Link desired to will a healing fairy into existence. He always hated getting sick or wounded. It meant he couldn't go outside until he was better, and the pegasus was adamant about him staying in the hut.
Well, maybe not adamant. She seemed to be very quiet and non confrontational. She would be the type to have her good nature taken advantage of by a few of his fellow Kokiri, had she been one as well.
As it was, Link had no access to a means of speeding up his healing. It meant very little to do beyond rest and lose oneself in thought.
That's exactly what Link did. He found himself wondering about healing fairies, no less. They were always fascinating to him. When a healing fairy used its magic, it would vanish and leave behind no trace. He used to believe it was due to their going with the Goddesses to recharge.
Navi set him straight one night while they were camped out under the stars. It was the night before he reached Zora's Domain. Navi had just finished telling him the story of one whose odyssey had gone astray.
"However, it was a bittersweet ending for the husband and wife. His journey had cost him ten years. Not all the tender loving care in the world could fix that. It couldn't be changed, but it could be overcome, and given what lengths the husband went to in his travels trying only to return home, I would say this challenge would mean nothing to him, wouldn't you?"
Link smiled and nodded. "I like that story. I would like to leave Hyrule one day. Just to see what is out there, you know?"
Navi smiled, not that he would see. "It's a great big world with lots of places to run to. I do not mean flee, but... I would love to run. I wish I was as big as you are, Link. As I am, running means very little."
"But you can fly!"
She chuckled. "I can fly. And if I were big, I could run too!"
"You could also take me flying if you were big," he said with a smile. She laughed.
"I could! Wouldn't that be fun? Link, there is little that is more magical than being able to fly. Would we only be able to swap for a day. You be the fairy, and I be the hero."
Link nodded. "Then you could run all you like and I could see what flying really means. I would even settle for being a healing fairy."
She was silent all of a sudden, and Link noticed.
"You wouldn't want to be a healing fairy, Link. It's really not that fun."
Link tilted his head. "Why not?"
Now, it was time for Navi to shake hers. "It's... complicated. All I will say is they don't possess the intelligence you or I do, and they also don't go where you think they do when they've completed their missions."
"Where do they go?"
She sighed. "Link, it's late. Maybe I can tell you more tomorrow, but you need to get some rest."
"But Navi-"
"But nothing. Get your tush in your sleeping bag now or no story tomorrow night."
Link took off his hat and turned to his sleeping bag.
"Yes'm," he grumbled.
Navi was excellent at manipulating a conversation in any way she desired. If she did not want to talk about something, it wasn't going to be talked about. Simple as that. She often relied on Link forgetting what they were supposed to talk about in favor of something more pressing, like being swallowed by a giant whale and not being able to get the smell out of his favorite tunic.
He even had it washed in Hyrule Castle Town to no avail. The smell of whale gut is forever.
The point is, he never heard from Navi just what it was about healing fairies and their destinations after they did their jobs that was so horrifying. Tatl ended up telling him in Termina months later, and she was very blunt about it.
"When a healing fairy does its thing, it just flickers out. That's all. Healing fairies are composed completely of magic and when they use it up they die. Well, sort of. Healing fairies are not conscious creatures. They are really just bundles of magic attracted to whatever might need them."
Tatl also told him a horror story about regular fairies at one point. They had taken one three day cycle to rest and recover from a near death experience on the mountain of Snowhead, and Tatl was doing her best to scare him out of his wits. Spoiler alert: She was succeeding.
They were in a room at the Stock Pot Inn that Link apparently had a reservation with. Tatl was sitting in front of him on the bed telling her tale.
"...and just when fairies fulfill their destinies, what happens? They don't get medals. They don't get rewards. They don't get weird tattoos. They go the way of healing fairies."
Link gasped and his eyes widened. Did that mean...?
"Suppose my reason for being was to tell you this story, kid. Poof. I'd die. Only, I would leave behind a corpse on account of not being completely made of magic."
Then... did that mean Navi...?
Tatl was silent for a few seconds while Link's eyes began to water up. She...
Tatl tapped his knee. "Kid, it's just a story. You know that, right? It's not true. I don't know about how things are in your world, but here the fae don't just croak once they do something. We'd be extinct by now if that were the case."
Link's eyes remained watery, and he said nothing. Tatl began to felt the first vestiges of guilt.
"C'mon kid. Think about it. You said the guardian fae of your world have one mission, and that is to raise a race of forest people who remain children forever. That means that, even if it was a true story, a fairy would never manage to complete his or her mission."
Link looked down at Tatl, relief beginning to fill his person.
"I bet she's out there right now, kid. She's probably on some big adventure too just like you. Don't get so out of sorts, okay?"
Link wiped an arm over his eyes, and Tatl looked to the door to make sure nobody saw what she was about to do. She fluttered off the bed and up to Link's face, and held his cheeks in her hands.
"Whatever happens, you're a strong boy. When you get knocked down, you've got to get back up. That's exactly what you've been doing, kid, and I don't know about her, but I couldn't be prouder."
She gave him a quick peck between the eyes.
"I'm sorry I scared you so much. I shouldn't have told that story. Try to get some rest, okay kid?"
Link slowly came out of his thoughts and realized what he was doing. The whole time he'd been reminiscing, he was doodling absently on the paper that Fluttershy had left for him. She told him she wanted one drawing when she got back, and it could be of anything.
He felt a bit bad for what he was about to do. Link felt that he had taken enough of her food, kindness, and supplies already and was confident he would be okay when he got back to the Sacred Forest Meadow. It consisted of revered ruins by the Kokiri and it was considered a great honor to leave an offering to nature when you were there, though it was not mandatory. Saria would be there as she usually was. She would get a really crazy story out of him in exchange for extra medical attention to get him walking again.
He wasn't going to flat out vanish on the pegasus, though. Even if he never found a way to come back, he did feel that there was the chance of a great friendship budding between them. He didn't want her to think it was something she said to him (not that he was getting much in the way of coherent words out of her).
He drew upon the sheet a rough sketch of his pegasus friend, himself, the rabbit, and the trees in the background. He included a heart and an arrow next to his small picture towards the trees. It was his attempt at telling her he was going home, but he appreciated her help.
With that done, Link retrieved the Ocarina of Time from the table, and he played a song he hadn't played in a dog's age.
The bunny poked its head out of the kitchen at the sound. Link always loved the Minuet of Forest.
The animals around the cottage seemed to as well. They were all but glued to the window watching. Fluttershy had shown him pictures of many animals, often sitting with her. She didn't need to use words to show him how much she loved all creatures. At one point she held him up so he could look out the window at all of the life just outside.
Link did not mind them watching him. He wouldn't be here long if the spell worked, and there in lied the problem.
The Minuet of Forest possessed teleportation magic. When it worked, it would teleport him right into the heart of the Sacred Forest Meadow, the holiest part of the Lost Woods. The issue was, the teleportation failed. Link was still lying on the couch with his belongings all around him.
He was more puzzled than anything at first, and he figured perhaps he hit a wrong note or something. The songs were very picky like that. So, he played it again, and again he had an audience of every animal and the kitchen washbasin, but no teleportation.
Outright panic did not take hold, though Link felt very unsettled and his nerves were creeping up on him. He suspected interference from the trees again, and managed to convince himself that, when he got a bit away from them, he would be able to go home. First, however, he needed to recover more. Link placed all of his belongings back where they had been resting and scribbled out the arrow he drew on his paper.
It was not a moment too soon, for the door creaked open.
End of Chapter