Faron is waiting outside the Ancient Cistern when Link exits. She notes that the sword has leveled up, but she still doesn’t think much of Link. Link heads back to the sky to learn the next song, which turns out to be Nayru’s Wisdom, meaning that it’s back to the desert before the volcano. The trial gate is in the same area as the entrance to the Lanayru Mining Facility; once open, it leads to the second Silent Realm. This one’s a little harder than the first, because Link still has to contend with the sinksand in the Silent Realm. Also, there’s one Tear that’s particularly tricky to get: Link needs to pull a minecart platform out of a pool of Waking Water to reach it. There’s another one surrounded by a Watcher minefield, and another Link needs to roll into a tree to shake loose.
Once Link has all the Tears and made it back to the entrance, he can claim his reward: a pair of Clawshots. Fi calls attention to the Clawshot targets around the desert in case the player’s forgotten they’re there. There are a couple chances to use the Clawshots in this area to reach Goddess Cubes. The first is after the end of a hidden path that led to a heart piece Link got on his last trip to the desert. The other is on a walkway that has no way to walk up there but does have a Clawshot target so he can get up there. Before heading deeper into the desert, there’s a few things Link can take care of in the sky, so back up he goes.
The two new Goddess Chests are fairly easy to get to: one to the southwest of Skyloft, one to the northeast. The rewards are a second heart medal and a second life medal. Stopping by the market, Link finds that Bertie, the man who infuses potions, is having trouble sleeping. That night, Link heads over to Bertie’s home and finds the reason he hasn’t been sleeping: a bird stole his baby’s rattle, which means the baby isn’t sleeping, which means he isn’t sleeping. The bird can’t have gone too far, though, so Link decides to look for it. Back at the Knight Academy, Fledge is doing better with his workouts, but still needs more strength. Link gives him a second Stamina Potion and some encouragement.
There’s an island floating above Skyloft with a waterfall pouring down; I’ve seen it from the Loftwing and tried to jump off onto that island, but when Link dives onto Skyloft, it cuts from where he jumped to the nearest Approved Landing Point™. Because Link’s not supposed to be able to get on the waterfall island until he has the Clawshots, it’s not an Approved Landing Point™ and he lands near the entrance to the Waterfall Cave. But now that he has the Clawshots, Link can climb up to the waterfall island by zipping to vines and climbing, and there are two things to get by jumping off. First, going away from Skyloft, Link can get a Goddess Chest he’d activated but not claimed and find a gold rupee. Back toward Skyloft, there’s a bird’s nest, and scouting with the Beetle reveals something colorful half-buried in dirt. The jump is tricky – counterintuitively, the reason I couldn’t make it all the way out to the nest was I wasn’t angling Link down enough. Blowing away the dust, Link find’s the baby’s rattle, which he returns to Bertie for 5 Gratitude Crystals. Link now has 52 of the things, so it’s back to Batreaux for another reward: the Giant Wallet, which holds up to 5000 rupees (plus 900 in Extra Wallets).
There are two more Gratitude Crystals Link can get at night with the Clawshots. The first is on the waterfall island. For the second, Link needs to climb to the roof of the Academy and Clawshot to where he can drop down into the chimney. This leads to hidden passage with a grate where Link can spy on the bath, currently occupied by Gaepora. There’s also a crawlspace with a few rupees that ends by dropping Link into Zelda’s bedroom, where he finds the Gratitude Crystal. I have to question why the hidden passage is there and who’s been using it. While in Zelda’s bedroom, Link can read her diary and check out her dresser for a heart piece. Tingle makes a cameo as a doll on a bookshelf.
That’s it for the sky for now, so it’s back to the desert to begin searching for Nayru’s Flame and the next dungeon.
Next: An island of water.
