Chapter 102: Old and New Crews (Somebody Save Me)

…

After Link's encounter with the young man calling himself "Constable Fieldview", he stepped on the special tiles to emerge into the garden room of the technoworks. Irleen raised question as to what took him so long, but Link decided that he wanted to hold off telling her about the person he had encountered. Instead, he said that he would explain it later. This earned him some of her annoyance, but she decided to drop the subject in favor of leaving the technoworks to their restored operation.

Link found himself grateful that the exit was much closer. He still had a hard time walking due to his leg still being partially numb, but he could at least move about on his own. Within a matter of minutes, he, Irleen, Layna (who subsequently disappeared), and the Grey, whom Irleen had introduced as Airman Lutock of the Horizon's Eye, emerged from the cavern into the black evening waiting for them. Link closed the broken door as best as he could and took Irleen and Lutock out to the docks through the half-lit streets of Bold Island. The walk was relatively quiet, mostly because Link was extremely tired. Lutock could not converse with either of them while Link held Irleen's gem, so he had decided to quietly follow them.

They returned to the Conductor to find no sign of Cale, Lilly, Line, or Flower. Link was relieved to see the faint glow of the Sky Lines in the surrounding air and waved the group aboard. Layna boarded the boat and settled herself around the side of the pilot's station, keeping herself hidden just out of sight of the boarding plank. Lutock busied himself with examining the Conductor. Link sat down on the deck behind the pilot's station, angling himself so he could see anyone coming aboard. Irleen lingered near him.

At one point, her boredom with the silence got the better of her, and she finally asked, "So. How are you doing, Link?"

Link, with his arms wrapped around himself, gave a shrug. "Kinda cold."

"Right, she… cut the legs off your undersuit, didn't she?"

Link adjusted his position so he could fold his legs together. He found he could still feel the cold evening air through the hole in his trousers. "Yep."

Irleen gave a moment of pause. Then she asked, "Where do you think we need to go from here?"

Again, Link shrugged. "It's a little hard to say. But my best guess is we'll still be heading south from here. We'll wait and see what Lilly and Cale have for us."

"It's hard to imagine them getting very far after all we've heard about the queen's condition," Irleen said.

Link nodded. "No doubt. So I'm hoping that they may have stopped at Bell Island or maybe even Rake Island. Somewhere between here and Castle Island at least."

"Are those the only islands between here and there?"

At this, Link gave a sigh. "No. Probably the biggest on the way there is Skyrider Port. We'll be sailing right past it, you know."

"Like passing a beehive," Irleen said with a contemptuous tone.

"We'll see," Link said. Then he looked up at the sound of footsteps on the boarding plank.

Layna was the first to rise, which earned her the following remark from Line, "Hi, sexy."

Link had risen second to see Line and Flower stepping off the boarding plank with Cale and Lilly in tow. "I was hoping to find you guys already here," he told Line as he stepped into the pilot's station to get closer to him. "Where'd you go?"

"We went poking around the blockade ships," Flower said. "Good news, by the way."

"We'll take it," Irleen told him.

"We may know wheah the king and queen have gone," Cale said. "One of the vessel commandahs we spoke with remembahed encountering a vessel flying a royal banneh."

"Were they allowed to dock here?" Link asked.

"Nope," Line said as he sidled up next to Layna. He gave her a lingering stare and said nothing more.

"Uh, the ship was denied on threat of sinking," Flower continued, reaching over to slug Line's shoulder. Line jumped and gave Flower an annoyed glare. "They turned and sailed away."

"Predictably enough, they continued…" Cale had to pause to think of directions. "South. They continued south from heah."

"I thought the guy said 'north'," Flower asked.

"It's a different issue with navigation," Link told them. "But it's certain that they were going toward Castle Island, right?"

"That was the impression I came away with," Cale said with a nod.

"Okay then," Link said. "We'll make for Bell Island in the morning."

"Actually, Lieutenant," Flower spoke up, "I think our better bet would be Skyrider Port."

Link shook his head. "We were just talking about that. I think we should avoid the Port as best as we can."

"Then you don't know, do you?"

Link traded a look with Cale. "Know what?"

"Since our ships are being supplied out of the castle, the Port's been abandoned. Last I understood, the office closed down; I even got a letter from one of the secretaries saying so. I really believe we should see if they're at the Port; it would be the best place to stop."

"Ah you suah?" Cale asked.

"Yeah," Flower told him. "Call it a gut instinct."

Link's mind wandered back to what Captain Luke had told him about the loyalty that the Skyrider captains were supposed to have pledged to the Crown before receiving their post. He did not know if the office staff would show the same loyalty, but he could see Flower's reasoning. So he nodded. "Okay. We'll give the Port a try. Flower, signal our departure and haul in our mooring lines. Everyone else…" He paused to grimace as it occurred to him how they would be returning to the Island Symphony. "Uh… fit below as best as you can. And try not to scream."

This was the only thing to snap Line out of staring at Layna. "Wait, what?" he asked.

…

Someone screamed, and Link honestly did not think he was going that fast. Then again, now knowing what to expect from the engine Sello had put in the Conductor may have made him used to the idea of going so fast. He was able to brace himself up for the low-speed departure. Then, once the Conductor was out of the blockade, Link dared to open the throttle enough to send them soaring back to the light that was the Island Symphony. About halfway to the ship, he stopped the engine and fired a green flare into the air. The Island Symphony responded with a green flare, and Link finished the boat ride back to the ship. Stopping the Conductor over the Island Symphony's poop deck was very tricky due to the launch wanting to drift even after Link shut the engine off. But as he descended, he called to Twali and Dubbl to grab the mooring ropes they had dropped and tug the boat into position. It was a clumsy process; both the crew on the ship and the launch cried out in panic whenever both vessels struck each other. With a bit more work, the Conductor settled into its supports inside the boat deck, and Link completely closed off the ballast. Dubbl, a few minutes later, brought the ladder into position against the Conductor's transom.

"Link," Line said as he rested against the outside of the pilot's station, "I don't know where you got this ship…but it's really weird. And… this boat's gonna kill someone."

"Considering things lately," Link said wearily, although without Line's breathlessness, "that's not the worse news I've heard."

"Boat's secure, sir," Flower reported, approaching the station from the bow.

Link nodded. "I hope you guys didn't need any gear from the island."

"Nothing was really ours," Flower said. "We'd sold most everything we had just to make it here."

"Nothing I wanted," Line said. He patted one of his trouser pockets. "Nice-looking pocketknife's about all I need."

"No clothes or anything?" Link asked.

Line gave a wry chuckle. "Lost it all when the Sonata went down."

"All my gear was still on the Grand Sails," Flower said.

"Okay," Link said. "Well, we've got plenty of spare bunks. They're forward under the main deck. Grab some sleep; chances are we'll be at the Port in the morning."

"Aye, sir," Flower said.

"Got it," Line agreed.

Link watched as they moved to the transom. Then he turned to look forward as Irleen and Lutock stepped out from the cabin. "How's he doing, Irleen?"

"Well, his health would be better if this thing's engine wasn't built by a lunatic," Irleen replied while Lutock looked around at the deck. "But he's all right. He's probably the healthiest guy on Bold Island."

Link nodded. "Can you guide him downstairs to the officers' quarters? It's just two decks below the main deck. I figure he could use some rest, like the rest of us."

"We can take him, sir," Flower spoke up, his head still above the transom. Without waiting for an answer, he waved a hand to invite Lutock over. Lutock gave Link a concerned look before stepping around to follow Flower down the ladder.

Link shrugged. "I guess that takes care of that."

"Beats having to wander around the ship," she responded. "I think I'm ready for bed. Are you planning on staying up anymore?"

Link shook his head. "No, I've gotta get some sleep, too." He glanced back at the cabin to see Lilly and Cale emerging. He turned to them and said, "Go on to bed, but try not to sleep too late in the morning. I still need you on duty."

"Oka—aaaaaaah—ay," Cale replied, unable to suppress his yawn. "Excuse me."

"See ya in the mornin'," Lilly said as they walked past.

Link watched Cale take the ladder down first. Then he realized someone was missing and glanced back at the cabin. He stepped out of the pilot's station and walked over to the doorway. It was hard to tell with only a little light filtering in from somewhere over his shoulder, but he saw Layna's lifeless form huddled in a corner of the small cabin. He turned his head to listen a little better, and he realized that she had fallen asleep where she was sitting. He grinned to himself and decided to leave her alone, thinking that it might be dangerous to try waking her.

Link descended from the launch a moment later and encountered Dubbl waiting for him at the bottom. "You go to bed, Kyabtin?" she asked him.

Link nodded. "Yeah," he told her. "We've got the Sky Lines back, but…" He paused to groan and stretch out his arms. "… We'll get moving in the morning. Let Leynne know that I want to see him the moment he relieves you."

Dubbl nodded. "Yes, Kyabtin."

…

~~Day 88 (Command, Day 88)

~~We came to Bold Island, we kicked ass on Bold Island, we'll leave Bold Island in the morning. I'm way too tired to do ano~~

…

Link started awake when someone knocked on the door to his cabin. Instead of writing an entry in his journal and then going to bed, he woke up to find that he had fallen asleep on top of the journal while still sitting at his desk. He gave the book an annoyed glare when he realized that he had drooled on the page he was supposed to have been writing on. He used a sleeve to wipe it off, forgetting about the door until the person on the other side knocked harder. "Come in," Link called.

Leynne stepped inside, looking more alive than Link felt and wearing a black, long-sleeve, button-down shirt and tan trousers. "Sohry to distuhb you, but Dubbl said you wanted to see me," he said.

Link tried to shake his head back into operation and stood up. "Yeah," he said. "Just a couple things I needed. First, we have two new crewmembers."

Leynne raised an eyebrow. "You hihed new crewmembehs on Bold Island?"

"No, actually," Link said. "They're members of the Island Sonata's crew. Do you remember me mentioning my friend Line?"

"The name sounds familiah."

"I found him and Airman Flower on the island. They've been hiding out here since they brought part of Cunimincus' crew here. Uh… shoot." Link shook his head again as he tried to remember the assignments he had worked out for them sometime the previous evening. "Um… I wanna go ahead and free you from the helm, so I'd like to have Line on the helm on the day shift."

"And… my duty as second-in-command?"

Link sighed. "I'd prefer you to remain second for now." He held up a hand as Leynne opened his mouth. "I know I said that I'd relieve you as soon as I found someone qualified for the position, but Line and Flower need a bit of time to get use to how things work on this ship."

Leynne shrugged. "Actually, I only questioned it because I've recently found myself accommodating to the position. While I could go without having to deal with the eccentricities of this crew, I admit to having developed a fondness foh the post itself."

Link blinked at him, unsure if he really understood what Leynne was saying. "You… wanna keep the position?"

Leynne allowed himself a half-grin. "To my own suhprise, yes."

"Uh…" Link raised his arms in a show of agreement. "O-okay, then. Um… but, yeah, I'd like Line on the helm on the day shift; he's a decent navigator, and it'll free you up for other duties."

Leynne nodded. "And this Aihman Floweh?"

"I'd like to go ahead and put Flower on lookout instead of Cale. Between the two, Flower will be better at identifying vessels at a distance. I'd like to make Cale the ship's supply chief, something clerical."

"And a position that doesn't leave him in so much dangeh of falling off the poop deck," Leynne added, now allowing himself a complete smile.

Link chuckled. "Yeah, that, too. I'll get him trained in the next couple of days, so just leave that to me."

"And Lilly?"

"Huh? What about Lilly?"

"Well, you've left heh to simply follow Cale around. I would expect that she desehves an appropriate assignment as well."

Link drew back the corners of his mouth. "Yeah, that's right. I… really don't know what to do with her. Maybe just let her take on the clerical work, too. Once we're done, we should be returning her to Sagacity Island anyway."

Leynne nodded. "Okay. What was the otheh item you wanted to discuss?"

"Right," Link said. He stepped around his desk and invited Leynne over to the map table. "We have a lead on the king and queen. According to a crewmember of one of the blockade ships, a ship bearing the royal banner had come by Bold Island at some point. They got turned away, and we're certain that they continued south toward Castle Island."

Leynne nodded to himself. "That's consistent with the direction we've been following. So, on to… Bell Island, is it?"

"Actually, we're going to pass Bell Island for the moment and head straight for Skyrider Port."

Leynne raised an eyebrow. "Skyrideh Poht. As in the base of operations of youh fohmeh colleagues."

"I know it sounds crazy…"

"It wouldn't be my fihst choice of wohds, but yes, it does."

"Flower told me that the Skyriders have been operating out of Castle Island, and it makes sense. They're being supplied directly out of the castle; I've seen the docking towers they erected within the castle walls. If that's the case, the island will be abandoned."

"And if it isn't the case?"

"Then the Sky Lines will give us a better chance of escaping again," Link told him. "And, from there, we can check out the nearby islands only hours away. But… Flower thinks that the Port is the second-best place to find them, and I tend to agree."

Leynne gave a sigh. "Okay, Link. We don't have much in the way of chahts, so I'll plot us a rough couhse. My initial guess would be…" He paused to examine the map on the table in front of them. "I want to say we'll be theh by noon, but I've found my usual navigation skills hindehed by the inaccuracy of these lahgeh maps and the presence of the Sky Lines."

Link nodded. "Give it your best shot. Is the rest of the day shift up?"

"I can't be cehtain. I woke up eahly because something struck the deck above my cabin quite hahd. If I had to guess, I would imagine Sello having anotheh encounteh with the Gelto."

"Was he being a handful yesterday?"

"Not pahticulahly, but that neveh seems to mean much."

Link nodded. "Okay. I'll keep an eye on the deck while you plot our course."

Leynne turned as Link stepped over to retrieve his tunic from atop his footlocker. "Actually, Dubbl's still on the deck. She didn't want to leave until you weh done with me."

"That's okay, I'll let her go."

Link put on his tunic and strapped his gun belt to it. He stepped out to find that it was actually quite early in the morning. The sun had yet to rise, although the stars had already disappeared in the brightness of the eastern skies. Link was surprised to find that, in addition to Dubbl and Lwamm on the main deck, Twali was there. From the volume of her voice, something had upset her. Link took in a breath and strode across the deck to their position between the main masts. As he approached, he asked over Twali's voice, "Is everything all right?"

All three Gelto jumped in surprise and immediately saluted him. Link's responding salute was lacking any sort of enthusiasm, so they were confused as they slowly lowered their hands. There was a pause before Dubbl told him, "Twali found stlange' in he' bed."

"She found a-a stranger in her bunk?" Link asked.

"Yes, Kyabtin."

Link paused. Then, panic jarred him to life, and he quickly asked, "She didn't kill anyone, did she?"

Dubbl shook her head. "She not killed. She only zlew."

"She what? She threw him? Who was it? Does she know?"

"Uh… someone… she zought it Kyabtin, but… wlong hai'."

"Long… hair? Oh, wrong hair? Was his hair red?"

Dubbl nodded. "Yes."

Link sighed and told himself, "That didn't take too long…" Then he heard footsteps on the deck and looked past the girls to see Line walking towards them. "Oh, well. 'Speak of the idiot, and he shall come'."

"Link!" Line snapped, stepping around the Gelto as if not even noticing them. "I just got thrown out of my bed, and I wanna know why!"

"Wabnik!" both Lwamm and Twali snapped, each pointing a finger at him.

This caught Line by surprise, and he jumped sideways. But, once he had recovered, he just gaped at them. "Link… you have more?!"

Link indicated Twali. "Line, this is Twali. And she threw you out of her bed."

"Giyroxwan!" Twali snapped at him.

"Huh," Line responded. "Makes me wanna do it again."

Link pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh, boy…"

"What?" Line asked. "They're hot."

Dubbl's face changed from a neutral stare to one of annoyance. "Wacobalan alwub 'immu min, maddix 'anayrti 'adhijlwin," she told him, pointing a finger at him. Lwamm and Twali, seemingly in response, crossed their arms.

Link grabbed the back of Line's shirt. "Okay, Line, time to step back before they rip out your spine and beat you to death with it," he said, tugging Line backwards a few steps.

"Wh—Who says that's a bad thing?" Line asked.

"Kyabtin, he came flom whe'e?" Dubbl asked.

Line's face went from love-struck to the only kind of shock reserved for the realization one was about to die horribly. "She speaks Hylian?"

"Line, go over there," Link said, pointing to the port main mast, "sit down, and shut up for a moment."

"Gladly," Line replied, walking away quickly.

Link waited until he was out of earshot before speaking to Dubbl. "This is Airman Line. He used to be a member of my crew, and he's going to take over manning the helm for Leynne. Look, I don't know why he's acting all…"

"Hungly?" Dubbl suggested.

Link took a moment to stumble through what she meant. When he had the idea, he could feel his face heat up. "Uh… yeah, let's… let's go with that. An-anyway, just… try to bear with it. Please? I-I know he's already said some stupid things, but… well, we could use his help."

Dubbl's annoyed glare broke. Instead, she gave him a worried look. "I not woddy fo' Twali and Lwamm," she told him. "I woddy fo' Dholit."

Link's eyes went wide. "Oh, crap," he said aloud. "I forgot about her."

"Link?"

"YIKES!" Link jumped to almost his full height when Leynne's voice addressed him from behind. Lwamm quickly grabbed his arms to keep him from crashing into her.

"Oh, sohry," Leynne said. "I didn't mean to distuhb youh convehsation, but I think I have ouh couhse ready. It'll be a little tricky."

"Fine, fine," Link said. He took a deep breath to calm himself.

"You really don't like people walking up behind you, do you?" Irleen asked with a giggle in her voice.

Link looked up to find her hovering over Link's head. "Have you ever met someone who has?" he asked.

"Oh, I didn't realize you weh up theh," Leynne said to her. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"Yeah, but I'll get over it."

"Good morning, Lieutenant," Flower said as he stepped around Twali. "Is this the daily officer's meeting I'm crashing?"

"Good morn—hlwekkh!" Link's response to Flower's greeting was suddenly cut off by Lwamm, who had released his arms and was now squeezing his neck in her arms from behind. Panicked, he started squeezing his fingers between her arms and his throat.

Lwamm stood in awe, staring at Flower as she said, "'Inu sayaxwikak nwik sanway."

"'Aydhom," Dubbl corrected.

"Na', ilwozhud ta'ab, 'inu sayaxwikak zhal," Lwamm said.

"Lwamm!" Twali whined.

"What's going on?" Flower asked.

"I think you may have struck Lwamm's fancy," Leynne said, trying to hold back a grin.

Link gave a heavy cough and finally shouted, "Lwamm!" Lwamm quickly released Link out of surprise, and Link stumbled forward.

"'Inu liyxomotak dhol!?" Lwamm called out, looking horrified. She turned to Dubbl and Twali. Dubbl looked just as alarmed, but Twali appeared annoyed. "'Inu liyxomotak dhol!? 'Inu mudhjya'ak zabaytkw 'Imayn Kyabtin!"

"Ah you all right?" Leynne asked Link.

"I'm okay," Link replied with a nod.

"Ah! Layna!" Twali suddenly cried out.

"Whoa!" Flower hollered when he realized that a confused-looking Layna was standing right behind him. He snapped at her, "What is wrong with you!?"

The situation around Link quickly devolved into everyone screaming at everyone else. Twali was shouting at Lwamm, Lwamm was shouting at Layna (although most of it looked like begging), Leynne was trying to explain things to Flower over the Gelto fighting, Flower was trying to ask questions, and Irleen was trying to address both Leynne and Dubbl at the same time. For reasons unknown to Link, Line ran back into the conversation and started trying to flirt with every Gelto at the same time. This resulted in Dubbl shouting things at him in Geltoan, which only seemed to encourage Line to say more to her. Link and Layna were the only ones not making any sound and, instead, just watching everything.

"Good mohning, My Dahlings!"

Everyone suddenly froze in place, Line and Flower out of curiosity and the rest of the crew out of utter dread. Dholit stood behind Layna, whose stance had stiffened due to Dholit's proximity (and maybe the feeling of Dholit's finger slowly brushing the length of her arm). Link never thought he would be grateful to see her, but with the crew causing each other trouble, her eccentricity was just the thing he needed to draw the crew together. On pain of being left to Dholit if he needed.

He cleared his throat (mostly because it still hurt), and he croaked out, "Okay," he addressed his crew. "Obviously, there've been a few developments." He started pointing a finger as he introduced people. "Line, Flower, these are Chiefs Leynne and Dubbl, our night shift deck crew Lwamm and Twali, and part of the day shift crew… Dholit. Guys, these are our new airmen. Airmen Flower and Line."

Flower glanced around at the Gelto. "Quite the crew you got here, Lieutenant," he remarked with a smirk.

"I'll say," Line agreed as he stared at Dholit.

"Line…" Link said in a warning tone.

Dholit gave Line a smile and slowly approached him. Line's eyes went wide, as did everyone else familiar with Dholit's antics. She stopped close enough that Line quit breathing in fear that getting his breath on her might offend her. Dholit pointedly leered at Link.

Then she bent down, grabbed the sides of Line's head, and pressed her lips against his with amazing passion. Almost instantly, Link, Irleen, Leynne, Dubbl, and even Lwamm and Twali simultaneously snapped at her, "DHOLIT!"

Dholit released Line with as much noise as their lips could make. Line had a dumb-struck smile on his face, and he managed to stand still for a moment, staring into space. Then his eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed where he stood, causing a loud thunk when his head struck the deck.

"Great, Dholit," Link said, pressing a hand over his eyes. "Great. Now he's useless."