NOTICE: The following is ambiguously canon. No one really knows if this happens. And if it does, it's just creepy. But you can see it coming.

…

Tale #15: Ninja With a Crush

Wind: strong due to the Sky Line, mostly from astern, but the areas directly under the fore- and main-masts were constantly shifting. Attempting to move along the rigging would be too dangerous, as would be the tops of the masts. Scents would carry toward the bow.

Light: poor. The night came with the benefit of no moon since the moon had made its transition earlier in the morning. The electric lights built into the bulwark, while useful for illuminating the edges of the ship, left the middle of the main deck in a large shadow. Other than the small lights on the extreme ends of the ship, there was nothing shining on the ship's exterior.

Presences: five. Twali was at her post on the poop deck, but her eyes should be focused on the open air around them in case another ship appeared. Lwamm and Dubbl patrolled the deck, if walking up and down the deck talking to each other could be called "patrolling". Twice, they had taken the stairs up to the quarterdeck to exchange what words they could with Twali. Leynne stood on the forecastle beside Gold, possibly helping keep the helmsman awake through the long night.

After memorizing Lwamm's and Dubbl's patrol route, Layna waited in the stairs on the port side until the two walked between the starboard staircase and the bulwark. Then Layna jumped into the shadow along the middle of the main deck and bolted toward the stern. Her feet softly pounded out her heartbeat as she moved. She could feel eyes slowly pressing on her back in spite of the fact that, sometimes, Gelto just did not have good peripheral vision. She knew that this should alarm her since she was trying to maintain stealth. However, she found that it did not, and not even that gave her reason to worry.

Instead, it thrilled her. It may have been that she had not changed her mind set for this, blocking out all but her finely-tuned animalistic sense of presence. No, she chose to allow her emotions to guide her in this case. The idea of being seen went against her teacher's adamant notion that sight itself meant death. She wondered briefly if that meant that she had turned suicidal. The only reason she dismissed the notion so fast was that she was not among people who wanted to harm her. It sometimes made her feel like she was their younger sister; they all looked out for her, and they all scolded her when she did things she was not supposed to. And then, sometimes, it felt more personal. Her exploration of these feelings had been minimal so far. Now, she wanted to see where My Captain would take them.

That would have to wait, though. While the prospect of being caught excited her, she realized with panic that she was moments away from being spotted. She was close enough that she jumped over the port aft capstan and pressed her back against it. She dared a look around one side. Lwamm and Dubbl were passing behind the forecastle, still mostly oblivious to Layna's presence. She waited until the port hatch blocked them from view, and then she slipped through the faint light to the small space under the stairs before she could be spotted. There, she listened as her sisters approached, judging their distance based on how loud their conversation was.

At the same time, she tried to control her breathing so that no one would hear her. She did not know when it had gotten so strong, but she had to calm it. It just brought her back to the idea of being caught thrilling her. This turned out to be much worse because she found that the excitement was causing it. She was about to try strangling herself when she realized that covering her mouth would be much less harmful. If only her heartbeat was so easy, she thought to herself. She had never heard the sound in her ears until that one time she had been in danger.

My Captain had been involved then as well. It had been about then that her strange behavior had started. She could not tell which of them had started it; her deciding to go through with Dholit's directions had been just as confusing as his spontaneous desire to kiss her in close vicinity to their enemy. She had refused to admit to herself that such a wish had led to her being injured after Irleen's outrage had given them away, but, should it come to such, she did not dare speak what she thought. My Captain had had nothing but praise for her (when he was not busy reminding the rest of the crew of her occasional misunderstandings). She would rather cut her own arm off than fault him for a minor coincidence. Maybe it had been a simple mistake. It had been so long ago that Layna could not deny misinterpreting him. After all, that odd accent occasionally made her wonder whether she truly understood him like any other Hylian. Still, she could not refute that things had changed since then, either. She had thought herself to be broken for such a long time. But then, could she really call herself "broken" and still feel that nothing was wrong? She intended to find out.

Footfalls above her head caused her to return to reality. Dubbl and Lwamm had decided to move up to the quarterdeck once more. She dared to peer around the rack hidden beneath the stairs. The main deck was empty, and she was too far away for those on the bridge to see her. So she slid through the shadow of the overhanging portion of the quarterdeck to My Captain's cabin door. Because Dubbl and Lwamm had to call louder to get Twali's attention, she could open the door slowly, carefully so that its hinges did not make a sound.

She turned her attention inside while she eased the door closed. Naturally, everything fell under a deep cloak of night and shadow. At best, Irleen's fairy light cast most of the bed in faint green. Layna found that oddly appropriate for My Captain, considering his fondness for his green work tunic. Her calculated steps across the floor barely produced a whisper. She knew the floor, having spent time hidden in his cabin to ensure his peace. Tonight was different, though. Or, rather, tonight had no purpose. To call it "fun" implied a sense of joy she was not sure she had; to call it "work" took away how deep her personal feelings went into the venture. Were there a word for her daring, she would need someone else to tell her.

She slowly traced out an area of his desk which she intended to sit on. She found a bit of clutter: an inkwell and his logbook. Shifting out of Irleen's light revealed a few scraps of parchment in that same area. And his chair sat too close to the desk for her to slip into. It did not particularly matter. She lowered herself to the floor and rested her back against the desk's side.

My Captain slept peacefully before her. She thought so because his mouth had fallen slack, and Irleen's soft light was just enough to show her his drool staining the pillow. She envied him being like that. He was so comfortable with himself that he could sleep the way he wanted. Was her training so deeply ingrained into her life that she had forgotten what that was like? No, perhaps not when she could see it in another. And she knew that she was not a killer at every moment. It was simply another question she hoped the night would answer.

She knew at least one thing about My Captain; he was not a warrior like she was an assassin. He could live without worrying about an enemy nearby. On the airship, he used words and his gentle nature to lead them. Layna had always heard those to be weak features, but how could they be so when My Captain commanded a ship full of adults with them? She long considered that his kindness was a show that he put on so well that the crew never heard a harsh word from him. She often heard Leynne indicating himself as the "friend of the crew", and My Captain occasionally quoted a manual to remind Leynne of that very fact. But what My Captain spoke in sincerity, Leynne would say with derision. The dichotomy only confused her more. Perhaps that was the source of her problem: she thought she had known Hylians well enough to understand their ways, and then she had encountered one who defied those expectations.

Then, of course, he also defied the expectations she had had of a master. She had come to terms with that. My Captain could not stand to treat her as a slave or even a servant. It was a strange relationship. They could acknowledge that, between them, he commanded and she obeyed. Even by the Hylians' social structure, his life should be more important than hers. But putting herself in danger angered him. And she was not allowed to die should the occasion arise. As Dholit had explained, this attitude was not uniquely directed to Layna; she simply had been the only one of the crew to be in such a state. No, My Captain would make a poor master, but Layna found that she could accept that and think no less of him.

So what was it, then? What was there behind that drooling look of content that Layna could not comprehend? She began to wonder if she really wanted to know. Or even if she should know. What would happen if she discovered the reasons behind her strange behavior? If that caused her feelings to disappear, could she live without them?

Conundrum after conundrum, question after question. She could feel even her emotionless side grow sick of these thoughts. Her beating heart had fallen silent, her breathing quiet enough to hide in a whisper. Her questioning had ruined the moment, and she felt defeated. She curled up, knees against her chest, and let her head droop in despair. Dholit had been right; questioning something too much had taken away those great sensations whether she had found answers or not. She felt lost.

Then My Captain shifted. Panic flooded her whole being. She had no means of hiding if he had just opened his eyes. And he would have to be blind not to see her sitting in between the desk and bed. How could she explain this?

She relaxed once she realized he was only rolling onto his back. The experience opened her up to a new realization: her carelessness was behind her feelings. She had no desire to be caught, but the thought of being caught had a subtle, perverse appeal all the same. It made her heart beat like she needed to know she was still alive. It showed her how poorly she understood these feelings.

My Captain had rolled onto his back, casting his sleeping vision to the deckhead. She held herself tighter, but those feelings were leaving again. So she decided to dare a little more. She pushed herself forward onto her feet and carefully stepped closer. Her left hand took the edge of his bed. Before she had grasped her plan in full, she stretched herself along the bed's length and slid onto the mattress. Her chest pounded harder while she came closer to him. She was exposed under Irleen's glow; should he awaken, she could not get away from him fast enough to place herself under cover without him knowing. She lay close enough that she could hear his soft breath. She forced herself to stop once she was completely on the mattress despite the emotional increase urging her closer to him. Her cheeks warmed against the cold air surrounding them. She felt so close that she began to worry that her beating heart would wake him.

BANBANBAN!

Layna sprang straight up and into the deckhead, years of training propelling her to the closest hiding place available. Her hands found purchase in the small space between the bed's tester and the deckhead. Her feet hooked around the boards supporting Irleen's small bed. At the same time, Link jerked and rolled onto his side.

BANG! "Captain!"

"Bwah-hah!" Link hollered. He quickly pushed up from the bed to look toward the door. "What is it?!"

"The engine room's on fih!" Leynne hollered.

Link sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Ungh…" he grunted. "Did you rouse the dayshift?"

"Yes," Leynne replied. "They should be moving wateh down below."

"Are we still in the Sky Line?" Link asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, drop us out of the Sky Line and make sure the fire's out," he said. "I'll be on-deck in a moment."

"Okay." Leynne made to shut the door, but he paused. "You know, once you consideh the situation, it doesn't seem like much."

"That's the magic of our chief engineer," Link told him as he stood up. "I thought you'd be used to him setting fire to the deck."

"I've a few anxieties about being up heh," Leynne said. "My undehstanding was that any fih was bad foh an aihship."

"Yeah, it usually is," Link said. "But I think Sello's just sort of numbed us to the idea."

"And who would know about numbing things betteh than Sello?" Leynne said before closing the door.

"Luc cop?" Irleen spoke up from her bed. Layna then realized that Irleen, having risen from her bed just a little, was looking at her foot.

"Go back to sleep, Irleen," Link said as he grabbed his tunic off his footlocker. Then he picked up his boots and headed for the door. "Sello's just at it again."

"Kákiwān, kīh, Hìloħa," Irleen mumbled, barely acknowledging the door shutting before dropping back against the miniature cushion. For a moment, the cabin had fallen back into silence.

"Ah—" Whum-BAM!

"Wáħ!" Irleen cried, alarmed by both the slam and the bed shaking. She quickly rose to see if something had struck the bed.

Even with her light brightly cast around the bed, she could not see anything out of place. If she had not decided to simply flutter back into her bed, she might have spotted Layna slinking toward the door. But then, Layna would not have moved until Irleen fell back asleep anyway.

…

Tale #15 of the Island Symphony – END

NOTICE: Nobody has caught her in the act, so this is ambiguously canon. She could be sneaking into Link's cabin at night, or she isn't nearly that naïve when it comes to her feelings toward him. Yes, this was meant to be a Valentine's Day piece. Yes, I failed to post it until two days later. And, yes, I intended this to be creepy. Aren't you glad I didn't post on Valentine's Day now?