Turning of Age

Taria turns 12.

 

          In the land of Hyrule there rested a sacred power called the Triforce. This power was created by the Goddesses of Hyrule themselves. Din the Goddess of power, Nayru the Goddess of Wisdom, and Farore the Goddess of courage. When they made this power they left it in the hands of the Hylians so that they would protect it. The Hylians took great care of the Triforce, which gave them light and hope. Then, one day, a Gerudo King decided that he wanted the Triforce and attempted to steal it away... but he did not succeed. He merely succeeded in obtaining the Triforce of Power, which he used to cause despair and chaos throughout the land. All was thought to be lost, but it is told that a hero wielding a legendary sword, and the Triforce of courage, thwarted the King’s plans and banished him to the Evil Realm. After this ‘Hero of Time’ laid the legendary sword to rest he and the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom called upon the Goddesses to seal away the Triforce so that no evil could ever touch it. The Goddesses heard them and then broke the Triforce into six pieces, two for each part, and sealed the pieces in six gold rings. They then scattered the rings throughout Hyrule, and returned to the heavens. That... was two hundred years ago.

          The village of Kiriko was filled with life and laughter. It was a small village just outside of the great forest. The inhabitants consisted of twenty-two families all of Hylian blood. And because of their village was close to where the legendary Hero of Time grew up they had a customary ritual. Every child, when they turned twelve, was to go into the forest and find a deku seed, which they brought back and planted beside their house. Now, if that seed were to sprout then it would mean good luck in the future.

Now it was one girl’s turn of age, Taria, she was the youngest of her friends. They had all gone and done their turn of age ritual and all their deku seeds had sprouted. Taira was a patient girl who loved adventure, although she was afraid of ghosts which made people laugh at her. She had the weirdest colored eyes; they were pure green, which was not a natural Hylian color. Yet she had golden brown hair which was, so no one paid much attention to it.

Taria had three close friends. Her friend Mayu was just a few days older then her and had the lightest blonde hair in all of Hyrule. It was practically white. Her eyes were a reddish brown and she stood a whole two inches taller than Taria did, though she never gloated about it. Mayu was a very happy and energetic girl but was also stubborn at times.

Then there was Ardic. He was the same height as Mayu but had very dark brown hair which was always messy. His eyes were a brown color but held a hint of green along the pupil.  Ardic never did well with meeting new people. He was always moody and rude to the new person but once he got to know them he warmed up right away. Ardic was a very proud boy who prided himself on his fighting ability.

Finally there was Link. He had gold-blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Link was always good with new people and was always friendly. He was also very mature. He was very courageous and was always looking out for his friends.

Taria paced along the forest’s edge waiting for her friends to get there. Her boots making soft almost unheard “thud thud thud” sounds on the ground.  It was her twelfth birthday and she was very nervous. She had never thought she could feel so nervous about going into the forest. She had been in there lots of times before, why was she so nervous now?

“Taria!” called her friend Mayu as she came running up to her.

Mayu had worn her favourite old purple shirt and black pants with rips in the knees, along with her favourite shoes. Taria smiled at Mayu.

“What took so long?” Taria asked with a slight laugh.

“I had to wake up the dorks!” Mayu said with a wink.

“We are not dorks Mayu!” Ardic protested as he and Link trudged over.

Ardic wore his usual red baggy shirt and his red pants along with boots. His hair as messy as ever.

    “Well I know I’m not a dork, I don’t know about you Ardic.” Link said shrugging his shoulders.

Link always seemed to wear the same outfit, green tunic, white pants, white undershirt, brown boots, and his green hat.

“What was that?!” Ardic growled.

“Nothing, nothing at all.” Link said shrugging his shoulders again.

Mayu and Taria snickered as Ardic continued to growl at Link.

“Taira!” called her aunt, “Time to go into the forest!”

“Okay!” Taria yelled, and then sighed “I don’t know about this guys... I’m getting a funny feeling about the forest today.”

“It’s okay Taria, you’ll find a Deku seed right away! Then it’ll all be done with.” Mayu said reassuringly as she patted Taria’s back.

“Yeah Tar Bar, you’ll do fine.” Ardic said with a goofy smile.

“Just believe in yourself.” Link said with a smile.

“Okay guys!” Taria said, a determined expression crossing her face, “Just watch I’ll find one faster than you guys did!”

With a quick turn Taria ran off into the forest. Mayu, Ardic and Link waited by the edge of the forest for her return.

***

Taria hummed to herself as she walked along the trail through the forest.

“Deku Deku Deku seeds, the seed that meets all of your needs, plant one and it will grow up strong, just hope you don’t grow it wrong.” She sang to herself.

The path she was on soon disappeared into grass and fallen leaves. Taria stopped and looked around.

“Hmm... where are those seeds?” she asked herself, “Maybe over there.”

Taria walked along a straight patch of trees, scanning the ground for Deku seeds. She kept walking and then changed direction and walked further. She continued to walk until her eyes finally found a small bunch of Deku seeds.

“Yes!” She cheered, “I found them!”

She then looked around, “Where am I?”

***

“She’s not back yet.” Mayu said in disappointment.

“Maybe something happened?” Ardic suggested.

Mayu hit Ardic across the head, “Shut up! You don’t know that!”

Link retrieved his sword from the fence along the forest, “I’ll go look for her.” He said as he walked into the forest.

“Okay, but be careful!” Mayu called after him.

Link waved back at her to tell her okay then proceeded into the forest.

“Taria! Taria!” he called as he got further into the forest.

No reply came back to him. He gripped his sword in caution but then heard sobbing.

“Taria?!” he called out again.

“L-Link?” Taria’s voice came from a little further ahead.

Link hurried over and found Taria. Her back was to a rock and she was hugging her knees. Her face shone with fresh tears which she quickly wiped away.

“Are you okay? Why were you crying?” he asked.

“I just got lost was all! I wasn’t scared or nothing!” Taria quickly defended herself, “I found the seeds, but got lost was all!”

Link kept in a laugh and helped her up, “We should get home.”

Taria nodded, “I agree, it’s almost completely dark.”

They turned and started heading back towards the village.

“So were you guys worried?” Taria asked.

“Sort of.” Link said.

“Sort of?” Taria said, hurt.

“I’m kidding, yes, we were worried.” Link laughed then stopped suddenly, “Can you... smell something burning?”

Taria sniffed the air, “Yes”

“Quick!” Link said grabbing Taria’s wrist and dashing towards the direction of the smell.

They soon exited the forest and came to their village. Which was up in flames.

Author's Note

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Reviews

[Matthew V. H.]

well, this is definitly on my automatic read list. I love the world of Zelda and can't wait to read more.

one small side note: Don't use forest so much. Give yourself other words to use like; woods, copse of trees, dense greenery, etc... makes it sound better.

otherwise, great stuff! must read on.

cole-

[Tainted Angel]

Holy yikes. Link to the rescue!!! I always loved The Legend of Zelda. Awsome series. You have done a really cool job recreating it. Good job! I definitly look forward to reading more.