[i][u]Navi[/u][/i]

The border to the Lost Woods was a wall of dark leafed trees, the only place were the density of the branches ad trunks lessened enough to enter the forest itself was comprised of two towering oak trees that had intertwined branches forming a gateway to the world of the Kikiri, provided you could get by there defenses.

Link made a joke about becoming a stalfos within the trees and if he had truly known who she was he would have understood how that comment was in particularly poor taste, as it stood Navi let it pass without saying anything merely grimacing at the idea. Without warning Link took off into the forest center. After a moment Navi realized why, the ancient melody of the forest was whispering it's melody through the trees. [i]Link, you fool.[/i] She thought as she rushed in after him. 

At one time the Lost Woods had seemed to welcome Navi, when she was younger and care free. Now each tree loomed imposingly over her, it's leaves dark, whistling in the wind as if to say [i]'You are not welcome here, outcast of your kind.'[/i] Navi moved more quickly trying to avoid the stares of the trees as she plunged deeper into the forest following the song of the groves.

Saria did not play that melody, not anymore, not since what had happened. It was Saria's ocarina that gave the song it's guiding properties, without her instrument to channel the music it was simple a wild and seductive tune meant to pull travelers off the right path for the forest to devour.

Navi ran faster finally finding Link walking hurriedly through the forest with a wild look in his eyes. He was lost, they both were but luckily Navi as one of the Fair Folk had a special connection to the heart of the woods. "Link!" she yelled hoping to lift him from his spell. "She's not there, the Forest Sage never comes this close to the edge, you may think we are close to the Kikiri Village but we have barely started." She shouted her voice pleading, desperate to bring him to his senses. Navi laid a hand on his shoulder and quite suddenly the landscape morphed from that of dark trees filled with hunger to the open field just at the entrance to the forest.

"You fool," she said her face creased in worry. "The song the forest sings is a guide only to the forest people, others it pulls off course intent on consuming there souls. What you did, that's the perfect way to end up like..." Navi forgotten whose company she was keeping. She'd been about to say 'like Link.' [i]Her[/i] Link, the Hero of Time from an age lost to history. The boy who'd gone into the forest searching for his friend who had deserted him never to be seen again. Navi stopped herself short, she did not want to say that to him. She didn't want him to know who she really was.

Navi calmed her voice slightly regaining her composure along with her cold gaze which until know she'd only shed when telling Midna the story of her people. "The Lost Woods are aptly named, The Great Deku Tree, Farore's champion gave the trees consciousness and a deep malicious desire to devour all those who did not originate from their lands. The trees cannot effect anything on the main path, there is a magic instilled in it by the Forest Guardian so that the few who do not belong to this place may pass threw unharmed but the trees are clever, they will do anything they can trick you into stepping off the path, into their territory. You are lucky I was here. The great entrance to my homeland is in the heart of the Forest. The trees recognize me as a being of these woods and any close to me under my protection but if you stray too far I cannot protect you. Far off the path all I can do is force the trees to jettison us from their woods. Please do not run ahead like that again. A hero is a rare thing, if you fall another might not been seen for a thousand years." said Navi looking at Link sternly as a mother would scolding a child. She was old enough to have been an old woman in Hyrulean years when Link's grandmother's grandmother's grandmother was born. The ability to reprimand those with far less experience came naturally to her.

---

[i][b]Zelda[/b][/i]

Zelda listened thoughtfully to what Shadow Link said and she heard everything that he did not. It had to be the Dark Swordsman to kill the hero or else he would simple fade away. After all the Hero had died hundreds of times and yet Shadow Link was still a shadow. The other thing was that Shadow Link wanted a normal life, a human life, free to chose, to love, to feel. Zelda found herself sympathetic to him. She herself while her will might not be forcefully subjugated to that of another found herself always having to put the good of the kingdom before herself. She could not simply ride to Lake Hylia to watch the sunset when she wished, without an armed guard, her half-brother and weeks of planning. It was always the worries of others that came before her own desires.

The Shade's next question caught Zelda completely off guard and it was such a person question that she considered declining an answer solely on principle. The more she thought about it though the more Zelda considered that it was not a terribly complicated question. "Struck by awe at the sight of him?" she mussed "Perhaps I was, but love that I cannot say. I do not know him, he is a myth, a fairy story. The man himself I have had one conversation with and while I can tell you he is a good man, love is not something that blooms that quickly. Asking if I love the Hero in Green is no different than asking if I love the Goddess Din or the Demon Bellum. I know only what I have read. I do confess though that if we should both survive this cycle it would not surprise me if my father arranged a marriage between us. I am wise and can rule well, he is someone with great courage and valiance who the people will support. I cannot say I love him and in all likely hood I never will but it is more than likely that the next generation of Hyrulean royalty shall come from the two of us."

Zelda was not entirely comfortable discussing that particular topic in depth with a soulless shadow but it wasn't like the information was harmful, it could be worked out by anyone who considered it for a moment or two. Zelda pushed into her next question without giving much thought to it. "Let us say you were to kill the Hero, take his sword and win yourself a soul. What would you do? Would you take up the hero's mantle? Find yourself a woman to settle down with? Or else would you travel the land wishing to see and feel all of it before our comparably short human lifespan gives way beneath you?" This was something that Zelda was curious of but did not think that the Shadow would have given it much thought. When you pursue a goal for that long thinking of nothing but how to achieve it what you do afterwards tends to fall by the wayside. You could wake up once your goal is complete and think 'what does my life mean now?' Surely it was the same for Shadow Link as it would be for any man?