Chapter 137: Whittleton Once More

…

When Link first saw Whittleton from the train, he almost could not believe his eyes. Green somehow peered through all the rotted wood in the surrounding forests as if trees had sprung up overnight. Pulling up to the platform, flowers both wild and potted adorned the large field that the folks had built their town on. Link could feel a fresh wave of energy wash over him as he disembarked. Standing at the top of the platform gave him a sense of pride, knowing that he had helped defend this place from monsters.

"Hey, Link!"

Link was halfway down the platform's steps when someone called out to him. He looked right, the direction from which he thought he had heard the call from, and saw a short, lanky boy with dark, blond hair wearing a green tunic and brown slacks waving as he jogged up. Behind him was a girl with curly, blond hair wearing a white dress covered in grass stains. Following them, a plump boy wearing a red tunic and torn, black slacks hustled to keep a failing pace.

Link smiled at them. "Hey, Dissal, Lura," he said with a nod once they had come to a stop in front of him. He tilted his head as if to look around Dissal at the plump boy as he stumbled to a stop and doubled over. "Gwait."

"Glait."

Link gave Lura a confused look. "Huh?"

"Glait," Gwait managed in between huffs of air. "Me name?"

"'E don' talk funny anymore," Dissal explained, "so the adul's make us call 'im 'Glait'."

"Oh," Link said, feeling a little guilty for getting Glait's name wrong.

"Wha'… whew," Glait attempted to say. "Wha're yeh doin' 'ere, Link?"

"We though' yeh wen' back ta the sky," Dissal said, pointing up for emphasis. "Tha's wha' Meilont said."

"Well, I'm back from the sky," Link said.

Dissal and Glait exchanged looks. "Yeh didn' ge' sho' down 'gain, did yeh?" Dissal asked.

Link gave him an annoyed look. "No," he replied. Then, in less of an irate tone, he explained, "No, I brought the ship back down so I could visit. We're going back up in a few days, and I wanted to see Whittleton again."

"Yeh wanted ta see Meilont, yeh mean," Lura said.

Link looked at her with a dumbfounded expression, not sure what Lura's accusing tone was trying to convey. "Uh… yeah, I thought I'd see her, too," he said.

"Did yeh 'elp yer friend ye'?" Dissal asked. "Meilont said yeh were tryin' ta 'elp a friend."

"I'm, uuuuh…" Link droned. "I'm working on it." He pointed toward the middle of the town. "I'm… gonna go visit Meilont."

"I don' think she's a' 'ome," Dissal said just as Link turned to walk away.

"She's not?"

"We saw 'er trainin' earlier," Lura said. "She migh' still be on the hill."

Link took a moment to get his bearings. "Right," he said, pointing to the west. "Thanks."

"Uh, wai', wait!" Dissal suddenly shouted out as Link started down the road.

But Dissal was too late. Link froze in place upon realizing that there were a number of statues set up on one side of the road. He had not noticed them at first, but now that his eyes had moved in that direction, they were the only things occupying his mind.

Mostly because they were statues of him. Not exclusively, of course, but five of twenty statues had been carved bearing his likeness. Two held swords raised into the air as if the statue was supposed to be saluting. One stood with its arms crossed, looking a little smug. Another held its arms raised as if to show off muscles that neither he nor the statue had. The last statue was much larger due to his likeness riding a bucking Bullbo.

Link turned back around to find Dissal covering his face with a hand. Glait also held a hand over his face, but this was to prevent him from laughing out loud. "Guyyyyys…" Link droned at them. This caused Glait to laugh harder into his hand, and Lura shoved his shoulder in a failed attempt to make him stop.

"Uh, Lura, do yeh 'ear Mom callin'?" Dissal asked, turning his head so Link would not see the smile creeping onto his face.

"No," Lura replied, confused.

"Dissal…" Link said with a warning tone.

"Idoletsgo," Dissal told her before running past Link.

"Dissal!" Lura shouted as she and Glait ran to follow, Glait now unable to contain his laughter. "Tha's no' the way home!"

Link watched them run away. Then he looked back at the statues. "Well," he told himself. "Could be worse. Line could find out about this."

With that, Link continued on his way. As he walked, he was greeted by many of the townsfolk he passed. It was a little embarrassing for him since many of them called him by name while he knew none of their names. About the only person whose name he knew was Doctor Beld. Doctor Beld did not greet him. Doctor Beld shook his head in annoyance at the bandages wrapped around Link's forearms, left visible due to Link having chosen to wear a body suit with short sleeves.

As Link climbed the hill on the west side of town, he thought Dissal and Lura might have sent him in the wrong direction. The practice dummies and targets had been left out and scattered all over the hill. Then Link heard someone wailing on one of the dummies further up the hill. He found Meilont striking one of the stationary dummies with a wooden sword. Her hair was braided, and she wore a blue shirt and grey short trousers. Link was careful to approach her from behind, fearing that greeting her might cause her to turn and swing at him.

Then he realized that the dummy she was attacking wore a green tunic with a matching cap. "He—wait a minute!" Link said, annoyed at the implication that she was attacking him.

Meilont wheeled around. Then she dropped the sword. "Link!" she cried out. Link then found himself wrapped in her arms, probably the warmest hug he had ever received. "Oh, i's good ta see yeh!" Then she pulled away with her hands on his shoulders and looked at him up and down. Her delighted smile faded into a frown of concern. "Yeh didn' ge' sho' down again, did yeh?"

"Oh, c'mon," Link groaned. "I can't look that bad."

Meilont slid one hand down his arm and grabbed his wrist to show him the bandage on his forearm. "Yeh go' inna figh' then?"

Link burst out into a short laugh before saying, "What I got into… couldn't really be called a 'fight'."

Meilont gave him a disbelieving look. "Really. Wha' would yeh call it?"

Link glanced down at the bandage. "Breakfast."

"An' I'm sure yeh'll explain it all ta me."

Link pointed past her. "If you'll explain that."

Meilont glanced over her shoulder. "Oh!" She turned back to him. "I missed yeh!"

Link slowly nodded. "Okay. Okay, sooooo… you dressed up a dummy like me and… started beating it?"

"Umm…" Meilont glanced back at the dummy. "No'… too sure how tha' happened. I mean… well, I a'ready dressed it, so I though' I'd use it." Link, speechless, indicated his confusion by shrugging with his free hand held wide out for emphasis. Meilont gave him an annoyed look and told him, "If it makes yeh feel be'er, I could star' whackin' the real dummy."

Link gave her a nervous grin. "Uh, no, thanks."

"Then how 'bout some lunch? Been ou' here all mornin'."

"Sure, that sounds good."

From the training grounds, Meilont led Link to a cart near the ticket station, and they both ordered hot sandwiches from the man tending the cart. Link remembered having a similar sandwich while he had been bed-ridden and scarfed his sandwich down before his brain could assess that it was too much for his stomach. Meilont was annoyed, expressing to Link that she had wanted to walk around the town before returning to her home. Instead, after eating, Meilont dragged Link back to her home and made him relax at the kitchen table. As Link recovered, he began telling her about his return to the sky with as much detail as he could, from the encounters with Cunimincus' men to the lulls in activity they experienced between islands. The only thing he would not mention was that Princess Zelda had been able to and still could communicate with him through his mind. He decided to hold onto that bit of information for reasons he was not quite sure of himself, although he silently justified it that he did not want Meilont to start teasing him about having a girl in his head if she believed it at all.

Link was relaying the events following Cunimincus' fall when Talein stepped in. Link immediately turned in his chair and rose. "Oh," he uttered, a little surprised. "H-hi, Talein."

Talein suddenly froze in his tracks when he realized who his daughter was talking to. For a moment, Link thought there was something wrong. Then Talein asked, "Yeh didn' ge' sho' down 'gain, did yeh?"

Link groaned and pressed a hand over his face. "Dad," Meilont addressed him in an irritated tone.

"Fair question, isn' i'?" Talein asked.

"No, I didn't get shot down again," Link said, still covering the top half of his face. "I'm visiting."

"Oh," Talein replied as he started walking past. He reached out and gave Link a hearty smack on the back, nearly knocking him to the floor. "Good ta see yeh 'gain, son."

"Yeah," Link grunted, turning to watch Talein round the table on his way to the stairs. "Thanks…"

"Dad, yeh're on yer own fer lunch," Meilont called to him. "We a'ready ate."

"Okay," Talein said before he marched up the stairs.

Link collapsed into his chair. "Oh, that hurt…"

Meilont hummed in agreement as she sat back down. Then she gave Link a worried look as she said, "Link, there's… somethin' I noticed while yeh were talkin' 'bout things in the sky."

Link put on a concerned look of his own, thinking that she might have realized that he was hiding his communication with Zelda. "Y-yeah? What?" he asked.

Meilont pointed to his head. "Irleen."

Link raised a hand to his scalp. Then he halted as the name registered. "Oh," he answered, dropping his hand back to his lap. "Yeah."

"Is she all righ'? Nothin's happened ta her, righ'?"

"No, no," Link quickly said. "No, she's fine. It's just…" He sighed and looked down at his lap. "She's been depressed lately. I already mentioned going back to the Sorians' home, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well… we thought the Sorians might've come down here; that was part of the reason we dropped in. But we spent maybe a week or so actually looking for them. And… then we just… stopped. They weren't where we thought they'd be, and we couldn't search for them without running out of supplies. So I ordered the ship back to Hovela Port. We've been there since. Irleen… Irleen won't talk to anyone. About the only thing I can get her to do is fly around a bit outside, and that's pretty much it. I know this whole thing with the Sorians hit her pretty hard; I was probably in the same position one time when I first got down here. But…

"Geez, I don't know what to tell her! I can't find the Sorians anywhere! And-and I don't wanna tell her to just give up on it; it's too important to her! I don't expect her to forget, but… I-I want her back the way she was!"

Meilont took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She closed her eyes in contemplation. Then she opened them again. "Y'know, Link," she told him, "I go' a feelin' yeh've been told yeh aren' very good with girls."

Link planted an elbow on the nearby table and pressed his cheek into his palm. "I don't know, maybe."

"Link, since yeh go' back from lookin' fer the Sorians, did yeh ever tell her yeh won' give up?"

Link shrugged. "I don't know." Meilont leaned forward and smacked the side of Link's head. "Ow! Meilont!"

"Tha's yer problem, yeh dope!" she chided him, although her words came out in a light-hearted tone. "Irleen thinks yeh gave up on lookin'!"

Link shrugged with both arms open wide to indicate his confusion. "How could you know that?"

"Because I'm a girl. Link, yeh've go' ta realize she dwells on things. If it bothers her, she'll think 'bout it until she's jus' miserable. Irleen wants ta go back ta her people. Bu' if yeh jus' turn away from it, she's gonna think yeh gave up on it."

"Look, I can't just will them to appear again!" Link argued. "What am I supposed to do!?"

Meilont reached out a hand and rubbed his shoulder. "Tell her. Yeh tell her tha' yeh won' give up even if it takes yeh years ta find them. Tha's yer intention, righ'?"

"Of course," Link replied.

"Then yeh tell her," Meilont said, pointing a finger from her free hand at him. "Yeh tell her every day, every hour if yeh have ta. Even if yeh don' do anythin' tha' day, yeh say ta her, 'Irleen? We're gonna find 'em.' Yeh make sure she believes it, too. Because if I find ou' yeh've been makin' empty promises ta her, I'll hun' yeh down and shove the common sense back inta yeh."

Link glanced down at the table. "That's all?" he asked. "I just have to keep telling her that?"

"Until yeh find the Sorians again." Meilont stood up. "Now, yeh gonna stay fer dinner?"

"I don't know," Link said, looking up at her. "What do you think?"

Meilont gave him a half-smile, leaned forward, and planted her lips on his forehead. As she pulled away, she told him, "I think yeh oughta go tell her as soon as yeh can."