Chapter 74: Lingering

…

Link stepped out of his cabin into a beam of fresh sunlight streaming in far from the opening above the Island Symphony. Noon, or at least the sun was high enough to show down through Anlah Takeen's outer layer. Being surrounded by open sky made the green around the ship feel almost like they were in a different world. Of course, Link had to remember that they were now in the Sorians' world.

With the sails stowed, Link began to wonder if today would be a good day to get some ship maintenance out of the way. With all they had seen lately, he was sure that the Island Symphony needed some work here and there. At the same time, Link tried to remember that their visit was supposed to be relaxing; Princess Zelda wanted not only to enjoy being among the Sorians again, but she also wanted the crew to get some leave. So, the question was who needed more rest: the crew or the ship? Link could not help grinning as he mused on the idea of the Island Symphony needing as much rest as the crew. Where was that supposed to leave him if even the ship had to relax?

"Captain Link!"

Link glanced up and realized that someone was falling straight at him. He took a step back in surprise. However, the person falling at him suddenly flipped and landed hard on his feet. Link felt the deck jolt under his boots, and he was concerned for a moment that the Sorian that had just landed in front of him might break a hole in the deck. This was not the case, allowing the Sorian to turn to address Link. "I apologize for boarding so abruptly," Captain Koroul told him. "We Sorians have a bad tendency to simply fall into a place."

"I think I could use some warning next time," Link admitted.

"I will be sure to pass the word," Captain Koroul said. "If you do not mind, I'd like to ask you some questions about Obeeta."

Link gave an acknowledging nod to Ray as she walked by. "Sure," he then said to Koroul. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, I was mostly curious if the Sorians on Obeeta had any ships," Koroul said.

Link shrugged. "We don't really know. We never noticed anything in the air except the Dreamweaver's tower. If they did, they didn't have them anymore."

"Did you ever look around for their port?"

"Uh…" Link started scratching the back of his head. Then he sucked in a pained breath and said, "We… really didn't think about that. We just docked on the nearest shore; there were a few bollards in the open we moored to."

"Oh. So… you're sure they did not have any ships, then?"

Link heaved a sigh. "I suppose they could have. Why are you so interested in knowing if they had any ships?"

"If they had any, it might be worth it going back to see if we can salvage them. It takes time to grow our airships. If it was possible to return, we could supplement our fleet."

Link considered the idea for a moment and gave an agreeing nod. "Yeah, I suppose that would make things easier. But I still don't think you'll find any."

"Why not?"

"Well, the Dreamweaver wasn't stupid. If anyone thought about leaving the island in an airship, he could just as easily bring them back. Or force them to sink the ship. That really seems to be the one thing we needed to know: we weren't getting away."

Koroul blew out a disbelieving breath. "I shutter to think," he admitted. Then he gave Link a smug grin. "So how do you know you actually got away?"

"After going back and forth between dreaming and awake, I'm not entirely sure anymore," Link admitted. "Sometimes, I expect to be standing right under that tower again."

"Like now?" Koroul said as he gestured to starboard.

Link grinned at him. He decided to take the joke in stride and glanced in the direction Koroul had indicated. His grin quickly disappeared.

The outer layer of Anlah Takeen was gone. Instead, Link was looking out across Obeeta once again. Even worse, the tower stood at the middle of the island.

Link quickly turned back to confirm Captain Koroul was still standing in front of him. Not only was he gone, but so was Link's crew, the few hands on the main deck whom he had seen patrolling just a moment ago. In their place, standing still as stone across the deck without paying him any attention, were a small group of Obeetans.

"Are you sure you got away, Captain?" Link wheeled around only to find more Obeetans standing behind him and on the quarterdeck above. He could feel something climbing his spine, a finger-like touch that worked its way toward his neck with a painfully slow pace. "Or…"

Link suddenly had an idea and ran toward his cabin door. If he could just get to his sword…

He immediately slid to a stop when a shadow stepped in front of him. Another Obeetan. However, Link quickly realized that this Obeetan was wearing clothing. A button-up shirt and work slacks, a style specific to Leynne.

"Did I follow you?"

Link turned around again. Obeeta had disappeared; the Island Symphony was docked to Anlah Takeen as before. However, the outer wall of the great tree had lost all its leaves. As if taking a cue from Link's gaze, the remaining branches began to fall away. The crumble and crash of the collapsing wall heralded the sight of more airships in the sky outside. At least, they appeared that way at first. Link was not paying attention to anything but the descending shadows in a sky full of clouds slowly building into a storm, so he looked down in confusion when he realized that there was something in his hand. A duoscope. He did not question it. He just raised the device to his face.

Once he located the nearest one, he saw that he was quite mistaken. The "airships" descending on Anlah Takeen were not made of wood, living or dead. He recognized that ink-black mass even before the ship's shape began to writhe.

"Look who's here."

Link had to rip the duoscope away from his face and throw it at the deck. Almost at the same time, the ship jostled, and Link just barely saved himself from falling. He had felt and heard the impact from behind. He spun and looked up at the poop deck in expectation of something large. For reasons he was not quite sure of, he was correct.

The inky body of the Dreamweaver finished molding itself into a gigantic bird. When it thrust open its wings, a Sorian airship docked above was bisected, and the interior wall of Anlah Takeen's port was smashed apart, sending Sorian airman tumbling through the air. It raised its head and screamed into the air, revealing rows of teeth in its beak.

"You're gonna have to do better than that!" Link shouted at the image of Cunimincus.

"I wasn't talking about him."

The voice sounded closer that time. He immediately turned around once again.

And in front of him was Janni. He did not know how, but he was looking at both her natural form and the matured illusion of her in spite of only one person standing in front of him. Her head was bowed, letting her eyes hide behind her hair/feathers. She exuded the air of an impending outburst, a feeling Link recognized from the same dream when she had almost attacked him with the Sorian sword. Except he did not have the Dreamweaver's shield to hide behind.

And she had the Sorian sword in her hand.

"Uh oh…" Link grunted to himself as he took a step back.

"Love me… Link…" Janni's voice sounded broken, like she was struggling to get the words out. "Love… me…"

Link only had one chance. He immediately reached out toward Janni's shoulders. However, Janni used her free hand to grab the front of his tunic, turning to slide past his attempt to shove her. She quickly stepped forward and rammed her shoulder into his chest. Link cried out, and they both fell to the deck with Janni landing hard on his stomach. Link had to fight through vision that would not stop shivering for a moment.

Then he felt a hand clamp around his throat. He immediately grasped for it as Janni pulled herself up. He stared up in horror as he realized that she had raised the sword in her opposite hand with the point aimed at his face.

"Love… me… Link…"

"GYAAAH-HAH!" Link screamed as she thrust downward. His body jolted violently before he even had the idea of reaching up to grab a blade that cut in both dreams and reality.

But his hands found empty air. Link quickly shoved himself up to see where he was.

A dim beam of light showed him vague shapes of the room's interior. He knew right away that he was not in his cabin; the light entered through a window above the bed behind him. He remembered that he had been shown to one of the guest rooms in Ukhool's house. It was mostly a circular bed and a small table with a chair in one corner; a few more pieces of furniture occupied the other corners, but they had been covered with sheets for storage. The room did not have a door, so Link had at least stripped down to his bodysuit before lying down. A faint glow came from the hallway, barely casting light beyond the doorway.

Link released a sigh and rubbed a hand over his heavy eyes. He discovered how sweaty he was despite leaving the blanket off. He glanced at the sweat glistening on his fingers and saw how shaky his hand was. He clenched his fist and tried to control it.

That was only the second nightmare he had had since the Dreamweaver's death. He wanted to write it off as just another nightmare, but he could not help feeling that this was different. The memory was quickly fading of the rest, but he clearly remembered Janni on top of him with the Sorian sword poised to stab into his face. He could also clearly recall Janni's part in the first nightmare. What he had dismissed as paranoia back then returned stronger. Was Janni using the Dreamweaver's technoworks device? And, if so, was she doing this on purpose?

"Captain?"

Link looked up. For a moment, he was ready to leap out of his skin at the sight of a human figure leaning into the doorway. Then, once voice and silhouette merged in his mind, he gave a relieved sigh. "Geez, Layna," he said. "What are you doing awake?"

Layna's response did not come right away, and Link could not see her expression. He heard her breathe out a sigh. "I heard you shout," she answered.

Link was taken aback by her response. He first thought she had decided to speak in Hylian again. Then, he remembered that the magic over Anlah Takeen was translating everything, so it should not have been a surprise that Layna suddenly spoke Hylian. He heaved a depressed sigh. "I… had a bad dream," he admitted. Layna stepped into the room. However, when he expected her to talk, she just stared at him. "Sooo… you were just responding to me?"

Layna looked down at the floor for a moment. Then she shook her head. For a moment, neither said a word in expectation of the other one talking. Layna heaved another sigh and walked over to Link's bed. Link moved over so he was not sitting in the exact middle of the bed, and Layna took this as a sign to sit down on the edge. She stared at the floor for a little longer, almost prompting Link to ask her if anything was wrong.

Then she carefully lay down on the bed. "Wait a minute, what are you doing?" Link asked, scooting aside a little more to give her room. "You're not actually gonna sleep here, are you? This is supposed to be my bed." Layna positioned herself on her side so that she was facing Link. He groaned. "Layna…"

Layna did not respond. The faint glow from the window above showed Link a tired expression. For a moment, they just watched each other. Then Link resigned himself to the cowardly notion that actually trying to remove Layna would be far too hazardous to his health. He made sure there was extra space in the sinking mattress so that he would not roll into her, and then he lay on his back so he was not staring at her. Unfortunately, this left him watching the ceiling without any feeling of falling back to sleep right away. And, even without looking at her, he was keenly aware that she was staring at him.

He tried bearing this for a few minutes. Then he turned his head to her. "Can't sleep?" he asked. Layna shook her head. "Wanna talk about it?" Again, Layna shook her head. "Wanna talk about anything?" Layna showed him a flat look through her sleep-laden eyes. He chuckled and said, "Okay, I'll shut up." This caused her to lift the expression and close her eyes.

Link sighed and looked up at the ceiling, trying to convince himself that this was acceptable as long as they were not cuddling or anything.