Now that Link has a harp, the owner of the Lumpy Pumpkin has an idea for how Link can continue to pay for breaking the chandelier, but it has to be done at night. Except for the rescue knights, no one’s allowed to ride Loftwings at night, which only raises questions about the people at the Lumpy Pumpkin at night. Anyway, Link borrows a bed and waits till nightfall, then he gets to play the harp while Kina sings for the people who stay at the bar overnight. This minigame is not well-designed; the only guides you have are the customers swaying their hands to indicate when Link should strum, and the backing music adds more instruments (from somewhere) when he’s doing well… but no matter how it goes, they drop out mid-song so Link and Kina can be the focus. It took me too many tries to get a passing score, then I tried reading guides to how it’s supposed to go and went back and this actually made me worse because the audience started booing Link off stage before the song finished. So screw it, I did it once, and that’s enough. With this finished, Link’s clear of the debt and gets another heart piece for owning up to it, and the next day there’s a new chandelier without anything to tempt someone into breaking it (not that it can be done). There are two loose Gratitude Crystals on Pumpkin Landing, so Link takes this opportunity to grab them.
The next stop is Fun Fun Island, which Link investigated earlier when Orielle was crash-landed nearby. The clown there lost the party wheel he needed to get his minigame up and running – it fell beneath the clouds. Fi guesses Lanayru Desert is the most likely landing spot and calibrates Link’s sword to dowse for the wheel. Link goes down and tracks the wheel down, then Fi calls Scrapper to take it. They bring it back to the clown, who’s delighted he can get up and running; Link gets five Gratitude Crystals and one free play of the game. The game is very Pilotwingsy: First, Link is shot out of a cannon way up in the sky. Then, as he falls, he has to pass through rings to increase his score multiplier; avoid the bouncy balls which, in addition to making the rings harder to hit, reset his multiplier; and finally land on a colored space on the board. There’s one space worth 50 rupees, and with a full multiplier it’s worth 500 rupees and, the first time, a heart piece. The falling controls took some getting used to, but once I did this game wasn’t too bad.
Now, it’s time to go to Faron Woods to continue the quest. The enemies in the area are tougher: blue Bokoblins have replaced the red ones, and there’s even a couple Moblins wandering about. There are two ways to defeat a Moblin: hack its shield to pieces until it’s useless, then attack, or run up and over the shield and the Moblin’s head to attack it from behind (and generally, eventually catch the shield, hack it to pieces, and attack from the front). They take a ridiculous number of hits to defeat, so for now it’s best to leave them alone. (They're slow.) There’s a heart piece Link can find behind a bombable wall. The Trial Gate is located in front of the Viewing Platform, and Link and Fi perform their song to open it. (The pulsing rainbow under Fi’s feet is a much easier guide to follow than waving hands.) Link puts his sword in the ground to open the gate.
Link arrives in the Silent Realm, where the trial will take place. Fi explains how it works: He has a Spirit Vessel that he has to fill with 15 Tears of Farore. The Realm is protected by Guardians who will chase Link, and if they hit him, force him to restart the trial. That’s not everything, though. Getting a Tear makes the Guardians go dormant for 90 seconds. Even when the Guardians are dormant, there are Poe-like Watchers that patrol the area, and if they see Link, the Guardians wake up. There are areas of Waking Water that wake dormant Guardians up (Fi does call attention to this). And there’s Light Fruit scattered about that causes the remaining Tears to shine like beacons. (Oh, and least importantly: There’s a special version of the Amber Relic treasure, Dusk Relics, that can only be found in the Silent Realm.) Or, more succinctly: It’s gathering Tears of Light in the Temple of the Ocean King. Now, I liked the Temple of the Ocean King, although mostly for its dungeoneering aspect, which is absent here. The Tears of Light were the parts of Twilight Princess I pushed through to get to the good stuff, but I didn’t hate them. This? This is terrible.
Although… honestly, when you know what you’re doing, 90 seconds is usually more than enough time to get from one Tear to the next, so the only problems are when you get caught by a Watcher, step in Waking Water, or can’t find the next Tear (there’s one that Link needs to climb on vines to get that was the only one I had trouble with). If the Guardians wake up, outrunning them is tough because of the limits of the Stamina Lime, but short distances are fine. Once Link has all 15 Tears, the Guardians go permanently dormant (unless Link messes up on the way out, maybe), and when he works his way back to the Trial Gate, he’s awarded the first sacred gift, the Water Dragon’s Scale, which will let him swim freely underwater.
Next: Someone annoys Link by snoring, so Link shoots him.
