any immediate danger. Then again, they weren't the ones in the water.

Trying to be as casual as you possibly could, you rolled onto your front and swam back to the edge of the river, climbing out and padding through the mud back to your horse, shivering now in the breeze. Better than burning alive, anyway. You took your cloak from your travel bag and wrapped it around your shoulders, still tense, eyes fixed on the visible grip of your [preferred weapon]. You weren't a particularly talented fighter, but Link had been teaching you a few things every evening after setting up camp. If whatever was out there was a threat, you doubted you would be able to fight it off. At present, the best you could hope for was to hold them off until Link arrived to save you. A glance at the tower and your stomach sank as you saw that it was still orange. He wasn't even on his way back yet. For the moment, at least, you were on your own.

There was a loud splash behind you, and you grasped your weapon, spinning around, nerves building in your chest. Something had come into the section of the river where you had just been. The water was now still, but you held your [weapon] out ahead of you as you edged closer to the water's edge, your cloak held on primarily by your head and shoulders as you didn't dare take either hand off of your weapon.

"I'm not going to hurt you." You jumped in surprise purely because the voice came so unexpectedly. It certainly wasn't aggressive, or even loud. You looked around at the water, freezing up completely when you saw a big red head poking out of the water, yellow eyes peering at you curiously. He saw you had caught sight of him and a sharp-toothed grin spread across his face. "Hello."

You couldn't let out any more than a whimper in answer, backing away as he came closer to the edge of the water. It wasn't until he reached the bank and slowly climbed out as if trying not to frighten you any more than necessary, that you saw just how tall he was. He was easily twice as tall as Link. He appeared to be unarmed, but you did not doubt his ability to rip you to pieces without a weapon if he were so inclined. As it was the horses, though they eyed him warily, didn't show any signs of fleeing, which comforted you. The Zora, as you assumed he was, remained a short distance away as he lowered himself onto one knee, seemingly regarding you with as much curiosity as you were him. You wondered idly if he had ever seen a [your race] before. It wouldn't really surprise you, considering how many of the races seemingly preferred to pretend the world outside their lands didn't actually exist. For your part, you found their different cultures fascinating as you were travelling now for the first time.

"Hi," you tried finally, and he seemed delighted by your response, shuffling forward a little bit, bouncing slightly in place in child-like eagerness.

"My name is Sidon," he told you softly, "may I know yours?"

"Uh ... I'm _____," you told him, allowing your weapon to drop to your side. "He didn't seem to want to hurt you at all. Feeling cold, you used your free hand to wrap your cloak a little tighter around yourself. Sidon seemed unbothered by your state of undress, his attention focused on your eyes and face, though judging by how scantily dressed he himself was, if his dress was typical of his people, it wasn't something that might bother him.

"I've been searching for a Hylian," he told you, turning serious. "I mean to bring them to my kingdom. My people need the aid of somebody more ... shock-resistant."

You eyed him suspiciously for a few moments - he was nothing like the travellers along the road who were so eager to attack the two of you.

"Well I can't fight, but Link should be able to help. He's there." You pointed to the tower, and you both looked over to watch as the orange was swept away by the blue that was now so familiar to you. "Yeah, that's him. Always has to make an entrance. He'll be down in a minute."

Sidon glanced at you but then focused on the tower, getting to his feet and staring at it in wonder. You took advantage of his distraction to snatch your clothes from the floor, lightly patting yourself with a large cloth as the closest you were getting to actually drying yourself before pulling your clothes on under the cloak. It had started to rain, it was getting late, and you could hear thunder booming in the distance. Hopefully, Sidon's appearance to escort you to the Zora Kingdom meant it was only a short way away.

There was Link, gliding towards the two of you. Sidon looked silently impressed, and you wondered if that was how you had appeared the first time you had laid eyes on him. You had known Link long enough to know better, however, and you knew that gliding was a particular weakness of his. Wrapping [horse's name]'s reigns around your wrist a couple of times you drew him/her to the river bank and leaned out, using the horse to hold yourself on land, just in time to see Link drop like a rock into the water a few feet away. Swimming would be Link's other significant weakness. He could climb up a sheer rock face like a fucking spider, but he also drowned like one. Stretching out over the water you reached out for him, and he doggy-paddled, valiantly but pathetically, until he reached your arm, clinging to it. You hauled him out of the water and deposited him on dry land before the Zora, stretching out your arms to show off exaggeratedly where he dripped and panted on his knees between the two of you.

"I present to you the Champion of Hyrule."