Hey again, Ancalagon! Thanks so much for the comments; I'm particularly glad you like the realism touches and the real seriousness of the fights! I've included a further explanation of "evid" below today's patch notes; does that make a little more sense than last time's admittedly very terse patch note?

Chapter 11: Skyview Spring

Link stood before the golden door, weight resting on his left leg. There was no visible way to open it, and when he placed his hand on it, he could feel its power beneath his fingers like an impermeable wall. The demon had seemed to be attacking it, but he hadn't made any visible difference. There was no scratch or dent in the ornate surface, and it was utterly unyielding beneath his fingertips.

"…Fi? Is there… any way to open this?"

Fi appeared beside him, as calm as if the battle just ended had never been fought.

"Yes, Master. It is a defensive barrier, keyed to the signature of Zelda and of your sword. Charge the sword with power, then touch it to the shield, and it shall permit you to pass."

"Okay."

Link took a slow breath. Each time he'd done that, something had happened. Yet, as he drew the sword and looked at it, he knew he had no other choice. He raised the sword high, watching as light shone from the sacred blade…

Just for a moment, he was-

-gazing upon a sacred light shining before him…-

-and it was gone. Link blinked, looking at the sword, still glowing with what might have been an echo of that same light. If Fi was right, all he had to do was touch it to the barrier…

As he lowered the sword and reached it forwards, the golden door began to glow, in a pattern that was different to the seeming carvings on it and yet only served to enhance them. Holding his breath, Link touched the tip of the sword to the impervious barrier – and it dissolved into light.

Beyond, a mossy stone path led up a set of steps into what seemed like open air, cool in the early evening. It felt calm, somehow peaceful, a breath of blessed relief after the battle. Link started slowly up the stairs, taking each one carefully, left foot first and moving his right to join it, looking around him as he did. The stairs themselves were still within a pillared hall, but one with no door at its far end, open to the elements beyond. Even after however long it had lain abandoned, the stonework was still near-perfect, fitting together with barely a seam.

The golden barrier rematerialised silently behind him.

Link made it to the top of the steps and stopped, gazing around. He'd emerged onto a paved area half covered in moss and even grass, and beyond it was a shallow pool in an almost perfectly circular rock-walled hollow, time-worn stepping stones just above the surface of the water forming a path towards a pale stone statue of the goddess on an ornate base. Water poured in down several small waterfalls, gently rippling the surface, and seemed to flow silently away beneath an overhang to his right. Something about the place felt… pure.

Fi had drifted silently up the stairs behind him, floating a pace or so from his shoulder.

"Master, I perceive that there is an ancient message engraved into the aura of this place. There is a 99% probability that I will be able to comprehend it if we approach closer to the spring within this basin, behind the statue."

Link glanced back at her and nodded. "All right."

He ventured forwards to the edge of the paved platform, looking at the stepping stones. They looked smooth and almost flat, and mostly weren't too far apart. He took a deep breath, and hopped gingerly down.

As he reached the last one, still an uncomfortably long jump from the statue's ornate base, Fi overtook him, floating just above the surface of the water, which almost seemed to glow faintly beneath her.

"Master, release the power contained within your sword towards the symbol of the goddess at the statue's base."

Link nodded again, focused, and swung the blade in a quick horizontal slash. Light shot from it, striking the carved symbol and briefly illuminating it with an ethereal glow. The faintly rippling light beneath Fi's feet intensified and spread, and to Link's surprise, she began to dance, leaving ripples of light across the surface of the water behind her.

"You who are chosen to carry out the goddess' great mission have reached this first of two sacred springs. Here at this sacred Skyview Spring, the spirit maiden must purify herself before travelling to the second, the Earth Spring, hidden away amidst the scorched rocks of Eldin. Remain always mindful of the heavy task entrusted unto you, and continue towards your fate."

As she spoke, her musical voice almost singing the words, she skated across the surface of the water, moving with a grace like nothing Link had ever seen. He stared, twisting to follow her as she spun about the pool, her path picked out in subtle light, until at the end she stopped once more between him and the statue, spinning on the toe of one foot, her wing-like arms outstretched. Finally, the message delivered, she slowed, lowering her other leg and her arms and coming to a graceful stop facing him.

Link found his voice several seconds later.

"I didn't… I didn't know you could dance like that." The words felt inane the moment he'd spoken them. Fi said nothing, tilting her head slightly to the right as she gazed back at him with blank eyes he could almost read. "It was beautiful."

Fi's head tilted very slightly further. "The motions were appropriate to the manner in which the message was conveyed. The sequence was in essence an element of its interpretation."

Link wondered if there was any way to describe it to her. She didn't seem to understand, her blank gaze attentive, calm, neither complimented nor insulted; not quite comprehending. A moment later, he shook his head: he should focus on the message itself.

"Do you think Zelda could have found this message?"

Fi nodded. "I calculate a 97% chance that the message could be interpreted by the spirit maiden without my assistance. I therefore surmise that she has set out for Eldin, as the message states she must. However, it is not clear what means of travel she may have employed: her aura is fading from this place, and there is no clear trail to suggest a physical direction of departure." She turned, looking at the statue, and at the great plinth it stood upon. "Master, there is something before that statue that bears lasting traces of her aura. It is likely that she has left it as a sign for you."

Link gasped, forgetting his weariness and pain as Fi drifted aside to let him see. A slab of broken stone lay before the statue, in front of the still-shining sigil, and beneath it – beneath one corner he could see a scrap of cloth sticking out! He jumped into the waist-high water without thinking, gasping at the renewed pain as it stung his wounded leg, and waded towards the plinth. It was at about head height; gritting his teeth, he forced himself to grab the edge and pull himself up onto it.

The slab of stone was decorated, and set with a red gem, but more important was the scrap of cloth beneath it. Carefully lifting the heavy stone, Link pulled it free: a white handkerchief. He looked closer – in one corner, Zelda had stitched her initial and the silhouette of a lavender Loftwing, but something had bleached all the colour from the thread. It was still recognisably hers, and he held it almost gingerly, staring at it for a long, long moment, slowly rubbing his thumb over the embroidery and feeling its presence before at last he swallowed and tucked it away.

Zelda…

He refocused on his other hand, still atop the broken stone slab, then at the stone itself. Intricately carved, it reminded him of the tablet Fi had given him, a day and a night ago that felt like a lifetime.

"Fi, does-" His voice caught, and he tried again. "Does this look like the stone tablet you gave me to you?"

Fi floated closer, disregarding the position of either ground or water, to lean over beside him and inspect it.

"It does, Master. This would appear to be another piece of the map, similar to the one entrusted to me. My analysis suggests that if you return it to the altar in Skyloft, it will cause another opening in the clouds above the Eldin region, similar to the one that you used to descend here. I surmise that this was intended to open the way for both you and Zelda. However, without access to her Loftwing, it is of no use to her, and she therefore left it for you."

"Do you think she knows I'm following her? I mean – really knows, not just… not just hopes?"

Fi's expression remained impassive. "I do not know, Master."

I hope so. I hope she knows I'm here. I hope she… she doesn't feel alone. He swallowed painfully, forcing back a sudden urge to cry at the mixture of defeat and hope, relief and fear; at the thought of what it would have to feel like to be trapped here completely and utterly alone, not even knowing, even if she believed it, that anyone was really coming for her. After a couple of slightly shaky deep breaths, he gritted his teeth and hefted the stone tablet into one of his belt pouches. He was rapidly running out of space to carry things, but it would have to do.

Finally, he turned over, sitting wearily at the foot of the statue with his boots in the water below. It didn't feel right, but he'd just waded through it, and he was exhausted again.

"I guess…" He looked up at the sky. The clouds above were a combination of shadow-dark and red-gold, a strange and splendid sight. The watery light of the sun had already faded, the spring shrouded in a deep shadow. "...There's no time to fly back to Skyloft… is there."

"It is already sufficiently dark that flight below the clouds would be dangerous for a Loftwing," Fi agreed. "I advise that you make camp here, at the spring. It is protected from danger, and you will be able to treat your wounds and rest without fear of interference. You may then summon your Loftwing from the statue outside in the morning."

Link sighed, and forced himself to push himself forwards, dropping off the edge and back into the water before sheer weariness and lethargy could pin him in place. Ignoring the stepping stones, he waded slowly back to the stone platform at the entrance, hauling himself out and half-collapsing back into a sitting position. He was beginning to feel utterly drained.

"Master Link," Fi prompted. "You should attend to your injuries before-" She cut off uncharacteristically, abruptly looking up.

"What is it?"

"I detect two life forms approaching this area. While they will not be able to enter the spring itself, analysis of their characteristics indicates that they are likely to render you aid should you request it."

Too tired to ask for further details, Link simply nodded, looking up at the edge of the sheer-walled basin. He couldn't see them, but if Fi said there was someone there, he believed her.

Patch Notes:
- Zelda no longer simply ignores her best friend's pursuit.
- Skyview "Spring" now contains both a spring and a means for the water to leave through. (The basin is most probably an old sinkhole.)

Evid: Generally speaking, if a small, lightweight animal such as a bat always aggressively attacks larger animals whenever they come near it, it is very likely that the species will quickly die out - particularly if it is unfortunate enough to dwell near a colony of humans, which will exterminate it rapidly. Therefore, Keese are only likely to exist as we see them if (a) they are literally spawned by the gods every few weeks, or (b) they are not normally hostile and are in fact typically harmless. I chose the latter since it makes more sense to me in this circumstance. Keese are therefore now a mostly-harmless species of bat that are particularly susceptible to corrupting magical auras: in the presence of such an aura, they will behave erratically, becoming extremely hostile.