Chapter 1
"I…I'm sorry, My Lord and Lady," Impa stammered. Tears threatened at the corners of her eyes. "I found…only this..."
A small tiara rested in her hands, forgotten in the plains of Hyrule.
"No," King Jerold whispered, Queen Lenaya letting out a sob.
"I…couldn't track her captors," Impa continued, her voice nearly cracking.
King Jerold took the small tiara from her hands. He stroked his thumb over the small jewels encrusted in the silver. He slowly lowered it from his sight, taking Lenaya in his arms. She cried into his shoulder, shaking. He nodded at Impa, dismissing her.
Impa's footsteps echoed in the throne room as she left. Her long, painful search for the young Princess Zelda had been in vain.
The Great Deku Tree looked down upon the Kokiri in front of him with hope. Saria, with tears in her eyes, shook her head. She put her hands in her face and wept.
"We couldn't save her, Great Deku Tree," Saria admitted, her voice muffled by her hands. "The woman's wounds were too severe."
A great sorrow washed over the wise spirit. "And the boy?"
"He's still with her," Saria answered, drying her eyes. "He doesn't understand. He's only five."
"His father was killed also," the Great Deku Tree said sadly.
"What is to happen?" Saria asked. "The boy can't go back to the village. No one is left there for him."
"Bring him back one last time with his mother," the Great Deku Tree said. "Saria, stay there with him to his parents have been given the proper respects. If there is anything the boy wishes to bring with him here from his home, let him."
"But, Great Deku Tree," Saria said, "it would be cruel to make the boy see the burial of his parents!"
"He will be more furious, I believe, as he comes to age and realizes we kept him from the burial," the Great Deku Tree answered with a sigh. "There is no other way, Saria."
