The Ocarina of Time Novelization Chapter 1

was, but no, it was coming from the top of the pillars, while day would be from the doors. Staring upward, he saw something that made his heart stop and all of the courage in that tender flesh, turn hauling itself. On there was the biggest thing he had ever seen, except the Deku Tree, of course, but this thing wasn't friendly. He didn't even have time to visualize the whole thing, and turned around, dashing out of the room, screaming. "Gohma is a girl! Those were its babies!"

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The creature, Gohma, had been studying the two ever since they had entered its lair, spying upon them from since the beginning. Eating the creatures would have been too easy; it wanted to wait for them to go into her territory, so that she had the full-home advantage. The small one was nothing more than a small snack, but this bigger one, this it could actually feed off of. She knew nothing of where she was, born to the world only months ago, but now she saw the most beautiful thing in the world. Living off of Deku Scrubs seemed to be old, and this was flesh, not wood or rock. Thanks to one of its children, the door was shut, blocking off the escape for the two trespassers. Yes, they were in here territory and it was time to pay the piper.

The tender one had noticed him and ran, so with a one huge smash, it jumped from its spot and scurried after it, fangs bared open. Sure, she wasn't one of the faster creatures, but she surely stronger than any of them and compared to this little creature she would win. Actually, it went against the door and began to paw on it, crying in some tongue she didn't understand, but this didn't affect her. Emotions were useless to her, although she did feel a sudden fury for her dead children that he had killed, yet she felt no remorse for this. Nothing did, she just stared the creature down, imaging what it would look like with the clothes off, those nasty materials pulled aside. One armoured claw pushed down, holding the creature down, and ripped the clothing off. It was simply beautiful.

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"Linky! Wait!" Navi screamed, when she heard the scream and saw him running off in the opposite direction, for the door that wasn't going to open. What was he talking about, a girl? Then, of course, she looked up and gasped. It looked just like those creatures before, but with more legs and with a mouth-like structure, fangs bared open at the young boy. More evolution, obviously, but Navi followed it as the monster went after Link. Was it because he was bigger than she was? Maybe this was her first time seeing Kokiiri flesh of any kind? There were just scrubs down here and the occasional Baba. Racing after the monster, it scurried in her face, but was pushed aside with a claw, and it hurt a little, not enough to make her back off, though. Eyes widened a little when she saw the beast actually pin the boy down and ripped his clothing off, so he was absolutely nothing at all! Flying across her face, she continued to glow and try to blind the monster.

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He should have waited; he should have been calm, he should have kept his cool and faced the monster head on, but no it wasn't so. But no, being the coward he was, he ran. Now pinned against the wall, seeing the monster in its true colours, the fear was displayed inside of his eyes, revealing the true instincts. It was at least thirty feet tall, and wide as a house, with six legs sticking out. Arachnids were supposed to have eight, though, this one probably had two hidden ones? He didn't look, all he did was star into those golden glazed eyes, with the green pupil. It was almost hypnotizing, when his clothes were ripped off, he knew it was over. This thing was going to eat him, the quest had failed, and he had underestimated Gohma and was now going to pay. The clothes were thrown aside, nothing but rags now and it didn't matter. He was dead meat, anyway.

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It wouldn't end this way, because the little insect-like creature flew right into Gohma's path and began to illuminate the brightest aura it could. She was going to blind the thing so that the boy could get away, recuperate and then plan for an assault, not even worrying about herself. This upset the monster more than the big one's struggles, so it threw a claw of and slashed the insect away, knocking it aside. Direct hit, the thing slammed into the nearby wall, and she just stared at it, a showing the best move of a smirk that it could, with the spider-face. At the same time, letting her guard down of the creature, not even noticing that anything would happen, besides the boy didn't have any thing to hurt her.

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What? Navi? Navi! He watched as his partner was slammed into the ground, blood guzzling from the little body, not much, but he didn't know how much they had. Seeing his chance, he leapt around and grabbed his clothing, putting on the rags, measly, slipping them on so that he could get at her. Even in his own anger, he couldn't help but be embarrassed about running around naked, it was just a little habit of his: modesty. His under area was covered, but the shirt still exposed to the rest of the world, the thing would have to be re-sown if they got out of this. Moving at a running speed, he rolled forward towards the sword and shield, at least thirty feet away, and put them both up for stance. Gohma must have noticed this because she went flying at the little young one, in a fury of rage.

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How dare it! How dare it take advantage of her and run away. The monster charged up at the little boy with full force, that anger was enticing its single eye, letting the full fury not be shown by anyone else. It was tired of playing and was going to kill the little thing now, and then it would go after the insect, the big one was the most worrisome now. Pushing forward, the claw slashed across his chest, leaving a mark that would show for odds end, a roar of triumph entered his ears. Blood was gushing from the wound, the spider licking the lips of her own, loving the smell of the blood, just wanting to taste it. It leapt back for the throat, going to take it and slash it out, extracting the revenge for sneaking up on it, the monster never reaching the spot, paralyzed.

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        Pain erupted as blood gushed from the small wound, seeing the look in the monster's eyes, Link couldn't help but trudge away from her. It would leave a scar, but as Gohma threw back her claw, he reached into his pocket, not going to let her have the finishing move. The eye is red. Maybe this'll work? My last chance. Throwing a Deku nut directly into her eye area, the orb flashed red when the Gohma stopped in her tracks, his own face breaking out into a grin. It worked? It worked! Pulling back the sword, he slammed forward into the monster's eye, pushing forward until the creature was blinded, feeling the puss pour out. Yanking his sword out of it, he looked at the sticky mess upon the sword, shivering a bit from it, the puss didn't look like it would come off. Watching amazed, as it went the opposite direction and scurried back up a pillar.

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        What? No, it couldn't see! There was no sight in its life anymore, only the pain from that cold metal steel, even more when he yanked the sword out of it. No matter, its smell was just as accurate; the creature would pay for taking away one of its only joys, the love of its sight was gone. Sight was beautiful, but not anymore, it would never see again, there was no way to be healed from this madness, she wouldn't die, just be blinded. Curse the creature! Moving up towards the top of the pillar, it had an idea, and maybe let her babies take her sight for her? Mmhm, which was the plan, and so its abdomen went down, and it began to prepare to lay a few eggs for this creature, that, would come next.

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Turning around, he sprinted over towards where Navi was, and checked up on her, his eyes matting out in concern for the fairie. He knew it was stupid, but he was worried and for good cause and didn't care if the Gohma came in for a sneak attack, it would die soon. She had lost a lot of blood, but was watching the battle, eagerly; her unconsciousness had seemed to disappear while he fought. Tenderly, he held out one of the jars to her, and she took if with good cause, watching her drink a bit of it, it wouldn't heal her, just make the pain disappear for a while. The scene was good and would have remained if Gohma hadn't shot a web out, which picked Navi up and threw her against the other wall. Staring in disbelief, he looked up at the smirking Gohma. Eyes began to dilate, Link's that is, when he saw what had happened to Navi. She was unconscious, possibly dying, those hues filled with tears.

        "No, no, no, no!"

        -Shrikjuu

        Gohma's stupid sound! Lifting up the sword, he charged back to where she was and began to curse the sounds out of his mouth he had never even heard. Some of them are what Mido had said before, what Saria had taught him not to say, but no matter how much he tried he couldn't stop that madness. Maybe it was that presence that the Deku Tree talked about, as a friend was in danger, he would explode into a fury of madness. He didn't even know how to curse, but the sounds came out with full force, them feeling even better when he said it, making the pain disappear. It made no sense; it was like some spirit that was restless possessed him, and then he thought of what the Deku Tree said again.

        "No! Why did you take her away, you piece of shit! She never did anything to you. No! You will pay with your fucking life!"

        Three eggs dropped from the ground, which Link held the sword and spun around in a quick turn, slicing the eggs all from the top corners. The babies were instantly decapitated and put to rest, and of course this angered Gohma because she came down, only a few feet from him. This time, the boy was ready, pulling out another nut, and throwing it towards the spider's face, he leapt forward once more and slammed the sword around two of its' legs. They instantly fell off, and the monster scurried back upwards, trying to get away from the attacker that had killed her children. This time, he had her, however, and leapt upon the body, slicing all but one leg off, not going to let her get away for what she did.

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This was disastrous! Her children had been decimated in one quick slash from that pointed metal and two of its legs had come off, the boy on her now. To make matters much worse, that creature had rested himself onto her body and four more off, instantly causing even more pain. Never had she thought that doing this would cause the boy to become so more powerful, a master of that cold steel that hit her. That left here with only one limb and not enough to climb back up. This was going to die, she didn't know what she did to anger it, but she really regretted it. Maybe hurting the insect was a bad idea? It seemed to increase the strength of this usually weak creature, but if it was so weak how did it get past all the traps and mazes? The monsters in here? Maybe she had under given this creature for its true strength. Rearing back, she charged again, throwing him off of her and charging the body.

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This is it, the final confrontation, would she win, or would he, it was untold from this point in time, both of their rage held up in ambition. He didn't know as she charged at him, but instead of running. He just grinned a little. It was actually funny, but how was it? How could he be happy when Navi- and the boy jumped through the air once more, this time leaping over the beast and throwing the shield. Deku slashed against her face and stunned her for a few seconds; the nuts had spilled, so he relied on this. Giving a charging run, Link jumped forward and landed onto the creature. Pulling the sword forward and slashing back, he literally cut through the armour. This usually wouldn't work, but there was so much determination in him. So much hidden power, and so much fury that it did. The shell cracked open and the sword plunged inside, cutting the monster in two.

        "Kyaaii!" It gave one long screech before the heart was punctured and it turned into nothing but a carcass would be left for the maggots. The weird thing was that before the boy a blue fire began to encircle the body, the boy realizing that somehow it was set on fire and reacting. Leaping off and running for Navi, the fire burned the body until it was nothing but ashes, and the wind picked up from somewhere, blowing the ashes away. With the ashes gone, it was as if the thing was never there, she course of power had disappeared with it, the mist seeming to disappear also. Scooping up the little farie, Link kissed her forehead and felt for breathing, hoping that she was all right from the previous battle.

Yes, there was some. Checking the slots, he looked disappointed, the juices had disappeared? One was cracked and the one by Navi was already drained. Moving over with her, he placed her in his clasped hands, about to head for the door when he saw the blue light again. This time it formed what looked an entrance, some sort of portal? Moving forward almost mesmerized, he entered the light and felt the wound begin to restore itself, the pain didn't disappear, the blood just clotted and stopped for a while. Still he would feel the pain in a good while. A scar was left, but the wound hurt no more and Navi began to heal also, or so he could tell from the way she was moving around. Funny thing was, he felt stronger, and some new strength was opened inside of him, because the power felt enormous, growing into a warrior, it seemed. Moving more into the light, the dark room disappeared from sight.

        A new place, this was where they were traveling, but he doubted it since the wind began to smell the same, the scents back to normal. It seemed that the aura of blue fire wasn't deadly, well it wasn't bad to him, but it seemed to be hazardous to enemies and a way of transportation for him. No, it was old, and suddenly he fell onto the ground right beside the Deku Tree where he had stood about nine hours ago. Surprised, he stared in disbelief as the Great Deku Tree's entrance shut and it looked upon him with wonder, the tree having a big smile upon the face of the tree. However it was possible, he saw that the curse had been broken, the place was back to normal now, and he would be a true hero.

        "G-Great Deku Tree?! Was it a dream?"

        "No, young warrior, not a dream. Thou has proven thyself, survived the dungeon and came forth. Thou has indeed proven thyself."

        At the time, Navi seemed to be coming too, and fluttered over towards the Deku Tree, amazed, her eyes adjusting to the light like hers had. Being in a cavern that was dim, as night was really breathtaking and from the look of things, the night had passed through, it was stilling night. Morning was pushing through, so maybe they had been in the tree more than nine hours, however it was very possible, and Navi sometimes got time wrong. "Great Deku Tree? Are we done, are you cured?" Then she turned on Link and swept into his arms, nuzzling him with her full affection displayed infront of the Deku Tree, not even caring. She didn't care if he saw she was almost happy that he saw. It meant that he had made a wise choice in a partner for the two, a perfect match. "Linky! You did it!"

        He held her in his palms and collapsed on the ground, nodding eagerly. "Mmhm, I did it, Navi. No, we did it. When she hit you, I-I just couldn't control my-" but the tree interrupted.

        "That was thou's warrior's spirit, young Link. When a loved in danger, the spirit arises and allowed thou to defeat the dreaded Gohma."

        "So, Great Deku Tree are you cured?" The boy answered enthusiastically, but of course he was I mean, they won against the monster, and when good won then the victim was always cured.

        "Unfortunately not."

        "Great Deku Tree, you aren't serious!" The boy and partner both blurted out, astounded, their emotions wondering how could he not be healed, it just seemed impossible. All sort of emotions roared through Link's body: sadness, anger at the fact for Gohma, the empty feeling that the revenge was in vain. If that was so, then maybe he would die, if he wasn't cured then the virus was going to keep eating at him until his health failed. Shuddering at the thoughts, he stared up at his father, his creator, those eyes bright as sapphires, the confusion plastered. They beat Gohma, together, and that monster was burned into ashes, then spread to the world.

        "This was a test, young warrior. I was doomed before thou even started. This was a test to prove if thou could save the world."

        "World! What do you mean, Great Deku Tree?"

        "Link, thou has proven thyself. Yea, your victory was celebrated, but not for I. Hyrule, the world, is in danger by the man from the desert. His name is not known, but I want you to leave the forest."

        Navi chirped in. "Great Deku Tree, he'll die!"

        "No, thou is different, Link. Thou will survive. Thou must go to a place called Hyrule castle and see the Princess of Destiny. There, thou will learn of what is to be. Please, take this jewel, this is what the man in the desert wanted so bad that he put a curse on me."

        From up above, a light appeared and gleaming down was something surrounded by an aura, a feeling of beautiful content displayed. The aura was pure green and inside the thing fell into Link's hands, the aura disappearing and showing the true colours of the thing. It was an emerald, beautiful and green, something of a brooch that went on a specific body part something that a princess might wear. Link studied it with awe, and placed it inside his pack, before looking up at him, not caring about the jewel, only that the tree was dying. It just wasn't fair, he couldn't die, he just couldn't, and his mind followed through on different accusations on what could have happened. "You can't die, Great Deku Tree. No! I saved you!"

        "Good-bye Link, hero of time. Goodbye Navi, guard Link well and take him to Hyrule. Be with him always and never leave his side. Goodbye-" the last words were cut off when a cracking sound occurred, only happening in the area where the Deku Tree was, the thing changing colour. All around him, the bushes and the trims of the Deku Tree began to petrify, which meant to stone they went, the entire tree going in that state. Link just stared forward, mouth agape in horror at the tree, not seeing it rot was a nice thing, but turning to a statue wasn't all that great also. It went one for a few seconds and before Link knew it, the once Great Deku Tree was now a statue, the entire place as hard as a rock. Testing it with his fist, the boy knocked on the Deku Tree, his eyes beginning to water at the realization of the situation.

        "Link, it's- okay. Shh." She came over and fluttered up to his face, seeing the tears matted on his face, also how he shuddered in fear, in desperation. The boy had become deeply saddened, not looking to his faire, but just staring ahead at the lifeless tree, wondering how this would have happened. It was some sort of shock, the tree had said that if they beat Gohma then the curse would be lifted, but he did never say he would be cured. He risked his life and for what? Nothing! Pounding on the ground, where he sat, the boy looked down and sobbed deeply, the sobs coming out of his chest in loud and protruding sounds. Such a sad sight to the fairie, he was about to leave him to cry on his own (not sure what to do in this situation) before he called out in a weak whisper.

        "Don't leave, you aren't supposed too, remember?" Stretched fingers curled her up, and placing himself on the ground, kissed and fiddled with the farie for the next twenty minutes, while letting the rest of his tears out. They were quiet because when she talked he didn't listen, or was too busy sobbing; sometimes he did try to listen, not wanting to be rude. When the boy did try to speak they came out in gibberish, or not gibberish, but it came out in a weird sound, trying to form the words. Finally, half an hour later, he simply picked her put while strapping the shield and sword back on, pulled out the jewel and headed out. She was in the left hand, while the jewel was in the right, fiddling around with it, his left hand also fiddling around with the fairie, rubbing her gently.

        "What do you think this is for?"

        "I don't know, I've never seen it. Linky?"

        "Hrm?"

        "You gonna be okay? I mean, we can stop and-"

        "No, we have to go now. I am fine, remember, I am a hero and they are strong and courageous."

        "Even if no one thinks you are one, your mine, okay?"

        "Hee, not if your mine, too." He looked down and kissed her face before, slipping the jewel into his hair, a grin coming upon his face, he did have to do what was right.

        "L-Linky? What are you, hee, what are you doing!" He had sat her on he shoulder and stared to walk like a lady, the grin remained on his face, as he shrugged a shoulder lightly.

        "Well, we are going to see a princess, aren't we? I have to be more lady-like, y'know, like in the story?"

        Sighing, it seemed this was going to be a long and hard journey, she didn't know how long it was going to take now, but it wasn't bad. If they traveled together, that gave them more time to be together and learn about each other, with no other people to be involved. Moving forward, she scooped the jewel up, and put it down in his pocket, fastening it shut so that it wouldn't slip out when he ran. In the place where the jewel was, nothing had been there before, nothing at all had been in that spot, and it made so not to fall out. The jewel was in a spot in the back of side pack, away from all the weapons, so far that he'd have to reach back to get it on his own. "Come on, Linky, let's get past Mido and go to Saria. You do want to see her-"

        "Oh, yes. She can't go. Humph. Yea, let's go see her."

        The Deku Babas were gone for now, when he passed through, but he dashed through pretty quickly, so if they were there he missed them. Those Babas were no match for a person who took care of the evil Gohma; they were just in the way for him and a nuisance. Moving back into the old smelling Kokiiri feel, he was almost home free when he saw Mido by the entrance, waiting for him. How could this boy still be on guard, or was he just doing what he wanted and seeing what the Deku Tree wanted him for? This was very weird, he knew it, but he had to face the older boy, not being afraid of him.he had defeated a giant spider on his own. Was there no end to this torture? Moving over by him, he tapped his shoulder, and grinned a little.

        "You're in my way, Mido."

        "Well if it isn't-- what the hell happened to you?"

        "You don't want to know, listen Mido, move."

        "So what happened?"

        "Well, the I had to defeat a curse for the Great Deku Tree."

        "You liar! I don't believe that." Mido looked down at Link, and sighed.

        "If you don't believe me, go look for you-- wait don't go!" He watched as Mido helplessly dashed down the path with one of the Deku Shields for protection, his eyes diverting down in the other direction. Link should have never told the Kokiiri what had happened, he should have just said that he was congratulating him on his new fairie. If he did that then Mido wouldn't have caused the entire ruckus through the entire forest, the ruckus that they had to remember for years to come. About three minutes later he heard a horrified scream and his name being called, it was obviously Mido who called his name out, the sound making his blood curdle. Tying the tunic around his wounded chest so that the thing would fall off when he fell, he turned back to his fairie, grinning uneasily.

        "Linky, run."

        "G-good idea."

        He took off in a dash from the entrance to the passage, and leapt past the stepping stones, moving throughout the entire region. His earshot wasn't out of sight so he heard the Kokiiri when he dashed out of the ledge to the Deku Tree, his eyes beaming and voice still strong. Link felt something slide past him, the boy ducking as a Deku Shield slid past where his head was, obviously trying to knock him out. He didn't blame Mido, he probably thought that he had killed the Deku Tree and the ruse about the curse was just a cover-up story. Still listening, every now and then he heard Mido yelling out a curse and calling his name out, the curses that he wasn't supposed to say.

        "You stupid bastard! You killed him! I'll kill you!"

        Shivering from the words, he wound past his house and saw nothing seeing that the ladder was empty now, so looking for Saria was useless. When he had passed her house, he made a quick detour inside, seeing no one was there and dashing out for his own house. Gathering up some food and clothes, and stuffing them in a large packsack, he put his weapons in there and the sides pack in there, too. He headed out of the tree house when he saw Mido running up the ladder, with a mob behind him, the mob only consisting of the boys. He saw the girls, but they were staring at him tears in their eyes, a far way from where the mob was, not carrying pitchforks like the boys. "There is the shit. Let's get him!" Cheering was sounded when Mido reached the top of the house, finally.

        "It wa-wasn't my fault! A man poisoned him!"

        "No man has ever been in the forest, you liar. I am going to do what I have always wanted to do." Letting out a cry of triumph, the boy pulled out came a small knife, manufactured for cutting wood for the Kokiiri. The blade wasn't as sharp as his own sword, but it sure could do the job in gutting the young boy, so he spun around and looked for a way out. Link wouldn't draw his sword to Mido, he had killed monsters, but killing another of his kind was strictly something against his ethics. Taking one look at it, Link jumped from the house and landed onto Saria's house, the jump quite expanding his own ethics, he guessed he'd break his leg. Only problem was, the house was about twenty feet away, and that showed that his power really had grown, so with excitement he continued on.

        "Navi, let's go. My power did increase when I stepped into the blue fire."

        "It seems so, let's test your speed. Go!"

        Jumping from the top of the house, he peered in the window one last time, hoping she was there, but she wasn't there, he took off running for the exit for the forest. Hopping from house to house, until the houses were gone, he hopped upon the lowest house and leapt down, taking off in full speed. No one could out-run Link now, before they may have been able to outrun him, but now with this new power on his heels, he was thought invincible. The mob was made up of just about every male in the forest, so no one was guarding the entrance when he dashed past it and into the unknown. It was shaped like a giant tree-trunk and the entire mob stopped right infront of it, their leader was the only one heard.

        "And never come back, you traitor!"

        They weren't outside yet because there was a small connecting bridge that led to another tree-shaped exit, and that was where the outside was. For some reason the Kokiiri never went past this, even though they could, the bridge was right in the middle of the Lost Woods. It would seem the only ones that would ever come out here were Saria and he, since they were the ones always in the Lost Woods. No one else liked to go in there, scared of the Deku Scrubs that were sometimes by the garden, yet you could dodge him or her easily with a shield. To read his mind, the boy kept running, not even noticing anyone was there, not even knowing until his indication was given away. He didn't even see her, but when her voice sounded, he stopped dead in his tracks, and there was no one else he would have stopped for.

        "So, you are finally leaving?" It was Saria; of course, he would have kept running if anyone else spoke.

        "I-I, yes, I am leaving." Turning around, gingerly, he searched the sadness in her face and frowned, he giving the same indication, looking embarrassed for not finding her. It was weird, but for some reason he didn't think she was out here, even though both of them had been out here on several occasions. Staring down at her, the boy finally glanced up at the older girl; she seemed older than the rest of the Kokiiri, for she looked as if she was budding. She looked so pretty, yet was sad, he was glad to have seen her now, because he didn't know if he would ever have come back here. Navi, meanwhile, was still a little winded, so she went under his hat when he jumped off of Saria's house, so that they could have their private moment together. "Hee, I guess you, um, heard the people?"

        "What did you do, Link?"

        "I, went inside the Deku Tree, and fought something called Gohma."

        "Spider, that is the Kokiiri term for it."

        "Oh, hee."

        "You should know that, I taught you better."

        "Hee-hee, sorry." Oh, he was so nervous, his brain almost frying at the sight of her, but usually it did that when he was around this certain Kokiiri. True, Gohma was Kokiirish, but he hadn't thought of that at the time, if he had then he could have saved some time and planned a strategy. It was only natural that she would get mad at him for forgetting the old language, it was something no one used anymore, yet it was important to her. Saria was always like that, she loved the ancients of the past, and admiring them for their power and wanting him to know the language they spoke. Having always been his teacher; she had been with him ever since he was a child, and she was like a mother and a sister, she was the only one.

        "But that isn't the reason Mido called you a traitor, now is it?" She saw right through him; he couldn't lie to her.

        "Um, no. After I got out, the Great Deku Tree. He--died." The sadness and anger he saw in her face, made him think she would turn on him, it was only a small emotion for a few seconds, dying as soon as it came.

        "Oh, I see. A Mido thinks you did it?"

        He nodded sadly, looking off to the side and speaking. "It's just so weird, he knows I wouldn't do that."

        "You really think that?"

        "T-think what!"

        "That I would turn on you."

        He was speechless, but he shook his head. "No, I know you."

        "I know you too. Oh, I knew this day would come. You just aren't like you, you are so different, I raised you from a small Kokiiri, but I know you are different. I've always, well, kind of known you would leave. I don't want you too, but I can see the world of Hyrule has big plans for you. Oh, what happened to you?" She reached forward and placed a palm upon the scar on his ripped chest, running her fingers over the small wound, causing the boy to shudder.

        "Gohma got at me, it'll leave a scar."

        "Oh, does it hurt?"

        "No, actually, it doesn't. I mean, it did, but when we beat Gohma we stepped into some blue light and I got stronger, faster, and healthy, but I think the wound will hurt later, maybe some sort of numbing effect was placed on it. Anyway, I jumped from my house to yours!"

        "You did! Wow, that's incredible. Now, back to it. I want to give you something."

        "What?"

        "You know, you've been in the Lost Woods."

        "Your flute?"

        Her brow furrowed, and she bopped him upon the head, giving him time and speaking to him with her normally sweet tone, she was patient for him. "It isn't a flute, you big dummy. It is called an Ocarina. I have an extra, and want you to have it."

        "Oh, but I can't p-"

        "I know that, that's why you need to come back!" She smiled and took the smaller boy in a hug, her tears letting through, wrapping her arms around the boy tightly, in a hug they never did. "You come back and I'll teach you. Don't worry, if you sneak in at night, they won't see and just come to the Lost Woods."

        "O-Okies, I don't know how far this Princess of Destiny is, but I will come back." He turned around, ready to go, but Saria tapped him on the shoulder, the boy about to turn around and see what she wanted, when he sighed at her voice, the beautiful melody making him shiver with pleasure.

        "Link?"

        "Yea?"

        "Don't forget me." As he turned around she handed him the Farie Ocarina, which he placed, not in the bag, but at his side, holding it firmly with one hand there. Just staring down at the ocarina, the boy shrugged an innocent shoulder, knowing that he would be back for lessons, to see her. No matter how much time it took to get to this Hyrule, the young boy was going to conquer whatever was going on and see to it that the man paid. Studying the ocarina, he saw that it was brown, with a green leaf on the stem, the stem was probably something she had played on. It was bowl shaped with a stem and holes all around it, and on the other side were the words 'never forget' imprinted by her.

        "Never in my life." Turning back around, he was this time spun around, and pulled into something that was quite unexpected, never forgetting it. A mouth was pressed against his along with gentle kissing sound, the sounds he had seen some of the other Kokiiri do with one another. When they did that, the boy was jealous that they had someone to love someone to be with, his cheeks always flushing jealously. Now blue hues widened as he found the shape of Saria hovering above him, stroking those blonde tresses through his fingers. He was frozen in abyss were held in as his feelings felt so weird, and lovely at the same time, seeing that she was a beautiful kisser, as hands were run through his hair and over his entire body.

First his hair, then his back, is rubbing in all kinds of crazy patterns, something he had never seen the other Kokiiri do to each other. The kiss, though, that was extraordinary, a lot better than those he had seen the others do to each other, this one was a never forget kind of kiss. Her, well, her tongue was inside the boy's mouth, and having no idea why, he had only kissed her cheek occasionally, and that was embarrassing, sometimes. Just staring at her, his eye shut, and the boy just sat there in a paralyzed suit for a few minutes before she let him go of his form, smiling beautifully. Eyes finally opened up, but he couldn't speak, his voice seeming to have disappearing, those cheeks also turning a complete red, as apples.

        "You will never forget me, now."

        Taking two, now three steps away, he turned around and ran through the bridge, away from her, his nervousness so apparent that it was cute. He had no idea what had just happened, but whatever it was, he liked it, it was wonderful feeling that he had experienced with her. Yes, the kiss was quite beautiful, it was a feeling that he would love to feel, and a feeling he wanted to feel over and over at this moment and time. Liking when she kissed him, because she was in control and was showing him feelings that had never before shown, probably a first time in Kokiiri history. Moving out of the tree hold, he held his hand over his face as the place disappeared, Saria disappearing and into the new room. It was so bright!

        "Navi!"

        Automatically, she came out, and hovered over his face, not resisting the fact to let out a giggle out, the boy thought he was on fire or something. Oh, he had never been out of the forest, for it was normal for him to feel this way, a new feeling on the change of scenery. Yet he did look so adorable, trying to cover up his face, knowing that the rays of Din's fire were just going to get through anyway. Also the sky was bluer, he also noticed, the entire place was like someone had lit a giant candle right in his face, the funny part that was. Tapping him on the shoulder, the young girl just blew a sigh out, her veil disappearing as she landed on his shoulder, sure he could handle it now as she spoke.

        "Linky, it is just the sun."

        "When did it get that bright!"

        "Link, no forest. No forest covering to hide the light. Look ahead."

        "Oh, my Goddess."

        There were fields and fields of green as far as the eye could see, and not the fields like in the Kokiiri Forest, these places were much brighter. A bright green was on them, not matching his tunic at all, he wondered how everyone else would react to this place, or if they would die. That legend he thought was foolish, he was out of the forest and wasn't dead, and he was a Kokiiri (a young one, but still a Kokiiri). There were a few trees by the entrance, but besides that, there was nothing but green and the sun fields and the sun, the trees seeming to be sucked up here. With one little dirt path that led both ways. The place was extraordinary, that's for sure. Moving forward a few paces, he let out a scream when he heard a voice from above.

        "Hoo-hoo-hoo! Well, look here, a Kokiiri! Out of the forest, little Kokiiri? Don't you know, you'll die!"

        "What is that!" Link screamed, pulling out his sword and trying to reach him, with no avail.

        "Whoa, Linky. That is an owl, he is friendly, I know him. What's your name, again?"

        The owl smiled a friendly grin, and flew down a few feet more, only when Link put up his sword, and spoke to them in a gently manner. His voice was friendly enough; he seemed to be one of the nicer creatures around here, not having ever seen an owl at this size. Owls were usually smaller than this, didn't talk and certainly didn't have the knowledge that the Kokiiris died if they left the forest. Listening to what the owl said, he watched him, as Navi seemed to sneer a bit at the creature, not really knowing why she did it. It was weird, but maybe this owl would be a guide to them like Navi was, but maybe a sort of distant guide that didn't always follow you. "He told me about you two, the Great Deku Tree, told me I would be seeing you two. Me, my name is Kaepora Gaebora, at your service."

        "Kayo Gaypor?"

        "No, Kaepora Gaebora, son. I am asked to be your guide sometimes on this journey, not as close as Navi, though." He chuckled, that made Navi a little uncomfortable and another little sneer came out near his way, the owl ignoring it and just continuing on. "There are many dangers in this field and you'd better be careful. There are the Peahats, in the day. They look like flowers, so avoid them; they are deadly and poisonous. At night, avoid confrontation at all cost, they're are-"

        "Stalchildren, I already know this, Mr. Gaebora." Navi blurted out, in pure sarcasm.

        "Well, I will be off, then, now be careful." And just like that, he took off, flying over the mountainside and heading into the sun, and after a few moments he was gone out of sight Link was trying to stifle a giggle.

        "And what is so funny?"

        "You didn't like him very much, because he thought he knew more than you, hee!"

        "Well, we don't need some stupid owl to tell us anything. You have me for that."

        "Hee, Navi, you are so mean!"

        "When the time comes to it, yes, I am. Now, let's go. I want to reach Lon-Lon Ranch by nightfall."

        "What's that?" He didn't really have much geography of Hyrule field, and even if he did, Lon-Lon Ranch is fairly new, so he wasn't too typical on the place they were headed.

        "A ranch where they have cows and horses."

        "Wow, I want to see that, I've never seen a real one."

        "Oh, they are nice, you will like the- what are you staring at?" Navi asked, a little surprised.

        "You've been out of the forest before, haven't you!"

        "Well, occasionally, but on business."

        "Yeah, whatever." He pushed the Ocarina in his pack, and began to walk along the fields; just now he had been carrying the wooden thing with him these past few minutes. It was funny how sad the thing felt in his hand, as sad as he had felt when he left Saria, so pushing it back in was a way to forget it. Wow, the place was hot, he was used to subtropical climate, and this was pretty temperate, the areas really hot enough to make him sweat, given time. Within a few hours that had all changed, the sun going higher in the sky, it was about morning when they left so sweat wasn't an option. Wiping the sweat from his brow, a few hours later, he looked up and saw something of a mountainside, or at least it looked like a mountain -side. They had been walking for about nine hours, with a lunch break and a break to drink some water. Night had turned to morning, well, it was morning when they left, and morning was now three o'clock, so they had been at this for almost ten hours.

        "What's that?"

        "End of Lon-Lon Ranch, we go around it and the mountainside is on the top."

        Well, that was a little said because it turned out to be the next day before they got to Lon-Lon Ranch, for Link thought he was the expert now. See they did loop around, but Link got them lost, trying to find a shortcut, saying that he remembered something from a map about this place. That 'map' turned out to be nothing at all, the boy having lost it a long time ago and not even bothering to take a map here, even though they didn't know the entire place. They ended up spending the night under a crevice in the shield so that no monsters could get at them, although Link saw none. It was now about seven o'clock in the morning, and the ranch was only a few miles away, the time having erupted into twenty-five hours.

        "Are we there, yet?"

        "We'd be there, if it wasn't for you, Link."

        "Hee, I'm sorry, Navi! I just, I wanted to explore."

        "Hrm, it's fine. Let's go on ahead."

        The next three miles were a breeze, because the boy to be gaining some muscle, not much now, but he had a little on his body from the exercise of the past day or so. It was easier to walk then when they first start out, although the muscle he had was not apparent, he still looked like the same cute lad from before. Well, he continued up the path, until seven miles since that morning, they fell at the entrance of the building, the hours passing on a little more. The place was not as big as the forest, but one of the biggest buildings he had ever seen, and the most weird-looking, in his own opinion. Whatever this place was, he hoped they had some drink, the boy had run out of water that night, having drank it all because they were both thirsty.

        "Wow, I am thirsty, any water left?"

        "Nope, but they have milk here."

        "Milk?"

        "Comes out of a cow, it is usually for calves, but Hylians drink it sometimes. It is very good to taste, a sweet taste to it, and can replenish you greatly."

        "Alright!" Taking off for the entrance, he climbed the hill up to the top, and went inside the already open gates, his nostrils beginning to burn as he entered. When the smell hit him, he fell over and gagged, because he was right next to the horses' stalls, something he had never smelt before. Looking up, Navi was back a few yards, a clucking noise startled him, the sound making him glance over in the other direction. It was coming from the other side of the building, so he took off and what he saw were these white things cluttered together, some white birds. They all had feathers, beaks, and red things on them, and he had heard the name before from somewhere, never knowing what it was. Cuccos? That was the name! Jumping forward, he tackled one, and it began to make a bawking sound, before running off. Well, a chase, eh? So he took out after it.

        "L-Link! Hey, wait up!" She flew after him, and stopped as she watched him inspect the Cuccos, her eyes watching him closely, he wasn't to act up here. The people here might kick them out of this place if they were to act up; Link really didn't know that because he had never been out of the place. Link was never invited to other people's houses, except Saria's and when there he could act anyway he wanted without being thrown out. He had never seen one of those creatures before, so she wondered what his little reaction to this place would be and especially the animals. Oh, Goddess! He tackled the thing! Oh my Goddess! "Link, leave it alone!" Now he was chasing it, but it looked so cute that she couldn't help but smile; yet she shook here head. No, those people would be out here any second, not a sound.

        The clucking was knocked away when he heard a sound, losing interest in them as soon as they came, so he let it run aside. Turning away, he saw some sort of fence and traced it back to where the entrance was, the fence wasn't the one that he was near when they first entered the place, though, this one was white. The other one was black, and made of iron, while this one seemed to be made of some sort of white wood, something he had never seen before. There someone out there, she definitely wasn't a Kokiiri, but maybe it was those Hylians that Navi was talking about, this girl wasn't a forest girl. Tracing out there, he saw these huge things hurling at him, dodging them, he rolled over away, until he ran into the girl. She nimbly stepped aside, and giggled.

        "Well, what do we have here? Those are odd clothes!" The little girl spoke; she had deep auburn hair, and eyes darker than his, the strange thing was on her body was a sheet.

        "Me? You are wearing a sheet!"

        "This is a dress, boy! You, you are wearing green. Ah! What's that!" She was pointing at his shoulder.

        Turning, he saw Navi, and shrugged before turning towards her. "My farie, where is yours?"

        "Oh, you must be a forest boy, hee, we don't have faries around her. All right, Farie boy, what's your name? My name is Malon, Malon LonLon."

        "Link will do." He spoke out loud, not understanding the thought of her name because she had two names.

        "Don't you have a surname?"

        "Nope, whatever that is." He scratched his head, shrugging a shoulder.

        "Alright, Farie boy." She giggled, keeping her hand at her sides.

        "I said Link."

        "Farie Boy."

        "Link."

        "Farie boy."

        Turning away, he growled and looked up at Navi sternly. "Aren't you glad we got lost?"

"Kinda, um." The farie flew over towards Malon, and looked up at her. "Where is Talon?"

        "Oh, Daddy? He went to Hyrule Castle to deliver milk, but isn't back. Oh, will you go get him, please? I'll give you two prizes if you agree."

        "Hmm? Prizes?" It was Link that spoke up. "What kind?"

        "A song and a egg."

        "Alright, I am heading there anyway, give me the prizes. Oh, can I have some milk too?"

        "Hee, sure, I was gonna give you some anyway."

        She reached into a slit in her dress, or a pocket, and pulled out a jar with the label saying 'Lon-Lon Milk' inside was some white liquidity stuff, it sure didn't look tasty, so he put it in his packsack. It didn't look as tasty as Navi said it did, it really looked sort of nasty, but he wasn't about to put something that came out of a cow into his mouth. Strapping it shut so the jar wouldn't fall out, the young boy had all his supplies in there, having taken out his sword, shield and side pack out during their journey. Taking it out was essential, in case they ran into any of those dangers that were out here, those Peahats or the children they spoke of. Now it was wrapped around his waist, so that it was comfortable with the weapons sticking out of there, ready for any enemies that came.

        "Alright, here is an egg. But don't eat it! I have been incubating it for some time, and it looks like it is ready to hatch, and when it is hatched a Cucco will come out!"

        "A-alright." Placing both the jugs of milk, and cucco egg inside of his pack, he looked up and was ready for his second prize. "What about my second prize?"

        "L-Link! Don't be so greedy!" Navi looked up at the egg and slowly fastened the loop upon his brown, leather side pack, so it wouldn't fall out if he were in a run.

        "Fairie boy, you cannot get the other prize until you go get my father, please? He is at Hyrule castle, anyway, and I would most appreciate it." Malon went up towards him and smiled a little, flashing those dimples upon her face, staring up at the taller boy, the boy shrugging a loose shoulder and nodded. "Please, I promise I will teach you the song, it's a very nice song."

        ".Alright, Miss Malon. I guess I will, his name is Talon, right?"

        "Yea, Talon LonLon."

        "Alright, Linky, let's get going. We should be able to reach the place by noon in two days, I know it seems long, but on the way back. We can always ride with Talon."

        "Alright, Navi. Goodbye, Miss Malon." Before a reply was given, the boy raced from the weird-smelling ranch and leapt back into the grassy fields of Hyrule Field. The horse place was fine to smell, they smelt nice when he was away from the stables, but somehow the field was a better scent. This place was much better than the ranch; of course neither of them beat the scent of the Kokiiri Forest, thought it would have to get used to that. He wasn't going back to the forest for quite some time; he had a mission to do and taking care of that was his first priority, if any. Mm, a deep breath of fresh air was given, and he walked along the dirt road of the LonLon ranch until they disappeared out of reach.

        ---------------------

The next ten miles in silence, the sun raced down the horizon close to sunset, when he arrived at a sign that read in the old language 'North: Kokiiri Forest. Northwest: LonLon Ranch. South: Hyrule Castle.' Link, turned towards Navi, but she wasn't there! Oh, that's right, she had gone to sleep in his hat a few hours ago. Tucking the cap in, so she would fall, he walked another five miles, until the sun came down all the way. The first night, the children hadn't messed with the companions, but tonight was different. Link had followed the boundaries, so he had wondered off the path, as the old said, not to wonder off the path. Hrm, the young boy sat down, just as it was six-thirty, and took out his supplies of food. What all he was were three canteens of water (half gone out of one of them), some fresh Kokiiri bread that was wrapped in some cloth, and some berries from the forest. Sitting upon the log, he shook the young farie. "Navi."

        "Hrm? What is it?" A flash, then a flutter as she sprinkled from his hat and surrounded his shoulders, her face masked in concern at what he wanted. "Where are we?"

        "Well, about five miles ago, we ran into a sign that said which directions to go. South was this Hyrule castle, so I have been going south ever since. "

        "Excellent time, Linky! We should be there by six o'clock tomorrow afternoon, if we head out now. So, what do you have?"

        "Well, I didn't have a chance to recall much from my storage." He spoke while; he ran some of the smashed blueberry jam across some of the bread, before nibbling a piece down his throat. Now, he pulled out a small bit and handed it to her, the bit not that much larger than his, yet he knew it would be enough for her. Normal fairies didn't eat that much, normal fairies were small eaters, but when Navi gulped down the big helping of that, Link knew that Navi wasn't normal. Actually he had gotten that impression the first time he met Navi, she wasn't like the rest of the forest fairies, he couldn't explain it, yet he knew. Well, it didn't matter since he didn't eat that much at all, the boy was small and her helping was small than what a normal Kokiiri ate, so it was fine. "I have about one fresh loaf of bread, and three others that are a few days old. Some fresh, jammed jelly, and the three canteens.

        "Link..Why aren't we on the path?"

        "Oh, we aren't? I was following a path, it was white and --"

        "That's the boundary path, Link!"

        "Boundary? What are--talking about?" He had stopped speaking, because he heard a cackle of noise, the sounds of what sounded like bones being rubbed together. The sound was eerie, and since the sun was going down, he had the feeling it might've been those children that Navi was talking about. Pulling the last piece off the fresh loaf into his mouth, he gathered himself up and stood infront of the log, with the sword unsheathed. What summoned from the background was small teetering sound, the ground being clawed out of the ground, yet he didn't see where it was. The sound was like a cackle, and what appeared over the hill was monstrosity, the boy still clueless to wherever the creature was. He was oblivious to the truth.

        "Linky! Stalechildren, run!"

        "Those children the owl--" A claw pushed him backward over the log, and he launched forward, slamming into the deep earth, lucky not to have himself slashed. He would have stayed there, but the cackle sent him upward, the sword came out of its holder, then he swung towards the monster, but missed. That was when Navi turned a deep green and began to circle him, the skullchild, as it narrowed towards Link, but the fairie ignored the monster. It had no interest in the fairie, that thing wouldn't last a single ounce of energy for his food, but this child, could be a very plentiful meal. Sure, Link wasn't very big at all, although he was a very decent size, which would fill the monster up for at least a while.

        Leaping forward, following the light from Navi, he sliced the blade of the monster's neck, pushing all of his weight into the slash at the head. Well, with the swing, he pressed himself up against the blade, actually leaping up into the air to get his blade down at the beast. The head was automatically decapitated off the beast, but the funny thing was, it still moved around, its hands moving towards him. Maybe it didn't see with those eyes of its, yet it seemed to be coming towards him with the claws stretched out, as if it knew exactly where he was. Jumping back, dodging the log that he had tripped over a few minutes ago, the boy called back to his fairie in surprised motion.

        "It's still alive!"

        "Slash through it's torso, it won't be able to regenerate!"

        Regeneration was when it pulled itself back to normal, the boy seeing that this thing was a skeleton and could pull itself back together. Smirking, the boy was about to go for the sword when he kept it back in his hands, the other hand going back for the shield. Pulling out the Deku shield, he flung it forward and watched as it took off the thing's hands and upper torso, the shield slicing into the beast. That was it, he leapt forward slamming the tips of his boots into the lower region of the abdomen, not even needing the sword this time. A final screech sounded, as the thing erupted into small blue flames, and grasping with its pain as the fire licked upon the bones, the thing died.

        --------------------

He ran for as long he could, whenever he got tired, he limped until a second wind started up, making his way through the hills. Throughout the night, he heard the cackles and sometimes saw them rise from the dead ground. The monsters were hideous; they reminded him of the nightmares he had had a few days ago, but these things. they were pure evil. Looking like those ancient dinosaurs, from the past, their heads resembled that. Smaller bodies, all bones, and a loin clothe across their lower abdomen. He didn't care if this chest ached, no; he didn't care at all. Navi had caught with him and was safely tucked into his hat, which was all he needed, because sleep was no coming that night. From six-forty five, that afternoon, until six-thirty that morning, he ran. Finally, he stopped when he noticed there were no more cackles, no more room for them. He heard the birds chirping and the other daily birds flying through the air. Insects were inside of the grass and bushes, and animals rushing around the green plains. Falling to his knees, he groped for the air, before collapsing into the ground.

        --------------------

Navi feel asleep when the running pursued, she had slipped down there without motion, thinking that maybe the children had gone back to sleep after he killed them. She couldn't help it, the night before, they had been talking and then she scouted for skull-children, but she was out of it now. Throughout the night, she heard some cackles, the sounds of battle, but never any from Link. If he were to so much cry out, she would be awake and at his side. No, she didn't awaken until she felt the rush of him slamming into the ground. Fluttering outside, she knelt by him and shook her head gently. The boy was so defenseless out in the open, so she dragged the boy out until he was up against a tree. Well, she had to find a way to get them to Hyrule. Damnit, why didn't they borrow one of LonLon's horses! Cursing herself for her bitter judgement, she went forward on looking for something to carry him on.

        Just her luck, there was a cart going out to LonLon, but it wasn't with Talon on it, the farie went up to the driver and asked if she could have a friend ride back to Hyrule. The ride cost quite a bit of rubies, thirty to be exact, but for the next three days, they rode the trail and arrived at Hyrule on the third day. Rubies are what they found on their journey, they found them as they wondered through the field, since Link had spent his last rubies on the shield. Also before the ride, Navi had searched around and found no more of the rubies, but some nuts, which he pushed inside of the satchel. They companions had been, all together, out there for five day, so that it was almost a week until they stopped at the place of the castle. Link woke up during the time and the two chatted for a while, soon he was well on his way from the exhaustion of the attacks earlier.

        ---------------------

The cart signed off near the Hyrule Castle gates, just as the large bridge was coming down, it was exactly a minute past six o'clock when it took off again, without Navi and Link. The cart had gone through many towns in the past five days that they had picked up the youngster and his fairie, but all through the place he got to see other lands. Staring up towards the large structure, this place was huge, even in the morning light Link was amazed at the place, how beautiful it was. It was larger than the Deku Tree was! The drawbridge was at least a hundred feet long, and it rested upon an ashen-gray castle that was, at the most, three hundred feet tall. The place expanded all over, and they weren't even inside of it, backing up a few feet he could see this area wasn't the castle, it was open from the top.

        "Navi.where are we?"

        "Hyrule Town Market, I've never been this far before, this place is huge."

        "Sure is.can we go?"

        "Hee, yea, we can go." Perched upon his shoulder, she urged the boy on, knowing that he wanted to fulfil his curiosity, but so did she, this place was so beautiful. Navi had only been to Lon Lon Ranch and a few other places, but this far been way out of her reach, for the Deku Tree forbid it. Fairies could leave the forest, they just couldn't go very far, and this was way out of her range, given the circumstances that she was all right now. This place was so foreign, it didn't smell at all like LonLon, nor did it smell like the Kokiiri Forest. The place smelt like one word: industrialized. She watched at Link ran across the giant drawbridge, and met up with one of the guards. He looked friendly enough, so the boy sheathed his sword. That, in turn, amused the man and he chuckled out loud.

        "What're you little boy, a knight-in-training? Maybe a squire?"

        "Knight.squire? Why are you so tall?" The man was only about five feet, six inches tall, but to short Link, he was like some sort of over- sized Kokiiri.

        "I'm not that tall, boy. Don't worry, you'll grow up someday."

        "I'm a Kokiiri, I stay a child forever."

        The boy ran away from the bellowing man, the man who yelled, wincing at the remark that he threw at him, but ignoring the man with the large sword. "Kokiiri are legends child, stop dressing like those freaks!" Pushing past the entranceway, he entered one of the largest places people could ever be the village was just a little hut compared. He entered the Hyrule Market, the place among places, a large area that was compacted with so many people, he wondered why they were all here. This place was engulfed with people, it was full of hundred, no.thousands of people were crowed around different areas. They were all crowding around arenas where good were on display, although he couldn't see the goods, he smelt the food from some of the booths. He heard laughter, bellowing deep voices, feminine voices, and every other type of voices. Hundreds of alleys poured which way and that, there seemed to be no end to this place.

        "Navi."

        "I know, Link, this place. Which one is the castle?"

        "Maybe we should ask them?" He pointed over where two chuckle lads were having a good laugh, each seemed to be in his early twenties and having a riot of a time.

        "Alright, you ask them, I am going to scout around, now meet me here in the center at twelve o'clock. That's about six hours, you can play until then,

ll right? I need business to attend too."

        "Okies, Navi. I'll miss you." Reaching up, he wrapped his arms tightly around her and was received the hug as he had done so much before, and the boy let her go and walked off towards where the two men were.

        --------------------

She wanted to go with him; she really did want to visit the places with him, knowing how much fun she would have; yet she couldn't. She had to work to do, and the boy so was young! Didn't he deserve a little fun after literally a week of torture? His father dying, being betrayed, having to fight, and leaving his crush? Yes, he deserved it. So when he wandered away, she flowed over towards where one of the largest buildings was. The place, looking like a religious church, was an essential place to learn of what was to come. She scooped past the garden and streamed down in a crack of the door, moving inside. No one could see her, or paid attention to her. She was, after all, just a little farie, or a firefly, in some cases.

        Moving inward, inside the room, she caught her breath when the choir started, although when she looked all around, she saw no one. The room was huge, illuminated with windows all around the pure white room down the center, with checkered white and black squares on the sides of the building. In the center was wide pedestal with the Triforce symbol upon it, the Triforce being three triangles pushed together so that another one was in the center. Of course she had seen the symbol before, he hadn't, although she had a feeling he would see these signs very soon, some hint. The symbol was a dark-grayish colour, and inside the symbol was some sort of ancient rune. Navi couldn't read it, but it was shaped like a coin, a medallion and the thing had a beam of light in the middle. Further ahead was a stone carving, about three feet high, with three hollow tubes inside of it. Requesting forward, she read the old text message.

        "Ye who owns 3 Spiritual Stones
        Stand with the Ocarina of Time
        And Play the Song of Time."

        Ocarina? Song of Time? What did this mean? They had of the spiritual stones, or that's what she guessed this stone was the Great Deku Tree spoke of, the jewel seemed to be one. An Ocarina is an instrument, just like the one that Saria gave Link. Why did he die with so many unanswered question, so many mysteries to be added up, he had said that they would find out? Up ahead was a large wall, some sort of door, the door looking very thick, but she couldn't judge it until she got closer up to it. Above it was another Triforce symbol, this one black, with the gray interior of the building surrounding it. That door was at least fifty feet thick, and couldn't be opened. What was under there? What was behind that door? So many unanswered questions, so little time. Navi finally decided to sleep, so she crept up to the side of one of the many windows and dozed off. Time passed and night fell, the place was quiet, except that beautiful choir that seemed to never stop singing.even though no one was there to sing, the place was so wondrous.

        --------------------

During the time of Navi's 'discovery' Link was busy enjoying the town, the market place was so incredible that he couldn't help but stand amazed. The place had many, and I say it literally, many shops to look around, some of them full of stuff that he had never heard of. Unfortunately, everything cost rubies, and a lot more expensive than in the Kokiiri, not even knowing that the fairie had put rubies inside of his wallet. Some of this stuff cost two or three hundred rubies, but the most in the Kokiiri was ninety- nine, and even then he was sure he had none. With being so broke, so all he did was hang around the shops, looking for a way to find somewhere to play any games of some sort. Got to do a free game of Bombachu, now that was fun, because he tried to manipulate the girl to let him play, which he complied. The young lad ended up almost blowing up the entire room, but how was he supposed to know those things went everywhere?

        "I thought you said you'd done this before!" Screeched the teenage employee, staring down at the boy.

        "I.I thought, I--" Then he had ran out of the room with her yelling after him, so she screamed out for the forest boy to get back before she burnt down his entire forest.

        Then how did the man get inside the forest? "Shut up." He spoke to himself aloud, but he was alone and it was all right to speak to yourself when you're alone, so he was fine speaking to. The only problem is when you answer yourself back, but hadn't he done that before, so that was when he was all right. Growling at himself, he hurried back into the middle of the market, then he saw her. It was Malon! She was standing there alone, sitting by her lonesome with no one to care for her. Staring up at the sky, he noticed the sun had gone down, noon having passed by so quickly, so he was late, but when he stared in the middle of the market she wasn't there. The market was closed down and all he saw were stray animals running around.what were those things? Someone had told him they were called 'dogs' today, but he had been against a pole with a bottle of something strong in his hand. He walked up to Malon and stared over at her, before sitting by her side.

        It took a few moments before she noticed him. "Farie-boy! You're here!"

        "Yea, I just got here today." He shrugged and sat down upon a little bricked garden, where she sat a few seconds later.

        "Well, that explains why you haven't been back with my daddy."

        "Hee, sorry about that. I got hurt and--well, we rode on a milk- truck back to Hyrule. But the thing had to go around the whole country, so it took a while. I saw some weird people, and a few other villages I've never heard of. Saw somewhat of a giant lake and slept the rest of the way."

        "Oh, what happened? Are you still hurt?"

        "No, I ran all night, those Skullchildren were after me."

        She gasped out loud, pressing her hands up towards her face, and stared at him in utter disbelief. "What? Those aren't just legends?"

        "No, of course not. They are dinosaurs, or look like humanoid ones. They are skeletons and wear loincloths. Well, Miss Malon, I have to go look for Navi. You want me to look for your dad, we have to get into the castle.wherever it is."

        She let out a long stream of giggles, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, before slapping him on the back roughly. "You really are from the forest, Farie boy! The castle is that long building back in there. It's have a little desert scenery, then there is a long gate that leads up there. If you want to get inside the castle, your gonna have to sneak in."

Nodding roughly, he remembered what those two guys said, those funny guys from before.

        "Well, lookey, here, what is this!"

        "Looks like a forest boy, those ones from the tales."

        "Ah-ha-ha-ha! Where is his farie?"

        "She went off--" but the two cuts Link off with more barrels of laughter, finally he turned towards the large building and looked up at it. "What's that?"

        "The castle, forest boy! Oh that reminds me, guess what this dork did!"

        ".Don't tell him, man!"

        "Why not?"

        ".Fine."

        "This idiot tried to sneak in the castle, he got all the way past the guards, he even got into the castle grounds, but he got stuck in a water- gate. Imagine this, now they've tightened up security!"

        "Is the princess of Destiny there?" Asked Link eagerly.

        "Yea, you mean Zelda? Yea, that little girl's there. Cute little girl, say about your age. Hey, you aren't going to work the moves on her?"

        "Wha? --" But another stream of laughter sent the boy back from the two, and stomping his feet, he hurried back off towards the alley where he played his game of Bombachu.

        "Alright, Miss Malon, I have to go find Navi. Night!"

        "Goodnight, and care of my egg, is it getting warmth?"

        "Yup, in my satchel, night." Off he ran, searching the buildings for her, looking at the places that he thought she would be the most, finding no traces of her. The taverns didn't have her, the inns either, but there was one place he hadn't looked, the place that seemed to stick out the most. That was the large church located outside of the marketplace, sort of a lone place paved with some sort of weird material led to there. Following his leads up the stairs, there were four stones with eyes upon them that bunched up against them. Saria said those were Gossip stones, some were in the Kokiiri Forest. Tapping one, all it did was tell him it was one o'clock in the morning. Stupid, since he just looked at the moon and saw that the stone was either wrong or he couldn't tell time by the moon as much as he thought he could.

        When he was inside the temple, he could see a light somehow illuminated it. No candle light, but a holy light? Well, that made no sense at all. This place was obviously empty, but the boy was so tired, he just couldn't take it anymore. He had tried the inns, and with no luck, he was out for the night without a room. Lying down on a weird pedestal, with three triangles pushed in different directions. It made some sort of triangular force. The Deku shield went down, and he wrapped it on his body, the floor was cold, but he managed to slip his arms inside the tunic and keep from freezing. A few minutes later, he was out for the count.

        --------------------

The next morning, Navi awoke the boy and told him of her day, very boring, she didn't mention her 'fun' with the legends, and listened to him. He didn't need to know these things; they weren't that important to him yet, they would be important to him in the future, she sensed. It was weird, she thought, just how she knew these little things, yet it was only for his own protection that she keep him in safe keeping. Link asked why she never met him and he told her that she had gone to sleep up in the windows, near the sun that afternoon. He admitted that he was late getting to the place, explained that he had met Malon once again and how that the encounter with the boys.

        "Oh, I was right below you!"

        "Yea, I saw you sleeping this morning."

        "Navi, I found out where the castle is and a way to get in."

        "Oh really?"

        "Yea, those men said that they tried to sneak in through a water- gate.what's that?"

        "It distributes water, it keeps it clean."

        "Oh, anyway, I found out there is a small hole he got stuck in, so I can climb through. Only problem is the little thing about security."

        "Security?" Had those idiots gotten it updated? Navi looked to the side, she knew who he was talking about, those laughing-stocks, they even smelt like trouble.

        "They said it increased, but I think I can slip by. Unless they are guarding the water-gate."

        "Alright, let's try it."

        --------------------

After some breakfast in the room, the Temple of Time, Navi called it, they were ready to set out for this castle and meet the princess. They set out for their destination, and moving out away the town, but still inside the large castle, Navi and he hurried down until it was twelve o'clock. There they stopped for lunch, and ended up at the passageway, the gates, at about seven o'clock that night, hiding aside the gates so no one saw them. Fortunately, the Skullchildren couldn't get inside the human barriers, so he was safe that night, not even using the shield because it was humid. Link slept soundly that night, with an ever-watchful Navi on guard, even though that there was no need for the guard, she felt safer this way, sort of an apology for the night of the children.

        The next morning, the two found the vines that reached the place; they climbed the two and looked around, admiring the scenery. It was the morning, so not that many guards were around the entire facility, most of them either asleep or not on duty for a morning encounter. The castle looked about five miles away, lush fields of flowers covered most of the places, but at the castle was a long gate that looked pretty un-scaled, through. Scaling away at the fields, on his hands and knees, he reached some sort of small mountain, peering up at what was ahead for him. The mountain was climbable, so when he went up it, where they stopped for lunch, finishing most of the supplies up for this part of the place. The food was running out, but he was happy with their shares, knowing they had one loaf was left, with some jam and a lot of water, he'd filled it up in Hyrule.

"What exactly did you go when I was gone, aside seeing those two idiots." Navi inquired as they were heading towards the castle gates, and it was only two miles to the castle, yet the walk becoming more strenuous.

"I mentioned the Bombachu place, but before blowing the place up, I won three things there, well really four."

"Four? What are they?"

Stopping for a rest, he leaned against a tree, pulling out a large side pack, and slipped the small one off, pulling the materials out of the latter. The materials all went inside of the larger bag, Link looking at the smaller bag that was now empty, and threw it off to the side. They wouldn't need it anymore since this bag was much larger and could carry a lot more supplies than they needed, which was a good thing. Peeking the new bag open, his hands went inside and began to rummage around, as the fairie looked at the bag in pure amazement. Yes, with this new bag they could find new stuff to store in here, new stuff like the nuts and even better stuff like the fairie slingshot.

"Wow! You won that?"

"Actually, she gave it to me, to hold the surprises I won."

"Well, show me!"

Link pulled out a small container, and inside was a small mechanical mouse, and the mice were about the size of his fist, and were blue and yellow all over. They reminded him of something, a weird mouse that he had heard of seeing a few days ago, back in Hyrule, or actually it wasn't that. Some sort of fox that they talked about, the yellow on the mouse reminded him of the mask that he saw this one kid wearing, he said it was a fox. It started with a 'K' but he couldn't remember it, for he wasn't paying attention to what the person was saying, looking around for the castle at the time. Now it was still blank, but he showed the little things to the girl, seeing the amusement in her eyes, maybe thinking it was used to play with. She was dead wrong.

"Are those toys?" Navi thought out loud, a little annoyance in her voice.

"Nope. They are called Bombachus. These devices are explosive, you just set them down and they fly off, then explode. Gun power is stored in there, along with motion detectors, and a time. But, personally, I think they're worthless and a little dangerous."

"Trash them."

"But--Navi."

"Now." Navi looked at him sternly and pointed to a small ditch, about three feet away, the same place where he had thrown the bag aside. It was cruel of her to do this, she realized later on, but it was being strict this way that got the things that needed to be done, done. Being with him meant that she had to take on certain responsibilities and taking care of him was one of them, since she was older than he was. Not as old as the Deku Tree (she was a child in fairie standards) yet she was still considered older than the decade old child was. She had to be that way with him, because not only were they both partners, but also she was his teacher, and as a teacher, she had to mentor and guide him.

"Yes, ma'am." Throwing the Bombachu bag into the ditch, he fetched out a second bag, and this one was a large bag with the word 'explosions' printed on the side of the bag. "She said it is made of a D-" He struggled with the word. "Dodongo. A Dodongo's stomach."

"I think we need this. I don't know why, but I have a small hunch." Navi fluttered in the smaller pack and out came a large glass shade, and inside the case was half of a heart. "W-what's this?"

"An ugly women gave them to me."

"Link!"

He whimpered and nodded sadly. "I'm sorry, I mean, a disfigured woman gave it to me when I saved her dog."

Navi frowned, but at least it was better than 'ugly'. "Saved?"

"He was lost and I found him the night I was alone."

"Oh. Well is that it?"

This time he pawed through his pockets, and he took out one purple ruby, four red ones, and two blue rubies, stuffing them into his wallet. Sticking the wallet inside the satchel he used for rations, he continued to switch the supplies around so that they were put in an orderly fashion. As he went through the pack, she saw him pack up the food tightly, some he had found in Hyrule, and the canteens were filled up also. Setting this entire aside now, he ordered it back in the pack so it wouldn't jingle around when he ran, which he knew it would, though. "I won these and the hearts at the treasure box contest.yea, I had two pieces, but when I held them bother in my hands, they just bided together." Revealing the pieces, he tried to pull the pieces apart, frowning when they wouldn't do as he wished, shrugging a shoulder innocently.

"Wow, so two more pieces?"

"Yea, maybe at it increases my power when I find a whole heart, like those small heart containers in the Deku Tree." Link now had a dozen of those things, but how he did it was on the way to Hyrule Castle, they had stumbled upon a bush and after some searching he found those containers, Deku Seeds, and some nuts.

"You said four things."

"Yea, I also won a seed bag." Link pulled out new Deku seed bag, but he had been carrying them in a small bag earlier, it was smaller than the Dodongo bag (which was the size of his fist) this one the size of his palm.

"Wow, how many seeds does it hold?"

"Forty seeds, and I won it at some shooting gallery. Shooting at some rubies." Link reached into his old seed bag and dumped the seeds from the old bag, into the new bag, tossing the old bag into the ditch with the other bad stuff. As he threw it, the boy backed up a few feet, his hands at his sides while he reached down for his stuff, deciding that the break was over. Closing the bag shut, he pulled out his slingshot, the Deku nuts and sticks and put them inside of his side pack too keep them good. There he stood himself up and pulled the new pack around his waist, fastening it tightly, a glance towards the side revealed how he felt. Yes, the boy could run with the pack, if he had tried when he first entered the Deku Tree it would have messed him up, but now it was fine.

        "Ready, Navi."

        ".Yea. I guess you don't need me anymore." She spoke in a light whisper, causing Link frowned sadly, cupping her inside of his hands, and kissed her face. "Hey, I won some supplies, that's all. I still need you, of course I do. You're my friend and my protector."

        "Don't say that.I'm not strong."

"Yes you are, and braver than me." Leaning forward, he kissed her tiny veil and placed him on his shoulder. "And you aren't a nuisance."

"Thanks."

        --------------------

"Navi, what do we ask this princess?"

        ".Never thought of that."

        "I think we show her this Kokiiri Emerald and maybe there are others?"

        "You read the inscription!"

        "What inscription? I was following on guess, what is this inscription?"

        So, Navi told him about the inscription and about a little more of the Triforce, or what she knew about it, which was hardly anything. Most of what she said was an educated guess, of what was behind that door, the power that might be inside and how maybe the man wanted the stones for that reason. Maybe the man wanted the power behind those doors; maybe he was an evil man with the in intuition to take something away from here. "What you slept on was a medallion inside of a Triforce. The Triforce has three different parts, maybe symbolizing three opposite feelings. Each power represents a triangle, and I think what's behind that door is something special, maybe the Triforce? I think it's a special power, and I think this princess can tell us everything." With that, she crossed her arms over her chest, giving a shrug; this was just what she knew from the legends, or what their books told them.

        "You're right, she is a princess. She must have information, but will she share it?"

        "We'll just have to try, it was his dying request."

".Yea, let's go."

Pulling out the rest of the food inside of his packsack, he slid down the path and landed upon a small gray path, where there was room to eat. Before he could eat, his appetite melted away, sticking it back inside the pack and getting ready for what was to come next, the outside of the castle. There was some sort of water surrounding the path, on the left side and turning sideways, he saw the castle, if that was it, and what a place it was. It was beautiful! The castle was at least two hundred feet tall with hundreds of windows, a drawbridge, on the other side, and guards looking away from him. With a place like this, Link guessed that this princess must have been the richest person in all of Hyrule, outranking any of those people with the jewels back at the Market place.

"Link, get in the moat!"

"Moat?"

"The water, dive!"

"O-Oh!" He saw the guard turn around, but dove into the water just in time, that pack of his probably getting ruined in the entire process. No need to worry about that, the boy was worrying about his own air now, and how to survive what seemed like some sort of waterfall. What turned out to only be a shallow place, the water not rushing to his face, yet able to touch the bottom, he still panicked a bit. He gasped as the currents pulled him forward, he was pulled around the whole while, and he was pulled until a bump slammed into his side. Groaning, he turned over and cried out softly, those eyes looking away from the pain in his side and focusing on what was ahead.

"Linky!" Navi pulled at his shoulders and lifted him the currents; there he pulled him over and placed him on top of some boxes, just tired from lifting him that far. She doubted that could of lifted him far back in the dungeon, that was before both of them were empowered, it was before all that and he was just getting too heavy. Not that he had gained weight or anything, the boy exercised everyday on this trip, and he had been walking, running and even fighting. On the boxes, she looked at him and, he was all right, he seemed to just have a bump down there, or something, so she looked. The thing just left a small bruise on his upper body, it was sort of nasty, but would go away in a week or so, given some time. "Link, are you alright?"

Coughing out some loose air, trying to catch his breath for the tumbles in the water, the boy looked over at his concerned faire and he nodded. "Yea, I'm alright. Let's get down to business." Hopping off of the box, he saw a cow onto of the boxes and gasped, it reminded him of the ranch they had been to and he put two together. So, that must be the sign that was on Lon Lon Ranch, he remembered that maybe it was on that sign above the gates, yea that was it. "Lon-Lon Ranch! That must mean.What's that?" Leaning over the large crate, Link stared at a heavy-set man in some overalls. He was bald, but had some hair on his sides and a big mustache/beard combination. Whoever that was, the man was in his dreamland and from the hair on his chin, he seemed to have been at it for a while.

"Talon!" Navi cried out and shook her head a little, fluttering across his face back and forth, trying to awaken him like she had little Link. He was an even harder sleeper than Link, trying to brighten her aura around his face; the most that happened was some snoring and a few talks in his sleep. Link watched her do it, his pack beginning to shake, so he reached inside, hoping he hadn't left a Bombachu inside there and it wasn't going off. There was no way they could get to the drain with this fat man in the way, and there seemed to be no way to awaken him now. Link reached into his pocket while Navi tried to awaken the sleeping man, there was a crack and something pushed out. It was Cucco!

"Navi, a Cucco!"

"Huh, oh, use it on him."

        Pushing the Cucco into the old man's face, Link pulled a feather and the Cucco squawked a loud screech, before running out of his hands and jumping the fence. Before it jumped, he was onto his head, pecking his head, causing the boy to cry out in pain and hit the thing hard on the head. Navi stifled a laugh as the boy took off after the thing, stopping dead in his tracks and creeping back once it was near the guards. They chased after the thing, but it was already gone like the wind, it was gone faster than ever, the guards returning with confusion on their faces. The Cucco was gone within five seconds, when Link turned back, he saw Talon was awakening, the man stretching out his arms as if he had been having a nice dream.

"What in tranation was that!"

"Uh, your daughter's Cucco, sir."

Talon shook himself off and stood up, he was about five eleven, and towered over the boy, even more than that guard had, causing the boy to shrink away. The man wasn't evil at all, the mustache causing him to sneeze a little, letting the boy burst into giggles, the man smiling down and patting the boy on the head. Looking down at the kid, he noticed the farie, his attention peered back to the legends that he had heard as a kid, of the children from the forest. Maybe he was one of them, or maybe he was faking, but the big sparkle over him sure made evidence enough that he was something special. One of those forests kids. Dismissing the thought, he heard the name 'daughter.' "Daughter? You mean my Malon, why did you see her?"

"Um, she gave me the Cucco a week ago, and I just saw her on my way to the castle, she was quite upset."

"U-upset! Oh, no. Malon's going to give to me!" Not even bothering to say goodbye, the old farmer took off towards the end of the gate, he circled the gate and swept past the guards.those poor guys, they tried to catch him, but he was long gone. It was kind of funny how fast he ran for a man his weight, yet it seemed that it was all possible at the speed he was going. From what Link could tell, Malon didn't have a mother and was the head female of the household, also she wasn't as innocent as she looked. If her father was afraid of her, she must have had a nasty temper on her, but Link wouldn't know that, he never was really good with those sort of things. There were no mothers in the Kokiiri Forest, well, some of them were in his own case where Saria would be the case, but usually there wasn't.

"Wow.Miss Malon must be tough." Navi spoke with a piece of sarcasm in her voice, a little chuckle entering her mouth as she stared off at the man running, turning her attention back to Link. The little farie floated up past the boxes and fluttered over towards the wall, inspecting this part of the place now, watching it strangely. Running out of the wall, was a small water gate, it was about his size and he wouldn't drown in it, it was just his own size, so he could get through. "Linky-chan! I found the gate those two idiots were talking about. Push those boxes so we can align them and you can hop across!" He looked at her, his eyes narrowing over the entrance, and there was the place where those guys were talking about, yea that was it. Of course that was the place they were talking about, the young boy smiling in approval with her, his hands moving up towards her, petting her.

Agreeing with her, he looked up at the boxes, they were about seven feet tall and when he knocked on one, he realized it was hollow. Guess the guards forgot to take them away and throw them out? It was the Lon-Lon Ranch boxes, Talon's. Pushing the first one deep into the water, it sank down and stopped the flow of water. Next, he pushed the other one on top of it, giving him a little standing room. Finally, the last one collapsed onto the second box, twenty minutes later, this was because that one was a bit heavier with some unloaded milk. Standing on the top box, he peered over at the five-foot jump and what was past it. What was there was a small little covering with three triangles onto it. On that were flowing water, and the hole he would slip through. "Wow.thanks Navi."

"Yeah, it's great. This is just your size, so we can slip right through, but you might get a little wet."

"I don't mind, besides, this uniform needs washing, anyway." The boy had washed his clothes, when the milk-wagon stopped near the Zora River, he had washed it and dried it, but that was at least four days ago. Reckon, he didn't smell, he had bathed the day before yesterday in one of the inns, being kicked out, of course. The boy moved forward and leapt across the five-foot jump, he stomped across the other end and got down on his hands and knees. Pushing his head through the hole, his damp body was through the entire tunnel in less than three minutes, but it was pitch black with the leaking and flowing of water it sort of creep him out. Finally flashing through the terror and into the light, he pulled himself out and was standing up in a small ankle-deep pool.

"Navi, want to go check it out?"

"Alright, Linky." She flew forward, and about ten minutes she rushed back with a big frown upon her face, looking off to the side, seeming maddened. "There are about nine guards, they are assigned in five arenas. One is at the first arena and the other two are in-groups at the other four arenas. Fortunately, they are going to be easy to dodge, except the third one.there is a plank on top of a balcony you have to balance over. It's fairly easy for you, I would imagine."

"Man, those two dummies had the security increased, Eh?"

"I would imagine so, Linky. We have those two to thank and if we get caught? I think you might be thrown in jail or something."

"J-Jail? What's that?"

"A place of confinement where people who do bad things go."

"I'm not bad, Navi!"

".I know that, but normal people don't sneak in to see the princess, it's not allowed. Ready?"

".Yea, let's go." He couldn't use his sword on these people, because they were not monsters, so he pulled out about four nuts, keeping two in each hand. This was for a paralyze-formula, so if he used them, the boy would knock the guards out so they couldn't call for help. As if turned out, he didn't need them. The first arena was truly the lone guard, it was a squared hedge and he sneaked past that in only a few minutes, the next one however was a twin fountains. Link had to crouch and slid past the guards on his hands and knees, so they didn't discover him in the silhouette of the fountain waters. The plank task was right after this, he saw below a barrel of treasures, and the guard surrounding them. He did sneak behind the guard and the ten green rubies, stuffing them inside of his pack, and he climbed up a ladder, pacing across the fifteen-foot board. Hopping down on the ground, he moved on.

Fourthly, was a big stone wall, and behind the wall were the two guards, moving ever-closely together around a large statue of a goddess upon a platform. He guessed it was one of the Goddesses, but couldn't be sure. Link made sure that the two were on the other side when he ran past it and into the last section of the garden. Past the barrier of the fourth section, was a larger rectangular hedge with another statue in the center. This one was narrower, but he couldn't tell what it was. Those two guards were a little harder to dodge; he had to climb through the bushes and slipped past the guards when they turned the corners. One turned and stared forward at his direction, but he was tucked safely inside one of the bushes. For the next thirty minutes they paced the garden where he was, and decided it was a mouse or something, then went on.

Past the fifth garden maze was a long tunneled corridor that led into a larger garden, the flowers were lush all over, and a small moat ran across the entire structure from the outside area. Staring around the garden in amazement, how the grass was much cleaner than it had been back in the Hyrule Field, giving it a better feel. The center of the garden was a bushel of sunflowers; leaning down he sniffed the flowers and was immediately stuck with the sensation of beauty. Sniffing at the flowers, because they didn't get this bright down in the Kokiiri Forest, the boy was quite surprised at the events of this. Whose garden was this, the princess' was a thought, but he never noticed the girl with his back turned towards him, neither of them facing each other.

        --------------------

Where was that man! The young girl kept peeping through the window into the kingdom, there was her father, and the royal chancellor, but that was it. Some of the older knights hung around the king, the ones he was close too, but he wasn't there! Did the dream mean anything? Was she being delusional? No! Her father didn't believe her, but she believed herself. She wasn't being irrational; she was serious as she could be. Nothing made the nightmare come, nothing at all. Impa believed her, of course Impa did, she was her guardian.her nanny, maybe she needed to because that was her job? Furrowing her brow, she positioned the headdress in the right way, so it covered up all of that luscious blonde hair, all that shone out were those blonde eyebrows. Well, she couldn't spot anything at all, but nevertheless, she kept her head positioned there.

        --------------------

"Link.look." Navi was sitting on his shoulder, whispering lightly into his ear. "I think that's the princess."

        Link stood back up from the patch of sunflowers and peered over at the girl, and from the first impression he got that she wasn't a normal Hylian girl. Yes, it was a girl, maybe the princess, but this girl looked like she had no hair at all, from the first glance, that was, he'd have to get closer to view it. She was dress very weirdly; from what he could see there was a long white dress that fell down to her feet, and violet robe- like felt upon the dress. Jewels were adorned upon her waist, it wasn't a normal belt, and he spotted the end of a necklace around her neck, not able to see the front. Walking quickly, not seeming to eager, he stepped upward and spoke out, at the top of the stairs, his voice ringing out in his own tone. "Miss Princess?"

        --------------------

"H-Huh?" She spun around, her hands clasping to her chest and let out a tremendous gasp; there was someone at her garden--no right next to her! W- who was that! There was this little boy dressed in.green, the tunic not something she had ever seen in Hyrule, and the originality was so distinct. At his back were a sword and a shield, something she also had never seen, the daggers that they made in Hyrule looked nothing like this. Perched upon his shoulder was a blue, velvet creature with.it had wings, she couldn't see it clearly, the veil covered up everything. The boy was dressed with a shield and a sword; a long cap fell down through his blonde hair, his hair longer than most of the men's here. The boy had a simple innocence about him. Yes, he did seem a very innocent, quiet boy. Brushing the dirt from her robe, she looked up at him. "What are you doing here?"

        --------------------

It seemed he was correct, the girl, upon her robe, showing that same sign that he had seen in the Temple of Time a few days ago. It showed that Triforce symbol, with a red eagle under it and another upside down triangle upon it, and he guessed that was the Hyrule Crest. Like the symbol on his shield, it was probably like that, they must have had those things on their shields, the people who battled. He guessed that they fought here, there were probably warriors that guarded the place, because as it seemed the princess was very important. He figured so and began to speak, well he almost got to speak, his own fairie caught him off guard and spoke out loud, he not minding. "Princess?"

"Y-yes? Who're you?"

"I am Navi, the farie. This is Link, he is from the Kokiiri forest, and we were asked to bring you something. Link, the emerald?"

"O-Oh, yea." Reaching swiftly inside of his pack, he pulled out the simple stone, the aura from before wasn't there, but in the sun it seemed to gleam. The stone was shaped like a flower, the rims adorned in a beautiful golden colour, the boy looking over at it with his eyes still wide. Inside the flowers, or the leaves, were made of pure emerald, and the stone was untouched, unscratched, and looked like it hadn't been fooled with in a number of years. Placing the small jewel into her open hands, the boy stared up at her, seeing the way she looked so there he just smiled. "This is the Kokiiri Emerald."

"T-the Spiritual Stone of the Forest!"

"Well, I --" Navi nodded her head and cut the child off.

"Yes, this is the Spiritual Stone of the Forest."

"And you are his farie? So, he is a Kokiiri?"

"Yes, he is a Kokiiri."

Zelda closed her palms around the jewel and walked towards a small chair in the garden, it was still up on the platform, and there she rested her feet. Well, what she was looking at seemed to be the question on the others minds as she just stared at the stone with her eyes ajar more than his are are. She had been sitting there, watching through the window when he came into the garden, she seemed to have been there a few hours, judging from her fatigued look. Looking past Link, and at Navi, she nodded a little, and with a little surprised gasp, she jumped up and walked right infront of them, her cheeks flushed. Bowing her head down at the boy, she took his hand in hers and looked up into his eyes, smiling more at him, the boy nodding reluctantly. "Forgive me, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Princess Zelda, or known as the Princess of Destiny."

"That's what the Great Deku Tree said." Link watched her pace around the room, and he sat upon the left balcony-end of the staircase, looking up at her. "He said that we were to look for the Princess of Destiny."

"Who is this?"

Navi fluttered over at the Princess, and hovered a few feet from her face. "The Great Deku Tree is the guardian of the Kokiiri forest, he is--or was the guardian. Now the forest is by itself."

"H-he passed on?"

"Unfortunately so. A man in dark armour, from the desert put a curse on him. He released Gohma the spider and the spider poisoned the Deku Tree. Link went inside and vanquished the spider, with my help, but unfortunately we were too late and he soon passed on."

"A man from the desert! What was his name!"

"We don't know, either the Deku Tree didn't know, or he chose not to tell us." This was Link who spoke up; he had climbed up the stairs and now looked up through the window. "What were you staring at?"

"O-Oh, I was looking for a man. I think he maybe the one who you are looking for." She took one look and her cerulean hues brightened in fear. "He's here! Link! Miss Navi! You look in the window and see if he gives you a feeling."

Feeling? Link didn't know what the princess meant, but when he looked in through the window, he did. A slight chill overcame his and Navi's body. There was a man, dressed dark armour. He was an over-bearing six feet with seven inches on the end. Not only black was on him. Heavy armour adorned his short, red hair and that darkened skin. A brown breastplate with those iron shoulders padded on top. At his hands were some gloves with diamonds on the back of his hands. Spiked ends were at his kneecaps and his pants were heavy and brown. Just staring at this.this.tyrant was the only word. Staring at this tyrant made the boy get sick to his stomach, and then it happened. Those piercing black eyes turned towards Link. The man was kneeling next to a man in a throne, obviously the king, but when the man stared deep into Link's eyes. He jumped back and fell against the floor, Navi right beside him.

"What happened!"

"He saw us, well me mostly."

"Don't worry. I had a dream, in the dream there was this land, Hyrule and a dark clouds were swirled around the whole land. Then a beam of light appeared and the light took the form of a young boy with a blue circle with wings at his side. The light was coming out of the forest and held a green stone. I think you represent the light, and he represents the dark. My father doesn't believe me.. But do you?"

"Yes, Miss Zelda, I do. I have had bad dreams, for the past few weeks, every few nights. And I have dreamt of this man, never his face.but his clothes look so familiar. Navi?"

Navi had beckoned herself back on his shoulder. "Huh? Yea.I-I.the man frightens me, Link. I think we should take actions. Miss Zelda, I do believe you. I read something like that in a temple about this; it mentioned Spiritual Stones and the Ocarina of Time. What is that?"

"You've been to the Temple of Time?"

"Yes, if that's what you call it."

"Well, let me tell you my story first and I will get to the part of the Ocarina. So, will you two listen to my story? The story of the Goddess'."

"We already heard it from the Great Deku Tree." Link replied and sat himself upon the hard floor; he crossed his legs Indian-style, and looked upon her.

"This is the royal family's version. More specific, it deals with something more detailed. Would you listen."

"Alright."

"Okies." Navi said, perching on his shoulder.

"I won't go over the part of the creation, since you've heard it, but when the Goddess' finished they left there work and formed three triangles. The triangles represented each of them and it was as followed: Din, the Goddess of Power, Naryu, the Goddess of Wisdom, and Farore, the Goddess of Courage. They each formed a piece of the Triforce. These three things and they were Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Now anyone could get to the Triforce, so they created a Sacred Realm. This Realm held the Triforce and that are where it was secure, not just anyone could get it. To access the Triforce you needed three things. One, the three Spiritual Stones of Forest, Fire, and Water were needed for the special ceremony. Next, the being needs the Ocarina of Time. The Ocarina of time is an Ocarina made of indestructible glass, it has been a family secret for generations."

At this point, she pulled out of her pocket a small Ocarina, the boy's eyes lighting up at the sight of it; it sure was better looking than Saria's ocarina. Well, it was beautiful and all, but it seemed that Link's held a most sentimental value than the one that this one has, he was glad for his. It was just the size of Link's except it was made of glass and blue, the thing having different ancient runics on them, some of them he had never seen. It was probably the ones that the people down here could read, he knew that people couldn't read Kokiirish, so there was probably another language that the ancients here used. On the tip of it, instead of a leaf, was a small Triforce symbol, and placing it back into her pocket, she continued on with her story.

        "The third thing you need is the Song of Time. It's a special song meant to open that large door, because in that door is the Sacred Realm. A man with a righteous heart can lead Hyrule to a golden age, but a man with an evil heart can rule and destroy the world. Ganondorf, that's his name, he hails from the Gerudo Desert. They are a race of women, who have a male child every one hundred years, but he couldn't settle for King of the Gerudo, and he has pledged loyalty to my father, but I don't believe him a bit. He wants the Triforce, but he can't get the Spiritual Stones."

        "Why not?" Navi stared up at her as Link asked the obvious question.

        "Well, no one trust the man, he is an evil being and he threatened your Deku Tree. He obviously planted the curse when the Deku Tree wouldn't give him the Spiritual Stone. I have a feeling he is going to try to hunt down the others, that's where you come in. I want you to find the stones. I wish I could travel with you, but I'm a princess and need to keep the Ocarina of Time safe from Ganondorf's hands. Would you go and hunt down the Spiritual Stone of Fire and Water?"

        "Of course we will, Miss Zelda, me and Link will hunt them down, but where are they?"

        At this moment a tall woman enters the garden, no one notices her presence, except Zelda and she kept her silence about it. "That's the other part of my dream, to get into those places you have to be known to the Royal Family. The Gorons' hold the Spiritual Stone of Fire, but I don't know about the Water. The Gerudos hold none, and the Kokiiri have the Forest. I'm sorry about the Water, I just don't know. The other element is to go and learn a song from the Royal Family, you do have an instrument, right?"

        "Sure." Link spoke, pulling out the wooden Fairie Ocarina.

        "Wow, the same instrument. Well, turn around and go see my guardian, she will teach you the song."

        ". I don't see any--" Link stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the woman, wow and what a woman she was, something scarier than even the men here. Not as scary as that man named Ganondorf, for he felt no evil aura about her, he just stared down at her as she looked back at him. The woman was over six feet tall, dark brown skin, with short, white hair upon her head, but not prenatal white hair, it was natural. She looked like a warrior too, she had the build and the muscle of one, but a gentle smile caressed her beautiful features, giving her a soft feel. Letting forth a small laugh, she motioned him forward, bending down on her knees. "Come here, little one, I won't bite."

        "Link, go." Urged Zelda, pushing him forward. "She looks tough, but she is just a softie."

        The woman frowned at what the young princess said, but kept her arms open for the boy to come near her, she wasn't that scary looking. Reluctantly, he went forward, Navi perched at his side, ready to take this woman on if where were to try anything on the boy. Looking at the young fairie, the woman could see through the veil, she could smell the determination in the feisty fairy's eyes. A grin pierced her lips, the boy stepping back a few steps when she did, but he just kept his arms open, giving him some time. The woman just smiled broader staring at the two, and when they came near, she spoke to Navi, not speaking to the boy at first. "I can see you are quite protective of him, aren't you?"

        "That's right, and who're you?"

        "I am Impa, Zelda's protector. I am also a Shiekah, one of the last ones in the world; we Shiekah are guardians of the Hylians. My role in the dream is to teach this young lad a melody to show you are with the Royal Family." She stood up when he was a foot from her, and patted his hair, ruffling it. "You are a cute young lad, much too soft to be a warrior and unskilled. All right, before the melody I am going to train you a little. Come at me."

        "C-come at you?" Link looked at her, a little surprised. "Your much stronger.you'll hurt me."

        "You took on a Gohma spider and I am a little tough?"

        "I used my sword, Miss Impa."

        "No swords, just come at me."

        "...Navi?"

        Navi nodded her head and smiled. "It's alright, I am by your side and if she harms you, I'll take care of her." Another burst of laughter, but not a mocking tone, just a surprised tones.

        "You really care for this boy."

        Navi flushed under the veil, and shrugged her shoulders a bit, as it seemed like the veil shrugged.

        Impa nodded her head solely and backed away from the boy as he slipped his sword and shield aside. "And the belt, I see what you have in there, you cute boy. Deku Nuts and other surprises."

        ".Sorry." Link threw his side-pack aside, along with his satchel and readied himself, so that this would give him a speed advantage on her. Not that he doubted she was slow, this Shiekah, a word he had never heard before was probably a lot faster than her and could beat him down. Impa nodded towards him, a signal that she was ready anytime she was, her hands held out in the art of a fighting style. Navi went towards the woman and surrounded her head not blinding her, but just staying up in the air and turning a bright yellow. Yes, Link followed the light, and then he turned and jumped at Impa, and a smile formed her lips, as an afterimage was what he fell into.collapsing into the grass.

        "Impa! Don't do that, you are just teasing!" Zelda was back in the small chair, watching from the stone stairs.

        Link jumped up and stared at Impa; she was standing still, the smirk still upon her face, the facial expression showing that she had won. Yes, the boy had been trained a little in fighting and this training for the last week was the best he had been at, yet still he had lost on the first round. That just made his pride go down, exploding out in a fury and getting himself ready, he had no fighting style, so he just copied what she did. The boy ran straight at her, but he jumped to the side, slamming into a wall, trying to divert her attention and trying something on her. No, that's what he would have done, but he propelled himself off the wall and was spiraling towards her side, the hands held out like a torpedo.

        It never happened, as he spiraled, she jumped right to the side and grabbed his small body, her hands going under his little waste. That smirk was still on her face, the boy letting out a cry of surprise and trying to get away from her, Navi batting at the Shiekah with the veil. Turning him towards the side, she slid him down into the grass as he slumped inside the bushel of flowers, breaking his fall. The attack didn't hurt, she was going easy on him, and of course she could break his little neck easily, not that she would do that. She wasn't going to do that to him, he was such an adorable little boy, it was sad that he was chosen for this wicked fate, a fate Zelda had no idea was going on.

        Link spun himself up and stared up at her, he nodded his head just looked off to the side, the defeat shown in his eyes and cheeks. Tears began to stream down his cheeks in embarrassment; his cheeks were crimson as he cried outlook to the world, the fairie looking down at him. Navi was still at Impa's side, but she didn't move, she just watched what the warrior would do now, what the strong warrior was like in this situation. The surprised Impa walked to the boy and knelt down beside him, her arms held out for her to go to him, blowing a deep sigh. "Link, it's alright, I didn't. --" Yes, she stopped when he pushed her down on her back and jumped onto of her chest, crying out in a war-cry that he had beaten her. He put his arms at her arms, holding them down, and held down her legs with his own, locked around them, the grin that she had done was on his face.

        "Ha! I got you!"

        "So you do, lad, but monsters aren't so compassionate." She reached up and grabbed a part of his neck, pushing a finger to it; the boy fell to the ground and cried out in surprise. It was like all the functions in his body ceased to exist, the hands and legs stopping their clamp on her body, releasing her free. Looking down at her, whom his eyes still could move, he just stared at her with that mouth gaped at what she had done, whatever it was. Impa bent down and picked the lad him, taking him to a small bench in the back of the garden and sat him down, because he couldn't move. This was going to take time, and indeed a lot of patience to deal with this, she would get through this training and ready them. Focusing on the melody, the woman just shook her head.

        --------------------

Ten minutes later, the numbness was gone, and he sat up from his position and looked back at Impa, the sparring look away from his face. The lad had been watching ever since he was cushioned down, but now she had a small flute upon her hands and pointed to a small chalkboard with notes upon it. It seemed revenge was not going to come on anymore, he had to do what was right and learn that so-called melody he had to have. "Link, you learn this melody, write it down and learn it." At his side was the satchel, so he reached inside and found some stationary and a pencil to write down the notes that she had. It was gonna be hard to learn these, he hadn't even played the ocarina before, sometimes he tried Saria's, but never seriously. Looking up, he drew the station and wrote down the notes, quite easy, but the verses looked difficult as they got on, not a very long song.

"This melody is part of the royal family heritage, but I have sang it to Zelda as a child, so we all refer to it as 'Zelda's Lullaby.' This tune is quite simple to remember and you must practice, have you practiced on the ocarina, how long have you had it?

"I got it as a goodbye present about eight days ago, I haven't practices but a few times.sorry."

"It's alright. Now you have it written down, let's go."

"G-go? Where!"

"I am going to train you, but without your little farie."

Navi was only a few yards from the scene, but she heard it and flew up to Impa's face. "Without me! I am his guardian, he needs me!"

"I am going to train you also, young farie. I need to train you two separate and then you may train in battle together. "

"B-But."

"No buts, you know you two need training alone. There maybe a time you have to defend him in your sleep and vice versa, I want you two ready for this. You are eventually going to have to fight Ganondorf, and he has powers even though he doesn't have the Triforce. He can manipulate chi."

"C-chi!"

"Yes, now let's go. We are going deep into the castle, away from this all and then we will train."

"Alright."

Link just nodded his head, agreeing with Navi that it was time to be trained alone, relying on another person was good, but also had its disadvantages. Learning to be away from her and fight was a chance that he needed, and the same for her to do the same thing so that they could be with each other. Being with each other was the best thing, if they fought and they learned to manipulate that thing they called 'chi' then the more powerful they would become. Without her was a scary thought, but it was better if he learned to protect her from the dangers.next time a blue light might not be there to save her. Next time she might d.no, he couldn't say it. Impa went off towards the dark end of the garden where a tunnel was, and the partners left the small Zelda alone.

        --------------------

Eleven days passed before the two were ready for the time to leave. In that time Link was trained in art of defense, the art of using his sword, the art of using his fist, and learning to control his spinning attack. It had none, but a little chi in it, which would change in later weeks to come, though. He was also formed in the art of back flips, front flips, dodging, and slash attacks. Item using was perfected, also, as in using the nuts properly and aiming with his slingshot. Jumping attacks were also prefixed, so when he came out a week and a half later, he showed better improvements. Navi, on the other hand, was trained in the act of using her chi as a bit of a defense mechanism, and also she was trained on targeting, as was Link when they were together. Her different barriers would change colours to indicate which was what. Dark blue when they were looking for stuff, green when a friendly person was near, and yellow when she wanted to target and enemy. Navi was also trained to direct her chi towards some enemies and use them to blind or paralyze them. By the end of the eleven days, the boy and his farie had been on their journey for two weeks and five days, and the two were about one hundred and ten percent better. A final battle between them and Impa occurred, and the two conquered Impa, not by much, though.

        --------------------

Two hours after the battle, and some bandaging and showers, the hero with his tunic back on, the thing back to normal since his fight with Gohma. He hadn't changed it for the while past, so people saw the clothes and thought he was weird, the scar on chest was so apparent to them. Maybe that was why they called him a freak, the guard, when he saw the way that he was dressed, it was just so weird to look that way. It had been sowed so that the tatters from the training and the roughing were all gone, the boy looked up at Impa and nodded. Yes, he had gathered even more tatters and a few more training scars on him from all the battles they had had, nor scars, just a few bruises. "Am I better?"

"Yes, Link, you have grown much. Not physically, but your strength and power are ten fold. The same for you as well, Navi, and when you two visit the Fire Spiritual Stone, you will conquer."

"Hee, so where is the stone?"

They were now outside of Hyrule, just outside the large castle, not the one where Zelda resided, but the one he say more than two weeks ago. Turning towards the woman, he watched her, staring away from her and back to the place where they were going; Death Mountain. The one he had gaped upon for a few minutes, now Impa was at his side with her whistle, the same one that they had trained upon before. They really hadn't practiced much during the time he had been here, it was strange, but it was true that sometimes he would do it. Sometimes at night, the young boy would practice his ocarina; he would do it whenever Navi was asleep (yet sometimes he would awaken her.) "Are you ready to try again? We practiced this rarely, but I want you to learn it."

"Yes, ma'am, I am." He pulled out the Farie Ocarina from the pouch; the thing looking like it had been put to some used over the past eleven days. Pushing his lips to the instrument, the boy stared over at the older Shiekah and waited for the woman to start the lesson. First Impa played the Royal Family song twice, and let Link perform it, her eyes not in the usual training smirk, but a nice smile. It took a few minutes to learn the tune, yet when he was practicing the tune, he learned it in about five minutes passed before he did it. The second time he did it, he had no interruptions or any incarcerations, and looking up at Impa and Navi, he burst into giggles and hugged the little farie, as she hugged him back.

Impa's smiled widened to the two of them, bending down on one knew so the boy could get a better kiss at him, there he held him. In the nice embrace, the boy's cheeks were flushed from the hold of the older woman; she was beautiful in her own warrior-like way. "You two.I can't believe how far you've come. Surely the mountain would have killed you, if you had gone without my training. I am glad I got know you, Link, I am sure we will meet again." Leaning forward, he kissed his cheek and stood up with something in her hand, and there she threw down something with a flash sparking. The smoke was in both of their eyes, staring around to find out where he was, but they couldn't seem to locate her at this time. Smoke cleared his eyes, the boy coughing the last of it out of his system, the tears leaking a bit when the smoke was gone, though so was she!

"Navi! Where is she?" His cheeks were still red from the kiss.

"I don't know, she said she was a Shiekah, so maybe she is like a those Shinobis in those old stories. She has the power to disappear."

"W-wow. Okay, where do we go from here?"

"I want to go back and see Saria, besides, I have things to take care of."

"The mob, Navi.remember?"

"I remember, we'll have to sneak in at night and slip off the rope ladder, and then we can travel through the Lost Woods and go into the Sacred Forest Meadow."

"N-Navi, have you ever been in those woods!"

".No."

Link slapped his forehead and they began to walk, they walked the path while Link explained just what went on in the Lost Woods. "I've been in there about three times, each time Saria leads me because, for some reason, she can get through to the Sacred Forest Meadow. Going in there alone you get lost and die, then you turn into a Skull-kid, remember those legends. I think they are real."

"Link, you are silly! There are no Skullkids. Anyway, let's go to Lon-Lon for tonight, we can make it if we take the easy path. Last time you lead us around for a few days, that's why it took so long."

        --------------------

The two went on the road until they met the milk buggy from Hyrule, he was the same man and let them on for free when he saw how strong the boy had grew from his training. He rode them until about five o'clock that afternoon, where he dropped them at the Lon-Lon boundary point and went off towards Lake Hylia. At about five-thirty, they finally saw the road curve towards the boundary line and twenty minutes later the ranch was in full view. The cart wasn't going to Lon Lon Ranch today, it was headed down towards Kakariko to feed something called a scientist, so the man let them off and road on his own. Link could smell the chickens and the cows all over, so he raced up the hill with Navi at his side, for the next four miles, since the cart let them go.

        --------------------

When they finally got inside the ranch, it was late past six and the sun had already dropped, taking a slow pace, since there were no monsters. No fun wasting all of your energy if you were just going here for the night, he was going to waste all of it on the run, so a slow pace was kept. At least they were on the path and saw no Skullchildren that evening, or they had decided to spare him for the night and mess with him later on. When they entered the ranch Talon was already asleep, but they could see Malon putting the horses away, the man having taken an early sleep. It was fine with him, Link didn't mind so as he walked towards

he fence, Navi fluttered up towards Malon and spoke. "Miss Malon."

Malon spun around and gasped, there was the farie-boy and his farie. "Farie-boy, Navi! Hello there, you have been gone so long, what happened?"

Link caught up with the two, they were just outside the stables, and he leaned against one of the stalls, his back pressed against it. "We were trained by the Great Shiekah, Impa, Miss Zelda's guardian. She trained us for eleven days so we can be on our next quest."

"Quest? Just what are you doing, farie-boy?"

For the next three hours, they talked about what they were doing on the trip; inside the large barred fences where only that brown mare was running around the arena. He told Malon of how he found the stone, which Zelda had given back, and talked up until the training part, with Navi speaking in occasionally. Then it was time for supper, Link didn't want to intrude, but Malon insisted that he were to eat, so they were served by the grouchy Ingo. He was a nice man hard-working, Malon said, a sweet working man, but Ingo didn't like how her father was such a lazy man. The man treated the horses right and was good to her, sort of like a mean uncle, so she laughed it off and began to eat her eggs and drink the milk.

Link gulped down the LonLon milk and finished off the eggs, and then Navi began to talk, since she finished her meal before the two. She spoke of her training, let Link talk of his, and then she said how they fought together and the whole trip here, even in the forest. Mentioning the girl named Saria seemed to make little Malon a bit jealous, the fairie noticing it, but letting it go while Link just watched her. When they spoke of Saria, Malon got kind of quiet and nodded as they talked about how they stayed there, the boy's voice excited. Also mentioning about the fight with the Wolvos was a tough one, one they had never experienced, how he was wounded and bandaged up.

After the three hours were done Malon stared in surprise. "Wow, farie-boy, you are a hero?"

".Not really."

"Yes you are, Link." Chimed Navi, bopping him on the head. "Stop being so modest."

".I don't feel like one."

"You seem like one, Faire-boy. But, let's no argue it's nine o'clock and it's my bedtime. Do you want to sleep in the barn.we don't have any beds and my daddy won't allow me to have boys in the room." Spoke Malon, pulling the dishes from the grass, walking back into the house, and came back, petting a young mare next to her.

"Why?"

"I don't know, he's just weird, like that."

Malon left again, probably telling her father 'good night' and returned a few minutes later with two glasses of milk, ready for the two of them. She sipped her drink, almost completely forgetting about Navi, so she was about to head back when Link shook his head, taking a sip. Navi sipped on it next, sinking down a little so she could get at the milk, the boy sipping after her, not minding in the least of her germs. During this time, Navi kissed his cheek and went under the hat for some rest; she had had a hell of a day, as she said, or a week. An hour passed of talking before Link stared at the mare and blinked in surprise, and finally Link looked over her, remembering. "Oh.hey! Where's my song!"

"Huh? Oh, yea. I remember, well might as well do it now."

"I've gotten better on my Ocarina, too." He pulled it out and played the song of the royal family, as Malon clapped her hands together and smiled when he was done.

"Wow, you have! All right, let me sing it for you. Gimme some stationary so I can write it down." Link pulled out the same paper with the Royal Family song on it and she wrote it right below it. That was when she stood up, backing a few feet away, and began to melody the song, and what a beautiful song it sounded as. Malon had a beautiful voice, so the notes went out clearly from her diaphragm and a few minutes into the song, the mare went up and starting licking Malon. Link looked over at the mare; it was the same one she had petted before, except this one was a lot nicer than it had been. Actually, it was the only baby mare in the entire ranch, all the other ones were at the point where they were considered horses, this one wasn't. She giggled and turned towards Link. "Play it, it's her song."

"Whose?"

"Epona's, silly."

"Whose Epona?"

"The mare, dummy. Now play."

Again, the first time he screwed it up and Epona sort stared at him in utter disbelief, as if she couldn't believe that someone could mess up her song. Putting a hand over to pet the mare, it snapped at his fingers, not biting, but nipping at it, still frightening the boy a little, even though it was play. With a little more practice this time, the boy pushed it down against his lips and pulled the notes out in a beautiful tone, a tone that was matching the voice. Not sounding all the same, of course, it did have the same notes. Frustrated, he tried again and this time it actually worked, the mare ran up towards him and started to lick his face all over. Running his hands through her silver mane, the boy giggled and rested his head against her body. "How old is she?"

"Hee, she loves you, farie-boy! Oh, she's about seven months. "

"Alright, thanks for the song, well I am going to bed, okies?"

"Night, farie-boy!"

"Night, Miss Malon."

On the way to the barn, he ran into a busy Ingo, Ingo just acknowledged him when he climbed into the hay and fell asleep. He didn't mind the boy, it was actually nice to see a young lad on this ranch, maybe he would marry Malon and start working.he was a strong lad, that's for sure. Ingo wasn't greedy; he just hated the fact Talon did not care for the farm, yet he was rolling in the rubies from Hyrule marker. Milk was brand new in this town, because these were the only cows around these parts. The man closed the shop up, keeping the barn unlocked, so Link could get out in the morning and went to his bedroom in the LonLon house. As he lay they're asleep, all he could thing about was Talon.he hated the man, but he would never betray him, they were best friends.

        --------------------

The next morning, before he left the ranch, the boy explored the ranch house behind the fenced gating. Behind there, he searched onward. Link was alone this morning, because Navi had overslept, and that was quite unusual for her, since she was usually the one to wake him up. Usually Navi was up before the sun was; there she would bathe and get ready for the next morning, while he just slept the morning away. Link was always woken up at seven o'clock, usually that was; sometimes he would wake up on his own at the same time she was to get him. Maybe the training had mentally tired her, too. It was only four o'clock in the morning, so everyone was asleep when he slipped past the gates and stared up at the large tower, gasping silently. He had noticed it in the distance and asked about it. Malon had answered that the cows were out their and some boxes of milk. That didn't satisfy his curiosity, and so here he was.

Pushing the side door open, he poured in and was rebounded with the smell of the cows, but not as bad as the smell of the horses. A nice smell, the barn had been cleaned with some liquid, something that they didn't have in the Kokiiri Forest, yet it was a sweet smell. Peering inside, he saw seven boxes, each matching the ones he had saw at the castle, surrounding a particular space. The boxes are what intrigued him; they were placed in such a weird order, that they just had to be hiding a gift of some kind. Hrm, was there a present? Cows were also surrounding his the barn, but they were all stocked up to the sides.

Maybe it was a coincidence about the boxes, maybe it was fate, but something was behind those boxes, in this room and he wanted to know. Pulling all the boxes back, they seemed lighter than the ones from before, but these were full of jars of milk, heavier than that one at Lon Lon Ranch. The boxes at the castle were probably half-full while these were all the way full, that would explain the weight-difference between them. It seemed that Impa's training had helped him gain a little muscle. Hopping on top of one of the boxes and climbing over, he saw a small hole that had been hidden before. On his hands and knees, he went, crawling inside the hole a discovering another piece of art.

Yes! He couldn't believe his luck! Grasping the fourth of a heart container, Link climbed back out of the hole and went out of the barn with his hands pressed against the container. Grabbing the container with both palms, the boy kept his pace back to the place where he slept, wanting to expose the truth to her. No, he would wait for Navi to sleep; he didn't want to keep her from her sleep, so that she was recharged for her own journey. There he followed by his way out of the barn house and back to the stables or whatever those horses were. When inside the house, he picked the other heart container up and pressed the two together. Automatically, the heart containers disappeared and a new one appeared, but this one was made of three-fourth's heart. He smiled and headed back to his sleep position, where he fell asleep within minutes.

I'll tell Navi-chan in the morning.

        --------------------

Later that morning, Link awoke and ate breakfast, while Talon pestered him about helping with some work for staying the night. Agreeing, he helped them out that morning and at about ten that morning they said goodbye to the Lon-Lon Ranch. The next destination was the Kokiiri forest, where they would meet Saria and maybe she would teach Link a new song? Maybe so, maybe so. For the next day and half they traveled, the two had restocked some real food at the castle. They had milk, a lot of it, and the water in canteens. Some weird bread from Hyrule, not bad, as a matter of fact and some meat.

Meat was different, but it tasted wonderful, it really got the boy's blood pumping and his strength always increased with it. The two reached the Kokiiri Forest at nine o'clock that night, the moon already peering out and the Stalchildren rising from the graves. Everyone slept around that time, so he was afraid Saria was, no she wasn't asleep, it was a weird feeling that he felt around his heart. Somehow, in his heart, he knew Saria was waiting for him at his own secret spot, the Sacred Forest Meadow that no one could get into. Twenty-one days had passed since he had left the forest and now he was back here.he was home, the place of his birth. Three weeks, it was weird, it seemed longer.

        --------------------

"I think the jump is too far, Navi, I am not going to follow that stupid Deku's advice and break my neck." Link was standing on that long rope bridge, peering over at the end, his courage faltering at the jump on the way down there. Sure, it led into the Lost Woods and was the easiest way out of here, but the fall was about twenty feet and there was no ladder. The little farie couldn't help but agree with the boy, and nodded her head in conformant; it wasn't worth breaking his legs over that. No need to hurt yourself when they could just sneak inside of the place, it was so dark now, the guard may have been there, but he wasn't a problem. No, the guard could be dispatched with the new power that Link had gained over this journey, even if the guard was Mido (which he knew it wasn't.) "You're right, Linky, besides, it's only nine-thirty and everyone has to be asleep by now."

"But we pass right by Mido's--."

"I don't care, I will take him down myself, if I have too."

"Alright, thanks Navi, you're the best." Link smiled and stared down sheepishly, and Navi smiled back and perched upon his turquoise hat, looking forward into that brown log that led into the Kokiiri Forest.

"I'm ready.two weeks is a long time."

"Sure is, so hurry up." That was all the encouragement Link needed for his courage to go up, so he pushed a little forward into the log, empowered by the senses. No one was going to take care of him, now that he was back in the power from before, so he was not even going to let the boss take him down. Not that Link would dispatch of Mido, he could never do that, and he could knock him out and hide in the forest if the mob was still active. Into the twenty feet deep log, he ventured; noticing there wasn't a guard at the entrance. Loki must have been slacking off, because this was his time, at night, and walking upon the balls of his feet, he pushed forward into the Kokiiri Forest.

Crickets murmured all through the forest, as the pale moonlight shimmered in through the day. It's been so long. Will she not care? Link had passed by the training center and went right to Mido's house, the Lost Woods were right above his house, about fifty feet up.was the large wooden entrance to the path of destruction. That wasn't a fifty feet climb, though, a small ledge was sticking right off of Mido's house and he climbed up that easily, him trusting the vines. Then there was a space forward and some vines that led up to the main path and he had climbed this path before and was for certain that the vines would hold. Yes, these vines had been scaled so many times by both of them, him being smaller then, but he could still climb up here.

"Link? Will they hold, remember the Deku Tree's."

"I've been to the Lost Woods, Navi, I know they will work." Indeed, they did work, because within fifteen minutes he was up the forty-foot climb, only after three two-minute breaks. The boy was growing indeed, because last time he and Saria stopped for at least six times, each of them out of breath when they stopped. Now he was at the top, not really out of as much breath as he had been down there, it was a great climb and made him feel even stronger. Wow...it seemed incredible that in just a few weeks he was twice as stronger as he had even been in his life, it would usually take a while doing this. Looking all around, his eyes glanced at his house, not able to see it from here.

The climb really wasn't that bad at all, it was what was after the climb was the real scary part; the woods were what came next. Climbing in through the hollow log, he released into a small area with four entrances that were the following: North, South, East, and West. South was where he came from, so he stared around and heard the music, that beautiful tune that made the others wane in vane. The music was never heard, since he had never been in this place alone, so that must be the way she knew he would get through the woods. Yes, otherwise he would get lost; the tune was the only thing that kept him from turning into one of those Skullchildren (or dying of thirst.) "She's here, we just have to follow her music!"

"Her music, that's her playing?"

"Yea."

"She's a great player."

"Mmhm! She's been playing since I was an infant, and I remember it all. She would play and I would dance."

"You dance?" She sounded amused.

".Well, not a very good dancer." Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his head.

Giggling, she fluttered down to his shoulder and pecked his cheek, just trying to imagine the boy on what he would do, dancing. It was a cute little site, the boy probably so much smaller than before, she wished she could have known the boy when he was young. She had heard of him when he was younger, of course everyone knew about the boy without a fairie, but no one ever volunteered to be his faire. It was sort of against the rules. The boy would be able to hear better than him, her ears were just as long, but the boy's were bigger and could withstand greater distances. She heard it though and pointed to the east. "There?"

"Yea, that's great, I can hear her music clear as day!"

To the east he went, and he was correct, because if you got lost in the Lost Woods it sent you back to the end or you got lost in the middle. He knew it was the correct way for the target was there the place he liked to watch other people practice sometimes, but what target was there to view? There was small target hanging from a tree that was planted at the bottom of the small cliff. You see, when he entered he was on top of a small cliff, that fell about seven feet, and hanging up was a oak tree with a small clothe target upon it. Pulling out the Farie Slingshot, he aimed and struck the target a few times, that was when the scrub jumped up. His shrub was planted on the top part of the tree, away from the bull's eye and he trotted to the end of the tree where Link was firing. "Very good!"

"H-huh?" He was about to fire when the voice sprang free, he looked up and stared at the shrub, but this one looked friendly. "S-sir?"

"You're firing, you got three bull's eyes."

"Oh, well.I've been practicing."

"I see, well take this. It'll bring you great use, you smell like a warrior, and a warrior needs ammunition." From his muzzle spat a bag and it landed right before Link's feet, but before he could complain or reply the shrub was back in his deku hole and gone to the world.

Navi fluttered down and lifted the bag up to Link's height, it was not wet, and was made of a clothe material with little seeds sticking out. "A Deku seed bag, wow! Link, this is great."

"Wow.how many are in it." Navi spoke as he had been sparsely collecting them in the smaller bag, and now scrounging around; he felt that none were inside his pockets, they had disappeared!

"It can hold forty and it has forty in it! Wow, this great, it saves room and has easy access." Grinning, he slipped it into the pocket of the side pack he usually kept his seeds in and it fit firmly, this was turning to be quite an adventure.

        --------------------

With the Deku bag, the new one, replaced, but Link wasn't ready to go deeper into the woods, he saw something else that acquired his attention. Peering over the balcony, he saw two skullkids upon the branches, and they were playing some small flutes, having a wonderful time. Link hadn't run into any children that could play the instrument like him, except Saria, these might have been flutes yet it didn't bother him. Sort of scared of the legends from being true, they didn't look that scary at first glance, yet he wasn't even over the ladder, so he couldn't tell. Peering at them from the sunlight beaming down in the direction that was holding them, it was as if a hole was open in the trees.

"N-Navi! Look at those Skullchildren." Navi had seen it all right; she just stared down at the Skullchildren, her eyes widened in a sort of way someone can't believe it. As the legend went, if a Hyrulian child or any other race is lost in the woods that he or she would turn into a Skullchildren, Link getting it wrong? Kokiiri did not change if they were lost; they were sent back to the Kokiiri Forest, it had something to do with the Deku magic. Kokiiri's were the only kind that would not turn into the children, for some reason they were the chosen children of the Deku Tree and protected. Even if a person was with a Kokiiri, the magic wouldn't protect them and the ancient forest would kill them, the adults into stone. Not at all like the Stalchildren, those were friendlier to the Kokiiri, but adults disgusted them.

The Skullchildren, only being small showed their only resemblance to children, but they were dressed in such a tribal manner. Ancient masks adorned their faces, keeping what was behind, and away from the public, it was for some reason that they hated to show their faces. As the legend went, the Skullkids lost their faces when they turned into them, so the masks were to hide the realization that they had none. Some other legends said that they stole people's faces and those were actually the face of a person put in the form of a mask. The two were about half the size of Link, their clothes in a rebellion manner, the clothes not really matching the people of Hyrule, or Kokiiri.

"Should we go see them?"

"It wouldn't hurt, Link, they do seem to favor Kokiiri."

Walking to the ladder, Link slid down the seven feet and walked over to the smaller stump, a few feet from the children, if they could be called that. From this point of view, he could view what the Skullchildren were on weren't stumps, but half-cut trees, maybe they cut it themselves. They had no weapons, but they were supposed to possess some sort of special powers a weak sort of creature, it loses its memory in the process and gains power. Stronger than any normal Hyrulian or Kokiiri, the creature was supposed to be shooting out music at adults, it hated them with nature. Pulling out his Ocarina, he didn't play any song, in particular, the boy just blew out a single not to get them away from their game and notice him.

Abruptly, they stopped playing and looked towards the little Kokiiri. One of them, the one upon the taller stump-tree, spoke. "Who're you, Little Kokiiri?"

"M-my name is Link. And this is Navi." He pointed to Navi, who was sitting upon his hat, shaking with fear.

The taller one began to laugh full heartily. "Don't worry, little farie. Neither my friend, nor I shall harm either of you. Ah! I see you carry an Ocarina, young Kokiiri, might we play? I shall give you a present if you could follow my tune great enough. What do you say?"

"Well, sure." He needed the practice with the Ocarina, anyway, and somehow, these certain notes gave off special powers, or a special aura, wasn't it?

"Great, then let's begin." He and his friend both began to play their flutes, them a lot better than Saria, probably masters of the flute like the Kokiiri, Saria. First they were a simple three notes pressed together, and then Link took a deep breath, getting his concentration and following them accordingly. That was when they skipped to some more difficulty, playing six notes at one time, which was how many a regular song had. Link was hardly able to follow them, since no one wrote the things out, this was some sort of test on the ocarina that would make him better. Now was when they skipped past six and then the Skullchildren went to eight notes, not even stopping at the break-point for seven. Taking a deep breath, trying to remember their order, he stared forward and played it. Wow, he thought he had done it right, but then the Skullchildren looked forward at him, Link frowned, stepping off the stump a headed back towards the ladder.

".Where are you going, young Kokiiri?"

"I messed up, didn't I?" Of course he had, he just knew it.

        "No, young Kokiiri, you've preformed well."

        Giggling, he went forward and stood on the stump proudly, holding the Ocarina in his fist, as if it were his sword and he had won a battle. Link had been certain he had messed up, it was just the way they shook their heads and how the thing sounded on the ocarina. Maybe it was the fact that they were two different instruments and would sound different if they were played on different levels. Reaching into his pocket, the Skullchild threw a glass-jeweled case at him. Link caught the jewel case and gasped at the kid. "The fourth heart! Oh, thank you! Than--" But the Skullchildren were gone, and the two partners were alone in the forest, disappearing just like the way Impa did, though not as loud.

        "Link, you did it. What did he--Oh!" Navi saw the fourth section of the heart and fished the three-quart's part out, handing it to Link; she sat upon his shoulder, eagerly watching. "Link them."

        Pushing the two parts together the boy eagerly watched them, they disappeared and a newly formed heart appeared four parts. The heart turned into two smaller, each a little bit tinier than the others did, even smaller than the drinkable containers, not liquid, though. The new heart's pushed inside of Link and Navi, with full force, causing Link to scream out loud, Navi hiding herself from the energy. Newly energized and a newfound strength flowed through his pulsing body, the young boy grabbing a hold of his chest and staring at his palms. Reaching forward, he felt his warrior presence grow a little more than it usually was. It seemed that Navi's grew too. Her barrier turned brighter blue, and she stared at Link. It was new, the only way to describe the feelings were of accomplishment. The process was over in only about seven seconds, but it was gone.

        "W-what happened, Navi?"

        "The heart piece was just like the blue light!" She buried her face into his cheek, kissing it gently. "If we find these, we can beat Ganondorf. These hearts and the blue lights strengthened, healed, and re- energized us."

        "Heal us, hey, you're right." He just noticed this, the boy had been dirty and tired, but now he was fully advantaged and sort of clean, so he ran her hands over his tunic, he noticed it was nice looking. He wasn't clean, the tunic was still in its old form, it hadn't restored him back to normal, and the blue light had just made him even more powerful. Even though it had been repaired at the Hyrule Castle, he had torn it on the way to Kokiiri, so he could have to get it fixed with Saria. Maybe she would be mad that he tore it, though he had messed up his tunic before, the sides were just scuffed a bit, not at all like the last time. Saria knew how do sow, she and a few other Kokiiri had helped make his tunic, and they had done it since the boys didn't want to have nothing to do with it.

"Okay, the blue light and heart containers. Let's find as many of those as we can!" Climbing up the ladder, the young hero walked deeper into the woods, following her melody.

        --------------------

There were a series of eight more paths before he reached the garden of the Sacred Forest Meadow, each of them were harder than the next. The meadow was grassed out on the left and right ends of it leading up to the brown dirt wall that protected the meadow from intruders, but more peculiar of all was the entrance. Usually a small entrance was there for the boy and Saria to pass through, now there were a gate that blocked his way in and her way out. Link had never seen this before, there was never a gate and this gate had no handle, so no one could open it, by normal means. It looked just like the gate at Hyrule Castle, though it was white and so tall that he couldn't climb it, even if he could get up on the hedges. Four bars sharp as hell, sticking up and keeping him from getting inside the meadow.

        "Link, I thought you said you came here all the time."

        "I don't know, it's never been locked."

        "Is there a magic word?"

        ".Navi."

        "I don't know! Goddess, hmm, where too now. Let's just try coming up to it and yelling."

        Link didn't mention that the inner meadow, as he sometimes called it, was two miles through puzzles of garden mazes, all in great entertainment! Quite fun this place was one reason Mido never got in and he and Saria spent their time alone there, even when he could get in the Lost Woods. Playing the ocarina was not all they did there, they had several other games they played, sometimes just sitting next to each other and talking. The 'secret' place is what the two called it, because no one else knew about it, or no one would dare go into their own place, alone. Or no one else could grant access to it, even if they did survive the Lost Woods. While he stepped forward and thumped the bars, he didn't seem to notice something staring at him, a particular something with gleaming yellow eyes.

        --------------------

Delicious, it was delicious. The creature had been hidden in the woods for quite sometime, and this was rare, a young Kokiiri! Yes, there was that older one that she saw occasionally, but this one was young and pure, the other one she never messed with because she had powers. Weird powers that she smelt in the thing's blood, never wanting to get closer to that one, though she had brought this one here sometimes. Only ten years! Thanking her luck, the strong beast snapped her jaws once and rushed forward, moving on all four legs so that it could move faster. Beautiful gleaming fur adorned the seven foot tall structure, and able to stand on two legs, the paws extended double razor sharp claws. Fur of ash condemned the muzzle filled with teeth of sharp resonance. Pushing both paws into the ground, it leapt forward and was determined to sink her teeth into his flesh, that beautiful body was going to be a meal worth years of enjoyment.

        --------------------

"Wolvo!" Navi screamed out when the howl burst out, yes, they always howled when they attacked, a long and stupid scream, it was dumb to scream. Yelling out in a war cry was a bad sign, it showed that they gave themselves off and were very confident in their own strength. If Link had been slower and not known what a Wolvo was, he would be dead, but he didn't die that day because of his instincts. This creature, a wolf of some sort, slammed into the shield with all its might, growling and screeching for his blood, wanting to kill it. Quickly acting, she streamed to the monster's eyes and flashed an incredible brilliance of light, the brightness was too much, and the Wolvo hid quickly inside the lush grass that covered it completely, howling with ear-piercing intensity.

        --------------------

Wolvo, as in that thing she talked about? It seemed so because when his shield went up, in sort of an instant stability, instead of defense he felt the most intense pressure in the world. One hundred pounds of muscle slammed into the shield, smashing him against the dirt-clogged wall, leaving a deep bruise on his back. Leaping upward, he stuck the shield in his left hand and fished out his Kokiiri Blade, ready for battle with that stupid wolf for her sneak attack. Yes, this was it, a challenging battle with a monster! Almost bloodlust filled his mind, but he wasn't that crazy, all he wanted was to distinguish the monster, then get to Saria without it coming after her. So, he leapt forward, into the bushes, disappearing out of sight from the fairie so that she eventually followed him down into the deep brush.

The blade went instantly forward and that would have been the end of it, and he would have finished the beast off, a normal beast that was. It was just the beginning. the claws were raised up and blocked the sword, them almost as sharp as his sword was only using one claw. What's happening? How did it block the sword! Nevertheless, one of the claws blocked the sword, while the other went for his gut, and would have made it, if not the Deku Shield. That Deku raised and hit right above the eyes, stopping the claw flat, it knocked the beast off of its balance and there he would attack. Leaping up, at least four feet, he came down with sword at full risk into the Wolvo's torso. It began to struggle and threw him aside, like a rag doll.

Navi, on the other hand, her entire body began to shine a pure yellow colour, as if she were charging her aura or something. She continued to flow around its eyes, not blinding it with what Impa had taught her, she was doing something else, strange. This yellow was surrounding the Wolvo, but of course she didn't see the farie, that farie was so small and dull, and even if it did it paid no attention. Fairies were so annoying to some beasts, but to some they didn't mind them, the fairies would just stand in vain and watch their masters being eaten. It was always like that, it had gotten lost Kokiiri in the woods, long ago, and usually it ate the pixie after it got the master, them always making some dessert.

        --------------------

This thing was stronger than it looked was, he blocked her and then she was blinded by something, the light not really affecting her vision. Some sort of farie, she didn't know the guardians actually protected their masters and mistresses, but what this one did was known. Usually the faire was too dim to even make her take a second glance, this one not blinding it, just taking its attention off the boy. Wow, it was strange to see the fairie actually trying to do something to protect its master; in this case she handed it credit for that. Blocking that cold metal, she was then blocked lost her balance when the thing became even brighter, actually brighter than before, there she was stabbed through the torso.

The pain! This pain was immense, like being boiled into a thousand of Din's own fires; the suns would have incinerated her carcass. The suns were already cold and survived inside of her breast, she letting out a growling of a guttural cry; she threw the boy aside and stared off to the side. The wound was fatal, unless she found a farie garden and groped them out against there life, but she knew that would never happen. There was no time do any of that, just enough time to take him out, he thrown aside when she was stabbed, probably knocked out. Indeed, he was out for the count, so why not taste that flesh for a quick second, and leaping forward, she landed right beside him and licked the muzzle, below lowering her head to feed.

        --------------------

No! He was not going to die! That was something this force was going to make sure of, the light that had been charging was finally ready to start to activate. Thank the Goddesses that they were trained by Impa-sama, because there was no way he could have dodged this enemy, without the training. How foolish of the Deku Tree to send him off without any proper training, did they want him to die; it was foolish of the tree to do that. He may have been the Guardian of the Forest, though if he had known this sort of destiny was in for them, he should have trained him. Now, with her barrier shining a bright yellow, she stared at the Wolvo as it pinned him down and concentrated for a second more.

The second seemed like eternity, but it was over before its teeth pieced his flesh, the second ended and a beam of chi light slid into its body. Before the beast died, it did get to cut the skin a little, right near the area that it so desired, the place that smelt the best. The chi light began to disintegrate its entire body, right before her eyes, the whole body was done in about five seconds and all that remained was a light of dust. T-this power.it was incredible, there was no way to describe the feelings she felt. Instinctually, she fluttered to his side and kissed his wound, a small gash was on his forehead, not a deep one.it was only bleeding light, but the gash was nasty. Saria would be able to dress it so the pain would cease some and it wouldn't infect.

Clink!

Looking forward, Navi saw the small little gates give way and slid down into the earth, wow, it seemed the Wolvo was the triggering device to open the gate. "Just don't die on me, Link, we'll get there!"

        --------------------

He was able to raise himself up and limped forward through the maze, the maze surprised and irritated the young Navi. She had to help him hold his shield, to deflect the Deku Nuts, at those mad scrubs, something that he hadn't mentioned were inside the place. Yes, the scrubs were annoying, but what was even more annoying was that neither of them knew their way through the forest. They were off running like cowards, so there was no reason to execute them, they would just jump in the hole and hid until he left. Over eight mazes, and two hours later, they reached a small area that had two Mad Scrubs and stairs descending upward into some new area, that is when Link ran.

Not even bothering to block, he slammed the down the first one's throat, dodging the second's nut and sliced the second one in two as it tried to desperately hide in it's protective bush, but that wasn't enough, nothing was enough for him. He was sick of these beasts, he was sick of them and showed no mercy to the last two, the others had been free to get away, these being executed. The bleeding, when they reached a small lake, was washed and wrapped a small tear from his tunic.he desperately needed to stop tearing the tunic and get some first aid-supplies. The tear of clothe wrapped around his forehead, like a bandanna, but that didn't matter.nothing mattered, he could hear the Ocarina closer than ever! She was just up those stairs, so close that he could almost smell her beautiful scent, the scents she bathed in to make her smell that way.

There he ran inside of the inner meadow and stared forward, in amazement, not even realizing how beautiful this place really was. He hadn't been to the place for quite a few years, when he got older he had to do other stuff around the forest and help out, it was the same. There was a small gossip stone to the right, and inside the middle was one of those platforms of the Triforce, something he didn't remember. He surely hadn't noticed this before, and it was the same colour as the original one, but the small medallion in the middle had a different insignia upon it. Up forward ahead, about twenty yards, were a few stumps and upon the one in the center, she was, just as she always sat.

Those beautiful blue tiers pressed down into a closed expression, blowing into the small instrument that was the resemblance as his. She hadn't even noticed him yet, well, that was great, he did want to sneak up on her and surprise her a little, which was what he wanted. He crept forward, a few paces, the tears escaping his eyes, and when he thought of that day.so long ago, he cried even harder to himself. Finally, three feet from her, he collapsed onto the ground and fainted, not even able to get close enough to call out her name. What he fainted from was always hard to tell maybe the joy of seeing her or even the blood loss from his scalp and side. Maybe a little of both.

        --------------------

Huh? A sound? No one can get up here, unless a Wolvo! She was too scared to look, and stared down for the next ten seconds, expecting to be devoured by one of those or someone to talk. They had been appearing all in the Lost Woods, Saria hadn't seen one in the longest while, but she did notice that their scent was in the air. She had not seen one in Link's lifetime, the Wolvos having been so-called 'extinct' or put to rest in another part of the Lost Woods. There was no howl, no pain, and nothing else, but the fluttering of her own farie's wins, the nice sound that she loved to hear. Saria began to blow on her Ocarina, until she realized that there was one small factor missing from this story, not the rustle of the leaves, but the wings.

Wait! Her farie was sick today; she was at Saria's house, in the bed! Then whose farie.Mido was here? Maybe, but she hoped to Farore that wasn't true, not wanting to find out that the stupid boy had found his way out into the garden. If he had then they were all in trouble, she had set the gate up so that no one could get into it, unless it was Link, she knew he could. There was a switch right next to it. Looking forward, the sight she saw made her eyes widen in excitement and then in fear, that some boy was there, not Mido. There was her Kokiiri boy, lying on the ground, a few feet from her, and Navi was at his side trying to awaken the beauty from his sleep. Why wasn't he waking up! She dropped her Ocarina on the grass and leapt forward, slamming into the soft patches, two inches from him. "Miss N-Navi-!"

"Oh, Miss Saria! H-he fought a Wolvo to get the entrance open and then smashed into a wall, do you have a farie!" She shivered, trying to shake him awake.

"Wolvo? I set the gate shut, but I didn't put any Wolvo there. Hold on a second!" Saria literally leapt to her satchel; right by the stump she rested on, and pulled out a small red potion, throwing the ocarina aside. It didn't bust, the entire field was full of grass and it was made of a strong Deku wood, though she didn't care if it shattered at this moment. Sprawling back to the scene, she sat Link's head inside of her lap and tried to make him drink it.no good, he wouldn't take it! So, she opened her own mouth and let her take all the liquid inside of her mouth, but instead of swallowing, she opened his mouth deep-mouth kissing Link. The potion wasn't going to heal the wound; it would awaken him from unconsciousness, clean the wound by itself and take the pain away for a while.

        --------------------

"What are you doing, Miss Saria, he needs that.elixir?" Well, she couldn't believe her eyes, because there, right before her, the wise and sweet Saria deep-mouth kissed her Linky. It was a kiss, a deep kiss that Navi had never seen Saria do, she didn't think that she was capable of something like this. Jealously flared inside of her body and she flew to her face, having a curse out, in the Faric language, before speaking in the understandable tongue. Glad that the boy or Saria couldn't understand the language, she said a few bad things, the girl not even paying any heed to her. It did good, because later on she regretted what she said, not even know how jealous she could become with what the girl was doing. "What are you doing! This is not the time for romance. Don't you see he is dying!"

She didn't stop, though, she kept pouring herself into the kiss, which boiled and burbled the jealously inside of Navi's heart. "What are you doing, Saria!" How dare she, how dare she kiss her Linky!

Why is that? Spoke another voice.

Because, he's-- Because he's-- Because he's. She broke off.

Because he's what? Yours? Don't make me laugh, you can't handle him, he is not yours!

Yes he his! Cried out Navi, silently. He is mine and I am his.

Think what you want, but he is hers. The voice stopped, and Navi stared out into space, ignoring Link and Saria, wondering that maybe it was all true, the voice spoke the truth. She had no idea that that was; the voice certainly wasn't her own, for she would ever have been that mean to herself, she loved Link. Maybe it was someone else; maybe she was hearing some voices in her head, going crazy, that seemed a possible solution to it. They were nothing but partners, but wasn't that what she wanted, although it was what she had wanted at first, now she didn't know. So confused, so confused. Moving over to his shoulder, she lay upon it and fainted, not passing out from the kiss, she was out from the restless fighting.

        --------------------

Nervous breakdown? No, she just fainted, that was all. Saria concluded that and continued to kiss the boy, but in actuality, she was putting the liquid inside of his throat, from mouth to mouth resuscitation. When she finished that bottle, she fished out another and did the same thing, watching the little farie go to a faint, wondering what her deal was. Yes, nothing but a faint. About ten minutes later, and after the third and last bottle, Saria sat back, wiping her lips and glanced down at him, peacefully. This would work, the elixirs always worked, also taking some on the bandanna he has on his wounds and soaked them in the liquid, retying them around so they wouldn't infect. It didn't work that way, so she ripped them off of him and took out her 1st Aid Kit, wrapping it out in some white bandages.

        --------------------

Where am I? All I remember was some gates and a wolf.or something like that. Maybe not in that order, but he came too and could hear breathing right at his chest, which was most likely Navi. Sometimes during the night she would rest on his chest, or anywhere else, then stare at him longingly for hours. It was weird how she did it, sometimes he asked if she was sick, and her reply would be. '.Yes-- I m-mean I'm fine, Linky!' Then she would smile and lay her head back down. She was sick with something all right, but he couldn't quite place it. Sometimes, he even caught her watching him bathe, not in a perversity way, but she watched his face from the sleeping bag, occasionally. But, I'm not with her, at a tent, now am I? She was there, no one breathed as softly, yet as deeply as she did, but he wasn't asleep. Had he been unconscious? Yes, that was it.

Rising up, he felt a hand push him back, while a beautiful voice, not Navi's, speak, those hues of cerulean stared up into the matching ones of an older girl. "Hey, you sit back and rest. You took a nasty gash to the head."

"S-saria! Oh, Saria!" Disobeying her orders, he leapt forward, and tackled her to the ground, the boy going off in frenzy at her, ignoring the pain. The pain was ignored, even though the one in his sides ached, the one on his head also was in a lot of suffering, and the effects had worn off. Laughing wildly, he giggled and nuzzled her neck affectionately, as the girl let out a cry of surprise and continued to return the affection. He had found her, after all those weeks without her, the commotion had calmed down, the boy still ignoring the pain, and it was worth it. He had found her, finally! Yes, kissing her cheek, he pushed himself back, but was promptly pushed back into the grass, a rough hand lying on his chest.

".I'm glad to see you, now lay back and get some rest! Now!" She could be quite demanding, when she wanted, so he sank into the grass gathering up that consciousness he placed Navi under his hat and sank back into the unconsciousness.

        --------------------

Five more hours passed before he awoke again, Navi had awoken about three hours before and left sulkily, not even wanting to give a reason. When Saria had asked where she was going, Navi had replied that she was 'taking care of some business before they leave, tomorrow.' Maybe the business that she wanted to take care of when she said that she needed to take care of, the reason they headed to the forest. That was the last she saw of her, the entire day, Navi wanted be with them, Saria wouldn't have minded her there, yet maybe she would have. Fairies were supposed to be quiet and talk only to their masters, Navi wasn't like that, she liked to talk to other people, also. Overall, Link had been asleep for eight hours, since arriving in the forest. It was around five o'clock, when he raised up and stared at the ground, moaning.

He had such a headache, the bandage from his forehead was gone, but when he traced his hands up there a scar was in its place. It had healed; somehow, it should have taken a little longer to heal itself, but maybe the Kokiiri were faster healers than the rest of people. That was a nice thought, though Link knew better, he had been hurt before and none of his wounds healed within a few hours. A few hours are what Link guessed was how long he had been out, although he really couldn't tell from the sun. The headache subsided when something was pressed to his lips and he gulped it down, but then he peered up and met into her gaze. ".Saria?"

"That better?" She pulled the bottle away from his lips, slipping it into her satchel and rested right down beside him, them place on his chest. Still wearing that forest dark sweater, with the lighter shirt under it, and those small shorts that showed off her legs, the young boy staring up at him, cheeks flushed. Looking at Saria was nice, she was one of the most beautiful girls in the forest, and with her hair not the same colours as any of theirs. Link had always guessed she dyed it, he never asked because he was afraid that she might get mad that he was noticing that. Bending down, she sat down right beside him, and stroked his cheek, her gaze looking at him as though a mother would, it was nice.

"Mmhm.it feels much better, what was that?"

"An ole' Deku elixir, believe me, Link.you don't want to know the ingredients."

He let out a small stream of giggles, then gasped and felt under his hat, when his hand searched under and didn't feel the glow or a solid body. When Navi was in her normal form, he could feel her body, though when she had a veil on, he could feel the glow of it, the warm glow. Noticing this, because each morning, when he awoke with her under his hat, small warmth was around his hair, but this morning it was as cold as the rest of his body. Taking his eyes off of Saria, he searched around, hoping he didn't lay on the little fairie by accident, he had always thought he might. That was why she slept in his hat, though sometimes she didn't sleep there and kept on his chest for that. "Navi, where is she?"

"I don't know, she was mad and left about three hours ago, she seemed sad."

"Navi's moody sometimes, she just stares at me sometimes.she's a little odd, but she's sweet."

A quick nod from her and then moved a bit closer, wrapping her arms around his body, before taking him inside of her arms. Those arms.so warm wrapped around him, placing him right in the center of her lap, turning him towards her, with those soft hands. Saria had always sat him in her lap, when he was younger, but it had been so long since the last time, he wasn't heavy, and she just thought he was too old. I guess now was a different case, because he hadn't even asked for permission, she had just sat him down in his favorite spot. Link couldn't help it as the dark colour rushed to his cheeks, and giggling nervously. "Saria, did you miss me?"

".Of course I missed you, silly. Without you here, I had Mido to deal with."

".Sorry."

"So, why haven't you been back sooner?"

"Oh my Goddess, Saria! You won't believe how big Hyrule is, it took me about a week to get there!" His eyes misted before, were night illuminating with excitement.

"Really, wow, what did you see."

"Oh, I brought you a present!" Jumping from her lap, he fumbled for his satchel and sat back on her lap (he always enjoyed it there) taking out the bottle of Lon-Lon milk, propping it to her lips. "Drink."

"What is-ugh!" Her mouth was filled with the sweet taste of liquid, but before she could throw up, the girl's throat filled with the sweet taste. Mm, it was so delicious, and she couldn't help gulping down the whole bottle, hogging the entire thing to himself, the boy was gonna give it to her anyway. He had tasted the milk at the ranch and loved the way it was, and sipped on the little bottle on his way to the forest, so the liquid didn't spoil. Malon had explained that the liquid could last several days without being iced down, that what was so special about the milk. When she was done, Saria let out a small burp and giggled a little. "What was.that, Link?"

"Milk."

"K-Kokiiri Milk?"

"No, it comes from an animal called a cow, and the milk is for their babies, but this is different. It comes out of their udders, or.err."

".What?" He pointed at her chest uncomfortably, and stared off to the side.

"Tell me, Link."

".Teat."

"Teat?" She scratched her head.

Link blew a sigh out and began to explain the process of how Hylians got their milks from their mothers, even though they were all mammals. It was weird how the Kokiiri got their milk, yet none of the Kokiirish had any breasts, except the older Saria and she were never had children. Actually, none of the children were able to have children, they could do the act that gave you children, but they were never with children. The Deku Tree fed the Kokiiris, when they were infants, from small saplings of some kind of milk, it was rumored the tree is where the babies came from. This explanation was very different, and when he was done, Saria was flustered with embarrassment, too. "Oh, there."

"Y-yea, there. Did you have a funeral?"

"Yes, we had a ceremony the day after you left, for the Deku Tree, not you. Have you been in the Kokiiri Forest since you came back?"

"Well, some, I passed by Mido's house and that was it, why?"

".Don't go to your house."

Link's eyes widened, his possessions were in there, what did they do to his place, his eyes stared at her eyes; she was staring to the side. "What did Mido do!"

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I got out all your stuff. It's all in here, it's in the tree off to the side."

"Saria.?"

"Mido and his men, not the women, they had no part in this. Mido and his men went inside your house, the day after you left, and burnt it down."

"Burnt it down! What do you mean!"

"Mido and his men burnt your house, and the tree down. I got out all your stuff, Link, but I know it hurts. I was mad, too. But now he is being overbearing, insisting you are a traitor and never can come back. What time did you sneak in into the place?"

"Nine o'clock."

"Alright, well, let's stay here for the day, Navi said she's going on some 'Farie business'."

Link just stared at Saria with a confused look plastered upon his face. "Farie business? Well, never mind; let's stay here. I want to tell you all about what I've done. You eager to listen."

"You bet!"

The rest of the day was spent with Link telling Saria all about his adventures, all that he had done on his adventures. He told her about how he went inside the Deku Tree, the entire puzzles, and battle with Gohma and what happened to the Deku Tree. How he really died, and not Mido's lies, though he was sure that he had no need to tell her that Mido was lying, she probably knew. Of course Saria already believed him. Next was the trip to Lon-Lon Ranch, the fight against the Stalchildren and traveling down to Hyrule Castle. Talking about the Temple, how he played those weird games, which delighted Saria all together and sneaking into the castle, and then he got to the part where they were trained.

"You were trained for eleven days? Wow.by whom?"

"She was Princess Zelda's guardian, and she was tough. I think I am tougher than any of the Kokiiri's around."

"You beat Gohma, of course you are."

"Hee.Saria."

        "I also learned some new songs." Link didn't leave out a single detail, he told her the Deku Tree's of creation (which she already knew), and the Royal Family's version of the story (which she didn't know), about Ganondorf, and the Ocarina songs he just learned.

        "Would you play for me, I know several songs, but probably not these."

        "Sure, I want you to see how great I've gotten, but probably not as good as you, Saria."

        Stepping off her lap, and sitting down a few feet infront of her, there he pulled out his wooden Ocarina, from his side pack that was still around his waist. Pushing the circular bodied instrument, with the tube- shaped blowing piece off the top and blew into it, wanting so bad to impress her. While he played into it, the tune of the Royal Family streamed out, the tune was soft and sweet, having a nice melody around it. Next was the melody he learned from Epona, and he didn't even need the papers for the tunes, that was already learned now. He knew them by heart! When he was finally done, the boy sat eagerly, watching her with full attention.

        "Wonderful! You have gotten so many betters, Link, honey! Want to learn my tune?"

        "Oh, yes! I want to learn your tune so much!"

        "Alright, but it is a bit more advanced than those two." Saria reached out and pulled her own Ocarina from her side pack, preparing the identical instrument for the boy, before playing it. The difference between the two Ocarinas was that Saria's didn't have the little inscription that she had written upon his, it was nicer. Hers was also a little more useful, and showed the signs of it, the way it had played upon for the years past, never even rotting. Grabbing his stationary, and a small pencil, she wrote down the notes for him, under the Lon-Lon Melody and handed it back to him. Blowing into the Ocarina, she played the tune beautifully, but this tune was different from the others. This tune was quicker than the others and had a fast-paced movement to it. Link couldn't help but hum the tune; it was, after the entire one he grew up with.

        After she finished to tune she turned towards him, the ocarina held down and, she nodded to him, smiling for the boy to begin. "Now your turn." The first time was disaster, as with the other songs, but she simply patted his head and made him try again, she had always been patient with him. Whenever he messed up doing something, failed at something, she never yelled at him, but always had been the most patient. Since the tune was longer, he spent about twenty minutes trying to learn it, it a little more difficult than the others had been. When he didn't need to memorize it, he placed the paper back inside his satchel and began to play it by heart. A little tuning, three hours later, he was back up to speed with her, but not as great as she was.

        --------------------

During that time Link didn't see Navi, but Navi saw Link, the fairy's absence had him really worried, that maybe she was hurt. There actually was some business, she traveled and mourned to the Deku Tree, she hadn't cried when he first died, it seemed weak, now was the time. On her way, she viewed the Link's disastrous house, that was quite sad, but that was to be expected with an idiot like Mido in charge. When she went back to the Sacred Forest Meadow, after getting lost through the woods about seven times, she came upon the part where Link told her about his adventures. She just perched up a tree and watched the whole scene, he was only at the parts about where they first entered the Deku and she wanted to see if she would actually seem important. Wow, and this was very surprising, he talked about her with the deep most respect.

        "She saved me.I don't know why, we had known each other for only seven hours, and she saved me. It's weird, Saria; she makes me feel good. I feel the same when I am with her, when we are together. She and I, we are two, and partners until I find my way out of this mess."

        "What mess?" Saria had asked.

        "I'm getting to that."

        Several other times she was mentioned and greatly respected, her pride opening up whenever she was mentioned, it seemed that it was true. The little Kokiiri held a deep affection for the girl that was really surprising, she had always thought that the boy just thought of her as a friend. That voice was wrong, that voice didn't know what it was talking about, it was as stupid as the rest of the fairies that disapproved. Most fairies thought that falling in love with their masters was stupid and most of them were right, but those weren't the ones who fell in love. She loved Link and Link loved her, and so what if Link had a crush on Saria. Saria didn't feel the same about Link, he was obviously too young for her.

        You're a Farie. The voice had returned.

        So what! She screamed out.

        You are just a Farie, get over it.

        And he is just a Kokiiri!

        About ten times your size. The voice rambled on for a few more minutes, before she closed her hands over her ears and it left, not able to hear it and waiting for it to disappear. The voice was gone and she loved Link.that was what there was all too it. She could see a lot of people liked Link. He was strong, brave, and he had faults. He showed them, and for that he was her hero. As she had said before. '...If no one else isn't your hero, than your mine.' That wasn't the exact quote, but something around those words. It was corny, yes, but true as could be. There were a few other ladies who admired Link from afar. There was Saria, Malon, the farm girl, and Zelda. Of course, Impa had kissed him, but she was just being coy, nothing else. Each had nice qualities, but he was a hero and only needed one person, a partner.

        --------------------

That night, he told her of where he was going next, a weird village named Kakariko Village, he had passed it on the milk truck, not getting out when they stopped there. Whenever they had gone there, the boy was unconscious, Navi didn't leave him, so she just stayed inside of the cart and slept. From there he was going up to Death Mountain to visit a race of Gorons, a race that even Zelda and Impa didn't know much about. Saria told him as much as he could possibly hope to know about the Gorons. They were an ancient race of large monster-like creatures, but they were friendly. The people were connected with the Royal Family, or so the Deku had said, and they lived off of rocks.

        "Rocks?' His voice dripped with sarcasm.

        "I am serious, they eat rocks."

        ".Wow, that's weird."

        "I forgot something, when you play the Ocarina, you can use it as a communication device."

        "Communication? What do you mean?" He held out the Ocarina and stared at his, slowly speaking into it. "Hello.hello."

        Saria slapped his cheek playfully, and giggled. "No, you little dummy, you play the tune when we are far away and we can speak to each other. It's actually a much better way we can communicate and stop this long trip, but you will be back, won't you?"

        "Yes, Saria.I will travel back, of course I will. After I get the Spiritual Stone of Fire I will come back and after I get the Spiritual Stone of Water. I will come back before I report back to Zelda, so do you have any idea where the water stone, maybe at?"

        "No, I don't, but I'll do some research and get back to me after you have the Fire Spiritual Stone, or before. I might be able to tell you, by then."

        Nodding, he sat laid down upon the grass, rubbing his sides upon the grass, staring at the ground, running the grass through his fingers, and pointed towards the end of the meadow. "You can go."

        Laying down, right beside him, she stared into his eyes. "Where shall I go?"

        ".Well, you can go back to your house, I mean, I'm alright alone."

        "Well, I'm not going, Link. I hardly see you, let me sleep here, please?"

        "O-oh, it's alright! I don't mind, I just thought you were worried about your own home."

        Saria sat up and scooted over to his side, pulling him up in her arms. "I am worried, but I want to stay with you, why would I rather sleep alone and have Mido banging on my door all night, when I can be with a you, Link."

        Flushing, he shrugged and laid his head against her soft shoulder, and wrapped his arms around her neck, the boy trying to fall back asleep. There the boy slowly nestled his head into her neck and fell asleep within seconds, even though he had slept a lot from before. Saria couldn't sleep that way, so after twenty minutes of it, she laid him down on his body and laid right beside him, where she fell asleep minutes later. It was peaceful that night, the gates rising be

ore she went to sleep, granting it so that no one could get inside and mess him or her up. Navi could still get in, flying over or even through the gates, so she left them up so much that she could slide through them once more.

        --------------------

Navi spent the night asleep in the tree, all night she dreamt of him, and when she floated across and saw them in the morning, she didn't mind. During the day when they were talking she really wanted to go back, she really didn't have any fairish friends to communicate with. It was weird to be without him, she felt as though she was dead inside, without him was the strangest feeling she had ever felt. It was almost the way she felt everyday she was without him, before she met him, yea it was sad being her before that little journey. She saw that and shrugged her shoulders, not giving a care in the world and thinking to herself silently. He needs me more. That was when she went to his shoulder and rested on it.

        --------------------

The boy earned another piece of heart, as he, Saria, and Navi were coming out of the Lost Woods. As they came near the exit, the group ran into another Skullkid. This one was in it's own little meadow, a wrong turn they took on the way out, or maybe Saria was leading them to the place where it was. She did say she had seen Skullchildren before, not at all surprised when they ran into it, these things were common for someone who was always here. Maybe they never came out when Link was around, for they didn't trust him, though the situation seemed to have changed. When Link sat up on the stump, the Skullkid looked up towards him.

"You can't talk? Hey, how about this?" Pulling out his Ocarina, he slowly played Saria's tune, and when he looked up, the skullchild was dancing around joyfully. Reaching into its pocket, and throwing out a small piece of another heart, this piece Link caught this piece, as the Skullkid disappeared. Catching the thing in both hands, the boy's eyes lit up at the thought of another one of those pieces of hearts, becoming closer to defeating Ganondorf. Yes, these things would help him and Navi, they just needed a few more of them and he was sure he could take on an adult by himself. Maybe about ten more and then he could beat Ganondorf, Link may have been strong, but he didn't think he was a match for Ganon, just yet.

"Wow, what's that?" Saria peered over his shoulder.

"A piece of heart. " The boy slipped it into his satchel, looking over at Saria and explained just what was the deal with the lights and the blue fires and that took a few minutes, but when he was done a fascinated Saria glanced lovingly at him.

"Wow, you sure do a lot of stuff here."

        --------------------

The very next day, Saria and Link met the same bridge they had met at only a few weeks ago, them spending the last night in the forest also. He was going to leave that afternoon, realizing it would be dark before they got the Lon Lon and just dismissing the thought, wanting to spend it with her and Navi. Yes, Navi even stayed this time, the boy begging for her to not go away from him last night, it scared him so much that she was gone. That sort of melted the girl and she stayed the night with them. This time, however, there were no tears or short good-byes with Link and Navi, inside of his hat, wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I'll miss you, Saria."

"Don't speak that way, I am going to see you again." There she slowly leaned forward and kissed his lips, as before, this time not spur of the moment, a smaller kiss than the last time. Nothing was inside of his mouth, this time; it was a smaller kiss, something that they used to do on the cheeks, this time on the lips. Blushing his same little stance, the boy let the feelings insides of him twirl, feeling weird around his stomach; it was just like before. Those feelings swirled around and he felt the pressure inside his body, it was as if it was building up, and about to explode. The boy felt hotter than ever and when he pulled back, he refastened the satchel and spoke. "Yes. Yes, of course, I will come back, Saria."

"Goodbye, Link."

"Bye, Saria. Don't worry about me, just be near at our secret place and always.Always be with me."

"I will, in my heart."

"And in mine, too." With that, he turned around and ended the bridge, and there he went on to the weird village of Kakariko.

Chapter 2

Habuki's Fanfiction