A/N: Lol, Zelda Fanfic. XD Not my usual fare, I must say. Anyway, this is set a few years before Skyward Sword, during the ceremony where the Skyloft kids get their Loftwings.

I have this headcanon that Link's an orphan in this game not because his parents died or whatever, but because they left him there for unknown reasons, then left, to never return. Anyway, it gets explained.

"Come on Link, you're so slow!"

Zelda giggled as she pulled Link along through Skyloft, finally letting him go as they entered the small courtyard in front of the Statue of the Goddess. Link stumbled, but quickly regained his feet as they joined the other children of Skyloft at the base of the statue.

Both Zelda and Link looked up in wonder at the sky, and at the birds circling around, wondering which one would pick them; which Loftwing would tie itself to them irrevocably and be their partner for the rest of their life.

Link looked around at the other children. They all seemed so eager, so excited. All he could feel was fear and anxious anticipation.

What if he wasn't chosen… by any Loftwing? What if, after everyone else had ridden away on their birds, he was still down here, feet planted firmly on the floating island, doomed to stay that way? After all, he couldn't imagine a Loftwing choosing someone who wasn't from Skyloft. And he knew he wasn't.

"Zelda, I…"

Zelda, with a swish of golden hair, turned to him and gave him that disarming smile. "Link, don't look so worried. You won't have to wait long, the Loftwings will only be a few minutes longer."

Her words didn't help.

After a few more moments of him worrying and fidgeting with the hem of his shirt – a nervous tic – he deliberated whether to say something else to Zelda, to let her know of a bit of his worry, or keep silent and not ruin her excitement. After all, it was no-one's concern but his, and she didn't need to shoulder his problems… again…

Just as he decided to keep quiet, he heard a disjointed chorus of yells from the children around him, and an almighty thump from behind him, making his already shaky knees almost lose their balance.

Slowly, he turned, and looked straight down the bill of a very large, very bright, very crimson red Loftwing, one golden eye trained on him as though searching his soul.

He could feel its gaze piercing him, a physical presence inside his mind with a distinctly wild air to it, ransacking and upending his thoughts and seeming to be looking for something. He was frozen, unable to move, and he was not even sure what he would do if he could.

Then, finally, after almost a minute of stunned silence from the other children and no movement from either Link or the Loftwing, the bird itself broke the silence by taking a step towards Link and nudging his chest with its bill.

There was an intake of breath from almost every single person on that plaza, watching the exchange between Link and the bird with amazement. A crimson Loftwing? This was unheard of! The appearance of such a rarely coloured bird… it was a phenomenon that hadn't happened for years! And it had chosen Link of all people?

If the clouds below them had parted, it would have caused less of a stir.

Link, however, ignorant of all the whispers around him for once, reached out a hand and stroked the bird's large bill, to what seemed like approval from the winged creature. As he met its golden gaze with something resembling confidence, he felt something in the back of his mind give an inaudible click.

This was his Loftwing.

He knew it without any shadow of a doubt. He could feel the presence of something in his head, but instead of being oppressive, it seemed to fill a hole that had always been there, hidden from view. He could feel emotions and thoughts pulsing through the presence, and without being told, he knew that it was this Loftwing, HIS Loftwing – and that it would be there for the rest of his life.

He had been paired.

Huffing a laugh, and grinning like a Remlit that had gotten to the Potion Lady's counter, he moved his hand from the birds' beak to its neck, stroking the smooth, shiny red feathers and wondering how on earth this could happen to him.

Giving a little squawking noise, the Loftwing slowly lowered its head and body and half-spread its left wing – the one closest to Link – in a wordless command to get on.

Well, why not?

Gathering his nerve, and before waiting for anyone to stop him, he gathered a handful of feathers on the birds back, placed his left foot carefully on its wing close to its body, and pulled himself astride. He hadn't been told anything about riding Loftwings – he'd simply felt what he had to do, and barely managed to settle himself between the Loftwing's wings before it spread its wings wide, much to the shock of the bystanders, and with a strong flap, took off.

As Skyloft pulled away beneath him, Link heard Zelda's joyous laugh and Groose's loud complaint before his own whoop of joy drowned both of them out. The Loftwing – his Loftwing – cawed in chorus with him, diving low over the heads of the onlookers before heading back across Skyloft, towards the numerous floating islands that littered the sky.

Link was exhilarated – barely a minute being bonded to his Lofting, and he was on its back, soaring through the sky, the wind itself at his command. He could go anywhere, do anything, and not have to answer to anyone. After all, with the click that had settled his Loftwing's presence into his head, he had become an adult, in accordance with Skyloft's law. The knowledge of it was heady and breathtaking, just like the feeling of his Loftwing being below him, strong wings slicing through the air.

He didn't think anything could possibly feel better than this.

Gasping as they flew through a wisp of cloud, Link discovered very quickly that clouds were not fluffy at all – they were wet. As he shook the droplets from his eyes, he fancied that he could see the Lumpy Pumpkin, and grinned as a knight swooped past him.

Releasing one of his holds on his Loftwing's neck feathers, Link turned his head back towards Skyloft, which was a rapidly shrinking blob of land, floatingly solemnly in the sky.

It hadn't always been his home. He knew that when he was four, his parents had arrived there from the south-east, in the middle of the night, riding a pair of unrecognised Loftwings. How they'd flown at night he'd possibly never know, only stopping long enough to entrust him to Gaepora's care. Before the headmaster could argue, they'd taken off, flying west into the Thunderhead.

No-one knows what became of them, and everyone had avoided their son like he was a bad omen. He'd been silent for the first few weeks of his time in Skyloft, and even now still said little.
He'd known he didn't belong. Now, though, with his Loftwing beating its wings steadily under him, he felt empowered. He could go anywhere. He could find his parents, and ask them why they'd left him, what had been wrong with him…

Whether they'd take him back.

Without meaning to, he found himself leaning his Loftwing towards the west, so that it aimed at the Thunderhead, hovering silent and obtrusive in the sky.

Maybe he didn't need to go back to Skyloft. Maybe he could fly, for as long as he could, without going back. He'd find his own place, carve out his own niche in the wall of the world, and live without people's judgement ever again.

His hands tightened in his Loftwing's feathers as he thought of all the times Groose had beaten him up, or pushed and shoved him in the hallways of the Academy, or insulted him for any number of reasons. He thought of all the times he'd walked through the Bazaar and people had whispered at each other as he passed, pulling their small children away from him. He wasn't wanted.

He felt tears pushing their way up his throat until suddenly, unbidden, the image of Zelda appeared in his mind, smiling that innocent smile of hers. He remembered her picking him up and dusting him off when she found him, bruised and teary-eyed, after Groose had passed by. How she would defend him against everyone, saying that they were all gossipy idiots with nothing better to do.

How she had been the only person to talk to him those first few weeks, to be his friend when everyone else shied away.

After that, Pipit had followed her example, the older boy watching out for Link much like a big brother would, and then Fledge, who looked up to him for reasons unexplained.

They'd both followed her example, after seeing her extend her hand to show them that he didn't bite.

He owed her so much.

His hands loosened their grip on his Loftwing's feathers, and he shook his head, shaking off the thoughts of his own loneliness. With a small readjustment, he aimed his Loftwing back towards Skyloft.

"Come on buddy. Let's go..."

He'd never counted Skyloft as his home. It had only ever been the place where he slept, ate, and grew up until he figured out where home was.

But he'd also always thought that home was not where you lived, it was where you felt most accepted, and where you felt you belonged.

And that, he realised, was right next to Zelda.

"… Let's go home."

Years later, as he would fight his way through hordes of enemies, solve intricate puzzles and accept the Legacy of the Hero, he would think back to this moment.

As the people of Skyloft continued their lives, unknowing of how he had saved them from evil itself, and he descended to the Surface with Zelda, he would think back to this moment and realise that his place would always be at Zelda's side, no matter where they were or how many years past.

She would need him, he knew.

And he would always be there.