Summary: Mipha's survival is concealed to buy time to develop defenses.

"Hello? Is that you, Lapha? What's wrong?" said Dr. Purah sleepily, her emergency Tab signal having awoken her in the middle of the night.

"Invisibility," said Lapha. "That's what Grendon was working on. It's consistent with everything we know. And Grendon remembered that Zora's don't need to rely on eyesight in the water, which was the basis for his dying remark."

"You may well be right," said Purah rubbing her eyes. "Good thinking. I will alert Queen Zelda. Now, let's start thinking about what we can do to combat this."

It wasn't until mid-morning that Link awoke first in their slumber pool, followed a few moments later by Mipha. Mipha had just recovered from a six-day coma due to the effects of a Shock Arrow, and both she and her exhausted husband Link had fallen back asleep afterward.

"Are you feeling any better?" said Link.

"Much better," said Mipha. "I feel like the effects have completely worn off now."

They embraced, and Mipha could feel the emotion in his touch, that he was clinging to her with greater urgency. It reminded her of his behavior after the damaged TimeShift Stone incident at Spool Bight.

"I know it must have been hard on you," said Mipha.

"I'm just glad you're well! But yes, it was hard on all of us, our whole family. It felt so empty and alone without you. I didn't want to sleep because I kept waiting to see you move, any sign you were improving. I, we always believed you would recover, though. And now I want to find out who's responsible for this and mete out some retribution."

"I knew you would react that way, but you need to control yourself," said Mipha. "None of us want you recklessly rushing off into danger."

"I won't be reckless," said Link. "But I also won't rest until whoever did this pays for it. There's a call with Zelda this morning to discuss matters, and it includes Father and Sidon, along with both of us. But the invite message says we are not to leave our house but to take the call from home."

"We should get up in any case," said Mipha. "I think we've both rested enough."

They both got up, and while Link dressed, Mipha left their room. But when she reached the kitchen, the rest of the family was there waiting and rushed to her, surrounding her all at once.

"We missed you, Mom," said Mila. "We all need some nice long hugs from you now. Since I'm the oldest, I get to go first."

"I love all of you so much," said Mipha as she wiped her eyes and then embraced her oldest daughter. "I'm sorry for worrying all of you."

"Come on, Mi," said Midon after a moment, as Mila clung to her mother. "You're only a few minutes older than me. It's my turn."

Everyone then took a turn, ending with little Tara, who Mipha hugged and kissed.

"Gramma," said Tara.

Then, as usual, she turned to her father and said, "Grammaaaaa."

Everyone laughed as young Link shook his head. By then, Link had joined them.

"Now, please sit down, Mom," said Lapha. "We caught a nice Hearty Bass for you, and you need to build up your strength. And Dad, Midon cooked one for you as well. We think it's the first time Midon ever cooked a fish, so good luck."

"Very funny," said Midon. "I've watched Dad, too, you know."

As Link and Mipha ate, he explained they had to take a call from Zelda soon but was astonished to learn they all knew about the request and were invited to the meeting as well.

"Last night, Uncle Sidon returned and told all of us to be quiet about Mom's recovery, and there would be a meeting this morning. They want all of us to stay home for now, and stationed two guards outside our house."

"I see," said Link. "The fish is delicious, by the way."

Midon stuck his tongue out at Lapha, who shook her head.

"Fish," said Tara as young Link held her in his lap at the table.

"Is she hungry?" asked Mipha.

"No, she just ate," said Tila. "She just likes to repeat words these days, which we encourage. We'll let her rest in our slumber pool when the call starts."

At the appointed time, the encrypted call from Queen Zelda came through, and Link put it on speaker as he and the family sat together. Besides Zelda, the call included King Dorephan, Sidon, and Queen Faray of North Hyrule.

After brief greetings and well wishes to everyone, Zelda got to the point.

"I've been up early discussing matters with Dr. Purah," said Zelda. "We're dealing with an enemy who has learned a way to make itself invisible. We believe the other night was not intended as an attack, but as a trial run, a test of their capability."

"How can we combat something like that?" said Link.

"That's an excellent question, and I'm getting to that, Link," said Zelda. "But I want to make another point first. Purah and I feel we need to avoid causing our enemy to hasten their attack in the belief their plans have been compromised, that is, that we have discovered their capability. We need to let them believe we are as ignorant as before."

"But how is that possible?" said Link. "Mipha had an encounter with one of the enemy, and they must surely know that."

"Yes, but I understand she was alone when that happened. We have to pretend Mipha died," said Zelda. "That's why the less who know she survived, the better. Moreover, it would be best to portray her death as an accident, some electrical fault in Ruta perhaps that shocked her too severely."

Zelda paused for a moment to let all this sink in.

"So, are all of you willing to do this?" said Zelda. "Unless you all agree, this can't work."

"If it can aid us by deceiving the enemy, Queen Zelda, I am willing to," said King Dorephan. "Our family will know the truth, of course, and a handful of others already do, such as Dr. Aklan. But everyone who knows will be sworn to secrecy."

"And I will limit who knows here as well," said Zelda. "But it means we must go through the motions of Mipha's death to be convincing. And, of course, Mipha, you will need to remain unseen."

"With all due respect, Queen Zelda, I am not sure I can agree to this," said Mipha emphatically. "I am the Zora Champion and defender of my people. I insist on being part of any effort to destroy this enemy, an enemy who has invaded our Domain and attacked me personally. I will not stay in hiding while others fight this battle without my help."

"I thought you might feel that way, Mipha, and if our roles were reversed, so would I," said Zelda. "But if it becomes known you survived, we fear our enemy will move quickly against us before we can plan our defenses."

Zelda paused for a moment.

"Let me give you my word on that, Mipha," said Zelda. "Once our plans are in place, and we are ready to attack, or once we are attacked, you are welcome to do whatever you wish. We will not wage this fight without you. But until then, can you not go along with our plan? It's up to you, but we feel it will buy us some much needed time."

Mipha thought for a moment.

"I can accept that, Queen Zelda," said Mipha. "I have your assurance that I will be included in any campaigns against the enemy."

"And this attack is very personal to me, too," said Link. "I want to be as involved as I can at every stage. But you know my highest priority is the well being of my people here."

"Yes, I understand, Prince Link," said Zelda. "Well, that was the purpose of our meeting. If we are all in agreement, then I need you to proceed, King Dorephan, as if Mipha had succumbed from her injuries. And everyone else on this call is sworn to secrecy."

"Very well," said King Dorephan. "I will send out a death notice and carry on, as we discussed. But the funeral service will be a small one, no lengthy eulogies. I will say our family's sadness is too great, which it would be."

"Thank you," said Zelda. "And rest assured we will be working day and night to develop some measures to combat this new enemy. But be wary. Since they cannot easily be detected, we cannot know for sure when we may be seen or overheard."

"I had Mipha and Link's house guarded since the incident," said King Dorephan. "And guards have swept the area where I am speaking from."

"I am speaking from a small soundproof room," said Faray. "It's one legacy of my elder sister's taste for secrecy and her double."

"And I too am speaking from a small room that was checked by our guards," said Zelda. "Thank you, everyone. May Hylia protect us all."

Zelda ended the call, and everyone looked at each other.

"So, we have to pretend you died, Mom?" said Mila. "That's going to be very difficult for me. Everyone knows how emotional I can get, and I'm not sure I'm a good enough actress to pull it off."

"I'm not sure any of us can pull it off well," said Midon.

"All of you should take off from work or work from here to make it easier on yourself," said Link. "Everyone will understand, and your mother will appreciate the company."

"We are going to have to attend the service, though," said Mila. "That's when we need to be at our best."

"And what about you, Dad?" said Lapha. "What are you going to do?"

"I need to act the part as well," said Link. "I need to grieve like the rest of you. Our story is that what happened was an accident, so I'm not looking for revenge. Though in reality, I am."

"Midon?" said Lapha. "Remember that experimental proximity rune you were working on? Let's go to your room and talk."

It was later that day that the death announcement was released.

It is with heartfelt sadness that Zora's Domain announces the passing of Princess and Zora Champion Mipha, who died last night after being in a coma for six days. The cause of her death is uncertain but appears to be electrical in nature, perhaps the result of a faulty electric circuit in Divine Beast Vah Ruta, which she is known to have been inspecting at the time. Princess Mipha is survived by her husband Prince Link, father King Dorephan, Brother Prince Sidon, children Mila, Midon, Lapha and Link, daughter-in-law Tila, and granddaughter Tara. A brief service will take place the day after tomorrow.

"Short and to the point," said Mipha upon seeing the announcement. "It's not often one gets to read one's death announcement."

"I never want to read it," said Link taking her hand. "I hope we can come up with some plan quickly. Sitting at home does not suit either of us well."

It was shortly afterward the messages of sympathy began to arrive, and Link had to acknowledge them and thank the senders. It was grim work, and he hated having to deceive so many people.

Meanwhile, Lapha was speaking with Midon in his room.

"What's all this junk lying about here?" said Lapha as she surveyed the technology parts strewn around the floor.

"Never mind about that," said Midon. "They're just ideas I had, some of which didn't work out."

"Well, I'm interested in that proximity rune you developed awhile back," said Lapha. "You never released it?"

"I cleaned it up for release, but there wasn't much interest, so no, it was never rolled out to everyone," said Midon.

"How does it work?" said Lapha.

"Like our echolocation only in the air," said Midon. "The rune captures the return signal from a wave it sends out. It knows what its signal is. It's pretty crude, and I developed it because I hated people surprising me while I concentrated on my work while listening to music."

"Well, it's a start, and it might form the basis of something useful," said Lapha. "We need to design a method of seeing what it captures in real-time, just like our echolocation. Send me the code, and I'll bring it to Dr. Robbie's attention. Robbie may be able to craft something around the process."

"Sure, Laff," said Midon as he retrieved his development device and proceeded to transmit the source code to Lapha. "I hope it helps, and I'm happy to work on any further enhancements."

Meanwhile, King Dorephan was meeting with Sidon.

"I hate to deceive so many people, especially those who loved her like family. But we can't share the truth too widely, and until we learn more, we must act the part. Someone has to give her eulogy," said King Dorephan. "I thought it would make the most sense for you to do it. Please make it short though. Can you manage it?"

"Yes, of course, Father," said Sidon. "And I'll make sure we provide Link and his Hylian son a breathing apparatus for the internment in the underwater crypt."

When the time for the funeral service arrived, everyone in the Domain was gathered in front of the statue of Hylia. The family stood together near the front, and there was a sealed coffin. People could be heard talking to each other, and a number of them were wiping their eyes.

The service began with the Zora priest saying a brief prayer.

"Let us all join in a silent prayer to blessed Nayru that the spirit of our beloved Princess Mipha will Rest In Peace, and to bless her family that they will have the strength to carry on in the face of their tragic loss."

Everyone bowed their heads in silent prayer. Finally, Sidon stepped forward to speak.

In deference to our family, I was asked to keep my remarks brief. For otherwise, I could easily speak for hours about my beloved sister, all she has done for me, and all she has done for us, our Domain. She has been my idol and my role model since my earliest days. For years she was both a sister and a mother to me, encouraging me to believe in myself. She grew to become our Champion and helped defeat the Calamity that threatened all of Hyrule. Through her gift of magic, she healed more people than we can count. I know all of us will miss her, but none more so than her dear family. She was a loving daughter, a loving wife, a loving sister, and a loving mother and grandmother. All we can do now is pray for her spirit, and remember in our hearts her gentle smile and her kind voice, things I will never forget as long as I live. Now we commend your body to the waters. Until we meet again, dear Sister.

Then the ceremony was over, and her casket was lowered into the water. The close family followed the path to an underground cave illuminated by Luminous Stones that Link remembered, he and his son Link using an underwater breathing apparatus. Mipha's casket was placed in an opening in the rock wall next to her mother's resting place. Link placed his hand on the coffin once, then they all bowed their heads in a short prayer. Finally, the opening was sealed with a stone slab containing her name. To the right of her mother's grave, Link noticed a space, obviously reserved for King Dorephan when his time came. Then they swam out of the cave, returned to the surface, and went home.

"I never want to go through that again," said Link upon arriving home. "I hated every moment, and even pretending about it was too grim."

"None of us wants to, Dad," said Mila. "I felt like crying when Uncle Sidon started talking about her smile and her voice."

"I feel like all I do lately is say I'm sorry," said Mipha. "But if this buys us enough needed time, it's worth it. Now I have to lay low here until we know what to do."

But not everyone watching the funeral was in the courtyard by Hylia's statue. Two unseen soldiers were watching from a distance, high above and far away from the crowd.

"Well, that's that," said one. "Logan will be relieved to hear. He was in hot water, almost literally, for letting his clumsiness lead to his detection. His only hope for forgiveness was she was killed, and it looks like she was."

"The leadership will be pleased, too," said the other. "Now, let's get out of here before something goes wrong and we pull a Logan ourselves."

They made their way quietly back to the road and left the Domain.