A small brown country mouse scurried along its way deep in the Lost Woods of Kokiri Forest. Its small brown nose was working over-time, twitching back and forth, searching for food to store for the upcoming winter. Its tiny heart beat rapidly as it ran around the forest, pumping blood to all of its organs so that it might be prepared for any danger. As it hurried along on its way, it had no idea of its impending doom.
His dark eyes narrowed in on the little creature. An easy kill for a hunter such as himself, almost too easy. None the less, he hadn't eaten in days, he would not let this one get away, so he still watched its every move and waited for the perfect time for the kill.
The little mouse's ears perked up. There was a slight rustle in the trees. He had heard it before and ignored it, but this time told him differently. He had heard a slight whisper in the wind, as if someone telling him of what was about to happen. He didn't have to be told twice.
"No!" yelled the great owl, frustrated as the prey suddenly scurried away. After spending hours looking for something suitable to eat, he was now to be forced to eat vegetation once again. "I don't know how much longer I can take this." he thought to himself. "What I wouldn't give for a nice steak right now."
As the mighty owl flew off in a hurry, the fairies of the forest secretly laughed at how they had just saved the small mouse; and made it that much harder for the owl to get a decent meal in this place.
**
Link was bored out of his mind. Ever since his adventure had ended, he never had anything to do. He could always go to the ranch and ride his horse and visit Malon, or go to the Kokiri Forest and play with the children there, or swim in Lake Hylia, but he couldn't. After saving your world from total destruction, life just doesn't have the same kick as it used to. Besides, he couldn't see Princess Zelda, for if he did, he could disrupt the time line and release Ganon back into the world. Thinking about time travel and time lines always gave him a headache. So, there he sat on the wall in front of the ranch, pondering why he was even still alive.
"Hoot Hoot!" a cry bellowed from above.
Link's eyes rolled back in his head. "Oh no." he thought to himself. "Not that owl again. That's just what I need right now, an old owl giving me advice about my life when I don't even need it."
As Link turned his eyes skyward, he noticed the familiar shape of the great wise owl, who always seemed to be around on a boring day to make it seem a little less...fun.
The owl landed on the tree that was closest to Link as Link tried to squint his eyes from the bright morning sun that had recently come up, conveniently behind where the owl was landing. Link knew that the owl would do this to him, he always did. He liked to be an annoyance to Link. It made him feel important, in a vast world.
"Hey Kappa!" Link yelled to the owl, knowing exactly where to hit the owl to tick him off.
"Please Link, I already told you to not ever speak that name again."
"Oh come on Kappa, I was just teasing you. You do it all the time, so why can't I?"
"Didn't I just say never to say my name?" the owl screeched.
"Which name…Kaepora Gaebora?" Link slyly asked.
"Curse you child, have you no respect or intelligence?" Kaepora said as he flew away in a flurry of feathers.
Link looked around, and noticing he was already alone at the beginning of the day, he ran to catch up with the fast departing owl.
"Wait up!" he screamed. "Please just talk to me, I'm so bored these days that I say many things that I don't mean. Please, I…I'm sorry." Link stopped running, knowing that once the owl hit the skies over Kakariko he would be unable to catch him. He slowly retreated to his wall to ponder more on life on this boring world.
Just as he started back however, he was grabbed from behind and lifted roughly into the sky.
"Oh my…for the love of Nayru, put me down before I throw up." Link said as he gasped for air. He wasn't used to flying, after all he hadn't flow since…no, he thought, it is better not to bring up memories of the past. Or was it memories of the future? Link's head spun as he flew through the air. He focused on something stationary and as his stomach and head returned to normal, he enjoyed his short flight back to the wall.
The owl gently placed Link back onto the wall and flew to a different tree, one that would not be so bothersome to Link's eyes.
"Forgive me if I came off a little grouchy. I haven't had a decent meal in weeks."
"Been hunting in the Lost Woods have we?"
"Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I have. Why? Is there something wrong with hunting there?"
"Well, I have been trying to kill some of the birds there and every time you get close, they fly away. And do you know why they always fly away? It's because of the fairies that live there. They protect all of the little animals of the forest and make life more difficult for the larger ones, such as you and me. I swear, sometimes, I can almost hear their laughter in the trees as I curse at losing my catch. Damn fairies!" Link said, while slowly drifting off into his own world of a land full of fairies and Kokiri children laughing at him because Navi, his only fairy, had left him.
"Anyway," the owl said, trying to regain control of the situation. "I was just passing through and it looked like you needed someone to talk to."
"Huh?" Link said as he snapped back into reality. "Oh yeah, I have nothing to do. There isn't anyone really interesting to talk to anymore. Only girls who bat their eyes and try to gain me as their prize. All of the girls seem so immature."
Kaepora Gaebora silently chuckled to himself. Link, sensing that someone was making fun of him said, "What, you think that's funny?"
"Oh no, it's just that you have already matured as an adult, and then un-matured; I guess you would call it; and now you are criticizing the opposite sex when you yourself used to be like that."
"Stop! You're making my head spin!" Link cried. He always hated it when the owl pulled his time travel knowledge on him. As he yelled this though, he noticed a slight sagging to the owl's shoulders, if a notice could be made.
"What's wrong?" Link asked.
"Nothing, just remembering old times, before I was an owl, I miss those days. It was rather exhilarating to be an owl at first, flying through the air and up to the edge of space. But after a while, you begin to remember the pleasures of being a person. Like being able to walk normally, I wish I could do that again. Or eat with my hands. That would be great. Or to be able to see…" Kaepora Gaebora's face scrunched up as if he was fighting back tears.
"What? What's wrong?" Link asked.
"No, I can't go back to that time. It's too painful." Kaepora sobbed.
"I know how you feel, but it's better to relive it. It helps to relieve some of the pain, I should know." Link said reassuringly. "You can't keep it bottled up inside of you. It will just eat away at you."
The owl thought for a moment and smiled slightly.
"OK. I'll tell you. You'll listen, right?"
"Yes, sure I will." Link said. "Oh no," he thought, "now I have yet another story to listen to." But it could be always be worse," he thought.
"All right, I'm about to tell you the story of my life, of how it all started and how much pain I was forced to endure. The story of my life is not a short one I warn you." "What story of his is?" Link thought. He then felt the penetrating eyes of the owl on him and realized that the owl had stopped talking. "Continue on, Mr. Gaebora." he said, trying to get the eyes off of him.
"The story of my life is known to no one. Some of the more intelligent people, mainly the Shekiah, have managed to figure out parts of my life and encode them into their so called 'gossip stones'. But they only know a small piece of the giant puzzle. What I am to tell you is so secret that even the ground is trying to listen to us at this moment." Kaepora then noticed that Link was beginning to doze off from his rambling. He decided to get on with the story. He spit a wad of leaves he had been chewing at the boy. "I'm up, I'm up!" Link yelled.
"Yes, indeed." the owl replied.
So this is where the story is told, the story of the strange talking owl without a past. The story of the man named Kaepora Gaebora, who was destined for greatness, but when achieved, reached downfall.