Link sat alone at a table in the only tavern in Dekudeku Village.

He was not technically alone, as Mari was there, but she was flying, not sitting. He still couldn't wrap his head around it. Saria, the girl whom he had known since he was an infant, was Hylian. This did explain a few things, namely, the fact that she was here and not in Kokiri forest, but it also posed a multitude of questions, such as how had he seen her bleed green before several years ago, and how did she not age as he grew up, or during his adventure through time? She was definitly a Kokiri at one point in time, but that didn't seem the case now. One does not simply change what they are, not by conventional means, anyway. Perhaps she had transformed to Hylian the same way he had transformed into a Goron, Zora, and Deku Scrub, with a mask? No... that certainly wouldn't make sense. And all the while, Mari just floated around carelessly, waiting for Saria. Did Saria tell her what was going on? Why wasn't Mari saying anything? How much hasn't she told him? It's not healthy holding things in, Link of all people would know that.

He sipped away at a small glass of plain milk, only a fraction of what the sum the mayor gave him could afford. He could have bought something a bit pricier, but he was still underage for drinking, at least in Hyrule, and most fancy drinks didn't mix well with him anyway. He had been sitting for half an hour, Saria should be around any minute. Link looked up at the door, and nearly on queue, the forest girl walked in. She softly closed the door, and when she turned around, the only remnant of her scar was a faint red stain on her shirt, and a bandage under it. The rip in the tunic had been sewn up, and was now invisible, save for a slight seam in the fabric. She sat down across from Link, and the bartender, a Deku Scrub of course, called over to her.

"'Ey kid, what'll it be?"

"Huh?"

"What ya gettin' ta drink? If ya sit 'ere, ya gotta order somethin'."

"I guess I'll have some water..."

"Water? Are ya sure? I've gots loads of other tasty beverages!"

"Just a water, thank you."

"Eh, suit yaself."

The bartender poured a glass of water water from a clear jar, and set the cup on the table.

"You two enjoy yaselves, but not too much, eh?"

He walked back to the counter and resumed what he was doing when she walked in, cleaning jugs. Saria sighed and took a sip of her water.

"Sorry to keep you two waiting, I was, well, you know."

"Think nothing of it Saria, you needed to get that nasty cut treated."

"Yeah... about that, Link?"

This was it, Saria was going to explain what was going on with her and her gash.

"Well, I'm sure you know that Kokiri have green blood, and well... you probably noticed that I seem to have a different color. Heh... it's the craziest thing, isn't it?"

Link gave her a half smile. He had an idea of where she was going with this.

"Well, it's a pretty long story, so I'm going to boil it down as short as I can. You know how I said I'm from the other Hyrule, right? The one that was laid to waste? Well, remember the six sages? Yeah? After we all sealed Ga-..."

Saria paused and shuddered. That man still sent shivers down her spine. Link remembered Ganondorf's horrible deeds himself, they were not fond memories.

"After... after we sealed him away in the evil realm, me and the sages had to escape from our seal as fast as we could, otherwise, we too would be sealed! We could only escape in spirit form, but it was still a narrow one! After all the chaos, we all made it back to Hyrule and remanifested our physical forms. Of course, not all of us were there. You see, Rauru, the sage of light, did not appear with us, my best guess why is he was one of the ancient sages, and his physical form must've died long ago. Anyway, when we appeared, we were on Death Mountain, but I didn't know that, because I was too captivated by the beautiful morning sunrise. I had never seen one before, you know, living in the forest and all. Anyway, I-"

"Um, Saria, I don't think this is the short version of the story."

"Whoops! You're right, I got carried away. Let's try that again. Me and the sages, save for Rauru, all escaped to Death Mountain. I realized that I was somehow not dead, yet not in the forest, so I left the mountain to get some answers. After finding my way back to Kokiri Forest, I asked the Deku Sprout a few questions. You met the Deku Sprout once, didn't you?"

Link gave a quick nod. He met him alright, he would never forget that day. The Deku Sprout told him of his true origins, that he wasn't a Kokiri, rather, a Hylian from birth, adopted into the Kokiri. His whole life he had believed a lie, or something close to one. That conversation would always be burned into the back of his head.

"Well, when I asked him why I wasn't dead, even though had I left the forest, he told me something. I'm still not sure whether I was shocked, or I knew it was coming; I would, in fact, die! Of course, whenever the Great Deku Tree said that any Kokiri who left the forest would surely die, we all thought he meant we would just drop dead. I get the feeling he wanted us to think this, for our safety. Of course, I learned that wasn't true, rather, I would live my life out as a normal Hylian until I died of old age. It's strange, don't you think?"

Saria seemed surprisingly upbeat for having lost her immortality. She smiled a wide smile, though, her eyes showed her real feelings. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"Well... and with that... I guess that's kind of the reason I'm here. Over the course of a week, my blood changed colors, from green, to brown, to crimson. And of course, since then, I'm sure you've noticed I've grown a few inches... these clothes I've been wearing all my life still fit me... but they probably won't soon enough... I guess what all that really was... was a chance to do something new... to change..."

By now, Saria's face had ditched the happy expression, and was covered in tears.

"But... but I'm still not sure I want to change..."

She put her head on the table and silently sobbed to herself. Link wasn't sure what he should do to comfort her, he had never been good in these kind of situations. He considered saying something, but thought against it quickly. Mari decided to take matters into her own hands, she was always good at comforting her.

"There there Saria, it's okay to cry..."

"But I don't want to cry..."

"Sometimes, you need to cry... it helps you vent all your stress and sad feelings away. After crying, people almost always feel better."

"I guess... but why in front of Link?"

"Link cries too, it's nothing new to him.'

"You know that's not what I meant... I don't want him to see me like this..."

"Oh Saria..."

Link felt a bit guilty hearing them talk about him when he was sitting right there. He wished he had said something, but still couldn't bring himself to. He instead continued to remain silent, as always. After a minute or two of crying, Saria sat back up, and wiped away her tears one last time.

"I'm sorry... it's just... hard to change, sometimes. Y'know?"

Link put on as sincere an expression as he could. Saria held up her glass of water, and Link held his glass of milk.

"To change, may we always be ready for it."

Link and Saria tapped their glasses together, and took a large gulp from their drinks. To change.

Author's Note

Just a heads up, this might be the last update before the new year.
I may decide to update the story sometime between now and Christmas, but I might not, so don't get your hopes up.