Chapter 14: Kuruuk Nehai
…
The Elder Ukhool led the group to the trunk of the tree, which had a diameter rivaling the width of the Grand Sails. Inside, a staircase affixed to – no, carved out of the inner walls spiraled down until the bottom could not be seen. Soft, orange light traced carvings in the banister, casting an even light across the whole interior space. They started down, the elder leading with Zelda in close tow, Link and Line walking side by side, an unarmed Flower (with the cleat hidden in his tunic, for those who consider the definition of "being hidden" not openly visible while still being an obvious bulge underneath one's clothes), and Rireen taking up the rear. She hung back a little to examine some of the drawings and carvings which decorated the inside of the tree's only wall. Link took a passive interest in them as well, although he found that most of the probable symbolism contained in them might have been lost on his own ignorance of artistic appreciation. Amidst the numerous depictions of Sorians, triangular and rectangular figures, and the same writing they had found on the signpost earlier, even some of the simplest pictures escaped his understanding.
Line had taken an interest in the vast space at the center of the tree. After about a minute of descending, he asked, "Where'd all those other Sorians go?"
"Only those of immense youth or great age ever use these stairs," Ukhool replied. "The rest are wise to the benefits of making one's own paths. They are descending from the outside."
"Through the tree?" Flower asked. "Isn't that a bit too much tree to fly through?"
"Only an idiot actually flies through a tree," Rireen chimed in, arms folded behind her head and blades twitching as if she was about to spring them open. "But we Sorians are pretty good at jumping, too, so it's only natural that they simply just hop down the branches." She paused for a moment, uncertain about the words she just spoke. "Uh… right?"
Ukhool looked over a shoulder. "Indeed," he replied, his stoic expression giving off an irritated air. "So it is a wonder why one who should know better has elected to use the stairs."
Rireen pouted. "Well, I'd probably know if I hadn't been born on the outside," she remarked.
"Of course, we hope that she will be taught the ways of her own people if she is allowed to remain," Princess Zelda spoke up.
"We are not in the habit of turning down our own people when they seek us out," the elder replied. "It is her choice to learn, Princess Zelda."
"Oh, yeah, that reminds me," Line said.
He then quickly swung one fist into Link's arm. "D-ow!" Link hollered in response, placing a hand over the throbbing triceps. "What was that for?!"
"It's against regulations to strike a superior officer anywhere other than the arm," Flower commented from behind.
"You idiot, Link!" Line shouted at him. "When were you gonna tell us she was Princess Zelda?!"
"W-I wasn't keeping it secret!" Link shouted back. "By the time I thought it would be a good idea to tell you guys, I was sure one of you would kill me for not saying anything earlier!"
"Well, you got that part right!" Line responded, poking Link's forehead with an index finger.
"Look, I didn't bring it up while we were over Castle Island because I didn't want to take the chance someone would turn her in," Link explained. "It's just… by the time we were a safe distance away, I kind of… you know, forgot."
"You forgot?! Link, she's the Princess of Hyrule! How the hell do you just forget?!"
"I had my reasons! Can't we just leave it alone already?"
"Skipper, permission to remind the Chief of the regs," Flower spoke up.
Both boys gave him a confused look. "There are regs that cover this sort of thing?" Line asked.
"Sir?" Flower asked Link.
Link shrugged. "By all means, Airman."
Flower quickened his pace to come closer to them. "I believe that you'll find it in the manual's index under… es-you-ay-dee-ay-why-tee."
Line twisted his face as he appeared to recall the Skyrider Airman's Manual. "S.U.A.… D.A.Y.T.?"
Flower gave the back of Line's head a gentle slap. "Shut up and do as you're told, sir."
Line blew a raspberry and crossed his arms. "Very funny," he remarked, directing his attention to the stairs on the opposite side.
"Is my transportation really such a bother?" Zelda asked over her shoulder.
"No bother at all, Your Highness," Flower responded. "Airmen just prefer a little notice from their screwy superiors."
"It's just my first day!" Link defended. "I'll get better!"
"And I didn't know a thing!" Line shouted at Flower.
"Okay, okay, sirs," Flower said, holding his hands up in defense. "Just calm down before you make boneheads out of yourselves."
"Fine," Line answered. "So, while we're at it, Skipper, is there anything else about this trip we should know about?"
"No, I'm… sure that's all," Link replied.
"Fair enough," Flower said.
That exchange had passed as the only conversation between them while they descended. Afterwards, Line appeared to brood over Link's idiocy while everyone else just averted their eyes to avoid bringing the subject up again. Suddenly, everyone had developed an interest in the décor.
All but Ukhool felt their legs aching by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs. The trunk had widened, and the stairs ended on a floor of polished wood. Link could see the rings in the floor, but there was no feasible way of counting them without having to spend a whole day looking at the floor. Signs similar to the post they had encountered earlier pointed up both spiral staircases, these ones sporting long lists of the Sorian writing. An elderly-looking Sorian with a frail body, white feathers, and a tuft of fluff under his chin slept at a desk of carved stone with a pillow beneath his arms. Ukhool held up a hand to halt the visitors, and then he bade Link to follow him. Link traded a shrug with Line before following.
Ukhool approached the desk. "Ackaar," he addressed the sleeping Sorian.
Ackaar's snoring stopped, and one silver eye popped wide open. "Good evening, Elder," his voice croaked.
"A vessel has docked, Ackaar," Ukhool told him. "Please note it and tell no one but those of House Ukhool is allowed to approach. With the exception of the crew, of course."
Ackaar unfolded his arms. But before he could put himself into a straighter sitting position, he coughed, and some kind of white substance fell onto his pillow. He used an arm to slide it to the side. Then he reached somewhere under the desk and pulled out a sheet of parchment. He took up a bone-shaped pen that Link had just noticed lying on the desk and dipped it into an inkwell in the surface of the desk. "I will need the ship's name, the captain's name, and how my people can identify the crew."
Ukhool indicated that Link should answer. Link cleared his throat. "The ship is the Island Sonata. I'm the commanding officer, Lieutenant Link."
Ackaar's only open eye finally focused on Link. With the number of folds in the Sorian's skin, Link could not tell what his reaction was. The old man just stared for a moment. Then he slid the sheet towards Link. "Why don't you write that down, Captain," Ackaar said, offering the pen. "Just anywhere on the paper. And make sure it's legible."
Link nodded as he took the pen. "Will Hylian be okay?"
Ackaar cleared his throat, dribbling spittle out one corner of his mouth. "I don't care; I'm just going to nail it to the sign up top." Link nodded and wrote. Ackaar craned his neck as he saw the letters take form on the sheet. "What the hell is that?"
Link finished scribbling the ship's and his names. "Hylian," he answered, passing the parchment back.
Ackaar's hand fell heavily onto the page. "You young people always have to make these things difficult, don't you," he growled as he took both items back. He turned the parchment around and scribbled something underneath. Then he looked up and past Link at the group still waiting on the stairs. After adding another note, he said, "Make sure you remove the notice before you leave, Captain."
"Uh… t-thank you," Link answered. Ackaar waved him off as he stowed the parchment and stood up to search for his pillow.
Ukhool used a hand to shepherd Link towards the entrance. "If there is ever doubt that your ship ever saw this place, Captain, Ackaar's records will attest," he said.
Link grinned, "I appreciate the thought, Elder."
Line and Zelda quickly stood when Ukhool and Link were close. "Is everything in order, Elder?" Zelda asked.
"Indeed," he answered. He held up a hand. "This way, please. Be sure not to stray; Kuruuk Nehai is far too large to be searching for a lost person."
"'Kuruuk Nehai'?" Flower asked Rireen as the group stepped into an archway descending further. Rireen only offered an equally puzzled shrug.
"Does anyone else hear that sound?" Line asked.
Link strained his ears for a moment. "Yeah."
"What is that? Music?"
They reached the bottom of the stairs, where bright rays of light waited. One by one, as the group stepped out of the archway, all but Ukhool dropped their jaws and widened their eyes with shock.
What the elder Sorian had called "Kuruuk Nehai" turned out to be an amazing mash-up of a forest and a marketplace. Trees of many different shapes towered into the air, yet none of them could reach anywhere near the height of what the group had just traveled through. Still, each tree was tall and thick, each one sporting a building of some sort in its branches. Although to say that they were "buildings" implied some kind of construction and deformity of nature. At the top of each tree, seemingly cradled in the center of their branches as if laid there, the trunk grew out a large, gourd-like structure. What passed for a doorway in these structures looked more like one side was simply allowed to grow limp and stretch out horizontally. None of them had roofs, which seemed convenient enough since Sorians seemed to be constantly diving in and out at any one time. A wild array of smells assaulted the visitors' noses, some from the trees above and others from the ground under those trees. A thicket of stalls offering food, drink, clothes, and any assortment of tools or trinkets formed what passed for streets in this place, a market the likes of which had never been seen by Hylian eyes. Color held abundance here, each stall and every table decorated with lush paint or rich textile. What best showed these extravagancies appeared to haunt the underside of each tree, lines of light similar to the banister of the staircases the visitors had descended from crawled about the trees' trunks. The ground of these streets were clean of litter and dirt, electing to be sheets of grass like those found on a fresh, spring day.
In one tree, one which had flattened itself into a platform instead of forming walls like its neighbors, a small crew of Sorians played a series of woodwinds in a celebratory tune. Those on the ground who did not appear to be at business danced about and whooped and hollered their gaiety, occasionally inviting another to join in the fun.
Three of the five new arrivals stood beside the Elder Ukhool in utter bewilderment and awe. The remaining two—
"All right! A party!"
"Shindig hoooooo!"
—dove past the elder straight into the dancing crowd. No one appeared to take notice of Line's strange appearance as he and Rireen joined the festivities. As dancers, neither one seemed to have a talent for moving in any fluid manner. However, the Sorians seemed willing to assist when they took newcomers' hands and simply led them along.
Flower chuckled. "That didn't take long."
"They appear to be… rather accepting," Zelda commented to the elder.
"We are not averse to meeting new people, Princess Zelda," Ukhool replied. "However, it is considerably rude to land in a strange port at such a late hour."
"Hard to message ahead," Flower commented to Link.
Ukhool turned to give him a confused look. "I beg your pardon?"
Flower returned the look. "Oh, nothing," he answered. "Just clearing my throat."
The elder nodded. "I see." He indicated the main street ahead of them. "If you will accompany me, we shall dine soon."
"Of course, Elder," Zelda nodded. "Link?"
"Yes, of course," Link agreed.
"Skipper," Flower spoke up as they began walking, "what about the chief? You wanna just leave him here?"
"He'll be fine," Link said. "He knows when to quit."
"I hope so," Flower commented as they started by the dancing group.
Link stepped out of the group and located Line. "Keep an eye out for Albert and Leonard, okay?" he told Line, raising his voice over the loud music. Line appeared to nod, but the exaggerated movements seemed to suggest that he was merely bobbing his head (rather strong and uncomfortably, from Link's perspective) to the music. Link just shrugged. "Okay." He looked around for Rireen, and then he jogged to catch up with Ukhool.
The elder led them down the main road. For what felt like a long time to Link, Zelda, and Flower, they walked past hundreds of different tables selling all kinds of items familiar and strange. For instance, one elderly Sorian sold baskets full of heart-shaped acorns, while another sold necklaces made with two different shades of pearl. A few here and there offered the kind of exotic jewelry Link had only glanced at in books while waiting in a business office. Then there were the tables which held the bare skulls of some creature Link had never seen before, insect larvae drenched in honey, and a colorful assortment of leaves on one end of a cone which spun when a browsing Sorian blew into the opposite end. Link jumped in surprise at one booth which he thought were selling Ropes, although he realized after a demonstration that they were merely whips which used the full skin of a Rope (which appeared to make the items all the creepier). One young girl Sorian sold hats, and Link stopped for a moment. He picked up a plain, green hat and pulled it over his head. After examining himself in a mirror sitting on the table, he dropped the hat back onto the table, slightly irritated that it did not match the shade of his new tunic.
As the party faded into the distance, the stalls began selling different items: instruments of various shapes and sizes, powders, old coins, large chunks of stone of a purpose Link could not immediately determine, and clothing. Some of the aforementioned stone looked like Rupees in the raw in a selection of colors Link had never seen. One particularly large spot sold full sets of armor. Since Link had yet to see any Sorians in armor, he determined that they might be just for decoration. Not many Sorians walked this area of the street unless they were children or aged like Ukhool. The later of these seemed to take note of the elder as they passed, usually stopping to give their heads a polite bow. For the majority, the Hylians were ignored.
The noise around them eventually died to the general events of evening dining in the treetops above. Link noticed here that some of the gourd-like structures topping the trees had grown into their neighbors. The lights used in this section of street decorated the gourds' exteriors and, depending on the activity in the house, appeared to turn off at the will of the owners. They continued further, and these doubled trees eventually became taller, wider trees sporting larger gourds. And then these larger trees started merging with each other as well, starting at two, and then three.
Ukhool eventually turned down a side street of sorts and stopped. He looked up at a trio of conifers which had grown close enough that their gourds formed a house which challenged the size of the Island Sonata. A spiral staircase led up into the underside of the home. The lights on this home appeared to spell out something in a cursive form of Sorian writing along the wall facing them as well as traced the outline of the staircase.
Ukhool turned to them and spread his arms wide. His voice appeared to defy his stoic look as he greeted the stunned Hylians.
"Welcome to my home."