The Sun dawned as if born with a new light, or perhaps Din had bathed it with her very warmth. The light of the new mornings were very "golden" and bright, and it was then realized how the eyes of the children of Hylia and Farore had been dimmed by the shadow of Ganondorf and his ally in the Twilight. The world felt now, in a manner of speaking, alive again as if a fountain of youth had been poured in its waters and streams.

The Light spirits left their abode in the provinces as their tasks were complete, and the great dragon spirits of elder days had returned to Hyrule, and they abode now in the springs of the provinces of Hyrule. The Shiekah left their hiding as they now returned to their legacy of Kakariko in restoring it to its greater stature, and they begun great works in their ever developing technology for years to come. They understood the history concerning Demise and his curse fulfilled in Ganon, the spirit of Ganondorf, the incarnation of Demise's malice. The Shiekah understood, that while the incarnation had indeed been slain, his spirit still endures, and the cycle of the curse would surely come again. As for the Hylians of Kakariko, they had decided to move on from its desolation as the Shiekah worked to restore it, and so they moved southward to the higher hills of Hateno.

Elsewhere, adrift in hills upon the edge of the forest, the golden wolf did stride. It was now deep in the season of autumn; wherewith, the golden wolf seemed to blend in with the changing and falling leaves. Upon entering the Lost Woods, a chill was felt in the air, it was fresh, but there was also a change in it that he was not familiar with. When before there was a presence of magic, mystery, and vibrance in the air around the fairy woods, now it felt old, fading, and changing.

'Something is happening.' The wolf thought, but what was it? He did not know, nor could he find out as he was not able to discover the Lost Wood's secrets. There were none who could. The Great Deku Tree probably knew, but there were many things of the world, including the secrets of the woods, that he never disclosed.

The wolf stood patiently as he considered the wind and the changing air, and there he closed his eyes as he felt and studied it in its changing patterns wherewith he might attain some discernment. And so he waited diligently over many hours, and he listened to it in passing tones and characteristics. But in all of his skill and subtlety, he could understanding nothing about any of it.

At length, the golden spirit opened his eyes, and there before him stood a boy of seemingly twelve years in age. He was so thrown off in astonishment that he jolted back with an awakening growl. The boy put his hands up. "Hey! I wasn't that close enough to make you mad at me this time! I said I wouldn't do that anymore to you, and I didn't!"

Upon that, the wolf paused, and length it cocked its head. "It can't be!! ... Phaelon?" The boy of 12 with brown wavy hair, nut brown eyes, and a set of old skull tunic and trousers on about him, nodded as a 'yes' to the Shade. At that, the wolf plopped in a sitting position as he stared on the boy.

"I can't believe it." The Shade finally stated,

And Phaelon replied with laughter. "I'm hardly convinced myself."

"But how?" Returned the wolf.

Then the boy shrugged as he stated. "I don't know. ... The weather and air here has changed in the Lost Woods, and then the next thing I knew was that I woke up like this." He paused, and then he shared his thoughts. "I don't know what's happening, but I think that perhaps after Ganondorf's shadow had come to an end, what power remained of the spirit of the Great Deku Tree must have finally been laid to rest. And now everything is fading."

The wolf looked on him solemnly before gazing dramatically into the colorful woods. "Perhaps." He said plainly in reply.

The Shade looked to Phaelon then with curious concern before asking him, "So, what will you do now?"

But the boy again just shrugged. "I don't know. ... I guess I should go live in Ordon amidst Faron Woods." The wolf nodded.

So, that was what he did. Phaelon went to Ordon, and the wolf went with him all of the way until they reached the outskirts of the village. "I suppose this is it." Phaelon stated half heartedly as he suddenly felt unsure of what lay ahead of him, and all of the memories in nature of his past life that were now all passed behind him.

The wolf nodded with a graceful voice in reply, "Yes. ... You can now be apart of a family as you once had. Not as a skull child with a Kokiri and a out of place Hylian with a bunch of misfit fairies, but with an actual family."

A tear was shed abroad from Phaelon's brown irises, and he nodded shakingly. "It's been a wild life together." The boy added at length.

And the Shade sighed in agreement. "Don't play with masks." He said half jokingly.

Then Phaelon smiled as he returned jest. "Don't play or sing any weird songs or tunes." The boy smiled, and then before he gave himself anytime to doubt his decision, he went forth into his whole new world.

The wolf followed along the tree line, and he observed as Phaelon took up with Colin. The Shade was glad to see how well they got along. And in following, Rusle and Ulia took him in with them as they again had a new addition with their family. Soon then, in a moment's passing, the wolf left in striding back to the Lost Woods.

Sigh, the wolf huffed in confusion, there it is again, that change in the air. It was far more drastic than the change of seasonal air outside of the woods. This was very specific and unique, and it was almost concerning. But right now, that wasn't foremost on his mind. For now he was alone and filled with nostalgia. Therefore, he decided on revisiting a special place.

A leaf fell here and a leaf fell there, and the light of Din's sun had breeched into woods invadingly. Amidst the present chill, there was a certain warmth about the place that overcame it. Swiftly yet patiently, the wolf of the lingering spirit came about the Sacred Grove, and there behind it, where a foot hasn't stepped in many a year, stood a meadow some remains of the old Forest Temple. And before the Shade stood an old Deku stump that still stood strong as ever. For as a Deku tree is felled, its wood carries a preservative in its nature; wherefore, it can stand for many years before age strikes it in its decomposition.

The Shade stood then in memory as this was a place where bonding friendship was spent, a place where he learned many things both important and simple, and it was also where he had married her. Now here he gazed upon the stump as it was amazingly there, seemingly petrified to his thought. He practically chuckled at the thought.

In a moment's anticipation, he sat down, and he fingered his had within the hems of his armor. In withdrawing it, it held a simple wooden Ocarina with such beautiful and delicate features so perfectly preserved. For in his grave, it was laid with him in his burial, and so he retrieved it as he still carried it with him. His most treasured possession, more so than any sword, mask, or any like trinket could mean to him.

Now, in these days of peace, he was relieved and at peace, but... he looked at the Ocarina in a pain that weighed greater still...he was not at rest. It was done, Ganondorf and all of the problems with him, were gone. ... But now he lamented her in a great weight of grief that he had ever felt before.

'From that moment,' the Shade thought, '...the bridge, our childlike selves of only ten...she waited for me. For seven years she waited for me, only for me to come back in an Hylian body estranged from the Kokiri and for her to become a sage as we would be separated. ... And yet she waited. ... I returned in time to be myself, to be ourselves, but then I was only to be sent away. Still, she waited. ... And then, finally, for a brief time growing, becoming husband and wife, we were a family for a brief few years. But then it all ended. She was left in my absence in her aging life to be waiting for the end...She deserved so much better' And his mind continue for a while in its turning gears of thought of grief and regret.

In time, the Shade paused from thinking, and he put form to his mouth as best as he could. For his energy was spent after the long years of his lingering. ... He took breath with the instrument, and it played. He warmed up on it until he was as good as he remembered, and then he played it. He played Saria's song, and almost, he dreamt of hearing her voice. But then to his amazement, he did hear her voice and he thought that he was dreaming for sure. And when he opened his eyes, he was convinced of it.

There before him, stood a young girl of kokiri garb with emerald irises and green hair. "Saria?" The old spirit voiced as if in a whisper.

She nodded, and after a great pause, she enquired. "You think you're dreaming don't you?"

And he nodded in response, "How could I not be?"

She giggled at first then she sobered up in a solemn look as she gracefully told him, "It, ... It is me, ... Link."

But Link was dumbfounded. "How?"

Saria paused for a moment before she then answered. "Link, ... When the Great Deku Tree died, there was supposed to rise in his place, a successor to sprout before him. But under the shadow of Ganondorf, still lingering, the sprout remained dormant. ... Because of that, we Kokiri, the eternal children, began to grow as the power over us faded. So, we became Ordonians, and like Hylians, we aged and died. ..." She paused in giving a moment before she continued. "But did you think that that was our end?" The Shade was listening intently. "Link, though we were in flesh Ordonian, we were, in spirit, Kokiri. We are the spirits of the forest. When our flesh aged and failed, our spirits returned to the forest and awaited."

Link injected a question then as Saria had paused. "Await what?"

And Saria answered. "For the tree's successor to sprout, to take shape and form. ... When our descendant, and your heir, the Hero of Twilight slew the Dark Lord in sealing his dark spirit away, the tree's spirit, in sprout, was finally allowed to rise. ... He has been born Link, the Great Deku Tree. ... And as he has returned his spirit to us, we forest spirits have been reborn." She paused again with a giggle as she saw him dumbstruck, and she replied to it in her observation, "We are called 'Eternal Children' for a reason Link."

He breathed and nodded in acknowledgement, and then he looked up to her in asking, "Where are the others?"

And Saria answered. "They're in the woods, but due to the danger of changing times, they are no longer children and have taken residence as seeds of the Deku Tree, the Koroks." But she stopped then as she laughed a hearty laugh that ended in a giggle before she finally mustered her speak. "Link...you should see them, ... especially Mido..." She sounded like her old mischievous self in a prank of a tone as she spoke then.

"But what about you?" The Shade asked with a tone of sincerity.

Saria sobered quickly as she answered him. "Sigh, yes. ... You see, unlike the other Koroks, I, myself, have other connections. ... I have a connection with the forest in watching its nature as the Great Deku Tree watches over much more...weightier matters. And then there was also another connection that I had, that could not be overlooked." Saria paused in a stop, and had the utmost look of sincerity.

"What connection was that?" Asked the Shade.

And she responded with a hint of a blush as she gave a very direct and simple answer. "You."

They stared in meeting gaze with a moment of silence and smiles. "So," the Shade started, "What happens now?"

But Saria sighed, "Well, you are already aware of the cycles of incarnation that take place..." He nodded as she went on. "Well, others will come in your succession, and they will battle Ganon as he comes and goes. But as for you, Link, right now you must rest." He sighed then, in both agreement and disappointment, but she continued. "But this I promise you, that you will return, yourself to be incarnated again, and when that time comes, I will be there waiting for you."

The Shade sighed again in both delight and a bothering sensation that crept up on him. "But," He said, "You will be in waiting again."

And Saria breathed out a grateful sigh, "Oh, Link. You are ever so thoughtful and admirably selfless. But sometimes, you can be outright silly. ... Link, I had waited, I did wait, I have been waiting, and I will wait for you still, because..." There was a hint of tears in her eyes, "Because Link, you are worth waiting for, and nothing could ever take that anticipation and joy from me."

And then in hearing that, with a little thought, the Shade let out a great breath as he now felt at rest, and with it he changed. He took sight of himself, and surely enough he was again, hmmm he chuckled at the thought, a ten year old boy as he sat there on the 'petrified' stump. He was no longer the shade, nor was he a shadow of his former self. He was again his own self. And they laughed together. Saria sat with him, and they played their ocarinas together with intricate hands as they did when he returned from Termina and as they did when before he left the forest in the first place.

In time they finished, and they smiled as their irises met. But then a door of light opened before him. "You must go." Saria said, and he understood, for it was his time to go rest at last. Yet then the Lost Woods and the Korok Forest glowed in a strange golden light.

"What's happening?" Link asked.

And Saria told him in answer. "As the lands have changed, and the location of this area has become heavier in traffic, especially after the recent events in Ordon with the Hero of Twilight, the Great Deku tree considers it unsafe. And he now has the Master Sword under his mantle of responsibility. So, like when the Temple of Time shifted in location here, the Great Deku Tree is moving the Lost Woods and the forest northward under the Shadow of Death Mountain. We will reside there now, and I'll be waiting for you."

Link found it a lot to soak in, but it made sense and he acknowledged it. And then they gazed upon each other a last time, and Link gave a radiant smile as he reminiscently told her, "This is when you're supposed to say, 'Oh, you're leaving.'"

And they smiled at each other in crescents and Saria leaped on him in a hug, "I'll never forget you, and I'll wait." Then he made ready, but before he left, he taught her a song on the Ocarina.

"There," he said, "that's my own song that I came up with during our last year together. ... I just never got to show it to you. ... Play it if ever you need me or wish to hear my voice. And I'll be with you always as you wait. And perhaps, I'll be able to play your song to."

At that, deep tears drenched her face, and then she smiled again to him as he went. "I'll be waiting for you!" She said. Then the Lost Woods and Korok Forest disappeared from Faron as it moved as Saria described. And Link, the Hero of Time, resided in the house of the goddesses at last with a restful spirit.

So ends the tale of our beloved Hero, a tale that seemingly ended in tragedy while yet it truly ends in restful joy.