Chapter 11: Finding Tulin

Note: Happy Friday, everyone! A note for realism here... you know how there's lightning and thunder in the storm system around the Stormwind Ark in game? I actually didn't know that there could be lightning and thunder in a winter storm, but last winter, I experienced it for myself in the northerly region where I live, known for brutal winters! So it's actually a real thing! :D Anyway, if you didn't know, now you do - I just thought it was cool. Have a great Friday, and a wonderful weekend!

The two lights Link had seen from the village turned out to be massive bonfires next to a small cabin. He landed nearby and waded the short distance towards the cabin through snow that reached past his knees.

"Who's there?" someone called out aggressively, and a tall shadow rushed through the blizzard towards him until he found a feathered spear tip leveled at his face.

"It's just me," Link said, taking half a step back and raising his hands. "Link. I visit the village sometimes."

The Rito squinted at him, features blurred by the whirling snowflakes. "Oh, Link," he said, pulling back his spear. "Sorry about that. You'll probably want to speak to Teba, right?" Link nodded quickly, and the Rito gestured to the door of the cabin. "He's in there with Harth and Saki."

"Thanks," Link said, pushing the door open.

"…lightning makes it look like there's something up there," Teba's deep, growly voice was saying as he stood over a low table next to his wife, Saki. Harth sat in a corner, carefully shaving wood off of a bow stave. "Might actually be worth investigating, but without a way up –"

The Rito at the door cleared his throat. "Elder Teba, Link of Hyrule is here to see you."

Teba stood up quickly, his eyes widening when they rested on Link. Some of the tension in his shoulders seemed to ease. "Well, well," he said approvingly. "It's good to see you, my friend. There were troubling rumors from Hyrule this past month."

Link nodded towards the storm outside. "Not nearly as troubling as what's going on here," he noted, and Teba grimaced, nodding.

"That's unfortunately true," he sighed. "We're certainly experiencing some… difficulties. Not being able to fly…" He shook his head slightly. "But I'd imagine you have a reason for coming all the way out here…?"

"I came following Tulin," Link explained. "I'm worried he's going to investigate the stormcloud over Hebra Peak. I don't know exactly what's going on there, but he mentioned lightning…"

Saki gasped, clapping a wing to her beak in horror.

Teba put a wingtip to his brow, wearily shaking his head. "That boy," he grumbled. "He has such a hard time hearing 'no' about that stormcloud. If that's true…" He groaned softly, beginning to pace across the small room. "He has no idea what he's getting into! I'll have to try and find someone to – no, no, what am I thinking – it's too dangerous for anyone; I'll just lose more people…"

Saki gasped again, tears coming to her eyes. "There – there has to be a way to – we can't just abandon him up there!"

"He's choosing to disobey us," Teba growled. "I've warned him, time and time again, do not approach the stormcloud – and did he listen? No! It's his own damn fault, and he's going to get himself killed, and anyone who goes after him!" His voice caught, his brow deeply furrowed into a scowl attempting to mask the genuine fear in his tone. "I… I'll go after him myself."

Harth snapped his head up from his corner. "You're the elder of our village," he said grimly. "Something happens to you, what do the rest of us do?"

"He – he's right," Saki nodded anxiously, placing a wingtip on her husband's shoulder. "It – it can't be you; we need you here."

"I can go after him," Link pointed out. "That's what I'd planned to do from the start." Especially since… it's mostly my fault he went up there. He winced slightly, feeling another guilty twinge in his gut.

"We are built to withstand the cold," Teba protested somberly. "And we can fly. No offense, Link, but how are you better suited to climb a mountain in this storm than we are?"

"I'm a lot better suited for traveling on the ground," Link pointed out. "And that way, I can avoid the worst of the wind. Whereas, from what I understand, the wind is really the biggest problem for you here."

Teba exchanged a glance with Saki, and she nodded. Teba sighed deeply. "There will be some difficult travel ahead for you. But you can avoid the worst of it by going through the cave partway up. Look for a bonfire along the mountain road; it's right at the mouth of the cave. It'll take you close to Hebra Peak. Laissa and Gesane should be there now, and they can give you a lift to the top."

"Got it," Link nodded, turning for the door. He was stopped by Teba's wingtip on his shoulder.

"You don't have a bow with you?" he asked incredulously.

"Too much to carry," Link shrugged, jerking his chin at the pack on his shoulders filled with what he could carry from Ember's saddlebags. "Besides, I'm best with a sword, anyway."

"While that's undeniably true, there are new monsters along the mountain path," Teba warned. "Winged ones. We've taken to calling them Aerocuda. They're not particularly strong or bright, but they can really be a menace – have a nasty habit of dropping things on your head. They won't come near enough to you for your sword to be of any use, unless you want to throw it at them."

Link frowned. "Not particularly," he said.

"Harth, you're up," Teba said, nudging the dark feathered Rito in the corner.

"Mmmh," the Rito grunted, rising to his feet and setting his bow stave in a corner alongside several other bows of varying sizes. "Alright, arms out, Link."

Link held out his arms to both sides, and Harth studied him critically before returning to his corner full of bows.

"He's gotten horribly bored with all of our time shut inside," Teba whispered to Link. "Spends all his time making bows of all various sizes, weights, and draw lengths."

"Can you pull a hundred pounds?" Harth called over his shoulder, examining one of the bows.

"Yes," Link shrugged. "But it's been a while since I've shot."

"The heavier the bow and the denser your arrows, the better your arrow will fly with this wind," Harth said. He glared at Teba. "I haven't just been working on bows in general. I've been trying specifically to work on things that'll cut cleanly through the wind. It's a real science."

"Of course, old friend," Teba said with a grin.

Harth handed Link a gray-painted bow with yellow nocks. "Try this one; should be about your draw length – it is a hundred pounds, so don't strain yourself," he warned.

Link took the bow in hand and gave a few experimental tugs of the bowstring, exhaling heavily at the pressure on his fingertips – he was glad he was wearing gloves. With a deep breath, he pulled the string all the way back to his cheek before easing it back into position.

"Too heavy?" Harth asked.

Link shook his head. "I can manage that," he said confidently. It was a heavy bow, and he doubted he'd be able to get out more than five shots in a sitting, but it was certainly manageable without straining himself.

Harth selected several arrows and slipped them into a quiver before handing them to Link. "Here you go, then. Good hunting, kid."

Teba clapped Link's shoulder. "Wind guide you," he said solemnly. "Bring back my son."

Link nodded determinedly. "Will do, sir," he promised, pushing the door open and emerging into the fierce storm beyond. He could immediately feel the ruby hidden beneath his clothes activate once more, sending warmth through him to counteract the icy cold. Reassured, he headed for the ladder that would lead to the first leg of the mountain road and began to climb.

Unlike his venture into the Depths, there weren't multiple sources of light to confuse him on the mountainside. There was one, and it was about halfway up the Hebra South Summit, exactly where he would expect it to be. He used it as his guidepost as he hiked up the mountain. He clambered over snowdrifts and ice shelves, sometimes bent double against the raging wind threatening to tear him from the mountainside. He kept his gaze pinned on the bonfire, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief when the dark mouth of the cave beyond it came into view through the veil of falling snow. He rested a moment inside, breathing hard from the climb, reveling in the calm silence within in stark contrast to the howling storm outside.

He heard talons clacking on stone nearby and his hand flew to the hilt of his sword before he saw that it was a Rito woman carrying a torch. She blinked when she saw him.

"Well," she said with a slight cough. "Didn't think I'd be seeing anything else in these mountains anytime soon, what with the blizzard and all. I'm here because it's a good place to find food for my people. Why are you here?"

"Looking for Tulin," Link answered. "You're Laissa, right? Teba said you'd be here."

"Yep, that's me." Laissa groaned. "What's Tulin done now?"

Link sighed. "He's… going up to the big stormcloud at the top of the mountain."

Laissa's eyes widened, her beak parting slightly in horror. "Oh," she murmured. "Oh, no… that's… well, we worried he'd do something like that, but we all hoped…"

"I'm going after him," Link added, although he wasn't surprised when Laissa didn't look reassured. "Teba said you could help me get to the top of this cave…?"

"For what good it'll do," she said with a shudder. "Yeah, I can do that. Go ahead and kneel down; I'll grab your backpack. Keep your feet up while I fly – there's lots of thorny bushes growing in here."

Link nodded, sitting down and pulling his knees close to his chest. Laissa walked behind him and with a gust of wind took off; a moment later he felt a jolt as her talons latched into his pack and she lifted him perhaps a foot off of the bottom of the cave, flapping her wings hard and streaking through the cave, twisting and turning hard enough that Link barely maintained his grip on his knees.

"You're heavier than you look," she grunted, panting from the exertion as she flew him up through a steeply sloping tunnel.

"I get that a lot," he said with a wry grin, and then there was snow falling just ahead of them and she set him down on a ledge beneath an opening.

"Whew!" she exclaimed, shaking out her feet. "Well, this is as far as I'm going. I don't want to get blown into a cliff today, thank you very much."

"Thanks for the lift," Link said. He stood up, gazing up at the short cliff wall left to him to scale to reach the opening.

"Good luck!" she called, diving back down the tunnel the way they had come.

He exhaled softly, his breath clouding through his scarf, and reached up the wall with his right hand. His claws proved surprisingly useful for climbing, he discovered; they were particularly adept at utilizing smaller crevices and maintaining a sturdy grip. He clambered over the edge and looked around, squinting through the storm. The silhouette of Hebra Peak rose up before him, a hulking mass beyond the blinding curtain of snow.

There came a low grinding growl, the unmistakable sound of thunder, rumbling down from the heavens. Link froze, staring up at the clouds above the peak. Thunder during a snowstorm… Goddesses! Teba had said it was rare, and certainly Link had never heard it before now. It was chilling, otherworldly, haunting in a way that struck to his very core.

He grit his teeth and trudged towards the summit. There would not be a road to the top; he would have to forge his own way forward.

Lightning flashed from the clouds above, accompanied by a murmur of thunder; the brief light illuminated Hebra's silhouette. Link shivered. At least there's that, if I get disoriented.

With nothing but the crunching sound of his feet through the snow and the buffeting of the wind to keep him company, he made his way towards the mountain. The amulet Kheel had given him was more effective than he had dared to hope at keeping the cold at bay; though the exposed skin of his face burned in the icy air, the rest of him felt comfortably warm, enough so that even his sweat didn't freeze him from the inside out as he trekked onwards. But there was a steadily increasing weariness in his limbs; he didn't know how much was from his arm, from his time away from a Shrine of Light, and how much was simply a result of spending several days now hiking in a blizzard. He shouted for Tulin periodically as he walked, peering up at the darkened skies for any glimpse of the young Rito. A few times he thought he saw a small dark shape flying overhead, but there was never a response.

As he drew closer to the top of the summit, he noticed several massive blocky shapes across the slope – ancient, yellowed stone with bright red and blue designs, badly weathered and crumbling from age. These weren't here before. Something from the Upheaval, perhaps?

He turned his gaze skyward, a lightning flash illuminating the shapes of sky islands high above. I guess pieces of them must have fallen.

Link spotted a small shape huddled underneath one of the ruins, and his heart lurched. "Tulin!" he exclaimed, rushing closer. The young Rito sat tucked against the side of the mountain under the ruin, his head down, his wings folded tightly around himself. "Tulin, are you alright?"

Tulin's head snapped up and he stared at Link incredulously, his eyes wide. "Link, what – what are you doing out here?"

Link bent down under the ruins and sat down next to the young Rito, out of the raging wind. "I wanted to make sure you're okay," he said, drawing his knees up to his chest so that he didn't take up quite as much space in the shelter of the ruin. "I'm sorry for shouting at you."

Tulin sighed deeply, tucking his beak back into his wings. "Yeah, well, you were right," he mumbled. "I thought I saw Princess Zelda again, only… I dropped my guard. A monster – Dad's calling them Aerocuda – took my bow and flew off with it." He sighed again. "So… you were all right. I… I wasn't good enough to go up here."

Link thought for a moment, putting a hand on Tulin's shoulder. He could see a lot of himself in the young bird – himself as he hoped he would have been, if not for the Calamity, with the freedom to simply enjoy the art of swordplay and hone his skills, without worrying about all of the lives on his shoulders. And yet… now Tulin, too, has to deal with all of that pressure for everyone he cares about, because of his abilities.

"Hey, Tulin," he said quietly, after another few seconds of consideration. "How old are you?"

The little bird sniffed slightly. "Twelve," he answered. "Why?"

"Well… how many other twelve-year-olds do you see that have to save everyone all by themselves?" he asked, gazing out at the snow beyond the edge of their little shelter.

"I…" Tulin's brow creased as he thought. "I don't… think there are any."

Link nodded. "Exactly," he said. "Why do you think that is?"

Tulin hummed quietly, wiping absently at his eyes. His shoulders relaxed slightly. "Well… 'cause twelve-year-olds are just kids. They're fully fledged, but they still have a lot of growing to do. And they haven't finished learning yet. Like, how to tell good mushrooms from bad ones – I don't know that yet."

"And that's okay, right?" Link said. "It's okay that you don't know that yet. It's okay that you still have some growing to do. You said it yourself – twelve years old is just a kid."

"But I don't want to be treated like a kid," Tulin huffed. "I'm… it feels like I'm not a kid, or I shouldn't still be a kid, because of all the stuff I have to do. I do adult stuff."

"Are you an adult?" Link asked, glancing at him sideways.

"Well… no," Tulin admitted, scratching at the snow with a talon.

"Sometimes, when times get bad, the adults all turn to kids with a lot of skill," Link murmured, his mind going back, over a century ago, to his own childhood. "But that's not really fair to the kids – kids who still have lots of learning and growing to do, like you said. Tulin… you've been given a lot of responsibility during this crisis, because of your skill. You've got to remember that you're twelve, and that for a twelve-year-old, you're doing a real good job of it." He smiled, gently nudging Tulin's shoulder. "Cut yourself some slack."

Tulin remained silent for a while, his gaze distant, deep in thought. At last he looked up at Link, his eyes sparkling. "Thanks, Link," he said warmly, smiling.

Link patted his shoulder. "Now, what do you say to the two of us going to get your bow back?"

Tulin beamed.

He led Link out from beneath the ruin and pointed to the top of another fallen pillar, a yellow winged creature flying aimlessly in circles around it. "That's the bow-napper," Tulin grumbled.

Not very bright, Link remembered Teba telling him about the Aerocuda, and he chuckled grimly.

The problem will be getting to the top without being attacked on the way.

Climbing wouldn't be an option – it would leave both him and Tulin defenseless, and he wasn't about to let a twelve-year-old attempt to draw the hundred-pound bow Harth had given him. Nor did Link want to attempt shooting the monster from below; shooting up at flying, moving targets was always more difficult, and he had a limited supply of arrows – if he missed, he would never find that arrow again.

He glanced at his right hand. Rauru showed me how to use Fuse to Ascend up through solid surfaces, as long as they're not too tall.

He showed his hand to Tulin, and explained that he was going to try a magical ability to reach the top of the pillar. "I'll disappear for a bit, but I'll come back out," he said. I hope. Tulin looked skeptical, but nodded.

Link approached the bottom of the pillar and held up his hand, exhaling softly as he called on the Zonai magic in the arm. Sucking down a deep breath, he reached up and Fused himself to the pillar.

Darkness engulfed him at once, pressure coming down around him on all sides. Fighting a wince, he reached higher, kicking his legs as if attempting to swim up through the solid stone. There was an intensely uncomfortable grainy, grinding sensation against every inch of his body, outside and inside, it seemed, as he struggled upwards until he felt the wind on his face once again. He let out his breath in a rush and at once found, still mostly engulfed in the stone pillar, that he couldn't breathe in until his lungs were freed. Maintaining the Fuse spell, he pulled himself completely free of the stone, drawing in a deep breath as he let the light in his hand go dark once more.

I hate it, he decided with a shudder. But that's incredibly useful.

There was a high-pitched shriek as the Aerocuda noticed him. Link pulled his bow from his back and nocked an arrow, exhaling as he pulled it back and aimed. The arrow struck the flying creature solidly in the gut, knocking it from the sky, and then Tulin swooped up from below and snatched his bow from its loosening grip. He beamed at Link. "That was so cool!" he exclaimed. His eyes widened, realization dawning across his face. "Between that ability of yours, and my wind powers… Link, we could actually get into the stormcloud and see what's inside! And you said you were looking for Princess Zelda – well, I saw her fly up above the cloud, before you came and found me and my bow got stolen! The blizzard, and Zelda… Maybe she's trying to show us a way to shut it off!"

Link's heart lifted hopefully, and he nodded. A way to stop the blizzard and help the Rito – that's exactly why Zelda would be here! She's showing us the way – showing us where to go next. "How will we get inside a cloud, though? I thought they were… well, clouds, all the way through."

Tulin shook his head urgently. "This cloud above the mountain is different. It's super tall, but it's empty in the center. Have you heard of the 'eye of the storm?' That's where, at the middle of a storm, there's an opening where it's all still." He puffed out his chest proudly. "I don't know much about mushrooms, but I know a lot about storms!" He glared fiercely up at the sky, more determined than Link had ever seen. "There's sky islands going up all around this storm. You can use your magic to get up through them."

"And I can paraglide from island to island if need be," Link nodded, eyes narrowing at another muted flash of lightning from within the cloud.

Tulin turned on him at once. "You have a paraglider?" he murmured slowly. "I have an idea! Take out the paraglider, and then start flying closer to the summit, or try to. It doesn't matter what the wind does – I think this'll work!"

Link shrugged, taking the paraglider out and snapping it open. Holding it above his head, he leapt off the edge of the pillar, feeling the wind catch beneath the canvas and start carrying him sideways, away from the mountain –

Then he heard Tulin grunt and felt a peculiar tug on the top of the canvas, and all at once the wind seemed to shift, blowing him and Tulin both rapidly towards the mountain peak. They landed lightly on a small ledge close to the summit, and Link lowered the paraglider, nodding approvingly. "What'd you do?" he asked, intrigued. "That worked perfectly!"

Tulin beamed. "I just did my usual wind maneuvering, but this time I was holding onto your paraglider with my feet!"

Similar to how Laissa carried me through the cave, Link thought. He clapped Tulin's shoulder approvingly. "Good job, kid."

They encountered a few more Aerocuda on their way up the mountain. There were several more ruined pillars; Link found himself growing more and more comfortable with using Fuse to Ascend up through them, saving a great deal of time. The ruins became more plentiful the higher up they climbed, and since they were easier to climb than the mountain itself, Link kept closer to them. Then he realized, after Ascending through one of the ruins, that he was no longer on the mountain itself; he could see Hebra Peak beneath him, surrounded by swirling snow.

So began the long, dreary hours of Ascending up through sky islands and gliding from one to another with Tulin's help. The blizzard was thick enough that only the next sky island or floating platform was ever visible at a time, and the winds had grown noticeably stronger. Link found himself often dropping entirely to the ground to keep from getting blown off the edge and falling to certain death below.

It seemed at times, based on the direction that they could see the lightning strikes from, they were actually moving away from the eye of the storm. And then on other islands it seemed that they were being led directly up to it. Link didn't know whether he was grateful that he couldn't see the ground below; on the one hand, it was hard to track how much progress they were making when there was nothing but white and gray and lightning in a given direction. On the other, he didn't want to see just how far he would fall if he made a wrong move, if Tulin couldn't catch him. And Goddesses know I don't want to put that on his conscience, he thought with a wince.

They continued until the darkness of the thick clouds and storm around them began to deepen, further blurring the outlines of the sky islands and making it harder than ever to navigate the turbulent skies. Link nearly slipped off the edge of an island, unable to determine exactly where the edge was. To his relief, it wasn't much longer before he spotted a distant green haze through the snow. A Shrine of Light?

"What is that?" Tulin exclaimed suddenly, thrusting a wingtip towards the distant glow.

"It's –" Link began, before realizing that the young Rito was pointing at something else entirely. He shivered despite the ruby against his sternum, squinting a peculiar shape looming just before them in the storm, much closer than the green light. Lightning flashed, illuminating a large rectangular shape almost like a sail.

Tulin rushed closer, and Link followed close behind, anxious not to lose track of his companion in the growing darkness. A fierce gust momentarily cleared the storm before them, revealing the eerie shape in all its detail – two masts bearing full sails between them as well as a single sail stretched out like a canopy above, a sturdy prow carved to resemble a bird's stern face, two sets of oars protruding from the hull. A chain fastened it to the side of a sky island, a sort of mooring.

"It's… a boat," Link murmured, a chill dripping down his spine. How unsettling it was, finding something so commonplace in such a bizarre location. An unmanned boat, moored to a sky island. He felt acutely aware for perhaps the first time of the thousands of feet that must have once tread this path before him. It was like walking across a grave, like meandering through a sea of ghosts.

The storm seemed suddenly to still around them. The wind dropped, the existing snowflakes danced lightly downwards until they had all found a place. Link's mouth went dry as he took in the sight of the full island chain around them, the great distance between them and Hebra Peak so far below. He could see now the specific cloud Tulin and the other Rito had been talking about – a massive pillar in the sky, wind and storm twisting around it in a circular motion. It was directly above them now, lightning flashing from within illuminating a hulking dark, oblong shape with multiple… things… protruding from its sides, like oars. Link stared up at it in awe and dread. That… that ship must be huge!

"Come…"

A male's deep voice resonated through the storm, sounding muffled, and Link went rigid.

"Come… to me…"

Tulin was visibly shaken now, his eyes wide. "Whose voice was that?" he asked quietly, his gaze fixed on the storm cloud. "Was it… coming from somewhere… up there? And – and that thing inside the cloud – is it… another boat? But it's so big –"

"There's more than just that," Link swallowed, pointing up at the massive stormcloud above them. The cloud was circled by a fleet of the smaller boats, perhaps driven by the twisting winds that gave it its cylindrical shape to begin with.

"A line of ships soaring, built as a passage skyward," Tulin murmured, his voice almost too soft to hear. The words were familiar; it took Link a moment to figure out why.

It's from the song Notts and the others were singing when I arrived.

"This is all so weird," Tulin huffed, scratching restlessly at the stone with one talon. "I – I don't… but if Princess Zelda's in the cloud…"

"It's getting dark," Link said, resting a hand on Tulin's shoulder. "I think there's somewhere up ahead where we can rest." He pointed to the green light beyond the next couple of sky islands; with the snowing stopped, at least for the time being, it was clear now that it came from a Shrine of Light.

"Oh – there's one of those at the village!" Tulin said, a hint of relief in his voice. "We stayed away from it because we didn't know if it was safe."

"It's safe," Link assured him, starting out towards the shrine. "We'll go in, rest the night, and start again fresh in the morning."

Tulin tilted his head as they drew near. "It's a rock," he pointed out skeptically. "How do we rest inside a – oh, wow!"

Link activated the seal, and the gently flaming doorway appeared. He led Tulin inside, exhaling softly as he found that the inside temperature was comfortably warm.

"What is this place?" Tulin asked, looking all around in awe. "It feels so… calm."

"It's called a Shrine of Light," Link answered, sitting down. "They were used to get rid of some sort of ancient evil."

Tulin hummed thoughtfully. "Do you…" he began hesitantly. "Do you think… nah, forget it. It's just a kid's song."

Link frowned, pulling out jerky from the supplies on his back. "The… Stormwind Ark thing?" he asked, remembering Kheel's statements and the hatchlings' song, and of course Tulin's own murmured statement about the boats they'd seen outside.

"You know about it?" Tulin asked in surprise, taking a piece of jerky when Link held one out.

"Not much – I just heard the younger kids singing about it when I got to the village," Link answered. He remembered Notts' eager, desperate hope, and Genli's growing doubt and despair. He chewed his piece of jerky thoughtfully.

"Well, so you know the winds that usually blow around Rito Village?" Tulin asked. "The big updrafts and stuff? The story goes, a long time ago, there was a god who fell from the heavens. He wanted to go home, so the Rito tried to fly him back up to his islands way up in the sky. But none of them were strong enough. Then the god told them all to gather up materials, and he used a strange power to assemble them into a huge fleet of flying boats. The Rito boarded the boats, which started soaring up into the air. They reached the god's islands, and as a thank-you for helping him get back home, the god made the Stormwind Ark – a great flying ship that creates all the winds around Rito Village."

Tulin scratched a small design in the soft sediment coating the floor of the shrine, gazing up at the soft green light drifting down. "It's just a legend," he murmured. "Something to explain the updrafts and stuff. But this place… the way it feels in here… the voice we heard outside, the floating ships… it just makes me wonder if, maybe… the god was real."

Link swallowed his jerky. The Zonai lived in the sky; I know that well enough. And Zelda said that people thought the Zonai were gods, when they first came down… "Maybe he was," he said quietly.

After a restful night's sleep in the shrine, they returned to the floating boat – there was no other island close to the shrine that they could fly or Ascend to. There was an island across from the boat, however. Link stepped carefully onto the sail stretched horizontally between the two masts, intending to use it to jump off towards the next island.

Instead the sail depressed rapidly and then snapped upwards, sending him suddenly hurtling through the air with a startled cry, his limbs flailing in empty air as Tulin yelled his name. Struggling against the wind tearing at him in every direction, Link grabbed his paraglider and snapped it open, his body jolting as it suddenly caught the air. Tulin soared up to him, eyes wide.

"Are you okay?" he asked anxiously.

"I'm fine," Link nodded, out of breath. "Looks like that's our 'passage upwards,' though." If I can control my launch, that's a great way to quickly gain altitude – especially since our goal is to get all the way to the top of the cloud.

With Tulin's help navigating the winds, he glided down to the nearest sky island, much higher up than their previous one had been. It, too, had a flying boat moored to it. Link walked to the edge of the sky island and drew in a deep breath, studying the sail closely. It's… it's probably like skydiving, at least a bit, he thought anxiously. I just need to keep control of my form.

Keeping his arms close to his sides, he leapt out into the middle of the sail. It snapped upwards, rocketing him upwards with brutal winds tearing painfully at his face and body. He was ready for it this time, or at least as ready as he could manage, keeping his arms pressed to his body. It certainly helped; his flight upwards was smooth and controlled. At the peak of his arc, feeling his speed begin to decrease, he forced his right arm away from his side and brought the paraglider back out. He was buffeted by the wind until Tulin caught up to him moments later, catching the top of the paraglider in his talons and directing him to the next island. More climbing and Ascending; then another flying ship to launch him higher.

"This one's a bit further out," Tulin said breathlessly once he caught Link again.

He was answered by several high-pitched screeches from below. Link scowled, glancing down to find a flock of three or four Aerocuda rapidly flying up towards them. "Tulin, let go," he ordered. "I'll be fine drifting for a bit. You need access to your bow."

Tulin hesitated. "But… the storm…"

"I'll be fine," Link repeated firmly. "Get your bow ready!"

The winds dragged him away the instant Tulin let go. Link tugged on the front of the paraglider, trying to angle it back towards Tulin, his heart in his throat as he watched the young Rito draw back his bow and fire on the nearest Aerocuda as it charged.

There was a sudden rush of wind and Link grunted as a yellow blur crashed fiercely into his chest. His hand slipped on the paraglider and his heart gave a sudden panicked leap as all at once he was falling headfirst through the sky, the froglike face of the Aerocuda filling his vision as it hissed and clawed at him with its rubbery fingers. Wind rushed all around him and he clung desperately to his paraglider with one hand; he curled his right hand into a fist and swung fiercely at the aerocuda's face. He felt its grip loosen and it recoiled with a disgruntled growl; with a second strike it let go entirely, shrieking.

An instant later Link felt a fierce impact to the top of his head, rendering him blind for a second. Something shattered, shards of white and red splintering all around him. His back struck something that gave way and in the next moment he was hurtling skyward again, clinging one-handed to his paraglider with all of his strength. He snatched the other side of the paraglider as soon as he felt himself slowing down, and as it caught the air he found a momentary, breathless respite even in the fierce winds tossing him this way and that, because at least he wasn't falling anymore.

"What in Din's name?" he muttered, shaking his spinning head to try and clear it.

"Link!" Tulin screeched, zooming towards him. "Are you alright? Your face!"

"Wh-what about my face?" Link asked numbly as Tulin grabbed hold of his paraglider and started flying him to the nearest island. Now that the young Rito had pointed it out, his face was stinging in multiple areas, more intensely than it had been from the cold alone. He frowned. But… the Aerocuda didn't even have claws!

"You just crashed right through that ice as if it was nothing!" Tulin exclaimed, sounding simultaneously awed and dismayed. "And – and you punched the Aerocuda in the face – that was so cool!"

Ice, Link thought. That must've been what I hit my head on.

And then he had gotten launched upwards again. There must've been a boat right underneath it.

He exhaled heavily. "I'm okay," he said reassuringly. "Let's just keep going."

On the next island, he felt his face experimentally. There were a couple of raised ridges where he had gotten scratched by slivers of shattering ice, but no blood came away on his fingers. Small injuries, then – not enough to keep me from continuing.

They reached the swirling column of flying boats circling the stormcloud. Leaping from one to the next wasn't possible; instead Link used one to launch himself higher, then from that altitude skydived down to the next. His first attempts were clumsy; without Tulin grabbing his pack and adjusting his fall one way or the other, he would have missed the next boat entirely. But as they continued he found himself growing more confident in his dives and became more aware of how to position his body to change direction or quicken his falls.

Up and down, and up and down again. Wind roared in his ears, whipped painfully at his body, carrying with it flecks of snow and ice like tiny daggers. The ruby hanging around his neck seemed to do less and less the higher they climbed; the cold bit eagerly into his face and feet and from there worked its way steadily inwards. Up and down, up and down again; gradually gaining height, climbing the side of the wall of clouds.

Until suddenly there was silence, stark after the roaring wind, and the skies were clear. Night had fallen once more, and an eternity of stars glittered down above them, as Tulin grabbed Link's paraglider and they flew to one final sky island, alone above the sea of clouds. The sound of their breaths and the feather-light beating of Tulin's wings seemed unnaturally loud here, where sky turned into heaven. Below them the stormcloud whirled, a spinning vortex with a hole in the center, just as Tulin had described, but seeing it from here it felt so much more massive. Link took one last glance at the sky, drinking in all of the details – the velvety dark violet night, the twinkling stars so crisp and clear, and was that a dragon in the distance, a long, faintly-glowing shape? – certain that there was no better view of the night sky to be found in all of Hyrule.

Then he dragged his gaze away. "Ready to dive?" he asked, his breath fogging in the icy, crystalline air.

"I'm ready," Tulin said determinedly, and Link felt him let go of the paraglider. Link snapped it closed and pressed it against his chest, angling his body downwards, into the eye of the storm.