Chapter 2: A Little Thing Called "Trust"
Again, he found himself wondering if the knowledgeable Navi knew the answer. Again, he reminded himself that he had built up no rapport that would enable him to justify asking her even such a simple thing. But was this the sort of question that required such? Perhaps it was the fodder for basic conversation, something he'd become unacquainted with during his quest, where every conversation was filled with dire imprecations, and dreadful news.
"Hey, Navi. Do you know where these seeds came from?" he asked, as he picked up the seeds, to put them into the seed satchel. Navi took out the bag without being asked. One second, he was gathering seeds, and in the next, he was holding the seed bag in his right hand. He stuffed in the handful of seeds, and waited.
"No," Navi admitted. "I think it might be that the magic that sustains monsters reforms itself into something useful to you when the monster is defeated, but I don't know why that would be. Or perhaps it's the gods, looking out for you…."
"Gods?" Link prompted, curious. What sort of gods were in this strange place?
"The three great goddesses, or one of the lesser gods. I've heard tell of one named Fierce Deity, rumoured to favour fighters. But, I don't think he's active here in Hyrule. Supposedly, he comes from an alternate dimension…."
Link now regretted asking. This conversation suddenly hit a bit too close to home. Navi was going to say more, he knew, but he'd just been reminded that he had no claim to her advice, nor her friendship. It wasn't even supposed to be he who was helping the Deku Tree, but rather this other Link, a complete stranger.
"Oh! That's interesting, Navi…but I think maybe we should talk about it more, later. We still have to find out how to get through that spiderweb, down there. These spiderwebs don't seem to be vulnerable to anything…."
Navi paused, and he sensed that she wanted to return to their previous conversation, but her sense of duty kept her focused on their current task. Neither of them had forgotten that the Great Deku Tree was almost out of time. They had to hurry, or he would die.
Navi flew out into the gap, and rapidly turned back and forth, if Link could guess, comparing the spiderweb up here with the one below.
"I think this one is so hard and unyielding because it's older. You might be able to break through the one below us with enough momentum, or to burn through it, if your deku stick wouldn't almost certainly burn out before it hit. Remember how it gave under your feet when you stepped on it? I don't think we've been up here so long that it will have solidified since we entered. It's only been an hour….
"Just in case, let me give you some advice. If you feel that you're going to get hurt by a fall, roll on the ground as you land. That should redistribute some of the impact, and keep you from getting hurt too badly—except from really great heights…. You should do that anyway, if you can, when you hit the web."
Link nodded, and walked over to the ledge to peer over it, bracing himself, and calculating the angle at which he'd have to jump to land in the centre of that web. Navi hovered nearby.
"Navi, you're good at helping to guide projectile weapons. Wouldn't I be sort of a living projectile weapon, here? Could you help guide me?"
Navi stilled midflight, and then, quivering, came to fly near his head. "Link! That's brilliant! I think I can do it, too! Give me a second to fly down there, and I'll help guide you! Just remember to try to roll on impact. I think there's water down below, if you break through, but just in case…!"
Navi zipped off towards the spiderweb, and Link waited, sheathing the Kokiri Sword, and securing the shield on his back, waiting for her to call. "Ready! Go ahead and jump, Link!"
Link took a deep breath, and raced towards the ledge, aiming himself towards Navi without even knowing where she was, unable to see her through the platform he stood on. He leapt into the air, and began to fall towards the web.
He hit it, and it broke, with no sensation of impact, and he continued to fall, barely noticing Navi hurry after him, barely noticing the vine-covered wall leading up out of this pit, before he landed in the water at the base. This must be the Deku Tree's roots. Plants stored water, didn't they? It made sense that there was so much water in this room, it created something of a lake within. The Great Deku Tree was a huge tree.
He climbed out of the water, to the left of the vine-covered wall. There was a step-on switch nearby, and so he stepped on it, unthinking. It might have been a trap, but instead, he noticed, it somehow lit a torch to the right side of the vine-covered wall. It had been hidden from sight by a wall of cobwebs. Thankfully, those hadn't yet lithified.
Another wall of cobwebs hid another door on the ledge on which he now stood. Clearly, he was supposed to jump to the first ledge, light a torch, and carry it back over here. Without setting himself on fire. He could do that. Or, he could throw the torch. If Navi could guide his fall, then she could guide a torch's flight, right?
He nodded to himself, as Navi alit on his shoulder. He waited until his torch was lit to explain his plan, and Navi seemed to turn to face him, hovering briefly in midair before flying over to the cobweb wall.
He took that as tacit agreement to his plan. He turned, focusing on Navi as he threw the torch across the gap. Despite the great distance, it hit right next to Navi, who rushed back over to him, sinking heavily onto his shoulder again, and then crawling under the collar of his shirt.
"I need to catch my breath for a minute, Link. Can you deal with that deku baba on your own?" she asked. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, and realised that there was, indeed, a deku baba snapping at his heels. Or, well, as close to his heels as it could reach.
He nodded, drawing the Kokiri Sword to dispatch the deku baba, and holding the deku stick in his hand, unwilling to ask Navi to put it away, just yet. He could hear Navi breathing in heavily, raggedly. He suspected that he'd asked her to do too much, in too short a span of time, and felt guilty for it. Still, why hadn't she warned him?
He jumped off the ledge into the water, and then climbed back onto the one with the step-on switch, and the now uncovered door. "Open," he told the door blandly, and walked through into the next room. He stuffed the deku stick into his boot, remembering how he had stored the Deku Leaf.
"Ooh…this patch of water looks deep…and is that a spike-covered log? The boss laid some nasty traps. The only way you'll get to that far ledge is by riding across on that platform—but I think even if you laid down, you'd still get lacerated by those spikes. Hmm… maybe you'll find something underwater, Link. Don't worry about me. We faeries can breathe underwater!"
He paused, as he was heading towards a path along the ledge he stood on, leading down into the water (and therefore up out of it, too). "Really? Faeries can breathe underwater?"
"That's right," Navi said, in a weak murmur. "Water helps us to recover some of our energy, actually. That's why faerie springs are located in pools of water."
Link had no reason to know about faerie springs, but did not point this out to Navi. He wondered if the water down in this chamber would help to restore Navi's energy. He'd just have to see. At least he knew that she wouldn't drown. That was a weight off his mind.
He ran down the decline, peering around through the water, until he saw a step-on switch. There was nothing to put on it, and he couldn't quite step on it, as the water was too deep for his feet to touch the floor. Instead, he dove down, and pushed down as hard as he could on the switch, which activated it, and he swam back to the bank, as the water drained out through what might have been a grate, if not for location. He waited for the platform to pass back this way, hoping that the water was low enough that he didn't have to consider the rotating spike log trap. And, apparently, he didn't.
He fell onto the platform, and ducked his head as they passed under the spike log, jumping onto the far ledge as soon as they were close enough.
On this higher ledge was nothing but a block, and a track for the block to follow, and a higher ledge. Straightforward.
Navi stirred, crawling out of his shirt, and coming to sit on his shoulder. She didn't seem to care that he was dripping wet. Perhaps, it was another aspect of faeriehood she hadn't mentioned yet, that she didn't mind the dampness.
As it was, Link paused to wring out what he could of his clothes. The hat and boots were already dry, somehow, and the tunic was drying conspicuously fast. He suspected that it was because they were forest clothes. The things seemed to have magical properties. And not in the way that his grandmother's clothes had been unusually cool in the heat, despite the material they seemed to be made of. These were blatantly magical, in ways he had yet to discover.
He was beginning to understand just why other-Link had kept his hair under the hat. He wouldn't be surprised if these clothes couldn't be damaged, even, the way that the hat and boots refused to be soaked, and the way that the kokiri tunic was already drying. For all he knew, he'd worn the same outfit all his life, and it had grown with him.
He walked over to the block, in its tract, and the ledge. Not until Navi flew off his shoulder, with her cry of "Look out, Link!" did he notice even the shadow of the hanging skulltula.
He was already tired of seeing these things. He drew the Kokiri Sword, and watched it drop down. It fell with its back facing him, and he stared at the designs resembling eyesockets, waiting for the telltale twitching that informed him, again, that the skulltula was about to spin around, exposing its weak spot? Why?
To lure him in, of course. They didn't know how fast he was, or that he knew their weak point. It was a way of taunting him. He frowned, but took the opportunity provided to slice straight through the belly, and then draw back. It was too difficult to cut through even the belly, which was already sealing itself closed again when the spider finally turned its belly to him again. He cut in the exact same place, ramming the Kokiri Sword right up to the carapace, dragging it through the belly, and then pulling the sword back towards himself, wrenching it free, as the spider lost its grip on its web, and fell.
Navi landed heavily on his shoulder again. At least she hadn't had to use her energy to guide his blows.
"Rest here for a while," he said. "When I need your help again, I'll ask for it, alright?"
Navi climbed back under his shirt, clinging to the fabric. Link cautiously went to the block, and began to pull it along the track so that he could climb onto the ledge beyond. There was a door up there; he could see it from here. He just couldn't jump high enough to reach it.
The block reached the end of the track, and he jumped high enough to pull himself onto it, and then jumped high enough to pull himself onto the ledge. He walked to the door, ordered it to open, and walked through.
There was a strange circular shrub in the middle of the room—it seemed a pile of leaves, until a reddish-brown ball popped up out of it, glowing red eyes staring at him, with a mouth that was a gaping hole—like an octorok's.
Oh, shoot. Like an octorok's.
Strange, reddish-brown nuts began to shoot towards him from that hole, and Link hastened to pull off the shield to block them—or perhaps to reflect them. He didn't understand the deku shield's capabilities.
"That's a deku scrub—a young one, I'd say. The older ones are taller, and sell things. They're distinctive. You need to aim those deku nuts it's spitting back at it. They're not malevolent, see. You don't want to harm them…they're not actively malicious. The bad ones have red leaves, and green skin. Deku scrubs are cowardly. He'll try to help us if we can beat him, and spare him. Do you need me to help you aim?"
"No! Rest, Navi," said Link, surprised by how strongly he felt that he shouldn't overtax her. He didn't want to risk her getting injured, helping him. He was a protector, wasn't he? Wasn't that what a hero did— protect? And, being the cause of Navi's injury was just the opposite of that.
Navi huffed, but seemed to understand his reasoning. Meanwhile, the first nuts had hit the deku shield, which had redirected them to the ground. They shattered upon impact in a flash of bright light, and both he and the deku scrub needed to take a moment to reorient themselves and recover their sight.
Then, up the deku scrub popped again, as Link changed the angle of his shield slightly, still holding it before him. The newest nuts ricocheted off the shield back at the deku scrub. The instant one hit, the deku scrub jumped out of the circle of leaves, revealing two short, pedal feet, and began to hop around the room.
"Quick! Stand on that pile of leaves before it can hide back among them!" Navi called, urgency clear in her voice.
Link hastened to obey, waiting on the circle of leaves, as the deku scrub hopped around the room, before hopping back in the direction of its pile of leaves.
"Oh! Ow, ow ow! Forgive me, master! I'll never do it again! If you spare me, I'll teach you an important secret!"
"Sure," Link said. "What is this secret?"
"You'll never defeat my brothers guarding the boss unless you punish them in the right order. The order is: two, three, one. 'Twenty-three is number one'! That's how I remember it! But, do you think I'm a traitor, telling you this? Oh, no!"
He burrowed into the ground before Link could stop him.
Link sighed. In all honesty…the answer he would have given was "yes". He had just told the enemy how to defeat his own brothers. Still, he wondered what the deku scrub meant. Maybe it was a trick…well, he'd see later…or he wouldn't.
The bars, which he hadn't noticed before, too focused upon the deku scrub and Navi, lifted the moment the deku scrub disappeared, which Link decided to take as a sign that the scrub was telling the truth. He walked over to the door on the far side.
Here was the last new room of this floor. It was far too straightforward, with a torch in a fancy brazier similar to the one high above, and a spiderweb clearly visible in front of him. That there were no conspicuous enemies suggested deku babas and skulltulas. Until he looked up at the ceiling, and saw, past the skulltula blocking his entrance to the main chamber, what seemed to be eggs hanging there.
"Navi, what are those on the ceiling?"
"I don't know," she said, a tinge of concern entering her voice. "I'd stay away from that part of the chamber. I think they're eggs, but the eggs of what, I don't know. Be careful!"
Link walked slowly forward, backflipping again as the skulltula dropped down before him, managing to catch himself before he fell this time. He drew the Kokiri Sword, and slashed at the monster. It still took two hits to take it down, but he was reassured by the fact that he managed not to fall, this time, after his backflip. Apparently, he needed more practice.
With a wary eye on the ceiling over the centre of the room, he ran around the side, sighing and frowning when he came to the first deku baba guard. He swiped at it, almost apathetic, pausing to pick up the second deku stick he couldn't store away, running for the brazier. He already had a deku stick out, so he used it as a torch to burn down the spiderweb on the other side of the room. He reached the web just in time, and dropped the remnants of the stick onto the floor, before approaching what had been hidden beyond the web.
At first, he thought nothing was there, but it was marked on the map that, somehow, this room connected back to the main chamber of 1B.
Then, he saw the small crawl hole. Well, at least his hands were already empty. Although, he questioned whether or not his deku stick would survive the journey. He had some in storage already, it was true, but if he wanted to retrieve one from there, it would doubtless be just as tiring for Navi as if he asked her to put this one away.
"Navi, can you store this deku stick? I hate asking you when you're this tired, but…."
"Oh, Link, it's fine!" Navi said, with a soft laugh. "It's sweet of you to worry about me, but it's my responsibility to look after you; as a faerie partner, it is my duty. And, I'll admit, my pleasure as well. It doesn't take that much energy to store these things."
She crawled out of his tunic, alighting on the deku stick, which vanished. She flew back to his collar, and crawled back under his shirt.
"I'm actually feeling much better already. I'm ready to be useful, again! Just say the word!"
He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She recovered fast, didn't she? He wondered how much of that was the water, and realised that the kokiri tunic was now completely dry. That hadn't taken long.
He bent down on his hands and knees, and waited for Navi to voice any complaints before crawling into the hole.
Sure enough, it led to a third ledge of the main chamber, one higher than the other two. A block sat near the edge, providing a clear way back to this ledge if he fell off. That meant he must need to leave this ledge, right? He stared at the plain brown block, and then at the spiderweb before him. He walked slowly over to it, and two deku babas sprang up near the edges.
He hacked at them, cutting through the upright stem of the first, and the curled over one of the second. The first turned into a deku stick, and the second into what seemed a handful of deku nuts of the same type as the ones the deku scrub had spat at him in the other room. He hesitated.
"Uh, Navi?" he asked. "Are these deku nuts, the same kind as the ones that deku scrub was spitting at me?"
Navi flew over to his hand, and the nuts disappeared. "As you doubtless noticed, these nuts create a bright flash that stuns enemies. It might give you a chance to get a blow in at a tough opponent, but don't rely on them too much. They won't work on anything without eyes, or with tough skin, or armour."
"Ah. Alright, thank you," he said, pushing the brown block off into the water, where it settled as if it were meant to be there all along. He jumped off the ledge, and onto the one with the torch on it, deku stick still firmly clamped in one hand. He swiped it through the torch to light it, and ran back, jumping over the ledge onto the block, and then hopping up onto the higher ledge, hurrying over to the spiderweb before the torch could burn out.
He made it just in time, and the cobwebs burnt away beneath his feet. For a moment, he thought his boots might catch fire, but, in addition to everything else, the kokiri boots were, apparently, fireproof. Waterproof, fireproof, and comfortable. Yeah, he really thought he understood why the other-Link wore them all the time.
These were not the thoughts that should have occupied his mind as he fell into the dark, dank, lowest floor of the Deku Tree.
He hit the murky water with a great splash that must have alerted every enemy within a hundred feet to his presence, and began to swim towards the ledge he could see before him.
Before him were three piles of leaves, each green. The middle one stood before a barred door.
Only now did he realise the ambiguity of the deku scrub's advice. Not one of these scrubs was labeled. There was no way to know which one was meant to be two, or three, or one. And, that was assuming that these were the deku scrubs mentioned as being the other one's brothers. It was plausible, but also it was possible that they weren't. They might even have been piles of leaves, if three scrubs hadn't shot up out of them, shooting nuts at him, as he pulled off the deku shield in time to block the shots.
"Navi!" he called. There was no way that he could direct these nuts to the proper deku scrub without help. Navi flew over to the deku scrub he was facing—the one in the middle. "Do you suppose that's 'two'?" he asked her, but an impression of confusion returned to him. He supposed that, taken out of the context of his thoughts, the question made little sense. "Remember what the deku scrub above said? 'You'll never defeat my brothers unless you punish them in the right order: two, three, one'? Do you suppose that this one in the centre is "two"?"
The deku nuts he reflected from his shield hit the one in the centre, and it abruptly stopped moving, staying stock still, as the deku scrubs to its left and right continued their barrage of nuts. Perhaps it was "two"; perhaps it wasn't. Navi seemed to be considering the question.
He turned to his right. People tended to count from left to right, didn't they? He hoped that that was what the traitor scrub had meant. Navi followed him away from the middle scrub to the one on the right, hovering as a ball of yellow light next to the right-hand scrub. Link reflected the nut it spat back at it, and listened as it squealed, suggesting that he was on the right track, especially as it, too, suddenly froze. Now, for the one on the left. Navi, as if reading his mind, flew over without his asking.
He'd angled his shield that the deku nuts spat by the other deku scrubs—whichever one or ones he wasn't focusing on at the moment, be redirected to the one he was focusing on. It had ensured that he was protected from all attacks, but now he had only one opponent.
He angled his shield more directly towards the deku scrub, as it popped out of the pile of leaves, spitting a nut at him. He had the sense that the guards weren't very smart, instead relying upon whatever trick they used to ensure that there even was a proper order in which to "punish" them to protect them. Otherwise, this one would have stayed in its pile of leaves, and not come out until his fellows had recovered.
When its deku nut rebounded upon it, it leapt from the pile of leaves, just as the one above (its brother, presumably), and began to hop around the room. Link ran for the pile of leaves, that it not retreat, and waited for its circuit to return it to him.
"Gah! How did you know our secret? How irritating! It's so annoying that I'm going to reveal the Queen's secret! Her eye is her weak spot. Attack her with your sword while she's stunned…oh, Queenie…sorry about that!"
The three guards burrowed as one into the ground, leaving behind empty piles of leaves, and an unbarred door.
"So, you need to find a way to stun this 'Queenie'. Maybe the deku nuts?" asked Navi, floating over to him.
"Let's see what's in the next room before we jump to any conclusions," he said, with a grin in her direction.
He walked to the unbarred door, and cocked his head. What lay beyond? Judging by the first deku scrub's words, it was the boss chamber. But then, where the boss key, and the fancy padlock? This door looked just the same as any other; his sole reason for thinking that it led to the boss's lair was that it was guarded by those three brothers, who seemed to be personally acquainted with a "Queen".
"Open," he told it, as Navi landed on his shoulder.
On the other side was a narrow corridor, and at the end of the corridor, a room so huge, he couldn't see the edges (any of them) from here. But, he could see something huge, hanging from the ceiling—the most noticeable thing about it being its yellow eye.
"Is that, up there, the boss?" he whispered to Navi, pointing at the ceiling. The dungeon map appeared in his hand. There were no more rooms marked on the map. This must be the boss's lair. He folded it back up, and looked at Navi. "Thank you, Navi. Please, put it away for me." A moment of tense silence followed.
For want of a better plan, he walked forwards, to the end of the corridor, and into the main chamber. A solid rock wall slammed down behind him, barring all chance of escape.
An enemy that clung from the ceiling would probably require a projectile weapon to defeat. "Navi, slingshot, please," he whispered, the slingshot appeared in his hand.
"That's Gohma," Navi whispered at last. "I suppose it's the boss of this dungeon. Its eye is vulnerable when it's red."
"The deku brothers said 'Queenie'. Does that mean that it's…?"
But the Gohma he had defeated long ago, in the Dragon Roost Cavern, had been male, he was almost certain. Was "Gohma" not a proper name? This creature bore no resemblance to the monster he had defeated.
Queen Gohma was black to the other Gohma's white, compact where it had been elongated, with eight legs it used to cling to the ceiling, whereas the other Gohma had risen from the floor. Their commonality was in their huge eyes. This one's was a fiery yellow, with an odd-looking pupil. He wished in vain for Aryll's telescope.
As he stared at it, up above, it dropped from the ceiling, piercing him with a fiery gaze. It twisted as it fell, to land upon its feet. Its eye rolled in its head—or whatever you would call a piece of a segmented body that was basically just a giant eye, and it reared onto its front legs, waving its back ones in the air in a show of intimidation, and revealing that it had a curved tail.
Then, it fell back onto its eight legs, and then the eye turned red as it prepared to lunge at him. Navi flew over close to the eye. "Link!" she cried, and Link pulled a seed from the seed satchel, fitting it to the string, and firing, all in swift succession. Navi ensured that the slingshot was aiming the right way.
When the seed hit the temporarily vulnerable Gohma, she collapsed, as if her legs had given out under her. "Navi, can you put away the slingshot?" he asked, as he ran towards Gohma. Navi alit upon the slingshot, and it vanished, allowing Link to draw the Kokiri Sword and hack at Gohma.
Eventually, Gohma recovered from her shock, and turned, eye once more focused and clear, and crawled up the wall, and over the ceiling. Link sheathed the Kokiri Sword, and watched as the slingshot and bullet bag reappeared in his hands. Navi seemed aware of the rhythm of battle. In the middle of the room, the eye turned red, and Link pulled back the string, already drawn, with a seed resting against it.
He shot the slingshot, and Navi flew back to him, following Gohma's fall from the ceiling. She lay there, sprawled, and obviously trying to convince her legs to lift her back up. He stuffed the slingshot under his arm (as perhaps he ought to have before), and ran towards Gohma, drawing the Kokiri Sword.
He hacked more deeply into the eye, and the boss first ceased twitching, and then began to be consumed by blue flames. A column of familiar blue light appeared, and he grinned at the familiar sight in spite of himself.
"Link! We won!" Navi cried as she flew back to him. "We broke the curse on the Great Deku Tree!" As she spoke this last comment, she was floating next to him. "That blue light should teleport you from anywhere in a dungeon, to outside of the dungeon—usually close to the entrance. The Great Deku Tree wants to speak with us, so let's step into the light, and let it carry us to the Great Deku Tree's meadow."
She landed upon his shoulder, and he sheathed the sword he still carried, and held up the faerie slingshot, and Navi flew over to it. It disappeared as he touched it. The seed satchel was not long in following.
Link walked over to the blue light with a nod, and stepped into the light that would take him from the now peaceful-feeling dungeon. Navi, resting on his shoulder, was carried up with him.
The blue light ring set him down again at the top of the slope, where he had stood whilst listening to the Great Deku Tree's instructions.
"Ah, well done, Link," said the Deku Tree, as soon as Navi had flown near to his mouth. "Truly, thou hast shown great courage. I thank thee, Link. I knew that thou wouldst be able to carry out my wishes. But, I have still more to tell thee. Listen well to my words.
"A wicked man of the desert cast this death curse upon me. He is an evil man who uses his magical powers only for selfish, evil ends. He seeks the Sacred Realm that is connected to our realm of Hyrule. For it is in that Realm that one may find the mythical Triforce.
"I will tell thee the myth of the creation of Hyrule.
"Long, long ago, before there were any other souls in existences, the goddesses three descended upon Hyrule, which was at that time a barren, uninhabitable waste. They were the three great, golden goddesses: Din, the goddess of Power…Nayru, the goddess of Wisdom…Farore, the goddess of Courage.
"It was Din who created the land upon which we walk, made it fertile, and healthy and fruitful. Nayru, with her wisdom, regulated the chaotic world that had been, creating the seasons, the stars, and all that stands in the heavens. Farore created all living things, and imbued them with spirit.
"When they had finished their self-appointed task, the three great goddesses departed for the heavens. But, they left behind the sacred golden triangles known as the Triforce at the place of their departure. Those triangles, the Triforce, is the reason that our land of Hyrule, and indeed the world, is as prosperous and healthy as it is. The hidden place where the Triforce lies is known as the Sacred Realm."
It was quite a picture he painted in the mind's eye, despite the vagueness of his words. Link had trouble imagining a chaotic, void world, lifeless, and barren, but he could imagine the sprouting of seeds into grass, and trees. He could imagine the sudden introduction of order, and the sun, newly born, beginning its trek across the sky to measure the days. He could almost imagine creatures bathed in white light, appearing out of nowhere.
But then, too, there was a slight start of recognition. Three, three, three. The Tower of the Gods. Din's Pearl, Farore's Pearl, Nayru's Pearl. Three statues: one blue, for Nayru's Pearl, one green, for Farore's Pearl, one red, for Din's Pearl. Three voices at the height of the Tower of the Gods: one strong and commanding; one gentle and wise; one confident and strong. Three women at Zelda's bedside: red, blue, green. Could those have truly been the goddesses who had created Hyrule?
Link opened his eyes, setting aside such contemplation for later. For now, he needed to pay attention to what the Great Deku Tree was saying. "Many men have sought for the Triforce since then, for it contains the essence of the gods. It is this sacred relic which the man from the desert desired. Thou must never suffer that man, with his evil heart, to lay his hands upon the Triforce of legend. Thou must prevent him ever entering the Sacred Realm.
"Link. Go now to Hyrule Castle. There wilt thou surely meet the Princess of Destiny. Show her this stone—the stone the man of the desert so desired that he laid this death curse upon me."
A flash of green and gold fell from the Great Deku Tree's eye as with a tear, and Link turned to Navi.
"Navi, can you—?"
"I can't pick it up—it's too big, and too heavy. I can only store things if you have already touched them. I'm putting them in a storage area that I can only access on account of my connection to you. You'll have to come over here, yourself!" she said.
That made as much sense as anything could. Link ran down the hill, driven by a sense of urgency, and knelt in the grass, picking up the stone, holding it up, and backtracking to the hill, where he held it over his head for the Great Deku Tree to see. If a tree could see at all.
He took a moment to stare at the stone, how it was spiral-shaped, bright emerald green curling around a golden spiral.
"This is the Kokiri's Emerald, a treasure of the Kokiris. It's a sacred object—treat it with respect!" Navi cried. She hesitated to fly over to him, however, as aware as Link of how feeble the Great Deku Tree was; she didn't want him to exert himself. There was also the ominous phrase "death curse" to consider.
"I will die soon," said the Deku Tree, very matter-of-fact. Link felt an uneasy twinge. The Great Deku Tree was the father of the kokiris. Without him—what would happen to them?
And if other-Link were a kokiri, wouldn't the same fate befall him, Link Sylvanus, here in the other-Link's stead? But then, if there were anything to fear, the Great Deku Tree wouldn't have asked him to go to the castle. Presumably, Kokiri Forest would be safe, too.
"Although your valiant efforts to break the curse were successful, it was too late to save my life even before I summoned you. Do not grieve for me. I have been able to warn thee of the current dangers. Instead, bring my warning and message to Hyrule Castle. Good luck attend thee, Link. Thou art courageous…. And Navi, guide Link well on his journey. I entreat thee, Naavi…."
Without warning, the Deku Tree's voice cut off, and for a moment, Link thought that it was a failure of the faerie connection. Then, he saw the Deku Tree shrivel before his very eyes, until it resembled an old, decaying oak.
Link swallowed, tightly. Despite the Deku Tree's warning, he felt his throat constrict.
"Goodbye, Great Deku Tree…" Navi said, voice soft and sad, mostly to herself. Link could hear her over the sudden silence of the Woods. Even he could feel the shift in the atmosphere of the Forest. Navi flitted over to him, her wings drooping. She touched the Kokiri's Emerald, and it disappeared. She landed heavily on his shoulder. He wondered just what the Great Deku Tree was to her—just what she had lost. Were they friends, perhaps?
"Navi," he began, but Navi cut him off, her voice unusually feeble, but as focused as ever.
"Right! The Great Deku Tree set us to a task! Let's go to Hyrule Castle, Link!"
She seemed to be trying for a cheery, encouraging tone, but Link was not fooled.
He himself felt an unusual weight on his shoulders (that is to say, not Navi), at the loss of the Deku Tree.
He shuffled out of the clearing, back into the pass. He avoided the deku babas, rather than engaging them, as they sprang up from the soil.
Mido was waiting at the entrance, blocking his way again. Perhaps, he had resumed his previous guard duties, but, as he was facing this way, it was equally likely that he was here just to head Link off.
Link was suddenly very tired, and his body felt far too heavy. It was too much effort just to put one foot in front of another. Why did he feel this way?
"Hey! Mr. No Faerie! What just happened? Did the Great Deku Tree…die? What did you do to him? How could you do such a thing? I don't believe this! Just—leave!"
He stormed off, instead, trudging through the channels rather than jumping across the stepping-stones. Kokiri Forest seemed subdued, in its period of mourning. Link watched Mido wander over to his house, and open the door, and walk in. Then, Link moved forwards, splashing across the same channel, to the store, where Mosia was still sunning herself on the roof awning.
He rather suspected that Mido had just banished him from Kokiri Forest. Maybe not. He'd still be careful who saw him around here, from now on. But, he didn't want to leave without saying goodbye to Saria. And, if he were saying his farewells to her, he might as well say goodbye to everyone else, while he was at it.
"Link? Where are you going?" Mosia asked. Navi looked at her, but made no move to leave Link's shoulder. Link looked up at the sky. It was about three in the afternoon. Would it hurt to stay the night?
"I'm leaving," he called to her, dully, and went into the shop. Wihei had heard him.
"You're leaving?" she said, head downcast. Tears sparkled in her eyes. "Don't go too far. We kokiris will die if we leave the forest. I'd say 'don't go', but Mido…he's in a rage today, isn't he? I heard his shouting from here…. If you need supplies, will we see you again? Will you come back and visit?"
He swallowed, hard. This did not feel like the parting of two strangers. Had he made friends here without realising it? "I'll come back and visit," he promised. If I survive, he added silently. Wihei made a valiant effort to smile.
"Then, I guess…this isn't really goodbye. But be careful, Link!" she said, biting her lip.
He nodded, turned on his heel, and left.
Next was her twin, who was sitting morosely on her barrel. "Link, are you going to leave us?" she asked. "I don't want you to go…."
He hung his head. "I have to, and not just because of Mido. There's something I need to do. But, I promise that I'll come back to Kokiri Forest."
Hadn't he promised that before?
She nodded, blinking back tears, and pulled him into a rather awkward hug. Navi sniffled, and then gave a half-hearted giggle.
"Good luck, then, Link. With whatever it is you're doing. Come back safely."
Link nodded, again, and returned to the door, returning outside.
The other farewells were much less sentimental, and much less teary. The Know-It-All Brothers suggested that he live in the Lost Woods until Mido's anger cooled ("Whatever did you do to so vex him, Link?"), but didn't press him for any details. Tago and Josu both wished him the best of luck in his adventures, complaining that Mido's chores would be much more tedious without his company.
He scoured Kokiri Forest, but couldn't find Saria. Which meant that she was somewhere in the Lost Woods.
She'd warned him that it was dangerous even for a kokiri to wander through the Lost Woods if they didn't know where they were going, but that didn't change the temptation to climb the cliffs behind Mido's house, climb up the vine-covered wall, and wander the maze of the Lost Woods until he forgot everything.
But, Saria wouldn't want that. He'd just have to come back (assuming he didn't die), and see her later.
He crossed through the hole in the wall that separated Kokiri Forest from the rope bridge, and the guardian kokiri, Broznas, didn't make a move to stop him. Perhaps, he assumed that Link was taking refuge in the Lost Woods, the way that the Know-It-All Brothers had suggested.
He was halfway across the bridge when a familiar voice stopped him with a simple sentence that was somehow filled with barely-restrained sorrow.
"Oh, you're leaving," Saria said, and he rocked back, and whirled around behind him, to where she was suddenly leaning against the ropes supporting the bridge. How hadn't he seen her there?
"Saria…" he said, and walked back towards her. Had she been waiting here for him, all along? Suddenly, he didn't want to say goodbye. He wished that he could have left without her knowing. He swallowed, hard, standing there with bowed head, that he need not look at her.
"I always knew that you would leave the forest, someday, Link…. Because you're different from the rest of my friends. But, that doesn't matter, because we'll be friends forever, won't we?"
He took the risk of raising his head to look at her. Her expression was once again old, and pained, and he wished that he hadn't looked. His eyes dropped back to his feet. He tried to smile, but his mouth refused to move. He just wanted to give her some explanation, or some comfort.
"I want you to have this ocarina," she said, and he lifted his gaze just high enough to see her hands, outstretched, offering a familiar faerie ocarina. It couldn't be the same one, could it? "This is the ocarina I've played for you ever since you were a baby. I can make another one, but I want you to have this one. I hope that when you play it, you'll remember me, and come back to the forest to visit."
He lifted the warm wooden ocarina out of her hands, and examined it in the somehow muted light around him. Perhaps, it was the green light that seemed to permeate the bridge, and everything within his field of vision, but until she'd handed it over, it had looked bright green. He stared at it, and tried to think of nothing else.
"Link…" she said, and he couldn't take it anymore. He turned and ran, not daring to look back at Saria, still standing there, with that old, worn expression.
He ran into the light of early evening, staring at the rock walls that abruptly widened out ahead into a green field he could see ahead of him.
He found that he'd been walking even as he took in his surroundings, his feet moving ahead automatically, even though he wished that he could turn back and head back into the Lost Woods.
"Link, maybe we should turn back and spend the night in the Lost Woods," Navi said, hesitant. She landed on his shoulder, sticking close, as if to offer comfort. "I know it's hard, but…."
"No," Link said, his mind already in turmoil. "I can't."
He hung his head, trying not to think about what had just happened.
"Link, please! I've heard that monsters come out at night out here in Hyrule Field—an endless army of them! You won't be able to rest, and you need to rest, after all that's happened today!"
He stumbled, and nearly fell, as if to underscore her point. "The Great Deku Tree said that your sleep has been plagued by nightmares for the past few months!"
"And, it's made me a bit of an insomniac, I guess," he said, lightly, as if it didn't matter.
"You could talk about your dreams," she suggested, with the same hesitance. "That sometimes helps."
"I'm not talking to a faceless blob," he said, determined to put an end to the conversation.
"'Faceless blob'?" repeated Navi, sounding affronted. Then, there was a pause. "Did I really forget to—?"
Now, his curiosity was piqued. "Something else you forgot, Navi?" he asked, craning his neck to look at her where she perched on his shoulders. In response, she flapped her wings, hard, fluttering in front of his face, obliging him to stop.
"Fair warning, this will hurt," Navi said. "I forgot the part of the faerie connection that strengthens your eyes so that you can see through bright light. I bet the sun is really painful on your eyes. This will hurt a lot more, so I understand if you don't want me to, and, if you tell me not to, I guess I won't, but—"
Wait. All along, there'd been some sort of magical spell that would let him see Navi's true appearance? He was no stranger to pain, not after all he'd been through, and his curiosity, now aroused, was as an unscratched itch.
"Do it," he ordered her, and then blushed at how rude he sounded. Saria, Grandma, and Aryll were all unflinchingly diligent when it came to instilling manners into him. "…Please," he finished, after a pause.
Navi was already floating very close to his eyes. There was a sharp, stinging sensation that started at his head, focused itself in his eyes, and spread throughout his entire body. He had to close his eyes when the pain became too much. For a few interminable moments, the world became nothing but bright white light; that was when he closed his eyes, screwing them as tightly shut as he could manage. Navi giggled, but he didn't dare to open them.
"You can open your eyes, now," she said, in a singsong voice, and he opened his left eye a crack, immediately shut it again, as if not trusting the sudden absence of glaring light, and then opened both eyes wide.
A woman floated before him, her calf-length blue dress short enough that he could see that both knees were bent, as if to compact the area she took up. Two blue dragonfly wings sprouted from her back. She had long, bright red hair, red as freshly spilt blood (a colour with which he was very familiar), which was mussed a bit by the wind, but fell, in a series of cowlicky flips, down her back. Both hair and dress did not seem to move, despite the constant passage of air around them, as Navi bobbed up and down, hovering in the air as she was.
Her eyes were now blue-grey (although he later noticed that they changed colour with the ball of light that surrounded her, now visible only as a slight, barely discernible glow around her, edged by a circle of opaque light). There was something ageless about her heart-shaped face—perhaps the complete lack of wrinkles combined with eyes that seemed impossibly deep.
She noticed him staring at her, and cocked her head, grinning.
"Hello, Link," she said. "I think I might give you a better introduction, now." She crossed her arms in front of her, sending her loose sleeves fluttering. "I am Navi, the faerie. I'm your new faerie partner! I'm sure we'll make a great team!"
She giggled, and flew over to land on his shoulder.
"You 'forgot' deliberately, didn't you?" Link groaned, head in his hands. "There's something so much more…final about this sort of connection…."
"Hmm," said Navi, neither confirming nor denying anything. "I've given you a sign of my faith in you. Now, what do you say that you return the favour, and tell me something? Say, what the dreams are that have been bothering you. Or just where you learnt how to fight with a sword. You did say that you'd tell me, later, if you decided I was trustworthy."
He heard laughter in her voice, but when he tilted his head to look at his shoulder, all he could see of her posture was that her arms were still crossed.
Of course, before he could decide what to do, or even resume his forward march, something huge flew down out of the sky, landing on one of the withered, dead trees that flanked the path to Hyrule Field.
"Hoo hoot!" cried a huge, brown bird, much taller than Link, as it curled its talons round the branch it landed upon. It cocked its head at him, spinning it around one-hundred eighty degrees in an eerie show of unnatural flexibility.
Link reached for the Kokiri Sword, at his side, but Navi cried, "Wait, Link, don't!"
And he supposed that he did trust her, because his hand stopped where it was. He didn't even reach back for the deku shield.
"I've heard of these before!" she breathed. "It's called an 'owl'! But, none of them have been seen in Hyrule for centuries…I thought they'd all died out!"
"Link! Up here!" the bird cried, and Link couldn't stop himself from starting. Navi giggled on her perch on his shoulder, and he was tempted to roll it so that she lost her balance. He tried to glare at her, but the effect was lost somewhat, owing to her location, and the fact that she wasn't looking at him. Perhaps, he would have preferred not being able to see her.
"Well, well, well, hoo hoot!" the bird continued. "Hello, Link!"
Link folded his arms, but Navi tugged on the lock of his hair framing his face.
"Link, these are sacred birds!" she hissed. "Show some respect!"
"It seems the time has finally come for you to start your adventure!"
The head at last returned to its normal position atop the bird's neck. Some of the tension left Link's shoulders. He should be used to the strange by now, right? This wasn't weirder than a talking boat who was actually a King. At least birds were already living creatures.
"Hyrule Field lies before you. It is a vast plain that connects the various realms of Hyrule. Far to the north lies Lon Lon Ranch, and north of that, Hyrule Castle. The castle has stood for many centuries as a bastion of peace and prosperity in a sometimes turbulent world. Fifty years gone, the previous king of Hyrule fought in a great war to unify the kingdom, and now the various races pay homage to its current king. It is in this old and hallowed castle that you will find the princess of Hyrule, whom you seek."
Oh, dear. This was another long-winded individual. If monsters came out at night, did he even have time to be listening to this? But, he didn't need to look at Navi to know that she was listening intently, and that she would scold him for so much as fidgeting.
He kept his arms folded, and resisted the urge to tap his feet.
"Kokiri Forest lies on the eastern edge of Hyrule Field. Its people are not unknown outside of its borders, though they themselves never leave. This is on account of those rare few humans who are able to enter the edges of the Woods to trade with the kokiris. They do not often come, owing to the dangers the woods hold for those not of the forest folk. But you can expect for your manner of dress and your faerie to identify you as a kokiri even far outside these woods, by people who have never seen a kokiri."
No, actually, judging by the fact that the bird didn't seem yet to have arrived at the topic that had brought him by today, this bird was even more long-winded than the King of Red Lions, which was, in itself, an impressive feat.
"In such a vast world as this, it is easy to get lost. Accordingly, you will need a map. Fortunately for you, I have just such a one, that I think you will find useful! It is a magical map, that fills itself in as you explore the world. Your current location will be marked as well, wherever in the world you are."
And, just how was he carrying this "map"? But then, a very small piece of paper fell from its talons, and Link couldn't resist raising his eyebrow, silently asking "really?", as Navi fluttered down towards it, picking it up, and holding it, carefully spread out, in her hands. Oh.
"Ooh, Link!" she squealed. "This map! It's so…well, blank at the moment, but if what he's saying is true…!"
Blushing, she flew back to his shoulder, map still spread between her hands.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Owl!" she chirped. If the bird's expression changed, Link couldn't tell. Komali and the other ritos were birdmen, but not actual birds.
"My name is Kaepora Gaebora," the bird corrected. "And, it is my duty to guide your friend on his quest. I fear that this quest has only just begun, for he—"
"Now, look here," said Navi, launching herself from her perch, and removing one of her arms from its position, crossed over the other, to point a finger at the owl. "I'm his destined guide. The Great Deku Tree chose me!"
"Navi!" Link cried, blushing furiously at her behaviour. He could feel it. And, what had Navi just been saying about being polite to the sacred bird?
Navi fluttered back, resting her hands on his shoulder as she alit, and then crossing both arms and legs simultaneously. He was sure that she was pouting. How old was Navi, anyway?
The bird cleared its throat (or made a noise that sounded about the same), and resumed what it was saying. "I have been chosen to periodically check in with your friend to see that he progresses well on his quest. I am not trying to usurp the privileged position of a guardian faerie.
"As I was saying, his quest has only just begun, for already events are being set into motion, and he has been chosen as Farore's representative to the princess of Hyrule, who even now plans how she may save the world from the machinations of an evil the likes of which our world has not yet seen. He will need…he will need a map."
Navi muttered something under her breath about him needing more than just a map, but then straightened up at last, staring directly at the bird once more.
"Did you understand what I have told you?" he asked Link, who just raised an eyebrow, and nodded.
"Good. Now, let me explain the use of your map to your friend, here…."
An hour after they had left Kokiri Forest, the bird left, parting words of encouragement ringing in their ears as they at last had a chance to "start their adventure", as the bird had put it.
"Navi, where did the map go?" he asked, as he turned his head to glance at her.
"Oh…right…I was going to teach you how to store items in your inventory…. And, it seems we ought to head back into the Lost Woods. There's almost no time left before sundown. There's little sense of walking for only a couple of hours, when we can rest in the safety of the Lost Woods, at least. Come on, Link. Please? We can spend that time practising, so it won't even be wasted!"
Link's arms were still folded, but he relaxed, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, and nodded. Thanks to Kaepora Gaebora, there was little chance of them making any progress today, and they were no longer under a time limit.
Which did not change the fact that he felt that they had failed the Great Deku Tree. They'd barely even left Kokiri Forest!
Still, they walked back through the tunnel leading into the Lost Woods, and Link looked for Saria, but saw no sign of any living thing.
"Alright, Link!" Navi cried. "All you have to do to store something in your inventory is touch it, and will it to go into that inventory. Picture a room, however you think it ought to look, big enough to store…well…the biggest thing you can lift. You can't store something you can't lift!
"And, you can't store certain things outside of containers—they'd get lost! Liquids have to be in bottles; rupees have to be in your wallet; and such supplies as deku seeds, which are small, and bombs, which are flammable, have to be stored in bags. You don't have a bag for bombs, but you might come across one, at some point in the future, so I'll tell you, now. They sell bombs in stores, but since you don't have a bomb bag, they wouldn't let you buy any…that's just how it works. Similarly, since you don't own a quiver, you can't buy arrows, even at the kokiri store, where they know you.
"You can't store more than you can carry in those bags. And, there are similar limits for other items. For instance, you can't store more than ten deku sticks, at the moment. There are ways to increase your carrying capacity for just about anything—a variety of spells. Deku scrubs know some.
"Anyway, picture a room big enough to hold everything you think you might need. You can always make it bigger, if need be. Picture it clearly in your mind's eyes."
Link closed his eyes, and tried to picture such a room. Nowhere on the Great Sea struck him as a good storage area. The houses on Outset were too small, the houses on Windfall too ornate for him to connect to them. Dungeons were out for obvious reasons. But, gradually, an image did form in his mind—a room large and tinted green all over (on account of Kokiri Forest? on account of his connection with the green goddess?).
Its dimensions were strangely uncertain, distorted by some innate property of the walls. As it came clear for him, he noticed that it had natural shelves, and barrels. He saw a sheet of canvas tied with twine surrounding a number of deku sticks, and a jar filled with deku nuts (he couldn't move in this place, but when he looked at the jar, despite not being able to see in, he knew the contents).
Then, a ball of blue light appeared, alighting on a barrel.
"Well done!" she cried. "Now that you've built this place in your mind, I, too, can see it. But, you don't have to remember where everything is, or even the appearance of this room. Now that you're aware of it, all you need to do is to focus on whatever you need to remove from this room, and it will appear in your hands. And, to put something away, merely think of this room—you don't even have to picture it!—and will it back here. Oh, and you had better concentrate on the Lost Woods again, to return to yourself. Try it, now!"
Link was aware that he had eyes, of course, but he suddenly realised that they were closed in concentration. As he considered this fact, the room faded out into black around him, and Navi, too, disappeared.
He opened his eyes to the rope bridge of the Lost Woods, looking around to make sure that nothing had crept up on them. He relaxed, just slightly, and Navi flew off his shoulder to land on the rope railing of the bridge.
"Li-ink!" she said. For a moment, he didn't know what she expected him to do. Oh, right. He had to practice pulling things out of that room, and returning them. Navi crossed her arms, again, staring fixedly at him, and he closed his eyes, thinking very hard about a deku stick, without that canvas wrapping (it had never appeared before, had it? Presumably, nothing that wasn't picked up and put into that room by Navi or he himself, was real.
"If it helps, you can picture the room—but don't rely on it too much! You have to want the item to be in your hands. Come on!"
Link decided that he wanted to examine one of those deku nuts more carefully. There was something familiar about them. He bent the force of his will to thoughts of the deku nuts he knew were in that jar. Finally, something appeared in his hand, and he grinned, turning to Navi.
"I did it!" he said, staring at the dark brown nut. It was very round, but for a notch in the side revealing a lighter brown nut inside the shell. He couldn't remember what it called to mind.
Mindful of what he was supposed to be doing, he closed his eyes, and imagined it returning to that storage room. He tried to divorce the idea of "storage room" from the picture he had built.
"Hmm…good! Now, try it again, with your eyes open! And remember, the slingshot is useless without ammunition, so be sure to always think of such things together!"
He thought hard about the faerie slingshot, with the bullet bag that came with it, willing it to appear in his hands. After several seconds of trying to maintain his concentration, it at last appeared. He glanced over at Navi, who was grinning, and thought hard about it going back into "the storage room". No need to picture it. No need to picture it!
Eventually, it vanished, and he leant back against the ropes of the bridge. He returned his mind to thoughts of deku sticks, and focused hard. He was beginning to understand how to do this.
After fifteen minutes of practice, Navi was satisfied that they had done enough work on the matter for now ("but mind you don't forget; practice!"), and she fluttered back onto his shoulder.
"It takes a tiny bit of magic to summon and return items, but don't worry. Even if your magic is completely depleted, it won't hurt you to use it. And don't forget, I too am supplying you with magic energy!"
There was a pause, as Link took in this information. No risk of dying from using such a spell; was that what she was saying?
"Tou need to find some food before it gets dark in here. I'll help you with that. But, say, Link…" she trailed off, and he turned to look at her as best he could. "…Have you decided whether or not you trust me enough to tell me about how you learnt how to use that sword? I thought we might talk about it while looking for food…."
He gave a short, sharp laugh, filled with all his resentment of his situation. He'd forgotten for a moment, that Navi and he had no reason to have the bond he was exploiting.
"I think I'd better tell you, Navi," he said. "Only, not tonight. I'll tell you as we're walking tomorrow. This journey has the feel of a long one. Hyrule isn't a small place, is it? But, you've reminded me…you deserve to know. I'll tell you tomorrow, but brace yourself. This is a long story, and rather incredible. You won't believe me. Nevertheless, explain it to you I must."
He willed the slingshot back into his hands, even with his focus mostly on other matters, and on memories, and Navi, in tacit agreement, launched herself into the air, as they climbed through the holes of the bridge to drop to the forest floor below.