A/N: Well, Mudora did it. He changed his profile to be a little more like other people's profile. Before, it was more like a blog, giving useless story and personal progress updates that no one read. Now it has some things about Mudora's self as a writer and lover of Zelda. Truthfully, he updated it when he posted that he wanted to in the last chapter.
So now we're fully engaged in the adulthood segment of PD! Yay! Mudora is glad! He's planned out Zelda/Sheik's actions up through the Shadow Temple arc. And boy is Zelda gonna keep busy! Man. Hardly any room to squeeze in a meal with all she's gonna be doing. You've got the basic idea, right? Anyway, let's start…
A Princess' DestinyChapter 21: Sage of the Forest
She stood on the edge of the forest. Would it work? Would they accept her? Would the forest accept her? She had heard so many stories of how all those who had gotten lost became monsters. But if everyone became a monster and was lost in the woods, how would anyone tell the tale? She decided she just needed faith in the goddesses and courage to do what they wanted, for if she had read the signs correctly, this is what they wanted. How else would you interpret only seeing a young Kokiri girl every time you look at your reflection? This had to be it.
Filari took her first step into the Lost Woods; following the dirt path she had found leading out of it. Though she looked uncannily similar to a Gerudo girl named Qalura, she had distinguishing Kokiri traits. Short, blonde hair pulled into a ponytail on the side of her head; bright blue eyes, as opposed to the yellow of a Gerudo's; pale skin; and an innocent, childish face with a smile engraved upon it. She was even several inches shorter than Qalura.
Unfortunately, she lacked the one thing every child of the forest has: a guardian fairy. Her only idea was a long shot, but it was worth a try. She made the signal for light and created a manifestation orb, a small one that she affixed above her right shoulder. As long as no one paid too much attention, she could stay right in the forest, out of the minds of all of Hyrule.
She knew, however, that this was a very temporary settlement. Soon she would be leaving the forest, perhaps never to return. Yet, while she was here, she could learn of the life of that poor boy that had died for her mistake…
As I walked quietly through the dark forest, holding my harp under my arm, I remembered the last and only time that I had been here before. Now I was back, but it wasn't for hiding. Here I would begin to strike back at Ganondorf, with Link, the Hero of Time. The more I spoke his name and title—or even thought them together—I got goose bumps.
Even as a girl, I had begun to place all the hopes of Hyrule on him, and through that I had gained a great deal of admiration of him. Though I wouldn't admit to it at the time, I now realized I even had a crush on the little boy who so irritated me the first time I met him.
But all that had fallen apart when the goddesses had said he died. How could they have? No, they hadn't said it. I suddenly recalled as if it were mere minutes ago…
"The young boy with the fairy will never be seen again in your lifetime…"
How sly of the goddesses. The next time I spoke with them, I would have to ask them why they said that. I understood now what that meant. He was no longer a young boy with a fairy. He was a grown man. But why had they said it in the first place?
Then it hit me. If I had known that he was the Hero of Time—that he was sleeping in the Sacred Realm until the time the goddesses chose to wake him up—I would have been a very different person. Even knowing that the goddesses had a planned savior who they chose to let sleep during this oppression, I would have lost faith while watching the world be tortured for its sins.
But now… Now he was alive, and the Hero of Time… And very attractive… What was I thinking? I had a mission. I had to do the will of the goddesses. Thinking about such things could hold me back. It could keep me from thinking straight. I had to keep my mind on what lay ahead. Besides, I'd been down that road before. It only led to heartache.
Even the loss of Kauyo was eating at me now, as things were slowing down enough for me to let it linger in my mind. I had cried for hours straight when I had seen what happened to him. How could he have been so stupid? I had to brush all these thoughts out of my mind. I had much to do to prepare the forest for Link's coming.
The smell of dark magic was heavy in the air. I hoped I wasn't too late to help the Kokiri, but oddly, the smell came from the north, away from the forest. A faint galloping sound reached my ear, as of an army of very large horses, coming toward me from the north. It was getting closer and closer… I leapt into a tree and did the signals for light and shadow. I willed the energy, choked heavily with my own ki, to blend me with the colors of the trees.
Finally, the army came into view, over a hill under the trees to the north. It was comprised almost completely of monsters. The monsters stood about two meters or so high, and they bore snouts, tusks, and hoofed feet. What were these monsters? They looked like giant boar-men. They didn't look too intelligent, either.
They all wore small amounts of metal armor, and most carried spears. Very large spears. In the middle of the army stood one among them who was almost three meters tall. He carried a club about half his own size over one shoulder, and he walked with the presence of some sort of primitive commander. As the army passed, one final figure appeared on the hill: Ganondorf, riding his black stallion. He carried a long, black staff with a strange, ornate head.
I had to hurry to the village. They were in trouble. These children were not strong enough to battle Ganondorf or his army. As I leapt through trees, I realized a couple of things. One, that Ganondorf would not come all the way down here to wipe out a bunch of children, and secondly, he wouldn't lead an army to accomplish this same purpose. He was heading for the temple. I had to get the Sage there, and soon.
I rushed from tree to tree, avoiding the army of boar-men at all costs. I could not go straight to the village, because that would cause me to cross over the army. However, pretty soon, avoiding the monsters got me lost. I had not been lost before in these woods. I had always followed the paths to my destination. Now, I was in the trees, searching around with no purpose. It didn't help that the sun had gone down several hours ago. Was it true what they said about those who got lost in the forest?
I stopped to try and get my bearings. It was no use. All of the trees looked the same to me. No way to tell which way to go. I wasn't even sure which direction was north anymore.
All the while, Ganondorf was leading his army straight to the temple's magic, a power I could easily sense anywhere in this forest. Its pulsating aura could direct anyone who could sense it straight to the entrance. With this, I was able to determine direction again.
From the direction of the great magical aura, a mix of the good aura of the Triforce and the evil aura of Ganondorf's power, I heard something faint, just over the low rumble of the army. It sounded like an upbeat ocarina song.
I remembered a girl of the forest. Her name was Saria. She spent a good deal of time in the woods, always playing her ocarina. She was a good friend of Link's. I spent much time asking her what he was like, under the guise of Filari the Kokiri. She was right in the path of Ganondorf's army, now. I had to help her first.
I rushed toward the sound and the aura that were so close together, hoping I could beat the galloping army to the temple, and to Saria. I leapt out of the final tree, leading to the clearing known as the Sacred Forest Meadow, and abandoned my spell of camouflage.
There, in the middle of the meadow, stood Saria, playing her ocarina. It was the same upbeat tune she had always played. She was facing a stone structure in the back of the meadow with a decimated staircase that led up to a doorway in the stone wall. Without the stairs, the door was out of reach. This stone structure was the source of the pulsating aura of the forest. This was the Forest Temple.
"Saria!" I shouted. I knew she wouldn't know me. I knew my appearance would frighten her. But there was no time to make friends with her once more. The army would be here in a matter of moments.
She screamed. Of course. This was going to be difficult. I rushed in and grabbed her around the torso. She dropped her ocarina. Then she started kicking and screaming as I lifted her onto the platform of the threshold to the temple, using a simple leaping spell.
I set her down, and she brushed herself off.
"That's more like it," she said. "That's all I was wanting anyway. Can you retrieve my ocarina, please?"
She was always so polite, so formal. The Kokiri had once told me that she was only ever casual around the boy, Link.
"There's no time, Saria. We have to get back to the village. There's an army of monsters…"
"I know," she said. "That's why I was playing my ocarina."
I gave her a puzzled look with my one visible eye. She sighed and began to explain exasperatedly.
"When I play my ocarina long enough, the spirits of the forest talk to me, help me. They even lift me up into this place." She indicated the temple. "Within this place, they tell me all kinds of things. I've spent so long in here. But I have to play my ocarina a long time for it to work."
I had read of something similar once, a long time ago. Limited hypnosis, it was called. Doing a creative activity long enough that one's subconscious takes over, such as painting or playing an instrument. If her subconscious could speak with spirits, she had to be an unawakened Sage! She fit the part too. The goddesses said it was a girl who had been greatly influenced by Link. It seemed so obvious now; I was surprised it didn't occur to me before.
"Saria," I said to her then, taking her small hand in both of mine. "Why did you come here?"
"An evil wind was blowing from this place. I had to come and speak with the spirits, to try and calm it. It is causing all the evil in the forest, I know!"
"Go, then. You know your way around?"
"Yes. I once had a map, but I didn't need it anymore, so I gave it to someone else. I can find anything in this place."
"Good," I said. I made the symbol of wind and performed a spell of retrieval on her ocarina. It came right to my hand, and I placed it in hers. "Find the source, and wait. Someone is coming to help you, and you will understand everything then."
She hurried into the temple then, and I wished her the best. I prayed that she could do what was necessary before Ganondorf got there, and hoped I had done all things right.
"Thou hast done all that thy goddesses have asked of thee," someone said from behind me. His voice was soothing, and somewhat elderly. It reminded me of my father's when he comforted me so long ago. I turned around to see a man wearing a brown fur robe, and holding a fiddle under his arm. And though I saw all this, I could see everything behind him as well.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"A chosen one, just as thyself, young princess," he said. "I have little need of a name now, though I have more than one. As I appear to thee now, in my original form, thou mayest call me Mudora. Mudora of Forest."
His eyes were large and very dark, shaded under his bushy eyebrows. He had a frothy mustache and his hair was cut in long patches that hung off the back of his head and sat idly on his shoulders. All of his hair was brown, with a touch of green. He had a large, round nose, and his skin was very light.
"You are the Sage of this temple?" I said.
"That was, at one time, my duty. But now, that task has been passed to one of more vigor. I have now passed out of this world twice. My vigor is not what it once was." He smiled. This man was apparently very pleasant, regardless of what had occurred to him. And I smiled too. This was the man who wrote the book containing Hyrule's history, the book I had read and reread over and over for seven years.
"Why are you here, Mudora of Forest, and why do you know me?"
"Why are any of us here, daughter of Aranon? And how do any of us chance upon any knowledge, but that the goddesses direct us and lead us into knowledge?"
"You are very wise, Sage Mudora."
"In any event, I am here on behalf of the goddesses, raised from my second grave, to tell you that portion of destiny in which I am so involved--that part involving this forest. This forest has been my home from the beginning of my days."
"But you are no Kokiri," I said. "How could it be your home?"
"I am of the original forest folk. We were not unlike the Hylians, or the Gerudos, displaying all the traits shared among them that are not shared by the other Hyrulean races. We had no name amongst our people, but had personal names. I was considered a shaman, for by use of this fiddle I couldst commune with the dead. Little did I know it was the abilities given me by the goddesses that allowed such a feat.
"Then, through a series of events I chanced upon contact with similar shamans, one of each tribe of Hyrule, and two more amongst the Hylians. We were the Sages, entrusted to the protection of the Triforce, in the Sacred Realm. Yet, it was not to be permanent.
"The sister Gerudos, Kotake and Koume Rova, rose against us and slew all but one among us—Rauru of Light. He cursed them, and prevented them from gaining the Triforce, for thus was their plan from the beginning. Shortly thereafter, the twin sisters used their evil magic to lay waste to the habitation of my people, and they were thus destroyed.
"Meanwhile, we Sages had all perished, leaving only children. All of us, that is, save myself. These children carried the bloodline of the Sages, and their descendants wouldst one day rise up as the new Sages, as is happening even as we speak."
"But Saria has no ancestor. She is one of the Kokiri," I said.
"That is why I was given second life," he replied. "Myself and some others of the Sages were brought back to watch over the lands of Hyrule in different forms, with different names. I was granted offspring, a new race to take the place of my people. As I stayed within the Lost Woods, finishing my record of history, many great events occurred outside. The goddesses had entrusted unto me a safe haven for children, but for what purpose was yet to be revealed."
"You…" I said. "You were the Great Deku Tree!"
"Precisely." He nodded and smiled. "Many centuries passed from the time I first died to the time I passed on again. But about a decade before my second passing from this world, the hope of the world came unto my dwelling place. A woman came seeking shelter from the war that so surrounded this forest. I recognized on her face the countenance of an old friend, a Knight of old. But also was I aware that all the descendants of the Knights had been destroyed. The woman brought unto me a child, a Hylian boy that also bore a significant resemblance to Auron, Knight of Rauru.
"The woman died shortly thereafter, but I raised the boy with the rest of my children. The Kokiri had only just sprouted, and would remember not this event, so he grew with them. But I knew that my seedlings were but children, and always would be, yet this boy would grow up, the last descendant of the Knights. His destiny was to be a great one."
"Link," I said. Mudora once again nodded.
"But this boy wouldst soon be watched over as he grew thus by another Sage, the one to whom his family was sworn, Rauru of Light. Rauru watched this boy grow when I could not, as he slept in the Sacred Realm."
"Slept? He slept the entire time?" I could not remember the goddesses telling me that part.
"Yes. This boy's life is not his own. He was raised believing he was one of the eternal children, and missed his entire growth unto manhood. It is greatly regrettable, but it had to be done. This boy, as the descendant of the Knights, was the only one capable of the task at hand. The world would soon be punished for the war that killed all others who could save it, and he wouldst come to show the world hope. This is his destiny, Head Sage.
"Remember these words. The flow of time is most assuredly always cruel. Its speed seems different to each person, but none exist that can change it. Though thou hast endured the terrible darkness that overtook this world, all this passed unto him as a dream in the night, and he missed seven whole years of his life. But a thing that shall never change with time is the memory of younger days. These memories will soon bring great anguish to the Knight's son, Link. He is coming here, and I say again that he is already arrived within the bounds of the forest! Thou must teach unto him this song, this Minuet of the Forest. For through it, the awakening call shall bring forth my child unto her rightful place in the Chamber of Sages."
As the moon began to set behind the trees of the forest, Mudora pulled forth his fiddle and began to play a beautiful song. I took my harp and learned the song from him. There was something greatly magical ringing out from every note. Finally, he stopped playing and tucked away his fiddle again.
"Three tasks I now ask of thee, Princess of Destiny, one on behalf of each facet of my life. As a Sage, I ask that thou teachest this song unto the Hero of Time. With it, he shall awaken my daughter unto the Chamber of Sages. Second, as guardian of the forest, I ask that thou takest this seed." Here he brought a cucco-egg sized seed from his robe and placed it in my hand. Though he was translucent, it was opaque, and though I could not feel his touch, this object was solid and I closed my fingers around it.
"Take thou this seed and plant it at the root of my wood-rotted corpse. For there I shall inherit a third life to explain all things unto the Hero, and to prepare for the next task of the world. Finally I ask that thou take the book I have written, and in the empty pages continue the history of the world in my stead. This is now thy task. The armies of Ganondorf have been caused to march through the woods without arriving at their destination. Now they come unto thee. Goodbye."
He took a step backward and faded until he disappeared completely. The steps of the army were extremely close now. I would have to hide until Link appeared. Then I would complete my tasks.
