Note:

This work was previously known by the title 'The Deku Project: Link's Awakening', but due to confusion over the world in which this story takes place, the title was changed on the 17th of April, 2012 to 'The Ocarina Project: Link's Awakening'. This is simply a change in the name, and no change in content or direction took place as a result. As no reposting took place, all reviews for the Deku Project have been inherited by the Ocarina Project. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Chris ~ a.k.a. 'Fensta'

The Ocarina Project:

A Navi-less Novelization of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in three parts: Link's Awakening, The Adventure of Link & The Legend of Zelda.

Summary:

A Novelization of OOT. Link is on his quest through Hyrule to defeat Ganondorf, but without Navi, he has to get the help of other companions along the way. Adventure, Friendship and even Love await: Watch as Link grows into the hero he was born to become.

'The Ocarina Project' – Part 1

'Link's Awakening'

"And in the Forests ye will find Kokiri, the children of the forest. More innocent than any man or beast, more noble than any king. These are the beloved of the Goddesses, for they will never know the evils that corrupt, or the hardship of famine. And so will it be, as long as the Great Protectors of the Forests are in place. Long may they reign."

The Book of Nayru, 2:21:9

It was a beautiful day in Kokiri Village.

'Link, stop!'

Set deep in the Lost Forests of Eastern Hyrule, the sun was shining and just visible between the branches of the trees high above, dense with the greenery of the perpetual Kokiri springtime, the few clouds in the sky seemed content to be white and fluffy.

'This is stupid. You should just ignore him!'

Even the wind was in a good mood, playfully swirling leaves and dust around the dirt-tracks of the village in small spirals of air.

'Link! Is that a real sword? Where did you get that!'

It seemed the entire world was in harmony. The entire world, that is, except a young boy by the name of 'Link'.

'Someone's got to stand up to him.' the boy said softly, grasping hold of the handle of the Kokiri Sword and wrenching it free of the sheath on his back. He gave it a couple of practice swings, eager to better learn control over the heavy weapon. Having only discovered its former hiding place a few days previously, he wasn't yet comfortable with the sword's bulk, which was easily twice as heavy as his favourite sharpened deku stick. He didn't think it would really matter though; Mido would take one look at the legendary sword and apologise on the spot.

At least, that was Link's current plan. He had tried not to think of what would happen if it didn't work.

At his shoulder, a Kokiri girl by the name of Saria was keeping pace with him, frantically trying to talk him out of it.

'I know you mean well...' she sighed. Her emerald green hair bobbed up and down on her shoulders as she jogged beside Link, unable to keep up with his longer strides by walking alone. 'You always mean well, but nothing good can come of attacking him with a weapon. Surely you know that.'

When Link didn't immediately respond, Saria went quiet, at a loss. In truth, she knew Mido had it coming to him, all the Kokiri did, but she hoped she'd never see it. The self-styled 'boss' of the Kokiri had always been quite mean and high-and-mighty, but recently he'd been been particularly bad, especially to Link. Then again, he was like this every year around the time of the first solstice. There were so many things to organise for the festival, and as much as everyone in Kokiri Village hated the way Mido did it, he always got things ready in time.

The Kokiri had come to accept over time that this was simply the way things were, but Link...

Well, Link had always been different. Despite the lack of a fairy, the hallmark of any self-respecting Kokiri, his height alone made his uniqueness painfully clear. In the past he had been the small one, not that being small amongst the Kokiri was particularly bad, but more recently Link had put on a growth spurt that launched him head and shoulders above all but the largest Kokiri. In a village who's habitants never grew and never aged, they had been shocked to witness someone who grew tall like the plants all around them. Whilst some regarded this change as little more than moderate diversion, there were others, like Mido, who found it intimidating. It was part of the reason that Mido had been pushing them so hard this year, in an attempt, Saria presumed, to try and hammer home to the Kokiri that Mido was still in control. All because Link was now taller than him.

The more Saria thought about it, the more she found it difficult to stir sympathy for Mido, but in her heart-of-hearts she knew that fighting wouldn't solve anything.

'He challenged me.' Link growled eventually, his gaze never deviating from the path ahead, his cerulean orbs so intense that it seemed that he was trying to stare down Mido before he even came into view.

'Yes, I know.' she conceded. 'But that doesn't mean you have to accept. You never have before!'

Link shrugged. 'Before... was different. Before it was just me he was picking on, but now he's picking on you too, and I won't let him do that.'

Saria's heart softened slightly and she laid a hand on her friend's shoulder as it jumped up and down with his furious pace. His protectiveness was touching, but she would never ask for him to fight for her. If he thought about it, he would realise that this wasn't what she wanted, but Saria knew that once Link got like this, he wouldn't let it go until he felt things were 'fair' again.

The noble bloody idiot.

They entered the clearing outside of the Kokiri general store, where Mido was busy 'encouraging' the various Kokiri around to work faster by poking them with a meaty looking deku stick. It was the central hub of the festival, and in previous years they had set up a stage here for a band to play on. This year though, Mido had decided that they'd have two stages, one for the band, and the other for... well, no one was quite sure. Despite that, Mido had everyone working twice as hard to get both stages finished in time.

'Not like that!' Mido was saying loudly, poking a blond haired Kokiri by the name of Elya in the arm as she attempted to line up a heavy board for her twin sister to lash with rope. 'Lift it higher!' Alye watched on, frowning as her sister was shouted at, but didn't say anything for fear of being poked as well.

'Stop it, Mido!' Link called out. Mido didn't initially turn around, deciding to completely ignore the fairyless boy in favour of continuing with his 'work', but changed his mind when he noticed Alye's eyes bulge.

'I mean it!' Link continued, raising his left hand to point his new sword at the Kokiri.

Mido might have easily been the meanest Kokiri, but he was also the smartest, and therefore when he turned around to find a sword being pointed at him he quickly squashed the initial stab of fear, replacing it with the reasoning that Link, sweet, innocent Link, would never actually attack him with it. Especially not in the middle of Kokiri Village with Saria watching on.

He quickly slapped on his most annoyed-looking face and sneered at the boy. 'Go away, Link. Can't you see that I'm working here? I'll play soldiers with you later, once you've returned that sword to whoever you stole it from.'

Mido's self satisfied smile fell slightly when this didn't elicit an emotional response from the usually emotionally volatile Link.

'No, Mido.' Link said calmly, 'Stop being mean, or I'll make you stop.'

Taken aback, Mido stared at the boy for a long while before speaking. 'What is it that you plan to do to me if I don't 'stop'? Wave that sword around in my face all day, pretending that you know how to use it?' he said, slightly annoyed with how squeaky his voice had become. 'And anyway, I'm not mean!'

Both Elya and Alye let out identical snorts, and even Saria's eyebrows rose slightly on her forehead, but Mido ignored them. He knew he wasn't mean, not really. They just didn't understand what he was trying to do, didn't see his grand vision of what things could be like. He'd tried explaining it, he really had, but in the end it was easier just to instruct people to do what he knew needed to be done, how it needed to be done. Mean? How dare they!

'This needs to stop, Mido.'

Mido's gaze snapped to Saria. He hadn't counted on Link having her support. After all, it was widely known that he, Mido, was her favourite, and not that snotty-nosed cry-baby outsider.

'Saria, my dear.' he said in his kindest voice, which unfortunately was also his most patronising, 'Can't you see how much still needs to be done?' he swept his arm dramatically around the clearing. 'The flower beds are a mess, the awning above the shop is filthy, not to mention the fact that the second stage hasn't even been started yet! And we've only got two more days before the festival!'

Saria crossed her arms defiantly. 'That's nonsense, Mido. The flowerbeds will look lovely once they flower, the awning above the shop is the cleanest I've ever seen it, and there's no reason to have a second stage at all. The entire festival takes place on the forest floor, where it should be. The only reason we have a stage for the band is that if we didn't, they'd just go climb trees to play in, which they'd invariably fall out of at some point, and you can't play instruments with broken limbs.'

It was a fair point. Ten years ago they had learned that lesson. The entire band, including all three know-it-all brothers, had taken to climbing into the branches of trees to ensure that everyone could hear them properly. Then, and in one of the more comedic legends of the Kokiri, once the band had settled on one massive tree limb, the entire thing cracked off, dropping them into Kokiri Pond. They hadn't broken anything, but the know-it-all brothers had been so mortified for choosing to sit on a rotten branch that they'd locked themselves in their house.

A week later, they'd come out with the designs for a stage, ensuring that no bands ever fell out of trees again. The idea had been enthusiastically taken up.

Still, there was no reason to have two stages – there was only ever one band.

Mido faltered, but only for a second. 'Well, I don't know! We might need to relocate at the last minute!' It was a terrible excuse for a second stage, and he knew it.

Saria didn't seem impressed. 'Look, Mido. The stage is something we set up every year. We know how to do it without you here to show us. It's almost done anyway. Let the girls have the rest of the day off, let the know-it-all brothers sleep for Nayru's sake, and we can all help them finish it tomorrow. How does that sound?'

'What? And abandon making a second stage?'

'It's a dumb idea, Mido.' said Link, lowering his sword. 'Let it go.'

Mido blinked. What was happening? Did they seriously think he would do what they asked? He was the smart one, damn-it!

'Wha- No! Absolutely not!' he said eventually, a hint of hysteria in his voice, 'This is my festival! I know how it's meant to be! We're doing it my way!'

Link stepped forward, his sword raised once more and pointed at Mido's chest. He'd meant to only intimidate the Kokiri, but the boy had taken it as an attack and had swung his deku stick at him. Before Link knew what he was doing, years of fighting forest creatures kicked in and he'd knocked the deku stick flying. Mido ended up on his back with Link's sword still pointed at his chest.

'Link...' Saira said softly, uncomfortable with the way things were turning out. She didn't think the boy would carry on attacking now that his foe was so clearly defeated, but she'd seen her friend fight before, and sometimes it was like he was in a world of his own. She placed a hand on his shoulder and felt the boy relax.

'This festival is for everybody, Mido.' Link said eventually, 'and we'll set it up the way 'we' want for a change.' he lowered the sword and stood back. 'Get some rest, Mido. You look exhausted.'

Mido looked up at Link with a dazed expression on his face. He wasn't used to being stood up to, and certainly wasn't used to being attacked. He was stunned, and more than a little frightened. Seeing Link step away and lower the sword, a sword he'd stolen from the Kokiri, Mido saw his chance. Without a word to his attacker, he was up and running, where, he couldn't say. He would work it out later.

To Link, it seemed like Mido had gone mad. One minute he was looking up at him with a confused expression on his face, then he was gone, running into the forest as fast as his legs could carry him. Link almost ran after the Kokiri, if only to tell the boy not to be so stupid, but Saria's hand found its way onto his shoulder again, and it somehow anchored him in place. He could only watch as Mido ran off into the aptly-named Lost Forest. If it was any normal person, they would never be seen again, most likely turned into a Skull Child, but Mido was a capable Kokiri tracker, and would return.

At least. Link hoped that was the case.

The day of the festival dawned bright and early, the sun's rays filtering down through the dense tree cover in shafts of orange known to the Kokiri as 'Din's Fingers'. Warm to the touch, it was as if the Goddess of Power herself were back amongst them. Fitting, considering this celebration was all about the birth of the world, the Kokiri, and the Lost Wood they called home.

Link rose wearily. He hadn't had a particularly good night. This was partly because of excitement – the Solstice Festival was always one of the most enjoyable days of the year – and partly because it had been two days since Mido had been seen by anyone.

Link was under no illusions about if he liked the Kokiri or not, he didn't, but that didn't mean that he wasn't worried about him. After all, he was a Kokiri, and Kokiri always looked out for each other.

With a stretch, Link pushed himself out of bed. He supposed he best get to the market square and help with the last-minute jobs. Striding purposefully towards the door, he grabbed his new sword as an afterthought. Having all the Kokiri in one place always attracted attention from Deku Scrub and, Nayru forbid, Wolfos. He didn't want to have to run back to his house to get the sword if he needed it.

It wasn't a long walk to the market square, so Link took his time to enjoy the morning. It wasn't a real 'market square', he mused, not really. For a start, the only stall that ever set up there was the know-it-all brothers' lemonade stand, which sold beverages that tasted nothing like lemon. The Kokiri didn't even trade with the outside world enough to warrant a full-time general store either. Rinn, the Kokiri that ran it, would generally open it only if a 'big person' wandered through the village, which was rarely. Otherwise you could just ask him for something, and he would just dash off to get it for you.

Link decided to take a detour and stop by Saria's house. Since Mido had disappeared, she's been subdued, but just like Link, she was well aware that Mido could take care of himself. If he hadn't reappeared, it was probably because he'd chosen not to due to some misplaced pride. Still, it didn't stop her worrying, and it was just like her to worry more than most.

Despite this, Saria appeared slightly happier than usual as Link came to the top of the slight rise between his and Saria's houses. Perched on a tree-stump playing on a simple wooden ocarina, she looked to Link exactly how he remembered her from his earliest memories; happy and carefree.

She looked up as he approached, smiling all the while. 'I'm heading down to the market, care to join me?' he said.

'My pleasure.' she replied, stuffing the ocarina into a pouch on the side of her tunic. Hooking her arm through his, together they strode through the various forest clearings that made up Kokiri village, towards the market square.

'Have you heard the big news?' asked Saria, after a while. Link shook his head. Heard what?

The green-haired girl grinned and looked around conspiratorially, 'Well, there's a rumour going around that you might be getting...'

'AHEM!' said a very loud, but very tiny voice. Link groaned.

'Good morning, Feye.' he said unenthusiastically. 'To what do I owe the pleasure?'

'Feye' was Saria's Guardian Fairy. Small, pink, and full of good advice that came at the most inconvenient of times. She also had a certain dislike for Link, on account of an incident a few years back that involved Link catching her in a bottle, thinking she was a different kind of small, pink, highly useful fairy.

The little fairy completely ignored Link and turned her tiny profile fully on Saria. 'I thought we'd discussed this!' she said, crossing her arms in a typical show of fairy dramatics. 'No talking about 'you-know-what' in front of 'you-know-who'!'

Saria sighed. 'But Feye, what's so wrong about telling him?'

'Telling me what?'

Feye darted about erratically in front of Saria, in the way that fairies liked to do when upset. 'Don't you dare! It's not even confirmed yet!'

'How could it not be confirmed?' Saria said, exasperated. 'Link's been with us for eleven years! No Kokiri has waited that long for his fairy to show up! It's just not fair!'

'A fairy!' Link's eyes bulged. 'Really? I'm getting a Guardian Fairy?'

Feye slumped and lost at least a foot of altitude. 'So much for keeping it a secret.' she said. Link wasn't listening though. To have a Guardian Fairy of his own? That was great! All Kokiri had a Guardian Fairy, and without one Link had always felt a little bit of an outsider. Sure, he dressed the same, ate the same, lived exactly the same as they did, but there were a few things that had always made him doubt his place in the village.

For a start, he could only remember the past few years, but talking to the others, especially Saria, he had learnt that they could remember times far in the past. Then there was the fact that in some of his memories, he was decidedly smaller than most of the Kokiri, whereas now he was almost the tallest member of the village, and this was despite the fact that Kokiri should 'never grow'. The Kokiri also had a natural ability to navigate the Lost Forest, but Link had struggled with that too, but the most glaringly obvious reason for his oddness was that he had always been lacking that one defining thing that made a person Kokiri, a true child of the forest – a Fairy.

Maybe that was about to change.

Link grinned. Just imagine the look on Mido's face!

The grin quickly fell away.

Mido...

'Er, Saria. Have you seen Mido this morning?'

Saria, who had been quietly continuing to argue with her Fairy, was taken slightly aback by the sudden and unexpected question.

'No...' she said, 'You have though, right?' The expression on Link's face told her that he hadn't.

'Don't worry,' Feye said soothingly, patting Saria on the nose. 'Mido will show up! This is the Solstice Festival, after all. He'd never miss it.' she turned her beady little fairy eyes on Link, 'Even if he did leave for very good reasons.'

Link tried to ignore her. 'Come on, let's get down to the market. Maybe he's already there.'

He wasn't, and although there would have been plenty for him to get bossy about, nobody in the village saw him the entire morning. This caused mixed reactions from the Kokiri, some of which were happy to be able to enjoy the day without hassle, and others who, despite their own dislike of Mido at times, were worried for his safety.

Never the less, when midday came and the Great Deku Tree's seeds started falling from the sky, blown on the wind directly over the market like it did every year, the Kokiri seemed to forget about their wayward brother and started celebrating. Celebrating involved music, food, and running around with large hand-weaved wicker baskets to catch the millions of fingernail sized seeds before they hit the ground. Of course, they couldn't catch them all, but if they could fill all of the baskets, they would have enough seeds to continue expanding the forest for the next year, a job they took very seriously. Those seeds that did hit the ground tended to explode into life almost instantly. Beautiful flowers would erupt in the middle of the pathways, roofs would be covered in moss and grass, and even the Kokiri themselves would find ivy and small flowers growing in their hair. It was truly a magical experience.

Even Link and Saria joined in, their worries of Mido lost in the song and dance of the festival. It seemed like they danced for days, so long that, as the last seeds fell, the market square was now covered in a dense layer of vegetation that was soft to the touch – their bedding for the night.

The Kokiri settled down for their evening meal of fruits, picked fresh from those plants that had been given to them that day by the Great Deku Tree. All the Kokiri that was, except Link, who was standing to one side looking out at the forest in the direction that Mido had run off two days before.

He wondered if the boy was alright. He hoped so.

A familiar hand came to rest on his shoulder, and without looking, Link knew it was Saria's.

'He'll be okay.' she said quietly, 'You know Mido. He'd never give you the satisfaction of letting you win. He'll turn up eventually, just to show people that he's not afraid of 'that bully Link'.'

Link smiled wanly. It would be just like Mido to turn this around on him.

'He wouldn't be Mido if he didn't.' Saria pressed, sensing the subtle change in her friend's mood.

Link sighed, and for a moment Saria thought she'd gotten through to him.

'I'm still going out to look for him.'

Saria watched after her best friend as he walked off purposefully into the Lost Woods, despite the fact that he always did get hopelessly lost. She shook her head.

'And you wouldn't be you if you didn't.' she said softly before hurrying after him.

So that's your first taster. I've got until Link's departure from Kokiri Forest for Hyrule written out, so more chapters are to follow soon. In the meantime, feedback would be appreciated as this is far from the final product.

Many thanks,

Chris