On another day his fairy told him the Deku Sprout wanted to talk to him, but he ignored her. In the afternoon the twins came one by one and said the Deku Sprout wanted to talk to him, and he sent them away on the most boring chores he could imagine. Separately. In the evening Fado came to his house and showed him a jagged metal knife kind of thing she had found beside a dead tall person. "Can this be our new sword?" she said, and he stared at her and thought, Okay, she remembers things from before Link, what else does she know? Is she changed like Saria? Is she changed like — and she said, "Oh, and the Deku Sprout -"
"The Deku Sprout can get in line," he said. "Everyone wants to talk to the Great Mido. I have to do all the thinking for everyone around here. You're all helpless." Fado laughed. "What? What's so funny?"
"I was thinking about the Deku Sprout getting in line. Walking around on his roots."
"Oh." Mido's shoulders went down from his ears. "Ha! That is pretty funny. He's so round. He'd probably walk like this," and they both had fun waddling in circles around Mido's house in the way that they imagined the Deku Sprout would move. Fado was an okay person. But as soon as she left, Mido's fairy started bugging him again about going to visit that silly baby tree, and he got in a dark mood again.
The Deku Sprout said, "Mido, is everything all right? You've been upsetting the other Kokiri."
"I'm upsetting them?" he said. "I'm upsetting them? There's so much to be upset about and you blame me?"
The Deku Sprout rustled his leaves thoughtfully. "What do you mean? Why else should they be upset?"
"The Great Deku Tree is gone. The forest changed. There aren't Deku Scrubs anymore and everything else got bigger and scarier. We don't have our treasures anymore, our sword or our emerald or anything. Saria's gone."
"Saria's prayers are keeping everyone safe," said the Deku Sprout. "And once I get big enough, in about twelve years, I'll protect the village and return the forest to health. Things will be normal again very soon! All my Kokiri can relax and be happy."
Mido looked at the rotting remains of the old Great Deku Tree. He said, slowly, the most awful thing he knew. "I don't think I trust you."
The Deku Sprout was quiet for a while. The breeze ruffled through his small pale branches. He said, "Mido, this is interesting. In the seven years since my parent tree died, you've become braver."
Mido pretended not to be surprised. He didn't know if he was being praised or scolded. The Kokiri weren't supposed to change. Maybe they weren't even supposed to change for the better. "Lot of good it's done me," he mumbled. "If it even happened."
"But you're just as greedy as ever. You want your sword and your emerald. Why? Just to have them? You can't use them. You want Saria to stop doing her important work for the whole world and spend time playing songs for you? Greedy."
Mido said, "What's so important about the whole world? She was my friend."
The tree said, "She's gone. She's not for you."
Mido stamped on the ground. "But I miss her."
"Mido, everything you need is in the forest. My Kokiri want for nothing. You'll be fine."
Fine? How could anyone ever be fine, in a world where the places you knew could change and the people you liked could go away forever? "Stop saying weird and stupid stuff! I miss our old Tree!"
"Would you like it if I said 'thee' and 'thou?' I'm sorry. I'm still learning."
"You can't keep us safe," said Mido. Something moved in a deep pool and there was light breaking across the ripples of the water. "Because you'll die too."
"That's a very long way away. I'll seed a new Deku Sprout before I go, and the Kokiri will get used to him like they're getting used to me. Kokiri Forest and Kokiri Village will go on forever. You don't have to be sad."
"No." Mido shook his head. "No, you can't say that to me. I saw the big dark shape. I know."
"The what?"
"The big dark!" Mido shouted at him. "The thing Link and Saria saw that made them have to go away! The thing that's always at the edges — the thing that —" It was hopeless. The Deku Sprout was just looking at him. "The big... you know...."
"Oh, Mido," the Deku Sprout said, and his voice was kind. Like the Great Deku Tree's voice used to be. Maybe. Just like Saria's ocarina, Mido didn't remember that voice anymore. "I'm sorry you've been so misled! Link didn't leave because of something he saw. Link was never a Kokiri at all. He was a Hylian child, and now he's a Hylian adult. He could never have stayed in the forest." A Hylian... adult. A tall person. Green clothes? Big ocarina? "Oh, dear, your nose is bleeding. Please sit down."
Mido sat down heavily in the moss, and wiped the blood off on his wrist. "But Saria," he said. "Saria is a Kokiri, isn't she?" He thought if Saria was something else, and not the same as him after all, he might scream.
"Of course she is! What a question! The Forest Temple chose her as its sage. It wasn't predestined that Saria leave the forest, only that the sage would be chosen from among the Kokiri. She had a natural affinity for the temple, so she was a perfect fit." Mido thought, So I was right, that's just like saying she left because she saw it. "If not her, another Kokiri, like Fado or Timi -"
"Or me?"
The Deku Sprout laughed. "Oh no, not you. The spirits of the temple wouldn't pick someone with your temperament."
Mido scowled and dug in the ground with a twig. This twig probably used to be the Great Deku Tree. "I could change my... whatever you said. 'Temperament.'"
His fairy said, "No, you can't."
The Deku Sprout said, "You have no need to. Here in the forest, your foibles are endearing and can't cause lasting harm to you or others." He paused. "You should know that my parent tree loved you very much, exactly as you are."
Mido thought about that a lot when he was alone. About "love." About "lasting harm."