Tales of the Island Symphony

by Light Onthemayo

With Cunimincus and his demonic crew gone, the search is on again for Irleen's home. The following stories have NOTHING to do with that search. This is a series featuring the crew of the Island Symphony at their looniest (mostly), detailing events that may or may not have happened during and after Sky Lines.

25. Cale's Tale

NOTICE: This is canon. And a very good example of how you readers write the story as much as I do.

…

Tale #25: Cale's Tale

Cale appreciated being able to sit in a comfortable seat for once, having spent nearly a month being bounced around the Seventeen's battered, rickety hulk. It felt like it brought him back to a more civilized time, where he was not screaming at the top of his lungs after being found by local monstrosities or praying to all three Goddesses that he did not have to live through another fall. He could only endure so much, and he was sure he was developing a fear of anything with more than four legs. He would certainly never view train travel the same again. And, for the sake of his own health, he vowed to himself that he would never, ever travel to the Sand Realm again. He could only be thankful that he could not have gone with Link to the Snow Realm due to bad rations; who knows what would have happened to him there!

He hoped that his travelling had been sufficient to add to the Library's resources. His venture into the Lost Woods had been a source of praise from the librarians, although he wished that he had not been sick when he presented his journal to Madame Seilon so he could actually enjoy it. With luck, his accounts of the old volcanic vents under the Fire Realm and the creatures that he had encountered with Captain Link and Irleen would be just as appreciated. He had gone through the journal in the travel bag he had bought in Fishington almost a dozen times, trying to remember if there was anything he needed to add about his "adventure". He had tried to be as detailed as possible, but he knew he was missing some of the finer points of what he had seen (which, in no way coincidentally, overlapped with the moments he had felt that his life had been in danger). Almost two days of making sure everything was perfect for the Library to commit to its archives.

If only such details counted for more…

He glanced out the window to look over the plains of the Forest Realm, something which he realized that he had not done since entering the library almost a year ago. Even after riding with the Seventeen over the past month, it felt more like he had completely forgotten that they existed to begin with. Of course, it had not helped that he had had work to do in between stops. Looking out at them now, he found a new appreciation for how calm the grass waved across the land. No monsters, no hostility. He had even heard that tensions with the local Bulblins had fallen. It almost made him want to jump off the train and lie in the field for the rest of the day. Almost. Cale found that his compulsion to maintain a level of dignity prevented him from thinking about it any further than that.

Instead, he rested his head against the window and thought about Hovela. He was not sure if he should have regretted not seeing anyone after stopping twice. His last visit four days ago had been little more than stepping up to the front door and wondering if he should knock. He had wanted to chat with Nerine, but he had only wasted time staring at the front door wondering if it would have been worth it risking running into his father. Perhaps that should have been something to regret; what was there between him and his father but the hum of dead air? But then, he did not regret turning and walking away. Was he becoming callous just to avoid seeing his father? Was he afraid? After what he had seen over the past month, he could not have been afraid of his father.

He… would not be afraid of his father.

A long pull on the train's whistle nudged him out of his thoughts and showed him the Hovela Station sliding into view. He and a few others stood up to retrieve luggage from the overhead racks. He had brought only a couple changes of clothes in a satchel; after all, it would look strange bringing a full trunk for a week's stay at home. He felt that a week would be enough time to unwind from the events of the past month. As much as he had been glad to accompany Captain Link and Irleen, he felt that any further exposure would mean either an untimely demise or imminent insanity. Besides, he had had enough of Dholit secretly pinching his behind.

The train stopped with a soft shake, far different from the violent lurch Cale would have felt on the Seventeen. He had even latched one hand on a nearby seat to stop himself from tumbling forward. He glanced around to see the other passengers casting him confused looks. He felt his face turning red, and he quickly ducked his head and started for the door.

The door between cars slid open just as Cale reached the end of the car. "Now stoppi—Ohf!" Cale collided with the conductor, forcing the man to brace himself on the wall before he could tumble back out the door.

Cale immediately raised a hand. "Oh! I am so sohry, saah!" he quickly said.

"S'okay," the conductor replied as he stood back to his full height and straightened the front of his uniform. Cale stepped out of his way to allow him passage to the rest of the car. "Now stopping, Hovela! Now stopping, Hovela!" the conductor then hollered as he walked.

Someone from the outside slid the door open, and Cale turned and hopped out. This attracted attention from the station attendant, who had been just about to place a stepstool in front of the door. Cale paused to look at the young man's confused stare, and then he turned to glance at the car. Once he saw that he had jumped in the attendant's way, he gave a small grin of apology and walked away. He had forgotten how a proper station operated, and he silently blamed Luggard for his rude behavior.

He shouldered the satchel and left the train platform. Although the platform was only covered by an overhanging roof while still being in the open air, Cale still felt a breath of fresh air clear his head once he stepped through the station and out onto the street. In comparison to Library Town, Hovela was mostly quiet business along the cobblestone roads. No one shouted into the open air, and even the rowdiest tavern was a whisper on the street. The area outside the station bore the widest road, and there seemed to be only a few pedestrians or carriages at a time. This was not without reason; the road in front of the station was also the road which descended the cliffs to the port below, wide for cargo wagons to traverse without impediment so that they could take supplies to the ships setting out for the various islands of the Ocean Realm. Most of the nearby buildings were shops or grocers with at least two taverns to service traveling sailors or train engineers taking a break.

Cale set off west along the main road. He had anticipated the humidity of the salty breeze under a noon sun to be uncomfortable for his scholar robe, so he had elected to wear a lime-green blouse and loose-fitting, brown slacks. He had first thought his choice of clothing made him look like a girl, but he found comfort in letting what little breeze there was cool him as he walked. His steps were amazingly light in spite of his previous dread of encountering his father.

He took a smaller road off to the south that wound closer to the edge of the cliffs. Edgar Road, along which were dormitories of the Edgar Supply & Transport Company that housed some five-hundred workers when they were not traveling to all ports and stations around the surface realm. Following that were a couple of businesses offices, also owned by the Edgar Company.

At the end of the road, overlooking the piers to the far west of Hovela, was a mansion dwarfing everything else on the road. The home of the founder and owner of the Edgar Supply & Transport Company, a man named Edgar.

It also happened to be Cale's home.

Cale, setting one foot on the stairs up to the first terrace, decided to stop and turn to look back down the road. "A tyrant without a kingdom" he had told Link. While Cale generally downplayed his father's business as simply "owning trade", perhaps this aspect, this "kingdom", would have gone further to explain what Cale did not like about his father. Edgar certainly owned a kingdom, and his word was greater law than that passed by Hovela's governing body.

He glanced up at an open window on the second floor. A young girl with straight, blond hair was eagerly trying to get his attention with a vigorous handwave. Cale gave Nerine a smile and a small handwave back. She promptly disappeared from the window with the flurry of a light blue pinafore, causing someone behind her to quickly reach out and close it. Cale hustled up the steps and across the terrace. A few more steps brought him to the stoop in front of a pair of heavy double doors.

Cale froze for a moment. It had been a while since he had been home. Was a person supposed to knock on the door or just walk right in? One knocked in order to not interrupt anything; his father had seen to it that Cale and Nerine learned that lesson. There was little reason for him to think he would be barging in on anything simply going into the main hall. Still, would it be all right for him to just walk in?

Ktk—WHAM! "Agh!" The problem was solved for him.

Someone on the other side of the door suddenly threw it open. Cale, standing directly in front of one door, took the door directly to the face, knocking him backwards. He quickly fixed his footing to keep from tumbling down the stairs. Then he placed a hand over his right eye, although the door had only hit his forehead and cheek.

"Op—Sohry, Cale!"

Cale heaved a sigh and sidestepped so he was no longer staring at the door. "No, it's all right," he said with a resigned tone. "Considering my life of late, it's… something of an improvement."

Nerine, leaning out from behind the door, gave him a bemused smile as her brilliant green eyes looked him up and down. "You hahdly look wohse foh weah, Brotheh," she said. "Pahhaps a little undahfed compahed to the last time you came home."

"Trust me, Nerine," Cale replied, "that is the least of my troubles."

"Mistress Nerine?" a woman's voice called from behind the young girl. "Who ah you talking to?" Nerine glanced over her shoulder before pushing the door aside. This revealed a tall woman wearing a blue dress with short, blackwork sleeves under a pristine, white bib apron. Black tights accented her shins against the marble floor behind her, her feet concealed inside black-dyed cotton mules. Her straight, dark blond hair had been left loose to drape almost to her bustline. Her light blue eyes widened in surprise upon discovering Nerine's conversation partner. "Cale."

Cale's bashfulness set in, coloring his face red as he offered a smile and a small handwave. "H-hello, Miss Lavendah," he greeted.

Miss Lavender pushed the door open further and stepped outside. For a moment, Cale thought she was going to embrace him. She also seemed conscious of this and took a step backwards. "Welcome home, Mastah Cale," she told him with a slight bow of the head. "I trust you'd just ahrived?"

"I came directly from the train station."

"At least we caught you befoah you decided to tahn about again," Miss Lavender told him.

Cale groaned and placed a hand over his face. "You saw that?"

"The gahdenah saw you leaving the grounds," she told him, her face molding into a disappointed frown. "If you intend to go back on youh decision to visit, you might at least have the decency to avoid being spotted."

Cale glanced down in shame. "S-sohry…"

"We can only be thankful that I was infohmed and not youh fatheh," Miss Lavender continued. "I can only reiterate so much that youh actions have consequences on othahs as well, Mastah Cale."

Cale heaved a sigh and nodded. "Yes, Miss Lavendah."

Miss Lavender held out a hand. Cale was confused at first, and then he realized what she was doing and gave her the satchel. She took it and turned around. Nerine and Cale followed her inside, Cale pulling the door closed behind him.

The main hall was quite a sight. White marble floors polished to almost mirror perfection, rich wooden paneling on the walls of the first floor while the second floor was carved beams sporting a plant motif. The room sported no electric lighting; at night, the old oil lamps would be lit by the staff. In daylight such as now, the sun shone into the glass dome atop the main hall with its light scattered by a massive chandelier made of crystal prisms dangling off a bronze frame. Cale made sure to step out of his travel shoes so that only his sock-clad feet touched the floor. Miss Lavender took these shoes and set them in a wooden cubby near the door.

"Shall I announce youh presence to youh fatheh?" Miss Lavender asked as she stepped toward the middle of the hall.

"Actually, I'd hoped to relax foh the time being," Cale replied. "I've… been doing quite a bit of travelling lately."

"Travelling?" Nerine asked while Miss Lavender put on a confused look. She turned back to Cale. "Wheah?"

Cale gave her a weary smile and shook his head. "Oh… all ovah at this point," he replied. "Fouh of the five realms… I've… only recently come from Library Town, and I was in Fishington two days befoah."

"Weh you on assignment foh the Library?" Miss Lavender asked.

"Yes, I was," Cale said. Then he shrugged. "Although, that hahdly explains exactly what I've done this past month."

Miss Lavender pulled a pocket watch from her apron and checked it. "It is neahly time foh lunch," she told both of them. "Youh fatheh has already asked that his lunch be taken to his study. Should you prefah the dining hall today?"

"What do you want to do, Brotheh?" Nerine asked Cale. "If you wish to have lunch in youh room so that you might rest, I will not object."

"No no," Cale told her. "I-I'd like to eat in the dining hall today."

"Good," Nerine told him. "Because I want to know what you've been doing. And, of couhse… the othah thing."

…

Of course, that other thing. The one reason he decided to leave his home behind and attend the Library. Perhaps the one thing that had always nagged at the back of his mind.

Once Cale was alone, he lamented to himself that he had not found anything about their mother. He had come ever so close to accessing Hovela's public records, off limits to all but the senior library staff and the wealthy of the old kingdom. How his and Nerine's single question would be answered if he could look at his own birth record! What kind of "public" records were they supposed to be if they were not open to the public? Seeking the kind of seniority he needed to get into those records was something of a race among quite a few of the students. The last he knew, he was lagging behind just a handful of students striving for the same thing. It would be a few more months before the senior staff announced a new records custodian, and he would need to put as much work as possible into his studies and writing if he was going to make it to the top of that list. Of course, the last he knew had been back before departing for the Ocean Realm. Upon his return, he had discovered that things had changed quite a bit.

Cale had taken a few moments to wash up in his room before joining Nerine in one of the two dining halls in the house. Although this room went by the same colloquialism found in any mansion, the room itself was much more comfortable than that. Cale and Nerine favored a small addition on the north side of the mansion which connected to the larger main dining hall. One wall of the room was composed entirely of glass windows overlooking empty hills northwest of Hovela. On a calm day, the staff would leave the windows open to let the breeze air out the hall. The room fit a small table meant for ten people to sit at. While this table rarely accommodated more than Cale and Nerine, this at least left them with room for their dishes. The table was rectangular, and Cale and Nerine always sat across from each other on the longer sides of the table; they only ever sat at the ends when they had recently had an argument.

Grilled fish. Cale had to admit that he missed eating fish. Having lived in Library Town for so long, he ate so much pork and poultry that he was sick of it after a few weeks. Along with steamed vegetables and half a glazed apple, Cale and Nerine had silently agreed to eat their meal first before talking. Miss Lavender hovered nearby in case either of them had a request.

It was not until they had reduced their meal to their glazed apples before Nerine asked, "So. Did you discovah anything about ouh motheh?"

Cale paused with the spoonful of glaze-coated fruit near his lips. He gave her a grim look and slowly placed the spoon on his plate. "I'm sohry, Nerine," he answered. "I… I must have moah time."

Nerine gave him a confused look. "Why?" she asked. "Youh last lettah said you only had a few months befoah you'd be in position to access Hovela's recohds."

Cale heaved a mournful sigh. "I know," he said. "Howevah… with my recent activity, I'm afraid I've lost momentum towahd that goal."

"What do you mean?" Nerine asked.

"Masteh Cale," Miss Lavender said as she stepped up behind Cale. "Ah you saying that, by travelling on assignment foh the library, you may lose the bid foh recohds custodian?"

"Yes," Cale said.

"Why?!" Nerine asked in a louder voice than she had intended. She started and quickly placed her spoon down. "Why, Brotheh? Suahly, if you've travelled about so much, the senioh staff would see youh value."

"That… is paht of the trouble," he said. "Madame Seilon said that my wohk travelling about has been some of the best field reseahch and recohding that has evah been seen in the Library. And foh that, I would do bettah as a field historian ratheh than a membah of the Library's senioh staff."

"But that's not faih!" Nerine cried out as she stood, slamming her hands on the table. Miss Lavender started, but Cale could only aim a sorrowful look at Nerine's plate. "They must know that you have been striving foh that position! They cannot simply tell you that you do not belong theah!"

"They haven't," Cale told her. "Howevah, with the travelling, I have not been able to take caah of my daily assignments at the Library."

"Well, that cannot be youh fault!" Nerine replied. "Does it count foh nothing that you've been travelling about on theih direction!?" Cale only let his gaze fall to the floor to his left. "Cale!"

"Mistress Nerine," Miss Lavender said in a calm voice.

Nerine glanced at Miss Lavender before turning a heated glare on Cale. She failed twice to form words. Instead, she shoved her chair aside. She had to round the table in order to storm out of the dining hall, shoving open one door hard enough to slam it against the wall.

Only the breeze offered a break in the ensuing silence. Then Cale felt a soft hand on his shoulder. "I suppose you will have to wohk hahdeh should you be ovahlooked foh appointment," Miss Lavender said.

"I don't know what I'll do if I don't get the appointment," Cale said. "It took two yeahs just to get this fah. Unless someone on the senioh staff dies, it may be two moah yeahs befoah anotheh appointment like this comes up. I don't know if I can do this all ovah again."

"You've wohked hahd to get this fah, Cale," Miss Lavender told him. "Suahly, you cannot so easily give up now that you know the process."

"I… don't know," Cale admitted. He looked up at her. "When I said I'd been travelling? It hasn't been just some train ride back and fohth between realms. I've seen the creatuahs that have been affecting ouh land. I must have come close to dying three oh fouh times by now."

"Dying?" Miss Lavender repeated, her eyes wide with surprise as she withdrew her hand.

"I've…" Cale had to pause to recall his adventures. "I suhvived an attack by Skulltulas and a massive beetle in the Lost Woods… neahly fallen to my death in a mineshaft… was kidnapped by Gelto and almost died of dehydration in the Sand Realm… among various encountahs with the moah dangerous elements of Hyrule's wildlife."

"Oh, my Cale…" Miss Lavender said as she placed a hand on her lips.

"It… has given me some need to pause," he told her. "As invested as I am in discovering the identity of ouh motheh… as I am now, I cannot decide what I might do if I evah achieve that goal."

"Should it be so hahd to decide?" Miss Lavender asked. "As much as you may spuhn what youh fatheh represents, have you not given thought to his wish that you might find a place in the company? Youh intelligence and youh hahd wohk would suahly aid both you and the company, especially now that routes have begun to reopen throughout the old kingdom. Not to mention that you would nevah have to put youh life in jeopahdy again."

"Would Fatheh be so accepting?" Cale asked, giving her a hard look. "Even if I should succeed at the Library?"

"I suppose it would depend on what you would do with that infohmation."

"And has he still rejected the idea that Nerine and I might be moah compliant with his wishes if he would just tell us about Motheh?" Cale asked bitterly.

Miss Lavender closed her eyes for a moment. "Nothing is evah so simple, Cale," she told him in a quiet voice.

"Both you and Fatheh have told me that. I have often wondahed if it is only complicated because he makes it complicated. The staff cannot tell me because he would fiah them. He won't tell me because he doesn't see it as impohtant. Do you know that, of all the people I've met, I am the only one who has elements of his life deliberately withheld?"

"Would you so easily believe that this is without reason?" Miss Lavender asked in a calm voice.

"What reason is theah to not know one's motheh?"

Miss Lavender drew in a breath. For a moment, Cale thought she was going to give him a reason. However, she closed her eyes and calmed herself. "Ah you finished with lunch, Mastah Cale?" she asked.

Cale glanced at his glazed apple. Then he stood up. "I'm full," he told her as walked past her on his way out of the dining hall.

…

It took an hour of brooding in his room before Cale became shocked with himself. Certainly, he had had his moments of frustration before, but he had never directed such a vile attitude toward Miss Lavender. He supposed that it was simply misdirected anger. He was angry because he had disappointed Nerine. He also may have been angry at the Library for telling him that he had excelled so much in one area that he had lost his grip on his goal. Not that he was ignorant of their reasoning; field research was almost stagnant due to the limitations on travel, and having someone out and about to catch the changes was quite valuable. His ventures with Captain Link had also provided some insight into the evolution of Hyrule since the monarchy ascended to the sky kingdom. However, did they really intend to deny him the position of records custodian just to keep him on the field? He realized that such a thought might have actually been their plan for him.

Kon kon. "Brotheh? Can I speak with you?"

The knock had roused Cale from an unexpected nap. He picked his head up from the desk and glanced toward the bedroom door. He hesitated to answer, unsure if he wanted Nerine confronting him over his responses.

"Please, Cale?" she pleaded through the door.

Cale checked the tall window on the opposite side of the room. Being a west-facing wall, he saw brilliant orange reflected in the glass and along the carpet. How long had he been asleep?

He stood up and crossed the room. When he reached the door, he opened it slowly. "Sohry, Nerine," he said once the door was wide enough to let her in.

"I think that I am the one who should feel sohry," she said as she crossed Cale's room. She approached Cale's large, four-poster bed and sat on the footboard. "Once Miss Lavendah related to me what you had said… about the peril you'd faced… I-I hadn't realized…"

Cale closed the door and returned to his desk. However, he leaned his bottom against it with his arms braced on the edge. "It seems the only thing I can say is that I tried," Cale told her. "I had not realized that my wohk in the field would hindah me, oh else I might have asked foh a replacement."

"Was it really so hahmful?" Nerine asked.

"That is what I believed afteh I'd inquiahed about it to Madame Seilon," Cale said. "The position, oh any position might not open up foh some time, so I mu—"

"That isn't what I meant," Nerine interrupted softly.

"—st retahn—… I'm sohry, what?"

"That isn't what I meant, Cale," Nerine repeated.

"Oh. What-what did you mean?"

"Cale…" Nerine looked down at her interlaced fingers as she thought. "Miss Lavendah said that you had gone to places in the kingdom that have been closed to travel foh some time."

"Yes?"

"Places that many people have not seen foh some time?"

"Yes, I imagine so. Ouh fihst outing was a crypt in the middle of the Lost…" Cale trailed off as it occurred to him what she was indicating. "I don't know that I would call what I have seen an oppohtunity."

"I realize that you have seen some dangehs," Nerine said. "But you must have seen some amazing sights as well. Was it so wasteful?"

Cale heaved a sigh. "In the context of adventuah, pahhaps not," he admitted. "But I would hahdly call what I've done a life goal."

"Othahs might. I think that it might be wohth it to discovah a crypt."

"Well, theah's discovering, and theah's falling into a crypt."

Nerine blinked at him in surprise. "You… you fell in?" she asked.

"The ground above the crypt was thin," Cale explained. "I subsequently fell through two moah floahs from weakpoints in the structuah. I can only be glad the ensuing debris saved me from injury."

"How did you escape?"

"A friend. He descended into the crypt to retrieve me. It could not have been said to be ouh best moment; he had to fohce a staihwell full of Blastwohms to explode to reach me. I was caught in the blast and could not heah foh a few moments. Then we weh chased out of the lowah floah by Spinuts."

"But… theah was nothing of interest down theah?"

Cale tried to shrug off the question, but then he gave a conceding groan. "Wellll… considering it was the fihst time in a long while since anyone was in that crypt, I suppose that would have gahnahed interest itself. The crypt was built by the Lokomo tribe. In hindsight, it really was a raah find."

"What was it like?"

Cale blinked stupidly at her. "What?"

Nerine gave him a flash of irritation before her features softened. "The crypt. What did you find inside?"

"Uh… Blastwohms and Spinuts, mostly," Cale replied. "My friend caused a lahge numbah of Blastwohms to explode in attempt to reach me." He put on a disgusted face as the memory resurfaced. "I was standing neah the explosion, so I was covahed in Blastwohm entrails when we left."

Nerine smiled at him. "I imagine you must have been embahrassed wandering around like that."

Cale deigned to return the smile. "Scahed would be moah appropriate," he told her. "The Spinuts and Blastwohms had a simple ecosystem to themselves. The Blastwohms appeahd to eat whatevah mattah they could find, and the Spinuts ate the Blastwohms when they exploded. My friend and I had to flee oh else become the Spinuts' next meal."

"At least you had a friend to help you," Nerine commented. "He must be quite brave."

"He has saved my life throughout ouh travels," Cale said. "Had it not been foh him, I might not have left the Library."

"You left the Library… because of him?" Nerine asked. Cale nodded. "Then… he would be responsible foh youh loss of position."

Cale heaved a sigh. "Yes, I suppose you might intahpret it in that manneh," he admitted. "Howevah, I have no reason to think ill of him. He could not have known."

Nerine looked down at her lap for a moment. "Why did the Library think he was so interesting?" she asked.

"He came from the sky kingdom." Nerine's eyes became wide. "Can you imagine it? He could not be any oldah than me, yet he was once the captain of his own aihship. Additionally, he suhvived his ship crashing to the suhface. My travelling was only a small mattah; he was travelling to find othahs to help him back to the sky kingdom."

Nerine shrugged in confusion. "But no one has built an aihship in yeahs. Right?"

Cale nodded. "You ah cohrect, of couhse. That was why he travelled. While the shipwrights of today might not be so inclined to put togethah an aihship, we found that theah weh othahs about who wished to take up the challenge."

"But… you've retahned home," Nerine pointed out. "Should you not be watching that, too?"

Cale heaved a sigh. "It was not as if they would not send me once again. Howevah, I had to tahn in my repoht on the Ocean Realm. And…" He glanced at the window. "Afteh I'd inquiahd about my position at the Library… I felt that I just needed some rest."

"Odd."

Cale gave her a confused look. "What?"

"You just said you've come to rest, but do you realize that you've been standing against youh desk this whole time?"

Cale glanced at the edge of his desk. "Indeed, I am," he replied, still confused. Then he looked back at Nerine. "Don't misundahstand; I was napping befoah you knocked on the doah."

However, Nerine shook her head. "No, Brotheh. Nevah have I known you to simply stand at that desk when having a convahsation."

"I told you I've just woken from a nap."

"You do not appeah tiahd. You ah standing at youh desk, looking refreshed and relaxed… Whatevah ohdeals you have seen appeah to have had an affect on you, but I do not see fatigue. If anything, it is almost as if you cannot wait to go back."

Cale heaved a sigh. "It appeahs that my wohds can only mean so much…"

"Cale, I thin—"

The door clicked open, and Miss Lavender stepped inside. "Oh, Mistress Nerine," she said, her expression surprised. "I had not known you weh in heah, too."

"Is everything all right, Miss Lavendah?" Cale asked.

Miss Lavender's eyes moved to Cale. However, she bore the surprised look for a moment longer before clearing her throat. "My apologies foh intahrupting, but youh fatheh wishes to dine soon," she told them.

"Aw, that's too bad," Nerine said as she stood from the bed. "I'd hoped to heah moah about Cale's travels."

Cale looked down at the floor. He only took a moment before saying, "Miss Lavendah."

"Mastah?" Miss Lavender asked in confusion. Nerine, only a few steps away from the bed, stopped and glanced at Cale.

"Would… you expect Fatheh to be interested in my travels?" he asked her.

Miss Lavender was about to answer in the affirmative. Then she met a pair of cold eyes, an expression she had never seen on Cale's face before. She paused, and Nerine quickly glanced back and forth at the two. Miss Lavender bowed her head. "I… suppose such mattahs would be beyond youh fatheh's curiosity," she admitted.

"I had a feeling as much," Cale replied as his features softened. "Ratheh than waste his time with something he cannot caah about, pahhaps Nerine and I should dine alone."

Miss Lavender opened her mouth to object. However, without Cale's input this time, she paused once again as she considered something. "Very well then," she conceded. "Should you like to conduct youhselves to the smallah dining room?"

"Actually, if it isn't too much trouble, I think we would like to eat in heah," Cale said as he cast Nerine a smile.

"Mastah Cale, you haven't many appropriate suhfaces to eat from," Miss Lavender pointed out.

"Nerine can eat at my desk if she would like," Cale said with an indifferent shrug. "I've traveled about so much that I have no objection to eating from the sahving trolley."

Miss Lavender gave a sigh of relent. "Very well." She gave a slight bow of the head and backed out of the door.

Cale waited for the door to click shut. Then he turned to his confused sister. "His name is Link," he began with a smile. She returned the smile and strode back to the bed.

…

Cale and Nerine spent dinner and the rest of the evening together. Cale must have described his travels three times over, repeating himself because Nerine would think up questions to ask while he was talking about a different location or situation. Nerine seemed especially enamored with the Sand Realm, which was not unusual; Cale had read himself about the significant, romantic mystique in literature that mentioned the Gelto, and it was not unusual for young girls to be attracted to their culture. Somewhere in the middle of another repeat, Nerine had fallen asleep on his bed. Cale had decided to let her sleep and found the guest room down the hall.

Unfortunately, this was a room with a window that excelled in capturing morning sunlight, revealed when Miss Lavender threw open the curtains. He must have been sleeping quite heavily; he would usually wake up whenever someone else entered a room. Cale groaned and squeezed his eyes hard against the light.

"Mastah Cale, it is mohning," Miss Lavendar said. "And the staff cannot spend anothah moment looking foh you." She turned around just as Cale sat up and shoved the covers away. "Mastah Cale, you've slept in youh clothes as well?"

Cale glanced down at his wrinkled blouse. "Travelling about leaves very little convenience foh sleepweah," he replied, his speech only a little slurred from lingering drowsiness.

"You've hahdly changed youh habits," Miss Lavendar said as she stepped up to the edge of the bed. "This is the only room wheah you ah to be found if Nerine falls asleep in youh room. Be thankful it was unoccupied."

"This room hasn't been occupied in three yeahs."

Miss Lavendar's eye widened with surprise at Cale's tone. "Oh? You know this well?" she asked, her own voice taking a confrontational edge.

Cale aimed a glare at her as he said, "What friends of his would be interested in staying heah?"

Miss Lavender took a step back, stunned as if she had been slapped. "Mastah Cale!" she snapped. Cale only stared at her in response, as if he was daring her to berate his attitude even though he knew he was right. Miss Lavender returned the scowl. Cale relented almost a minute later, turning his glare down at the pillow nearby. Miss Lavender heaved a sigh, although even she could not tell if it was one of relief or exhaustion. "Youh fatheh will be having his breakfast in the dining hall. He would like you and Mistress Nerine to join him."

Cale stood up from the bed. "He might at least ask foh once," he mumbled, eyes cast to the floor.

"Youh fatheh very rahly asks for things," Miss Lavender said as she moved beside him to start fixing the bedsheets.

"Nevah mind people," Cale added bitterly.

"It is ratheh difficult to run a company with asking."

"The same seems to apply to running a family."

Miss Lavender sighed and set down the blanket she was trying to tug back into place. "Mastah Cale, what is this rebelliousness you've been speaking with?" she asked. "I know you've lost youh patience with youh fatheh befoah, but you've nevah been so… so confrontational. I almost feah the two of you being in the same room."

"Then pahhaps we should not be," Cale replied.

Miss Lavender opened her mouth to argue. Then Cale watched her visibly calm herself with closed eyes and a deep breath. When she opened them, she let her eyes wander over Cale. "Shall I assume that you will refuse breakfast with youh fatheh?" she asked with a level tone.

Cale felt deflated, as if her denial of an argument simply caused his will to fight to evaporate off his shoulders. He let his posture slouch for a moment. Then he took in a deep breath and squared his shoulders.

"Yes."

Miss Lavender only stared at him for a moment. "Very well, then," she replied. "I shall infohm him and have youh breakfast sent to youh room. I am not cehtain if Mistress Nerine will be joining you."

Cale looked toward the window as he replied, "That's fine. I'm not suah I want haah to see me in this mood."

…

Cale decided that he did not want anyone to see him in his brooding mood. Rather than returning to his room to wait for breakfast, he waited until the staff was nowhere to be seen and slipped out through the patio door on the end of the south wing. He did not remain on the patio for long. Once he was sure there were no invisible gardeners around, he slipped past the hedges that served as the boundary between the property and the second-largest fall he had ever seen. He strode along the side of the cliff, undaunted by the height but wondering if he was pushing his luck. The Goddesses certainly thought so, and they may or may not have cursed him to constantly fall to dangers unseen. They were considerably half-hearted with their ritual, and two of the three were not taking it seriously.

Cale's thoughts dwelled on last night and this morning. Miss Lavender was right, he had been rebellious. Cale thought he was just frustrated with the latest events at the Library. The prospect of another two years there did not particularly appeal to him, especially after all the work he had put in already. And he had to pay attention to what kind of work he was doing; he could not make the mistake of taking on the same kind of assignments that would ruin his standing. But then… would he even get a choice? Madame Seilon had only told him to go do it; it had not felt like a request he could turn down. Perhaps Madame Seilon could be forgiven for not knowing his intentions toward the running for record custodian, as it had been his fault for not telling her in the first place. If he decided to try for another two years, he would have to explain his goal to her.

His goal… what was his goal? He had promised Nerine two years ago that he would do his best to discover who their mother was. What was he supposed to do afterwards? He would have a position in the Library's senior staff, but what exactly would that get him? He had always felt he would be content having a library of his own. Books had always been his way. He was good at absorbing knowledge and recalling obscure things when needed. And yet… He could describe the size of the massive insect that had once covered their realm in mist. He knew what it was like to be so close to lava as to feel its heat without even seeing it. He had experienced dehydration and the pounding of a midday sun across a desert. He had seen creatures that no book had ever detailed except for myths. His meeting the Gelto had both confirmed and denied things he had read in fiction. It was all information that he had gained by being out in the world rather than cooped up in a library with his nose buried in a book. It was knowledge that felt much more valuable than what he could have simply read about. It was stories of reality that had even captivated Nerine's imagination. He had learned much more about their realm in a month than he had learned in the past two years.

As he stared across the glistening ocean, he could feel that he wanted more. He could only fill so many journals with the knowledge he had. What else could he learn if he decided to stay a field researcher? Or… should he even return to the Library at all? The immediate answer was yes; he could not simply wander around without money, and the Library had provided adequate funding for such travelling. But then, as he glanced at an old sailing ship tucked into a drydock at the end of the port below, he realized that there was one more possibility: Link. Cale knew Link's goal was slowly being realized. Cale also knew that Link was quite possibly the first and only person to descend from the sky in nearly one hundred years. Who on the surface knew what things in the sky were like now? Link himself was an interesting individual; he was easily the same age as Cale, but he had risen to a rather prestigious position as the captain of an airship. Cale had seen that Link was also an accomplished warrior, quite intelligent in his own element, and so loyal to those that have helped him that one could not help feeling as if they had always been a part of Link's crew. A crew… Link was going to need one once this airship was done. Cale had never been inclined to physical labor, but he considered that life aboard an airship would be quite the experience worth its measure in pain and toil.

He immediately stopped walking when he realized he was two steps from crashing into the hedges on the south end of the house. He glanced back along the cliff, wondering when he had turned around. Had he really been so lost in thought that he did not realize he had returned? It was an unusual sensation; he had never let his attention lapse like that before. Although, admittedly, he had not gone for a stroll along the cliffside before. He had always been afraid of the cliff, mostly because he had been reprimanded by Miss Lavender nearly a dozen times as a young child simply for straying outside the wall which had eventually become the hedge.

He took in a deep breath and let it out to clear his mind. He crossed the patio and stepped back into the house. A single maid, one Cale had no recollection of meeting before, glanced at him before returning to dusting a table adorned with a small plant. Cale decided to go to the kitchen. As late as it was for him to be looking for something to eat, the stroll had worked up his appetite.

"Mastah Cale."

The voice called down to him as he crossed the main hall. He paused to see Miss Lavender descending the left staircase. Cale stopped and waited for her to descend.

Once she had stepped onto the floor, she approached him. "Youh fatheh wishes to speak with you," she told him. "He is… ratheh put off with youh refusal to dine with him. He had been expecting to see you since you'd ahrived."

Cale shrugged. "What foh?"

"Cale, you have not spoken with him foh some time," she pointed out. "As much as you may not wish it, youh fatheh would like to know what you have been doing."

Cale sighed and glanced to one side. Then, once he remembered his resolve to not be afraid of his father, he nodded and said, "All right. I will speak with him."

Although Cale knew the way to his father's study, Miss Lavender still led him up the stairs and down the north hallway. Unlike the south hall, the north hall was built against the rear wall of the house. That was because the study and his father's bedroom took up most of the area in this part of the house. Miss Lavender opened the door, and Cale stepped inside.

The floor was covered in a thin carpet, allowing the underlying boards to creak whenever someone walked over it even if they were stepping lightly as Cale was attempting to. The walls were covered in bookshelves save the wall directly opposite the door. That wall was mostly windows with four sets of crimson curtains blocking out most of the light from the outside. Electric lamps hung from the ceiling; that was a new feature since Cale had last seen the room the previous year. A large, mahogany desk sat directly across from the door, leaving a lot of floorspace to cross. The desk's surface bore various types of writing utensils and ink sets as well as a noticeable stack of paperwork. Only one chair resided in the room: a tall, leather office chair that was already occupied.

The man seated at the chair bore natural anger on his furrowed brow. As he leaned back in the chair in acknowledgement of Cale's entrance, he revealed a snug-fitting waistcoat of purple silk over a loose dress shirt. His black hair had been slicked back against his scalp, a style common to men wealthy enough to afford the styling oil used to create the look.

Cale and Miss Lavender crossed the floor. Cale stopped at about the middle of the room while Miss Lavender stepped around him and took up a standing position to Edgar's right.

Edgar appeared to relax in his chair for a moment as he looked Cale up and down. Then he spoke, his voice a deep bass that was easy to hear from where Cale stood. "Miss Lavendah has infohmed me that you have been heah foh a second day, Cale," he said, his tone level. "With as little as I have seen you, I almost had thought she was making a joke of youh being heah." He paused, and Cale was not sure if he wanted an explanation or not. However, Edgar continued, "I asked that you and youh sistah dine with me twice. I have been refused twice with very little explanation. Should I expect to go unsatisfied foh the rest of youh stay?"

Cale was not sure how to respond. His refusal to share a meal with his father had seemed so spontaneous that he had forgotten why he had done it. "I… I don't know what to say," he admitted.

"I would prefah to believe I can undahstand youh desiah to shaah the details of youh position with youh sistah," Edgar said. "Youh conspiracy to uncovah details of youh life unnecessary to youh futuah has been a majoh topic between the two of you foh yeahs." Cale had seen people of Library Town spit at another's feet whenever they had been offended. He began to understand the impulse. "Howevah, the explanation I had received regahding this mohning was little moah than a comment on youh mood. This is hahdly acceptable."

"Yes, saah," Cale replied.

Edgar raised an eyebrow at him. "Am I to receive a bettah explanation?"

Cale took in a deep breath. "I… cannot say, saah," he answered. "My mood was foul this mohning, and I did not wish to expose you to it."

"That is not acceptable," Edgar said as he steepled his fingers together. "In addition to depriving me of the oppohtunity to convahse with my only son, my only daughteh also declined breakfast with me. At least haah explanation was straightfohwahd: if haah brotheh refused to dine, so would she. You can imagine my irritation at losing this moment. I have so little time foh haah that meals tend to be the most oppohtune moment to speak togethah."

"If you speak at all."

Miss Lavender's eyes widened at Cale's words, and even Cale himself was a little stunned after he had had a moment to realize that he had spoken his thoughts out loud. Edgar's only response was a raised eyebrow. "An ovahsight in light of a lack of topics," he admitted. "It can be fah too easy to become familiah with day-to-day mattahs. You, on the othah hand, have not been in this house foh quite some time. I expect that we have some business to speak of."

"Such as?" Cale asked.

"Cale," Edgar said. He paused to rise from the chair, showing his greater height next to Miss Lavender. "You ah fouhteen now. And as much as I had expected this nonsense of youhs to end, I have been willing to allow you to ventuah out of this house so that you might find some measuah of satisfaction. Howevah, you have a futuah to considah. Tell me: have you detahmined youh means of suppohting youhself in youh adult yeahs?"

Cale felt on-edge. Was he not just thinking about this? "I… I had expected to suppoht myself as paht of the senioh staff at the Library," he answered.

Cale could not tell if Edgar was able to read his lack of conviction. "Is that all?" Edgar asked. "Reading books in a library being maintained beyond its yeahs?"

"Theah's always something new to leahn," Cale said.

Edgar held up a finger. "A man has his limits. Knowledge will not buy youh bread and wateh, Cale. I know of the kind of salary you will draw. You ah fah bettah than that to live at such an impoverished level."

"What would you suggest, saah?"

Both of Edgar's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Would you be so unwilling, Cale?" he asked as he stepped to the side of his desk. "I have made no secret of my expectations. Competition with my company has been at a considerable low in recent yeahs. Youh place heah is assuahed."

Cale leveled a glare at him. "In expectation of fuhthah secrets? I cannot imagine it."

Edgar looked down at his desktop for a moment. "Cale," he said. "You must realize that this business about youh motheh is a trifle compaahed to the wohld I have tried to raise you foh. You cannot let this become an obsession."

Trifle? Obsession? "Would you so easily fohget about a motheh you know you should have?"

"What can it do foh you to know who she was? Cale…" He paused, his fingers pressing into the desktop as he thought. "My own motheh died when I was only six yeahs old. It huht my fatheh to raise me alone while he was trying to run a grocery stoah. He hadn't the time foh my own trifles. Be thankful you have the time to contemplate youhs; I had to wohk the day I tahned ten."

"Grandfatheh raised you without a motheh, and now you think you can do the same," Cale reasoned. Miss Lavender's eyes widened again at Cale's cold, spiteful tone. "Maybe it would have been easiah foh you if you had told us Motheh had died."

"No," Edgar replied, quickly raising a finger to stop him. "That is the one thing I have refused to do. I shall not lie to you." He placed his hands behind his back. "I only keep the truth from you."

"And this is supposed to be bettah?!"

Both Edgar and Miss Lavender jerked in surprise at Cale's outburst. Edgar's face grew more furrows as he replied, "I happen to believe it is. You can at least know that youh fatheh has youh best interests at heaht, but he will nevah lie to you."

"It's an omission!" Cale snapped, swinging an arm through the air. "Wishful thinking that you expect to wohk because you need it to wohk! I ask you how it is supposed to wohk, saah!"

"I do not need to explain myself to you," Edgar replied, his tone level but his face betraying anger. "I am youh fatheh, and that is enough."

"An appeal to authority!" Cale shouted at him. "Anothah fallacy in youh reasoning! I should be a good boy because you ah my fatheh!? I am cleahly not if I'm standing heah shouting at you!"

"Do you think I so easily conceal this from you!?" Edgar finally snapped, taking an intimidating step toward Cale. "I happen to believe myself that a child should know both parents!"

"And now an appeal to pity!" Cale replied. "You expect me to agree with you because it huhts you?! An emotional stagnation to my development as a child!? Pahhaps you desahve that!"

"Now listen to me!" Edgar began as he took another step toward Cale.

"Both of you, stop it!" The scream came from behind Cale, and he spun to find Nerine in the doorway, huddled down as if she had used every muscle in her body to cry out. Even Edgar had been silenced, caught off-guard in spite of spotting her appear behind Cale just before losing his temper.

Miss Lavender rushed around the desk and across the room as Nerine collapsed to her knees. "Mistress, no," she said as she almost fell on top of her trying to cover her tears with a handkerchief. "Oh, please, no, don't cry."

"I don't like this!" Nerine bawled. "I don't like them fighting!"

Miss Lavender looked up and aimed a glare at both Cale and Edgar. Cale felt ashamed, and he turned to gauge his father's reaction. Edgar averted his eyes, making his expression hard to judge.

"Is this wohth it?" Cale asked as he turned completely toward Edgar.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Edgar replied, still not facing him.

"Maybe it is," Cale said. "It seems to be the only way to huht you."

"Cale!" Miss Lavender snapped, causing Nerine to release a dull wail.

Edgar raised a hand. "Miss Lavendah," he said. "This is the result of yeahs of omission. Let it run its couhse."

"This isn't going to end, Fatheh," Cale said. "I can hahdly caah about youh reasons. I will find out who Motheh is. A life with the Library may not be to youh satisfaction, but I don't have to live on youh satisfaction. In fact, I would ratheh have nothing to do with a fatheh who thinks omission is bettah than a lie."

"Cale!" Miss Lavender snapped again.

Edgar raised his hand again, although with less energy this time. "You would so easily spite me?" he asked.

"Foh a childhood of unanswehed questions?" Cale replied. "Yes."

Edgar heaved a sigh and slowly returned to his chair. "I suppose this is what I desahve foh making a child hate me so," he said before falling heavily into the chair. "You weh right to ask; this isn't wohth it. My employees live undah the threat of firing foh breathing a wohd about things they cannot undahstand. My staff have to treat it as the gossip of the day. My children have come to despise me foh it. And youh motheh lives in agony of the day she might be able to tell you."

"Mastah Edgah…" Miss Lavender whispered, catching Nerine's attention.

"Pahhaps I should invite othahs to take advantage of a weakness," Edgar said. "My own son would so easily be as brutal."

"Edgah, don't!" Miss Lavender cried out.

Edgar raised a hand, this time with a calming motion rather than to silence her. "Miss Lavendah, I would expect you to agree that this can only get wohse as time goes on," he told her. "Would you prefah it if Cale and Nerine continued to grow while showing us such spite?"

"I came to undahstand youh reasons, Mastah," Miss Lavender said. "I do not think that they will undahstand."

"Cale and Nerine ah fah strongah than we give them credit foh," Edgar told her. "What could await us if Cale weh to discovah the truth on his own? Would you expect them to embrace what we've done?"

Miss Lavender glanced down at Nerine, who was now standing with her attention fully directed at Edgar. She carefully placed a hand on Nerine's head. "Pahhaps not…" she said.

"Neithah do I," Edgar said. "Cale." Cale turned around. "When I fihst brought youh grandfatheh's stoah into prominence, I was thrust into social cihcles that I had previously thought inaccessible. The 'rules', as they weh, changed as I built that stoah into a fah-reaching company. Anyone with money was a friend and a competitoh at the same time. Sentimentality was a waste when schedules and wages weh a factoh. Pahhaps the most damning, theah ah cahtain people you could not associate with if you wished to maintain a reputation."

"It would seem you'd lived up to those rules," Cale told him, an edge still in his voice.

"Cale," Miss Lavender tried to admonish.

Edgar adjusted his posture to make himself sit a little taller. "Do you think I would be explaining them to you if I had? Just like you, I have had my own shaah of impulsive behavioh. I have bulled my way through business deals just to prove I could be bettah. I have dismissed employees foh the slightest transgression. And, pahhaps the most impulsive of all, I fell in love with youh motheh and made haah beah two children. A membah of my staff, just a little youngah than myself."

"And, once she had us, you tahned haah away and swoh the rest of the staff to secrecy," Cale concluded with a bitter tone.

"Cale. The only time she leaves my side… is when Nerine cries."

Cale expected him to continue. However, the moment of silence gave Cale some time to ponder the statement. Did he mean to say that their mother was not turned away, that she was still on-staff in this house? He made it sound so intimate, and he could not understand why. While he had never seen Edgar be hostile with the staff, Cale had not expected him to show any sort of personal attachment to anyone in particular. There was only ever one member of the house that could ever be found waiting in the same room as him. That was Miss Lavender. Although she was the head of the staff, she seemed to split her time between raising Cale and Nerine with the rest of the staff and attending to Edgar. Cale could not think of a time when he and Edgar were in a room without her… hovering nearby…

Cale turned to Miss Lavender. If his father had meant it literally, Cale could see no other solution. How had he missed it? The straight, blond hair. The large, bright eyes. And the blue dresses. Was it a coincidence that both Miss Lavender and Nerine always seemed to prefer blue dresses?

Nerine caught onto Cale's shocked look and glanced up at Miss Lavender. Miss Lavender offered her a sad smile and let her hand slide down Nerine's head and over her shoulder. Then she gently squeezed Nerine against her hip.

Cale turned back to Edgar. He had shifted so that his elbows rested on the desk as he leaned forward. "In anotheh wohld, you might have called haah 'Motheh'," he told Cale.

"In anotheh wohld, I would have been called 'Mom'," Miss Lavender corrected.

Nerine looked up at her. "M-Mom?" she asked.

"Yes. As I once called my motheh."

"I should not expect you to undahstand," Edgar told Cale. "I cannot be cehtain that I undahstand. Howevah, I can at least acknowledge that this soht of scandal exists. A pahson of jewels does not mahry a pahson of cloth and diht. That was how it was explained to me. To have a child in that ahrangement… I could not affohd that infohmation to be innocently released. I rely on a numbah of alliances with othah companies to keep this company in its cuhrent position. Those alliances would crumble if they knew that my children weh conceived with a membah of my house staff.

"You may think my actions deplorable, Cale, but when I fihst undahstood the kind of scandal I had initiated, I wanted to protect you. I could not have this wealth suddenly fall from undah me as a child was coming into the wohld, especially when you could go so much fahtheh than I have. So, I issued the ultimatum that any of my employees who would speak of my private life would not only be fiahed, but rendahed as penniless as I was suah to become. Anyone who has left my employ has been silenced with contract law. As you have seen, the staff has been undah similah restrictions. But I nevah denied you access to youh motheh, noh would I simply lie in ohdah to obtain youh obedience. What else might I do to conceal this situation if not hide it from my own children? I could not allow a stray comment to leave this house.

"I had hoped that youh questions would eventually reach theih end. So. Now that you know, what do you intend to do?"

Cale's head was empty. What was he supposed to do? He realized that, with this revelation, his hope and work in getting into the Library's senior staff had been rendered pointless. The question was not what did he intend to do; it was what was he supposed to do.

"Cale." Edgar's voice interrupted his thoughts. "It isn't too late. Youh comfoht can be met by staying heah. The company can use a young man of intelligence such as youhself. I know I cannot compel you; I'm asking you. Foh the sake of youh own progeny."

Cale felt his blood start to boil. Was that his plan all along? Reveal Miss Lavender as their mother so he would have no reason to return to the Library? Was it always business maneuvers with this man? Cale could not stay here anymore. He could not bear to become what his father was. He did not want to see any "benevolence" to his actions. The man's sense of logic was a disgrace, and it was probably the only way he maintained any sort of control.

Then Cale's temper disappeared with one, stray thought he had entertained earlier. Link. No Library politics, no business politics. Cale knew Link. Link had always been straightforward with him, open to possibilities, and intelligent in his own rights. Cale could resonate with Link far better than the Library or his father. Perhaps it was because they were so close in age. Or perhaps it was because Link could be so ambitious without having to step over everyone and leave them behind in the process. What person on this miserable surface world knew what it was like to sail the skies?

"No."

No anger. No derision. No fear. The word cleared Cale's lips without hesitation.

"Then… you will retahn to the Library," Edgar reasoned.

Cale shook his head. "I shall not, Fatheh."

Edgar raised an eyebrow. "Wheah do you intend to go?"

Cale found himself putting on an uncontrollable grin as he raised his arm and pointed a finger at the ceiling. "Up theah," he said.

"The sky kingdom…" Nerine breathed, her eyes wide in surprise.

Edgar put on a difficult look. "Cale… what do you expect to find up theah? Foh that mattah, how will you get theah?"

"A friend of mine," Cale said. "An aihship captain that's been trapped down heah with us foh a month." He lowered his arm. "He's been wohking to get an aihship built down heah, and I know foh a fact that theah ah scohs of people who would help him. But he'll still need a crew. And I can think of no othah place I would ratheh be."

Edgar had laid his hands flat on the table out of surprise. Even after Cale was finished speaking, he could only let his mouth hang open, waiting for his mind to come up with words to dissuade his son.

Cale, however, did not wait. He turned around and immediately strode to the door. He glanced down at Nerine as he approached and caught the light in her eyes. That simple look told him all she needed to say: bring more stories. His eyes rose to meet Miss Lavender—his mother's shocked gaze. A pang of regret touched his heart. However, he remained resolute and strode past her feeling taller than ever.

…

Cale took a moment to find a suitcase in his room. What he found had been damaged more by simply being relocated here and there and being piled upon rather than put to any use. Cale only selected a couple of garments and a spare pair of shoes, realizing that he would have to stop in Library Town to retrieve other belongings from his apartment. After slamming the suitcase closed, he heaved it off his bed and walked as fast as he could out of the room.

He could not believe how eager he was to leave. But then, he realized that if he wanted to catch Link, he would have to make it soon; there was no telling when they might have the ship finished, and he still had to make it to Library Town first. What time was it? Noon? He hustled down the main stairs, now concerned that he did not have a lot of time. Even a quick stop to put on his travel shoes felt like it took too long. He was out the door, moments away from dashing down the road.

"Cale!"

He suddenly ground his feet to a halt just outside the door. The suitcase, in spite of being light, yanked his arm forward and slid from his grasp. Cale had to hold tight to the door handle to keep from falling over, and he watched the suitcase bounce down the stoop's stairs and slide to a halt on the terrace below.

He turned around to see Miss Lavender and Nerine hustle to the front door. Well, Nerine was moving much faster than that, and Cale quickly had to brace himself for the tackle that was coming at him. "Gohf!" he grunted as Nerine's head hit his chest.

"I'll miss you, Cale," Nerine said into his shirt. She pulled away and looked up at him with tears streaming down her eyes. "Y-you'h gonna bring back moah stories, right?"

"Suah," Cale replied, although he could feel his own emotions churn at the sight of his crying sister.

Miss Lavender strode forward out of the doorway, causing Cale to look up. She held up a black leather purse. "Youh fatheh would like you to take this along, Cale," she said in a voice struggling to maintain an even tone. "It's… money foh traveling. At least two hundred rupees."

"Fatheh… would?" Cale asked as he accepted the purse. He looked up the right side of the house where his father's study should be. He could barely make out his father's face peering at him from one window.

"Think what you will of him, Cale," Miss Lavender continued, "but he has always been a bettah man than you've seen. I can only hope you will come to undahstand the next time you retahn home."

Cale returned his eyes to her. "What of you, Mis—… Moth—…" He released a sigh with a disbelieving smile. "Mom."

Miss Lavender coughed out a laugh as her eyes began to well up. "I will be counting the days until you come back to me, my Cale," she told him. "I have… so much I'd…"

Nerine released Cale to turn and look at Miss Lavender. Cale took the opportunity to step forward and place his arms around her. He let his head fall against her collarbone, and she carefully set one hand on the back of his head as she returned the embrace.

"It'll be all right, Mom," Cale told her in a low voice. "I'll be back."

"I know," Miss Lavender replied. "I can hahdly wait…"

"Be caahful, Cale," Nerine said as Cale pulled away.

"I will," he told her. He was slow in going down the steps. Once he met the terrace, he picked up his suitcase.

Then he turned to look up at his father's study once more. And he saw something he thought he had only ever seen once before, almost a lifetime ago.

His father… smiling.

…

Tale #25 of the Island Symphony – END

NOTICE: "What exactly did you have in mind for Cale's mother? I did go back through the fic to see if there were any hints or foreshadowing bits that would hint at her fate, but I didn't see anything of note, and I don't see anything that could tie her to any of the major or minor female characters." Well, it isn't what I originally envisioned, but it feels like it fits well enough. Cale seemed like he deserved a happy beginning.