Chapter 80: One Week of Weird

…

~~Day 51 (Command, Day 14)

~~I slept in a bit, along with most of the day shift on deck. Layna was the worst, and no one wanted to wake her because they were afraid she would slit their throat. Lwamm didn't seem to mind covering for her, although she was the first one to try to wake Layna up, and she won't tell anyone what happened. I suspect that, while Layna is dangerous to people when she's awake, she's even more deadly when she's trying to sleep. I would've tried, but I had only woken up about half an hour before and didn't hear about it until after she came on duty. To tell the truth, I'm a little afraid of her.

~~Most of the day was spent looking at clear skies again. No ships in sight, and I think we've lost track of the Moon's Shadow. I hope this means they aren't following us. The wind hasn't let us run the sails open all day; in fact, a couple of times, Leynne had to tack just to make sure we were still traveling toward Might Island. Tonight, we're sailing close hauled, but at least we're still moving. Still, Leynne had to correct our course. I don't see why the wind isn't behaving. As we were going north, the wind was with us, but now, it's as if the wind is trying to push us back to the south. Maybe it's an effect of only part of the Sky Lines being active; I don't really know.

~~I don't know who to (maybe just myself), but I feel like I should explain last night's entry. We found a message from Airman Kaheel, the Sorian that the Stalarmors were using to find and manipulate the technoworks under Sagacity Island. The poor man was hungry, tired, hurt, and determined not to let himself be used. At least, that was how I interpreted it. Irleen's still taking his death hard, and I'm beginning to wonder if she really did know him. Sh

Kon kon.

Link looked up from his journal, mildly surprised that someone would be so casually knocking on his door at a rather late hour. "Come in," he called.

The door opened, and Dholit was the first inside. Link was taken aback to see that she was not wearing her usual smile. If anything, she looked genuinely mad. Dubbl followed, her face the same as Dholit's. But Link heard cracking when Dubbl's boots stopped clapping against the deck, and he realized that she was popping her knuckles with a thumb, one finger at a time.

The third to enter was Layna, head down and expression difficult to read. Dubbl closed the door was a resounding slam that caused her to start. Link slowly stood up as the air in the room seemed to become heavy. He was beginning to worry that he had somehow angered the Gelto, in which case Layna's presence made some kind of sense.

Dholit crossed her arms and told him, "We need to talk."

"Uh," was all Link could manage, completely bewildered by the presentation.

"What's going on?" Irleen asked with a drowsy drawl as she got up from her bed.

"We know ze zing happened on ze island," Dubbl said.

Link blinked in confusion and shared a look with Irleen. "What-what 'thing'?" he asked.

"We know she abandoned you," Dholit said. "We know she left you alone when you weh attacked."

Link looked between the three Gelto for a moment. "Wha… what do you mean?"

"The last creatuahs you fought, those… Stalahmohs, was it?" Dholit said. "We discovahed that she wandehed off befoah you weh attacked by it."

He stood confused for a moment as he recalled the event. Abandoned? Had… had Layna really abandoned him to that creature? "I-I don't understand," he said. "Did she… did she do it on purpose?"

"She neglected heh duty," Dholit said. "It's just as deadly as running from it."

Link exchanged looks with Irleen again. "It was just a slip-up," Irleen said. "It happens."

"Wait a minu—what duty?" Link asked.

"He' duty, plotect you," Dubbl said, the force in her voice causing Layna to start again. "She not plotect you."

"Well, how much did she tell you?" Irleen asked.

"She left both of you in a room while she exploahed some kind of ovahhead area," Dholit said, her head tilting as she recalled a few details that she was trying to translate on the spot. "She heahd sounds and thought it was you until Ihleen found heh and stahted shouting at heh. It isn't supposed to take the full length of an assault foh heh to realize that Ihleen's trying to say that you'h in trouble."

Link twisted his mouth and reached into his pocket. "Irleen?" he said as he withdrew her translator gem. "When I put your gem down, say my name."

"Sure," Irleen said. Link carefully put the gem on his desk. "Līnca." Both Dholit and Dubbl put on puzzled looks.

Link then picked the gem up and pocketed it. "Thanks, Irleen," he told her with a nod. Then he addressed the Gelto, "I got tossed into a nearby room; Irleen wasn't anywhere near me. Layna migh—"

"Sssh!" Dubbl immediately hissed. Then she snapped at Layna, "Nad'ayjothan!" Layna shivered and seemed to put more effort into looking down at the deck.

"What?" Irleen asked, backing away a fraction. "What is it?"

"A Gilto who has disgraced hehself doesn't have heh name spoken until the offense is dismissed," Dholit said. Link halfway expected a playful smile or smart remark to follow, but that was the extent of her comment.

So Link cleared his throat so that he had a brief moment to remember what he had been saying. "She might've had an idea if she was hearing Hylian, but Irleen speaks a completely different language. If she isn't close to whoever holds her gem, all anyone hears is the Sorian language."

"Fay Irliyn soynaygothak 'anik 'adhofnwin max?" Dubbl asked, her voice low as if she was worried Irleen might overhear.

"Zhidi lwaynaygithak Gilto 'anik 'al soyxaylokw," Dholit replied, this time allowing a hint of a smile. "Nwaki 'addic zhidi 'adhoysnin 'inoy." Dubbl looked away, her eyes trying not to find their way toward Irleen.

"Is there… anything else?" Link asked, wondering what prompted them to switch languages.

Dholit turned back to him, her scowl returning. "We understand now that Ihleen could not communicate with heh," she said, "but she still left you behind."

Link took a bit of time to think before he spoke. "We were looking for the source of a loud sound when we entered that room. She was checking the overhead area while I was looking at a nearby hallway. I was the one who went ahead without her. If I had waited, it might not have happened."

"Zat not he' duty," Dubbl said.

"Wait a minute, wait," Irleen spoke up. "Aside from Link being captain, why do you think he needs to be protected? You do realize you're talking about a boy who took down monsters ten times his own size, right?"

"Impressive, we admit," Dholit said. "But Layna still has a duty."

"And if Link ordered you to drop it, would you?"

Dubbl and Dholit shared a stupefied look with each other. Link, however, was worried. Having not needed to push his authority around, he was not sure if he could actually order Dubbl and Dholit to ignore the situation.

It was something he wanted to avoid, so he spoke up, "Look, the attack was my fault. She was looking out for me, but can you honestly say that she's always going to be around to protect me? What if she had found a Stalarmor while she was exploring that overhead area, and then I was still attacked? She probably would have never known. Would you still be bringing this to my attention?"

"Facts ah facts, My Captain," Dholit told him. "The hypothetical doesn't exist foh heh. Only reality."

"Well, in reality, Layna was looking out for Link," Irleen said, her tone hostile. "She made sure nothing fell on him, like those big feet that Stalarmor had." She turned to Link, her tone changing to curious. "Did you see how big that thing's feet were? If that thing had fallen on you, we'd be scraping you off the floor with a shovel. It… probably wouldn't be pretty." She shivered. "And the smell…" She stopped thinking about whatever gruesome image was going through her mind when she noticed that Link, Dubbl, and Dholit were staring at her. "Uh… my point. Link survived. End of story. She did a good job. I'm… gonna shut my mouth and go back to sleep now. But, you know, keep going. Don't mind me." Then she hesitated a moment before she zipped back to her bed.

"Hmm…" Dholit spoke up after a moment of awkward silence. "Somehow… I didn't think Irleen was so imaginative. In… such a strange way."

Dubbl glared at Dholit and said, "Waba nadlwaynaygithak."

"Are we… gonna continue this conversation?" Link asked.

Dholit gave Layna a thoughtful glance. "Well, if Ihleen backs up youh claim, then theah is only one thing left to do," she said. She followed it with a sigh and explained, "She will have to be punished foh lying to us. My Captain, would you like to administah discipline this time?"

Link found himself unsure how he should respond. He thought that Layna would be receiving punishment because they couldn't prove that she had been doing her job. What was supposed to be the response to a situation which even the ever-smiling Dholit had taken seriously? He droned for a moment until he decided to say, "Why don't… I let you take care of it? It-it kinda… doesn't feel right."

"Of coahse, My Captain," Dholit said as her usual grin formed. "Layna, taycoban 'inoy."

Layna looked up at Link with joy in her eyes. Then she put on a horrified look before Dubbl took her arm and pulled her to the open door. The sight made Link cringe. What had he just sentenced her to?

Link heard Leynne, somewhere behind the door, say something to Dubbl. Her response was to take the doorknob and shove the outward-swinging door. Pom! "Agh!" Leynne hollered. He said something else, but the door was already closed, muffling his remark.

Link dropped back into his chair. He glanced up at Irleen, and then down at his journal. After an exhausted sigh, he picked his pen up again.

~~She's fine. They're all fine. Just a little crazy.

~~With the Sky Lines back, I hope that ships will return to traveling like normal. I wish we could use them, but we still seem to be destined to take the long way. We're probably better off; the lack of Sky Lines is the only things preventing Skyrider ships from finding us.

…

~~Day 52 (Command, Day 15)

~~Leynne had a large mark in the middle of his forehead. He explained that, last night, Dubbl had hit him with the door to my cabin after he gloated about being right. I asked him if he'd like me to talk to her again, but he admits that he had it coming for being a prick. Layna is back in her routine, although she seems to prefer avoiding Dholit when she can. It's beginning to make me wonder what exactly Dholit does to people that makes them afraid of her.

~~Conditions have improved a bit. We've managed to keep a straight course toward Might Island while reaching. It's not the ideal speed, but it'll do.

~~I must admit that I've had some question as to what happened to the Moon's Shadow. I know we probably lost Captain North when the Island Symphony was hidden under the island, but does that mean he stayed there at Sagacity Island? Or did they move on to Timbre Island? Or maybe even Might Island? With the Sky Lines back, maybe North decided to return to Castle Island and get some reinforcements. It would give us a lead, but it would also mean we'd have to outrun more ships.

~~I think I'm just making myself worry.

…

"Well, that's the last of the rations we stahted with," Leynne said as he tossed the empty ration sack into the crate the crew had been using as a trash receptacle, having forgotten to bring along trash cans when they started out. "Good riddance, too. I was beginning to hate theih taste."

"Looks like someone's already decided to do something about it," Link commented as he pushed open a crate lid that had already been loosened. He peered inside before reaching in to grab two bags of rations. "Part of this crate is empty."

"And I've been made to suffeh," Leynne grumbled as he accepted one ration from Link. "At least I won't have to live with the taste of jehky, nuts, and dried fruit." He opened the sack and peered inside under the single light bulb overhead. "What's this?"

"Jerky, nuts, and dried fruit," Link replied as he opened his own.

Leynne crushed the mouth of the bag between his hands. "Lovely."

"Lo—It's something different," Link said as he took out a piece of jerky. "The southern islands use a different process for making jerky. It tastes a little sweeter."

Both of them took a bite of jerky from their rations. Then they both exchanged disgusted looks before forcing themselves to swallow. Leynne scrapped his tongue with his upper teeth before saying, "That was sweet?"

"Yeah, that did taste pretty bitter," Link admitted. He turned back to the crate and glanced at one side. "This is a crate we picked up from Sagacity Island. It shouldn't taste this bad."

"As much as I hate to point it out, it does." Leynne examined his piece of jerky for a few seconds. "Maybe it's an effect of the Sky Lines being absent."

"Maybe," Link agreed. "I wonder why no one's come complaining about them. Someone's clearly been eating out of this crate for a while."

"Maybe one of the engineering crew?" Leynne suggested, tossing his ration on the wooden countertop behind him. He picked up a tin cup and took a sip of grog. Then he stuck his tongue out in another show of revulsion. "I don't know who in theih right mind broke into this crate, but I'm suh he's not in his right mind anymoh."

Link was about to add commentary to the statement, but he was interrupted when he realized that someone was rushing toward the deck from the stairs with footfalls heavy enough to be heard from the galley. Both he and Leynne watched the far side of the deck until a large bag of orange jumped out of the starboard stairwell and landed with a painful-sounding thud on the open deck.

"Ah," Leynne commented as Sello slowly rose from the deck. "Speaking of those not in theih right mind…"

"Go stand in front of that barrel," Link told Leynne in a low voice, indicating the lidded barrel on the far side of the countertop from Leynne.

"What foh?"

"That grog is still raw; we don't want him to drink it or it'll kill him."

Leynne shrugged and muttered as he moved, "I highly doubt it, but…"

"Whoa!" Sello said after finally standing straight up, which was followed by him flailing as he staggered. "Have ya ever been where for da one I dink?"

"Was that even bad Hylian?" Leynne asked.

Link resisted the urge to smile as he stepped forward and asked, "Did you need something, Sello?"

"Juz scootin' ma boots an'—…" Sello froze when he finally glanced over at Link. His eyes grew wide, and, before Link could react, Sello was charging at him across the deck. "NOOOOOOO!"

"AaaahhhHHHH," Link started shouting when he realized that pain was on its way, his volume rising as Sello got closer.

Whup!

"Gah!"

THUMP!

"Sello!" Leynne snapped.

Sello sat up and grabbed Link's ration. "Sello…" Link groaned as he tried to keep his hold on the bag.

"My horse!" Sello shouted as he jerked the bag around to wrench it from Link's grip.

"Sello!" Leynne snapped again. "Get off him!"

"Let go!" Link shouted.

But Sello prevailed and rose to his feet with the ration in his hands (although the contents had spilled on the floor during the struggle). "Ha hah!" he declared. "Socks and a box of yellow! I AM SEL-LOOOOOOOO!"

Link rose and watched as Sello raided their trash crate of a large number of empty ration sacks. He moved across the galley and asked Leynne, "What do you think he's doing?"

"To tell the truth, I've given up wondering," Leynne replied. They watched Sello then cram all of his stolen items into the open ration crate. "I suppose this explains who opened the crate…"

"Yeah," Link agreed as Sello started pushing the crate, a wooden cube as high as his waist, across the deck. Link had to speak over the noise Sello created to say, "Someone not in his right mind."

Leynne shook his head. "Somehow, it isn't very funny."

Sello stopped at the top of the stairs and spun around. "Tooty-fruity!" he said, pointing an accusing finger at them. "You remember those beans. Dipstick. And smooch." He moved to the side of the crate opposite the stairs and shoved it down to the next deck. Bam! Bam! Sello then followed the box down and, from the ensuing noise, most likely repeated the process as he descended.

Link sighed and shrugged at Leynne. "Oh, well. I wasn't very hungry anyway."

"We can leave those to Sello," Leynne said, "but we'd have to stretch ouhselves a little thin."

"That's fine. Those things were nasty. It's probably a good thing only Sello seems to like them."

"Now, the rations, I might undehstand," Leynne said as he pointed a finger at the stairs. "Might. But why'd he take stuff from the refuse?"

Link shrugged. "Who knows?" He paused and watched Leynne pick up the ration he had left on the countertop. "You're still gonna eat that?"

"I just want to make suh it'll be wohth it letting him have that whole crate," Leynne answered as he dug a hand inside. He pulled out a rectangular lump of black and white marbling, puzzled, and showed it to Link. "What's this?"

"IIIII… gave up wondering that years ago. Just throw it away."

"What is it?" Leynne asked. "A rock?"

"Maybe we should give it to Helo and find out."

The door to the galley suddenly slammed open, startling both of them. They looked over to find Sello standing in the doorway, huffing as if he had just been running around below them. Sello stared at Leynne, causing Leynne to realize that he was holding one of the same kinds of rations that he had just wrestled away from Link. Before Leynne could get a word out, Sello had already tackled him.

…

~~Day 53 (Command, Day 16)

~~Surrendered a whole crate of rations to Sello, mostly out of fear that he'd beat the stuffing out of us. He must have been wondering where the crate disappeared because Leynne and I had just brought up from the deck below, where we've been storing our spare parts and some of our extra ration crates. We'll have to keep a better watch on the rations. And maybe Sello, too. I couldn't tell if he was drunk or not; he smells the same no matter what. But his rambling made him sound pretty bad. I wonder if he knows what's been going on.

~~We finally caught a break today. The wind shifted to the northeast and let us run with both the main and outboard sails open. It lasted all afternoon before we had to return to reaching, but at least it's made this trip a little shorter. Still no sign of any other ships out here. My belief at this point is that other vessels haven't been traveling between Sagacity and Might Islands because of their distance. Since both islands are really good at supporting themselves, it's likely that most of the local captains have just kept moored while waiting for the Sky Lines to return. Although, now that I've thought about it, that would have been over two weeks ago. So, maybe there just isn't much shipping between the two islands. I don't know. It's late. I'm going to bed.

…

~~Day 54 (Command, Day 17)

~~Things were a little more normal today. We had the locking mechanism from one of the wenches break, and Leynne had to replace it before we could raise the port foresail again. We're still reaching, so we needed that sail up in order to maintain speed. He must have anticipated this because he had a few spare parts on hand, and he actually got it done pretty fast. I'm glad he could do it so quick. Hopefully, when we have a larger crew, he'll show them how to fix some of the complex things onboard. I can't even begin to imagine what they all put into this ship.

~~We finally exchanged greetings with another ship heading toward Sagacity Island. Not much was said, especially since we don't have a set of signal flags. It was a Zephyr Sails airship, so I'm glad that's all that got exchanged. I can only imagine the response the Gelto might have if they had started hollering cusswords at us. Half of their deck crew might've been killed. The fact that we've finally sighted a vessel seems to indicate that trading is still going on, although probably at a reduced rate. It would have to be goods that can't expire; there's very little chance that fresh fruits and vegetables would survive as long of a journey as it is to Sagacity Island from Might Island.

…

"I want to assure you that we are not simply traveling on a whim, Link," Zelda told him, turning so she could lean against the rear wall. "There is indeed a purpose for this… task."

"I had no doubt of that," Link said.

Then he stopped and looked around. When he realized that he was sitting in his cabin on the Island Sonata again, he shook his head. "Wow, that's confusing," he said to himself.

"I apologize, Link," Zelda told him. "I am afraid that I can only make the process work if I can picture you in a familiar setting. It's how I've come to figure out this new talent." Link stood up from the chair and rounded the desk. He looked at her hard for a moment. This caused her to put on a worried frown. "What is it?"

"It's just… it's been over two weeks since we last talked," he told her. "Princess… I can't be sure this is really happening. Irleen told me this kind of communication is impossible."

"She's making you doubt my words…" She cast her eyes to the floor for a moment. Then she looked back up and asked, "What can I tell you to prove it?"

"I-I don't know," Link said. "Something only you would know but I wouldn't. Something I would have to check."

"That's actually quite an idea, Link," she told him. "The question remains how you could check, though. As I understood, you cannot go near Castle Island without attracting my doppelganger's attention." Link started scratching his head as he thought. But Zelda came up with a solution just a moment later, her voice bright with enthusiasm. "My parents."

"Huh?" Link asked.

"You could ask my parents," Zelda repeated. "You are still looking for them, correct?"

Link shrugged. "Yeah, but it'll still take time. We're trying to reach Might Island now." Zelda pushed away from the wall and turned so that Link could not see her face. Link tried to lean to one side to see her face and almost hit his head on the calling tubes to his left.

When she turned back around, Link noticed that her cheeks were a little flush. "On my eighth birthday, I received a toy cucco. It had a blue comb and gold tail feathers. His eyes looked like little chocolates, so I called him 'Mister Choco'. I-I have since stopped playing with him, but… if you ask my parents, I'm sure they will tell you what I've told you."

Link nodded. "Okay. Okay, I think I can remember all that."

"It might… It might be better if you write it down," she told him. She gave a small, sad laugh. "It's so strange. I'm trapped on a demon commander's airship, and I… I have to tell you something so embarrassing…" She had a healthier laugh. "I-I am sorry, Link. I… suppose I do owe you for having embarrassed you by discovering the, um… the dresses."

Link felt his face heating up and tried to laugh at it. Unfortunately, the sound that came out was a nervous chuckle. "Do you… mind if I explain that, at least?"

She nodded. "If you are comfortable with it."

Link crossed his arms and sat on the front edge of his desk. "Line and I—this was while we were airmen under Captain Alfonzo… We had to find an engineer's mate who hadn't reported in on the final day of the Founding Festival. We spent the whole morning and… I think part of the afternoon looking for this guy; he'd been drinking since the first day and went from bar to bar. When we finally found him, Line and I had made a list of the things he was doing the whole time.

"Well… a couple days later, Line tells some other airmen on the Grand Sails, and I guess word got back to this engineer's mate. He took our uniforms and left us the dresses. We had to wear them for duty, and we found out that he was taking pictures of us while we were at work. So… we decided to get even by shaving and polishing his head."

Zelda quickly put a hand over her mouth, but Link could still hear her muffled laughter. He waited a moment, and she calmed down enough to say, "You—you must have been quite crafty to have accomplished something so elaborate."

Link shrugged. "We found out he was a very heavy sleeper. We cut all his hair off, but another airman volunteered to shave the rest of it. He must have been angry at us because he showed pictures of us after movie night."

"Oh, dear…"

"Yeeeeah, everything went downhill from there. We got in a fight, Captain Alfonzo caught us. The engineer's mate was fired on the spot, and Line and I got assigned to the company office for three months with only half our pay. It was probably the worst we've ever been in trouble."

"I've often imagined Captain Alfonzo to be a fair commanding officer."

Link pushed away from the deck and turned toward the door. "Maybe, but there were times when it seemed like he hated us. Lieutenant Luke, though, he was a pretty fun guy. When we hadn't bothered him."

"Lieutenant Luke? As in the current Captain Luke?"

Link nodded. "Yeah, he commands the Summer Breeze now. He invited us to serve under him, but we decided to stay with Captain Alfonzo. As much as I liked him, Captain Alfonzo… I don't know, I guess I was just used to the crew. I think Line's excuse was better."

"What was that? I would think Captain Luke would have been just as used to both of you."

Link turned and placed his hands on the short edge of his desk. "Line said, 'Alfonzo may be mean and loud, but that's saved us both from being fired out of a cannon'."

Zelda giggled. "He did appear to have quite the sense of humor."

He could not help grinning. "Yeah, but he was actually being serious when he said that."

She froze with a shocked look on her face. "Oh."

He shook his head. "It only happened once." He paused. "Or-or twice. I-I… can't remember."

She put her hands up to cover her smile. "I-I'm sorry, Link. It-it should not be so funny…"

"Iuu gouen ooh to ih."

That previous statement would not have sounded so muffled if Link's pillow had not been in his mouth. Without warning, he had awoken in his bed on the Island Symphony with the corner of his pillow clenched between his teeth. He slowly removed the pillow as he recalled the dream. As soon as he remembered her talking about her toy cucco, he got up from his bed.

Or rather, he tried. Not realizing how close he was to the edge, he made to roll onto his back and slipped off the edge. Ka-bump. The sound of him hitting the deck caused Irleen to snort and groan something incoherent. Link stood up and stepped over to his desk while shaking the pain out of his arm. He tugged on the pull string hanging above his desk to turn on the light. After flipping his journal open to the last page he had written on, he picked up his pen and scribbled a note on the page.

~~Ask about toy cucco.

As he waited for the ink to soak into the page, he decided to scribble another note.

~~Try not to talk with a pillow in my mouth if she does it again. It's kind of embarrassing.

…

~~Day 55 (Command, Day 18)

~~Sello's couch is gone again. No one seems to care that a piece of furniture just seems to disappear from the ship at his whim. And I can't blame them; it's just Sello.

~~For years, I've wondered what the weird rocks in ration packs are. I have to admit I'm mildly surprised to hear from Helo that they actually are rocks. Unfortunately, I've forgotten what kind he said, but he claims that they are actually tasty. To a Goron. I've informed the crew to set aside the rocks in their rations for them, but it still confuses me why people have been putting these stupid rocks in our rations. I've toyed with the idea that they are supposed to be emergency ammunition.

~~Still reaching, but at least all our sails are still up. Leynne took a moment after his shift to double-check the other mechanisms and even peeked under the deck. Saw another vessel, too, but we didn't make contact.

…

~~Day 56 (Command, Day 19)

~~Sello's couch is back. And I'm beginning to wonder just where he puts it.

~~Irleen's been irritated all day with having to stay in my cabin. I asked Leynne if it would be possible to give her access to the rest of the ship from my room, and he agreed that he might be able to put in a small tube to the deck below, but it would have to wait until we reach Might Island because he doesn't have any sort of drill or spare piping.

~~I found out that Lwamm and Twali like to use the hold for running before they show up for duty. And I found this out because Lwamm ran into me while I was investigating the sounds they were making. Not much more was said because I was more inclined to return to my cabin and relax. She landed on my right arm, and it really hurts.

~~The wind shifted enough that we were able to make another run with all sails open. No other vessels in sight. I think I understand why no one wants to travel like this. It's kinda boring.

…

~~Day 57 (Command, Day 20)

~~Sello set part of the engine room on fire.