Several days had passed since my father's late night visit, yet I was still enraged by his actions. Once again, he came, broke my mother's heart, and vanished just as suddenly as he appeared. We still hadn't spoken about what happened that night, but I was perfectly okay with that. His words only made me bitter and angry, I wanted nothing more than to forget that he even existed and just return to the way things were.

After a full morning of deliveries to the Castle and Kakariko Village, Baron decided to let me take off earlier than usual. I still had a few hours to kill before dinner, so I decided to take a stroll through the main square of the Market, hoping to find a wealthy sucker to pickpocket. The square was more packed than usual because of the upcoming Festival of Time, giving me plenty of opportunities to score. As I combed through the crowd, looking for my victim, I spotted a strange looking kid. I watched him as he took in his surroundings. He looked about my age and was dressed in a green tunic with a matching green hat. His clothes made it obvious that he wasn't from around here, therefore making him an easy target. It was likely that he was in town for the festival; this time of year always attracted a bunch of clueless foreigners. I quickly started to approach him from behind before I missed my chance, eyeing the wallet tied around his belt. Just as I was about to grab the goods, a fairy shot out from under his shield and started flying around in circles above my head.

"Hey!" her little voice cried out. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Busted!

I reached back for my sword, hoping that I could scare the boy into handing over his rupees. But before I could even draw my weapon he had his own sword at my throat.

Aw man, I'm dead. I'm so caught. He's going to turn me over to the guards for sure…

My panic levels began to rise as I thought about all of the possible consequences.

I'm going to end up in the dungeon! There's no way Mother can afford to bail me out! She's going to be left all alone again. Oh Goddess, please don't let her die while I'm locked up…

All of these thoughts raced through my head as I stared into my captor's eyes. His eyes were a beautiful shade of dark blue, but boy did they look angry. He was obviously not amused by my efforts to rob him.

"Forget her!" the fairy said, returning to the boy's side. "We don't have time for this! We need to find a way to the castle!"

"Yeah, you're right." He sighed as he lowered his sword. He studied my face for a few seconds before disappearing back into the crowd, running in the opposite direction of the castle.

The next morning I told Baron about my strange encounter with the fairy boy. He lectured me about my thieving ways of course, but his anger turned into fascination when I told him that a fairy had blown my cover.

"A fairy you say?" he mused, twirling his beard as he often did when he was in deep thought. He ordered me to watch the front of the shop and disappeared into the back, probably to dig up one of his old adventure journals. Sure enough, he came back with a battered book in hand. He flipped through the pages until he found the one he was looking for.

"Ah ha! Here it is. According to this legend, fairies can only be found in the Kokiri Forest. They are the guardians of the forest children who live there." He explained.

"So, does that mean that the boy from yesterday is one of those forest kids?"

"Well here's the thing: it says here that the children can't leave the forest. If they do, they die."

"But the boy from yesterday looked fine to me. Maybe your journal is wrong." As I said this Baron shot me a deadly glare. He hated it when I criticized his journals, but I did have a point; If the Kokiri couldn't leave the forest, then how did this one manage to?

"It is possible that my journal could be mistaken," Baron said thoughtfully "but it's likely not probable. Now enough of this fairy boy talk! I have an important delivery for you to make."

Baron took me around back behind the shop and helped me load some crates onto my cart. He explained that they contained some supplies that the Knights of Hyrule had ordered. Before I left to make my delivery, he made sure to give me another one of his adventuring tips;

"Make sure you stop by your house to get supplies. You don't want to get stuck overnight unprepared again do you?" Of course, he was referring to the time I had to spend the night on the castle trail. The line to get into the castle was so long that I didn't even make it to the gates before sundown. I was forced to stay out there the entire night and a good portion of the following afternoon and I had gone the entire time without food or water. Instead of consoling me, Baron only laughed at my foolish mistake.

"Come on Kid! That's one of the fundamental lessons of being an adventurer! Always be prepared!"

Following Baron's advice, I stopped by my house to prepare for my trip to the castle. When I told Mother where I was making my delivery, she immediately insisted that I changed into one of my better dresses.

"But Mom, it's not like I'm going inside the castle!" I protested.

"But Kai, what if Princess Zelda is out taking a walk on the castle grounds and you happen to meet her? You wouldn't want to meet the Princess of Hyrule dressed in these rags!" She countered. Whenever I made deliveries to the castle she always made a big deal out of it, dreaming up surreal scenarios that we both knew would never happen. After some more bickering, I finally gave in and let my Mother have her way. I changed into one of my good dresses (by good I mean one that isn't too stained or torn) and Mother braided my hair like she always did before I departed for work. She packed up an unnecessary amount food and some blankets onto my cart, fearing that I would be stranded again.

"Be safe on your trip, my little love." she whispered as she kissed my cheek.

By the time I left my house it was already late afternoon, I would have to hurry if I wanted to make it to the castle before the gates closed. As I was making my way through the bustling main square, I saw a familiar green figure mixed in with the crowd. It was that fairy boy again, looking as lost as ever. I remembered his fairy had said something about finding the castle and wondered if he ever found it. Then again, the castle Market was a pretty massive place especially to an outsider, so it was likely that he never did make it.

Oh well. Not my problem.

I turned to head back on my way but as I did, I nearly ran over a chicken as it ran past. Little did I know that there was a girl chasing after it, and in her haste she bumped into my cart, tipping it over on to its side.

"Hey! Come back here!" I yelled as the girl disappeared into the crowd.

Stupid kid! If I didn't have to worry about my precious cargo, I would have chased her down and shoved that chicken down her dress!

I carefully inspected the crates, looking to see if any of them had busted open. After making sure everything was still secure, I kneeled down and attempted to push the cart back in its upright position but it was too heavy for me to lift on my own. I looked helplessly at my overturned cart, trying to think of a solution. If I didn't hurry, I really would have to spend the night outside again!

"Need a hand?" a voice asked. I turned around to find the fairy boy standing behind me, still dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. Baron had told me that during his travels he often stayed in the same clothes he ventured out in, so maybe this kid was an adventurer too?

"No. I'm fine." I mumbled, but the fairy boy ignored my words and helped set my cart back up anyway. As we worked, I tried desperately to hide my face so he wouldn't recognize me. There were a couple of guards not too far from us and it would have been a piece of cake for him to turn me in.

"So, even though you tried to rob me yesterday I didn't report you to the guards." He said casually after we were finished. I tried making a break for it, but my cart prevented me from moving very fast and the fairy boy easily kept pace with me.

"I don't know about you, but I think that since I did you a favor, you owe me one now."

The jerk was trying to blackmail me! But, I guess I couldn't really blame him since I did try to steal from him. I had no choice but to comply, so I gave him my fiercest scowl and asked, "What do you want?"

"Take us to Hyrule Castle immediately! We need to speak to the Princess!"

Since I was already on my way to the castle, it wasn't too much of a hassle taking the fairy boy with me. In fact, as soon as I agreed to take him, he insisted on pulling my cart for me. He was actually really kind and caring, something I had never experienced coming from a stranger (especially one that I tried to steal from). He introduced himself as Link and his fairy's name was Navi.

"Are you from the forest?!" I blurted out, unable to contain my own curiosity. Link laughed a little and confirmed my suspicions; yes, he had come from the forest and yes, he was one of the Kokiri children who lived there.

"The Great Deku Tree sent Link here to meet with the Princess!" Navi explained to me. But her explanation only created more questions for me.

"But wait, how did a tree tell you to come here? And why do you need to see the Princess so badly?"

Navi explained to me how the Great Deku Tree had been the guardian of the forest, and how he had become cursed. Link went on to tell me of the adventure he had inside the tree; exploring every passage, finding treasure and fighting off monsters throughout the way.

"With Navi's help of course." He added.

"Wow, you're like a real adventurer!" I exclaimed as he finished his story. I had to admit, even though I wasn't fond of him at first, I admired his courageous spirit. Ever since Baron took me in as his apprentice, I had been longing to go on the kind of adventure that Link had gone on.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that." Link said, blushing slightly "What about you? Do you like to go on adventures too?"

"I wish" I sighed. I told him about my mother's situation and how I had come to be Baron's apprentice. I told him about my father, my first night outing in Hyrule Field, and how I liked to make maps of the places that I visited. It was odd, only because I had never really confided to anyone about my odd life. But at the same time, it was a relief to finally be able to speak to someone so freely. I guess this is what it's like to have friends.

"You know the castle guards aren't just going to let you march up to the Princess's room." I pointed out as we neared the gates.

"Why not?" Link asked, obviously unaware of the customs of the Royal family.

"Well, she is the Princess of Hyrule after all. I'm sure her room is heavily guarded. If you're going to get inside the castle walls, you're going to have to sneak in."

"How do expect us to do that?" Navi chimed in

"Just keep quiet and follow my lead. I have an idea."