Eccina: I awoke as I did every morning, swinging my legs over the bed and sitting myself up quickly. The rush of blood that the gesture had brought about made it rise to my head and gave me somewhat of a dull pounding sensation. 'As if waking up wasn't bad enough, now I have a small headache' I moaned as I placed my elbows to my knees and my head in my hands, trying to find a small piece of solace or comfort in the warm cup shape that my hands had absently made. Maybe I could rest for a couple of seconds more...

Knock, Knock.

'Who is that?'

Knock, Knock, Knock.


'I hope it's not--'

"Haaiiiii? Is Ina home?" After holding my breath for what seemed like eternity, I exhaled quietly and slowly in an attempt to become invisible or at least somewhat stealthy but after a few short moments; HER voice was heard again,"C'mon Ina I know you're there, I can hear you breathing. You really suck at pretending you know." I could already tell Peatrice was on the war path, I knew that I was supposed to wake up earlier for a reason. You see, it was my turn to take over the item storage shop today. Peatrice promised to reward me, "handsomely". It seemed to be a word that she liked using now a days, but god did it ever grate on me.. as did her voice.

Peatrice and I didn't really get along when we first met, I had been known to talk to Link frequently and it seemed from my own perspective that she had some sort of crush on the guy. She could keep dreaming, that guy was so hung up on Zelda it wasn't even funny, well in a cute sort of way but that's not the point. Peatrice hated me for the longest while, thinking I was stealing her man, this was far from the truth. Link was an amazing friend; that's it and that's all. He was attractive but I just didn't feel anything for him.

After my parents decided I needed more responsibilities, they offered my hand to help Peatrice and her father run the item storage shop. It wasn't a hard job, on the contrary, the only thing hard about it was putting up with Peatrice and listening to her constantly moan and complain about it. After I was "trained", Peatrice was free to go about her business and spend her free time as she wished and I ran the store. Sometimes it was uneven, when she was supposed to be running the store; she'd beg and plead for me to take her turn and of course, being the sweet heart I am, I took over for her and it had been like that for awhile.

That's why i'm tired today, I was up taking over her shift since the bazaar owners decided it was silly for certain shops to close completely all night, improved business I suppose.

"INA!!! GET OUT OF BED BEFORE I DRAG YOU OUT!" I could hear the attitude in her voice and knew that it was time for me to get ready.

"Yeah i'm getting READY!" I shouted back to her as I got up from my spot on the bed and started my search for clothing, my frustration mounting as I looked about the living room for my other sock.

Peatrice rapped against the door again, "INAAAAAA.." Her voice was so nasally to me, it was really annoying.

"WHAATT? I'M ALMOST DONE.." In truth, I almost was.. I had one last thing to do and I would be able to walk outside without feeling self conscious. I reached for the elastic on the table, my delicate fingers grasping at it. It was soft to the touch and smelt nice when I brought it up to my lips. I held it in my teeth as I worked diligently at braiding my hair as quickly as I could, Peatrice the peeve is already mad, why make it worse on myself? My long Fuchsia colored hair was finished with the elastic taken from my mouth and I tossed it carelessly over to my other shoulder, it rested on it and hung there.

The door swung open quickly when I pulled it and startled Peatrice to which I could only stifle my laughter, "That wasn't funny," she said as she dramatically clung to her shirt with one hand.

"It was veeeerrrrryyy funny," I said with a rather large grin as I closed the door behind me and walked ahead of her, heading in the direction of the Bazaar. I could hear her mumbling behind me and her pattering feet slow to catch up. This was most likely going to be a long day.

The smell of sweat hung in the air with the sounds of whirling cogs. Beedle’s shop has too few windows, I thought to myself while waiting for Beedle to reply. The gangly shopkeeper was peddling at an even but accelerated pace to keep the shop airborne while grumbling to himself. His perspiration matted his mushroom shaped brown hair to his forehead. Beedle’s nostrils flared with his breathing and a faint redness was beginning to show on the dark skin of his face.

He’d sold the item he was supposed to hold for me. I was irritated and deservedly indignant.

“I held the item like I said I would and for the price I said I would, but then someone came along and wanted it so much more than you did. They doubled your offer and I would have been foolish not to have sold it,” Beedle replied in his brisk manner of speaking.

I let out an exasperated sigh. From past experience I knew arguing with Beedle was pointless so I conceded to the ‘peddler’. “I have no doubt you offered the item at the doubled price and a fool bought it. I’m not concerned with that, I’d rather know when you’ll have another treasure medal.”

“Soon, very soon. I’m working on getting one soon,” Beedle’s reply was too quick to have been honest.

I crossed my arms over my chest and shook my head. My bangs, parted in the middle and lodged behind my ears, pulled loose falling over my cheeks. I conceded to my hair as I had Beedle and let them rest there. “I take it you have no idea when you’ll have another one then.”

“Ah…no, but if I do…I’ll be sure to let you know.”

“Before or after you sell it to someone else Beedle?” I pushed the hair back behind my ear with a flick of my hand, a force of habit, before crossing it over my chest again. I was all the more irritated by the sound of Beedle’s voice. The more he spoke, the more I wanted to toss him off the ship.

“I’d think you would want me to inform you before…and I will of course…and for free too!” Beedle seemed to think his offer was generous and sounded almost jubilant; like he’d solved my problem.

He hadn't and I’d spent too much time listening to him, “Whatever, Beedle. I’ll see you around. I have a patrol to get to.”

A sharp pain travelled along my scalp. My ponytail was too tight, in my haste to catch Beedle that morning I’d tied up my hair too quickly. I loosed the blue ribbon holding it and my hair fell to my shoulders. I tousled it with my hand before pulling it back again and retying it. A few flax coloured strands remained in my hand so I flicked my fingers and watched them fall onto the wooden deck.

Beedle continued to stare at me expectantly but didn’t utter a word. I gave him a salute-like wave with my right hand and turned towards the door to leave.

Then I heard his nasally obnoxious voice, his breathing still laboured by his incessant peddling, “You’re not going to buy anything else?”

I scoffed and turned sharply on my heel and flung my arms out from my body with my hands open. “Are you serious?” I clenched my right hand tightly and pointed at Beedle with my left, “Why would I buy something from YOUnow?”

“You’re not going to buy anything?” Beedle sounded as if he was getting angry.

“Um…no.” I rolled my eyes. Beedle’s nose seemed to be getting all the more tomato coloured.

“Okay. I’m not carrying your weight around anymore.” Beedle reached down and pulled a switch I’d forgotten he had.

I winced and positioned the index finger and thumb of my left hand just beyond my lips and prepared to whistle when the floor fell out from under me. The drop was sudden and I lost my focus, biting my finger. My stomach felt as if it had flown into my throat and I couldn’t manage a whistle. So I fell without my Loftwing to catch me.

“Come Baaack agaaaiiiin” Beedle’s farewell traveled slower than I did through the air and faded quickly above me. Beedle never flew too high off the ground so I knew the fall wouldn't kill me...but broken bones weren't out of the question.

I felt myself somersault in the air before I landed on something rather soft. The impact forced the air in my lungs to explode out my mouth and left me reeling. I couldn't breathe. I tried to move but something held me firmly in place.
A glimpse of red hair forcefully defying gravity was all I saw before I was dropped to the ground.

I blinked as I watched a blue colored blur fall from the sky, it looked like a person.. judging from where said person was falling from; Beetle was at it again. Why did that guy HAVE to pull the trap door every time someone decided not to buy his junk? That's what I considered it anyway, just a bunch of junk that he tried to up the price with countless times. He was unsuccessful when I went into his shop to purchase a supposed lucky medallion, he said he didn't know what it did but that it was special and worth the price of 500 rupees. Was he crazy?? Did he honestly think I was a fool? I demanded that he fly his "airship" down closer to the ground so I could jump off or so help me I was going to go behind that counter and give him a tuning. He hesitated at first not believing me but as I started to roll up my sleeves, he changed his mind and agreed to my request. I shook my head of the memories and quickly tugged on Peatrice's arm, "C'mon Trice, someone might need help.."

Peatrice made a small grunting noise as if she was holding something heavy and sighed, "Awwww come onnnn.. We have work to do and I don't want to upset father." As I pulled her arm more and strained to keep her coming, I turned around to find her resisting with her feet planted in the ground, shoving at my hand, "Come on Trice! I'm not kidding!! This is serious, that person might be hurt!" I paused for a moment as Peatrice winced at the tight grip I had unknowingly placed on her arm, it was time for a different strategy because goddess knows; dragging Peatrice somewhere was like dragging a Loftwing to water when they weren't thirsty.

I sighed and put my hands on my hips pivoting on my foot, I started off in the direction of the commotion and the sound of groans, "Well, I guess that means if Link is in trouble and hurt; then I get to give him mouth to mouuutthhh~" I purposely dragged the last part out to emphasize it fully and to my surprise, I turned to find Peatrice walking beside me with a look of utter terror placed on her face, I smiled to myself and kept walking. My hand lifted up to pat her gently on the head as I would my own Loftwing, "That a girl.."

Peatrice turned her head to me and quirked a brow, "What?" she asked as we approached not only one body in the commotion, but two... and a familiar hairstyle poked out from underneath one of them... Oh no, Groose is here... "I'll tell you later, it looks like someone took a tumble and landed on Groose." I didn't recognize who the other person was, I just knew it was a guy judging by the body type. It seemed like Beetle had inflicted more damage than he knew, I'd have to have a little talk with him later about that. Peatrice spoke up, "Heeeeyyy... you two.. are you gonna get up?" she turned to me quickly and sighed, crossing her arms with a look of disappointment, "Link's not here..."

I rolled my eyes and bent down to nudge the boy in blue, disregarding Groose all together. I liked pretending he wasn't there, then again the fact that someone had landed on him was punishment enough for being a bully, I suppose. I turned my head to look at Peatrice, "I never said he was here definitely, I said he could've been..." He's usually the only one that constantly shows up at Beetles. I turned my attention back and hoped the boy in blue was okay, "Hey... you.." I said as I poked at his seemingly lifeless body, "Wake up..."

I looked around, but there was nothing to be seen. The sky was dark as night and the winds raged but it should have only been midday. I'd left my head lamp back on land. My loftwing, a common blue variety, was struggling against the currents of wind and attempted to keep us on course. I'd no idea what course that was.

"Eruza! Where are we going?!" I called to my feathered friend.

"Waaark!"Eruza let out a shrill cry and dropped into a steep dive.

I was thrown upwards off of Eruza's back, swirling and tumbling through the air. The loftwing, a streak of blue, continued downward unaware.

"HEY YOU...." A thunderous voice ripped through the clouds.

Bewildered I looked around and panicked in the darkness before I struck something hard and solid. This surface was sturdy but soft to the touch and surprisingly warm. A respite from the cold I sank into it before the pain ripped up my spine and my chest began to ache. I kept my eyes closed and fought to breathe.

"WAKE UP.." The tumultuous voice struck again from beyond the clouds, closer that time. A small jab into my side accompanied it. What creature could attack only by speaking?

As if on command I sat up straight and inhaled a sharp breath that filled my lungs. I held the air in a for only a second, enjoying the feeling of it, before exhaling slowly. My eyes snapped open, my vision out of focus and blurry.

I blinked furiously rubbing at my eyes. They cleared a little and I could see a girl with pink hair stooping over me with a quizzical look on her face. She was pretty. Her hair was braided and hung over her shoulder. I didn't know her name though I'd seen her around...often in the company of that annoying buzzard--Peatrice.

Peatrice, who stood right beside her. The annoying item check lady. Great.
I focused instead on the pink haired one staring intently past me now...at the ground. I turned my head to follow her line of sight and remembered the gravity defying red hair I'd seen.

Groose's pompadour. I'd landed on Groose and was still sitting on him. I forced myself to roll off the guy and laid still on the ground. Everything that was anything in my body ached. So I stayed still with my face into the ground. I offered a weak wave to the pink haired girl.

"Hi.." I'm going to kill Beedle...

I smiled and tilted my head to the side to get a better view of him, "You seem to have taken a pretty bad fall," I then turned to Groose who was still unconscious, "At least you landed on him, right?" I let out a giggle that I had been suppressing since he started to wake up, a wave of relief washed over me when he did.

Peatrice tugged on my arm and sighed noisily, obviously trying to draw attention to herself, "Alrighhhhtt... so he's fine, let's go.." she kept tugging and I placed my hand on hers to stop her. A smirk crept upon my face as I turned to look at her, "How about you go on without me and i'll catch up? I'll..." I paused for a moment trying to think of what exactly I could use to barter with her, "Would you like some of my hair clips? Or how about the possibility of me taking the night shift from you?"

To this Peatrice put a finger to her lips and at that moment I knew she would do it, "Yeah, yeah fine, the night shift sounds perfect. Who'd want your ugly hairclips anyways?" She turned to walk off in the direction of the Bazaar and waved her right hand, "Laattterrr..." I waved and watched her go, knowing full well that she wasn't paying any attention to me at all. There was nothing wrong with my hairclips, they were perfect but I wasn't going to argue and jeopardize my chance at being free of her, for at least awhile. I sighed when she was a safe distance away and turned around to face the two again.

Extending my hand to the guy in blue, I gave a nod, "Come on, let's help you up.." I peeked over to Groose while doing so and bit my bottom lip, I was kind of curious if he was okay, "So I guess we have to check on him too... not that I want to.." I had seen this guy before, he was a.... a knight if I remembered correctly? I wonder where his loftwing is... or if he even attempted to call him for help, silly Mr. blue. That would be his name from now on, even if he tells me his real name. I held my index finger and my middle finger to my mouth but the laughter still filtered through.

The world around me was still out of focus. Words faded in and out sometimes sounding like garbled wind-speak. Wind-speak is a term we have on particularly blustery days in the sky when communication between knights becomes lost and distorted between paths of wind. At times like that it was better not to bother even talking.

In this situation I kind of felt the same way. My cheeks flushed and I was embarrassed about the way she looked at me, the pretty pink-haired girl. She observed me like the potion-makers did when they tried out a new brew on rookie knights, like I was some experiment. She held concern in her eyes but it was a light and mirthful caring that danced inside her waiting to explode outward. She was hiding an excitement not unlike the first time a child flies.

She was going to have a lot of questions. Thankfully she sent Peatrice away without her, amid some talk about 'ugly hairclips'. I thought her hairclips were cute, not that I'd ever tell her. I sighed. I was beginning to feel better and my senses had mostly cleared. She extended her hand and I took it reflexively feeling like a young boy who'd fallen off his loftwing for the first time.

She mentioned Groose and I turned to eye the giant when she did. He looked as if he could have been sleeping there on the ground. He was drooling into the grass and mumbling something about Zefla or some such. More wind-speak.

"Think he'll be alright," I coughed along with my first words my throat dryer than I'd thought. I turned to her letting my attention drift away from the sleeping boy. "Thank you Miss. My name is Eldrow" I announced and bowed to her,"But you can call me 'Elbow' if you like...everyone does."

I let out a weak laugh after I informed her of my academy nickname. I'd never lost it.
She seemed amused by the circumstances so far and I thought to myself...why make this serious at all...it would only embarrass me more.

"Beedle and I were trying out a new sport...we call it 'Shop-diving'," I smirked trying my best to not laugh at my own pretense.

"Oh... So I get to call you Mr. Blue Elbow? Well, there... i'm sure that suits you," I couldn't help but chuckle, he was funny, i'll give him that.. A grin was forming on my face as I watched him get up and I started to speak, "Beetle doesn't play games, he likes to try and kill people, I think," I bit my upper lip before speaking again, "That or he just likes to try out his torture devices and I'd say that's the best one he's come up with yet for people who don't purchase his crummy items."

I walked closer and leaned in, whispering into his ear, "I think that half of his items don't even work. I think it's all a ruse to get money."

I smiled before backing away, realizing how close we just were before a blush started to form. I placed my hands behind my back and couldn't help but tilt my head, still wondering what was to become of Groose, "Are we going to help him? Because I really don't think either of us, even put together, could lift the lug." It was true, there really was no way that they could lift him, so what should they do? Should I look around for that particularly smelly plant that I had found the other day near Luv's house? That thing smelt goddess awful, it smelt like if you had taken the socks of all of the knights and put them into a large pile and fanned it as if it was on fire. You'd think the smell from that would most likely kill a loftwing, which no one wanted, especially me.

I finally spoke up and decided to propose my idea to Mr. Elbow, i'm sure that we'd both agree Groose needed a little payback for the onslaught of bullying he had posed this last week alone, I wasn't exactly sure if Mr. Elbow had gotten bullied by Groose but I sure had, I didn't like my braid tugged on by some oafish ape, "I found a plant that stinks to high heaven, do you think that would wake him up?"

I smiled and walked over to Mr. elbow again and tugged on his blue sleeve in the direction of the plant, "You'll need to pick it up, I haven't got any gloves." I smirked, not only at the fact that I was attempting to put the dirty work onto him but also in the fact that I wouldn't be showing up for my shift at all today. An evil grin formed on my face and I chuckled darkly to myself, take that Peatrice for rushing me this morning.

I followed dutifully. I wasn't sure what else I should do. She seemed to want to help Groose, even if it was only begrudgingly. As a responsible knight; it was my duty to help the bully as well. I'd been the one to knock him out after all. So, I followed behind plotting ways to get even with Beedle.

Suddenly it occurred to me. This girl had yet to introduce herself, helpful as she was, she'd avoided giving her name. I wondered if I should ask and thought better of it. She'd tell me if the topic came up...maybe. I kept quiet as we walked. We didn't go far. This 'smelly plant' the girl had found was in fact part of Luv the potion merchant's garden. The girl might not know it belongs to Luv I thought to myself.

The plant was a dull brown color with yellow spots dotted over the surface of its spear shaped leaves. The leaves rose up a foot or so from the ground and then doubled over with the pointy tips just grazing the ground. The plant was flexible and did smell particularly bad. It was because of this Luv kept the plant at a fair distance from the rest of her fauna. It was far enough away, about six feet, to be mistaken as a free-grown plant.

I should tell her just in case. The girl stood over the plant now holding her nose in a comically cute way. It reminded me of the children I'd seen once at the rookery. These children were made to clean the rookery, as I was once, prior to meeting their Loftwings. The feces of Nestling Loftwings was too much for them and many wrinkled their faces in disgust while pinching their noses tightly.

Much like the girl was doing now.

"I wouldn't touch that...for a few reasons...Miss? I added the last bit hoping she might volunteer her name. Not waiting for a reply I continued quickly.

"The plant belongs to Mrs. Luv and she'll be stark-raving-mad if you so much as touch it. We did once...trust me you don't want to. Also the smell...it takes about a fortnight to wear away no matter how much you scrub." I caught myself and smirked, I sounded like a nagging Luv myself.

I coughed and started over. "You can touch the leaves if you want, they're not the source of the smell, it's actually the root. The smell is so powerful it stinks through the ground. Luv can only have one planted on all of Skyloft by decree of Headmaster Geapora."

I laughed. A dry guffaw came out sounding a little wheezy. I'd needed something to drink and this smell wasn't helping. I made no move to plug my nose. The plant fumes tasted worse than they smelled. She hadn't said anything yet but now stooped closer to the plant and was tentatively touching the leaves.

I was good at providing information and I usually talked a lot..so I continued still.

"Imagine if there was a whole island of these...Skyloft would be unlivable. So Luv can only ever have one planted at a time. She can only ever uproot it at night, as the root smell is almost gone then, but if she uses the root in...something....then she can only plant one to replace it."

The girl stared at me then. She probably wished I'd have shut up but her stare made me nervous so I blurted out the rest in a single breathless sentence, "The rumor is she has an nasty little island out there full of them so she can use as many as she likes and everyone thinks it a rumor but I found the island and it stinks horribly, my loftwing nearly fainted in the air it was so bad, and my clothes had to be burned from the smell but I can take you there...if you want!"

Like a burst of wind the words flew out leaving me empty. I inhaled until my lungs were full and then let the air out my nose. I understood why the other knights said I talked too much. I kicked the toe of my boot at the ground and looked up into the sky away from the girl.

I shook my head, I knew it was Ms. Luv's garden and that the 'flower' had belonged to her. I would occasionally walk past her garden and smell the beautiful flowers that she did have. I ended up smelling something foul one day and bent down to smell where the awful stench was coming from. I could smell the odor through the soil and I knew that the flower was disgusting enough to wake even the most detestable person up.

I put a finger to my nose and arched a brow, standing up from my crouched position. I tilted my head while placing my free hand on my hip and smirked before tilting my body inward, almost like I was a teapot pouring out, "What if we were to take this plant, use it's 'smelly' properties and then go to find that island before nightfall? Possibly make Groose help us?" I grinned to myself at thinking that after all of what had happened, would he really? I mean, if we were to tell everyone that a knight landed on him and he wasn't even strong enough to deflect Mr. Blue, maybe that would be just enough leverage to get him to help, "We do have a bit of information that would put him on edge and force him to our hand."

I couldn't help but grin at this point, I was being down right evil but at the same time, wasn't Groose? He was always pestering me or putting the moves on Zelda. There were many times when I was out and about with Peatrice that he would bully us. There was that one instance; he had pushed Trice in the mud. I moved in time of course to which Groose stumbled and ended up face planting himself right into the big pile. Peatrice thanked me later that night and did laugh when he walked away, covered in mud. I mean, he was just down right terrible. He even bullied Link, but from my understanding, there were many times where Link had taught him a very valuable lesson in respecting others.

I didn't have the strength that Link did but he always told me not to worry, that I would find enough inner strength to combat bullies like Groose. I didn't take Link's words seriously but did keep them near me when I needed them most. Eventually it did help me later and he was right. So, maybe Mr. Blue and I could make Groose pay in a way?

I looked at him and made myself stand straight, at the moment he had an eyebrow arched and had his arms crossed. I could only assume he was either angry with my suggestion or he was thinking about it, weighing the pros and cons, if you will. As I watched him do this, I took into account how he looked, his features, what he was wearing, etc. He was pretty handsome for a Knight. I thought Link was pretty cute and then Pipit as well. So where had Mr. Blue been hiding? Sure, I'd seen him a couple of times but I hadn't really had time to LOOK at him. He passed me a couple of times while I worked the night shift at the Bazaar, he would always inspect the shields and then mosey over to Ms. Luv's potion shop to grab a potion or two. I paid enough attention to that, but never just to him.

I really needed to stop, he'd notice and then start asking me embarrassing questions and it was bad enough that I was blushing. So I decided to speed things along, I ended up copying his stance and sighed before speaking, "So? What's on your mind..?"