in_sidon_we_trust | Ruto Precipice; Zora's Domain, Hyrule. Thursday Evening [12/27].

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Ruto Precipice; Zora's Domain, Hyrule. Thursday Evening [12/27].

It was amazing how quickly four days could pass, especially when one was trying to fill those days with as many interesting things as possible. Add to that the fact that travel wasn't entirely convenient when trying to traverse across the land of Hyrule, and Sidon found himself already at the end of their visit without having done yet the one thing that was, admittedly, at the forefront of his mind the entire time: stealing away to a quiet spot in the mountains with Vette. As a communal race that didn't exactly believe in things like walls or privacy, young and amorous Zora had to be a little creative in their attempts for romance, but the landscape of their home made it convenient enough to find a quiet little body of water to escape to for an evening. Sidon had never even imagined he'd be planning out one of these rendezvous...not for a while, anyway!...and yet there he was. Amazing how much had changed since his last visit home!

Though he felt a little bad about leaving the feast a bit early, he headed up to the East Reservoir Lake by himself, slipping away while everyone was engaged, and he thought to make it a little more interesting for Vette to allow her to find her way there herself, having one of the hatchlings approach her during the party and hand her a carefully drawn out map that would send her on a bit of a tangentially winding path that would eventually lead her up the stairs of the large dam just east, past the East Reservoir Lake, and onto the rocky ridges there that looked over Zora's Domain, and that's where she would find Sidon waiting for her.

He had promised her the best view, after all, and after some careful deliberation, decided that this would be it. Not as much height as Shatterback Point, but it was closer, one could see some of the finer details of the graceful architecture from here, the soft lights reflecting the moonlight; if you listened closely, one might still be able to hear the conversations and excitement of the feast below, over the ever-present sound of rushing waters and fountains and waterfalls.

Yes, he thought to himself, this was the perfect spot. Especially if they managed to avoid any pesky stalizalfos or stalkoblins while they were up here. Though that certainly would make for an exciting interruption.

[[and this one's just for that girl he likes!]]

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"So, my options are a long walk with some great views, orrrrrr... riding on the back of a big strong Ambassador Prince, huh?"

This was kind of a no-brainer, really.

"You know, it's been a while since a swim lesson."

And, again, there was that relief, as if the answer wasn't obvious, as if she hadn't literally said she'd never say no to a ride two days ago. "Agreed!" Sidon somehow managed to make his smile ever bigger. "Last one in the water is a rotten octorok?"

"Oh, you're on!"

His element was what happened when they were already in the water. Vette liked her odds.

Yeah, Sidon liked to think that he did quite well on the land, better than most Zora, really, especially since he'd been training in so much of his spare time back at Fandom, but he had no expectations of actually winning this one. And he was fine with that, actually preferred it, really, but that didn't mean he wasn't still going to put his best effort into a sprint toward the lake.

Besides, if Vette got there first, it would make the view of the springing jump and wholly unnecessary flip before he dove right in all the more impressive. He liked showing off; showing off for Vette in particular, he liked even more.

That springing jump would be all the more impressive, since Vette hadn't so much jumped into the water when she made it to the lake as she'd just kind of waded in to her knees. She was still mastering how to float, she wasn't going to go in any deeper than she needed to until he was there to haul her back up again, no.

She did laugh in delight at the flip, yes, because it was pretty amazing dating a guy who happened to be an ambassador prince showman, and she was never, ever disappointed by the show.

"Well, aren't you fancy, huh?"

"Naturally!" Sidon may have had to flick a little water off his headtail with the bright grin he sent to Vette in response. "However, if you can conceive of a better method for making an entrance, I would be overjoyed to hear of it."

But since he was fairly certain there wasn't...

His smile shifted into something less proud and more just content, being deep in the water himself, but he moved a little closer where it wasn't so deep before holding out his hands, palms up, beckoning Vette to try swimming closer to him. She didn't want to just stay over there in the dreadfully boring shallows, now, did she?

Well, not really. Though she was way more comfortable in the dreadfully boring shallows, all the fun stuff seemed to be over there, where the water was deeper. So she inched forward a little. And then a little more. And a little more still, so that the water was up to her waist.

And the next step was a drop-off she hadn't entirely been expecting, which meant she managed a bit of a yelp before dipping under the water entirely for a moment, bobbing back up again with a bit of a 'pbbth' and some mad kicking going on down below.

She was... not grace, really, no.

And no one there at the moment expected her to be, really.

Sidon had rushed forward almost before that bit of a yelp had finished leaving her mouth, ready to pull her up if he had to, but giving it just a moment, no matter how hard it was, to allow her to get it right for herself. And when it looked like she had it, he nodded, giving her a faint, encouraging smile, keeping his hands close, prepared for anything. "It's alright," he assured her. "You can do it!"

Vette's swimming form was less 'dog paddle' and more 'hey, this chicken has had its head cut off and it's still attempting the breaststroke,' but at least she wasn't actively drowning as she made her way toward Sidon. That was good, right?

It was more than she'd been able to manage even a few months ago, at least.

"I," she announced, somewhere between one bob of her head above the water and the time she wound up under again, "am really," glub, "bad at this!"

But trying!

And even though maybe Sidon tensed a little more on the ready and made sure his hands were hovering even closer to wherever might be easiest for him to support her through the variety of...interesting forms, he was absolutely, completely genuine in his encouragement. "You're doing spectacularly!" he informed her brightly. It really was amazing for where she'd started and how little they'd actually had the chance for lessons. "Just keep your head up; depends more on your legs than your arms. I believe in you, Vette!"

"We have really different definitions of spectacular," Vette managed, all in one go, even, before pulling in a deep breath and attempting to let bouyancy assist her, here. Which worked maybe a little better if she was on her back, instead of face-first with her lekku draped to either side of her head, but at least taking a moment to just kind of float there and catch her bearings meant that she wasn't wearing herself out just kicking and flailing around.

She did blow a few bemused bubbles before looking up again, though.

"Progress?"

Well, it probably didn't help that Sidon was whole-heartedly convinced that nearly everything about Vette was spectacular.

"Progress," he confirmed with a chuckle. "You'll be swimming circles around me in no time! Although, I must admit, if expediency is something we're after, this may not be the most practical approach."

"Swimming circles if you're staying still," Vette laughed, working on paddling her way toward him some more.

With only minimal amounts of choking on the water along the way.

"Your way is so much faster, you know."

"Shall we, then?" Sidon asked, turning around so that she could climb on board...

...after moving out perhaps just a little bit further.

Every little bit helped!

"Hey!" That protest wasn't too heartfelt, considering the way Vette was laughing as she swam that tiny bit more. Sure, it was a sort of 'ha ha pbbth hee,' laugh, but at least she meant it. "Making me work for it now, are you?"

"Ah," said Sidon, tilting his head slightly (which helped him to glance over his shoulder a little more naturally just to be certain those blubs and glugs were not the truly worrisome kind), and sounding faintly confused, despite the grin still on his face. "And here I'd rather been under the impression that you wholly appreciated a challenge. Perhaps I've been misguided?"

"Oh, no, not even a little pbbbth."

Swimming lessons were going to be the death of her. At least she was pretty sure none of the other Zora were around to watch the object of their prince's affections fail so spectacularly at a little bit of simple swimming?

"So far as challenges go, this is definitely a good one."

And if they were and had anything to say about it, well, then, it could be certain that their prince would have a few things to say to them in response.

"And you're doing wonderfully with it, too," Sidon informed her. "Besides, it stands to reason that the more difficult the challenge, the greater the reward with success, wouldn't you say?"

"I demand kisses when I catch up to you," Vette informed him, paddling steadily along. "I think that's a reward worth swimming for!"

"I assure you," said Sidon, hand to his heart to show his unfaltering sincerity and dedication to his word, "the kisses received will be completely proportional to the incredible effort being put forth so diligently in surmounting this particular challenge."

So, of course, he had to make a point of moving away just a tiny bit more.

"I am not swimming clear across this lake, buster!"

Was Vette pausing in her paddling to splash at him? Why yes! Yes she was! Was it worth the few more seconds spent sinking before she splashed back up above the surface again? Well. She would say so.

"Oh, well, no, of course not," Sidon agreed. "Why, we would completely miss our portal back to Fandom!"

But now he did feel a little bad for teasing her, although he'd like to see anyone try to deny that she'd managed to make a good deal of distance and even managed to try a splash in the meantime, which was easy, categorical evidence of her improvement, and he'd hear nothing of the sort otherwise.

And he'd stay put this time, too. In fact, he was almost tempted to close up the very gap he'd created, but he'd meant what he'd said about the kisses being proportional to the effort and was holding himself to it.

They...still might miss their portal back to Fandom after all.

Considering all the bobbing under she was doing, if they didn't miss their portal she wasn't getting nearly enough kisses to make up for this. Still, Vette threw her all into closing the distance between them, flailing out her hands toward him once she was pretty sure he was within grabbing distance.

She was mostly even correct, even if her efforts manifested themselves by way of a bit of blind flailing with her fingers grabbing for whatever part of Sidon she could reach.

And Sidon spared not a second in pulling Vette in the moment he was close enough to reach her, wrapping an arm around her for support and pulling her in close.

He even remembered to let her catch her breath instead of just moving in for some of those kisses right away.

"That was incredible, Vette!" he said, achingly sincere. "Just look at how far you managed to make it!"

Vette even actually spared a moment to take a look over her shoulder, back toward the shore. The shore that didn't seem all that far away when she squinted a little, mostly because she was inclined to judge herself harshly first and foremost.

She clung tight to Sidon while she worked on evening out her breathing again.

"And next time I'll make it twice as far," she declared. Not feeling a word of it, but so help her, false bravado was one of her specialties.

"You will!" said Sidon, because unfaltering confidence and support was one of his specialties. "And it will be marvelous and you shall be an expert before you know it!"

Or...probably not, because, unless they were able to think of more excuses to swim in the onsen without being yelled at, swimming opportunities would be few and far between coming up. Although there was always....the...pool...

Sidon would shudder to think of it, if only he was thinking of it. But for now, he was only thinking of the fact that she'd made it, and she was there, and he had her in his arms, and there had been promises of kisses.

And if the pool came with a lifeguard, Vette would totally give it a try anyway!

It was still a step up on some of the water on Nar Shaddaa.

"Well," Vette informed him, "of course I will. I happen to have an excellent teacher."

And some pretty good motivation for swimming better, too. Kisses were an excellent reward.

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Ruto Precipice; Zora's Domain, Hyrule. Thursday Evening [12/27].

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