Chapter 8: Forest People

Link had walked for what felt like hours through the tangled undergrowth of the forest, following Fi's subtle prompting towards the giant tree. With her guidance, he'd avoided not only another group of bokoblins, but also several enormous animals, some even bigger than he was. Fi had described some of them as herbivores, others as predators, commenting that the rich plant life of the region was sufficient to sustain animals of significant size, many of which could be dangerous if provoked. Even some of the plants had proven dangerous, and Link had quickly learnt to be wary of the large, sickly-smelling, blue flower-like ones, saved from an unpleasant bite or worse from the maw of the first one he'd encountered by Fi's emotionless warning.

He was finally nearing the great tree, towering above him and filling almost half the sky with its trunk the size of a small island, when he heard an angry squealing erupting from directly ahead. It set his teeth on edge, and he froze for an instant, searching the tangled vegetation ahead for any sign of bokoblins, hand snapping to the hilt of his sword.

In the next moment, Fi had appeared from the sword with a soft chime to float beside him.

"Master Link. I am detecting traces of Zelda's aura associated with a being ahead, amidst the bokoblins you can now hear."

Link gasped, drawing the Goddess Sword at once and slipping his shield from his back. Zelda!

"The being is unusually difficult to analyse at this distance. However, I am able to confirm that it is not Zelda. There is a 95% probability that it is intelligent. Its possession of traces of Zelda's aura is highly interesting, as it implies that this being has recently associated closely with her. I recommend that you investigate this phenomenon."

Link nodded, afraid but determined. Were the bokoblins attacking the being, whatever it was, even now? He glanced to Fi for an instant, then dashed ahead, fighting his way through the undergrowth towards the sounds and towards the subtle sense of direction made stronger by his contact with the Goddess Sword. It flickered briefly with shimmering light as Fi appeared to streak back into it, catching up with him effortlessly.

The furious screeching was replaced briefly by almost quizzical grunts as Link forced his way past a sturdy bush to abruptly stumble into a small clearing. Two bokoblins had clearly been hacking at the lush, waist-high grasses, but both had broken off to stare in his direction. Waving their weapons above their heads, they shrieked again and charged, short legs carrying them deceptively fast. Shield up and trying to keep a level head, Link sidestepped as they neared him, fouling the swing of the one he'd stepped away from by putting its companion in its way; catching the crude sword of the second on the wood of his shield. The finely-balanced Goddess Sword felt almost awkward in his usually-skilled hand as he aimed a quick slash at the creature's temporarily unguarded side before it could yank its chipped weapon back, and it let go of its sword, staggering back with a squeal – straight into its luckless companion. Link saw the opportunity and forced himself to take it, leaping forward to strike them both down before they could disentangle themselves from one another. In another few moments it was all over, his sword impaling the collapsed second bokoblin as it twitched weakly and lay still.

Link swallowed hard, trying not to breathe too deeply as the stench of the bokoblins and the smell of their blood threatened to overwhelm him. The dead creature jerked gruesomely as he pulled the Goddess Sword from its corpse, staggering back several paces – anywhere that put him somewhere other than standing directly over the two bodies.

"Kwee…"

A strange, squeaky sound almost like a sigh of relief snapped his head around towards the centre of the clearing, reflexively raising his still-spotless sword against any further attacker. Where had it come from? He couldn't see anything but the long grasses…

"Finally…" the squeaky voice came again, and then, to Link's shock, a tuft of grass seemed to shrink back into a kind of bud-like shape, moments before a creature beneath it sat up! Half-visible through the long grass, it had a shape somewhat like a larger, plumper, tailless version of the rat-like climbing animals Fi had called squirrels, with short but strong-looking limbs and gripping paws that looked almost like hands. Its short-furred underbelly was the cream of fresh-cut wood, while the subtly mottled fur of its back looked almost like mossy bark. It stood up on its hind legs, little forepaws hanging down at its sides in an almost human-like pose – and then it saw Link, black-ringed eyes not even meeting his startled blue ones before it leapt away.

"Kweeeee! Now there's a green one!" It fled up a sandy bank before Link could utter a word, wailing "Don't hurt me!" as it disappeared into the foliage.

"-Wait!" he shouted after it, but it was already too late. Glancing at the sword still in his hand, he ventured to ask "What was that?"

Fi appeared from the sword to hover to his left, expressionless as ever. "Unknown, Master. During our brief proximity, I was able to conduct a more thorough analysis. The creature is not previously recorded, but is clearly intelligent. It has no notable offensive capability, and is possessed of exceptional natural camouflage. In addition, it appears to have a rudimentary ability to deflect attention from itself. Curiously, I detect characteristics of both animal and plant in its nature, combined in a fashion not previously observed." She turned to look up the sandy bank, blank eyes seeming to gaze along its avenue of retreat. "Despite its sophisticated concealment, the presence of traces of Zelda's aura upon it renders it simple to track."

"You still can't sense Zelda anywhere around here, can you?"

Fi shook her head. "Only the traces of her aura remain as a sign that she has passed this way. There are multiple faint traces in this vicinity. It is probable that she spent some amount of time in this area before moving on."

Link nodded, the flicker of hope brightening within him. If Zelda had spent some time here, perhaps he was catching up. "Then let's go after that creature and try to talk to it."

Fi nodded, returning to the sword without further word. Link sheathed it, slinging the shield back across his back, and headed for the slope. He gave the corpses of the two bokoblins a wide berth.

Following Fi's subtle prompting, it was relatively simple to follow the strange little creature through scrubby bushes and into another, larger clearing. A huge fallen tree laid along the middle showed clearly how it had been formed, fat mushrooms sprouting from the decaying wood and flowers and grasses luxuriant in the open space. Looking around, Link frowned. He was in the right area, but… he couldn't see it.

"Hello?" he tried, calling out softly. "I know you're here. I don't want to hurt you. I just want to talk. Hello?"

A stand of grass that Link's eyes had already passed over, looking exactly like any other, abruptly shivered and retracted, the strange creature from before sitting up on its hind legs to look at him.

"Huh? You don't want to… eat me?" It seemed audibly relieved. "I was so scared when those nasty red bokoblins saw me." It shuddered, rustling the grass around it. "Even though I hid, I thought they were going to cut up all the grass and all the soil until they found me. But… you fought them off, didn't you?"

Link nodded.

"Thanks for helping me! You're okay, even if you are a little scary," the creature decided, a little squeak seeming to add emphasis to the decision. When it had run from Link, it had scampered on all fours, but now it walked towards him on its hind legs with a slightly rolling gait, almost human-like in the way it pushed grass out of its way with its forepaws. With it in front of him, Link dropped to one knee: it only came up to his waist, and he felt as if he rather towered over it.

"I'm Machi," the creature introduced itself. "What's your name?"

"Link," he told it. "Machi, have you seen any other humans… anyone else like me, around here recently?"

"That's funny," Machi chirped, "I actually did! There was another funny animal like you, but that one was more pink, and, kwee, floatier?" It held its forelimbs out pointing downwards, slightly away from its body, and Link guessed it was trying to imitate the fall of Zelda's dress.

"Zelda!"

Machi thought for a moment. "Yes, that's what it said its name was, kweep!" It nodded emphatically, sentences punctuated with the occasional squeak, both for emphasis and when it seemed to be looking for words. "I was sitting on a branch when it came past underneath me, being chased by a gang of those horrible bokoblins! It looked like it was in a bunch of trouble, so I told it which way to run and followed in the treetops, koo-weep. It managed to fight them off once they were all spread out a bit, kwee, but it seemed pretty shaken up. It said it wasn't from the forest, and it was getting dark, so I took it to meet Bucha, our elder." Machi seemed proud of itself. "He will have found it a secure hiding place to spend the night! He's one of the best at that sort of thing, kwee-ee."

Relief dampened the edges of Link's worry, both emotions written clearly in his face. He couldn't have hidden them. Zelda had been in danger – but she'd escaped it again, and this little creature had tried to take her to safety, Perhaps there was even a chance she was still there.

"Can I meet your elder too? Please?" He paused for a moment. "Zelda is my best friend. She's lost, and I'm trying to find her. If your elder knows where she is – please?"

Machi thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Zelda was nice, kweep, and you seem nice too. I'll take you to meet the elder! He lives this way." It dropped to all fours, scampering away with a springy, bounding gait that again reminded Link of the much smaller 'squirrels', and paused on the edge of the clearing to look back. Grateful, Link followed, jogging after it as it led him towards the gigantic tree.

There are only two ways to achieve naming consistency: either all of the species names, such as Goron, Kikwi, Bokoblin, Cucco, etc. are capitalised, and so are Human, Monkey, Cat, etc., or none of the species names are capitalised. I chose the latter.

Patch Notes
- Kikwis redesigned to cope with life in a lush forest as part of a full and vibrant ecosystem including predators.
- Origin (and eventual fate) of kikwis plot thread initialised, accounting for the lack of kikwis in any future setting. Fi does not recognise kikwis due to [redacted].
- Fellow Knight Academy student now fully combat-capable.