Saria's Story
Chap. 1
Hello. My name is Saria, former Sage of Forest. This is the story of my life, death, and the things I've seen.
The beginning is all a blur to me, and I can only relate to you what I've been told. I know that my life started when the Great Deku Tree created my race, the Kokiri. He was our father, and we all adored him. Our devotion was incredible, and you could never find children any more obedient than we were. So when we were told never to leave the forest, we all thought there must be something terrible out there that we could never survive. Over the years, we just assumed that we would instantly die when we left the forest. We never gave it a second thought.
My first memory is of Mido, Fado, and I racing through the Lost Woods to the Sacred Forest Meadow. We would always stop short of going into the maze that led to the Forest Temple, though. Something held us back. Something that we all felt. Somehow, we knew that something mysterious lay beyond those thick earthen walls.
One night, I was walking around, planting some flowers around Kokiri Forest when a lady stumbled in through the huge log that served as the entrance and exit to our small little world. She was carrying small bundle in her arms, clutching it as though her life depended on it.
"My boy…" she gasped out, barely able to walk. "My baby… Keep him safe… Help me, please…"
Not knowing what to do, I gently tugged on her arm and led her to the Great Deku Tree. He spoke to her, but I do not recall exactly what he said. I was studying the appearance of the woman. She had a small circlet of shiny stuff upon her head and her robes were made of fine and delicate materials, unlike the garments of us Kokiri, made out of material suited to our rough-and-tumble young lives. She wore more of that yellow, shiny stuff around her wrists and neck. I didn't know what it was, but it was pretty, just like the lady herself.
The Great Deku Tree bid me goodnight and told me that everything was okay and that I should return home and sleep for the rest of the night. That was the first and only time that I ever disobeyed him. I pretended to go home but I hid in some branches and watched the lady. She spoke to the Great Deku Tree and said, "Please keep my boy safe… He has a great destiny; I know it to be so. Like many of the females in my family, I have the gift of prophecy. It comes and goes, but I know my little boy is destined for greatness. Please sir," she implored him, "Please. Just give him a chance. He will reunite with his twin sister someday, but for now I have nowhere to take him. I… I fear I have not much time left, and I love him so…" Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she fell to her knees.
The Great Deku Tree kindly said, "Of course. I will raise him as one of my own, a Kokiri, and when the time is right, I will give him a fairy companion of his own. You have no cause to fear, milady. But what is his name?"
The woman collapsed to the ground, drawing a slow and shaky breath. "Link," she said. "His name is Link."
And then she was still.
I gasped. I just witnessed death, I realized. In my life, I hadn't seen much death since the Kokiri never grow up and we were just kids. Only my friend Mako. He had gone into the Lost Woods and had been killed by a rogue Deku Scrub.
I was jerked out of my shock by my father, the Great Deku Tree. "Saria, my dear child, I know you are there. Come hither."
Mortified that he had discovered me in my wrongdoing, I timidly walked out of my hiding spot, my head bowed in shame. "It's okay, my daughter," he said. "I understand your curiosity. I just want to make sure you are not bothered by what you have seen."
"Father… I know that it's a normal part of life for other people besides the Kokiri, but why does it happen?"
He sighed. "Alas, it happens to us all sooner or later, dear Saria. Even you and me. I know you hate hearing this, but you will understand it someday."
I accepted this with some doubt, but I was still a bit shaken. The Great Deku Tree saw this and said, "Would you like to sleep here tonight, child?"
I let some of my tears fall and nodded. He bent some of his branches down and gently scooped up the still woman and placed her in a peaceful grove of nearby trees. The baby boy was snug in his blanket in a hollow in the Great Deku Tree's roots. I curled up beside him and held him close to me, comfort us both and keeping him warm in the slightly chilly night air. I fell asleep dreaming about what lay beyond the labyrinth in the Sacred Forest Meadow. I had a feeling it would be important for both of us someday.