Chapter Thirteen

More People Like Her

Linebeck squints into the setting sun beside the seemingly now dormant volcano on Ember Isle, wondering if the Kid and Sparkles actually managed to do something after two days or so of having no word from them. Not like he was worried or anything. This is a big island after all and finding the torches took at least six days. Kid didn't die then, so Linebeck didn't worry now. No matter what noises and flaming rocks started coming out of the volcano. Nope, not worried at all.

"Link and Ciela will be returning soon. I hope you will accompany me back to my home to welcome them upon their return." Astrid states, suddenly appearing beside the hull of the S.S. Linebeck.

Not expecting this, Linebeck yelps and nearly tumbles into the water between the ship and dock.

"Forgive me, it was not my intention to frighten you." Astrid comments, a smile barely seen under her veil.

Linebeck gives a dry snort, straightening himself. "You need a bell." He simply states.

"I will consider adding musical instruments to my attire. My future has seemed a little more noisy." Astrid replies. She turns around. "Now come, I wish for you to welcome Link and Ciela back."

"I can just welcome them back here." Linebeck counters. "Or what? Have you see me throwing confetti over the pair?" He throws his hands up into the air in a mocking motion of the act.

"I only have a feeling that you will be joining me. It is still up to you to chose whether or not you will do so." Astrid slightly turns her head back towards Linebeck. "That is the difference between my fortune telling and the feelings I get. In my feelings, the path is not set. The people involved can always change their path. In my fortunes, the path is set and while there are obstacles that can delay or deter the path, it remains unchanging and will come to pass."

Linebeck stares at her blankly, mouth slightly open. "I have no idea what exactly you just said and what you mean by it, so I'm just gonna follow you back to your house, since you have a "feeling"."

Astrid chuckles, a soft, melodic sound before turning back her head and setting off back towards her home, the 21 year old captain following.

Minutes later, Linebeck blinks as he enters the dimly lit home. As before, his breath briefly seizes up in his throat as he breathes in the heavy, almost intoxicating smell of incense. Then it passes, and he can breathe normally.

"While we wait, why don't I tell your own fortune?" Astrid says, already settling down on her pillows behind her crystal ball.

Linebeck narrows his eyes at her. Earlier in his search, he would consult with so called fortune tellers in hopes of using them to find Linette. They only turned out to be fakes or stoned on their own incense mixtures. He quickly abandoned that method of searching and swore off anything dealing with fortune tellers.

But something about the red headed woman before him, he was starting to feel something... otherworldly.

As if his feet started moving of their own accord, Linebeck found himself moving to be sitting in front of Astrid.

"Let us begin," she states, once Linebeck is properly settled. Her gaze returns to her crystal ball, her hands just hovering over the ball. She begins to softly chant in a language unknown to Linebeck, her eyes closing and face passive. To Linebeck, the room seems to darken and the crystal ball begin glowing with an otherworldly light. The candles lit in the room became perfectly still.

As Linebeck kept his gaze on Astrid, he begins to notice a low hum in the air, like the air is full of energy. Distantly, he thinks that Astrid is very simple in her actions and not flashy or overbearing with trying to gain a mystical aura. He again thinks back to the other fortune tellers with disgust.

Then, at that moment, Astrid's chanting cuts off and then immediately starts right back up. Without warning, all at once, every single candle in the room goes out without explanation, not even leaving wisps of smoke. The energy in the air turns from a low hum to a heavy presence. Astrid's face, only illuminated by her crystal ball, becomes distressed and her chanting becomes frenetic.

A ripple of unease travels up Linebeck's spine as his gaze remains arrested on Astrid. He opens his mouth to speak and end the whole event.

But before he could get a single word out, Astrid relaxes and the room brightens, the candles inexplicably flickering back to life. Her chanting slows and stops and Astrid relaxes, her hands dropping from the crystal ball. The light in the room returns to normal and the energy dissipates.

Linebeck remains sitting in front of Astrid, mouth still open, a look of dumbfoundedness gracing his features. He quickly closes his mouth with a snap and schools his features to something less impressed.

"You... have had a very dark past, don't you, Linebeck?" Astrid softly states. "Your entire family torn from you in a single night."

A shot of iginante anger shoots through the captain. "I thought you were doing this to tell my future, not events of my past that I fully know well about."

"In certain cases, in order to make sense of a individual's future, I must delve into their past. With that, things that may have seemed unimportant become valuable to the fortune." Astrid explains.

"You can do that?" Linebeck queries, raising an eyebrow at the woman.

Astrid's eyes become distant. "My fortune telling is... unique, as well my past as one." Astrid returns, her eyes focusing again. "Now, open your soul to what I have learned."

"As I have stated, you have lost your entire family in one night. Due to someone that the red thread of fate ties the two of you together very strongly. While one of those losses is permanent, the other simply has her location veiled to you. That person is your sister... correct?"

Linebeck can only nod, slightly off edge about what Astrid was able to learn. "All those other crackpots always had to be told that I had lost a sister. Astrid... she just comes and tells my fortune... no knowledge needed before hand. That... is definitely new... and a little unnerving."

To try and quell his uneasiness, Linebeck nods before he waves a hand into the air. "Yes, again, I already know all about this. So why don't we get to the heart of the matter, which to say, it my future." Linebeck leans forward onto his knees. "So spill, lady."

If Astrid thinks that Linebeck is being rather flippant with his troubled past and with her, she didn't let it show. "Very well." Is all she says before continuing on. "Your future is filled with trials and tribulations that you will need make choices on that could determine the very outcome of your life and will forevermore define who you are as a person.

"Old mistakes will be forgiven and bonds will be made that will stretch across the very strings of times.

"But the most important trial that will occur for you is that you will encounter your sister again. But when you do, you were both swallowed by darkness... The outcome of that was obscured. Though... if you do escape that darkness... you will escape with a new family."

"But as I have said, that area is dark... it could go either way." Astrid finishes, folding her hands in her lap.

"Fantastic." Linebeck groans to himself. "I'll find Linette again, but if I'll actually survive the encounter, nobody has a clue."

The young captain stands up, brushing off imaginary dust from his legs and shaking them to get the pins and needles out from sitting so long. "well, thanks for the cryptic message from beyond. If it ends up true, I'll be sure to recommend you."

Footsteps behind Linebeck alert him to the fact that, true to Astrid's word, Link and Ciela have returned. Not letting Astrid speak to them, Linebeck turns to face them. "Kid! Sparkles!"

"My name is... Ciela!" The white fairy hisses out.

Linebeck ignores her, instead focusing on that there was a second shiny ball of light next to Link. "Aw, hell. Now there's two of 'em."

"Hello!" The red fairy says. "Name's Leaf! I'm the Spirit of Power, and Guardian of the Fire Temple."

"Alright, Alright. Calm down there, Rubies. Don't need your life story." Linebeck states, waving a hand at the red spirit.

Astrid gives a soft "ahem" behind the group. "Forgive my intrusion, but I was not yet quite finished with Linebeck. I have one more thing for him."

"Yeah? What other obscure messages do you have for me?" Linebeck drawls, twisting his head to look back at the fortune teller.

"When you go forth to complete your quest... You will not be alone. In that darkness, my vision did not end. A golden light began shining, invading the darkness." Astrid finishes. Her dark eyes bore into Linebeck. "That is what I have gleaned from your future."

Linebeck stares back into her eyes, and a shiver travels up his spine. To try and get rid of the feelings, Linebeck scoffs, shaking his head. "Fine, whatever. Didn't really need to know about the shiny gold light but hey." A smirk covers his face and Linebeck places one hand on his chin. "Maybe that light is from my fortune awaiting me aboard the Ghost Ship." He begins chuckling until Ciela flies full speed at his head, already yelling at the captain to stop being so greedy.

As such, with all the attention being focused on those two, no one notices the knowing look Astrid graces the white fairy with.

"A golden light..." Astrid thinks to herself, a small smile gracing her lips.

...

"Hey, Link." Ciela innocently starts.

Link looks up at Ciela, pausing just at the entrance of the Ocean King's Temple. "Yes, Ciela?" Leaf hovers on the other side of Link's head, giving a questioning look to Ciela.

"How quickly do you think you could learn to drive the steamboat?"

Silence falls between the three as Link continues to stare at Ciela.

"We are not leaving Linebeck behind on a remote island and stealing his ship." Link finally states, walking further into the temple.

"Oh come on!" Ciela cries, her wings beating more rapidly with her agitation. "You heard what Astrid said! He's an anchor to us! We could get things done so much faster if he wasn't stuck with us!"

"You're forgetting that Astrid also told us that he would be an asset." Link reminds Ciela, putting one finger into the air.

"In time..." Ciela grumbles under her breath, rolling her eyes.

"So... You don't like Linebeck that much, do you?" Leaf says, flying over Link's head to join Ciela.

Ciela glances up with a withering look. "What gave it away? My death threats or my shining personality around him?"

"Hey, hey, don't take your hatefulness out on me." Leaf says, raising his hands up in surrender.

Ciela starts, noticing how rude she is being. "Sorry. it's just that when that man opens his mouth and only selfish and cowardly words pour out, something inside me snaps and it just stays with me all day."

"Well... with how you're such a selfless, generous and brave person. You're bound to have personality clashes with him." Leaf says, giving a small smile and flying closer to Ciela.

Ciela stops short, giving Leaf a weird smile, slightly flying away. "We've known each other for only two weeks, majority of that time being spent on a boat with two other people, one of them being a person I loathe. How the hell do you know those things about me? I don't even know those things about me!"

Leaf stills his movements, trying to quell his panic.

The Ocean King had pulled the Spirit of Power aside when the trio had went to see the old man. Oshus had stressed to Leaf that Ciela had no memory of herself nor was she to know her true identity before the time was right.

And Leaf hated the fact that he couldn't let the poor fairy know who she truly was, that she did have family and they were right here, especially him in how he some very much cared for her-

Dear Ocean King, how he wished Neri was here. She would know what to say. Being the Spirit of Wisdom, she would know exactly what to say to get that suspicious look off Ciela's face and not make it worse.

However, Leaf did not know what to say and so he was about to ramble off some bullcrap explanation that he knows was only going to make things worse-

By some luck in the world, the sounds of footsteps interrupt the conversation. Link pauses just before entering the main section of the temple, turning back to the entrance with childlike confusion.

"Hey! wait! Wait a sec, Kid!"

A pink tinge enters Ciela's hue of white. "Oh, what the hell does he want?"

Linebeck flies into the temple, skidding to a stop just inside the entrance. He leans against the doorway, breathing heavily.

"Kid, I remember how hard you pushed yourself when freeing me and getting that musty sea-chart. If you push yourself that hard from the beginning, you won't last much longer than that time. I understand you want to hurry and save your friend, girl, person... But don't waste your energy!" Linebeck pushes himself off the doorway, straightening himself and looking Link dead in the eye. "Don't forget that this temple can suck the life out of you! I know we have to find clues to search for the spirits, but you need to have some kind of strategy so you don't end up like that!" Linebeck points to the pile of bones right next to him. "Cuz then you're no use to anyone.."

Ciela flies into Linebeck's face. "So why don't you help, huh?! You've never warned Link like this before. So why run all this way if you're simply going to stop here?!"

Linebeck waves a hand towards Ciela, causing the fairy to fly higher into the air and let out a stream of curses that made Leaf's eyebrows raise. He immediately told Link to not repeat any of those words.

"I don't have to explain myself to you, Sparkles!" Linebeck snaps, crossing his arms. "Quit being so nosy with other people's pasts."

"Thank you for the concern, Linebeck." Link sincerely says, smiling at the captain. "But I've faced worse before and came through fine."

Linebeck shakes his head. "Maybe so, but Kid, I'm just trying to say is... If you go in with that kind of strategy, well... you might not make it very far."

"Way to go on being optimistic, Moron!" Ciela hisses.

"Actually, what Linebeck is saying is not very true." Oshus states, suddenly appearing behind Linebeck.

"Grandpa! What are you doing here?" Ciela exclaims, flying back next to Link's head.

Oshus takes his staff and pushes Linebeck out of the way, walking forward.

"Excuse you!" Linebeck sputters but Oshus simply ignores him.

"Pardon an old man's age, it tends to affect my memory the most." Oshus starts. "But when you came to see me before leaving for the temple, I have forgotten one more thing. A powerful artifact that can help you traverse the hallways of this temple without fear. The Phantom Hourglass."

Oshus proceeds to further explain the Phantom Hourglass, causing somehow all five of them to migrate to the upper level. As Oshus does so, Ciela floats over to Linebeck, arms crossed.

"Don't care if I'm being nosy, what exactly made you run up here to warn Link again from the temple?" Ciela snipes.

Linebeck sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He then shoves his hands into his pockets, looking out to the temple's entrance. "Goddesses, are you nosy." A pause. "If you must know, the kid has the same look in his eyes that she always had." Linebeck shrugs. "And we need more people like her."

Ciela opens her mouth to further question Linebeck, but is cut off by Link calling for her on the bottom floor. The Phantom Hourglass is clutched to his chest, partially filled with golden particles.

Ciela looks to Linebeck, purses her lips, then zips to Link's side.

"We'll see you later, Linebeck!" Link calls, giving a wave and another smile.

Linebeck simply nods back, staring after Link as the young hero disappears into the dark temple, two trails of white and red trailing after him.

...

Another chapter done... at four in the morning.

NAILED IT.

Not much to say, just mysterious fortunes that make sense to us and just a tiny bit of Linebeck already slightly opening up to Link and Ciela. Not much... but little bit.

Definitely going to check back over the chapter so I don't post any typos. I've only had like three hours of sleep in the past 48. God, going back to school is going to suck.

~Roses