Saria was getting seriously worried. It had been a week since Link had woken her up with his horrific scream, and things weren’t getting any better. He wouldn’t really wake up; only during the day would his eyes remain open for any length of time. During that time, she attempted to force feed him anything he wouldn’t cough back up, and pumped in as much water as she could muster.
In his vacant state she wondered if it was worth the effort since he seemed unable to get out of bed for even going to the bathroom, which forced her to constantly wash and change his bed sheets; sometimes even with hers, when she ran out. Even when she moved him to her house so he wouldn’t have to worry of falling off his balcony, he remained oblivious to the outside world, and remained unmoved.
None of the other Kokiri would even come near him, fearing he had caught a deadly illness from the outside world that was more contagious then the cooties. Saria had to admit that she feared something of the like too—not something absurd like it being creating out of contact from the outside world. It seemed to be something dangerous nonetheless, but those thoughts never kept her from continuing to nurse him.
She gently pressed his forehead with her hand; his eyes didn’t even flicker to her touch. She grabbed a cloth and gently dabbed his sweaty face, lip bitten in anxiousness. He didn’t seem to have a fever, nor was he coughing, unless she tried to feed him something. It was almost as if he no longer had a body and that he was only living in his mind. If so, he was beyond her help. In fact the only really comforting thing about his condition was he was still breathing, although a little faint.
"Why haven't you brought him to the Great Deku Tree yet?" Piped up Ceresia; Saria’s fairy, who was spinning anxiously around her head. "I mean, I can see at first, it didn’t seem to be anything different from his other nightmare wakeups, but the days without him waking, it was obvious things weren't getting better..." She trailed off and slowly drifted to her companion’s shoulder, sighing at Saria's lack of recognition. "He is our Guardian, even if he isn't the old one, but if anything can be done, he still can do it, just the same."
Saria gently cupped her friend off her shoulder and held her up to her face.
Ceresia then could see the partially dried tears. She hadn't known Saria had cried, the lines of worry she hadn't know she carried; the bags of sleep depravity she had be oblivious to. She also noticed for the first time the expression of defeat, a trait she never knew Saria possessed.
"That's exactly why I haven't gone to him yet. I'm afraid that he won't be able to help, that Link..." She broke off, a gasp of grief escaping. "I'm afraid he'll say there’s no hope."
"Father, it is I, Saria. I have come to ask for aid." Saria was kneeling amide the dew soaked grass of the early morn.
She was in the clearing of the Great Deku Tree, Link's limp form embraced before her. She found him surprisingly light; she hadn't thought she would have been able to carry him all the way from her house. Apparently, the lack of food consumption had taken a greater toll then the appearance he had given in his bed.
The immense tree plotting the area's centre stood erect, unmoving. Saria tried again.
"Great Deku Tree, Father of the Forest. Please, I beseech your aid. Link has fallen ill, and I know not his ailment, please help him in this dire need." She released a small sob. "Please, he's my best friend."
Suddenly the wind started to pick up. The trees nearby all cried out as their leaves were torn away into the abyss of the air, the roots pulled to their limits. Saria crouched down, clinging onto the ground in the feral hope of evading being blown away.
But the great tree was changing.
The bark began to snap and crinkle as a great mass began to surface from the trunk's depth. Soon, it took form as a great nose, and further features protruded; such as large dark eyes and a long drawn out mouth. It opened with a sudden yawn, and spoke out in a strange language amid its exhale. The wind seemed to recognize it as a command, and slowed down to a dull whisper. The trees settled back down with a groan of compliance, retuning the grove to its tranquil atmosphere. Slowly the face focused on the small huddled form crouched on the forest floor. In a tremulous low voice, the tree replied to her.
"Saria, child of the Kokiri, I have listened to thou cries of grief for the last week. Yet not did I answer. I watched through your eyes as you performed your gracious acts towards your friend, but not did I help. Link has succumbed to the plague of his deeds, the tasks that none his age should of endured. He lives in agony for the sins he committed, though they helped others. Most of all, he resides in the fear that he will create pain for those he loves most.
“He is living in his mind, the one state he can cause no physical damage in. I cannot bring him out, he is not of my brethren and he is not of the forest. Such is only where my power resides. I can drift through his mind, but I am unable to call to him, or aid him for that matter. It was for those reasons “He Who Was Before Me” sent Link a fairy, to guide him in ways he could not. It remained fortunate when he ended up passing anyway. Those of his own kind can only help him. It is also their responsibility, for they have brought this burden upon him."
"But how can we find one who can help?" Saria cried out, in both pain and anger. "We Kokiri cannot go, you forbid it, and apparently you cannot speak to those outside the Forest either.
“What I am supposed to do, run around the Lost Woods, hoping to find one wandering about?! Or I am supposed to dump him out on the Forest boundaries, hoping someone will find him?! Or will you actually let me brave the Outside world, and go looking myself?! It's the best option for Link's survival, unless you don't really care about him!
“Just because he's an outsider, doesn't mean he's not as good as your precious Kokiri!" She was boiling now, raging out her emotions in a torrent downpour to the passive face of the Tree. “You just try to stop me, I'm not afraid!
“What are you hiding anyway? I bet it's a better place then here; you just don’t want us to all leave you to rot alone in this cursed forest, this forest of everlasting beauty, this forest of everlasting pain. No matter what good it brings, it still remains the same thing—a prison!" She brushed a dangling lock of hair that had fallen over her eyes, revealing the anger within them. "If this is contentment, then ha, I contempt it."
The Great Tree seemed to slump in his position, and in a voice that quavered with sorrow, he spoke out gently.
"I can send a messenger fairy out; I still have connections with some free ones. They will get Zelda; for if she knows not what to do, then there is no hope. I assume we can trust her to not betray our secret." He closed his eyes; he had not gotten to the worst part yet. "And if he shalt awaken from his mind's prison, he must leave the forest, forever."
"WHY!" Saria shrieked, the anger she felt before now unmatched like a stream to an overrun river. "HE RISKED HIS LIFE FOR US, YOU ARROGANT FOOL! HE PUT HIMSELF IN THIS CONDITION TO SAVE US, NOT HYRULE, US, AND YOU HAVE NO REASON TO BANISH HIM FOREVER! CAST HIM AWAY FROM THE PEOPLE HE HAS KNOWN EVER SINCE HIS BIRTH! TO TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME!
“LET YOU BURN, TREE, UNDER THE WRATH OF THE GODDESSES!"
Saria, reddened by her fury, chilled down with a sudden frost, leaving her devoid of all emotion. She picked up Link's huddled form and slung him over her shoulder. With one colder phrase, she turned to leave.
"May you burn for a long time, in a world of suffering."
"It is for this very reason he must leave," Began the anguished moan from the Great Deku Tree. "His purity is lost and he is affecting all of you; creating anger unfit for my children. Without the purity of the Children, this forest will fall."
"And what matter does that make? it doesn’t seem to be doing much right now!" Saria shot back venomously as she continued to leave.
"It protects the land of Hyrule from the greater evils, most of all the Realm of Demons. That is why the Demon possessing Ganondorf could not walk in his true form upon Hyrule. He needed another of a lesser form to carry him. The reason why the Kokiri cannot leave the forest is that they will become corrupt with the lingering petty evils of Men, such as lying and dishonoring among others.
“They will not necessarily become bad, but as your young friend has become, unfit for the forest's tranquility. They are forced to live outside for the rest of their lives, among the misery of the real world. They will grow old and die in pain. Link's mother could enter this Forbidden land only because of her love to her son, and even then—had she not died—she would have had to eventually leave, before the heightened emotion wore off. Similarly, Zelda should be able to enter, if she really does hold affection to her friend."
Saria's anger had slowly melted away, leaving her with the air of a frightened child, wreathed with sorrow and pain.
"Wi-ill I e-e-ever see him again?" Saria spoke in a small voice, her eyes shedding tears in the likes of the day's past.
With the loving care of a dutiful father, the Great Deku Tree gently parted her hair with a trickle of wind. His spoke compassionately, and tried to sound strong, but a careful observer might have spotted the stream of golden sap leaking from the carved eyes.
"Only in our dreams, Saria, only in our dreams."