A FURIOUS gust in the air rouses me. I open my eyes and they fall upon rolling grassland stretching into the horizon. Red poppies and lavender dot the healthy green land, bowing and lolling in the breeze. I have never in my life seen such an open sky, such space. I scan the scape and take in the smell of the fresh mild wind, one that splashes my face and rifles through my hair. My sighing wakes the fairy. She flies up above me, and ascends further until she is halfway up the dead tree. "My goodness. Such beautiful country."

"Yes, quite so Madam Fairy. The land of Hyrule is as beautiful as any in all creation, it is." The accented voice is loud and booming from above in the boughs of the far dead tree. I roll back and level the gun into the branches at a massive owl. It cocks its head and furrows its great-feathered horns, translucent eyelids blinking across its great sunburst eyes. Words erupt from its sharp crooked beak when it opens. "Oh dear, Captain, you mistake me for an enemy. I assure you, I am the fastest friend you will ever make. I am called Kaepora Gaebora by the esteemed spiritkin that employ my service. Few mortals gaze upon me and even fewer have ever heard my words, though I have been told that is a gift for them as I am prone to carrying on for far too long." I lower my rifle only a little, tensing my right arm so as to be able to lift the barrel right back up at any given second. "What do you do for the spirits?"

"Well, I am their messenger of course! Though they may be wonderfully gifted with magic and other abilities, they are still distributed quite far and wide, rendering many of them unable to communicate with their peers far afield. My service is therefore summoned to rectify the problem of distance."

"Okay, so you have a message for me. What is it?"

"Well I believe some commendation is in order first. The lifting of the Dekumekuna's curse was quite an extraordinary feat; praiseful whispers are spoken of it in many parts of this world I'm sure. Beyond that even, I was told you would take the full breadth day to reach this place from the deep woods, however barely half a night's travel has delivered you the full distance. Simply marvelous." I begin looking around slowly, checking for things closing in on me, or for a sign if this the beginning of some kind of nightmare. "Oh I've done it, wot. I've altogether gone on too long and nearly lost you. The truth of the matter is that I am more familiar with the finer details of the mortal world than any other spirit, and have been employed to render unto you advice regarding your mission. I will make this brief: You now stand within Hyrule's central province; your goal lies in the capital to the northwest, you must make haste to that city. Yon lies a road that will take you to one of this realm's royal causeways. To aid you further I have also brought you a gift." The great bird kicks a tied parcel from its bald raptor leg and it slaps to the ground a few paces away. I put down the rifle and reach and pull it to my lap. The parcel is bound in old tough hide, closed with a string woven from some kind of hair the donor of which I cannot identify. I unwind the string and the hide flaps fall away to reveal a pile of ancient parchment maps. I pick up the one on top and open it wide. Etched upon it is a series of veins and dots and characters, most of which are alien to me. I recognize the flamboyant compass rose and the veins I realize are roads of various levels of importance. At the top of the map is a great tangle of roads and characters, of which many of the major roads on the map lead. "That which you look upon now is the capital city of this kingdom, Shigmiya, your destination." I search the right of the map for the forest and find a road leading to a shaded area emblazoned with characters and shocks of red. "So we're here then."

"Yes, right you are. A clever young man if ever there was one."

"What's all this writing around the forest?"

"Ah, of course, I was right in thinking you would not be literate in the Hylian language. Quite the conundrum that."

"I can read Hylian." The fairy literally chimes in, flying over my shoulder and ringing. "Ah quite lucky you are to have such a partner, Monsieur Captain." The fairy flies along the surface of the outstretched map, scanning it in lines. She pauses at a series of characters near the bottom of the map. "The Hylian calendar year is 1998, correct?"

"I believe so."

"Yes or no, Mr. Gaebora." Her abruptness with this creature many times larger than her surprises me. I stifle a single snicker.

"Yes."

"Then this map is over five hundred years old." She flies up to the big bird on the branch. My urge to laugh disappears and I glare at the map. "Do you have any idea how inaccurate that map may be? Are all of them that old?"

"Yes I believe so." The owl inches away. "The problem is, Madam Fairy, that spirits do not keep maps in their possession; those that can actually move are more prone to wander than travel. I'm sure you understand this."

"Of course I understand that. What I don't understand is how this situation did not require procuring a map at least less than a century old."

"Well you must understand also that notice was so short in my coming here, I had no time."

"Lack of notice is an excuse for nothing. My partner and I received no notice at all for the deadly events that we've walked through, and you want this foolishness excused because you weren't ready for this? Did you not think we would need more than old maps and half-baked directions from a blabbering mail carrier?"

"Navi, stop it." The fairy turns and I can feel her glare. I glare back at her, furrowing my brow to show disapproval the way Saria does. The fairy turns back to the owl once and then darts like lighting into my sleeve, where she perches and begins to heat up noticeably. I gaze back at the map. The old forgotten road the dead trees stand upon is represented on the map, leading to a thin road that snakes to the west. The first road intersecting it is thick and crosshatched, leading north to the loud grouping of lines at the top of the map. I look to the west and see the faint scarring of the old road running through the hills. I begin bundling the maps save for the one in my hand. "I think this map may still work yet. Thank you, Mister Gaebora."

"Well I was simply doing my duty, no thanks are required." Navi heats to burning temperatures. "My parting words to you are this: do not be discouraged, never look down, never look back. We are each born with our eyes frontward and necks naturally erect, to always look up and into the future. With that said, I take my leave. Until next time, Monsieur Captain, adieu." The owl unfurls his wide brown wings and takes off from the bough with a single flap. A powerful gust blows down on me again and again as he hovers. He then turns, flies high into the sky, and begins shrinking into the great blue field hanging over the world. Before he's gone from sight Navi emerges and scoffs. "Good advice from an idiot squire, incredible." I fold the map and tuck it gingerly into my pack, then pull it over my shoulders and begin walking to the west.

I LOWER the map and the fairy laughs. "Oh what a difference half a thousand years can make in the world." In front of me is a massive structure made from a smooth grey stone, standing taller than a tree and wider than several hills. Surrounding it is a tall metal fence topped with sinister coils of barbed wire. I had left the trail an hour ago when I had heard some kind of engine approach beyond sight. Camouflaged in the grass by my green tunic, I watched a big grey six-wheeled truck barrel down the road to the forest, its flapping canvas canopy revealing figures sitting in its covered bed. "You know what that is right?"

"Yeah, they still teach rangers about vehicles that come near the forest."

"I wonder what they're doing at the forest's edge."

"Hopefully not going in."

"Are you worried about the Kokiri?"

"No, I'm worried about whoever goes into the forest." I said, then got up and walked out of sight from the road. Now I paw the wire fence and gaze into the big compound with its floor of hardpan dirt encircling more stone at the building's feet. I look over and meet a man in a blue-grey uniform's eye through the fencing. "Hey get back from the fence." I release it and take a step back. He storms toward me, adjusting a battle rifle slung over his shoulder.

"Don't your parents ever teach you farm kids what military buildings are? You can't just come wandering up here with a hunting rifle, you could get shot, don't you know that?"

"You didn't shoot me."

"Yeah because we get goofy farm boys wandering up to the fence all the time, thinking who knows what."

"What's so special about this place?"

"It's a Weather Station, we have people surveying all kinds of weather patterns and things from the forest here."

"Refrain from asking too many questions, Captain. If this man becomes too suspicious he may detain you. You being arrested would seriously hinder the mission." I look around the whole fence. "Your parents know you have that?" I look back to the guard narrowing his eyes at me. "The gun?"

"No, that thing behind your ear."

"He's seen your Kokiri brand."

"They don't know about it, no."

"Lemme see it again." I tilt my head to let him see the dark swirl tattooed behind my ear. "Oh man bud, don't you know that symbol's bad luck? It's carved into a bunch of trees in the forest. It's illegal in some counties to display that on your property, y'know."

"Bad luck."

"Yeah bad luck. Listen I don't believe it myself but the important thing is that other people believe it. Those woods are weird, and anything close to them in place or idea is weird by relation. Weirdness changes the way you look at stuff, then changes the stuff after long, y'know?"

"So is this place weird?"

"I'd say. We've had guys coming in and out of here more and more recently, lots of talk going around. The forest is getting weirder somehow so I guess we're going with it. We just sent a truck of guys down the old forest path to go see what's what."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"You'd think right? Apparently there's less critters around though now, and no one's seen a midget in a while."

"A midget."

"Yeah the people in the forest. They're real short, don't you know?"

"Haven't heard them called that before."

"Yeah because everyone's piss scared of them. They kill people that enter the forest with magic or some tale like that. They call them all kinds of fearful names, and there's scores of stories out there."

"The forest itself is scarier than any people in it."

"Agreed on that one. Anything with magic's touch in it shakes me up." Just then another voice booms across the yard. GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THE FENCE FARMBOY AND GO HOME. "Yeah you better mind him and go home, hear?"

"Right." I step away again and walk the fence. Passing the man who yelled at me near its corner, cover my neck with my hand and fake a pain that would require rubbing. In my peripheral I see him glaring at my rifle and me. I feel uneasy, in peril, so I quicken my pace and walk wide around the whole perimeter to a road paved with fieldstones leading west. I walk it for an hour before a motor runs up the road behind me. A motorcycle wheels in front of me and a hefty soldier dismounts, pulling a pair of goggles down around his high collar. I recognize him as the man that shooed me from the fence. He takes a step toward me and flares his wide nostrils. "What farm do you come from, boy?" I freeze up and drop unconsciously into a stance, my face growing hot. I cannot think of any lie, my mind is blank. There is a gun in his embossed leather holster. "None of them." I say vaguely, looking right into his eyes. I watch him look to my hand on the gun's sling, to the hilt of the sword and slowly back to me. "You're a runaway, ain't ya?"

"Yeah." I say, hoping to fish a story from this man's ideas about me.

"So, again, which farm?"

"None, I'm from Shigmiya."

"Bullshit you are with all that. You're on an adventure now, done left home behind to head to the big city." He stretches his big hand out to me. "Gimme the rifle and that knife, you're coming with me." I begin to unsling the rifle when I hear the fairy talk. "Captain you cannot allow yourself to be arrested."

"I know."

"Well that's good, hand it over slowly, boy." The big soldier says, deaf to the fairy.

"You've blinded people before, you could do it again, right?" I say looking at the soldier in front of me moving the rifle slowly across the divide.

"Oh, yes, but…"

"What the hell are you talking about? Look I may seem big and mean but I'm just lookin' out for you, wouldn't think of doing you any harm."

"Good. Then get ready." I lift and jam smack his hand with the rifle.

"Oh. Oh yes doing it." Navi yells and flies from my sleeve into the soldier's eyes. He flails his big arms and steps back as she stings him zealously. I drop to the ground and let the rifle clatter, and then sweep his big legs from the back with all the strength I can muster from my hands, arms and legs together. His legs pop from under him and he falls to onto his back with tremendous noise, and my left arm is wrapped around his neck in the same moment. His roars gurgle as I clamp his neck and arteries, and I trap one of his arms at the shoulder with my right leg. He flails wildly, clawing and punching at me, smashing my nose once and hard. Blood starts flowing hard onto his face from my nostrils. His roars and shouts become more unintelligible and quiet by the second. When he finally loses consciousness, his meaty hand falls from my head and onto the road. I stand over him for a second, heart racing. Be good to the world, the Deku Tree had told me, and here I had knocked out a man who had done nothing wrong. "That was terrifying."

"We can't be arrested."

"Yes. But still." I turn and begin to run.

"Wait, wait." I stop and turn to the fairy, hovering and stationary. "This may be a…fortuitous…event after all." I turn and look to her for a second as she descends to perch on the motorcycle's handlebar and realize the kind of fortune she speaks of. "No"

"Captain we stand to gain quite a bit. Transportation chief among them."

"We stand to rob a man we've already assaulted."

"If he truly knew the importance of our mission, he would give it to us."

"Do you know the importance of our mission?"

"You jest now. You joke because of the vagueness of our mission's parameters and purpose. It isn't funny."

"Is excessive crime important to our mission?"

"Now you listen to me, Captain. The forces of evil close in on the world by the second, there is no time to argue, and there is barely enough time to question whether or not we are doing the right thing. Now currently, we have no currency to use in this country, a set of ancient, likely useless, maps, no way of proving you're anything more than a roving delinquent, and to top it all of you want to leave this man with a vehicle he could easily use to either quickly catch us, or have others hunt us down on our way to our destination, a place which you also informed him of. Our situation is our situation, we are trapped within it, and so we can either work to escape or stay in the trap to sate your pride." I walk past the fairy and flip the man gingerly onto his face. I rifle through the pockets of his pants and produce a long key, several pieces of folded paper and a leather wallet. I open it and pull out a bushel of old soft pieces of paper, printed with various designs and characters. "What is this?"

"Those are rupee notes, this nation's currency. Those are altogether worth eighty individual rupees."

"Is that good?"

"Yes, mildly."

"Alright then." I fold the notes and slide them into a pouch. I almost roll the man back but decide not to in case anything falls into his mouth from above. I place the wallet and papers into his pockets again and pat them. "Hurry." The fairy urges. I mount the motorcycle and balance it between my legs. "How do I start this?"

"Insert the key here." She hovers above the center console, around a circular inset socket. I do as she says. "Twist it." It does not twist. "No, that isn't correct. Press the button on that handlebar." I do so. She ponders for a second and flies around the body of the vehicle. "Here! Lower this lever and stomp on it." I look to my right where she hovers by my foot. I kick out the lever she flies at and stomp on it zealously. The engine turns and roars to life between my legs. I am significantly taken aback by the noise and potential of the engine below me. "Wondrous."

"Yeah." I say quietly. Pulling the goggles up like I had seen the soldier do.

"Now twist the right handle." I do so and the bike moves forward quickly.

"Now stop so we can gauge the potential of this vehicle." I let the bike race down the road. The wind whips in my ears and fills my cheeks when I open my mouth to tell Navi to settle down. My heart feels lighter and my whole body is one with my speed. I am only riding for another minute before the bike wobbles viciously and I am sent flying sideways. "You look very remorseful." The fairy says when she catches up. I sit up in the grass and listen to the wind rustle the grass and the engine rumble on the stones. I get up and feel soreness in my leg and body in general. I stand the bike and drive it slowly down the road, but not slow enough to stop me from falling again an hour later.