Hey Birdie and Mimi! Thanks again for the reviews!

I always thought Fi was "okay I guess", but I couldn't really see any reason for adding her to the series - what were we gaining here? Why are we messing with the Master Sword? Why like this? It's only when I started working on this (thanks to the Floor Owl) that I started to actually like her, as we explore what the game hypothetically could have done with her to get to its end farewell instead of what it did, which was mostly "two scenes you can read something into if you want, otherwise nothing". I'm really glad I'm managing to write a Fi that even people who didn't like her can like! =D

Chapter 23: Echoes

The cold wind blew steadily into Link's face as they flew, wide wings beneath him bearing them on. He scanned the clouds automatically, only half noting what he saw there, waiting for the impression of direction Fi gave him to resolve downwards – and until then, thinking. With nothing else to do as he flew, his mind kept circling back to that morning, and everything Fi had said.

He'd crossed the island again, heading for a northern platform: his loftwing had roosted near the graveyard overnight, and he had, perhaps, wanted to make sure that nothing bad was happening, after Kukiel had wanted to take her parents to see her strange and disturbing friend. He'd told Headmaster Gaepora everything as soon as he woke in the morning, and knew that by now the Knight Commander would not only know but have begun to spread word through all the knights stationed on the island, but even so.

Even so…

But Fi had detected nothing amiss, other than the fact of Batreaux's existence, and since she was, despite her distaste, as sure as he'd been that the demon was telling the truth about his intentions, Link had felt reassured, turning to depart with a lighter heart. He'd glanced back, once, and as he had Fi had emerged unexpectedly in his line of sight, looking at him impassively with her strange blank eyes in her sculptedly perfect face.

"Master. You enquired about the body found in the Chamber of the Sword."

"Yes," he'd said quietly, turning and walking back to her. She was floating at a slight angle, more facing him than not, and he stopped more or less in front of her, still able to see past the drape of her arm the little marker beneath the tree that stood in place of a gravestone until one was carved. He hadn't thought she wanted to talk about it, and if she'd decided to…

"It was that of my previous wielder."

She said the words so calmly, and yet they had dropped into Link's heart like a stone, with what seemed almost a sense of inevitability. How could it have been anything else? Fi had kept speaking as he gazed past her, remembering again the strangeness of the chamber in the dark of the night, the horror that had transfixed him, caught the breath in his throat. With an effort, he'd pulled his attention from it to focus on listening to her, to look at her face as she spoke. This was important to her – how could it not be?

"As your graduation ceremony recalled, the goddess once chose a hero to aid her in saving her people," Fi related. "He was able to delay, but not halt, the demons in their advance. Although he was mortally wounded in the battle, his actions, together with those of the people he led, weakened them significantly, which permitted the goddess to seal the great evil below. She returned him to the island upon which the statue stands, where he replaced the sword before succumbing to his injuries."

"Fi, I…" Link had cast about for words, found almost none. How many generations had she been down there alone with the body of someone who had to have been her friend and ally, no doubt far closer to her than he was? "I'm so sorry."

He'd felt Fi's attention refocus abruptly onto him, though he saw no visible change in her expression, in her blank eyes. Young and ancient at once, her face had been, as always, unreadable.

"I'll tell Father Kaeber," he'd said, after a short space of silence. "Someone should know… everyone should know."

Fi had said nothing for a long, long moment, long enough that he had almost worried he had said something wrong, then spoken at last, her tone unchanged.

"You should not delay your departure, Master Link."

"You're right…" He'd wanted to be away, only come here to reassure himself all was, at least, safe enough on Skyloft before setting out again in search of Zelda. He'd already lost the first hour of the morning crossing Skyloft, already lost – though he couldn't begrudge it – the last hours of light the day before searching for Kukiel. And yet… even though Fi encouraged him to, he couldn't just leave all that was left of her former friend unremembered. An idea had struck; he'd paused. "I'll write him a note."

Fi had said nothing, observing impassively as Link extracted his battered notebook, twisted the cap from his pen and the ink reservoir open, and wrote, hastily and at a bit of a slant, everything Fi had just told him onto a back page. Ripping it out – several of the other back pages had already suffered the same fate, stripped for messages – he'd folded it and written Father Kaeber's name on the outside.

She'd only returned to the sword as he'd left the graveyard, finding the first person he could who didn't seem in the middle of something too important and asking them to pass it on, with a couple of rupees for the trouble. As his impromptu messenger dashed off, wishing him luck, he'd turned back to find the nearest platform, the red loftwing already soaring below the island, impatient to fly.

They'd left, and flown, other islands passing them by, the occasional other rider offering a wave or a dip of their bird's wing, following the subtle and silent guidance Fi had given him, and most of the way, his thoughts had been circling between concern and hope for Zelda, and sympathy for Fi and her long-lost wielder, half-remembered and yet his fate somehow lost in the mists of time.

As they soared over the edge of the Shadow Sea, a strange dark stain on the clouds below that seemed almost always present, borne up on the thermals that filled the region, Link leant forward sharply, his thoughts forgotten as he shaded his eyes to peer ahead. There – was that… smoke, rising in a thin and wispy trail from far below? His loftwing, feeling his curiosity, felt it too: the pair surged forward, great wings beating harder in steady rhythm.

"Fi, can you see that? It looks like it's coming from the clouds!"

Fi appeared beside him, facing the same direction, poised as if gliding through the air and keeping pace effortlessly with her flawless grace.

"I perceive it, Master. I predict with 99% certainty that it marks the gap in the cloud barrier that you have opened. Hot air from below, laden with volcanic ash, will rise rapidly through such an opening."

Link remembered what she had said about the hazards of the journey. He'd been given a talisman – now securely fastened around his arm, under his sleeve – to protect him against a forge's heat, but no-one had been able to come up with anything to prevent poisoned air from killing him if he breathed it. "Will you be able to tell if it's safe?"

"Once we are within a short distance of it, yes."

"Good. Thanks, Fi."

Link looked back to the plume of ash as Fi returned to the sword. Despite everything, it was still almost exciting. A gateway to the still-mythical surface, where a mythical volcano lurked… a place full of danger, and demonic monstrosities, and the terrifying Ghirahim; a place where he had seen a tree the size of an island; a place where strange but kind people had helped him, aided him, welcomed him among them. What would he see here? What would it be like? Would Zelda be there – would she be safe? Could he finally find her?

His loftwing's curiosity was more uncomplicated, more direct: the ash plume looked, to both the bird and to Link, like the smoke of a fire, and if there was a fire then the bird would expect one or more humans to be sitting at it, and so he anticipated hopefully that their missing flockmate might be below the plume in the strange sky-under-sky he had entered so briefly. The undercurrent on the edge of Link's mind boosted his confidence and his hope, miles drifting by beneath the red loftwing's powerful wings.

As they swept low near the base of the plume, Fi spoke again, this time in Link's mind alone.

I can now confirm that the plume is safe, Master, although I recommend avoiding breathing the particles contained within it as much as possible. As I predicted, the opening in the clouds is located at its base.

Link nodded, tugging the scarf he'd brought along up over his nose and mouth and tying it securely behind his head. "All right, then. Let's go."

Knowing what he was doing somewhat better and with so clear a sign to guide him, he steered his loftwing around the side of the ash cloud, not wanting to risk him flying into it. The bird squawked his anxiety – even if Link had survived the last time, he did not trust the cloud layer below, or at all like the enforced separation – but the drive to find their flockmate and Link's soothing won out as he dipped a wing, arcing in a graceful left turn that left Link clear to dive from his back. He angled himself sideways as he fell through the air, falling from one current of wind to another, able to see each one coming by the twisting of the plume he fell beside. The opening in the clouds was invisible, covered by the stain of the ash billowing up past him; as the clouds grew nearer and nearer still, Link tilted his body again, side-slipping into the plume.

Grit coated his face, and a strange dusty warm smell, and his flight goggles were instantly speckled with ash. Link trusted to Fi's guidance as he fell half-blind through the clouds, her calm voice reciting the information into his mind.

You are off-centre but within tolerances, Master Link. On this course, the edge of the cloud barrier will pass approximately 2.7 metres to your right at its nearest point. She paused. You are now below the cloud barrier, Master. You will be clear of the ash cloud and free to utilise your sailcloth shortly.

Moments later, her words proved true. The dark, almost black air in front of Link gave way to a red glow, dull and ominous, and for a moment the strange horror of before rose in him, weaker but not yet banished, as he fell into what looked like a world on fire – and then he was through, what seemed to be rivers of orange-red spilling down the side of a vast mountain, the air ever hotter as he descended, whipping up past him in thermals of unbelievable strength. Link released the sailcloth, his arms locked into the straps and gripping them tight, and it snapped open with enough force to hurt, leaving him drifting down gently as a feather. The darker patch below him spread, expanded, looking blessedly flat as all around the rock proved to be towering spires and smaller peaks, and when he finally hit the ground beside, wonder of wonders, a red-leafed and sickly-looking tree, Link tugged the sailcloth off himself and simply stood for a moment, taking it all in.

Fi appeared beside him not long after.

"Master, this is the foot of Eldin Volcano. As I predicted, it is clearly highly active. The protection that you currently possess will be insufficient to shield you from the heat of the molten rock. Additionally, many creatures live here utilising the powerful magic in the area, and possess adaptations that suit them to the extreme conditions. I detect a strong demonic presence in the area, from which I conclude that many of these creatures will have been corrupted by its influence, and thus inordinately hostile to you. From my observations during our descent, it appears that more than 60% of the otherwise traversable terrain is currently covered in lava. You will need to exercise extreme caution, and be careful with any flammable objects."

"Right…" Link said quietly, still gazing up at the volcano. He'd thought the island-sized tree was huge, but this…?

Don't forget you can follow my status updates on Fandom dot Ink slash at Ardil (Mastodon) if you want to find out whether or not I've succeeded at the weekly chapter! Mostly because I personally find waiting for chapters to maybe-post or maybe-not on their scheduled day without knowing how long to wait to be annoying, so I won't inflict it on you guys.

Patch Notes
- Plot threads continue from the backstory.
- Sword of the Chosen's presence on island despite confirmation of previous Chosen's descent by parachute reconciled.
- Link continues to actually inform people of things relevant to the safety of the islands.
- Volcano hazards updated.
- Link now possesses standard flight gear.
- Loftwing still relevant.

We don't see Fi's perspective this chapter for the simple reason that anything I write would be too cack-handed when parts of her perspective need to be sketched ever so faintly with a paintbrush no more than a micron thick.

However, if you're just too curious to find out a bit more about what she was talking about, it's all in the last few chapters of Out of Time…