The sun rose on a forest full of trees whose leaves where just beginning to return after a cold winter. The temperature was surprisingly warm for early spring. In a small clearing, a young Terminian girl slept. She had long red-violet hair that was partially pulled up into two buns, and was sensibly dressed in a purple wool tunic over a white shirt. Thick leather gloves hinted at her profession, as did the quarrel-- currently empty of arrows-- that was strapped to her waist.
She slowly opened her violet eyes. Where was she? This wasn't her home. Normally from her bed she could see the cracks in the walls that resembled a mouse, or, on the other side, her father's keaton mask hanging on the wall. She heard a small rustle behind her, like someone changing position. She sat up.
"Wah!" There was a person sitting cross-legged there, about her age, probably male with white hair that was pulled into a small ponytail. The lower half of his face was obscured with a black cloth mask, and he was similarly dressed in black, with strange eye markings on the backs of his gloves.
"Who are you?" She gasped, fumbling for her bow, and realizing it was not strapped to her back as normal. Her memory began to return and she groaned, realizing she had left it at home when she and Jimmi had gone to the beach. She considered the frightening stranger. From the way his mask moved she thought maybe he smiled.
"My name is Dar. Are you a wizard?"
"Um. No. My name is Katonju." The refreshing thing about talking to someone who hadn't known her whole life was that he made no crack about her how her name was a scrambling of her parents'. He just nodded.
"Then you do not know who or what made that purple light?"
She gasped, remembering. "No! What was that?"
"Some kind of portal." Dar looked around. "I can't get rid of this hunch I have that I've been here before." He stood up.
Katonju too got to her feet, brushing dirt off her skirt. Sleeping in her clothes--not to mention her boots-- was not necessarily a fun experience. She stretched, feeling the bones in her back pop. By the time she was done, the stranger--Dar, that was his name-- had vanished. "Hey! Where did you go?"
"Over here." She turned. He was examining something she hadn't seen before; an old tree that looked like it had been there for hundreds of years. There were no leaves, and it was quite short; it was basically a hunk of wood twice as tall as they were and about fifteen feet in diameter. There seemed to be a ramp of sorts wrapped around the outside, and the bark near the top was discolored, a bit paler than the rest. She followed him, no longer afraid of this stranger, around to the other side.
"Whoa! It's kinda like a club house!" There was a door cut out of the wall, seemingly made for someone smaller than them. Their heads practically brushed it as they entered. Dar seemed to be muttering something.
"There is no way. I mean, we went there like last year. This kind of thing should take years..."
"It is just like a club house!" Katonju was delighted. "Look! There's a tiny bed, just the right size for a kid!"
"It's not a club house." Dar turned around. His eyes were wide in shock. "This house belonged to the Sage of Forest, Sarai. But the surrounding area is so overgrown! We used to accompany the King and Queen to Kokiri Village! It looked nothing like this!" He left the house, shaking his head. "But... "Katonju followed him. He was staring up at a tree house that had half fallen down. Katonju traced the drawings on one of the raised roots with her finger, wondering what child had carved them and when. "Dar, maybe you're confused."
"Or maybe I wasn't taken from my world... just from my time!"
The Deku boy wandered through the forest. He had never seen so many trees in one place before, growing up in Clock Town. Once, he had gone to the swamp, but those trees were different, more angular. He picked up a small piece of wood, rubbing it with his stubby gloved fingers, surprised at how much detail he could see and feel. It seemed to him that since entering this world, his senses of sight and touch had gotten stronger. The smell of smoke entered his tube like mouth/nose. He looked up, and saw a small house by the side of a dirt path, the path running perpendicular to the trail he had taken up till now. He dropped the fragment of wood and straightened his hat. Then he pulled himself to his respectable height of three-five and entered.
There was a thin redheaded boy, maybe ten years old, at the counter. Dar could see this was an inn. The boy took one look at the Deku boy and turned and hollered up the stairs: "Moooooooooooooom! Customers!" A woman, as redheaded as the boy but with a lot more freckles, hobbled into the room, the cause being a small girl--blonde, surprising after the woman and the boy-- sitting on her foot with both arms wrapped around her leg. The Deku boy looked at her in surprise. He hadn't noticed with the children, but he could tell the woman's clothing was very old fashioned. She wore a knee length tunic on over puffy breeches that reached her ankles. A checkered red and white apron was tied around her waist in a huge bow.
"Hello Ma'am," He said, pulling at the brim of his cap in his best manners. "I'm a Deku."
"I can see that. What's your name?" She was friendly but distracted as she knelt to disentangle the blonde child from her leg. "Now Merry, you need to let go of Mommy's leg, ok? Mommy can't work when you hold on like that." The little girl looked up at her and nodded once, solemnly, her little pigtails bobbing. Then she let go and went and sat on her brother's foot.
"MOM!! Merry's sittin' on me!" He yelled.
"Yes, hon, I can see that." She turned back to the Deku boy, who was watching, amused. "Sorry, I didn't catch that. Your name?"
"I don't have one." For a moment all three were silent. Then, just as the Deku boy was about to run, ashamed of disturbing their happy family life, the woman said:
"That's silly. You should. Mine is Joy. My daughter is Mercy, but we tend to call her Merry. The boy is January."
Deku boy looked Joy, confused. What did she want him to do? After a moment, Joy smiled. "Tell you what. If you pick a name and tell us your story, I'll give you food an' boardin for three days. Deal?"
She was so generous. She was more than generous. Deku boy was nearly in tears. He looked around, wondering what name he should choose. Traditionally, his kind was named after their professions: Trader, Butler, King. What was he? Nothing wasn't a name. Neither was Thief. Finally, he picked an item in the room and shouted it out. "Coat rack! I'll be Coat rack."
"Perfect. You're as thin as one and made of wood. I always say a name should describe something about the person, right Merry?" Merry nodded again. Deku boy... No, Coat rack... had yet to see her smile.