Chapter 138: The Island Symphony Rises Again

…

Link stayed for dinner anyway due to the next train going to Hovela not leaving until later in the evening. Talein ate with them, and Link shared his stories of the sky once more at the table. Not that Talein seemed as interested in them as Meilont had, but he at least acknowledged that Link had had quite an adventure ever since he had received the Island Symphony. Afterwards, Meilont accompanied Link to the train platform. She gave him the hat she had dressed the practice dummy with and another kiss on the cheek. Then she reminded him of his promise to bring Irleen for a visit once she had her own body back and shoved him onto the train.

He reached Hovela just as the sun had finished setting. Activity along the main road had dwindled to maybe a few people wandering about with lanterns already out. The port was a different story, with sailors ambling about touting loud voices and drunkenness at its sloppiest. Four times, Link was nearly accosted by a group of sailors until they either recognized him from the Gelto's trooping of him through the streets or they remembered him from the journey he had taken on the Goddess's Tides. Either way, alcohol gave way to a sliver of respect, and Link was allowed to go on his way.

As he stepped onto the Island Symphony's main deck, Gold hollered from the poop deck, "Cap'n on the deck!"

The call attracted Link's attention, and he wondered why Gold was spontaneously on watch on the poop deck. Then he was aware of footsteps approaching from the forecastle and turned in response. "Welcome back, Link," Leynne told him as he jogged to a stop nearby.

"Report," Link said, his voice exhausted.

"All's sound, Captain," Leynne replied.

Link raised an eyebrow at the typical airman's response. "Good," he remarked. "Getting pointers from Line?"

"Line and Floweh have been helpful in that regahd," Leynne said. "Although Line seems to know moh about what not to do on an aihship."

"Line's spent years on the subject," Link replied with a weak grin. "Is the whole crew here?"

"You've been the only one gone. All present and accounted foh. Although, theh hasn't been wohd of those royal scholahs."

Link nodded. "That's okay; we've still got… what, two days? Three?"

"Three days left," Leynne said with a nod.

"Have you figured out how to get us some more Loft Steam?"

"I believe so. While I don't have an accurate figuh of how much Loft Steam we released in ohdeh to descend, the simplest thing would be to obtain anotheh tank, weigh it down, and fill it with Loft Steam from Alfred's wohkshop and then transpoht it heh by train. I've been asking about these, uh… these pylons on the dock."

"The bollards?"

Leynne sighed. "Yes. Anyway, I believe that ouh safest option would be to anchoh a tank to a few of these bollahds until we ah ready to leave. Afteh that, it would be a matteh of attaching a hose between the tank and the ballast and then lowering the tank so as encourage the Loft Steam into the ship."

Link nodded. "Sounds like you've got the plan. How long will it take you to set this up?"

"Without any soht of problem, we might be able to squeeze the proceduh within the couhse of a day. It may take two, but we should have enough room so as not to delay ouh retuhn to the sky kingdom. I thought tomohrow would be the best time to get the process stahted."

Link nodded again. "Okay then."

"I'd also like to draft ouh Goron aihmen foh this job. It would ease the transition between locations."

"That's fine. Take whoever you need. Uh… go ahead and have Dubbl take the overnight watch of the deck for you. Get some sleep so you can get an early start."

"Undehstood. Will you be taking the day watch?"

"Yeah. Have her wake me up before you leave."

"Uhdehstood." Leynne saluted, and Link dismissed him.

They parted, and Link entered his cabin. He turned on the overhead light and undressed down to his body suit for the evening. Then he settled at his desk to write in his journal.

~~Day 128 (Command, Day 91)

~~I spent most of the day in Whittleton, and I got the chance to talk to Meilont. She told me that Irleen's worried about finding the Sorians and needs to be reminded that we're still looking. That I'm still looking. Somehow, it seems like she placed emphasis more on what I was doing rather than my crew. I suppose it makes sense; I've known her the longest. And now that I think about it, it may well be my fault she's like this. But whatever the reason, Irleen needs to know that we haven't given up.

~~Leynne is leaving tomorrow with Lidago and Helo to bring us some Loft Steam so that we can return to the sky here in a few days. I just hope they won't be going ahead of us because of some freak accident like the last time we tried to get some Loft Steam. No, Leynne's a lot smarter than that. And now that he knows how it behaves, I think the only question will be if he can do it in a day.

Link grinned to himself. He glanced over his shoulder at the back wall to see that twilight was over. He closed his journal and crossed the room to switch out the light. In the sudden blackness, Irleen's glow seemed brighter than the wharf's lights filtering through the windows. As he crossed the room, his hand slid along the hidden surface of his desk until he swept up Irleen's translating gem, left behind in case someone needed (or wanted to try) talking to Irleen. He settled into his bed with his eyes facing the deckhead.

Then he said as he toyed with the gem between his fingers, "Hey, Irleen? I-I know we didn't get a whole lot done these past couple of weeks. And I know it doesn't really seem like it. But we're working as hard as we can. We're gonna find the Sorians. And we're gonna get you back to normal."

At first, only silence answered.

Then.

"Mm-hmm."

…

Link woke up later than expected, looking outside to find that sunrise had already ended in a blue sky. He gave a groan and slowly went about getting dressed. Wondering if Dubbl had forgotten to wake him up, he decided to step out onto the deck to see if Leynne was still aboard.

His jaw dropped open the moment he set foot outside.

Most of the deck crew had gathered around a single object that sat in the center of the main deck: a stained, wooden statue of Link with his arms raised to express the strength of a figure barely larger than the actual person it represented. The statue's hat and tunic had been colored a faint green, as if someone had rubbed grass on the statue to achieve the effect. Link rushed forward and came to a stop despite wanting to deliver a flying kick to the offending object. He gawked at it for a moment before looking around at his crew.

Line, Leynne, Biluf, Twali, and Lilly had the decency to cover their mouths with a hand. Flower, Gold, and Lwamm struggled to keep their smiles to themselves, although Link's presence had just added to the effort required to not laugh aloud. Cale and Dubbl stared dumbfounded at the statue as if their brains had completely shut down. Layna's reaction was a little more subdued: a blank stare. Dholit sported a wide grin which she unabashedly showed to Link once their eyes had met.

Link's eyes passed back over his crew until they stopped on Line, who was squatting over like he was about to lose his balance. Knowing that his crew were trying not to laugh caused anger to replace his shock. He opened his mouth, but the combination of wanting to chew his crew out and wanting to know who brought the statue onto the ship caused him to snap with an awkward crack in his voice, "Who's responsible this!?"

Line collapsed to the deck into a guffawing heap. This prompted Twali, Lwamm, and Flower to openly laugh. Leynne and Gold turned away from Link to hide their amusement. Lilly's giggling petered off into a nervous sound while Biluf continued to struggle to keep her mouth covered. Cale and Layna continued to stare at the statue. Dubbl, giving an annoyed hiss, turned and stormed away.

Dholit stepped around the statue and turned to thrust her left hip towards Link. "I am the pehpetratoh of this cleahly heinous act, My Captain!" she declared in a boisterous voice, causing Leynne to snort just as he was turning back to face Link.

"Why!" Link shouted at her.

"I have nothing but love foh My Captain!" Dholit continued in her loud voice, one hand extended to the sky as she seemed to talk more to the statue than him. "Ah, but what is love without expression!? So I wondahed what I should do. A love lettah? Pooh my heaht through a pen onto a meah sheet of papeh? Nevah shall I allow my love to be so subtle! A gift, shall I give My Captain a gift? But what? Food? To My Captain, who would soonah eat sawdust? A trinket, pehhaps? No, such gestuahs should be saved foh the…" She glanced back at the crew. "… harem, shall we call it? Clothing? But no, foh My Captain should nevah be without his green tunic—NO! A statue! The very likeness of my love captuahed in wood to stand foh as long as My Captain lives (maybe longah)! A memory of My Captain at his most triumphant! A legacy that shall be proudly bohn upon ouh vessel on ouh way to the next adventuah!" Dholit's loud, dramatic speech had caused the crew to watch in a mixture of humor and confusion, and they had all fallen into silence to listen to it. Dholit remained looking up at the statue's frozen face, one hand reaching up as if to caress its cheek.

Link waited a minute. Then he asked in a calm tone, "You done yet?"

"Yes," Dholit replied.

Link pointed at the docks and screamed, "GET IT OFF MY SHIP!" Then he indicated the rest of his crew. "Back your duties! Now!"

"Ah—" Dholit started, turning around to watch the crew disperse. She spun back to Link with a concerned look on her face. "My Captain, you cannot expect me to lift this statue and remove it by myself."

"Why not?" Link asked in a smart-alecky tone. "You're the reason it's here, aren't you?"

"True, true, I paid foh its commission," Dholit relented. "But, My Captain, suahly you know that I would have nevah been able to physically lift the statue to its present location."

"I may be only fourteen, but that doesn't make me an idiot," Link told her with a grin and a shake of his head.

"Only sexually repressive…" Dholit commented to herself.

Link glared at her. "Dholit, you can either get it off my ship, or it will be set afloat with you tied to it." For emphasis, he indicated the ocean on the starboard side.

Dholit gave him a blank look. "Wow," she remarked. "I hadn't the faintest that you could be so kinky…"

"Now, Dholit!" Link snapped.

Dholit's grin returned as she saluted. "Yes, My Captain," she said before she skipped toward the gangplank with him watching. Link shook his head and muttered under his breath about something being wrong with her brain.

"Whoa!" Link turned his head to find Sello staring up at the statue. "Dude, I seen ya before! I don' forgedda face!" Sello twisted his face into a pondering look. "Or a turnip. But I dink I forgot my underwear." He shook his head (which caused him to stumble a bit) and looked back up at the statue. "But, dude! I seen ya before! It's like… It's like I know ya!"

"Sello?" Link asked.

Sello turned to see who was addressing him. He put on a dumbfounded expression upon laying eye on Link. Then he looked up at the statue. And then he looked down at Link. Then up. Then down. Up, down, up, down, up, down. Then Sello stared off into the distance in between the two. "Oh," was all he said.

Then he passed out on the spot, falling into a heap on the deck with a heavy thump.

Link sighed and stormed off toward the bow, mumbling to himself, "I hate my crew…"

…

~~Day 129 (Command, Day 92)

~~I've come to expect certain behavior from my crew, but I think Dholit's trying to push me to murder. She bought a statue of me! She got rid of it, though. I just hope I never see another statue of myself ever again. I don't know what got into her, but it feels like she's been acting a lot crazier these days. Maybe it's being down here again.

~~Leynne left for Alfred's workshop with Lidago, Helo, and Flower to retrieve some Loft Steam for the ship. In the meantime, we've gotten our supplies for the trip skyward. Leynne mentioned that some of them were goods that he and some of the other crew found around the surface realm. According to Dholit, the intention is to sell them in the sky kingdom to help pick up interest in the surface. I don't really understand what for, but I guess it's harmless enough. I guess.

…

~~Day 130 (Command, Day 93)

~~As of this afternoon, the crew has completely returned. We've even got the scholars back. And, I have to say, they don't seem like the three young men I sent away when we first got here. Which is good, because they annoyed me. They don't even have their own clothes anymore! But then, I don't think I had my own clothes, either, before I left.

~~Wow. I wonder if this was what Dad was like once Line and I were gone.

~~Leynne has our Loft Steam standing by. At dawn, we'll be on our way home.

…

"Good mornin', Captain," Lilly greeted Link as Link took a seat at a table in the galley.

"Good morning," Link replied with a bright smile.

Lilly looked a little bemused by the expression and asked, "Is everythin' all right? I don't feel I gotta seen ya so cheerful."

"It's just been that good of a morning," Link replied. "We're on our way back to the sky, there's no serious crisis to deal with, and I haven't had to shout at anyone for two days."

"Oh," Lilly replied, putting on a concerned look.

Link glanced over at Cale, whom Lilly had served just before Link had sat down, and exchanged confused looks with him. "Is something wrong?" Link then asked Lilly.

"Well, it could be nothin'," she said. "But… well, before we left, I bought half a dozen loaves of bread. I checked earlier, and they're all gone."

"Could you have misplaced them?" Link asked.

"I was the one who put them away," Cale spoke up. He used his fork to indicate the cabinet on the port side. "I placed them in theah."

"He showed themma me," Lilly said.

Link sighed. "Oh, boy," he groaned. "We might have rodents."

"That might be conceivable," Cale said, "if theah weh remains. They weh all wrapped in papeh. Even the papeh is gone."

Link raised an eyebrow. "Wow, uh… that's… one I haven't heard before."

"Someone must have had a serious appetite last night," Cale said.

"Half a dozen loaves probably means more than one person," Link said.

Lilly sighed. "Well, I was gonna use that bread in dinner tonight. It was gonna be like a banquet. Really rich, ya know?"

Link hummed as he thought. Then he said, "Well, I know Dholit and Leynne brought some goods from the surface to sell in the air. I wonder if they brought any food with them."

Cale shrugged. "It could be, but they asked me not to go through them. Leynne just asked that I mahk down the numbah of crates and label them 'trade goods'."

"Okay," Link said as he stood up. "I'll go take a look, maybe see if there's anything to talk them out of."

"Don't you wanna eat first?" Lilly asked.

"It'll just take a minute," Link replied. "Be right back."

Link took the stairs up to the cargo hold and looked around at the crates until he found the ones Cale had marked "trade goods". He fit his fingers under the lid of the first crate and found that it had not been secured too well. Link hoped it meant that Leynne and Dholit intended for any food in the crates to be accessible. So he lifted the lid.

And a Gelto woman looked up at him with a shocked expression.

Which Link returned. At first, Link thought it was one of his crew. But she had black, shoulder-length hair and wore a tight-fitting, green suit. She had her scrawny body partially contorted to fit in between a pot and a gold figurine about the same size as her head.

Link lowered the lid. Then he lifted it again to see if she was still there. Naturally, she was, her shock still strong on her face.

Link's thought process returned with vengeance in mind. After a minute of working out how this happened, the whole ship started when he screamed while he charged up the stairs, "DHOLIT! LEYNNE!"