Saria's Lullaby by Life Is A Highway66
Legend of Zelda © Nintendo
Post Ocarina of Time
Part One
Saria, in fear of her life, much like the Great Deku Tree warned, never left Kokiri Forest. Her best friend, Link, left the forest once only to never come back. However, there was always that nagging feeling that in a few years, she would leave the forest and that Link was… Different. While most of the Kokiri stopped growing after eight years, he had continued growing until his disappearance in his tenth year to heaven. In her childlike state of mind, she could not help but observe a strange feeling that stirred deep inside of her whenever he was near. She wished to talk to him, or the Great Deku Tree about this, wanting to make sure that she was healthy, but the slight feeling of embarrassment stopped her.
One day would change her outlook on the boy. Sitting in the Sacred Meadow, she watched the dust dance with the leaves, intertwining with the branches of the trees that surrounded her, and she longed for the voice of her best friend. She hated herself for admitting it, but she was growing weary of her life as a child of the forest. She wanted to take a leaf out of Link's book and run to Hyrule Field, just as he did. She looked down, to her empty hands where her ocarina once sat: it just reminded her that he had not made contact with her for a long time. That was when, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw him. The green Kokiri tunic; the 'knobbly' child-like knees, the face that was still filled with puppy fat, the green hat and the golden locks that protruded from it, hanging just above those piercing blue eyes. They seemed almost… Different than the last time she saw him. As if they had aged seven years, and in that time had lost their innocence. It seemed as though he had a tory to tell.
Saria jumped from the tree stump and ran toward Link, and practically tackled him around his waist – sending them both sliding along the grass. He cried out in shock, squeezing his eyes shut, preparing to go down the stairs; however, he opened his eyes to find himself unscathed (save for the grass stains and dirt that would cling to his tunic and legs) and Saria laying on top of him, for the most part, with her arms around his waist and head resting on his stomach. She looked up and grinned her usual goofy grin. Link was going to hate himself. "Hi." She giggled, kneeling beside him as he shook his head and sat up, readjusting his hat. She pulled him into a hug again, however, this time; he wrapped his arms around her. "Sorry about that," She giggled, motioning toward the mark where they had slid along the ground, "I just missed you."
He let go off her, "I figured." He was never going to get used to that voice again. He put that thought aside, and allowed a smile t spread across his face. He jumped to his feet, and snatched Saria's hand, forcing her to run with him, away from the Sacred Meadow, and toward the Lost Forest. "I want to show you something," he said, working his way to Kokiri forest, "I want to talk to you and tell you about something, but you have to trust me." There was silence throughout the remainder of the journey, no sound but the wildlife and the sound of the feet against the terrain. They got to the centre of the forest (although, it was admittedly more like a village), and stopped, looking to Saria and taking her remaining free hand, "Do you trust me?"
She was taken aback by the seriousness in his voice, which seemed to have radiated into his stern eyes. The lack of naivety was amplified by the fact there was a seriousness that she was not used to. Then her body done something that it had not done since he disappeared; her heart ached and leaped into her throat, and began to race. She felt the urge to lean forward and press her lips against his; she did not act upon these. He pointed to the opening to the exit of the forest – almost in answer of her mentally asking why – and she froze. "Link, no!" She almost cried out, "The Great Deku Tree, he said! He said if the Kokiri left the forest, they would die!"
He smirked; she never even looked at him. She was staring at the gaping hole as if Ganondorf was standing there, blocking the exit. "The Great Deku Tree also told me that I should leave the forest. I did." He squeezed the hands in a reassuring manner, and she looked to him. He smiled slightly, and watched as her face flushed red. "I'm fine, right? So come on. Let's go." He let go of one of her hands, and pulled her along with the remaining. Of course, he did not know if the Kokiri could leave the forest, but if she was able to enter the Chamber of Sages in the future, why would she not be able to leave it now? Before the two could comprehend what was happening, they were on the bridge. The bridge that connected Hyrule field and the forest. She was safe here, he thought, she gave him her ocarina here. He looked to her and before he could gather his thoughts, he closed his eyes and pushed their faces together. Saria, who had her eyes shut at the time, allowed them to fly open. She felt the ten year old boys soft lips curl into a smile at the feel of the girls' eyelashes against his face, and allowed his hands to rest on the bottom of her back. At this, she relaxed, and placed her hands on his arms, and the two stayed like this for a while, before he pulled away; still, their noses touching. "Do you trust me, Saria?" She nodded, still giddy at her tingling lips as she realised her feelings for Link.
She took a step on to Hyrule field. Staring at her foot against the grass, she could not help but wonder if she dared to move any further away from the forest; but there was always that part of her which wondered if the Great Deku Tree saying that they would die if they exit to the outer world was just a way of sick control and manipulation. What did it matter, anymore? The Great Deku Scrub would not find out, and as she looked to Link for inspiration to move forward, she felt a lingering sense of wanting to be next to him overcome her. With the feel of him engraved in her mind, even just for that moment, she followed her best friend, and unbeknownst to her, became the first Kokiri to exit the forest. Her heart exploded into a spectrum of colours as she grinned toward Link, and took his hand. "I told you to trust me, didn't I?" She giggled, and the two children clad in green nearly skipped toward the destination; following the dirt road. Although Saria could only explore her surroundings with her eyes in silence, brought on by the awe-inspiring sights of which Hyrule offered. On the other hand, Link could only remember the threats and monsters that he had killed, and what he had gone through to ensure that the events of Ganondorf would not take place in the next seven years. To ensure that Hyrule was safe. Maybe it was this journey which made him want to do this.
As Saria got used to following the path, and noticed her growing excitement as she saw that it lead to Castle Town. However, she felt her arm being tugged, as Link began to deviate from the dirt road. She cast her eyes toward the castle, in which Princess Zelda resided, before following him. He smiled, noticing the dismay quickly spread about her aura. "There's plenty of time for all that." He explained, before crossing the bridge; she silently obeyed, silently willing for him to change his mind and fulfil her dreams of visiting the town. Alas, he did not hear her mental pleas; and they continued up the stairs, barely having enough time for her to read the sign that stated 'Kakariko Village: Death Mountain Trail Starting Point'. She watched as their altitude began to increase with each step; and the path in front of them twisted to the right. Although she was undoubtedly book smart on the land of Hyrule, she never imagined Kakariko Village as a place that she would want to visit, and yet, she was somewhat happy at the fact as they passed under the banner above them, scrawled with Hyrulian symbols. Although, she did question whether she was going to happy wherever she was with Link now.
She looked around to her surroundings; for the first time since she had left the Kokiri forest, she began to ensure that she would remember these images for the rest of her life. She could only assume that the village was not yet a village, due to the pieces of wood that were many pieces of wood being positioned in a particularly peculiar way. She was dumbfounded; not used to seeing parts of trees standing alone, in a strange manipulated way, no bark surrounding them. The taller race running on top of them, and running around the village, yelling about what the other members of the community should be doing and the fact that once the village had finished being built; they would be the next Castle Town. Saria could only imagine the fact that the dirt paths that took visitors around the village being paved with bricks and stone; a sound that she could only imagine and made every molecule of her body quiver with excitement at the prospect of the society around the one in which she had been encaged in was becoming more advanced, while they still lived in the hollowed trees, they seemingly had lived in these structures for… Well, years! Link just chuckled, looking around at the bustle; these people had no idea what might have come to their village in a short while if he had not been there to save it from Ganondorf.
He grasped her hand in his own and tried to get her to follow him, guiding her through the, what seemed to be a maze of alleyways (for lack of better terms) and staircases, before he found the recognisable gate, and the guard standing next to it. His face was hidden by the bright yellow Keaton Mask, of which Link had sold to him on his adventures; but still, there was a smile that seemingly radiated through the material. "There's the hero himself!" He exclaimed, holding back his laughter, Link smiled, and the Kokiri child look back and forth between the two. Before she could ask any questions about why this strange man thought that her best friend would be classed as a 'hero', Link was pulling her up the dirt path. She reeled back in shock; gaping in horror at the sight of the mountain in front of her. A dark cloud of smoke covered the top of it, and the path that they were on did not even lead to the top of the mountain; the young boy turned, and smirked at her enlarged eyes. "It's much worse than it looks." He took her hand, and pulled her close, "Trust me."
Her heart leaped into her throat; trying to ignore the urge to pull him into a kiss again. How could he even think about the fact that she would doubt him? Or not trust him? They were best friends; she had been there for him ever since he had almost been found, and she had taught him the ways of the forest, and the way in which to be a Kokiri. Through this time, many would think that their love was more of a sibling, or even unconditional, like that of a parents. However, she found herself feeling those feelings which were much beyond her time. She felt almost sinful for doing so. With Saria close to Link, closer than they had been before, he started on his way up the mountain, which he had grown used to. He walked slower than he would have usually done; taking in to account that Saria probably had never walked for this long in her life as she lived in such a confined village. He wanted to pick her up, and carry her in his arms; however, he resisted. Realising that he would soon be sending mixed messages (that was when he winced and mentally cursed himself for kissing her back at the forest.
As they turned the first corner, and almost went back upon themselves, he noticed Saria looking into the open cavern and smiled at the memories of Dodongo's Cavern. He wanted to tell her about what he had done; but why would she believe, of all things, that he was the Hero of Time? That he had travelled back and forth seven years multiple times in order to save Hyrule? It seemed as though it was only now he looked back and realised how great this feat was, and in some ways, he did not believe that in his short stature and childlike state, he was able to defeat a creature such as Dodongo, and so why would the girl he had grown up with, who knew how different he was, someone who had only just receiving the fairy, could have defeated a creature who the powerful Goron's could not defeat? He shook his head, a smile plastered on his face, reliving the battles and puzzles that were put in front of him.
After they had slowed for long enough for Saria to imagine what the cavern held and for Link to look back to his memories, they continued up the path. Once they got to a point where there as a split in the path (where the right would lead to the Goron City), he took the left. Bemused, Saria just followed, after struggling somewhat up the big hill, she looked to the intimidating cliff. She felt Link let go of her hand; he smiled at her, and jumped up onto the ledge. She blushed; that slight knowledge of feelings that she should only be aware of while growing up where trying to will her to look up. However, as she did, she only caught a slight glimpse of what he was hiding up the green tunic as he crawled onto it. He turned around, and held it out to her. Gratefully, she took it, and found herself being raised onto the platform. Again, this happened to another, but smaller one on the right.
Link jumped from this platform; a short jump, admittedly, but after all that he had been through, it felt more like a step. Although, she looked to Saria, who could only look down to the ground below, he giggled – a pre-adolescent giggle – and kneeled down. "If you fall, I promise to you, I will catch you. Do you trust me?" She nodded; and leaped. As she felt her feet land squarely on solid ground, she nearly wanted to cheer, however, as she turned to show Link her celebration, he had gone to the next part of the Death Mountain Trail; she jumped after him, and made it safely. Link giggled as she hugged him happily, her heart beating in excitement. This is just what she had been dreaming of for so long! The adventure! The excitement! He let go of her, and from a pouch – of which was ridiculously small and yet managed to fit much of his equipment in – he pulled out a Hyrulian shield. Saria watched in confusion as it seemed to instantly grow in size and he placed it on his back. She titled her head slightly. "We'll need this." He held her hand again, and made his way up to the final hill of Death Mountain.
He instantly heard the eruption of the rocks from the core of the volcano; watching the shadows on the floor of the falling rocks against the floor, he managed to get them away from each danger. Although, when they were nearly at the top, Link felt his heart stop as the shadow grew bigger, much like they did before they hit the floor, and he still had not done anything to stop the two from being hit. He quickly jumped over the young girl, pinning her to the ground. The alarm bells of the thoughts that should have been brought on by growing into teenagehood came over her. Looking up to see Link gazing down at her; the shield protecting them, he kissed her gently. Wanting desperately to kiss her in a more intimate way, but the secret he was keeping from her stopped him. His face grew hot as she pulled him closer, her mouth opening; almost trying to entice him. He pulled away. "No. Saria. There's something you don't know. I can't tell you here. I have to tell you. Then you can see if you want this."
The rocks stopped falling, and he got onto his knees to see Saria blushing. The smiling and hand holding stopped on the way to the top of the mountain, and what would usually be a comfortable silence became a place in which the nothingness rang around a stale atmosphere. However, when they finally reached the peak of the mountain, Link sat on the edge while Saria stood behind him, watching him closely, and hugging herself tightly. He took in his surroundings. Almost as if they were in the middle of nothingness; sitting in the heavens. They could barely see the sights of Hyrule below them without squinting. "Saria," He sighed, his voice shaking, "I need you to listen. You're the first Kokiri to leave the forest. The first that have been here."
"But, you–"
"We can't be together. I'm sorry for leading you on." He stood, and suspended in the mist, he held her hands. "I'm going to grow up; you're going to stay a child. I'm Hylian, Saria. And I love you."