Chapter 3

I made sure to check if any ratty students were hanging around the sparring hall before I snuck in. I swiftly made my way towards the back of the sparring hall and into the back closet. I searched up and down the shelves and corners to see if I could spot what I was looking for. I know that Eagus would've hidden in, but he never would have gone out of his way to make sure it was foolproof. I searched for several minutes. He was smarter than I thought. I was about to give up and grab a normal wooden bow. I opened the door and when the sunlight poured in I noticed a glimmer in the corner of my eye. I turned to the shelf and placed myself flat on my stomach looking under the narrow gap between the floor and shelf. That's where I saw the polished silver reflecting the bright sun. Of course, to hide something from a tall person, put it as low as possible. I picked it up and grabbed a sheath of arrows. I quickly shuffled my way back out of the building. I made sure to keep the cloth it was wrapped in so that no one snitches on me again.

I began to walk to the bazaar. Again, the whole island seemed suspiciously quiet and deserted. I took a second to look around the sky. I could only catch a glimpse of one person flying. Normally at this time, tons of people are out on their birds throughout the sky. I don't know what was going on, but I needed to get out there before anything else got weirder. I picked up my pace and continued walking. Once I made it to the Bazaar, it was buzzing with people. It felt like the whole town was there.

A few people started staring at me, a hand grabbed mine and pulled me backward, another hand covered my mouth to keep me from screaming in surprise. I was drug out of the Bazaar when I was finally released. I was quick to whip around and brought my hand back ready for a punch. I saw Mable step back ready to defend herself.

"Are you crazy? Calm down!" She yelped. I put my hand down and relaxed.

"You're the one who dragged me out like a kidnapper!" I snapped. My heart was racing.

"Yeah, because I'm not dumb enough to walk into a rush-hour bazaar with a weapon." She pointed to the cloth-wrapped bow in my hand. "People are on edge. You are the last person they want to see out and about with weapons." I dropped my head. She was right. "My mom said there was an announcement that there is a no-fly-warning. Everyone is staying inside. Only knights can fly while they are on duty. This could go really well or really bad." She looked at me with wide eyes. "We can try again another time if this goes poorly." She reassured.

"No, it has to be today." I looked up, I remembered what Zelda said. "Besides, if we are caught everyone is going to have me locked up for good." I was getting flustered. I couldn't mess this up. I had to get this right. This was my only chance. I felt Mable grab my hand. I looked at her. She gave me a weak smile and pulled me into a hug.

"Then we will get it done today. I promise." She let go of me. "Where is Link?"

"I don't know. If your mom said there was a no-fly-warning, then he is probably at the plaza making sure no one uses the main platform. That is probably where Zelda will be too."

"We can use the diving deck that's a little west of there and slip by him while Zelda is distracting him." She said. I nodded and looked around. I tried to see if I could see the plaza from where we were at. We would have to be stealthy so that no one saw us. We casually began to walk towards the western diving platform. As I peered over I could see Link with a few other knights talking in the plaza. They seemed to not be paying attention, but they would definitely notice two girls diving and calling their birds. We crouched behind a bush between the platform and the path towards the plaza.

"Psst." Someone hissed at us. That was it. We were caught. "Mable and I turned around and saw Zelda standing behind us.

"You weren't going to start the fun without me, were you?" She laughed quietly. We shook our heads and giggled a little. "I hope you two appreciate some good acting. Wait for my signal and then you can go." She took her hands and rubbed them all over her head to make her hair as messy and possible. I noticed that she had some tears in her clothes and was only wearing one shoe on her fake foot. She immediately started running towards Link.

"You're not gonna fly one-handed are you?" Mable asked me as we watched Zelda approach the knights in the distance. I take the rag off the bow and weaved my head and one shoulder through. "Did Zelda say what the signal was?" She was too far away to hear the conversation.

"No, but I guess we will have to pay close attention for-" I was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. Mable and I looked at each other and quickly sprinted off the deck. We started our free fall towards the surface. We let ourselves fall more than usual to keep ourselves out of sight. Almost perfectly timed, as we whistled loudly with our fingers, we could make out another scream from Zelda above us. In a blink of an eye, my loftwing was soaring beneath me and Mable reached out to hers. We finished mounting and slowly climbed in altitude, but tried to keep ourselves from being noticed. I saw all the knights and Link trying to calm down Zelda at the plaza. Mable and I were able to relax and calmly glide towards the green beacon that pierced the sky.

It was beautiful, the feeling of the breeze on my face. This feeling of long-awaited freedom, it was perfection. Everything was coming together. I could see the whole world from where we were at. I look over to Mable who had her arms out feeling the wind. I could not believe we were actually doing this. My loftwing has gotten minimal attention lately. I was blessed with a rare sapphire blue loftwing. The same as Zelda's. I always wished I could ride him more. They are not only rare but tend to be more difficult to form bonds with. Only strong souls can tame them. Saphhire loftwings ultimately decided who it wants as its rider. People thought I had cursed him or something when he came up to me when I was younger. I'll never forget the look on everyone's faces when I, of all people, was able to fly on him for the first time. That had to be my most favorite memory of this place. It's sad to say that it one of the only good memories I had.

I looked over at Mable who was caught in a daydream. I could tell she was thinking hard. I decided to not interrupt her, but I knew I would have to eventually. We were approaching the beacon. We would then have to make our descent and navigate our way to the statue of the Goddess. And that's where it starts to get really serious.

"Mable-" I began speaking but my bird started to flutter his wings to slow down. I turn my head and see a knight next to us, trying to slow us down.

"Hey! No one is supposed to be in the skies right now!" He snapped. "Especially not you, Headmaster Link made it clear that you aren't allowed to fly without a proper escort!" He glared at me.

"Sorry, sir! We didn't hear the warning. What is it for?" Mable asked politely.

"The wind currents! They are too strong and unpredictable for average riders to handle! You could get blown off!" He shouted. He took off his horn from his belt and blew into it. A loud low tone filled the air. I covered my ears and looked back towards Skyloft. I could make out the figures of several knights, including Link running to see what was happening. Once they saw it was us, each quickly began to jump off to fly over.

"Time to go!" I shouted at Mable.

"You're not going anywhere except the island!" Shouted the knight next to us. I gently kick my bird with my boot to indicate for him to speed up. My loftwing in a burst of speed flew past the knight and Mable followed closely behind me. I looked back and saw the gang of knights closing in on us, Link was leading them all. I knew I couldn't go back there. Mable and I were so close, we just needed to begin our descent without getting lost or separated.

"Get back to Skyloft, NOW!" I heard Link holler. He was much closer than I expected. I look at Mable who is close next to me.

"We need to start descending now," I told her.

"But we need to hold out or we will-"

"We don't have time! We have to go now!" I snapped. She nodded and we signaled for our birds to start descending... fast. We were basically falling at a very steep angle. I felt the uncontrollable winds the knight mentioned. Our birds began getting tossed back and forth. I looked back to see where the knights were and Link was basically at my bird's tail. His bird was under a lot better control than ours. I saw Zelda on her loftwing coming up as well.

I turned to look forward again, I felt a huge shove from the wind on my side. My hands slipped from my grip on the harness and I reached out to fix it but missed, it was already too far away. I was no longer on my loftwing. I saw Link immediately begin to dive his bird after me. His hand reached out to catch my arm. I quickly stretch my hand as far as I could to meet his leather-gloved fingers, but they slipped away from me. Mable had one arm holding tight to her struggling loftwing, while the other was covering her mouth in horror. I felt the nips and bites of the wind eating at my back as I fell. Everybody was getting smaller by the second. They were the size of people, then dolls, then dinner forks. I could make out an ant-sized Zelda that caught up and looked down at me. I couldn't tell what her expression was.

Eventually, they all completely disappeared. I watched my whole life flash before my eyes. My seventeen years of dreaming of the surface, are now the cause of me being splattered onto it. I tried to twist and turn my body to see what fate awaited me. It was a deep, dark basin of water, surrounded by trees and lush green colors. I suppose Lake Floria is a pretty place to die. I have a 99% chance of death and a whole whopping 1% chance of survival. Better odds than the 100% dead and exploded on the ground like a human water balloon. I pulled my feet in and pointed them toward the ground and took a deep breath.

SPLASH!

I looked up and saw the yellow sun and blue sky quickly turn darker and darker. My head started to feel heavier and heavier with all the weight above me. My eyes felt droopy, my lungs got weaker. I could feel bubbles of air escaping me. It was dark. Just complete darkness everywhere. I wasn't even sure if my eyes were open anymore. My ears felt like they were imploding. Then a sharp ringing in my head began. I was dying. I felt like flickering candlelight. I kept holding my breath, but I needed air. I had too much weight and the fall hurt too much to swim up. So I just relaxed my body and let go.

"Link, promise me that you will keep her safe!" A familiar female voice spoke in my head.

"I mean, she's not exactly like the rest of us, Catto. She's dangerous!" I recognized Link's voice now. I realized the voice from my dream was a younger Link.

"She's human, just like everyone else here! Promise me!"

"I'm too young to be a parent-"

"Promise me!" She seemed anxious.

"I promise to keep her safe..." Link's voice was reluctant and disappointed.

"Thank you, I need to go." The girl's voice calmed down quickly. As if she was right in my ear I heard her breathe and then whisper, "I love you."