Hero's Helper

Ch. 5

Link walked back to the meadow of the now dead Great Deku Tree. Using the Kokiri Sword he picked up before leaving Gohma's room inside the massive tree, he did as the Tree instructed. He carved a shield out of the Great Deku Tree. Using some paint he had in his home he drew the image of the Kokiri Emerald in red.

"Link? Are you really going to leave?" One of the Kokiri asked as they saw their friend walking towards the exit.

"The Great Deku Tree asked me to take the Emerald to the Princess of Hyrule. I have to." Link said as Mido walked up to him, "Oh, Mido, here. This is yours isn't it?" Link the proceeded to hand him the Kokiri's Sword.

Mido only looked at it and turned around, "Take it, and don't ever come back!" Not hearing a reply, Mido spun around to look at Link only to see the boy's back getting smaller and smaller as he ran towards the exit.

Link ran towards the exit previously taken by his friend. A little more than halfway across the bridge a voice stopped him.

"You're leaving aren't you?"

Link turned to see Saria standing behind him, "Saria, I feel like I'm different..."

"Link..."

"But don't worry! The forest is my home!"

"..." she smiled at him, "Okay, here take these." She handed him two pink Ocarinas, "One for you and one for Mary-Eileen, I'm sure you'll see her again out there."

"Thank you. Don't worry, I'll find her!" Link took the pair of Ocarinas.

"Hey, before you go, I'll teach you my song, that way you'll never forget us, not that you would."

Together the pair played Saria's Song.

"I have to go now... bye." Link Turned and ran out the forest.

Once outside he turned a corner to find a huge field dotted here and there with trees, bushes and weird looking black stick bushes. There was the odd rock and fence here and there as well.

"Wow! It's so huge! Navi? How will we find the castle?" Link looked to his fairy partner.

"I'm not exactly sure... Let's climb up that hill to get a better view!"

Link proceeded to climb the nearest hill only to find that the field was even larger than they first thought.

"Oh man, what do we do now? It's so big..." Link looked in all directions to try find some sort of house like structure, "Let's go this way."

"Are you sure?" Navi fitted around his head.

"No, but it's better than just staying here. We have to find Mary-Eileen and the castle." Link proceeded to walk in a random direction down the hill.

The pair walked around the field for hours until it began to get dark.

"Link, we have to find a place to rest for the night."

"I know but where? We haven't seen anything to even suggest people live out here." Link told his fairy as he climbed on top pf another hill, "How many hills are out here?" Reaching the top of the current hill, Link sat down to catch his breath.

"Are you okay Link?"

"... yeah... I just... catch my breath..."

"... somewhere to rest... we have to find somewhere to rest..." Navi said nervously and began look in all directions, "Link! Look! Over there!"

"Huh? Where? Is it the Castle?" Link looked up to his fairy.

"No, but I see some smoke, and that means a fire. There isn't much so it's either a house or a campfire! Let's go!"

"Alright!" Link flew to his feet and followed the blue glowing ball with wings leading him to the smoke.

When the pair arrived there was a campfire, a couple logs and a little brown bag sitting next to one of the logs. The little campsite was next to a small groups of trees with a small pond next to it.

Link smelled something delicious, upon further inspection of the little camp he noticed what appeared to be a dead cuccoo cooking over the fire next an empty pot.

"...That smells so good!" Link walked over to the cooking bird.

"Link don't touch that! It's not yours!" Navi flew in front of his face in between of him and the still cooking meat.

"I know... but it smells so good... Hey! You think whoever is cooking this will share so-" Link was interrupted by a boot flying through the air and smacking him in the side of the face knocking him down on his rear end.

"Link are you-" Navi began

"Link?" This came from a small figure emerging from the trees.

"Huh? That voice..." Link looked up cradling the new lump forming on his face to see a girl around his age with dark brown hair and eyes, wearing green clothes, a matching floppy hat and missing a boot, ""Mary-Eileen! You're safe!"

"Link?" She walked up to Link who was still sitting. As Link climbed to his feet he was soon kicked back down by her.

"Wha-"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Kokiri aren't supposed to leave the forest! Are you MAD? You'll DIE! Get you butt back to the forest! NOW!"

"Mary-Eile-" He was cut off as she took her other boot off and hit him point blank in the forehead knocking him on his back, "... oww... that hurt... "

"Now get back to the forest, because if a monster doesn't kill you I will!"

"How dare you! Link was worried about you!" Navi flew into her face to try get her to back off.

"Shut up you! Or I'll put you in a bottle and throw you in the Lake!"

The pair's yelling match was interrupted by hysterical laughter coming from Link.

"You're still the same." Link said sitting up looking at Mary-Eileen who had a perplexed look on her face, "I mean I was worried after what Mido said that when I found you, you'd be a different person." Mary-Eileen's fury soon turned to a slight blush.

"Crap, you know I hate it when you do that... you know, stop me when I'm really angry at you. I'm mad for a reason." She went and sat down on the log with the little bag next to it.

"Heh heh, yup, still the same." Link got up and sat down next to her with a big smile on his face, "So, this is your campsite huh?"

"Yup."

"And your cuccoo cooking?"

"Yup."

"..."

"You want some don't you?"

"... yup..."

"Then have some..." Link got up to grab a piece, "Once it's done cooking, that is. If you eat it now you'll get food poisoning and you might die a very painful death."

Link sat back down, "...so... what's the pot for?"

"Oh, I was going to boil water in it, but I decided not to." She then picked up the pot and the little bag and proceeded to stuff the pot inside. At first it didn't look like it would fit as the handle was too long, but it just kept going in until it was gone.

"... let me look at that bag for a minute." She looked at him and handed the bag to him. Link looked inside but when he opened it he saw nothing, no pot inside. Nothing. Just an empty little brown bag, "What?"

"Confused? Here let me explain." She took the bag back from Link, "It's like a huge storage trunk. Except in bag form and it can hold almost anything. It can't hold anything alive for too long. I'm not sure how long because I don't much like killing. It's really useful."

"If you don't like killing there where did you get the cuccoo from?" Navi finally opened her mouth after being yelled at.

"The bag of course."

"What? But is it even good anymore?"

"Yup. Time doesn't really pass in there, that's why no living things can go in there for too long. My Mom told me to put the raw cuccoo in my bag because she didn't want it to go bad. We weren't done shopping and it was the last one left so she bought it before anyone else could." She looked at Link who was speechless, "I was hungry and looked inside it to see if I had any food inside and found the raw cuccoo. So I started cooking it. Then I got thirsty and thought about boiling any water I found, took out the pot and went to find water. The water was fresh so I decided I didn't need to boil it, drank some came back to find someone trying to eat my cuccoo, threw my boot and found out it was you."

"... your Mom?" Link asked quietly.

"Yeah, it was the day I... well you know..."

"Know what?" Navi was confused, as she just met Link and Mary-Eileen the pervious night.

"Well Navi... you see..." Link began but stopped to look at Mary-Eileen who did not even bother to look at either of them, preferring to stare blankly at the fire, "Mary-"

"The cuccoo is done."

"Wait. What? Link what is going on?" Navi was still confused.

"It was the day my village was attacked and I was almost captured."