Chapter 13: Forelight Island
…
Link took a few minutes to recover. Then he, along with Zelda, Rireen, Line, and Flower, disembarked from the Island Sonata. Flower led the group with a lamp in his hand, swinging it left and right to keep watch on the surroundings. In the other hand, he carried a spare metal cleat which he held at one end like a knife. Link was behind him holding an unshaded lamp to provide light all around. Zelda and Rireen followed him, and Line brought up the end with another unshaded lamp, his eyes wandering about similar to Flower. All walked with wary steps, always checking that their feet did not wander close to the edge of the walkway. And it was, indeed, a walkway; years of travel had left the inside of the humongous branch milled and soft, as if they walked on dirt. Yet the branch was sturdy, as to be expected from such a massive tree.
Line lost sight of the Island Sonata a few minutes after disembarking. Their only hint of the schooner came from the soft glow of light in the leaves behind them, which had reduced to a point later on. Around them, branches laden with large bunches of leaves twisted about the air. However, not one of them bore any signs of being inhabited.
"Skipper?" Flower spoke up after a while, what felt like an eternity after they lost sight of the ship. "If this is supposed to be the home of the Sorians… where are they?"
"Yeah," Line chimed in, "how certain are you that they're still around?"
Zelda glanced back at Line. Then she told Link, "I am quite certain that there are still some Sorians around. How could Rireen be the last of her kind and not realize it?"
Rireen shrugged. "I don't know. There was a lot I didn't really realize until you told me."
"Maybe they moved on," Flower suggested. "Left Hyrule."
"From here?" Line asked. "Where would they go? Someone would've likely noticed a bunch of ships traveling through a Sky Line. The Southeast Line goes right by Autumn Island and three other inhabited islands. They would have to jump to another Sky Line in order to leave the kingdom."
"Not if they left at night," Flower pointed out.
"Not if they didn't use ships," Rireen added.
Flower gave a half-hearted chuckle. "I think someone would notice a migration of bird people, especially when one splats against a hull."
"Sorians," Rireen replied in an irate tone.
"We would appreciate it if you would be more respectful towards our precursors, Mister Flower," Zelda added in a similar tone. Flower huffed, commenting under his breath about not liking cargo that talked back; Link could not hear the full remark.
"Everybody freeze," came Line's whispered order. The procession immediately stopped and turned to him. He faced a branch up to his right, his lamp held high so light was cast upon it. "Did you see that?"
For what felt like a long moment to the group, confused stares jumped from the branch to Line's alarmed expression. Their puzzlement felt justified; the branch which Line's eyes pointed out did not seem any different from the rest which they had seen as they walked. It appeared to be a whole branch about half the diameter of the path they walked. It sported some of the largest leaves, rivaling Flower's height, they had seen so far at this particular length. Other than that fact, nothing seemed to be different about it. "See what?" Flower finally asked.
"One of those leaves moved."
Again, the group looked between Line and the branch. "Are you sure?" Rireen asked.
Line gaped at her for a moment. "Seriously, I saw that leaf up there move," he reiterated, pointing a finger.
"Now take it easy, Chief," Flower told him in a calming tone. "You sure it's not just the way the light's bouncing around?"
"Guys, do I have to swear!" Line barked at them. "It! Moved!"
"Maybe it was the wind," Rireen suggested. However, her words were met with silent staring from her companions. "What?"
"There isn't any wind here," Link told her. He circled one finger to indicate the air. "It's still."
"Which is strange considering the storm and the Sky Line," Line added in a fast tone. "But that's a different problem!"
"Just calm down, Line," Link told him, holding a hand up. "Let's keep going for now. If something moves again, try to get a good look at it."
Line grumbled to himself as the group began moving again, "If I still have my eyes."
A few minutes later, Zelda spoke up, "I do not mind telling you, Skipper, that I wish we knew more about this island."
"Same here, Lieutenant," Flower said. "In fact, I wish you and the girls had let us explore before you stepped off."
Link cleared his throat, "Well… uh… cap-Captain Alfonzo regularly disembarked from the ship during a job."
"No offense, Skipper," Line said, "but we didn't have to worry about anything even looking at Captain Alfonzo the wrong way."
"Indeed," Zelda nodded, "Captain Alfonzo does appear to be too intimidating to casually approach."
Line chuckled. "Especially when he catches you sleeping at your desk. Right, Skipper?"
"Hey, Lieutenant," Flower said. He gestured with the cleat. "Bit of a word?"
Link glanced back at Zelda, then quickened his pace so he strode side-by-side with Flower. "Yeah?"
"Where'd those two come from?" Flower whispered.
Link pulled back one corner of his mouth. "They were in those crates from the castle."
"How does the girl know Captain Alfonzo?"
On that question, however, Link had to think for a moment. He had not meant for Princess Zelda's identity to be a secret. Surely, if Flower knew who she was, he would not bother with asking for permission to haul her back to the ship. So, he answered with the most honest response he could think of. "I-uh… I don't know," was what he told Flower with the unappended subtext "I don't know when Princess Zelda first met Captain Alfonzo".
Flower's face scrunched, making Link wish he had added a little more to his response. "Is she a bar girl?"
The question had been reasonable enough. But Link's whole face lit up from ear to ear. What little he knew about bar girls was often accompanied by sniggering from nearby airmen. The usual comments he heard were "They're paying their way through school", "There are things that they know that will surprise you", or (and Link still didn't quite know what this meant) "They get excited when you give them things". The conclusions Link had drawn in those years made the whole bar girl "profession" seem morally questionable. He silently thanked the scant light focused on his face and replied, "N-no, she isn't."
"Hmm," was Flower's response. He stole a glance over his shoulder. "Too bad. She's cute enough to be one."
Link reached up and tugged hard on Flower's sleeve so he would face forward. "That's… very inappropriate, Airman Flower," he said in a harsh whisper.
"What?" Flower took a moment to figure out what Link was talking about. When he came to a conclusion, his reply came out loud and shocked. "Oh, no, Skipper, I'd never—"
"Is something wrong, Skipper?" Zelda asked.
Flower and Link looked over their shoulders at her, both sporting an embarrassed grin. "No, nothing at all," they chimed in almost perfect unison.
Link turned forward first and gave a sigh. "Just… don't bring up the matter anymore," Link told him. "It's not for anyone to question. Not at the present."
"Aye, sir," Flower answered.
Then both stopped. Ahead of them, the path they walked joined another from the left and merged onto a thicker walkway which appeared to lead into a denser part of the tree. Some kind of lame branch had grown out of the point formed by the merge, stood vertical, and stretched out near its top in two different locations. Flower held up a hand to halt the other three. He and Link ventured forward and stepped around to see the other side of this lame branch. They found it to be an odd signpost, both stretched out portions pointing out each path and decorated with a number of scratches.
"Must be writing," Flower commented as he used a forefinger to trace some of the scratches. "Look at how it forms angles."
"That tells you it's writing?" Link asked.
"If it was just a wild animal scratching, the scratches would be mostly parallel and straight," Flower pointed out. "But it doesn't appear to be Hylian. Do you recognize anything, Skipper?"
Link frowned. "I only know some of the Southern Island jargon. Just a few of these look like our letters, but nothing I can make out."
"Is there anything to reveal our location?" Zelda asked as the other three stepped closer.
"You mean other than 'lost'?" Line remarked.
"Well, since both of these point in that direction," Flower replied, indicating with a finger, "this other path leads out to a branch similar to the one we're docked to. We probably won't find anything there." He turned and pointed down the larger path. "We might want to go that way."
Link found the logic sound and nodded. "Okay."
They continued in silence for a few more minutes, and then the flame suddenly died out in Flower's lamp. "Damn," the airman groaned. "I think I'm out of oil. Skipper, do you mind?"
"Oh, sure," Link replied, offering his lamp. But in the process of handing it over, the flame in Link's lamp sputtered out. "Uh oh."
Flower sighed. "Sorry, Lieutenant," he said. "I should've made sure they were full before we left."
"Line, we need your lamp," Link called toward the back of the line. But Line did not respond. Link did not have him immediately in sight, so he craned his neck around so he could see past Rireen. "Line?"
All eyes turned to Line. Everyone then felt the pit of their stomachs fall through at the sight of the shocked look on his face. His eyes appeared to have grown twice their normal size, and, even in the yellowish tint caused by the aged glass of his lamp, his face looked deathly pale. The lamp rattled in his shaking hand. The other hand, quaking just as bad if not worse, rose with his index finger extended and indicated the darkness in front of the group. So the group slowly turned in that direction.
Higher up and to the left, amidst a darkness which the single lamp could not penetrate, hovered a pair of small, green orbs glittering in the scant light.
Flower dropped his lamp and tightened his grip on the cleat. "Stay back, Skipper. If anything happens, better to happen to me first." Link had already stepped back with the lamp's handle in both hands, ready to swing.
He felt a hand on his sleeve. "Link?" Zelda's voice spoke from behind in a tone of rising panic. Link glanced over his shoulder at her before following her gaze to his right.
Two more sets of glowing eyes stared back. "There's more here," he said.
"Here, too," Rireen said. Link swung his head and found that Rireen's exposed plumage had fluffed into a rather intimidating display. It looked as if she was accosting the other two sets of eyes that had appeared to their left.
"We're surrounded!" Line called out. Link had to turn his shoulders in order to get a good look at him. Line held his lamp high, but Link could still make out the three sets of eyes between them and the Island Sonata. One set appeared to be on the path just outside of the lamp's range.
"Skipper, I think we're more than surrounded." The sound of Flower's voice attracted Link's attention, and he spun forward.
He found dozens of sets of eyes lingering about the darkness's edge.
"Flower, what's worse than 'surrounded'?" Line asked.
"Trapped, Chief," Flower replied. "Trapped… and very, very much f-uh… fried."
"Perhaps we should talk to them," Zelda suggested into Link's ear.
"Talk, yes?" one voice of a similar range to Rireen's hooted from the darkness. The sudden shout sent chills down the group's spines. "Then talk!"
"But be very warned," another voice, this one a deeper tone, chimed. "You are intruding on our sacred grounds."
"Sacred grounds, yes!" the first voice cawed. "Talk!"
Then the first voice let out a pained grunt. "Stop it!" a third voice of a higher range and annoyed demeanor shouted.
"Are you Sorians?" Link asked.
A dead silence answered. Then a hooded form illuminated only by light cast over Flower's shoulder stepped into view, green eyes locked onto them. "Who are you, young man?" it asked in a deep tone.
Link swallowed and stepped next to Flower. "I-I'm Lieutenant Link of the airship Island Sonata," he announced in an unsteady voice.
A ball of light suddenly crackled into existence next to the hooded figure's head, casting a blue luminescence all over the group's surroundings. After the initial shock, Link and the others (except Flower, still poised to attack) gawked at the amazing sight of Sorians all about. They stood on or hung from the trees in some astounding positions; some of them sported talon-like hands and feet and appeared to prefer hanging from the sides of the branches by either. The ones which appeared to have normal hands and feet like Rireen huddled close to the branches, appearing ready to duck out of sight if anything happened. Each one sported a rather stoic expression.
"And what is your purpose here?" the hooded figure asked. His face was still invisible, but the curved stitching decorating his full-body robe had been revealed by the light.
At this, Zelda shouldered through Link and Flower. She planted her feet firmly in the ground and withdrew the Wind Waker from her tunic. The Sorians around them shifted, but she quickly held wrapped both hands around the baton and held it to her chest. "That was my doing," she confessed, looking brazenly into the hood.
"I am the Princess Zelda of the sky-borne realm of Hyrule." Link could hear Flower's breathing cut off with a brief grunt and smacked his forehead in embarrassment. Perhaps he should have mentioned her earlier.
Zelda continued, "I bore no ill intents to your people. My close comrade, Rireen, is the last known Sorian left in our kingdom. She is alone among us, so I resolved to seek your people out that she might find peers to continue her life with. Please, take no offense to our presence." She held out the Wind Waker in both hands. "I offer this, an old treasure of our kingdom, as a sign of faith and sincerity."
The hooded figure appeared to ponder her words. Then he stepped forward, revealing long, bony hands as he stretched his arms forward. The hands gripped the edges of the hood. When the hood fell away, the group looked at a face aged with wisdom until deep furrows had been permanently dug into his features. His mane was a plumage of gray mixed with white specks which stuck up in a few places. One hand reached forward and gently took the Wind Waker from Zelda's hands.
He regarded the baton for a moment before addressing her. "It has been a long time since anyone has last reached this place," he said. "And still longer that anyone has come to this island. But perhaps the most impressive feat lies in your discovery of our home surrounded by this storm. Until now, your kind has never set foot on this soil made under our ancestors' feet.
"As it is upsetting that you have trespassed on the last land we claim as ours, I find your words sincere and your act worthy of friendship." He stood to one side and gestured with a hand. "Princess Zelda of Hyrule and Lieutenant Link of the Island Sonata, you and your fellows are welcome into our territory. You shall join my table, the table of the Elder Ukhool, for your supper tonight."
Zelda nodded, and relief sounded in her voice as she answered, "Thank you, Elder Ukhool."
"Uh… Elder," Link spoke up. "There are two others on my ship whom I believe earned the right to accompany us to your table."
Ukhool gave a soft nod of understanding. "They shall be sent for at your word, Lieutenant Link of the Island Sonata. For now, please accompany me below."