Welcome readers, to Skyward Sword, what I like to consider the point where this series took a step out of its regular patterns.
This story is very different from the preceding ones. Not only does it completely switch time periods and main characters, but it tries to be more coherent in its storytelling and has characters (canon and original) with actual personalities rather than just being dialogue, explosions and crack. Don't worry, though, it's still the Bizarre Saga, and it's still a comedy; it just takes on a different style!
Although it starts out with the characters from the last story, it quickly changes perspective, so reading the previous stories isn't necessary if you don't want to.
The Bizarre Saga: Skyward Sword
Chapter 1: Into a New Time
One regular, boring day for the heroes, Saria decided that she would explore the Lost Woods. Since they managed to come across Termina a few years earlier after she had sworn she explored the woods to the edge, she thought more things were to be located within. Besides, she had nothing better to do.
After a few days, one day Nathan decided to come with her, and she slipped down a completely invisible hole (AGAIN), to see an ancient door that looked like it had been there for ages within a small cavern. On closer inspection, there was a sign next to it that read "Deepwood Library" in letters that were carved rather than written.
"What the heck is a library doing here of all places?" Saria wondered. Nathan slid down the hole behind her, accidentally crashing into her and sending them both crashing through the door that broke when they hit it. "Ow…"
Nate jumped up immediately. "Sorry about that!" he apologized. He looked around and saw all the dusty bookshelves all over the place, packed with books. The walls were all made of stone and the floor was wood. "Why is this all underground…?"
When Saria stood up, she took out the lantern she had brought with her and looked all over the place, seeing empty lanterns hanging low, disorganized books, both small and large.
After a bit of searching, Saria, being the kind of person that she is, ended up finding false bunch of stones in the floor, with a ladder leading down to a supposedly hidden basement that looked like it hadn't been entered in an even longer time than the library itself.
There was little in the basement, with the exception of a giant book on a stand. The cover was too dusty to make out what it looked like, so out of curiosity, Saria brushed all the dust off the cover to find a simple writing on the cover saying "The True Legend of the Sword".
"Hey, Nathan! Get down here!" Saria called. Within seconds, Nathan had zoomed down the ladder, because if Saria called him, it was important. "Come see this thing, it looks mildly interesting."
Nathan raised an eyebrow and walked over. They opened up to the first page…
This is a tale that you humans have passed
down through uncounted generations…
It tells of a war of unmatched scale and ferocity,
the likes of which would never be seen again.
One dark, fateful day, the earth cracked wide and
malevolent forces rushed forth from the fissure.
They mounted a brutal assault upon the surface
people, driving the land into deep despair…
They burnt forests to ash, choked the land's sweet
springs, and murdered without hesitation.
They did all this in their lust to take the ultimate power protected
by Her Grace, the goddess. The power she guarded was without equal.
Handed down by the gods of old, this power gave its
holder the means to make any desire a reality.
Such was the might of the ultimate power that
the old ones placed it in the care of the goddess.
To prevent this great power from falling into
the hands of the evil swarming the lands…
the goddess gathered the surviving humans
on an outcropping of earth.
She sent it skyward, beyond the reach of the demonic hordes.
Beyond even the clouds.
With the humans safe, the goddess joined forces with the land dwellers and fought
the evil forces, sealing them away. At last, peace was restored to the surface.
This is a tale that you humans have told for
many ages, generation to generation…
But there are other legends, long hidden away from
memory, that are intertwined with this tale.
Now, a new legend bound to this great story
stands ready to be revealed.
… And it might not be exactly what you expect.
"Not what we expect…?" Nathan repeated, slightly confused. "What's that supposed to mean…? There's no author written, either. Who wrote this?"
"I'm starting to wonder what exactly this place is," Saria stated. She picked up the giant book. "C'mon Nate, we're getting out of here. I'd rather read this in the comfort of my own home rather than in an area where a spider could drop on my head any second."
"What is that?" Link asked, entering Saria's house, spotting the giant book lying on a table. "That's the most ginormous book I have ever seen in my life."
"I think it's a forgotten legend," Saria explained. "If a book interests me, there's definitely something up. Especially since I found it in a hidden ancient library in a hidden basement."
"Saria thinks we should all read it together," Nathan stated. "For whatever reason."
Which they did. When all four of them had gathered at the table, they opened up the book, and began reading it…
"It's so dark…"
"I see a creepy blue thing floating in front of me…"
"And now there's a FREAKING HUGE DINOSAUR WITHOUT EYES…"
"Please stay away please stay away please- Huh? What the…"
"SQUUUUAAAWWWWK!"
"AUUUUUGH!"
CRASH.
"Ow…" a blond teenaged boy muttered, having fallen off his bed from the dream. "I just had to land on the stone floor rather than the carpet…" He turned around to see the same giant blue bird that just appeared in his nightmare, sticking its head through the window of his room.
"You have mail!" the bird squawked, apparently having the ability to speak. It began to spit letters at the boy like bullets. Forty letters later, it slammed the window shut.
Now, there was a pile of letters surrounding the boy. He sat up, barely having caught what just happened, when the bird opened the window again and spat one last letter onto his head.
The blond boy examined the last letter, noticing that it was inside a pink envelope, indicating that it was a certain girl who sent it. "Why did Zelda send me a letter if we live in the same building…?" he wondered, tearing open the envelope.
"Link! Are you sleeping in late AGAIN? It's the Wing Ceremony today, and I've been waiting at the statue for you for quite some time now! I hope my bird invaded your dreams and spat this letter onto your head like I asked him to, because otherwise, you probably wouldn't wake up!
-Zelda"
"Well crap…" Link mumbled, realizing it was way later than he thought it was.
This building he was living in was known as the Knight Academy, on a floating island in the sky known as Skyloft. Actually, it was the only academy on the entire island, which was entirely a town, and it was basically a college on top of that.
For some unexplained reason, Link was sleeping in his regular clothes, and didn't need to take a shower because video games. He came outside as quickly as possible, because an impatient Zelda wasn't a good Zelda.
"Good morning, Link!" a random man greeted, standing right above the exit Link just came out of, which was near another entrance to the school. "I'm going to tell you how to run up walls because that's a new mechanic in this game!"
"I'm sorry, what?" Link asked, not able to break the fourth wall.
The man went on, only confusing Link more. "By holding the A button, you can sprint for some time and then hop up walls, because for some reason, you're automatically incredibly athletic! You can also press Z on the Nunchuk to target!"
"Um, if you'll excuse me, I need to go see Zelda…"
"Now, try running up that box over there, because otherwise, you can't get up here! Hahaha!"
So apparently, Link was able to hop up walls like the man said, and he needed to go up there anyway in order to reach the spot where Zelda was waiting, which was exactly what he did after getting up there. The man did ask him to go find the headmaster's pet after Link got up there, but he really didn't have time for that.
At the goddess statue, Link walked in to see Zelda in a dress she'd never worn before, playing an unfamiliar instrument while singing a beautiful song. She noticed he was there and turned to face him.
"Hey! Good morning, Link!" she exclaimed. "I'm glad to see my Loftwing got you out of bed this morning, because I was pretty sure you'd sleep in again."
Link nodded slowly, still thinking about how he wanted to get more sleep.
"But look at this instrument!" Zelda held out the musical instrument she had been playing the song on. "And this outfit! Aren't they beautiful? They're mine to use today since I'll be playing the role of the goddess for the ceremony!"
"U-um…" Link paused, turning a little red. "Yeah, you look great."
"Are you wondering what this is?" Zelda asked him, brushing her finger along the strings her instrument. "Father told me it's called a harp. He said it's just like the one the goddess was said to have in the legends! And these clothes! I made the wrap myself, and we get to use it in the ceremony! Between this harp and this outfit, I think I'll make a great goddess today! I got you up early this morning because I wanted you to be the first to see me like this, Link!"
"… Early?" Link asked, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't your letter say that I was sleeping late again?"
"I made that up," she admitted. "Otherwise you'd probably just fall back asleep again."
"Ah, Zelda! There you are!" a relatively old man exclaimed, entering the area. He was the headmaster of the school. "Are you all prepared for today's ceremony?"
"Oh, hello, Father," Zelda greeted. "Yeah, I am."
"Ah, Link, you're here too. Outstanding." That almost sounded sarcastic… "It's great to see you up so early, given your capacity for sleep. No doubt today's ceremony had to too excited for you to sleep!"
"Actually…" Link started, but Zelda nudged him.
"If you win today's race, you'll get to participate in the post-race ritual with Zelda, so give it your best out there!"
"Uh, about that…" Zelda started, "Father, I don't know if he can do it. Recently Link hasn't been practicing much at all for the ceremony!"
"You have no faith in me," Link mumbled, frowning.
"And even when he's out riding his Loftwing, he's just lazily gliding around. Probably daydreaming! I don't know what he's thinking. He's going to have to be in perfect control of his bird to win today!"
"You could've phrased that differently…" Clearly, Link was pretty hurt by Zelda's choice of words in that last sentence.
"No need to worry yourself, Zelda," the headmaster spoke. "Though you may have a point. Today's Wing Ceremony tests the skills of the rider as well as his bond to his bird. Victory will not come easily. And, as you pointed out, I haven't seen him… practicing very hard."
Link went to go sulk in a corner.
"Hey, Link!" Zelda called, dragging him back by the collar of his shirt. "I might be calling you terrible at this, but I want you to win, because if you don't, Groose probably will! And you know how much I hate him!"
"Zelda…" the headmaster started again, "You have known Link since you were both very little. You should know better than to fret about him! You see, Link and his Loftwing share a special connection. I've never seen anything quite like it."
"Partners in laziness!" Link stated, still sitting on the ground from being dragged back.
"As you know, Zelda, each of us in Skyloft is but one half of a pair. We are only made whole by our Loftwings, the guardian birds that the goddess bestows upon each of us as a symbol of her divine protection."
"How many long words are you going to use before I can go back to bed?" Zelda smacked him.
"When we are young, every one of us meets our Loftwing under this great statue. It's quite a big moment, as I'm sure you recall."
"Seriously, why are you repeating everything we already know?" Link asked, getting pretty bored.
"Ahh, but that first meeting between Link and his Loftwing was extraordinary. The bird that came to him was a Crimson Loftwing. It is a breed so rare we were sure for some time that it had vanished from the line."
"Yeah, so I got a supposedly extinct bird that looks exactly like the rest of them except red. I know that already. I need to participate in the race, I need to win so Groose doesn't, me and Zelda do some kind of ritual, and bam, I get a lot of glory. I get it already!"
"All right then! He gets the idea!" Zelda said, clapping her hands. "Listen, Link, you better fly your heart out today. You need to get some practice before the race! Come on! You'll thank me later!"
A little while later, Zelda had dragged him over to a dock over the endless sky. "Here we are!" she stated, pushing him up to the edge. "Go on now, jump off the edge and call your Loftwing! It's almost time for the race, so you need to practice now!"
"But… my bird isn't out there! I can't sense him out there!" Link insisted, struggling to stay on his feet.
"Can't sense him?" Zelda crossed her arms. "Yeah right! You're just trying to get out of having to practice! Nice try, but you're not fooling me. Off you go!"
"No! Our bond is so strong we can sense each other's presence- AHH!" Too late. Zelda had pushed him off.
"NOW CALL YOUR LOFTWING USING D-PAD DOWN!"
Link started whistling loudly to get his Loftwing to come. Normally, a Loftwing would come immediately, but he still hadn't come after a few seconds.
"He sure is taking a while to get here…" Zelda spoke, watching Link fall. "Oh, crud! Something's wrong! Hang in there, Link!" She called her own bird and leaped off to go save him, the bird picking him up in its talons and flying back to land, but the bird ended up hurting itself in the process. "Are you two okay?" She went over to her injured bird. "I'm sorry, Clarence. I didn't mean to push you so hard. You didn't sprain your wing, did you?"
"Hey, what about me…?" Link asked, sitting up.
"What could've possibly happened to your Loftwing? For a bird to ignore the call of his master… that's just crazy! This is kind of a problem, since the ceremony going to start soon… Link, sorry I didn't believe you when you said you're Loftwing wasn't there. I need to tend to Clarence, so I'll catch up with you later. You better go find your bird!"
Link suddenly made a face of realization, which turned into suspicion. "And I think I know exactly where I should go first…"
In the town square, where the ceremony was to be held, there were three guys. One of them was ridiculously buff and had red hair with a point on his head, another was very short with blue hair, and the last one was tall and skinny.
Link had decided to go blame the buff guy-Groose-for the disappearance of his bird. When he arrived there, though, Groose was having a 'conversation' with a girl, who had long, dark green hair. He recognized her as being in the same class as him, but wasn't particularly close with her.
"DON'T SCREW AROUND!" the girl screamed, taking a step towards Groose. "I know it was you, why else would I FREAKING SEE IT?!"
Groose sweat-dropped. "H-hey, I don't really wanna fight right now…" he started, but was cut off by her.
"HA! Sure you don't! If you didn't, then you wouldn't have locked up my FRICKING BIRD!" She threw a roundhouse kick right to his side, knocking him off balance.
The most hilarious thing about this was that she wasn't even up to his shoulder in height.
"And that's not all," the girl said, walking towards him, making him back away while holding his side in pain. "You locked up Link's bird too, because I know I saw a Crimson Loftwing over there!"
"AH HA!" Link exclaimed, suddenly bringing everyone's attention towards him. "I knew it was you!"
"C-come on, man!" Groose stammered, his hands in front of him. "There's no way I would do that! You gotta have some faith in me, this girl is just spouting nonsense!"
"Shut up, spikehead! I have solid evidence!" the girl shouted, pointing to her head. "MY MEMORY!"
"That doesn't count as evidence!" This made the green-haired girl growl at him. "But seriously man, I would never do something like that!"
"Yeah, and my hair turns purple when I think about the one that I love," Link said sarcastically.
"Quickly, minions! Their guard is down!" Groose stated. "MAKE A RUN FOR IT!" He and the other two guys ran towards a sky dock and jumped onto their birds.
"COWARD!" the girl shouted, waving her fist in the air as they flew away. "COME BACK HERE AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN!"
Link put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't get me wrong, I want to set his hair on fire too, but that's enough…" he spoke. "… Sali."
"Tch," she spat, picking up a rock. "That guy ticks me off so much. How come he hasn't been expelled yet?" She threw the rock at the escaping birds, barely missing. Actually, she didn't miss, Groose just avoided it. "Now what am I supposed to do? My bird is gone!"
Suddenly, Zelda appeared right next to them, scaring them. "Hey, any luck finding your bird, Link?" she asked. "I overheard that conversation. So Groose probably had something to do with the disappearance, right?"
"Something? More like everything," Sali said. "I saw it myself. He was dragging my Alpha Seven into the cave by the waterfall, all tied up! And then his stupid minions were bringing Link's Loftwing in there, too! I was going to go in there, but I don't have a weapon!"
"Wow. That gave quite a bit of information," Link stated. "And the chances of this chick lying about something like this isn't very likely." He got a smack on the back of the head from Sali.
"Don't call me 'chick'," she said threateningly. "We're going to the sparring hall. And you're coming with me, because there's no way in Din's lair I'm saving both our birds by myself."
"… Din's lair…?" Link and Zelda asked confusingly.
Sali shook her head. "Just… never mind."
Later at the sparring hall…
Link and Sali peeked up through a window, looking into the building. "Okay…" Sali spoke, "they keep the weapons in the back. We're going to sneak in there and make off with the swords without the instructor noticing us."
"Why?" Link asked. "Can't we just ask for them?"
"Unacceptable! Penalty!" She smacked him in the head again. "If we just ask for swords and explain everything, he'll want to test us, and not only will take away precious time, but I don't want my self-invented sword skills to be judged! Now, for my plan!"
A guy in a yellow tunic walked up behind them. "Uh, what are you guys doing?" he asked.
"Quiet, Pipit! You're interrupting! Penalty!" She smacked him in the head. "One does not interrupt while I am talking to somebody of important matters!"
Pipit decided that it would be best if he just left rather than saying anything.
"Anyway…" Sali looked back at Link. "My plan is that you will climb in through this window and walk to the back room, making the instructor think you're stealing a sword, and then you distract him while I steal them instead!"
But, Link had already left and was inside the building, talking to the instructor about their predicament.
"Dang it Link…" Sali grumbled. "Screwing up my plans…"
"I get the situation, Link," the instructor said. "So you and Sali need swords so you can go look for your Loftwings inside the waterfall cave since Groose hid them in there?"
Link nodded. "Yeah. Sali said so herself, and you know that she wouldn't lie if her bird was kidnapped," he spoke.
"Where is Sali, anyway?"
"I'm here…" she muttered, coming through the front door. "Link completely ruined what could've at least been a dramatic entrance."
"But, I need to make sure you're good enough before you take them out of the sparring hall. I understand you have little time, but it's completely necessary, since only knights are supposed to carry swords around, and I don't want you swinging that thing around like a maniac. I don't want to get in a ton of trouble."
"So what are you going to make us do?" Sali asked, crossing her arms. "Cut all these logs to bits? Cuz that's kind of easy."
"Oh, but that's very important," the instructor told her. "This Zelda game has Wii Motion Plus, meaning that your sword strikes will follow your Wii Remote, unlike Twilight Princess. You need to get used to it."
Link and Sali stared, having no idea what he just said.
"I'm going to pretend he didn't say that," Sali stated. She walked around to the back and grabbed two swords, tossing one to Link when she came back. "Log hacking time!"
Link and Sali got swords!
Link and Sali took one side of logs each. They all had a 'weak point' on different areas and angles, so the slash needed to be going in a specific direction in order for the log to break. While Link was cutting through the second one, he looked over his shoulder to see Sali already finished, standing in an epic position with her sword as if she just slashed straight through the last log.
"Done," she said, sheathing her sword that was now strapped on her back. "Eh? Link? You're not done yet? Hurry up and finish!"
Link turned around and finished the job, having no idea how Sali managed to finish that quickly. Was she really fast, or was he just going slower than he thought he was…?
"Good gravy, that was fast!" the instructor exclaimed. "That's the fastest I've ever seen anyone go down a row!"
… She was really fast.
"Well, now that you both have finished, I trust you with the swords," the instructor told them. "But only use it when it's completely necessary!"
"Kay thanks bye!" Sali said, racing out the door with her newly-obtained weapon. Link sighed and walked after her.
"Do not enter cave…" Sali read the sign at the entrance to the waterfall cave. "Ha. Screw you." She cut the sign down with her weapon.
"Sali, that's kind of wasting wood," Link told her.
"Don't worry, it'll just respawn." She put her sword away again. "That's the best thing about signs. Now, march! We don't have much time left!"
So the brave duo stepped into the cave, only to find that their enemies were jelly blobs and bats. The strangest thing was that when the critters were defeated, they turned black and left a puff of smoke shaped like a skull before disappearing.
It was only a few minutes before they reached the other side of the cave, seeing their Loftwings trapped inside two holes in the wall, behind fences. It looked like they had broken free of the ropes, but couldn't get out.
"Don't worry, Alpha Seven!" Sali told her bird, which was the purple Loftwing of the two. "I'll get you out of there!" She ran over to the fence and cut the ropes holding the fences up. Link did the same for his, and the birds were free! Speaking of birds, Zelda flew in on hers.
"You found your Loftwings!" she exclaimed, landing. "I had just realized I hadn't looked back here yet, but looks like you were here already. We should hurry to the ceremony…" She looked out to the sky. "Hey… Before you guys go, I have to ask you something. I… heard this voice a few moments ago. Did either of you hear it, too?"
Link and Sali shook their heads simultaneously.
"It's strange. I've been getting the strangest feeling lately…" Zelda spoke. "It's like something is… calling out to me." Link looked at her curiously. "Have you ever wondered what's beneath the clouds? Some say there's nothing there, or a barren place, but I have a feeling they're wrong. I was looking around Father's old books and they talk about a place called the surface, under the clouds of Skyloft. Nobody's ever been there, though, and our Loftwings won't fly down there…"
"A place bigger than Skyloft?" Sali asked, raising an eyebrow. "Skyloft isn't very big. That would be a nice place to look around."
"I can't help imagining the wild things that might be waiting below. Someday, I want to see it for myself." Zelda paused. "Oh, sorry, guys. We don't have time to talk! We should go. See? Your birds are waiting for you!"
Since their birds were right there, the two of them climbed on right then and took off. Sali looked a little spaced out from what Zelda was talking about, but came back to reality when her bird noticed and squawked at her. If only cars did that…
"Your attention, please!" an instructor called at the town square. The majority of the junior students at the Knight Academy were there. "At last we are ready to begin the Wing Ceremony. I was beginning to worry that we'd have to proceed without Link and Sali, but that luckily is no longer a concern."
Groose looked ridiculously shocked. Sali noticed this. "Case closed," she whispered to Link, making Groose stand straight again and pretend nothing had happened.
The instructor explained the rules of the game. What they were to do was to fly on their Loftwings and try to catch the Loftwing that was flying around with a statuette in its talons. They needed to take the statue, and the first one to get it would win. On top of that, the winner would be allowed to graduate to the next class of the academy instantly, and receive a gift from Zelda. This made some of the men's motivation skyrocket.
"I don't plan on losing, you know," Sali told Link, grinning. "I couldn't care less about that ritual, I'm winning to become a senior, because I totally deserve it. Besides, I won't be the same year as Groose anymore, meaning I won't have to go to the same class as him!"
"Same here," Link answered, smiling back. "It's on."
And so the race began. All of the students leapt off the sky dock and called their birds, starting the competition. The Loftwing carrying the statuette got a head start, requiring that all of the students have complete control of their bird, otherwise they wouldn't even have a chance of catching it.
Link was just about to catch it after some time, but then Groose flew right into him on purpose, letting the bird get away. "Hey, what was that supposed to be, you cheapo?!" Link shouted at him. Groose responded with maniacal laughter as he flew off.
By this point, Groose's minions apparently brought out their strategy to have Groose win, which was to throw EGGS at all opposition. Not really eggs, more like grenades in the shape of eggs, because whenever anybody got hit by one, the egg seemed to explode.
Sali was swooping down to reach for the statuette, when suddenly another girl with blue hair on a black Loftwing came spiraling in at an incredible speed and reached for it instead, but then ended up missing. It did mess Sali up, though. Both of them ended up missing it. "Dang it!" the other girl exclaimed. "Epic failure!" Link and Sali both recognized her, though, since she was also in their class.
So, Link and Sali were having this dramatic moment a few minutes later, where they were both just inches away from the statuette, reaching for it in a dangerous position on their birds, when suddenly they both grabbed it at the same time and the Loftwing let go… but then it slipped out of both their hands because neither of them had a good grip on it.
Sali stared as she reached for it as it fell. "CRAP!" she swore, but then lost balance and fell right off her Loftwing. "ALPHA!" She called her bird as she fell, who caught her just before she was about to fall right through the clouds.
"What about the statuette?" Link asked, looking around intently for it. He looked and saw the same girl who was on the black Loftwing holding it, even closer to the clouds, as if she had just caught it.
"Safe!" she stated, holding it up as she and Sali flew back up to a safe altitude.
Groose looked completely defeated. The statuette had been in the hands of three different people in this one minute and none of them had been him. While everybody was flying back to Skyloft, he seemed to be utterly depressed.
"Well, that was an interesting situation," the instructor stated. Girl 2 had been the one to fly back with the statuette, but he had been flying out there too, and knew exactly what had happened. "I'm not sure what to do about this."
"If anything…" Sali started, "make Link do the ritual thing with Zelda, since he's a guy and I'm sure as Din's lair he wants do to it, whether he knows it or not."
"Seriously, what's with the Din's lair thing?" Link asked her.
"Link and Sali here grabbed the statuette at the same time," Girl 2 said, "And I grabbed it just before it fell through the clouds. I dunno how we're gonna settle this."
"Hmm…" the instructor pondered, "I suppose the three of you are great, honest students. Unlike somebody who attends the third-year class…" He eyed Groose for a moment. "Perhaps we could have all three of you become seniors…" Link's, Sali's and the other girl's eyes lit up in excitement. On the contrast, Groose was completely horrified. "I will go talk to the headmaster about it."
"Now go do your ritual thingamajig already," Girl 2 told Link, spinning him around and giving him a push in the direction of the giant goddess statue.
Link entered the grounds of the statue, holding the bird statuette Girl 2 had given him earlier. He noticed that Zelda was actually standing way up on a platform on the statue rather than on the ground, so he needed to call over his Loftwing to take him up there.
"Hehe," Zelda giggled at he landed in front of her. "Congratulations on winning, Link."
"Actually…" Link started, "I didn't really win. It was a pretty complicated situation involving Sali and that other blue-haired girl I can't remember the name of. Neither of them wanted to do the ritual, so they just sent me over here."
Zelda nodded. "Makes sense. Now, we better get on with the ceremony!"
Little did they know, Sali and Girl 2 were actually peeking into the area to see what the ritual actually was. Only the winners of the ceremony knew what happened there, and they spoke not a word of it.
"Hand me the statuette from the race, Link. I must offer it to the goddess," Zelda spoke. Link handed her the bird statuette, which she placed into a certain part of the goddess statue. "Great goddess, guiding light and protector of our people, grant us your blessing and mercy as I act in your stead during this ceremony…"
"Valiant youth who grasped victory at the celebration of the bird folk… In accordance with the old ways… I now bestow the blessings of the goddess upon you. The blessing of the goddess drift down from the heavens aloft a sail, which I now pass on to you."
Link got the Sailcloth!
"You know…" Zelda started, "They say that the goddess gave the Sailcloth to her chosen hero long ago. Of course, the one you're holding isn't the same one. I've been working hard to finish making this Sailcloth in time to give it to today's champion. I'm really glad I got to give it to you and not Groose, Link. Make sure you take care of it, okay?" Suddenly she took a step up towards Link, which was a little too close… "Now, we should really finish up this ritual…"
"Oh my Din," Sali muttered, staring at the scene before them. The other girl was covering her mouth to keep herself from making any noise.
"You… do know what happens at the end, right?" Zelda asked Link.
"Uh… not really," he replied awkwardly.
"Really? Huh. I guess that kind of makes sense, though, considering nobody ever says anything about it…" She put her hands on his shoulders… and spun him around. Link and the hidden girls were CONFUSED. "You have to jump off the statue!"
"I what?!" Link shouted, struggling to keep his balance.
"Don't worry, you have the Sailcloth now, you can use it as a parachute. To finish the ceremony, you have to jump and land in that big circle down there! Ready to go? GO!" She pushed him right off, making Link's landing end up being sloppy, but he still landed in the circle and using the Sailcloth to land.
"Stop pushing me off ledges without warning!" Link yelled at her. Over by the entrance, Sali and Girl 2 were cracking up.
"Ritual complete!" Zelda stated. "Now, let's go flying on our Loftwings. It's such a nice day today!" She called her Loftwing to take her back down to the ground.
"That…" Sali started, "was the most hilarious ritual I have ever seen. Actually, it's the only ritual I've ever seen, but still. You were right about coming here… totally worth it! I still don't really remember your name, though, so…"
"Nameya," Girl 2 told her. "But that takes way too long to say, so you can just call me Nami. Got it?" Sali nodded. "Oh, crud, they're coming this way. Hide!" She and Sali dove behind a rock as Link and Zelda passed.
And that brings the end of this first, very long chapter. Everything seems to be going completely fine for everybody (except Groose), but of course…
nothing ever goes right in a Zelda game…