Once, when Link was still an adult, he climbed up into his tree house and flopped onto his bed just to see what it felt like. His legs were so long that his feet dangled over the edge, and Navi had giggled.

Now he's a child again, and the bed is the perfect size for him, but Navi isn't here.

Link sits up.

According to his own memories, he is, or he was, the Hero of Time. He has explored ancient temples, battled demons, awakened sages. He's stitched up his own wounds with needle and thread, made friends with Gerudo, and learned magic songs to call down rain or summon the sun, and he carries one-third of the Triforce within himself, even if he only sort of understands what that means.

In this world, he is a thief, an attempted murderer, and eleven years old. In the four days that have passed since he left his home, the apples in the bowl on the table have remained red and unblemished, with dark green leaves clinging to their stems.

Link dumps the apples into his pack and crawls under his bed to retrieve his cloak and mittens lined with squirrel fur, because fall is coming and he doesn't know how long it will take him to find Navi. She didn't tell him where she was going, or why she was leaving him, and none of the Great Fairies have seen her at their magic fountains. Link searched the riverside, Death Mountain, and the desert—searched as best he could while evading the notice of those who might still be looking for him—and he found no sign of his friend.

Once the clothes are packed away, Link sits back down on the edge of the bed. It feels like he should do something more, to mark the fact that this is his last visit to his own home. But he can't think of anything.

He goes out onto the small balcony and looks out across the forest. Starlight, what little of it reaches through the canopy, glitters across the surface of the pond. It once seemed to him that the forest covered the whole world, that the trees went on forever. Now he knows that they don't. The houses are smaller than he remembered.

Over there live the twins, Dodo and Mimi. When Link was little, they liked having him around because then they didn't have to decide whose turn it was to be the baby when they played house. He was always just happy to be included.

Next to the twins live the Know-It-All Brothers, who were friendly when Mido wasn't around, and next to them is the stubby boy who runs the shop, who never quite forgave Link for growing taller than him by the age of seven or eight.

Near the shop is Fado's house. Two springtimes ago, she asked him if he wanted to see something special, and then brought him to a wolf's den in the Lost Woods to look at the puppies. In a whisper, she told him how she had once crept in while their mother slept and patted them; Link, not knowing whether to believe her, was too scared to give it a try. She always used to tease him with her creepy stories about the nasty fate which supposedly befell travelers and lost children who strayed into the forest.

Mido is Mido, as he always will be.

And Saria...

Epona has wandered off to drink from the pond. She whinnies loudly, and Link scrambles down the ladder, feeling around in his bag for one of the apples to bribe her into quiet. As far as any of the sleeping Kokiri know, he was as good as dead the moment he left the forest, so they've said their goodbyes and he's said his, as much as he was ever going to.

He leads Epona over the little bridge and down the path the hollow trunk of the Great Deku Tree. Seven years in the future, the tree returned to life as a happy little sprout at the roots of its old dead self. If Navi had not gone away, and if Link could have stayed in the forest for another seven years without his body betraying him, he might have gotten a chance to meet the sprout again and speak to it. He has questions, and most of them begin with why?

But maybe some questions are better left unasked.

Link takes the emerald from his pocket and buries it at the base of the dead tree. Someone will notice the spot where the soil has been disturbed, all dug up and then patted back down. Maybe it will be Mido or Fado. Maybe Saria. It doesn't matter. They are Kokiri, and this treasure belongs to them, and by the time it is found, Link will be far away and they will have no idea that he passed by here.

Epona snorts and shuffles her hooves, nosing at the pack on Link's shoulder in search of more apples. A smile flickers across his face, and he nudges her away.

Fake Kokiri or not, Link is of the forest and he knows it won't hurt him, no matter what Fado has to say about Stalfos and Skull Kids and death-curses that trap the souls of wanderers. He will keep searching for Navi, and if he doesn't find her, he'll keep going, until he passes through the other side of the forest; the trees don't go on forever. He'll travel to other lands if he has to, and in fact he welcomes the idea of going far away. The Hero of Time did all that was asked of him. Link has wronged good people who didn't deserve it, and he did something else which seemed like the right thing at the time but maybe wasn't. To Hyrule and its goddesses, he owes nothing. In this world, in this time, he is not a Kokiri and barely a Hylian. He isn't an adult and doesn't know how to be a child anymore. He doesn't think he can call himself a hero at this point. He is no one.

Epona bumps her head against Link's shoulder, and he absently rubs the spot behind her ear. When he walks away, she follows.

He doesn't look back.