✧ The Light Between Us ✧ ☆•° Chapter 16 °•☆ I stormed into the restroom, slamming the door open. A few girls looked up at me, but I didn't care. I sat down in the corner, hugged my knees, and fumed silently at anyone who happened to look my way. I was sure there was a thundercloud above my head. I noticed a pretty Zora sitting on the edge of the sink, chatting with another girl, presumably a classmate. That was a rare sight. Zoras didn't usually venture outside of their domain. I listened closely to the Zora's conversation. I was curious about her. Maybe she could inadvertently give me some clues. "...all the refugees from Lurelin," she said. "My father allowed me to go and help them out. So I've only temporarily transferred to the HFA." "Did you hear?" the other girl replied, lowering her voice. I strained my ears to hear what she was saying. "...rebuilding Lurelin, but a lot of the people don't want to go back. They said they saw a monster in the hurricane. Mass hallucination, I think." I sighed. It was inevitable. Word about the Calamity was spreading, although there was no official name for it yet. However, I was glad Lurelin was being rebuilt. That meant Mubs and many others could return to their home. If they wanted to, that is. The Zora shook her head. "No, I think what they saw was real. It would make sense. There's also been strange things happening in the Domain lately. More monsters." The girl shrugged. "Weird. Well, gotta go. Talk to you later." She walked out of the restroom, pausing at the door to give me a curious glance. The Zora jumped nimbly off the sink and approached me. I could only wonder what she thought of me. Maybe I would be spared some embarrassment and she wouldn't realize I was the princess of Hyrule. Nope. "Are you Princess Zelda?" she asked quietly, calmly, in her thin voice. She smiled slightly. "My name is Mipha. I just noticed you have a cut on your arm." I looked down. True enough, I had a small wound there. I must've gotten it when banging my arm against the table, when I stood so suddenly after getting upset at Link. She gestured at the cut. "Do you mind if I heal it for you?" "You- what?" I asked, confused. I wasn't sure what she meant by that. How could she just heal something? "Let me show you," she answered. I held out my arm for her, and she gently laid a hand over it. Her amber eyes closed in concentration as misty blue light appeared below her hand. My arm grew pleasantly cool. Pain that I didn't know I had faded away, replaced by a soft frostiness, like lingering, feathery snowflakes. Mipha lifted her hand. "There," she said. "All better." And it was. "Thank you," I breathed, still processing what she had done. A power like that... it could only mean one thing. "Mipha- " I continued hesitantly. "Could you- please join me at the lunch table? I- I want to discuss something." "Of course." She smiled. "What would you like to talk about?" "It's- the rumours about Lurelin," I said. I wasn't sure yet how much she knew about the Calamity, or even if she was the right candidate for a Champion. It would be best to stay vague for the moment. We walked out to the lunch table. I quickly acquainted her with Impa, and was about to introduce Link when she said, "Oh, hi, Link. I didn't know you went to Hyrule Field, too." "M-mipha?" Link stammered. "Wow! What are you doing here?" She blushed and looked down. "I'm helping out at the refugee camp in Castle City. I guess you could say I'm a transfer student." "We haven't talked in so long. It's good to see you again," Link said happily. I felt a stab of jealousy and immediately tried to numb it. ~ You can't go around feeling envy every time Link smiles at a girl ~, I scolded myself. I had escaped from the table because of this emotion. Now it seemed as though it was unavoidable. "So," Mipha said, sitting down across from me. "What did you want to talk about?" I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to steady my nerves. I had to focus. I could unravel my tangled thoughts later. Opening them again, I folded my hands and met Mipha's gaze. "What do you know about the Great Calamity?" ☆•° Chapter 15 °•☆ ☆•° Chapter 17 °•☆ ✧ Special thanks to for suggesting "Hyrule Field Academy" as a name for the school. ✧
