The wandering heroes trudged off into the wilderness.

The night sky was an awe inspiring sight to be sure, heavenly bodies and other cosmic entities shined their beauty upon the land, while the full moon lit up the ground with an appeal similar to that of a morning sunrise. Saria stared up into the stars with an expression of wonder on her face, while Link simply kept his eye on the prize, the forest.

"I don't care how many times I see it, the sky is beautiful!"

"Yes, very. Though if you keep your face in the sky Saria, you may find it a lot closer to the ground before too long."

"What do you mean by that?"

As Mari predicted, Saria tripped and landed face first on the ground. She got up, brushed herself off, and spat some grass out of her mouth.

"See what I mean now?"

"Ow... I think I get it... heheh..."

Link rolled his eyes at the two, though he himself smiled at Saria's folly. It was nice to have company with him... on occasion. Even the Hero of Time could get lonely, after all. The whole situation reminded him of all the fun he and her used to have in the forest, chasing each other, climbing trees, hopping across stumps. Alas, those days were long gone, he had responsibilities now. However, Saria was still her same self. Despite being on the same quest as him, she still seemed so lighthearted and joyful. Perhaps he could learn a thing or two from her? Maybe... Link tapped Saria on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Yes Link?"

The two stared into each other's deep blue eyes for what felt like a lifetime... then Link smirked. He put his hand on Saria's shoulder and shoved her backwards, then took off running as fast as he could, toward the forest. He cackled into the fresh night air and looked back as he put ground between himself and her. Saria scrambled back to her feet with a devilish grin on her face.

"Oh, you are DEAD Link, you are SO DEAD!"

"Wait, I can only fly so fast!"

Saria bolted after Link with the speed of a jaguar. Mari quickly got left in the wind, despite her protests to the two to slow down. Slowly but surely, Saria closed the gap between her and Link. Fifty feet, twenty feet, five feet, two feet. Link turned his head after hearing nearby footsteps, and shock entered his face when he realized Saria was practically breathing down his neck.

"HAHAHA! NOW DIE!"

Saria dove onto Link's back, causing him to fall foward. They tumbled and rolled across the plain at a speed that would have made a passerby think they were a Goron, until they finally stopped in a patch of mud, with Link face down and Saria on top. She triumphed into the air whilst keeping Link pinned to the ground.

"Did you really think you could outrun me? You are better than me at many things, Link, but speed will never be one of them!"

Link chuckled, then tried to roll over and stand up, but he couldn't move. Saria still had her hands on his shoulders, pinning them to the ground.

"Oh no, mister. After a stunt like that, I'm not letting you get away so easily! You gotta pay the price!"

She put her foot on Link's back and grabbed one of his arms, then started to pull.

"I'm not letting go till you cry uncle!"

She wanted him to what? She knew that Link barely ever said anything, with the exception of an occasional yes or no. What was she expecting him to do? Link felt pain shoot through his arm as she pulled harder and harder. She showed no signs of restraint as she tugged away at the boy's limb. He thrashed about on the marshy ground, but could not get her to stop. The pain was beginning to become unbearable. Was she really pulling that hard? Or was Link really this much of a pushover? A few bones popped in his wrist, and Link felt as though his arm was fixing to rip straight off. What was she doing? He sat through the pain waiting for her to let up, but she didn't, she just continued yanking and laughing her head off. After Link's resolve had weakened to a mere pulp, he finally gave in.

"Uncle!"

Saria dropped his arm the instant she heard the word leave his mouth. She had not really been expecting him to actually say anything, for that matter, she had no idea what she was doing! She had merely gotten caught up in the energy of the chase, and let her mischievous childish instincts take over. She then realized she must have really been pulling too hard if Link actually said something. She crawled off of him and looked at him in bewilderment. 'I actually got him to say something... I must've been hurting him pretty bad for him to actually say something. In all the years I've known him... he's hardly ever spoken to anyone at all... What is wrong with me?!'

"Link... I-I... I'm so sorry..."

Link rolled over and felt his shoulder over. It was fine... but he wasn't. He felt a bit hurt that he couldn't overpower Saria, to the point that he actually had to admit defeat. Was she impossibly strong for her size? Or was he just... a wimp.

"I didn't mean to hurt you... I got excited... I'm not really sure what I was doing..."

So she had not suddenly been possessed by a demon or a similar impish creature? She spoke with pain in her voice, her words were sincere. Well, what was a little horse play? If anything, it had proven a lesson to him; never underestimate your opponent. As long as his shoulder was okay, everything was fine... and of course, if he could he could get a little revenge too. He scooped up a bit of mud in his hand, and swiftly threw it in Saria's face.

"Agh! Ew! I can't see!"

He took the opportunity and dove on top of her, sending her backwards into the puddle. Link sat on top of her triumphantly, and she squirmed around in the mud.

"That's not fair, you got me while I was blinded! Get off!"

Link shook his head no, and grinned like a clown. He wasn't letting her slide either, he wanted payback too, though, not in the same form. Saria realized what he was doing, and tried harder to get free of his grasp.

"No! I'm not going to surrender! I'll never give you the satisfaction! No way, no how!"

He continued holding her down, exerting little to no effort while Saria wriggled her whole body. Eventually, she got tired, and gave in.

"Fine... uncle!"

Link climbed off of Saria, and let her get up. So maybe he wasn't a wimp? She had put up more of a fight keeping him down than he had with her. Perhaps it was just that he had his back to her? A good hero would never run from a fight. Or maybe simply because she wasn't a real foe, and he would do nothing to harm her? Either way, the whole tussle had been in good clean fun, so there wasn't much need to fret over it. It was just like back in Kokiri Forest, nothing to stop their fun.

"Yuck, we're both covered in mud now, are you happy?"

Link opened his mouth to smile, but his teeth were quickly met with a face full of muck.

"There, now I'm happy too! Hahaha!"

The boy took that mud ball very seriously. He scooped up another clump, and hurled it at Saria, covering the back of her head in sludge.

"Hey! Are you trying to fight me? Try it when I'm looking next time!"

Link hurled another clot, smearing whatever part of her tunic that wasn't already dirtied up.

"Oh, it is on!"

Saria sent Link a few shots in succession, knocking his hat off and smothering his hair. He returned fire and hit her legs a few times. The two children had officially engaged in a mud war, and both were having a blast. Volleys of the squishy substance arced through the night sky, all landing with a splat. Link would hit Saria some, she would cream him in return, the fight just kept going and going. When Mari finally caught up to them, she was unlucky enough to get hit by a stray mud ball, sending her to the ground. The giddy children's game was interrupted when the fairy scolded them for their careless play.

"Watch where you throw those things! Now I'm going to have to wait a few hours for my wings to dry out, and then I'll have to scrub the excess mud off! You two are filthy too, what's gotten into yourselves?!"

The children both sank into themselves, slightly guilty for not noticing the fairy, then Saria giggled and slipped to her feet.

"Link here doesn't appreciate me challenging his authority as the mud king."

Link hurled another clod of muck at Saria to accentuate her point. Mari sighed and bobbled back into the air.

"Well, did the queen of dirt put up a good fight?"

"She most certainly did!"

"Good, because her royal adviser would hate to see the mud king win by a landslide."

Link and Saria tumbled backwards into the mud pit and laughed at Mari's play on words. Mari did not laugh, but she no longer seemed in a foul mood.

"C'mon little mud warriors, let's get you two cleaned up."

Author's Note

Pardon my long hiatus, but I plan to update this story semi-regularly from here on out.
I'm probably going to be releasing chapters from every other day to once a week.

This chapter was originally going to be much shorter, but I like where it went.
Let me know what you think!