Swordless Link

You see, this all this came as a surprise to me. I thought I had saved the Deku Tree. But killing him? I never wanted to do that.

For so long, the Kokiri Forest, the source of life, has stood as a barrier

But before this evil, even my power is as nothing...

...I am dying.

Exile And Strange Places

Mido's words didn't quite register at first. So I looked up at the Great Deku Tree, whose bark had faded to a pale silver-grey, and his leaves were already falling. I recoiled in horror. "Killed... No, I saved him!" I cried out, facing the Kokiri gathered in the Great Deku Tree's glade. "There was a monster in the roots! It was feeding off him, draining him.." My voice cracked with every angry or disappointed look I received. My friends, all of the Kokiri I thought had my back, they turned their faces from my gaze.

"Then explain why the Tree said his last words moments before you walked out!" Mido cried, shoving me to the ground. "The Deku Baba's have been getting worse, and who knows what sort of monsters are coming out of the Lost Woods at night! You have doomed all of us, Link, you dolt!" He turned away from me then, toward the other Kokiri children. "Is there anyone who would speak for Link and stand up for him?" Silence was his only answer. His eyes were so cold when he looked back at me. "Everyone sees you for what you are, Link, a murderer and an outsider."

He was right. No one answered my silent pleas as I stumbled through the crowd. Everyone stepped back from me, and I ran for the village as fast as I could. This was impossible, I can't have killed the Great Deku Tree, he was the only constant in the forest. Even the Lost Woods didn't change around him. I was the only one of the Kokiri to know that, they were all too afraid, save for Saria. She and I were the only one to spend any time getting to know the Skull Kids, and they never set foot in the village. Mido was right, I was an outsider.

I knew what I had to do. I ran toward the bridge leading out of the forest.

"Link, what are you doing? You can't leave the Forest, you'll die!" my fairy cried, pulling on my tunic. I swatted her away and turned to her. "Look, Navi, I'm leaving. I can't stay here anymore, not with everyone thinking I murdered the Deku Tree!" With tears in my eyes, I turned and ran for the tunnel. "I'd rather be dead!"

I ran for the end of everything I had ever known." I didn't even notice that Saria was standing on the bridge leading out of the Village until she spoke up. "Linkette! Wait!" she cried to me, grabbing my tunic. I looked at her through my tears, saw her expression, and collapsed into her arms with huge wracking sobs. "Oh, Linkette," she said, rubbing my back.

"Saria, I can't stay, Mido has everyone against me," I sobbed, pulling her down as I sunk to my knees on the bridge. I could see my friends, the Skull Kids, looking up from below, their eyes filled with sorrow and a touch of fear. "I killed the Great Deku Tree, Saria. I tried to save him, and I killed him instead!"

"Linkette, you didn't kill him," she said, pulling me back to look at her. "He was dying anyways because of his curse, but he told me something that I need to tell you. I know why your dreams have been dark of late, Linkette. I know about the man with the red hair." I was shocked. I hadn't told anyone about my dreams. Mostly because dreaming of anything was unheard of by the Kokiri. They supposedly don't dream of anything. Saria continued. "He came from the desert, and is a dreadful sorcerer. He cursed the Great Deku Tree. This man ceaselessly uses his vile powers in his search for the Sacred Realm that is connected to Hyrule. He is searching for a divine relic, the Triforce, which contains the essence of the gods Din, Nayru, and Farore."

I had never heard of the Goddesses, and Saria has such a soothing voice I had no choice but to listen to what she was telling me. So I wiped my tears away and sniffed before wiping my nose on the sleeve of my tunic. "Who are they?" I asked.

"They created Hyrule. Din, the Goddess of Power, cultivated the land and created the red earth. Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom, poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world. And the goddess Farore, Goddess of Courage, with her rich soul created life, and those who would uphold the law. When they finished, they left for the heavens. At the point where they left the world, three golden triangles were left behind. Since then, these triangles, the Triforce, have become the basis for the world's providence," she said calmly. I blinked at her and sat down on the bridge, hanging my feet off the edge like we always did.

"Why did the Great Deku Tree need me to know this?" I asked, holding myself. "What does this have to do with the man in my dreams?"

"Linkette, you can't let the man in your dreams get his hands on the Triforce! If he does, the curse he cast on the Deku Tree won't be the last!" Again, I was shocked. Saria had never been so adamant about anything before, and her words shocked me. "You have to take this to Hyrule Castle, to the princess, across the field," she added quietly, pressing a gem into my hands. "The Kokiri's Emerald; he wanted to take it. But the Deku Tree would never give it up to someone such as him. Please, Linkette, the Princess needs to know what has happened here. The future depends on you."

I felt tears sting my eyes again, thinking about what this all meant. "Saria, I-" I started, before standing again and hugging her tightly. "I don't want to leave you, Saria."

"Linkette, there's one more thing I have to give you. I know you never had the chance to make one of these yourself," she said, pulling out her Ocarina. "I knew you would leave the forest some day. You are different from the rest of us, but that's okay. We'll still be friends forever. And.. When you play it, I hope you'll think of me and come back to visit."

"Saria.. I'll come back when I can, I promise," I said, hugging Saria one more time. Though she made me feel confident about everything, I couldn't shake that nagging feeling that she was pushing me away to make herself feel better. "...Bye Saria." I turned and ran. I couldn't fight back the tears any longer and I didn't want her to see me break down again.

Navi stopped me just before I ran between the last two trees marking the edge of the forest by flying into my face. "Link, wait! Beyond here is Hyrule Field! If you really are a Kokiri, you'll die if you leave now."

"So what, Navi? I already said that there's no point in living if everyone that I called friend thinks I killed the most important thing in the forest!" Even Saria didn't seem too convinced that I'd live, even when she told me I had to leave. "I'm the 'broken one', the 'boy without a fairy', Navi. I deserve whatever I get." I added as I brushed my fairy aside and stepped out into the open sunshine, closing my eyes tight.

After a moment, I opened one eye and looked. "...I'm not dead?" I asked, looking back at Navi. The blue annoyance flew around my head and pulled on my ears. "You dolt, don't scare me like that!"

"Gyah, Navi stop that!" I cried out, swinging my hat at her. "It's bad enough that you tell me what to do, you don't have to pull my ears!" Somewhere, secretly though, I had so hoped that I had died. That would have proved to Mido that I was a real Kokiri. Now, I had no clue what I was. But Saria told me where to go, and that was to the princess.

Only, I didn't know where to go to do that. "Navi, do you know where the castle is?"

The light was fading by the time I could see anything other than waving grass. The lowering sun in the west tinted the sky a dusky orange, and the walls of the small village ahead of me were casting long shadows. "Look, Link! We should see if we can stay there!" Navi said, flying a little ways ahead of me. "Staying out after dark is a really bad idea."

I hated to admit it, but she was right. My growing unease about being out in the open had me reaching for my sword constantly, looking around. The occasional sound in the grass rubbed my nerves raw, and I jumped at even a small harmless butterfly floating in front of my face. "Alright, we'll go see if we can stay. I don't have any money left, though, if they ask for it."

The two of us worked our way around the walls to the gate, by which time the sun had set. The moon was rising, and the sounds of the field were starting to get louder. Navi cried out a warning, and I turned, drawing my sword. Behind me, a skeletal form was pushing itself up from the grass. "Stalchildren!" she called, swooping around its head and lighting it up. The skeletal form reached with claws for the fairy. "Just hit it, Link! They're undead creatures that'll tear you apart with their claws!'

Bringing my wooden shield up just in time to block a claw just in time, I quipped at Navi, "You couldn't have told me sooner there were dangers in the grass!"

"I've never been outside the Forest, you dolt! Swing your sword already!"

How I wish I had gotten a less annoying fairy. But, she was right, I wasn't getting out of this situation without a fight, so I pushed the Stalchild away from my shield into one of its friends before thrusting my sword through both of them, cutting through their spines. They dropped with a clatter, and I pushed through the space between them, heading for the wall. I needed something at my back for protection. "Find something else to eat, you!" I yelled, bashing another one with my shield as I turned to face them again. There were so many of them, and they just kept coming, climbing out of the ground like flowers. One grabbed my leg. "Get off of me!" I cried, stabbing down while fending another claw off.

A voice from above shouted down to me, "Head down!" just before a bunch of arrows knocked many of the skeletons away from me. I looked up to see a rope ladder being dropped over the wall. "Grab on, kid!" the voice called out again.

"I think this is our exit," I said, grabbing with my shield hand. One more Stalchild got close, and I think I took off its head before I was yanked out of reach. Once over the top of the wall, I leaned against the parapet, catching my breath.

"What are you doing out in the field in the middle of the night, kid?" my rescuer asked, crouching in front of me. I looked at him, keeping my sword in hand. "Don't you know that's dangerous?"

"Yeah, I know that now..." I muttered. I shook my head and looked at him. He was tall, taller than any Kokiri was, and there was something on his face... "Why do you have a caterpillar under your nose?"

That took him back for a moment. He reached up and touched his face, then laughed. "Oh, you mean the mustache. That's there on purpose." Standing up, he offered his hand to me. "I'm Rusl, and you're in Lon Lon Ranch."

"Not the castle? Damn.." I said, pushing off the wall. "Can you tell me how to get to the castle? I need to get there fast, it's important."

Rusl shook his head. "Sorry, kid, getting to the castle is impossible right now, its all the way across the field to the north, and the gates into town are shut," he told me with a shrug. "Look, I'll take you to the main house, you can meet the boss and he'll find out what to do with you."

Rubbing my face, I groaned. More people. "Fine, fine," I said, finally putting my sword away. Something about the atmosphere, it made me feel safe, almost. "Take me to the boss."

The boss turned out to be a large man with a big bushy mustache by the name of Talon. Looking at him, I couldn't see why he was the boss, but Rusl told me that he was the one in charge of the entire ranch. "So, you are trying to get to Castle Town on foot?" he asked me, petting a cucco absently. "No one told you how dangerous it was?"

I kicked the floor a little bit, biting my lip. "It wasn't that no one told me how dangerous it was, sir, it was more like I wasn't told anything about the world outside my home," I said, looking up at him. He was easy to get along with, from what I could tell.

He nodded. "Right, the woods south of here. That explains the clothes at least," he said, setting the bird aside. "Here's the deal. Castle Town is three days from here by foot, and that's by the roads. It's not advisable to take the shorter route through the grass, since the skeletons tend to swarm." I nodded, rubbing the back of my head. Navi complained a little, since the motion dislodged my hat, which she was hiding under. "We've got a shipment coming up next week that we have to take up to the castle, you could come with us if you'd like. It'll be my little girl's first time to town, too, I think the two of you'll get along great."

I nodded. "I appreciate the offer. I can help a little, I guess," I said. "I have a slingshot, I can scare crows away or whatever you want me to do."

Talon laughed, scaring a couple of the cucco's into flight. "The offer is appreciated, kid," he chuckled, slapping his leg. "We'll probably take you up on that, all the kids here do their part in the daily chores. We'll find something for you to do. Now, what's your name, we can't just keep calling you kid."

Here we go, moment of truth. "My name is LInkette." I said, standing as tall as I could.

"Link, that's a good name," he said. It was like all the air was let out of me, I felt empty. He didn't even know me, and still saw me as a boy. What was going on? Why me, of all people?