The two made it back up, moving slowly just to find a bit of relaxation on the way. But when they reached the top, the old woman moved to them. She waited a moment to speak to them, allowing them to catch their breaths a bit.
"Though the Imprisoned had only just begun to awaken and break its bonds, I'm impressed you were able to restore the seal keeping it captive. Unfortunately, you have only succeeded in buying us a little more time in which to act. The behemoth you beat back into confinement is a horror of unspeakable power. Judging by what I saw, I would not be surprised if the seal gave way again soon. So you are left with precious little time to complete the task with which you have been entrusted. Come to the Sealed Temple, Link. There is much to discuss." She held a frail hand out toward the temple doors.
The Imprisoned, it was called. She couldn't help but wonder why exactly. Obviously it had to do with the fact that it was sealed into the ground, but why?
Entering the temple, the old woman began to speak immediately, approaching a large block that Tya was positive wasn't there before she left. Tya looks back, noticing Groose had followed them in. He seemed disappointed, in a way, but that wasn't really her concern at the moment…
"...As you can see, the gate is nothing more than a slab of cold stone for now. It is sleeping. Rousing it from its slumber would require great power. Yes, I believe a shot of holy light from your Skyward Strike might just do it..." Upon hearing this, Link stepped forward, his hand moving back to draw the blade. The old woman rested a hand over his wrist, causing him to flinch slightly.
"Sorry to disappoint you, boy, but for now your sword lacks the power necessary to awaken the gate. First, you and your sword must grow together." Her hand slid off him, more carefully now than it had before. She seemed to notice the flinch.
She nodded her head, taking in a breath and clearing her throat. "Faron Woods...Eldin Volcano... and Lanayru Desert... A sacred flame is hidden somewhere in each of these lands. Seek them out, and purify your sword in their heat. Only after your blade has been tempered by these three fires will it be fully imbued with the great power for which you search. Clues to finding the sacred flames have been woven into the lyrics of a song precious to your people, the Ballad of the Goddess. These clues are your best hope of finding your way to the flames. Return to Skyloft. Somewhere on your island is one whose knowledge of this old song will point you in the right direction."
When she finished, she took a step back as if she was waiting to see whether or not there were questions. There appeared to be none, and when this was confirmed, she started back up to the little stage on which she usually sat. Before she could really leave though, her attention was drawn back to Groose. His arms were crossed, and brows furrowed once again.
He looked angry, but… Something about it seemed relatively forced. He seemed rather defeated aside from that. "…I hate sayin' this, but I guess you got it all figured out, Grannie… Me, well, there's nothin' I can do to help Zelda. I'm useless." With that, he started toward the door again, but the old woman gave a quiet chuckle and shook her head.
"Ah, you sell yourself short, my friend. You'll see in time, that you have your own role to play in all this." Even with this, Groose continued on toward the door.
The Old Woman sighed, looking to Link only to instruct him to do what was needed. Then she began off toward her place again.
When they were left alone, Tya moved to Link's side, eyes flickering to his arm back up to his face.
"F-Feels better today." He told her with a short smile. "It didn't hu-hurt to s-swing."
"You weren't hurt by The Imprisoned, I'm assuming?" As she spoke, Tya looked toward the woman, then to the door, recalling that they were instructed to return to Skyloft. That in mind, she motioned outward toward the door.
Link started toward it, but looked back at her so he could be heard as he kept talking. "N-No, don't th-think so."
He wiggled a bit, trying to see if anything ached when he moved. He seemed fine, to both of them.
"You seem to be in a better mood today." She was glad to see it, honestly. She enjoyed his being happy. Though when she mentioned it, it seemed to fade for a moment.
"Yeah… I-I'm trying to be op-optimistic." He admitted softly.
In response, Tya frowned. Yet another feeling she knew all too well. Trying to be happy despite feeling terrible inside. "You're welcome to talk to me more if you find it difficult to be optimistic."
Tya moved to set a hand against Link's arm, but she stopped herself before doing so. She couldn't help but think back to what was said before the battle with the Imprisoned.
About how it wasn't fair that Groose would have no chance to prove his worth to Zelda because Destiny had forced the two together. And about how she would have no chance to do the same to Link.
Perhaps such a realization meant she should distance herself… She didn't want to end up as awful and bitter as Groose.
Tya kept quiet as they returned to the sky…
Upon landing, the pair smoothed out clothing and hair, then looked around as if realizing they had no real idea where it was they were supposed to be going.
"She did not tell us who to speak to, did she?"
Link shook his head.
"So then… We will need to figure it out?" Weren't the puzzles meant for the temples? Couldn't they just be given what they needed in between?
What a lazy thought.
This was simple.
"What did she tell you while I was out?"
"Uhh… Well, th-that the harp Zelda gave us is i-important and that th-that th-thing she-she went through, there's a-another one in the te-temple. That was p-pretty much it. It's the g-gate of t-time and if w-we can get i-it open, we can get to Zelda…" He trailed off then, causing Tya to tilt her head a bit.
"Is that all? You seem concerned."
"Uh… Just… She said it was go-going to be d-difficult."
"We have already done difficult things." But whether or not they could handle more was a different thing entirely. They were already exhausted as it was...
"We'll get thr-through this too then." She watched as his lips nervously twitched into a smile. Though she wasn't entirely sure herself, she nodded her head in response.
Tya cleared her throat, stepping back to look over the citizens within her view. "Well, if we are meant to do that, then we need to find out who to speak to."
"The He-Headmaster was the o-one that taught Z-Zelda the song. You think he'd know?"
"I think that's certainly a safe guess." If it wasn't the Headmaster himself, then perhaps one of the teachers in the academy would know. They were teachers, after all and had quite a bit of knowledge at their fingertips.
They started up toward the academy.
She hadn't realized how strange it was to fully walk the town while armored until then. She could tell people were wondering why the bazaar's stocker would need something like that but what was she supposed to do about it? It was just a strange feeling to have eyes on her, even if it was only a few.
Entering the academy was no different. Pipit was wandering the halls aimlessly, and as they passed, he waved, but looked Tya's attire over carefully. In Skyloft, it was only the knights that required such heavy clothing, since they were meant to protect the people. A random citizen in armor was odd, and perhaps even misleading if the armor was designed too close to that of the Knight's Academy's. Fortunately for her, Gondo had taste and designed her something a bit more aesthetically pleasing. Not to say the tunics and chainmail weren't nice, but they did get a little boring to look at when all that happened was color changes over the years.
The green this year looked quite nice though… At least on Link.
He opened the headmaster's door for her, entering right after she did and closing it behind them.
Gaepora turned when he heard the door open, smiling when he saw the two of them.
"You're back! It's nice to see you're both still in one piece. How is it going down there? Are you any closer to finding my Zelda?" He clasped his hands at his front, looking quite enthusiastically from one to the other.
Link looked to Tya first, but when she said nothing, he started. "We are. W-We need help, th-though. She r-ran off th-though, and where she w-went, we can only g-get to b-by the b-ballad of the goddess. We w-were hoping you kn-knew the lyrics."
"I see… My dear Zelda… Things must be terribly trying for her down there. And it can't be easy for you now, can it?" He sighed heavily as he thought that fact over, but soon redirected his attention to the other part of what Link said. "You want to know the lyrics to the ballad of the goddess? You know, I'm not much of a singer."
The mage gave a little nervous laugh before saying "Just the lyrics are fine."
"You just want the lyrics? Oh! What a relief. You really put me on the spot there for a moment. I believe the lyrics go something like this...
Oh youth, guided by the servant of the
goddess...unite earth and sky, and
bring light to the land.
That's the first part, but as I recall, there's a second verse to the song.
Oh youth, show the two whirling sails
the way to the Light Tower...and
before you a path shall open, and a
heavenly song you shall hear.
I believe that's the whole thing. The Light Tower mentioned in the song is a real place; I'm sure you've seen the tower in the plaza. I don't know a thing about two whirling sails though... It sounds like the song is suggesting that if one shows these whirling sails the way to the tower, something will happen? But how do you go about doing that, and what does it mean? Two whirling sails. Hmm..." Gaepora trailed off, trying to think over what it could mean. He didn't seem to come to any conclusions before the two decided they should look around for clues about it.
"Any i-ideas?" Link opened the door out of the academy for her, and they stopped on the overlook to look over the town.
"I know there's a large propeller near my house. But it said two, didn't it? I don't know if there's a second." It was strange to her that she'd lived there her entire life and yet she couldn't recall simple things about the land. She never paid much attention to it, she guessed.
"L-Let's look at th-that one th-then." He started off toward the stairs that would lead them to the other side of Skyloft.
When they reached it, Link seemed to immediately realize that there was indeed a second one on the other side of Skyloft. When she started to think about it, she realized he was right about that.
But that was the least of their problems.
It seemed that the towers did move, and that they were able to face them a certain way, however this one in particular seemed broken.
They weren't the only ones to have noticed either—Jakamar, one of the men that often did maintenance around the island, had been searching around for the smaller propeller for the longest time to no avail. He believed that it had fallen over the edge at some point, and that everyone must have not noticed until recently.
The pair took a look over the edge, realizing it shouldn't have been a difficult thing to receive. Judging by the proximity to the green beam of light, it had to be somewhere in Faron, did it not?
"You know, Gondo at the scrap shop told me that someone in his family once used a flying robot to haul junk back from beneath the clouds. But we're talking about a tale that's been passed down over a lot of years, so I wouldn't put much stock into it… Guess it's worth a try."
It wasn't until they moved to the second windmill that they realized they may need to actually look into what Jakamar had said about the robot. While the propellers were smaller than the windmill itself, they were still quite large. They could possibly just remove everything from the pack and stick it in there, but that would be incredibly inconvenient should they need anything while searching for it.
After getting the windmill to face the so-called 'Light Tower', they began back toward the bazaar. Gondo worked there during the days, Tya knew. Not only did she often bring in stock for him, but he was the one that had made her armor up for her.
They approached with purpose, and Gondo seemed to know that. When they reached him, the first thing he said was "I know that look. You've got a favor to ask me, right?"
Link gave a sheepish laugh before nodding his head. "Y-Yup. We heard ab-about s-someone in your family using a r-robot to get th-things from beneath the clouds."
"It's about that old robot my grandpa used to tinker around with?" He seemed surprised at first, and then his expression dropped to disappointment and mild annoyance. "You probably just came here to make fun of the crazy junk guy for believing in his grandpa's stupid stories, right? Well get in line, I've heard it before." He started to turn to wheel away and continue his work, but Tya stopped him.
"No! That's not the reason—" She paused, feeling a bit ashamed for reacting so hastily. She cleared her throat and shook her head. "No, we need something picked up from below the clouds. We were hoping you could help."
Hearing that, Gondo turned back. Again, he seemed surprised. "That means… you believe in my grandpa's stories too, don't you?!" The excitement he displayed was mild, but his voice said he was much happier than he showed he was. His smile soon faded though, and he sighed. "I'm happy to hear that someone else believes me, but I don't think I can help you. You see, my grandpa's robot, what's it called again… That's right, Scrapper…" he turned to motion toward a little pile of familiar seeming metal that was displayed on one of his tables in the back.
Tya furrowed her brow a bit before realizing that the robot reminded her of those they'd seen in the desert.
"He may not be much to look at these days… But he was an amazing robot once! When you called him, he would go anywhere and haul anything. Sadly, as you can now, he's another busted ol' hunk of junk. But old Gramps did tell me this: You can get him working again with the extract from an Ancient Flower. It's like oil to this guy. But I've never even heard of, much less seen, any such thing." He sighed heavily once again, seemingly disappointed that he couldn't be of more assistance. But the two gave an understanding nod and thanked him anyway before disengaging.
"Do you think we could find one of those flowers?" Tya asked as they started away from Gondo's shop.
"I d-don't know. I ha-haven't heard of th-them."
"Well the metal from it looked very similar to what those nice little things from Lanayru were made of. I was thinking that maybe we could search there."
"I g-guess. Th-there's not many flowers there to g-get it c-confused with anyway."
"Fi may be able to lend help with it."
He nodded in agreement, and they started to head toward the yellow beam of light, preparing to descend into the desert once again.
