Hello, everyone! Thank you as always for the reviews, and sorry for the very long wait!

Chapter 37: A Tale to Tell

Link had ended up camping beside the volcano, its dull grumbling making the ground beneath him tremble long after the eruption had ceased. He'd had little choice in the morning but to try to summon his loftwing from a surviving statue, despite the dirty light filtering through the ashen clouds. The red bird had made it, but he hadn't been happy, and Link had seriously considered flying under the clouds all the way south to the opening he'd descended through before. Only his loftwing's rapidly increasing discomfort at being beneath the clouds had prevented him from trying it, and as he flew towards Skyloft, he almost wished he had. Ash coated them both, turning the usually brilliantly-coloured bird pale grey and a dull, muddy red, and he could feel his uncomplaining loftwing's discomfort.

Not far now, he thought reassuringly. We're almost there. His thoughts of landing behind the Academy, and letting Orielle or Parrow check the red loftwing over before helping clean him, were for once met with the usually recalcitrant bird's approval, a little bit of extra strength in his wingbeats sending them surging forwards towards the island.

In a small way, the ash seemed to have done Link a perverse favour as they swooped in to land, with almost no-one paying any attention to the approach of another dull-coloured loftwing and its rider. Only as they settled on the landing platform and Link slid from his loftwing's back did Parrow seem to recognise them, already halfway through walking over.

"Link? I almost didn't recognise you two! What happened?" The moment he'd reached them Parrow was reaching up, the loftwing lowering his head and submitting to the examination with an uncomplicated hope of imminent preening.

"It's, uh, a bit complicated…" How would he ever explain the volcano and all that had happened there? "There's an ash plume in the northern sky. We had to fly through it looking for Zelda."

"Had to?" Parrow was still busy inspecting Link's loftwing, who had closed his eyes in contentment. "Link, I've never even seen ash like this… whatever it is. He can't fly again until he's clean." He paused, his tone softening somewhat. "You didn't find her there either, did you."

Link screwed his eyes shut, fighting back the sudden prick of tears. He had to force himself to open them again. "I saw her, but I – I couldn't – I wasn't fast enough to reach her. I think I know where she's gone."

Parrow blinked, struggling to process the two shocks coming so swiftly in one another's wake. "You saw… but…" He shook his head. "So she didn't seem hurt, at least?"

"No," Link said, and saw Parrow's evident relief.

"Thank the goddess. Yesterday evening, her loftwing started acting even more strangely. She's been subdued ever since, and we… well, you have to worry when a bird starts behaving differently."

"Yeah," Link agreed quietly. Parrow's broad, open face invited him to say more, but he didn't want to talk. "I have to tell the headmaster." He glanced back and forth between the Academy doors and the red loftwing, knowing he needed to take care of his bird, knowing he shouldn't keep Zelda's father waiting.

"Of course!" Parrow agreed instantly. "You make your report, and I'll get your bird cleaned up." Seeing Link's surprise and confusion, he smiled for the first time since the younger man had landed. "We teach students to always look after your own loftwings so that you can, but when you're on knightly duty, of course we'll share the load. You have a lot on your shoulders – I don't know why the Knight Commander hasn't at least sent someone else with you."

I don't think he can… Aloud, Link managed a "Thanks, Parrow," hoping his gratitude would be clear in his voice. Parrow smiled and gestured him on.

"Clear skies, Link."

Link jogged past the recovery pens to reach the back door, glancing at Zelda's loftwing as he passed. The lavender bird was perched in a back corner, her head low, her whole posture miserable, no longer paying the sky outside any heed. The sight spurred him on: he had to catch up to Zelda, do whatever he had to do to help her, whatever it cost him, whatever it took.

He was still thinking that as he opened the Academy's back door, shutting it behind himself and hurrying to the central staircase, up to the headmaster's office. Voices came from behind one of the classroom doors as he passed, the everyday life of the Academy continuing as if nothing had changed, as if the world below were still nothing more than a legend and all its students still safe within its halls.

As Link knocked on the headmaster's door, he wished once again that were true.

"Come in."

Link did as he was bid, stepping inside to where Headmaster Gaepora sat behind his desk with a stack of books to his left hand and a pile of papers to his right. Worry seemed to have aged him a decade, etching deeper lines across his face that lessened only when he saw who his visitor was.

"Link! How goes your search?"

He took a deep breath, approaching the desk. "I… I saw Zelda. She was okay, I think. But she… she left." The short words felt so inadequate, but he pressed on. "She said she had to go, that she was sorry. I think… I think she thinks she has to fulfil this destiny before she can come back."

Relief and hope had flared in the headmaster's eyes as Link spoke, only to fade again. He bore the news otherwise calmly, silent for a few moments before he spoke.

"I see. Well… I have no doubt that my daughter is doing as she thinks best. You and she are quite clearly chosen of the goddess, and I must trust that her hand is on you both. Everything I have found in my reading only confirms that. But were you not able to go after her?"

Link shook his head. "She teleported herself away somehow, or maybe the lady with her did. I don't know her name, but she was one of the Sheikah people I told you about last time." It was still almost an effort to keep his voice level. "I think I know where they went – I have another stone tablet, like the last one, and the message Fi translated for me said I had to go to a desert called Lanayru. The Sheikah lady told me I needed to face the trials before me before I could help Zelda… so I have to go to this desert, and find something called the Gate of Time. The message said that the place was entwined with fate…"

"...Well," Headmaster Gaepora said, slowly. "Then I can only hope her fate, too, is leading her there." He sighed. "I feel terrible forcing you to face this task alone, but all that you say bears it out. None of the rest of us here on Skyloft have been chosen, and even if we did attempt this task regardless… I fear what the consequences of our failure might be. It seems that only you can aid her, and so this mission has to fall to you alone."

Link nodded once, more a brief bow of his head than anything else. "I understand, Headmaster."

"Thank you, Link." There was an almost wretched gratitude in his voice, just for those few moments. When he spoke again, it had vanished. "Now, while you're here, do you want to tell me what else happened? I'll pass your report on to Herrene and Eagus so you don't need to repeat yourself."

"All right." Link sat where the headmaster gestured him to, taking a deep breath as Gaepora dipped his quill and waited expectantly. "There's a plume of ash to the north where the hole in the clouds is, and under that there's the volcano…"

The scratch of the headmaster's quill was the only sound he made as he listened to Link's long, almost unbelievable tale.

That took longer than I hoped, but as promised, I'm back! Sorry about the long delay. I agreed to do some extra work as they were short-handed, but (a) it took a week and a half extra, and (b) then I was even more tired! I hope I've got back into the style okay; after a long break from writing, I always fret. These next few chapters were hard to design, which hasn't helped: there are various little bits and pieces to go into rather than a single coherent arc, at least up until we get back below the clouds again. Thanks for sticking with me through the hiatus! We should be back to more or less one a week from now on.

And of course, I wouldn't forget the…

Patch Notes
- "Mass Confusion" removed permanently.
- Headmaster now actually asks after his daughter's health and whereabouts like real caring father.
- Taking a loftwing near an active volcano now clearly bad idea.
- Zelda's loftwing still exists!