A/N: It's been a while. Between work and an annoyingly bad case of writer's block, I've really slacked when it comes to this story. Rest assured, I do plan on finishing this story, and the adventures of Cody and Link are nowhere near done (though maybe you consider that a bad thing… lol).

Thanks to everyone who reviewed this story and liked it enough to add it to their Alert list. I appreciate it a lot.

And without further ado, Chapter 13 of LoZ: Ocarina of Dimensions.

Chapter 13: After the Storm

Link:

We made our way back through Lost Woods without incident, Ami leading the way. For some reason, there were no more Wolfos attacks as we made our way back to Kokiri Forest. The wolfos must have left once Cody had gotten his hands on the Orb of Winds.

It was already dark by the time we made it back to the village. We were met at the entrance by Mido, self-proclaimed leader of the Kokiri. When we came into view, a look of horror dawned on his face when he saw the unconscious Saria in my arms.

"What did you do to her!" Mido demanded angrily as he ran up to us.

For once, I did not argue with him. I felt as if it was my fault.

"Don't worry Mido, she'll be fine. She just needs some rest," I said as I moved past him.

I could hear him blustering behind me as we all went to Saria's house.

Malon and Zelda waited outside while Cody and I went inside. I gently laid Saria down on her bed and covered her up. Ami floated around worriedly, bouncing nervously around.

"Ami," Cody asked "Is there somewhere I can lay Via for now?"

Ami stopped bouncing for a minute to say, "There is some spare cloth on the table. She should be fine over there."

Cody went over to the table to make sure Via got settled in, and I went ahead and left Saria so that she could rest.

"She needs to rest now," Zelda was telling Mido kindly, "She probably does not need to be disturbed…"

"It's okay," I said quickly, "As long as he's quiet. I'm sure Saria would appreciate the company."

Mido looked a little surprised that I so easily let him in. He quickly pushed past me, muttering a "Thanks,' as he went.

As soon as Mido and his fairy went inside, Cody came out, "They're both resting now."

I nodded at him, and without any other words started heading for the tree house. Everybody followed me in silence.

We got to the base of my tree house, I turned around and immediately started questioning Cody, "What happened? How did you get your hands on the Orb of Winds?"

Cody was silent for a minute, surprised by my sudden questions. He then looked down at his feet and said, "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not talk about it…"

"It may be hard," I said, trying not to show my impatience, "but we do need to know."

"Link," Zelda said with a sigh, "You can't make him talk about it if he does not want to."

"Yeah," Malon jumped in, "Does it really matter anyway?"

I guess it really did not matter. To be honest, I am not sure why I keep treating Cody the way I have been. Sure, he can be irritating, and his often negative views were very trying on my patience, but he did get dragged here against his will…

"It's not that I want to hide it," Cody said quickly, "It's just…"

Cody paused for a moment, and then took a deep breath before continuing, "I almost died twice. If Via had not been with me, I…"

He trailed off, unable to continue. His fists were clenched, and he appeared to be trembling.

Cody was supposed to be the same age as me, but right now, he looked like he was nothing more than a small boy. How could someone like this be a hero? It defied all logic.

However, he did master the power of wind in just one go, and he was instrumental in taking down Aviosis. Was I being too hard on him? I had no answer.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, "I guess we all need some rest after that ordeal. We'll get a good night's rest and head to Kakariko in the morning."

"Kakariko?" Malon asked, "Why there?"

"Impa is currently investigating the Shadow Temple based on a hunch," I said, "if we are lucky, Impa has already found the location of the next elemental orb."

Zelda nodded, "Yeah. We might need to all stay at your house tonight Link."

I was a little shocked by this, "Really? Why?"

"It might be a good idea not to disturb Saria at this time," she said, "It might be a tight fit, but we'll manage."

"I think you might be missing the point," I said with a sigh, "I guess we'll have to make do."

Not waiting for an answer, I went ahead and climbed the ladder to my tree house. It had been a long night…

Cody:

Link and Zelda went ahead and climbed the ladder to the tree house, but my mind was abuzz with many disturbing thoughts. There was no way I was going to get any form of rest in the near future.

I turned away and started heading into the village, hoping that I might find a nice, quiet, and private place that I could just sit and think. I did not get very far before I felt someone's hand on my shoulder. I spun around to find that Malon had followed me.

"Are you all right?" she asked with concern.

"I'm fine," trying to keep the trembling out of my voice, "just not tired right this second."

Malon just raised her eyebrow at me. I guess she could tell that I was lying.

"Really," I said as I turned around and walked away, "I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."

"Cody…" she said softly.

I stopped but did not turn around.

"I know you may feel like it doesn't matter," she began, "but you can't keep these things bottled up. It will only cause you to suffer."

I slowly turned around to look at her. She was staring determinedly at me.

She continued, "You don't have to worry. We'll always be willing to help you. Just…"

She shifted her gaze to the ground and took a deep breath before finishing, "don't shut us out…"

Sounds like something Katie would say…

I could feel the knot that was in my chest slowly loosen. I took a deep breath to help calm myself.

"I'm… I'm sorry for making you worry," I took another breath, and then took the plunge, "and I wouldn't mind telling you what happened."

Malon looked up and smiled at me, "Of course, you did save my life twice after all."

I shook my head as we started walking, "You already paid me back once, I'm sure that I'll be owing you soon enough anyway."

Malon laughed, "You're probably right."

"Thank a lot," I said, rolling my eyes but still smiling.

As we searched for a more private spot, I could feel the worry and terror of the past two day bleed away…

Link:

I woke up early, and decided to let the others sleep for now. I snuck out as best as I could. There was not a whole lot of room on the floor to begin with, and Cody, Malon and I took up most of it (I gave the bed to Zelda and opted to sleep on the floor).

I made my way over to Saria's house, but I made sure to take my time. I was feeling a little anxious, afraid to face her.

It only took a minute to get in front of Saria's house. I took a deep breath and went inside.

Saria was already awake, much to my surprise and delight, and she was currently being fussed over by Ami.

Saria saw me and her face lit up with a smile, "Link! For a minute, I was afraid that you and your friends already left!"

"Glad to see you're awake," I said, unable to stop myself from smiling back.

But the smile did not last very long though.

I took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry for what happened. It's all my fault. I should've…"

"Don't even start," Saria admonished, "I knew that there would be danger when I went, and I accepted that."

"But I should've stopped you from going on the elevator."

Saria sighed, "The elevator would never have gotten you all the way to the Wind Temple without me. If you did not go, then you would not have the Orb of Winds right now."

"I guess," I said dejectedly, "I still feel as if I should have done more to keep you out of danger."

Saria rolled her eyes, "I'm fine. Nothing to worry about," she got up out of the bed and stretched for emphasis, "See? Nothing's broken."

I rolled my eyes as I felt my smile return, "Alright, alright. You win."

"Of course," Saria said with a giggle.

At this moment, Cody walked in.

"I thought you'd still be asleep," I said, a little surprised. He had been very reluctant to wake the day before.

Cody shrugged, "I heard you moving around, and thought it might be a good idea to check on Via."

"About that…" Ami said suddenly, "She actually left a couple of hours ago."

Cody and I were both surprised.

"In her condition!" we both said at the same time.

"I'm sorry," Ami said, sounding contrite, "I tried to stop her…"

"Don't worry about it," Cody said, a fake smile on his face, "If she's well enough to fly away, then she's probably okay. I just wished that I had a chance to say goodbye."

"I'm sorry Cody," Saria said, "Via is rather notorious for being extremely shy. In fact, I'm very surprised that she talked to you at all."

"Yeah," Ami said, "In fact, Via only really ever talked to…"

Saria shot a look at Ami, causing her to become quiet, but not before I got suspicious.

"Who did she always talk to?"

Saria was silent for a minute, before answering, "Navi…"

I was too shocked to say anything. Hearing Navi's name again brought back all the memories I had of her while we were travelling. To be honest, it was almost painful. But as I thought about it, I realized something.

Navi had never mentioned Via to me…

Why?

Cody watched me for a moment and then looked back to Saria, "I'm glad to see that you are out and about. You had us all worried there for a minute."

Saria smiled, "You don't have to worry about me. I'm tough."

Cody chuckled, "Well, I guess I'll go stretch my legs for a bit. See you guys later."

Cody was almost to the door when he stopped and turned around.

"Say Saria, you wouldn't happen to know about these boot would you?" Cody asked gesturing to his new footwear. I had not even noticed them before.

Saria looked at the boots for a minute with a frown.

"The Pegasus Boots? No," she said, shaking her head, "Much older. I believe you have the Zephyr Boots."

Cody frowned, "I guess the Pegasus Boots are more powerful right? Being newer and all."

Saria shook her head, "No, the Zephyr Boots are definitely more powerful."

"Wait, what?"

Saria had a worried look on her face, "Well, the Zephyr Boots are capable of greater speeds, but the boots have a tendency to…"

"Drain your energy," Cody finished for her, "figures."

Saria smiled once again, "On the bright side, if you can master the power of the boots, you will be able to pull off some truly amazing speed."

"Oh, I guess I have something to look forward to," Cody said with a smile, "Well, see' ya. Glad you're feeling better."

And with that, Cody left the house.

After a moment of silence, Ami said, "Maybe I should track down Via before you guys leave…"

"We don't really have the time," I said with a sigh. Not that I did not want a chance to thank her for saving Saria, it was just that we needed to make as much time as possible.

At that moment, Mido burst into the house, "Saria! I heard you were awake!"

Saria seemed surprised by Mido's sudden entrance, "Yeah, but who told you?"

Mido shrugged, "That round-eared guy that just left. I asked him."

Deciding that now would be a good time to leave, I started walking out of the house, "I'll be sure to say goodbye before I leave."

Saria nodded, and then turned back to Mido who was chattering excitedly. I left them to it.

As soon as I stepped outside, Larina and her fairy hurried up to me, "Link! You have to come quick!"

I was immediately on edge, "What is it?"

"The Great Deku Tree wanted to speak to you. He said it was urgent."

I nodded, "Thanks Larina."

I started running as fast as I could for the Deku Tree's meadow. As I ran, I passed Cody.

"Hey! Where's the fire!" Cody called after me.

I ignored him and kept running. I was vaguely aware that Cody was following me at high speed as I made it to the pathway that led directly to the Deku Tree's meadow. We rushed down the path and were in the meadow.

There was not a whole lot in the meadow. There was only one thing in the meadow, and that was the Great Deku Tree himself.

As we made our way into the meadow, the Great Deku Tree finally noticed us, "Ah, Link. I am glad thou couldst make it."

"Is something the matter?" I asked, looking around for a threat.

The Deku Tree seemed a little confused, "No. Why? Is something amiss?"

"Ummm…" I abruptly realized that Larina's excitement was not due to any kind of danger, "I guess not…"

The Great Deku Tree chuckled, "Thou hast nothing to worry about."

Cody stared at the Deku tree for a good while before saying, "Link…"

"Yeah?"

"The tree is talking."

"Yeah."

"Thought I'd let you know."

"Okay."

Now was probably not the time to educate Cody on the Great Deku Tree.

The Great Deku Tree interrupted us, "I know about your quest for the orbs. I heard about it from Ami. I hast a gift for you, in order to make your travels easier."

Light seemed to filter down from the upper branches of the Great Deku Tree. On the ground where the light hit, I watched as what looked like an extremely straight deku stick with lots of strange markings grew out of the ground. I looked up at the Deku Tree questioningly.

"Thou dost have in thy possession the Staff of Sanctuary. If thou thrust the staff into the ground at night, it will repel the Stalchilds."

"Neat," Cody said appreciatively.

He walked over to the staff and picked it up, "I'll go ahead and hold on to it for now."

As he said that, a bag appeared at his side. Cody then proceeded to put the long stick inside. Miraculously, it went all the way inside, even though there was now way that it could fit.

I looked at him questioningly, and he shrugged, "Rauru gave it to me. He called it the Infinity Bag. It can basically hold anything."

Strange. I had a technique that allowed me to store items outside of time, but I did not know that bags could be imbued with a similar power.

"Link."

I turned back to the Deku Tree after he called me.

"Thou hast a long journey ahead of thee. I entreat thee. Be careful."

"I will," I promised, bowing my head to the being who raised me.

"And Cody…"

Cody looked at the Deku Tree, waiting.

"Be sure to look after her on your travels."

Cody seemed as confused by that statement as I did, "Um… sure?"

"I appreciate it," the Deku Tree told him.

I motioned to Cody, and we left the meadow.

Cody looked at me while we walked back to the Kokiri Forest, "Do you know what he was talking about?"

I shrugged, "I have no idea."

As we made our way back to my tree house, Cody asked, "So… is it about time to get ready?"

I nodded, "Yeah, we really need to get going."

Just then, Larina came running up to me once again, "You guys aren't leaving already, are you?"

I smiled apologetically at Larina, "I'm sorry, but we need to get a move on as quickly as possible."

"But…" she looked sad, "You guys did not hang around yesterday. I was hoping that we could all have lunch together."

The look on her face was tearing at my resolve. I looked at Cody and he just shrugged.

I sighed, "Alright. Just quit looking at me like that. You're making me feel guilty."

"Yay!" Larina shouted when I agreed, "Don't worry Link, everyone is going to have a good time!"

With that, she ran off. Cody and I stared off after her for a minute before he turned to me and said, "This is going to take longer than expected, isn't it?"

"You're very perceptive."

"Thanks, I think…"

Cody:

As I had suspected, it took a good portion of the day. What was supposed to be a simple lunch turned out to be a farewell party. While it was fun, I think that we would have been better off moving on. Now we probably will not make it to Kakariko before nightfall and we will be forced to camp out. At least we have that Staff of Sanctuary now.

Come to think of it, did that talking tree actually predict that we were going to get held up?

We were currently at the bridge right before the exit to the forest. Saria had accompanied us this far, but would not be able to continue on past the bridge. She gave Link, Zelda, and Malon a hug. To my surprise, she gave me one as well.

"Before you go, I would like to teach you all something."

Link smiled, "I bet I already know what it is."

She grinned at him, "Yeah. As a matter of fact, didn't I teach it to you twice?"

Link shrugged nonchalantly.

Saria pulled out a musical instrument which I immediately recognized as an ocarina, "I'm going to teach you my special song. It has power that will allow you to communicate with me."

"Sweet," I said.

Zelda pulled out a lyre as I pulled out my own ocarina. Saria proceeded to teach us the song called Saria's Song. Zelda played it on her lyre and Malon sang it (wow, she has a beautiful singing voice). I played it on the Ocarina of Dimensions. Like with the first song I learned, it took me several tries to get it right, but when I did, I found that I could recall the song in the same way that I could recall the Song of Dimensions.

"Goodbye everyone," Saria called back as she left, "Don't forget to visit sometime when the world is not in danger."

We watched as Saria, illuminated by Ami's glow, eventually disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel.

After a minute, Link said, "We need to get going. We should try to cover as much ground as possible before sunset."

We spent the next few minutes rounding up the horses and attaching them to the wagon. After they were all set, we climbed into the wagon and were on our way.

It was not long before we were back on Hyrule Field. I turned around and watched as the entrance to the forest grew farther and farther away. I could not help but sigh.

"Is something the matter?" Zelda asked me with some concern.

I shrugged, "It's just… I kinda wished that I had a chance to thank Via for all that she did for me."

"T-thank me?"

"Yeah, for saving my…"

I stopped up short as everyone turned to look at me. Malon had even stopped the carriage so that she could look at me.

"That voice came from me, didn't it," I asked wryly.

They just nodded.

I grabbed the hood of my jacket once again and pulled it around so that I could look into it easily. Sure enough, a very pink Via was sitting in my hood.

"When did you get there?" I asked with some surprise.

"I've b-been here since this m-morning."

She had been with me all day, and she never once made a peep… This fairy was indeed very, very shy.

"I guess the better question to ask is: Why are you in my hood?"

Via was quiet for a minute before she finally answered, "I w-wanted to see what it was like outside the forest. I-I wanted to see it for myself. I wouldn't be a burden, I p-promise. I was useful yesterday, w-wasn't I?"

"Useful," I said, surprised she had to ask, "If it wasn't for you, both Saria and I would be dead."

Via cautiously floated out of my hood and nervously looked around at everyone in the wagon, "You guys don't mind if I s-stay around?"

"We don't mind at all," Zelda said kindly.

"Sure," Malon chipped in, "The more the merrier."

Link nodded at the little fairy, "It would be an honor to have you with us."

Via turned to look at me and I said, "I think you already know my vote," I said with a grin, "Welcome aboard!"

A/N: "Before you go, I would like to teach you all something."

Link smiled, "I bet I already know what it is."

She grinned at him, "Yeah. As a matter of fact, didn't I teach it to you twice?"

Don't you just love time paradoxes :D. And shame on anyone who actually thought that I was kicking Via out of the group, you should all know better (of course, nobody really thought I was going to do that, right?).

Two orbs down, only four left to go. But with Malgum aware of the plan, how will the group fare? Why has Malgum not gone after the Sword of Darkness?