In the vast, deep forest of Hyrule . . . Long have I served as the guardian spirit . . . I am known as the Deku Tree. The children of the forest, the Kokiri, live here with me. Each Kokiri has his or her own guardian fairy.

However, there is one boy who does not have a fairy. . . Oh Navi the fairy . . . Listen to my words, the words of the Deku Tree . . .

Dost thou sense it? The climate of evil descending upon this realm . . . Malevolent forces even now are mustering to attack our land of Hyrule . . . For so long, the Kokiri forest, the source of life, has stood as a barrier, deterring outsiders and maintaining the order of the world . . . But . . . before this tremendous evil power, even my power is as nothing . . .

It seems the time has come for the boy without a fairy to begin his journey . . . The youth whose destiny it is to lead Hyrule to the path of justice and truth . . . Navi . . . go now! Find our young friend and guide him to me…

I do not have much time left.

Fly, Navi, fly! The fate of the forest, nay, the world, depends on thee!

The cold seeped into my bones and almost seemed to burn my flesh. I looked away from the grass and waves of mud at my feet and gaze up at the castle. A fary dances in anxiety beside me. I have never seen the castle before, but I have seen it many times before. Some part of me realizes this must been the dream again. I shiver at another gust of wind, the kind that make even dreams feel tangible.

Then, a horseback rider speeds from the gates of the castle. There is a girl being carried by him. She looks back at me curiously or sadly. Either way, he face is writ with urgency. My heart aches at this and I look back. Another rides follows. This one is near complete blackness. I shiver again, but this time at his gaze, and I drop back into my body.

I lay for a moment. I begin to realize that my foot is numb, wrapped in my blanket and hanging off the bed. I sit up to unwrap it, but I'm covered in sweat and don't bother to pull the blanket up too. I curl up to try and go back to sleep.

"Hello, Link! Wake up, Link! The Great Deku Tree wants to talk to you! Link, get up!"

I groan. I had just been getting back to sleep.

"Hey! C'mon! Can Hyrule's destiny really depend on such a lazy boy?"

Wait? Is that a girl's voice? I sit up and rubbed my eyes wearily. Then I looked up blankly. A fairy is dancing around. My eyes widen.

"You finally woke up! I'm Navi the fairy! The Great Deku Tree asked me to be your partner from now on! Nice to meet you! The Great Deku Tree has summoned you! So let's get going, right now!"

Normally, I would have back talked her for being so hasty. But I'm elated. I grin at her and get up. I put my blanket back where it belongs and grabbed my hat off of the floor.

"Come on!" Navi complains and swirls around me.

I roll my eyes and go ahead to my ladder. I always loved going down the ladder. It's a better wake up call than a morning swim. Navi is getting agitated still, but I take my time. When I get to the bottom Saria runs up.

"Yahoo! Hi, Link!" she says.

"Hey, Saria."

"Wow! A fairy! Finally, a fairy came to you, Link! Wow! Now you're a true Kokiri, Link!"

Saria is my friend so I ignore the sentiment and tell her I've been summoned.

"It's quite an honor to talk to the Great Deku Tree! I'll wait for you here. Get going! Go see the Great Deku Tree!"

Navi mutters something about "someone finally showing reason". I just laugh and keep going. Of course, everyone says things similar to what Saria said. I show a little decency and pretend it's nice of them be happy for me rather than having only accepted me now. This was all fine until I got to the forest pass, where Mido is guarding the way.

"Hey, you! 'Mr. No Fairy!' What's your business with the Great Deku Tree? Without a fairy, you're not even a real man!"

"Are you blind?" I ask, motioning at Navi. She looks slightly annoyed. I am beginning to wonder if she is always annoyed.

"What?! You've got a fairy?! Say what?"

"Get out of the way," Navi tells him. "The Great Deku Tree wants to speak with him."

"The Great Deku Tree actually summoned you? Whaaaaaaaat?! Why would he summon you and not the great Mido?" He taps him foot and I restain laughter; he always taps him foot when he is outraged. "This isn't funny… I don't believe it! You aren't even fully equipped yet! How do you think you're going to help the Great Deku Tree without both a sword and shield ready?"

"Where are yours?"

"What? You're right, I don't have my equipment ready, but . . . If you want to pass through here, you should at least equip a sword and shield! Sheesh!"

Navi buzzes angrily in the air like a bee, but I just walk away. Being my fairy, she follows me.

"Come on!" Navi complains. "Go get passed him!"

"He's the leader," I tell her. "I can't go around beating up Mido."

She huffs but doesn't argue. I continue home, where Saria is still standing. She looks confused at my hasty return.

"Mido won't let me in," I tell her.

"What?! Mido won't let you go to see the Great Deku Tree? Ohh… That bum! I don't know why he's always so mean to everyone!"

"Yeah, I know. He wants me to have a shield and sword."

"What he said is true, though. The forest… strange things have been happening here lately… You need to be ready for anything. You'd better find a weapon! You can buy a shield at the shop, but there is only one sword hidden somewhere in the forest."

I am startled by her apt helpfulness. I also wonder why she keeps track of where shields are when there isn't anything dangerous in the whole forest. The only danger is going to the Lost Forest, which most people don't do.

I thank her and go ahead to the shop to find out the price of the shield. Navi has convinced herself that it would be best for me to be equipped for battle. The shield is forty Rupees. Rupees are little useless gems used as currency— they can be found almost anywhere you can imagine. The only way to really earn them is to take care of the world with cutting the grass and moving rocking and stuff. It's a pretty good system.

With this in mind, I go ahead and help various people. They are strange though; always acting as though it is by their kindness I was allowed to help them. By now I'm mostly used to it, but it still annoys me. I realize that sometimes they are getting the grunt work too, though, so I keep my mouth shut.

I soon have enough to get the shield. Also, I go to the Training Hill in hopes that I can find a sword there. Where else would one be? I end up having to go into a crawl space. Navi hides under my hat so that she doesn't get squished between my shoulder and the rock. I get out, brush myself off . . . walk over to read a sign . . . and immediately have to run away from a giant boulder. It's faster than I am and I get thrown against the wall by it. Joy. I force myself to keep running until I find a nice hidden space. There's a chest here and I open it. Conveniently, the Kokiri Sword is right inside. I shove it onto my back and race the boulder back to the crawl space, miraculously making it through.

On my way back, I swing the sword through all of the grass I see. I find quite a few Rupees this way. I'm really just reveling in the fact the Mido has to let me through now.

"Hey," I tell him, "let me through!"

"You need— Eh, what's that?! Oh, you have a Deku Shield… And what's THAT?! Is that the Kokiri Sword?! GOOD GRIEF!! Well, even with all that stuff, a wimp is still a wimp, huh? I, the great Mido, will never accept you as one of us! Shoot! How did you get to be the favorite of Saria and the Great Deku Tree? Huh?!"

I laugh at him monologue. I just can't help it. On the other hand, I'm offended. I'll never be one of them. How so? I have a fairy now! What's so different about me anyway?

I brush it off and take my first step into the forest pass.