Author's Note: Why did Mido take Navi? There are a number of reasons. It helped me develop Mido's character, it gave Link the motivation to move his rear, and I didn't have to worry about Navi's character until later on. Also, I wanted to develop Link and Navi's relationship away from Kokiri Forest, because it made the story work better, I believe. Here's the next chapter, painstakingly brought to you Navi-free, practically.

Chapter 2: The Kokiri Sword

'What am I supposed to do!' thought Link as he ran away. 'I don't know where to find a sword and shield! I know! Saria can help!' He ran back to his house where Saria was waiting. 'Okay, play it cool,' he thought. "Uaghaha!" he bawled. "Help me! Mean Mido... and he got Navi! And I need a sword and shield! Uaghhh!"

"Okay, Link..." Saria said calmly. "Calm down. You don't have to kill Mido. Now what happened?"

"I'm not gonna kill him!" Link said in a squeaky voice. "I was going to see the Great Deku Tree, but Mido knocked me down, and said I need to be equipped, and he took NAVI! Uaghahaha!"

"Oh. Ohh... That bum! I don't know why he's always so mean to everyone! What he said is true, though. The forest... strange things have been happening here lately... You need to be ready for anything. You'd better find a weapon!"

"Not you, too! You're taking his side!"

"No I'm not! He shouldn't have taken your fairy like he did. That's just mean. But, Link, there's something special about you. If the Great Deku Tree has summoned you, it must have something to do with what's happening in the forest. So perk up and get equipped!"

"Right!" Link said, drying his eyes with his arm. He grabbed his belt and straightened it a bit, a sign of determination. "Where do I go?"

"Well... You can buy a shield at the shop, but there's only one sword hidden somewhere in the forest."

"You mean the Kokiri Sword?"

"The one and only, Link. Some say the Great Deku Tree had the sword hidden for the time when someone here would need to use it. I think it's you, right now!"

"Yeah? Hmm... You'd think he'd have said something about that when he summoned me, though."

"Well, your fairy's in trouble! Hurry!"

Link nodded and ran off, toward the Kokiri Shop.

"Link! Look up here!" Link stopped in front of the store and looked up on the awning. That girl Navi talked to was still there. "Help! I'm stuck up here!"

"Uhh... can this wait, Kari? I'm in a hurry!"

"That's what that fairy said. She was asking me all about you, and I told her. Did she find you?"

"I guess so," he responded. "Was it Navi?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask!"

"Well, jump down, and I'll catch you!" Link said.

"Okay... You promise?"

"Yeah!" Link stretched out his arms and she jumped. She fell right on top of him, knocking him down. "Get off my head!" Link's muffled voice managed to creep out from underneath Kari and communicate his thoughts.

"Thanks, Link!" she said, standing up. "You're a real life saver!"

Link heard Mido laughing on the other side of the pond. "Oh, Link! You're a life saver!" he mocked. "Why don't you save your precious little fairy?"

"Shut up, Mido!" Link shouted. "You don't know who you're messing with! Saria said I'm special!"

"You got that right!" Mido shouted back, laughing.

Link growled and went in the shop.

"Welcome!" Corey said. Corey was the shopkeeper in the Kokiri Village. He had a sort of raspy voice, like he needed a lozenge, and was so short he continually had to jump to see over the checkout counter.

"I need a sword and a shield, Corey!" Link said.

"Uhh, Link, I told you yesterday. We sell shields, but not swords. You still going on about dragon-hunting in the Lost Woods?"

"No." Link looked warily at Mina, another Kokiri shopping in the Kokiri Shop. "I... uh... yeah. Yeah, I need a shield for hunting dragons." Better not to worry other Kokiri, he decided. "How much?"

"Forty rupees, just like yesterday."

"Oh, come on. I could go carve a shield out of bark myself. Can't you lower the price?"

"Not since Mido's new rule. He gets fifty percent sales tax on every purchase."

"Fifty percent! There's not even fifty percent in forty!"

"Link," Corey said. "Fifty percent is one half."

"Oh. There's not even one half in fifty rupees!"

"It's forty rupees. And half of forty is twenty."

"Oh. I think I get it now. So Mido gets twenty rupees for every forty you get?"

"Yep."

"So really, I'm only paying you ten?"

"Twenty."

"Oh. Twenty rupees it is. Now that I've got! Bag it up for me, will you?"

"What? No, Link. You pay twenty rupees to me, and twenty rupees to Mido."

"I ain't payin' him nothin'!"

"You did yesterday. Half of the money you spent on that Deku stick went to Mido."

"Really! Ooh! I hate him! He took it from me when I left the store, 'cause he said it counted toward taxes. Then, just now, he whacked me upside the head with it!"

"Oh. That mean ol' bum! Someone should teach him a lesson."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. He took my fairy and said I should get a sword and shield if I..."

"Oh, are you running an errand for Mido?" Corey asked, looking around the shop suspiciously.

"N-"

"'Cause if you were I could give it to you for free."

"Oh. That's too bad," Link said.

"No, Link. If this shield were for Mido I could have you give it to him for free."

"Oh. Maybe the Great Deku Tree should've summoned Mido, after all."

"No, no, Link. Listen carefully. Did Mido tell you to get a shield?"

"Well... yeah..."

"Hm. So you're kind of on an errand for Mido, right?"

"Uh... I guess you could say that..."

"Then I guess you could say I can give you a shield for free."

"You can what! YAHOO! It's my lucky day! Am I, like the one hundred and twenty-eighth customer or something!"

"Shhh... Keep it down! I can't just go around giving away free stuff, but it seems like you need it."

"Can I have something free?" Mina asked. "Ooh, and Lina, too. She asked me to pick up something for her."

"Uhh... see what you did, Link?" Corey mumbled. "Sure! How about a couple of Deku Nuts?"

"I guess... will they match?"

"Ug, you twins. Okay, sure. You can have the two most similar Deku Nuts in my store." Corey shoved the shield at Link. "Get out of here before I recover my sanity and normal, grumpy, shopkeeper attitude."

"Yessir!" Link left the shop with his Deku shield under his arm. "Now to find the sword! Hmm... Where to start...? I know!"

Link ran over to Saria's house, where a Kokiri boy named Dill was pulling up weeds. "Hey Link!"

"Daffy Dill! What's up?" Dill picked up this nickname by being silly and obsessed with jumping up and down.

"That meanie, Mido, made me pull up weeds in front of Saria's house. Mido told Saria he would do it so she would like him, but he's makin' me do all the work!"

"How's he making you do all the work, Dill?"

"Blackmail."

"What's that? Some magical item that makes people do whatever you say?"

"No. He found out I like this girl, and he threatened to tell her if I didn't do it."

"Oh. Who is it?"

"I'm not telling you! Listen, man, you and Saria are close friends, so will you help me pull up weeds?"

"I'd love to help man, but I'm already in a pickle, Dill. Oh, uh, I didn't mean to make that joke."

"I dunno. I thought it was funny." They laughed for a minute, and then Link continued on his way. He climbed the ramp behind Saria's house that led to the central overlook.

'Up here, I might be able to see the sword,' Link thought. When he got to the overlook, a Kokiri girl was already there. She had a scary-looking smile and puffy ponytails.

"Oh, hi, Link!" she said in a nasally voice.

"Hi, Bertrude."

"What are you doing up here?"

"Oh I'm looking for the... something."

"The Something? What's that? Some ancient family heirloom with, like, special love-potion-like powers, or something like that?"

"Uhh... yeah. Something like that... anyway why are you up here?"

"Actually, I'm looking for the same thing. I think I lost my ancient family heirloom with special love-potion-like powers."

"Oh. I didn't know you had one of those."

"Oh. Me neither. I was just hoping I did. I don't even know what it might look like. Maybe like my doll, Mrs. Bunnit. Mido took her and I'm looking for her while I'm here, too."

"Oh." Link looked around for a while, but didn't see any sign of a legendary sword. He jumped down and thought about where he could go next. Who might know where to find the Kokiri Sword? Mido might, but he wasn't going to tell Link anything. But maybe Mido had something in his house…

Fortunately for Link, Mido's house was right beside the overlook. Standing in front of it was Bean, a Kokiri boy. He was picking up rocks and throwing them across the path.

"Hey, Bean!" Link said. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Mean old Mido's makin' me pick up the rocks in front of his house."

"Oh. Blackmail?"

"What? No. He'll just beat me up if I don't… or raise my taxes… I don't know. Anyway, these rocks are heavy. Will you help me?"

"Not right now, Bean. I'm looking for something." Link walked over to Mido's front door. Mido was the only one in the village who shut his door when he wasn't home. Link turned the knob, but the door wouldn't budge. Mido was the only one in town with a lock on his door, as well. "Hmmm…" Link vocalized the blank he was drawing in his head.

"Why're you trying to go in Mido's house?" Bean asked.

"I'm looking for something," Link answered. "Looks like there's no way in. I bet Navi could find a way in…" He looked up and saw a high window on the side of Mido's tree home. "Wait a second… Hey, Bean."

"Yeah?"

"You want some help?"

"Oh boy, do I!" he replied excitedly.

"Okay. I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine," Link said.

"Uhh… My back doesn't itch…"

"No. It's an expression Corey uses sometimes. It means if you help me, I'll help you."

"Okay! What do you want me to do?"

"Let's stack the stones right here," Link said, standing under the window.

"But Mido wanted me to throw the stones at your house."

"Don't worry about that, Bean. He'll like this better, I bet."

Link set down his shield and they started stacking the rocks up against Mido's house. Finally, they ran out of stones and Link, taking up his shield, climbed the mound.

"It's not quite high enough…" Link thought. He decided to jump. As he did this, the rocks fell down. He flew upward a short ways until he could just reach the open window. He put his arms threw the window, holding the shield, and hooked himself there with it. Pulling himself up, he fell into Mido's home with a thud on the floor.

"Ow…" he said as he stood up. There was a luxuriant bed in the rear of the room; sitting so high Mido needed stairs to climb in. A red carpet ran the length of the room from the door to the bed. Lining the carpet were treasure chests all up and down the sides. Link opened one. Fortunately they weren't locked. Inside, the chest was filled to the top with rupees. Tax money. Link scooped some out and filled his wallet up, resolving to return this money to the Kokiri. Opening several more chests, Link found that Mido didn't spend hardly any tax money, but saved it all in these chests. Mido was sitting on a fortune that he'd stolen over the years. Looking around the house some more, Link found Mido's journal under his giant mattress. Inside were several entries, but since Link couldn't read, he didn't know what they were. He did find pages filled with tally marks. Some pages were tear-stained, others ripped out completely. There were also two papers folded in the middle. One was a picture of a Kokiri boy. Link recognized his own name at the bottom. There were dozens of holes in this sheet. The other loose paper looked to be a map. After a moment, Link realized it was a map of the village. Drawn on the Know-It-All Brothers' hill was a sword and an 'X'.

"So Mido says it's with the Know-It-Alls, eh?" Link said. "I'll just have to check that out." Link looked at the window he'd entered from. It was too high to reach. He went for the door, but it didn't unlock from the inside, either.

"Hmm…" Link said. Suddenly, he got a plan. He climbed Mido's bed and turned to the door. "If I slide down the stairs, I might be able to fly out the door!" He sat on his shield and pushed off. He flew down the stairs and started down the path, when he ran right into a chest. He flew off the shield, right toward the door. Putting his arms over his head, he ran right into the door, and it flew open.

He tumbled across the grass and landed on the path through the middle of the village. All the Kokiri around stared at Link as he stood up.

"Ummm… well, the lock doesn't work well enough," Link said. "We're gonna have to install something stronger." He walked back into the house and grabbed his shield. As he came back out, everyone was still watching. "Let's see…" he said, scanning his shield like a list. "Ah, next up are the Know-It-Alls."

Know-It-All hill was right across the road from Mido's house. As he climbed the hill, he heard Bean call out, "Link! Scratch my back!" He couldn't right now. He'd wasted enough time.

When he arrived at the Know-It-All Brothers' house, a gong sounded. Sama, the eldest of the three, came out in basket-weave thongs to welcome him.

"Link! We were just going to start a game of Deku Ball! Wanna join?"

"Uh… not now, Sama," Link answered.

"Ah well, no matter. Come in, come in!" Sama led Link into the house and removed his sandals. Link started to walk to a floor pillow to sit on, when Sama stopped him. "Your boots," he said. Link took off his big, brown boots and set them next to the brothers' sandals and moccasins. The other brothers were already inside and they all took their seats in a circle.

"What brings you here?" Jeran, the second eldest, asked.

"Well, I'm on a quest," Link started.

"Ooh, a quest!" all three brothers said together.

"What kind of quest?" Micah, the youngest, asked.

"I'm searching for the Kokiri Sword."

"Ooh, the Kokiri Sword!" all three said together again.

"How do you guys do that?" Link asked.

"Practice."

"Oh, okay."

"This quest of yours," said Sama, "could be very perilous."

"And long," added Micah.

"You could even die!" Jeran said.

"Whoa, really? What do you know about it?" Link asked.

"First," interjected Sama, "what do you know about it?"

"Not much," Link answered. "I've heard the Great Deku Tree hid it until someone who really needed it found it. Saria thinks I really need it."

"Why does the beautiful Saria say such," asked Jeran.

"Well, the Great Deku Tree summoned me. He sent a fairy to tell me, and she was supposed to be my partner from now on. But Mido snatched her up and said he'd squish her if I didn't get a sword and shield."

"Oh, I see. So you don't want to use the sword?" Micah asked.

"Well, Navi said I might need it for whatever the Deku Tree needs."

"Navi?" the brothers said in unison.

"My fairy, keep up."

"So what has brought you here?" Sama asked.

"I figured if anyone knew about the sword…" Link started.

"We would, right?" the brothers interrupted.

"No, Mido was my first thought, actually," Link corrected. "Being the boss and all. So I snuck into his house."

"Isn't that treason?" Jeran asked.

"Who's gonna carry out the punishment?" Link asked. "Mido? He beats me up everyday."

"I wouldn't go around tellin' people that," Micah said.

"Why? Oh I get it. So, in his house I found a map. On it, a sword was drawn on this hill."

"Ah, that's right," Sama said. "Mido knows."

"Knows what?" Link asked.

"One day, Mido came to us, saying his spies found out we have the sword," Jeran started.

"Naturally, we said we didn't have it," Micah said.

"Hey, I was telling the story!" Jeran said.

"Boys," Sama said.

"Sorry," they said together.

"He tried to fight us, Mido did," Sama said. "Of course, our studies of martial arts turned him away."

"So you don't know where the sword is?" Link asked.

The brothers turned to each other, and then nodded. "No. We know," they said together.

"Is it a long, perilous journey?" Link asked.

"No. It's in our backyard."

"But you said…"

"We tried to turn you away, but you passed the challenge," Sama explained.

"That was the challenge?" Link sniffed the air. The smell of smoke was heavy. "What's that smell?"

"Incense," said Jeran.

"Or the fish sticks," added Micah. He jumped up and went to the pot on the fire.

Moments later, Link was following the brothers behind their house. They had a training area set up and fenced in. After walking a ways, they stopped in front of a wall.

"Did we get lost?" Link asked.

"Lost? No," Sama said. "We're here."

"It's a wall."

Sama got on his hands and knees, and crawled through a hole in the wall Link hadn't noticed before. Jeran and Micah followed, and finally Link went through. On the other side was a sword, resting in a stone. Sunlight was shining down on it, causing the blade to glow.

"Wow, it's so beautiful!" Link said.

"Yeah, we had to make a human ladder to trim the trees above the sword like that," Jeran said. "It took some doing, but we finally got the light to hit the sword just right."

"Oh. I thought it was natural."

"Thank you," they said in unison.

"Now," said Sama, "this sword cannot be drawn by anyone. At least as far as we know. Now, we will all try." Sama stood in front of the pedestal, and strained every muscle in his body, but it didn't budge.

Next, Jeran tried. Similarly, he pulled and pulled, but it didn't come loose. Finally, Micah tried. He flexed all his muscles and pulled hard, but nothing happened. As Micah stepped down, he said dramatically, "Your turn, Link." CLANG! Behind Micah, the sword fell to the ground.

"MICAH!" Jeran and Sama both said. "You were supposed to pretend you couldn't pull it out! Ugh, we built up all that drama for nothing!"

"What's going on here?" Link demanded.

"Well," Micah said, "there's really nothing special or magical about the sword. The Great Deku Tree just asked us to guard the sword, so we built this forest shrine. We decided you could borrow it, but we really like dramatic sword sequences. Anyway…"

Jeran and Sama presented the sword in its scabbard, on a leather shoulder strap. All three boys said in unison, "You've found the Kokiri Sword! This is a hidden treasure of the Kokiri, but you can borrow it for a while. You should practice with it before you really fight!"

They left the shrine and took Link to the training grounds, where they taught Link the basics of using the sword and shield. After about an hour of practice, Link said he had to go, and left to go see Mido.

"Bye," the boys said, waving. "Come back and play Deku Ball sometime!"