The boy sighed and watched the firefly flutter across his gloved hand before it disappeared amongst the lights dancing across the water's surface. In the woods behind he could here the other Kokiri children frolicking with their fairy companions. Every child in the forest had one after all. That is, every child but one.
The fairy-less boy gazed longingly into the stream, as though expecting a fairy to appear from among the twinkling lights of the fireflies. Every night he would sit there hoping, wishing, that he wouldn't have to be alone. Every once in a while he would glance up, thinking he saw a glint of colour amongst the fireflies, only to be disappointed.
This night was no different from any other, he was alone by the stream in the village he could never leave.
The Great Deku Tree had always told them that if a Kokiri left their forest haven they would die, so no one left their wooded home. However, the children of the forest could always seek adventure in the Lost Woods surrounding their village and be content with their lives amongst the trees.
But the one without a fairy, Link, was different. He loved his tree-sheltered home, but he failed to feel content in the tiny village in which he was born. He felt alone, like an outsider, and although he had lived in the forest his entire life, he never truly felt that he belonged.
And unlike the other Kokiri, Link could not seek refuge amongst the trees of his forest home. For tales told of many creatures who, without fairies, disappeared into the woods and never returned. Doomed to wander endlessly through the trees before they eventually perished.
The boy gazed into the reflections of the stars and the fireflies in the water wishing that just one of those lights was the glow of the fairy he hoped he would one day meet.
A silent tear shattered the water's smooth surface and distorted the lights' reflections. A quiet sob escaped the small figure and another droplet hit the water's surface. And another and another. The boy let the tears fall freely, yet no one saw his sorrow.
Another sob disrupted the silence that now had hold of the forest. Then a single drop of rain fell from above, as though the sky itself was weeping.
Link heard the voices of the children returning from the woods to the shelter of their forest homes as the rain began to fall.
The one without a fairy wiped the tears from his eyes and stood. He saw the glimmering lights of the guardian fairies of the Kokiri among the trees and greeted the other children with a smile. The children of the trees waved and smiled in return as they skipped giggling back to their forest homes, free from worries.
None knew his pain.