A snow of leaves covered the grass and herbs of The Meadow. The wide green leaves had lost their luster and they crumbled on contact. Little poofs of brittle leaf spouted with each step Link took up the hill, to the path through the Old Forest. The air barely moved, the trees were still and the scent of musty broken vegetation filled his nostrils. He breathed deeply; sharing in the peace of the Deku Tree's slow passing, and looking over his shoulder, he glimpsed the bare limbs that no longer spoke in the wind. His spirit had not let go of this world yet, but time for the Tree was relative. He and Saria and Navi crested the lip and left the sullen sunlight.

The shade was not welcoming or pleasant, like this morning, but cold and heavy, clammy. Gnats landed, bit their skin and invaded noses, drawn to the warmth and heat. Link snorted and Navi waved her arms, then stopped short. Both saw the dangerously angled deku babas leaning towards the path and stream, scenting them, aching for them. The sun did not command their attention now, as the clouds drifted overhead and muted its warming rays. Instead, they focused on the prey moving by their grove.

"Saria, let's move closer to the stream," Link suggested, his stomach knotting as he imagined their toothy grip, and drew towards his friend.

"I agree. The forest knows it is time, and it grieves. We all will tonight. If you would join us, I will make your departure final with a ceremony-"

"Please don't," Link asked. He locked eyes as they walked abreast and across the path to walk next to the bubbling brook. "Tell them Gohma killed me or something. Make it dignified. I don't want to give Mido the satisfaction of knowing what I am." Link sneered slightly, like tasting something bitter. "I just want-"

"And what are you, that you don't want me to know?" decried a voice from ahead of the trio.

"Mido! What are you doing here?" Saria asked, genuinely curious, and maybe a little mad, Link thought. Or hoped.

"I was looking for you all day! There are some issues in camp," he said imperiously, swaggering forward, fists on his hips and scowl set low over his eyes. "We came to The Meadow, and nothing was there but the Deku Tree, and his leaves were falling off! Where have you been running off to with the Fairyless-" Mido's eyes bulged. Navi drifted into his sight, calm and composed, flapping her wings slowly. Mido licked his lips, shifted his weight from foot to foot, obviously nervous, and asked, "What is…she doing here?"

Link was silent for a long moment. He knew the exact words to say, what phrases he could lay down and cut Mido to the quick, as the Leader had done so many times to him. He should say it. There was nothing to lose. Link held back all the same. Save for his one explosive night, Link preferred to stay silent and preserve his dignity, and that of others. Saria preached to him from the very start that violence used in spite was the worst kind, and no soul should bear that stain. It was never his style or inclination to react to Mido's prodding with heated words or hasty responses. He gave the other boy no reason to single him out. Despite his lack of fairy, he was normal, and his stoic endurance of Mido's verbal, and on other rare occasions, physical, outbursts was respectable.

An ideal response popped into his brain. "Mido. You don't deserve to know. You've never taken the time to get to know me, and you push me aside for one obvious physical difference. You turned others against me for it. I don't like it. So. I'm leaving the forest."

With private satisfaction, the confusion and indecision on Mido's face twisted his brow, and his fists untwisted.

"When you say it like that," Navi harrumphed, crossing her arms. "It sounds kind of terrible."

Mido was eyeballing the sword on Link's hip, the blue sprite above him and the Wisest standing steadfastly at his side. After that rebuke, he was off balance with too many uncertainties flying about this oddball. He had nothing to grasp for, could find no good rebuttal. He swayed dangerously, but no one noticed as the ground shook, the trees groaned, and the birds cried and the cats yowled and the deer screeched in their high biting wail.

.

.

EMPTINESS

.

.

Consumed everything in the forest for a fraction of a heartbeat, an eternity to the Children, who most keenly felt the loss of their Guardian Spirit. He slipped through the film of life into death, and his absence could not be replaced fast enough.

There was a moment of adjustment, the emptiness easing slowly, until Link realized he could breathe again. Saria, too, and Mido and his posse gasped in unison for air. They knew what happened. Their connection to the forest was absolute.

The Children of the Forest were orphans, and Mido knew exactly who to blame.