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.

Airas slept through most of the morning and did not wake up until the sun was almost at its peak in the sky, sitting up in her custom made bed with perspire running down her face. As if expecting, she looked to the door the same time Mido walked through with his usual slight frown on his childish face. Yet when looked more closely at, eyes much too old and wise were adorned over his smooth face. To not look your age could be seen as an advantage by an elder. To others, a curse.

"Morning, Mido," Airas whispered, her voice a bit laggish.

"Morning, indeed," he shot. "It's almost noon. It's what happens when you and all the folk have a meaningless festival through the night. At least Saria was smart to stay out of it. What was the attraction?"

"My name," Airas answered, smiling as she kicked the sheets off, folding them back the same time she stood up.

"Eh?" the Kokiri leader asked. "Your name? You not have one."

Surprised that Mido had not learned of the news from someone already, she was proud to announce it herself. "I do now. It's Airas."

Full of a shock only he shared, Mido stepped back, taking the girl now with a name in full view. "Airas…it's what he said."

"Who?"

"He gave you that name. He told it only to me before he left. I don't think even Saria knew."

"Who are you talking about, Mido?"

"No!" the Kokiri yelped, almost running to the door. "You not being hearing of him from me! He brought this on us again. He almost took Saria away! Now you might do it too."

Airas said nothing as bright blue eyes met green for a moment more, before the leader of the Kokiri turned and ran out the door, not even bothering to take the ladder as he jumped the whole way down, dashing away madly.

"By the Deku, what's the matter with him?" Airas asked herself irritably. It was certainly not the reaction she had been wanting with news of her name. Mido never cared for her, it seemed at times he would have to force himself to be near her, yet to what reason, she did not know. Nor did she ever question.

Well, she thought. With what Saria told me yesterday, its time I start questioning a lot of things. And if I get no answer, than I'll explore and find out on my own.

Slipping on her other accessories, she mimicked Mido as she jumped down the length of the ladder, yet she had done that ever since she had moved in. The first she would question would be Saria. After all, Saria had raised her and knew everything about her. And as the other Kokiri folk had said last night, maybe she would know about this Link fellow. She had the feeling he was the same person Mido was raving about.

Entering the circular house next door, Airas was not really surprised to find Saria had already left.

"To the Sacred Meadow, I suppose," she whispered to herself.

Exiting the house, one of Saria's friends stopped and gave a rather sluggish hello.

"H-hey, Airassss…howsss it going?"

Airas blinked looking down at Tima, a blonde Kokiri girl with long hair rolled up into two buns at the end with a headband.

"It is going well. Have you seen Saria?"

A giggle was blurted out before an understandable answer. "Sssssshe gone."

"I can see that. Why the slur speech?" Airas asked. "And your cheeks are very pink. Are you feeling well?"

"Neverrrr betterrrr! Looking for more Deku wine…got any?"

"No, I do not."

"Ah!" Tima yelled, waving her arms frantically. "The trouble with people…not worth my time. Well, than I leave you to be on my search."

Airas nodded as the girl stumbled by, deciding some things were better left not questioned.

"Mido would be the only other to know, and I think he's done talking with me for today."

With choices limited, Airas almost considered asking the Deku Tree, yet she had been warned not to bother the Great Tree Spirit for mild situations hardly worth raising haste over.

Looking up to the higher level of the forest that led into the Lost Woods, Airas thought it would be a risk to venture in alone, having heard all the tales of how lost children became Skull Kids. But she had a good memory of how to wander through, deciding Saria would approve.

"I can think of it as part of my training," she told herself, climbing up the vines. She entered through the first wooden tunnel and remembered to take a right. Than she took a left, than straight twice, followed by a sharp turn to the left, and finally another right.

Having made her way through with no difficulty, Airas smiled to herself in triumph.

That is…until a wolf appeared from the bushes and lunged at her.

"Eagh!" she cried out, barely ducking in time to avoid fatal contact. The wolf jumped over her, claws missing its prey and turned to attack again.

Quickly Airas withdrew the Kokiri Sword, holding it as a dagger. The wolf circled around her once before clomping in to swing at her, which she easily dodged by stepping backwards. The moment the wolf began to retreat, she lunged forward and stuck the wolf in its right shoulder. It let out a yelp of pain, followed by a growl in anger, circling around again, this time charging faster inward.

Airas was ready, her right leg stepping back enough for the wolf's paw to swing over her torso, the dagger coming out to meet a retreating wolf, who immediately burst into blue flames, than vanished with a dying howl.

Her breath at a slight heavy pace, Airas rested for a moment at the entrance of the maze, gathering her nerves before she trusted her legs to hold her up. It was funny, how she had been more excited than fearful fighting the wolf, as if she knew she would win without difficulty.

The dagger was returned to its sheath at her side, the click of hilt meeting scabbard louder than the sound of her footsteps.

Navigating through the maze without haste, Airas was now able to realize how easy it actually was to move through without running into a dead end. She studied the slightly worn trail beneath her feet, noticing small footprints that were unmistakably Saria's. It caught her eye; however, when after climbing out of a pool of water necessary to cross, she noticed a larger set of footprints beside Saria's faint trail. Were they her own? No, she had only walked here only once, hardly enough times to wear out a trail. She could have made an overnight imprint, but it would have been gone by now.

Kneeling down before the trail vanished in front of the stairs, her fingers grazed across the length of it.

Treat it like a name. Find out more about the person who it belongs to.

The footprint was slightly longer than hers, a noticeable increase in width without comparison required. Obviously it belonged to someone not Kokiri, and was male.

"Does this belong to you, Link?" Airas whispered.

There was a sudden stir in the air, as if answering her, whirling into a soft breeze that danced along the polished steps leading up, beckoning her.

Hesitation absent, Airas followed in pursuit, across the long corridor, into the open meadow.

And there sat Saria again, but this time she did not play her ocarina, as was already guessed when Airas never heard the music.

Again now that Airas was taking her time, more of the meadow was noticed. For one, she saw a large hexagonal dais in front of her with two symbols she had never seen before. One was three triangles faded into the background; the other was a geometric design of a circle with four sharply curved teardrops like leaves.

Straight ahead, left of Saria was a tree that led up to a broken staircase, a stonewall with a doorway beyond it. She felt nothing from inside it, empty and dead.

Airas studied the face of her mentor as she approached her. Her eyes were downcast, and her expression was sad enough to make stone weep. Indeed, it seemed the air and sprites floating through the air made a barely audible wailing noise, like crying.

"Saria," Airas perked up, trying to sound in good cheer. "I thought I'd find you here. I hope you do not mind that I came on my own."

"Not at all," the Kokiri whispered, her eyes never shifting. "Sit beside me, Airas."

When Saria had first spoken her new name, Airas knew it fit her perfectly, yet this was the voice she did not want to hear it in. So dry and hollow, like a dying flower.

Airas bent down on her knees in front of her friend, trying to meet her gaze. "What is wrong?"

For what seemed a very long time, Saria never spoke, blinked, or even breathed it seemed. She was lost in another world and was unable to free herself. With no knowledge of what to do, Airas sat there quietly, waiting for the spell to break.

"Airas. You know you are not a Kokiri."

Surprised by the obvious, Airas wondered why her mentor suddenly brought it up. "Yes. You told me when I was young, when I began to grow taller than everyone else."

"You are not from here, Airas."

"I was left in your care by my parents when I was a babe," Airas replied matter-of-factly.

"You are not from here," Saria said again, slightly wincing. It seemed it was very hard, very straining for her to even talk right now.

"What…what do you mean?"

Eyes lifting up, the Forest Sage met Airas's bright blue, and the girl's heart shattered at the sight of it.

"Saria, what is wrong? Tell me!"

"Your father has failed, Airas. The world, as we know it, will slowly begin to die."

Airas had told herself earlier that she had never felt many things before, and wondered what emotions she had never experienced would feel like. They all washed over her now, and it was sickening to her stomach. Feelings of despair, helplessness, and terror…she felt like she was dying.

"This is…this does not make any sense! My father? What has he failed? Why will the world die?"

Saria shook her head and stroked her small hand through her pupil's wild strands of beautiful hair. "You must leave on the morrow, Airas. You will go somewhere safe, where you can finish your training." Her smile was empty and unfeeling. Airas's eyes watered just looking at it.

"I do not understand, Saria! Why must I go? What will happen? Why is it happening?"

"I have taught you what is most important to know," Saria said softly, cupping the girl's cheeks that had turned white. "Do you remember what that is?"

Whimpering softly, tears falling into the Kokiri's hands, Airas quietly repeated yesterday's lesson. "'If you ask and you are not given the answer you seek, than you must explore it on your own.'"

Nodding, Saria slowly wiped away the endless stream of falling tears from blue eyes she hoped to never see full of sorrow. "And why must this be done?"

Breathing in deeply, trying her hardest to keep from sobbing loudly, Airas continued in a choked voice, "'once this is gained, more options will be open to you. This is what people do through life, people who believe they can create their own fate.'"

A half-hearted smile appeared over the Forest Sage's face, a face that looked so young, yet was aged with invisible streaks of tiredness and worry. "Very good. Remember this always."

"I will, but Saria…"

"Yes?"

"I'm not even sure what fate means."

"There are many meanings for it, Airas. Come up with your own for it, and things will seem more clear."

"Nothing seems clear now…" Airas whispered her voice hurt and scornful. "Saria, can you at least tell me of my father? The others said you knew him. That he was a friend."

The sage's eyes widened in mild alarm, closing slowly. "You have heard his name several times now, since yesterday, and spoke it even once on your way here."

"Link? The Hylian man named Link is my father? He was spoken of as a hero."

"Oh, he was, and still is," Saria said, smiling as her eyes opened again, gleaming with an unknown meaning. It diminished within an instant, as quickly as it had came. "But alas, the hero has fallen…"

"F-fallen?" Airas stuttered, horrified. "You mean he is dead?"

"No, but I'm sure he wish he were."

Yesterday, the girl with no name may not have understood this, but since she had been bestowed with a name, new depths were open to her. She began to realize she saw things in a different way, questioned them where she never cared before.

And it was all beginning to make sense, yet at the same time, drove her mad with riddles.

What was happening to her?

"In the Sacred Realm," Saria replied, yet she was looking up at Airas with disbelief, almost like she was able to read the girl's mind. "Airas…what do you see?"

"The Sacred Realm…" Airas whispered to herself. She bowed herself slightly in thought, strands of hair falling over her face in a soft veil, her eyes becoming shadowed. Again she tumbled the words through her mind as if a name. She closed her eyes than and lifted her face up to the heavens in hope of seeing things more clearly this time.

"A door…" she suddenly whispered, and Saria gasped. She continued, quietly murmuring the words through her soft lips. Through closed eyes she entered a world as if it were a dream, seeing bright colors of green, red, and blue.

"Jewels…" she continued. Saria clutched at the trunk beside her, her hands digging into the dried bark.

"Go on," she whispered, afraid she would risk breaking all concentration and focus.

"The jewels stand before the door," Airas said suddenly, the feeling of excitement tingling through her body. A smile of her own disbelief crossed her face, keeping her eyes closed. She was seeing images now, forgetting for a moment the despair she had just felt.

"Stay relaxed," Saria said. "Else you will lose the vision."

"The door…beyond the door…" Airas began again, her body slowly relaxing.

"Yes, yes! What do you see? A sword? Your father?"

"I see…"

The vision began to haze, Airas straining with closed eyes to make out blurred objects and outlines. "Yes…a man."

The door had opened in her mind and engulfed her with a bright, blinding white light, the jewels before her quaking with the trembling force she felt shiver through her body. Once the door had slid open into two separate parts, disappearing through a wall unseen, she was able to peer in. There stood several levels of dais on top of one another with a pedestal to the side on the lower level. On top in the center was a small stone with the three triangles she had seen walking into the meadow.

Before her stood a man, in an odd position, she took note. He was rather limp; his arms hanging down, with his whole upper body leaned backwards. It was like time had frozen right before he fell on his back halfway. How was he able to hold himself up?

Than she saw it.

A sword, yes, she saw the sword. A blade that went right through the man in the middle of his chest, with a purple hilt like bat wings edged-off. And again, the mark of the three triangles imprinted on the middle.

Horrified, she saw the man's face. Blond hair dulled to white with a color of complexion to match. His mouth was wide open, as if he had died screaming in terror, and his eyes…

They were her own.

"Father!"

Airas's eyes shot open and found herself leaning back the same way she had seen her father moments ago. Gasping for air as if she had been drowning, she fell forward instead, Saria catching her before she landed on her face. Airas buried her head in the sage's lap and wept long past after the wolf howled to greet the white moon.