Chapter 123: Laughter

…

~~Day 99 (Command, Day 62)

~~It's all over. The Smiling Gunner has been destroyed and its crew killed. Princess Zelda is safe and sound with us on the Island Symphony. And everyone on the Island Symphony, the Moon's Shadow, and the Grand Sails is unhurt. In hindsight, it felt like Cunimincus' men were nothing. I wonder if maybe all those Geozards and Lizalfos were just dumb muscle; none of them really put up a fight. Cunimincus probably assigned all his good airmen to the islands.

~~The Moon's Shadow is going to Center Island to check on the Royal Air Corps and will meet with us at Skyrider Port. Cap—Dad took the Grand Sails to Might Island to give Luke the word that the island doesn't need to prepare for attack. We're on our way to the Port, which will take us another half a day to reach thanks to the modifications we made to the Sky Line.

~~I hurt all over, and I've had to have my left arm bandaged up past my elbow. I wanted to deliver the princess to Castle Island as soon as possible, but she, Leynne, and pretty much the rest of the deck crew talked me into at least stopping at the Port overnight to see a surgeon. I guess, at this point, the king and queen can tolerate one more day without their daughter.

…

Link heard knocking on his door, something he was not quite expecting this late in the evening. Looking up from the stack of papers before him, he wondered who would need him at this time. So he called, "Who is it?"

"Link, it is I, Zelda." Link immediately shot to his feet, nearly knocking his chair over. "Might I come in?"

"Uh…" Link droned as his head spun with indecision. He looked down at himself and figured that allowing the Princess of Hyrule inside while he was only wearing a body suit was a little too casual. "Just-just a minute!" He rounded his desk and ripped his trousers off the edge of his footlocker. "I'll-I'll-I'll—" he tried to say as he hopped on one foot, trying to put on the trousers as fast as possible. He finally braced himself against the nearest bedpost and pulled them on. "I'll be there in a moment."

"I have no objection to opening a door, Link," Zelda laughed at him.

He heard the doorknob rattle and immediately blurted out, "Don't come in! I'm naked!"

The doorknob fell silent, as did the princess for a moment. "I-I apologize," she said through the door so softly that Link almost did not hear her. "I-I have awoken you."

"No, I—" Tunk! "Agh!" Link cried out as, in the middle of correcting his statement, he whipped around to grab his tunic and whacked his left temple against the bedpost. "Aaaaagh! Ow!"

"Are-are you all right, Link?" she asked.

Link retrieved his tunic from the footlocker with his right hand, his left hand occupied with nursing his throbbing head. "I'm fine," he growled. He pulled the tunic on over his head and stepped over to the door. He took a moment to breathe and compose himself before opening the door.

Zelda, previously having her ear to the door, quickly stood up straight. "H-Hello," she said with a surprised look on her face.

"Hi," Link replied. "Uh… c'mon in." He stepped aside and used a hand to invite her in.

"You are certain that I am not interrupting?" she asked as she looked around the cabin. She moved to peer at the map table as Link closed the door. "It is nothing important."

"No, it's fine," Link said. "Is everything okay?"

"Indeed everything is," she replied, turning to show him a smile. "I… don't know if I have appropriately expressed my gratitude to you. I am very grateful that you risked your life to save me."

Link's face turned red, and he bowed his head as an uncontrollable smile formed on his lips. "Just-just glad I could help," he said. He glanced around until his eyes caught his desk. He indicated his chair with a hand. "Uuh… would you li-like to sit down?"

She glanced at the chair. "Yes, thank you."

However, she sat down on the edge of Link's unmade bed. Link had made a move to sit on the bed, but he stopped and thought for a moment. Then he stepped past her to take the chair for himself. "Are your quarters all right?" he asked as he sat.

"They are," she answered.

Link could sense a bit of hesitation in her voice, so he asked, "Are you sure?"

She sighed. "I must admit that it is a little difficult to return to a confined space. I find that I cannot close the door."

"Oh. Uh… should I have Mister Flower take the door off?"

She held up a hand. "No, no. I would rather not trouble Mister Flower or anyone else on your crew just to satisfy my engineered anxiety."

"Well… if it'll help, you can take a hammock in the berth deck. It won't be as comfortable, but it's open to the rest of the deck (if a little cramped)."

"Thank you. I may consider it. Even though I know that my confinement is over, I find that I have some rather unsavory associations with closed rooms."

Link nodded his understanding. "I'm sure the Gelto won't mind you using one of their berths; they have the whole starboard row to themselves. And if any of the guys try to peek, I'm sure the Gelto will kill him."

Her expression was puzzled as she said, "Peek on what? I will only be sleeping, I hope."

"Just in case you wanna ta—" Link immediately stopped talking when his brain finished catching up with his mouth. He had just realized how inappropriate it might be to mention that the Princess of Hyrule would want to take her clothes off to make herself comfortable.

"I am sorry, to what?" Zelda asked him.

"Tooooooo take some time and… uh, ma-make yourself comfortable."

Zelda placed a hand over her mouth to help her hold back the urge to laugh at him. "Link," she said, giggles escaping her lips. "I would like to believe that the connection we have shared over these past few months makes us close enough that you would not have to inhibit your words just because of my position."

"No, I'm gonna sit on this one, mostly because you're a… a girl."

"Oh. Well, it is a relief to know that not all sailors are boorish." She glanced at the stack of papers on Link's desk. "What are you working on?"

"Huh?" Link followed the direction of her eyes to the stack. "Oh, this? Well… I made an offhand comment to Flower about getting the crew paid and… he went to Captain Alfonzo for the necessary paperwork. I've been working on them for a while. I'm a little stuck on Sello's form."

"How come?"

Link sighed and planted an elbow on the desk so that he could rest his jaw on his fist. "Well, I have to fill in which town or island my crew comes from. I didn't find Sello in a town; I found him in a volcano."

Zelda covered her mouth with a hand again. "Oh, my," she said, her laughter stronger. "That is quite the challenge."

Link found himself smiling as he continued, "And that's the easy one. I don't know where almost half of my crew comes from. Leynne, I can fake because of his accent. But the Gelto, I just have no idea what they called their camp. Dholit's the worst because she barely has a job on this ship!"

Halfway through Link's light-hearted rant, Zelda had finally lost her proper demeanor and succumbed to such laughter that she almost fell over onto Link's bed. She wrapped her arms around her stomach to hold her sides as they began to ache. She was close enough to the bedpost at the foot of his bed that she leaned over to place her shoulder against it. When a fresher wave of laughter hit her, she turned so that her back was against the post and her feet were stretched along the edge of the bed so she would not kick. Link was not sure if it had been that funny until he remembered that he had mentioned Dholit, whose antics she probably knew quite well. He hardly cared, captivated and comforted as he was by watching Zelda break down into hysterical laughter. Only for a moment he considered that such laughing was a sign of insanity.

Zelda had the same idea a moment later as she settled down. She let her arms fall limp to her sides, and she looked at Link almost out of the corner of her eye. "That felt so good," she told him. "I… I could care not if I had gone mad or not."

Link shook his head, still smiling at her. "I don't think you're mad," he said.

"You look so relieved to see the Princess of Hyrule laughing like any other young girl," she said, her tone a half-hearted accusation.

Link let out a terse caw of a laugh. "Well, excuse me then, Princess!" he said in a loud voice. Then, in a regular tone, he said, "I'm just glad to see being on that ship hasn't turned you insane."

"Perhaps," she said as her eyes wandered to the dark windows at the back of the cabin. "Still, I find that I have my anxieties. Perhaps it is better that I have come away with them instead."

"If you need to talk about it, I'm here."

She finally turned her head to look at him. "Yes. You are, Link. And I am grateful for it. I like to believe that I can take care of them on my own. But, if I ever need to talk with someone…" She reached into the pocket of her trousers and pulled out a familiar red oval of a gem.

Link nodded his understanding. "How did you get that, by the way?" he asked. "I thought it was for Captain Koroul."

"He never explained," she replied as she replaced the gem. "It was something he gave to me one day at the beginning of our incarceration. By then, they realized that the traitor had been locked away in the next cell and refused to speak." She looked down at her lap with a sad expression on her face. "It is… surreal."

"Huh?"

"Strange. Almost… no, very unbelievable. To have someone at arm's length, and yet the only person who would talk to me was far into the distance. If I had not had that brief explanation from the captain, I might have lost my mind long before I could contact you. In fact, I think it might not have been long after when he gave this gem to me. He saved me from isolation. I wish I could tell him how much I appreciate his thoughtfulness in light of his people's ways."

"You will. Someday." Zelda looked up in mild confusion. "The Sorians still have to be out there somewhere. My crew is due some leave, and then I'll go in search of them."

"How will you find them?"

Link hesitated. "I don't know. After watching Koroul and his crew jump… I wanna say that they're somewhere on the surface. I think we should start there. It'd be nice to see the surface again."

"Yes, you have made quite a few friends there," Zelda said. "What of Irleen's plight? Does she know of a way to return to her regular form?"

"The only thing she knows is that she needs her people to get back to her own form. That's why I wanna find them. They left her all alone."

Zelda closed her eyes for a long moment. "I knew Rireen for a long time. I have seen what loneliness does to a Sorian. It would be a shame for Irleen to suffer so. Therefore, I pray that you find them, for her sake."

Link scratched his head. "Yeah, but it won't be easy."

"You found me."

He offered her a small smile. "All I had to do was follow the storm."

She turned to put her feet on the floor. "And now, you must follow the flock. Which, as large as the Sorian population appeared, could not help but be spotted on the surface."

Link nodded. "I suppose that's the place to start."

Zelda stood up. "I feel that it is getting quite late. I should see to finding myself a berth."

Link stood up as well. "Right."

She cast her eyes to the floor as she approached him. "If I do not find the chance to say something before you deposit me on Castle Island, I would like to simply tell you one thing." Link's face reddened as she stepped closer.

When she looked up, her movement was so fast that Link took a second to realize that she had planted a soft kiss on his right cheek. She just as quickly backed away, her face turning as red as his. "Tha-thank you. For-for saving me." Link was speechless, not that he had time to say anything in response before she spun and left. He reached up and touched the spot where she had kissed him, his eyes unfocused on the bulkhead before him.

"Kūl rantá nòt itì nūc?"

"WAH!" Link jumped backwards both at the sound of Irleen's native tongue coated in annoyance and Irleen herself dropping in front of his face, blinding him with her light. He tripped over the chair behind him and landed flat on his back against the deck. That morning's purchase of injury sent renewed pain throughout his body, and he lay groaning and incoherently whining at Irleen for a while.