Disclaimer:The Legend of Zeldais property ofNintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto, all rights reserved. I am in no way affiliated with these companies, or any legal proceedings concerning The Legend of Zelda. This story has been written purely out of enjoyment, and is not intended to make a profit, steal ideas, or offend anybody. Any similarities between my work and anyone else's is purely coincidental.

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"Elements of Hyrule" — Chapter Eight: Back to Normal

By The Last Princess of Hyrule

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Link and Saria left the Great Deku Tree's clearing in a stunned silence, never saying a word as they each went home and to bed. The two Kokiri could hardly comprehend that the Great Deku Tree was dead. For their magnificent patron to be subject to the whims of mortality did not seem possible, though they had watched it happen. Neither child slept until hours later, when they had cried all their tears. Even then, Link sat up for a longer time, dry-sobbing into his knees, for in his heart, he was sure this was all his fault.

Navi could do nothing to calm her distraught partner. Now that the two did not have a request to fulfill, she felt awkward around the boy. She had never spent much time with any Kokiri before this and had little idea how to act around one—especially one in the middle of an emotional breakdown. In the end, the fairy settled down on Link's left shoulder and held a calming hand to the side of his neck, praying it might have some calming affect.

Morning came and Link had neither spoken nor slept the entire night, which shown on his expressionless face. Nothing Navi could do would jog a response from the lifeless Kokiri.

"What do you plan to do today?" she asked, feeling awkward.

Link didn't answer.

I should have expected that. Navi thought to herself. I might as well be talking to myself for all the recognition he gives me.

"Are you going to be all right?" the fairy tried again. "Is there something I can do?"

Link continued to ignore her.

Well, that did a lot.

"Will you at least talk to me?"

Nothing.

"Link?"

Silence.

Navi fluttered her wings angrily. She had a very short temper and almost never held back her fire once it had been ignited.

"Oh, you're hopeless!" The fairy threw up her hands and leapt off Link's motionless shoulder. "I'm going to see Saria," Navi stated as she zipped out the door. "You can just stay in here all day, if that's what you want!"

She flew out onto the balcony in a huff and waited. A minute later, as expected, Link emerged and solemnly looked up at her. "I'll come with."

Navi could not conceal her triumphant smile.

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Link entered the squat lavender-painted house to find it empty. "She's not here,"Navi stated as she and Link stared in.

Back outside, Link looked around, hoping to spot Saria coming home. "Where do you think she is?"

Navi shrugged.

"Might as well go ask Sonya and Joseph," Link went on.

Navi settled on her partner's shoulder as he turned and headed to the small rise where sat a house almost identical to Saria's, save for its paint was cherry red. Unfortunately, as they reached the foot of the hill, a very loud and very obnoxious voice yell at Link.

"Hey 'Mr. No-Fairy'!"

Link sighed heavily and turned to see Mido emerging from his own home. "So what'd the Great Deku Tree want you with you?" Mido asked as he reached Link.

"None of your business," Link snapped, walking away.

Mido snorted. "The rumors are probably true then."

Link froze, his blood turning to ice. Could Mido possibly know about the Great Deku Tree's curse? How much did he know? "What rumors?" Link asked, unable to keep his voice still.

He turned to Mido and found the little leader with a dead-serious expression fogging his usual self-elated air. "The Great Deku Tree is dead."

Link felt a sting of guilt in his heart.

"You were the last person to speak with it," Mido went on accusingly.

"What are you talking about?" Link began as Mido's words and inclination sank in. "Are you saying I killed the Great Deku Tree?"

Mido's mouth fell open. "You admit you did it? You killed the Great Deku Tree?"

"No I—" Link tried to explain, but Mido cut him off.

"I knew it," he said, mostly to himself. "I knew it all along. I knew something bad was going to happen the minute Saria took you in. I knew you'd be trouble!"

"Mido—"

"How could you do a thing like that?" the frantic Kokiri went on, waving his arms wildly. "How could you just kill the guardian of the forest? How can you be so cold-hearted?" Mido scoffed and fury covered his face. "I can't believe you! Without the Great Deku Tree, we're all going to die! This is all your fault, Link! It's all your fault!"

Without so much as waiting for Link to try to defend himself against the onslaught of accusations, Mido pivoted around and stalked fuming back into his house. Link was left to stand dumbfounded in the middle of the clearing.

"What was that?" Navi asked, both staring at the place Mido had just been.

Link shook his head slowly. "I have no idea. I've seen Mido do some weird stuff, but I've never seen him do that before."

"Sounds like something strange is going on."

"That'll be another good thing to ask Sonya and Joseph about," Link said as he hurried up the hill. Working on their hands and knees in the garden in front of the house was Joseph and a little girl with thick blonde pigtails.

Sola was one of the smallest Kokiri in the forest, with a body and mentality of an eight year old. She had lived ten years and was partnered with a Forest fairy named Kae. Joseph was teaching the pair about growing vegetables, as he did for many of the children in the forest. Not surprisingly, they appeared to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Kokiri partnered with Forest fairies were often more environmentally conscious than other Kokiri.

It is well known in the forest that fairies act as a mirror to the desires and feelings of the soul of their partner. Those with Spirit and Fire fairies often acted devilish and tricksome. Wind fairy Kokiri are concerned with change and make strong leaders. Those with Light fairies act pure and innocent—Shadow Kokiri the opposite. Those who possess Water fairies are loyal and steadfast, the way water flows that you can always depend on it. To judge a Kokiri by their type of fairy almost always gives one the correct impression of the Kokiri's character.

When Link approached, Joseph and Sola were kneeling in a patch of dirt where multiple tiny green shoots were beginning to grow. Sola's fairy, Kae, was seated on a leaf and paying as avid attention to Joseph as her partner.

"Now, take a look at the leaf on this radish," Joseph was explaining, fingering one of the tiny plants. "You see all these tiny bites? What do you think they're from?"

Sola thought about it for a moment. "Cockroaches?"

Joseph shook his head with a smile. "No, nothing like that. It's just your common garden parasites." He smiled at Link as the boy leaned over the garden fence to watch. Sola didn't notice his presence.

"So, what do you do about them?" Joseph asked the girl.

Sola was silent for a long time, but, for all the thought that went into it, her answer was merely a shrug.

"Come on, Sola," Joseph pleaded. "We went over this yesterday."

"I'm sorry." The girl hung her head.

"Aw, cheer up." Joseph smiled and motioned Link into the garden. "Link will tell us, won't you, Link?"

Link returned the smile nervously as he climbed over the fence and knelt in the dirt beside Joseph. He had as much idea about what was wrong with the radishes as Sola. Link touched the plant and he wracked his memory for a solution. It'd been a while since he had worked in the garden with Joseph.

"It looks like all this is from aphids," Link said slowly. A few tiny green bugs on the plant told him he was right. The boy pointed these out to Sola. "See?"

Sola leaned over and peered closely at them. "How do you get rid of them?"

"What you need is a bunch of ladybugs," Link explained. "Ladybugs eat aphids and that will keep the plants healthy."

"Couldn't Kae do something?" Sola looked up, her brown eyes full of interest.

Link exchanged glances with Joseph. "I believe Forest fairies have power to grow things, but I don't think Kae knows how to use that power yet."

"I do," the little fairy piped. She leapt from her seat and touched the leaves of the bug-ridden radish. The plant glowed with Kae's power as it magically filled out and became healthy.

"I guess that's one way to do it," Navi muttered to herself. "Use the power of your pendant."

"What was that?" Link asked her, having almost heard.

"Nothing," Navi replied in a bored tone.

Joseph's Shadow fairy, Tal, fluttered down next to Kae. "You all right?" he asked.

Kae nodded. "Yeah, but I'm exhausted."

There was a tiny smug smile on Tal's face. "I expected that. It takes a lot of magic to heal a plant. Even one as small as this."

Joseph spread a handful of rich, dark earth around the base of the stem. "From now on, I would suggest letting the ladybugs do the work."

Kae nodded.

Joseph sat back on his heels. "Well, that's enough gardening for one day. Catch some ladybugs for me and I'll teach you how they can help tomorrow."

A bright smile appeared on Sola's face, the same smile any student exhibited when class was ending. Even though she loved gardening very much, Sola didn't like to sit still for long. She leapt over the short fence surrounding the garden and hurried down the hill calling, "See you tomorrow, Joseph!"

Joseph couldn't help smiling as she left.

"Where's Nicle?" Link asked. "I thought you were teaching her and Sola at the same time."

"Her fairy is sick," Joseph answered. "Nicle wasn't feeling too good either."

Link climbed over the fence again as Joseph gathered his gardening tools. The elder Kokiri seemed unusually quiet all of the sudden, as if there was something on his mind. Something troublesome.

"Hey Joseph," Link began as Joseph leapt the fence and went inside. "Is something wrong?"

Joseph began restacking his tools on the shelves. "Why would you say that?"

"You seem really quiet," Link observed, sitting down on one of the benches surrounding the unlit fire pit. "Everybody's been acting really weird today and I think Mido's completely off his rocker."

Joseph snorted. "Mido's always like that."

Link shook his head, his demeanor serious. "No, he's not like himself at all. While I was on my way over here, he just walked right up to me and blew up in my face. He was just going on and on about how he thought I killed the Great Deku Tree. Isn't that the stupidest thing you've ever heard?"

Joseph was silent. The small smile that had appeared on Link's face as he spoke vanished in an instant. "You don't believe him . . . do you?"

Joseph looked down. "In all honesty, Link, I don't know what to believe." He walked from the shelves and seated himself next to Link. "I know you're a good person and I trust you, but . . ."

"What?"

"Well, you were the last person summoned to the Great Deku Tree," said Joseph. "I don't think you would do such a thing, but you know what some of the other Kokiri think about you."

Link nodded silently, not looking up.

"Besides," Joseph stood, "if Mido heard that from Ressa or Tessa, it's guaranteed to be a rumor." The elder Kokiri grinned with the thought. "Don't worry. After awhile, they'll all forget about it."

Link looked up at him, his face filling with relief. "Thanks, Joseph."

"Anytime," said Joseph. "So, did you come up here for something?"

"Yes, actually." Link got up and the two boys headed outside again. "I'm looking for Saria."

"I saw her this morning," Joseph replied. "She brought Sola over."

"Did she say where she was going?"

Joseph put his hands on his hips. "She told me to tell you to meet her at the usual place in the Lost Woods."

The Sacred Forest Meadow, Link thought to himself.

"When I asked her what she was talking about, she just said it was nothing," Joseph went on. "If you think something's up with Mido, you obviously haven't seen Saria today."

"Okay," said Link. "Where's Sonya?"

"She and the triplets went into the forest to gather berries." Joseph jerked his thumb behind him, south.

Link nodded. "Well, I should go find Saria. See you later!" he called as he turned and hurried in the opposite direction, into a thick part of the forest.

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