Once again, a fic where I start by writing the author's note. It's really becoming a habit of mine lately, for some reason. This fic is something of a rewrite of a fic from 2008, 'Worth the Sacrifice'. If you've read that, you'll have a good idea of how this one is going to end. Still, this fic will take a slightly different angle and expand rather significantly on the old one. It's not quite a novelization of the game, and I'll take a lot of liberties with the source material, but the broad strokes will still happen. The Stones, the Temples, the fight with Ganondorf…all of that will be in the fic. Specifics, however, will be changed to be less 'gamey', as suits my whim, and of course, there are other viewpoint characters with their own story to tell.

Before I begin the story proper, a bit more explanation on the ship: This is a triad fic, meaning that Malon and Zelda will not only be together with Link, but also with each other. It's also probably going to be a bit different from how I usually write ships, because part of my challenge for myself this fic will be trying to find out what the difference between platonic and romantic even is in my definition of love.

Next, canon will just be a suggestion in many places. I might twist or stretch game characterizations if that suits my story better, and since I'm no lore expert I'm bound to get things wrong. I'm fine with that. I have my own vision of how I want this story to go, so while you're free to comment on it, I probably won't change much.

Travel times will always be at the speed of plot, as will the timeframe of events. Whether events in subsequent chapters are concurrent with each other or not will depend solely on context, but hopefully it'll be clear enough. Outside of the obvious time travel, a later chapter will never take place earlier than one that came before it, though.

Well, I think I've ranted just about long enough at this point. Please let me know what you think, good or bad. Any opinion is welcome here. Enjoy!

Chapter One: A Fairy Unusual Morning

"Link! Link! Wake up!"

Link groaned, and he tried to wave away the shrill voice shouting at him. It wasn't like he was having a particularly good dream, far from it, in fact, but he hated it when someone tried to get him out of bed. He preferred the unsettling nightmares full of drawbridges, rain, and evil sorcerers to the constant whispering and pointing behind his back any day.

"He's so weird. He doesn't even have a fairy!"

"I bet the Great Deku Tree is mad at him."

"Mido says he's not one of us…"

He was used to it, but being used to something didn't necessarily make it any more pleasant.

"My Goddesses, can the fate of Hyrule really rest on the shoulders of such a lazy boy?" the shrill voice said. There was something about the pitch of the voice that made Link curious. Kokiri voices were pretty high and clear, but this sounded more like…

"A fairy?" he said when he opened his eyes and saw the butterfly-like sprite hovering in front of him.

"Finally awake, are you?" the fairy asked in a maddeningly snooty tone.

Not being much of morning person, especially after yet another night of murky dreams, Link replied, "Yes, something annoying was buzzing in my ear. I thought it was a mosquito I had to swat. What are you doing here, anyway? I've never seen you around before."

"The Great Deku Tree sent me to come and get you, Link. Though why he wants a boy with such bad manners is beyond me. Anyway, my name is Navi, and I'm supposed to guide you. Now come on, you don't want to keep the Great Deku Tree waiting, do you?"

"He's a tree. All he does is wait," Link said.

Navi fluttered from side to side, which Link guessed was supposed to be her shaking her head. "He is the guardian of the forest, Link. You should show some more respect," she admonished.

Link shrugged, but remained quiet. He wanted to tell Navi that the Deku Tree hadn't really done much for him, but he felt that would be a bit too petty, and even though Navi annoyed him a bit, part of him was still excited that he finally had a fairy partner now. He couldn't wait to see the look on Mido's face, if nothing else.

"Okay, let's get going, then," he said.

He stepped outside of his home and looked out over the clearing that had been his home for as long as he could remember. Hidden deep within the Lost Woods, far away from everywhere else in the world, the Kokiri lived their lives, each guided and protected by a fairy sent to them by the Great Deku Tree. Though the woods had a habit of making people, even Kokiri, wander in circles, Link had explored much of the forest so often together with Saria that they didn't feel all that mysterious or scary anymore to him, despite many of the other Kokiri assuring him that he would become a Skull Kid if he went into the woods without a fairy. The fact he'd safely returned home every single time had never seemed to change their perspective much.

As he descended the ladder, he wondered what the other Kokiri would say now that he finally had a fairy too. Though he didn't really want to admit it to himself, a part of him was hoping that now, he'd finally belong.

That hope quickly faded, though, when he passed Remi and Lati, who instead of smiling immediately turned to each other and began whispering frantically, entirely ignoring Link as they did so.

"Right. Don't know what I was expecting, really…" Link said with a sigh.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Navi questioningly looking at Remi and Lati for a moment before following Link again, but she didn't comment on it.

Already annoyed from both the rough awakening and the unwelcome reaction from Remi and Lati, Link reached the entrance to the narrow path to the Deku Tree, where his day got even worse when he saw Mido leaning against the wall next to it.

"Hold it right there, Mr. No Fairy," Mido said, imperiously holding out his hand. "You can't go beyond this point. The Great Deku Tree won't want to see someone who doesn't even have a fairy."

"I do, though," Link said, pointing at Navi.

Mido looked up and his eyes widened. "Wait, what?! Really?" He cocked his head at Navi. "I saw you this morning… Did the Great Deku Tree really send you to him?!" he asked.

Navi bobbed up and down in a nod. "He did," she said. "So could you please let Link and me pass? The Great Deku Tree has a very important task for him."

Mido sputtered for a moment, and Link felt his mood improving the smallest bit.

"Yeah, Mido, step aside and the let the important people pass," he said, making the same imperious gesture Mido had made moments before.

That seemed to shock Mido out of his sputtering, however, and he said, "No! I can't just let anyone pass, no matter what they say. I mean, you- you don't even have proper equipment!"

He nodded frantically, as if he was pleased with what he was coming up with. "Yeah! You'll need at least, um…a sword and a shield! Yes!"

"A sword and shield? Where would I find those?!" Link asked angrily.

Mido shrugged, now calming down again. "Who knows? But without a sword and shield, you're not getting past me," he said.

Link looked up at Navi and said, "Can't you order him to stand aside, or something? You're the one who said the Deku Tree needed me."

"Well…he does make a good point," Navi said hesitantly. "I don't know exactly what the Great Deku Tree needs from you, but it might be dangerous…"

Mido was now looking almost insufferably smug and Link glared at him angrily before turning around and stomping away.

"Just great," he grumbled. "I don't suppose you know where to find a sword and shield?" he asked with a sideways glance at Navi.

"The Kokiri don't really have much in the way of weapons," Navi said. "They don't really need it, hidden as they are…but I think there is a sword in the forest somewhere, for dire situations."

"Okay, so where is that sword?" Link asked.

"I…I don't know," Navi admitted.

When Link growled in frustration, she went on, "Doesn't anyone else in the village know?"

Link scoffed. "As if they'd tell me. You might have noticed that they don't exactly like me," he said.

"Why not?" Navi asked. "Well, at first it was because I didn't have a fairy. Now…just out of habit, I guess? I don't care, anyway. If it weren't for Saria–"

He stopped talking when he realized it. "Saria! She knows a lot about the forest, so maybe she knows where the sword is!"

He broke into a jog, and Navi quickly flew after him.

"And I bet she'll be happy I finally have a fairy…" he added, mostly to himself.

He reached the entrance to the Lost Woods, one of only two real exits from the Kokiri Village, and quickly crawled through the hollow tree stump to emerge into the Lost Woods proper. Nearly every direction looked the same, but Link knew where to go and he decisively walked through the trees, turning at seemingly random places, while Navi fluttered along next to him.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Saria's secret place," Link replied. "It's…"

He paused for a moment while he tried to come up with a way to describe it.

"Well, it's hard to describe what it is, exactly, but Saria likes to go there. She says it helps her talk to the forest spirits, or something."

He shrugged. "I don't really know, but only me and Mido know where it is. But she told me first," he added as an afterthought. "Haven't you ever been to this part of the forest?" he asked as he made another turn.

"No. I've…never really been anywhere. I just lived between the Great Deku Tree's branches and he showed me sights from all over Hyrule, but I haven't seen everything. This is my first assignment," Navi said, and Link could hear she sounded quite proud of being selected. For some reason, it made him feel a wave of affection for her.

They emerged into another clearing, this one a bit hillier than the flatter ones they'd crossed until that point, and Link followed the familiar snaking path towards the stairs that led to Saria's secret place.

As he was climbing the stairs, he could already hear the playing of an ocarina, and he sped up to reach Saria sooner.

Navi, who'd apparently been looking around, was forced to quickly fly after him with an indignant, "Hey!"

The first think Link saw was the ruined staircase high up in the wall, with the old, dead tree next to it. There was the weird, white platform on the forest floor, which even Saria never really had an explanation for, and, bathing in the morning sun, was the tree stump Saria liked to sit on to play her ocarina, as she was doing now.

"Saria!" Link yelled, and Saria quickly stopped playing and looked up, smiling widely when she saw Link approaching.

"Link!" she said happily.

She spotted Navi and her smile got even bigger. "You have a fairy! That's so great, Link!"

Link grinned back at her, and Navi said, "Hello, I'm Navi, pleased to meet you."

"I'm Saria, and this is my fairy, Sylva."

"Hello," Sylva said, giving a friendly bob in greeting.

"Well, congratulations, Link," Saria said. "You're really one of us now!"

Link felt a short stab of pain at that remark, and he briefly considered telling Saria how Remi and Lati had reacted, but he decided against it.

"Yeah… Hey, guess what? The Deku Tree asked to see me," he said instead.

"The Great Deku Tree," Navi corrected, and Link waved his hand dismissively.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"That's a real honor, you know," Saria said. "You should probably at least pretend to be polite when you see him, or he might ask Mido next time," she added playfully.

Link shuddered in horror. "He wouldn't," he said.

Then he gave Navi an uncertain look and asked. "Would he?"

"Hmm, I don't know," Navi said, and from the corner of his eye Link saw Saria trying to hold back her laughter. "You are a bit rude…"

"Oh, come on!" Link said in exasperation, knowing full well both Saria and Navi were laughing at him. At least Sylva was nice enough to keep quiet. Maybe he should ask her to be his fairy, and then Saria could take over Navi…

But almost as soon as he thought that, he somehow felt guilty about it. Maybe it was because this was Navi's first assignment as well, or maybe it was just because he knew a bit too well what it was like to be unwanted.

So rather than saying something mean, he just said, "Anyway, Saria…Mido said he wouldn't let me pass unless I had a sword and a shield."

"How nice of him to look out for you," Saria said with a smile, and Navi giggled at Link's annoyed huff.

"The only thing he needs to look out for is that that big head of his doesn't get stuck in the doorway of his house," he said.

Now it was Saria's turn to giggle, and she said, "Well, luckily for you I think I can help you. Varo likes making shields from tree bark, so you can probably buy one from him. As for the sword… You know that bit of the village just behind your house, with the fences and the rocks? There's this small tunnel you can crawl through there, and then you'll end up in a small meadow with an old chest that has the Kokiri Sword in it."

"It's that close to the village?" Link asked in surprise.

Saria shrugged. "I guess a sword wouldn't be all that useful if it were on the other side of the woods," she said.

She got up from the tree stump and grabbed Link's hand. "Come on, let's go back to the village together! The sooner you get everything, the sooner you can help the Great Deku Tree!"

Link didn't even get a chance to say anything before he was forcefully pulled along by Saria, and he could swear he heard Navi laughing at him again.

Rather than getting angry, however, he just smiled. Whatever the Deku Tree might want from him, at least it seemed he'd gotten a new friend out of it, so it couldn't be all that bad…

I was going to extend the chapter a little bit further, but I think it works out fine if I cut it here. I have no idea if Saria's fairy has a name or not, but I decided on Sylva both because of 'sylvan' meaning 'of the forest' and the Pokémon Sylveon being Fairy-type. I don't know how much I'll use her yet, but whatever. I have a lot of plans for this story, so I hope I can keep it going. In any case, feel free to let me know what you think, and see you in the next one!