Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Betaed by: The awesome Zim'smostloyalservant.

THE GIRL FROM THE FOREST

Chapter 1

The kingdom of Hyrule, an ancient land whose history extends back into the murky depths of legend and myth. Some say it is a sacred land blessed by the Goddesses, other that the blessed ground instead lies hidden within its borders. And still others say the land is significant only in that it holds the path one must walk to reach where the Goddesses once trod.

But it is not only the age of the kingdom and the mysteries of its history that make it fascinating. For Hyrule is a land vast and varied. In many ways it is less a kingdom and more an alliance of ancient realms, who for reasons steeped in tradition and even myth stand together in a loose unity under the Hylian throne and its sacred dynasty.

Some, like the Gorons of Death Mountain, stand proud in their ways yet are amiable to their neighbors, honoring the words of their ancestors and eager to trade goods or tales with any who show them the courtesy they respect. Others, like the refined and elegant Zora, are dutiful but withdrawn. The path to their domain not barred but challenging, letting only those guided by them or possessing the skill to make the trip themselves to walk their damp paths. The Gerudo, in their blazing realm, have long been in exile for sins long forgotten but still paid for nonetheless. Yet now, after generations of blood and mistrust, it seems the Nation of Thieves and Hyrule proper may reach a new accord. And still more, like the Sheikah tribe, have faded and nearly vanished, little more than ghosts in the lands once called their own.

But there is another. One that thrives and lives in peace but is shrouded in legend. The tribe of the Kokiri, who dwell in the Great Woodlands, under the protection of the Great Deku tree.

The Great Woodlands were forbidden ground, a land that belonged to an age all itself. The Kokiri Forest, where autumn and winter touched only barely. And the Lost Wood, entwined in land but set apart, existing near always in autumn or winter. Life and death displayed in persisting green or autumn profusion of decay and bare-branched death.

In a land where even the seasons stood apart, the wise feared those who might dwell there. The Great Deku Tree, whispered of as a spirit or even a god, kept watch over this land, his great trunk and branches visible above the canopy even beyond the Woodlands' borders. And it was known the tribe of this land were his children, and those who threatened them would invoke the wrath of a power whose time had witnessed more than history had chronicled. Only those who were invited could venture there. And those who trespassed never returned to tell what they had seen.

Until one day, a man came to the Great Deku Tree without invitation and without fear. And so the end of an age began.

XXX

"Tuia, oh Tuia, come to me," the voice of the Great Deku Tree echoed through the grassy desolation about his trunk. No lesser trees or even a bush intruded here, where hardy grass and moss alone adorned his roots that covered near half the ground. With his branches above and his massive trunk holding the likeness of a face, one could mistake it for a temple.

Perhaps it was.

"The time has come, despite my hopes. It was said a child would come to me. From the land beyond my power, from Hyrule, to be raised amongst us, even if he could never be one of us. The hero reborn to face the gathering dark. But the child never came.

"I had hoped, that the crossroads of destiny had been turned to a kinder path. That the malice of past ages could rest forever, forgetting and being forgotten. That the future could be free from the curse laid in the past. But the day I dreaded has arrived. He has come, and he has gone. Such power, and he will rise higher still. The doom of us all, even himself.

"I have no hero of legend; but I shall not lightly abandon my duty even as the end comes.

"Tuia, go to Saria, set her to gather the armaments of the Kokiri and come to me. Time is short, and much must be done. A light must come from the forest, or the darkness will take all."

And so it came to pass:

Saria fell to her knees on the damp spongy wood, gasping for breath, her stomach roiling. Her grip on the Kokiri Sword turning her knuckles white, her free hand reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a berry shaped like a heart that she popped into her mouth, savoring the strong flavor and hoping her stomach would settle.

"I don't believe it," she finally said, raising her face to the corpse of the monster Gohma. It was bigger than any creature she had ever seen in the Forest. It looked as if it could rip a house up by its roots!

And somehow she had been able to kill it.

Her small smile vanished as the corpse moved. Though she realized it wasn't dead it was... falling apart? As she watched, the monster seemed to rot away or crumble to dust in the poorly lit depth of the great tree. That was not natural, but maybe that came with being a monster, she thought?

Soon nothing remained but a mass of glowing red flesh veined with shining silver veins about the size of her head. Tilting her chin, Saria got up and poked the thing with the point of her sword.

"It is a Heart Container, a condensation of sorts of the mighty life force Gohma held," The Great Deku Tree's voice spoke from all around her.

Saria smiled brightly, looking around and feeling her fatigue fade away. It had been easy to forget this scary place was actually the Great Tree, but now it was safe again.

"Eat it," The Great Deku Tree said.

"Ehhh?" Saria said.

"It's good for you. Trust me," the Great Tree said. As he had when trying to convince her onions were good for her, the Great Tree pressed on and he got his way, despite her pouting and evasions. And, she admitted, while the texture was bad the flavor was oddly enjoyable. And wiping her hands off on the door as she left, she realized the bruises and scrapes from her battle down through the tree were gone.

"Wonderful, now things can get back to normal," she cheered. Vindicated that yet again the Great Deku Tree was right and all was well.

XXX

Saria's knees buckled under her, sending her down to among the fallen leaves and moss that covered the ground beneath the Great Deku Tree's boughs. Wide eyes looked up at the great tree, the face so familiar yet so strange in its weariness.

"No, I saved you. The monster is gone," she whispered. It never occurred to her the Great Deku Tree would not hear her. The father of the Kokiri, in all her life, had never failed to hear the call of one of his children. The thought of her words not reaching him was as unthinkable as him dying.

The sword she had received from the training maze slipped her grip to the ground, sending a few dead leaves fluttering.

Even as pain tainted the ancient being's face, he smiled.

"You have indeed slain Gohma, and well done. Had you not, my corpse would have nourished it and it would have emerged a far greater threat that would have made the woods a tainted nest for its cursed brood. You have saved the Forest and its people from a terrible fate. My fate was sealed before you entered me, it was for their sake I summoned you. And with Gohma gone, I can safely give you, this…" the Great Deku Tree said, mouth opening wide once more. Not to grant passage into his depths, but for a green light to emerge. A beautiful gem, an emerald wrapped in gold fashioned like a sprig of growth draping over the jewel's face.

"The Kokiri Emerald. Entrusted to me long ago. I have guarded it for longer than any tree in the forest has lived, but now the time has come for me to fulfill the pact made. You must take this and journey to Hyrule Castle Town. There dwells Princess Zelda. Take her the emerald, she will explain everything."

"Leave the forest? She can't!" Tuia spoke up from her spot ever beside Saria. The nervous fairy for once did not amuse Saria.

"She can. They all can and always have been able to. The lie was born from a misunderstanding… but I let it grow and endure… fearful for my Kokiri. Selfish… I am sorry."

"Great Deku Tree!" Saria cried out.

"Saria, I can guide you no longer. I offer this as atonement for the path I have set you on. For all that is spoken of destiny, there is choice. Even as forces beyond you press upon your life, it still belongs to you, your choice and your will shall affect the outcome. Do nor let them take that from you."

"Why me?" Saria asked, voice small and tears making their way down her cheeks, "Mido is brave and strong. Fado is so smart and strong, and, and…"

"Mido is strong, perhaps, but his courage is measured by that strength. Fado's courage is measured by her desire to know. You, Saria, your courage is bound to your kindness. Even those who earn your ire, you have kindness for them. You humble me… with your heart. Courage is not merely a part of power and wisdom… it is the heart's purest virtue. To care for others above yourself. Forgive me, for cursing you for such a wonderful gift. Farewell…"

The color left him, and the last words echoed into silence. The Great Deku Tree stilled before her, bark grey like a stone, leaves turned dead on the branch. This place, that had always soothed her every sense and folded her in a certainty of security and warmth, had gone cold and dead.

Tuia landed on her shoulder and comforted Saria in silence.

The Kokiri were not eternal. They came from the forest one day small and bare from who knew where, and guided by the voice of the Great Deku Tree the tribe found them. Then, they would meet the assembled tribe and be named by the Great Deku Tree. The tribe took the newcomer in and then they grew and learned, came into themselves and found a role of some sort in the village and part of the tribe.

The details mattered nothing to the Kokiri, they simply accepted this was how things were.

And their ends were even less obtrusive. For whatever reason, at some time they would end. Some slain by perils of the forest despite the Tree's protection. More often they simply one day wandered into the woods and vanished as mysteriously as they had first come. Their absence not a matter of concern for some time. And when it became clear they would not return, it was accepted they were just "someplace else". If there was someone who could not stand the absence, they followed, and the forest usually granted that desire. As for the rest, sadness came and went briefly; at most, the lost would linger as stories passed down. But more generally, they faded as fond memories giving way to the cascade of days within the forest's bounty, safety and fun. Again, this to the tribe of children was simply the way things were, not to be noted or questioned to any degree of meaning.

There were no graves, no eulogies, and loss was fleeting in their hearts. Why not with the ever present love of the Great Deku Tree reassuring them all was right and would be well, with no need to speak a word.

So under the shadows of the dead Great Deku Tree, Saria learned what it was to mourn.

XXX

Saria had wanted the ground to part and swallow her. To even crawl back between the Great Deku Tree's lips and hide in his depths from the others and her guilt. Above all, she wanted yesterday, when the Great Deku Tree had been so eternally fixed in her world she could not imagine him not being there whenever she came.

But the emerald was cool and oddly refreshing in her tiny hands. It reminded her, that he had asked her to do something for him.

Saria had not spoken a promise to the Great Deku Tree, but she made one now, for his sake and her own. To deliver the emerald to Princess Zelda. So long as she had a promise to keep, she could not just lie down and hope the Forest would take her away.

Tucking the emerald with her Deku nut ammunition, she picked up the Kokiri sword and made her way from the Great Deku Tree.

"Goodbye, Great Deku Tree," Tuia said mournfully.

XXX

She never remembered what she said to Mido as she returned to the village.

Saria couldn't just run for the forbidden bridge right away. Even if her quest was urgent, she knew if she so much as sat down she'd pass out. So, home it was. Her own little house she had left not so long ago, but it felt like ages. How many days had she been in the Great Deku Tree?

She knew she reached her bed because she woke up in it.

Saria sighed, smiling as Tuia rested on her back, a light weight and warm pressure. It was only when she puzzled why she had gone to bed on top of her blankets in her dirty clothes, that she remembered.

"You don't have to get up yet," her fairy assured her.

She did anyway. Trying not to think about things too much, she stripped the filthy garments off her and, noticing the discarded Kokiri Sword on the floor, picked it up and sat it on the table.

Grabbing a hunk of the hardened herb paste Kokiris use to bathe, she left her house for the stream. Fado was waiting outside.

The greeting on Saria's lips died at the glare the blonde Kokiri girl gave her from her spot sitting on the ground, absently plucking grass. With a nod to Saria, the other outgoing girl of the village got up and walked off with heavier steps than normal.

The bathing went without anyone talking to her, which wasn't that unusual. Kokiri weren't that modest, but bathing was either for siblings or the closest of friends to do together. Now, if an outsider was involved… But there wasn't, so there wasn't. Saria soon enough was back in her house with her best outfit for exploring on, figuring it was probably the best for traveling too.

Eating a simple breakfast of forest fare and biscuits made from the grain of their gardens, Saria turned her mind from the strangeness of something being so familiar after the world had practically ended with the Great Deku Tree gone. It felt like a little hole had opened in her chest, letting a chill in, but she couldn't find or plug it. Even her favorite nuts seemed to taste bland on her tongue.

But she couldn't let that chill preoccupy her. She had rested, so she needed to prepare to go to Princess Zelda. Opening her pouch, she confirmed the Emerald was still there.

So she needed food, as much as she could carry. Deku nuts for her slingshot. And a new Kokiri shield; hers had been destroyed by Gohma in the depths of the Great Deku Tree. With the rupees she found in the dungeon, she would be able to buy everything she needed from Grub at his shop, she expected.

Then, she would leave.

XXX

Saria must have told Mido she was going to be leaving, she realized. Because at first, Grub refused to sell her what she wanted.

"If you need it to go, then you can't have it!" the shopkeeper insisted.

"I'll go with or without it," she told him plainly. She did not want to be mean, but the shopkeeper Kokiri had always needed a firm hand, lest his little games of buy and sell get out of hand.

He gave in, of course. Though unlike any of the other times she got the better of him, he didn't whine. Grub just stared as she left, strapping on the new shield.

The Know-It-All brothers were next. They demanded she return the Kokiri Sword, trying to claim it couldn't be taken out of the forest. She knew there was no rule for that. So she called their bluff, saying she'd have to make due with Deku sticks out there.

So then she had to prove to them she was worthy of taking the sword outside the forest. She was stunned how easy that was; after the power of the heart container and what she had been through in the tree, tests she knew she would have had to take with grit, instead came easy.

They sadly gave her nods, declaring she knew more than they did now, and declared her Know-It-More Saria.

The twins had no excuses, only pleas. That they didn't believe what Fado was saying, Saria would never kill the Great Deku Tree, they knew. With the great tree gone, the village needed Saria more than ever. Holding each other's hands, crying as they did when upset, Acorna and Walla perfectly matched, pleading with her not to go.

She went anyway, unable to think of anything to say to them.

The rest seemed to have taken Fado's rumors to heart; they gave her a wide berth, either glaring or staring as if she had turned into some monster. Those, she just tried to ignore with a stiff upper lip. She had been thinking about trying to set Fado straight and say goodbye to Mido properly, but finding neither at their houses, she decided she just needed to go.

Fado was waiting for her on the bridge. A small valley of the Lost Woods stretched below, and this bridge was maintained by the Kokiri as one of their chores. It struck Saria as odd, watching Fado sit with her feet dangling on the edge of the bridge, that they would maintain the bridge if they were never to leave and did not care for visitors.

Fado stopped swinging her feet and turned to glare at her.

"Leaving then? Hmph, the Great Deku Tree always said we'd die if we left. So I guess it's a good thing. But you're taking the sword with you? That shouldn't leave the tribe."

"I am going to bring it back," Saria said, a bit of anger creeping into her voice. She was about to yell that the Great Deku Tree himself had said he lied about leaving the forest being death. The bridge was probably even proof of that. But another voice broke in as Fado got to her feet.

"That's enough, Fado! You shouldn't be saying things like that around Saria!" Mido declared. Sure enough, he was there behind Saria, arms crossed and trying that "boss" look of his. He seemed to be forgetting the two Kokiri before him had never been particularly appreciative of his game as Boss of the Kokiri. It was more they tolerated it, as he could keep the more foolish Kokiri in some kind of line, and if he ever went too far the others usually just left to do something else.

Still, this time the sight of him ended the argument before it began.

Fado stomped her foot on the planks, stuck out her tongue at the two of them and, slipping under the ropes, leapt out to grab a tree branch. While Mido gasped, Saria had seen Fado's trick before and watched as the branch bent under the blonde Kokiri's weight until she was far enough down to let go and drop to the ground. She and Mido watched Fado run off into the depths of the Lost Woods.

Fado kew that place even better than Saria; she would not be found if she didn't want to be.

"She'll be okay. I'll… I'll set her straight, you'll see," Mido said. He had his arms crossed and his face set in that way he did when he wanted everyone to think he wasn't worried. It made her giggle in spite of herself.

The giggling made him blush and clear his throat, trying to salvage his dignity.

"So then, let's get back and start taking care of this okay?" Mido said.

The brief amity cane to an end as she gave him a look.

"I need to go, Mido," she said.

"But we can-"

"It's nothing to do with Fado or anything anyone says. The Great Deku Tree gave me a quest. It was his last request," she told him, trying to be soothing. Though even as she said this to him, the great hollowed log that stood on the opposite end of the bridge seemed unbelievably dark. The way out, shown to them as one of their first lessons. Never to be entered.

She supposed there were lots of ways out of the Forest, but to them it seemed like there was just one. And who knows, perhaps for them it truly was the only path that would let them move beyond the trees.

It was not a question she had ever had need to contemplate.

"Well, I suppose if you have to go, I will go too. As the Boss of the Kokiri, I need to look after everyone."

"Which is why you need to stay, with the Great Deku Tree gone," she told him. He stiffened at that. Even if he had gone to see for himself, the Great Tree being dead could not be easily accepted or what it meant for them understood. The sky might as well have gone missing.

Saria had always found his claims of being the boss silly, but what else was left to even try and fill the gap in their tribe?

"I'll be back," she promised him, patting his cheek.

"Promise?"

"Yes."

"You still shouldn't go. What if you get lost?"

"I will find my way back."

She wished there was something more she could say or do to make him accept this. And realized, looking into his eyes, he was feeling something nearly the same in trying to stop her. Strange, that at this moment of parting, she felt closer to him than all his attempts to impress her in the past.

The tense silence stretching, Saria turned her back to him and walked across the bridge. It was only two steps into the dark hollow before she started to run. He never called out, and she never looked back.

XXX

Saria now knew she had no idea how big the world was.

Emerging from the trees, she saw Hyrule Field, an obscenely treeless landscape broken up by an occasional stand of trees or a lonely single tree on the rolling plans and grasslands. She had loved the open sky of the meadows, but this. This was just strange, she thought, looking as much at the vast sky as the vast rolling land.

"Hoo-who! There's the face of someone beholding the wonder and fear of a wider world for the first time!" a strange voice called.

Saria looked to the branches above and drew the Kokiri Sword partially, seeing an enormous horned owl. It looked big enough to carry her off and creepily, as owls were wont, rotated its head. Showing a feather pattern enough like eyes to befuddle her a moment, before it fixed her with its real ones.

"Who are you, owl?" Saria demanded, pulling her shield from her back.

"A friend of your father's, Kaepora Gabora is my name. The Great Deku Tree died before he could give you little more than a name to chase; fortunately, he was able to summon me to supply a bit more."

"You knew the Great Deku Tree?" Saria asked, shocked.

"Hoo-who! Even if it's spent rooted in place, one who lives as long as he did meets interesting people. Now, you know to seek Zelda in Hyrule Castle, brave little Saria, but do you know the way?"

Tuia flared up a bit with a tinkle.

"Saria, I'm not sure we should be talking to strange birds. Who knows if they really knew the Great Deku Tree at all. He never mentioned any owls to me," Tuia said at Saria's shoulder.

"Did he ever say he didn't have any owls for friends?" Kaepora asked.

"…Saria, some evil man sent that monster to kill the Great Deku Tree, we probably shouldn't be too quick to trust people outside the forest," Tuia said.

Saria frowned, looking to the bird, who rotated his head again.

"Ah, the classic dilemma of trust and caution. You're already starting to grow I think, child of the forest. I cannot offer you any proof of my good faith, so perhaps it's better I just part with some advice. You may take it or leave it.

"To reach Hyrule castle you must pass through Hyrule Castle Town, which you will see if you head north across the fields. If you go north before the day is done you will reach the royal road. Follow it to the west and it will take you to the Castle Town so long as you stay on the main road. Or you can hold to north across country. It will take less time but while the road is not without perils, all but the boldest monsters keep clear from it in daylight still, even in days like this. And road or country, the stalchildren have begun to walk the night; perhaps they are not such a threat to one such as you, but they have been known to come in great numbers, and they are beyond fear. But whatever path you choose, there will be dangers that you have yet to encounter, and not all danger comes from monsters, Child of the Forest.

"Farewell for now, may the light of the Goddesses illuminate your path, brave little hero."

XXX

She found the road as he promised, which seemed to be a path, only more so. Hard-packed ground with strange little ditches worn into it and trenches to each side raising it up a bit. And it extended out of sight either way.

"They must work very hard to keep up something like this!" Saria exclaimed in awe, trying to scratch some flakes off the hard red soil.

"There are a lot more people in the Castle Town than in the Forest, Saria."

"How many, a hundred?" Saria asked.

"More, I think, it's been a long time," Tuia said. Saria frowned and tapped her foot, looking at her fairy. She knew that tone — it was when her fairy was pretending she knew more than she did!

"Well, the Great Deku Tree wanted us to get this jewel to Princess Zelda, and we should be quick about it. So straight north it is!" Saria decided, leaving the road. Kokiri could always find north or south, and the sun helped with east and west, so she happily walked onward, certain she could nor possibly lose her way or be deterred in a place where paths seemed more an afterthought with the land so clear.

Then she mistook the colorful form of a peahat for a tent that would mark her first encounter with an outsider. Which then rose from the ground, revealing spinning claw blades longer than she was tall and came right at her.

Saria and Tuia screamed, running from the monster across Hyrule Field, realizing maybe defeating Gohma did not mean they were ready for everything this big world could throw at them.

XXX

"Well, at least they gave you bread," Tuia said as Saria munched on the piece of stale bread as she continued her trek through the field.

"I do not steal children," Saria pouted. That family of farmers had been unnervingly tall. But they had been strange, hurrying their children indoors when they spotted her approaching. She knew about children. Hylians and other races didn't just find new people, they had to summon small ones with a two person ritual, then raise and teach them, for years! Longer than Kokiri for them to grow and learn; Fado and Mido agreed it was because the other races were dumber so it took so long. Which was why they were big, or something?

Saria felt she should have found more knowledge on this.

The point was, from what Tuia heard while eavesdropping on the farm house while Saria waited on the doorstep, they were scared. They were worried if they let her in she would steal their children and turn therm into Kokiri, but the elder was insistent they if they offended her she'd tell the crops to wither. Instead, they had decided to "appease her" with an offering.

Apparently, old bread was an offering. Saria finished it off a tad sullenly. She had wanted to get a better look at those kids. They were like Kokiri, but not.

"Sunset," Tuia remarked. The pink fairy seemed concerned.

"Well, I guess if we see any of those Stalchildren, I'll have to whack them before setting up camp," Saria said, fiddling with the pommel of the Kokiri Sword. Still wanting to lift her mood, she pulled out her ocarina and began playing her song.

XXX

"No! Go away! Bad skeletons!" Saria yelled, her sword swinging in the moonlight and shattering another undead monster. Turning, she saw three more coming up the gentle rise, eyes glowing red.

"When do they stop!" Saria demanded.

"Dawn? Behind you!" Tuia screamed.

Three Days Later:

"How abut you play a song on your ocarina?" Tuia asked, Saria trudging through Hyrule Field, skin pink from the sun where it was exposed and her greens disheveled, with bags under her eyes. She didn't answer her fairy.

"Maybe you should take another nap? We can't seem to find a hiding spot good for the whole night."

Saria didn't answer.

"Saria, do not ignore me," Tuia stated sternly. Saria paused and let out a breath and touched the back of her hand, flinching at the sensation and watching her skin pale before reddening.

"That can't be good," Tuia commented.

"I know," Saria said, moving again.

"It's worse on the back of your neck."

"I know."

"Maybe you should ask the farmers about it?"

"I don't want more old bread," Saria whined.

"Now, now, two of them gave you cheese."

"That was tasty."

"So maybe a song will cheer you up?"

"Okay," Saria sighed. She began to play her song and something called out.

"What?" Saria wondered, as a creature a bit taller than her on four legs with white hair, red fur, and a bizarre face came over the hill she was ascending.

"Hey, it's a horse!" Tuia said. Then it came right for Saria.

"Ahhh! Not again!" Saria said, running back down the hill, the happy foal in pursuit.

"Wait, Saria, that one isn't a monster!" Tuia pleaded.

XXX

"Finally, a friendly face," Saria said, rubbing the little horse's neck while feeding her nuts with the other.

Tuia chimed happily as Saria sat on a stone, pampering the horse. While her clothes hadn't become magically kept or her hair unfrazzled, and her skin was still pink, her eyes had the proper light in them again.

Still…

"Saria, the sun is getting low, we should-!"

"Epona! Girl, what are you doing to that horse?!" A harsh voice barked out. Saria sprang from her spot as if under attack, and the little horse tried to hide behind her. Or was trying to get more nuts.

The new arrival was a tall man with dirty clothes, receding brown hair, and a prominent mustache that seemed to highlight his angry eyes. And he was carrying a pitchfork.

"I'll protect you, horse!" Saria declared.

The man stopped, looking at the now drawn Kokiri Sword, then Saria. He did not seem impressed.

"You'd protect a horse from the one sent to retrieve it?" he asked gruffly. The horse gave a whiny and looked out from behind Saria.

"Epona, it's nearly dark! Even you know the ranch is the best place to ride out the night these days. Back to it," the man snapped.

To Saria's surprise, the horse — apparently named Epona — came out from behind her and plodded over to the man, and tried to nuzzle his trousers, only to be lightly shoved away.

"No! Running off is not good, and you didn't come back, I found you. No treats for bad fillies."

"Oh, you're her friend?" Saria said, sheathing her sword. The man huffed, looping a rope over Epona's head.

"I am the head ranch hand. And who are you, out here dressed so oddly near dark, messing with one of my horses?" he demanded.

"She's Saria of the Kokiri," Tuia said, getting close to the man. He nearly fell over himself in surprise, before glaring between the girl and the fairy.

"A Kokiri? Never heard of them actually leaving the forest. But I suppose a fairy is proof enough."

"I don't steal children."

"I didn't say you did!"

"Oh, well, people seem to think we do," Saria admitted.

"Bah, people are fools. These bumpkins around here even more so. Why, the Lon Lon Ranch would have folded years ago if not for I, the hard working and clever Ingo, keeping things running. And I certainly have no time for petty superstition. Now good day, er, evening," he said, glancing to the sky before turning to lead Epona away.

"Wait, can I spend the night in your house?" Saria asked.

Ingo stopped and glared at her.

"The ranch is not an inn."

"What's an inn?"

"How have you been on the road this long and never seen an inn?" Ingo demanded.

"I didn't follow the road, I have been walking across the country."

"Bawha?! What about the peahats and stalchildren? The guards only clear them out along the road."

"I mostly run, but I have killed a bunch. Did you know you can kill a peahat by shooting its bottom with this?" Saria said, showing her slingshot.

Ingo stared at her.

XXX

"Just made it, Mr. Ingo! We would have had to shut the gates if you'd been any longer," a burly man in dirty pants and a light brown vest said as other men closed a stout-looking metal gate behind Saria and Ingo.

"Bah! If you are so weak you can't open the gate a few seconds to let people in and not get overrun by the restless dead, you'll probably get pecked to death by the next guay to set eyes on you," Ingo snapped.

Saria looked at the other men inside the ranch. The ranch was surrounded by a stone wall taller than any of the Kokiri houses, and she could now see it was mostly empty inside, a small lane of buildings that they stood at the head of by the gate giving way to a field where even now Epona was making her way toward.

The other men were big men, with clothes like Ingo and dark hair, though they wore vests of leather and their whole faces were hairy instead of just the mustache Ingo had.

She lost track of Ingo's shouting, following after Epona.

The field, oddly enough, was fenced in despite being in a wall, and it was full of horses. Epona was a small one, it turned out, as she stopped by a gate in the fence.

"Don't go wandering off," Ingo snapped, suddenly by her side. Saria gave a small shriek, before steadying herself with a cleared throat as Ingo opened the gate and Epona trotted in to join her herd, settling down for the night.

"Why so many fences?" Saria asked.

"The horses are valuable, many would steal or harm them. The cows give milk for a tidy profit, but the horses are the true lifeblood of this ranch."

"What are cows?"

"They sleep in the barn with the less useful smelly animals. You'd be sleeping there too, but I don't trust that lot unattended, even with an underripe woman. Now come along. I have a hard day's work tomorrow, and need to be settled."

XXX

Ingo lead her to a nicer version of the farm houses she had seen in the field that they had passed the last few days. He called it the master house with some pride, only to grumble about his room over something.

It seemed big, but he barred her from leaving the common room. Not that she minded, it was nearly as big as her own house this space, and he laid out a pair of blankets for the floor.

He kept looking at her like he expected something, but she just bowed and thanked him for being so kind. Grumbling about how he would count everything in the morning, she wished him good night as Tuia settled on her head and she curled up on the floor in the blankets.

"I'll stay up," Tuia declared, showing herself.

"Why did you stay quiet?"

"It occurred to me having a set of eyes they didn't know about might be useful. I am not sure I trust this Ingo either," the fairy declared.

"Oh, I think he's just their Mido. A lot of bluster but means well. Good night, Tuia," Saria said, yawning.

"Good night, Saria, I will watch over you always."

She was asleep before she knew it.

XXX

"Up, now, this isn't an inn, remember!" Ingo snapped over her.

Saria's eyes fluttered open and she sat up, stretching her arms and yawning. Rubbing her eyes, she sniffed the air and her ears perked even before noticing a plate beside her on the floor with a piece of dark fresh bread, something orange cut in a wedge, and a blob of cut vegetables still steaming. And next to it a clay cup of white liquid.

"That's all you get for breakfast. Now eat up quick so I can see you out and get on with my day," Ingo declared imperiously.

Saria happily obliged, eating the familiar bread and vegetables first. Then she bit into the wedge, and felt like she might leave the world, having found a better place.

"What is it?!" she exclaimed, holding the hunk up at him.

"…Cheese," Ingo said.

"It comes in different colors? A nectar from the goddesses," Saria squeed, finishing it quick. Then squeed again washing it down. Ingo answered before she asked.

"And that, was Lon Lon milk. Which is used to make the cheese. And it comes from the cows."

"Cows are wonderful," Saria said, tilting the cup to make sure she got the last drop.

"Yes they are, which is why I must see to it they are properly tended to. So get going," he declared, going over to the door and opening it.

Saria nodded and jumped up, but still stopped to look at the ranch. It was beautiful in a strange way, with the sun starting to light the sky. And she could see the horse field down the lane, with the herd moving in the early dawn light. She waved, calling out to Epona, before Ingo came out. And held out a hat to her.

It actually took a moment to realize it was a hat. Unlike a Kokiri hat, it had a broad brim and was made of straw, and the top was rounded to fit the head rather than dangle.

Apparently Saria looked at it too long, with Ingo deciding to just plant it on her head.

"Oh," Saria said, tilting the hat to look up at him.

"With fair skin like that, you need either creams or a hat to avoid getting sunburned traveling by day. That old hat is practically falling apart. Garbage, really, but I suppose giving it to you is as good as throwing it away."

"Thank you, Mr. Ingo. This ranch is lovely too," Saria said, bowing her head. Ingo scoffed, turning his head away and failing to hide a bit of flush in his face.

"It's nothing.

"Though if you ask me girl, you would be best served by getting back to here you came from. The world is not a kind place and you seem badly prepared for it."

"I can't, I have a promise to keep," Saria answered simply.

"Bah, then get moving, if you insist on traveling cross country on foot. You just might be able to reach the Castle Town before the gate closes at sunset."

They had reached the gates, and with a final thank you, Saria ran off north toward the castle, where Zelda and her quest awaited.

Author's Note:

Well here it is. I finally started a Zelda story, and OoT no less. This game made big impact on me as a kid and I was inspired by some Saria fanart to do a story based around here and a rather different approach to the quest. Link's fate will be addressed as we go if you are curious. And I will say right now Saria will not be paired with anyone in this story.

And it was a way to keep up morale while dealing with Writer's block. Still chipping away at the next Queen chapter and some other projects.

Well Jhappy Easter to you of you celebrate it. And if not have a good day in general. Stay safe out there.

Long days and pleasant nights.