Chapter 20 – Some Things Never Change
Ark stood helplessly at the foot of a tall tree some distance from where his friends were. He stared up blankly and unassuming in his zombified state at the demon-girl sitting in the lower branches. She kicked her feet out absently, playing her eerie melody all the while. She eventually stopped and looked down at him with an intense expression.
"I must say, Ark, you really have some strange companions with some extraordinary abilities," she mused out loud. "And it seems that you've already found one of the Locks." She dropped out of the tree and landed on her feet, displaying some above-average limitations of her body. She sauntered over, circling around the boy as if sizing him up. Ark stood silently and unmoving.
"You're completely at my mercy now, aren't you?" she stated. "That is, if I could actually do anything." She reached out and her hand passed through him completely as if she were a ghost.
"Horribly frustrating," she sighed, waving her hand through his head a few times. "But not to be discouraged; I'll be able to make physical contact again soon enough. Exhausted myself a little bit, you see. Got a little agitated and couldn't keep concentration…but then again, you don't really understand what I'm talking about in your state, right?" Ark gave a slow head-shake.
"I thought not…but I really must be congratulating you. I didn't expect for you to be able to escape from that place; it lies on another spiritual plane after all. That friend of yours with the collar is proving to be quite the nuisance." The demon-girl paced around, deep in thought. She kept looking up at the boy as if intending to ask him something, but would always resume her pacing. Finally, she spoke.
"That girl really, really wanted to kill you, you know that?" she said flatly. Ark nodded mutely. "Yet still you refused to attack her and you even saved her life. She can't do it now." Ark nodded again and the demon-girl narrowed her red eyes at him, contemplating something.
"If you really knew what she was like, you wouldn't be acting the same way. You'd no longer see her as a lady. She's a monster, Ark, a monster. She'll show you that one day…so that you'll hate her and give her an excuse to kill you. Mark my words." Ark didn't respond, and the girl didn't expect him to. She merely burst out in her raucous laughter and hopped back up into the tree.
"Well at least you managed to follow my instructions properly…even though you've got no idea what they are. Oh well, I'll be seeing you again, Ark and, as always, I'll be watching you." The demon-girl was about to vanish when Nyara came bounding into the area.
"Ark! Where you got to? Sneak off on Nyara!" she called. Her voice seemed to hit Ark like a blow to the side of the head. He lurched forward, breaking free of the demon's spell and shaking his head.
"Uh-oh!" the girl hissed. Ark looked up and, for the briefest of instants, saw her in the tree before she disintegrated into smoke. He blinked, thinking that he had imagined it.
"Wha…? Miss Nyara?" he asked, looking around. "What's the matter?" She skidded to a halt at his side.
"Ark wander off and leave everyone. Ark bad, shouldn't go away by himself; bad girl try to get you again!" she chided him. Ark looked puzzled.
"I…did I wander away?" he mumbled, looking around in confusion. "I guess I must have been daydreaming. I'm sorry, Miss Nyara." Nyara grinned, showing off her pointed incisors.
"That okay. Let's go back to others," she told him rather cheerfully, taking a firm hold of his arm and leading him away. Ark allowed himself to be led away, but looked back up to the lower branches of the tree. Had he seen a person up there? Or was he just imagining things?
Link yawned loudly and shifted around slightly to try and get comfortable, which was quite hard to do since a Hylian Princess and a Gerudo Fire Witch had decided to make him their personal mattress. To the amazement of everyone present, he hadn't simply given them the old heave-ho, opting instead to simply put up with them. It had happened quite suddenly: the rest of the day had passed quickly and the gathering of companions had settled down upon a hill in the park to watch the night-time fireworks. They were on quite late, so as to make sure the sky was completely dark to allow for maximum effect. The night air was warm; a perfect temperature for being outside. Several other groups of people sat on and around the small hill, with many of them being couples. Florella had noticed this and had watered her eyes pathetically at Talen. The smith had looked almost disgusted with himself as he caved in and allowed her to wriggle into his lap. As was expected, Link laughed at him before being silenced rather quickly by both Fura and Zelda as they burrowed under his arms and toppled him backwards onto the ground where they lay with their heads on his chest. He was a tad verbal at first; complaining rather strenuously. He gave up after a short time as the girls merely ignored him and refused to be shifted, citing that he should wake them when the fireworks started.
"They're about to start," Saria told Link. "You should wake them."
"The proper way, mind you. Like in the fairy-tales," Florella added, throwing in a few kissing noses for good measure. Link rolled his eyes before pinching the girls' noses closed to cut off their air supply. Before too long they woke quite suddenly with identical gasps.
"Or I could have done it the cool way," Link told Florella, sitting up as the girls did. The fairy girl glared at him before looking at Fura and Zelda with an expression of pity.
"Poor things," she said with a shake of her head.
"Ugh," Fura sniffed. "Way to go, meanie!" She flicked Link's ear.
"You could have been a little nicer in waking us up!" Zelda huffed.
"Yes," Link grinned. "I could." Nyara looked over and frowned from where she was sitting with Ark.
"You need better manners," she grumbled. "You learn from Ark. He got most manners of anyone!"
"I don't know about that…" Ark mumbled.
"Well considering the competition, it isn't all that hard," Florella said archly, glancing at Link. The boy made a face at her before crossing his legs and folding his arms.
"Shouldn't this be starting now?" he grumbled. Zelda tutted and shook her head.
"Look at you! That expression of yours has been practically the same ever since we got here!" she put her fingers to the corners of his mouth and stretched it back into a smile. "That's much better! Turn that down-under frown upside-down!" Everyone bar Link laughed, particularly Florella.
"It wasn't all that funny," Link muttered sulkily. A loud whistling sound from the distance heralded the first firework as it shot into the sky from somewhere in the city. It rose high above them and slowed slightly before exploding in a bright shower of brilliant red sparks. There were gasps and oohs from the people on and around the hill as more and more explosive packages were rocketed into the sky, illuminating the entire city with a multitude of different colours. Nyara and Ark jumped slightly as it went off, not expecting such a loud noise and display.
"Eeee!" Florella squealed in delight. "We need these back home!"
"Maybe you should talk to Morgan about it," Link murmured.
"Ooh! That's a good idea!" she said, clapping her hands together. Link mouthed the word "sarcasm" to Talen with a pained expression and the young smith returned an amused look. The fireworks continued on into the night; with different colours and, on some occasions, different shapes. One of the biggest happened to be an image of a huge red heart. There were pleased sighs from all around, but Link and Talen decided to make retching sounds instead, destroying the mood for their lady companions completely. A few sharp reprimands later and the two boys were once again quiet.
"Isn't this nice?" Florella smiled up at Talen. "The fireworks are so pretty." She continued gazing up at him, obviously expecting something.
"Oh, wait…I know this one…" Talen muttered. He pulled out a piece of parchment from one of his pockets and looked at it for a moment. "Oh, here it is." He folded it away and cleared his throat.
"Ahem…not as pretty as you though, Florella," he told her. Talen looked over at Link and gave him an over-exaggerated wink, receiving an "ok" sign from his friend's fingers.
"Oh! You two are the biggest pair of nitwits I've ever come across!" the fairy huffed. She did look slightly amused, though.
"No wait," Talen told her. "The fireworks may be bright, but your eyes sparkle like a million seas of stars." Link was having fits, rolling around on the ground clutching at his stomach.
"It isn't that funny," Saria sighed, trying to hide a smirk.
"Then why am I dying!?" Link asked, laughing inanely once more and managed to start Talen up.
"Ark, cover your ears before you're infected," Fura told the boy, grabbing Link in an attempt to keep him still. He thrashed against her, however, and managed to keep his mouth free while she tried to cover it with her hand.
"Stop moving around so much!" she demanded, tacking him full on and pinning him to the ground.
"Fura, your slender, womanly frame possesses the strength of a burly man," Link wheezed as the Gerudo sat heavily on his back. The two boys lost it completely and the girls came to the conclusion that no more peace could be salvaged.
"Come on you two," Saria sighed, bringing Link and Talen to their feet by their ears. "Show's over."
"It was nice while it lasted, though," Zelda said, walking alongside Florella. "Even if the Dynamic Duo got restless towards the end."
"We behaved all right," Talen said just a little hurt. "Fireworks can only hold their attraction for so long. No if they'd had some kind of giant carving display…"
"Oh dear," Florella groaned as Talen began to prattle on about the merits of woodwork.
"I must say, fireworks are quite amazing," Ark whistled. "That's the first time I've seen them."
"Nyara not like fireworks," Nyara mumbled, trying to smooth down the fur on her tail. "Too noisy and flashy. Make Nyara's eyes go funny." She blinked a few times to try and get her pupils to shrink.
"Well I hope the lot of you had fun today," Impa told them as they exited the park. "You're all off to bed as soon as we get back to the inn. I'll enquire about getting us a ticket over the strait tomorrow."
The following morning started out very slowly. The boys, surprisingly enough, were the first ones to wake with Ark having a slightly less stressful wakeup due to the fact that Nyara actually stayed in her own bed next door. They got dressed and lounged around their room, tossing a scrunched up ball of parchment to each other while they waited for the girls to get up. Navi fluttered lazily around Link's head as the boy sat on his bed and leaned against the wall.#
"It's hot," he murmured, catching the ball as Talen threw it to him. He tossed it on to Ark and opened the window to allow the breeze to blow through the curtains.
"Ugh, I can't wait to get moving again," Talen groaned. "As nice as this place is, it just doesn't have the same feeling to it as some of the other places we've been to."
"I know what you mean. At least we're heading on to Windhill now; it'll be good to see Shera again," Link agreed.
"Who is Shera?" Ark asked curiously, tossing the ball to Talen.
"She's the Princess of Windhill. We met her some years ago when there was some trouble with a now-disbanded cult. We smacked those loons around good and proper, right Link?" Talen grinned, tossing the ball on to his blonde-haired friend.
"Absolutely," Link agreed, bouncing the ball off his head and over to Ark. "They sure were a pain in the backside, though."
"Especially when they killed you," Talen murmured.
"That was a bit of a downer. Too bad you weren't there to see it," Link murmured back. Ark looked slightly shocked at the flippant way they were talking about Link's apparent death.
"When you say "die"…you mean like when a person's heart can be started again by pressing on their chest…you know, like when somebody drowns?" Ark asked. Link and Talen looked at each other.
"No Ark, we mean "die" as in killed. Hit in the chest with a very strong magic attack and got myself thrown into a wall. Last thing I remembered seeing was Fura and she looked pretty upset. It all turned out well in the end, though."
"I- this is all a little too hard to take in," Ark told them.
"I guess it is, but it's the truth. That's why Fura's so stuck on Nova here; the attack was meant for her, but he jumped in the way to save her. It worked pretty well," Talen mused.
"Nova?" Link asked.
"As in Casa-Nova," Talen snickered.
"I'll forgive you for that one on account that it was pretty funny."
"I thought so too," Talen agreed. The chucked the parchment ball around for a little while longer until they got sick of it, opting instead to play a game of cards.
"Too bad we don't have draughts or something here," Link sighed, lying upside-down against his bed with his cards in hand. "I'd win for sure. In fact, that's the first thing I'm going to do when we get to Windhill; beat Florella into the ground with the losing stick."
"She's a terrible cheat when she thinks she's going to lose," Talen smirked. "It's really very funny when you think about it. The Great Fairy of Cheating."
"The Great Fairy of Tantrums," Link chuckled. "Hey Ark, you think of one." Ark blinked.
"Oh…no, I couldn't!" he said, hiding behind his cards. "Lady Florella's a Great Fairy! I could never show any disrespect to her!" Talen and Link looked at each other.
"You're a real straight arrow, Ark," Talen laughed.
"And it's a good thing too!" Florella huffed from the doorway. Cards scattered everywhere as the buys jumped in surprise.
"Ooh dear," Link murmured quietly.
"What an enlightening conversation dear," Florella said icily to Talen. The boy cowered as she stood over him with her hands on her hips. "I'd order you to kiss my shoes if I were wearing any."
"And it's a good thing you aren't," Talen said in pathetically simpering tone. "The exquisite digits of your perfectly sculpted feet, nay! Ivory chariots worthy of those of the three Golden Goddesses themselves!" He bowed down as low as possible, his nose almost scraping the floor. Florella's face became all dimples and she blushed a rosy pink colour.
"Oh Talen! You do go on!" she giggled, fluttering her eyelashes.
"Hey Talen," Link said flatly. "I think your dignity got left behind when you dove down to grovel on the floor."
"Hey, don't mock my gentleman here!" Florella snapped at the boy. "Learn a thing or two about how to compliment a lady! Right Talen?" Her voice was thick and dripping with honey as she looked coyly at the smith.
"Wait, let me try it," Link told her. "Your voice, nay! Your holy trumpet isn't as grating today as it was last night and every other time you've spoken."
"Oh wonderful, Link," Florella sighed, shaking her head. "Holy trumpet…"
"I thought it was pretty good."
"Well enough shenanigans," Florella told the three boys. "Impa's gone to enquire about a ship across the strait. We have to wait around until she gets back, so chop-chop."
"Chop-chop what?" Link asked flatly. "You're in a hurry to sit on your backside? You need help doing it or something?"
"Droll, Link, very droll. No, the three of you are going to toddle on over next door so we're all together as a group. Pack all of your things up too," Florella told the blonde boy. "Don't take all day. I'll see you over there, Talen." She gave the boy another coy look, batted her eyelashes at him and giggled her way out of the room. Talen's shoulders slumped when she was gone.
"Hah! You've gone and dug your own grave," Link laughed at his friend. "That was perhaps the most sickening, degrading, most humiliating display of sucking up I've ever seen in my entire life. Have you no shame!?"
"I couldn't help it," Talen said lamely. "Florella can be very scary sometimes…it's like she shoots ice from her eyes. It all just popped out."
"Pa-thetic," Link snorted. "You won't see me doing that."
"And I admire your stupendous will for doing so, my friend. Those girls would have busted me down to a quivering man-grub in no time." Ark looked really rather confused at the exchange that had just taken place. He shook his head with a sigh, packing all of his things away and making his bed.
"Yes Ark, I know it seems all rather strange," Link said, reading his friend's expression. "But you have to know that women exist for one thing only: to see every man on the planet enslaved to their every whim."
"That can't be true," Ark said, baulking at the idea.
"Oh really? You ever wonder why Nyara's always hovering around you?" Link asked. Ark shook his head. "She's sizing you up until bam! Gobble-gobble Ark's all gone!" Ark jumped back slightly and Link began laughing.
"Very funny," Ark said, smiling along with Talen. "Miss Nyara's a very kind person…sometimes a little strange I will admit."
"All women are strange," Link sighed, grabbing his gear and heading towards the door. "They're just strange in different ways."
Florella was being very, very friendly to Talen as the boys all sat around in the girls' remarkably messy room. It had to be cleaned slightly before Ark could bring himself to go inside since a number of varying undergarments were in plain view on the floor or beds. After they were packed away or simply shoved under something else, the boy was able to hesitantly enter and sit down in the most unobtrusive spot he could find. Link had instantly been set upon by Saria and he sat with her running a comb through his hair. She looked rather content doing it and Link, rather than being annoyed, sat lazily since it was too hot to raise much of a stink. Florella busied herself by making eyes at Talen; fluttering her lashes and trying to make it look like she was not, in fact, looking at him. Either she was doing a very good job or Talen was too preoccupied with bending one of Zelda's hairclips back to its original shape; the latter was perhaps the best bet.
"Ta-leeeeen!" she whined pathetically. "Look at meeeee!"
"Pardon?" he asked, looking up from his obviously important work. "Did you want something, Florella?"
"Aren't I more interesting to look at than some dumb old hairclip?" she wheedled. Talen looked down at the hairclip and then back at her.
"You don't need fixing, Florella," he said simply.
"I-" Link started, but was cut off by Saria bopping the top of his head with her knuckle.
"Don't," she told him firmly, jerking his head so that she could brush his hair easier.
"I wasn't going to say anything," he protested innocently.
"Yes, you were. You always do, it comes second only to breathing in your case. I expect only the Goddesses know where you got that mouth of yours from." Link frowned when he saw Fura and Zelda nod in agreement with Saria.
"I was raised that way," Link said haughtily.
"Oh you were not!" Saria exclaimed, scrubbing his ears. "You picked it up somewhere, probably partly from Mido."
"You know you can really be the sweetest thing sometimes, Link," Florella told him. "But before too long you either get bored or hungry and Mister Irritation comes out to play."
"I like that guy," Talen grinned, finally bending Zelda's hairpin back to its proper shape. He handed it to her and stretched his arms out, creating several popping sounds. Then, with a mighty sigh, he slid down the wall into a half-sitting half-lying position. He glanced over at Ark as Nyara attempted to get his fringe to stay down.
"Forget it, Nyara. Ark's hair's going to stay like that," Fura told the animal girl. Nyara frowned at the biggest tuft of feathery hair before sticking it completely inside her mouth and chewing it. "No matter how much you spit on it. Oh that's disgusting." Everyone scrunched their faces up, particularly Ark, as Nyara mouthed his hair into a slobbery mess.
"M-Miss Nyara…I really don't think it's going to stay down," Ark winced as she smoothed the wet hair down against his head. It stuck in place and Nyara grinned in triumph before it suddenly sproinged back up again.
"Ark hair not fair," she grumbled. "Ark whole body not fair. Get better too quickly and leave Nyara nothing to do."
"Oh come now, Nyara," Florella said encouragingly. "He still needs someone to feed him and wash his face."
"That true," Nyara smiled as Ark whitened slightly and shuffled away a little. Nyara's arm whipped out and pulled him back, however, and she nuzzled her face up to his. "Ark lost without Nyara!"
"That poor, poor boy," Link whispered to Talen. The smith nodded and gave a rueful sigh.
"This is very boring," Link said after there was a long lapse of silence in the room.
"I can think of more interesting things to do, but you probably don't want to hear them," Fura sighed, chewing idly on one of her fingernails.
"Definitely not," Link groaned. "You got anything we can throw around in here?"
"No," Zelda yawned, plopping her head on Link's shoulder.
"What do you people do for fun then?"
"And you three boys can seriously say that throwing something around a room can keep you interested for long periods of time?" Zelda asked disbelievingly. The boys glanced at each other, not saying a word. "Good God, you can."
"It's fun," Ark said lamely.
"Well what do the all high-and-mighty females do then?" Link frowned.
"We talk about interesting topics," Florella told him loftily.
"What, how to embarrass us in the next social situation?"
"Very funny," Saria groaned, tweaking his ear. "Your hair's done." Link jammed his cap back on and wriggled around, dislodging Zelda's head. She looked a little irritated when Link sighed happily and rolled his shoulders as if he were glad to get rid of the weight.
"We talk about a lot of things. Girl things mostly," Fura told Link, patting him on the back. "What do you talk about with Talen and Ark?"
"Boy things."
"I can see that this conversation could drag on like this for quite some time, so we'll change the subject to something else," Zelda told them all. "Ark, does the Compass tell you how far away the Locks are?" Ark looked up, grateful that he had an excuse to stop Nyara from trying to get his hair to stay down again.
"I'm afraid I don't know, Miss Zelda. At the moment all I can ascertain from it is in which direction we must travel in," Ark told her. "I wish I could be of more help, but…"
"Oh don't worry about that, Ark," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "However, the burning question I'm sure we'd all like to know the answer to is who is trying to open the Eternal Ark?" Ark's face fell.
"I do not know," he sighed. "They must be very powerful though. The place in which the Ark lies is supposed to be sealed."
"And whoever it is must command a whole bunch of nasties to be able to throw that many Rocs at us- not to mention bringing that girl on board," Talen frowned.
"She said that she was made an offer that she couldn't refuse," Ark told them. "It may be money or jewels or something; she seems to like them."
"I don't know if it's money or jewels," Link mused. "If she was getting some almighty hoard for wiping you out, or at least getting you out of the way, then why would she ogle the jewel on your staff? It doesn't make any sense…no; she's getting something else out of this. Maybe more power…" The rest of the room sat in silence for a while, mulling over what Link had said.
"Well when we get to Windhill we can have a look through their libraries. They knew about The Five and Gedinia up there, perhaps they have more information on the Eternal Ark as well," Zelda suggested. There was another pensive silence which lasted until the door suddenly swung open and Impa appeared.
"Grab your things, I've got us a ticket over," she Sheikah told them. "And it leaves in a couple of minutes, so I'd hurry if I were you. A flurry of activity followed as the boys retreated hastily from the room whilst the girls dashed about in a mad attempt to shove all of their things into their packs before the ship left.
Impa shooed the children down to the docks at a snappy pace, practically tossing them onto the large cargo ship as it prepared to disembark. The ship was quite large and filled with a great range of good belonging to the numerous merchants traveling on the vessel. Impa leafed through a small pouch and produced their passes onto the ship which she showed to one of the crewmen.
"You people made it just in time," he told them gruffly. "Follow me and I'll show you where your cabins are." As they went below decks, Talen rambled on about how similar it was to the ship they had been on when traveling to Arbouren.
"Speaking of which, you two are not going near the railings this time. Remember what happened before?" Florella asked them sternly. Link cast his mind back to the time when he and Talen had been swept away by a waterspout and dumped on a tropical beach. A few days of hot, sticky jungle had been their obstacle after that, before meeting Yula and journeying to Arbouren to meet up with everyone again. It was also then that Florella had decided to cut Talen's legs out from underneath him by sticking an immovable ring on his finger and telling him that they would be getting married no matter what. Link summed up that those few days were perhaps some of the most harrowing he'd experienced.
"I don't think I could forget," the blonde swordsman winced. The crewmember thrust open the door to a single large cabin lined with bunks. There was a large curtain tied by the far wall that, when let out, could be drawn across the cabin to create a wall of sorts.
"I'd feel safer with something a little more substantial in the way," Link whispered to Talen.
"What was that?" Zelda asked. Link smiled nervously and waved his hands at her. She shook her head and sighed. "What are we going to do with you?"
The boys set up their things on one side of the cabin while the girls did the same on the other side.
"How are you doing, Ark?" Link asked his quiet friend. "You don't get seasick, do you?"
"I'm not sure, I've never been on a ship before…but I think I'm fine," he assured them.
"That's good then. If you do start to feel queasy, head up on decks for some fresh air. Vomiting usually makes you feel better too," Link shrugged. Ark wrinkled his nose.
"I will keep that in mind." They shared a laugh before deciding to head outside while the ship disembarked. Link turned and caught a glimpse of Fura setting up her bunk. He frowned when he noticed that her copper skin had taken on a faint greenish tinge.
"Hey, you two go on ahead. I'll be up in a second," he told Ark and Talen. They nodded and headed up with Nyara bounding after them upon noticing Ark slipping out the door. Link watched them go before walking over to Fura.
"Are you feeling all right?" he asked her curiously. Her head snapped around in surprise but she smiled slightly when she saw it was Link.
"I'm feeling just a little bit queasy; it always takes me some time to get used to being at sea," she told him quietly. Her eyelids were slightly drooped and she held her stomach uneasily. Link held out his hand, but jerked it back when he realized that he was holding out his shadowy arm by accident.
"Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly, holding out his normal one.
"Link, I don't have a problem with the way you look right now," Fura told.
"Do you want to go up on decks?" he asked her, brushing aside her assurance. "The fresh air will probably make you feel a little bit better. It's cooler up there too; we'll find somewhere out of the sun for you to sit…near the rails so you can heave-ho if need be."
"That sounds better than throwing up in here," she smiled wanly before pointedly avoiding his regular hand and seizing his dark one instead.
"Hey…Florella?" Link called to the fairy. She looked up at him.
"Yes?"
"Fura's feeling a little bit seasick…do you have anything that would make her feel better?" he asked hopefully. "And if you do, could you please give it to her?" Florella's face split into a broad grin.
"See!? That's how sweet you can be sometimes! Look! Holding her hand, making sure she's feeling all right, "please"…you've got it in you, you just never let it out!" Florella exclaimed, jumping up and down. Link almost considered letting go of Fura's clammy hand, but decided against it.
"Fura isn't feeling well and it isn't her fault," he frowned. "I'm not that mean, you know…and the rest of you can stop staring and grinning!" Impa, Saria and Zelda immediately put on innocent expressions.
"Well of course I can do something for Fura," Florella told him sweetly. "It'll take a little time to prepare, so you go on outside and I'll bring it up to you."
"Thanks," Link mumbled. "And you can all stop looking like this is a big deal!" His face was slightly red.
"You're very cute when you're blustery like this," Zelda told him casually, without turning around from making her bed.
"That's it, I'm going!" he declared. "Come on Fura." He turned and headed out the door with Fura trailing along behind him with her hand still in his own.
"Just when I start to lose hope, that boy goes and surprises me," Florella sighed. "Good gravy it feels good to see him act like that." The fairy grinned and wrapped her arms about herself in a kind of hug. Link's head suddenly poked through the door.
"Sorry to rush you, jelly-belly, but Fura looks like she's about to spew, so chop-chop with whatever it is that'll make her feel better," he told her before rushing off to where Fura was waiting on deck.
"Then again," Florella grumbled. "Some things never change."