Chapter 69: We're Home

…

~~10/26

~~We're home.

…

Link had written the line in the logbook three hours before they actually exited the Sky Line near Might Island; he marked it down based on seeing the island in the dawn light.

Link, as well as most of the deck crew, gave the island a relieved sigh. Not only were they thankful to see an island that did not go by the name 'Obeeta', but the difference in landscape itself aided their appreciation for home. In addition to multistory buildings that would be called a city if not for being about two dozen spires in the cramped center of the island, Might Island sported a pair of small mountain ranges on either side of those buildings. These mountains, although not having height to rival some of the ranges on the surface, gave the island a lush presence beside the morning sun. Just as inviting were the hundreds of airships docked at its voluminous southern ports or breezing their way over the island.

This was familiar to him. So why did he feel like he had never seen this before? He had to work through the math in his head. One month traveling to Obeeta, nearly another month living the nightmare, two weeks back… Link could not figure an exact number, so he thought back to his log from yesterday. Sixty-eight? Sixty-nine? Nearly seventy days, two full months with extra? It easily surpassed the time he had spent wrecked on the surface two years ago. However, when he had returned home from that venture, he eased back into life as if he had never left. Now… it was almost as if he had never seen that shore before.

"Home sweet home." Link glanced to his left where Gillam stood. Gillam met Link's gaze and gave the island a side-nod. "This what it was like when you came back from the surface?"

Link shook his head. "When I came back, the Sky Lines were gone and a fake princess was on the throne. I was a fugitive for about two months."

"Aaah," Gillam replied. "So, this is better, then?"

"Knowing I finished off an island full of fragmented lives and killed the father of one of my crew? No. No, it isn't."

Gillam put on a troubled look and started gripping at the back of his neck with one hand. "Sorry, Captain. Guess you've seen about as much crap as us, huh?"

Link glanced down at the duffel bag at Gillam's feet. "Maybe," he admitted. Then he pointed a finger toward the stern. "I've got you transfer papers ready; come get them in my cabin."

"Aye, sir."

Link turned and led Gillam across the beakhead and up onto the forecastle where Leynne and Line waited. "Line," Link said, "just, uh… find us an empty space. Nothing fancy, but we should expect to be here a couple of days."

"Close to the branch office?" Line asked.

"It'll have to be; we're gonna need to put in for a lot of supplies. Leynne, as soon as we're docked, draw up a list with Cale and report to the office as soon as possible."

"Of couhse, Captain," Leynne replied.

Link was about to continue past them, then he stopped and added, "Oh, and have Botu report to my office so he can get his transfer papers."

"Undehstood."

"Lieutenant?" Gillam said as he stepped closer to Leynne. He extended a hand. "It's been an honor, sir."

"Yes, of couhse," Leynne replied as he grasped Gillam's hand. "An honoh indeed."

"But you should probably work on that accent."

Leynne forced the handshake to a standstill and glared at him. "Miscreant buggeh."

"Love you, too, sir," Gillam said as they released hands. Link, as he and Gillam started walking away, began to wonder if Gillam realized that Leynne had just insulted him.

As they crossed the main deck, Link saw the deck crew as well as some of the night shift huddled against the stairs to look at the island. He could hardly blame them; had he not been captain with some business to take care of, he might have been squeezed between Dholit and Brandon trying to get a good look at Might Island as well. It left the rest of the deck looking abandoned. Except for Flower, standing at the door to Link's cabin. He was leaning against the bulkhead with his crutches set aside. As Link came closer, Flower grabbed the crutches and pushed off the bulkhead.

"Did you get all your gear?" Link asked as he reached for the doorknob.

"Left it next to the door," Flower said. After putting his crutches in position, he nodded at a battered duffel bag sitting on the deck next to the bulwark on the port side. "Be easy to grab if that's the side Line docks on."

"In that case, he'll probably come in on the starboard side," Gillam joked as he dropped his duffel bag near the racks under the stairs to the quarterdeck.

Inside, Link immediately strode to his desk and opened a drawer. He pulled out a short stack of paperwork, much of which would have to go with Leynne to the Skyriders' branch office. He shuffled out that paperwork to produce a two-page resignation form and a pair of transfer forms, all of which he had filled in two days ago. Link looked over the documents once more to make sure he had filled them out correctly. Then he looked up at Flower, who was already standing in front of his desk.

He sighed and asked, "You sure you wanna do this?"

"Aye, sir," Flower said with an air of exhaustion.

"Can we at least take you to the Port?" Link offered.

Flower shook his head. "Nester already gave me a letter for a clinic here on Might Island. I'll probably be another week of recovery. Then I'll see about finding something around here. Probably a hired hand at the storage yard or something. Might Island's the largest port in the kingdom; something'll come up."

Link nodded. "Okay. We'll get you a cab; you're gonna have to get to the office to put these in yourself before you go to the clinic."

"Sounds good," Flower replied. "I wasn't looking forward to the walk."

"Uh… Gillam, you and Botu didn't really request any particular assignment, so I kinda left that blank."

"That's okay, Captain," Gillam said. "I was kinda toying with asking for some shore duty before another ship. I'll probably have my mind made up by the time I get to the office." He grinned at Flower. "Hope you don't mind me hitching a ride with you, Chief."

Flower shrugged and said, "The captain's paying for it."

"Well, if you're going along, you might as well carry his resignation forms for him," Link said as he handed the sheets of parchment to Gillam. "Botu's transfer form is in there, too, so make sure he gets it."

"Aye aye, sir," Gillam replied.

"Uh…" Link paused and scratched his head as a small bout of awkwardness set in. "I guess… we've still got a few minutes before we dock. I, uh… I don't know what to do with you guys…"

"Technically, we're supposed to still be on-duty until we dock," Flower said.

Gillam shrugged and said, "Ain't news to me."

"Who're you gonna get to head the night shift?" Flower asked.

"Weeell…" Link had to think about this for a moment, having forgotten that Flower's departure left a significant gap in his command staff. "What do you think? Shift Hunter to main helm and promote Gold to deck chief?"

Flower put on a hesitant look. "Gold's a good man, but he's only been with the company for two years. The regulations say you should have three years with the company or five years' experience."

"He was a sailor on the surface," Link pointed out.

Flower shrugged his good shoulder. "You can give it a try, but I don't know that the fleet captains will approve."

"You can at least make it a temporary appointment until you contact the company," Gillam suggested. "Who reads the regulations anyway?"

"Uh—I do," Link said, sounding mildly offended.

Flower grinned at Gillam. "Regs are the worst on the captain."

"Eh," Gillam replied with a dismissive tone. "I suppose I can afford to haul up another sail or two before I go."

"I think I'll just go have a seat outside," Flower said as he pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

"All right, well," Link said, "we'll be docking soon, so we should be out there."

Of course, Link failed to account for the fact that their conversation took less than three minutes, hardly enough time for the ship to have made much progress out of the Sky Line. What followed was another ten minutes of him awkwardly pacing across the forecastle while Might Island seemed to slowly drag itself toward the Island Symphony. Meanwhile, more of the crew had come onto the deck; Link was certain by the time they docked that the only ones who were not on the deck were the day crew in the engine room.

Line was slow with his maneuvers when he docked, although this seemed to be because he thought he was supposed to dock high so that the cargo doors could be opened onto the pier. When Leynne corrected him, he dropped the ship and increased their engine speed so that they could dock lower. Link did not know why, but it was a massive relief to see dockers run up to grab the mooring lines Biluf and Gillam had tossed out. Equally as satisfying was seeing more run up with a gangplank, saving his crew the trouble of having to haul out their only spare from below deck. While the gangplank was being set in place, the deck crew, save for Gillam, started lowering the sails.

Link stepped down from the forecastle and crossed to the opening in the bulwark where Flower, Gillam, and Botu were standing, Botu having shouldered Flower's duffel bag as well as his own.

"There he is," Gillam said when he spotted Link approaching.

"You three have everything?" Link asked as they turned to him.

"Everything but the spare set of underwear the chief stole," Botu replied with a grin. "Far as I'm concerned, he can keep 'em."

"Ħo, klun!" Link turned around to see Irleen jogging toward him, Leynne following about a dozen paces behind at his own walking speed. Irleen stopped next to Link and looked at the three airmen for a moment. Then she handed Link her translating gem. "What's going on? You guys leaving?"

"Well, Flower has these injuries he needs to take care of," Link spoke up. "He's taking retirement to recuperate and find another job."

"Aw," Irleen replied in a disappointed tone. "That's too bad; I thought you'd like to visit my people again."

"Now, no one's really saying that," Flower told her as a sad smile crossed his face. "I wish I could go with you; I'd like to see you make it home. But I really need time to recover. I won't deny it was fun meeting them. And, who knows? Maybe in a year or so, I'll catch a ride down there."

"Oh, I hope you will," Irleen said as she stepped toward him. Flower seemed to take the hint and leaned forward so that she could carefully wrap her arms around his neck. "Take care of yourself, Flower. I'll miss you."

"You take care, too, miss," Flower said to her. "I hope you find them." Link heard a sniff and glanced past Flower to see Botu wiping his eyes. Irleen released Flower, and Flower stood up and gave Link a salute. "Permission to disembark, Captain."

Link switched the hand holding Irleen's gem and returned the salute. "Permission granted, Chief," Link replied. "Hope we see you again soon."

"Hope I get the chance," Flower said. He gave Leynne (having gone unacknowledged standing over Link's shoulder) a quick nod and started descending the gangplank at his crutch's best pace.

Irleen watched him for a moment. Then she turned to Gillam and Botu, both of whom just happened to finish wiping tears off their faces. "Are you guys leaving, too?" she asked.

Botu opened his mouth to respond. However, Gillam quickly ripped the form out of his hand and threw it over the bulwark. "No, miss!" Gillam then declared while Botu could only gape at him. "Nope, we're just helping the chief with his stuff." He dropped his duffel bag and quickly picked his transfer form out of the parchment in his hand so that he could throw it overboard with Botu's. Then he turned to Botu and asked in a particularly forceful tone, "Right?"

"Of course!" Botu quickly replied, turning back to address Irleen. "We'd like to take you home in his place, ma'am!"

Link thought he heard Leynne whisper to himself, "What a paih of dupes…"