Warnings- None, really. Slight bit of lighthouseshipping (FelixSheba! Yay! -) towards the end, but it's just one line and you can skip it if you want.
Whoa, gotta actually thank my little brother for this one. This time, he was playing Golden Sun and asked one of his many random questions; What's up with Yepp?
…of course, I had no idea what he was talking about at first…
Then I remembered Yepp. Does anyone else? The dead guy whose poem you use to get to Lemuria (in theory)? Well, Mark (the little bro) wanted to know how Yepp apparently knew how to get to Lemuria (hence, the rhyme), but none of the Lemurians seemed to know about him.
So, my mind comes up with some strange explanation. I scribble it down in my Health Class (blurg…), type it up at home, and give it a bit of depth. As far as I know, this is the first Yepp story on so I'll try not to kill him.
Of course, that's difficult, since he was already dead when the game started….
I don't own Golden Sun. I guess Yepp's personality is mine, though…seeing as how he doesn't really have one in the game…
The Smaller Picture
Legends
Chapter II of -
It was a good day to sail.
That was, really, the only way Yepp knew how to describe a day like this, with the wind coursing through the air, cutting the water and making it ripple out into sailing-sized waves and the sun beating down until one of those puffy clouds covered it, giving the sun-baked inhabitants some relief from it's smiling face.
Yepps face was smiling, too, that day. He was taking a group of pearl divers out with him for a month-long excavation of the more central area of the great Eastern Sea. The group was a sizable one, as most everyone in Yallam seemed to have a passion for traveling. What with Garoh, the Werewolf town, a mere mountain's climb away, the Taopo swamp easily accessible by foot, and a new world of civilizations available if one had a boat, it was no surprise that the residents had all grown a liking for the activities.
"Oie! Yepp! Be us'ns leaving these here parts…err…anytime…soon?" Yepp chuckled. Sunshine, one of the younger members of the crew, seemed to posses the typical stereotype that anyone on a boat in the ocean was a pirate. Trying to keep true to the stereotypical speech, the boy found himself challenged with a barrier he could not seem to overcome.
But then, with how linguistically correct his mother was, it was likely for the best that he couldn't.
"Aye, Sunny" Yepp watched in amusement as the boy cringed at the nickname, "We'll be leaving soon. That is-" He turned to the pirate-to-be, "If you can answer me this question." Yepps face became deadly serious as he kneeled down to Sunshine's' level and looked the boy in the eye.
"If you try to fail, and end up succeeding, what the blazes did you just do?" Sunshine's face turned from worried to surprised, then to puzzle in a time frame of approximately half a second. Yepp was well-known for his confusing, often unanswerable questions and his lively children's songs. Sunshine twisted his face several different ways before Sunshine relieved him.
"Or, you could just start humming 'around the bend'. Sunshine sighed in relief before beginning to hum one of the tunes composed by the old boat master. A few seconds later, Yepp began singing in time with him.
As the old boat master began to sing along with the child, several of the villages' adults stopped to hear the ballad as well. Yepp was perhaps most well known in the village for his poems and songs, as they were immensely popular among the children.
As the final notes trilled away on the salted breeze, Yepp and Sunshine exchanged identical looks of glee as they began racing towards the ship they were to set sail on. This was a usual sight in Yallam, to see the brown-haired boatman who never really grew up running around the town with the kids who never wanted to.
As the pair exited the town, a gust of wind picked up, seeming to encourage the travelers onward to their vessel.
"Come on, Sunshine!" Yepp yelled to his young friend, "The wind is at your back now! You should be whooshing down this field!"
Sunshine laughed, "And how, pray tell Yepp, do I 'whoosh'?" To the child's amazement, his elder simply laughed again, and thrust his arms out behind him.
"Like this!" With that, the grown man picked up speed as another gust of wind picked up and began blowing with gusto. "Whooooooosh!"
A bit surprised, Sunshine paused for a moment with a blank look on his face. Then he broke out into a full-fledged grin and repeated Yepps' actions. "Whoooosh!"
The two continued their short journey in the same manor, talking with one another as though they were the closest of friends, in friendship and age.
The two friends, after alternating walking and running, reached the ship in about a half and hours' time. The crew was ready, with the smaller boats ready for exploring the more inaccessible regions of the sea, while everyone on deck seemed rather excited and ready to go.
Once the final preparations were concluded, they set sail.
The trip was peaceful and the crew got along fine (with the exception of a few minor quarrels). Yepp stood at the crow's nest, the closest to alone one could get on the vessel, humming to himself and reminiscing. Some of the town's apprentices had come along on the journey (this included Sunshine, as the blacksmiths aid), and kept the crew entertained with several of their favorite acts that came from the children behaving as the playful kids they were. The sounds of muffled laughter from the crew were nearly lost among the lightly lapping waves, and Yepp took a moment to ponder a part of the horizen that seemed wrapped in perpetual fog...
One Week Later
The smaller boats had all gone on their own courses once Yepp had given them a basic overview on how to hunt for the pearls. Now the large ship only had four passengers, the blacksmith, Yepp, and Sunshine among them. The fourth was one of the older passengers who had taken the post as cook on the ship.
They were currently headed towards the strange, misty area Sunshine had come upon in the crows nest that afternoon. Yepp, surprising the other passengers, had ordered a direct change of course. Yepp was usually one to stay in the open sea, where he felt safer from pirate attacks and the sort.
What they didn't know was a legend Yepp was a firm believer in.
'Could that area really be the lost island?' Yepp thought to himself.
Since he was a small child, he had been told stories by his father about the lost island of time, Lemuria. The idea that in island existed where the people lived for centuries on end was and exciting one, and Yepp had long wanted to find it. With a full two weeks before he was to reencounter the other members of the crew at Champa, Yepp decided he wanted to see if he could satisfy his childhood desires at the same time.
Two Days Later
They had finally reached the central focus of the mist. The ship sailed slowly between two identical red rocks, an imposing start to their venture.
The cook had retreated to the depths of the ship once the mist had started to thicken, claiming it was an unnatural sort that they had best steer clear of.
Sunshine was, while apprehensive, obviously nervous and still questioning Yepp's decision. He was spending his time down in the quarter's area with his master as they reviewed forging techniques.
Yepp began to hum again. The tune had been stuck in his mind as the journey progressed, and he became determined to put a song to it. He looked up at the stars in the sky, and several lines seemed to form from them.
"If you want to go to the stars…" He whispered, "If you want to go to the stars. Go north past the twins-" any other inspiration was put to waste as he found the ship being lurched foreword, then began to spin uncontrollably.
A whirlpool!
Using all his acquired knowledge of boatmanship, Yepp maneuvered the ship out of the whirlpool to find himself spinning into another. He pulled out of this one as well, and found himself in a calmer area with nothing but a volcano-like structure in the center. He was surrounded on three sides by whirlpools, on the fourth by an imposing current that he would be foolish to try to go against.
He began humming again.
"Passing two swirls…" to put it mildly.
Sunshine took this instant to run up to the deck.
"Sir? What's happened? The cook and master are unconscious, they were thrown back into the wall when we started spinning! What's going on? Where are we?" He continued in this frantic manner for a bit.
Yepp sighed, braced himself, and then gave Sunshine a quick chop to the neck, knocking the boy unconscious as well. He cringed with regret, then carried the boy down to the quarters and laid him on his bed before returning to the wheel.
He began cautiously exploring the area, in the process circling the 'volcano.' After he had gone around half the way, he noticed that it had begun to sparkle a bit. After completing two circuits, the current disappeared.
Something unnatural was taking place here.
Nevertheless, Yepp quickly maneuvered the large vessel past the danger area, least it came back. He resumed humming to himself, making up more phrases as he went along.
"Run diesel twice 'round the trunk…"
The current came back from behind him.
"Haste without waste,
And head to the east…"
Three Hours Later
Yepp sighed as he finally came to what appeared to be the end of the whirlpools. He looked around, taking in his surroundings.
Odd.
This seemed completely random, to have placed this purposeless open space here…
But Yepp shrugged it off and continued on.
After about half an hour of sailing northward, Yepp came upon a city, stranded in the ocean, seeming to glow with an unnatural light, looking for all the world like the sun of the ocean.
Lemuria.
Yepp was about to enter the docking harbor of the ancient city when a thought struck him that made him swerve to the right viciously.
Was it worth it?
Yepp couldn't count how many times he'd nearly give up hope on being successful at anything, then continued trudging on simply because of the hope that he might find this ancient civilization.
Was it worth it?
He decided it was not.
This was one of the few remaining legends Weyward had left to offer. Yepp didn't believe it to be his place to make it a reality. He snorted and frowned. But then again, these un-cultured children seemed to know nothing of any of the legends he grew up believing.
He began to hum again, and a thought struck him.
Maybe he should help the legend along, instead…
30 Years Later
"Well, that was rude of him!" a teenage blonde girl exclaimed.
"I know! It's like his best friend just died, and now he's taking it out on the weather!" A fiery-looking red-head agreed.
"Need I remind you, Jenna, of all the times you have gone and taken out your frustrations on innocent plants?" The blue-haired member of their group reprimanded. Jenna snorted.
"You don't need to, Picard, my brother does that enough!"
"That's a Venus adept for you, always worrying about the wildlife." The brown-haired member glared at the short blonde at this remark.
"She's kidding, Felix! Gezze. Although you do have to admit it, you are really protective about all those plants…" The mariner contemplated.
"And it gets really annoying really quickly, too. Right Picard, Sheba?" Picard merrily shrugged in response, while Sheba smiled.
"Awww, I think it's kind of cute!"
Felix blushed as Jenna and Picard began laughing at their leaders' current state of being.
"Hey! You guys wanna play a game with us?" A small child with orange hair looked up at the travelers.
Felix, now fully recovered, took charge again.
"Err…"
Well, sort of, anyway.
But then again, that was about all they could ever get out of their leader…
The Venusian turned to the rest of the group. Picard shrugged again, and Jenna nodded. Sheba solved any argument that may have broken out.
"Sure!"
With that, she grabbed Felix and Jenna by the arms and dragged them behind her, following the child to a pair of rocks placed at the beginning of what appeared to be a maze. Picard began to laugh again.
They began to play the 'game' with the children, involving running around the area, circling strategically placed stones and singing a rhyme that accompanied it.
"If you want to go to the stars,
If you want to go to the stars.
Go north past the twins,
Passing two swirls,
Run diesel twice 'round the trunk.
Haste without waste,
And head to the east,
Past three to the north.
There,
Run 'round thrice and wait for the waves.
When they stop,
Run north and go to the stars.
If you race full of folly
And take the wrong way,
You'll find yourself
A watery grave.
If you want to go to the moon,
If you want to go to the moon.
Face west from the stars
And run straight past three swirls,
Then circle 'round twice.
Haste without waste,
And head to the south,
Then one swirl west.
There,
Run 'round thrice and wait for the waves.
When they stop,
Run south and go for the moon.
If you race full of folly
And take the wrong way,
You'll find yourself
A watery grave
If you want to go to the sun,
If you want to go to the sun.
Face south from the moon
And run straight through two swirls,
Then circle 'round twice.
Haste without waste,
And head to the west,
Then six to the north.
There,
Run 'round trice and wait for the waves.
When they stop,
Run north and go for the sun.
If you race full of folly
And take the wrong way,
You'll find yourself
A watery grave."
Once they had all finished by tapping a large, sun-shaped stone in the upper-left corner of the area, Felix looked a bit puzzled. Jenna knew why.
"Hey, Picard? Doesn't it seem like this Yepp guy knew a lot about Lemuria?" Sheba nodded, remembering in all-to-great detail the whirlpool 'adventures' on their way to get Picard home again.
Picard looked a bit confused as well.
"Yes, it does seem a bit peculiar…" the Lemurian began, "…But I can assure you, no one has visited Lemuria since Babi and Lunpa…" He looked around. Sheba turned to the rest of the group.
"It seems Lemuria is a pretty well-known legend around here. Should we tell them it exists?" Picard shook his head and smiled.
"Nah," his eyes seemed to sparkle a bit in the light,
"Some legends are better told as just that. Legends."
End