Chapter 132: My Course

…

~~The night air in the tent was hot, hot as the desert under a midnight sun. The scent of floral candles remained strong, but it is a scent I endeavor to dispel with our passion. It is a slow process, a game with so many rules that I may yet have discovered more. One would think that I give up this game to find someone who will return my affections, but that is not the type of woman I am: I want what I must work for. He will not give in easily, but I will have him. Even as he gently caresses my arm, I can see the reluctance in his eyes. He is a rabbit; he is careful to give his affections and quick to run when frightened. This is the challenge that I set for myself because I know, in the end, I shall be greatly rewarded.

~~"I cannot have you tease me all night," I tell him, my voice only chiding him on the lowest level while I play with his passions. "We shall run out of night."

~~"Don't you like this?" the young man asks in that rough dialect that makes me think of bandits of the sea. He slides his hand up to my bare shoulder, where he then squeezes.

~~I can feel myself melt under his firm, controlling grip. My feral instincts begin to cloud my mind, and, before I can stop myself, I secretly move my hand to his

"Is that my journal!?"

Dholit immediately sprang up from the sand and ran for the darkness surrounding the tents in the distance. "Nyah ha haha!" she laughed, taunting Link with the journal.

Link was about to charge after her. Then he fell on his face before he could remember that his legs had been wrapped in a blanket. He pushed himself up to watch as Dholit sprinted out of the firelight. After spitting out sand, he hollered out, "Someone stop her!"

"Hayxwolan!" Dubbl hollered as she rose. Lwamm, Biluf, and Twali all got to their feet in an instant, and Twali tore across the sand after Dholit.

Then, from nearby concealment, Layna, still wearing her new outfit, leapt out and landed on Dholit's back. Dholit let out a startled cry before she ungracefully dropped into the sand face-first, kicking up a large plume in the process.

"LAYNA, NO!" Link cried out while Dubbl, Lwamm, Biluf, and Twali screamed, "LAYNA, NWOYROTAN!" Layna, straddled on Dholit's back, turned to give them all a confounded look.

…

~~Day 103 (Command, Day 66)

~~I don't know what Dholit was writing on the last page, but it's probably safer now that it's been thrown into a bonfire.

~~I've decided to spend the night at the Gelto camp. Mostly because, thanks to Dholit's interference, I missed the train back to the Forest Realm. It's nice to see that my crew are enjoying themselves, but I've decided to take advantage of Layna's loyalty (I guess) and asked her to stand guard over me to keep Dholit or any other nut Gelto like her away from me while I sleep. I think I've gotten my point across, but Dubbl seemed a little confused because she had to repeat a bunch of things to Layna. I just hope she doesn't kill Dholit.

…

~~Day 104 (Command, Day 67)

~~I feel rotten. I don't know what that fruit stuff we were drinking last night was, but I've got a hell of a headache.

…

Midday in Hovela saw a spectacle rarely viewed outside of the eastern realms. A small parade of Gelto had assembled at the train station and was now making their way down the main road toward the docks. At the front of this parade were Twali and Lwamm, arms linked together and looking fresh in tight, cropped shirts and loose-fitting trousers buttoned at the waist and ankles. Lwamm had a small bag slung over her shoulder while Twali dragged along a small, wheeled chest by a short rope. Link walked behind them with Dholit and Layna latched to his arms. Dholit also dragged along a wheeled chest, and Layna had a small backpack strapped to her shoulders. Dubbl and Biluf trailed behind, each wearing a backpack. Biluf, having changed into a short-sleeve shirt under a pair of cotton overalls which sported a bib made of red leather, mostly watched Link's back so as to swat Dholit's hand if she started reaching for Link's bottom. Dubbl, having simply changed to a fresh pair of slacks and a blue shirt, appeared largely uninterested in the procession and spent the time looking at the surrounding town. Business had come to a standstill to watch. Many eyes struggled to get a look at Link, wondering what his part was in this group of Gelto who had spontaneously decided to parade through the town.

Link was miserable, still sporting an ugly headache and some annoyance for his Gelto escorts. The previous evening had actually been quite pleasant, save for Dholit stealing his journal and writing some questionable material on a page that Link had ripped out. The Gelto talked and shared a few stories with Link, and Link told them about some of his adventures with Line on the Grand Sails. But now, his head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice, and he was horribly thirsty. He understood the effects of alcohol, so he knew that they had not given him anything of the sort. The question simply remained what it was that they had given him. The attention from the residents of Hovela only added to his misery; he felt stupid being surrounded by women.

Nearing the port made things worse. Once the sailors caught sight of them, catcalls and whistles sounded all around them. Link could also hear sailors cursing him for being surrounded by Gelto. Their reactions only provoked Dholit to smile and slide her hand across her body in a manner clearly meant to egg the crowd on. And they did indeed get riled, one man even shouting something obscene at her before taking a plank to the back of the head courtesy of his wife with whom he had just been speaking to. Link never saw it, but a number of sailors dropped to the ground when, in a single wave of her hand, Layna had thrown razor-thin needles into the crowd. What he did see was one drunk sailor stumble in front of Twali and Lwamm and voice a lewd proposal to them. Although they did not understand him, Lwamm delivered a hard kick to his crotch for his trouble, dropping him where he stood. This caused the crowd to thin as sailors remembered how volatile Gelto (and women in general) could be.

Flower, Line, and Gold were laughing aloud as Link and his entourage boarded the Island Symphony. Flower, standing closest to the gangplank, hailed their attention with a hand as he approached them. "Captain," he spoke up, "I don't mean to sound like a little kid, but this is just completely unfair. How can a mere airman like myself even compete?"

Link stared at him while Twali, Lwamm, Dubbl, and Biluf started for the port staircase. Then he said, "Shut up."

"Will do, Skipper," Flower replied, giving him a salute.

Link glanced past him to see Gold and Line saluting him as well. "I hate you guys," he told Flower.

Flower gave him a confused look. "Are you… hung-over?"

"No," Link said. "I just… have this massive headache…"

"Called a 'hangover'," Flower argued in a smartass tone.

"As useful as that would have been," Dholit spoke up, "I'm afraid that Link has not consumed any alcohol."

"You mean you didn't get him drunk and have your way with him?" Flower asked in a genuinely perplexed voice.

"Don't give her ideas!" Link whined at him.

"Too late," Dholit said with a giggle.

Link had to hold his head for a moment. Then he shook his arms from Layna's and Dholit's grasps. "Is Leynne around?"

"Should be prowling around here somewhere," Flower said.

"What about the engine room crew?"

Flower looked up at the sky as he thought. "I know the drunk's still here," he replied. "And, uh… what's his name? Harley. He told Line he didn't wanna accidentally meet someone in an alley around here; I forget who."

"His fiancée, probably," Link answered. He turned to Dholit and told her, "Have the Gelto hoist the sails once they're done stowing their stuff."

"Yes, My Captain," Dholit replied with a salute. Link dismissed her, and she stepped past Flower on her way to the stairs.

"We going somewhere, Skipper?" Flower asked.

"We're gonna head north to the Snow Realm," Link replied, pointing to emphasize the fact. "So far, all indications say that that's where the Sorians went. So that's where we'll be going."

"Think we got the steam to get there?"

"That's what I wanted to ask Leynne."

"Ask me what?" Link turned to find that Leynne had stepped up behind him, a pair of map tubes tucked under one arm.

Link also noticed that Layna had disappeared and glanced down at his arm, wondering for a moment when she had left. "The ship," Link told him. "Do we have enough Loft Steam to raise it and travel across the land?"

"Ostensibly," Leynne replied. "I couldn't speak of the uppeh limits of the vessel, but I wanted to ensuh that we could at least rise above the great plain of the Forest Realm. From theh, we should have a relatively easy jouhney to the Snow Realm to resupply foh a retuhn to the sky kingdom. Although, I've felt that an altehnate means of filling the ballast may be in ohdeh; I cannot seem to conceptualize resupplying the Island Symphony while it's in the aih. Once we staht loading the ballast, we would begin rising."

"You know," Flower said, "sometimes, I like to imagine that you talk like a bar girl I used to bump into." He held up a hand and mimicked lips opening and shutting with his fingertips. "You know, all girlish and completely mangled until I can't understand."

"Yes, cleahly, you've neveh kept company like me, Misteh Floweh," Leynne replied in a flat tone. "How many inventive recluses ah loose among the islands?"

"Guyyyyys…" Link warned.

"Why the question of ouh readiness to sail?" Leynne asked him. "We've only been heh foh a few days."

"We're not going back to the islands," Link said. "I wanna see if we can start tracking down the Sorians."

Leynne put on a stunned look before steeling his features in the same second. "Link," he said. "Might we speak in youh cabin?"

Link was a little surprised by Leynne's reaction. "Uh, s-sure."

"Misteh Floweh," Leynne said with a nod.

"Yeah, I'll go away," Flower said before he started for the bow.

Link followed Leynne to his cabin, a little worried that something might not have come out right in their evaluation of Irleen's improvised compass. Once they were through the door, Leynne immediately set up a new map on the map table and picked up a couple of tools to plot lines on it. Link moved over to lean his rear on the front of his desk, patiently waiting for Leynne to tell him what could be so wrong.

After a minute of plotting, Leynne clicked his tongue. Then he let out a sigh and looked up at Link. "We may have a problem with the bearing Cale and Ihleen brought back," he told Link in a grim tone.

"What problem?" Link asked, glancing down at the table.

Leynne indicated the map with a hand. "This is an accurate, scaled map of the east side of the continent, which includes the totality of the Fih Realm."

"Uh huh?"

Leynne hesitated. Then he said, "Theh's a good chance that the Sorians ah not in the location specified by the bearings Ihleen gave me. Theh isn't enough land in the area."

Link was stunned and took a moment to work his way through the sensation. "What?" he asked, pushing forward so that he could approach the table. He turned so that he could read the map. Leynne had drawn a line from Disorientation Station to the north. Following that was an oval which encircled the southern half of the line. Link had to look at the key a few times, but he soon came to the conclusion that Leynne was indicating.

The oval represented the area within the given bearings where the target Sorian vessel could have been. Factoring out the black scribbles Leynne had left, it meant that the vessel could have been either over a small strip of land in the middle of the oval or out over the Eastern Ocean.

Neither of those places could possibly sport an immense population like Forelight Island.

"Oh, no…" Link uttered. He sighed and asked, "Does Irleen know?"

"I was heh when he realized it." Link looked over his shoulder to see Irleen flutter out of her bed. Her movements were slow and unsteady, as if she was drunk. However, Link judged from her tone that she was depressed. "It failed, Link. We didn't get the bearings in time, and we killed those technowohks foh nothing."

Link nodded and turned back to Leynne. "That's fine," he said. "I didn't wanna go that direction yet. I wanna go back to the wreckage of the Horizon's Eye. We can use the technoworks on it to put together a new compass. If they survived the crash."

"Link," Irleen said. "I made that suggestion, too."

Link looked over his shoulder at her. "And?"

"When she mentioned it," Leynne said, pulling Link's attention back, "I put fohwahd a question I might not have done."

"What question?"

"Well… if the Horizon's Eye had been scuttled, it would mean that something was done to the technowohks. Wouldn't it."

Link fell silent. How could he have not realized that? If the Horizon's Eye was scuttled, then it meant that something definitely had to have been done to the technoworks. But he decided to put his foot down on this bad news. He put on a determined scowl and said, "It could mean anything; it doesn't mean we have to waste the chance. Plot a course for the Horizon's Eye's wreckage and have the ship ready to depart by tomorrow morning."

Leynne exchanged a look with Irleen. Then he replied, "Undehstood, Captain."