I continued my climb up the Great Tree and at the top, I met a Kikwi hermit named Yukon Cornelius Yerbal.
He told me that I needed to open a gate with an incomplete symbol. So I had to find a matching symbol, which he marked on my map. I then had to go to the gate and use the Wii remote to draw on the gate.
Once I drew it correctly, the gate opened. I then had to take a flying leap into the water.
I ended up in Lake Floria with some Zora-like water creatures.
One of them took me to their leader Faron, warden of the woods.
She agreed to lead me to the sacred flame, but only if I fetch her some sacred water to recover her wounds from fighting with the Demon Lord. Smurf-Fi took a sample of the water so I could douse for it. A path led me back to Faron Woods, but not before I passed by a beautiful waterfall.
Before I reached the sacred water I needed, I saved my game.
A strange mark appeared on the ground; I had to thrust my sword into it. Once I did, everything changed colors. There is an eerie atmosphere and a surreal look. The first trial, Farore’s Silent Realm, has begun.
Apparently to achieve spiritual growth, I have to collect 15 glowing seeds…oh excuse me, Tears of Farore. The look of this area and the collecting objective reminded me of Twilight Princess, which I wasn’t a huge fan of. This area has a catch though; if you get hit by an enemy even once, you fail the trial. The good news is that collecting a Tear of Farore freezes most enemies for 90 seconds. On my third try, I completed the trial. My reward was the Water Dragon’s Scale. It allows me to swim and dive underwater (finally).
My next task was to use my newfound swimming ability to explore a new area of Faron Woods and find the first sacred flame. Water shows up on the map, so it wasn’t hard to get started on my way. It eventually led to me climbing up the Great Tree. Here I’m encountering a very large new enemy.
Once I reached a bird statue, I stopped and saved my game.
After all that hard work, she only gave me 20 rupees. But she did give me 5 gratitude crystals as well. I didn’t take them to Batreaux yet though. I went to the bazaar and talked to the junk shop owner about his flying robot. He needed the extract from an ancient flower to fix it up. Fortunately, I had one and he got the robot up and running.
The robot started talking, and he didn’t care for me. But when Smurf-Fi showed up, he was enamored with her and said he’d do anything for her. Anyway, I was told to talk to the fortune teller to see where the propeller landed. He told me it was on the mountain of fire.
So I had to go back down to the volcano. On the way, I found a game to play. It’s run by a mole named Tubert and his game is called Thrill Digger. You pay a fee and you can then dig for rupees. But if you find a bomb, your game is over. I tried it a couple times, but wasn’t very successful.
Anyway, I resumed my search for the propeller and found it without too much trouble. Smurf-Fi called the robot and he took it up. Back up in Skyloft, the guy fixed the windmill and I used the gust bellows to point it in the right direction. A new platform opened up on the Light Tower. I played my harp there.
That shot a beam of light which led me to the area called “Inside the Thunderhead.” After solving a puzzle, I was into a building where I learned a new song, Farore’s Courage. I now am supposed to go back to Faron Woods. I can douse to find the gate which will lead me to the first trial. I saved my game at this point.