Festival Day 1: Now I Gotta Drag Him

…

The day the musicians disembarked, the crew of the Grand Sails received something which had never been given to them before: an invitation. The musicians discovered that, although it was technically a holiday for the whole kingdom for the next four days, the Grand Sails was going to continue to Turtle Island looking for another cargo job. They discussed and reasoned with Captain Alfonzo that work will be hard to find with every major island in the kingdom celebrating. The captain was reluctant to agree, having served twenty years and knowing how difficult it would be to find a job in the next four days. However, he felt it necessary so he could avoid having to deal with a crew sporting hangovers which would surely last well into the next week, not to mention the potential for having Link and Line, his youngest airmen, seriously harmed. After a meeting with Lieutenant Luke and the chief officers, they struck a deal with the crew: they could have shore leave for the festival as long as they were sober and ready to sail by the fourth day so the Grand Sails could get back to work the following day. Among the grumbling and groaning was a general sense of agreement before the crew charged the gangplank. As for Line and Link, they had to finish cleaning out the ship before they disembarked. Line had his own fit of grumbles as they cleaned the decks.

By the time they were done, evening was beginning to fall over Castle Island. The port was quiet without the usual shuffle of business; it appeared that only the Castle Island Police were interested in wandering the area. So Link and Line went toward the main road running through the middle of the island.

The town had completely transformed from the last time either had seen it. The usually drab grey or red brick buildings were colored by strings of electric lights hanging across the streets, each bulb a different color of glass from the ones on either side. Banners declaring things like "Welcome" and "Foundation Day" decorated the sides of the taller buildings, illuminated by spotlights from across the street. The road was absent of any kind of wheeled traffic, leaving plenty of room for the populace wandering through the different activities. The sidewalks were jammed with stalls containing food, drinks, games with prizes, competitive games, and wares for the people who wanted to use the festival to show off new or improved inventions, most of which seemed to fall apart right after a demonstration.

Link and Line shoved a number of different foods down their throats as they explored. Link was actually feeling a little ill just after a half-hour of exploring, nursing a beef kebab while Line seemed content to eat more.

"Oh, man," Line groaned at one point. "I'm thirsty."

"Yeah, I think I could use something to drink, too," Link replied, feeling a little more ill after swallowing a large slice of cucumber. "But we haven't seen one booth with anything we could drink. Most of it's been beer or wine."

"I know," Line replied in an annoyed tone. "But everywhere else's closed. And there's kids all over the place."

"I know; we're two of them," Link said.

"Speak for yourself." Line reached out and stopped a kid about to run by with his friends. "Hey, kid! Kid, wait," he said. "Hey, where'd you get that?"

"Get what?" the boy, only a couple years younger than them, asked.

"The drink," Line said, tapping on the paper cup in the boy's hand.

"Over there," the boy replied, pointing in one direction.

"C'mon," Line told Link.

They found a booth in front of a grocery store. A short, wide man wearing a thick moustache was just handing off a paper cup as they stepped up. "What'll you have, boys?" he asked in a loud, friendly voice.

"Whaddaya got?" Line asked.

"I don't feel good…" Link told Line, pitching the rest of his kebab into a nearby barrel.

"Just get some juice in you, and you'll feel better."

"What kinda juice you looking for?" the grocer asked.

Link shook his head. "I don't think I can do juice. Maybe just some water."

"Coming up," the grocer replied. He spun around and seemed to manipulate a few things before presenting Link with a paper cup of water. Link took it and sipped it a bit. "You boys… are you really airmen, or are those just costumes?" This question irritated Link, although it was probably his mood showing through his sour stomach. It was a common question they tended to get while ashore anywhere besides Skyrider Port, and very few people believed them to be airmen.

Line took the question in stride and nodded. "Yep. We're common airmen aboard the Grand Sails." Common airmen referred to the fact that they can be assigned almost any job on board a ship, although Link and Line were technically limited due to their age.

The grocer nodded. "I didn't think they recruited so young."

Line shrugged. "I don't know about Link here, but I was kinda born into the job."

"I think I'm the same way," Link said before taking another sip.

"So what can I get you, then?" the grocer asked.

"Gimme a sec," Line told him. "Link, what was that drink we were trying at the Sail?"

"Which one?" Link asked.

"The one she put the fruit in. Remember? I almost choked drinking it."

"Pine… pineapple… something. That one that tasted like pineapples and candy, right?"

"Yeah, it tasted like pineapples, but it was blue."

Link shook his head. "Blue is a disturbing color to drink."

"Pineberry juice?" the grocer asked.

Line snapped and pointed a finger. "That's it. Do you have that?"

"I can mix a cup together real quick. Three rupees."

"Wait, how come you didn't cha—" Line started to argue.

"Water's free."

Line put on an annoyed look. "Right." He dug into his pocket for some of his pay as the grocer turned around to put the drink together.

Link took in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "Maybe I shouldn't have eaten so much…"

"Living off rations for most of our lives, yeah, I can see how real food can bother you," Line told him.

Link glared at him. "It's not like you help by saying, 'Hey, Link, let's try that' every few seconds."

"See, now you're just whining," Line said.

"Here you go," the grocer said. He exchanged the paper cup for Line's rupees. "You two enjoying the festival so far?"

Line was about to take a drink when the grocer asked his question. So he paused and said, "Yeah. We've never gotten to do this before."

"The Grand Sails is always looking for some kind of job," Link added. "Every year before this one, we've been travelling, so we never got to see it before."

"All four days?" the grocer asked.

"Yeah, well… work's a little hard to find this time of the year."

"Hhkh!" Line suddenly jerked after downing half of his cup. He dropped the cup and leaned over so his face was directly over the gutter. He retched, and Link quickly turned away to avoid the fast-approaching sympathy vomit.

"Hey, you okay?" the grocer said, leaning over the front of the booth to look at Line. His question went unanswered as Line heaved again. So the grocer turned to look at his inventory. "Whoops." With an embarrassed grin, he looked at Link and said, "Got the pineapple juice and the whiskey mixed up."

"Yeah," Line croaked. "Well, I think I'll be on the wagon for the rest of my life." With that, he collapsed where he stood, inches away from his own vomit.

Link gave a sigh. "Not again…"