Daylight, golden and bright, slanted into the small treehouse in dusty rays through the pulled window shades. The small room had the appearance of childlike simplicity. In one corner sat a small fireplace, filled now with black ashes and charred wood. Beside the fireplace was a small, child-sized table with two equally little chairs. Across from the table was a large window, complete with a sill wide enough to sit on. Smaller windows were scattered throughout the rest of the house, but none were as large or welcoming as the big one. By the larger window was a shelf laden with pretty crystals, feathers, leaves, and even a beautifully carved stick. A winding ramp made of hard-packed soil led up to a platform, on which rested a bed. Sprawled across the bed, her legs tangled in the sheets, was a small girl. Three Wolfos pups were snuggled up close to her.

Saria awoke slowly, first squeezing her eyes shut against the morning light, then opening them languidly with a muted whimper. She sat up, feeling confused and disoriented. The events of the previous night were all jumbled up in her head like a stream after heavy rains. She vaguely recalled blood, more blood than she had ever seen before. Blood and tears, and the sweet sounds of her ocarina...What a strange combination. The Kokiri looked down at herself, noticing in passing that she was still wearing her daytime clothes. What really attracted her attention was the three pups that were whining at her sudden movement. One of them had made a puddle on her sheets, but that didn't really bother her. She was bothered more by the fact that they were all trying to nurse from wads of the bedclothes.

Fael bobbed and flickered overhead, her wings scattering motes of dust and magic. "How are we going to feed them?" the fairy asked quietly, voicing Saria's own worried thoughts. The Kokiri girl opened her mouth to answer when she was interrupted by a loud knock on her door.

"Saria!" a boy's voice called. "Are you all right, girl? It's almost noon, and no one's seen you! You've never slept this late before! Saria?"

Saria put a hand to her mouth in guilty surprise and glanced up at Fael. The pink fairy was glowing yellow with unease. Quickly, the young girl stood up and pulled on a clean change of clothes. She glanced at her reflection in the shard of mirror hanging from the wall by her bed (the Kokiri had found a full-length mirror outside their Forest a few years before, and had used a clever combination of ropes and sticks to drag it in. Once it was theirs, they had broken it and given each Kokiri a piece of their own.) Her hair was a bit of a mess, but she decided on an excuse for that. After a quick check to see if she'd missed anything, the girl walked over to the door and opened it.

The boy standing outside was roughly the same age as she was, with tangled reddish-brown hair and piercing, dark blue eyes. He sported a cluster of freckles on each cheek and a proud grin between them. He dressed similarly to Saria, wearing a spring green tunic made of soft, worn fabric. The boots on his feet were less tight-fitting than hers, made of supple brown leather that looked comically large—almost floppy. At the sight of the girl, he settled the green cap he had been holding back onto his head, grinding it down so that it nearly touched his ears, which came to a small point at the ends.

"Saria!" he repeated when she appeared. "Hey girl! I thought you were going to sleep through the whole day!" He narrowed his eyes in what seemed to be an attempt at a sly expression. "Listen, I've been looking all over for you. The Deku Tree's warming up for another story...I was wondering if you'd want to come and sit by me when we go listen." He shot out his hand briskly, holding it palms-up. Saria couldn't stop a wry smile from creeping across her face. Mido only thought he had charm.

Saria, I don't think you can, Fael's voice whispered in the back of her mind. The pups are hungry. We need to find a way to feed them before they starve. Remember, they're babies! When Link was a baby, he had to be fed every few hours.

The Forest girl sighed. "I'm sorry, Mido," she apologized softly. "I've got...something important to take care of. Thank you for the offer, though." She hoped she was letting him down gently enough, and that he would understand.

Mido pulled in his hand, looking disgusted. He folded his arms across his chest. "Yeah, whatever," he grumbled. "I bet you're probably just going to go and listen with Half-Boy, aren't you?" Saria opened her mouth to protest, but Mido cut her off abruptly. "You know, he's not a real Kokiri. It's not just that he doesn't have a fairy...He came from the Outside—"

"The Great Deku Tree said we were never to talk about that!" Saria whispered in shock, her eyes widening nervously. Her hands clenched in defensive fists at her sides as she took on a more pleading tone of voice. "Come on, Mido, you know better that to say those things about Link!"

"It's true and you know it!" Mido retorted. "You were there with me when the woman from the Outside came in here with him!"

Saria, the pups... Fael pleaded. Saria unconsciously glanced over her shoulder worriedly. Mido leaned up on his toes to try and peer around her. His brow wrinkled in confusion as the girl tried each time to block his view.

"Mido, I'm sorry. I said I had something important to do, and I—"

Mido scoffed and stormed off in a huff. Saria sighed wearily and put a hand to her forehead. She leaned back against the doorframe, muttering angrily to herself. The pups were hungry, Mido was in a mood, and some very unpleasant memories were being brought forwards in her mind. Yes, she did remember when the Hylian woman entered the Forest. She and Mido had been two of the older Kokiri at the time, along with Mido's sister Fado. She remembered being given guardianship of the Hylian baby by the Deku Tree, as well as the Tree's warning that no other Kokiri should know the child's secret. Saria looked up from the memories to see Fael hovering in front of her face.

"Is everything all right, Saria?" the fairy asked. Saria sighed and stepped back inside her home, motioning for Fael to follow her. Once inside, the girl shut and locked her door, then leaned her back against it. "All right, I recognize the 'no.'"

"Fael, do you remember when Link's mother appeared in the Forest?" Saria asked. Her voice sounded choked, as if she was holding back tears. Fael bobbed a nod. "That was the first time any of us there had seen any injury other than a scrape or a bruise...The first time any of us had ever seen a baby..."

"Yes, I was there. I remember you seeing the woman the way she was gave you nightmares for weeks afterwards."

Saria looked up. "I'm trying to think of why it feels so important to me right now," she murmured. She climbed the ramp leading up to her bed and sat down on the white sheets, gathering the pups into her lap. Their bellies looked horribly shrunken. The girl wondered if going a few more hours without food would be the end of them. She was terrified, but still wondered why that day felt so vital to her. "Help me out, Fael..."


"Hey Mido! Have you seen—"

"Out of my way, Half-Boy!" Mido snarled, thrusting out his arm at the speaker. He succeeded in pushing the smaller boy away and into the small pool that sat in the middle of the Kokiri Forest. The child surfaced, spitting out a small fountain of clear water and rubbing at his eyes. He treaded water and watched Mido pass, a frown crumpling up his round face.

The unfortunate boy's name was Link, and he was Mido's usual punching bag and bully victim. Sodden bangs of golden-blonde hair were plastered to his furrowed brow, stream of water leaking down to fall down the boy's cheeks. He blinked the water out of his dark blue eyes, then gave his head a brisk shake like a wet dog. Link dressed no differently than the other Kokiri boys, wearing the same green tunic and brown leather boots. The cap he normally wore had fallen from his head when Mido pushed him, and was now slowly sinking to the bottom of the pool. He looked to be a few years younger than Mido; whereas Mido appear to be seven or eight, Link looked to be four or five.

"I'll get a fairy someday, Mido!" Like shot back angrily. He slapped a fist down on the surface of the water. Unfortunately, what had started out as a dramatic gesture wound up backfiring, as the resultant splash surged up and doused the already-soaked child. Spluttering, he tried to continue his defense. "S-someday—phtt!—a fuh-fairy's gonna come to me. Fahh...ptoo!" By the time Link had managed to clear the newest spray of water from his face, Mido was already gone. The boy sighed and started for the edge of the pond. He hauled himself out of the water and sat shivering in the sunlight beside it, a disappointed scowl sitting heavily on his face.

"I will get a fairy someday," he muttered angrily, glancing around for a rock to throw into the water. "And when that happens, Mido won't be able to say anything else bad about me, because I'll be a real Kokiri then!" Frustrated, he gave up the search for a rock—the failure to find it only increased his bad mood. His eyes widened as he saw his green cap being nibbled at by the small minnows in the pool. "Aww, Scrubs!" he swore, his voice taking on an edge of tears. "First Mido, and now this!!"

Sniffling back the angry tears that threatened to burst out, the little boy took a gulp of air and dove back into the pool after his cap. His round cheeks bulged with held breath, and his hair was tugged to and fro by the subtle currents underwater. He shooed the tiny fish away with his hands and latched his fingers tightly around the soft green cap. With a rapid scissor-kick, he sped back up to the surface and blew out the breath he had been holding. He crammed the cap back onto his head huffily and once again pulled himself out of the pond. Water spilled down from his sopping wet tunic to puddle on the ground at his feet. He sighed wearily and slowly headed back to his own little treehouse. At the foot of the ladder, he stopped and looked up the small ridge at Saria's own house.

"Mido went looking for her," he said to thin air. He was imagining that he was talking to his fairy...the fairy he would have one day, he hoped. "I thought I heard her voice when he was over at her house, but I didn't see her. Maybe she turned him down." He glanced up out of the corner of her eyes, envisioning a fairy hovering there. "Let's go check it out, okay, fairy?" With that, he backtracked up the small ravine in front of his own home and headed for Saria's.

Link hesitated at the door for a few moments, then knocked timidly. "Saria, are you there?" he asked. His voice had the high-pitched, lilting quality of a young boy's. "It's me, Link. Do you wanna come and play? We could go swimming...I mean, we might as well, seeing as I'm already wet." He leaned a little closer to the door, smiling almost to the tips of his pointed ears. To his surprise, it was not the door that opened, but the window. The boy cocked his head around to see his friend.

"I'm sorry, Link," Saria said, smiling sadly. "I...I've got a lot on my mind right now. Maybe later this afternoon, or sometime tomorrow. Sorry." Link's face fell, and he dropped his gaze downwards to keep her from seeing it. The toe of his right boot dragged a small circle in the dirt.

"That's okay," Link replied, trying to keep the awful sound of suppressed tears and crushed hope out of his voice. "I mean...I'm kinda hungry anyways. Maybe I'll go and grab my slingshot and shoot down some Deku fruit." He looked up. "You want me to bring you any?"

"Thanks, Link." Saria beamed down at him. "I'm really sorry about today." She winked. "You'd better change out of those wet clothes before you go out fruit-shooting. Don't want to catch a cold now, do ya?"

Link grinned and thumbed his nose. "I never get sick!" he told her. Saria grinned wryly and folded her arms on the windowledge. She leaned her head down so that it was just above her arms and cocked an eyebrow.

"How about last year when you gave everyone the stomach flu?" she asked. Link's eyes widened briefly in surprise, and he quickly glanced to the side to avoid her knowing gaze. "You remember...Everyone was throwing up for days! And who brought it in? You. You came back from an exploration to the creek in the Lost Woods saying your stomach hurt, and before long everyone else was sick."

"Maybe there was something in the water," Link muttered, although he knew Saria was right. He had been the first to get sick, and everyone who had been near him that day—Saria, Mido, one of the three Know-It-Alls—had gone down soon after. "All right, you win. I'll go change first." He smiled up at his friend. "See you around, Saria, Fael!" He waved and started back for his own home, turning around only when Saria closed her window.


Saria smiled as she retreated back to the bed where the three cubs lay sleeping. Her smile took on a sadder cast to it as she gazed down at the tiny scraps of fur. She shook her head hopelessly. "I wish I hadn't been there when they were born," she murmured thickly. "Then I wouldn't have gotten them into this awful mess. Fael, they're going to starve like this."

"I don't know what else we can do," Fael sighed, her body rocking from side to side hopelessly. "It's not like you can nurse them yourself!"

Saria looked up, her eyes glowing with comprehension. She grinned. "Say that again," she whispered intensely. Fael flashed yellow briefly.

"Uh...It's not like you can nurse them yourself?"

"I don't have to nurse them!" Saria hissed happily. She leapt into the air and did a short dance of happiness. She plucked Fael out of the air and twirled around while holding onto the fairy's gossamer wings. In a voice rich with giggles, she explained, "Now I know why the day Link came to us was so important, Fael!! When I was telling him to change into dry clothes, that's when I started to get the idea! I'm not his mother, but I still managed to help raise him—and I never once had to nurse him like his mother would have! Do you know what this means?!"

Fael was bewildered by the Kokiri girl's sudden change in attitude. "What? What?" she demanded, somewhat dizzily. Saria stopped spinning about and hugged the fairy to her chest. She was laughing and dancing around woozily.

"It means that these pups have a chance to live!!" Saria lost her next words in a fit of giggles, and had to wait to catch her breath and regain her balance before she continued. "Back when Link was still a baby, I remember how Fado and I had to make him special food. I remember that Mido tamed one of the wild goats in the Lost Woods so we could have milk for him—and we still have that goat! Babies need milk, and that's what we can get from the goat!"

Fael's body exploded with brilliant pink light as she zipped exultantly up into the air. "You're right!!" she cheered. "Oh, Goddesses, you're right, Saria! I'll watch the pups, you go find Mido's goat!"

Saria giggled. "I turned Mido down earlier when he wanted me to listen to the Deku Tree's story with him, and that really made him mad," she squeaked. "But Fael...Now I'm really going to get his goat!" Fael chimed her bell-like laugh, and Saria scurried over to the large window. She sat down on the wide sill and peeked out the curtains. Link was heading for a small grove outside the village, slingshot in one hand. She waited until he was out of sight, then headed out the door.


The goat Saria had spoken of was munching on grass in a small pen behind the Big Boss's house. A leather collar was tied around its neck with his name scratched into it. The goat was a shaggy-furred creature that truly looked feral. Its short, gray fur was variegated from dark to light, starting at a near-black stripe running down its back. (1) Two horns, slightly curved at the end, jutted out from the top of its head. When Saria neared, the goat lifted its head and studied her with golden eyes. The Kokiri girl smiled and made soft clicking noises with her tongue. "Come on, Nara," she crooned, holding out her hand and rubbing her fingers together. "Come on, girl..."

Nara bleated and walked towards Saria, her cloven hooves lifting high with each dainty step. Saria nodded and made encouraging noises. She was hesitant to milk the goat—Fado usually did that, and whenever one of the boys had approached Nara, the goat had kicked them soundly. Although...Fado said she only did it because boys were too rough when they milked her. Saria climbed over the wall of the pen and set down the bottles she had brought. Nara sniffed them carefully and thoroughly. She seemed to know what was coming, because as soon as Saria knelt down, the she-goat turned to the side and presented herself for milking. The Kokiri gave Nara's ears a gentle rub, then set about milking.

She had only milked Nara once before, and that had been because Fado had been feeling sick. Rather than risk giving the then-infant Link food that had been touched by someone with the flu, the girls had decided that Saria would be the one to get the milk. She recalled vaguely that she had to squeeze the udders, but she was hesitant to squeeze them too hard, or not hard enough. Nara waited patiently and chewed. Saria took a deep breath and took the soft, pinkish udder in her hands. She positioned the bottle with her foot, and squeezed. White, hot fluid spurted out, filling the bottle to its halfway mark with a sort of ringing sound.

Nara uttered a soft, somewhat indignant-sounding bleat and turned her head to examine Saria. The look of Just what exactly do you think you're doing, child? that was so plain on the furry face was too much for Saria. She lost herself in a fit of giggles. "S-sorry, Nara," she stammered, grinning sheepishly. "I didn't mean to startle you." Nara bleated again and returned to her grass. Saria wiped a few strands of hair out of her face with the back of her hand and squeezed again. Another jet of warm milk topped the bottle off. Nara made a soft mutter of dislike, but did not turn around or move to kick the young girl milking her. Grinning with a kind of feverish excitement, Saria capped off the first bottle and set it aside. One down, three to go.

The second and third bottles were filled much faster than the first as Saria picked up on the rhythm that Nara was used to. The girl licked the foamy drops on her hands when she had capped off the third and final bottle. Nara turned to look at her then with calm satisfaction. "Thank you so much, Nara," Saria whispered, rubbing the goat's ear fondly. Nara let out a contented bleat. "I'll be back tomorrow, all right?"

Her arms full of the warm bottles, the child hopped the fence nimbly and started back towrads her own house. She hesitated at the door, fearful for a moment that she would be too late. She gave herself a brisk mental shake, her eyes narrowing in thought. If one of the pups had died, Fael would have found her and told her. The girl opened the door and stepped inside her home.

The tinkle-buzz sound of fairy wings told her to expect Fael's body right up in her face. The pink fairy hummed around Saria anxiously. "Thank Goddesses," she breathed. "You're back, Saria! I was beginning to worry!"

"How are they doing, Fael?" Saria queried, her eyes wide and nervous. Fael's body, yellow with fear, slowly began to glow pink again. Saria heaved a sigh of relief and headed up to her bed.

The other two pups had made "puddles" now, but again, that was the least of Saria's concerns at the moment. The larger male pups were stretched out, their stomachs sucked in painfully. The little runt was curled into a ball, half buried under a fold of sheet. The three were whimpering and pawing the blankets feebly, the runt more weakly than the others. The Forest girl settled herself down on the bed and gathered the cubs into her lap. The runt was the first to be fed. Saria popped a hole in the cap of the bottle with her teeth and offered it to the tiny Wolfos, cradling its soft, furry body like she would a baby. The little female was so small, she could be held in the crook of one arm.

It took a few feeble sucks before the runt discovered the way to nurse from the nipple-less bottle, but once she did, she fed fiercely. Saria laughed softly, reminded of all the times she had fed Link when he was a baby. She recalled how his tiny hands, soft and pink, had made little grasping motions at her face, while his wide, blue eyes gazed up at her. The Wolfos runt did not open her eyes, but she did knead the air around the bottle of warm goat milk. Saria watched her flattened stomach slowly bloat with milk, and before the bottle was half-gone, the pup started to pull away. Carefully, the child lifted pup and bottle upright, and brought them apart. Frothy milk ringed the Wolfos's tiny muzzle, and a dribble of white ran down her chest. Saria laughed and patted the pup's little belly. She set the runt back down on the sheets and reached for the smaller of the males.

The smaller male was quicker to grasp the motions of suckling. His plump paws actually came up and attached themselves to the sides of the bottle. As he nursed, Saria noticed he made a very distinctive bicca, bicca sound, his little head jerking back and forth as he sucked down milk. She smiled and tickled his furry stomach. "Bicca, bicca, bicca," she mimicked softly, her blue eyes warm and loving. He finished the bottle his sister had half-drunk, then settled down in Saria's arms. The girl held onto him for a few moments longer, stroking his soft, fluffy pelt, then set him down beside his sister. She reached for the last pup, took him into her arms, and started to feed him from the second bottle.

The largest of the Wolfos litter was a bit more of a handful that his two siblings. He struggled a little when Saria tried to pick him up, resisting the gentle grip that only wanted to see him fed. Once he figured out there was food involved, however, he stopped fighting and settled down like a rock. The girl giggled. The big pup had no trouble finding out how to get at the milk Saria offered him. He, too, latched onto the bottle—with all four paws! His stubby tail lashed from side to side jerkily as he tried to pull the bottle out of Saria's hands. She grinned as she recognized a troublemaker. The third cub drank more than three-quarters of the bottle before he was sated. Saria brought her face close to kiss his milk-covered muzzle and received a little lick from a small, hot tongue. She laid him down beside his two siblings and sighed with relief.

"I can't believe we did it," she breathed to Fael, shaking her head in amazement. "And here we have three full-fed Wolfos pups. It's amazing, isn't it, Fael?"

"Really is," the fairy agreed. "By the way, what were you going to name them?"

The fact that the idea had not even crossed her mind yet caused Saria to burst out laughing, and she laughed so hard for so long that tears came to her eyes. She was always the first one to want to name something, the first to make it belong. She had been the one insisting that the Deku Tree name Link then and there. Every time a new Kokiri was born, she was there asking what their name was. And she hadn't even considered this as a possibility for the three Wolfoses in her care! Fael seemed to realize this, and the two shared a good laugh. After a few moments, Saria recovered her composure and smiled.

"Well...I guess we should start," she said. She picked up the largest pup and cuddled him in her arms. He was snoring softly, his belly full of warm milk. Saria smiled with motherly love. "You need a strong name, because you're going to be very strong when you are grown. Iamb...That's what I'll call you." She kissed his forehead and set him back down on the sheets.

She picked up the other male next. He was asleep when she laid hands on him, but once he was in her arms, he squirmed into wakefulness. She offered him a finger to suckle to keep him from whimpering. Bicca, bicca, he grunted. The girl grinned. "You seem to have a good idea," she told him. "If you insist on saying it, I guess I have no choice to bend to your wishes." She traced the small white line that ran from a dab on his forehead to the end of his long muzzle. "Bicca it is." She set Bicca back down, next to his brother Iamb.

The runt was next. Saria thought long and hard before choosing the name for the adorable little female. She wanted it to be something distinctly feminine, something both noble and gentle. She cradled the she-cub in her arms for a few minutes. Her eyes wandered around the floor until she spotted something bright red. It took her a bit to register what she was looking at: a pennant flag. She had helped Link make one of his own for one of the festivals the Kokiri had held in the past. Glancing back at the Wolfos pup, she noticed that the gray fluff of her pelt had a reddish wash to it. She smirked happily. "Penata," she said aloud. "That's what I'll call you: Penata."

"Iamb, Bicca, and Penata, (2)" Fael echoed, settling down on Saria's shoulder to rest. "Great. Now that we've named them, you'll never be able to let go of them, not even when they're as big as their mother." Saria laughed.

"Probably not," she laughed. Her laughter died after a few chuckles, though, as a more sinister thought crossed her mind. If they ever live to be that big. The close shave today made the young girl realize that she was probably in over her head. She recalled the fear she had felt when she saw just how big the she-Wolfos had been, and wondered what it would be like when three Wolfoses of that same size were roaming around her house. How long would she be able to keep them a secret from the other Kokiri?

Fael seemed to sense her anxiety, and the fairy rubbed up against her cheek comfortingly. "Let's just take this one day at a time, Saria," she advised. "Let's love them while they're young and loveable, and decide how to handle them when they're older." Saria nodded. She laid her hands gently overtop the sleeping pups, who had clustered together into a small mountain of fur and puppy fat. Her eyes were soft as she nodded again. Somehow the way Fael had said it made all her worries vanish, leaving only an overpowering feeling of love for the Wolfos pups.

(1) How can fur be shaggy and short at the same time? It's short, but it's very scruffy-looking.

(2) Cookies to whoever knows where I got those names from!!