They rode nonstop for hours, Link letting Epona slow to a walk every half hour and giving her a few minutes to drink from streams as often as he dared, knowing from experience what she could take and how hard he could push her, despite the fact that every moment they were delayed was a moment closer to something bad happening to Saria or the rest of the Kokiri.

Seeing how anxious Link and Navi were, Nabooru tried to engage them in conversation, primarily asking questions relevant to their mission, such as what she could expect of the forest, what sorts of creatures inhabited it, and how the enchantments worked in case she ended up separated from Link.

Link was somewhat surprised that despite her teasing before they left Castle Town she hadn't tried to flirt with him more. Apparently she understood that he wouldn't exactly be receptive to her advances at the moment. That's not to say she didn't occasionally press herself tightly against his back and wrap her arms around him to secure herself, but she hadn't done anything more overt than let him feel her body pressed against his. Which would normally be somewhat distracting, but didn't garner that much attention at the moment, focused as he was.

The sun was beginning to set when the forest began to come into view, the falling darkness making the situation that much more obvious, as the flicker of flames could be seen here and there through the branches as whoever the assailants were burned through whatever obstacles they encountered, everything they could see indicating that whoever this was was inexorably making their way deeper into the center of the forest, towards where the corpse of the previous Great Deku Tree towered over the treeline.

Link was gratified that they didn't seem to be making headway as quickly as he'd feared, but they were definitely advancing far too fast for his comfort.

Link quickly directed Epona towards an entrance to the forest that would lead them straight to the Kokiri village without bringing them close to what he could see of the enemy movements. He wanted to make sure his friends were safe and gather any intelligence they had on the enemy before he went on the offensive.

Nabooru, for her part, pressed herself closer to Link without any teasing intentions this time. This was not terrain she was accustomed to or comfortable in. She was well used to the hot, open expanses of the desert, not the cool, dark, enclosed paths of the forest. She wasn't afraid, but she was definitely wary, especially since they knew that there were enemies in the area that weren't being affected by the forest's defensive enchantments. Enchantments which she most definitely was susceptible to, to add to everything else.

Their progress was slowed as Epona navigated the more uncertain terrain of the forest, which was eerily silent despite the activity they knew was happening not too far away, the dense foliage swallowing up the sound incredibly effectively. To Nabooru it was fairly creepy, to Link and Navi, however, the stillness was especially unnerving, as it seemed that all of the wildlife had completely vacated the area, leaving things far too quiet.

Nabooru really wanted to crack some sort of joke, to help alleviate the oppressive feeling in the air, but she couldn't bring herself to, as though breaking the silence might invite some horror down on their heads, so she remained silent.

Link brought Epona to a stop when they were near the edge of the boundary of the Kokiri Village, recognizing it easily despite the time he'd been away. He turned his head to address Nabooru. "We'll get off here and continue on foot." He said quietly. "They likely won't recognize me at first, so there's no need to frighten them more than necessary by arriving on horseback."

Nabooru nodded in understanding and proceeded to slip off the saddle, landing nimbly on her feet, adjusting her falchions as Link did the same, Navi fluttering after them.

"Navi, please go ahead to check what the situation is while we make our way over." Link murmured to his fairy. "And let Saria know we're here."

Navi nodded seriously and did as she was told, darting towards their destination as Link took hold of Epona's reins and began to cautiously make his way forward.

When Navi arrived in the village she was relieved to see everything just the way it was the last time she was there when she was acting as the Sages' messenger. There were no fires, no monsters roaming about, nothing chasing the forest children around in search of a snack.

Another thing she didn't see, however, was any Kokiri. Concerned, she began to search the village, making her way through it and not finding any of them till she approached Saria's house. She was relieved to see them all there, filling the modest home, those that couldn't squeeze in peering through the windows in order to participate in whatever meeting this was.

Navi peeked in to determine what was going on. She found Saria sitting calmly on her bed, hands folded on her lap, as the Kokiri around her argued about what to do about this invasion. Mido was standing on one of the logs that acted as one of Saria's dining chairs, trying to make himself heard over his worried friends, doing a surprisingly good job of hiding his own fear as he tried to wrangle the others. Then again, perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising. For all his faults, Mido took his self proclaimed role as leader of the Kokiri seriously. She well remembered the future that would never be, when he had stood guard against the monsters that infested the forest, doing his best to protect his family.

"...is why we need to figure out where we could go that they couldn't find us before we try to hide." Mido was saying loudly, arguing against a group of Kokiri that wanted to run and hide, indicating he didn't disagree but wanted to plan.

"Do we really need to run?" One of the more timid Kokiri, Lato, asked nervously. "I mean, the Great Deku Tree-"

"Only sprouted a summer ago." Fado snapped, her blonde hair looking a bit disheveled from worry. "The forest has been healing, but I don't think he's strong enough to protect us directly if the enchantments that usually do it aren't working." It was obvious that her anger was born of fear, and Navi felt her chest tighten to see that fear mirrored in everyone else.

She turned her gaze back to Saria, who had her eyes closed and brows furrowed, likely trying to think of what she could do to protect her family beyond hope Link arrived quickly. Navi decided it was time to announce herself, quickly darting into the hut and making her way to the greenette.

Saria's normally silent fairy, Chime, noticed her first and quickly nudged her Kokiri, whispering in her ear. Saria's green eyes snapped open and rested on Navi, who had stopped in front of her, a relieved smile forming on her face, which quickly caught the attention of the others in the hut, prompting them to quickly fall quiet to find out what was going on.

"Navi, I'm glad you came." She said softly, relief obvious in her voice. "Is he here?"

"He should be entering the village right about now." Navi said reassuringly.

Saira's smile widened before she quickly got up and began walking to the door of her house, the Kokiri crammed inside of it making way for her as best they could before following behind her to see what she could possibly be talking about.

They found Link patting Epona affectionately as she drank from the stream that ran through the area, Nabooru by his side looking around with interest at the small village nobody had ever been known to have seen before. The Gerudo's attention was drawn when the mass of children approached, Saria at the forefront.

Saria honestly didn't seem to have even noticed Nabooru, her attention completely focused on Link. As she got closer she slowly increased her pace till she was running full tilt at her old friend. Link turned with a smile as she reached him, catching her when she threw her arms around his waist, burying her face against his stomach.

"...I missed you." She said into his tunic, voice slightly muffled as she hugged him tightly.

Link held his first friend close, hand caressing her head and fingers running through her hair soothingly. "I missed you too…" He said gently, a soft smile on his face.

Saria sniffed lightly before pulling back, wiping her eyes clear of the happy tears before she finally noticed Link's companion. "Nabooru! I didn't realize you'd be coming as well." Saria said, a bit embarrassed that she missed the redhead due to her focus on Link.

"Yeah, well someone needed to keep an eye on the big lug." Nabooru said with a smile as she approached, incredibly pleased to see her fellow Sage in person for the first time.

Mido apparently had enough of standing around and watching. "Saria, who are these big ones?" He asked as brusquely as he dared to the actual leader of the Kokiri.

Link turned his gaze from Saria to Mido, his soft smile not fading. "I'm surprised you don't recognize me, Mido." He said simply, waiting to see what Mido would say.

The last time he had met Mido as an adult, when he'd come in search of Saria and the Forest Temple, Link hadn't let Mido know who he was, and that had let him know the brash boy's true feelings, which he never would have verbalized otherwise.

Now, however, he couldn't afford to not make Mido, and by extension the other Kokiri, aware of who he was. He'd need their help if he wanted to fight off this invasion, and he wouldn't get it if they distrusted him for being an outsider.

It took Mido a moment for his brain to process the implications of that statement, but when it did the boy's jaw dropped as he stared at the Hylian man in shock. "...Link?"

The shock spread throughout the group of Kokiri for a moment before they reacted. "Link!" Multiple children cried as they pounced on their estranged brother, hugging, shaking and patting his (lower) back, all the while babbling about how much they'd missed him, and how tall he'd gotten, and who was the tall girl?

Link couldn't help but let out a laugh as he patted and hugged all of his old friends with a smile on his face and damp eyes. He really had missed the Kokiri, not truly realizing how much till just this moment.

Eventually Nabooru cleared her throat before speaking gently. "Much as I don't want to break up this reunion, we do have a situation we need to focus on."

Link cleared his eyes and nodded before focusing on Saria. "What do we know?"

Saria sighed. "Only what I've already told you. Invaders are burning a path through the woods without the enchantments affecting them. The fairies report a lot of metal, but I'm unsure if that means armored men or something else." She turned her gaze to Link. "Did you see anything on your way into the forest?"

Link shook his head as Nabooru spoke. "We stayed clear of the area the invaders are in. We were more focused on getting to you. We did see lots of controlled burning."

"They're still burning the forest down, controlled or not." Mido said with a scowl, apparently ignoring the revelation of Link's return to focus on the immediate problem, though he kept throwing glances at said adult. "We can't fight them, though. They've been cutting through any wolfos they come across, so we definitely don't have a chance."

Link was mildly surprised that Mido was being so pragmatic and honest about his capabilities, but the boy wouldn't endanger the rest of the Kokiri for the sake of bravado. Link had to admit Mido could be surprisingly brave, but for all of that he wasn't really a fighter or warrior outside of play.

Of course, the same could be said of Link before that fateful day.

"Our first step is reconnaissance, then." He said, already thinking about what the next steps should be, though his train of thought was derailed slightly by a confused Kokiri.

"What does re-cog-na-since mean?" Telo asked, his head cocking, his shaggy hair hiding his eyes.

Link blinked before huffing in amusement at the question and at himself for expecting them to know the term. "Information gathering."

"Oh…" Telo said slowly. "Why didn't you just say so?"

Nabooru hid her chuckle behind her hand before speaking. "Alright, then we should get moving so we can find out what's going on. We can report back once we've learned exactly what we're dealing with."

Link nodded and turned in the direction he estimated the enemy to be before beginning to walk. "Stay close."

The beautiful woman nodded and followed behind him, leaving the Kokiri behind, the children all watching as they left, Saria patting Epona gently as she did the same, her other hand clenched against her chest.

Nabooru and Link made quick time through the forest, the gerudo following close to Link, unwilling to risk getting separated in such a hostile and unfamiliar environment, a silent Navi the only real illumination. It seemed like they traveled for hours through the dark, silent forest, not hearing so much as a single cricket make a sound, but eventually the light of nearby fires began to illuminate through the trees. Link crouched slightly as he held up a hand, motioning for Nabooru to stop, which she immediately did. They then made their way forward slowly and methodically, keeping a low profile in order to avoid being spotted. Their purpose at the moment was simply information gathering, after all. Combat was a last resort at this stage.

Hearing movement over the crackling of the flames the two peered around a tree to get their first look at this new enemy. Nabooru felt her eyebrows rise in shock, though she managed to stay silent through application of her discipline as a thief. Navi wasn't quite so controlled, a soft 'what in the name of the gods…?' escaping her, though the likelihood of the fairy's near silent exclamation being heard over the ambient noise wasn't high.

It was Link's reaction that drew Nabooru's attention. The hand he had resting against the trunk of the tree they were hiding behind curled into a tightly clenched fist, shaking slightly with tension, and what she could see of his face showed shock and anger.

The things causing the damage through the forest couldn't possibly be alive. They were made up, from what she could tell, entirely of metal, with multiple spindly limbs that ended in blades, though each one had at least one that seemed to be a tube with a wide opening. The limbs were all attached to an oddly shaped box, covered in flowing lines and lenses that glowed an ominous violet, a few openings covered in metallic mesh scattered between the lights. They stood on another multitude of bladelike limbs, like an odd and lethal insect.

As the three watched one of the… things… approached an undamaged tree and pointed the opening of its tube at it, a stream of fire escaping it and setting the tree alight.

"What are they?" Nabooru asked Link quietly, as his reaction led her to believe he had a good idea.

The green clad warrior was silent for a moment before responding just as quietly. "Mekano Drones…"

Nabooru would have pressed him for more details but as soon as Link finished speaking someone else responded. "Indeed they are, whelp." A voice snarled, sounding like some beast attempting to make its growls sound comprehensible as language.

Nabooru whirled about to face the direction the voice came from, drawing her weapons as she did so, finding a being of a kind she'd never seen before standing there, poised low in preparation for an attack. She heard Link do the same, the familiar rasp of his blade leaving its sheathe ringing out in the forest.

The creature facing them appeared to be some sort of extremely large cat standing on its hind legs, like a feline version of a wolfos. Its fur was primarily orange, though it had white in several places, and multiple black stripes streaking along its fur. Intelligent blue eyes gazed at them hungrily from above its black and white muzzle.

It wore makeshift armor made of strips of some unknown leather, only covering key portions of its body, and held no weapon, though its large, sharp looking claws likely meant it didn't need any.

Link's eyes narrowed. "Sherka…"

The now named Sherka's mouth shifted into what Nabooru assumed was a smile as it locked its eyes on Link. "I had hoped you would come when I proposed to attack your old home." It snarled out, sounding amused.

Nabooru turned at the sound of movement around them, grimacing when a bunch of the metallic monstrosities surrounded them, the multitude of limbs raised in preparation to attack.

One of the lead drones stepped forward, the staticky voice of a child leaving the openings in its body. "Indeed, Sherka's plan is brilliant when backed by my creations. Either we would lure you here and away from protecting the leaders of Hyrule, or we would burn this forest to the ground, along with your people."

Link's eyes narrowed as he glared at the box the voice was coming from. "Dirolo…" He growled, sounding angrier than Navi or Nabooru had ever heard him. Then he turned to Navi. "Go to the castle. Warn them."

The fairy wavered. "But-"

"Go!" He shouted, Navi quickly flying away with an 'eep!', disappearing into the dense canopy in moments.

"It won't do them any good, Link." Sherka snarled as he stalked closer. "Not that you'll be in any position to care soon…"

Link and Nabooru placed themselves back to back, weapons at the ready as they glared defiantly at the many enemies, Link himself facing Sherka directly. The beastman snarled before letting out a roar, and as though that was a signal all chaos broke loose.

Finally done!

I've been struggling with this chapter for months. I wanted to have it out in time for Christmas, but that obviously didn't happen. And then I had to move, which didn't afford me any time to focus on much writing at all…

In any case, it's done, it's posted, and I can focus on other things.

Don't really have much more to say. I'll leave any details on the new villains for Link to eventually explain. I do hope you all end up liking what I came up with, though.

In any case, not much else to say, so I'll get to my usual final announcements.

I am always deeply grateful to those of you willing to toss a dollar or two my way just because you like my silly scribblings. I'm hoping I can continue counting on your generosity to ease the transition now that I'm jobless for the time being after moving, and likely will be for another month or so.

Of course, let us not forget that you do get something out of it. For each dollar that you donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a vote in my monthly update poll stating what you want to see updated next month. And if what you vote for doesn't win immediately, no worries! Non-winning votes roll over to the next poll, so a fic that only gets a vote a month will eventually win (though it might take a bit, to be brutally honest).

That said, if a fic hasn't won in a long time, I will take it off the poll and update it anyway. For example, that's why this fic was finally updated despite the issues it gave me.

So yes, donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a say in what I update. Everybody wins! So that's Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. The current poll ends on March 1st, so go make sure your votes are counted.

I think that's all I have to say. Thank you everybody once again for reading, I truly appreciate it, especially when you review. Till next time!