The following deleted scene, which has been modified for those who haven't read my novelization of Ocarina of Time, takes place during Chapter 41 Requiem of Spirit.

Serket (Navi POV)

There were times in her life when Navi seriously hated the Great Faeries of Hyrule (with the exception of two of them). While it was true that she had been part of a Great Fairy once (though she could recall very little from that time), she found that many of them were proud, insufferable, and sometimes arrogant, know-it-alls. It was, Navi thought, an unfortunate side effect of the ancient wisdom that been bestowed upon by the Goddesses.

Serket, the Great Fairy of the Desert, was said to be no exception to this rule. This wasn't helped by the fact that she was slightly crazy. If Navi and Link hadn't been so desperate to save Sheik after she'd been wounded, and given what she'd heard, Navi might have opted to avoid the Great Fairy of the Desert. A healer hadn't been an option. The Desert Colossus was in the middle of Gerudo territory where Sheikah were not welcome. This had always been the case since a high ranking Sheikah had assassinated the Gerudo Royal Family- leaving Ganondorf as the sole survivor. Since then, the Gerudo and Sheikah had been at each other's throats.

So, instead of finding a healer, Link and Sheik had settled for the Great Fairy. If Sheik hadn't been near death's door, it would have been worth visiting Serket just to see the look on Link's face when the Great Fairy appeared. Dressed in her overly modest garb of ivy, sporting three long flowing pink braids of hair, and greeting them with her ever so creepy laugh, Serket seemed as odd as the rumors suggested. Thankfully she had obliged to heal Sheik, but Navi was pretty sure that under different circumstances, Link might have been prepared to high tail it out of the Great Fairy's Fountain.

Beyond the usual courtesy that one showed a Great Fairy, Link had not idled (for once). This seemed to suit Sheik just fine, and the pair had departed to find shelter for their horses. The Gerudo hadn't neglected to provide shelter for their animals, and the empty stables on the other end of the temple's enormous façade would provide ample shade.

"Have you told him?"

They'd been quiet for some time after the others had left. Serket's eyes never left Navi.

"Told him what?" Navi asked, not liking the way the way Serket was staring at her. Her eyes were almost sympathetic and disappointed.

Serket sighed, "There is no easy way to put this to you, Navi. Your relationship with the Hylian boy concerns me."

"That is no business of yours!" Navi snapped, her temper flaring in an instant. Then a fear started to creep through her, one that often came to her at night while Link slept.

When the Kokiri to whom she had been bonded died, the Great Deku Tree had used his powers to save Navi by binding her life-force to the magic that flowed through the forest. Normally when a Kokiri bonded with a fairy, if one bond-partner died (which was rare), the other would not survive for long. Now, Navi could only leave the forest for a short duration of time before that magic began to wear off. The further she got from the forest, the worse it became. Throughout their adventures, she'd snuck away to the woods whenever she could. It had alarmed her that she'd needed to do this with increasing frequency. She hadn't told Link what was wrong, leaving him to believe she'd gone to check on the Kokiri (which wasn't entirely a lie). He'd get too distracted if she did, and his task was difficult enough as it was without the burden of knowing that she would one day be forced to leave him. Now, she wondered if she'd been right to deceive him. She hated talking about what they'd do after they'd defeated Ganondorf. Most of it involved light-hearted jokes and Navi teasing him about his obsession with Malon. The closer they came to the reality of defeating Ganondorf, the more guilty Navi felt.

As if reading her thoughts, Serket spoke, "He is Hylian."

"I know that," Navi said stiffly, trying to indicate she had no desire to talk about this any further. Serket, however, was persistent.

"If you remain with him in your condition, you will die. The Great Deku Tree gave you a gift, but I think his plans might have been different if he hadn't been dying."

The words cut deeply into her heart.

"Then I'll find a way," Navi said resolutely. "The Great Deku Tree must have known how to bond me to Link or how to make it so I can leave the forest permanently."

"Perhaps," Serket said gravely. "But I fear that knowledge died with the Great Deku Tree, and the one who is to replace him will not be old enough to attempt such complicated magic for some time. There will come a day when you must choose between life and death. Should you decide to stay with him and you die... can you not see what that would do to him?"

"More than you can," Navi answered with rising ire. "You're not telling me anything that I haven't already told myself... Do you think that leaving him won't be just as bad?"

"It would be the lesser of two evils. Would it not be just as bad to deceive him as you have done?"

"I..." Serket's words were like being slapped in the face by a tree branch. "I did not!" Her wings trembled as she managed to contain her rage. Barely. Then defiantly she added, "We can go back to the forest and stay there."

Now she was deceiving herself, and judging by the pitying look in her eyes, Serket knew it too. Navi knew that now he was grown up, Link would feel more isolated and alone amongst the Kokiri than he had ever been as a child.

"The forest magic will change him, Navi. It affects Hylians, particularly adults, differently to the Kokiri. He might survive for a time, a decade perhaps or slightly more, but while the wards won't kill him, they will cause him to lose his identity. He will forget who he is, or what he's done. He will be nothing but a shadow of his former self... He will still look like Link, and sound the same, but he won't be the boy you know now. You know that as well as I do."

Navi stared at Serket in mute shock for a minute. She had just spoken Navi's fears as if she'd been able to read her mind. "That's his choice to make," Navi answered, not meeting Serket's eyes.

"Yet you have made that decision for him. To keep him for yourself would be selfish, Navi."

"You don't have the right to call me that!" Navi yelled as loudly as she could. The other fairies, still floating within the tranquil fountain, were staring at her.

Serket sighed. "Perhaps not, but if you truly care about him, you must leave him. You must hurt him to save him."

"If I don't?"

"You will both die." The words were blunt and cold.

"Then I'll find a way to break the curse. He'll come after me anyway. He's Link."

"Then tell him. Tell him why you must leave."

Navi was silent. A torrent of emotions boiled within her. A part of her just wanted to lash out at Serket for what she was suggesting. She couldn't leave him, not now. Not knowing that he wouldn't be able to carry on if he knew. The chamber was silent, except for the soft beat of a dozen fairy wings. Navi could almost hear her heart beating madly in her chest.

"I won't," Navi snapped.

And you'll hate yourself for it, a small voice said within a head.

Serket seemed to realize that Navi would not change her stance.

"Very well," she sighed. "The day will come when you must make that choice, Navi. It may be sooner than you think and I pray you will do what is best for him. You're continued expeditions outside the forest will only drain you until you are completely spent."

Not wanting to hear anymore, Navi turned to leave without another word. Only the warning in Serket's voice stopped her from exiting the cave.

"If you want to help him find the Sage of Spirit," Serket said. "I can tell you that she is within the temple.

Navi turned back around. "She is?"

"Yes. She escaped for a time and was rescued by one of the nomadic Gerudo tribes."

"The tinkers?" Navi asked. She'd never seen one of these traveling groups. They only traveled in winter, while in Summer they camped by one of the oases scattered throughout the Gerudo Desert's vast interior. Most of these tribes worshiped Elin, the Goddess of Life, and as so far as Navi knew, almost none of them worshiped Pahket- the Goddess of War.

"Nabooru was recaptured not that long ago, but if what my spies say is true," Serket made a sweeping gesture to the fairies floating above the rippling pool, "she has no knowledge of who she was. When the tinkers found her, they said it was as if her mind had been meddled with."

"Couldn't you help her?"

"I can heal most wounds," Serket replied. "But the mind is a delicate thing and far harder to heal. Damage to one's spirit can leave a scar that not even time can mend. Even if the tinkers had come straight to me, which they won't given that their allegiance does not lie with Pahket or Ganondorf, there would have been nothing I could do."

"There must be some way to heal her," Navi insisted.

"There may be," Serket answered. "Your friend, Sheik, might have the answer."

"We have to hope we can save her," Navi said. "Who else can be the Sage of Spirit?"

"There are others."

"Sheik seemed fairly certain that Nabooru was the Sage we seek," Navi said.

"Perhaps she is, and if you do find her, I will do what I can to assist. I fear though that what your Sheikah friend hopes for are not the reality she will find. It may be that Nabooru's mind is lost entirely and you will be forced to find another to take the mantle the First Sages left behind. The Sheikah have always tried to guide the future onto a path they desired or saw as the correct one," Serket said. "But they weren't always correct. Their certainty that they could determine the fate of the world, as though it were nothing but a puppeteer's stage, and us the puppets, was what destroyed them."

I wouldn't tell Sheik that, Navi thought. That wouldn't end well.

"There is one other thing," Serket added. "The Twinrova sisters have elected themselves as caretakers of this temple. They are, as I am sure you know, extremely dangerous."

"I've seen them before," Navi said, feeling an icy fear stir in her stomach. The Twinrova sister, Kotake, had been responsible for freezing Zora's Domain. Though most of the Zora had escaped before this, those who had been trapped beneath the ice were left to face a slow and agonizing death. The Zora King and Lord Jabu Jabu had been amongst the dead. They sorceresses had also torched a large swathe of the Lost Woods, forcing the Kokiri to flee. "Do you know who they are exactly?" Navi asked. "You've been here for some time."

"They were priestesses of the Goddess Elin. The Sheikah captured them and tortured them in terrible ways. So much so that, when they eventually escaped many years later, they tried to change their appearance and failed miserably. The old Gerudo King rescued them, and Ganondorf promised them revenge."

Navi hadn't known that. Even knowing that, it was hard to feel any sort of pity for the two witches. The Sheikah must have known the potential they had as sorceresses and sought to use them for their own gain.

"That's horrible," Navi managed, feeling a chill.

"Yes, it is," Serket agreed softly. "Sadly, there is no way for me to undo that damage. If there were, I would. As it is, the witches understand little more than their hatred for the world. They externalise the pain they felt at being tortured by inflicting it upon others. Do not allow your friends to be caught by them."

Navi shivered again before adding, "I won't."

"I am glad we think alike on that at least," Serket said, her warm smile returning to her face. "They are vulnerable to each other's magic. You can use that against them."

"How?"

"You are resourceful enough to work that out," Serket said. "I can offer you no more aid. I fear the longer I stay, the sooner the witches will become aware of me. They've never found the cavern's entrance, thanks to the barrier I placed over it. However, it is likely that they are already aware of you."

Great, Navi thought.

Before she could ask anything else, Serket vanished with an elaborate flourish and one last unnerving laugh. How the hell she could laugh after the conversation they'd just had was well beyond Navi's comprehension. The rippling fountain went still once more, and the other fairies continued hovering in the fountain, ignoring the little blue sprite with their midst.

It was only after Serket had vanished that Navi realized how long she'd delayed. If the witches already knew Link was here, then she had to warn him. They'd be walking into a trap.

Damn it! Why didn't you tell me that in the first place? Navi thought, cursing inwardly.

Without further delay, she zipped into the tunnel and back towards the Desert Colossus.