Categories > Games > Zelda > The Switch of Fate
A Switch of Fate
By: USA Tiger
Disclaimer: The characters of The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time belong to Nintendo and the guy who made these characters, I'm just borrowing them for the time being.
Chapter 4
Link was starting to think maybe he should have gone ahead to Kakariko Village. Not because he needed to continue this quest he had been forced on, but because it was a lot later than he thought it was. There was no way he was going to make it to the forest before sunset and he really didn't want to sleep in a tree again. At least the town had somewhat been close to the castle, he could have made it there before night fall. The Kokiri came to a stop, looking around for a place to stay for the night. While he was hoping for a cave or even another tree at this point, his purple tinted blue eyes spotted a walled in area that wasn't that far away!
"Yes," he said quietly to himself. Cluck, who was safely tucked into the boy's tunic, clucked quietly, feathered head sticking out of the top. Navi was safely hiding in the stocking cap; the fairy had given up some time ago to make her charge change his mind about going back to the forest for a visit. This was the strange trio of travelers that came into Lon Lon ranch. A tune seemed to be drifting on wind along with the whiney of horses. Link slowly walked to the center of the ranch, letting Cluck out of his tunic as the Cucco wiggled, seeing others of his kind. The blond looked around, looking for the source of the tune that was drifting about, spotting a red headed figure in the middle of the fenced off area.
"Hey!" Link called out, running toward the figure. The figure, which turned out to be Malon, the girl from Hyrule Castle Town, stopping her light singing. Her dark blue eyes lit up as she recognized the forest boy.
"Oh, you’re the fairy boy from town! Thank you for getting my father. He was such in a hurry to get back to me this morning," Malon giggled lightly, holding a hand up to her mouth. "It was quite funny. Oh I have to introduce you to my friend! This is Epona." The red head turned to a filly that was standing just behind her, which Link noticed for the first time. The foal made a high pitch whiney noise before taking off, nearly knocking Link over in the process. "Oh, I'm sorry, she doesn't like other people very much. You should see what she does to Mr. Ingo," the red head started to giggle again. Link just smiled softly as the girl rambled on.
"What was that song you were singing?" He asked, remembering the tune that had drifted on the breeze when he first came in.
"Oh that was a song my mother wrote, it's called Epona's song," A small pang of sadness rang through Malon as she remembered her mother. “It seemed to float on the breeze the day Epona was born so we named her after the song. In fact she seems to like the song that shares her name very much!" Malon hummed a few bars to prove her point, Epona coming closer to where the two children stood but still keeping her distance. Link watched the cinnamon color filly, taking out his ocarina and played a few notes on it. Epona snorted a bit, pawing at the ground with her hoof but didn't come any closer, seeming to watch Link with her dark eyes. "Oh what a cute little ocarina! Won't you play my song with me?"
Malon batted her blue eyes, wanting to hear her mother's song on the little green instrument. "Alright." was the answer she got, waiting a bit before realizing Link didn't know the whole song. The red head quickly song out the notes a few times, smiling as sweet notes of the ocarina mixed in within after few minutes. Soon she stopped singing, listening to Link as the Kokiri played the tune, the boy never noticing that Malon had stopped nor that a certain filly was slowly trotting up behind him. Even Navi seemed to be entranced by the tune, half of her body sticking out of Link's stocking cap and head resting on her hand.
"Whoa!" Link startled as nose nudged him from behind, interrupting the flow of music. The small blond turned around, coming face to face with Epona as the small horse nudged him in the chest demanding to be petted.
"Oh how cute, Epona likes you now!" Malon clasped her hands together, giggling at the scene. Link smiled softly as he complied with the foal's wish, gently petting her nose.
"Malon! Time to come inside!" Talon called form the house, telling his daughter it was time to come in.
"Come on," Malon said, grabbing Link's hand and dragging the boy toward the ranch house. They passed the ranch hand Ingo who was heading toward the pasture to herd the horses and Cuccos into the barn. Talon looked down as his daughter came running up, a familiar blond right behind her.
"Well now, yer the boy from this morning, right?" The large belly man said with a laugh. "I gotta thank you fer waking me up. Malon here was really mad but after a while she forgave me." Malon just giggled, she knew that she had her father wrapped around her little finger. "Go and wash yet hands fer dinner Malon."
"Yes Dad," the red head said before running to do as told.
"So what are you doing out in the middle of Hyrule Field so close to sunset?" Talon asked, looking down once again at Link. “It’s dangerous out there."
"I know. I was wondering if... um..." Link looked down at his boots and blushed, a bit shy to up and ask if he could stay the night at the ranch. After all, Talon might think it was rude.
"We want to stay here for the night, since there is nowhere else we can go," Navi finally piped up, coming out of her hiding spot in Link's cap. While Link may have been too shy to ask this favor, she wasn't.
"Well I don't mind if you stay a spell," Talon said, leading the Kokiri inside. He had the boy wash his hands as well while having an extra space set up for the blond to eat. After a quick dinner of fried Cucco, a few veggies and a helping of milk, both Malon and Link were ushered to bed. A small cot was set up near the fire for Link that night. It didn't take long for the new hero to fall asleep, after all he had a busy day and not much sleep the night before.
****
The next morning, after a quick breakfast of eggs and milk, Link left the ranch with Navi and Cluck in tow with a promise to Malon that he would come back some day. Then it was just a quick walk to the forest, fighting a couple of Pea Hats on the way. In fact, it was a little bit after noon when he finally stepped back into the cool shadows of the forest. He smiled slightly, quickly running for the hidden tunnel that lead to the Kokiri Forest and across the bridge.
"Look, Link's back!" One of the blond Kokiri girls squealed in excited excitement of seeing their missing number. This caught the attention of the other's many of them running to see Link.
"What is it like outside the forest?"
"I bet he didn't really go."
"Oh don't be silly of course he did, Link is the brave one unlike that bully Mido."
"Did you see the 'castle'?"
"What's that?" Link's eyes darted side to side as he was bombed with questions from his friends, grinning slightly at the last question.
"This is Cluck, he's a Cucco. A girl gave him to me," he said, taking his bird out of his tunic and placed it on the ground. The girls cooed at the Cucco, reaching down to softly pet the new wonder. Cluck puffed his small chest feathers out, not at all minding the attention, causing the girls to giggle.
"What's the children outside the forest like?" One off the boys asked, curious about the Cucco but not about to coo like the girls. Link shrugged his shoulders a bit.
"They seem like us somewhat. They like to play and such. But they have grown ups looking after them. Feeding and cooking for them."
"Wow, they don't catch their own food? Or cook it?" The girl with puffy pig tails asked, turning big blues eyes to Link. The young hero shook his head, the idea still a bit foreign to him as well. After all, as it was mentioned before, the Kokiri fished and trapped small animals for their meals and many of them had learned how to cook. The blond boy looked around, notice that there were a few missing. The 'Know-at-all' Brothers he wasn't surprised about, they rather keep themselves shut up in their little house than mingle with the others. And the shopkeeper of course, he rarely left his store. Mido he also wasn't surprised about, the red head most likely hoped he never come back. But the fact Saria wasn't there did surprise him.
"Where's Saria?" he asked, still looking around for the green hair girl.
"Oh! She left into the Lost Woods. Left a message too for when you came back!" One of the girls said, quickly standing, her fairy being knocked off his perch on his charges shoulder. "She said would meet you in the 'secret' place," She said with a nod.
"Oh, thank you. Watch Cluck will you? I think he will come in useful here at his new home," Link said, turning to the small cliffs that lead up to the Lost Woods. The woods where a place very few Kokiri would brave, and then they didn't go very far in, too scared of getting lost. In fact, himself, Saria and the Kokiri girl with the puffy pigtails were the only ones that braved the woods to go far in, but she never gotten as far as the Sacred Forest Meadow. A place in the forest that was his and Saria's secret spot.
"Link, are you sure you should be going in there?" Navi asked, bobbing slightly in the air as she stared into the larger part of the forest.
"Of course, all the Kokiri go in here at some point or another," Link said with a small laugh, stepping in like there was nothing wrong. He quickly darts here and there, using certain trees as markers to make his way. It took some minutes to get where he was going, only stop now and then to say hello to the skull children there. But in the end, the Kokiri made it to the meadow, his fairy looking around it in a bit of a shock.
"I knew that this place existed somewhere in the forest, but no one has been able to find it," Navi admitted, following Link in a daze as he walked further in, going to the stairs in the back.
"Well me and Saria did, this is our secret place," The boy said, quite proud of that fact. Navi doubted he knew what was so special about this one meadow, after all none of the forest children were told; the Great Deku tree had never seen a reason for it. After all, why would they need to know of the Forest Temple? The fairy was knocked out of her thoughts as the sweet notes of an ocarina reached her small ears. Link had led her to the courtyard of the temple while she was deep in her thoughts. She looked around, having been a long long time since she had last been here, to the point she hadn't remember where it had been with in the woods. It was nowhere near as grand as it had been all those years ago, with no one to take care of it, the forest had overtaken it, the steps that lead into the temple itself having crumbled to nothing. And honestly, the temple itself looked different as well. Navi wasn’t sure, but she didn’t quite remember the temple being made out of stone but her memories were a little foggy on this. And sitting on a tree stump next to where they use to be sat Saria herself, playing a lively tune on an ocarina like she had given Link while her guardian fairy Dits lightly danced in the air. In fact now that she thought about it, the tune had been faintly carried on the wind since they had entered the woods.
"Saria..." Link called softly, getting his best friends attention. The lively tune died off, the green hair girl opening her eyes as she looked up at the other.
"Link!" She said in delight, jumping up to give her friend a quick hug. Link just grinned happily, moving to sit beside Saria on the stump. "What did you see outside the forest?" Link launched into what he had seen the last two days. Everything to the sweet cakes, which reminded Link that he had forgotten to get one for the Elvin girl, to the guards of the castle and Ganondorf. Saria was out raged about the adult Elvin race that ended up attacking and hurting her friend, even more so when Link unwound the make shift bandages on his leg to show the scabbed over cut on there. Enough to send Dits to the nearby fairy fountain to bring back a healer fairy. “Ooo, this makes me so mad," Saria said, still fairly miffed about the wound on Link's leg.
"Well it was bad but Ganondorf saved me from worse damage, thank Farore," Link said, trying to ease the girl's rage. It worked a bit, though Saria still muttered under her breath that it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
"So was he really from the desert?" the forest girl asked, meaning Ganondorf, as Dits showed back up, followed but a reddish pink lighted healing fairy. The healing fairies were a bit bigger than the guardian ones and most tended to live in group at what was called a 'fairy fountain', which was in all sorts of places all over Hyrule. The fairy tutted as she looked over Link's leg before flying over it and using her magic to heal it up. When she was finish, a faint scar was all that was left on the boy's leg and she left with thanks ringing in her ears.
"Yes," Link said happily with a nod, describing the king's looks from the red hair and tanned skin to the strangely shaped ears. Saria soaked up the information, trying to imaging it in her mind. Then the blond went on to tell about the castle and Zelda, including his thoughts on her. And the fact Navi was convinced Ganondorf was evil despite the fact the man saved her charges life. Then he told of the Gerudo girl Nabooru and how she helped him out of the castle. Lastly he Saria told of Lon Lon Ranch, even playing the sweet tune Malon had taught him.
“I wonder what else is out there," Saria said with a sigh, resting her elbows on her legs before placing her chin in her hands. "You’re going to have to go back out, aren’t you? Will you tell me what else you see?" she added, turning her head to rest dark blue eyes on her best friend. Link nodded his head, agreeing to the simple request. Saria sighed again before leaning back on her hands, looking over the small meadow the pair had made their own. Navi and Dits was a few feet away, quietly talking to each other. “You know, there's something special about this meadow. I have a feeling it will be very important to us one day." Link looked at Saria for a moment before looking around himself. There was a certain amount of magic that surround their secret place, though sometimes Saria was more in tune to it than he was. Or maybe it was the ancient temple she was in tune with?
"Why do you say that?" he finally asked, turning his head to gaze at the Kokiri girl.
"It's just a feeling," Saria said before bouncing up and turning to face Link with a pleased grin on her face. “I finished my song!" she announced, taking out her ocarina and still grinning happily. “Play with me!" The lively tune that had been playing when Link and Navi had first come into the meadow started up again. The slightly deeper notes of Link's ocarina joined in after a few minutes, drawing in not only a few stray fairies but some Skull Children and Deku's as well, both of which stayed at the edge of the meadow, moving a bit to the beat.
After a bit, the music finally died off, both Kokiri laughing in delight as they both plopped down next to the stump, panting lightly.
"You got it!" Saria said, smiling happily. “When you’re out in the world, play that song to talk to me."
"Talk to you?" Link said, slightly confused. Saria just nodded her head.
"I put a bit of magic I learned from the Great Deku Tree into it. Play my song and we'll be able to talk to each other through it," she explained, looking up at the sky. "It's starting to get late, we should head back. You need some sleep before heading out again," the green hair Kokiri declared, grabbing Link's hand and running toward the stairs and to the Lost Woods, Navi and Dits rushing after them.
*****
The village of the Kokiri was filled with the sound of music and laughter of children as the child like race played in the warm summer night. Link and Saria lead the way in the music with their ocarinas while a flute, a fiddle and drums joined them. A feast of fish, fruit and nuts lined a table and the air was so festive that even a sulking Mido had come out of his home. There was no reason for the festivities, it had been a spur of the moment thing and each child there was enjoying it. Many also enjoyed Link's tales of the world outside of the forest, and those who lived there. At least an edited version of what Link told Saria anyway. Even Cluck the Cucco was enjoying himself, chasing after the fairies though they were smart enough to stay out of the bird’s reach. In the back of the young hero's mind, Link thought to try and bring more Cuccos to the forest. After all, the eggs could be healthy and good for the others to eat. But as nights and parties go, it was time for the Kokiri to draw it to a close and under the watchful eyes of their guardian fairies headed into their homes.
The next morning, Navi woke up Link early, wanting to get to Kakariko Village and more importantly, Death Mountain. Amazingly, it was quite easy for the fairy to wake her charge, Link had already been in a fitful sleep. What happened at the castle had finally crept into his dreams like he thought they would. So it was only a quick wash for Link in the hot springs on the outer edge of the village before grabbing up a prepared bag of supplies, his sword and shield, the Kokiri Emerald and the ocarina before he bolted for the hidden tunnel. Also a quick good-by and a promise to keep in contact with Saria.
A couple of hours afterward, Link was in the Hyrule Field, the forest some distance behind him. Navi flew on the breeze behind her charge as the boy walked toward the mountains in the distance keeping quite since it seemed the boy was doing what he was suppose to do.
'Maybe we can get through this without other detours,' she thought to herself, picking up the speed as Link pulled ahead.
*****
Kakariko Village was in a small canyon at the foot of the mountains. It was originally a Sheikah Village, built by the shadow elves that served the royal family to allow them to live near the castle while the other lived in a village deep in the woods where their closest neighbors were the Kikwis, the Parella and the Kokiri. In fact, these four races, along with the Deku, Skull Children, and Fairies, were the only ones that could get thought the dangerous woods without harm, since Hyila, who was the Sheikah’s goddess, was the favorite of Farore the Goddess of Courage who often lent her protection then all.
Kakariko had been a hidden village for years until after the war that raged in Hyrule for many years, when the current leader Impa, who use to be the personal guard of the queen of Hyrule, opened it for those people whose homes had been destroyed. Link looked up the set of stairs that led up to the hide-a-way village, licking his lips a bit before climbing up. It had taken all morning and a bit of the afternoon to make it this far with the Kokiri traveling constantly, stopping only once for lunch at mid-day.
“Finally, the next step in our quest," Navi said happily, thinking it would just be a straight line to Death Mountain and the Gorons and to the spiritual stone of Fire. How wrong she was, on many levels. As Link stepped pass the front gate of the village, smiling shyly at the guard at the gate but not getting to close since he was dressed like the guards at the castle. The guard just nodded his head and let Link on his way. Inside the village, Link looked around in awe. It was nowhere near as grand as Hyrule Castle Town but in a way, Kakariko was a lot nicer. More simple for sure and it made the blond Elvin child more comfortable since Kokiri Village was simple as well.
So far he could see a few houses scattered around with a few people milling about. An older man with a booming voice was standing under a single tree yelling out orders to four men that just ran about like Cuccos with their heads cut off. Speaking of Cuccos, there seemed to be a few stray birds just milling around, like the one at his feet.
"Hiiiyaaa!!" Link was knocked to his feet, both his body and the one that knocked into him rolling a few feet before coming to a stop. He had just about to pet the Cucco before he was attacked and now he was laying on his back, some of the wind knocked out of him and another person laying on top of him. The boy groaned, leaning up on his elbows to see just who tumbled into him. The other child, who was another boy who looked the same age as Link with blond hair that was a shade of pure gold, most of his bangs starting to fall over one eye. The boy was bracing himself on his arms over Link, legs slightly intertwined. It was about that time the other looked up and ruby red eyes met violet blue.
***
Edit 7-16-14: A little bit more this time other than the usual spelling and grammar mistakes.
The reviewer Devkyu from AO3 pointed out that I was incorrectly calling Epona a colt, which is a baby boy horse and Epona is a girl. This has now been changed to the correct word filly or foal.
In later chapters I have more of a back story for the Forest Temple so more was added to Navi’s thoughts about the meadow and the temple.
Since there are now more races that live in the woods since the later games came out, I changed the part where it talks about the Sheikah village in the end here and the races that live nearby, taking out the made up races I wrote originally and replaced them with the races introduced in Skyward Sword.
Also, since we learn a little more about the Sheikah in Skyward Sword, I changed it from the made up Sheikah god to Hylia and changed that part a little bit to reflect what’s written in later chapters.
By: USA Tiger
Disclaimer: The characters of The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time belong to Nintendo and the guy who made these characters, I'm just borrowing them for the time being.
Chapter 4
Link was starting to think maybe he should have gone ahead to Kakariko Village. Not because he needed to continue this quest he had been forced on, but because it was a lot later than he thought it was. There was no way he was going to make it to the forest before sunset and he really didn't want to sleep in a tree again. At least the town had somewhat been close to the castle, he could have made it there before night fall. The Kokiri came to a stop, looking around for a place to stay for the night. While he was hoping for a cave or even another tree at this point, his purple tinted blue eyes spotted a walled in area that wasn't that far away!
"Yes," he said quietly to himself. Cluck, who was safely tucked into the boy's tunic, clucked quietly, feathered head sticking out of the top. Navi was safely hiding in the stocking cap; the fairy had given up some time ago to make her charge change his mind about going back to the forest for a visit. This was the strange trio of travelers that came into Lon Lon ranch. A tune seemed to be drifting on wind along with the whiney of horses. Link slowly walked to the center of the ranch, letting Cluck out of his tunic as the Cucco wiggled, seeing others of his kind. The blond looked around, looking for the source of the tune that was drifting about, spotting a red headed figure in the middle of the fenced off area.
"Hey!" Link called out, running toward the figure. The figure, which turned out to be Malon, the girl from Hyrule Castle Town, stopping her light singing. Her dark blue eyes lit up as she recognized the forest boy.
"Oh, you’re the fairy boy from town! Thank you for getting my father. He was such in a hurry to get back to me this morning," Malon giggled lightly, holding a hand up to her mouth. "It was quite funny. Oh I have to introduce you to my friend! This is Epona." The red head turned to a filly that was standing just behind her, which Link noticed for the first time. The foal made a high pitch whiney noise before taking off, nearly knocking Link over in the process. "Oh, I'm sorry, she doesn't like other people very much. You should see what she does to Mr. Ingo," the red head started to giggle again. Link just smiled softly as the girl rambled on.
"What was that song you were singing?" He asked, remembering the tune that had drifted on the breeze when he first came in.
"Oh that was a song my mother wrote, it's called Epona's song," A small pang of sadness rang through Malon as she remembered her mother. “It seemed to float on the breeze the day Epona was born so we named her after the song. In fact she seems to like the song that shares her name very much!" Malon hummed a few bars to prove her point, Epona coming closer to where the two children stood but still keeping her distance. Link watched the cinnamon color filly, taking out his ocarina and played a few notes on it. Epona snorted a bit, pawing at the ground with her hoof but didn't come any closer, seeming to watch Link with her dark eyes. "Oh what a cute little ocarina! Won't you play my song with me?"
Malon batted her blue eyes, wanting to hear her mother's song on the little green instrument. "Alright." was the answer she got, waiting a bit before realizing Link didn't know the whole song. The red head quickly song out the notes a few times, smiling as sweet notes of the ocarina mixed in within after few minutes. Soon she stopped singing, listening to Link as the Kokiri played the tune, the boy never noticing that Malon had stopped nor that a certain filly was slowly trotting up behind him. Even Navi seemed to be entranced by the tune, half of her body sticking out of Link's stocking cap and head resting on her hand.
"Whoa!" Link startled as nose nudged him from behind, interrupting the flow of music. The small blond turned around, coming face to face with Epona as the small horse nudged him in the chest demanding to be petted.
"Oh how cute, Epona likes you now!" Malon clasped her hands together, giggling at the scene. Link smiled softly as he complied with the foal's wish, gently petting her nose.
"Malon! Time to come inside!" Talon called form the house, telling his daughter it was time to come in.
"Come on," Malon said, grabbing Link's hand and dragging the boy toward the ranch house. They passed the ranch hand Ingo who was heading toward the pasture to herd the horses and Cuccos into the barn. Talon looked down as his daughter came running up, a familiar blond right behind her.
"Well now, yer the boy from this morning, right?" The large belly man said with a laugh. "I gotta thank you fer waking me up. Malon here was really mad but after a while she forgave me." Malon just giggled, she knew that she had her father wrapped around her little finger. "Go and wash yet hands fer dinner Malon."
"Yes Dad," the red head said before running to do as told.
"So what are you doing out in the middle of Hyrule Field so close to sunset?" Talon asked, looking down once again at Link. “It’s dangerous out there."
"I know. I was wondering if... um..." Link looked down at his boots and blushed, a bit shy to up and ask if he could stay the night at the ranch. After all, Talon might think it was rude.
"We want to stay here for the night, since there is nowhere else we can go," Navi finally piped up, coming out of her hiding spot in Link's cap. While Link may have been too shy to ask this favor, she wasn't.
"Well I don't mind if you stay a spell," Talon said, leading the Kokiri inside. He had the boy wash his hands as well while having an extra space set up for the blond to eat. After a quick dinner of fried Cucco, a few veggies and a helping of milk, both Malon and Link were ushered to bed. A small cot was set up near the fire for Link that night. It didn't take long for the new hero to fall asleep, after all he had a busy day and not much sleep the night before.
****
The next morning, after a quick breakfast of eggs and milk, Link left the ranch with Navi and Cluck in tow with a promise to Malon that he would come back some day. Then it was just a quick walk to the forest, fighting a couple of Pea Hats on the way. In fact, it was a little bit after noon when he finally stepped back into the cool shadows of the forest. He smiled slightly, quickly running for the hidden tunnel that lead to the Kokiri Forest and across the bridge.
"Look, Link's back!" One of the blond Kokiri girls squealed in excited excitement of seeing their missing number. This caught the attention of the other's many of them running to see Link.
"What is it like outside the forest?"
"I bet he didn't really go."
"Oh don't be silly of course he did, Link is the brave one unlike that bully Mido."
"Did you see the 'castle'?"
"What's that?" Link's eyes darted side to side as he was bombed with questions from his friends, grinning slightly at the last question.
"This is Cluck, he's a Cucco. A girl gave him to me," he said, taking his bird out of his tunic and placed it on the ground. The girls cooed at the Cucco, reaching down to softly pet the new wonder. Cluck puffed his small chest feathers out, not at all minding the attention, causing the girls to giggle.
"What's the children outside the forest like?" One off the boys asked, curious about the Cucco but not about to coo like the girls. Link shrugged his shoulders a bit.
"They seem like us somewhat. They like to play and such. But they have grown ups looking after them. Feeding and cooking for them."
"Wow, they don't catch their own food? Or cook it?" The girl with puffy pig tails asked, turning big blues eyes to Link. The young hero shook his head, the idea still a bit foreign to him as well. After all, as it was mentioned before, the Kokiri fished and trapped small animals for their meals and many of them had learned how to cook. The blond boy looked around, notice that there were a few missing. The 'Know-at-all' Brothers he wasn't surprised about, they rather keep themselves shut up in their little house than mingle with the others. And the shopkeeper of course, he rarely left his store. Mido he also wasn't surprised about, the red head most likely hoped he never come back. But the fact Saria wasn't there did surprise him.
"Where's Saria?" he asked, still looking around for the green hair girl.
"Oh! She left into the Lost Woods. Left a message too for when you came back!" One of the girls said, quickly standing, her fairy being knocked off his perch on his charges shoulder. "She said would meet you in the 'secret' place," She said with a nod.
"Oh, thank you. Watch Cluck will you? I think he will come in useful here at his new home," Link said, turning to the small cliffs that lead up to the Lost Woods. The woods where a place very few Kokiri would brave, and then they didn't go very far in, too scared of getting lost. In fact, himself, Saria and the Kokiri girl with the puffy pigtails were the only ones that braved the woods to go far in, but she never gotten as far as the Sacred Forest Meadow. A place in the forest that was his and Saria's secret spot.
"Link, are you sure you should be going in there?" Navi asked, bobbing slightly in the air as she stared into the larger part of the forest.
"Of course, all the Kokiri go in here at some point or another," Link said with a small laugh, stepping in like there was nothing wrong. He quickly darts here and there, using certain trees as markers to make his way. It took some minutes to get where he was going, only stop now and then to say hello to the skull children there. But in the end, the Kokiri made it to the meadow, his fairy looking around it in a bit of a shock.
"I knew that this place existed somewhere in the forest, but no one has been able to find it," Navi admitted, following Link in a daze as he walked further in, going to the stairs in the back.
"Well me and Saria did, this is our secret place," The boy said, quite proud of that fact. Navi doubted he knew what was so special about this one meadow, after all none of the forest children were told; the Great Deku tree had never seen a reason for it. After all, why would they need to know of the Forest Temple? The fairy was knocked out of her thoughts as the sweet notes of an ocarina reached her small ears. Link had led her to the courtyard of the temple while she was deep in her thoughts. She looked around, having been a long long time since she had last been here, to the point she hadn't remember where it had been with in the woods. It was nowhere near as grand as it had been all those years ago, with no one to take care of it, the forest had overtaken it, the steps that lead into the temple itself having crumbled to nothing. And honestly, the temple itself looked different as well. Navi wasn’t sure, but she didn’t quite remember the temple being made out of stone but her memories were a little foggy on this. And sitting on a tree stump next to where they use to be sat Saria herself, playing a lively tune on an ocarina like she had given Link while her guardian fairy Dits lightly danced in the air. In fact now that she thought about it, the tune had been faintly carried on the wind since they had entered the woods.
"Saria..." Link called softly, getting his best friends attention. The lively tune died off, the green hair girl opening her eyes as she looked up at the other.
"Link!" She said in delight, jumping up to give her friend a quick hug. Link just grinned happily, moving to sit beside Saria on the stump. "What did you see outside the forest?" Link launched into what he had seen the last two days. Everything to the sweet cakes, which reminded Link that he had forgotten to get one for the Elvin girl, to the guards of the castle and Ganondorf. Saria was out raged about the adult Elvin race that ended up attacking and hurting her friend, even more so when Link unwound the make shift bandages on his leg to show the scabbed over cut on there. Enough to send Dits to the nearby fairy fountain to bring back a healer fairy. “Ooo, this makes me so mad," Saria said, still fairly miffed about the wound on Link's leg.
"Well it was bad but Ganondorf saved me from worse damage, thank Farore," Link said, trying to ease the girl's rage. It worked a bit, though Saria still muttered under her breath that it shouldn't have happened in the first place.
"So was he really from the desert?" the forest girl asked, meaning Ganondorf, as Dits showed back up, followed but a reddish pink lighted healing fairy. The healing fairies were a bit bigger than the guardian ones and most tended to live in group at what was called a 'fairy fountain', which was in all sorts of places all over Hyrule. The fairy tutted as she looked over Link's leg before flying over it and using her magic to heal it up. When she was finish, a faint scar was all that was left on the boy's leg and she left with thanks ringing in her ears.
"Yes," Link said happily with a nod, describing the king's looks from the red hair and tanned skin to the strangely shaped ears. Saria soaked up the information, trying to imaging it in her mind. Then the blond went on to tell about the castle and Zelda, including his thoughts on her. And the fact Navi was convinced Ganondorf was evil despite the fact the man saved her charges life. Then he told of the Gerudo girl Nabooru and how she helped him out of the castle. Lastly he Saria told of Lon Lon Ranch, even playing the sweet tune Malon had taught him.
“I wonder what else is out there," Saria said with a sigh, resting her elbows on her legs before placing her chin in her hands. "You’re going to have to go back out, aren’t you? Will you tell me what else you see?" she added, turning her head to rest dark blue eyes on her best friend. Link nodded his head, agreeing to the simple request. Saria sighed again before leaning back on her hands, looking over the small meadow the pair had made their own. Navi and Dits was a few feet away, quietly talking to each other. “You know, there's something special about this meadow. I have a feeling it will be very important to us one day." Link looked at Saria for a moment before looking around himself. There was a certain amount of magic that surround their secret place, though sometimes Saria was more in tune to it than he was. Or maybe it was the ancient temple she was in tune with?
"Why do you say that?" he finally asked, turning his head to gaze at the Kokiri girl.
"It's just a feeling," Saria said before bouncing up and turning to face Link with a pleased grin on her face. “I finished my song!" she announced, taking out her ocarina and still grinning happily. “Play with me!" The lively tune that had been playing when Link and Navi had first come into the meadow started up again. The slightly deeper notes of Link's ocarina joined in after a few minutes, drawing in not only a few stray fairies but some Skull Children and Deku's as well, both of which stayed at the edge of the meadow, moving a bit to the beat.
After a bit, the music finally died off, both Kokiri laughing in delight as they both plopped down next to the stump, panting lightly.
"You got it!" Saria said, smiling happily. “When you’re out in the world, play that song to talk to me."
"Talk to you?" Link said, slightly confused. Saria just nodded her head.
"I put a bit of magic I learned from the Great Deku Tree into it. Play my song and we'll be able to talk to each other through it," she explained, looking up at the sky. "It's starting to get late, we should head back. You need some sleep before heading out again," the green hair Kokiri declared, grabbing Link's hand and running toward the stairs and to the Lost Woods, Navi and Dits rushing after them.
*****
The village of the Kokiri was filled with the sound of music and laughter of children as the child like race played in the warm summer night. Link and Saria lead the way in the music with their ocarinas while a flute, a fiddle and drums joined them. A feast of fish, fruit and nuts lined a table and the air was so festive that even a sulking Mido had come out of his home. There was no reason for the festivities, it had been a spur of the moment thing and each child there was enjoying it. Many also enjoyed Link's tales of the world outside of the forest, and those who lived there. At least an edited version of what Link told Saria anyway. Even Cluck the Cucco was enjoying himself, chasing after the fairies though they were smart enough to stay out of the bird’s reach. In the back of the young hero's mind, Link thought to try and bring more Cuccos to the forest. After all, the eggs could be healthy and good for the others to eat. But as nights and parties go, it was time for the Kokiri to draw it to a close and under the watchful eyes of their guardian fairies headed into their homes.
The next morning, Navi woke up Link early, wanting to get to Kakariko Village and more importantly, Death Mountain. Amazingly, it was quite easy for the fairy to wake her charge, Link had already been in a fitful sleep. What happened at the castle had finally crept into his dreams like he thought they would. So it was only a quick wash for Link in the hot springs on the outer edge of the village before grabbing up a prepared bag of supplies, his sword and shield, the Kokiri Emerald and the ocarina before he bolted for the hidden tunnel. Also a quick good-by and a promise to keep in contact with Saria.
A couple of hours afterward, Link was in the Hyrule Field, the forest some distance behind him. Navi flew on the breeze behind her charge as the boy walked toward the mountains in the distance keeping quite since it seemed the boy was doing what he was suppose to do.
'Maybe we can get through this without other detours,' she thought to herself, picking up the speed as Link pulled ahead.
*****
Kakariko Village was in a small canyon at the foot of the mountains. It was originally a Sheikah Village, built by the shadow elves that served the royal family to allow them to live near the castle while the other lived in a village deep in the woods where their closest neighbors were the Kikwis, the Parella and the Kokiri. In fact, these four races, along with the Deku, Skull Children, and Fairies, were the only ones that could get thought the dangerous woods without harm, since Hyila, who was the Sheikah’s goddess, was the favorite of Farore the Goddess of Courage who often lent her protection then all.
Kakariko had been a hidden village for years until after the war that raged in Hyrule for many years, when the current leader Impa, who use to be the personal guard of the queen of Hyrule, opened it for those people whose homes had been destroyed. Link looked up the set of stairs that led up to the hide-a-way village, licking his lips a bit before climbing up. It had taken all morning and a bit of the afternoon to make it this far with the Kokiri traveling constantly, stopping only once for lunch at mid-day.
“Finally, the next step in our quest," Navi said happily, thinking it would just be a straight line to Death Mountain and the Gorons and to the spiritual stone of Fire. How wrong she was, on many levels. As Link stepped pass the front gate of the village, smiling shyly at the guard at the gate but not getting to close since he was dressed like the guards at the castle. The guard just nodded his head and let Link on his way. Inside the village, Link looked around in awe. It was nowhere near as grand as Hyrule Castle Town but in a way, Kakariko was a lot nicer. More simple for sure and it made the blond Elvin child more comfortable since Kokiri Village was simple as well.
So far he could see a few houses scattered around with a few people milling about. An older man with a booming voice was standing under a single tree yelling out orders to four men that just ran about like Cuccos with their heads cut off. Speaking of Cuccos, there seemed to be a few stray birds just milling around, like the one at his feet.
"Hiiiyaaa!!" Link was knocked to his feet, both his body and the one that knocked into him rolling a few feet before coming to a stop. He had just about to pet the Cucco before he was attacked and now he was laying on his back, some of the wind knocked out of him and another person laying on top of him. The boy groaned, leaning up on his elbows to see just who tumbled into him. The other child, who was another boy who looked the same age as Link with blond hair that was a shade of pure gold, most of his bangs starting to fall over one eye. The boy was bracing himself on his arms over Link, legs slightly intertwined. It was about that time the other looked up and ruby red eyes met violet blue.
***
Edit 7-16-14: A little bit more this time other than the usual spelling and grammar mistakes.
The reviewer Devkyu from AO3 pointed out that I was incorrectly calling Epona a colt, which is a baby boy horse and Epona is a girl. This has now been changed to the correct word filly or foal.
In later chapters I have more of a back story for the Forest Temple so more was added to Navi’s thoughts about the meadow and the temple.
Since there are now more races that live in the woods since the later games came out, I changed the part where it talks about the Sheikah village in the end here and the races that live nearby, taking out the made up races I wrote originally and replaced them with the races introduced in Skyward Sword.
Also, since we learn a little more about the Sheikah in Skyward Sword, I changed it from the made up Sheikah god to Hylia and changed that part a little bit to reflect what’s written in later chapters.
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