The Legend of Zelda - The Tainted Blade (Season 3)

Nayru's Pearl - (S3:E6)

Despite his initial surge of energy upon awakening, Zel found his body far weaker than he expected over the next few days. At first, the cold of Zorania didn't bother him, being no more than mild winter temperatures in his home of Luralin. But the constant moisture in the air created a chill one could not escape. The cold penetrated through his muscles and bones. Despite donning layers of skin coats, he could not avoid the water and the cold would not be denied. Being mid-fall, soon it would only become colder. Finally, he understood why Cari and her father, Acheron the Alchemist, couldn't winter here. No matter his recovery time, he and Cari would have to leave whether ready or not. The Zora people tried to make him comfortable — Cari seemed to fare better than he with the temperature, though she had already relocated to winter with her father. The Zora people provided plenty of coats and blankets, and kept a fire throughout the night in the room where he slept.

Cari took him for walks around the city during the day. His pace remained slower than he'd like, but it felt good to use his muscles. Three days after he awoke, Cari took him for a longer walk than usual.

"Where are we going?" he asked after they passed the checkpoint on the bridge leading to solid ground at the south of the suspended city.

"I want you to meet my mother," she said.

"She doesn't live in the city?"

"No. She has a home in the hills east of the city. It's not far from the secret passage used to travel from here to the sea, the one through which we brought you here."

Beneath a copse of trees, a small wooden building came into view. A fence enclosed a paddock to the right. As Zel hobbled toward the building, a horse neigh broke through the air. A black horse thundered into view and slid to a halt at the fence rails, after looking for a moment as if he might jump them.

"Storm," said Zel and he hobbled forward a little faster. "You brought him."

"Rather," said Cari, "he brought you. Without your horse's help, we might not have arrived at the healing house in time...not that we could have stopped Thunder from following."

Zel reached his hand out to rub Storm's forelock. Storm nuzzled Zel in the chest, sighed, and snorted. "I missed you too." He cast over his shoulder to Cari. "You've been taking care of him?"

She stepped up to his side and rubbed Storm's neck. "Well, not me specifically. There are a few Zora here skilled with horses, and they keep this stable available for visitors. Today, I think we might need Storm's help again."

A stable hand saddled Storm and led him to the front of the stable. With the help of a mounting block, Zel settled into the saddle and Cari climbed up behind him. Her presence behind him helped Zel to sit straighter in the saddle. Her touch helped him smile.

Storm assumed a slow pace up the rocky slope, and Zel gladly allowed him. The higher they rode, the colder the air blew. By the time they reached the top, Cari huddled against him for warmth, and he grit his teeth to not tremble.

Cari's mother lived beneath a grove of trees beside a small lake fed by mountain runoff. Beyond the lake, a short river flowed to the cliffs of Ploymus mountain, where it plunged hundreds of feet down to the Akkala lowlands. To the horizon, the morning sky glowed, with wisps of clouds floating through the air like feathers on the breeze.

A Zora woman waited beneath the awning of a rocky, metallic, house. She wore a white, sleeveless, dress that brushed her ankles. Her skin was the same shade of blue that framed Cari's face, but her own face was a light shade of red. Out of her arms grew fin-like lobes. Where hair should grow on her head, fell long flaps of blue fish-like skin. She smiled and stepped toward them, her slitted yellow eyes wide with kindness.