Love in the Sky
The lunch hall in Skyloft's very own Knight Academy is quite lively with chatter this evening. It's the evening before the annual flying competition that decides which competitor can be promoted to knighthood. People from all the islands of the sky come to see and compete in this race. Knighthood is a rank revered throughout the whole sky.
In the midst of the full hall, Link sits with his best friend Pipit, who is already a knight, in front of their newly met friends, Coney and Flynn. They come from the neighboring island of Cumulon. But even though growing up in the same place, Coney is a knight that has blonde hair that he styles up, and Flynn hasn't reached knighthood yet and has dark hair. They both have the same build, slightly muscular and stocky, but different heights. Coney is about four inches shorter than Flynn.
"So how do you guys practice flying over here?" Flynn says to spike a conversation.
"Oh I just do the usual. Going through hoops, practicing spirals, but of course I've already won the race once. I'm not supposed to go in it anymore." Pipit answers with a sheepish smile towards the end.
"Wait, so what about you, Link?" Flynn readdresses the question to him.
"Me?" Link says with a laugh. "I don't really practice. I mean, I drift lazily through the clouds most of the time." Link says. It's not something that will scare the competition but it's the truth. And Pipit evidently seems annoyed about it. He wants Link to win, but can't see it happening with that attitude.
"Haha. Oh well, you'll probably do fine." Flynn says. "I normally have a set time every day to practice for an hour or so. Yeah, you can see I'm psyched to win this, but unfortunately there can only be one winner." He adds with a disappointed face.
Raucous laughter comes from down the table. The group's heads turn to see what all the commotion is about. Most of it is coming from an already drunk guy with an enormous, red pompadour. He seems to be throwing his weight around wherever his drunken footsteps lead him across the table, poking fun at all the competitors.
"Who is that ass?" Coney asks, inquisitive as ever.
"Groose." Link and Pipit say in unison while rolling their eyes. "He's old enough to drink and he hasn't even won the race a single time yet." Link adds.
"Wow" Coney and Flynn now say in unison sarcastically.
Some people are already starting to file out of the hall; they obviously want a good night's rest for tomorrow. But only a few people leave, the seniors, because now, with the Knight Academy so crowded, the mess hall has to clear away the tables and set sleeping mats for every competitor to sleep on, while the seniors can sleep in their cozy dorms. While Pipit is a knight, he is not a senior. Seniors are the best of knights.
The mats have been set and Pipit and Link choose mats at a corner, so they don't hear Groose's obnoxious, drunk hiccups. They have already undressed to t-shirts and their cozy pajamas and are already on their mats.
"What's wrong?" Link asks Pipit in a loud whisper. "You haven't been talking a lot. Like you usually do." His golden hair shading his worried face. Pipit thinks that it's extremely cute Link is worried about him, but he can't think about that, he's supposed to be upset at him.
"You just lazily fly through the clouds?" Pipit asks Link, referring to what Link said earlier "You barely do even that. You had the whole last week to practice at all and you didn't. Are you serious about being a knight?" Pipit asks Link. Link becomes defensive because of this.
"Okay, so you're better at flying than me and it comes easy to you, but what if I know I'm not gonna win?" Link retorts back at Pipit hurt. He turns his head away from Pipit and feigns going to sleep.
"Link?" Pipit asks for a sign. "Link, come on. I don't link it when you get mad at me. I'm sorry." He knows that's not an acceptable apology. "Link, look at me." Pipit says reaching for Link's shoulder to turn, but he's stuck under the blanket which is sown on to the mat. "Link?" He's almost got him but he pulls the blanket to its limit and it rips from its seams, its sound permeates throughout the mess hall. Pipit lies as still as a rock trying to hear for any signs of someone waking up. Luckily, no one wakes up, but unfortunately, foam is spilling from his sleeping mat and his mat is so depleted of it that it sinks to the floor.
"Ughh." Pipit says in annoyance. Now he can't even sleep comfortably. He tries to switch positions every second but can never win at finding the right one, the floor is too hard to sleep on.
Finally, defeated, Pipit whispers to Link. "Um, Link?" No answer comes. "Ca—can I sleep with you?" There isn't any light in the room, but Pipit is probably blushing hard enough to cast a bright red glow. "My mat broke and I can't sleep comfortably. I'm sorry for being mean to you." Link's face is still turned away from Pipit, but it's a similar shade of scarlet.
Silence for a few seconds. And then Link moves to the far side of his mat, enough for Pipit to fit in. Pipit, taking the hint, gives a word of thanks while getting out of his mat. He squeezes in with Link and he decides not to face Link, it would be too embarrassing to smell Link's golden locks while breathing on his neck. When Pipit gets comfortable, and their backs are barely touching, it surprises them both that no one wakes up from the sound of their rapidly beating hearts.
Outside, the sky is brooding with storm clouds. Skyloft doesn't experience rain, it's too high above the cloud line for that, but thunder and lightning are present, and very dangerous. People have known to die from the mere electricity around a thunderbolt. Some people have even gone deaf in Skyloft from the strong thunder roars. Link is terrified of thunder; he's scared by the thought of feeling so puny by those terrible sounds.
And by a thin chance of bad luck, a thunder storm commences. What Link has feared will happen, happens. The first roar is always tolerable,because it's from far away. But by the third one, it seems as if the monster that caused that roar is close enough to see outside the window! The next forces a short whimper from Link's mouth. This gets Pipit's attention, but he almost disregards it until the fifth, a relatively loud one, makes Link almost jump from the mat. Now Link is slightly shivering in anxiety for the next one and Pipit feels Link's tremors on his back. Out bursts a tremendous thunder roar which startles Link so much he turns around and faces Pipit's back, shivering and with a shaky breath.
Pipit now recognizes Link's breath on his back and realizes Link's absolutely terrified. He turns around and can see the top of Link's golden head facing his chest. And then a tremulous thunder boom envelopes them in vibrations, its power so strong Link grasps Pipit's shirt for comfort. Pipit's taken aback by this at beginning, but then throws his arm around Link and pulls him closer. By each blast Link holds Pipit tighter and breaths heavier upon his chest.
For the whole thunder storm, they stay like that, in each other's arms. Link breathing on Pipit's chest, Pipit breathing on Link's hair. Link can feel Pipit's underlying muscles whilst Pipit can smell the aroma from Link's hair. And when the thunder storm subsides, that's how they fall into slumber, peacefully.