Mido couldn't remember the last time there had been a new Kokiri. Plants grew out of the ground and got tall and put out new leaves and turned brown and shrank and stopped living, and you could make grass stop living even sooner than that if you pulled it out by the roots. But the point was, plants came from somewhere and went away, all the time. Kokiri didn't. Fairies didn't. It was just them in the forest forever.
Link happened, though. There didn't used to be Link and then there he was. And he was very little. Probably less than half the size of the rest of them.
"Tila used to be new," said one of the twins. "You remember when Tila was new."
"'Course I do," said Mido. "I remember when you were new. I remember when we didn't have Refa."
"Wow," said the other twin.
"You were both new at the same time, and that's why you're twins," said Mido, grandly. "You came from... two seeds. See? It's nothing to worry about if there's a new boy. I know all about it."
The twins went away satisfied that Mido was still their boss. In private he chewed on his lip.
And Link got bigger. And Link didn't have a fairy. And Link, even though he was like a plant more than he was like the Kokiri, and didn't have a fairy, and used the wrong hand, was the Great Deku Tree's favorite. The Great Deku Tree was always asking about him and how he did.
It was stupid. "Link" didn't even sound like a real name. Link, stink, don't you think? Saria used to be the favorite. A tree shouldn't change his mind like that.
Mido told her "You're still my favorite," and she said "Thank you, Mido, you're sweet," and that was a perfectly polite thing for her to say but he still wanted to go away and kick a big rock.
If Link was a plant, and the Great Deku Tree was a plant, maybe they had a special bond and maybe that was okay. And if Link was a plant — because he'd come from somewhere, like grass and weeds, and kept getting bigger, like trees and flowers — yeah. "Just between you and me," Mido said seriously, "Link's going to die someday. Hah! I'd feel bad for him if he weren't so annoying."
"I don't think Link is annoying," said Fado. Mido had thought of trying this piece of gossip on Saria, but he didn't know how she'd react. It kinda scared him, not knowing. Saria was weird about Link lately. Fado was leaning in closer and whispered, "Do you think Link has bones?"
"I know how to find out," said Mido. Fado clapped her hands delightedly.
But Mido remembered how the Great Deku Tree had scolded him, the time he dared Tila to jump off a roof and her arm broke. The fairies healed her. It wasn't even a problem. But the Great Deku Tree scolded him and made him feel small. Thou art responsible, Mido, he'd said, and Mido had turned that over in his head all day and all night. Responsible.
So he didn't break Link's arm. Or even one of his fingers. Since Saria and the Great Deku Tree liked that loser so stinking much.