It was the middle of the night, yet the Great Deku Tree was awake. With the war raging outside the forest, looming ever closer, peaceful sleep seemed to be a thing of the past. There hadn't been such darkness in Hyrule since he had been but a sprout, and back then, Link had saved them all. There was no Link anymore. His child was lost to him forever, and perhaps more importantly for the rest of the Kingdom, there was no one to save Hyrule.

Being awake, he heard the hurried footsteps and the panting, along with a fairy's voice urging its kokiri partner to calm down and go back to bed.

He recognized the voice: Pip. Fado's fairy.

The Forest Spirit known as the Great Deku Tree rustled. Perhaps there was hope after all, even if it was once again the most painful kind of hope.

Fado stopped in front of the Great Deku Tree, bent in two, gulping air into a burning chest. Pip flittered about, tutting. Fado's pigtails were limp, wet with sweat.

"Hello, Fado."

Fado looked up. "He… hello gr… Great De… Deku Tree."

"Fado won't go back to bed!" Pip complained.

Fado swallowed. "I had a dream." Another gulp of air. "The Woods were burning!"

The Great Deku Tree hummed. "The smell of smoke has been getting stronger, hasn't it?"

"And… and then there was water," Fado said.

Fado's arms wrapped around the Kokiri's torso in a hug. "Lots and lots of water. We… everyone drowned."

Fado suddenly broke down in sobs. "I don't want everyone to drown! I don't always like the others, but..."

"But you love them," the Great Deku Tree prompted. "Of course you do. You have a good heart, Fado. Even when others can't see it."

Fado nodded and swallowed.

Pip bumped affectionately against her charge's face. "It was just a dream, Fado!" the fairy said gently.

"I'm afraid not," the Great Deku Tree said.

Both Kokiri and fairy gasped, staring at him.

"This was no ordinary dream," the Great Deku Tree continued. "I would know… I've had the same one the last time I slept."

Fado's eyes were wide. "But… the woods! They can't… they can't burn! And everyone…! Great Deku Tree, NO!"

The kokiri's voice had risen on every word until the last no was a screech. It was followed by renewed sobs, this time frantic and angry.

"Go get your brothers and sisters," the Tree said. "Pip, help. It's time I tell all of you what happens next."

It wasn't long before the Great Deku Tree's clearing was filled with all his children, the Kokiri and their guardian fairies.

"My dear children," the Great Deku Tree said. "It is time to prepare for a change. Fado and I have both been visited by the same vision."

There were a few mutters of "Fado the weirdo" from the crowd of Forest Children. Fado huffed and turned resolutely towards the Great Deku Tree, back turned to the crowd and nose lifted in obvious disdain.

The Great Deku Tree let it pass.

"You've probably all noticed the smoke just outside our woods," he continued. "There is war in Hyrule. Ganondorf is back, and intent on destroying everything to rule over the ruins of the Kingdom."

The announcement was greeted by head tilts and confused faces. The Kokiri had no memory of previous war against Ganondorf Dragmire. Most of them had been alive at the time, but one of the corollaries of the Great Deku Tree's children never growing up was that they could not accumulate wisdom. Their long term memory was therefore very limited. As broken hearted as he had been to lose Saria, Mido had completely forgotten her a mere decade later, and none of the other remembered that time any better. That had been several more decades ago: it may as well have happened on another planet as far as the Kokiri were concerned.

"Suffice it to say that he is an Evil King, someone to be feared," the Tree explained. "Fado and I saw fire engulfing the woods… this part is unfortunately easy to interpret. The fires of war will reach us and the Lost Woods. We are in danger."

There were gasps, and whimpers. The Great Deku Tree forced himself to ignore them and continue. He could not save them if he was too busy comforting them. Let them be afraid – they had every right to be.

"In our vision, the fire is followed by water… water enough to drown the entire world. I've thought long and hard about this, and I have concluded that divine intervention is at play here. There will be no other way to stop Ganondorf, and therefore the Gods will flood Hyrule along with him."

Pandemonium followed.

It was some time before everyone was calm enough again for the Great Deku Tree to explain what happened next. And once he had, once he had told everyone that their home and himself would rise above the waves, and that he would change them to ensure they could survive in a World covered in water with very little forest to hide or sustain them, Fado raised a hand.

"Great Deku Tree?"

"Yes, Fado?"

"What about the Lost Woods? You said you were going to save our homes, and right here, but what about the Lost Woods?"

"I cannot save them," the Great Deku Tree admitted. "The Lost Woods will be lost. Nothing we can do can change that."

Fado's fists clenched. "That's not RIGHT."

"No," the Tree agreed. "It's not."

"We don't remember stuff," Fado added. "Not for long. We never do. None of us can remember anything from more than several summers ago. And when we don't remember the Lost Woods anymore, nobody will!"

The Great Deku Tree admitted that this was indeed the case.

"NO," Fado said. "NO! That's not RIGHT! What about their magic? Wait." The small Kokiri suddenly looked horrified. "Don't you need their magic?"

The Great Deku Tree sighed. Thankfully, the rest of the Kokiri were not in the habit of paying attention to Fado and were chatting amongst themselves.

"I do," the Tree admitted in a soft voice. "That is the other reason for changing you into Koroks… I will live long enough to ensure you can survive without me, but without the Lost Woods, I will eventually fade away. It won't be for a long time, but it will happen."

"No," Fado said. "NO, NO, NO! That's… that is NOT RIGHT!"

The Great Deku Tree wasn't sure what to answer, how to comfort his child, until the medallion appeared in front of Fado. Fado was shocked still by it, and the glow attracted the attention of the others. The Tree just sighed.

The medallion glowed brighter and brighter until it shot right at Fado and vanished, seemingly merging with the new Sage.

Fado's eyes were wide, but the Kokiri's anger and despair were gone.

"Fado?" Pip asked. "Are… are you okay?"

Fado nodded slowly then turned back to the Great Deku Tree. "I can save the magic, and the memory."

The Great Deku Tree sighed. "Yes, but…"

"I need to stay behind."

"Yes."

Fado nodded firmly. "I need to prepare."

And then simply vanished, presumably reappearing inside the Forest Temple.

The Great Deku Tree closed his eyes and allowed himself a moment to grieve. Another child lost to him, given to the Greater Good of Hyrule.

Fado reappeared the following night. The Kokiri children were asleep, still Kokiri for one last night. The smell of smoke was getting overpowering, and the orange glow of flames could be seen wherever the trees thinned. The end of the World was coming in the form of flames that would eventually be drowned in water along with Hyrule itself.

The Great Deku Tree's eyes widened. "You've changed your appearance."

Fado's pigtails and dress were gone. In their place, the new Sage of the Forest had a new short haircut and a short tunic paired with pants.

He nodded. "You heard them last night calling me Fado the weirdo, right?"

"Yes."

"That's because I don't play much. I'm always in the Woods or doing something or other by myself, and I say weird stuff. I didn't want to be even weirder by telling them I wasn't a girl after all. But… well, I don't mind if they think I'm weird anymore."

The Great Deku Tree said nothing. The smell of smoke was growing rapidly.

"The edge of the Woods are burning," Fado announced. "The wind is turning foul."

"Then it's time," The Great Deku Tree said with a sigh. "Are you ready?"

Fado nodded.

"I have a present for you," the Tree said. "You played it for a while, although I imagine you've forgotten. Maybe you'll want to learn again."

A branch moved, and a forest violin appeared. Fado grinned and picked it up. "I would. I will. Thank you!"

"Fado… you do realize what will happen for you, don't you?"

Fado grew somber again and nodded. "It'll be just Pip and me," he said. "Forever, basically. But I get to remember the Woods. I get to remember everyone. I do remember my violin, you know. I remember Ganondorf, too. Everything's been coming back to me. I remember Saria. I remember Link. And I'll remember the Lost Woods, and I'll keep their magic going. Pip and I will be fine." He smiled, and started playing his violin. The tunes came back to his mind easily, and he played his favourite: a happy song that spoke of the forest and the wind and how they were one.

"My dear Fado…" the Great Deku Tree said. "I am so very proud of you. My children do not grow up because I made them that way, but you managed anyway, in the best possible way. You've become yourself, Fado, and your self is nothing short of a miracle. Until we meet again, take care my son. Breathe… it's time to go."

Fado stopped playing, eyes wide. "Right now? But... I thought I'd say goodbye in the morning."

"I'm afraid so. Breathe, smell the air. I'm sorry."

Fado took a deep breath and nodded, swallowing back his regrets over not saying goodbye to the others. They would forget him soon anyway, they wouldn't mind, not for long.

Behind the smell of smoke was a smell of water and salt. The flood that would bury Hyrule to deny it to Ganondorf was upon them. They only had minutes left. He put a hand against the Great Deku Tree.

"Goodbye, Father. Take care of you, of them."

And with that, he vanished.

The Great Deku Tree closed his eyes and started working his magic, guiding roots to push the Kokiri forest and himself up, up above the coming waves, up to a new World, and at the same time, joining each two halves of his remaining children, fairies and Kokiri together into Koroks, new beings that would be able to hide from any danger and to fly to distant shores.

And in his Temple, sealed against the outside world, Fado set to work as well, saving the magic of the Lost Woods along with their memory and and linking it all to the Wind that was already blowing over the waves of the newly born Great Sea.