A/N: A long overdue fanfic for a friend. The challenge was that Link can't talk. On a side note, I don't think Fado was ever given a name in the game, but it can be found on the wiki.
Home Again
Link did not remember his first day in the Kokiri Forest, and none of the kokiri will ever tell him.
He did not know that he was found completely helpless by someone who would later become his friend. He did not know that three of his fellow forest dwellers huddled together at the edge of the forest exit, trying to decide what to know with him.
Mido poked at the bundle that was cradled in Saria's arms. The babe inside opened his mouth to whine, but a barely a peep escaped. Mido furrowed his brow at the odd creature. "I don't like it," he muttered and crossed his arms.
Saria brought the bundle closer to her chest, away from Mido. She smiled at the babe who felt large in her arms. She cooed, attempting to ease the babe's discomfort.
"I found him at the bridge," she explained to the siblings. She used a calm voice, not wanting to upset the orphan. "A tall-lady left him there afore dying."
Fado peeked over Saria's shoulder. The blonde studied the babe with avid curiosity. He was kokiri in shape but hadn't a fairy. "What do you think will happen to him?"
"The Great Deku Tree will know what to do," Saria decided.
She began moving in that direction. Fado tailed beside her while Mido marched ahead. The kokiri stopped in their daily activities to stare at the peculiar sight.
"Good," Mido agreed. "Maybe the Great Deku Tree will tell us to leave it alone." He needed to protect his forest. New things got in the way of that duty. He knew the Great Deku Tree would understand.
"Or take him in," chimed Saria.
Link did not know of the conversation that took place with the Great Deku Tree. The siblings were asked to leave, and Saria was presented with a task. It wasn't the first task asked of her by the Great Deku Tree nor would it be the last. Such were the responsibilities of being a sage.
That night, leaving the nameless babe with her fellow kokiri, Saria journeyed into the forest to commune with the fairies. She knew she wouldn't see the babe for awhile. Time in the fairy realm was often different, but she knew he was in capable hands.
-(/)-
Link rested his feet in the stream, cooling off after helping one of the kokiri move around his rocks. Link didn't particularly understand the aesthetic appeal of rock arrangement, but nor did he question it. Instead Link focused on the cool water alleviating the heat that had been building up inside. He heard a rustling in the grass beside him, followed by a kind voice.
He looked up, seeing a pleasant, green-haired girl. There was odd sense of familiarity about her, but Link couldn't place it. He waved a hello.
She smiled and sat beside him. As she spoke, she took off her own boots and set them next to his. She introduced herself as Saria. When Link didn't respond in name, she asked if he could speak.
Link shook his head. Saria pondered out loud what she should call him. He wrote in the dirt with his finger.
L-I-N-K.
Saria nodded and placed her feet in the stream. She welcomed him to Kokiri Forest, which Link thought was odd. He had never seen her before, but she acted like he was the new one. Noticing the perplexed look, she explained by saying she hadn't been able to spend much time in Kokiri Forest lately.
She put a finger to her lips and grinned.
"Ever since the Great Deku Tree told me about you, I've been talking to some friends in the woods."
Sara's fairy bobbed around her green hair, as if the pair shared a secret.
Link listened to Saria talk, enamored by her words. She spoke in manner that described the forest in a new light. It had been his home for the past eight years, but he never witnessed its pure beauty until she described it.
They took their feet out of the water and leaned back on the cool grass. He continued listening, not realizing dusk settled.
Before saying good-bye, Saria asks where he lived now. He points to towering tree house, eliciting a smile. She marveled at how big the tree has grown. "Just like you," she commented offhandedly.
Although he thought the girl odd, he nodded eagerly when she asked if it would be okay for her to visit tomorrow. With that, she picked up her shoes and waved a happy good-bye.
As Link put on his own boots, he heard a voice calling him. Judging from the voice, it was most likely Fado. He finished tying his boots and looked up to see that he was correct.
The blonde girl waved up from the rickety bridge between two rock pillars.
"Hey, you should come on up," she called down to him.
Link complied, already in route to the path that leads up there. Link heard commotion from the normally empty house that was the near the bridge. Link assumed it was Saria's home. Inside he could hear Mido arguing loudly with her. He wanted to stay and listen, but Fado looked at him expectantly.
Link continued on, each step treaded with caution.
Fado sat on the bridge, seemingly without care if she fell. Her legs dangled off the rickety thing, and Link eyed her wearily. Of all the kokiri, she felt a little "off." She possessed a fascination with lied outside the forest that the others did not.
She grinned and patted the spot next to her. Link carefully complied, trying not to lose his balance.
"You see a lot up here," she said softly. "All the things that seem so big up close just get smaller."
Link decided not to ask what brought this up. He sort of knew. Being someone who didn't talk made Link a decent listener, someone you could share stories with. Living in Kokiri Forest, Link heard and learned many things. He gazed at the forest and the night that had casted her shadows. Fado had a point—Mido's house looked so insignificant from up here.
"From up here, you can see everything in the forest." She turned her neck, looking at him. "Makes me wonder what's on the outside, y'know?"
Link knew. A sensation often crawled at his skin, begging him to go outside. Except he couldn't. Mido let no one leave the forest, and entering the Lost Woods wasn't a choice.
"They say if a kokiri goes into the Lost Woods without their fairy, they change. If anyone gets lost, they change." An elated gleam in her eyes for a grim subject. "I want to go in the Lost Woods, don't you?"
Before Link could give an answer, Mido stomped angrily outside of Saria's house. He saw Link sitting up there and glared at him. Link didn't understand what he had to do with anything.
"Come on, we're going home," Mido told his sister.
Fado quietly said good-bye before leaving.
Link stayed up on the bridge, enjoying the view. He looked up at the stars and the moon. He extended his arm, imagining himself plucking the moon from the night sky. If only it were that easy. Entranced by the view, he did not notice Saria until she sat next to him.
They sat in silence, and Link lost track of time. She brought out an ocarina. The instrument was tiny, but fitted perfectly in her hands. She smoothed a finger delicately over it.
"He means well," Saria said. "But the things he doesn't understand upset him."
She let the heat from the argument simmer down. There was no use or joy to be gained from it. She put the ocarina to her lips and begun to play.
Never before had Link heard such a beautiful sound. The music was his forest, pure and true.
-(/)-
Link had never thought he would actually leave Kokiri Forest. The world was so different than what he imagined. Each time that he came back to the forest, still a kid except burdened with the fate of Hyrule, he could count on the relief that woodland scent brought.
The moment occurred when became suddenly became an adult. He immediately traveled to his forest, his home. He expected happiness. He expected Mido to shout at him and Saria to welcome him back.
But the forest changed. Monsters took siege in his unwanted absence. They tainted and corrupted the purity that Saria once described. Defeating the monsters and Phantom Ganon brought his forest back to life.
Yet, a perplexity occurred. It no longer felt like his forest. He thought that once the monsters were defeated, he would feel home. Except Link was too big. He still felt like a child in an adult's body. Long limbs that he couldn't fill and he bumbled over. The forest was tiny, and Link had seen the vast landscape of Hyrule.
He didn't belong in this patch of heaven.
-(/)-
Coming back from defeating the real Ganondorf and saving Hyrule, Link didn't know if he could live in Kokiri Forest.
Link was a kid again, except not really. He returned to the forest knowing far more than what a kid ought to. He did not talk, but he has seen and heard and experienced. He knew the rough sand the Gerudo Desert. He knew countless melodies, some that could alter the realities. He knew the pierce of a blade, both as the giver and receiver. He knew so much from breeching outside his little forest.
A swarm of every single kokiri came to greet him with Mido and Fado up front. Link rolled to the tips of his toes, dying to see Saria. The clamor of voices didn't cease, and Saria's wasn't among them.
"I guess you aren't so bad," Mido admitted in a grumble.
"Welcome back," Fado said cheerfully. "What was it like out there?"
"He doesn't talk, idiot," Mido pointed out. "You're lookin' for Saria, huh?" Link nodded. "She's not here anymore."
Disappointed, Link pushed his way through the group and retired to his old tree house. He plopped down on his bed and slept like never before. He woke up in the evening to the sound of a voice calling from outside.
Fado was there, waving up at him. His heart panged, remembering Saria and that fateful morning. Link climbed down the ladder and tried not to think about what felt like a lifetime ago.
She told him that she couldn't sleep. Too riled up with thoughts and wonderings. As they walked across the grass, she confided him that she wished to visit the outside.
"Mido wouldn't allow it," Fado finished quietly.
They find themselves at the exit.
"But you, you can. You're a part of something bigger now. It's night now. No one will notice if you leave."
Link nodded in understanding. He would go to the ranch and pick up Epona. He didn't know where they would travel to, but it would be a start.
He took a final look at Kokiri Forest. Fado interrupted him in a hug, saying how much that he will be missed. That he's a kokiri to her and nothing will change where he's from.
He left Kokiri Forest, and dawn broke. Link does not remember his first day in Kokiri Forest, but this will be his last.
Time to time, in years to come, he will play Saria's Song in memory of his old forest.