Link ferried them all into the First Mate's quarters, the safest room that could hold all four of them. The rest of the crew had already taken shelter to ride out the storm. The entire world rose and fell, lurching back and forth, and they gripped the bolted furniture to keep from being thrown into the walls or each other.

"This is the worst I've ever seen," Delmar muttered. "I hate doing nothing, but it's all in the hands of the sea at this point."

Zelda said nothing, her strained face clearly showing her doubts that they would make it out of this alive. Only Ganondorf sat calmly, in sharp contrast to his earlier fear. He focused all attention on the little compass bottle, staring down at it with a strange, reverent expression, as if it were his firstborn child.

Finally, after casting about for something to occupy her attention, Zelda held out her hand for the compass. "Here, why don't you give that to me. We can't use it right now anyway."

To everyone's surprise, he snatched it out of her grasp and snapped, "Mine!"

They all stared. "Well, looky here, he can speak our lingo!" Delmar exclaimed. "Eh, old man, why didn't you start talking before?"

Ganondorf watched him, uncomprehending, and turned his attention back to the compass.

"I think he learned that just recently," Zelda said slowly.

Link shifted uneasily. He didn't like the idea of a crazy sorcerer listening in on their conversations. When he had been confused and ignorant, it had been tolerable, but Link couldn't be sure what he would do next. "Hey. Hey, Ganondorf! How much do you know of what we're saying?" The old man ignored him. "Hey, fatso. Hey ugly. You're one ugly, stupid piece of work. C'mon chubby, quit faking. We know you understand us. Now own up."

Ganondorf said nothing. Zelda frowned at Link. "This probably isn't the best time to provoke him."

"It's the perfect time to provoke him. Where's he going to go if he gets upset?" The ship slammed into the bottom of a wave, nearly shattering all their spines, as if to punctuate his statement.

Link paused. Quick as a flash, he made a grab for the bottle. "Mine!" Ganondorf snarled, landing a punch on Link's face.

"Why?" Link demanded, holding his hand to his face, where a black eye was already starting to blossom. "Why yours?" He pointed to Zelda. "She found it. She used it to bring us here."

Zelda nodded, holding out her hand again. "It's a family heirloom." She smiled at him. "Thank you for returning it to me. I need it to find Hyrule."

He watched her, uncertain, still keeping the little bottle tight in his hand but wavering slightly. "Hyrule mine."

They all pondered this for a while. "What on earth does that mean?" Link demanded. "This guy doesn't look like any of the ancient kings described in the legends. On what basis is he claiming ownership?"

Zelda watched him thoughtfully. "He is of the ancient kingdom, so I guess it belongs to him, in the same way that he belongs to it. Maybe he's afraid we'll take the ruins with us, and abandon him."

Link sat up, under sudden inspiration. "Oh, you mean like antiquities traders? Yeah, that would be a legitimate fear, I guess. He's afraid we'll take what's left of Hyrule and sell it. Well, how do we convince him otherwise?"

Zelda patted Ganondorf's empty hand. "We're not going to take Hyrule from you," she said in a soft, soothing voice. "We want to restore it, remember?" She pulled a pen and small tablet of paper from the night table, but couldn't write anything in the pitching of the waves. "Link, give me your hand."

With a few quick strokes she reproduced the three-triangle seal on Link's hand, her own, and Ganondorf's. Then she placed her hand and Link's on his. "We're going to help you, all right? Will you help us? Will you trust us?"

He looked dubious for a moment, then said, "Trust Zelda." But he put the bottle in a pocket of his robe. "Trust Ganondorf?"

Zelda paused for the briefest moment. "Yes."

Delmar chuckled. "Crafty one, isn't he?" Link rolled his eyes.

Sighing, Zelda said. "It can't be helped. He's not going anywhere for now. Let's concentrate on one problem at a time."

As if to emphasize her statement, all the lights in the ship went out.

---

"Gaaahhh!" Link let loose a few choice curses as oil spurted in his eyes. Wiping his face with his already soiled sleeve, he wrapped the offending hose in a sheet of flexible, binding silicone. It would hold at least until they got back to port, which would take a couple of weeks with the engines at half-speed. At least the storm had ended before the entire ship had cracked in two. He figured they had just enough food to last that amount of time, if Ganondorf didn't eat it all.

The thought of the odd old man put Link into an even fouler mood. Ever since the storm, Ganondorf had refused to let go of the little bottle that held their impromptu compass. Link had reason to believe he even slept with it under his pillow. But what bothered him the most was the idea that Ganondorf had jumped in the water to retrieve it, not him, and had only brought him to the surface because Link wouldn't let go.

Link pushed all thoughts of Ganondorf out of his mind, to concentrate on the task that had already taken up fifteen hours every day for a week. Luckily for the Scarlet Dragon, Link was as good at engineering as he was at sailing. A fisherman who spent most of his time on small boats had to be; there just wasn't enough crew for specialization.

After the other engineers thanked him and each other, Link left for the main quarters for a bite to eat. Then sleep, and then more repairs until the job was finished.

In the captain's kitchen, Delmar sat with an amused look on his face as Zelda gave the words for things Ganondorf pointed to. The old man usually repeated them accurately on the first try.

Delmar roared with laughter. "Link! You're missing all the fun! Our stowaway's a quick learner, and quite a character at that."

Link rolled his eyes. "I take it you've forgiven him for turning your First Mate into a jelly bean?"

"I have. It seems a fitting punishment for his mutiny. Though I'll expect him to turn Blacken back when we get to shore, or we'll have a lot of explaining to do to the authorities." He turned to Ganondorf and shouted as if the old man were deaf, in the manner that some people speak to foreigners. "Gonna turn him back, right?"

Ganondorf grunted in assent, not really paying attention.

"If you really wanted to punish him, you should put him to work fixing the engines," Link said with a wry smile. "Is there any food left? I'm starving."

"I wouldn't let Blacken within fifty feet of the engines," Delmar snorted. "Not now, anyway. Sorry, Link. Here, take an extra slice of chocolate cake as consolation."

Link took the offered plate and sat as far away from Ganondorf as possible, which wasn't very far in such cramped quarters. Still, Zelda frowned at him. "How long are you going to keep this up?"

"How long is he going to keep our compass?" Link retorted.

"Well…maybe it really does belong to him. He and everything else we've found around here belongs to the old kingdom."

"Are we giving up the search, then?"

"Of course not. He told me that we need the compass to find the rest of the seal anyway. The rest of it's probably in pieces too. He seems as interested as we are in raising Hyrule, though I still have my doubts about whether or not that's even possible." She rested her chin on her hand. "I guess until then, we should just let him hold it. It's not like he's going to run off anywhere with it."

"He's not?"

"No. He told me he needs our help; us two specifically. But he's not very clear on why."

"That's no surprise."

Zelda shrugged. "He's learning our language quickly. If he becomes fluent, it'll be easier to question him than pushing paper back and forth."

"Is that so." Link squared his shoulders and stared at the old man. "Hey, Ganondorf. Who are you really?"

He appeared engrossed in his mug of chocolate. (He still would not touch coffee.) "Link fix ship?"

"That's not what I'm asking, jerk. Enough with the stupid act. Who are you really, and what's your connection to this 'Triforce' thing?"

Ganondorf raised his head and give Link a long, thoughtful stare. Then he stood. "Come. Link fish."

Link turned to Zelda. "Did he just call me a fish? What kind of insult is that?"

Delmar roared with laughter. "Nah, nah, he wants to do this again." Holding up a rod and reel, he handed another one to Link. "Very interested in fishing, it seems. He was doing it all day."

Scowling, Link snapped, "This doesn't answer my question."

Zelda smiled slightly in spite of herself. "Sure it will. You two go and bond over some slimy bait, and maybe that will answer your question."

He hung back as Delmar put the tackle in his hand and began pushing him out the door. This wasn't at all what he had in mind. "C'mon, we'll do this later. I want to rest."

Delmar slapped him on the back. "Best way to relax, my man. And maybe you can catch something for dinner that's fresh, for a change. Damned if I'll ever enjoy eating canned tuna."

---

Link sat grumpily at the side of the boat with his line in the water, the old man sitting serenely next to him. "I don't see how this helps," He grumbled. "You can't talk much at this point. Why not write it down for Zelda to translate?"

Ganondorf held his finger to his lips, which only infuriated Link further.

"We're not going to scare the fish off, not compared to this hulking pile of metal and all the banging going on to get it fixed." He stood and leaned over the railing, yelling down at the water. "Hey! Hey, fish! Yeeeaaaahhhh! Here, fishy fishy fishy!"

"Shhh." Link whirled around, ready to hurl a string of abuse at the old man, but paused when he saw him take out the little bottle again. After shooting Link a reproving glare, he closed his eyes and the little bottle began to glow again.

"Yes, that's very impressive," Link snarled, sarcastic. "While we're on the subject, why don't you admit that you were ready to let me drown, huh? You're not fooling anybody."

Suddenly Ganondorf's line jerked. His eyes flew open and he began reeling it in, intensely pleased. Link sighed and sat in his chair. Having fished for a living, he could not see it as a recreational activity.

He pulled in a small cod, barely legal size. Link sneered at the man's jubilant expression. "You might as well throw it back," Link said. "Unless you want to use it for bait, I suppose."

Ganondorf ripped the hook from the fish's mouth and Link nearly tripped over himself stepping back as the old man pulled one of his swords from its hidden sheath in his sleeves. With a few deft blows, he beheaded and gutted the fish, then gingerly began examining the entrails.

"Cod innards are good bait," Link remarked. "I gotta admit, though, it's kinda weird that you would find this so…"

He drew in his breath as Ganondorf held something golden in his hand, an inner light shining through the slime. It was another compass-piece, slightly smaller than Zelda's. "Triforce!" he announced with much authority.

Link stared. "You mean…this is just like Zelda's piece? You…you can do some voodoo or something and attract them to you?"

To his great surprise, Ganondorf put the new piece, about the size of a pearl, into the bottle and handed it to Link. "Triforce come. You, Zelda, me."

The little shards glowed slightly. "It will come to me, too? Why?"

The man's face clouded slightly, as he struggled with his limited vocabulary. "Link have…ehhrrr…Zelda…same father. Not father…"

"Ancestor? Do you mean Tetra? We both come from the same family line…but so do a lot of other people." Link frowned. "Really, lots of people could be descended from her, it's been so many years."

Ganondorf took the little bottle back. "Tetra ancestor break Triforce, break Hyrule. Mine now. I fix. You fix too." He gestured to the ship. "You come for find Hyrule, yes? Fix?"

"We'd like to," Link said, skeptical. "I think it's a bit beyond fixing now."

"Fix Triforce, fix Hyrule," Ganondorf said with conviction.

Link looked dubiously at the little bottle. "How much more of those little gold pieces do we have to find?"

Here Ganondorf's hopeful expression finally dimmed. "Triforce big. Sea big."

"Kinda like looking for a bunch of needles in a bunch of haystacks, huh?" Link scratched his head. "Well, I guess it helps that these things are drawn to us…though I have to admit I still don't understand any of it." Suddenly he brightened. "Hey, maybe there's something else you can explain."

He gestured for Ganondorf to follow him, and led him into the lab. It was one of the few places where very little had broken, as it had been designed to protect fragile materials. Ganondorf frowned in puzzlement as Link pulled boxes out of compartments, finally selecting one. "Can you tell me anything about this?"

Ganondorf took several steps back as Link lifted up the sword that had been lodged in the rock. "That bad," he stated with great emphasis, and mimed throwing it overboard.

"You mean, it has a curse on it or something?" Link examined the blade, which had never shown any sign of wear. The fact that it had been underwater like this for centuries still fascinated him.

Agitated, the old man gestured toward Link to keep it away from him, or throw it away.

"Well, I can't just get rid of it. Zelda would kill me. It's the best artifact we've found so far." He noticed that the man's face relax as Link put it back in the box, and shoved the box back in its locked compartment. "Let's go back to the kitchen, huh? Even if we didn't catch anything good, I'm sure Zelda will be happy to see that piece you found."

Link made a mental note to move the sword when Ganondorf wasn't looking. For all his friendly overtures, something about him made Link realize that there must be a reason why he had turned to stone.

And why his own touch had brought him to life.