Chapter VI: Return to Hyrule

He came to slowly, rising out of the dark haze of unconsciousness to a brightly lit room and several faces hovering over him. He was lying on the floor, the underside of the table staring at him from his left. He blinked his eyes and noted a familiar taste in his mouth as he parted his lips and whispered, “What happened?“

“Here, now. Looks like he’s back with us.”

“The fairy boy’s awake!”

“Told ya all he needed was a drop or two of red potion. He ought to be good as new.”

Link was helped into an upright position by someone and then a bright globe of light came swooping down from above his head, hovering in front of his face. It was the fairy, Navi.

“Link!” she exclaimed. “You frightened me for a moment there! Are you all right?”

“I . . . suppose I am. You’re certainly doing much better, I see.”

“Nothing can keep a fairy down for long,” she said cheerfully.

“Yeah, ’cept for a rainshower,” someone muttered.

“Show some respect, you ignorant sod!”

“Ouch! That hurt!”

Link stared into Navi’s bright glow, squinting his eyes and whispering in a voice so soft that only she could hear: “When did we meet?”

“You know me as well?” she asked, sounding astonished.

He shook his head. “My mind tells me we haven’t, yet my heart knows better.”

The fairy darted forward and grabbed the collar of his shirt, tugging impatiently. “Hurry and get up! There is much to explain and very little time to do it. Come now! You always were so difficult to get moving. I swear, you haven’t changed a bit!”

It felt like old times, old times that didn’t belong to him. Here he walked upon a familiar road that he had never walked upon before, the sun shining above in the cloud-speckled blue sky, and the green grass all around waving with each breeze that swept by. The forest was ever to his left, the rolling hills of Hyrule Field to his right. He felt as if he had crossed it a hundred thousand times and could find his way through it with his eyes closed, but his memory was empty of any recollection.

A few paces in front of him flew Navi the fairy, looping happily back and forth and humming occasionally to herself, or chattering away about the battles that had been fought on Hyrule Field or the geography of the region, or that one time when Link was first learning to bow-shoot on horseback and had fallen clean off of Epona and knocked his head against that big boulder over there and she had practically broken her wings trying to wrestle a vial of red potion out from underneath his unconscious body. What days were those back then!

Link wished they had been his. He wanted to believe they were. The stories that Navi had told him seemed fantastic, incredible, adventurous and reckless and filled with danger and heroism. Children’s stories. He was beginning to see where the term “fairy tales” came from.

That night, two nights ago at the inn, Navi had said to him once they were alone, “Link, I am aware that you have no memory of me at all, nor of what I am about to tell you. But please wait and hear me out, and all will be explained in time, I promise you.

“Seven years ago the Great Deku Tree sent me to you with a quest that you were destined to fulfill. The evil Gerudo Lord, Ganondorf Dragmire, a necromancer and master of the black arts, was poisoning the land of Hyrule in order to obtain the Triforce, three sacred triangles created by the Goddesses. They are Power, Wisdom, and Courage. When united, the Triforce has the power to grant any wish the bearer desires. If the bearer is of pure heart and spirit, the Triforce has the power to create everlasting peace and prosperity, restoring the earth to the paradise it once was when the Goddesses first created it. But if the bearer was not of pure heart and his soul was filled with wickedness, it would have the power to taint and destroy everything Divinity ever created. It would be the end of all that is good and true in this world.

“You were chosen to defeat the evil lord, for it was written in the annals of history that a Hero would rise up and master Time itself to save the world if it ever became threatened by evil. I journeyed with you through forest, lake, fire, desert, and darkness, through time and sorrow and joy and victory. I was by your side when you were a frightened child, holding a small sword as you faced your first enemy, and I was by your side when you were a man, and as you smote Ganon down with the Master Sword.

“But it was not my decision to keep these memories hidden from you. Her Royal Highness Princess Zelda decided it would be in your best interest if you were relinquished of all memories, terrible and wonderful alike, before you were returned to the Kokiri. You must understand that it was for your own good, Link. You were much safer and happier not knowing of the perils you had faced in your adult life; it would have been too much for your young mind to bear.”

“What gives me any reason to believe all this?” Link had asked. “How will I know you are telling the truth?”

“Come with me to the capital and you will see. The Princess is waiting for us there, and she will show you where your memories are kept.”

It all sounded too unbelievable to be true, Link thought. Yet he knew that there was no better explanation for it all, his dreams, his flashbacks, his odd sense of having done all this before. Perhaps it was true. What now was he to think? The young man shaded his eyes as the high stone walls of the kingdom of Hyrule came into view.

“We’re almost there, Link!” Navi cried. “Hurry now! No time to lose!”

He could not help but smile at his flying friend’s animation. “You are certainly not like the other fairies of Kokiri.”

“I should hope not,” came her pert reply. “I journeyed to Hyrule many centuries ago from across the mountains.”

“Quite a long journey for a fairy. I always thought most fairies were inclined to stay in one place.”

“Yes, but I’m not what you would call ‘most fairies’. I was a terrible troublemaker in my early decades. My family tried to find ways to keep me from wandering, but I was young and curious, and flew away from home. The world was so big and we fairies were so small—I simply had to know what was out there. So I journeyed across land and sea, learning about fauna and flora and history, and even the darker sides of the world. I stayed in Hyrule for a time before making my way back home. Needless to say my parents were not very happy with me, and I soon felt the urge to roam again. This time my parents sent me to the Lost Wood to be a messenger for the Great Deku Tree, as I knew the region of Hyrule so well. I didn’t want to go but they forced me, and thus I was chosen by the Deku Tree to be your fairy guide.”

“I guess the fact that I’m here today is a good enough reason to say that he made a wise choice,” said Link. “You must certainly be the granddaughter of Ket.”

Navi laughed. “I wouldn’t know myself, but anything is possible.”

“How did you find me the other night?” he asked after a brief silence.

“I think it was one part blind luck and the other part your ocarina.”

“Pardon?”

“Oh, don’t be so naïve. You are learned enough in fairylore to know we have exceptional hearing.”

“So there is some truth to the saying that a fairy can hear a needle drop a league away?”

“Perhaps that’s stretching it, but I could easily hear your ocarina through the rain from quite a distance. You must understand, it’s like a bellowing trumpet to a person of my size. If only I hadn’t been blown into that gutter and gotten myself nearly drowned . . .” Navi flew toward Link and perched upon his shoulder, resting her wings for a moment. “You know,” she said softly, “I was not sent to you merely to share memories and laughs; there is a reason why you were called to Hyrule.” She fell silent.

Link could not help but to inquire, “Can you tell me?”

“There’s a time and a place for everything,” Navi said. “You will hear about it soon enough. But I will not withhold from you that the tidings are grave and ominous. Dark clouds have been gathering as of late, and a cold wind has begun to blow in the through Temple of the Sages. Perhaps even you yourself have grown aware of time as it ticks closer and closer to some unknown event lying in your future’s wake. Whatever questions you have, I am certain that Her Highness will answer them.”