I received a gift from a friend/relation yesterday – an awesome T-shirt advertising Red Potion. The little star-splash advertising "From the makers of Green Potion!" made me laugh out loud. Thanks, Matt.

NIGHT WATCH

2. Courage

Night Patrol. It was a job for only the most dedicated knights. Monsters prowled around Skyloft at night, so only the brave or the foolhardy were out of doors after moonrise. It was also a job only for the most dedicated of knights because it was as boring as watching grass grow.

Pipit was a very dedicated young knight, but it was mostly because he needed the cold hard cash that night watch duty paid. It wasn't only that, though. He liked the idea that it was him standing between the students of the Knight Academy and disaster – for that was his assigned patrol route, the Academy grounds. He knew that some day, some truly dangerous monster would threaten his classmates – perhaps even the fabled Skyloft Demon - and he would face it down like the Goddesses' ancient Hero of the treasured myth.

Or, maybe he'd just rescue some errant Skyloft child from being gobbled up by a green chu-chu. Or maybe he'd save Karene from getting a keese in her hair when she took a nighttime walk. Pipit had already done both of those things. Karene had complained that she could have taken care of the keese herself. Kukiel's mother had thanked him and declared him a hero. He'd told the woman that chu-chu slime washed off easily with a good vinegar-bath.

Most nights brought no excitement. Pipit walked up and down his route, yawning and trying to stay awake. Sometimes, he paused to pee off the edge of the world in the depths of the night when he knew no one looked and no one cared. Sometimes, he wondered if there really was anything or anyone below the cloud-sea and pondered the idea that he might be ruining someone's evening. He counted the bricks in the Academy walls. He looked up and numbered the stars.

Some nights lately, he'd been seeing Link. This was only a recent development, as in, after the disappearance of Zelda. Link occasionally took walks in the early evening, but it seemed like the boy was up at all hours now, on this or that business of his own. Pipit thought it most strange, since Link was known for his love of sleep. He'd sit on a bench in the Plaza and be asleep within minutes. Instructor Owlan had to rap on his desk with a ruler to startle him awake in class sometimes. Zelda was always finding inventive ways to get him up in the morning. Link wasn't particularly known as the type to "stay up all night and sleep all day," either. By midnight he was always sacked out in his dorm.

Until recently.

"Heya, Pipit!"

Pipit turned around to greet Link.

"Hey, Link. You're out late. You sure look upbeat, too. That's the spirit."

"Pipit! Pipit! I found something you're gonna so wanna be in on."

"Link, are you okay? You seem a little… off."

"Oh, I'm on tonight, Pipit!" Link snickered.

Pipit sniffed the air. "You smell like red potion. Are you hurt or something? Let me have a look. I have my first aid kit on me. Knights need to take care of each other."

Link had a blush to his cheeks. Red potion was known to have a small alcohol content, but it usually did not render a person inebriated – unless it was old and had fermented, then it could become a powerful concoction.

"Get this, Pip!" Link said with his eyes wide, gesturing with his hands, "I found a way into the girls' dorm!"

"You what?"

"Wanna come on a panty-raid with me? First we go into Zelda's dorm… and if Karene's not in, hers is right next door!"

Link snickered again. He was either drunk or had mentally reverted to age twelve. Maybe both.

"That is a grave invasion of privacy… as well as school policy, Link!" Pipit huffed, firmly placing his hands on his hips and giving his underclassman a glare.

"Frilly things, Pipit! Girls' frilly things that smell nice!"

"I'll have nothing of it, Link. If Karene caught us, she might murder us both. If Zelda ever finds out, she'll definitely murder us both. Give me what you've been drinking now and I won't report you to the Headmaster."

"I don't wanna." Link retrieved a bottle from one of his belt pouches. It was half-empty. "Red potion!" he laughed, "From the makers of green potion!"

"Yes, Link, we all know the potion-makers at the bazaar. You should hand it over, it's obviously gone bad."

"It's not bad!" Link declared. "I use it when I gotta fight stuff…. I call it liquid courage!"

"Yeah, because it pickles your brain enough that you don't have the sense to run away. Come on. Let's get you to your dorm before you hurt yourself."

Pipit swiped the bottle from him and put his arm around Link's shoulder to steady him. "Yeah, we'll get you back home and you can sleep as long as you like until you're better and can think straight."

Link gave him a hangdog look. "But…panties, Pipit."

"I don't need any panties, Link. I have plenty of my own underwear, thank you. I think girls are more likely to like you if they can respect you and know that you'll not do sleazy things like take their property, am I right?"

"Maybe."

They entered the Academy and walked down the stairs to Link's dorm. "Here we are, buddy. You go on and get some rest; I need to go back to work, okay?"

"Okay."

Pipit watched the underclassman close the door behind him. He went back out to his patrol route. "At least he gave me something to do tonight," he sighed.

The young knight in yellow meandered around his route for a bit and soon found himself tracing the constellations again. The Great Triangle. The Goddess Wing. The Archer…

It was then that he saw a shadow move up on the Academy roof. He looked toward the steam-stack leading to the ventilation system. There was Link hanging from the inside of the thing from some sort of gadget.

Link waved at him before dropping down.

"Oh shi-!"