Walking.
After what had happened so far in this adventure, that word meant so much to me.
Ruto had finally given Link a clean bill of health, so Link, Ora, and I were walking back towards the castle on Ruto's request. The castle's main water supply came from the now poisoned Zora's Domain and the inhabitants needed to be warned. Milo and Tatl had flown ahead, so there was no rush for the rest of us.
But Ora, in her boundless stores of energy, had started to run around, collecting various wild flowers from Hyrule field again.
"Where does she get all that energy?" Link asked, voicing my thoughts. I smiled.
Ora ran up to me. "Here, hold these," she said, shoving a handful of flowers into my hands, which I noticed were all, yet again, blue. Rolling my eyes, I silently complied with her wishes.
Ora smiled and started to take off again, before halting and turning back. "What did you do with the other flowers I gave you?" she asked.
'What did I do with them?' I thought, 'I had them in my hand when we got to LonLon Ranch, but then I didn't have them when I played the ocarina. Did I drop them?'
"No," Milo said, flying up to me, "You put them in your quiver."
'Oh yeah,' I thought, pulling the quiver from off my back. Peering inside it, I saw a few child's wooden arrows and generous amounts of sand, but there they were, faded and dusty, but still in one piece. As I was pulling them out, Tatl flew up to Link.
"The castle has been warned Link," Tatl announced, "And Zelda told us to keep up our search for the spirit stones. She seems to think they are important somehow."
"Thank you Tatl," Link said. He then turned to look at me with my two handfuls of flowers and snorted, trying to hold back a laugh.
I looked at him, indignantly, then surprised. Did the Hero of Time just snort?
Ora smiled at the both of us, content, and then ran off, presumably to pick more flowers.
"Wait a second!" Link shouted after her, "What's Fief supposed to do with all these flowers?"
"I don't know!" Ora shouted back, then went about her business.
I sighed as Link laughed. 'What could I do with all these flowers?' I thought. But then, looking at them again, an idea popped into my head. 'Hmm...' I thought. The petals were still attached and pushing on one of the heads of the flowers, it refused to break, but the stem did stretch.
'They're perfect,' I thought, sitting down on the ground.
"What is?" Milo asked me.
'Man I haven't done this since fourth grade,' I thought, laying the flowers down in front of me.
"Done what?" Milo asked, getting a little annoyed now.
'You'll see,' I told him. Picking up three of the flowers, I started to braid their long stems together, adding in another one, and then another as the braid lengthened.
Link had leaned against a nearby rock to watch what I was doing. Even Ora had stopped running about to come watch, a curious expression on her face.
When the flower chain was long enough, I tied the ends of it to the beginning, forming a circle, and placed the wreath atop the surprised Ora's head.
She lifted her hands to touch the flowers, then her face burst into a huge smile. "It's a flower crown!" she announced happily, gripping the blue halo to her head as she skipped about. It seemed I had just made her day.
Running over to Link, she tugged on his tunic until he knelt down to her level. "Do I look pretty?" she asked.
"Um, yeah?" Link said, surprised at the sudden question. He looked over at me and I nodded my head, urging him on. "Yes, you look beautiful," he told the young girl.
Ora giggled. "Well," she said, suddenly flipping the crown onto his head, "Now you can look beautiful too!" And with that, she ran off.
I snorted loudly before I could clap my hand over my mouth.
"What?" Link said in joking accusation, standing up to walk over to me. He pushed the crown up a little in the back, making the blue petals fall over his eyes. With any other hat, it would have made him look tougher and a bit more intimidating, but with the flowers...
I snorted again, and started to laugh through my nose, before clapping my other hand up to join the first. I could feel laughter welling up in the pit of my stomach and tried my hardest to keep it down.
"Do you think that's funny, flower boy?" he said, kneeling down to my sitting position.
I shook my head no, but could not stop a little of the laughter escaping through my nose. 'Look who's talking,' I thought. Milo burst into laughter.
Link looked up at the laughing fairy before looking back down at me. "Well," he said, "If that's the case then..." Throwing his arms forward, he caught me by the sides and then started to wiggle his fingers.
'No,' I thought in surprise, my eyes going wide, 'No fair! I'm really ticklish!' I burst into laughter, falling back and holding my stomach, but he wouldn't stop! 'Milo!' I yelled.
"Serves you right for laughing at the Hero of Time!" Milo shouted back.
"Correct," Link added, now using both hands to tickle the side closest to him.
I curled trying to get away, but to no avail. My eyes started to water and my stomach was killing me! 'Milo, tell him I'm sorry! I give! Uncle!'
"Fief says he's sorry," Milo translated for me.
"Well that's that then, isn't it?" Link said, sitting back on his knees, "Now don't let me catch you doing that again," he said with a wink.
I smiled over at him. 'No sir,' I thought, collapsing to the ground, closing my eyes, worn out. The sun's light was then blocked from my face and I looked up to see a smiling Ora leaning over me. She walked around and sat down on my painful stomach.
An airy "Uph," noise escaped my lips, but I smiled up at her nonetheless. With a mischievous look, she reached down a hand to my side and started to tickle. A burst of laughter escaped from me before I could grab her hand. 'No more,' I begged silently as I shook my head to emphasize the point, 'No more.'
"But Fief," she said in protest, "I love to hear you laugh. It's the only sound I've ever heard from you and it's wonderful!"
'Wait,' I thought, a bewildered look passing over my face, 'I made a sound?'
"You did make a sound," Link said, also realizing my discovery. He picked Ora up off of my stomach and helped me to sit up. "Can you say anything?" he asked.
Hello I tried, but it would not come out. I shook my head no.
"That is so odd," he said, standing up and holding out a hand to help me up.
I turned a little, as he was standing to the side of me, and something poked me in the side as I grabbed his hand.
"What is it?" he asked as he pulled me up, seeing the discomforted look on my face.
I reached down into the small bag on my belt and pulled out the Kokiri Ocarina. 'Oh yeah,' I realized, 'I still have this.' I held it out to Link, but he just shook his head.
"No you keep it Fief," he said, "It's too small for me anyway."
Smiling, I held it out and looked at it. 'Maybe I should play something. But what? Hmmm... I don't want to travel to any place, or any other time for that matter, I don't want to call Epona, or giants, and I don't want it to rain. How about the one that gets stuck in my head all the time.'
Putting the instrument to my lips, I started to play Saria's Song. Link froze in his spot. His head whipped around to where I was, unbelief on his face.
"Catchy tune," Milo said, bobbing to the sound. But then he froze in place as well. "Saria? Saria what's wrong!" Milo shouted.
"What?" Link said, his head whipping over towards Milo, "Milo, let me hear."
We could hear a weak whimper coming through. "Saria!" Link shouted.
"L-Link?" came a small voice that I recognized as Saria's, but much too small for my comfort.
"Saria what's wrong?" Link shouted in desperation. Apparently, he didn't like how weak her voice sounded either.
There was some coughing and then, "Link...the forest...it...it's dying..." but then there was no more.
"Saria!" Link shouted, "Saria!"
"She won't answer," Milo said in slight shock.
"Where is she?" Link asked quickly.
"The Lost Woods."
Without another word Link was off.
Some part of my body, my legs I believe, complained about the running they were apparently about to join in. But the rest of my body rebuked it and Ora and I were off, after the running Hero.
In no time, we arrived at Kokiri Forest. It was no longer hot, but ashes littered the ground, some picked up and blown by the wind, giving the air a dirty, hazy look.
But there was no time to waste as Link was already dashing up the hill to the Lost Woods entrance. Quickly following him, the three of us burst into the entrance to absolute silence.
It stunned Link and I for a second, as neither of us had ever heard the Lost Woods silent. But then Link was off again, Ora and I following blindly. I usually just followed the music in the Lost Woods, and never took the time to memorize the turns. But luckily, Link seemed to know this place like the back of his hand.
Dashing around the maze without a problem, other than the fact that it grew darker the deeper we got, we were soon running up stairs to finally arrive at the gate to the Forest Temple. It seemed that the wind had blown the ash air over here as well, because the air was thick and made Ora and I cough.
Link looked around desperately.
"She's over here!" yelled a voice through the haze. A fairy that glowed a soft green on the edges shined through the darkness. "Over here!" It yelled again.
Link ran to the light and Saria's still form. "Saria?" he said in a soft, worried voice, "Saria?"
"She hasn't moved for a while," the worried fairy said, a male voice sounding from it. "Saria, please wake up," he begged.
Saria coughed weakly. "...sprout..." she breathed out, "...he...help..."
"We're not leaving you," Link said quietly but desperately as Ora and I kneeled down by her.
She coughed some more. "No," she whispered, "we...go..." Trying to push herself up, Saria collapsed in a coughing fit.
"No, don't move," Link said, and swiftly yet gently scooped her up off the ground, holding her like a child. "We're all going."
He ran again, but I was ready for it this time and kept pace, Ora just behind me, along with the male fairy. We flew through the maze and the Forest it seemed and went to the Great Duku Sprout. The air surrounding the Sprout was thick as ever, causing all of us to cough. Looking around made my eyes water and sting, but I thought I saw several Kokiri children on the ground, some still and some coughing severely.
Ora tapped me on the shoulder and I looked back at her. She had pulled her bandana up over her mouth and was pointing at it. I nodded understanding, grabbing my own bandana from around my neck and pulling it up over my nose and mouth. Tapping Link, I passed on the message and he nodded also, pulled his own bandana up and held Saria closer into his tunic.
When we reached the Sprout, he looked horrible, ashen grey, tiny leaves and branches withered and curled in as if trying to escape from the air.
Link fell to his knees at it. "What can we do?" he asked the Sprout, holding out Saria a little.
At first, I didn't think it would answer, but then the Sprout shifted in its place and croaked, "Rain."
Thinking quickly, Link turned to me. "Do you know the Song of Storms?" he asked.
Shocked at the sudden question, I froze, my eyes wide, until I realized, yes, I did know that one. I nodded.
"Then play," he said, setting Saria down next to the Sprout, apparently no longer surprised at my knowledge of songs.
Fumbling with the Ocarina, I brought it to my lips and played the Song of Storms. Rain started to fall through the haze, dragging down the ash with it. Soon the rain cleared the air; nothing was in it save the torrential downpour. Kokiri children started to move and sit up. The Great Duku Sprout itself uncurled its leaves and branches, gladly accepting the clean water.
When the rain finally stopped, the sun appeared. Kokiri children were either standing or sitting up, shaking the water off of their heads. The Great Duku Sprout gave a sigh of relief. Link still had a worried expression though.
The male fairy hovered over Saria. "Why isn't she getting up?" he asked in a panicked whisper. Link, the Sprout, Ora, and I all looked over at the Kokiri child. She was still breathing rather shallowly, her breath becoming more and more ragged with every exhale.
"It seems she has breathed too much of it in," the Great Duku Sprout said.
"What can we do?" Ora asked, worried.
"I don't know if we can..." the Sprout started, but then stopped when he looked up at Link. "Link?" he said, "Are those flowers on your head?"
"Sprout, this is no time for jokes!" Link shouted angrily, grabbing the wreath fiercely and throwing it to the ground.
"This is also no time to loose our heads," the Sprout said back. "Those flowers, or specifically, the blue wild flowers that grow in Hyrule field, can be used to make the most potent healing salve I have ever come across."
The three of us looked at him in astonishment.
"You only need one," the Sprout continued, "Remove the flower and squeeze the juice from the stem into the center of the petals. Then mash that into a pasty substance and put a little on the roof of her mouth. Well, go on then!" he said when Link did not move right away.
"Uh, right!" Link said, grabbing the crown and pulling hard on one of the heads until it came off. Following the Sprout's instructions, he mashed it up and used his finger to put some in Saria's mouth.
As soon as he removed his finger, Saria's mouth closed and we could hear her swallow. Then her eyes opened and she blushed. "Um," she said timidly, "Hello, everybody."
The surrounding Kokiri children cheered when she sat up and Link gave her a hug. He pulled out of it and held her at arms length. "Are you alright?"
"Um, I'm pretty sure I am," she said, embarrassed. Link helped her to her feet.
"What happened?" Tatl asked, peaking out of Link's hat.
"Well," Saria started, frowning, trying to remember, "I was talking to the Great Duku Sprout when we felt a change in the air. The Duku Sprout said that it might be coming from the Lost Woods, so I went to investigate. But the sky got darker and darker, and the air thicker and thicker, making it extremely difficult to breathe. I'd finally reached the Temple when I saw...well, this." She then opened her hand, which I had come to realize had been closed the entire time. In her hand was a green stone.
"A spirit stone!" Ora announced. Saria handed the stone to the excited girl and continued her story.
"Well, then I started to feel very sick, coughing so much it felt like my chest might burst! I felt so dizzy and must have collapsed, because the next thing I knew, I was looking at the ground sideways. Rye here tried his hardest to talk to me, but I couldn't answer." She indicated the green fringed fairy.
"I did!" Rye added, flying around Saria's head once, "And then I heard a message coming through and thought that might help."
"And it did," Saria said, "As the Hero of Time came right to my rescue." She looked away, embarrassed again, but turned back smiling.
Link smiled as well, but then turned to the fairy. "I've never met you before. Who are you again?"
"Oh where are my manners," Saria said, "Link, this is Rye. He's the newest fairy to come to Kokiri Forest, coming just a few years after we started over again. But the strange thing was, he never had a child to look after. All the children had fairies already, so he had come to be known as the fairy without a child. But, after all these fairy disappearances, he's the only one left."
"Well, it is good to meet you Rye," Link said, bowing slightly, "This is Fief and Ora." Each of us bowed as Link indicated us.
"And who might," Rye began, flying up to Link's hat, "you be?"
I didn't know if it was my imagination or Tatl actually changed color, but only for a second. "I'm Tatl," she answered.
Milo flew over to the two. "And I'm Milo," he said, introducing himself, rather quickly if I might add.
"Wonderful to meet you both," Rye said happily. Then he flew over to me. "Hello Fief!" he said.
I nodded in acknowledgement.
"He's shy isn't he?" Rye said squeakily, then flew to Ora.
"Greetings my young mademoiselle," Rye said, "I believe your name is Ora? Pleasure to meet you."
"Pleasure to meet you too," she said, giggling.
"I like this one," he said giddily.
"Well," Link said, "With introductions aside, we must continue I believe." He looked over at Ora and I. We nodded.
"Can Rye come too?" Ora asked.
"I would so love to see Hyrule!" Rye added.
"I don't know Ora," Link said, glancing at Saria. She smiled and shrugged. When he looked at me, I copied suit. "What do you think Tatl?"
"It would be nice to have a fairy to talk to," she said.
"Wha?" Milo said, astonished.
"I mean, another one," she said, facing Milo. Again, they have no facial expressions, but it felt like she was glaring at him.
"Alright then," Link concluded, "He can come."
So after saying farewell, we left the Kokiri Village with our new companion.