Chapter 5: Beakon's Airshop

Once Link was out of the Bazaar, he was relieved to find that the Priestess Cia had left the Plaza and none of her followers were in sight. In front of him hovering just a little ways off was a small house suspended by two propellers that kept spinning rapidly with a bell hanging from the porch-like area and a rope-filled wench.

"That must be the shop Madame Starling was talking about," Link said as he approached the edge of the hill the Bazaar stood on top of. He reached his hand out towards the bell, but it was too far away.

"Allow me," Proxi said and flew up to the bell.

Using her strength, Proxi pushed against the bell until the ball hit the inside. A small but audible ring was heard as Proxi fluttered towards the ground. Fortunately, Link leaped from the hilltop and caught her just in time as the rope rolled down from the wench and stopped at Link's ankles. With Proxi in hand, Link held onto the rope as it carried him up to the floating house. Once the rope stopped, Proxi flew out of Link's hand while Link climbed onto the porch.

"Thanks for catching me back there," Proxi said sounding breathless. "That bell was harder to pull than I thought."

"Well, you did a good job, anyway," Link responded, noticing a ladder next to the wench that led up to a door. "Now let's meet the guy who runs this place."

After traversing the stairs with ease, Link entered through the unlocked door. Inside, he saw a rectangular counter with several objects laid out that had price-tags on them. Behind the counter, a young man in his early twenties wearing a knitted cap adorned with goggles that were similar to Link's and plain white trousers who was peddling on sandaled feet to keep a giant metal wheel that stood behind him turning.

"Hello," the man said quickly. "My name is Beakon, and welcome to my shop. Pick whatever you like and leave the payment on the table. But choose quickly because I can't keep the shop suspended for very long when there's two people on it."

Link glanced at the items on the counter, but none of them seemed useful. Then towards the end, he noticed an object that consisted of a metallic tube with what looked to be a bird's foot sticking out of it attached to a pair of leather straps.

"What's this?" Link asked.

"Don't you know?" Beakon said mockingly. "It's a Talon Clasp. They were once used to ride the Skyloft Rails."

"The Skyloft Rails?"

Beakon looked dubiously at Link. "You're not from around here, huh?"

Link hesitated to say anything.

"Don't worry, kid," Beakon said assuredly. "I won't tell anybody."

With that, Link sighed.

"Anyway, the Skyloft Rails are a system of transports suspended by airborne cables that are used to transport supplies and people across the Eight Districts," Beakon explained, nodding his head toward the window.

Link looked outside and he saw several metallic ropes hanging above the buildings in the distance with several box-shaped objects moving along them.

"The Talon Clasps were used by construction workers to fix Rails that were getting rusty or not working right, but then the kids started using them for recreational means. Originally, it wasn't against the law but then after Mayor Ganon came into power all the Talon Clasps were recalled."

"So why do you have one?" Link wondered.

"Let's just say that it's a memento from my younger days," Beakon admitted. "I've been trying to get it off my hands for a while, but no one wants to buy it."

"I could buy it from you," Link offered. "How much does it cost?"

" 200 Rupees," replied Beakon.

"200 Rupees!" exclaimed Link. "Why is it so much?"

"Because its illegal," Beakon said firmly.

Link searched though his bags, but discovered that he only had about 190 Rupees in total since he gave away 20 for the fortune-telling that Madame Starling provided.

Beakon noticed Link's downcast look and said, "Tell you what. I'll give you the Talon Clasp for free in exchange for a small favor."

"Name it," Link said, looking up.

"Well, you see, I have a pet beetle who went missing a few days ago and I don't know where he is. If you can find him for me, then the Talon Clasp is yours."

"What does he look like?"

"He's a Horned Colossus Beetle, which are very rare, so he shouldn't be too hard to find," Beakon said. "Ask Agnes if you have any questions. She's sort of a…bug expert."

"When did you last see your beetle?"

"Right as I was passing over the Kokiri District, which is past the Windmill on the eastern side of this island." Then just as Link was about to leave, Beakon said, "But if you're going to catch him, you'll need a Bug-Catching Net."

"Like this?" Link held up a stick with a hoop at the end that had thin ropes woven into a bag-like pattern.

"Yeah, you'll need that. It's going to cost you 50 Rupees, though."

"I can afford that," Link said and left his only Purple Rupee on the counter.

"Thank you, and good luck finding my beetle," Beakon said and pulled a lever to his left.

This in turn caused a trap-door to open underneath Link's feet and he fell down towards the ground below. Fortunately, Link somersaulted midair which made his landing softer. Then on his feet, Link looked to the East and saw a windmill near a hillside. Beyond that, Link saw a wooden bridge that led to an area that was covered in trees and a heavy mist lay over it.

"That must be the Kokiri District," Link said with the Bug-Catching Net in hand. "Let's go, Proxi."

The Fairy bobbed up and down in response, and so Link broke into a trot toward the Windmill.

To be continued…