It was a love doomed from the start, but it was hers, wasn’t it? The small hylian boy who was fated to save Hyrule was her first and only love, and though she took comfort in Milo upon his long departure, the fire for him was never put out. She waited for his return with an eager heart, yearning to tell him how she felt- to share with him a bond eternal.

It was not meant to be. Hyrule grew dark during his absence, and at the dethroning of the king and the death of the Great Deku Tree, the forest grew dark with it. Her duty was to her children, first and foremost. Into the forest she temple she walked, awaiting his courage. Though the others did not know it, she did. He would be the one to deliver them from the shadow of death and it was her destiny to help him. Love could wait.

It was then, eight years after his departure, that he would return. Nearly fully grown now, her heart yearned for him. She wanted to call out to him, to fly from her slumber with urgency and place her arms around him, but she would not. That would interfere with destiny and throw the fate of Hyrule into turmoil.

She watched him in her mind’s eye. Watched as he defeated the evils that had grabbed hold of their sacred temple, watched as he defeated the puppet the King of Evil had left for him. It was her time to be awakened, and she did so earnestly, for she longed to again see his face. She briefly considered changing her form to something more appealing to his boyish instincts, but thought better of it. The comfort of seeing her as she was when he left would be better, for him and for her.

She granted him the gift of the forest, and within that instant, he was gone again. Within the chamber she waited and watched. She looked on as he cleansed each of the ancient temples, as he restored Hyrule to its former glory. She watched as he defeated the King of Evil himself, and she gazed on in sadness as he held Princess Zelda in his arms. She watched him fade out of existence, returning to a time long lost, and she felt the course of history change around her.

He was gone. Her forbidden love was gone forever, and she was left to wither a forgotten spirit. Into the Lost Woods she wandered, watching the scenery fade away around her. She gazed at her physical form and watched as it melted into an ethereal vapor, and moments later-

Her existence ended.