The sunrise made me blink through my right eye, groaning at the fact that I'd woken up at the crack of dawn. Why did I have to get up? My limbs felt like they were made of lead and my head was spinning.

Groggy I got to my knees, trying not to touch my left hand. Or any other part of my body for that matter. There was a stabbing pain in my chest and my legs felt weak. Struggling to stay standing I looked around shaking. Looked like I'd been right guessing that I'm over the waterfall. The spring was right next to me. My eyesight was swimming and I couldn't see Skyloft below clearly.

Guess we'll have to take a risk. I thought, remembering Ghirahims statement in the Ancient Cistern: "She does not even want to be safe! The Medowlaria I have seen is up for adventure!"

And he was correct. I didn't care too much for being wrong about my guess right now. The sound of water echoing against the stone walls was unmistakable. I needed to stick to my ears for orientation.

Not hesitating any longer I jumped into the water, ignoring the aches and letting the flow carry me. The tantalizing moment of falling free, holding my breath, revived the elemental fears of falling and crushing to death on the ground below, stealing the breath from me. It was intoxication. Never had it felt so intense.

Hitting the water snapped me back into reality. I had to find homeland fast or I would really fall. Swimming with broad, tantalizing strokes I somehow managed to guess the shore correctly. Sharp rubble cutting my feet had never felt reassuring before this day but now it almost made me kiss the ground. Exhausted I blinked with my right eye, trying to look around. Thank Hylia, nobody had seen my fall.

Slowly and carefully I set one foot before another, my eyes closed. The only thing I could use to find my way was my ears. The steady breathing of every single person in Skyloft lead the way past the houses. My footsteps resonating from wood and brick kept me from leaving the path. It was weird. I had thought I'd been away for years. But now I returned and nothing here had changed.

Had I changed?

When I touched the smooth wood from my door I had to restrain myself from flinching. Had the walls always sighed so loudly? Was it just my imagination or was my home wishing I had never returned? For a few moments my hands ghosted over the doorknob. It was also my home. I had no reason to restrain from just going in. But somehow I felt like a stranger on my own doorstep.

In the end I raised my right hand and knocked. Something in me prayed for my mother to be out. Father would still be flying so...

Then the door swung open, making me jump backward. Mothers pale, remlit eyes stared at me with an air of exhaustion. Her clothes where shifted and her hair a mess. I couldn't believe it when I caught a glimpse of a chair standing right in the hall. She had guarded the door all night!

Her voice was sharp: "Where the HELL have you been!"

I blinked with my one eye: "Trouble. But you're used to that."

Interesting how I snapped back into the old pattern of behavior right away.

"Come inside, you're sopping wet!" she exclaimed, pulling me in. I took a big step and almost hissed in pain. Mother seemed to notice something and went slower for me. She brought me into the bathroom. After closing the door she looked me up and down, frowning: "Do you have any idea where Groose is?"

"Surface." my voice was cracking, feeling strained. Speaking and pronouncing Skyloftian was incredibly difficult all of a sudden. I continued hoarsely: "He's been better than me. I talked to him last night."

She just nodded, her face relaxing a bit. I guessed that Link had tried to calm her, but maybe she did trust me. I was honest, maybe a bit too much so. Mother turned on the water faucet and started the coals beneath the tub. Then she turned to face me: "Can you get yourself undressed?"

"I don't know." I admitted in a whisper. This was really embarrassing.

She made me sit down on a little stool and started unwrapping my tunic, pulling it over my head, commenting my missing scarf. When I was half nude she gasped. It took me a moment to understand and look down my body. There were black brands all over me. As well as a large bruise under my ribcage (that was probably from that stupid uppercut) and a row of small, purple marks. I was confused for a moment. What where those black and purple things?

Suddenly I touched my eye. The black substance no longer left it but it still hurt hellishly. Thinking about it, Ghirahims black sphere, that he had tried to kill Link with, had splattered all over my chest. My arms had been healed over a few times by Ghirahim which must have flushed the marks away. In the demon realm these things must have been invisible. But in the real world, my world, they came back with double the force.

Well, that would explain why things like hunger, thirst, exhaustion and pain hadn't mattered in there.

But mom didn't ask about the burnt skin. She pointed at the purple patches: "How did you get those!"

I shrugged: "What are they anyway?" They reminded me of something Karane had sported on her neck once, a year or two ago. But I'd been damned if I'd known what they really were.

She took a shuddered breath, turning slightly pink: "Medowlaria, those... they're hickeys!" seeing me non-understanding expression she said, "Love marks!"

First I stared. Then I must have turned the color of my hair.

"Ghira." I whispered, daring to touch one of the marks. They were sensitive but for a moment I thought I felt his lips ghosting over my skin.

Looking up at mother, extremely embarrassed, I noticed a look of horror in her eyes. Her voice sounded horribly strained when she finally asked: "Please tell me you did NOT get knocked up!"

"Huh?" I asked stupidly. She was not up for jokes: "Have you had your period since then!"

Period... I could distantly remember Zelda telling me about that once but..

"I... I don't know." I mumbled, scratching my ear in embarrassment, "I don't think so..."

Horror struck her face: "You 're pregnant?!"

Now she talking a language I understood: "The hell? No! Why would I be pregnant?"

"It's painfully obvious that you slept with somebody!" she hissed helping me out of my pants so I could get into the tub, "Look at yourself! You look like you where raped! What the hell happened to...!" She stopped mid track.

Shaking she stepped back. I locked my legs, feeling hellishly self conscious and confused. What was wrong?

"Mother?" I whispered.

After a moment she shook her head and helped me into the warm water. Hesitantly I washed my body, scrubbing at layers of dirt that came from the weeks of forest and getting lost. But when I reached my left hand she snatched it away from me, staring at the horrible scar. Her lip was trembling. Cautiously she put it down and told me that she would be back in a moment. Confused I washed the soap off of me and leaned back to soak in the steam, thinking of Ghirahim.

It had occurred to me, that I could get pregnant, but to be honest, I didn't know anything about getting and having children back then. I knew that it took a woman and a man and that the woman had to have the child. I also knew that women died in childbirth, like Zeldas mother had and that people didn't speak about those cases. Karane had told me, that you could get pregnant from having intercourse. Sex I knew of course, I'd read enough of those smutty novels to be informed.

Suddenly I felt warm and instinctively hugged my lower body. What if I had become pregnant from lying with him? The thought of a baby made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Then I remembered Grooses words.

I looked at the door, wondering. What had happened to mother? How had I been conceived? What was the lie Skyloft had been whispering in my ear my entire life?

Remembering her reaction I sneaked a peak at me legs and started. On the inside of my thigh, just over the knee, there was a little, angry red scar in the shape of a double-diamond. I was startled. What was the meaning of that? Why had Ghirahim put that on me?

By the time she was back, I had stood up and wrapped a towel around me. My legs were extremely wobbly and I didn't have the energy to fight back when she forced me to sit down. But then somebody else came in behind her.

"Luv?" I stuttered, letting the large woman lock me into a ribcrushing hug.

"Thank Hylia, you have gotten home safe!" she let go of me, looking me up and down, "What happened to you? Your face is a mess!"

"Trouble." I muttered, avoiding mothers gaze. Luv sighed dramatically and took my hand, making a shocked sound.

Mother stepped at her side: "Can you make that hole disappear before my husband sees this?"

"I might." she let go, searching her purse for something, "Those potions work best when the wounds are fresh, but it'll do fine. I think Link gave my husband some herbs that made them work even better."

"Good. I'll pay you later for all your inconvenience." she shuddered, forcing me to look in her eye. Something was happening. Something that I didn't like one bit: "Mother, I..."

"It looks almost as though this eye is covered with a black mass. Did you try to rub it off?" she asked, cutting me short. I shook my head. A moment later she was dabbing at it.

In the meantime Luv applied a red fluid to my hand that smelled strongly of herbs. It burnt but I kept my tongue. Every time mother took the cloth off to soak it in water it looked as though covered in sooth.

Finally the women stopped their ministrations and looked at me. I wished I had a mirror.

Luv shook her head: "Like I thought. I'd say you put a bandage on that hand and let the potion work until tomorrow. And about that eye..."

Her eyes squinted: "Actually, I don't think I can do anything for that."

"What's with my eye!" I exclaimed, scared, "What is wrong!"

She looked at my mother who refused to speak. So she explained: "It looks like it's glued shut with a thin film of sooth. Or as if it's grown shut."

My breath hitched in fear. What was that supposed to mean?

"Thank you Luv. I'll see that she has some rest and gets dressed." mother said tonelessly. The large woman looked worried but nodded: "Medowlaria, dear, if you have any other pains and need medicine, I have some very mild potions."

Thank you I thought, but I just managed a nod and a smile. She gave me a last glance, then she nodded at mother and left. I got up on my own and walked my way into me room. Mother made sure that I was dressed (my tunic was ready for the garbage can) and had lain down before she turned to leave. However she looked back at me before she went out: "You know that this whole thing will have consequences."

I stared at her, wondering about something briefly and saying it before I could stop myself: "Is that what father told you when you came back?"

All color drained her face and I regretted opening my mouth instantly. My stupid mouth would be the death of me some day. She narrowed her eyes, obviously working.

So Groose had been telling the truth.

"What do you think you're talking about." she hissed, sounding like a wounded animal backed into a corner.

I swallowed down my fear: "You were gone longer than me! What was it? How many months!"

"Who told you!" she snapped.

"So it is true." my face felt pale, "By Hylia, it is true. You where lying all my life!"

Her voice become venomous: "I was gone for five months. No more, no less. And I was a lot older than you!"

"Don't give me that nonsense! You accuse me of sleeping around but you where no better, where you!" I snapped back, getting angry.

Her hand slapped me square over the mouth, making me gasp. I hadn't seen it come, only heard the swing of air and the deafening crash when she hit me. I shook.

Mother had never hit me before. Never.

I touched my burning lips, hearing her ragged breath as if through a veil. The growing silence was a warning. My control over the magic was about to slip.

"How can you DARE speak to me that way!" she screamed, making me clasp my hands over my ears, "I am your mother and you will respect me! You disappear without a word, get knocked up and then DARE accuse me?"

"... You accuse me of being a slut when you say that!" I hissed back, willing, no, begging my magic to stay down, "You went of fifteen years ago and got knocked up with me out on some affair, didn't you. So don't give me this..." I lacked the best word.

Mom was starting to cry in utmost rage: "You thankless child! Do not talk about things you cannot understand! And now tell me honestly, who did this with you!"

My face went red in remembrance and I stuttered: "L-like hell I'm telling you! I don't know how I can even believe what you say anymore!"

She stared at me with a hollow gleam in her eyes. I couldn't break the eye contact. Finally she turned around wordlessly and walked out of my room, slamming the door shut behind her.

It took a moment before the sounds returned. Feeling drained I dropped onto the mattress and stared at the ceiling for a few moments. The secret wasn't out yet. We where both lying and we both knew that. I gasped at the tears that rolled down my cheek and started looking up. Was it worth this battle? What had I come home for if not the truth?

I looked at my desk. It had been left untouched, awaiting my return. Probably this was the way it had been with mother gone, nothing touched, everything awaiting her when she came home. But had I really come home? I hadn't escaped the demon realm to flee into loveless cold arms whispering false welcomes.

Making a decision I stood up and climbed out of the window. Mother could guard the door but there was no way to keep me in if I wanted out.

"Medowlaria?"

I looked up. Fledge was looking all over Skyloft. His voice had been calling my name for hours. But people tended to not look at the graveyard too much. I can't remember how I managed to flee here in the first place. I know I was looking for shelter to get some sleep. But the noise was unbearable. How had I been able to fall asleep last night?

Probably it was because of my exhaustion.

A sudden wave of pain in my hand made me hiss, which caught Fledge's attention. His large eyes looked even more scared than usual, but maybe I was just imagining that. He ran toward me hectically.

"Medowlaria! I knew you were back up here!" he called, grinning from ear to ear. But his tone of voice gave his relief away. I tried to smile but failed: "It's been a while."

"Where were you?" he pointed at the green beam in the sky, "Everybody kept saying that you had fallen and crushed to death. But not your mom! And because she didn't believe it neither did I!"

"Didn't Link..." I cleared my throat, "He knew that I was alive."

"I know," he suddenly looked sad, "But then he said you had been captured and that he thought you had died!"

The faith in his voice, the utmost belief he had in his senior, it brought me close to tears.

Cautiously he reached out and touched my face, looking at it carefully: "What in the name of Hylia happened to your eye!"

"The guy Link thought had captured me accidentally hurt it." I mumbled.

Fledge looked like he was thinking about asking something. Then he thought again and stood up with a sigh: "You should know that your mother is looking for you."

"I don't care." I lied flatly. It was painfully obvious that he knew better but he didn't say any more about that: "Would you like to go flying?"

I blinked, noncomprehending. He grinned: "I-I know it's not your favorite flying weather, being sunny and all. But you've been gone for so long, you must have missed flying and..."

He continued babbling and I had to stop to think. He was right, I hadn't seen my bird for over a month. Yet I hadn't missed flying much. My thoughts had been occupied with all the new things I was learning.

Slowly I looked at the clouds and listened. There was the other reason, why I hadn't even thought about flying since I touched ground.

"I can't fly with you." I whispered exhaustively staring into space. Fledge stopped his monologue short, stammering: "Oh, um, th-thats okay, you don't..."

"No, you don't understand." I looked at him, watching his silhouette waver in front of my eyes, "I can't feel my bird."

Batreaux was the weirdest person I'd ever seen in all of Skyloft, no exceptions. But he was also incredibly nice, giving me a cup of tea and some cookies. His voice was warm and deep and comforted my ears.

"May I really spend the night here?" I asked again, hardly believing it was true. But he even insisted, Chuckling when I said he was very kind.

"It's my pleasure!" he smiled, sitting down opposite from me, "I'm thrilled to have a guest! Tomorrow we can see what to do next."

The word tomorrow had never made my heart sink so much. But I forced a smile and nipped at the tea. I had surprised Batreaux in the graveyard shortly after Fledge had gone off to ask people about my bird. I think I scared his socks off or something (He screams like a little girl and that is not meant meanly). Weirdly after talking for a few moments we noticed that we like each other and he brought me to his hide out.

I chuckled: "Batreaux, you are the first Skyloftian who has a voice I can listen to without pain."

"You have pain from peoples voices?" he looked surprised, "That's odd."

"I know."

He looked thoughtful: "Wait a moment, aren't you the little girl who got taken away by Ghirahim?"

I almost dropped my cup: "You know him?"

He looked grave: "Unfortunately. I am a demon myself, much like him but not nearly as powerful." he looked at my other eye, "He left his mark on you, didn't he."

In more than one way. I thought but said: "Do you think it will heal?"

He watched me for a moment before he shook his head in a very caring way. But to my own surprise I just shrugged. The next time I saw Ghirahim (the thought did manage to scare me) I would have to ask him.

Batreaux must have felt uncomfortable, at least he started blabbering again: "But I wouldn't have thought that you could find your way back into the Sky, that is quite remarkable! I sensed that he was here and Levias was furious that one of his children had been stolen by him. The birds where frightened."

"Can you understand them too?" I was seriously excited now. His eyes gleamed: "Yes! I didn't know that Hylians where capable of understanding the holy languages."

"The what?"

He looked concentrated for a moment, then he said in a voice that made me cringe: "There are two. The voice of the gods and the tongue of the demons."

I frowned: "But that's just the language of the birds. What's that other one?"

"The demon language is inaudible to most people," he started to explain, pointing at himself, "They say the gods cannot learn to speak it just as demons can't speak the gods language. But we can hear and understand each other. Hylians however cannot understand nor speak neither of the languages."

"But you just spoke the, um... other language." I replied, confused.

His eyes gleamed proudly: "That's because I am no longer a full blooded demon."

"How is that possible?"

"Link is collecting something very special for me. With that I can become a human at last." Batreaux explained proudly. He told me about gratitude crystals.

"You know, if you ever see some, please tell me!" he finished excitedly. My smile wilted a bit: "I will if I can. But I've been having some trouble seeing stuff and I've never seen those crystals before."

"Why would you have problems with your eyes?" he asked surprised and worried. I shrugged: "Beats me. All I know is that I can't see everything anymore. It's weird."

I could hear how worried he was by listening to his breath, so I changed the subject: "Hey, do you want to practice your pronunciation on me? That way you can talk to Levias in his native tongue when you are a human at last!"

He loved the idea, to say the least. Unfortunately my ears started to hurt within moments. But I clenched my teeth and grinned and corrected with patience. Life all alone must have been terribly boring for the poor man. People feared him. When he talked about Kukiel I had to laugh. It was just too cute.

At some point he switched back into the demon language without noticing and I didn't bother telling him. My whole body was relaxing around me. Weird how painful the godly language was to my ears...

Coming to think about it, there were many occasions where my ears hurt. Certain people mostly. All of them (Levias, Faron etc.) had been speaking the godly language. The Hylian language was also a godly tongue, wasn't it? After all it had been given to us by the goddess. This weird dialect that the Kikwie used was just the same.

Realization hit me like lightning. Of course! I was sensitive to everything that had to do with the gods and their tongues. The demons on the other hand made me feel good and let my ears relax. This was not a coincidence.

I didn't tell Batreaux about my realization. Instead I nipped at my tea again. It was kinda embarrassing that it had taken me fifteen years until I'd noticed and understood that, seeing how elemental it was. But it did make my stomach feel too upset to take another cookie. Did this have to do with the secret?

Later that afternoon, Batreaux brought me to his bed and pulled the covers over me, saying good night in a gentle voice, a bit like a father. I grinned and turned to face the wall. All of this noise. Again I asked myself, how I had ever been able to sleep up here before.

My feet carried me to the statue of the goddess. People saw me, greeted me and disappeared again. Nobody commented my eye or the obvious limp. Damned muscle pain. Instead they gave me the feeling of a phantom. Of not really being there.

Walking up the stairs to the statue I couldn't stop myself from thinking. Would it ever be the same again? Could I ever just relax, fly around for fun and fight with my mother over stupid things like curfews instead of babies and rape? The steps up to the statue had never felt longer and steeper.

When I reached the top I noticed something. There was a quiet humming that echoed in the entire island. And it seemed to come from here. My ears buzzed at the sound but I dealt with it. The shadows had started to pool around my feet again and I was too tired to really fight them.

When I looked up at the statue it seemed even brighter than ever before. Nothing at all had changed. Nothing would ever change. To my surprise I felt a smirk crawling over my lips. What was the point of all of this? I was putting to much effort into becoming normal, into fitting in. This statue had looked down at generations of generations living in oblivion to the surface below. To the Goddess it didn't matter who fell and died, who bled the death in giving birth, who fell in the hands of demons. She didn't care if I fit in.

I know that Zelda was the Goddess. I know that she had been reborn to that task. But she was gone now, nobody knew how long it would be. Until then we were without a patron. Now was the moment of free decision.

And I barely had the energy to sit at the foot of the statue.

I closed my eye, listening into the sky as I had many times before. This sense of silence that the demon realm had brought was an illusion. Only a living, healthy world could be filled with breath. It was right to come back. Even if it meant leaving him behind.

A caw made me open my eye. A certain gray loftwing was circling above my head, flying down and settling in front of me. My heart leaped.

"I missed you." I whispered, petting his beak. But he just tilted his head.

And cawed again.

But shall I stay?

"What?" I asked with shaking underlip.

The caw didn't make sense, I couldn't understand what he was saying.

"Can you repeat that?"

I knew those words. But now they seemed in a faraway place.

He tilted his head to the other side, looking me straight in the eye. But I couldn't understand the chirps he was making in the back of his throat. I was frightened. What was going on?

I have changed too much...

He spread his wings and flew up high into the sky, leaving me behind, pale and shaky. I scrambled to my feet, looking after him.

I have lost my right to return here.

Shadows pooling around my feet like a comforting stream.

Where am I?

He disappeared before my eyes.

I looked where the statue had been just a moment ago. Then I turned to the rest of the island. Or more the direction, where I had just seen it.

Who am I?

I was standing in thin air looking into the endless sky all around me.

-X-

Another talky-chapter. But there are some important things happening and the next chapter is with a lot more action!

Actually it's hopefully going to be one of the most action filled chapters of all (I hope XD)