Link slowed his pace as he realized that something was suddenly very familiar about this place. The pattern of the trees, the colors of the leaves, the scattering of little stumps….
That is impossible. The Lost Woods was a trickster; it derived pleasure from playing with the wanderer's mind. Link reminded himself this as he resumed his pace. He was pretty sure he had never traveled this far west into the woods, so why would a random spot within them be familiar to him?
The trickery of the Lost Woods never held sway over his heart. Bearer of the triforce of courage or not, he wasn't afraid of them. Dramatic stories he listened to over the campfire in Kokiri Forest told of travelers getting lost forever or even changed into a forest creature then cursed to forever wander the woods. Although the Kokiri would shake their heads fiercely and insist these were true, Link dismissed them as myth, tales told to teach lessons. If there was any small truth to them, then only the foolish would fall prey.
He may not be of Kokiri blood but he has the Kokiri heart and with that heart comes the intuition one needs to outwit the forest. So Link walked with confidence, to lose himself for a little while and clear his tired mind as he had done many times before.
Although this time the Kokiri intuition has halted his footsteps once more. They fell silent on the forest floor. Silent…eerily silent. The usual sounds of the forest were noticeably absent. No wind disturbed the leaves, no creatures chattered in the distance, no birds sang.
He felt his muscles tense as he grew very aware. He listened to the silence and took in his surroundings. He had come further into a clearing, ahead of him lay four odd stumps…ascending up as a staircase does towards a dark tree.
Yes...this place was familiar, the realization flooded his mind with shock.
He had been here before; it was years ago, a young child searching desperately for his lost friend.
A chill ran down his spine as his memories started to play out in his mind. He never desired to return to this place…he learned long ago that she wasn't here anywhere. What drew him here? What caused him to wander in these vast woods to precisely this much hidden location?
He knew what lay beyond those stumps…a dark and dizzying fall.
He had faced many things in his life that kept him up at night, but something about what lies beyond that peculiar tree sharply remained with him. A devil's moon falling onto another world, the gaze of unnatural orange eyes would haunt him in the dark.
A sharp crack to his right broke the silence and his thoughts. The snapping of a twig, intentional and meant to be heard by his ears, for no forest creature would be that clumsy.
Link turned and his eyes scanned the dense forest to the side. For a moment, nothing…then a shadow of a figure darted between the trees. It moved gracefully, turning and twisting in a dance upon the air. The figure moved too quickly for Link to focus in but the presence he felt was strong and recognized. He watched the figure calmly, it gave no threat. His own hand did not move for a blade. He watched as it kept up its fast dance until it moved past him and disappeared behind the tree.
And then Link heard it…a quiet sound from beyond the lone tree and its stairs. A soft laugh, given in greeting. High pitched, musical and ever so mischievous.
They may have met as enemies but parted in understanding all those years ago. Link smiled a little and raised his hand in a returning gesture to an old friend. He turned southwards again and left that lonely tree and all that lies beyond it behind once more.