Im so sick of doing disclaimers...UGGGGH. WE DON'T OWN ZELDA! DX
Chapter 16: To Sea
Lief looked out at the restless ocean as he stood atop the rock that held the secret entrance to the Zora's home. It had been so long since he had seen and smelled the wild ocean, the smell of the salty wind filled his nostrils. He closed his eyes and pictured himself still at home standing on the lookout tower.
"Lief, can I talk to you?" Rani said.
Lief came out of his trance, he had half hoped that it would have been his little sister's voice.
"Yeah," He noticed that Aine was somewhere else, "Something bothering you Rani?"
"Lief, I'm afraid of what you might see..."
"What's gotten you all quiet, the last time I saw you like this for so long, was on Outset." He smiled.
"Lief...if Aine was right, can't believe I just gave her credit, but if she is, well...then Ganon might have already attacked Outset..."
He stiffened. She might be right, what if he had already went to the islands on the outskirts...maybe he wasn't supposed to have a family...He almost let tears escape, but quickly held them back before Rani saw.
"Rani, I want to see for myself. I've thought alot about this, I may look like a child, but I've gained some knowledge over the years. If they are alive, I can somehow find a way to protect them from what is to befall the island. Even if I at least save a few of them; for such a long time I've watched friends greet their family when I've never been able to. During the festivals, when everyone goes home to spend the rest of the night with families...I went to my quiet home without a mom or dad waiting..." He looked at her with eager eyes, he knew he had to try.
Rani watched him back then scowled and folded her arms, "Fine, if you want to get yourself killed, then i'm coming with you. You certainly are not leaving me this time!" She slapped his nose, he smiled and laughed. He was very happy for the slap on the nose, Rani seemed to be coming back to her stubborn self.
"Well, I found some one who would take us..." Aine flew up with a weird stranger behind her, it was a girl. She had dark red hair, and wore gypsy like clothing. A fine, light red colored scarf came around her face, still showing her nose and mouth. Large hopped earrings dangled from her ears as she walked.
"Name's Tetania, I'm a gypsy merchant, I sell goods across the kingdom." Her voice was melodic, like a soothing liquid going down your throat. Her slippers were gold, along with some of the trims on her pants and top. "This little fairy told me you needed someone to take you to the neigboring island 'Aye?"
"Yes, we do." Lief confirmed, he looked up at Aine who smiled proudly.
"I found her near the reef." Aine said.
He smiled, "Do you know the island Outset?"
Tetania thought for a moment then shook her head, "No, but i've heard of it yes. Not many times I must say. I can take you to Windfall island though, that's my next stop, Dragon Roost is near there too." She placed a hand on her hip, Lief noticed small gold bracelets fall to her wrists, her eyes were purple and held many memories of her own.
"That's fine." It will give us some time to look for the music box. He thought.
"This way then," She smiled turning and walking across the water. Rani and Lief were shocked, Aine saw it as normal and followed. Lief tried taking a tentative step onto the water, thinking there might be hidden stones of some kind that she walked across, but he fell straight into the salty water coming up quickly for air. He pulled the mask over his nose and dived back under breathing normally.
The zoras were right, the mask did work. He could breath underwater as if it were the air itself. It took about 10 minutes to get to the soft sand, he pulled the mask from his face and followed quickly after the gypsy. Not too long later they came to a large ship tethered to a a dock and a large chained anchor came down the side keeping the large beast from going anywhere. A swift crew were on the docks preparing for departure, Tetania took a step onto the boardwalk and began the ascent up.
Lief followed after with Rani sitting quietly on his shoulder observing everything going on around them, Aine sat on his head fiddling with the blonde locks on his head. When they reached the top, he hopped down onto the wooden surface and viewed the commotion, multiple men were on roped ladders man-handling ropes that led up to the billowy sails. Two men, that looked of rather importance, were at the wheel studying a map, others came in front of him a few times swabbing the dirty deck and polishing it, even though it would get roughed up later.
Tetania led them through a single door and down some stairs into a small hallway, as they passed one door, Lief could see rows upon rows of hammocks one on top of another, like bunk beds only more wobbly. Another door they walked passed led into a small room with potato peels littering the floor and barrels of apples and unpeeled potatoes. An overweight man sat on a stool next to a half empty barrel peeling another potato and adding the skins to a pile next to him.
After passing what seemed like pantries and storerooms they finally came to a more delicate room decorated in plush rugs and animal hides. The gypsy allowed them in and shut the door behind them after they entered. A bed that was laced in red silk sat in one corner surrounded by pictures of people and places that had been explored, a small desk was a few feet away from the bed covered in maps and other odd charms scattered around.
"This is amazing." He finally said.
"Thank you, this is my cabin as you can tell, I will have a cabin prepared for you in a few moments, it will take a while to round up some blankets and such. I'm afraid it won't be as well decorated as mine if that's ok, we like departing on schedule most of the time."
"No it's not a problem, I'm thankful for you for even letting us board your ship and joining you on your journey..."
"I thought you were a merchant?" Rani asked suspiciously, "Merchants don't normally have such large ships with lovely cabins and a full crew at their disposal."
Tetania laughed, "I'm not only a merchant young fairy, I'm also a gerudo gypsy and they take pride gypsy like myself, that's why they make sure that I'm well cared for and that I'm comfortable wherever I go."
Gerudo? Lief remembered the red haired woman he had met that day before the attack, she had been a gerudo and tried to kill him, so how could they know that they could trust Tetania? He would have to keep on his toes and stay alert throughout the voyage and somehow find some answers to his questions.
"Well, I'll go round up some men to prepare your room while you stay here and enjoy some of the fruits I have on that table, or if you're tired you may rest your eyes on my bed." With that she left closing the thick door behind her.
Lief wasn't tired and he didn't want to sleep on any more silk, especially that of a suspicous Gerudo Gypsy. He did however look over at the table he had missed earlier that sat off to the side of the cabin covered with a red tablecloth and a lit candle in the center. The fruit was in a small basket just barely off center with a few inches parting it from the candle.
He didn't feel like anything either, even though she was being very generous he couldn't actually prove whether or not she was a friend or foe. That didn't go through Aine's mind however.
"Lief, you need to eat, you look like a bag of bones! When was the last time you ate?" she was carefully examing the fruit trying to pick out the perfect one, "Here, try this." She picked out a fresh, juicy, purple plum from the basket and held it out to him, her size made it awkward to hold in her hands, but she didn't put it down until Lief took it.
He looked at it carefully, now he was aware of his rumbling stomach begging him for something to eat.
"No. Anything that tainted angel touches shouldn't be touched, or devoured." Rani stated with disgust.
"That wasn't a very nice compliment." Aine said scowling, "Why are you so against me and Lief?"
Rani's eye slightly twiched, she fumed and flew out of the room through the key hole.
"Touchy, touchy." Aine murmured.
He set the plum back down and sat at the desk, looking at the different languages, symbols were often written next to a paragraph that lief couldn't read, eventually he gave up on staring at papers that made no sense to him and hopped off glancing at some of the animal heads Tetania had collected. Some were rat heads, others were types of fish, one he recognized was a bat with the words: Fire Keese: Goron Mines. inscribed underneath it, he also saw boko babas, and on a shelf he read labels that said red chu jelly, poe's soul, deku seeds, etc.
Clearly she was a collector of all sorts of stuff, maybe some of it was her merchandise that she...hangs up on her wall...and puts into bottles on a special shelf...riiight...Ok, Lief decided maybe this wasn't a good idea after all, for all he knew she might just hang him on her wall as well and sell him over to Ganondorf. Not going to happen. He walked towards the door, aine following him looking rather worried and confused.
Tetania opened the door right as his hand hovered over the knob, she smiled when she saw him, "Your cabin is ready, sorry it took so long. hopefully you made yourself at home."
"Yeah...I feel at home alright..." He whispered, giving her a small smile, "Tetania, I don't want to be a burden, I think we should just leave."
"Leave?" she shifted on her feet uncomfortably, "I'm sorry, but the ship is already miles from shore."
"Miles? But we've only been here, what? an hour?"
"My ship is fast, we should reach Windfall in about two days." She opened a door two rooms down from hers revealing a soft warm hammock and plenty of blankets and a few pillows. The room had a window that showed a remarkable view out at sea.
"Wow, it's beautiful." He smiled, looking out the window and watching the waves crash onto the prow of the ship.
"I'm glad you like it,"
"Hey if you see my friend, Rani, could you make sure she knows where I am. She got angry and flew off somewhere."
Tetania smiled, "Certainly, Lief." She closed the door behind her, leaving Aine and Lief in their temporary home.
Night came quickly, before, Lief couldn't feel the movement of the ship at all, now, as he lay on his hammock he was well aware of the stormy sea outside and the jostling of the ship. Several times he had to open his window feeling sick only to get toppled over by a wave of water making him even more sick than he already was.
Aine wasn't any help, she fell asleep all snug and warm on his pillow. Still there was no sign of Rani, making Lief alittle nervous. Hopefully she hadn't been swept away outside by the harsh wind.
After a terrible night, the sun rose in the sky sending a wave of warmth over the ship. The restless water subsided revealing an island not to far off. A tall windmill stood erect in the center with a busy town surrounding it.
Lief quickly dressed in the dry clothes that Tetania had sent him, they were similar clothes to what he had worn on his own island, a simple, long sleeved blue shirt with brown pants made from a soft kind of leather. It was different in some ways since the fabric originated from somewhere else, but they were comfortable all the same.c
He stepped up onto the dock of the ship and saw Rani sitting on the railing looking at the island that was alot closer now. He smiled relieved that she was ok and walked over to her, she looked up at him calmly as if nothing had happened.
"Rani, I'm sorry about last night..." He said.
"Lief, It wasn't your fault." Glowers at Aine, "Look." She pointed ahead, Windfall Island was right in front of them now. People could be seen on the shores, little kids were running about on the large field around a tree.
As the ship came to a hault next to a tall ledge, the boardwalk was lowered to land, many of the crew began carrying down goods for sale and made their way to the archway that led into the small city. Tetania hadn't been seen all morning, a man that had been carrying a crate of rare seeds said that she had grown ill over the journey so Lief didn't bother looking for her, he worried if she was ok and wanted to thank her for letting them onto her ship.
"Rani I was thinking about finding a different way to Outset. I felt uneasy on that ship with the gypsy..." He told her once they were in the bustling town.
"I agree, geze i'm glad you finally figured that out." Roles her eyes and smiles.
Aine sat on his shoulder quietly, she was still dozing off. She seemed to perk up though when she saw a young blonde girl, her hair was tied up in a bun and walked with authority. Aine seemed to remember seeing a second ship near theres when they walked off the boardwalk. She wore white capris with a white shirt and red scarf. Her eyes were firmly set with strength and stubborness in them.
"Whose that?" She pointed at the young girl who was talking with the guy from earlier, he opened the crate letting the fresh sent of the apple into the air.
"I don't know." He replied.
"Pirate is what I'm guessing." Rani stated bluntly.
The She-Pirate glanced at them before ordering one of her ship mates, then they disappeared and that was it. She was gone.
Why did she seem... He dropped the thought and continued on, he ran into a small gang of boys who challenged him to a game of tag, another group of them invited him to their club. He declined respectfully, but still got cold looks from them anyway. He smiled at the sight of couples sharing a cold glass of a fruity beverage near a bar.
The place was so magnificent, so much to look at and try. It was too bad they would leave in the morning.
The next morning Lief came on the dock and looked out to sea, last night had been alot better than the first. the sea breeze swept through his blonde hair lightly. Rani and Aine were still asleep. He had found them snuggled up together sound asleep. He laughed at the though when Rani woke up, she wouldn't be in a very good mood.
He could see the shapes of the distant islands, sea birds flew above the boat letting out loud screeches, one landed next to him and pecked at his head for no apparent reason. He shooed it away then climbed to the eagle's nest with the look out who a chubby man with an eye patch. He ignores Lief simply looking through his rusty telescope.
I wonder...if Aryll is alive. He smiled at the thought, he could remember everything about her. Her love for the birds, every one of her birthdays, her tears when she found a lone crab falling behind the others in a race, her clumsy hands when helping their grandmother...before he knew it he was crying. He missed his family so much, this chance to possibly see them again gave him hope.
Several days passed, in two days it would be his birthday again. He told Aine all of his stories that he had told Rani before. Rani listened intently to them again, she smiled when he got excited when he came to parts about their adventurers they had on the island.
On the morning the day before his birthday he looked out over the railing of the ship seeing the all too familiar island, the bridge was intact as well as the watch tower. He couldn't see any people on the sand though, he would expect the kids to be playing and the others doing farm work. Nothing.
The ship landed about a mile away, a small boat was placed in the water, the gypsy, Tetania, climbed in with lief next to her and a rowman on the opposite side. they came to shore and he quickly jumped out running across the sand and to his home, he ran opened the door excited to see them again.
"Mom! Aryll! Grandma! I'm ba-" No one was there. Chills went up his spine, they were probably at his grandpa's he ran to the ladder and into the home. No one.
Rani watched Lief, tears stung her eyes as she saw that Ganon had already searched the island for him. No one would be here for him.
"Mom! Aryll!" Finally he sat down in the pig pen at the top of the hill, there wasn't any water in the trough and the house was empty as well as the others. Once again...his hopes were shattered.
R&R! PLEASE!