"It's getting dark, here looks a good place as any to make camp."
After half a day of on and off trotting and galloping, Link drew Epona to a complete halt, and he and his companions dismounted. Their surroundings were lightly forested with evergreens, but the ground remained clear enough for a campsite.
"It's so peaceful out here, these trees aren't much like the kind we have back in Kokiri forest. They look like they're covered with bristles."
"Alright, did either of you bring a tent? Link? Greenie?"
The pair of green clad children incredulously looked at the girl in the dress. Both of them had grown quite used to outdoor environments. Before, neither of them really felt the need to bring a tent.
"No?"
"About what I was expecting with forest children, lucky for you two, I brought one. What would have you done if it had rained?"
"Well, I've slept through rain before."
"Outside? Nah, you're pulling my leg, greenie."
"I'm not joking, I've woken up in a puddle before."
"Well, I'll have you know I don't want to start my day soaked. You see those clouds out there? The gray clouds?"
"I know how to tell when a storm is coming, Martha."
"Right, they should be here sometime past midnight, so let's try to have our camp together and ourselves asleep by then. Okay?"
"Sheesh, somebody sounds like Mido."
"Alright then, Link, you find some food and water. Greenie, you get together some firewood or something. I'll set up the tent, and the fairy can keep a lookout."
"Excuse me? Who put you in charge?"
"What? Is being a lookout too easy?"
"No, I kind of need to have a conversation with Saria, privately."
"Sure, fine. I can fend for myself. You go help her find some good sticks and stuff. Link, be sure to bring us back something tasty, alright?"
Link walked off into the woods and chuckled to himself. Unknown to Martha, he had days of food left in the bottom of his bag. Regardless, it wouldn't hurt to sharpen his hunting skills.
"Come on, Saria, we've got to get some stuff cleared up."
"*Sigh*... Alright."
After the girl and her fairy walked off, Martha was left alone to pitch the tent. As she placed down supports and hammered stakes, she mumbled to herself.
"Hmph, sure, just leave me all alone in the woods, I can handle it. Where would we all be without me? Sleeping in puddles, no doubt."
The light of the sky was a deep orange, the sun sat on the tip of the horizon. For about half an hour, Link had been on the trail of some wild game, a boar, judging by its tracks. Years ago in Kokiri Forest, he was taught the skills to survive alone in the woods, in the event that he ever got lost. Among those skills, tracking was chieftain. If one found a game animal, it would provide a great meal. If one found the tracks of a predator, they knew to go the opposite direction.
As Link went silently along, he found more and more fresh signs. Trampled grass, still arched over, recently snapped twigs, along the path and on saplings, and even droppings from the animal, clearly fresh from the scent they emitted. He was getting close... it was only a matter of time. The boy perked his ears, something nearby was moving. Link froze and went so quiet that not even his breath was audible. Surveying the area, his eyes scanned for the whereabouts of the wild boar. That was when he spotted it, nibbling berries off of a bush. With naught a sound, Link drew his bow, and loaded it with one arrow. He carefully poised his aim where he wanted it, right behind the beast's ears.
He released his finger from the bowstring, and the boar cried out a short squeal of pain, before tumbling straight over. The arrow was a swift kill shot, it had dealt with the hog before it could even realize the boy was there. Link relaxed and walked over to inspect his prize. It wasn't a big boar by any means, but it certainly carried more than enough meat for three kids. One thing was for certain; everyone was eating good tonight.
"We're plenty far off now, can you please answer my question?"
"Okay, are you sure nobody will hear?"
"Not unless you shout to the sky. There's no need to worry, Saria. I'm the only one here."
"Alright... so how do I put this... remember how I told you that I came from a Hyrule where that evil wizard, Ganondorf, took over?"
"Yes?"
"Okay, all of that was true. We sealed the bad man away after a seven year reign of terror. However, since Ganondorf was executed in this world-"
"It leads to a different future?"
"Yeah, very good. Okay, so back in my Hyrule, after several years, the seal we placed on Ganon began to weaken. No one could figure out why, or find any way to stop it. Princess Zelda, pardon me, the daughter of the current Princess Zelda, banded all the sages together to compose a plan.
"I'm sorry, did something happen to the original Zelda?"
"Yes, Queen Zelda fell into an illness, she was still alive, but she wasn't in very good condition."
"Ah, continue."
"So, after several of our plans failed, using the triforce of wisdom, Princess Zelda foresaw the future."
"What did she see?"
"She learned that generations ahead in time, Ganon would escape his seal in the sacred realm, and with no hero to stop him, his evil and chaos would bring doom and destruction to Hyrule once more."
Saria stopped talking and took a moment to shiver. It always felt she was being chased by that man for some reason.
"So... then what?"
"Since Hyrule was without a hero, we determined it was in the kingdom's best interest that we find a way to bring the Hero of Time, Link, back to our world."
"And that's why you're here?"
"Sort of, there's a little more to it. If we just brought him to our time period, he would die long before the seal broke. We needed a way to bring him to the oncoming disaster."
"Oh?"
"After studying ancient magic and the ocarina of time, we found a way to do this. If, using the ocarina of time, we sent someone's soul back to their physical form in the world that Queen Zelda sent the Hero of Time back to, and kept their original physical form in suspended animation until the tragedy to come, they could bring the Hero of Time to their world in the future, using their soul as a mediator between timelines."
"What? Hold on... could you simplify that a bit please?"
Saria let her hair down and held up her headband for Mari to see.
"Someone poses as a rubber band. We have the people from that time hold onto the rubber band until Ganon escapes."
She motions to her left hand, and holds the band with it.
"The rubber band stretches through time to grab Link..."
With her right hand, Saria stretches her headband.
"...and, when the time is right, they snap back to the future, in the band's world of origin."
Saria releases her right hand, and the hairband snaps back to her left. Feeling she no longer needed it to explain, she put it back on her head, and fixed her hair.
"Oh... so you're the rubber band?"
"Pretty much. There are a few... unexpected repercussions of all this, of course. First off, since we need Link to show up in the future, time from here needs to pass at a different rate than time from there."
"I guess that makes sense."
"But, due to they way the spell works, the longer I spend here, the faster time passes there. When I first arrived here, my second was equal to a second there. But now, one second here is a much longer period of time in that Hyrule."
"That... does seem rather odd."
"And of course, thanks to that... there is another repercussion. Everyone I knew in that world, Mido, Fado, the know it all brothers, Smirt, the twins, even the other sages... they... they are all dead now."
"Wait, what?!"
"They died only by natural causes, but if I were to return to that Hyrule now, they all would have been dead for several years."
"Saria... I'm so sorry..."
"I've come to grips with it, but I still have these horrible nightmares. Some of them are just echoes of my memories. But others... they are much worse."
"Did you know about all these things when you departed from your world?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you chose to go?"
"I didn't... but I did."
"Huh?"
"Every sage volunteered to go after the Hero of Time. They all knew what was at stake, yet they volunteered."
"Then why did you get to go?"
"We brought the matter before Queen Zelda. She was terribly ill, but her words were clear as day. She chose me because Link was the closest to me. I helped raise him, we were best friends... even though he's not that talkative, he called me every day from the ocarina I gave him."
"How? Oh wait, through the magic of your song, right?"
"Yes. We needed someone who would put Link at ease."
"Yes yes... I understand a bit why you kept this from me... but I still can't get over the fact you lied to me."
"I know, and I'm deeply sorry, Mari."
"If you're so sorry, why haven't you told Link already?"
"Because! It's not that simple... in order to pull his soul through time, he must be willing to be pulled. If I just told him to come with me, it would not work."
"I'm sure if you explained it to him like you did me, he would understand."
"No, it's not just that. I can sense even now that his spirit is in turmoil. He needs some form of closure in his life, and I believes that comes in the form of Navi the fairy."
"Navi? Why are you so certain?"
"Do you remember how happy he was when she showed up to be his guardian fairy? Do you remember what he was told his entire life in the forest? Without a fairy, he thinks he is nothing."
"Oh... Mido..."
"Yes... but do not be so mad at him, in my world, he turned from his bullying ways and is quite nice."
"Really? I can't really say the same about this Mido."
"He is a good person at heart, he just doesn't act with his heart, he acts with his head. But as I was saying, in order for me to take Link through time, he must be willing, and his soul at peace."
"Ah... so... if you do take him there... will he be able to return here when he is done?"
"I do believe. But I will not..."
"Why not?"
"I am tethered to my true physical form, this is only the physical form of me from this reality."
"Oh... y'know Saria... you did a pretty good job explaining that. Thanks for opening up."
"And thank you for being there to listen. I needed to get it out of my head, I was tired of being alone."
"As long as I'm here, Saria, you'll never be alone."
"Thank you, Mari."
"Might I ask one last thing?"
"Of course."
"What happened to me in your world? Am I still with you?"
"You... you left me..."
"What?!"
"You thought I was dead, and once a fairy's child dies... they move on."
"I-... I would never leave you Saria."
"I know, Mari, I know. C'mon, let's grab some wood so it looks like we've actually been doing something."
"Heh, yeah. A tent wouldn't be the only thing Martha pitched if we returned empty handed."
Author's Note
Did my logic make sense here? Yes, I know, it's not traditional time travel (Saria is traveling between timelines/realities) but this should make enough sense.