Establishing Hyrule

[Franne 2]

"All patched up and good to go," I smile to Fintan after I'm done with fixing his wound. 

I decided to act normal to him again since he does to me. We'll get our chance to talk. 

"Thank you," Fintan says while getting back up. 

"That's ok," I reply while putting his adhesive dressing back in his bag. 

He slowly turns to me and inhales. "Melaina I just w-"

"We need to focus now Fintan. As you always say," I answer, still busy with rummaging through his bag. "Don't you?" I add while looking him in the eyes.

He sighs. "I do. We do need to focus on getting the next part of the blade and getting Caoilainn back."

I stand up. "Good, let's get all our stuff and head to Lanayru then." I turn around and want to leave when Fintan calls my name again.

"Melaina?" he asks and it almost sounds pleading.

I turn around. "Yes?" 

[ButterflyBabyBlue 2]

"I'm not... going to do... anything..." 

My words leave me in between shuddering breaths and coughs. Blagdan frowns at me from where he sits, and his guards look up at me, seeming impatient. I test the shackles that leave me suspended above them, but they are firm as ever. I dangle there like a ragdoll, exhausted but still as stubborn as I was. 

"Child, you are so-"

"Stop... calling me... a child," I interrupt Blagdan mid-sentence. He doesn't looked pleased to have been interrupted, but continues on as if I hadn't spoken. 

"We have explained to you countless times now," he says, "your origins and your warped loyalties. If you would kindly refrain from being so arrogant, then we could take you down from there and get to setting our plans into action."

"I don't believe your stupid story," I retort, and spit at the ground to get my point across.That earns me a whack with my own belt, and I clench my teeth to stop from giving an audible reaction. "

"Are you absolutely sure?" Blagdan asks, standing up. "All the evidence points that way. Why you shut out emotions, why you'd always excelled in combat. And now, your violent outburst. Your parents' mysterious origins...."

"Shut up," I snap, and receive another lash. "My parents were loyal to the Sheikah."

"Which is why we had to eliminate them," Blagdan says. He shakes his head, tutting at me disapprovingly. "Honestly, I didn't expect you to be quite this stubborn, Caoilainn. And we have a very limited amount of time, too." 

One of his guards walks to him, whispering something I can't hear. The other guards watches me while Blagdan mutters something in response. His belt is wrapped around his knuckles, my blood dripping from one end.

Blagdan nods, and the other guard approaches, drawing a pocketknife. I brace myself for a slash, but instead of feeling any pain, I hear the sounds of fabric tearing. When I open my eyes, my clothes have been torn to shreds, only a few mere strips of fabric still remaining.

The guard that had talked with Blagdan lifts a hand and I watch it glow red, squirming in my bonds in discomfort and panic. He approaches, and lifts his hand so he can place it on my abdomen. And when he does, the pain is awful. 

A scream is ripped from me, my throat feeling like fire has blazed through it. His touch is like white-hot pokers, the tips of his fingers tracing harsh circles as I writhe in agony. But over my screams, I can still hear Blagdan's persistent voice. 

"The sooner you come to terms with your situation,you insolent child," he says, "the easier this will be for both of us."

[NayruGoddessOfWisdom 8]

She watches me, waiting, expectant. Hasn't she got it yet? I've tried so hard! The strange behaviour, the kiss, the "I'm just bad at talking about feelings..."

"Fintan!" she says, now sounding irritated. "Spit it out!"

But this isn't the time, I know that. I can tell by how irritable she is, by how she cut me off when I tried to tell her the truth, how she used my own words against me. I may be hopeless at talking about my feelings, but I know how to read other people's emotions. Hers are burning bright red...

"Just... stay safe out there, I don't want anything else to go wrong," I say, disappointed even in myself. She nods curtly and vanishes from my tent, though I can tell she wasn't satisfied with the response.

I sigh, dropping down to the floor. I need to clear my head - I need to meditate.

It doesn't take me long to get into my palace of balance. I create the usual balance, slipping in with ease. It's comforting to return, like slipping into a warm winter jumper. I don't need to find the location of the next part of the blade, Blagdan's already told us that much... I can see the impending blackness, something evil lurking up ahead, but that can be chalked up to the upcoming exchange with the Demons. I rest for a few moments more, before finally surfacing back into reality. We've got a job to do... I don't want to waste any more time.

I make my way outside and quickly pack up the tent. Once everything's down and everyone's ready, we set off, headed towards the Lanayru region. This isn't going to be easy.

[Knuckle 484]

The road to Lanayru cuts through the same dead forest where last nights' events took place. It's sparse population of dead trees are so thin you can see for miles, and nothing dares to sneak up on the travellers. Eventually the hard rock below their feet becomes more fractured, and they cross the edge of the forest. It's late now, and since everyone has travelled so far in such short time Fintan decides to call it a day. Sault offers to take first watch, and has an easy time staring over the flat deadlands for monsters. The land here isn't like the desert he expected, it was too rocky and sandless, so they must be about halfway between Eldin and Lanayru proper.

 

The night is uneventful and everyone gets up early for breakfast and preparations to get moving. This area is completely inhospitable, so everyone is silently eager to get out of here. Unfortunately it doesn't get much better; the flat ground eventually becomes sandy and slightly harder to walk through, but most of the Hylians seem familiar with walking in the desert and the Sheikah are naturally light and fast walkers, so minimal time is lost. By the second night of their journey they finally reach a Bird Statue and camp there for the night. "I wish we'd run into one of these sooner," Link said, "but there wasn't anything between here and the goron city, and going back into Eldin seemed like a bad idea." Everyone agreed that even the desert and deadlands were preferable to an uphill trek through the lava pools with demons everywhere. At any rate, they were set to reach the gorge in the morning and get the next piece of the blade in only half their allotted time.

 

Sault didn't have guard duty and slept heavily that night. The next morning he went over to discuss things with Fintan as they pack up. "We're moving fast, and this is gonna take us half as much time as we've been given. Don't you find that strange?" He relays his concern to the Sheikah. "I agree, we've been given way too much time for this quest. I suspect Blagdan wanted to make this easy on us." Fintan replied. "Sorry to interrupt," Link said as he suddenly walked over, "but I think the 5 days aren't for our benefit. We got that much time because Blagdan needs every second of it, and we can count on him not showing up until the fifth day."

[ButterflyBabyBlue 2]

"Your friends are moving through Lanayru very swiftly, Caoilainn," Blagdan says, pacing in front of me. He's alone now, the two guards posted outside the cell door.

The pain in my arms has become so commonplace now that I simply ignore it, watching Blagdan with dull eyes.

"They'll have the shard in no time," he muses, his smug voice doing nothing to improve my temper. "And then they'll have to wait, because you and I have some talking to do, it seems."

"I'm not interested in talking to you," I inform him levelly.

"You've made that very clear," Blagdan says, his voice just as calm. "This would be far simpler if you chose to comply, of course. Regardless of the methods, we need you on our side."

"Good luck with that," I reply, managing to give him an embittered smile.

"We need the shards of that blade," Blagdan says, half to himself. "And right now you seem to be our best bet."

"Whatever your plan is, it's not going to work," I say determinedly. "And you'll never be able to make me work against my friends."

He pauses for a moment, appearing to make a mental note of something. He then moves quickly, and I yelp when he reaches up to grab a fistful of my hair and pull my head down to his level. I seethe in pain, squeezing my eyes shut. He slaps me across the jaw until I look at him.

"Listen to me, Caoilainn," he hisses, his eyes locked on mine. "By the time we're done with you in here you'll be begging, and I mean it, to work for us."

[NayruGoddessOfWisdom 8]

We're sat on the ground in a circle around our campfire. I wasn't expecting to need to light a campfire in a desert region, but as it turns out, it gets very cold at night times, despite the hot temperatures in the day time. We're in the right place now, but we've agreed not to start searching until the morning. Looking in the dark would be fruitless. Bryarly is busy making us all our evening meal, and Link is busy showing us something that he brought down with him from Skyloft.

"I don't get it," I say. "It just looks like a stack of squares of paper..."

Link laughs. "They're called cards, we play games with them at home. Sometimes people even place wagers that they'll win the game."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Sault says wearily. "Not when we're on an adventure."

Link laughs. "I agree, especially not if Zelda plays - she's unbeatable!"

I laugh, shuffling a little closer. The paper is decorated with numbers and shapes, even a few pictures of regal looking figures. "So how do you play?" I ask.

Link looks thoughtful for a few moments. "Well there are a number of games... I'll teach you guys the easiest one - snap! It's really simple, two people can play at once..." he goes on to explain the rules of the game, and we go for a few rounds. I manage to beat Sault and Melaina, but lose to both Link and Zelda. The Hero was right, Zelda really is undefeatable.

I glance around, only to find Leoni sat on his own, scribbling in his notebook. I frown. "Do you want to play with us?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "No thank-you..."

Zelda wears a look of concern as she turns back to the game. "Something's definitely wrong with him..." she mumbles.

I nod in agreement. "He hasn't been the same since the Demons took Caoilainn."

Edited 16 Apr 2014 by NayruGoddessOfWisdom (see edit history)

[ElwayGuy7 10]

I'm worried about her, I write. If her situation is anything like the last encounter with the Demons, then her fate could be worse than Fintan's. Maybe even death. But I won't let that happen. No one else dies. And if she dies, I'll end up just like her, with a stone-hard, emotionless heart. Fintan tries to ask if I want to play cards, but I brush him off. I want to tell him so badly to tell Melaina how he feels, so they can be together, but now isn't the time or place. So I sit in silence, contemplating my predicament. I continue writing. I'm already turning into her; not talking to anyone, keeping to myself. She has emotions, I can tell, because of her advice to Fintan, but she refuses to show them to me. Is she lying to me? Or does she really not feel anything? And is she a demon? I ponder these questions for a while, and eventually I stand up and go back into the tent. I lie on my bedroll, and I leaf through more old journal entries. I look back on an entry from my time at the Academy. It was about a close friend of mine, a girl. I discovered I had feelings for her 2 years before graduation, and I asked her if she would go out with me. She had declined, and our friendship was never the same. It had finally shattered when she went out with someone else, and I had cried that night. I reread the page over and over, quiet tears streaming down my face as I fall asleep.

[ButterflyBabyBlue 2]

I scream curses into the air after the next shock rattles my body, numbing me for a moment; the slew of words leaving me would be enough to raise the eyebrows of any Sheikah. 

They're directed at Blagdan, at his guards, at all of the demons in this accursed place. I curse at them, I curse at my parents and at myself above all else. 

I'm so dirty and unkempt now that I don't bother trying to shake my hair out of my face. It's been much too long since I've had water, I can feel it in the way my thoughts have become disjointed, and my vision seems distorted somehow.

"You mentioned your friends earlier," Blagdan speaks up, his guards parting as he approaches. Each of them holds an electrified weapon of some sort, confirming my suspicions of the demon's settlement being somewhere in Lanayru. The region, in the past, was supposedly a mass-producer of electrical products, the best of the best. I can now testify to that, unfortunately.

"And what of it?" I ask, letting my head hang. 

"You're very keen to fight for them," Blagdan notes. "Very determined to resist for their benefit."

I frown, wary of his words despite my exhaustion. 

"My question to you, Caoilainn, is this: would they fight this hard for you?"

I blink in surprise at that, my lips parting. "What do you...?"

"What I mean is that you're not worth as much to your friends as they are to you," Blagdan states matter-of-factly. "What I mean is that you should have given up a long time ago."

"Why do you think that?" I inquire, trying to keep my voice firm.

Blagdan begins walking about me in circles, his words coming from different angles as he speaks. 

"You were never the favourite of anyone," he says, "not Fintan, not Melaina nor any of the other Sheikah." 

"You don't know that," I reply weakly.

"Of course I do!" Blagdan replies. His guards watch impassively, their eyes on me. "It's one thing about you that I definitely know, Caoilainn."

He tugs at one of my shackles, jerking it so my head is turned to look at him. 

"Who should love a person who won't love them back?" Blagdan asks, his tone accusing. "Not Leoni, or any of the other Hylians. You made no effort."

"Stop it," I growl at him. "You don't know anything."

"Ha!" Blagdan's laugh is cold, piercing my ears. "I know everything about you."

He positions himself so that he's right in front of me, and I do my best to meet his eyes. 

"You're a stone-cold, emotionless girl," he tells me. "You don't care about anyone but yourself, and your 'friends' don't deserve that."

He pauses before speaking again, likely for dramatic effect, and it has exactly the effect he'd have hoped for.

"Whether your origins play a part in this or not, Caoilainn... you are a demon."

[Knuckle 484]

The next morning as Sault gets up, he gets a glimpse of Leo. The young hylian looks on the edge of collapse; his eyes are lined with dark circles and he seems to tune out everything. "Hey Leo, you need any help?" Sault asks, but his friend just shakes his head. He decides they'll have to talk about it later as he get himself some breakfast.

 

Everyone packs up again and prepares to use the bird statue. It was decided last night that getting the blade piece should still be done sooner rather than later. While the blade is being retrieved, Byarly will go to get replicas of all three forged at Skyloft. Since the group is one less than usual Byarly uses her own Loftwing while everyone else pairs up, and soon the remaining group touches down at the gorge. Link walks over to an odd stone after landing and hits it with his sword, and out of nowhere the stone emits a sustained burst of energy that changes its surroundings. "Timeshift stones pull the world around them back into the past." Link explains, but Sault still has his mouth wide open in awe, especially considering the stone has revived an enormous, brown dragon.

 

"Ah, good to see you again my boy!" The dragon exclaims with a boom. "And is that Zelda? What a spectacular surprise!" Both of them walk over to greet the dragon as Fintan turns to the others. "This is one of the legendary dragons, Lanayru." He explains "We'll stay out of this, it's best not to approach a dragon if you aren't needed." Sault nods, far from eager to bother such a creature. "The Blade of Duplicity?" Lanayru says, continuing whatever conversation they'd been having. "Yes, I know where a piece is; left it at the bottom of that gorge there, in a black box. It's right behind me, give or take that thousand foot drop. I'll have some of my special flight-enabled robots to take you down, no problem!"

[ElwayGuy7 10]

Link and Zelda climb onto one of the larger flying robots, and the descend into the canyon, disappearing for some time, and then reemerging from the canyon with a small box in hand. They run back over to the rest of the group and we all gather around the box, eagerly awaiting its opening. Link opens it, and the final shard of the three is lying at the bottom. We all smile and high five each other as Fintan puts the shard together with the others, forming the blade. Now, only the hilt remains, and that's in Skyloft. 

"We should go back to Skyloft now, and give the blade to that craftsman. We might also be able to test it out on Zurin, too." All of the Hylians call our birds, and we saddle up for the return journey to Skyloft. We fly through the clouds, and land in the plaza, greeting by an awaiting Bryarly. 

"I brought the mechanic from the bazaar to take a look at the blade. Do you have it?" Bryarly says. Fintan nods and hands her the blade, and she shows it to the craftsman. 

"Well? Can you do it?" Bryarly asks, anxious.

"Yeah, I think so. It will cost a lot for all the materials, but I can already tell that you will pay whatever price I offer, am I right?" he says, turning to us.

"Yes. We have enough Rupees," Link answers calmly. "How soon can it be done?" 

"A day should suffice," he answers. "I need to get to work right away!" he turns to go and Bryarly follows, keeping an eye on the blade.

"In the meantime we should search for the hilt, and determine its location, but not necessarily create the blade, so that the Demons don't know we know where it is," I say. "Split up into groups of two, and search every corner of Skyloft!" Fintan turns to follow Melaina, but I stop him for a second. 

"I'll let you catch up with her in a minute, but I have a favor to ask. Is there any way you can send a telepathic message to Caoilainn telling her that we're fighting for her, and we're trying our best to save her? Demons get inside one's head, and if she hears the message, she might get some hope. Is that possible?" I ask.

[NayruGoddessOfWisdom 8]

"I'm not sure," I admit. "I've never been able to send an exact message to people before... When I was taken by Blagdan, I sent a message that resonated emotion, if that helps?"

Leo nods, looking thoughtful. "Could you send her hope?"

I think for a moment. "I could, but she only picked up my message when she meditated. And being trapped there, meditation isn't always an option."

"Please?" he begs, looking desperate. "Could you at least try?"

I nod. "I'll give it a shot."

I wander off away from the plaza, looking for a good spot to meditate. It's such a strange place... it's so much more colourful than the surface! And much more densely populated, there are people in every corner of the community. But the thing that really baffles me is how the place even exists? I know it was cast up by the Goddess in the Sealing War, but how does it stay suspended?

After a while, I find a good spot to meditate. It's on a lower level than the rest of Skyloft, a small patch of grass that can only be accessed by climbing down a long wall of ivy. The rock face drowns out enough of the noise to make it a peaceful place to meditate. So I assume the lotus flower position, close my eyes, draw up my connection and sink into my palace of balance.

I know Caoilainn's aura patterns. She's bright, wild, energetic, spinning like a carousel, so I try my best to draw them out in my mind. Eventually, the ideas become animated, start taking shape - I've found her. Her presence resonating from amidst a cluster of dark auras.

If I'm assuming that she won't get my message until she meditates, then I need to find another way around it. I pull closer, edging between her thought patterns. If I can instill the emotion directly in her mind, hopefully she can understand where it came from. I pull together all the hope I can muster, drawing on my hope for the mission, for her, for Melaina. It forms together in a shimmering turquoise ball.

I pull open the external thoughts, the whirling colourful carousel, ready to implant the hope. I thrust the ball in place, but within a matter of seconds, it's ripped apart, shredded to ribbons by the darkness that pours forth. The darkness spreads, tainting the colours of the carousel, tinging every single one with a dark purple hue. I pull up all the power I can muster, trying to force darkness back, but it's too powerful. Something sparks out from the tainted carousel, like a lightning bolt, striking me exactly where Caoilainn shot.

I yell out, returning instantaneously to Skyloft. My mind is still ringing, but I reach up instinctively to check my shoulder wound - nothing. It's still patched, still healing. I let out a sigh of relief, trying to shake the fog that lingers in my mind.

Well that certainly could have gone better.

Edited 17 Apr 2014 by NayruGoddessOfWisdom (see edit history)

[ButterflyBabyBlue 2]

I don't even try to block out the noise anymore. My voice, raw and rasping, is not even close to the volume of those around me. The voices of my friends, of Sheik, and of Blagdan all circling around me, attacking from different angles.

"You can't be so reckless to run off and leave the rest of us to clean up your mess."

"A person who doesn't feel isn't a person at all."

"You're not worth as much to your friends as they are to you."

"You are a demon."

On and on it goes, and I feel the thwack of the belt Sheik used on my back. My parents' scream are in the midst of the accusing voices, sounding as real as they did on the day they were attacked. 

"It's not real," I whisper, willing myself to believe that. I open my eyes, looking around at the demons that are perched in various locations in the cell. They don't stop their flawless imitations, instead raising their voices and drawing a scream of anguish from me.

 

After another hour, it becomes too much. I'm going to lose my mind. 

"STOP!" I scream, my throat burning. "STOP!"

The shouting ceases, the demons watching me intently. Blagdan looks up at me from the other end of the room, immune to and unaffected by the ear-piercing accusations ringing through the air. 

"What did you say?" he asks loudly. 

"Stop," I repeat, going slack in my shackles. "Stop..."

"You're missing a key word," Blagdan says, a malicious smile on his cruel face. 

My head snaps up at that, and I look indignantly at him, shaking my head. 

"No," I say half-heartedly. "I refuse."

"Oh?" Blagdan lifts his hand and the demons start up again, the sounds filling the air. 

"No!" I screech, losing it completely. "Stop them, stop!"

Blagdan simply brings his hand to his ear, expectant. It takes a moment, but eventually I can't take any more.

"Please," I say, though it's more of a sigh than anything. "Stop... please."

"That's better," Blagdan replies, sounding so sickeningly sweet I have to resist spitting at him.

My shackles vanish, and I drop some distance before one of the imitants swoops down to break the fall.

"You'll see that there is no use in resistance," Blagdan says simply. "If you comply, we'll get along just fine."

I shudder, unable to get rid of the sounds of those voices. I cast a glare at Blagdan, but it has no impact whatsoever.

"Let's get you fixed up," Blagdan says, just as my vision fades to nothingness. His voice come from a distance. "You two, take her to..."

[Knuckle 484]

The day continues with not a bit of good news; Fintan couldn't reach Caoilainn with his meditation, none of the residents are even aware of what the Blade of Duplicity is and certainly don't know its location, and it's approaching the end of the fourth day, meaning everyone will have to wake up early tomorrow on day five and get a move on before Blagdan shows up at Lanayru Gorge. Anxious for answers, Sault wakes up that night and heads toward Batreaux's house again. The demon didn't show up earlier today, so this is the only place he could be, and as expected the door is slowly pulled open after he knocks. However, what greets him is a complete surprise.

 

The human looks like Batreaux, but has nothing in the way of demonic features; regular colored skin, human eyes, no traces of his unusual horns or wings, and clawless fingers. Batreaux had always been odd looking for a Demon Lord, but this transformation was somehow his craziest yet, though still the most pleasant. "Oh! Mr. Sault, it's so good to see you!" He greeted him in a warm voice more typical of a human. "By all means, come in!" This attitude is much different from the one Sault dealt with last time, but he isn't about to complain as he enters the door and begins asking questions.

 

"Well, about your first question, the Blade of Duplicity is not on skyloft, but rather inside it." The former demon began after hearing Saults' inquiries. "There is a large cave at the center of the island that holds all of the magical power keeping it afloat. It has no entrance, but I'm sure Zurin can take you there, he's been a few times in these last few weeks. regarding my transformation... do you know what gratitude crystals are?" Sault shook his head no. "Well, they are special clusters of solid positive energy that specially trained or gifted people can make when they do something good for another person. I've learned how to make them on my own, and by gathering enough I was able to cast a spell that changed me into a human! Fascinating isn't it?" he asked with a rather goofy smile. "That's nothing short of incredible!" Sault exclaimed. It really was, not to mention the good news it would bring to Fintan and Leo regarding Caoilainn.

 

Finally, there was the last question Sault wanted to know; the matter of his origins. When asked about it this time, Batreaux let out a deep sigh. "I want to tell you this very soon, but it takes a lot out of me. I can say for now that yes, you are a child of Skyloft, and as a baby you managed to get sent to the surface. I'm awfully sorry I can't tell you more..." For a moment Sault didn't even register the rest of that answer, his mind was racing so fast. He really was a Hylian, just like Leo and the others, nothing could have made him happier. "Don't worry about it, you've made me the happiest man in Skyloft right now. With everything you told me I can not only help my friends, but also feel satisfied with myself."

[NayruGoddessOfWisdom 8]

I'm awoken by loud knocking on the wooden door of the bedroom. We could have headed back down to the surface last night, but Link and Zelda advised us that it would be safer to sleep in Skyloft where no harm can come to us. They showed us into the Knight Academy, where they used to train before they came to the surface. So many students have moved down from the sky, meaning that the academy has a number of empty beds - enough for all of us to sleep in.

The door opens and Leo pokes his head around. I sit up in the bed - it feels strange to sleep in a bed, I'm not sure I like being so far off the ground. I rub sleep from my eyes.

"Breakfast is served," he says. "We're heading out in an hour."

I frown as he leaves the room. Breakfast?

I get up from the bed, quickly changing into my shirt and leggings and strapping on my armour. I slip my knife down my arm guard - I want to be prepared to face Blagdan today. The Hylians have large squares of polished glass in their rooms, I don't think I quite understand how they work, but they cast reflections so one can see what they look like each day. I glance at my reflection, head tilted slightly sideways. I've got some bruises, and I'm in need of a good haircut - I make a mental note to speak to Melaina about that - But I look better than I feel, more confident. I smile, satisfied, and head out for breakfast.

Most of the Hylians are sat around a table eating, all of them except Link. I've noticed on this mission that he's not great at getting up in the morning. Melaina gives me a thin smile as I slip into the seat next to her. I smile back, before carefully eyeing the food in the middle of the table. There's bread and apples, and what appears to be the skin of a giant orange fruit cut into slices.

"It's pumpkin," Zelda says, like she can read my mind. "They're pretty popular up here..."

I take one, biting into it. Not bad...

That's when Sault bursts in, beaming like never before. I laugh a little at his excitable expression. "You look chipper," I observe. "Why the good mood?"

Edited 17 Apr 2014 by NayruGoddessOfWisdom (see edit history)

[ElwayGuy7 10]

I sit in my room for a while, awake, even though I know the others are having breakfast. I sit on my old bed, eyes closed, bright sunlight streaming in through the window. I sit with my legs crossed, like I have seen Fintan doing, and I try to clear my mind of everything. It's harder than it looks, but eventually I reach a state of nothingness, just pure concentration. I can tell by the fact that Fintan hasn't talked to me, his message didn't make it through, so I've decided to try it myself. I can feel the auras of the others behind me, and I search for the huge dark aura on the surface. I find it, and I head towards it. I can sense one aura that is slightly brighter than all the rest, and I find that it is Caoilainn's, although it seems very weak. I search my own feelings for every bit of love and hope I can muster, and it appears in front of me in a pink-blue ball. I ready the ball, and I throw it at the brightest of the auras, praying that it won't be blocked or destroyed by the darker auras around it. But no, the dark auras don't make any moves, and the sphere hits the bright aura, and it grows considerably brighter. I quickly turn around and leave before I am detected, and I return to Skyloft. I snap awake, surprised by the experience, and hopeful that my message got through.

I leave my room and join the others at breakfast. Sault walks in, looking quite happy with himself.

"What happened to make you so bright and cheerful?" I ask Sault, as I sit down to breakfast.