Disclaimer: I, the author, do not owe Legend of  Zelda®: Ocarina of Time™ or any of the game characters used in this story. Original characters are owned by the author of this story. All Rights are Reserved.

After they had returned from the Sacred Meadow, Saria retired to her house after Airas had gone around telling everyone her new name. All the Kokiri folk seemed happy for her, yet looked to Saria in question why this sudden decision was made. She only smiled to her friends before she wished Airas sweet dreams and left them to celebrate.

"It's only a matter of time before you get a fairy now," one Kokiri boy said.

"A fairy? You think so?" Airas asked.

"Oh no! You may be young by our life cycle, but you might be too old by your race's cycle," a Kokiri girl said.

"She doesn't need one anyway! She has a name now," another boy replied.

"Besides!" the first girl said, "Saria doesn't have one either."

It was true, now that Airas thought about it. She had remembered seeing one flying beside Saria's shoulder silently when she was very young. Now both of them walked through the Kokiri Forest fairy-less.

The night continued with Airas asked to play a few songs on a brown ocarina with a green mouthpiece she had found in the tree house. She played in the infamous Saria's song, along with a few other tunes that had come natural to her.

"Wow, what do you call that one?" a Kokiri boy asked after Airas had finished a certain song that caught everyone's ears.

"It's a lullaby," she answered, lowering the ocarina down. "Something that was played to me when I was very young."

"Did Saria teach it to you?"

"I don't think so."

More songs were asked to play, some that were as old as the first Deku Tree's time, some that were just songs made up along the way. Water flavored with the juice of roots from the Deku Tree's soil was served, Kokiri folk laughing and telling stories of a girl when she had no name.

"I remember a time," when Kokiri began, "when Airas crawled off of her own, and Saria grew a fever of fright looking for her. And where was the little troublemaker, but napping within the roots of the Deku Tree! Even he was wondering what she was doing there."

The others laughed and sipped more Deku wine, exchanging stories until Airas began to grow sleepy, lying beside the fire, watching the flames dance along everyone else's happy faces. As long as she could remember, these were her only memories. She knew of the feelings of sadness, fear, anger, and pain, yet she had never seen nor experienced them first hand. She began to wonder over what Saria had been saying that day, her first day in the Sacred Meadow.

…ask the meaning of it…

…seek the depth…

…if you ask and are not given the answer you seek, than explore…

…more options will be open…

…create their own fate…

She was uncertain of the meaning of the word fate. Looking around, she looked to ask someone for an answer. Everyone was in such cheer, however, that she did not feel like disturbing them. Turning to lie on her back, she gazed up at the stars and decided to explore it on her own than. But how to explore a word?

Treat it like a name, she thought. A name tells you something about someone, so believe it to be a person.

Closing her eyes, the word swam around in her head, other words appearing beside it, yet was too blurry to see.

A noise beyond the flicker of the fire's flames and laughter of her friends shot open her eyes. She saw in the sky a shadowy figure sweeping across the sea of blue with large wings. An enormous bird she had never seen before.

"What was that?" she yelled, sitting up. Two Kokiri nearby turned their attention to her. "What was what?" a Kokiri girl asked.

"That bird? What kind of bird was that? It was huge!"

Everyone who had overheard looked up, searching for something abnormal in the sky. Seeing nothing, one shrugged and gave a guess, smiling sheepishly. "Perhaps it was The Owl."

"The Owl?" Airas asked, persisting him on.

"A bird that has flown over Hyrule for over a thousand years. The old Deku Tree use to speak with him all the time. Saria says she use to see him too."

"Yeah," another one shot out, who clearly had a bit too much Deku wine to drink. "But he hasn't been seen since Link's heroic days."

Everyone else around glared at the sudden spokesperson, a friend beside him slapping him upside the head with his glass.

"Who is Link?" Airas asked, not missing a moment of it. The name seemed…familiar.

"Er…some Hylian man. A friend of Saria's, you should ask her."

Airas turned to look over her shoulder at her mentor's house, only to find all the candles have already been blown out. "She's asleep now. I'll ask her tomorrow."

"Speaking of which," a Kokiri girl said, standing up. "We should all catch some sleep. The moon is about to set and the sun will be up soon."

Everybody agreed without hesitation, bidding Airas sweet dreams before departing to retire. Left to put out the fire, Airas poured water over the wood three times before burying the ashes under the wet soil, stirring it into an almost liquid softness. Yawning, finding herself overwhelmed with exhaustion, she stood from her knees and strode over to the tree house.

Her tree house.

It was odd how she was suddenly taking everything into certain value that was of her own possession. First her own name, now her house where she lived. She even hugged the clothes she wore and stroked the hilt of the dagger nestled with her sash around her waist.

She did not have much, she realized, but it was more than she had when she had woken up that morning.