"Hey! Watch out for me!"

The tiny fairy dodged out of the way of the rampant blade.

"Oh, sorry Mari, I wasn't aiming for you!"

Link put his palm to his head and sighed. They had been practicing for an hour, and Saria was still just as sloppy with her swordsmanship. She was great at defensive stances and dodges, being a nimble child of the forest, but her offensive training always seemed to end the same. She would raise her sword, attempt to take a whack with it, and either miss her intended target entirely, lose her balance, or fall over from the rebound. The dummy they had been practicing on, a few sacks of hay tied to a broomstick, had remained mostly unscathed. Link wasn't sure what she was doing wrong.

"Alright, I'll try again, I'll get it this time!"

Saria approached the dummy in her defensive stature with her newly purchased shield, a piece of carved wood from one of the toughest trees in the woods, and raised it to block any blows to her body. Link chucked a rock, and she effectively blocked it with the shield still firm in her hands. When she went for the dummy, however, is when the trouble again set in. She tried for a sweeping blow, a blow that actually landed on its mark, but upon making contact, the weapon rebounded, and flew from her hand. The sword nearly hit Link's feet, and he jumped out of the way to avoid losing his toes. It hit Link's own sword and shield, both propped against a tree, and knocked them over.

"Oh! Sorry Link, I did it again... I'm not getting the hang of this, am I?"

Link sighed with exasperation, and picked up the ruffians knife. He observed the blade, nothing wrong with it, save for a small nick in the tip, and handed it back to Saria.

"We've been at this for quite some time now, should we try something different?"

Link took a moment to think. How did he learn to fight with the sword? He had always sparred with the other Kokiri boys using sticks, especially Mido. Oftentimes, the fight would get rowdy, they would whack at each other too hard, and bruise or cut themselves. It had always raised the question in Link's mind, why did he bleed red, and them green? He knew the answer to that now, of course. Does Saria bleed red now too?

He shook his head at that thought, and tried to conjure up another one. What was Link's first kill? The first time he had killed anything had been inside the Great Deku Tree. He had killed because he had been told to, and because the creatures he killed were harming his father... at least, his adoptive father. Suddenly, an idea struck Link like a bolt of lightning. He bounded past Saria and grabbed some branches and leaves.

"Link? What are you doing? Should I keep practicing?"

Link did not respond, but rather, simply kept at what he was doing. He set down his pile of supplies next to the dummy, and took a long look at it. He stuck a branch on here, a twig there, a leaf over on the side. He looked like an artist at work. After straightening a few more branches, Link stepped back. The dummy now resembled a wild wolfos.

"Ah, I get it! You wanted to give me something that I'd want to hit!"

"Let's just hope she can keep the sword in her hand this time..."

Link shushed Mari's negative comment, and gestured to the revamped dummy. Saria readied her footing, drew her sword, and took a lunge at the fake wolfos. She scored a good hit, while remaining on her feet.

"Yes! I got it! Hahaha!"

She hacked and stabbed at the dummy a few more times and landed all her hits. Link applauded her and Mari cheered. After smacking it quite a few more times, something howled.

"Ooh, nice wolfos call, Link! It's like I'm actually fighting one!"

But the howl did not come from Link. He whipped around, and to his surprise, a real wolfos pounced on him. His sword was not in his hand, rather, on the ground next to a tree, and he was pinned down by its claws.

"Ah! When did you get here?! Don't hurt Link! Someone help!"

"Saria, use your sword!"

"Wha?"

"Use your sword!"

Saria remembered she had a weapon in her hand and charged towards the wild animal. The wolfos reared back to claw mercilessly at Link, but while it was up, Saria took the chance to land a nice slice to its stomach. It howled in pain, and jumped backwards, off of Link. Now that it had its face to Saria, it circled her slowly. It made a quick slash at her, which she blocked with her shield. It reared up with a howl to attack again, but this was the creature's demise. Saria stabbed the walfos straight through the chest. It cried out in anguish and slashed wildly. It soon fell to the ground lifeless. she withdrew her her sword from its body, and stabbed it once more to ensure its death.

Link climbed up from the ground and stared at Saria in awe. When it came down to it, she really knew her way around a sword!

"Good job Saria! You saved Link!"

"Thanks... are you okay Link?"

Link looked himself over before giving an affirming nod. Just a few minor scratches.

"Do... do we need to keep practicing?"

"Saria, after that, I think you're ready to take on a dodongo! As long as you keep that kind of determination, you should be able to win any fight!"

"Really? Thanks! Do you think I'm ready to head off into the forest of confusion?"

Mari turned towards Link, and he gave an affirmative nod. Link picked up his things, and the group started off towards the trials ahead.

Author's Notes

I decided to make a few tweaks to chapters 3 and 10 (Mostly 10),

so if you've already read through those, and would like to see what's changed, feel free to.

Just an FYI, none of the changes affect the plot.