Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Zelda series. Hah! Now you can't sue me. Wait, my lawyers are telling me that you can sue me for saying "Hah". Doh! (I don't own the Simpsons either.)

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"Speech"

'Inner thoughts'

Telepathy

..::Location::.. - New separation mark (I honestly get a kick out of making them!)

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Chapter IV: Plots Amidst Friends

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..::The Chamber of Sages::..

A coursing stream of blue, black, and white ceaselessly flowed in the Chamber of Sages. With a flash of gold, orange, purple, blue, red, and green, six sages appeared. Saria looked around, blinking stupidly for a few seconds until she realized where she was. By now, the other sages had realized that they were summoned and they stood at informal attention to their leader, who had called them.

"Really Zelda," started Nabooru, "What in Din's name made you summon us a second time in less than three days?"

"We have another situation...with the hero," explained Zelda.

"For Nayru's sake, Zelda," spoke up a young Ruto, "His name is Link. He might be the hero of legend, but he's still our friend!"

"I agree," boomed Darunia, "I still don't know if I'll be able to lie as ordered to my own Sworn Brother... I swear, if you weren't my Sworn Sister..."

Zelda's eyes narrowed. "Saria, you're the only one that's had unsupervised contact with him. Have you disobeyed me?"

The two girls glared at each other. Finally, Saria broke the silence.

"No, but really, maybe I should have..." said Saria. "What type of reward is it for his heroism to be forgotten? And how could you, of all people, become so cold to Link? You have to know, how much it must of hurt him to think that you especially forgot him..."

Zelda's lips tightened, as did her tiny fists. Her hard exterior broke down, and a single tear trickled down from her bright blue eyes.

"None...none of you really understand...what it was like..." whispered Zelda, "You were all safe from Ganondorf for most of the time. Me, I had to be constantly on the run from him. I had to shred the last scrap of who I was for seven years just to remain safe...I lost those years of my life!!! Link may not have realized that yet, but that loss would have slowly eaten away at his soul. Knowing that he never really grew up properly, that his youth was robbed from him in order for him to be a savior, that knowledge would kill his spirit..."

As she paused, another tear dribbled down her cheek. "I was just hoping...that by acting like we had forgotten him, he too would forget how we...I ...used him..."

With that she broke down completely, and Saria ran up to her and embraced her in an effort to comfort her. Tears were beading at the edge of Ruto's eyes, and even Darunia was looking a little misty. Nabooru just rolled her eyes at the exchange, though beneath her tough Gerudo exterior she felt compassion for the young princess.

Impa and Rauru had remained silent throughout the entire exchange. Rauru soon stared fixedly at Impa, and started communicating telepathically only with her.

Hmmm, started Rauru, I think that Link isn't the one who would be better off by forgetting this.

Rauru, said Impa, her telepathic voice echoing, She's just a girl, and she's been through hell these past seven years. Let her have closure.

The care taking of the girl is your concern, responded Rauru, But I can't help but feel that some trouble will come out of this matter.

"Well," started Rauru, aloud this time, "I think that we should have a vote to determine our course of action. All those in favor of following the princess's desires, raise your right hand."

Darunia, Saria, and Ruto needed but one glance at the tear stricken girl to raise their hands. Nabooru shrugged nonchalantly and joined them. Impa raised her hand, and of course, Zelda had her hand feebly raised as well. Finally, Rauru raised his hand with a raised eyebrow.

"Well," started Rauru again, "That makes it official. Now, with your leave, I have some business to attend to."

With a flash of gold, Rauru was off. Likewise, the rest of the sages excused themselves and departed. Zelda, left alone, couldn't help but to give a slight smile before she too vanished.

..::The Lost Woods::..

The sun was long past its peak as a certain Kokiri emerged from the Lost Woods. Mido was anything but happy, as he had been steaming in the woods for a whole three days since the Deku Tree had met his end.

'That Link,' thought Mido for the umpteenth time, 'I'll get him, someday, for killing our—'

"Mido!" shouted out Lara, one of the twins, "Where have you been? I have great news! A new Deku Tree has sprouted—"

"What!!!" exclaimed Mido, for a moment speechless, "Well, of course a new Deku Tree has sprouted. I, as your leader, have long known that the guardian of the forest will always leave a successor!"

'Wow, that sounded really made up, even to me,' mused Mido.

"And that's not all, Saria has said that we should have a festival to celebrate, and guess what? Link came back too—"

"Wait. Link came back?" started Mido incredulously, "Just wait till I—"

"Yup, Link's back, and the Deku Sprout said that it's all thanks to Link that he was born!"

"What!!!" exclaimed Mido, yet again, "I...I have to go," he said uncomfortably, as he disappeared back into the Lost Woods.

'Unbelievable. I just don't get it. How can I, the great Mido, be shunned as much as this! Saria, the Deku Tree, the Deku Sprout, the rest of the Kokiri, they all love Link...yet they all hate me, don't they. Stupid Link must have turned them all against me. He's probably after my position of Chief of the Kokiri. Darn it, this just isn't fair! There's got to be a way around this!'

While he was thinking and stewing about the rumors he had just heard, Mido was also wondering around the Lost Woods. He was about to enter another section of the woods when something fast and green ran into him.

"Oof!" exhaled Mido as he tried to catch his breath. He exclaimed out in anger, "What in the name of Farore are you—" he then noticed that it was Saria that he had run into. He blushed nervously and restarted, "I mean, sorry Saria, are you alright? Here, let me help you up."

"Thanks Mido." said the young sage, accepting his offered hand for help, "Did you hear the news about the festival?"

"Er...yes," stammered Mido, "Um...do you think that we could...you know...go together?" he queried, blushing furiously now.

With a giggle, Saria replied, "Sure, let's go!"

..::The Kokiri Village::..

Link awoke to the sound of ocarinas and drums echoing throughout the forest. He groggily raised himself from the bed, looking around and blinking dimly. He stretched a bit and then walked around, only to find that the sun had long since set. He sleepily slid down his ladder and drifted off towards the music. Link's long ears easily detected the direction from which the music was emanating, and he proceeded towards it.

What awaited Link inside the meadow was quite a shock. All the Kokiri were playing music, dancing to music, or eating...to the music. Everyone from the twins to the Know-It-All brothers was there, having the time of their life. Torches of every color adorned the meadow, with fairies and forest spirits bouncing around and adding to the glittering atmosphere. In the center of all of this attention was the young Deku Sprout, who was waving slightly to the songs that were playing.

The music itself was a hodgepodge chorus of ocarinas, violins made from leaves and twigs, drums made from oversized Deku nuts, and much more. The songs were imbued with the essence of the forest itself, with melodies echoing with the power of the nature around them. To this music the various Kokiri danced, and at the center of the dance area both Saria and Mido were happily dancing together.

Various small forest animals had been steadily streaming into the forest, coming to celebrate the birth of their new guardian. Even Deku Scrubs had begun to appear. While usually shy, these leafy creatures were of the same race as the Deku Trees, if only slightly more mobile. The Scrubs had arrived to celebrate their brethren's birth as well.

Into this dazzling spectacle walked Link, quite shocked at the overall majesty of the festival. He looked everywhere like the young boy he was, completely amazed. Saria spotted Link and detached herself from Mido to meet him.

"Link! It's about time you woke up!" exclaimed Saria, "We've been preparing all day for this!"

"Well," responded Link, grinning, "You know I never miss a chance to sleep instead of work."

"Hey!" said Saria indignantly, "I'll put you to work right now for that!" she paused, noticing Link's downcast face. "Don't worry, it's nothing strenuous, just help me get this party started with a real dancing song. You remember from when I taught you...that day I thought you would leave forever?"

"Of course!" said Link, 'Thank Farore that I don't need to do any work', "Let's get started!"

Both Link and Saria began to play the legendary dancing tune: Saria's Song. The vibrant beat was carried along with the drums and even some Scrubs joined in on their booming pipes. The entire forest got into the beat and started dancing. Joy and happiness spread throughout the grotto, and everyone was in a great mood. Everyone, of course, except a certain disgruntled Kokiri.

'I can't believe it,' thought Mido, shaking slightly with rage, 'Saria taught him her song, the song she only teaches to the ones closest to her...she hasn't even taught me that song yet!' The drink Mido held as he sat on the sidelines of the dancing area started to spill over, so tightly was Mido's fist clenched around it. 'One day, Link, one day I'll get you for stealing everything away from me!'

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A/N: Wow, that ended a bit more dramatically then I had intended... Please forgive any typos; I just finished this at five in the morning...I really need to stop sleeping so late. As you can see, I've developed the plot a bit, I hope you enjoyed. I have a quick question if anyone wants to find out for me: What's the name of the leader of the Bombers in Majora's Mask? If you could tell me, that'd be great. Anyway, onward towards the review comments. I saw that the asteriks I put last time didn't go through for some reason, so I'll discontinue that.

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H7: Well, you certainly asked a rather pointed question, but my last chapter was kind of incomplete, so that's why it was answered in this chapter. Believe me or not, but I had this planned out beforehand, Mido's absence in the last chapter was intentional due to the time constraints I had when writing it. I'm very glad that you managed to see that coming though, it shows me that others besides my insane self find my plot rational.

Jacen Shaw: Thank you for your compliments and advice! I hope you still like my character development. More is coming soon, though; this story is just barely begun.

Hououza: Thanks for all of your reviews! You'll be seeing less flashbacks from here on out, the plot is moving forwards. However, there are still plenty left, they'll just be less frequent. Thanks for the game information as well.

TalonClawFange: Well, no action yet, sorry :(. But it is coming, and hopefully within the first 10 chapters.

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Thanks for reading!

-The Inversion