That jerk.
I told him to come back. He said he would come back.
But… It's been ages, and he still hasn't shown his face.
His face… his face—his stupid face was so pale and doofy when he left. I told him he was gonna die out there, but he said he didn't care.
That idiot.
Everyone knows you can't leave the forest. Everyone knows—they can't enter, we can't leave. Bad things will happen. You won't come back.
No one comes back.
I miss his face—his stupid face—all the stupid faces. They left when the fairies did. Off to the desert to meet with the queen, the fairies said—the Great One, they said, but they took their light and they left and they never came back.
They took their light and in the dark we faded.
I faded.
I miss my stupid face.
My new face smiles at me when I see it. It's happy, at least. Here. With its friends. The puppets made of leaves and wood, just like it. Just like them.
Leaves and wood, leaves and wood… My friends all leave and I would love to join them, but I'm rooted. The Great Deku Tree said so. I don't wanna go.
I'm waiting. For him. That jerk. For him to bring his stupid face back. He promised.
I'll keep the forest safe 'til he gets back. That's why I'm wood, while they're all leaves. Korok-ok-ok-ok-iri. They're all gone. They're all in the forest. I'm waiting in this lost wood. The last wood.
I'm the last wood guarding the Lost Wood and I would leave if I were a leaf but I'm wood so I will stay, I guess.
I would, wouldn't I?
I would. I'm wood.
Since the fairies left, it's been hard. I've been hard. My arms—my skin—as hard and dry and brittle as bark. My face faded. Green's gone brown.
But I'm still here. Guarding.
Protecting.
Waiting.
I laugh alone. The forest echoes it. I play the song she used to sing. The woods hum along.
La di-da, la di-da, la di da-di-daa…
…
My voice fades. The sound fades. No one sings back. The forest can't sing back.
I'm still alone. With my new face in this old place.
No one enters.
No one leaves.
It's just me.
Waiting.
Waiting…
…
…
….
Grumble grumble.
It's been ages. The woods have gotten dark. He's still not here. He's still not home.
He said he would be, but it's long past dusk and he's still not.
He's not.
Twilight's fallen and he's not.
That jerk.
Oh well. I can wait. I still have my puppets. We'll play all day
and night and fight all the monsters that—
Oh wait
What's that? That noise?
It sounds like…
Something…
Someone.
…Someone's singing back.
I bet it's him.
It's been so long.
...
I hope he wants to play.