Hi(gh)
…
Link was annoyed. On top of still bearing punishment from fighting on the Grand Sails, he just finished the day's office work only to be told to look for Line, who had been missing for the whole afternoon. The last any of the staff had seen him was when he had said he had been stepping out to get lunch. That was about five hours ago, and the sun was now sitting on top of the nearby buildings.
Link knew of one place Line liked to visit when he was having lunch on his own. It was a small park about half an hour's walk from the office. A wide grass area crisscrossed here and there by dirt paths, a little lake fed by the upper part of the Soren River and draining into same, and a grove of trees lining the northern and western edges, Link only ever found this park because he had gotten lost one day trying to find the Sail Tavern. It was far enough removed from the port that no airmen really took interest in it. The local population used it sparsely, finding a larger park toward the center of the island to be of more romantic value than this little plot. It was probably why Line liked it: not enough witnesses to his chaos.
That also made it easy to give the park a quick glance. Only an old couple walked along one of the paths on the opposite side of the park. No one was interested in the lake this evening. Still, it was only a quick glance, one which could not give him a clear picture of the area around the trees. Link rounded the park and walked through the trees on the west side. It would not surprise him to find Line in this area. With the healthy growth of leaves above him, this was a nice place for shade and privacy in the middle of the day.
"Hey, Link."
Link suddenly froze at the base of one tree at the sound of Line's voice. He glanced around for a moment. Then he asked the empty area, "Yeah?"
"Up here, Link."
Link glanced up. Then he turned around so that he could look at Line from a more comfortable angle. From what he could tell, Line appeared to have stuck himself on a thick branch. As in the branch had a firm hold on the seat of his trousers, and he was using another, skinnier branch to keep himself up.
Link stammered for a bit, trying to ask a serious question but finding his incredulous reaction to the sight giving the answers to most of the normal questions he would ask. When he finally found a question that could not be answered, he asked, "Why are you stuck in a tree?"
"Rescuing a cat."
Link pinched the bridge of his nose. "Line…"
"No, honest! Some lady found her cat up here, and she asked me if I could climb up and get it down. Then… well, you know, it's kinda nice up here, so I thought I'd bring my lunch up here. I was on my way further up, and I slipped. I caught this branch, and my ass caught this… this stump of a branch."
"And… you've been up there for five hours."
"Uh… yeeeeah. No one's come around here for hours."
"So what's the problem, Line? Just fall out."
"Yeah, that's not happening. This stick is stuck up my ass."
Link fell silent and just glared at Line. He did not want to say it. But he did anyway. "What."
"I got a hole in my trousers, and it's hooked onto the branch. If I let go, assuming my trousers rip, I'm gonna fall head-first into the ground. I'm pretty fond of my head, Link."
"That makes one of us. Have you tried pulling yourself up that branch you're holding?"
"Uh… well, the thing is… this branch has been making this sound that makes me thing I don't want to grab it anywhere else."
Link sighed. "How in the world did this happen? It's gotta be some kind of curse or something; no one but you ever seems to be in such a stupid position."
"How do I know!? C'mon, just get my trousers off this branch, and I can fall the rest of the way."
Link examined the base of the tree before he found that there was a branch within his reach. He climbed into the tree and found his way to the short, thick branch holding Line's pants. "You know you're going down once I release you, right?" he asked.
"Li—I don't care. I'm hungry. Do you know how annoying it is to be hungry while there's food in your pockets? It's the dumbest thing."
"As opposed to being stuck in a tree?" Link asked, allowing himself a grin.
"Bite me."
Straddling the branch, Link took hold of Line's trousers just in front of where the branch had him and tugged up. Line winced as he experienced more wedgie than he had anticipated. Link used his thumbs to gather more of the trousers into his hands, and he leaned forward so that the branch was no longer inside the large tear.
Line's weight nearly dragged Link off the branch, and he let go of Line so he could put his hands on the branch and save himself the trouble of planting his face into it.
Rshsh! "WAAAAAH—Doh!"Thud! Link pushed himself up and glanced to one side down at the ground. Line had landed on his back and slowly, silently writhed in pain. Link thought that he would be dragging Line to a clinic until Line rolled over and got to his feet.
Minutes later, Link dragged Line into a nearby clinic anyway because Line could not straighten his back without screaming in pain.