I will not attempt any definition of instinct.

- Charles Darwin, Origin of Species, Chapter VIII


The third day had passed since Luna's departure to freedom. Old life escaped and new one embraced, Luna did not do very much other than run around like a wild animal, living off of fruit trees, berry bushes, flowers, mushrooms, herbs, and water from streams. Nights were cold though bedding made from leaves and branches helped a bit. Even the coldness, and hardness of solid earth, was a reminder of freedom. But...

"Hunh, too bad I didn't bring a coat or something," Luna mumbled to herself while submerged in shrubbery as a shivering ball one night, but at least the summer nights were not too cold. Still, she wished she brought a coat. At least she had really long hair for a blanket.

What else is there to describe about Luna? She scurried here, scurried there, and enjoyed everything. She ran through shrubs and flowers, felt wild and free. She must have looked like a complete idiot as this albino girl, in green clothing, who dashed about like a hyperactive squirrel. Good thing nobody could see her!

Amidst her wanderlust, Luna noticed a group of deer. They grazed, big ears tilted and eyes cautious. Luna approached them, one of the fawns lifted his head. The stag lifted his head, impressive antlers of authority on high, and the albino girl decided it was best not to get too close. The fawns walked away from her anyway much to her disappointment.

"Fine, maybe next time..."


Later, Luna saw fuzzy white things somewhere.

"Bunnies!" she squealed, then tiptoed towards the little creatures. "I wanna grab them..."

One of the smaller rabbits paused from his feast, ears twitchy. He hopped around to face Luna and more rabbits noticed her. Some stood on their hind legs and watched Luna approach. Perhaps they knew she was harmless, or at least as innocent as they were. She slowly sat cross-legged and remained still, and eventually, the bunnies continued to eat and nuzzle things.

Luna felt so warm inside that she could just sit there and watch bunnies all day. She wanted to cup her hands and pick one up. She eagerly awaited the younger bunnies to come near, but every time she tried to touch one, they ran away. She tried several times to even pet a rabbit but to no avail. It was as if those little animals teased her.

A white one with red eyes ate closely to Luna, eyes wary, so Luna slowly moved her hands closer to the bunny. Her fingers inched towards the critter. Just as Luna felt fur, the wascally wabbit ran off. Luna had a look of irritation mapped across her face.

"I just want to pet you, you know!"

The forest child eventually grew impatient and pondered on a way to catch one of the bunnies. So she attempted to pick them up but failed miserably. Those bunnies were so nimble and swift, that they could simply waited, like frozen balls of fuzz, and when Luna neared they scurried off.

"I'm not even trying to hurt you!" Luna whined. Several birds chirped aloud as if they teased her.

So Luna tried stealth and crawled with the grace of a cat...and her prey ran off sooner than usual, left her with frustration and surprise. So she ran after those short-legged, beady-eyed, furry things and no matter how fast she ran, the rabbits were always faster even when it seemed they were not trying to escape. They hopped in zigzagging or random patterns and outran the albino with ease.

Come and catch us, if you want to play, the rabbits seemed to say.

Much to Luna's disappointment, she could not play with the friends she wanted to have. She tried and tried, and failed and failed. Tired, Luna gave up and caught her breath. The rabbits, few by few, disappeared within bushes and barrows.

Luna watched one bunny, a fat white one, dive into a burrow, ears back with his legs and body outstretched in his most majestic dive ever. However, he was a bit too fat and got stuck halfway into the hole. Luna could have charged forth and snatched the fat bunny but... She stood upright and still and wiped her sweaty brow. The fat rabbit's tail and padded feet wriggled about. She pushed his butt and he squeezed into his home.

What a cute thing!

Luna put her hand in the hole, stuck her tongue out and bit it, and tried to poke the bunny's belly. The small animal delved further into his hideout.

"Why do they run away?"

She stood straight and sighed. A large black wolf walked perhaps twenty meters away. Not a Wolfos, a wolf. The wolf was man-sized but compared to a child, quite gigantic. The beast's thick dark fur shimmered in the sunlight as he came to a stop. He sniffed the ground with that big nose of his and breathed the scent of earth a few times. The wolf lifted his head and looked at Luna. The black wolf and the white girl calmly stared.

Luna felt no fear. She knew the dangers of carnivores but the big boy respected her. After several seconds the wolf trod along as if nothing happened. Luna watched him go.

Fright and anxiety came. Luna walked to a leafy apple tree. The tree had relatively low branches. Luna jumped and grasped a branch. The tree rustled and dropped several apples. She perched on the branch and looked around.

Several gray wolves ran forth and stood below the tree. One of them put his front paws on the tree and tilted his head. The wolves breathed quietly and did not even blink. One wolf jumped and momentarily leaned over the branch but could not reach Luna.

Luna decided to climb higher. Another wolf jumped and got his paws over the branch, his weight shook it and unbalanced Luna.

"Oh-whoa!" Luna balanced on one foot as her arms flailed and body contorted—several apples fell and one thumped against a wolf's forehead who then sniffed it.

But Luna lived in trees her whole life, it would take much more than a shaky branch to get her off one. She regained balance and climbed higher. She wrapped her legs around the branch and hung upside-down, arms loose. The wolves stared as if confused and a few cocked their heads.

Luna remained hanging upside-down by her legs, hair like a frozen waterfall, and there she hung and made funny faces. The wolves did not seem impressed. Luna's swaying caused a few apples to fall, and one struck the underside of her chin—the impact made Luna bite her tongue. She covered her mouth, eyebrows up.

"Ow." The three wolves just stood. "Are you gonna leave me alone yet or what?"

Luna lifted herself and sat on the branch; a few more apples fell when the branch shook. That gave Luna an idea so she threw apples at her guests. The first two apples she threw missed, but one hit a wolf's head. The wolf barked and flailed her head. A second apple to the face made her snarl so Luna threw another apple. The shewolf skipped to dodge the dangerously fruity projectiles.

Luna remained in her apple tree until the wolves got bored and left. Luna remained perched in the apple tree. With nothing to do, she ate a few apples.

By evening, the wolves were long gone. Nevertheless, Luna lounged in her tree, hidden in the foliage and enjoyed the solitude...


Luna awoke at noon. She looked around—no wolves anywhere. She dismounted her tree and moved on.

Luna walked along the forested area amidst the short mountains before Hyrule Field. Not much changed: wind blew, shrubs swayed, foliage rustled, though birdsong and fairies were absent and Luna truly felt alone.

The albino headed back to the treeline. Some trees creaked from the wind, as if unhappy to see Luna, perhaps they wanted to make her feel guilty for leaving? A few creaking trees formed grimaces in their bark again and shook to and fro, as if with the intent to uproot themselves and take her back to Kokiri Forest.

She mustered the courage to venture into Hyrule Field again. Luna reached a hilly section with a river. This area was an eastern section of Hyrule Field, just before the short forested mountains that enclosed the entirety of the hilly terrain. The river came from beyond the wall of short mountains here and had carved through a rocky formation long ago, left an arch overhead. The pond was between a steep hill overlooking Hyrule Field and the forested mountainous area.

The river spread apart over yonder after flowing through the rocky formation. One direction flowed a short distance southward and into a pond, and the other flowed off northward, towards Hyrule Castle to also serve as a moat. Luna could barely notice the castle itself, and the castle town had grown into a small city over the past two decades. Urban development spread beyond the river in all directions. A paved road led to the castle town which did have some damages, such as smashed windows and burnt sections.

Many wooden homes and buildings were along the river bank, and even a few small docks for river boats. Eastward and southward had the most development, as those directions had just open field, occupied by two- to three-story apartments and various buildings. Before these buildings, stretched across Hyrule Field were vast acres for agriculture, with various hamlets and farmsteads dotting the landscape. Farmers, ranchers and gardeners did their work along the countryside.

After the farmland and buildings was the river, acting as a moat for the fortifications, the stone wall at the far side of the river. The river flowed along the entire length of the castle town, eventually passed through a ground-level aqueduct at the western side. A gatehouse with a drawbridge was present as well, led to the inner city. Beyond the inner city, positioned upon hilly meadows and cliffs, was the castle itself. However, most of the details could not be seen from Luna's point of view. She did not have the best set of eyes though scanned the buildings.

"How big did those stumps used to be? How did they make them so...square?" Luna found no answer.

Across the pond and river to the east was a settlement above a forested hilly area. An immense windmill towered above the town, but too far away and too isolated amidst forests for much else to be seen.

Far to the south, near the center of Hyrule Field, was a walled ranch atop a hill, surrounded by farms at ground-level.

Luna's big pink eyes patiently absorbed all the information she saw. She squinted to get more specific details though her eyes weren't capable. She drank from the stream then went along the riverbank.

Amidst her playful wandering as though she ruled all the world, Luna noticed something over yonder behind her.

"How did I not see them sooner?"

A group of people walked along a dirt road, led by a wagon pulled by horses. Luna ran away and hid in the grass by the river.

Twenty men walked behind the wagon in a two-man wide line. These men were not Hylians. Hylians had long pointy ears, whereas these men did not. These humans were much taller than Hylians, most about six feet in height. However, like most Hylians, most men were fair-haired and blue-eyed.

Each foreigner wore the pelt of a Wolfos, wolf, wolverine, stag, cougar or bear, so that the head of the animal was worn overhead and the skin down the back, gave them a feral appearance. Some had long hair and beards. They all had swords and seaxes sheathed at their belts.

The men's swords had short hilts, short cross-guards, rather wide blades with rounded tips, and short, wide pommels. Each man had a round shield slung over the shoulder to hang down the back. Their shields varied in size, their fronts with the painting of a raven, dragon, bear, wolf, or some other animal over a solid background.

The driver—quite a big man—wore a hauberk and a nasal helm. A strung longbow, quiver, a dozen javelins, and a spear lied on the floor of the wagon. Another man sat at the back.

The wagon was perhaps twenty feet long and ten feet wide. The wagon was full of supplies, animal hides, longbow staves, woad leaves, gilded jewellery, and other trade goods, probably for trade. Exotic goods such as silk, spices, composite bows, shamshirs, and precious stones from the deserts to the west also were present.

The man who sat at the back of the wagon jumped off, walked behind the column of men, and the man at the front left took his seat on the wagon. They took turns in this manner for rotational breaks.

"Who are they?" Luna whispered. "How did they find such big deer without antlers?" She stayed low in the grass and, despite being relatively near, her Kokirish stealth made her invisible to foreign eyes.

The wagon soon stopped and the men took a break. Most men went to the river and talked about the day. They remained oblivious to Luna.

The wagoner rubbed his eyes and stretched. He looked at Luna's direction and squinted his eyes, though he did not see the girl. He got off his wagon and freed the four horses from their reins, led them to the river to drink and rest.

The other foreigners knelt by the river, washed and drank as they discussed the oddities of this realm.

"The farmers don't look defended. We'd be able to raid some of them and get away with it easily," one of the men remarked, a redhead with a full beard, who wore the skin of a wolf.

"Hm, yeah... after we finish selling and trading and get going home, we should try to take some things. These ljosalfar are much smaller and shorter than us, they probably won't even fight back," another said, a younger man with short black hair and mustache. He wore the skin of a stag.

"How should we kill them? Cut their chests open down the middle, spread their rib cage apart like the wings of an eagle?" a third purposed, a blonde man with a braided beard with the pelt of a bear.

"I'd just stab them in the heart or neck, there's less blood that way. We shouldn't let them find out we killed some of them, we just need to give them enough fear to keep them in place," the mustached man suggested.

"The ljosalfar are almost at war with each other, they probably wouldn't even figure out we killed a few of them," another man remarked.

The wagoner grunted as he walked to the scene, hauberk jingling. "Harnack, Guomundur, Morirex! We're not here to kill any ljosalfr! I won't risk losing trade opportunities. We need to get their trust first. Only fight them if they fight you first. We'll consider raiding only when necessary."

"They would not do anything if we just robbed a few," the previous man who spoke, Morirex, said.

"I don't care, we're here to trade. We're not going viking," the wagoner rebuked.

"Longships would work, seeing as the river runs into the town," a young man who had not spoken said.

"That's stupid. You'd sail straight into the town with just swords and shields? Surrounded by the enemy? The ljosalfar are smaller than us, but their soldiers wear sheets of steel, we can't get through that easily. We'd be better off sailing the lad'ya from Novgorod," another man interjected. They grumbled about what to do and how to do it.

Soon, most of the men walked back to the wagon, ready to go. The wagoner took the horses to the wagon while Harnack, Guomundur, Morirex, and three other men stayed behind and bickered about raiding.

Luna was too nervous to even budge. Her back and legs strained and her breathing was irregular..

"Did you hear something?" Morirex asked aloud. He looked at Luna's direction and she gasped.

"Yeah, sounded like the grass is gasping?" one of the men suggested. Luna put a hand over her mouth so quickly she slapped herself, attracted even more attention.

"Eh, forget it, must just be some dumb kid," Harnack mumbled.

Luna's arms dropped, she frowned, and glared even though they couldn't see her. Something caught her attention—something large swam in the rushing depths, a man-sized fish with immense fins?