Aryll had always loved seagulls.
They were playful and innocent, flocking around her as she offered them food, or swooping happily around the island as she observed them from the top of Outset island's watch tower. She had loved spending time with her telescope fixed stubbornly to one eye, her two pigtails waving slightly in the breeze, as those crazy birds continued their antics. They didn't care, she thought resolutely, if you were a girl or a boy, old or young, tall or fat or even skinny and small with slightly tousled blond hair. They viewed everyone through the same uncaring lens, and their idea of "good" was synonymous with their concept of staying with the flock and sharing another meal.
What she loved most about them, though, was their freedom.
Their overwhelming aura of carelessness and adventure was painfully apparent to Aryll as she marveled at them from her gray, oppressive surroundings. Their flight prompted her to imagine what it would feel like to soar through the skies above the vast expanse of the sea, exploring a new and exciting world without anything or anyone holding her back.
Instead, she was trapped in this tiny cell, thick iron bars looming over her and her fellow captives from Windfall Island as they huddled together to share warmth in the depths of the Forsaken Fortress. Every now and then, she stared up at the only window in the room, and a grin lit up her face as she saw the seagulls milling around the dimly lit windowsill. They brought her temporary joy, reminding her of her home on Outset, of her kindly neighbors and her elderly grandmother, and most of all, of her big brother Link.
After all, as she repeatedly reassured the other girls, Link was certainly coming for them, to rescue them from this fear and loneliness and take them back to the places they belonged. Though it had been a while since they had been trapped here, Aryll still hadn't given up hope, and she knew in her heart that her big brother would never stop until he had found her.
And when he did, she would be free again.