Hello! I hope you enjoy reading this story.

Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo. I don't own it, obviously, just my story idea. Enjoy. (I hope!)

The sound of a loud, melodic, whistle outside her window woke Zelda up that morning. Rubbing her eyes, she crawled out of bed and said good morning to her loftwing. She opened her wardrobe and grabbed her favorite pink dress. It was her birthday today. There was going to be a big party with everyone in Skyloft there. Zelda could hardly wait.

She brushed out her long blonde hair and hurried out of her room. She ran down the hallway and down the single staircase. Her room was in the academy dorms, like every other kid on the sky island.

At the bottom of the stairs she ran into a boy at the bottom.

Zelda went tumbling over the top of the poor boy knocking him on the floor and landing on top of him. The two laid there a moment groaning. Zelda pushed herself up on her hands. The blonde haired boy below her stared up at her frowning.

She quickly scrambled off of him and stood up. She held out her hand for him to take. She helped pull him up.

"I'm sorry, Link. I was in too much if a hurry again."

"It's okay. It's not the first time."

They both laughed. He was right something similar had happened before. Only last time, she hadn't knocked him over.

"Happy birthday."

"Thanks, where were you headed?"

"To my room. I forgot something important."

"What was it?"

"You'll find out later. I can't tell you. Silly birthday girl."

"Ohhhh okay. It's a present?"

Zelda said with a big smile on her face. He nodded.

"See you later." He said before walking up the stairs."

Link was going to get her present. She felt bad that she hadn't thought he wouldn't be giving her anything. Zelda didn't really expect presents from many people. She had something even cooler on her mind.

It was her eighth birthday. In Skyloft, that was the birthday that made you old enough to start loftwing training in the knight academy. Zelda had met her loftwing, Starry, when she was a toddler. She didn't remember the day she got Starry but her bird had been her best friend ever since she could remember.

She pushed the double doors open on the first floor. It was a beautiful morning, with the yellow sun shining through the clouds, like every morning. Skyloft was above the clouds so the weather was always the same. It was always warm outside too, never cold. It never rained or snowed, which Zelda had heard of, but never experienced. She learned about those things in class and saw pictures in books. Someday she hoped she'd see the world with those things in it.

Zelda walked down the stairs from the academy, and to the center of town. There were tables set up already and a few of the adults were setting up decorations. The happy birthday banner was hung between two trees.

Zelda walked up and a few people called out " Happy birthday Zelda!" A minute later a couple boys came running up to her. They were classmates. A few of the rowdier boys. Groose and his friends Cawlin and Stitch. Groose was the first to speak.

"Hey Zelda. Happy birthday. I got something for you." He pulled something from his pocket. A small red box. He handed it to her and she opened it. Inside was two pale pink ribbons. She lifted them up and have them a look.

"I thought maybe you would like to wear them in your hair."

With a smile she nodded. They would make pretty hair ribbons.

"Thank you, they are so pretty. I'll definitely wear them."

"I wanted to give you my present before anyone else gave their presents, you know." Groose said, his golden eyes looking off to the side. Zelda could have sworn he was blushing. She held back a laugh. It was strange to see the self-proclaimed "Groosenator" looking bashful.

Stitch and Cawlin handed her two small pink boxes. Zelda opened them to find a purple bracelet and a small mirror with a gold handle. She thanked them as well, slipping the bracelet on her wrist and putting the mirror in the small pouch she wore on her belt.

Until the party started Zelda sat on the edge of the wooden boardwalk with her feet dangling off the edge. She stared at the blue sky and white puffy clouds below. Zelda had seen many people dive off this platform and call their loftwings to catch them. Looking down at the clouds, she wondered what was below them. What would happen if someone fell beneath them? Could that happen?

Suddenly, Zelda was worried. She had thought these things before. She had no idea what it would feel like to jump off the edge of the wooden platform. It looked scary to her. Jumping, then falling. It was so far down to those clouds. She was afraid that she would fall all the way down there.

Flying didn't sound as fun anymore.

And Zelda couldn't whistle. To call your loftwing to catch you, you had to call your bird with a whistle.

Behind Zelda she heard Groose calling to her.

"Zelda! It's time for your party to start! Get over here."

Zelda stood up and jogged over to the now big crowd of people. There was food set up on the tables. On the middle table, her big white birthday cake.

Her father, headmaster of the academy, walked over and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Happy birthday, my beautiful daughter." She hugged her father and then walked over to the table with her cake.

Everyone sang the traditional skyloft birthday song for those who were turning old enough to fly with their lifelong companions, the loftwings. After that was over her father lit eight candles on top of her cake.

"Make a good wish." He said smiling.

Zelda knew what she would wish for so she didn't have to think about it. She wished that she would see the world beneath the clouds someday. The world that her textbooks spoke of.

Zelda took a huge breath and blew out all her candles at once and everyone cheered and clapped. She made sure to get them all so her wish would come true. Zelda wasn't sure if she believed that really made wishes come true, but it sounded nice.

Several of the kids handed her gifts after they ate cake. Many of the gifts were handmade. She thanked everyone.

After every one had given their presents Zelda's father had everyone make their way up to the goddess statue. There was a small additional ceremony that had to be done. He gave a speech about the traditional celebration of the eighth birthday and the true uniting with ones loftwing.

"It is said that you are not fully connected to your bird until you have taken your first flight. Now Zelda will join the training for flying tomorrow morning. Congratulations my daughter."

Everyone clapped and shouted congratulations to Zelda, then the adults went back to chatting with each other as the kids went to play. Someone seemed to be missing, Zelda realized. She hadn't seen Link for a while.

Zelda snuck off from the other kids and went looking for him. She didn't think he would have missed her party. He was going to his room to get her a gift that morning. Zelda walked around and was about to check the academy dorms when she found Link sitting under a tree.

"Hey Link, why are you by yourself? I haven't seen you at all today, were you at my party?"

"Yeah I was there for your cake. Then everyone was crowding you. You know me, I'm not really into big crowds. I'm sorry I haven't hung out with you today.

"It's okay. I'm not mad. I was just worried something happened. Are you okay?"

He nodded. "I'm good. I have your present. I wanted to wait to give it to you alone. It's really special."

"Okay." Zelda said with a smile. She sat down with Link under the tree as he pulled a present out of his pocket. There was a small red ribbon holding the box shut, tied in a bow.

Zelda carefully opened the present, pulling the pretty ribbon off slowly. She sat it down in her lap and opened the box. Inside was a small golden necklace. The charm was a symbol that looked like a bird with its wings spread out. The sunlight shined off of it as she took it into her hand.

"Wow! This is amazing, Link. It's so beautiful. Thank you." Zelda said with a toothy smile.

"You're welcome. I'm glad you like it."

"I love it. Will you help me put it on?"

"Sure."

Link took the delicate necklace in his hands and clasped it behind her neck. It took him a few tries since he'd never tried helping someone with a necklace before. When he was done he walked around the front of her.

Just then Zelda's father called for her. Link and Zelda walked over to him. In his hands he had a brown bag. He handed it to his daughter.

Zelda looked inside and pulled out a white length of cloth. The material was thick but very soft in her hands. She marveled over it.

"It's your mother's sailcloth. She told me that you should have it on your eighth birthday."

Zelda hugged it to her chest. Her mother had passed when she was a baby. Even though Zelda never knew her mother, she knew about her. Her father often talked of her. The sailcloth smelled of flowers.

"Thank you. I'm so happy to have this." She hugged her father and he took the sailcloth and draped it over her shoulders, tying it in back.

"It looks great on you. She would be so proud." He said. "Now, go play with your friends."

Link and Zelda made their way over to the wooden boardwalk, talking as they went.

"Are you excited to learn to fly?" Link asked.

"Yeah. Well…kind of. I'm a little scared."

"Why's that?"

"Because when I look at the clouds down there, I'm afraid that I could fall though them."

"That would never happen. There are guards constantly flying around in shifts. They are there in case someone falls off of Skyloft. Besides, your loftwing would never let you fall."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You don't have to worry." He said putting his hand on her shoulder. "It won't be scary after you fly. You will love it."

Zelda sat down on the edge of the diving platform, hanging her feet off the edge.

"Have you gotten to fly yet, Link?" She asked as he took a seat next to her.

He was couple months older than she was.

"All the time. It's the most amazing thing ever!" He exclaimed.

Zelda laughed and Link started laughing too. Once one of them stopped the other would start, in an endless loop of laughter. It felt so good to laugh, Zelda thought. The two stared at the sky when they could finally stop laughing.

"There's something else that's bothering me. I can't whistle. I can't call my loftwing, Starry. I've tried to learn, but I just can't."

"I can try to teach you."

"Okay." Zelda said, doubtful.

"First, you need to suck in some breath." Link did so, to demonstrate. "After that, you blow out just letting out a little air at a time. You kinda have to hold it and blow at the same time and blow out slowly. It doesn't take much. Like this."

Link whistled. Zelda played close attention, then she tried. Nothing but air came out. She tried a few more times and got frustrated.

"I know you can do it. You almost have it."

Zelda tried again, positioning her lips a little different, then she heard the tiniest little squeak come out. She sucked in a breath and smiled at Link."

"Again, you've got it!"

Zelda tried whistling again and a high pitched note left her mouth. A huge smile lit up her cheeks.

"I did it!" She said excitedly. Then she started to laugh. Whistling was something she knew she should have learned a long time ago, but she never did. She felt dumb that it took her so long to learn.

Link whistled and she whistled back. Both of their loftwings flew down from the sky and landed beside them. The two of them sat talking and laughing. Zelda never stopped smiling.

Author's Note:

This is the first story I've posted on fanfiction. I hope that it wasn't too bad...for my first story.

I don't actually know if there is an age where they learn to ride their loftwings in the game, but I decided to make one. Maybe it was dumb to make so that Zelda didn't know how to whistle? I feel like that's of kind ridiculous, but I thought maybe it would be different. I wasn't sure how to write 'how to whistle' so I did my best.

If you liked this story, please review and let me know. :) It would make me really happy to know that someone enjoyed reading this. I might even post another chapter. If you have any constructive criticism or something feel free to leave that too. I would enjoy learning how to make my writing better.