Chapter 66: Like a Bat Out of Hell

…

The march back to the Island Symphony was draining, though Link, Irleen, Cale, and Janni had left the tower's remains with most of their energy gone to begin with. Irleen and Janni did not even have the will to fly. Janni had at least calmed down enough to walk with them, but her somber expression hinted that her thoughts continued to dwell on the toys she could not remember. No one wanted to say anything to her at the risk of causing her to break down again.

Leynne had a worried look on his face as the group boarded, quite aware of the dreary air around them. He was not sure if he should ask anything.

Link stepped aside as soon as he set foot on-deck and waited for Cale, Irleen, and Janni to walk by. "Leynne," he then said. "Do we have any other reason to be here?"

Leynne stiffened his stance at the tension in Link's voice. "I don't believe so, Captain," he replied, his voice calm and formal.

"Get my ship out of here. Cut the line, dump the plank… do whatever; I want to be gone five minutes ago."

"I shall see to it, Captain," Leynne said with hints of a stunned tone. Link did not say anything else. He simply turned on his heel and marched to his cabin. Leynne glanced around just in time to catch Cale, Irleen, and Janni disappearing down into the ship. "Layna?" he uttered before turning around. However, whereas he had been expecting Layna to appear, he was more surprised by the lack of response. "Layna?" he repeated louder.

"'Inu miyiynwo'otak!" Leynne had to turn once more to see that Layna, who had hollered in response, was jogging from the bow along the bulwark. He could only stare in bewilderment as he waited for her. "Waba yiyaxwtya'ak 'inoy max, Amda Lyayn?"

Leynne neglected his own education in Geltoan and asked, "Have… you fohgotten how to sneak up on people?"

Layna started and hunched her shoulders in embarrassment. "N-na', Amda Lyayn," she replied.

Leynne was accustomed to the notion that Layna had her bashful moments, but her response still felt awkward. He shook the thought aside and asked, "Do you know why the captain and his shoh pahty ah so… morose?"

Layna shook her head. "Na', Amda Lyayn."

Leynne glanced at the island. "What happened out theh?" he asked her.

"'Inu nadmimoytiykak, Amda Lyayn."

Leynne blinked at her in silence. "You… don't know," he repeated.

"Ay'a, Amda Lyayn."

Leynne jammed a thumb over his shoulder toward Link's cabin. "Didn't you follow them onto the island?"

Layna hid her hands behind her back and looked down at the deck in shame. "Na', Amda Lyayn…" she mumbled.

"You didn't?" he asked. "Why not?" Leynne had not meant to sound so surprised, but Layna still flinched at his louder tone. Leynne was caught off-guard by her reaction, but he decided to dismiss it on the impression that he was about to receive a number of vague responses or a long-winded explanation that he would ultimately fail to understand. So, he heaved a sigh. "Neveh mind," he told her. "Retrieve the mooring line and have Biluf and Dholit bring the plank aboahd. Then raise all sails."

"Ay'a, Amda Lyayn," she responded with a salute. Leynne dismissed the salute with a quick motion that did not even touch his head. Again, he watched in surprise as she simply walked down the boarding plank to retrieve the mooring line. His mind snapped back to Link's order, so he called out to her, "Make it fast; the captain wants to be gone from the island as soon as possible!" Layna started and bolted toward the bollard at a full run. Leynne then turned with the intention of checking on Link. He changed his mind once he recalled the order again and started across the deck toward the bow. He checked over his shoulder a few times as he walked. Once he saw Biluf and Dholit pull the boarding plank up, he hustled to the forecastle.

Leynne found Line resting his head and arms on the wheel. "Line," he spoke up.

"Yeah?" Line replied in a dull tone.

Leynne stepped behind him to check the compass on the instrument panel. "Staht engine to half poweh and take us on a couhse due nohth. Mehge with the neah Sky Line; it should be blowing east."

Line stood up and turned to operate the control panel. "So, we're really leaving, then?" he asked as he engaged the ship's propellers with one throw of a stubborn lever.

"Astoundingly enough, yes," Leynne said.

"Good," Line said. He paused to slowly drive up the throttle for the engine. "I'm getting sick of this place."

"We all ah," Leynne commented before walking away. He stopped at the top of the steps to watch Obeeta for a moment. Once the island started moving, he descended to the main deck. "Dubbl!" he called out.

Dubbl had been loitering near the forward capstan. She heard Leynne's call and jogged over to him. "Yes, Leynne?" she asked.

Leynne paused when he noticed Layna and Ray still hauling up one of the aft sails. "We'll be ahriving to the Sky Line momentarily," he told her. "Once Line gives the wohd, open all sails. We'll be traveling at full speed."

"Yes, Leynne."

However, when she did not walk away, Leynne gave her a confused look. "Something else?" he asked.

"I… I soddy."

"You'h what?"

Dubbl's face gave a quick flash of frustration. "I… sorry," she said.

"Foh what?"

Dubbl wrapped her arms around her midsection and looked to one side. "I said… bad zings. I… was angly, but I not unde'stand why. I not want husband hate me."

Leynne reached out and pulled Dubbl into a tight hug. "I know I've said some… unkind things to you as well," he told her in a low voice. "I don't believe eitheh of us ah responsible. The sooneh we leave, the betteh things will be."

Dubbl finally wrapped her arms around him. "Okay," she replied. Then Leynne felt her give him a pair of tighter squeezes. "You still becoming fat."

Leynne gave an exhausted sigh. "Fine, I'll staht exehcising…" They pulled their heads back to share a quick kiss. Then Dubbl released him and started jogging across the deck toward Layna and Ray.

Leynne lingered for a moment to make sure word was being passed along. Then he crossed the deck on his way to Link's cabin. He did not necessarily need Link at this moment. However, since Dubbl already had orders, she could carry them out without any further input since she was the deck chief. His presence was not necessary at the moment, either, and it bothered him that Link would be so terse and atypical of his usual style. Leynne could not think of any other time Link would use the word "ago" when delivering an order.

When he arrived at the door to Link's cabin, he stopped and knocked carefully. He waited a few moments, and then he knocked again when he could not hear a response from the other side. "Captain?" he asked. He gave Link another minute to respond. When he still had not heard anything from the other side, he opened the door and leaned in.

Link sat at his desk with his arms and head resting on top. Leynne at first thought he was asleep and was only a breath away from withdrawing back to the deck when Link looked up at him. Leynne had not known Link to cry easily, so something must have really been bothering him because Link still had a fresh stream of tears falling down his cheeks.

Leynne sighed and closed the door behind him. "What's wrong, Link?" he asked, foregoing the need to confirm his mood.

Link sniffed and wiped his runny nose with one hand. "I don't know," he said through a cracked voice. "I don't know anymore."

"I assume this stems from events between you fouh while you weh away," Leynne told him as he stopped beside the foot of the bed. "I am ratheh distuhbed; you ah cleahly not dealing with it well."

"No," Link agreed as he rubbed the tears off his cheeks. "No, I suppose not."

"I cannot claim to solve youh problem, but I would like to believe that a sympathetic eah would help."

Link rose so that he could plant his elbows on the desktop. "I'm not sure what the problem is," he admitted. "I mean… Leynne, what have we done here? What did I do?"

Leynne raised an eyebrow. "You've done… what you've done befoh, what we've known you to do. You listened to the pleas of people who needed help. If I've undehstood the situation cohrectly, you ended the suffering of some thousands of people trapped in the last fragments of theih life. You even saved the Dreamweaveh from his self-imposed tohment. And you freed Janni from the shield."

Link shook his head. "I'm not even sure that was worth it," he confessed.

"Why not?"

Link heaved out a heavy breath and covered his eyes with a hand. "Leynne… what's she supposed to do?" he asked. "She's been locked away in that shield for over a hundred years."

"Yes, admittedly, she's been released into a wohld she knows nothing about. I should hahdly think she would so easily retuhn to heh old life."

Link lifted his hand to look at Leynne. "She sure as hell couldn't. I just watched her break down in a room full of toys she couldn't remember."

Both of Leynne's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Suhly, she at least undehstood they should have been heh toys."

"Cale suggested we could take them with us for her. Leynne, she wouldn't even pick one up. It was all just… meaningless to her."

Leynne gave his head a conceding nod. "One hundred yeahs is a long time. I suppose it would be hahd to retain such memories."

"I… can't help wondering if what we did here was right," Link said as he sat back in his chair. "I can live with the Obeetans being gone; Irleen and Janni ma—…" He paused at the sudden lump in his throat. He had to swallow it back before continuing. "They told me that there was no other way to save them. And Janni…" Link stopped again, his left hand raising and lowering as he fought to decide whether he wanted to hit something or not. He finally raked his fingers across the side of his head. "Great Goddesses, Leynne, I killed her father!" Leynne took a surprised step backwards. Link tugged at his hair as if he were about to rip it free of his skull. "And-and now she doesn't have anything of her life before! What-what the hell am I supposed to do!? I'm responsible for all of it!"

"I hahdly think so." Link looked up in shock at the edge in Leynne's voice. "You have been undeh the influence of the Dreamweaveh just as the rest of us. Ouh 'responsibility' is quite easy to call into question." Leynne glanced down and realized that, with his arms crossed, he looked like he was berating Link. He took in a deep breath, forced himself to uncross his arms, and placed one hand on the nearby bedpost to keep it busy. "Link. As I undehstand the situation as it has unfolded by now, the Dreamweaveh wanted this. And he achieved it by doing the one thing he knew you would respond to; he threatened othehs. Holding us hostage with ouh dreams ensuhed that you went into the dream every night to cut him apaht. Then he went afteh Hyrule because he knew you would puhsue. You may have taken his life, but the Dreamweaveh had to die. And he wanted to die. Agonizing oveh the matteh will only reduce you to this.

"As foh Janni… as unsympathetic as it may sound, I'm afraid that she has to leahn to cope with this. Has she so easily held you responsible foh killing heh fatheh? Shown you resentment?"

"She's insane…" Link muttered.

"Pehhaps," Leynne continued. "Whateveh the case, this is heh situation now. Heh fatheh is gone, Obeeta is barren, and she cannot remembeh much of heh life befoh the shield. If she wishes to continue to live, she will have to find a new way to live. It is a decision foh heh alone. You cannot let youhself be responsible foh that."

Link wanted to argue. However, it felt like Leynne had a point. He let his hand fall onto the armrest. "I still feel like we should do something for her," he said.

"Pehhaps theh is, pehhaps not," Leynne said. "As things stand now, I shouldn't think leaving heh on Obeeta to be in heh best interest. Ouh cuhrent option is take heh with us, and it doesn't seem to be something she wishes to debate. She's provided quite a bit foh ouh crew; she's effectively become paht of this crew. And I know how you feel about youh crew."

"You think that's it, then? That I'm just… so used to thinking of her as part of this crew, it's driving me crazy?"

Leynne allowed his arms to fold together, but he gave Link a smart smirk. "You think I haven't seen this befoh? The princess of Hyrule hehself is paht of youh crew."

Link deigned to huff out a breath of humor, a small grin appearing on his face. "I guess I do do that, huh?" He sat up straighter in the chair. "Well, if you have any suggestions for Janni, I'd like to know."

"Ah—" Leynne gave the door a quick glance. "Just one thing."

"Yeah?"

"Well…" Leynne let his arms fall to his sides. "You do realize Janni's been walking around exposed, right?"

"Exposed?" Link asked in confusion. "How?"

Leynne blinked at him, amazed at Link's inattention. "In the most literal of senses, Link; she's been without clothing this entih time."

Link's face, upon remembering that he had not seen Janni wearing anything since she had appeared two days ago, immediately turned scarlet.