Once again, I was left to make my own way back out of the Earth Temple, which wasn't quite as easy as the Skyview Temple had been. Having to roll that stone around on the lava took up so much time.

Naturally, once again Link was waiting for me outside, this time perched on on the edge of the stones, looking down the ashes that formed the steep ascent here. This time I could see what he was working on though. It looked like he was painting a miniature chest, blue with part of it detailed in gold.

Since he was distracted by that, I didn't bother him. I had things to do in Skyloft, and no matter what Impa said I was going to do them. No sooner had I taken a few steps toward the bird statue though did he say, "You. Here. Now." There was an uncharacteristic hint of command to that voice.

"I suppose you want feedback on your dungeon again?"

"That was the original plan," Link said, not looking up from his work as I joined him. "Then of course I watched what you got up to." He finished the detailing on the chest, regarded it for a few moments, then it and his brush vanished.

Link took a deep breath, turned to me, then in shattering tones yelled out, "You utterly reckless idiot! I didn't go to all the trouble of dragging you here at Mother's request just to watch you throw yourself into lava! If you'd slipped or missed your hold even once, you'd have dropped into it and that Demon would be running unchecked!"

"Oh, is that what's bothering you?" I replied, brushing off his outburst just as Impa had mine. "It was necessary to avoid getting crushed or flattened."

"You were meant to notice that Scaldera always aimed for you! He rolls toward the side you're on, you go to the other side where there's plenty of room as a result! But no, you decided to give me a damn heart attack!"

"I was in the middle of a fight, there wasn't time to think," I shrugged. "I just did what made sense to me. And hey, it worked, didn't it? That's the important thing – I lived, and that thing didn't."

Link looked momentarily stunned. "That's not the point!" he exclaimed. "You- I-" he spluttered, then just appeared to give up.

"Leave him alone," the familiar voice of Fate told Link. "You hired him, now let him do it his way."

"But Mother-" Link started to protest.

"Leave it." Link's voice had command in it when he called me over, but Fate's brooked no disobedience. This time Link also vanished.

With Link's scolding over with – it hadn't really been that bad, after all – I once again returned to the sky and my friend in the Loftwing. Fi informed me that two of the six Goddess Cubes I'd activated had put chests in 'temporarily unreachable locations' leaving only four to direct me to.

These four were scatted around the various small islands that dotted the sky, leaving me plenty of time to soar the skies. I wish so often I could go back and do that again, and my Loftwing, the great Crimson Loftwing, always seemed to have the same idea. We both loved to fly.

We got a gold rupee, worth three-hundred rupees, a silver rupee – one hundred, in case I forgot to mention the value earlier, a golden medal Fi told me was a Treasure Medal, useful if I needed yet more treasure (seriously, when does Link let a Hero go without enough?) and lastly, a small pouch of seeds to use as ammunition in the slingshot. Personally I prefer picking up nearby rocks if at all possible, you can find them anywhere and they're free. Seeds were a fall-back if there weren't any around, or I used them all.

With the Goddess Cube run done, I finally returned to peaceful, familiar Skyloft. As always I listened in while I went about, seeing my friends there – Pipit insisted on giving me a quick test of skill to make sure I was still in practice. Eavesdropping is a bad habit, but when you're a Hero you have to do it so you know how to help people best. For once, there didn't seem to be anything going on that I needed to worry about.

Before I headed to the Bazaar, Fi informed me that many of the creatures native to the Lanayru region, the place she believed we would be heading to next, utilized electrical attacks, and that it would be unwise to take the iron shield. That was quickly switched for the Banded shield inside.

There wasn't much more I could do here, at least for now. I didn't bother to drop off anything other than the iron shield, since I figured if I needed more space in the adventure pouch, I could just take out something I didn't need, put in what I needed, then put in the didn't-need, which because of Link would send it right up here to the item bank.

Beedle's shop furnished me with another Extra Wallet, since I had this Treasure Medal, and another medal, the Life Medal. All Beedle knew was that it had mysterious and healthy effects on someone – and that it came with the personal recommendation of a man named Link, offering some insight on just where he got his goods from.

Those purchases actually took up most of my rupees at this point. I wasn't too concerned with that, I knew I was going to get more, but since there was no help I could offer to the people of Skyloft this time, that meant all I had to do was add the last stone tablet in the Statue of the Goddess and head to Lanayru. The place where I made too many mistakes. Believe me, you'll see what I mean, and Dark was only one of them.

From above, the Lanayru region was an immense, desolate desert with only a few signs that anyone had ever been there. Even from a distance, ruins in several places were clear, occasional oasis provided some small greenery, and sand-worn sandstone made several artificial features appear to be partially natural.

Since there were few features, I made use of what looked like an old tower as my landing spot, landing with a metallic clank – the tower was made of a dark metal, not stone, something of a surprise to me.

"A report, Master Knuckles," Fi said, appearing nearby. "We have arrived in the Lanayru region at a location designated as the Lanayru Mine. This arid region became a desert over the course of several centuries. Projections indicate Zelda has passed through this region recently. Due to the lack of terrain features in this area, it is strongly recommended that you regularly consult your map to ensure you do not become disoriented."
"How recently are we talking for Zelda, Fi?" I asked.

"I surmise that the light present at the Earth Temple took Zelda and Impa to this region directly. The indications suggest a high probability that they arrived and immediately headed for a Temple in this region. I will inform you further should new information become available, Master."

I'd spent a fair bit of time up in the sky before coming here, and they'd come here through a far quicker means. They had a considerable head-start on me, and I was reminded of Impa's harsh accusation of my tardiness.

I put that aside though. I had work to do. I dropped down to the ground where I found the tower had been shaped, though what into wasn't clear. It wasn't quite as worn as the surrounds being metal, but there was evidence that sandstorms periodically made the attempt anyway.

Half buried in the sand nearby was another Goddess Cube, quickly sent to join the others in the sky, and not far away from that, the local Bird Statue, activated with a second strike to do the same for all others in this region.

The metal tower was surrounded by sandstone on all sides, which I could have climbed to get out of this basin like area, but after Fi having told me this had once been a mine, I took the more obvious route – carved into the stone and with metal scaffold and steps leading the way, I headed down the not so natural chasm. Further down dried up and worn wooden boards continued to show the way, and similarly petrified wooden supports held up the stone where necessary.

At the end was a narrow opening blocked up by a mine cart, which ran on a single rail. Here out of the harsh sunlight and heat of the desert, the metal cart and tracks had been well-preserved, being just a little sandy. I still had to dig out a lot of sand before it would move, and even then I had to shove it forward. It would have taken a fair bit of effort for anyone else to shift.

Since I was distracted by pushing it, I didn't see that a part of the ground ahead had dropped down, probably by the ordinary movement of the earth itself, and so the cart suddenly tipped and dropped with a loud crash.

I didn't really need to be concerned about it though, and after a moment I wondered why I'd pushed the cart even that far. All I really needed to do was leave a gap to get through. I could just use the walls and climb up the other side of this unexpected pit.

And rather than drop down into there, I just went along the walls. Along the way I heard the familiar sounds of ChuChus, only to find that down there now was a pair of yellow ones, which I hadn't seen before. They crackled and sparked with electricity as they hopped around, dully trying to jump out to the higher area I was. I watched them for a few moments, then dropped a bomb between them.

And that was my first mistake. You should never stand close to an explosion anyway, but I'd thought I was safe so watched. And I not only got a face full of ChuChu jelly, but still electrified jelly that gave me a literal shock before the lack of life made it dissipate.

Once I recovered from that I followed the remains of the rail down the cavern, where it joined with another one and carried on. That other one led down from another mine cart half-buried by rocks. Two more yellow ChuChus appeared when I moved to dig out that one too.

There I discovered that they couldn't always keep themselves electrified. It faded after a while, and they had to work back up to it, making them perfect targets. I managed not to make the mistake of slashing them while they were charged.

Only then did I realise there was no point in digging out this cart. What did I even need these old things for? So I just followed the rail again into another wide open area, roughly circular. Some effort had been made to etch carvings into the sandstone, but they were too worn to make out. In places they'd been carved a little to make shelves, anything on them either blown away or hidden by sand. Almost opposite where I entered the area was an ancient looking door that probably wouldn't open easily, if at all.

Dominating this area though was the centrepiece – a large earthenware pot that had a larger blue stone on top, looking almost like a balloon, only with white carvings on it that made a kind of eye. On one side there were three smaller chinks in the blue stone revealing the off-white inside, as if someone had struck at it with a sword, or something sharp anyway.

I followed that example and struck it myself. The blue stone glowed with a brighter blue light, then white. It quickly turned back to blue but instead of being a smoothly worn stone, it was a bright blue crystal now. It rose out of the pot to hover in the air, and as it did so a blue line emerged on the ground, turning into a circle that quickly expanded. Where it passed, the land brightened, the aged metal I was stood on becoming like new, bright oranges and browns, with designs on them – perhaps decorative, perhaps not.

Where there was sand, grass appeared, rustling in a slight breeze. A creature appeared out of nowhere, a strange white thing with a stranger headpiece. The shelves turned out not to be carved but to be more metal, clearly some kind of machinery. The cart clunked off the rail, as brightly coloured as everything else, and the rail itself also lit up as if now powered, and finally the worn stone around became covered with more grass and flowers.

I could only stand and watch this transformation in stunned silence, trying to make sense of it.