You shall go to your true home with honour.

- extract from Guru Granth Sahib, Raag Malaar


Luna and Kibou journeyed homeward, the albino traversing blackness without any problem. Other fairy-like creatures appeared in all directions, ethereal things flowing amidst vegetation of the never-ending woodland.

Despite sleep-deprived eyes, Luna was upbeat and energetic. She stepped over a flexible shrub, and once passed, the thing whipped back, nailing Kibou in the face. Luna didn't notice.

"Ouch, that's going to leave a mark for a while..." Kibou remarked.

"Hm? Did you say something?"

"Nothing," Kibou replied, floating along behind her head. He doesn't have a problem with whiplashing plants anymore. "How do you know this forest so well? You can travel even in darkness!"

Luna chuckled. "It's like you only just noticed I come here often?"

"I could learn some pathfinding from you!"


The morning star twinkled.

Birdsong gradually echoed. The cloudy orange sky was visible across openings in the canopy.

"I can't wait till we're home, where you belong," Kibou commented.

Luna didn't reply, just whistling to birds, some replying to her pattern, flying about from branch to branch and following.

She has a natural affinity to animals… When he was young, Kibou tried mimicry of birdsong, without results. Luna attracted birds easily, the chirps keeping the long walk pleasant.


Noon's arrival evoke life and activity, many birds and insects singing and flying.

On a nearby tree, a family of raccoons climb while a woodpecker hammers.

Luna smiled. "Ha ha! Raccoons going home. So cute."

"Like us!" Kibou remarked.

Along the walk, a few rabbits rummage in the grass, and a hedgehog walks with apples sticking on her needles.

Up ahead, a pond with frogs and turtles.

"Those frogs are staring at you attentively…" Kibou commented.

"Why? Do they think I'll play music for them?" A bee buzzed past Luna's ear.

"Apparently."

Feeling nervous, Kibou flew past Luna. Luna continued walking, her movement causing her head to move into Kibou and brushing him aside.

"Watch out!" Kibou cried, but Luna is lost in her thoughts.

A blue-headed carnivorous plant erupted from the ground, mouth opening and closing rapidly. It lunged. Luna stops, positioning her arms in front of herself, overly long sleeves sliding over her hands. She thrust her hands against the Deku Baba's forehead, one over the other. She slumped over, pushing the Deku Baba down and holding it with her body pressing atop her hands. The carnivorous plant's stalk writhed, unable to free its head under the girl's body weight.

Luna grabbed the stalk and pulled herself down the Deku Baba, wrapping her legs around the stalk just under the head to immobilize it. She chewed on the stalk while outstretching herself, legs pushing the upper half of the Deku Baba away from herself, fibrous strands ripping.

The Deku Baba continued snapping its jaws, writhing like a dying snake, gradually stopping. Luna stood, watching the Deku Baba's mouth open and a nut rolling out from within.

Kibou flew by. "Oh my, well done!"

Luna crossed her arms, smirking.

"When you cried for me to watch out, I thought you were complaining that I walked into you," Luna admitted, chuckling.

"Oh? Well, good thing I did fly in front of you! You might have stepped on that Deku Baba, where it would have bitten your foot."

"I've been exploring the Lost Woods for a long time, Kibou. Chances are I know what I'm doing," Luna remarked with a dismissive shrug. She stared at Kibou with her big pink eyes and smiled, but it does not mask her eye sleep deprivation.

"And when we get to home sweet home, you'll be able to have some nice shuteye."

"Don't treat me like a baby," Luna scoffed.

Kibou followed his kid silently, hoping she wouldn't have any second thoughts of returning home.


A peach tree stood by a stream, surrounded by tulips and blossoms of wild raspberry flowers.

"We're almost home, but let's have a break here." Luna picked a peach, caressing the fuzz tickling her palms.

"Yes, good idea! I really need a break. My body feels so sore and my wings are so stiff."

"Some fairy you are, can't even have the stamina he needs."

"Hey! I'm much bigger than most fairies! I'm just not as nimble." Kibou slumped into a tulip, relaxing in the swaying flower.

Luna rolled her sleeves up, rinsing her peach in the stream. She sat cross-legged, moves her hair out of the way, and eats her peach. Tingly fruitiness.

"Get out of here!" Kibou squeaked, kicking a dragonfly's face before it can land on his flower.

Luna snickered. "Want some?" She showed Kibou her half-eaten peach.

"I can't really eat something bigger than myself."

"Here, catch." She broke off a little piece and tossed it. Kibou caught it, almost falling off his seat, realigning his wings for balance.

"Thanks for the heads-up."

"You're welcome."

At least the peach was good.

After finishing her peach, Luna tossed the seed. She made a cup with her hands and drank from the stream, long hair flanking her forearms. A newt swam downstream, Luna watching it go. After drinking, Luna washed her face and hands, unrolling her sleeves to use as towels.

Luna stood. Kibou lounged in his tulip, wings spread apart. She quietly approached Kibou. He doesn't budge. She leaned over to look.

High-pitched snoring...

The albino smiled. With nothing to do, she picked another peach and wandered off.

Kibou awoke when a bee buzzed around. He writhed in his flower, wondering what's going on. He snorted, getting up and looking around.

Luna is nowhere.

"Luna? Luna, you there?"

Nervous, Kibou jumped and hovered, looking side to side. He rubbed his eyes to clear vision, Luna still gone. "L-Luna...did you run away again? Oh no..."

"Wooahh!" Fingernails prodded Kibou's back—he spun arund, sparks flying about.

"That's not funny!" Kibou warned.

Luna grinned. "Yeah, it is!"

He angrily jingled.

"At least you're wide awake! But we should get going soon, right?" Luna went on, not giving Kibou a chance to complain.

"Ohhh, that girl..." Kibou flew after Luna strolling along the creek.


Evening.

"Ughh…we've been travelling for hours on end…" Kibou complained.

"Well…" Luna spread apart some branches, revealing a view of Kokiri Forest from atop a cliff.

Kibou jingled with surprise. "I just had to wait a couple more seconds!"

"That you did!"

The village titled Kokiri Forest had many fairies and ethereal creatures flying around, of many shapes and sizes, like winged and breathing snowflakes.

Kibou heard the little waterfall flowing into the pond below, the stream running through the Kokiri village off to the left. Down below was the second level of the cliff and fenced-off drop-off, with a giant hollowed-out log leading to the Lost Woods through the cliff, a Gossip Stone nearby it. Below the cliffs were ground level and the rest of the village.

In the pond were three cubical stone objects, middle stone largest. At the other side of the pond were two pillars, a large one to the right with a simple bridge leading to a smaller pillar. The smaller pillar had another bridge going to a gigantic tree stump remade into a house, one of many such stump homes across the village, each having small dirt roads leading to them. The tops were still chopped away but now regrown with bark and foliage, branches reaching the ground.

To the left beyond the pond, one stump terminated into two trunks. Directly to the front, beyond the pond and pillars, is a stout stump with a spiraled, carved-in section to allow one to ascend and reach the bridges of the pillars.

To the right, a very tall stump with a ladder and balcony, the home in a decline of the ground flanked by two elevated sections.

Behind the tree stump dwellings was a short cliff. Atop the cliff were many more trees, some a couple a hundred feet tall. Amidst the lower to middle branches, humble dwellings were made of woven branches, straw, wicker, and thatch, resembling bird nests with conical roofs. Not necessarily large, the dwellings could still fit several children, essentially sleeping quarters and not much else. Almost three hundred of such dwellings adorned the trees, some trees having several of such homes here and there, some homes covered with hanging gardens. Small birds have their own nests in these dwellings, the extension of Kokiri Forest quite pretty.

Ladders, ropes, bridges, and swings decorate the trees, allowing access to and fro from the dwellings. A few Kokiri swing from tree to tree, always busy.

Such dwellings made in the trees were only present for that side of the village. The side with Kibou and Luna was uninhabited, as that's the side of the Lost Woods, usually avoided.

The forest floor near the trees with dwellings have fields of wheat, barley and other grains. Orchards of fruit trees and nut trees dot the cultivated land amidst berry bushes and root vegetables, with grapevines and climbing peas twisting around the trunks and branches of trees. The villagers were fairly busy, either working away at their crops or picking edibles from trees and plants, finishing the day's work.

The sun set to the west, providing a welcoming, beautiful sensation for Luna and her guardian fairy. Sunset cast a reddish sky above the treetops.

"Home sweet home," Luna remarked. "Alright, let's go." She stepped through the branches, Kibou flying underneath a whiplashing branch.

"I'll just rinse myself off first. I don't want the other fairies to see me so messy." Kibou splashed into the stream.

Luna watched Kibou float downstream. He went over the waterfall, regained flight, and reappeared.

"Missed a spot."

"Hm? How did I?"

"Just teasing." Luna went down to the lower cliff then hopped from that one, kneeling upon landing. She stood and looked back, a giant hollow log piercing the wall of a cliff, leading to a bridge going to the fields of Hyrule.

Several Kokiri guards stand by the entrance, chatting away about this and that. Each Kokiri guard wore one-half of a big Deku nutshell as a helmet. Their aketons were reinforced with shells of Deku Seeds and Nuts sewn into the canvas, as well as onto the shafts of their boots. The halves of large Deku Nutshells protect the shoulders, elbows, and knees. Each guard has a little sword, knife, and slingshot at their belts. Their shields consist of one-half of a giant Deku Nutshell with a handle in the inside.

"Their job must be so boring," Luna remarked.

"But it's still a job!" Kibou said. "I think you need one yourself, hm?"

"I'll pass." Luna made her way through the village. She occasionally past other Kokiri, just nodding at their greetings. Eventually, she reaches a bridge going up the cliffs where the trees with bird nest homes are. The albino strolls through fields of grain, heading home.

The working Kokiri did not say much to Luna, minding their own business and tending to their duties: scything, tilling, threshing, foraging, weeding. Other activities were basketwork, fletching, knitting, shoemaking, tailoring, pottery. Some wave and greet Luna, but she just nodded.

"See? Everyone's been working while you were gone," Kibou said.

Luna said nothing, uninterested.

Further on, some Kokiri practice shooting bows, slings, slingshots or blowguns, into hay bale targets. Others threw javelins, boomerangs, or axes.

"Future guards and warriors in the making! Maybe you'll be like them someday?" Kibou suggested.

"I dunno, maybe."

Various huts dotted the area, consisting of a granary, workshop, bakery, mill, kitchen, and such places for food or goods. The mill does not have sails, as the mighty trees block out most of the wind anyways. So, instead, the millstone has a hole on the side for a handle, to spin the millstone. A few Kokiri kids did just that, the flour taken to the granary. Under each corner of the granary is a toadstool-shaped stone, so that mice and other critters cannot climb them.

Everyone steadily ended their day's work.

Luna didn't make eye contact, keeping to herself. As she went past a well, a fat boy with dark hair and blue eyes drew water.

She entered the granary. Inside, heaps of wheat and barley. Stacks of baked goods. Baskets of berries, grapes, vegetables, olives. Pots of olive oil (fortunately, not being broken all the time). Sacks of mushrooms. Spices, incense, herbs... The granary had an aromatic scent of produce and the cedar used to construct it.

"Well, looks like everyone's been really, really busy when you were gone," Kibou commented. "Imagine how much more there would be if you helped."

The albino shrugged. "Well, whatever." She rolled her long sleeves up, taking a loaf of bread mixed with nuts and berries. She stepped out the granary, someone waiting for her outside—a tall girl who wasn't happy...