A bit of a shorter chapter, mostly because i couldn't figure out how to solve this whole "bringing Pit to the next temple" dilemma. so, i leave it to you guys! any ideas would be greatly appreciated! anything at all!

i own nothing, of course. enjoy!

A day passed before I asked Lady Palutena to take me to Skyloft. I chose to bring the stealth claws with me again so they would be easy to hide beneath the brown cloak I had previously worn on the island. Lady Palutena landed me on the same deserted island as before and activated the charm to hide my wings, and I put the cloak on before hopping across the rocks to Skyloft proper.

I wandered around for a bit, taking in the sights of the island and searching for anyone to talk to. I noticed a girl at the bottom of one of the ramps that lead to the bazaar. She had long brown hair in twin braids and wore a red shirt and darker red pants with a white shawl on her shoulders. It took me a moment to recognize her as the girl Link had pointed out previously. What was her name...Orielle? Yeah, I think that's it.

It took me a second to gather my wits. No doubt she would question me about who I was, but I had to dodge those questions. I had a purpose, one that couldn't wait.

I approached her quickly, making sure the cloak hid my body. "Excuse me, ma'am?"

She turned to look at me with bright brown eyes. "Oh, hi," she said, facing me with a smile. "You're the one Link was walking around with before. I've never seen you in Skyloft."

"Yeah. Do you know where Link is?" I asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Hm? I think I saw him headed to the courtyard just a second ago-!"

"Thank you!" I said, cutting her off and quickly rushing towards the courtyard before she could question my presence.

Slowing in the courtyard, it took me only a second before I located the familiar green clad figure of Link. He stood at the edge, staring out across the sky. The handle of his sword pulsed with light, which meant he was talking to Fi. A light wind toyed with the end of his hat and had his hair brushing against his features. He faced the stormhead, allowing me to see half of his face. He wore a frown, his eyebrows furrowed. Whatever Fi was saying didn't seem to be sitting well with him.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that I was just standing there, staring at Link. I could feel my face burning at this realization. It's a wonder he didn't notice me, or some other civilian of Skyloft hadn't approached me.

I cleared my throat and walked over. "Link!"

Link turned to face me, his expression one of surprise. "Pit?"

I slowed to a standstill an arm's length away. "I'm glad I caught up to you," I said. "Are you headed to the stormhead?"

"Yeah, I was about to," he said with a nod.

"Can I come with you?" I asked.

Link frowned. "Well, sure, but why?"

"I...I want us to take a quick look around the stormhead after you're done at that Isle," I said. "I want to see if I can figure out where the Underworld enemies are all coming in to this world from."

Link nodded in understanding, a smile coming to his face. "Sure thing. Stay here and give me a second." He took a few steps away from the edge, then rushed forward, jumping off. I waited until he landed his loftwing on the island before me, then climbed on and held on tight as we headed for the stormhead.

Inside, we ducked past enemies until we arrived at the Isle. I waited while he went in to retrieve the next song, and then we flew away from the island, flying around the boundaries of the storm clouds.

I could see more enemies had appeared than before, though still nothing stronger than a Komayto. A part of me had a fear that I had seen an Orne at one point, but a second fly around the area had proven that fear false.

Unfortunately, Link and I couldn't seem to spot any portals or anything that would indicate where the Underworld enemies had come from. So, giving up for the moment, we left the stormhead and immediately began heading for the entrance to Eldin Volcano.

Lady Palutena helped me make a safe landing by reactivating the power of flight as soon as I hopped off of Link's loftwing. It was a short enough distance that I didn't suffer negative consequences for reactivating the power of flight so soon. Link and I landed at the base of the volcano, in the area we had first seen Impa. I took a quick look around while waiting for Link, and noticed a dozen butterflies flying around a specific spot nearby. It reminded me of the last two gates. They had butterflies flying around them, too.

"Don't think we'll need to douse," I said as he landed and folded his sailcloth to put it away.

He looked at me, then in the direction of the butterflies. A quiet laugh left him. "Our luck's been almost too good at finding the gates," he said.

I laughed. "It is a little strange," I agreed. "But can't complain. Saves us a lot of time."

"Can't argue with that," he said. He approached the spot and pulled out his harp, playing a few notes to summon the gate. Fi appeared and the two of them began to perform the song. It was a fast, strong song with an exotic feel to it. The gate was activated quickly, and Fi instructed Link to stab his sword into the gate before vanishing.

Link put the harp away and looked at me, offering a smile. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"I'll survive," I said. A pause, and then I added "Probably."

He laughed and nodded, taking out his sword and stabbing it into the gate. I watched him go completely still and approached the fallen guard tower nearby to sit atop it, waiting for Link to finish the trial.

...

It took much longer for Link to return from this trial than the other trials, but finally he stood and pulled his sword out of the ground, sheathing it onto his back. I gave a smile as I approached, stopping beside him as Fi emerged from the sword. I took a quick look at him, not immediately seeing any changes, like when he got the water dragon scale or the clawshots. What did he get this time?

"Welcome back, master," Fi said. "I conjecture your newly acquired Fireshield Earrings will allow you to safely travel in extremely hot areas."

Fireshield earrings? I looked at Link's ears, noticing for the first time that they were pierced. In each ear was a spiked orange earring, resembling a hoop of fire. Oh, so those were the sacred gift of this silent realm?

"I recommend continuing your search for the sacred flame," she said before vanishing.

"Did you always have earrings?" I asked.

Link looked at me. "Yeah. You didn't notice?"

I shook my head. "No, I didn't. They look good."

His face colored lightly and he glanced away. "Thanks. C'mon, I think I know where we need to go."

We made our way back to the earth temple we had previously explored. However, instead of entering the temple, we took a side path we had taken previously in searching for the key pieces. We rushed through a cavern filled with lava keese to a larger, open area. Previously the area had a bridge that had previously been extended, allowing us to run into a smaller temple-like area that was so hot, my wings and Link's clothing had almost burst into flames. We had quickly run through it previously, heading into an opening with a slope that lead to a much larger slope we had to navigate to get a piece of the key and continue on our search. Link had found it fun. I found it painful because it was difficult finding a comfortable way to slide down without damaging or dirtying my wings.

Sometimes being an angel had its downsides.

Thankfully, the bridge was still extended, and we passed through into the small temple. Outside the burning corridor, though, I slowed to a stop, grabbing Link's arm. "Wait!"

He looked back at me. "What is it?"

I frowned, looking down the corridor at where the room turned bright orange and hazy from the heat. "I can't go in there. The fireshield earrings will protect you, but i have no way to protect myself from that heat."

Link frowned, as if he hadn't thought about that until now. "Shoot...Fi, any suggestions?" The hilt began glowing. I couldn't hear Fi's voice, but Link could, as he nodded and asked "do you wear earrings?"

I frowned. "No," I said, turning my head and pushing my hair away from my ears to show him.

A quiet curse left him. "Fi said that if you did, you could've taken one of the earrings. She thinks they would halved the protection for both of us, but she estimated that even that much should be enough to protect us..."

"Ugh...Sorry, Link," I said with a frown.

"It's fine. We'll find another way." He glanced down the corridor. "Hey, Fi? Do the earrings HAVE to be on the ears?" The hilt glowed. "Do you think maybe it'd be worth a shot?" It pulsed again, and Link frowned. "Any ideas then?" One more pulse, and he shook his head, looking at me. "What about the nature goddess? Viridi?"

Viridi chose that time to speak up. "Yeah, no. Fire and heat isn't really my realm."

"Do you know a god whose realm it is?" I asked.

"I might, but I haven't exactly contacted him in a while. Might take too long."

I sighed, looking at Link. "Go ahead without me."

He shook his head, grabbing onto my wrist. "But Pit-!"

"It's fine. You'll be fine, and so will I," I said. I'll just wait out here." I have a reassuring smile, as much as it pained me to. I wanted to go with him but we didn't really have a choice.

He frowned and looked back down the corridor, then looked at me. "Alright," he said finally. "I'll come back once I've explored this area." He released my wrist and turned, running into the burning corridor. The last thing I saw of him was the fireshield earrings glinting as they activated.

I turned and headed to the large pillar in the center of the temple, through which air blew upwards, and sat against it with a huff, unhappy but knowing I had no choice but to wait.

Trying to edit this was incredibly frustrating because my phone was being so slow. I'm sorry if there are any areas that look weird.

Also, i couldn't recall if i had Pit able to hear Fi inside the sword, so let's just say she controls when he does or doesn't and leave it at that.

See that little button that says "review this chapter?" Click it please! Sayonara!