Title: Shooting Star
Author: Aries28
Genre: Drama/Tragedy
Rating: T
Summary: She knew it would happen someday, but that didn't mean she was ready for it.

She hadn't been able to believe it. It had been sudden, but sudden had almost been expected, what with the way Link lived, going from one death-defying adventure to the next. Still, she hadn't been ready.

She hadn't believed it when the messenger had come from the royal palace to inform her. She hadn't believed it when she'd met the other sages in the Sanctuary of Light, and all of them had the same miserable look on their faces. She hadn't believed it when Zelda welcomed them to the palace, the entire place draped in black, the royal flag at half-mast. She hadn't believed it when that same Queen of Hyrule made a big speech, or when she'd thrown the first handful of earth over a casket that they'd all known to be empty—he'd been too far away to bring back here.

She didn't believe it even now, and that's why she hadn't cried, not once. Everyone was so ridiculously cautious when they spoke to her. She wanted to tell them all to wipe the frowns off their faces, to get rid of all the ludicrous black hangings, and to stop treating her like she was made of glass. He wasn't dead. There was no way to be sure, anyhow, he was so far away right now. But he'd be back. He was sometimes gone for really long periods of time, but he always came back. This is where he grew up after all.

All the ceremonies were over now. Saria had been the first to leave Hyrule's capital and go back home. The others had been worried about her, particularly Nabooru, to whom she had confided her fears so long ago. But there was really nothing to worry about; she couldn't grieve, because he wasn't dead.

It was a relief to be back in the Kokiri Forest. None of the other Kokiri ever talked about Link, most because they honestly didn't remember him. The one person that did would never mention him because he saw the man as his rival, romantically and otherwise. So Saria just went back to her normal life, watching over the other Kokiri, playing music with the skullkids, keeping an eye on the Forest Temple. Almost a full month went by before the Deku Tree called her.

"Saria, doest thou know why I have called thee here?"

She shook her head, "No, Great Deku Tree."

He moved his branches unbelievingly (Saria was well-versed by now in tree-speak), "Truly?"

"Is it . . ." her voice trembled, "About . . . .Link?"

His leaves moved in a quiet affirmation. Saria let loose a broken sob, falling to the ground, holding her arms to her as though she would break apart.

"NO! He's not . . .He isn't . . .!"

"Saria, I understand that it is difficult to—"

"He's not, he's . . .how do you know, anyway? He's not really one of your children! You're not connected to him like you are to us! You don't know!"

He waited for her to finish her outburst, and calmly continued, "But Navi does, Saria. He's gone."

Saria, feeling incapable of even standing, drug herself to one of the Great Deku Tree's roots, holding on desperately, letting her tears soak into his rough bark. He was gone. The boy who had been her son, her brother, her playmate, and her first crush, killed on some foreign shore, far from home. Far from his mother/sister/friend, who would have held him, and brushed his hair out of his face, just as she'd done when he ate too many berries and made himself sick (he did it at least once every summer, seeming to forget the illness of the year before).

They were supposed to have years left. He'd gotten his first gray hair only about a year before, the last time he'd visited them. It had been a cause of great mirth for those that shared his mortality; Zelda and Nabooru had laughed and called him an old man. Saria had felt a tremendous sinking in her stomach at seeing that one gray hair standing out against the brown of his gloves. But one gray hair didn't mean old age—they still had time.

Why had he gotten killed this time, when he'd been through so much else? Were the reaction times slower now? Had it been that shoulder (it had given him trouble ever since that one ill-aimed swing with the hookshot)? What had it been that had taken him away from her, long before his time?

If the Great Deku Tree said anything, she didn't listen. Leiko, her fairy, was blessedly silent as well. They simply allowed her to cry. And cry. And cry. It felt like her entire body was just made out of water. She lost track of the time, but she kept sobbing until her throat was too sore to cry anymore, until her arms just hung on the large root out of habit, and she fell, boneless, across it.

She didn't remember how she got to bed that night, only that as she lie there, feeling just too distant and tired to handle the overwhelming grief that had stuck her in the Great Deku Tree's meadow, she remembered Zelda's speech, a speech that she thought she hadn't even bothered to listen too.

"Link was our guiding star. No matter what the trial, he always shone so bright, for the rest of us to follow. Not only did he show his own light to us, but he encouraged our lights to burn brighter as well. Perhaps he knew, somehow, that he wouldn't always be here to guide us. You were our shooting star, carrying all our hopes and dreams with you. I will not say "farewell," I will only say, "Until we meet again." That's when she'd thrown the first handful of earth over that empty coffin.

She'd always had her doubts, over whether or not any of them had been fair to Link, asking him to do so much. He'd never complained, but she'd seen the weariness in him. Just a smile from him had been enough to make her forget her own worries as the Sage of Forest, and the ever-increasing time between his visits. Had there ever been anyone who did that for him? But he'd loved them; of that she was certain. And he'd loved life, despite what it threw at him. Feeling a preternatural sense of calm, she walked over to her window and picked out the Northern Star, winking down at her. She smiled.

"Until we meet again, Shooting Star."

In Memory of Jim Liu
1986-2006