Chapter 65: Repayment

…

Link and Irleen could not believe it. Even with the gravestone before them, they just could not believe it was possible.

After the train had stopped, Link had hustled out of the passenger car and nearly thrown up on the platform. It had attracted a lot of attention, but Link had ignored it as he had called Irleen to follow him. With help from the locals, he had located the closest graveyard to the station. There, he had met a hunchbacked, pale man named Galm, who had directed him to the gravestone through his astounding memory of the names. He had left the two of them alone. Link had sunk to his knees at the sight of the gravestone, and then had read it aloud for Irleen to understand.

"'—Royal Engineer Alfred. Found dead aboard the number Twenty-Seven train as it pulled into this location. Believed to have died of heart failure. Estimated sixty-four years of age. No survivors.'"

Now, Irleen lay on the ground under Link's shadow as Link stared down at the bare earth before him. The man was a genius, yet he only received a gravestone and no cover stone to protect his remains. And with no survivors… Link, Irleen, and Madame Seilon were probably the only ones to remember him.

"What is wrong with this place?" Irleen asked to break the silence, her voice weak and cracked. "What kind of world just… just lets someone's soul wander around like this? Is this a curse or something? Link?"

"I-I don't know," Link replied, his eyes no longer focused on the grave. "I ju—… I don't know. I've-I've never seen it happen before."

There was a moment of silence between them. "Do you think he suffered?" Irleen asked.

"I don't know. I don't think he even knew it was happening."

Another moment of silence passed. "Do you think the universe was punishing us for not paying attention?"

Link sighed. "He died years ago, Irleen. We were probably lucky to have met him at all."

"Excuse me, sir." Link looked up to see that Galm, a ghastly man wearing a dirty and torn robe, had returned with a small, wooden box wrapped in his long, bony fingers. "I couldn't be sure if'n yeh knew, but we kept Mister Alfred's belongings in the office. If'n yeh'd like, yeh can take 'em. Otherwise, I need to bury 'em with the body. It's our policy."

Link stood up and accepted the box. He removed the thin lid and examined the contents. A gold pocketwatch with the symbol of the Royal Family of Hyrule emblazoned on the cover, a small pair of glasses with filthy lenses, half of a train ticket (a very old one; it did not even remotely look like the tickets Link had used), two green rupees, a pocket knife with a battered handle—

And a map. Link first thought it was just a piece of parchment used to line the bottom of the box. He took it out, tucked the box under his arm, and unfolded the map. He oriented it so that Library Town and the Tower of Spirits were correctly placed and realized that it was a railroad map of the eastern half of the Snow Realm. A black scribble formed a path from Library Town, through the mountains between the realms, and up to a distant corner of the Snow Realm surrounded by mountains.

"Irleen," he said, already feeling overwhelmed with relief. "We… we—oh, geez, Irleen. We have a way home."

"What?" Irleen asked as she flew up to eye-level with him. "What is it?"

"Remember what he told us? That he had a map so he could find his workshop again? He lost it?"

"Yeah? What, you mean… you mean this is it!?" She started flying circles around him. "We can go home!?"

"We can go home!" He folded the map again and slipped it into his pocket. Then he replaced the lid on the box and returned it to Galm. "Here. Let him have his things. He deserves it."

Galm accepted the box, confusion in his face as he watched Link's eyes tear up. "Yeh know a lot about a man who died so long ago," he remarked. "Who was he to yeh?"

Link struggled to hold in his desire to cry. "A hero," Link managed. "Our hero." Link turned back to the gravestone, his body rigid as if he had just been snapped at by a superior. He quickly snatched his hat off his head. Then he snapped a salute with his left hand and addressed the grave. "Thank you, sir. I can't even begin to tell you what this means to us. And no one will ever, ever, forget you."

"He was creepy," Irleen remarked, holding position near Link's head. "But I liked him. I hope you found your son, sir." There was a pause, and then she asked Link in a low whisper, "Can you tell I'm saluting, too?"

Link let out a burst of laughter and dropped his salute. "Sure, why not?" he told her. He replaced his hat. Then he turned to Galm. "Thank you for your help, too."

Galm shrugged. "I do what I can fer the dead," he said. "The livin's just a bonus."

Link turned to Irleen and pointed to his head. "Irleen, hop in."

"Right," she replied. She entered the hat, and Link sped away in less than a moment, traveling on his excitement and speed-altering boots.

Galm looked at the wake of dirt he had kicked up with bemusement. "Now there's a kid what respects his elders," he said with a satisfied nod.

Link ran through the town, causing a wave of confusion as the townspeople tried to comprehend the green streak flying by. Even traveling so fast, Link could see obstacles coming and dodged past them with ease. A man trying to pick up the sack of apples he had dropped was only aware of a whoosh sailing over him as Link leaped over. A boy found himself in the arms of his older sister when he saw Link approaching (and was subsequently dropped for an otherwise astounding evasion). A group of Cuccos went sprawling all over the road, only able to relate their collective confusion in all their clucking as they wondered what the hell had just run by and if they needed to call in the rest of the boys. From the market to the business offices around the station and then straight south past the houses, Link's excitement was shown through his desire to run even faster if it meant that he could get home sooner. He slid when he saw that he was about to pass by the group's house and had to backtrack. He jogged up to the door (so the boots would not trigger) and shoved it open as hard as he could.

BAM! "Guys, we've got one!" he immediately shouted.

Fwumph. Confused by the sound, Link stepped around the door to look behind it. He found that he had hit Sello with the door, causing the engineer to fall flat on his back with a comically dumbfounded look on his face. He put on a nervous grin and showed it to the occupants of the table in the middle of the room. "Oops."

Irleen emerged from his hat to look at the incident. "Oh, yeah, that's gonna leave a mark," she said.

Leynne, who had been holding his head as he leaned on one edge of the table, gave him a dismissive wave. "Don't wohry about it," he said in a half-grumble. "We've been trying to wake him all mohning. We couldn't do a damn thing with him even befoh you hit him."

"Wha'ever ya found," Luggard, standing on the opposite side of the table from Link, spoke up, also appearing to sport a headache, "could ya tell us in a quie' voice? Some o' us is still waitin' fer our 'eads t' solidify."

Rosaline, standing to Luggard's left, giggled at them. "Lightweights," she said. Then she asked Link, "What did yeh find?"

Link closed the door. Then he removed the map from his pocket and unfolded it as he spoke. "Okay, you guys know that we're still missing a way to put together a ballast tank, right?"

"I believe the issue's come up," Leynne said with a nod.

Link turned the map and pushed it to Luggard. "We know where to find it."

Leynne and Rosaline stepped to Luggard's side of the table to better see the map. "What ah we looking at?" Leynne asked.

"The Snow Realm," Luggard said as he traced the line. "Wha's 'ere?"

"The workshop of one of the original Architects," Link said. "The workshop's been abandoned, but we might still find a lot of his original work there, maybe even a prototype we could test out."

"Can the Seventeen navigate this?" Leynne asked.

"Oh, yeah," Luggard answered. "And, since we go' it, we can use tha' flatbed car. We jus' go'a do somethin' with the boa'."

"I be havin' some ideas on that," Rosaline said. "If we get the tanks."

Link nodded. "I'm confident. That's where we need to go."

"Wheh's all this coming from?" Leynne asked.

"We met one," Link told him. "We met one of the original Architects."

"Well… his ghost, anyway," Irleen added.

Leynne, Rosaline, and Luggard exchanged strange looks with each other. Then they all stared at Link for a moment to gauge whether he was serious or not. "Wha' 'ave ya been doin' lately?" Luggard asked him.

"There was this old man on the number Twenty-Seven train," Link explained. "We didn't realize it, but he was the ghost of one of the original Architects."

"Although we kinda accidentally made him disappear," Irleen said, her voice emphasizing an apology.

"Before he left," Link continued, "he told us about that map. When we checked back here in Fishington, we found out that the man tending the graveyard still had his possessions."

All three stared in silence for a moment. Then Leynne said, "Theh ah fah too many questions to ask right now. I'll just go along with you finding a map in a graveyahd."

"Less creepy, moah adventuahsome," Rosaline added.

Link shrugged. "Okay."

"Wish we'd thought of that," Irleen muttered. Then, in a normal voice, she asked, "So how have you guys been doing?"

"Ya mean other than the 'angovers?" Luggard asked.

"Hangovers?" Link asked. "You guys were out drinking?"

"It was a bonding event," Rosaline told him. She held up a hand. "I take full responsibility."

"You tried," Leynne said, "but youh coffee tasted like old socks."

"It was all I could find," Rosaline defended. Luggard gave her a grunt.

"But we have been making progress," Leynne said. He indicated the room to Link and Irleen. That was when they realized that large sheets of paper, like what Leynne had been using the day before, had been posted to the walls using tacks. Link stepped over to one and recognized it as a diagram for a steering mechanism. "Rosaline and I finished that fihst thing this mohning. I want to try placing the ship's helm at the front. I know how tradition stands, but—"

"It's fine," Link said. "I'm willing to try something new."

He moved on to the next one, which looked like part of a sail plan. It reminded him of the outboard, triangular rigs that the Grand Sails used. "That was the idea Dubbl punched me in the eye foh," Leynne told him. "We still have a few details to discuss, but I think we can make it wohk."

"Look at all this stuff," Irleen said. "Just yesterday, you'd thrown everyone else into the closets because you couldn't agree on anything."

Link continued to examine the plans as Leynne replied, "Theih attitudes improved afteh you left. Dubbl especially, although theh was a massive amount of screaming involved thanks to Dholit. I think I might've had nightmahs if it hadn't been foh the alcohol."

"What was she doing?" Link asked as he looked at what he believed to be a preliminary deck plan.

"Shall I demonstrate?"

"YIKES!" Link hollered, jumping aside when he realized that someone had placed their fingertips on his ribs.

Dholit stood up straight and laughed. "Oh, my captain, you ah such a tease," she told him. Her voice caused Leynne and Luggard to plant their heads on the table and cover them with their arms. Dholit saw the movement and told them, "Ah, yes, the festivities of last night have caught up with you now, haven't they?"

"Invariably," Leynne grunted into the table. Luggard also replied, but the curse he spoke was muffled by the table.

"I will try to keep my voice down then," she told them. She stepped over to the table. "So, gentlemen. And Rosaline." She paused to plant a kiss on Rosaline's cheek. Rosaline wave a hand between their faces to drive Dholit away, giving her an irritated look. Dholit waggled her eyebrows before continuing her statement. "What's on the agenda foh today? Any moah gihls in need of satisfaction? Oh pehhaps we shall travel to anotheh land and save them from crisis? An island that doesn't exist? A land wheah the heavens fall? A kingdom betrayed by what was once an ally?"

"Will you please stop talking?" Leynne groaned, the first half of his sentence muffled because he could not turn his head in time to say it.

Irleen glanced around for a moment. "What happened to Lidago and Dubbl?" she asked.

"Ligado went to find some breakfast," Rosaline said.

"Dubbl is still asleep," Dholit said.

"What about Cale?" Link asked.

Luggard looked up so he could trade knowing glances with Rosaline and Leynne. "'E wen' 'ome," Luggard told him. "Said 'e 'ad t' turn in 'is journal 'n stuff."

"I bought him a ticket so he could retuhn to Library Town," Leynne said. "I suppose his assignment's oveh foh the time being."

"Well, crud," Irleen said. "I'm gonna miss him. You'd think he'd be here when the ship gets put together."

"Maybe he will," Dholit said with a shrug.

"So, wha' do we do 'bou' this?" Luggard asked, raising the map for everyone to see. "I know I's goin'."

"Me, too," Link said.

"Yeah, me, too," Irleen said.

"You might need someone to look at the specifications," Leynne said. "I'll go along."

"We might need some muscle, too," Link said. "We might want to see if Lidago'll come with us."

"We can ask him when he retuhns," Leynne said. He looked at Rosaline. "Do you think you can manage Sello and Dubbl while we'h gone?"

She gave him a sly smile. "I'll be havin' them trained and groomed by the time yeh boys get back."

Dholit raised her eyebrows. "Ooh, I cannot pass up this soht of oppohtunity," she said. "Pehhaps I can find the tact I need to make Link mine." Then she coyly covered her mouth with one hand. "Oh, did I say that aloud?"

"On purpose!" the rest of the room told her in annoyance, although Luggard's statement involved a vulgar adjective.

…

~~We've obtained the map to Alfred's workshop. I hope he does not mind, but I'm sure he would understand if we took some of his supplies so we could put together the ballast tanks we need to get the new ship off the ground. Assuming we have access to Loft Steam. I'm optimistic, and I'm trying to stay that way.

~~We've cleared the flatcar in case we need the space to haul materials back to the Forest Realm. Rosaline's cutter has been taken to the house for now while she determines what she would like to do with it. It's too late in the evening to go to the Snow Realm, so we've decided to head out in the morning.

~~I've taken a good look at the plans Rosaline and Leynne have drawn up. From what I can put together, this ship is going to be a little larger than the Island Sonata and, by far, more complicated. I've also noticed that they've been writing "Island Sonata 2" on their plans. I've found that I can't really accept the name. The Island Sonata was my first airship, and it just seems to cheapen those two days I had her if we decided to call the new ship the "Island Sonata 2". No vessel in the sky uses a number in a name like that. I don't know whether I should tell them or not, though; it seems petty to nitpick the ship's name after all they've gone through just to put the idea to paper. Maybe I'll just wait and see what happens.

~~Irleen and I have stayed behind at the house while the rest went out to a local tavern. Rosaline assured me that they would not drink as much this evening, although I can only imagine how she intends to limit Sello.

…

"Nevertheless, I hope you meant it."

"No, no, I—I mean…" The young captain trailed off, furiously scratching at a messy mat of blond hair. "Well, yes, I—I meant to say that, but… I—I didn't want to say it!"

He gave the captain a curious stare. "Why would you not want to say such a thing?" he asked, carefully moving closer to the deck.

"No!" the captain cried out. "I mean I—I might have wanted to say it, but—but that wasn't what I needed to say." The captain closed his eyes and hung his head. For a moment, he thought he had embarrassed the captain, something which he had not intended. But then the captain growled and shouted at him, "I—I just want you off the bow!"

He was off the bow, standing on the small bit of deck above the safety net connected to the end of the bowsprit. One of his hands held a nearby stay to help him keep his balance. But he hesitated before saying anything. Somehow, this seemed familiar to him.

"But you were off the bow," he murmured to himself.

He looked up to find the captain staring at him. She sighed and said, "Yes… yes, I was."

He blinked for a moment. Something seemed different from before. He stared at her for a moment before saying, "I was concerned about you."

She nodded, a bright smile coming across her reddening face. "Yes."

"I was trying to take your care seriously," he told her. "I… I never knew you were like that."

The last statement felt difficult to say. Link found himself opening his eyes into a dull room. He could not understand why, but he felt warmer than expected. He only had the one blanket; the night was not cold enough for more.

Then, when he found the reason for his warmth, the whole house (and maybe a neighbor or two) woke to him screaming, "DHOLIT, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!?"

…

~~Day 30.

~~I think I need to start sleeping where Dholit can't find me.

…

The morning was terrible for the whole house (except for Lidago, who seemed to have slept through Link's panicked scream). After they took some time to rally their senses, Link, Leynne, Luggard, Lidago, and Irleen boarded the Seventeen.

Link was amazed by the sight of the Snow Realm after they exited the tunnel west of Library Town. The rainclouds that once obscured the sky had been replaced by fluffy, white clouds. Although none had fallen on the ground ahead of them, the west was a large sheet of white due to the snowfall. It was hard looking to the west; fortunately, the bench in the locomotive's cab allowed Link to sit without having to stare at it all day. He could feel the colder air, which reminded him of home. The tracks under the train were wet, and, on a couple of occasions, the locomotive would dip into a large puddle and send a splash over the side of the cab.

Luggard directed the train toward the eastern border with the Fire Realm. Three times, Luggard had to stop and step out to change the switch in the tracks. The third switch took them into a wooded area with a steep cliff on the east side. A large mountain loomed ahead, likely the northern border of whatever piece of land Alfred had found. Luggard had the train running slower as they watched the trees for a sign of Alfred's workshop. They were far enough north that a blanket of snow covered the ground and formed coats on the nearby trees. Luggard continued on, telling Link that he was moving slow enough that the train should not be in any danger of sliding when he applied the brakes.

They found a spot in the woods where the trees had been cleared. Luggard spied a platform on his side of the train and slowed. Then Link saw the compound. The first thing in view was a crane. Unlike those Link usually saw at a port, this one sat on a set of railroad tracks, evidenced by the train-style wheels holding the rest of the crane above the snow. It had two larger wheels on either side, which Link took to be the wheels the users turned to raise and lower the hook at the end of a long rope. The main arm of the crane was a trussed, triangular, iron structure which appeared to be fixed in place. The first building Link saw was a long, wooden building with multiple doors on the front. Link guessed this to be quarters for whatever workers had been here. The flat layer of snow in front of them told Link that they had not been used in a long time. A small outhouse, identified by the air vents at the top, sat at the end, almost unnoticeable due to the train obstructing Link's view.

The workshop was a steel building towards the back of clearing. Link saw a large pipe protruding from the flat roof. The roof stretched out past the left side of the building, and Link could see a number of hanging implements underneath that area. A couple of piles sat in front of the building, and there was a cave leading underground on the right side of the building.

The train stopped, and Luggard released the steam in the boiler. Link turned to him and asked, "So, what do you think?"

Luggard let his eyes pass over the area for a moment. "If we tried 'arder, we'd find a warmer place t' look," he said. He turned to the back of the cab and retrieved a footlocker (which Link had never seen before) from under the bench. He opened the top and pulled out a thick, blue jacket. "Ain' ya cold?"

"A little," Link confessed. "It's probably a little colder than what I'm used to living in the sky."

Luggard stepped over to the door and opened it. "I'll be glad when we leave," he told Link as he started down. "If we don' freeze firs'."

"Just take it easy, Luggard," Irleen said as she emerged from Link's hat. "Whoa. It is kinda cold out here."

Link stepped off the train and rounded the locomotive to look over the area. He noticed a small shed near the workshop which did not have any apparent function. What caught Link's attention about it was the presence of a thick hose. So far, he had yet to see any evidence of a source of Loft Steam, so he hoped that the shed might be it.

Link turned to see Leynne clamber over the couplers between the passenger car and the locomotive. "How does it look?" he asked.

Leynne, huddled in a thick, wool coat, replied, "It looks like hell. It's probably been abandoned foh yeahs."

"At least since Alfred was last here," Link told him.

Leynne nodded at the crane. "We might have to find a way to thaw that. Eitheh that, oh we cahry these tanks once we find them."

"If we find them," Irleen said as she surveyed the area. "So far, I don't really have a lot of hopes."

"Well," Leynne said, "we have the aftehnoon. We should see what we have to wohk with." He pointed to the largest building, the workshop. "I'm willing to assume most of his materials ah in theh."

Link nodded. "Me, too." He turned and hollered at the train with his hands cupped around his mouth. "Hey, Luggard! We're gonna look at this large building here!"

"Go' it!" Luggard shouted back. "Be there in a momen'!"

As Link, Irleen, and Leynne started across the snow, Leynne told Link, "You realize theh doesn't appeah to be a souhce of this 'Loft Steam' we'll need to fill the tanks with."

Link pointed to the shed he had noticed. "I think that might be a supply," he said. "Some kind of structure would need to be built over it so the contents don't dissipate. There've been a couple wells of Loft Steam up in the sky which exhausted themselves that way; I remember seeing one of them on shore leave."

"The fact that the basic amenities of life so high in the sky only begs the question of how they appeah theh," Leynne said.

"That's the facilities underneath the islands," Irleen said. "They transport water from the surface so that the islands can support life. Although… I've gotta say, I couldn't really tell you whether the same applies to Loft Steam. It's not like we ever needed that."

"Actually," Link said, "since it's possible for wells to dry up, I think that maybe Loft Steam wells might've been part of the islands from the beginning."

"Hmm," Irleen said. "Yeah, I suppose that makes sense."

"Do you know how Loft Steam is supposed to behave?" Leynne asked.

Link frowned as he tried to remember some of his old airman training courses. "Well, it's a gas that doesn't exist as a liquid even if it's very cold," he said. "Even at some of the coldest temperatures, it's lighter than air, so it rises when it escapes. When it's hotter, it wants to rise faster. That's how we've been able to maintain airships. Usually, the ballast doesn't even need to be active with smaller ships and boats. A few islands have access to lower altitudes, and they just leave smaller vessels tethered there so they don't interfere with active ships. But larger ships have to be made and floated with active ballasts, or else they'll fall so low that they're difficult to recover."

"I would expect that a derelict vessel would not be difficult to float again."

"No, but they're a pain to find if the wind decides to shift. One of the books I read a few years ago said there's probably about… what was it, fifty? Sixty, maybe? Something like that. There are at least fifty ships wandering the skies because the crews couldn't find them after they were built and left to sink on accident."

Leynne paused at the door to the workshop so he could give Link an impressed look. "I'm amazed at the amount of detail put into youh training, Link," he said. "These ah things that most aihmen ah expected to know?"

Link offered a shrug. "To tell you the truth, not really. We have training courses that teach us about how airships function and whatnot, but I doubt if most airmen were even awake during those. And… well, I didn't have much of a social life, so I spent a lot of my free time reading from the company library."

"Sounds a lot like my social life," Irleen said.

Leynne turned and attempted to push open the door. It took him some effort because the door was heavier than it looked, but he managed to shove it aside, and the three of them went in. Most of the light inside came from windows high on the ceiling. There were a couple of skylights, both blocked by a layer of snow. In the far corner from the door, there was a large furnace mounted on a slab of stone. In front of that was some kind of seesaw with a large bulb on one end and a set of clamps on the other. On the wall to their right, someone had piled up a supply of large, metal ingots, which Link guessed to be iron. Directly across from the door were a long desk and a table covered in tools. A metal shell covered one half of the table, and Leynne approached it to examine it. Link took an interest in the diagrams posted on the left wall adjacent to the door.

"Well?" Irleen asked.

"What?" Leynne asked.

"Are we in the right place?"

"I think so," Link said. He tapped the diagram in front of him. "This shows how they arranged the tanks in a hull; it's the same arrangement we still use."

Leynne put his hand on the lip of the shell and tried to lift it. He did not try hard, and the metal form did not budge. "Link? Is this roughly the shape of a ballast tank?"

Link offered a hesitant look and a shrug. "I'm not sure. It looks like it should be, but it's too small."

Leynne nodded. "I thought so. This looks like a mold. And those ingots ah—" He suddenly froze, his eyes directed out the door. "Link, youh swohd. Huhry."

"Huh?" Link asked as Leynne started for the door. "What is it?"

"Trouble."

Link and Irleen exchanged looks before stepping to aside to look out the door.

Wolfos. Link had to squint to see them, but there were white-furred Wolfos surrounding the locomotive outside. Lidago stood at the side of the train, swinging at the pack that had him pinned back against it. Luggard was swinging Link's old sword around in the cab, swatting back at a pair that had climbed onto the tender. Link immediately drew his sword and followed Leynne.

"Gah!" Leynne suddenly disappeared from sight. Link immediately stepped outside to find him lying on his stomach, trying to wrestle his arm free from a Wolfos intent to drag him towards the cliff.

Link stepped within swinging range, causing the Wolfos to drop Leynne's arm and back away. The Wolfos had bitten through the sleeve of Leynne's jacket, evidenced by the blood on its teeth as it snarled at Link.

"Are you okay?" Link asked as he used his right hand to help Leynne to his feet.

"Fohtunately, the cold has made my ahm numb," Leynne said.

"Guys, look out behind you," Irleen called from her location high above their heads.

Leynne glanced over his shoulder. Then he immediately spun. "Three moh," he said. "It looks as if we've been ambushed. Have you anotheh weapon?"

"Boomerang on my belt," Link said. He felt Leynne grope his shoulder for a moment. "Lower, Leynne. I'm not that tall."

"This is a bad time to be a smaht-ahse," Leynne said as he pulled open the pouch and drew the boomerang.

"Link!" Irleen hollered. "The bomb gem!"

"It's in the wrong pocket!" Link hollered back. "I can't reach it without dropping my sword!"

"Damn!" Leynne said after opening the boomerang. "What a time to be right-handed!"

Link dared a glance at the train. "We've gotta help them," he told Leynne.

"Any suggestions?" Leynne asked.

Link suddenly realized something and used his right hand to unfasten the Rope whip on his hip. Carefully watching the Wolfos, he adjusted his hold until he found the handle. It was awkward to hold with his right hand, but he unfurled it to one side and swung it. The Wolfos ducked it, and Link quickly lunged and aimed a strike at its skull. The Wolfos leaned to Link's left. Link only had a split second to realize that he had left his shoulder exposed before the Wolfos went for it. He tried to twist, and the Wolfos caught the sleeve of his bodysuit. It jerked hard, and Link dropped his sword in the snow as he tried to wrench his arm free. He dropped to a knee, and the Wolfos let him go. Because now, Link's face was in range. Link only had a moment to stare into a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.

Then the Wolfos snapped in his face, only a hair's breadth from relieving Link of his nose. The Wolfos backed away. No, Link realized. Not backed away.

It had been dragged away. By another Wolfos. Link saw a large, black Wolfos with its teeth firmly clamped to the white Wolfos' tail. Link was stunned at the sight of the black Wolfos. Ugly, pink scars marred its face across both eyes, yet the Wolfos seemed to see clearly. When the white Wolfos whipped around to snap at it, the black Wolfos leaped backwards and revealed a larger scar across its enormous shoulder.

"What the?" Irleen uttered, just barely audible to Link above the sound of the black and white Wolfos snarling at each other.

Link turned toward the train. Two more black Wolfos had just leaped from the top of the passenger car and landed on the white Wolfos still harassing Luggard. Luggard, in surprise, ducked out of sight, presumably out through the cab's door.

Then Link turned to Leynne, one hand already digging into his pocket. "Irleen!" he called out, yanking Leynne backwards. He produced the bomb gem from his pocket and lofted it at the three white Wolfos still holding Leynne at bay. "Now!"

"And the world goes boom!" she cried out as Link tripped Leynne to the ground.

BOOOOOOM! The explosion kicked up a cloud of snow and sent all three Wolfos sprawling backwards in fright. Link could not hear over the ringing in his ears for a moment. When it cleared, he looked up from the snow to see that the black Wolfos from before had wrestled the white one to the ground and had one of the white one's forelegs in its mouth. Link's arms flailed forward until they found the handle of the Lokomo Sword. He ripped the sword out of the snow and got to his feet as quickly as possible. The three other Wolfos were still reeling from the explosion, so Link charged at them. They barely had time to see Link when his boots kicked up another cloud of dust, and Link had already used an upswing to relieve one surprised Wolfos of its right foreleg. The Wolfos collapsed into blood-stained snow. One of the other two seemed to come to its senses and, using its distance from Link, built up speed for a flying leap. Link, his mind flashing with the sight of a Malgyorg doing the exact same thing, spun aside. His sword arm swung with the spin and sliced open the Wolfos' belly. It landed in an unmoving heap on the ground nearby. The third Wolfos jumped backwards when it saw how Link had retaliated against its fellow. It seemed to stare at Link for a moment before deciding to flee into the nearby woods.

"Link!" Leynne called out. Link glanced at him before returning his attention to the train. Luggard was on the ground in front of the locomotive, moving to assist Lidago, who had already walloped a pair of the Wolfos into unconsciousness. The two black Wolfos in the cab were tearing apart one of the white ones. But the other white one had jumped on top of the cab's roof. Link could see that it was eying Lidago's back.

"Boomerang!" Link shouted, jabbing his sword into the bare ground. He caught the boomerang, found the bomb gem on the ground, and threw it towards the barracks at the front of the train. "Irleen, do it again!"

Irleen had to fly closer to the train so she could shout. "Àt Kowìnta ħapūn táli!"

BOOOOOOOM! The explosion caused yet another cloud of white dust. Luggard fell on his face, being the closest to the explosion but far enough that he was not harmed. The white Wolfos both surrounding Lidago and on top of the train hunched down against the sound, their ears clapped shut against their skulls. Lidago seemed unaffected, taking the opportunity to slam two more Wolfos in the head with his fists.

Link hurled the boomerang as hard as he could, putting his best spin into it to keep it on a straight path. The boomerang sailed across the open area and into Link's target. The Wolfos on top of the locomotive took the blow to the side of its face. It reeled, lost its footing over the edge, and fell on top of another Wolfos.

Link grabbed the sword out of the ground and raised it above his head. "YAAAAAAAH!" he screamed as he charged at the train. The three Wolfos who were still conscious glanced backwards at Link and immediately ran to the right, disappearing into the trees as swiftly as they had appeared. The Wolfos that had fallen as well as the comrade it had landed on cleared their heads in time to see Link rushing them and followed in their fellows' tracks. The four Wolfos that Lidago had laid out on the ground did not even stir. Link slowed his charge into a lofty jog so that the boots would not make him run into the broad side of the locomotive. He saw that the Wolfos on the ground had their heads caved in horribly, leading him to believe that Lidago had killed them.

"You guys all right?" Link asked as Luggard slowly rose.

"A'righ'," Luggard said.

"Goron," Lidago told him with an affirmative nod.

Then both of them leaped in surprise as the two black Wolfos jumped down from the locomotive's tender. Link raised his sword as Lidago backed toward Luggard, but the Wolfos only seemed interested in the white ones lying motionless on the ground. One barked, and the white Wolfos it barked at slowly rose and limped away with both black Wolfos watching it.

Link's eyes returned to the workshop when he realized that he had left Leynne there with the first black Wolfos fighting a white one. He saw that the black Wolfos had completely disregarded Leynne, who was leaning against the wall of the workshop with his right arm cradled in his left. The black Wolfos was standing in the first patch of bare earth caused by Irleen's bomb gem. And that was when Link first realized that he had seen that particular Wolfos before. He had caused all three of the creature's visible scars when he was trying to escape the pit Valley had fallen into when they had first come to the Snow Realm. Had that Wolfos followed them here? Or was it just a coincidence? If it was a coincidence, it was quite a big one considering that they had met much further west of here.

The scarred Wolfos gave a single bark, and its black brethren dashed over to its location. It locked eyes with Link for a moment, its glare telling Link that this situation would never happen again. Then it gave a grunt, and it and the other two dashed into the woods following the white Wolfos.

"Wha' was tha' all 'bou'?" Luggard asked as he walked up beside Link.

"I can't be sure," Link replied as Leynne ambled toward them. "I think I just had a favor returned."