First-Person – Protagonist's POV – Tone: Reflective, romantic tension, slow dread, gentle obsession
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I always thought lakes were peaceful.
Still water. Rippling wind. Somewhere safe to breathe.
But standing near the Zora Domain's main terrace, watching the waterfalls crash around me while the sun dipped low behind the mountains, I realized something:
Still water only looks calm on the surface.
Below?
There's pressure. Darkness. Depth.
And I was about to learn just how deep Yona's eyes really went.
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She approached me quietly, with the kind of grace I wasn't used to — like her feet barely touched the stone. The Zora guards gave her a wide berth. Not out of fear, but reverence.
She was kindness, made flesh.
But when she looked at me?
I felt seen.
Not in the casual way people glance at a stranger. Not like Purah's analytical scans or Zelda's burning hope. This was something else.
She looked at me like she already knew me.
Like she'd been waiting.
---
"You're the one Sidon spoke of," she said softly. "The Balance-Bearer."
I chuckled. "That's what they're calling me now?"
She tilted her head. "Would you prefer something else?"
I shrugged. "I'm still getting used to being called anything."
She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
There was something… restrained about her. Like the calm before a tide pulls you under.
---
We walked together along the stone path that curved above the pools. The water reflected her face in scattered glimmers.
"I've read what little I could," she said. "Your Tear… it doesn't belong to any cycle the Sages remember."
"It doesn't feel like it does," I admitted. "Sometimes it hums, like it wants something from me."
Yona's fingers brushed mine. Barely.
My heart skipped, and I wasn't sure if it was the contact—or the way she looked when I turned to her.
She was blushing. Barely visible. But I caught it.
She wasn't shy.
She was waiting for permission.
---
"I've felt it since the day you appeared in the sky," she whispered. "A ripple through the waters. Something… sacred."
"That's a heavy way to describe a guy who tripped down a sky island five minutes after waking up."
She didn't laugh.
Instead, she stepped closer.
"I prayed for peace. For Sidon's safety. For Hyrule. And when I opened my eyes… you were there."
I froze.
She wasn't exaggerating.
She believed it.
And belief, I was learning, was far more dangerous than magic.
---
"You don't know me," I said, voice quieter now.
Her hands folded gently in front of her, and she looked at the water below.
"I don't need to."
She touched her heart. "I feel you here. Just like the current knows the shape of the stone beneath it."
And for the briefest moment… I wanted to believe her.
To lean into the calm.
Let someone else carry the weight.
But then I remembered Zelda's eyes.
Purah's hands.
Riju's lingering gaze.
And now Yona, saying things people only say in myths and songs.
They were drawn to me — but not in the way people fall for someone.
They were claimed by me.
And they didn't even ask if I wanted that.
---
Yona leaned forward slightly, voice just above a whisper.
"If the others try to take you for themselves… will you still remember this moment?"
My breath caught.
"…What do you mean?"
She smiled — sweet, sad, sharp.
"Nothing."
But I didn't believe that for a second.
---
That night, I stayed near the Domain, pretending I needed rest.
But I couldn't sleep.
Because even though the waters looked calm, I now knew the truth:
Still water drowns you slower.