Chapter 70: Autumn Island

…

~~Dholit's on board.

~~So far, the Island Symphony's rise has gone smoothly. Leynne has confirmed that all of the controls connected between the helm and the engine work, although he comments that some of the connections are not the same ones he put together. He suspects Sello, but I see it as a bit of a given. Still, as long as the controls work, I'm not worried. I've just about finalized the routine, and I've assured everyone that it'll only be temporary until I can get a payroll and hire more airmen. Though, I have a feeling that this crew will be staying with me for a lot longer than just the day I predict. I hope I'm right; I'd like them to remain.

…

"Yep," Link said. "There it is."

"Wheah?" Cale asked.

Link handed him the duoscope. "Just a hair below the center of the storm. It looks like a large, dark spot." Cale put the duoscope to his eyes and looked up at the Undying Storm. Evening was slowly approaching, painting the massive cloud the same colors he had last seen them before the Island Sonata passed into them: purple vying for black with flashes of lightning for personality. Link could barely believe that the Island Symphony had risen so fast, especially considering her size. They had only introduced heat into the ballast tanks half an hour ago when Link felt it necessary. Now, Link was staring up at the place where he had lost his first vessel. The Island Symphony had a bit of time before ascending to the appropriate level to enter the nearest Sky Line, but this vantage provided the perfect opportunity to see where that Sky Line was.

"Oh, I think I see it now," Cale said. "It's… it's just a hole. Ah you suah that's a Sky Line?"

"Yeah," Link told him. "When Rireen used that… baton… thing, it opened up the storm around the Sky Line. I thought it might've been gone by now, but… well, there it is." He reached into the neck of his tunic and pulled out his compass. After pointing it north, he glanced back up and squinted at the sky. The distance made seeing the nearly-invisible Sky Line difficult, but he could see the intense wind shimmering as a narrow crack in the darkening ribbon of sky above. "Just a little more…"

Cale removed the duoscope from his face and glanced at Link before turning up to see what he was looking at. Then he asked, "Do you get to go home often? I mean… befoah…"

Link gave Cale a grin, watching him struggle to find a tactful way of mentioning the crash. "Well," Link said, "the thing about sailing is… you know, you kinda start thinking of the ship as your home. Other than the Grand Sails, I've only ever lived in the barracks of Skyrider Port." His grin became wider. "But I can't wait to see the look on Captain Alfonzo's face when I find him. I'm sure Line's told him I'm dead."

"Youh old captain, cohrect?"

"Yeah."

Cale nodded. "I would imagine it would be quite a shock."

Link nodded and indicated the storm with one hand. "Carry on."

"Right," Cale replied, turning back to the storm and putting the duoscope back to his face.

Link rounded the large opening in the deck, glancing down into it as he moved toward the bow. He had not known that Rosaline's cutter had been stowed in the poop cabin, being unable to see it until he stood on the deck above. She must have thought he could use it since he had mentioned that even a small boat like it could be fitted with a ballast system and make a decent air vessel of itself. That would require time and money, something Link might arrange as soon as the Island Symphony could be put to work.

Link stepped down to the quarter deck, and then the weather deck. He gave Dholit, Layna, and Biluf a nod as he walked past them. Dholit blew a kiss in response, provoking a quick laugh from Biluf and a confused look from Layna. Then he stepped up onto the forecastle. He would have to get used to calling it the bridge, especially since it was probably expected of him.

"Ah we theh yet?" Leynne asked after checking over his shoulder.

"Not much longer," Link said. "Go ahead and slow the engine. We're past the storm."

"How much should I slow?"

Link glanced at the controls. "An eighth should be enough to keep us moving."

"An eighth it is," Leynne replied as he turned. He kept his left hand on the wheel while he adjusted the throttle with his right. "Nehvous?"

"Huh? About what?"

"Flying into the Sky Line."

Link gave a shrug. "A little, I guess. Nothing against you or Dubbl, but I can't help wondering how well this ship will work inside one."

"We tried to reinfohce the masts as best we could. Unfohtunately, theh was no way to tell if these will wohk since we've been on the ground this whole time." He shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I'm ratheh afraid that the mechanics undeh the deck might be wrecked by the winds. I sincehely wish that we had a means of testing this on the ground. At least, if anything went wrong, we weh able to avoid a long fall." He paused to tap on the compass. Then he glanced back at the instrument panel. "I'm going to need to speed up; the helm isn't responding well."

"Okay, go ahead and take it back up to a quarter then. Once we hit the Sky Line, that'll drive us."

"Evenin', Cap'n, Chief," came a voice from behind.

Link glanced over his shoulder. "Airman Gold," Link replied with a nod. "Don't you still have an hour left?"

"Couldn't sleep, Cap'n. Usually takes me 'bout a day tae get used tae a new schedule. I been doin' days lately, so I'm a li'l awkward. I'll get use tae it."

"You'h just in time," Leynne said. "We'h neahly to the Sky Line."

"Ought tae be a sight." Gold leaned over to look past the bulwark. "Moun'ains look nice from up 'ere."

Link stepped to the edge of the deck and looked out. Most of the distant surface was already dark, but it was definitely a different sight from what Link could remember seeing. Further north in their direction of travel, Link saw what he took to be part of the Iyuk Mountains in the Snow Realm. The setting sun had dyed them a brilliant orange, and it looked like they were glowing. They did not look as intimidating to Link as they had before, although the change in perspective probably helped; from up here, they looked little larger than lumps. He felt more powerful like this.

He looked up and squinted, trying to find the Sky Line above them. It was a little more visible, but still some distance away.

"Should we open the sails?" Gold asked.

"No," Link replied, glancing back at them. "If we fold out the sails while the engine is engaged, we'll put the ship in irons. We need to be able to move into the Sky Line; we won't be able to do that with the sails open."

"—with the sails open," Gold reasoned at the same time as Link finished his sentence. "Just a bit confusin'. Been workin' on steamships most o' me life."

"You'll get used to it. There's only so much a steam engine can do for a ship up here, especially with limited resources."

"Now that you've mentioned that," Leynne said, "I can't help considering that theh just might be a lucrative business ventuh to be had."

"'Ow so?" Gold asked.

"Well, when you consideh the limited resouhces of the sky realm in comparison to the suhface, someone could probably open up a decent trade between the mining companies on the suhface to deliveh goods to the sky."

"Aah," Gold answered with a nod. "I see what yeh mean."

"Of couhse, the one thing that makes the situation ratheh difficult would be the lack of Loft Steam on the suhface. Afteh all, the only way to retuhn from this high in the sky is to bleed the ballast, and theh's no way to recoveh Loft Steam from that."

Gold shrugged. "Go'a be more down there somewhere."

After a moment, Link realized that both of them had stopped talking while he was examining some of the rigging attached to the nearby bulwark. When he turned, he saw that Leynne had returned his focus on the helm while Gold was examining the instrument panel. The next half hour or so was spent in silence while Link waited to give the order to maneuver the ship into the Sky Line. But the half hour seemed to stretch itself hours longer.

Then, when the Sky Line was close enough for Link to see without having to squint, he turned and crossed the forecastle back to Leynne. "Slow our ascent," he ordered.

Both Leynne and Gold gave him surprised looks. "Aye, sih," Leynne said, his voice hinting sarcasm. He turned and slowly pulled back on the ballast control.

"Feel like doing something, Gold?" Link asked.

"Wouldn't bother me, Cap'n," Gold answered.

"Do you know how to open the sails?"

Gold pulled open the corner of his mouth to indicate hesitation. "I might 'ave trouble with the levers…"

"I can do it," Leynne said.

Link nodded. "Gold, on the helm. Leynne, get the girls and open the sails."

"Right," Leynne answered.

"On the 'elm," Gold repeated as he stepped into Leynne's empty spot. "Aye, sir."

"Dholit!" Leynne hollered across the deck. "Tell them we'h opening the sails!"

"Oy, Cap'n," Gold said in a low voice as Link stepped up beside him to look over the weather deck. "That third Gelto down there… ain't she the Gelto with yeh when yeh rode the Goddess's Tides?"

Link groaned to himself. "Yeah…"

"I didn't know she'd be onboard."

"Neither did I." Link then hollered down at the weather deck just as Leynne put a hand on one of the control levers, "Leynne, hold up a moment so we can get into position!"

"Okay!" Leynne hollered back.

Link looked up at the Sky Line. "Ease her to starboard, Airman."

"Easin' 'er tae starboard, aye, sir," Gold repeated as he slowly turned the wheel.

Link waited a few minutes. Then he reached behind Gold and pushed the ballast control. Gold glanced at him, and he said, "Leynne dropped the ballast a bit too much."

Gold nodded. "Aye, sir."

Link glanced up. "Okay, ease us back to port."

"Easin' us back tae port, aye."

"Put us back due north. Make sure you have the wheel centered so they can open the sails."

"Aye aye, Cap'n." In the silence while Gold steered the ship, Link could hear the subtle, deep whistle of the Sky Line. He glanced up again. He did not think that they were that close, but the sound was unmistakable to him. It was strange, though, and he wondered if they were actually closer than he thought. "Wheel's centered, Cap'n," Gold spoke up, interrupting his thoughts.

Link looked out across the weather deck. "Okay, Leynne!" he called, holding up a thumb.

Leynne replied with the same gesture before throwing the locking lever. Then he, Dholit, Biluf, and Layna started turning the capstan. Just as before, the fore sails opened outward until they were perpendicular to the ship's hull. The gap in between all six masts offered Link a clear view as far back as the poop deck, where Cale stood looking down into the poop cabin.

"Disengage the propeller," Link said. "Make sure you close the throttle first."

"Aye aye, sir," Gold said. He turned with one hand still on the wheel and used the other to draw back the propeller throttle. Then he tugged on the propeller control, and the lever popped as if it had broken. In fact, Gold played with the lever for a moment, believing he had broken it. "Whoops…"

"That's okay," Link said. "Just pull it down and lock it."

Gold did as he was told, checking that the lever was staying in place after releasing the locking grip. "Whup," he uttered when Leynne unlocked the steering.

The howl of the Sky Line was louder, and Link looked up to find that the Island Symphony was close enough for him to see blue particles glittering in the wind. Leynne, walking up onto the forecastle behind him, spoke up and asked, "Does it always sound like that?"

"As long as I can remember," Link said. "No one really knows why, but the Sky Line is just a belt of powerful wind that always exists right where we find them. It's a good thing, too. We've come to rely on them quite a bit."

"Well… should we brace ouhselves?" Leynne asked.

"Yeah," Link said. "Grab something if you can. And pray it doesn't send you to the deck. Airman Gold, give it some more ballast and take us all the way in."

"Aye aye," Gold said as he turned around again and grabbed the ballast control. He braced his feet at the bases of the wheel and instrument panel before pushing up on the ballast control. Leynne was holding onto the railing behind him, but Link remained where he was, widening his stance so that he could better take the new ship's inevitable bucking once its sails hit the Sky Line. Then, as a last thought, he swiped his hat from his head. There was a reason airship captains did not wear hats.

For the longest moment, nothing seemed to happen.

Then the hull jerked underneath their feet as the full force of the Sky Lines struck the sails. Leynne lost his footing, but his grip on the railing stopped him from crumbling onto the deck. To Link, it felt like the same kind of hit the Grand Sails would take when entering a Sky Line, but he was one month out-of-practice, and he staggered a bit. The hull lurched again as it completely merged into the Sky Line, and Leynne nearly fell backwards over the railing. Link immediately looked backward, and he saw that all six masts were still erect. Leynne looked backward as well.

Then he turned to Link and said, "Well, they'h still standing."

Link nodded and grinned. "Yeah. It looks like you guys did it right."

"I can live with it," Gold said.

"I doubt if any of us would've lived without it," Leynne said.

Link nodded. "Go down below and get some sleep. You and I'll be disembarking in the morning."

Leynne nodded. "All right. Good night then." Link gave him another nod, and Leynne started down the stairs to the weather deck.

Then Link turned to Gold. "I'm going to get a bit of sleep myself. Autumn Island may only be an hour or so out, so you should see lights out there around then. Exit the Sky Line the same way we got in."

"Just lower the ballast?" Gold asked.

"Right. And if doing that doesn't seem to wake me up, have one of the Gelto come wake me. I'll give you directions to the docks from there."

"Aye aye, Cap'n."

…

Link could not sleep. Somehow, his mind was buzzing with thoughts of what he was going to say to Governor Lore. Not being familiar with her left him thinking of many different scenarios, a few of which ended with him accused of treason and hung. When the Island Symphony dropped out of the Sky Line an hour later, he followed the lanterns he had told Dholit and the other Gelto to set up before the night shift crew woke up. The light of Autumn Island looked like an illusion on the horizon, although that might have been Link simply looking through the night sky with tired eyes. He was familiar enough with Autumn Island to remember that the docks would be on the east side, where the main routes throughout the kingdom were easily accessible. He directed Gold into the dock and told him to turn the sails away from the island so that the ship would fall into irons. This made it easy for Link to instruct Dubbl how to set up a mooring line and toss it to the dockers. The ship was tied up, and the dockers provided a gangplank. Link then instructed Dubbl to tell Twali to remain at her post. For the rest of the crew, he told them to keep an eye out for anyone boarding the ship without permission and to wake him if any problems arose.

Link still had problems sleeping. A couple of times, he thought he had fallen asleep because he thought he heard voices of people who could not possibly be on his ship, although he could not identify the voices, real or not. But time wore on, and, without a pocketwatch, Link could only guess how long he was awake. Twice, he thought about going on-deck and walking around to tire himself out. Both times, he decided against it, mostly because he thought he would drop asleep on the deck if he was successful.

Morning came, announcing itself through the windows. Link groaned to life and flopped over onto his back.

"Good morning, Link," Irleen said as she hovered over her chosen sleeping place, the cork surface of the table.

"G'morning," Link slurred back. He rolled and sat up on the edge of the bed. Then he tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Are you all right?"

"I had a hard time getting sleep." He stood up and stretched. "I'll be fine. You wanna come into town?"

"Sure," she said, fluttering over to him. She watched as he pulled his tunic over his head. After he put on his belt and boots, he grabbed his hat off the table and stepped to the door. "Wait, you're not taking your sword or anything?"

"No," Link replied as he put his hat on. "I'm not worried. Besides, it feels nice to not have so much weight on me. Oh." He stepped back to the footlocker and grabbed his wallet. "Let's go," he said after pocketing it.

It was still early enough in the morning that the sun was below the bulwark, casting shadow over the deck but lighting the sky a dull blue. Link strode forward and glanced out at Autumn Island. The dock area only had a few ships, and orange-clad crewmen from the Zephyr Sails company mingled with the dockers, most of them young men wearing blue uniforms. The buildings nearer to the dock were wide, allowing for storage of supplies that airships regularly needed. Past those, the buildings grew slender and tall, and Link knew a number of those would be apartments or business offices. The streets were naturally narrow so that room could be made for more buildings. Link had forgotten how cluttered an island can be, so he found himself surprised by the closeness of these buildings. Then, in the next moment, he felt a wave of nostalgia and relief, his mind reminding him that he was effectively home with the sight of this disparity between surface and sky architecture functioning as ultimate proof. His mood lightened, his drowsiness left behind as he put on a strong grin.

It felt good to be home.

"Good mo'ning, Kyabtin," Dubbl, standing by one of the rear capstans, greeted him.

"Good morning, Dubbl," Link replied. "How was your watch?"

"Quiet," Dubbl said, although her tone indicated disappointment with the situation. "No tlouble."

"Better luck next time," Irleen said.

"Maybe," Dubbl responded.

"Is Leynne up yet?" Link asked.

"Right heh, Link." Link looked amidships and saw Leynne approaching from the port hatch. Leynne had switched to a black, long-sleeve shirt, a leather waistcoat with a great number of pockets, and a new-looking pair of white slacks. His hair, however, looked to have been messed up by the Sky Line, part of it standing up in the back.

"Wow, Leynne," Irleen said. "You could use a brush or something."

"I'm two weeks without a decent haihcut," Leynne said. "I trust theh's a bahbeh's shop neahby?"

Link shrugged. "Sorry, Leynne, I really don't know. The Grand Sails never spent a lot of time here."

"That's fine," Leynne replied with a dismissive wave. "I'll find time foh it lateh. What's on the itinerary?"

"You and I'll go into town and find the Skyriders' branch office. See what we need to do to get a payroll. We might have to go to Skyrider Port, and, if we do, I wanna stop by Castle Island first so I can tell Governor Lore what happened in the storm last month."

"Link?" Irleen asked. "What about getting me home?"

"We might have to wait a bit," Link said. "If the Skyriders are still guarding the Sky Line to Forelight Island, it'd be better to make sure they know we're one of them. Otherwise, we'd probably risk being shot out of the sky." He hesitated before adding, "Again."

"Okay," she said, satisfied with the answer. "So what are we waiting for?"

Link indicated the gangplank. "Let's get going. Dubbl, you have the ship."

"Ay'a, Kyabtin!" Dubbl called after him.

Link felt refreshed when he finally stepped foot on the island. And, understandably, Leynne had a few questions about the nearby buildings, most of which aided in Link's own memory of things around him. Although, Link had to admit that something felt a little odd about the island. He thought the sky around them was strange, but he dismissed it as believing that his lack of familiarity with the island itself was the cause. He even had to consult a directory before leaving the docks since he had no idea where the branch office had been set up. As they walked, Link was also aware that people were staring at him. It took him some time (in silence, since he had to spend a good portion of the time walking to explain things to Leynne) to rationalize that not only was he dressed as a Skyrider captain, but he was also wearing a hat and walking in the company of what people could only describe as a fairy. The fact that Leynne looked clean as well as nothing like a Skyrider airman was probably also drawing attention.

They found a building which served as a supply store for Skyrider ships as well as housed the branch office on the second floor. They did not make it past the first floor.

"—'Closed temporarily'?" Leynne read from the sign in the door. "Closed foh what?"

"I don't know," Link replied, trying to peek through the boards covering broken windows. "I can't see anything inside."

"Would these places have any reason to close?" Irleen asked.

"It'd be pretty difficult," Link said. "Skyrider ships can show up at any port at any time. It'd hurt business if there wasn't a branch office available to put requisitions through."

"Pehhaps the Skyridehs don't come to this island anymoh," Leynne suggested.

"Maybe, but you'd think there'd be an explanation why," Link said, stepping back so he could glance up at the second-floor windows. But he saw that those had been covered by wooden planks from the inside. "Weird."

"So what now?" Irleen asked.

Link shrugged. "I guess we head for Skyrider Port."

"But you'll still be going to Castle Island fihst, right?" Leynne asked.

"Yeah," Link said. "First, we'll stop by the dockmaster's office. I need to log the Symphony being here. It'd normally be the second-in-command's job, but…"

"You haven't detehmined a second yet," Leynne finished. "Do you have anyone in mind?"

"Well," Link said as he gestured for them to follow along. He started back down the road toward the docks. "Part of the reason that I brought you along was that I was hoping you'd like the job, Leynne."

"Why me?"

"Of all the crew onboard, I've known you, Irleen, and Cale the longest. But Irleen can't communicate with people without her translating gem."

"Like anyone would take orders from me anyway," Irleen remarked as she fluttered between them so she could fly ahead a little.

"Cale, well…" Link continued, giving a side-nod with his hesitant words. "I don't think Cale would do too well. He… uuuh…"

"He screams like a girl," Irleen finished.

"He does?" Link asked her.

"Who else do you think screams when he's around?"

Link frowned at her. "I always thought that was you."

"Link, if I had the lungs to scream like that, I probably wouldn't be the size of a rupee."

"Right." Link paused to scratch his head under his hat. "Anyway, I'd like you to take it. It's not that difficult. Whenever I'm not around, you're in charge, naturally. And, when we dock, you visit the dockmaster's office so you can fill out the log for us and make contact with the branch office for supplies. I used to do it when the seconds-in-command on the Grand Sails were busy with other things."

"You?" Leynne asked.

"I was the mostly likely out of the crew to not disappear somewhere else. So. Want the job?"

Leynne scrunched his face as he thought. Then he said, "I can do it. But the moment you find someone else, put them in chahge. Because I'm suh I won't like the job afteh a while."

Link nodded. "Deal."

The dockmaster's office was on the way back to the ship, and they stepped in to find the dockmaster's assistant sleeping at the reception desk. So Link took up the pen sitting nearby and filled out a line in the log book.

"Hmmm," Leynne said, "looks simple enough." Then he frowned when Link started blowing on the page. "What ah you doing?"

"Drying the ink," Link said between breaths. He lifted the page and started shaking it. "I wanna check the log. If Line was here, he might've left something."

"You can do that?" Leynne asked.

"Yeah," Link replied as he started turning back pages. "The log is always available in case a ship needs to clarify its records or something. Let's see, the Horizon's Eye was probably here about two weeks after the Sonata went down…" He took a few minutes to examine about ten pages. "Here it is. '—Island Sonata, Captain Link, Noon'… And that's all."

"No problems to repoht?" Leynne asked.

"Like 'Demon airship living in a storm'?" Irleen commented.

"He probably couldn't do anything obvious," Link said as he turned the book back to the current date's page. "But if he managed to get word out, the best place would've been back at Castle Island or Skyrider Port."

"I'm assuming that the appropriate authorities would be located on Castle Island," Leynne said.

"Well, let's go to Castle Island, then," Irleen said. "I mean, how many times have you mentioned it today?"

"What, do I keep saying it?" Link asked.

"You've mentioned it quite a few times this mohning alone," Leynne said. "It makes me think we should probably go."

"If you know how to get there," Irleen added. "No map, remember?"

"No, I think I know how to get there," Link said as he walked to the door. "There's a Sky Line not far from here which should take us…" He paused as he tried to remember directions, having remembered that compasses in the sky were backwards. "… East. We'll have to sail out a bit, but I believe that there should be a pair of Sky Lines east of here. One will take us right to the island."

"Just the one Sky Line?" Leynne asked as they stepped outside.

Link nodded. "Some Sky Lines come in pairs but go opposite directions. Amazingly convenient as long as they stay together."

"Convenient, indeed," Leynne said.