Secrets

The Kokiri's small hands reclined on the boulder's face, where an eye had been carefully chiseled on. Its piercing gaze was secured on her elf-child face.

Saria lifted it, turning over, and tried it on her. The Truth Mask fit perfectly, concealing her face well, so only a few wisps of lime-green hair peeked from behind the mask. It was a child's mask the color of ivory-cream and in the shape of a very small shield, yet it was large enough to cover the wearer's face, assuming s/he was a child. In the center, a single eye had been delineated on in a crimson pigment. Vacant triangles plainly drawn out, surrounding the eye like fat eyelashes.

While her best friend, Link, was gone, she had promised to treat it with care, and he had promised to return.

"Here, the Truth Mask. Keep it for me. I'll have come back for it soon enough, for it does not belong to me."

Accepting the mask, the Kokiri spoke her last words to him. "Promise me that you'll return."

"I promise I'll return… when I'm a real hero."

Link was not seen for the last seven years.

It took her some time to realize the power of the mask, that it wasn't a mere child's mask, but a tool that could be used to deviate the truth from the false tales of the stones. The Gossip Stones scattered across Hyrule were more than talking clocks. They were, well, gossipers.

It was one of the Skull kids that had told her of the magical essence of the mask. Like most of her race, and any other race, she trusted one as far as she could toss him/her. Considering how weighty the skull kids are to a child, she would not trust one with a deku stick, in fear it might set it on fire, then set its heart, a piece of frigid coal, on pillaging her village—or worst: start poking her mercilessly, 'til she lost all sanity.

"Tell me, Gossip Stone," she asked, "where is Link?" Dork or not, she missed him. Link was her best friend, according to fairly reliable secondary resources.

"Last night, I heard the other Gossip Stones sing, and what beautiful voices they are when they ring!"

At receiving the incorrect response, the Kokiri kicked the stone soundly in the eye. "Wrong! Tell me something different."

"They sang ever so sweetly. My goddesses such voices, such harmony!"

Aggravated, she kicked it again.

"The lyrics were puzzling, speaking of a dark man and his lies, and the secrets stolen and the goddesses' cries!"

Just as the chants were getting interesting, she gave up. Facing the stone, Saria flumped down on the grass. She removed the mask and placed it on the ground, leaning against the Gossip Stone.

Why aren't you working? She wanted to kick the stone again, but her toes felt as if they were aflame. Damned rocks. Glaring with a viciousness not seen since the twins brought home a pup wolfo, Saria wished her small fists could do more than merely shake.

She breathed in deeply, exhaled slowly and took in her surroundings. Perhaps calmness would improve the Truth Mask's focus.

Sage-green blades of grass grew from the sacred earth in the meadow. It was a maze of nature. With its twists and turns, few attempted to finish it. Lingering too long was hazardous to mortals, for it meant transforming into wolfos. But the song… the song was not to be resisted. It was not possible to not linger and live in one's deadly rapture of music. The howls are most common at night, when they creep nearer, perhaps to complete a maze, to reach the player of the song, and fall upon his/her feet to hear it and die.

Not one has found her, the green-haired child with her sweet song that flows from her clay ocarina.

A shadow and a sound came from behind her, almost unseen.

"Link," she said to herself before she even saw him. There he was, searching—for her. Older, battle-scarred, but still her Link.

Saria eyes began to tear as she flung off the Truth Mask. She had seen everything. The memories of pain, loneliness, and a lost youth. And she saw something else, not in his mind, but in his tired heart. A simple something. A secret.

And now it was her secret, too.

Link approached her again. He dropped his shield sword and held out his arms.

She ran into them.

I love you, too, she thought but did not say.

"I've missed you," he said.

"I know, I know."

She did not need a Truth Mask to see this much.