Disclaimer: No, over the past few days I have NOT gained control over the entire Nintendo franchise like I planned, so...the disclaimer in the prelude will still have to do.

Thanks go out to my only two reviewers. *sigh* The first chapter was pretty boring, so I guess that's to be expected....But this one is MUCH better! So read on!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts are in italics

(FYI, Link is 13)

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Chapter 1: Midnight Meeting

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

-

-

-

Link's heavy boots made loud footsteps on the wooden bridge connecting the entrance from Hyrule field to the Kokiri Forest. Not much had changed here in three years, and it wouldn't change much more in three hundred.

"It feels right to be back in an actually forest again," murmured Link to himself. Being out in the world and meeting new people was exciting, but there was nothing quite as comforting as being in a place that you knew could never change.

"I'd like to see the village, but I guess any visitor wouldn't be too welcome at this hour. I'll just have to pay the new Deku Tree a visit, then sneak in quietly." He figured he'd just sneak into his tree house, drop off his stuff, and then surprise everyone in the morning.

He walked for another half an hour or so through a maze of forest that served as a final deterrent against any who sought to find the heart of the forest where the Kokiri lived. Due to the fact that it was so dark and that the vegetation had grown and died forming new paths over the time he was gone, he ended up losing his way twice and eventually having to uproot a Deku scrub to take him there.

But, once he did arrive, Link couldn't help an uncontrollable smile from forming at the sight of the idyllic sanctuary. Fireflies floating around in the thicker patches of grass, and everything cast a dark green shade by light filtered in the trees above....Link mentally slapped himself for gaping like an idiot at what he must have seen at least a thousand times before.

Strangely, the music of the skull kids was absent tonight. Everything was deathly quiet, and each sound of a snapping twig or rustling bush hung in the air.

Link crept quietly from shadow to shadow as he made a roundabout path to his tree house. It wasn't as though he expected to be caught or anything. It was just that, for one trained in the Gerudo's art of stealth, some habits died hard. He avoided the central green to which most of the houses were directed, and finally arrived at the back of his own house. He sidled along the roots of the tree to a ladder that looked in a bad state of disrepair. He made it up three-fourths of the way, wincing at every other step when the wood creaked and groaned, sounding like it would snap.

"Just a few more feet, and I'm home free." thought Link. It seemed as if his plan had gone off without a hitch.

Of course, plans rarely go as expected.

"EEEK!!!", screamed a high pitched voice FAR too close to his left ear. Mind reeling in surprise, and arms wind-milling as he frantically sought the ladder, the Hero of Time plummeted the ten feet he had just climbed, back to hard ground beneath him. He closed his eyes expecting a very hard landing directly on his head, but was further surprised when his very soft landing was followed by an "oomf" that wasn't from him. Well, at least the screaming is stopped.

He fearfully cracked open one eye to find out which of his friends he had just clobbered.

"Ack! Saria?! I was just, um..." Link realized that his rapidly blue-ing friend would rather hear his explanation after she had received some more oxygen. So he scrambled off her and watched as his best friend gulped some deep breaths and stood up.

"Saria, it's me, Link. I was just..." but Link was cut off in his storytelling once again as Saria screamed...once again.

"EVERBODY GET OUT HERE!! LINK'S BACK!!"

"...ow..." Link was sure his ears must have been bleeding by now.

One by one the various Kokiri children stumbled out of their houses to see what was happening. Still dressed in pajamas and clutching pillows or blankets, they slowly filed over to Link's old home to find what was causing such a ruckus. Further adding to the disarray, sleep-coated hands just didn't seem to grasp right, and many of the Kokiri who lived above ground fell down their ladders in a very comical, very Link-like, fashion.

"Saria, calm down. There's no need to get everyone up at this hour. I was just going to drop my stuff off here, and then go to..." Link tried to explain.

"What?! Oh, no you're not! You've been gone three years, and you're not just gonna SNEAK in during the night and then run away again." interrupted Saria, miffed.

"Now hold on a sec, who said anything about sneaking. I was just going to see the Deku Tree and then..." Link TRIED to explain, he really did! But he was getting increasingly frustrated with the number of times she'd cut him off.

"You weren't even going to say hi, were you?! Do you even care that people around here have missed you? You didn't even say goodbye the last time you left," blamed Saria. Ouch...that hurts. I guess I had that one coming though.

By now the thirty or more children had formed a crowd around the two people who had woken them up. The whole scene seemed rather ridiculous with a mob a children appearing no older than eight or nine, surrounding a very animated Saria and a desperately trying to defend himself Link, who was at least a foot taller than everyone else.

"SARIA!" snapped Link. This got the desired effect, as she sullenly crossed her arms and waited for Link to continue.

"I AM going to stay here. It was just late in the night and I figured I'd see the Deku Tree first and then surprise everyone in the morning." he stated plainly. "By the way, what were you doing up so late? I'm sure I wasn't loud enough to wake anyone up."

"Um, well..." Saria blushed. "Sorry about...blaming you and all that, then." She was still mad about him leaving before, but she'd at least let him explain himself.

"Um, yeah...I'm sorry too...about leaving and not telling anyone. I guess...I was sorta wrapped up in myself back then and not thinking about anyone else," said Link sheepishly. Geez, that's a REALLY bad excuse.

"It's okay, at least you're back now. And to answer your earlier question, I had forgotten to feed Bessie today," said Saria, calming down.

"Bessie?"

"Yeah, that's your..." she trailed off realizing that everyone was still there watching them. "Alright people! Break it up! We're not putting on a show here!"

"But didn't you just..." asked one of the children weakly, his sleep-hazed mind still working slowly.

"Yes, Saria asked you all out to see me, Link. I'm back. Now if everyone'll please go back to bed, I'll talk to you all in the morning." finished Link quickly. He was never fond of grand introductions or goodbyes, and this whole situation was making him uncomfortable.

Much more quickly than they came out, the children dispersed with the promise of sleep, some still grumbling about being disturbed for no reason. Finally, Link and Saria were alone again.

"So..." drawled Link, unsure what to say now.

"C'mon, I'll show you Bessie," chirped Saria happily. Wow...it's disturbing how quickly her mood changes.

= = = = = = = = = Inside Link's house = = = = = = = = =

"What is a COW doing in my room?!" exclaimed Link.

Paradox of the Universe#1: a cow is brought halfway across the land of Hyrule, brought by someone into a land where no human other than Link has ever gone before, somehow gotten fifteen feet off the ground up a ladder, and forced into a room through a doorway half as wide as the cow is! And, to top it off, all of this is done without a single person in the forest noticing!! What's the deal with that reality?!

"It's yours. Remember the whole Epona-Malon obstacle course thing in the future? I've been taking care of it while you were away."

"Yeah, I remember, but..." Link paused a moment to gather his thoughts. Time travel always made his head hurt. "When I returned, everything that had happened, the good and the bad, was erased. So...the goddesses decided that I would have to lose Epona, but I could keep a stupid COW?! I fail to see the divine wisdom in this," he ranted.

"Hmm...'Link, the Hero of Bovine Herds'," giggled Saria. "Hey that's catchy!"

"I've been back ten minutes and already I'm being harassed. Life is sooo unfair." Link griped playfully.

Saria tried to hide a yawn by sitting down on Link's creaky bed. Her mind was excited at seeing Link back in the forest, but her body was sending her reminders that she would normally be long asleep by now.

"You should get some sleep, Saria."

"No, I want to talk to you tonight. I miss not having my best friend around to joke with," complained Saria, who, for all her worldly knowledge as a sage, sounded exactly like a whiny ten-year old.

"I'll talk to you more in the morning. Besides, we have lots more time. It's not like I'm going anywhere," reminded Link.

"You better not," said Saria, getting up and swatting him. "G'night Link."

"Goodnight Saria."

-

-

-

To be continued...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next chapter: Ya kno...I haven't written the next chapter yet, so none of these are ever gonna be accurate.

Sooo....? Any better?

I'm offering rewards of bags of trail mix to anyone who tells me what they think! (Mmm....trail mix *drooling*)

Ooo! Ooo! There it is \/  Do you see it?!  It's the review button! O_O