Chapter 5: We Don't Look Suspicious At All

…

The Island Symphony seemed surreal tied up as it was to a port with no nearby features. Even as Link watched his airmen tie it up to another pair of mooring pylons (which looked even less like bollards now that he stood ashore), the ship itself felt so out of place. He tried to write off the feeling as just being on a new island not built by Hylian hands. However, that little reminder only served to unnerve him as he glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the island.

"Pylons are sound, Captain," Flower said after having tried kicking one out of the rock. "Whoever put them in put them in good."

"Nice to know the ship won't float away if we just leave it," Irleen said as she hovered around Link's head.

"You bet," Link agreed.

Wham-bum pam! Link glanced up toward the ship's main deck in response to hearing a number of things falling against it. His first thought was that he had lost another sail.

And then Cale stumbled into view. A scholar from the surface kingdom, Cale was barely older than Link and yet so well-read in multiple areas of study that it almost made Link jealous. Despite this, Cale was also a walking reminder of gravity's existence. If there was ever anything anyone could fall from, Cale had about a fifty-fifty chance of falling from it. His brown hair had shown some recent growth, but he had managed to keep it tidy since leaving the kingdom; many on the crew suspected that he was making use of hair products brought aboard by the ship's cook, his girlfriend. He wore a blue shirt in keeping with the Skyriders' traditional colors for airmen, but his grey slacks gave him more of a business-like appearance.

Link cringed as Cale finally set foot on the gangplank. Not only was he traversing the worst possible fall, he had stacks of books, journals, and writing implements in his arms tall enough to block his view. Flower was seconds behind Link in perceiving this fact and quickly jerked in Cale's direction as if to catch him. Even after Cale safely set foot on the ground, Flower positioned himself right behind him to keep him from falling backwards.

Link rubbed a touch of sleep and irritation from his eyes. "Cale?" he asked. "How many books do you need?"

"I-I felt the need to consult my notes," Cale replied, his diction colored by an accent similar to Leynne's. He turned to one side so that he could look at Link. "I had thought it prudent to bring as much reseahch as I could."

"Okay, now he's just showing off," Irleen commented, reminding Link of a conversation they had held two days prior.

"Cale, we'll be here for at least a few days," Link told him. "I'm sure you'll be able to squeeze a bit of research in between organizing whatever supplies Leynne can scrounge up. Put the books away."

Cale sighed. "Yes, saah," he said with a resigned tone. He realized that Flower was nearby. "Mistah Flowah, would you mind?"

"Of course, Chief," Flower replied.

He held his arms out, and Cale carefully heaved the books into his arms. Then he paused to take one of his journals off the top of the stack. "Thank you, Mistah Flowah." Flower gave an indifferent grunt and turned to walk away. Cale turned back to survey the landscape. He took in a deep breath and said, "Well. I suppose this shall be… quite the adventuah. Aftah all, I've only evah seen Foahlight Island a few times. This would be the pahfect oppohtunity to examine Sorian ahchitectuah."

"Unfortunately, you might have to wait for that opportunity still, Chief," Irleen said.

Cale turned to give her a confused look. "Might I?" he asked.

"That isn't Sorian architecture out there," Link said as he pointed at the buildings in the distance. "Someone else is living here."

Cale cast the distance a stunned look. "Oh, my… Ah you cehtain?" he asked.

"Oooh, yeah," Link said as he nodded.

"Trust me," Irleen said.

The three of them heard footsteps bounding down the gangplank and turned to see Line approaching. He had changed into a red shirt with a matching jacket. Flower had to stumble out of the way in order to avoid colliding with him. He jogged to a stop in front of Link. "Is this all?" he asked. "Can't we at least take someone for… I don't know, protection?"

"We are," Link told him, resting a hand on the pommel of his sword.

Line gave him an irritated look. "Yeah, you don't count."

Link nodded. "I know. Layna's coming along."

"Aaaaaw, do we have to?" Line groaned, allowing his body to slacken in a show of exhaustion.

"Let's get going; it's a long walk," Link said. Then, as they started across the open area, he said, "I thought you liked Layna. For a girl with no chest."

"She's been sticking me with needles for almost two years!" Line argued. "As much as I like sleeping on-duty, I'm getting sick of falling to the deck every time she gets a wild hair and stabs me in the neck."

"I believe I'd expressed my concehn foh the theft of the Gelto crew's undahweah," Cale spoke up.

"I can't get you to keep any secret, can I?" Line whined at him.

"This may sound kinda stupid, Line," Irleen spoke up, "but why would you steal from your shipmates?"

Link, although he had his back to both boys, opened his arms wide to show his confusion. "Am I the only one who thinks it's wrong of him to steal any women's clothes?"

"Shut up, Link," Irleen said in a dismissive manner. "This is behavioral study."

"I'd hahdly qualify Line as a typical male," Cale commented.

"Sure, because you're a Hylian," Irleen told him.

"This conversation's getting boring," Line complained. "Can we go back to women's underwear?"

"You started it," Link said over his shoulder. "Now shut up, or I'm just gonna leave you right here. 'Cause I know Layna won't follow either of you."

Either because Link was their captain or they had simply run out of arguments, Line, Cale, and Irleen had fallen silent for the rest of their walk to the buildings. It took another ten minutes before they reached the edge of the town, marked by the change from large, stone tiles in the ground to bricks. As expected, the buildings in the immediate region were single-story and not particularly large. Most on the road they used had been built very close together, barely enough distance to walk side-by-side. Some of the side streets looked to be narrower. Their exteriors looked to be made from grayish clay. But the doors and windows did not use wood as expected. Link tapped a few to be sure that the doors were actually thick cloth stretched tight over a frame (which, if the doorknobs were any indication, might have been made of iron). Line dared to try a few only to find them locked.

After another unsuccessful test, he turned to Link and Cale and asked, "Am I the only one weirded out by it being the middle of the morning… and nobody's out here?"

"It does bring back cehtain memories," Cale commented. "An attempt at gaining ouh surrendah comes to mind."

"Surrender to who?" Line asked.

"Captain Nohth."

"Oh, yeah," Line said as he moved to the window of the next building. "I think you told me about that. But I was thinking about Autumn Island. That ambush was… something."

"At least this island looks nicer," Link chipped in.

"And somewhat wohthy of habitation," Cale added as he peered into a nearby barrel. "Although I wouldn't exactly attest to it being inhabited at his point."

Line knocked on the window, if only for the dull thud the stretched cloth made. Then he turned and said, "The doors are all locked. Maybe they all stepped out."

"First thing in the morning?" Irleen asked. "We aren't even sure if these are homes."

"They appeah somewhat unifohm in appearance," Cale pointed out. "Theih small size could suggest houses, at least foh single people oh small families."

"Or maybe storage sheds?" Line suggested.

"Irleen, do you think you can sneak into one?" Link asked his brow. "Maybe squeeze in under the door?"

"I guess I could try," she answered. She fluttered to a door on the opposite side of the street from Line and stopped near the bottom so that Link and Cale could join her near the doorway. "Wow. It looks pretty dark in there."

"I've got an idea," Link said as he drew his sword. He dropped to his knees, leaned over, and carefully slid the sword underneath the door. "How's that? Can you see anything?"

"Not really," she confessed. "But it makes it easier to see just inside. Can you hold it there until I come out?"

"Yeah, sure," Link said, although Irleen's light was already inside before he could answer. He glanced up at Cale. "Keep your eyes open. We don't exactly wanna get caught doing this."

"Irleen's the only one going inside," Line pointed out as he moved to the next corner on his side of the street.

"I still cannot say that I enjoy the prospect of breaking and entering," Cale commented as he casually side-stepped to the corner of the house and peered around the side.

Link placed his mouth to the bottom of the door and asked, "See anything?"

"Ah-choo!" Link quickly jerked away from door when a small plume of dust spat out at him. "Ahk! Dust," Irleen told him.

"Noticed," Link grunted.

"Link." Link glanced up at Cale, at first alarmed that he had seen someone coming. "I have to admit… I have some misgivings concehning this place."

"I think we all do, Cale. But we're here now, and we're gonna need to find some supplies around here so we can get home."

"Ah we cehtain this is the only island along this Sky Line?"

Link put on a hesitant look. "Uh… yeah."

"Okay, Link," Irleen spoke up. Link glanced down to find her exiting the door. He waited until she was clear before he pulled his sword out. "Whew. Not a very inviting place."

"What'd you find?" Link asked while he waved Line back over.

"Well, whoever uses this place sure likes the dark," she said. "There are blankets over the windows and the door; your sword kept the blanket out of the way so I could at least see the opening."

"Could you tell if anyone was inside?" Link asked.

"In pitch-black? Not really. I had to get close to things just so my own light would show me what I was looking at. But… I don't think there was anyone inside; all I could hear was you guys talking out here."

"What was in there?" Line asked.

"Furniture, I guess," Irleen said. "It's hard to tell what things are, especially when you're this small. Sorry, guys, but I just couldn't say. About the only thing I could make out was a large cloth in the middle of the room. It looked like someone had just left it on the floor."

"Anything in it?" Link asked.

"No."

Cale glanced over his shoulder. Then he said, "Pehhaps we should move fuhthah in. If these ah homes, the buildings closah to the centah might be businesses. They may be ouh best chance foh finding supplies."

"Agreed," Link said with a nod. He sheathed the sword and pointed down the street. "Let's go."

"Can we pick up some paint while we're out?" Line asked. "Seriously, the drab grey is beginning to annoy me."

"Let's… find out who we're dealing with before we go painting their houses, Line," Link said. "For all we know, we just broke into the house of a mass murderer."

"Save me the horroh," Cale said with an exhausted tone.

"Don't worry," Line said. "If there's a murderer around here, I'm sure you'll be first to go, Cale."

"Shut up, Line," Link and Irleen said at the exact same time. Line blew a raspberry and picked up his pace to put himself ahead of the group.