Chapter 95: Rest Area Ahead

…

As eager as Link had been to dock at any island they happened across, he had not been woken out of bed just to do something stupid. Gold had stopped the Island Symphony and ascended the ship to a point where it could not be readily identified. Link gave him a verbal pat on the back and had Dubbl and Lwamm stow the sails to keep the ship holding still. Then, after waking and speaking to Irleen, he forced the technoworks blocks to become dormant so they could be removed from the bulwark. This all took about an hour to finish, and it was still the middle of the night, so Link told the night crew to be especially watchful of vessels approaching them. He asked them to wake him if another ship neared, otherwise let him sleep until the sun came up. He was not sure if it was a result of Zelda contacting him in his sleep, but it felt as if he had not gone to bed at all.

Link half-expected to find Zelda in his dreams. Instead, he was treated to a confusing vision of an enormous fish-like creature daring him to play Dodge-Link with a stupid-looking statue of himself dangling from a rope hanging somewhere in the air. Somehow, not wearing any pants was making him lose by the time Dubbl woke him up again.

South Sand Island did not have a very extensive port area, at least as far as Link could tell with the duoscope to his face. It made sense for two reasons. One, the island itself did not have very much room in the first place. Link could not be sure, but it appeared that there were not really any homes on the island. The eastern half of the island was uninhabited due to its namesake: a large area of sand which reminded Link of the Sand Realm back on the surface. Two, South Sand Island did not need a large port since Bold Island was (usually) just an hour away. It was the reason Link did not really remember visiting the island before; the Grand Sails had usually sailed past because it was not a very important port. If anything, it could occasionally be a stop on the way north if a ship needed it.

This left the port nearly deserted save for maybe a couple of schooners and a handful of junks, none of which appeared to be set for sailing today. There was very little movement in the surrounding skies as well; about the only thing of interest was a brig whose spanker had caught fire, and the crew had put it out in almost no time at all. No ship was flying a black banner, much to Link's relief.

So he got up from the nets around the beakhead and stepped back onto the forecastle where Twali, Dubbl, and Gold were waiting. "Mister Gold," Link said as he crossed, handing the duoscope back to Twali, "take us in on the engine. Dubbl, you and Lwamm can open the sails back up."

"Aye aye, Cap'n, Gold replied while Dubbl answered, "Yes, May Kyabtin."

"Twali…" Link said as he turned back around. But he paused for a moment as he tried to think of the word. "Uhh… tay… tay-tay… tayjolan?" Then he snapped his fingers and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Tayjolan."

Twali put on a contemplative look and glanced down at herself. She jumped in place a couple of times while she seemed to be focused on her chest. "'Inu nadmoytokak tab 'inu sadhox, May Kyabtin," she said. She shook her shoulders. "'Imayn 'aman dhijilwak Dholit dha' tac."

"Uh… what's she doin'?" Gold asked.

Link shook his head. "I-I don't know," he replied in an exhausted tone. "I was trying to tell her to return to her post."

Dubbl, who had stopped at the top of the steps when she had heard Geltoan, turned around and said, "Twali, tayjolwan."

"Ha?" Twali asked, ceasing movement. Link turned in response to her voice.

"Tayjolwan," Dubbl repeated, pointing aft.

Twali seemed to take a moment to process what was going on. Then Link thought he saw her flush before she bowed her head. "Oh. Ay'a." Link stepped out of the way as she started walking back to the poop deck.

Dubbl shook her head. "Not lea'n flom Dholit, Kyabtin," she told Link as she walked away.

"'Not learn flom Dholit'?" Gold asked. He grinned. "She teachin' yeh tae speak dir'y Geltoan?"

Link gave his head an exhausted shake. "I don't know anymore," he admitted. "I tried to ask Layna how she was doing last night, and Biluf—she was there in the room, too—she just started laughing. It might've lasted longer if Layna hadn't thrown a blade at her."

Gold's grin became larger. Then he turned and started shifting levers. "Layna, that's the one that got 'urt, right?"

"Yeah," Link said with a nod. "She's also the one that likes to kill people." He glanced out at the sky for a moment. "It's just occurred to me. It's been about two weeks, so she should probably see a surgeon while we're here."

"'Ow's our supplies?"

"Well, other than Sello's needs, we should have enough to make Bold Island as we are. But we might stay here for a bit. Now's probably the best time to get a few things done."

Gold turned back to the wheel. "Such as?"

"Well, taking Layna to a clinic, obviously. And I hope we can find some alcohol for Sello; I'm worried it's only a matter of time before he walks straight overboard. Then there's the cutter."

Gold gave Link a blank look, making Link wonder how exactly he had interpreted the phrase. "What 'bout the cu'er?"

Link returned his peculiar look with one of his own. "The boat on the boat deck," he answered, indicating such with a thumb. "We're going to fit it with a ballast system and an engine so we can use it."

"Oh," Gold responded. "I see."

"Something like a cutter would be useful for getting to Bold Island; there's bound to be Skyrider ships there."

"Got it, Cap'n."

…

A little over an hour later, the Island Symphony was docked at the end of a floating pier, the only space along the port where the ship could fit. Since they would be taking on some supplies (particularly whatever junk Sello scrounged/stole), Link decided it would be best to level the cargo hold to the pier and open up one of the large doors. Due to them docking close to the shift change, Link had asked Gold to maintain watch over the helm in case they needed to bolt. Dubbl, Twali, Biluf, and Lwamm were to maintain the watch with Dubbl firing one of Biluf's new smoke shells should a Skyrider ship appear. Cale and Lilly were going to… some destination unknown to Link, ostensibly to look for any indication that the King and Queen of Hyrule had docked here. Leynne, while still in possession of most of the money he had made on Might Island, was going shopping with Sello to find parts they could use to make a launch out of Rosaline's cutter. Link decided to take Layna to whatever clinic he could find to have her examined. Dholit would be going along with him to translate and keep her from annoying the rest of the crew.

That had been the plan, but, one hour after they had docked, Link still stood in the hold waiting. He was not alone; Layna stood next to him, and Irleen hid underneath his hat. Layna was still as a statue, but Link could feel Irleen moving around against the top of his head. Link's ears told him the rest of his crew was trying to get organized as footsteps seemed to dash from one end of the ship to the other.

"Ugh!" Irleen finally growled, jumping out from under Link's hat. "What's going on!? Are we gonna do stuff or not!?"

"Calm down, Irleen," Link told her. "I think they're still getting ready; we've got a lot to do today."

"How long could it take?" she asked, bouncing around in the air.

Link caught a glance of someone coming up the starboard steps and said, "Look, someone's here now."

Then he and Irleen cringed as that person, upon catching his foot on the top step, hit the deck with an incredible thud. "Didn' hurt!" Sello shouted.

"Tha's the only thin' ya said tha' I believe, Chief," Harley said as he stepped up onto the deck behind Sello. He grabbed the back of Sello's waistcoat and hauled him back to his feet. "I go'a tie ya ta somethin'?"

"Moose," Sello replied as he started across the deck.

"Wha' is a moose?" Harley asked while he followed Sello, throwing his arms wide to indicate his confusion and exhaustion.

"Is everything okay?" Irleen asked as they came closer.

"Exactly," Sello said. He stopped in front of Link and Irleen and wiggled his eyebrows at them.

"Exactly what?" Irleen asked. "What the hell was that look for?"

"Two beans."

"Oh, shut up."

Link looked around Sello and Harley to find that Leynne and Lidago had just stepped into the hold. "Something going on?" he asked Harley.

"Leynne asked us t' go 'long," Harley said. He held up an arm and flexed it. "Y'know. Muscle."

"I also considehed that a Goron may stand out betteh than a teenaged captain," Leynne said as he stepped up next to Harley. "It would sehve to attract attention away from you. The local population will remembeh Lidago moh, and any Skyridehs that show up afteh us should be confused."

Link gave his head a small tilt. "Eh… maybe. But if it's North—"

"If it's Nohth," Leynne interrupted, "then it won't matteh. But the longeh we keep otheh Skyridehs guessing, the longeh we have to keep moving towahd ouh goals."

"Hm. Nice," Irleen said.

"Dudes, twenty-seven wurdz," Sello spoke up. "Fried. Table legs."

"The Chief says i' sounds like a good idea," Harley said with a grin.

Lidago let out a confused groan. "Lidago heard something else."

"That's just the air whistling through Sello's head," Irleen said.

Link stepped to one side and indicated the open door. "Go ahead and get what you need."

"Le's go, Chief Ding-Dong," Harley said, pushing Sello forward.

"Hotdog!" Sello replied.

"Well I ain' touchin' i'," Harley told him.

Leynne paused before stepping off the ship. "I should wahn you that this may take some time, given the amount of supplies we requih in addition to Sello's proclivity foh gathering strange items."

Link held up a hand. "It's okay, Leynne. I'll be back soon to relieve Gold. And there's no rush; I was intending to give the whole crew a bit of leave before we go to Bold Island."

Leynne nodded. "All the same, we'll be back as soon as possible." With that, he held up a hand as a parting gesture and jogged down the pier to catch up with his group.

Link heard someone stumbling across the deck and turned to find Lilly and Cale standing in front of him. Both of them looked out-of-breath and a little disheveled, Cale looking the worse of the two. Link blinked at them for a moment. "You… are you two okay?" he asked.

"We fell," Cale said at the same time Lilly said, "We ran into a door." They exchanged looks, and then Lilly said, "We fell," while Cale amended, "We ran into a doah."

Link placed a hand over his eyes and sighed in exhaustion. "I'm not gonna ask," he told them. "Just go do what you need to do to find the king and queen."

"You know," Irleen added. "Somewhere between your makeout sessions."

"You don't trust us?" Lilly asked, raising an eyebrow.

"To not start kissing and groping each other like a pair of crazed teenagers in a trashy romance novel?" Irleen replied. Link immediately felt a memory of accidentally reading such a novel and started blushing madly, embarrassment so evident on his face that he was glad no one was actually looking at him. "Not really, no."

"We-we can take it seriously," Cale argued, trying to tug the collar of his shirt into a more comfortable position.

Link hid his face behind his hand to maintain the guise of exhaustion while hiding the fact that some of the images that were popping into his head were causing his face to turn even redder. "Just… just go," he told them in as steady of a voice as he could manage. Both Lilly and Cale, believing that they were annoying their commander (which was partially true), quickly moved past him and started down the pier.

And Dholit was revealed to have been standing behind them. "Well," she spoke up, causing Link to jump in surprise. "I believe that ouh valiant commandah is embarrassed by the antics of ouh lovahs."

"Is he?" Irleen asked.

"Dholit, don't start," Link groaned.

Irleen dropped to eye-level with Link and hovered around his face. "Wow, Link," she said. "You're red as an apple."

"That would be all of that misplaced blood, deah."

Link felt his anger rise along with his embarrassment, and he snapped at her, "Dholit!"

Dholit raised her hands. "Yes, I'm awah that I am evah-so-slowly approaching my limit, but I had been saving that pahticulah innuendo foh some time now."

"Oh, really?" Irleen said in a challenging tone. "How long?"

"Evah since we met," she replied, grin widening. "But my attempt to use it met with failuah."

"Huh?" Irleen asked, dumbstruck. "You missed a cue for innuendo? How come?"

"Cehtain cihcumstances," Dholit said.

"She fell and hit her head," Link blurted out, finding relief in having a way to turn the conversation against her.

"Sh—… She what?" Irleen asked.

"Ah," Dholit breathed, looking at the deckhead. "Of all the moments I've had with Link, that specific moment is the one which he wishes to invoke against me." Her grin had not broken, and it seemed to even turn evil as she told him, "If that's the situation, shall I remind My Captain that, between the two of us, I can command his lovely little assassin?"

Link, not cowed by the response, grinned his own malevolence. "So she won't attack if I point a finger at you?" he asked.

"I will tell heh to break youh fingahs befoah you can considah it," Dholit answered in a cool tone.

"'Imayn Kyabtin?" Layna asked.

Link turned to her and, upon remembering that they still had to take her to a clinic, let the scowl melt away in a show of concern. He sighed and said, "C'mon, we should get going." He turned and started across the door.

Irleen and Dholit exchanged looks. "I feel as if Layna has made moah progress with him than eithah you oh I," Dholit commented with a humored look on her face.

"You know," Irleen replied, "I know exactly what you mean by that, and I can't help agreeing with you."

"The question is whethah we should show some suppoht foh it oh not," Dholit said. "Afteh all, I've come to find that a young man's fihst love is quite precious to him. On the otheh hand, I'm ratheh jealous of competition."

"I'm standing right here," Link said with an annoyed tone, having stopped at the edge of the door when they started conversing.

"Yeah, we know," Irleen said. "But you never seem to pay attention to the important things anyway." Link sighed and waved at Layna to follow him. After giving Irleen and Dholit a curious look, she decided to follow without question. "I'd be inclined to support Link, but I'm worried it would distract him," Irleen continued with Dholit. "I mean… well, not to sound self-centered, but I'm still a fairy."

"Oh, Ihleen," Dholit replied, shaking her head. "As long as you ah a gihl, you will always be in competition foh Link's heaht."

"That isn't what I mean, and you know it," Irleen snapped.

Dholit gave a faux-helpless shrug. "Oh, come now, Ihleen," she said. "You can't tell me that you can show this level of affection foh him and not develop deepah feelings foh him."

Irleen's wings started beating faster, and her form shook in the air. "That—… That isn't how someone falls in love!" she shouted. "Nàpi katàh ō? Kūlhònàtūc nūc?"

Dholit blinked at her. "Um… Ihleen, ah you awah that you ah no longeh speaking Hylian?"

"Nūc? Luc kárōlat ō." There was a pause in between their conversation. Then Irleen spun to find that Link and Layna were halfway down the pier. "Līnca!"

…

Conversation had died between them, especially now that both Link and Dholit had acknowledged that they had a way of turning their injured companion against each other. For Link, it was more so Dholit would not have a reason to start telling Layna things that might work against him. For Dholit, she had simply lost interested and took secret pleasure in pushing Link ever closer to the edge. She never took the threat seriously.

Link spent most of the walk observing Layna, looking for any indication that she might be in pain. It was difficult; Layna was good at catching him, and Link would not stop turning away when she looked at him. As far as he could tell, if she was in pain, she was a master at hiding it. The way she walked was smooth, and she kept her face calm as if things were simply casual. Until she caught him, that is, when she would give him her usual show of silent confusion.

They found a clinic some distance from the docks and spoke with the orderly at the reception desk. After a brief explanation and Link handing over the letter from Doctor Albert, all four of them (Irleen had gone back to hiding inside Link's hat) were taken back to a stitching room. Layna sat on one bed, and Link sat in front of her on another bed. Dholit was looking at a nearby medicine cabinet when someone else finally entered.

The doctor, dressed in a casual tunic and slacks with a white coat over the top, was probably in his late thirties and a little wide around the belly. "Well," he said as he looked up at the room's occupants. "Nice to meet you, folks. I'm Doctor Gale."

"I'm Link," Link volunteered. He pointed to each Gelto as he introduced them, "This is Layna, and that's Dholit there."

Doctor Gale gave the two young women a confused look. Then he sighed and said, "So, I understand that Layna here has seen a bit of action."

"We both have, really," Link said as Dholit stepped up beside him. "But she took more of it."

"Given the details of that letter, I can certainly imagine," the doctor said. He removed a stethoscope from one of his coat pockets and placed one end in his right ear. "I'll just give her a quick examination and then see if she needs anything else done." He placed the other end of the stethoscope against her chest. He pondered for a moment, and then he stepped around her. He tugged on Layna's shirt and placed the stethoscope against her back.

And he was promptly elbowed in the jaw for it. "Doh!" he cried before he landed on the floor.

"Layna!" Link snapped while Dholit clapped a hand over her mouth, struggling not to laugh aloud.

"'Ak maddix binwikak!" she cried out, looking horrified with herself. "'Inu nadmicalwnya'ak zansiyxw zhal!"

"Doctor, are you all right!?" Link asked as he made to jump off the edge of the bed.

The doctor picked himself up on the other side of Layna's bed. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, cradling his jaw with his free hand.

Dholit let a giggle escape before telling him, "I'm afraid you'll have to fohgive heh, Doctoh. The device you ah using is cold. And ouh pooh Layna has some very adamant reflexes."

"It's all right," he assured her, bending over to pick up his stethoscope. "I've been struck by worse."

"Good thing it wasn't a blade," Irleen commented under Link's cap.

"I'm sorry?" the doctor asked, glancing at Dholit.

"Oh, nothing," Dholit replied.

The doctor placed the stethoscope back in his ear and carefully touched it to Layna's back. She visibly shivered, but she restrained herself and allowed the doctor to examine her against the instinct to reach around and jab out one of his eyes. The doctor then removed the stethoscope. "Well, her heartbeat and her breathing appear to be normal," he told them as he pocketed the instrument. "Has there been any bleeding or drainage?"

"Theah was some bleeding not long afteh we left Might Island," Dholit said. "It promptly stopped afteh she was confined to quahtahs."

"I'm sorry, 'confined to-to quarters'?" the doctor asked.

"It was a punishment," Link replied. "She picked up the chief engineer and threw him against the deck."

"Ah," the doctor said. This was followed by a few minutes of glancing between Link and Layna as he tried to understand the circumstances behind the punishment. Then he shrugged and asked, "And you said there hasn't been any bleeding since?"

"None that I've seen," Dholit said with a nod. "A bit of pus, but it only lasted as long as heh wounds weh open."

"Any sort of discoloration or tender spots?" the doctor asked.

"I have not noticed any discoloration," Dholit said. "As foh tendehness, she has not complained of any."

"Unusual fever or sweating?"

Dholit nodded. "A bit at fihst," she said. "It tended to disappeah when we provided heh with medicine from the Might Island clinic."

"Okay," the doctor said with a nod. "I understand that someone removed some stitches?"

"I removed some of them," Dholit said. "Othehs, I could not be cehtain that she had finished healing oh I felt uncomfohtable trying to remove."

The doctor nodded. "Okay. I'll go get an instrument tray, and we'll see about removing the rest."

He stepped out, leaving the room in silence again. Link was relieved to have a more detailed report of what had been happening to her since Might Island, especially since they were things that Link would have never thought to ask about. The doctor had sounded impressed with her recovery, and this made Link hopeful that he could put her back on duty; he still felt guilty about having to punish her just to make her settle down long enough to heal.

The doctor returned with a moving tray on which were a number of steel instruments. Link cringed when the doctor left them sitting between him and Layna. "You may want to ask the young man to step out before she disrobes," the doctor said as he retrieved a stool from a corner of the room.

"That's okay," Link said as he stood up, careful not to hit the tray. "I can go wait outside."

Layna, watching Link stroll toward the door, sounded panicked when she shouted, "'Imayn Kyabtin!" The shout prompted Link to stop and turn around. But Layna addressed Dholit, "'Imayn Kyabtin safunatak hukwo?"

"My Captain coysafunatak kambi zatayskw," Dholit told her in a calming tone. Then she put on a grin. "'Itab 'al waba sakilwubak zhal wabin sannit…"

Layna seemed to shrink for a moment. Then she nodded. "Zhi yascobalak."

"She wants you to stay," Dholit told him.

Link felt heat rise to his face. "Are you sure?"

"She won't do it without you," Dholit replied.

Link gave a reluctant nod and returned to the bed he had been sitting on. "Okay then," the doctor said. "Uh, let's start with the shirt."

"Layna, foythofan wabin taliyf," Dholit said. Layna closed her eyes and pulled her shirt off over her head. Link found himself staring in awe.

Scars. Almost a hundred of them adorned her chest and abdomen, splotches of dark red against her brown skin. He could tell some of them were wounds from the bullets she had taken on Might Island. Others, however, appeared much older than that. Most of them looked like scars left behind by a blade. A few of them looked like healed burns. He knew what both looked like due to years of listening to other airmen bragging about their scars. But Link had never seen so many on a single body, let alone a woman's. The Gelto often did not seem to dress in clothing appropriate for anything but warm weather, but Link began to understand why Layna was not willing to even bare her midriff like the others. She was self-conscious of them; she tried to hide part of her stomach with a forearm when she realized that he was staring. This only prompted Link to look up at her chest.

It turned out to be a huge mistake.

"CAPTAIN LINK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Yikes!" Link cried out. He kicked his legs and hit the tray holding the doctor's instruments, toppling it and scattering the instruments onto the floor.

"What the hell, Link!" Irleen shouted as she darted out of Link's hat. "What are you screaming about?!"

"HOW COULD YOU BE SO INDECENT?!" Link realized with utter horror that, as the other occupants in the room stared at him in surprise, Princess Zelda was the one screaming at him. His glancing at Layna caused her to snap, "LINK!"

Link immediately dug into his pocket and pulled out both of Irleen's gems. "Irleen, Dholit, stay here," he told them as he placed both on the bed. "I'll be right back."

"Wheah ah you going?" Dholit asked.

"Don't worry about it," Link called over his shoulder as he left the room. He rushed through the clinic, out the front door, and into a nearby alley. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching him from the street. Then he asked, "Princess?"

"Yes, Link, it is," Zelda replied with a heated tone. Then she commenced to shouting, "How dare you be so lecherous! I am appalled to know my future lies in the hands of a pervert!"

"It's not like that!" Link cried out.

"Isn't it!?" she demanded. "Imagine my surprise when I went to sleep expecting to have a decent conversation with you only to open my eyes to find them staring at a woman's chest. You disgusting little—"

"Would you just let me explain!?"

"Yes. Yes, I would like to hear what kind of debauchery brought you to stare at her with your tongue hanging from your disgusting mouth. Did you order one of your crew to remove her shirt? Did she plead with you before you—?"

"We're at a clinic!" Link quickly rounded the corner to look at the sign hanging over the door. "Look, see?" Zelda had fallen silent, and Link took the opportunity to get a word in before she started shouting at him again. "We came here so Layna could be examined. She didn't want me to leave when the doctor mentioned taking off her clothes; I-I don't know why. I-I wasn't staring at her chest; I was staring at her scars."

"Oh," was all Zelda said for a moment. Link ducked back into the alley and rested against the wall behind him. "Oh, my. I-I am sorry, Link. I appear to have misjudged you."

"I'll say," Link answered. "I mean, I probably shouldn't have been staring, but I'd never seen someone with so many scars."

"Yes, now that I think on the memory, I can see the morbid fascination," she admitted. "Dear me. Is she the crewmember you described as a killer?"

"An assassin, yeah. I-I guess you don't get so many scars for playing nice."

"Indeed."

He sighed. "I wish you'd tell me whenever you're looking through my eyes."

"Perhaps I should. I did not mean to overreact. I think part of me just wanted to ensure that it was not I dreaming of staring at a woman's bare chest."

Link gave a weak chuckle. "I suppose that would be even more embarrassing for you."

Zelda made an affirmative sound. Then she asked, "Are you on an island right now?"

"Yeah, we're on South Sand Island. We docked earlier this morning."

"Oh, good! So, what is your plan from here?"

"Leynne took some of the engine room crew to find parts to put together a ballast system and an engine for the launch. Cale and Lilly are searching for leads concerning your parents, but I'm inclined to think they'd already moved on to Bold Island."

"But if they were unable to make the journey without the Sky Lines, would they have really missed this island?"

Link shrugged. "That's what we're gonna find out. I was planning to let the rest of the crew have a bit of shore leave before we move; so far, there hasn't been any sign of Skyriders."

"I imagine your crew will be thankful. I should remember to think better of you, Link. I apologize for what I called you, what I said about you."

"Well… I'm a little glad that you did, actually. I… well, like I said, I was staring at her scars. I don't think she appreciated it." He scratched the back of his head. "I guess I should thank you."

"You should probably go back inside. I'm sure I've caused your crew to worry."

Link nodded and walked back into clinic. When he stepped into the stitching room, the doctor had asked Layna to lie down and covered her with a sheet while he removed stitches from a wound in her thigh. Link sighed with relief and returned to his seat on the bed next to hers. The doctor glanced up at him before he returned to removing the stitches.

"Ah you okay, My Captain?" Dholit whispered in his ear.

He felt her press Irleen's gems into his hand. He glanced at her for a moment. Then he replied as he watched the doctor work, "I needed to get outside for a moment."

"Foh youh sake, I'll refrain from speaking foh all to heah," Dholit said. "But it seems to me that, if you weh embarrassed to be gazing upon Layna's naked flesh, you took quite a bit of time to realize it." Link did not even have to look at her to know she was smiling at him. He just attempted to sit in silence while his face burned furiously.

…

With Layna's stitches removed, Link had seen fit to tell her that she was allowed to return to duty. He wished he had waited until they had returned to the Island Symphony. The moment Dholit had translated Link's statement, Layna had disappeared so fast that both Link and Dholit wondered aloud if she had even left the clinic with them. Link was happy for her; she seemed very passionate about her duty, and Link was worried that restricting her any further would cause her to do something crazy.

When they returned to the ship, Link was a little shocked and angry to find Leynne, Harley, and Lidago unloading a cart full of various pieces of metal and scrap. This was mostly because some of it looked to be parts of a cargo crane, the kind that would be found at a port much larger than South Sand Island. They were some of the larger parts, and Link even saw a pane of glass from the operator's booth. Link asked where the crane parts had come from, and Leynne assured him that the crane was out of commission and that only two or three things in their cart had actually been stolen. Naturally, Link asked what was stolen, and Leynne explained that a ceramic tea set, a can containing a film reel, and the top half of a grandfather clock were the only items that he could not pay for because none of them had seen Sello grab them. Next, he asked why Sello was not unpacking the cart with them, and Harley told Link that Sello had been dealing with some serious separation anxiety, which included him spinning in circles on the ground and clucking like a cucco until the ship was in sight. He also listed babbling like a moron, but Leynne quickly pointed out that Sello babbled like a moron anyway. Link told them to get the junk stowed and secured before returning to duty. In the meantime, he released Lawrence, Helo, Twali, and Dubbl for a bit of shore leave, as he planned to do for Biluf and Lwamm once Cale and Lilly had returned.

Link was looking over the southern sky with a duoscope when he heard footsteps. He turned to find Cale and Lilly stepping onto the forecastle. "Good news, Captain," Lilly spoke up.

"I'm listening," Link replied.

"They were here."

Link heard a sharp breath and dismissed it as Zelda's reaction, given that she has still been chatting with him since he had been left alone on the bridge. "When?" he asked, keeping his tone even.

"Almost three weeks after they left West Iron Island," Lilly said.

"We spoke with the clinics which also sehve as phahmacies," Cale spoke up. "One told us of a paih of knights that approached them with a list of medication. Half of it was filled heah, but the phahmacists told them that theih supply of some of the otheh medicines had yet to reach them."

"A… a list?" Zelda uttered just before Cale finished his sentence.

"Wait, hold on a second," Link said, raising a hand. "A list? What kind of a list?"

"A…" Cale droned, glancing at Lilly. "A list of medicine, ostensibly."

Lilly suddenly gripped Cale's arm. "Oh, no," she said. "I hadn't felt about it, but… the queen, she…"

"She has become worse," Zelda finished, her voice sounding a little distant. "She needs her doctors."

"Where'd they go? To Bold Island?" Link asked.

"We can only hope," Lilly said. "No one we spoke'a saw them leave."

"Noh theih ship," Cale added. "But, given the amount of travel time between heah and Might Island, Bold Island would be a safeh choice if anything drastic happened. Oh, one otheh thing."

"Yeah?" Link asked.

"It's… there's been rumors about Bold Island," Lilly said. "From what we heard, I guess that Bold Island has closed off its port. Specifically, they won't let Skyriders or anyone representin' the royal family in."

"It also sounds as if theah is a problem with the island itself," Cale said. "Unfohtunately, no one would elaborate. I imagine that, weh a problem to arise with the whole island, it could be due to intahference with the nohmal operation of the technowohks."

Link nodded. "So, either way, we could be looking at a long stay at Bold Island," he said more to himself and Zelda than them. He looked up at them. "Good work, you two. If you could, find Dholit and tell her that Biluf and Lwamm can go ashore for a bit if they want to."

"They weh unloading that caht next to the ship when we retahned," Cale said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

"I know. But I'd like everyone to spend a bit of time off the ship; I plan on leaving this island tonight."

Both of them nodded. "Okay," Lilly said.

"And tell Dholit to go with them to make sure they don't cause trouble," Link added as they turned to go down the stairs.

"Right," one of them responded.

Link did not know which had answered, as Zelda was already asking him, "Link, what if Bold Island turned away my parents? If my mother is missing the medicine she needs…"

Link turned to look out across the bow. "We'll try to reach them as fast as we can," Link assured her. "But first, if Cunimincus' men landed at Bold Island and caused the technoworks to malfunction, we have to stop them."

"I understand," Zelda said. "I… just wish you could get to them faster."

"If we can get the Sky Lines back, they might make it to Castle Island on their own," Link suggested.

"Then please, Link. Do it as soon as you can."

…

~~Day 84 (Command, Day 47)

~~I've just realized that I'm coming up on three months since I started this journal. I look back through these pages and I always seem to realize that so many things have happened in all that time. This time I tried flipping forward, and I realized that I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, next week, or next month. It would really help at this point. I'd like to know if we succeed in restoring the last of the Sky Lines. And I'd really like to know that I'll find the king and queen before something bad happens. With this news that the queen's condition might be getting worse, I'm becoming concerned for Zelda as well. It might've been better that we didn't keep in contact after all, but we're too far into it now. Things might get harder without her.

~~We docked at South Sand Island this morning. We resupplied Sello, had Layna checked out and cleared for duty, and the whole crew has had the chance to enjoy a little time off the ship. As much as I want to let them have a few days, we left just before sundown for Bold Island. Something seems to be going on there; Cale and Lilly said that the port's closed itself off to Skyriders, and there might be a problem with the technoworks. You know, other than the fact that Cunimincus' airmen are probably tearing it apart.