I came out of the temple bloody and torn, but my spirits high. I was one step closer to finding Tetra, and that's all that mattered. My newest companion, Neri, hid in my clothes with Leaf and Ciela to hide from the strong winds. To me, avoiding being blown off is pretty easy, you just have to time jumps and dig your fingers into the ground if necessary. I begin to line myself up for the next big jump, hoping that the wind will carry me as I ride through the air. I feel a gentle breeze fondle my hair, and that was my cue to get ready. The wind turns from gentle to savage in only a matter of seconds, and I sail over the gap and onto the sand below. Chu-chus flock around me, but I run from them. I don't want to be blown away during a fight. As I'm making my way back to the ship, a strong gale catches me off-guard and I slip and tumble to the edge of a rocky bluff with both the fairies and I screaming. I catch myself on a rock jutting out and grip with everything I have, praying that I have enough time between gusts to get up and running again. I begin to count the number of seconds that pass between each gust. 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… I count to myself. 10… 11… and another strong wind comes my way. So its eleven seconds between each gust. I have more than enough time, I think as I pull myself over the edge, sharp rocks scraping my stomach. The pain doesn't faze me, but it still hurt as I got to a standing position. Luckily, the fairies in my clothes weren't in the area of the injury, more near my chest, actually. On my feet, I begin to run as fast as my legs can carry me. Finally I arrive near the ship and get Linebeck's attention as the winds come again. This time I keep my footing and force myself against the gusts. When it dies down, I run over to the ship, knowing that the winds won't strike me here.
"Well, look who's here! Did the wind give you any trouble?" Linebeck is the kind of guy that can either make you feel like the biggest hero or idiot in the world. He cares about me, but that doesn't stop him from making wise cracks. Ciela and him have a love/hate relationship, if you can even call it one, since they're pretty much always fighting. I don't like it too much, but I've seen worse.
"Maybe. I got blown over the edge and got a nasty gash on my stomach and some other stuff during the temple." I un-hook my belt and lift up my tunic for him to see, the tunic already stained in the front. The fairies rush out and float around my head, wincing as they see the fresh wound dripping. It isn't that big, just a little cut. Of course, it's something worse to these guys. I get stuff like this all the time. It's part of being a kid, right?
"Geez kid! That's a pretty nasty one you got there. Is that the only major thing going on?" He says in total shock. I begin to take the rest of my tunic off, but Linebeck stops me as I'm getting my arms out. "Inside the ship." He motions for me to come with him.
Inside, we head to the bedroom, the usual spot for checking injuries. The three fairies stay out in the kitchen area, conversing amongst themselves. Linebeck keeps a handy first-aid kit under the bed, just in case. He sits me down on the edge of the bed as he looks around the bottom of it.
"Ah, here it is. Alright Link, you know the drill." That I do. I place my belt beside me and strip off my tunic and under-shirt combo, revealing the gash, dozens of scrapes, and a burn or two. The treatment begins as he cleans the wounds to prevent infection.
"This is going to sting a little, but you can handle it." He presses the cloth drenched in some kind of fluid against my gash. I already knew that he was going to do that one first and get it over with. I wince and bite my lip, trying not to yelp and make the cloth jump or anything. My eyes instantly well up, but I don't let myself give in to tears. I can feel a tingling sensation going through my stomach as the wound is being cleaned. All of a sudden, he presses even harder, and this time I let out a small yelp in pain. I jump back, but Linebeck puts a forceful hand on my back to keep me still. Sting a little? More like a terrible burning feeling up and down my frontal area. He removes the cloth and soaks it again, this time moving over to the less serious areas of my body. The scrapes don't hurt as much as I thought they would, while the burns hurt like hell.
"Errn… that… hngg… hurts a lot!" I let out, with Linebeck momentarily pausing to look up at me.
"I know. But you've been doing better. The first time we did this, you were like a cat during a bath; hissy and full of claws," He says, chuckling at the "happy" memory. "I'm on the last burn. After that, we do the cream and then bandage you up." I nod and he goes against the burn again, with me wincing at the pain. Once all of my torso wounds were okay, it was time to look… erm… lower.
"I didn't get attacked on my legs or anything," I say, trying to let the other half of the body check slide. "I don't see any rips in my tights, so I'm fine." I was lying, of course. You could clearly see rips and tears in the tights.
"Bull. If you're that embarrassed about yourself, then you can just pull them up from the feet."
I have to admit, that was pretty clever, yet mean at the same time. I remove my boots and do as suggested and grip the ends of my tights, pulling them up to rest where shorts -on a girl, I guess- would usually be. The cuts and bruises sit there, mocking me. I frown as he begins the second part of the treatment, cleaning the wounds on my legs. I've always asked why I couldn't do it myself, but then he would say, 'because I know that you'll mess it up and come crying to me when you've made the situation even worse.' Jerk.
He puts away the fluid covered cloth and pulls out a bottle of cream to sooth the burns. This time, I know that it won't hurt.
"Arm," He orders, and I do as asked, holding out my arm. He takes another cloth, this time in the cream, and rubs it gently over the burns. I still don't remember exactly how I got them. Maybe I bumped into a torch.
"Other arm." I hand him my other arm and watch him do his work. Where did he learn how to do this? I let myself fall away into a day-dream of sorts, and later I'm being jostled.
"Hey, Earth to Link. You in there?" He shakes my frame a little and I'm flung back into reality. While I was out, he finished doing the cream and began bandaging.
"Welcome back. I need you to stand now." I get up and raise my arms so he can wrap the bandage around my waist, arms, and legs. I still wonder where he learned how to do all this stuff. Did he take some kind of nursing course?
When Linebeck was finished, he sat me back down.
"Now you need to rest for a while. Do not put your clothes back on. They're too tight, and would mess with the bandages," He says, pulling out an oversized top and pants. "Wear these. I'll check back on you later, ya hear?" I nod and take the clothes, quickly putting them on when he leaves. I crawl into the bed and lie there, listening to the wonderful conversation of Ciela and Linebeck.
"I swear, it sounded like Link was being murdered in there! What'd you do this time?"
"What I needed to do, Twinkle-Toes. If you want him to get an infection and catch his death, then be my guest. The only reason why he was yelping like that is because of the stuff that goes into cleaning wounds like his. You saw his waist, right?"
Ciela's face turned a cherry red, her words steaming hot as they slithered around the ship.
"Of course I did! You could've been a lot nicer to him. Of course, you never are, aren't you? You're always taking advantage of him!"
I wouldn't consider me being taken advantage of. I mean, it's been happening all my life. People give me simple or not so simple tasks, and I do them. I like doing them; it makes me feel important and needed in the world. Ciela doesn't understand me. I've only known her and Linebeck for a few weeks now, and they think they know everything about me. I do like Ciela defending me and all, but all the fighting is pretty stupid to me. So what if I'm being used? I use Ciela all the time, and I use Linebeck all the time. I'm not being taken advantage of. So what's the problem here?
"I am not taking advantage of him! I'm only doing what's best for us three, and that means I stay on the ship, and you two do your own thing. If I don't, who knows what might happen! Understand, Sparkles?"
"Do you hear yourself, Linebeck? You? Stay on the ship? If you want to help, then come into the temples with us! But I know you won't, because you're a little clucking cuckoo. A coward."
If Linebeck didn't know how to control himself, he would've slapped her right then and there.
"I'm a coward, eh? Cowards don't drive ships. Cowards don't go into temples, and I did. So shut-up, or I'll make you shut-up."
I heard a tiny squeak and twinkling. Maybe Linebeck grabbed her?
"…You wouldn't." Her voice was full of fear, quivering and shaking.
"What do you think I would do?"
"Most likely hurt me." Ciela's voice was even more fearful, but she kept strong.
"What the… no! I would never do that! Why the hell do you think I would?"
This is getting good. I tell myself not to sleep, and try to stay awake to hear the outcome of the argument.
"Because you said you would shut me up. Is that not true?"
"Well, yes. I would've just, I don't know, covered your mouth with something."
Ciela didn't say anything for a while. I was hoping that she would, and not let Linebeck win the argument this time.
"You hate me, don't you?" She sounded really down to me.
"No, I don't hate you. The only thing I do hate is your constant chatter, and your need to make me look like some big as- er, jerk."
How funny, Linebeck knew I was in the other room and didn't want me to hear him swear. I hear him do it a lot, so why not now?
"But isn't that what fairies do? They talk your ear off because that's how we were raised. I also don't mean to make you look like a jerk. It's just that you're always running out of the smallest danger, and that makes me mad. Link is, I dunno, twelve or something, and he does all the work. Does it not faze you that while you're outside on your cozy ship, Link could be hurt, dying, or worse?"
This time Linebeck was the one to wait a while before speaking again.
"…I know that. But he always comes out safe and ready to go again. Plus, I think it's funny that you care more about the kid more than yourself. When you're yelling at me about him, it never occurs to you to say anything about your own safety."
"I do care about myself, but Link is the important one here. If either of us gets hurt and not Link, then everything will still be fine and dandy. That's why I try to keep him safe, but…"
I think Linebeck knew what she was going to say.
"But I get in the way."
"Yeah. He gets thrown into danger and you do nothing about it. When he comes back all bloody like today, you just make a wise crack like its normal to be bleeding from your stomach like that."
"I'm guessing I should be sorry."
"Yeah."
"Well, here you go. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for making fun of injuries, for everything I've said to you both. Happy now?"
I smile at his words. Closing my eyes, I try to allow sleep to come, breathing in deeply.
"Very." She pauses for a minute. "Hey, Linebeck?"
"What?"
"I hear someone snoring," She says in the sweetest kind of tone. Still holding Ciela, Linebeck and the other two fairies open the door to the bedroom and peek inside. I keep my eyes closed and pretend to sleep.
"…I think he heard you two. He probably fell asleep while you two were still arguing," Neri says.
"Or maybe he fell asleep when he knew the argument was resolved," Leaf adds.
"Maybe. I don't like having him to listen to this nonsense. I hope it doesn't make him feel at fault." Ciela says with a hint of worry, flying out of Linebeck's hand and in front of his face.
"Nah. The kid knows it's our problem, not his." He puts out a hand and gently strokes Ciela's hair with a finger. "We'd better leave and let him sleep."
The group of four leaves the room, and I open my eyes. I would never think myself being at fault for this mess. We have our own issues, and they mix with everyone else's. I don't think that Ciela and Linebeck will argue again for a while, but I know that they will in time. I close my eyes again and allow real sleep to come to me.