In the Skyloft Bazaar, the Gear Shop has a new shield for sale, the Sacred Shield. It protects against both fire and electric attacks and regenerates durability over time; the drawback is its durability is lower than the non-regenerating shields. Around the bazaar, there are rumors of hearing a mysterious woman crying in the dormitory at night. The kitchen woman who gets frustrated with Link busting everything up confirms she’s heard it too. That night, Link hears the voice coming from the bathroom. The door is locked, and the ghostly voice asks for paper. Meanwhile, Fledge is making a lot of noise in his bedroom, and when Link investigates, he finds him trying to do pushups but unable to do more than a few at a time.
In the morning, Cawlin, Groose’s egg-throwing lackey, has the chat bubble over his head, and is debating whether to give something to someone. It turns out he’s written a love letter to Karane, and talking to Link, he gets the bright idea of having Link deliver the letter for him. The game makes sure to highlight that the letter is made of paper, and Link’s attention is drawn to the bathroom, at which point Cawlin makes him swear not to give it to the ghost. While Link ponders if he’s actually going to give Cawlin’s letter to Karane, he wanders the island and discovers Pipit’s mother’s house, which is covered in dust. Like abandoned, probably haunted house levels of dust. Pipit’s mother asks Link to clean up for her, and all he has to blow the dust away is the Gust Bellows, which is not exactly delicate with her belongings. Still, she’s happy with the job and gives Link 20 rupees and five gratitude crystals for his trouble. On the way back to the Academy, Link gets a Stamina Potion for Fledge.
That night, Link gives Fledge the potion, and encourages him to keep at it. Then he goes to the bathroom, where the ghost can sense he’s got paper and lets him in. Unsurprisingly, a ghost hand pops out of the toilet to wave to Link and takes the letter. There are two things Link can find wandering the island at night: First, Peatrice is definitely crushing on Link, and her father (the guy who runs the bamboo-cutting game) has noticed, although he doesn’t know it’s Link. He asks Link to chase whoever it is off, and then he’ll let Link talk with Peatrice. So, that’s awkward. Over on the east side, Link hears Pipit yelling at his mom for hiring someone to clean for her, saying he’s barely making enough to stay enrolled at the Academy and give her money for essentials. He storms out to find Link there, and Link lets him think he didn’t overhear it while making a mental note this is not the way to make rupees in the future.
The next morning, Cawlin’s furious and runs off to Groose’s room, crying. Link goes to see Peatrice, who asks him to come over that night to talk. How they’re going to manage that with her father there, I don’t know, but Link agrees to come. It turns out he doesn’t try to stop Link, or apparently even overhear anything despite being three feet away. She asks Link how he feels about her, and keeps asking just to make sure when he says he likes her. She’s happy, but understands Link’s on a quest and that’s the real reason he comes by the Item Check so much, so she’ll wait till that’s over before pursuing things further. Link gets five gratitude crystals from her; her dad’s not so thrilled with the outcome, but, eh. Meanwhile, Cawlin’s having trouble sleeping because the ghost apparently read the letter and fell in love with him and caresses his face in the middle of the night; she gives Link five gratitude crystals for his help. I actually feel sorry for Cawlin here, though [1].
Link’s gratitude crystal total is 40 now, so he goes back to see Batreaux. Batreaux gives him a wallet upgrade to a base capacity of 1000 rupees, and 300 rupees to jumpstart filling it. A treasure chest appears in the room, and Batreaux tries to convince Link not to open it, but he does anyway, finding the Cursed Medal. This increases treasure and rupee drops, but prevents Link from opening his Adventure Pouch while it’s in there; medals, seed satchels, and bomb bags still work, but he can’t use shields or bottles/potions. (I don’t know about bottled fairies.) I tried it for a while; the boost is hardly noticeable over what the Treasure Medal gives, and there are times like the Fledge quest where you need bottles, so it’s not worth it.
Next: The final task and the first trial.
[1] Checking on YouTube for what happens if Link delivers the letter to Karane: Before and after getting the letter, she’s more interested in Pipit, and when Link tells Pipit about everything he runs down to ask Karane out while she’s talking things over with Cawlin, and… yeah, it doesn’t end well for Cawlin this way, either, although at least he can sleep. On this path, Pipit gives Link the gratitude crystals.
