Alurei Appellar

History: The sounds of mice squeaking and scurrying across the ground could barely be made out because of the roar of the river, but to one skillful predator their sound was like the sound of an Hylian's dinner bell ringing. The small Hylian Owl perched at the base of a twisted old branch followed the movements of it’s prey with it’s enormous eyes, and, when one unfortunate mouse ran across a particularly open, moonlit spot, soared down and took hold of the creature with it’s powerful talons.


The Hylian Owl flew across the night sky towards the tree in which it had made it's home and left it's young. The owl flew up river, with the creature in it's grip, and as it flew it noticed something unusual, in the night sky great blooms and bursts of colored light appeared accompanied by a sound like thunder. This was very insignificant to the owl, who only tried to stay away from the lights and feed it's young, but these very lights were a sign to another race that the King's newest son had been born.


Zora's Domain was filled with music and merriment that night. A grand display of green and blue light clashed against the night sky. Zora celebrated with their own unique underwater dances, and played such beautiful music as to make the goddesses weep. Their voices were harmonious as their song, which sounded much like a Gregorian chant, echoed through the night. The Zora made medleys of colorful fish and lay them out on great flat stones which lay upon the riverbank. Soon a figure appeared at the very top of the waterfall, and held something out to the people. The Zora swam near, and the silhouette was suddenly illuminated by a burst of blue light in the sky.

The figure standing at the top of the waterfall had a regal air about him, he was tall and graceful, with three long fins on each arm that seemed to form a royal cloak around him, and small, elegant silver crown which sat atop his head. In his arms he held a beautiful stone bowl, engraved with pictures of ancient heroes of the zora, including the legendary hero of time who had saved his people from destruction. Inside this stone bowl was his newly hatched son, Alurei Appellar Zora. The people cheered and cried out joyfully for the son of their King.


Prince Alurei Appellar Zora V sat in the small palace of Zora's Domain at a marble table, which was carved so that it appeared to flow like the water all around it. A pale blue light shone down through a great opening in the ceiling upon the table. A small plate of red fish sat on the table. Alurei slowly cut the fish into pieces with his fork and knife, and placed them into his mouth very politely and rigidly, sitting up straight in his chair and keeping his head up. A servant appeared balancing a tray of glasses on one hand, and moved silently towards the table. The servant set Alurei's glass of Hylian wine down and said " Sir, the King requests that you join him on his trip to Lake Hylia to boost the morale of the soldiers there and check the defenses." Alurei nodded and dismissed the servant, then returned to his meal.

Alurei thought for a moment what it must be like down river, how dangerous it must be, what adventures were to be had, and what kinds of interesting people there would be. He imagined himself swimming down to Lake Hylia accompanied by the army, ready to fight off dangerous beasts like octoroks. He imagined himself fighting them off and being a hero, and how grand it would all be. Alurei sighed the sigh of a dreamer, and left the table to join his father.


King Zora and his entourage consisting of his wife, younger son, favored minstrel, and royal guard finally arrived at Lake Hylia after swimming for days. The path they took was very safe because, after all, the Zora were the largest creatures in the river, and they tried to keep the waterways as safe as they could to help out the rest of Hyrule. The Zora finally arrived at Lake Hylia, and gazed out over it's clear, beautiful waters, and the great bridge that stretched out over it to allow those poor, underprivileged land dwelling creatures to cross it. The party dove off of the waterfall and shot through the waters of the lake with incredible celerity and grace, heading towards the underwater entrance of the water temple where the Zora soldiers had been posted.

Prince Alurei and his family were greeted at the small but strong portcullis, that was a great aid in the defense of the Water Temple from any who might try to destroy or profane that most holy place, by a Zora Captain named Leumas and four of his soldiers. The soldiers floated at attention behind him as he bowed and said "King Zora, it is an honor to have you and your family here." the King replied "I'm glad to be here to support you and the rest of my troops, who perform such a valuable service to Zora's Domain in guarding this place." Alurei, full of restlessness watched them speak to each other, unsure why they should have traveled such a long way to exchange formalities; he was impatient, and wanted to see something exciting, but there was only this dull chitchat.

After receiving a tour of the temple, the King was satisfied that the defenses were in order, and they sat down to dinner with the soldiers. The fish were plentiful in Lake Hylia, so the soldiers were rarely in need of supplies, not to mention the fact that they were able to trade any extra fish to the people of the village there for anything else they might need or want. Being soldiers however propriety wasn't exactly the most important thing to them, but they were very down to earth. As they ate a dinner of fish with the soldiers, King Zora was very comfortable in their presence, but Prince Alurei was beginning to be annoyed. He whispered to his father, who was on his right at the head of the table, "Father, they keep putting their elbows on the table, and they're putting the forks too far into their mouths. It's so impolite! And this is so boring, they just keep going on about how the Hyruleans aren't taking care of our river when they use it to travel to Termina and trade." the King gave his thirteen year old son a look of disappointment and said quietly but understandingly to him " Son, I understand that you're bored, but these kinds of things are important when you're one of the kingdom's leaders, and you may not realize it now, but our rivers are our most valuable asset, they make up our kingdom and our livelihood, and must be kept safe even from the more banal dangers such as garbage." Alurei looked down and said "Yes, Father.", but he was still too young and impatient to truly understand. Then he decided to do something that might stir things up a bit, and bring about the excitement he was looking for.

"I wonder why you must be so concerned with garbage." Alurei said, addressing the Captain, "Maybe it's because you simply aren't brave enough to think about the other possible threats to the river, maybe you simply arne't tough enough." and raised head in a snobbish manner. Captain Leumas was taken aback at this offensive remark, and sat with a look of shock on his face. King Zora was full of embarrassment at what his son had just done, and said "I am so sorry for my son's behavior." and was about to scold his son when he had a thought, "Well, Alurei, perhaps you think yourself to be a stronger fighter than the Captain? Why don't you show us how strong you are, son. I think that a great test would be for you to fight Captain Leumas here." Alurei was shocked at the nature of his request, how could they expect him to fight someone so much larger than himself; his mouth hung open for a moment and then he said "What? But.." and was cut off by his mother, Queen Anida, who said "Yes, that certainly is a good idea, isn't it, Dear? Then it's decided, it should take place outside outside the Water Temple though, it would most definitely not be right for us to fight in this holy place." Alurei looked around the room, wide eyed. Was no one on his side? Would no one try to stop this crazy fight? There was one downside to being the son of a King, and that was that you could never disobey your father.

They floated under the water just a bit outside the entrance to the Water Temple before the fight. King Zora stated the rules of the brawl to all of them "This fight will be to see who is the strongest, you will fight using only your fists, and only until your opponent admits defeat. You are not fighting to the death. Now with all of this over and done with, you may begin." Alurei watched the Captain floating about ten feet away from him, and followed his first impulse, which was to swim for his life. Alurei was a very fast swimmer, and could beat all of his friends in races, but the Captain had much more experience, and was very strong from years of soldiering. Alurei swam as fast as he could around the back of the Water Temple entrance and moved in close against it, the Captain came up right behind him and, to his surprise, Alurei punched him right in the face as soon as he turned the corner. Alurei was surprised at his own ability, but soon the tables turned against when the Captain recovered from his shock. Captain Leumas wasn't a Captain because of connections, he had earned his rank in battle, and soon he had Alurei in a strong hold. Alurei struggled and struggled, but the Captain wouldn't let him reach far enough to retaliate or escape. The Captain shouted "Submit!" but Alurei wouldn't. By now the King, the Queen, and the guards that had accompanied them were there to watch. The Captain shouted again "Submit!", and Alurei finally said "Fine! I submit. Just let go of me!" Alurei swam back towards his father as soon as the Captain had released his grip, feeling rather put down by this. Just when Alurei thought that his embarrassment was over, his father turned to him and said "Now, Son, apologize to the Captain." The Prince was already so embarrassed, but he knew he must, so he said to the Captain "I'm sorry for insulting you, Captain Leumas." Alurei's pride got the best of him that day.

Alurei and the other actors bowed as their audience applauded, they had just performed a play about the Zora philosopher who had helped to design the Zora Hall where they now stood and meant for it to be a place of music and love, where peaceful people could live and think freely, but who was forced to fight to defend his Utopia from the Gerudo Pirates who sought to plunder it for the wealth of sunken treasure that it's people had retrieved from the depths of the ocean because they had become greedy despite the fact that they already had everything they needed. He glanced over at the female Zora who had portrayed the philosopher's wife, and saw her smile back at him. They had known each other only for a short time, but while his family had visited they had grown very close.

The Prince sat in his dressing room, rather pleased with himself after the performance. There wasn't really any reason for his having a dressing room , as the part of a philosopher required no costume, but, due to the nature of the role he played in life, he had one anyway. As he lay floating on his back in the pool of water on one end of the room, he heard the door open and looked up to see her. She was beautiful with long slender limbs, and such a delicate face. Alurei pulled himself out of the water and walked towards her saying "Greetings, Kiara." and then wrapped his arms around her slender frame, and looked down into her clear, blue eyes. She simply looked up at him, smiled, and held him tight. The two kissed, and Prince Alurei had never been happier than he had been for those three weeks that they were together, and he didn't want it to end, but then it all came to a dreadful demise.

Kiara and Alurei left his dressing room together and were walking down one of the corridor's of Zora Hall, when his mother, Queen Anida, walked up to him and grabbed him by the arm saying "What were you two doing in there alone? Hmm?" Alurei looked at her with disbelief that she should be so distrustful, and started to say "We were only...", but she cut him off and said "It doesn't really matter what you did, because people saw, and rumor spreads very quickly along the Zora River. Now why weren't you more careful?" Alurei said "Mother, I didn't think..", and she cut in "Of course you didn't think! Oh, but what's done is done I suppose. Do try to be more careful, for my sake and for your father's sake?" Alurei nodded, and went on enjoying his evening thinking that was the end of it.

The next day, the Prince and his mother received word that the current King Zora had passed away, and so they had to leave to attend his funeral and the coronation of Alurei's brother. Alurei and Kiara said their loving goodbyes before he left. When he had returned home she was all he could think about, he was even having trouble sleeping because he simply couldn't get her out of his thoughts.One morning, Prince Alurei sat on the grassy walkway that provided entrance to Zora's Domain, looking up at the sky and enjoying the feeling of the sun on his wet skin and scales. The Prince plucked a piece of grass and began to whistle through it, something he had learned when he was young from a human child he had saved from drowning while he was swimming in the river that ran through Hyrule Field. Then as he was sitting there enjoying himself, a sudden shadow blocked out his sun and distracted him from the grass whistle. Alurei looked up to see some great flying thing diving towards him. He jumped up and rolled forward to avoid being hit, and when he turned around he saw a young Rito messenger behind him who appeared to be the same age as him. The Rito opened it's satchel and rummaged through it for a moment before procuring a small letter written on bluish green paper. The Rito called out, "Do you know where I can find Prince Alurei Appellar Zora V?"

The Prince said farewell to the Rito messenger, and sat down to read the letter. He unfolded it, and wasn't really sure what to expect. Alurei performed no royal duties yet, so there seemed to be no reason for him to get many letters, especially as almost all of his friends lived in Zora's Domain. The letter read:

Dear Prince,
I'm sorry to inform you that I must break off our relationship. I loved you very much, and I was happy to be with you, but I feel as though I couldn't live the life I wanted to if we continued our relationship. I want to really make something of myself, and not just have it handed to me, and I simply couldn't deal with life at court. After your mother confronted us the day before you left I realized that. I'm sorry, but I can't be with you any longer.

Sincerely,
Kiara Lunda

The letter made a light splashing noise as it fell into the river and became so soaked with water that it was illegible. She had made him so happy, but as it turned out her letter enclosed a bit of her home, in the form of the salty tears that now ran freely down Prince Alurei's cheeks. She had made him so happy, but a new feeling washed over him. Prince Alurei felt incredibly alone, just as he had felt long ago when he had offended Captain Leumas at the Water Temple, but now he had done nothing wrong and yet he still suffered for it. His heart ached with loss as he lay prone on the grassy walkway. He felt that he had died, and all that was left was for him to be buried, but he did not yet know what he was to be buried in.

Prince Alurei stood in his room, practicing the martial arts he had learned from one of the soldiers. He kicked and punched with great force, and with every kick and punch he felt that he was climbing slowly out of the depression that he was in. Removing his sadness, or at the very least ignoring it. He grew weary of training and lay down for a moment in one of the many pools in his room. The walls of the cave that was the palace were carved out beautifully by the flow of water, and every room came alive with the sound of it running through the walls. His collection of beautiful seashells and bits of coral sat in one nook in the wall, and many others held his jewelry, his curved knives, and his crown, and certain colorful stalagmites held his crown and his chain mail. As he was surveying his room, someone knocked on the entrance and said "Come out here, Alurei." judging by the sound of the voice it was King Zora, so Alurei quickly climbed out of the pool and went to greet his brother.

"Yes, brother? What is it?" Alurei said politely and bowed. King Zora looked him in the eye and said "Alurei, I want to speak to you about the way you've been acting lately." Alurei wasn't sure what he meant by this, as he thought that he hadn't been acting much differently than normal, but he said "Go on, brother." King Zora put a hand Alurei's shoulder and said "Brother, I know you've been upset about that woman, but it's been two years since then, and you're eighteen years old now. I may be the King, but the people need other good and strong leaders. I was even considering putting you in command of one of our armies. And while I don't doubt that you will be a good General, I think that you still need to grow before you are ready to have the lives of all those soldiers depend on your decisions. You've been very apathetic about life since she left you, and I want you to be happy." Alurei was getting to be a bit upset about being reminded of her, and he began to object by saying "Brother, it's alright, I'm..", but the King motioned for hm to be silent and continued "I want you to find yourself and find your happiness so that you can better rule our people. The people have me as their King, but I can't do everything by myself."

Prince Alurei turned back towards the great waterfall that was the entrance to Zora's Domain, fastened his satchel, and began swimming as fast as he could down the river, remembering what his brother had said. "Brother," King Zora had said "you need to go on a journey to find yourself and to grow, so I am sending you to travel across Hyrule. The first place I want you to go is Hyrule Castle. Visit the castle, and see if they will teach you about how their government works. Look at the effects of their government, and learn from it so that you can help to govern our people. Learn also about their military strategies, and how they train their soldiers, so that you may lead our soldiers well."