The other Kokiri children oohed and ahhed as I brought little Link through the forest to my home. The female Kokiri squealed and leaned into Link's face to coo and make baby talk. The male Kokiri rejoiced that they would soon have someone else to wrestle and box with. The other female Kokiri and I rolled our eyes and exchanged glances that said, 'Yes indeed. Boys will truly be boys.'
Goddesses, how time raced by.
I met his needs whenever it was called for, and soon he was no longer a baby but a toddler, then from a toddler into middle childhood. One day, we celebrated his ninth birthday. That was the first time I cried. I looked at him across piles of the Great Deku Tree's fruit and through dancing children and I saw how he had grown. All the Kokiri children had stayed the same including myself, but he had grown and would continue to grow.
There was something in my heart that had nagged me from the day I took him into my home. If Link continues to grow, then one day, he will leave the forest. He was an outsider when he came in, and he is destined to explore the land of his birth. He will leave one day. But I never told him he was not a Kokiri. That would not have been my place.
But this knowledge pierced me to the core of my heart. Link had rooted himself into me, and the mere thought of him leaving one day made me cry even on the sunniest spring day. I loved him, mostly because I had taken care of him so much as a young child, but increasingly more because…well…he looked as though the Goddesses had personally fashioned him. I was a girl, it was natural for me to notice such things as this. When we touched, my back grew hot. When we spoke, I often stumbled.
I know now that many people call this confusing group of emotions "first love pangs". I'll agree with that. Link was a handsome child to look at, and he had stolen my heart. Apparently he had also stolen most of the Kokiri females' hearts' as well, but he only returned affection (albeit the way most boys do when they "crush" on a girl) to me. He played with the other girls, but he liked me. I could see it in his eyes.
Link was such a quiet spirit. While he enjoyed rough-housing with his male friends, he tended to be on the shy side and blanched white as Maeve's fairy whenever he accidentally offended or injured someone. He never imposed on anyone, rarely asked for favors, but he had a courageous side that often unnerved us all. Once, a rabid Gohma wandered into our forest, and without a second thought, he ran straight up to it and began beating it with a large stick. The Great Deku Tree quickly sent power to kill the little beast, but not before Link had badly injured it. The girls swooned all over him after that. And I'll admit that I too fell a little harder for him. Mido, the self-titled leader of the Kokiri, couldn't stand the attention being given to Link, but there wasn't anything he could really do. Just make Link's life a little more miserable.
Link now had his own house, and when he wasn't playing with us, avoiding Mido, or talking with me, he often slept.
One morning, I climbed up the ladder to his tree home and peeked into his tiny room. There in the back of the house, Link lay on his bed, but he was thrashing. I put aside all manners and just ran in to try ease his agitation.
I put my hands on his shoulder and hip. I remember how dumbstruck I felt when I touched his sweat-soaked clothes. Link's delicate eyelids fluttered in his sleep, and I could see through the eyelids at his wildly roving eyes. Something was wrong here.
The forest was supposed to offer protection against nightmares, Kokiri or no. For Link to have what was obviously a nightmare meant that shield was either wavering or no longer present. Something was very wrong here.
I decided to wake Link and try to break the dream. I shook him, gently at first and then not so gently. "Link, Link, wake up! Answer me!" He opened his eyes, and there were tears in them. "Whatever happened?" I asked urgently. Link shook his head, buried face into his pillow, and sobbed as though world were ending that very morning. O Goddesses above, help me. Something's wrong and Link is receiving that wrongness through his dreams…
I crawled into bed beside him and held him tightly. He laid his head on my chest, much like he did when he was still a tiny babe. How he shivered! Link continued to sob, but more quietly this time. "What can I do?" He asked me brokenly. "I don't know." I answered. I held his head to my neck and laid my cheek on his golden hair. Why Link? Why, of all the children in this Forest, would something like this happen to him? Was it because he was an outsider? All he needed was friendship and shelter, did this wrongness begrudge him that?
"Link, can you try to go back to sleep?" I whispered. "I'm going to talk to the Great Deku Tree and see what he thinks is happening." I felt him nod on my chest. I pulled the thick blanket over us and sang my special song until his eyes drooped shut again.
I made that song when Link first came into my home. Back then, I often pulled out my favorite musical instrument, a little wooden thing called an ocarina, and played until my fingers were sore from plugging up the various musical holes. Baby Link flapped his arms happily as I played a fast bolero, then gazed in wonder as I played a mournful serenade. But he sighed in real contentment as I played a song of my own making. It was a beautiful song that I had composed during my wanderings in the Lost Woods. The sounds of the forest lent themselves into my song, and I received my inspiration from them. The more I played it, the more…power…it seemed to have.
Link was finally in a deep sleep. I got up carefully, making sure not to stir him as best as I could. I tucked my side of the blanket underneath him so as to keep him warm. I stood back and gazed at my friend. There was such love in my heart for him, both in friendship and in something a little more. There's that 'first love pang' again. I admired his back that rose and fell with his breath. The sweet face that was cushioned in the pillow couldn't have been more beautiful.
There was nothing I wanted more than to get back into bed with him and kiss him on the lips with all my might. My heart beat painfully in my ribcage, and I forced my feet to turn and do as I had promised Link. I'm not sure if he would have appreciated some of my thoughts concerning he and I, but who knows. He might have been quite pleased and even encouraged the visions. To a certain extent, I believe that he had already.
With my firmly mission in mind, I ran to the Great Deku Tree's meadow. The Great Tree knew I was coming before I had set out from Link's house though, and He welcomed me warmly when I arrived, out of breath. I smiled and returned the welcome. The thoughts of Link had decorated my face in two bright pink spots on my cheeks. I held my hands up and felt the heat emanating from them. I know this did not escape the Great Tree's attention, though he didn't say anything at the time.
"My child, I see there is distress in your eyes. What has come to pass?"
"Link's been having nightmares." I needn't have said anymore.
The Great Deku Tree sighed a pained sigh and the whole of him shivered. "I know. Then it is almost time."
"Almost time for what?" I asked. I already knew the answer and I was afraid to hear it spoken aloud.
"It's almost time for him to set out from the Forest." I could only plop down in the soft grass in an overwhelmed state of grief.
"Great Deku Tree, forgive my selfishness please, but why must he leave?" I cried.
"Sweet Saria, Link has been destined from birth to purge the world, including this Forest of evil. That was what he was created for, and the Forest isn't the only place where evil is starting to grow. Thus, he must leave here to save other places from evil. It pains me also to see him prepare to go. I too have come to love him dearly, but not as much, I think, as you've come to love him. And not quite in the same fashion, am I correct?" He ended so gently, I couldn't help but look him in the eyes, smile and say, "You're right."
He smiled as well, making me blush harder than I ever have in my whole life. He saw right through me. His invisible gaze into my soul got uncomfortable, and I tried to change the subject.
"Is Link's fairy almost ready to be born?"
"Yes, she is."
"Do you know how much longer?"
"In a short amount of time. For Link to have nightmares this early means that his departure from the Forest will also come earlier than I expected. He will need his fairy companion soon. Would you like to see her?"
I grinned and nodded. I ran to the sacred bark of the Great Deku Tree and climbed up to his lower branches. He parted the leaves for me to see my way up. About midway through, I saw a glowing nest. I looked closer, and saw a tiny body and two pairs of wings that were dripping wet. She had just been born! She was so new that she hadn't achieved her glow yet, and her head was cradled in her hands as she slept. I soaked in the scene and then reluctantly climbed back down, grateful for such a wonderful opportunity. I knew how much he had always wanted to be like me and the other Kokiri children in having a fairy of his own.
"She's beautiful!" I exclaimed when I came to stand in front of the Great Deku Tree once again.
"Isn't she?" He answered with a rare show of pride. "She shall be called Navi."
Navi. It was perfect.
"My greatest thanks for allowing me this moment, Great Deku Tree!" I said as reverently and joyfully as I felt.
"I take delight in the joy of my Children, dear one, and especially in you. But I have something to tell you."
I sat down again. There was more?
"Just as Link has a special destiny, so do you. In fact, your destiny is entwined with a part of his."
I breathed out hard as I took this in. "Will I leave the Forest as well?"
"No. Your physical body will not."
My physical body will not? "What do you mean, Great Deku Tree?"
"You are to become the Sage of the Forest Temple. Through your death in a time to come later, you will open the way further to aiding Link in purging evil from our world."
My eyes involuntarily filled with tears. I was to…die? "What does it feel like to die?" I asked.
"It depends on the manner of your death."
"And…how…will I die?"
The Great Deku Tree was silent for a time.
"You will hurt. But you will hurt only for a short while. And then you will be greatly comforted after your death. You will sleep until the Hero of All Time comes to awaken you."
The Hero of All Time? That sounded oddly familiar to me for some reason. Or maybe it was just my imagination…
"Who is the Hero of All Time, Great Deku Tree?"
"He is the only one who can fully purge evil from our world. He will work in conjunction with Seven Sages, of which you are to be one, and he will also achieve victory alongside the Princess of Destiny."
My head was spinning. I felt the need to lie down and sleep for a good while. Then wake up and clear my head further with my ocarina music. This was too much to handle all at once.
"My precious child, I have overburdened you. I deeply apologize. Please, go in peace, and do not concern yourself with the future. You will grow the character traits it will take to handle your future and Link's, so do not worry."
As he spoke, a blanket of quiet settled on my mind, banishing my wild thoughts. I heard myself say good-bye to the Great Deku Tree, and then went back to the Kokiri Village.