Chapter 10—Kokiri Again

"My lord?"

Paris breathed a sigh of relief. The man was obviously a messenger, and if he'd been anywhere near the light from the council's meeting—which he doubtless had been, otherwise he would not be there—he wouldn't be able to see anything in the dark interior.

"What?" Paris demanded sharply.

"The Count wishing your presence at the meeting." he said with a slight accent.

Paris refused to leave. "Tell his lordship I am sleeping, as I was doing before you woke me. Now be gone." The man fled at his sharp tone, dropping the tent cover behind him to flee at a run.

"Are you angry?" Savannah asked into the quiet.

"No, love… I only wanted to stay with you."

She wiggled closer to him, laying her head on his chest. "I want to stay with you, too."

He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his hand up and down her back. They were quiet for a long moment. He didn't want to let go, wanted these moments to last forever, but with each passing moment, his conscious became stronger, more forceful until he couldn't put it off any longer.

"Savannah?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you…do you ever wish you were Kokiri again?"

She raised up on her elbows to look down at him, her hair falling around them. "What do you mean, Kokiri again?"

He sighed, loath to let her go. "If there was a way to reverse what the Gerudo did to you, to make you a Kokiri child again, would you take it?"

"Of course," she answered instantly, but then when he saw her eyes change, he knew his face showed his emotions.

"Oh, Paris, I wouldn't leave you for the world."

He turned his head away, "I am Hylian, Savannah. I am not Kokiri as you are. If you take the potion, we cannot be together."

Her eyes searched his face. "Potion. You have a reversal potion?"

"I sent to the court wizard. It's not right, what they did to you, Savannah. I want you to be able to go back, if it's what you want."

Her eyes filled with tears then, and they leaked out. It was the first time he'd ever seen her cry and it ripped at him. He second guessed himself, maybe he'd been wrong. How could he cause her pain? What kind of uncaring fool was he? No, he chased the doubt away quickly, before it could take roots too deep. She deserved the right to choose.

She sat up completely and turned away from him. "You ask me to choose? My heritage or you."

He touched her shoulder as he sat up beside her, trying to offer comfort.

"How could you ask such of me?"

She wept. To have her life back, to belong like she did before, to frolic and play and not know worry or concern. The have the carefree life she wanted so much back, to smite the Gerudo by taking away their precious weapon. It was what she wanted above all else. Needed. It was the one thing she lived for.

But Paris. She loved him; there was no denying that. But what would they have together? She would have to go with him, be branded a traitor by the Gerudo. She would never fit in anywhere he would call home or elsewhere, she would always be the object of hidden whispers, ignored and ridiculed. She was a half-breed, with blood black hair. What would their children look like? What kind of life would she lead? Could she bear to humiliate him by her being with him?

Her heart clenched and she felt sick. But all she did was weep, silently, she let the tears flow. Tears for the loss of her brothers and sisters, tears for the fear when the potion had transformed her, tears for being degraded and ignored, tears for the gory pain of training, tears for her broken heart, tears for Paris and tears for joy. She cried them all and more.

Her decision was painful, but in the end, there really was no choice left to her. She had to go back. She had to become Kokiri again. The Forest called to her still, her first lover, always unforgettable.

She took a deep breath to stab off the tears. "I have to go back."

Paris closed his eyes and clenched his teeth together to keep from crying. The tears were fresh and numerous and keeping them in was a battle. He would not be so selfish; he would not keep her from what she wanted.

"When you love someone, Paris, you must love them enough to let them go." His mother had said that to him, when she'd been lying in her bed, dying. It was the last thing she'd said to him before the breath had left her lungs and her chest had fallen for the last time. He loved Savannah enough to let her go, to let her choice her way, but it would likely kill him.

So be it. This was what she wanted. He would give it to her.

But he could not keep the tears inside. He took too deep a breath to steady himself and it had the opposite effect. He sobbed into her arms, not saying anything.

He was numb when his tears ran out.

"I will take you back to the Forest," he said. The voice wasn't his.

They dressed without light, by touch. Outside the camp was quiet, everyone asleep, but even if they'd all been up, Paris would have just walked right out, his hand cradling Savannah's. Such was the extent the world touched him—not at all. He mounted Heath and she behind him, and they rode out toward Kokiri Forest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder.

They reached the Forest too soon. Paris wanted to ride away from her home, kidnap her like a pirate, take her away. But no. Outside the forest, they dismounted. Paris turned his back to her and pulled the potion from the saddlebag, then held it out to her. She took it gingerly, looking at the crystal blue glass as it shimmered in the moonlight.

"Kiss me," he asked. She looked up to him. "one last time."

She did. She put all of her love for him into her kiss. It was a tender goodbye, but a good-bye nonetheless. Not a see-you-later, not a we'll-meet-again. A good-bye.

She pulled the cork from the bottle and tossed her head back, gulping down the liquid. It tasted fowl, though she could tell the magician had tried to sweeten it with cinnamon.

It started slowly. For a moment, Paris dared hope that it wouldn't work. But it did. Words could not describe the happening. It simply did. Paris watched, horrified and fascinated all at once.

When Savannah stood again, her clothes were too big, falling off of her. She did not look at Paris. She had only eyes for her Forest. She gave some kind of startled cry, somewhere between rapture and surprise, then she ran into the woods, laughing and giggling.

Watching her go let panic loose in his heart and he raced after her, into the heart of the forest where the Kokiri lived. He stopped, hidden and watched as those who were awake gathered around her.

"Wren's back! Wren's back!" Others crawled from their homes and soon the place was alive and merry. Wren was home. Savannah was hugging and laughing with them all, but she stopped, and they stopped, when a young boy came toward them slowly. He looked like he didn't believe his eyes.

"Roarke!" Savannah screamed the boy's name and ran to him. Roarke caught her, and he started to cry, mumbling something to her.

Paris cried too. He didn't want to watch anymore, but he couldn't move either. Long after all of the Kokiri had vanished from his sight, and gone back to bed, he was still there. Broken beyond repair.

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I am so frustrated with Savannah. I knew all along she would go back, but I did not anticipate how deeply in love they would fall. I struggled all while writing this chapter, through tears, to find some way for them to be together—maybe Paris could kidnap her before he gives her the potion, maybe the potion does not work, anything! But in the end, she returned; she was wronged and did have the right to go back. But, to leave Paris like that... I've decided that there most likely will be a sequel; I'm not an author to leave her characters in pain. I just cannot do it. If you would like to me notified you when the sequel is posted, please PM me, and I'll let you know.

The next chapter is the last for this part of the story.

TheFireSage, yes, Paris still loves her. He's such a good-guy, really. And honestly, she didn't know it was his brother. That doesn't change the fact that she killed, but... Thank you for your review.

Thawn716, thank you for your review, too. I admit that the confrontation between the Hylians and the Gerudos was not the best; it was kinda supposed to be hard to read. It was defiantly hard to write.