Leaving the Forest

Kokiri who leave the forest die. That was what Saria had always known. The magic of the Great Deku Tree kept the children safe, safe from the monsters beyond the Lost Woods and safe from the relentless, unappeasable creature known as Time. Beyond the forest, the Hylians and the Gorons and the Zoras lived and died and died and died, but the Kokiri remained safe in a sliver of eternity.

But despite what she had always been taught, when Link left the forest, she _knew _that he would return. Impossible, true, but if the Great Deku Tree could die where it was safe, than Link could survive where it was not.

And he did come back. The monsters hadn't gotten to him, and while Time had touched him, it hadn't destroyed him. If anything, Time had made him better, more him than he had been before he had left. Before, there had always been something unfinished about her friend, who was always being picked on for not having a fairy. But when he came back, he was, well, taller, obviously, but he had seen things beyond the forest, experienced the world, and in some small, personal way, had mastered it.

Saria wanted that. She was safe in the forest, but she was always the same, so one day, she decided to step out beyond the boundaries into the unknown.

Age meant nothing to the Kokiri where they were all children, but Link had lived there less than any of the others, and Saria had lived there for much, much longer. Decades? Centuries? It had never mattered before, but as soon as she stepped out of the forest into the open field, some of those years came rushing to meet her.

In an instant, her body grew like Link's had, but not like Link's had. After he came back, Link had grown like a tree, but Saria found herself blossoming like a flower. She grew taller, yes, but she also swelled in places. Her flat chest developed into a full pair of round breasts, and her hips widened. The changes should have looked ridiculous or horrific on her, but instead her new adult body looked beautiful.

Then she noticed her clothes.