In Nayru's Palm

I emerged from another path to see a pool of water directly across from me, and I stumbled wearily toward it, landing on my knees and thrusting my hands into it. I was so thirsty at this point—my magic hadn’t worked, and the trees had proven unclimbable, and my body was worn out. Pants wracked my bruised body, and I nearly fell headfirst into the pool. Rebalancing myself, I raised my hands to my lips, but my mouth only rasped against muddy bandages.

“It won’t let you drink.”

The speaker was a little boy standing imperiously in front of a path. He had chubby cheeks, freckles, and vibrant orange hair that was mussed under his green hat. I recognized the garb, though only because I’d seen it on a little blonde boy seven years ago. What really clinched it was the fairy floating around his head.

“Are you a Kokiri?” I asked him.

“Yeah.” His jaw jutted from his face, and his fists rested on his hips.

“Why are you standing there?”

“I’m guarding the way. Nobody’s going through. Saria said so.”

I wondered sadly if that was the Sage. If she was, the guarding wouldn’t do her any good anymore.

“What’s your name?” I asked, walking unsteadily to him and dropping to my knees. I was slightly lower than his eye level.

“I’m Mido, leader of the Kokiri,” he told me haughtily, but he was preening all the same.

“It must be a pretty important job, for you to be the one entrusted with such a duty,” I told him, bowing at the waist and nearly face-planting.

“It is,” he told me confidently.

An idea began to formulate, and I told him, in an intimate tone, “You know, I have come all this way to see the forest, but I fear that I am going mad.”

“I know.”

“You do?”

“Of course. Outsiders come in here and get lost. You’ll become a Stalfos, like everyone else.”

“What is a Stalfos?”

“A human that the forest has taken for its own,” he said indifferently. I shuddered over whatever that meant, but I was shaking anyway, so it didn’t matter. But I needed to win this boy over, and quickly.

“I see. But how can any simple guard duty be so important that the leader himself has to do it?”

“It just is,” he told me sternly.

“But I do not understand. Can none of the other Kokiri do it?”

“They aren’t brave enough.”

“What could be so fearsome back there that they need the bravest of the Kokiri?”

“Monsters,” he imparted vaguely.

I stewed quickly for something to get me what I wanted. “Mido, king of the Kokiri,” I said, being deliberately as flowery as I could manage. “Since the madness is taking me as we speak, I fear that I am going to die soon, but I do not want to waste away like a corpse. Do you understand?”

“What else can you do?”

I bit my lip. “I would like to go out quickly, and bravely. With dignity. I was once a dignified warrior, where I come from.”

“Really?”

“Really. So you can see why wasting away would just break my heart.”

He eyed me appraisingly, but seemed to decide that my scrawny and woebegone appearance was the forest’s fault, not mine. “Okay. But try to hurry, okay?”

“Can you show me to the monsters, King Mido?”

He nodded, and I stood as he shuffled off down the path. My legs didn’t want to hold me anymore, so I stumbled precariously after the boy. I didn’t even pay attention to where I walked anymore—I was just determined to stay in behind him and not lose him, following the light of his fairy like a will-o-the-wisp.

And then the music stopped. The calling and the flutes and the laughter faded to backdrop until they weren’t existent any longer, but now I could hear large footsteps and the grunting of something huge.

“This is the Sacred Forest Meadow,” Mido told me. “You’re lucky you got to see it, human. Not even all of the Kokiri come here.”

“I thank you very much, Mido,” I told him, dropping and kissing his hand. “I appreciate this more than you know.”

“So, in return, I ask you something,” the boy told me solemnly. I frowned, but remembered distantly that the Kokiri supposedly took thanks as a gesture of debt owed. Crap.

“Yes?” I prompted hesitantly.

“I would like to see your face, gracious lady.”

I stiffened. “You believe me a woman?”

“I know you’re a woman. I would like to see why you bandage your face like that.”

I sighed, but did not want to make myself an oathbreaker—even though I had not knowingly entered into a deal—especially on the threshold of the most sanctified ground in the forest. The filthy bandages were easily moved aside.

When my face was revealed, the boy blushed a little.

“May I ask you another question, lady?”

My mouth twitched. “You may, but it is my choice whether to answer it.”

“Okay.” He glanced around, then leaned over my ear and whispered, “Do all Hylians look like you? Or is there something wrong with you?”

I smiled for the first time in ages, at the phrasing only a child could pull off without insulting.

“No, there is nothing wrong with me,” I told him. “But we all look different, you know, like the Kokiri do.”

He nodded, then jutted his chin again. “But none of the Kokiri are as pretty as you, lady.”

“Well, that is very sweet of you, young man,” I told him, and watched his chest puff out a little. “But I am afraid it is my time to go.”

A look of dismay crossed his face. Then he seemed to remember that that was what was supposed to happen to me.

“Well, I shan’t forget you,” he said boldly. “I wish you the best.”

“And you too, brave Mido,” I imparted, and, on impulse, leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. The red that rushed to his face almost immediately obscured his freckles, and I quickly rebandaged my face so that he wouldn’t see me smile again. But then I had a thought, and brought him closer to me. “But I must ask, in return for the question,” I said, hoping I wasn’t going too far with this owing stuff thing, “That you do not linger to watch me die. It would be most embarrassing to me.”

“I understand,” he assured me, and slowly left. I felt bad, but reminded myself of my job, and moved forward to the maze. There was an almighty roar, and I leapt backward and threw one of the flash bombs that Rue/Nayru had gathered for me. The thing was blinded for a moment, and after I took a second to marvel at just how ugly the thing was, I bolted forward past it and checked the corner before rounding it out of sight of the monster. Remembering what I had learned to do with flash bombs under my fighting teacher’s tutelage, I searched above me, and then used magic to buoy my leap from the ground to the ledge above me. Paired with a flash bomb, this could give the appearance that I had vanished, while instead I would simply be out of reach. Disappearing and teleporting completely took a lot of energy.

Once I was at the better vantage point, I could recognize the maze more easily from one of my dreams. The idea of jumping from ledge to ledge in my condition was not a good one, but it was better than getting speared like a pig by the beasts now beneath me. Though, when I tested how far I could jump on the solid ground beneath me, I realized that using my magic would probably be in order. I was just glad at this point that it worked again.

By the time I’d reached the stone stairways, I was flagging badly; my absolute limits were not far away. The effort spent just climbing the first flight of stairs almost drove me to my knees. And when I got to the top and looked big-ugly-with-a-club in the eye, I sagged on the ground as he started throwing a tantrum and slamming that…boulder against the ground with what I’m sure was all the strength he could muster. A focused tremor pulsed through the grass, sending pebbles and dirt flying pell-mell through the passage. I exhaled, wondering if a flash bomb would confuse him long enough for me to stagger by. I wished fervently that I’d thought to bring my bow. Living with Nayru and Rue had made me soft.

I braced myself and stood as the thing kept roaring and slamming his club into the ground. Having such limited weapons probably limited how wise Nayru’s chosen could be. So I hefted my flash bombs in my hands and threw them. The monster bellowed, and I ran by as quickly as I could, tripping over his legs on my way by. I glanced behind me, but he was still staring stupidly at where I had been in front of him. Well, I was glad that the King of Evil at least had stupid minions.

The second flight of stairs was worse than the first. By the time I reached their top, I was on all fours and still dragging, hitting my kneecaps on the edge of each stair and not caring in the least. Cool grass brushed at my clothes, leaving cold dew on my clothes that felt both refreshing and uncomfortable. I reached a large slab of stone and collapsed against it, feeling the cold beneath my head like a touch of heaven. I blinked once, and my eyes didn’t open for awhile.

When I did regain consciousness, I watched lights float aimlessly around the glade for several moments, taking an incredible amount of calm from just watching their progress. But then I needed to get up—I had a Sage to contact.

The stairs to the temple were, unsurprisingly, still broken. I sighed for what must have been the millionth time during my adventure before gathering a clump of magic that boosted my jumping body to the top. I looked around, wondering how Link would get up here when the time came. It bore thinking about.

When I entered the temple, I could hear and sense voices like I had in the woods, but somehow this was different; it didn’t echo with laughter and eerie gaiety, but of deep and ancient voices. I glanced around before leaping up into one of the trees on the side—if I was going to go into a trance, I wanted to be up where not much could reach me.

*Saria?* I called tentatively. I got only silence.

I sat and thought for awhile, before finally I remembered one of my dreams. Again cursing my lack of preparation, I whistled twice a threesome of ascending notes, and followed it with a little riff at the end. Impa had always said my audiation for music was good.

*Who are you?* The voice held a remarkable amount of power, an amount at odds with how I knew her to be a little child of a girl.

*Are you Saria?* I asked the voice.

*Are you the one that called me?*

*Yes,* I assured her emphatically.

She didn’t answer that at first. *I’m dead, you know. I can’t help you.* She sounded mournful of only the latter, and not so much the former.

*Actually, you can,* I contradicted her gently. *You are a Sage of the Sacred Realm, destined to aid the Hero in his time of need. He will come to awaken you, but I need to learn your signature so that I may help him reach you.*

After that it became much easier. The girl was shrewd, for a little girl, and I could only assume that those immature bodies housed some pretty intelligent people. Or maybe just her. But it didn’t take her long to figure out who I expected the Hero to be. She insisted that the signature would be a lot easier to impart if it was a melody, and she composed it quickly and dubbed it the Minuet of Forest.

There’s no other way to describe my exit but that it was a crawl. I was content to just lie on the grass above the glade, but I could feel something materialize next to me. Rue.

CHOSEN, YOU MAY LEAVE NOW, Nayru told me, and lifted me in her bearlike paws and took us back to the cave in an instant. FARORE SAYS THE HERO IS READY.