Chapter 86: Where You Can Hide

The cool night air bolstered Navi's flight as she led Link down the hills in the dark. A real breeze, a gentle breeze, one she used to only dream about. But this was no dream. It was real. She made herself dim and low to the ground, so hidden eyes would see her as nothing more than a firefly. But she was bright enough to guide his steps. They were far from the crest of the hill, and the slope was gentle enough for Link to walk without fear of falling. But still, he could twist an ankle on the uneven ground, or perhaps even misstep and tumble to the bottom.

Then they'd be caught, and if Sheik was right, perhaps they'd be dragged before that gaping pit she felt within the village.

When they reached the foot of the hill, Link ran just as their guide told them. They didn't stop until they reached the wheat stalks of the closest farm and Link dived into the crop. Navi retired to the ocarina so her light would not become a beacon to those around them. Though she had not seen any of the guards from Sheik's warnings, they too were real. Of that Navi had no doubt. Joy and happiness could often be dreams, but the danger was always real.

And just as Sheik said, light footsteps approached, walking around the wheat fields. Navi closed her eyes praying for the person to pass, but it took so long. They'd been caught. She was certain of it. Caught and captured and they would lock her up again, where she'd see no light and know no day and feel no joy.

She held her breath as the footsteps drew closer and closer. Louder and louder. Reverberating off the confines of the ocarina. This was it. She couldn't go back to the dark again.

The steps moved on. They grew quieter until she could hear them no longer. Then Link began to count.

"One hundred," he whispered. "That's what Sheik said to wait for, wasn't it? When I can't see the scout anymore count to one hundred."

"That's what he said," Navi managed to make her voice steady. She flew from the ocarina and perched on Link's shoulder as they followed the edge of the farmland until they reached a road. They walked down it two miles until they found a thick gnarled tree whose ancient branches hung over the road.

"You think this is the one?" Link asked as he wiped away some mud and a crawling ant on a thick knot of the tree trunk. Beneath the layer of dirt lay a mark in the Sheikah language.

"It must be."

"Good," Link walked to the other side of the tree and tried to tuck himself among the roots and grass.

"You won't fit there," Navi said. "You're too big now."

Link gave an annoyed grunt as he tried to find a different spot to hide. It took him three tries before he found a crook that hid his shape from the road. "There," he said with some satisfaction. He closed his eyes and looked for all the world as though he'd fallen immediately to sleep. "Navi?" He asked, without opening his eyes.

"Yes?"

"What do you think happened?"

"I've stopped trying to guess." The Goddesses loved pulling her away just when she thought she could spend even a day in comfort without worry. Though this one at least hadn't come as a surprise. That power beneath the village was always going to cause some trouble. The moment she felt it she knew they'd either be running from the village or somehow Link would fight whatever was down there. Of the two options, she much preferred fleeing.

"It's just strange," he said through a yawn. "I wish we'd gotten something to eat."

"Why don't you go to sleep? I'm sure we'll find food in the morning."

"What if Sheik doesn't show up?"

"He will." She assured him with a confidence she did not feel. "Rest, Link. I'll watch for him."

"You're not tired yourself?"

"Rest."

He fell asleep with a slight smile. His smile. There could be no doubt. Of all the children in all the world, why had this one been brought to the forest in need of her help? Any normal child would learn to grow more wary, but not him. Not even after the seven long years apart. Perhaps not even the Goddesses could temper that restlessness within him.

Navi flew to one of the high branches of the tree and waited. She sighed. Weeks of trying to readjust her sleep to match those of normal people would be wasted. Had she known that seven years without the light of day or the dark of night would ruin all sense of time, she'd have taken some measure of it. There must have been a way to force herself to sleep with the rest of Hyrule.

The sun rose with no sign of Sheik. Hadn't he said they'd meet by the gnarled willow? Was there another? Where was he?

What if he had been captured himself? Link would only do something foolish if he thought that.

The rays of the sun brought light to the far fields and rolling hills. She'd lost this for seven years, but it no longer brought her the same joy. How could she have ever felt the world was full of beauty? After all the Great Deku Tree's warnings, how had she forgotten that the light meant the horrors of the world could see you?

They must have taken Sheik and dragged him into that darkness; that grasping, pulsing anger from below. They'd wasted too much time here already, waiting for someone who would not arrive.

When she turned to wake Link, she saw the roots and fallen leaves had come alive. They turned into a cage, not of life but the hard death of stone walls that pressed closer and closer. Never letting him out. Never letting anything change. He was trapped. They were trapped. Alone and frozen, forever.

"It's not real. It's not real," she whispered. She shut her eyes and forced the visions away.

She did not open them again until the rhythmic clopping and crunching of hooves on gravel reached her. Further down the road Sheik rode on Song. A nervous laugh escaped Navi, and the tension fled from her body. She keeled over and clutched at her chest. Why was her heart beating so fast? Nothing had happened. Just the waking nightmares. They weren't real. They couldn't hurt anyone.

It took minutes of gulping breaths and quivering limbs for her to calm down. Thank the Goddesses no one can see me. I must look ridiculous.

Sheik and Song reached the tree before Navi's chest stopped hurting and she felt as though she could breathe.

"Where's Link?" Sheik asked, looking up at her on the branch.

"Asleep behind the tree," Navi said, nothing in her voice revealing her prior panic.

"Rouse him."

"No need," Link called. "I'm awake." A rustling came from behind her, and Link walked onto the road stretching and yawning. "What kept you?"

"I'm sorry, did I delay you?" Sheik said more cold than Navi thought necessary. "Next time you steal the horse."

"I wasn't trying to anger you. I was just wondering if everything went smooth, is all."

"We got out, that's enough." Sheik started to dismount.

"No, you take Song. I had some sleep; you can rest in the saddle for a bit."

"You certain?"

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I wasn't."

"Thank you." Sheik slumped in the saddle. "It's been a long night."

"And you never stopped to rest the day before," Navi said. "You must be exhausted."

"Just tell us where we're headed, and I'll make sure Song doesn't wander down the wrong path."

"It's fastest if we take the main road, but it will reach a village in a few miles, a Sheikah village. We'll need to avoid it. And then..." Sheik trailed off, looking to the horizon, his brow furrowed.

"Do you not know where we're to go?"

He looked embarrassed when he shook his head. "There are few people I trust, and nowhere I know that is safe."

"Where did Zelda say to meet her?" Link asked.

"She didn't say, only that we must leave and no one in Kakariko could be trusted. Were it any other time, I'd say she fled to Death Mountain to her uncle. But word is the Usurper has made some alliance with a dragon to watch the mountain in his stead. One can only imagine the terrors such a beast is unleashing upon the Gorons. No. It is not safe. She would not go there."

Link's eyes went wide. "A dragon?"

"No," Navi said.

"You don't know what I'm going to say."

"Yes, I do. We are not going to charge into danger again."

"But the Gorons need our help, you heard Sheik."

"It's a dragon! What help do you think you can provide?"

"Navi is correct," Sheik said. "We need a place we can safely hide. I need time to think. There's too much."

"What about Zelda?"

"The princess knows how to remain hidden and wait until the time is right."

Navi watched as Link paced around the road scratching at his head. "If we need to hide, I know a place."

"The world has changed some since you were asleep. There's no guarantee that where you're thinking of remains secured."

"It is," Link said. "I know it is. You said Ganondorf's been busy. He's had no reason to go there."

"Where?"

Navi knew his answer before he said it. The one place she knew she'd feel secure. A place she knew was real.

"Home."

"Is this the entrance?" Sheik asked.

"Yes," Navi said as they approached the treeline. It took four days of hard travel, avoiding main roads and most villages before they reached Kokiri Forest. The trees cast deep shadows of gloom that swirled beneath their limbs. How had she ever wanted to look out from that dark and see the horizon?

"How can you tell?" Sheik's eyes narrowed as he studied the nearest branch. "It looks the same as every other batch of trees we passed."

"Because I shaped this path, and I remember this entrance."

Sheik spun about to look at Navi. "That was a hundred years ago."

"I wasn't the only one, of course. I was far too young and inexperienced to shape such an enchantment. Telwi did most of the work."

"How long do fairies live?"

"Telwi, the Great Deku Tree's last attendant, was three hundred when he passed. But he was long-lived even for my kind. The Great Fairies, however, it is said they are almost of an age with the Guardians."

"Only much worse," Link muttered. He took Song by the reins and tried to lead him closer to the woods, but the horse snorted and lifted his head in fear. "I'm with you," Link whispered as he calmed the horse by letting him take a few steps back and walking in several anxious circles until the snorting stopped. "We'll be safe," Link said as he entered the fog with the horse, leaving Navi and Sheik still in the light.

"Are you frightened?" Navi flew closer to Sheik.

"No," he said, though there was trepidation behind his eyes. "It's strange more than frightening. Entering a place of fairy tales and horrors, told to you as a child."

"We won't let anything happen to you. That said, follow my light and do not stray from the path. Not all the stories are lies."

Sheik ducked beneath the branch and together they entered the forest. Darkness embraced them. One moment the sun hung high over their heads, the next nothing. Only the leaves and branches of grim trees reached down toward her. As smothering as the grass and dirt that pressed against her when she fled the Great Mother. Why would she think of that now? This was nothing like that prison, this fog was supposed to bring safety and comfort.

But wasn't that what the Great Mother promised, too?

No. It's nothing alike.

Yet when she freed herself from those thoughts, other darker ones clawed at her. The trunks of the trees seemed hard as stone and grim. This was no forest, but an enchanted tomb without day or night. Alone. Stagnant. Endlessly the same forever. She couldn't breathe. I'm going to fall. I'm not there. I'm not stuck anymore.

She managed to land on Sheik's shoulder before her wings gave out. "That's it," she managed to squeak. "Keep walking forward and you'll reach the path." I'm supposed to be comforting the newcomer. Why now?

She shut her eyes, her hand gripping the cloth of Sheik's clothes. He was warm. He was alive. She wasn't alone. And more. There was something more to him. A magic marked him, one that felt familiar. She searched that flicker of magic, desperate to distract herself from the fear. But when she delved into the power, her worry only grew. Sheik had not one mark, but many. All of them buried deep and hidden. Some were warm and welcoming, but the others howled or grasped, cursing and threatening to drag her into emptiness.

"Navi?" Sheik said. "Is something wrong?"

"No." She fled from Sheik, not slowing until she was well past Link and Song. The power within Kakariko had followed them, festering within their guide.

Was that real? Or was it another nightmare? It felt true, but sometimes even Link seemed some lumbering creature who had stolen his visage. Then at night, while the others slept, Sheik would appear as the bearer of doom or the manifestation of glory all twisted together. Navi would remind herself that it wasn't true. The guide had done nothing but help them, every step of the way.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," Navi fled from the feeling of the shadows, not slowing until she was well past Link and Song. She could move. She needed to remember that, unlike the cell, she could fly away from here. "Follow me," she said as she led along the narrow clear path with gloom on every side.

Link was real, Sheik was real, even that horse whose hooves clapped against the ground and crunched fallen branches was real. There wasn't silence, there wasn't emptiness, even in this dark forest there was life and change.

Once she reached home and all the children she missed, then she would be free of the nightmares. Home, finally she was going home.

She raced along the path, from one of the hidden beacons to the next. Circling about the weaving uneven path, she hoped to reach the center before the day was out. They could make it, if they hurried.

For a mile, they wandered, then two, then three. Only the crunching of leaves and the huffing of breaths told Navi that her companions remained with her.

"Navi," Link called from behind. His voice was distant. "Navi!"

When she turned around, she saw the outline of two figures and their horse back in the dark.

"Navi come back, something is wrong with Sheik!"

How had they fallen so far behind? Navi soared back to them. Link stood worried over Sheik as the guide stared into the swirling fog.

"Sheik," Navi said as she rose to land on his shoulder, but stopped. That mark could still be there, lingering, waiting to swallow her whole. As mad as she knew that was, she dared not touch him. "Sheik, I need you to listen to me, whatever you see isn't real. It is trying to get you to leave the path."

"I remember your warning," Sheik said. "I beg you, a moment."

"Whatever they're showing you is a lie. You have to remember what's real."

"I am well aware."

"What do you see?" Link asked as he peered out into the dark.

"It's more what I hear. Friends long gone, a priest I once knew, a knight, some teachers, and servants. And my parents. They're laughing together. They're happy."

"I'm sorry," Navi whispered. Her trepidation broke, as she drew close enough to lay a hopefully comforting hand on their companion. "The woods can be cruel. Were you close?"

Sheik sighed. "No." He turned from the shadows and nodded to Navi. "Lead on, gentle fairy."

Before she could fly ahead, Link handed Sheik the reins. "Here, stay close to Song." Then he unhooked the ocarina. "And this'll drown them out. I should probably start now anyhow." He bleated out a note before Sheik grabbed the instrument.

"What are you doing?" He demanded as he pulled the ocarina down.

"Don't touch that," Link yanked free from Sheik's hand.

"We are walking through a haunted forest. You are going to blare our location to everyone in miles."

"Good."

"How could that possibly be good?

Navi flew between them. "I understand your worry," she said to Sheik, "but the path is secure. So long as you don't put a toe into the fog the path will remain safe for us. Link, if you think the music will help go ahead."

Link had a sly smile as he looked at Sheik before he began to play. Navi knew that look. Though the face had changed so much in seven years, that expression had not. Just as he looked when he was thinking of a way to break the fairy's rules or get back at Mido. It was the look of a child. What was he doing?

He played a happy tune, fast and fun. She remembered him playing it to himself a few times, but she could not think where he learned it. It wasn't one the fairies taught the children during their lessons, nor did it sound like anything that the young Link created himself during his cacophonic freeplay. No, this was something special.

Though he did not say so, Navi suspected even Sheik enjoyed the song. Navi stayed ahead, following the marks left behind by the fairies who shaped the path a century ago. One she remembered as her own, another was from Yulwei, and dear Helpi whose light burned out thirty years past. She missed that old sprite with his tall tales of flying through the desert to gather students for the Great Deku Tree. So many memories of this old home, and yet none of them quelled her worry. But home would. She was certain of it. Home would bring peace.

When the song finished, Link took a breath and then played it again. Then again. So many times Navi lost count.

"Can you play nothing else?" Sheik snapped, after Link finished the tune once more.

"No," he said before starting again.

"It's not a bad song," Navi said.

"The quality of the music is not in question. It could be the greatest piece in all Hyrule, a lost masterpiece from the great Kondo himself. That doesn't mean I want to listen to the same handful of bars for the rest of my life."

And yet, Link continued unabated. Twice more he played the song, all while Sheik's agitation grew.

"If this repetition is meant to annoy me so much that the wood's spell has no effect, I must congratulate you. It's working."

Link ignored him until he finished the song. "It's not," he said, taking a deep breath before playing it again.

"Hylia's crown! What has gotten-"

A shambling figure burst from the dark. Navi froze and stared at the creature. It was all gangly limbs of gnarled wood, with a thick beak and beady eyes. The horrors of the woods were not supposed to be able to enter the path. Had the wards fallen? Had someone brushed against the fog without her noticing?No. No, it must be another nightmare. It couldn't be real.

Steel flashed in Sheik's hand as the delusion lunged at Link.

And wrapped its arms around his legs in a hug. "Link!" The vision said.

"Skull Kid!" Link knelt and embraced the creature. "I was afraid you wouldn't recognize me."

"Of course, I would, stupid. I was afraid you'd forget your shoes again."

"Have them right on my feet this time." They both laughed.

Navi blinked, trying to clear her head. But Link remained, hugging some monstrous figure covered in dirt and leaves. It couldn't be happening. Could it?

"You know this… sprite?" Sheik asked, tucking the knives back up his sleeve.

"Who are you calling a sprite?" The creature let go of Link and wheeled about to face Sheik. He raised himself as high as he could, which was not much past Link's waist and raised his arms even higher. He curled his fingers as though they were claws. Only, they were not claws, so it looked as though he was furiously tickling the air. "I'm the imp of the woods! I am the nightmare that roams the forest and the fields! The trickster, the game maker! I am the Skull Kid!"

"Charmed."

The creature lowered his arms and huffed. "You're not scared either. I knew I should have stolen those sheeps." He had the outline and demeanor of a child, perhaps as young as eight. The broad beak that had worried Navi now looked like nothing more than a cheap mask he had to readjust over his mouth. Most of his body was covered in dirty tattered rags, or cast in shadow with his wide-brimmed hat. But what skin peeked out from around the mask no longer looked like flesh.

What had changed this boy? If he was real, which was starting to seem a possibility, then something dreadful must have happened. The magic of the Great Deku Tree was alive in him, but unlike anything that Navi had ever sensed before. He felt as though someone had tried to create their own Kokiri, infusing a Hylian child with the magic of the forest. And when the boy's body could not contain the effects of the spell his skin split and rough bark filled the cracks like scabs.

From behind the misshapen thing, two fairies appeared from the fog. One shone bright and yellow, the other a deep purple. And all Navi's unasked questions were answered.

"There he is," Tael, the purple fairy, said to Link, "you've grown well. And you brought friends."

"And her," Tatl, the yellow, stopped before Navi.

Link smiled as he got back to his feet and hooked his ocarina back on his belt. "Sheik, these are Skull Kid, and those two are Tatl and Tael. They're my friends."

"We saved him from monsters," the child said.

"Tatl, Tael, Skull Kid, this is Sheik. He's my," Link stopped to ponder a moment, "I don't know? Guide? Servant to someone I know. Eh. He's my friend, too. And that's Navi."

"We know Navi," Tatl said.

"Sister," Tael flew to her.

The twins. The exiles. It had been so long since she thought about them. Why would they appear in a vision, if they weren't real? "Brother, sister, it has been-"

"Over one hundred years," Tatl interrupted her. "A shame to ruin that run of luck, but I guess it's too late now."

"Ignore her," Tael flew in front of Tatl. "It is good to see you. I always hoped I would see some of the old family again."

"I've no idea why he would ever want to."

Skull Kid had grabbed Link's hand and jumped up and down speaking fast about the horse and his own mount, something he called a 'Squealy Nord.' Sheik, however, drew close to the fairies, listening.

"What did you do to him?" Navi asked.

"We kept him alive," Tael said.

"He's not alive. Not truly."

"More alive than he'd be if we'd left him to the fog," Tatl sneered. "If we'd done like you and obeyed."

"Perhaps we should discuss this later." Tael gave a worried look to his twin.

"Why discuss it at all?" Tatl flew past Navi toward the children. "We don't have to justify ourselves to her."

Tael gave Navi a sympathetic look before he followed Tatl. "Sorry."

"And then!" The Skull Kid spoke in a rushed tone, where all the words collided together. "We can Poke the Toad again! He's gotten even bigger! And meaner! And this time I can touch him. And you'll have to run so fast! You're bigger too, which is usually good, but then it'll be harder for you to get out of the way!"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Tatl chided Skull Kid.

The boy shrunk in on himself and folded his arms in a pout. "I hoped you'd forgotten."

"I haven't."

"Ugh," he looked at Link and pointed to the ocarina. "How many times did you play the song?"

Link frowned, his hand went to the ocarina and slid his thumb across it. "I don't know. I wasn't counting."

"Eighteen times," Sheik said. "I was."

"And how many times did she appear?" Skull Kid asked.

"Who is she?" Sheik said and Navi had no answer

But whoever it was, Link knew. His eyes went wide. "I didn't… it's usually so difficult and…" He squatted before Skull Kid and grabbed his shoulders, keeping the kid from bouncing around on his feet. "Why isn't she appearing?"

"I don't know. I was just told to tell you that."

Link let go of him and started pacing across the path. He took off his cap and crushed it in his hands, before smoothing it out and doing it all over again. "She should have answered. At least once."

"Who is she?" Sheik asked again.

"Saria."

"Who is Saria?" Sheik tried once more to get information.

"Saria is 'she', obviously." Skull Kid laughed. "You're not very smart, are you?"

Sheik did not look amused, but Link was starting to panic.

"Link, what's wrong?" Navi asked.

"I don't know." Then he grabbed the ocarina and played the song once more.

"Nineteen!" Skull Kid cheered once the tune ended.

"This isn't a game." Link snapped.

"Link," Navi said. "What is supposed to happen?"

"She said when I play the song she'd appear to help me. But it never worked outside the forest. But now we're in the forest. And she isn't appearing."

"Perhaps the spell can only summon one creature?" Sheik nodded toward Skull Kid. "We can try again once this one leaves."

"It doesn't work like that."

"And nothing 'summoned' me! I just heard the song and came here."

"That is exactly what summoning means."

The child tipped his mask forward so everyone could see his mouth, then stuck his tongue out at Sheik.

Link ignored them all and put the ocarina to his lips again.

Navi flew before Link, trying to get him to focus on her. "Link stop and think. Playing the song again won't do anything more. If something happened to Saria, we must reach the village."

Link nodded, though his hand still trembled over the ocarina once he'd put it back into place. "Lead the way."

Navi flew down the path, with their strange companions following her. Link strayed never more than a foot behind her, while the rest struggled to keep up.

"So, why are we after this Saria anyway?" Skull Kid bound up after Link, his short legs struggling to match the older boy's pace.

"She's my friend," Link said. "My first friend, my best friend."

"Best friend?" Skull Kid sounded disappointed. "And you think something bad happened to her?"

"Yes."

"That doesn't sound fun at all."

What could have happened? The forest was supposed to be safe, forever. The one place that the horrors of the world would never reach, the one place where innocence could still live untarnished. Had they been wrong? Ganondorf walked the path once before. Had he returned to destroy the Kokiri? Why would he do such a thing? They meant him no harm.

But that had never stopped the war-mad before, had it? When the treaties first fell and the Civil War tore the kingdom apart, had innocence saved anyone?

From the trees, the whispers of children long dead beckoned. Those she had once failed to protect. Fairies were not supposed to hear the broken heart of the forest.

They're not real. They're gone. And that tragedy would never happen again.

"Wait!" Sheik called.

"We're not far," Navi said as she stopped. They were a few dozen yards from the old Alcott Mansion, and the village would be just beyond.

"Just give me a moment," Sheik put his hands on his knees and panted. "There's something over there. I've heard it for some minutes." Song nuzzled his nose against Sheik's shoulder.

"I don't hear anything," the Skull Kid said before he flopped onto the ground, his limbs sprawled out.

"You have to ignore the voices," Link said. Even he had sweat running down his brow.

"It's not the same as before."

"Which direction?" Navi asked. She heard nothing save the echoes of her guilt, but perhaps the sounds of the village reached Sheik's keen ears. "Is it children?"

"No," Sheik pointed out into the dark toward the mansion. "They sound older. It's coming from that way."

"That place is empty," Navi said. "There's no one there."

Sheik looked up. "But there is something that direction?"

How would Navi begin to explain? The Alcott sisters were gone. Their home encased in shadow and fog where no one could live. Why would this Sheikah ever know of it?

"Trespassers," a voice boomed from ahead. "You are not welcome in my woods."

Link turned to the voice, steel drawn to his hand, Sheik rose, and even the Skull Kid sprang back to his feet.

"Your weapons are of no use here." The voice continued. It was low and threatening, but strained, as though the one behind it was not used to speaking so deep. "I know not how you pierced our barriers, but you will come no further."

"Do you hear that?" Navi asked.

"Of course we hear it," Tatl hissed.

A great wind surged, near tumbling Navi from the air. Tael grabbed her arm to steady her. So strong was the gale that even the big folk braced themselves.

"We don't mean you any harm," Sheik called out. But the wind did not lower, instead it brought with it the fog. The dark encroached upon the path, obscuring the beacons from Navi's sight. Who could do that? This was the Great Deku Tree's spell? It would take someone powerful and attuned to the forest's magic to even attempt such manipulation.

Song screamed and reared, as the dark surrounded him. Link ran to the horse, but the gloom encased him, Sheik, and the horse all together.

"You're real scary," Skull Kid hollered, "but I'm scarier! Raaugghh!" He bound forward toward the noise.

"Skull Kid!" Tatl shouted. "Skull Kid stay close."

Tael released Navi's arm to join his twin in chasing down their child, leaving Navi in the dark. Where was Link? She flew to where he had been with the horse, but there was no one. Navi searched for them, sending her light as far as it would go, but the fog condensed around her. This had to be another nightmare.

"Don't," she whispered. But no one listened. The dark pressed around her. No light, no day, no night. Nothing. It felt real. It couldn't be real. "Please."

"Got you!" Skull Kid shouted. "I- Hey!"

The twin lights of Tatl and Tael were snuffed out. And Navi was alone. Alone. She almost fell from the sky, swept away by the winds. Where was Link? He was real. This wasn't the vault. This wasn't that dark.

It was him, really him. Not the vivid dreams that haunted her days in captivity. The real him. And he was gone. She forced herself to fly against the tempest until her heart thundered and her lungs she still could not find him.

"Goodbye trespassers," the voice called again, though it lost its forced depth. "You will never threaten my family again."

She knew that voice. Of course, she knew that voice. She knew everyone from the village. And it was him. There was no doubt. Unless her mind truly had gone. Unless this wasn't true after all and she'd open her eyes and there would be those big stone walls again. One darkness turned into another and back again.

This was real.

She had to believe it, with every strain of magic within her. She needed it to be true. This was real. And Link was in danger.

"Mido!" Navi shouted. "Mido you stop that, this instant!"

The howling wind silenced. The gloom furled back and slowly Navi could see the path again. Thick vines wrapped around Link, Sheik, and Song. They had not been dragged far from where they had stood when the darkness reached them. Ahead of her Skull Kid was strung up by his arms, thorns that would have poked into his flesh bent away from the bark of his skin.

Last to appear was Mido himself, with Dori flying over his shoulder. He crawled out from beneath a bush a few paces in front of Skull Kid. "Navi?" he asked, his voice filled with disbelief. "You're back."

"I am," Navi flew to him. "Please let the others go."

"No one ever comes back." His eyes grew wide and watery.

Dori stared at her. "We feared you were dead, so long from father's magic."

"Why'd you leave us?" Mido struggled to stop himself from crying. "You and Link and father... and then Saria and now... why?"

"Hush now," Navi flew to the boy, comforting him, just as she did when he was a babe. "I'm back, and I missed you so much."