The Voyage Home

by DaemosDaen

Summary:

Seven years after Link saved Tetra from the Ghost Ship, they have found their new home. Their New Hyrule. So they make a very important trip back to Outset Island.

Notes:

I started this on Monday of ZeLink Week.

Chapter 1: From the Outset

The King of Red Lions skimmed over the ocean with the magic of its sail setting the wind to their backs. Only the occasional shark sought to interfere, each one Tetra convinced that their lunch would best be found elsewhere, using cannonballs.

"I still don’t see why we couldn't come here on the Princess." She was rehashing a discussion they’ve had several times on this trip.

"We've been over this," a rare bit of exasperation evident in his voice, "The King is faster."

She noticed the tone in his voice, her face softened a bit as she walked over to him. "Hey," her voice unusually soft, "it's going to be ok."

That was all it took for his anxieties to spill out. "What if they hate me for being gone this long." She waited for him to continue, one eyebrow arched. "What if she's forgot me. What if she passed on and Aryll despises me. What if --" In a rare spot of contact, she placed a finger over his lips to stop his spiraling.

"I highly doubt that Aryll could ever hate you." Her mischievous grin returned, "Mad at you for not taking her, sure. But, not hate you." Her hand returned to her hip, her eyes tuned to the sail pushing them forward. "you know, we could have put this sail on the Princess."

She was distracting him from his thoughts and he was grateful, "We tried that actually, didn’t work."

"You made changes to my ship," her voice got real dangerous.

"You were suggesting the same changes," he got defensive real quick since she still had a habit of getting a little punchy.

It was thus that they went back and forth over all the attempts at applying the King's magic sail to the Princess that they tried. She even pinned him down till he added Niko, Mako and Senza as his accomplices. Even then, she didn't let up until he mentioned Senza. It may be her ship, but he took care of it.

It was a good way to pass the time. At least when she didn't have him pressed against the rail threatening to shove him over. It didn't feel like long before she interrupted him, "Land Ho." she was being dramatic, as usual, but, there it was.

Outset Island.

His home for so long, yet so many of the memories have faded because of being away. So many of those memories came flooding back. The vague memories of his mother and father. A tiny him, holding an even tinier Aryll when she was born. The suddenness of being left alone so suddenly. His grandmother taking them in. And sleeping, oh so much sleeping.

He definitely missed the sleeping. Yet when his gaze found Tetra, he felt that the tradeoff was so much more than worth it, all things considered.

With full sail, he sped towards the wharf with no signs of slowing down. Any lesser person would have crouched in fear. Tetra simply grabbed the rail and smiled her true smile. The one she shows when they are doing something dangerous, or have found a large cache of treasure, or after they kiss.

He felt his ears heat up at that last one.

The wind behind them caused the waves to roll, cresting with the sounds of his childhood. The King flew across the back one such wave, taking to the air with fantastic speed. He dropped the sail and slammed the rudder hard to port. Once they hit the sea the King sun to port, drifting sideways into the open dock, stopping with a gentle bump.

"How have you not wrecked this thing?"

"Practice," he tried mustering up a bravado to match the skill, but the look on her face told him it didn’t work.

He jumped out, he pulled a rope to tie the King down with. However, as full of nervous energy as he was, he messed up the knot. After his fourth failure at tying a simple slipknot, she took it from him. "Give me that," an irritated huff escaped her, "I'll get it, you go ahead." He looked her in the eyes and saw the truth of it.

He tried to tell her "Thank you," but his throat closed up and threatened to choke him. "I'll catch up in a bit," she gently rest a hand on his shoulder. The release of her touch released all the energy from his frame. He bolted up the beach. Scrambled over the sun bleached log that stayed between him and the house. He even jumped the small ledge that was the foundation of the house. Soon, he stood at the door, one he left over 7 years ago.

It seemed so much bigger in his memories.

With his heart in his throat, he raised his hand to knock on the door.

Chapter 2: A Reunion of Hearts

Summary:

Link finds things different, yet the same. However, There's something different about them too.

With his heart in his throat, he raised his hand to knock on the door. Muffled, from behind the door, he heard a faint, but all too familiar, "come in." So, he did, opening the door to see…

An armchair. Two of them to be exact.

He didn’t remember there being armchairs behind the ladder to the second floor. But aside from that, little else had changed. The door clicked behind him caused him to jump. "Is someone there?" she called him from the back. He walked through and rounded the corner to find her facing the hanging pot in the back of the house. She was drying a plate.

"Gran?"

She turned to face him, giving him his first look at her since he left the island. She looked very much the same as she did so long ago. She had a few more wrinkles now, but she was the same woman who raised him for 10 years. The same woman who raised Aryll for most of her life. "Elis…" she dropped the plate from her hands.

He leapt forward and caught the plate, leaving him on his knees. "Link," her voice broke as the tears pooled in her eyes. He set the plate down on the ledge of the fire pit, not wanting to save it and accidentally break it. "Oh Link," she reached out for him as the tears began to fall. He scooted forward, his own tears let loose. They hugged. I was tight, warm and protecting and it was something he had not felt since he left. Even after all these years she sought to support him, just as she did as a tiny child left on her doorstep. "Goddesses Link, I thought you were your father come to take me away." she sniffle-snorted. So did he.

In the distance a squee could be heard getting louder at an alarming rate. She let him go, "come now, let’s get you some soup."

He tried to protest, "You don’t have to do that, Gran."

But she was having none of that, "you love my soup, don't you."

Heavens, he forgot just how good she was at that. He nodded, what else could he do other than hope Tetra don’t pick that up from her.

"That settles it then," and with that she shuffled off to the cookpot, getting several bowls ready.

By this time the high-pitched squee was accompanied by several thumps as the door burst open. "LINK!!!" he was hit in the side by a faint-blond haired cannonball.

"Aryll," he was laughing and trying to recover the wind that had been knocked out of him.

"Where have you been you jerk?" She thumped him on the chest, "ow," which she found was a bad idea as she shook her hand. "You've been gone for over 7 years."

His smile faltered and fell as he looked into his sister's eyes, "I'm sorry, Aryll. We've been looking for long time." She tried to stay mad, but she the relief spread across her face. So, she went back to hugging him, which brough back some of his smile. He heard a few small clinks of glassware being set on stone and soon his grandmother joined them. This brought back his tears. "Goddesses, I missed you." his voice wavered with all the emotion.

"I always knew you were such a crybaby." her voice carried to him from the door.

He would have jumped if his arms were not full of family. Still he jolted, then flushed with the embarrassment that she startled him so much. She laughed of course, but now it was a beautiful sound that he didn’t mind so much. Taking a breath to center himself, he reintroduced his family to his captain. "I'm not sure if you remember her. Aryll, Gran, this is Tetra."

Their eyes met for one of, not enough times, hers having a small thank you for not using her full name. His with the sudden realization that she forgot something. He tried to get her attention, pointing around his sister's hug to his neck. She just looked at him, her expression going from one-sided smile to a small look of confusion. "Psst," he tried, and failed, to whisper, "you forgot something." Now everyone was looking at him confused, "your necklace," he stressed ‘whispered’ to her.

"Oh yea." she reached into her shirt and pulled out a thin chain, with a small pearlescent arrowhead pendant dangling from it.

Gran immediately let him go and toddled her way over to her, "Can I see?" Tetra knelt down, giving her a better look at the pendant. Tetra looked as if she were about to say something, but the elderly woman started first. "Does this mean what I think it means?" An affirmative hum came from both of them. She didn’t waste any time in pulling her future daughter-in-law into a fierce hug, happy tears once again falling down her face.

Tetra looked at him as if she were trying to hold it together. "I-I see where you get it from." She wore the smile of someone barely holding it together.

Link and Aryll shuffled over to them, his sister with tears in her eyes, him with an added smirk to the tears. Tetra was helpless as they added to the hug. She buried her face into the crook of his neck, stifling a sniffle as a wetness met his skin. "Not a word," her voice carried the tone of a yardarm, but he knew it was all bluster.

She was a softie at heart, and he loved her for that even more than her hard exterior. He was so happy she granted his hearts wish to share this with him..

Chapter 3: One More Adventure

Summary:

Link Tetra, Gran and Aryll have some soup, talk about what they've been up to, and perhaps, what they are gonna do.

He couldn’t tell you how long they sat there. It was past the point of his knees hurting, but the first to start squirming was Aryll. She tried to settle her weight on him more as her knees grew weary from the hard wood floor. Tetra was next, already having the advantage of leaning on him, but she was the captain, so she was next to start shimmying to alleviate the pressure on her knees. As for him, his jobs across the Princess had him in every nook and cranny, often in places Senza couldn't get to as of late. So, while it hurt, he didn’t mind.

It was Link's stomach, growling for attention, that pulled Gran from her happy state. With a laugh she walked to the hearth, beckoning them to come along, "Come, come, we have plenty of soup left."

"Soup?" Tetra's voice came from the cook in his neck, much steadier now. She lifted her head, her eyes following his grandmother, "Is this your legendary soup?" Link nodded. She bolted up from his arms, knocking both him and Aryll to the floor. "Ooohh I never got to taste it," she glanced back at him accusingly.

"What?" he struggled to get untangled from his sister, It was my grandmother's soup and I was fourteen." She laughed at him, his defensiveness, and his scramble to catch up to them. "Let me help, Gran." She smiled as she moved out of the way for him to serve the food. Seeing 4 bowls he eyed her, the obvious question on his face.

"I was under no illusion that you came here by yourself,” everyone was laughing at him while he dished up and handed out the soup. "I'm just glad you told me before you got married." she gestured to Tetra's hand at the obvious she was about to receive.

"That's pretty observant," Tetra's voice has a small bit of awe in it. Weather that was her reaction to the soup or his grandma, "This is really good by the way.” She looked at his bowl, “And, I see that you have a double helping."

His only response was his ears going red.

Over dinner they talked about the lives they have lived. The island had not changed all that much, just got older. Aryll gave the distinct impression that she would have left if she could. But she didn’t voice it, and he knew why.

Link changed the subject for her, telling them about the work he’d done on the ship. He explained the disaster of the Ghost Ship in the Sea of the Ocean King. They both covered their search for New Hyrule and even some of the treasure they have covered.

Tetra leaned over to Aryll and Gran. "You wanna know a secret?" she fake-whispered in a conspiratorial voice. Aryll vigorously nodded while Gran's was small and polite. Tetra smirked at him, "Link spends most of his treasure on food and bottles."

"I do not spend most of my share." he defended himself. He didn't even spend a quarter of it, "Niko even keeps joking about stealing some of it." Being honest with himself, he wouldn't notice.

“So, your saying that you don’t buy an inordinate amount of bottles?” She pointed her spoon at him in accusation. He could only blush more.

Aryll's eyes grew big, "so you must have a lot of it, huh?

"We’ve been busy, and some habits die hard." He didn’t really like talking about the boxes with his name on them. “Not that we try to curb them.”

"What are you gonna do with it?" it wasn’t the question that convinced him to answer, but her earnestness.

"Oh," he thought for a second, "Build a house."

Tetra cut in, "Just how big of a house are you going to build."

"I dunno," he wanted to be honest with her about it, "we haven't had that conversation yet." The implications made both their ears blaze red. Gran was just chuckled.

It took Aryll a bit to get there but once she did , she shoved him off his stool. "Brother, that's …" she didn’t finish her sentence

He held the bowl up from his position on the floor. "Whoo, saved the soup." he righted himself back up, "you asked." he looked at Tetra who had not recovered yet, now dissolving into a fit of giggles.

"Well, I hope you remember us when your children are born." He heard it in her voice. It was the first time that she let the sadness slip. He caused that and it made his heart clenched up at the sound of it.

Tetra nudged his knee with hers, reminding him of something very important. "W-well, you see," why was he so nervous. "We've been really busy in the new lands," all they could do was say no. "Making it a good, safe place for people to live," but the thought of that hurt. "And we'll probably be working on it long after we're married,” because they may not be able to come back here again.

There was nothing for it, he had to barrel on through, "When we left to come here, we left at the head of a flotilla of ship all headed to various points through the seven seas. Including here." Why couldn’t he control his voice. Tetra grabbed his hand, grounding him, or telling him to get on with it. Probably both. "We wuh-were hoping that you would come back with us to Nu-New Hyrule."

By the time he finished his eyes were locked on the floor, "Link, I'm eighty-seven years old." He could hear the weariness in her voice.

"Really?" both him and Aryll were surprised. She never seemed that old, but she nodded her confirmation.

"I know you've been here a long time. But I know a ship, the S.S. Linebeck, will be coming here offering the same to everyone else." The thought of it unstopped his words, and goddesses help him she was so patient with him even still. "I don’t want you to be alone if everyone else leaves. We came on the fasted ship," Tetra interrupted him with a very un-ladylike snort. "He’s the fastest, so you wouldn’t have to be on the water more than you absolutely wanted. We can stop from island to island to let you rest, or we can streak across the ocean like a loosed arrow. Whatever you want. We just wanted you there for the wedding," he finally allowed himself to breath, "and I wanted us to be a family again."

Tetra looked at him with surprise, Aryll looked at them with hope. And Gran, goddesses love her you can never tell what she's thinking when she didn’t want you to. She got up, walked to him from her chair. She took his face into her hands, holding his attention. "Link, I have never heard such an impassioned plea before." he felt his vision blur as he steadied himself, "I think I have one more adventure left in me." He almost collapsed.

Aryll exploded.

Notes:

Forget me not:
Can't forget someone if they are going with you.

Chapter 4: Gran's Next Adventure

Summary:

Getting ready to leave they learn some things about the woman who raised him.

They all agreed to leave the next morning. Aryll was vibrating in place, a complete ball of fury as the storms through the house gathering clothes, soap, the important dishes, and anything else she could fit in her bag.

Link brought her up a little short on that, "the King's just not that big. Aryll."

"Well, why not?" she glared at him. "Just where are me and Gran gonna sit when we get to this 'New Hyrule'?"

"I'll just have someone make new ones for you." he mentioned in an offhand manner.

"And just how long will it take for someone who can make one to show up?" she started running after him, waving her hands around.

"There's a carpenter in town, if you don’t like anything he has, I'll have him make you one you do like." He was looking through the food stores picking out food for the trip.

"There's one in town?"

"Yea, as well as a cobbler, tailor, and a dressmaker." he rattled off absentmindedly, focus on bottling up the leftover soup.

"Windfall doesn't even have a dressmaker." she whispered with a quiet awe.

"Sure it does."

"No, dresses made there are made by the tailor," she glanced at the hem of her dress, "and he's not that good at it." He saw the rework that had been done to it, and recognized the stitching.

He had a set of clothes, much too small for him now, with that same stitching sitting in one of his chests. "We can take you to the dress maker for a second dress if you want." The wide eyes wonder at his words caught him by surprise, "Gran too."

"If you keep sneaking spoonful's of thar soup, we'll need to make another batch before we can leave." Tetra's voice startled them. This unleashed the whirlwind, gathering more things as she went. And He went back to filling bottles, reddening at being caught.

It wasn't long before he felt the hair on the back of his neck prick. She was watching him again. He didn't even need to turn around, "What?"

"Nothing," the tone in her voice did seem like nothing.

Neither did the arm snaking around his shoulders. "I'm just surprised that you’re willing to open those chests you keep locked tight."

"I do--" she placed a finger on his lips to shush him.

"You have more treasure than I do, and I'm the captain." She was whispering in his ear.

He swallowed the shudders, keeping them at bay, "It's not my fault that you’re more expensive to get drunk."

"You mean that you’re a cheap drunk." she teased him with her voice and her words. He could get drunk just on her.

"Oh my," If he had not been holding an open bottle of soup, they would have to help him down from the ceiling. Tetra did not have anything in her hands and jumped away a good three or four feet. Both faces bright red, the blushes chasing into their collars. She laughed at them.

Tetra was the one on the defensive, "I was just talking about how he had more treasure than me, and I'm the Captain."

"You're not holding out are you, Link?"

Something about how she said it, the way she sounded, that struck him odd for the moment but he couldn't place the reason why. "No, Mako gets all of it to sort through." He taps the sword on his hip, "This is the only thing I've ever kept, and that's because no one on the ship uses a double-edged sword."

She seemed to accept that. "Shouldn't there be more than two bottles?" her voice was back to normal, so he put it out of his mind.

"Tetra?" he reached out cupping her cheek with his hand.

He swiped his thumb across her lips, removing some of the evidence. She knew what he was doing, but she let him anyway. "I only took one," she said it with a sigh and deposited an empty bottle onto the table. Above them, he heard a giggle with some gagging noises, and an empty bottle is lowered from the loft and thrown at him.

His grandmother gave them a smile, "let's go make another batch."

"How about you tell me what to do, and I make it?" One would think he was just trying to make things easier on her. But no, he's been after the recipe since he was six, and none of his many attempts had come close.

In the end it was deemed that he made a passable soup this time. Gran let them handle putting the batch away after she tasted it and sat in her chair. The batch was large enough that he had to use every bottle he brought on the King. Much to Aryll's surprise, "Big brother, why do you have so many bottles?"

"So many?" there was a smirk in Tetra's voice, "This isn't even half of them." she draped her arms over him, "he's got some really fancy ones that are not practical for soup or water."

Link cleared his throat, he looked out the window. Not only had night fallen, it had been dark for several hours, "We should get some rest." He looked at his grandmother and found that she had already started. He thought about leaving her there but decided on picking her up while someone pulled the blanket back and put her in her bed.

"So, where ya sleeping?" Aryll rubbed at her eyes, “your bed is still in the loft.”

"Let Tetra have it," at first she glared at him, believing he thought her delicate as he once joked. "I wouldn’t be in it within the hour."

"Still have that problem?" Aryll never knew why, and he could never remember why he was always in a weird place after going to bed.

"Oh, did he sleep walk back then too?" Tetra had found him in some of the oddest places, but it wasn't always sleep walking. "I think I 've only found him in his hammock 3 times since he started hanging out on my ship. And some places have given us all a heart attack a few times."

"Heh, don’t forget to check under the sail." he chuckled.

"Yea, yea," she kissed his cheek to Aryll's gagging sounds. He hugged them each and they all split for sleep.

---

In the morning, Aryll found him in the lookout tower. As usual he had no real memory of going there. Through his grogginess he found that it was still dark.

Aryll herself still looked half asleep herself. "Gran?" he asked. She just nodded at him. while descending the ladder, he caught and fell the last three rungs.

On the path back to the house Tetra caught up with him with a sleepy taunt, "Graceful dismount." He wasn't awake enough to counter, so he just kissed her on the cheek. "ew, your breath stinks." She was smiling as she shoved him away. They trooped back into the house where Link found his sweet loving grandmother, dressed in something that looked like it came right out of Tetra's cabin.

Her white hair was in it's signature bun, and her smile was on her face. The Navy blue vest was new as was the red blouse that tucked into tan slacks. The slacks themselves were tucked into a pair of black buckled boots that probably made Tetra jealous. And while she may not have had a sword at her hip, the dagger in it's place was the perfect accessory.

"Where did she get the clothes?" he whispered in awe.

"No clue," Aryll supplied.

"She had them on when she woke us up." Tetra yawned.

He looked over Aryll's clothing, "did we bring any spares?"

Tetra nodded, yawned and took Aryll by the arm back up to the loft, "Your blouse is fine, but let me introduce you to your two new best friends. Pants and chestwrap." Aryll yawned, but dutifully followed.

"Hey Gran, you look ready to go." she just hummed at him. "Where did you…" his voice trailed off, did he really want to ask this before he finished waking up?

"Oh, this?" she offered, "I've had it for a long time." He decided no.

"Trust me, it'll be worth the effort if that boat drops 20 or 50 feet off a wave, they will hurt a lot less." one of Tetra's matter-of-fact explanations wafted from above. He heard Aryll wince. He winced, but the little old lady next to him just laughed her small laugh, a little too knowing for his coffee deprived brain to wanted to think about.

He found the coffee. Once refreshed, he decided to start getting stuff put in the hold. Since she was packed, Gran’s stuff was first. He carefully packed them in, covering them all with family shield off the wall. She followed him out at her own pace, soon joined by the rest of their family. Aryll, was now dressed in one of Tetra's old shorts and blue vest outfits from when they were much younger. She was missing the red scarf and belt because Tetra was wearing them today. She threw her things haphazardly with their grandmothers, making him thankful for his packing job.

"All aboard and we'll slip the mooring and be underway." Link gave a flourished bow ushering everyone onto the King.

Tetra was laughing at him, "Link it's just the King."

He shushed her, "Let me have my fun."

Aryll and Tetra say on one of the benches he added for this trip, but Gran just stood next to the tiller. He took out the WindWaker and conducted the Wind's Requiem for old times' sake. Slipping the rope from the dock, he pushed them away from dock.

"So, Gran, how did you want to travel?"

"How fast did you say this thing could go?" She said with a smile, he smiled too.

He took the WindWaker and placed it in a small compartment at the base of the mast. "Hold on then..." he warned as he pulled the sail tight. He built up speed under the power of the newly set east wind. They all could feel the magic building, the wind pushing them faster and faster till…

It was sudden, the blue rune on the sail shifted to red and the King surged forward, gaining new speed from the focused wind now behind his sail. Tetra, himself and oddly enough Gran all rolled their legs like an experienced sailors. Aryll slipped onto the deck, "ow."

He fought very hard not to laugh, he failed. So did Gran.

With the King up to full speed Link tied the sail down and steadied the tiller. With the open seas before them, they had some time ahead of them, time enough to ask a question that will probably have a long answer. "Gran, what did you do before you had dad?"

"I fell in love with your grandfather," she said it perfectly straight-faced.

Tetra snickered at him from across the deck where she was checking from of the spare block and tackled for. Aryll was getting her first real look at the King but was also snickering.

"What about before that?"

"Oh, I was the quartermistress on the 'Noble's Pursuit'." A lot of things fit into place. Some of the things she aid, the clothes, and her sea legs.

A loud clatter hit the deck as tetra dropped the rigging she was working with, "you sailed with the Pirate Queen Zelda?" Gran just nodded at her smiling at some fond memories. "You sailed with my grandmother." It wasn’t a question.

Link looked from his grandmother to Tetra and back, then threw back his head and laughed. It turns out their lives were intertwined in more ways than they knew.

Notes:

Notice the rating went up. Tetra and Link are Pirates and talk like one starting next chapter.

Chapter 5: Family Hijinx on the High Seas.

Summary:

On the high seas the family hijinks ensues and much silliness to be had.

The King once again skimmed the water, the bottom scarcely touching the water. Tetra sat next to Gran, in rapt attention to her stories of the old Pirate Queen. Aryll was listening, but she was more content to gaze out at the islands as they passed in the distance.

He listened too, enjoying stories, some familiar, some not. It was surprising how much Tetra was like her Grandmother. Many orders given that he had or would have heard on the deck of the Princess. The consistency of it made him smile. Still, he kept his eyes on the horizon looking for anything, ship, island or otherwise that might get in his way.

They were skirting Stone Watcher Island when he saw Aryll picking at the discarded block and tackle, untangling it, or tangling it, he couldn't tell. Waving his hand, he caught her attention. Noticing, she shimmied and stumbled over to him. "Bored?" she could only nod at him.

"You wanna try piloting the King?" she nodded vigorously, "Ok, don’t be sad if you can't, he's finicky." she nodded slower, looking a little apprehensive at his hand on the tiller. "Just put your hand here on the tiller." She reached out her right hand and took hold. She tested it a little, her grip was strong enough, it was now or never. He let go.

Almost immediately the magic of the WindWaker fell apart and the rune on the sail was blue again. He expected that, "try to move it."

She gave it a tug, nothing but them sinking slightly into the water as the King lost his plane. She tugged again, and the King only chugged harder in the water. He hung his head.

"Did I do something wrong?" Aryll looked disappointed when Tetra started cackling at him.

He had to cut that line of thought off quickly, "No, like I said, the old man's finicky." He placed his hand back on the tiller and the magic flickered back to life, sending them along like an arrow loose from a bow. I was once again loose in his hands.

"Looks like it's several more days of hand-cramps for you …" she stopped mid-sentence as her eyes flicked towards her impromptu storyteller, "Buddy-boy." with his hand on the tiller, he couldn't cover the snort and stifled chuckle.

Tetra was about to say something, but thought better of it, which surprised him. She's never been one to censure herself. He silently made a bet on how long it took her composure to crack. Aryll was wringing her hands seemingly at a loss for what to do.

Pulling out a small collapsable telescope, he handed it to her. "Here, keep an eye out other ships." she reached for it with shaky hands, almost as if she didn't believe it was the real one. "Take care of it, someone very important loaned it me."

She took it and held it close, "It took you forever to bring it back." He smiled as she rushed up and clung to the figurehead looking through it.

He didn’t notice Tetra staring at him till she started in on her rant, "you see this…," she cut herself off again, "I've seen him blow a corsair out of the water, then next thing you know," her smile was blinding him with it's brilliance, "he's pulling this mushy stuff in front of the whole crew."

"Well, he's versatile," Gran defended him with a small chuckle.

Tetra sauntered with the waves over to him. "A captain has to keep her reputation. If you keep this up," She wrapped her arms around his neck, and his free arm found its way around her waist," and I'm going to have to anchor you down with a ball and chain."

A giant grin stretched across his face. "There's no ball and chain as big or as heavy as my love for you."

He winced as she thumped her head on his collarbone. "Damn it," her whisper was music to his ears. "That was cheesy."

“I know."

"That's not fair."

He kissed her hair to comfort her, "I know."

Gran still cucked at their antics. "See, Gran agrees with me." he whispered into her ear.

"Just not on the Princess." Her voice carried the weight of her command…

His voice dropped low, almost dangerous, "What about to the Princess."

Tetra could handle all the teasing, even some affection, but she would start sputtering if he took it too far, which, apparently her did. "Link, your grandmother is right there."

He looked over her shoulder, "No she's not," he nodded at her now at the head of the ship with Aryll seemingly describing what she sees in the spyglass.

"Ok then," she reached around his neck and kissed him soundly.

He took his hand off the tiller to grab her waist. That exact moment, he felt her grin on his lips. He knew immediately that it was an evil grin because the moment he felt the King slowdown from his lack of contact, she twisted out of his arm. His momentum carried him directly to the deck, face first. As he struggled to right himself, she knelt next to him, in the sweetest, softest voice she had, "Not on the Princess."

A muffled, "Yes captain," came from the deck boards. He didn’t mean it, but that was part of the fun.

"Whah" Aryll's voice came from the bow followed by a sploosh.

Link bolted up, slipping the tie line for the sail from the boom and dropping it. They stop almost immediately. With a scant few strides and he's able to see his sister floating motionless in the open ocean. Without even breaking that stride, he dives in after her with all the grace of a falling rock.

Once he approached her his laughter came wafting back to the King. He grabbed her arm and started pulling her back, approaching the rail, he could barely swim because he was laughing. He lifted her up and over the railing, where she flopped into the deck with all the grace of a fresh catch on a fisher. He struggled to hoist himself over the rail but eventually flipped over with the same grace.

"It's not funny Link," her voice was irritated as she picked herself off the deck.

"The fact you fell over, no." he gasped between breaths, "but the look of absolute resignation on your face." The thought refreshed his laughter.

The girl look up at them, and Tetra tried to hide her snicker at the despondency in her eyes.

It didn’t work.

"It's not fair," her sigh or resignation pulled at them, "You," she waved at the three of them, "all stand fine, while I .. " she seemed to be searching for the right words.

"Flop around like a fresh fish?" Link supplied, trying to lighten the mood. The look of betrayal and hurt quickly told him it didn’t work.

Aryll smacked his shoulder for being a jerk. Gran smacked the back of his head because he made fun of Aryll. Tetra smacked the back of his head just because.

"Anyway, we need start thinking about what to do for the night." The sun was getting low on the horizon and Tetra was giving him a look that reminded him that not everyone was as hardy as he was.

"We have some bed rolls in the hold, you can lay them out on the deck," He returned to the tiller, pulling on the tie line, hoisting the sail back up, and slipping it back onto the boom.

Tetra and Aryll were carefully, rummaging around in the hold, as they began to pick up speed. He saw them pull the first, which Gran moved out of the way. Two more soon followed, Aryll checking them for softness, almost smothering herself in them for their fluffiness. "Where did you get these?"

"Dunno." the exact location escaping him, "Had 'em for a while."

"And, why is there only three." Tetra glared at him.

"I don’t need one." he tried to sound confident, but the fierceness in her gaze spoke volumes.

"Like h-heck you don't." She caught herself again.

"I don’t stay in the same spot on any night." It was true.

"Yet you always have one." Her eyes narrowed, sharper than the blades she wielded. He didn’t respond, he didn’t have to. "You weren’t gonna sleep, were you?" She’d caught him, the end of her accusatory finger more threatening than any blade he's faced. "You were going to pilot this boat through the night, though the whole trip." He was guilty as charged. "Well, I'm not going to stand for this self-sacrificing buh…" she barely caught herself with Gran standing right next to her.

"Bullshit dear," Gran patted her side, "the word you're looking for is bullshit." Aryll and Link froze, their eyes wide as saucers, huge disbelieving saucers, trying to comprehend what they had just heard. Even Tetra looked shocked. "I've sailed with the saltiest dogs to ever sail the seas, you should have heard them when they lost a hand of poker." she cackled.

She cackled? Wait, why was Link sitting on the deck? Aryll was too apparently. His mind was trying to catch up with everything that came to light in the past ten seconds. Tetra, however, was not going to let him.

Her grin was absolutely vicious. "Right, where was I?" her voice was oddly quiet for a moment, "Oh yea." She leveled her finger at him like a dagger ready for his throat, "I'm tired of this self-sacrificing bullshit. You’re gonna take care of yourself. You understand me?" He wasn't stupid enough to do anything other than nod. "No more double and triple shifts." He nodded again. "And if Niko tries to use you to shirk his work, again, you throw him overboard, you hear me?" He nodded again.

"Wait, really?"

She laughed at his sudden jerk back into reality, that raucous laugh she gets when she's finding treasure, or crossing swords. "Why not, I'm tired of him slacking," She put her hands on her hips, "Now find us a place to sleep for the night.

"Yes captain." her surveyed their surroundings, eyeing the tall tower of the gods still standing its silent vigil over the fallen Kingdom at the bottom of the waves. And he knew where they were. He called to the bow, "Aryll, be on the lookout for an island with some palm trees."

He righted himself, his hand back on the tiller, he hoisted the sail, and they were under way again. It wasn't long before Aryll called "Land Ho," pointing starboard. It was a familiar island, one he owned. Their trip up to the beach was only as complicated as getting the anchor to catch, a problem he remembers having everywhere in the Great Sea. Once they landed, Aryll went off exploring immediately, scrambling up the small ledge into the island proper.

Tetra tossed the bedrolls to him after he helped Gran onto the island. They walked around, up the slight incline to join her. He's not sure why he thought the Cabana would be the same, but it seems that the butler had left at some point. Not sure why he's surprised, it's been so long. Silently he wonders if he still owns the place. He resolved to sort out the whole thing before they left.

With the butler gone, they did not have a way into the house, so that simply set up in the grass under the stars after Gran told them that there was no weather should be coming. Something about her knee and elbow. Link never understood it, but she did and that was enough. Aryll and Gran each took one of the bedrolls, and moved off to the other side of the island.

"I don’t wanna have to listen to overnight kissy-face." Aryll caused Link on choke on air.

He tried to defend himself, but Tetra rest a hand on his arm, "They say the road to hell is paved with the best of intentions." He didn't get what she was hinting at, but… Even in his own mind he couldn’t put it into words. All he could really do is let go of a heavy sigh, deciding that fighting or arguing about it would get him nowhere.

As dusk reigned, they all watched the sun retreat behind the horizon. Each with a warmed bottle of soup, some dried wafers and some water. It was the best meal he’d ever had.

Separating for the night, he spread out the bedroll and looked for a nice tree to lean on.

"What do you think you're doing?" The indignance in her voice strong and loud.

"Um…" he was not really sure why she's mad, "letting you have the bed roll?"

She grabbed him by the collar, yanking him into her space. "What did I tell you earlier?"

"This ain't self-sacrifice, this is being polite. We only have one bedroll." She pulled him closer as he said it.

"And why can’t we share?" her faced was a hair's width away from his, her voice a whisper on his ears.

Goddesses did she have to say it like that? There really was only one response to that. He leaned his forehead against hers, "But, I don't sleep well."

The tension vanished, "Oh don’t I know it." She pulled him over to the spread-out bedroll and pushed him onto it. "I've wondered if this would help." she mused to herself as she pulled her hair out of her signature bun. He didn’t understand it, but he had plenty of time to settle in before she slid right next to him. It was almost as if she belonged there. Her head on his shoulder, her arm draped across his chest.

His heartrate shot up, he could feel it in his chest. For as long as they have been together, they have never been this much in each other's personal space. The crew always breaking the moment or teasing them mercilessly even after they announced their relationship to the world. He didn’t mind being this close to her, but he had no idea how he was going to get any sleep with his heart trying to beat itself out of his throat. Tetra, apparently, didn’t seem to have that issue. Her breathing evened out and not long after, he was able to calm down as well.

As usual, sleep evaded him. He looked into her sun-bleached hair, smoothing it over, again and again. If he was going to have issues sleeping, he couldn’t think of a better way to spend the time. His mind wandered, as it so often does, this time to the task they have ahead of them. So many people have tried to swindle them, taking their naivete of large areas of land as an easy mark. Together they can sus out the truth, what one misses, the other sees. They will need each other for some time to come, and he looks forward to it.

His voice the barest of whispers, "I know we have a long voyage ahead, but I'll be there." He kissed the top of her head, right about where he bun would have been. "And I'm not gonna let anyone take advantage of you."

"What about you?" She was still awake, if only barely.

"Not even me."

"Awwww," the sleepy sound of disappointment made his ears ignite and his cheeks burn for one of the many reasons he never looked at too closely.

"We can talk about it later," he was soft as he went back to stroking her hair.

"Kay," was all she said as she snuggled into him even more, and seemed to drift off to sleep., this time accompanied by the softest of snores.

---

It turns out that he was not destined for a though night of restless sleep. He didn’t know when it happened, but while smoothing her hair, he passed into a dreamless sleep. Only to return to consciousness when the daylight had crept into the world. Tetra still lay on him with her arm now wrapped around him in a half hug. He marveled at the rest he had received, no horrors kept him awake, nothing to startle him from his respite moving him to find it somewhere else.

The only thing in his mind was that he wanted this moment to linger. Her small snore, the most comforting sound he has even heard. At her slight stir, he returned to the motion from last night, stroking her hair once again. She pulled him even closer, and he closed his eyes, content to lay there till she woke.

However, when he opened them next, he saw two pairs of eyes staring back at him. Aryll's were full of mirth, hand clamped over her mouth, stifling a laugh. She could tease him about it all she wanted, he didn’t care at this point. Gran stood there with a small smile, simply tapping a cup in her hand. It was coffee by the smell of it.

"I smell coffee." coffee will always be an important part of her morning, however she did not make any move. She seemed surprised to see him still there in the morning.

"How did you sleep?" he was able to ask first.

"Wonderfully if I'm honest," she stirred, causing him to miss her warmth. "You make such a great pillow. How about you?" Ahe wasn't awake enough to really tease him, "I noticed you were still here."

"The best I've slept in years." He hoped his thankfulness was heard through the grogginess.

They decided to refresh while they had access to fresh water. While they were busy, he decided to pack everything back into the King's hold. He followed suit once he was sure that they were on the King.

The water was cold but pleasant and the feeling of being clean was one of those things you could take for granted. Or, in his case, he would take the King out and find a place to get clean. While washing up, he got the distinct feeling of being watched. He looked around but saw no one. Nor did the feeling go away when he went back to washing.

The whole unease made him hurry more than he would have liked., coming to find a, grinning Aryll, Gran seeming like she's holding in a chuckle and Tetra. Who seemed to be blushing furiously with a slightly guilty expression. He normally dark skin was a very deep shade of red, that almost made it look like a sunburn.

"You ok?" he voiced his concern.

"We--" Aryll started but was cut off by Tetra.

"--'re fine." her voice cracked, something that hasn't happened in years. "Perfectly fine," she started pushing Aryll towards the King, "We should get underway."

Link followed dazed and confused, only to have Gran give him a little pat and a chuckle as he helped her back into the decking.

Back on the sea, things made more sense. They felt the magic of the WindWaker send them streaking along. He couldn’t keep the smile off his faces as they passed island after island until Star-Belt Archipelago came into view. Along with it the edge of the Great Sea.

He let go of the magic, allowing them to slow to a stately pace. "Here it is, the edge of the Great Sea." He let his family take it in. This is the farthest Gran has probably been, not to mention Aryll, "From here we shoot through the archipelago and into the Seas of the Ocean King. Through there we skirt the Duke's territory and head on to New Hyrule. It should take us about 3 more days."

He looked at them, Gran looked at the small rocks sticking out of the sea, contemplative. Aryll, on the other hand, look terrified, yet there was a need, the search for something new.

Tetra saw it too and the laugh she echoed caused Aryll to jump. "Oh…" she wheezed, "Your bother looked exactly the same." Despite Tetra's laughing, this seemed to make her feel better.

"Ready?" they both hummed, "then hold on." He placed a hand on the tiller again, calling up the magic of the WindWaker again. Zephos answered, sending them on, and Cyclos felt the call giving them horrendous speed. The sea roiled as the islets went from a small cluster of dots on the horizon to spires of solid rock in no time. The cragrocs were spooked by the blurred whoops as he was through the legs and belt.

And out of the Great Sea.

---

They traveled through the Ocean King's until night fell, and once again they found a island, once again he found that the cure for his age-old insomnia had blond hair. Unfortunately, there was no pond here, so they continued.

After noon on the third day Tetra and Gran were deep in swapping stories, currently talking about the time Link fell asleep in the King causing everyone to think he fell overboard. Aryll kept watch on the horizon.

"BIG BROTHER,” her voice a strained shout from her spot at the bow, “We got some more boats here.”

He rolled his eyes at calling them boats but, otherwise, let it slide. "Whose flag are they flying?"

"Umm, a knife with a circle over it."

Tetra's head shot up. Becoming a blur of motion, she bound next to Aryll, "May I?" she was bpolite, but Link knew her better. Aryll handed over the spyglass. "Link, it's one of the Duke's corsairs."

Link looked around to see 3 more surrounding the King. "Shit." They were in a bind now.

Notes:

I really wanted to have the battle in this chapter, but kit was already fairly large. Don't worry, we get it next time.

Chapter 6: Under the Sea

Summary:

With the corsairs surrounding them, there's an important decision to make.

Link pulled on the tiller, intending to shoot through an opening between the four before they closed in on them. A few moments of the new direction, however and he noticed that they were keeping pace. He slowed, releasing all the magic of the Windwaker, hoping they would continue, but they didn’t, they maintained their positions. He even dropped sail and anchor, only for them to stay in the same.

"What is going on?" the new oddness of the whole situation evident in his voice.

"I have no idea." Tetra's voice mirrored his confusion, "I thought the King could outrun--."

"Brother, why did they drop their sails?" Aryll called to them, "There's skinny guy in the crow's nest looking at us." She waved her free hand, "He's waving back." her voice wavered between enthused and concerned.

Tetra held her hand out to Aryll again. "He's crammed another mast on those things and more sail than I thought possible." She worried at her lip, "I don’t think we can outrun them."

"Don't do that," he kissed her lip, "You'll split them."

"How can you be so calm?" It was one of the rare times she was concerned, "We can’t head for home with them following us."

"A feint then?" he smirked at her?

"A feint?" he had the audacity to smirk at her, "What do you mean 'feint'?"

"The King's more maneuverable, --"

She cut him off, "Link, it's a matter of their thirty-two guns verses our one."

"Yea, I know we out gun 'em," it wasn't a boast, it was a simple, straight faced, statement.

"You really believe that don’t you?" He's not often serious, but the way he nodded couldn't be described as anything else. "Are you willing to bet your life on it?" He snorted at that, it was something she was trying to work with him on after all these years. "Ok, how about my life." Once he realized that's what he'd be doing, he nodded. "What about your grand--"

"AHOY KING OIF RED LIONS!!!" one of the corsairs had moved towards them during their discussion and was far too close.

"Shit." was quadruply muttered.

"What the hell do you want?" Tetra assumed the role of Captain again, staring the man down from.

"Our Lord has authorized me to extend an offer to forgo any of this silliness." A man in a tricorn hat leveled a cool look at her. He seemed to expect her to say something, but she remained tight-lipped. "Well then," he seemed nun-plussed about the exchange of stares. Link didn’t blame him, Tetra looked like she could murder him with the glare she leveled at him, "he would like to extend an invitation for you to come back to his palace. In exchange, we are ordered to release your companions to the winds."

"And you'll just let them go?" Link could not tell if she was serious, or stalling, he wasn’t going to let her go.

"On my honor, they will be set free."

"What honor," Link's voice was low, but he knew Tetra heard him.

"You can tell Duke Puh--" she didn’t get to finish her sentence. A thunderous crack rang out between the two ships as the captain's hat flew off his head reveling his hair to have a new part down the middle.

"Darn it," it was Gran, "missed." As the line above the captain snapped and the sail slacked, Link and Tetra spared a glance at the old pirate. Tetra's flintlock in hand, actively reloading it. The sail fell, trapping the man.

Link wasted no time, in one fluid motion, he pulled the tie line, raising the sail for them to be out of the way as he yelled fire. The ocean sprayed them over due to the closeness of the impact. He pulled away, getting some sea between them.

"Do we flee or fight?" A detonation thumped behind them signaling another cannonball was on the way. He swerved, jostling them as the sea beside them exploded.

"If Link says we can sink them, then we sink them." Aryll’s look was fierce, "They're not getting my sister."

Gran patted Tetra on the side, "Call me Gran, dear." Another canon sounded in the distance. Pulling a sharp turn, they found that the water where they would have been, showering them instead.

"We're insane, you know that." Tetra's smile lit up his sky. He knew that tone, she hid things behind it, and he'll let her for now.

"Tetra, get that canon ready, I'll try to call out which side, so be ready." She rolled her eyes at him, btu headed for the munitions box. "Aryll, give Gran your telescope and help her load the canon." Gran walked her wat to the rear of the King next to him, "Keep an eye on the other ships and let me know if you can tell how far out they are."

"Two ships, starboard, about three clicks out. One on the port, about 4 clicks out. Closest about half a click out, trying to raise her sails." She was all business.

"Here we go," he called letting the gunners know. He pulled them around, "Target's on port." The King barely touched the water as it flew along, the corsair fired off several shots with Link weaving them through the explosions. Once in range, he veered off, letting Tetra get a few shots off. All three connected, they were taking water.

"Damn it, the room's on the other side" she ran to get the next shells, "You're up kid."

"Coming around again. Target on port." Link looped them around.

"Two ships on port, two clicks out. One on Starboard 4 clicks." Gran's soft voice was methodical, just within his earshot.

He sped them through another pass. The first shot had smoke billowing up the rear of the ship, the second shattered the mast. He could hear the screaming onboard, shouts of fire fading as they left them to their fate.

He came around to the other solo corsair, it's starboard guns all ready for a broadside. "Next up, starboard side," he raced the King into the impending fire. They unleashed all four cannons fire, he cut the magic, slowing them down. The shells landed in front of them, calling forth a wall. He woke the Kings and roared through the raining water. The shots that followed were scattered, manned by crews out of sync. Swerve after swerve, the cannonballs only found the sea.

Passing, hulls barely a foot apart Tetra and Aryll ripped them apart. The crew screamed of fire in the magazine. He never slowed down to watch the thunderous detonation behind them. Hard into the tiller he set their sights on the next targets.

The remaining pair had formed up close and tight. As they closed in, the ships quartered his wind, eight guns faced them, and fired. With that many guns they could spread them out, alternate fire, their only hope was to slip under them. Faster and faster he pushed, and behind them the sea exploded as shell after shell broke the surface. The final one grazing the primary line for the King’s sail, snapping it.

He leapt for the spare and felt the tiller lock through the decking as he did. By the time he got his hand on it, he heard more canon fire, more shells on the way. Time seemed to slow, as the King lurched pulling to the right then correcting. The first canon ball exploded just off the side, water spraying him. He yanked on the sail, regaining the wind.

While he wrestled with the line, he heard more canon fire. He glanced back to see Gran shoving the tiller again dodging more cannonballs. Swaying back and forth, he pulled the sail back to full mast and looped it back onto the beam. He scrambled back to the tiller while Gran smiled as she stepped away letting him take control.

The speed was on, and in full force they rocketed at the two ships. They had closed ranks, barely any space between them, only converging wake. A very high converging wake, one they had no way around, no way through.

However,…

"We're gonna hit the wake." he called to the bow, not expecting, or paying attention, to the cackling that drifted back to him. He poured in everything he had, either this was going to be brilliant or devastation.

Just as they hit the wake, he put his arm around Gran who had wrapped her hands around herself. They were launched into the air by the convergence of magic and physics he had no hope of understanding. Clearing the railings of the corsairs, they looked up to find Aryll and Tetra bombs in hand.

Pelting the decks they dropped bomb after bomb on them. Detonation after detonation came from below, each flash lighting up their faces. Each face pulled into disturbing grins, as maniacal laughter echoed around him. As they reached the apex of the arc, he tried to call out to them, but the explosion drowned out anything he tried to say. Once cleared of the two, now, beleaguered ships Tetra whipped the run around, point aft, Aryll ready to help. They fired two rounds, one on each side of the mast. The explosions from the aft lit up their, almost delirious, faces.

The King landed hard.

The Hing landed hard enough that he was forced to his knees. The pair front collapsed in heaps, curled in on themselves. Gran was the only that didn’t collapse, he did hear her hiss though her teeth. Link recovered enough to get his hands back on the tiller.

Gran was already, up and looking around, "They are all on fire." An explosion sounded behind him, "Well, they were." Try as she might, she couldn’t keep the little chuckle out of her voice.

The pair next to the canon hadn’t really moved much. "You two ok up there?" Aryll just groaned at him, Tetra just flipped him off. Everyone here seemed ok, but they were all very important, so he found several bottles of red drink, "Sorry Gran, I don’t have any fairies right now." He hands her a bottle, "This won’t taste good, but it'll make sure nothing's broke inside."

"I've had a red Chu juice before dear." she took the bottle, sniffing it.

"I hope it's not." Tetra warned from her pile on the deck.

"It's potion, so it's s step up from bilge swill." they chuckled at the joke.

He walks over to the two heaps, now sprawled out on the deck. "You ok?"

"Everything but my pride." Tetra took a bottle, "How do you know that the bilge tastes like?"

"When you threw me in." he smirked, walking over to his sister.

"Oh yea," he could hear the remembering smile In her voice.

His sister had the same dead face from yesterday. She looked at him asking 'why me' with her dead eyes. He nudged her with his foot, "Hey, drink this,"

"Leave me to die." she whined.

"You're not gonna die." he put the bottle in her hand, "Drink up and it might hurt less."

She seemed like she wanted to argue, but he had already walked off, "HEY!!" he just laughed on his way back to the tiller.

Gran was looking out at the wrecks, "two are gone, third one is almost under and the last ones on fire."

"May I?" he holds his hand out for the Telescope which she lets him have, "He looked through it, seeing the locations of the four ships, as well as the lifeboats from those who survived the encounter. "I can find them again." he handed it back to her.

"Are you sure? She took it and started looking out again.

"Are you kidding me," Tetra threw her arms over his shoulders and leaned over him, "Your grandson is the go-to salvager." Gran just raised an eyebrow at him. He just blushed at the complement. "Anyway, here," a half-finished red bottle appeared in his vision, "I didn't need all of it."

At first, he was going to refuse, but she poked his chest revealing a bruise he didn’t know was there, "Ok, ok, ok." he took it and grimaced as he drunk it, "ugh."

"I need to have a little chat with the little ‘captain’," the amount of derision dripping from her voice could coat the deck. Bringing them around, he headed straight for the lead of the lifeboats. On the approach she called out to the flailing oars, "Ahoy bilge rats." The crew openly, nervously, stared at the canon that she rest her foot on. "First things first, The box if you please ‘captain’."

"I don’t know what you're talking about." the man had the nerve to look down at her form his seat lifeboat.

She swung the canon down the rest of the way, leveling at the man's chest, "This canon here says you do."

One of the men nearest reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a slender white, silver trimmed box and threw it to them. "I'm not dyin for a stupid piece of metal.

It cleared Tetra's shoulder, but Aryll was there to catch it. She opened the box, showing it to Tetra, ‘pretty.'

"Smart man." Tetra managed to say it with only a small hint of sarcasm, Now, just based on this tells me that you’re one of your lord's family." The man nodded apprehensively. "Good, tell him that he will regret sending someone after me." She motioned to the remaining smoldering wreckage behind them, "That will look like a scrapped knee compared to what I'm going to do." She gave them a flippant wave of her hand, "now off you go."

They watched the crews row off in the noon sun, it was kind of relaxing. It was Gran who broke the silence, "I wonder just how much treasure those ships had."

Tetra and Link just smirked at each other while Aryll just said, "Me too."

"You heard the lady," Tetra's gave the feel of an order.

"Yes captain," he turned them back to the ships.

---

They pushed the Canon off to the side while he pulled the recovery gear out of the hold, bolting it to the decking where the canon normally site. Once the thing was mount he needed one of them to help, "Ok, who’s the winch?" Normally it would be Niko, but there were three other people on the boat. Not that he expected Gran to turn the winch. Aryll just looked confused, Tetra and Gran both looked at him shocked, both with their hands on their hips. It took a moment to realize what he said. "Well, someone's gotta crank the wench since I'll be in the water."

"Wait, you don’t just throw the hook in and pull out the boxes." In her defense, she’s never been with him when they’ve salvaged stuff before. Just a little time on the King back when he was still all magic, back when he still talked.

"We haven’t done that in a long time. These days I go down and hook the boxes while Niko keeps the tension and pulls it up when I signal."

"How do you keep tension," Aryll's curiosity shoved the conversation along.

He showed them the lever that tensioned the pully and gear system used by the wench, "hold this down," which he did, "and it makes it so that you need to use a little effort," he pulled, "to pull the line." He let off, and tugged again showing the difference. Tying a mesh backet, up the line, "For the small stuff."

Pulling off his vest and shirt, his many scars, some of the oldest mementos from his adventures, besides the King, shone angry in the high sun. The largest of which, a 3-toes slash across his chest, was a parting gift from the Helmroc King.

"Still can cover them up if you want." They've had this conversation many times before, normally when they are on some island enjoying the sun. He had a complicated relationship with his patchwork of scars. He could tell you where each of them came from. Each came from saving someone very important to him, but the times were intense, trying, and often times, painful. She appeared next to him and traced two long lines down his left arm, these were a parting gift from Ganondorf. "But then 'why have their name on your arm when you have scars from the madmen who tried to kill 'em?' Sound about right?"

He told that to Niko and the crew after they pestered him one day about it. "I didn’t know you were there." After that they generally, left him alone about it. She let him go to

He kicked off his boots, as Tetra started to whistle and catcall "Take it off," She was joking as he tugged off his sock. However, she went silent when he pulled at the knot on his belt and shucked out of his trousers. His eyes landed on the thin segmented scaring in and out of the waistband of the tight shorts he wore. A parting gift from Bellum, and, at first, one of the few indicators that it happened. Before Linebeck found them anyway.

"You ok?" Aryll called out.

Before he could respond, Tetra gave a distracted, "Yea, fine." apparently, she was still looking at him. He knows she hated the idea she was helpless at all, and he didn't like being a living reminder of that time.

"Then come help me figure the rest of this out then."

He attempted to hurry, but Gran stopped him, "See if you can find a nice clean bit of sail and some charred wood while you’re down there."

"Wha' for?" he said with what he knows was the dumbest of expressions.

"I just want to keep track of everything we get." He didn’t really think about it, Mako normally handled it when they got to the Princess, but since he’s not here, maybe they should.

He walked over and knelt to the same little compartment that the Windwaker rested in and pulled out a small sheaf of paper and some pencils, "Will these work?" She smiled her thanks as she took them and wandered to the hoist.

"Link," Aryll was almost exasperated, "Will you get in the water before blood starts dribbling out your girlfriend's nose?" He looked up to see that Tetra was still looking at him, with a blush on her cheeks and the tips of her ears. She was distractingly beautiful.

He had no recollection of making it to the rail of the King, but the next thing he knew, he was tripping over the edge, landing in the water with yet another ungraceful sploosh. As he came to the surface, he decided that the water was for the best, it's a lot easier to hide a blush when the water cools it for you. He swam only to find that he probably could have just pulled up a strong box just by dropping the hook. But there were so many more. He surfaced just in time for a head to pop over the railing. "Oh good, didn’t want to drop this on your head. "Tetra seemed to have regained her composure.

Slowly the hook and line were lowered, and he ran it through the handles of the first three and found a few trinkets to put in the basket. He tugged on the line, expecting it to be pulled, but nothing happened. Surfacing, he got their attention and gave them the signal. With them pulling him up he could stay under longer, find the little trinkets and baubles that make them so much money. It wasn't long before the last chest and a small white box trimmed with brass was being pulled onto the boat. As he pulled himself onboard, he found that Gran was deep into the treasure, only the boxes from the last pull were still on deck, the rest thrown overboard.

As they secured the last one and with the white box packed away, he called underway, mostly because Gran's was not paying attention. They all just waved at him, nonchalantly. Tetra decidedly not looking at him, since he didn't bother getting dressed again. He quartered the wind to the smoldering remains, with a bit of the crow’s nest still sticking out. This time he was shoved overboard, Aryll wanting him to get on with it.

Once in the water, he found that this one just sank and snagged on the ocean floor. So the hold is still intact. On his way back up, he found another white box, this one trimmed in gold, Tetra'd was going to be excited for this. He kicked off the wreck, breaching the surface, shouting like an idiot. "Hey throw me a crowbar." he tossed the box up to the ship. They returned the favor, tossing his crowbar over the side. Fortunately it missed him, probably thrown wide intentionally.

On finding it, the task of tearing the ship apart began. With repeated trips to the surface for air he, eventually, opened his way into the ship's main hold. Pulling chests took more time because of the smaller opening, but it all moved along. Before too long they had the last chest from and pulled the last trinket from the captain's cabin and they were ready to move on.

"You're getting awfully red.," Aryll's observed with him at the tiller.

Gran came over, fussing at him, but not wanting to touch the forming sunburn, "It's just something that happens." he touched his arm, it was warm, but not that bad.

Tetra glared at him, however, "You got something for that?"

"Always have some aloe," he gave a vague motion before placing his hands back on the, "but that'd be gone as soon as I hit the water." She just frowned at him, not able to do anything. At lease she was able to look at him.

The last two were still bubbling as they approached. He could still see that they were tangled together, the wrecks were an unstable mass of air trapped hulks. This was going to be dangerous. Looking up he saw Tetra had tossed her boots next to his pile of clothes, "what's going on?"

"I'm going with you." she pulled off her vest and tugged at her shirt. He decidedly turned around. "Oh come on, you've seen me in just my chest wrap before."

"Th-that's not why I turned," the heat on his ears was not from the sun. She just laughed, but he continued, "anyway it's gonna be really dangerous."

"So what," she challenged, "I've swam through underwater caves and stuff, this shouldn’t be that different."

"What about Aryll, she'll need help with the haul."

"I'll be fine," Aryll stifled a giggle. He verry visibly rolled his eyes, and she giggled harder.

He knew 'because I don’t want you down there' was not a valid argument with her, and would probably start a fight, and he couldn’t come up with anything else. "Ok, fine,” he got himself under control and faced her, “I know you’re the captain, but we gotta do this safely." Doing everything to convey the seriousness. "If I say we move on, we move on, if I say we surface, we surface." It's one of the few times he stared her down, "You understand?"

"This is really that important to you, huh?" she put her fist on her hip.

"You’re the most important thing in the world to me." he saw her eyes soften as his proclamation. Then he realized she had already folded all her clothing next to his pile and was just in her chest wrap and a pair of shorts not too unlike his. Everyone got an obvious example of just how much of his body could blush.

"Let’s get you into the water before you pass out from heat stroke." Her joke broke the tension that was building. But he could tell that she was taking him seriously, she let him jump in first.

The dive was fairly painless, she followed his directions to the motion, and they worked well as a team. They always had. There were even several parts of the hold that they had to go around. He enjoyed showing several methods of opening a new way in. True to her word, Aryll was fine pulling up the chests, and Gran happily emptied the basket every time. All in all, it was fairly clockwork.

As they hoisted themselves back onto the deck, he looked out at the chests strewn about. Gran and Aryll seemed to be having fun, so he let them. The thought of drying off and putting his clothes on screamed at him, but the thought of the fabric running against his skin made him wince. So he just let the weariness wash over him.

The sea took her share, but they still pulled a lot of hidden treasure from below the waves.

Notes:

The maneuvers described above are a stylized retelling of actual moved I have performed in game. ... except the wake thing, tho the King does defy physics on a regular basis. There are also VERY easy ways to tell where the chests are at in the Great Sea.

Next up, Sunburns, Shorelines and Weddings, oh my. (and maybe another chapter. I might need an eight.)

Chapter 7: To Back Again, The Long Way.

Summary:

The journey continues, as does the fluff.

The fatigue hit him hard and fast, the ache settled into his muscles within moments of them being out of the water. Not from all the work, but from his angry red skin. The heat settled into his muscles, into his bones, wearing him out. He doesn't know who, but someone set out the King's old sailcloth for him to sit under. It's heavy, but lightly colored, making it the perfect shelter. However, he wanted to get moving, to be out of the area before any of the surviving crew reached their destination. He slowly shambled to the tiller before, He was not looking forward to the evening, where breaking down the salvaging gear would take its toll.

Gran was still sifting through the treasure, so he was not going to go fast. He brought them around, letting the natural wind be quartered by their sail, cruising at a leisurely pace. He focused on the horizon, the evening sun beating on his back. He was so focused that he didn’t notice Tetra had walked up next to him.

"Goddesses you look like shit." he felt her hand near his skin, drinking in all the heat. He winced before she ever touched him. "It's real bad, ain't it?" He just nodded, too drained to do anything else. "Why don’t you just sit up under that," she pointed him to the makeshift shelter.

He just nodded at the tiller in his hand.

"You know as well as I do that he will only go straight as long as you're not touching that tiller." He did indeed know that, but he motioned the horizon, far too tired to articulate it properly. "Aryll can watch out for other ships." she looked at him as he made no motion to move, barely registering that she was right next to his ear, "Do I need to get your grandmother?"

He jolted at that, shaking his head no. He knew Gran would not be happy if he kept pushing himself and things could get dire. He let go of the tiller, feeling it lock into place. He shambled over to the makeshift shelter and carefully set himself to the decking, carefully avoiding further irritating his angry red skin. He only marginally succeeded, hissing through his teeth at the brief grazing of his legs before finding an 'ok' position to sit. He could feel the heat radiating off him.

"Where's the aloe you mentioned earlier?" Her reminder, moved him, struggling to stand. “Aht, aht, ah, that's not what I asked. I asked where is it." she pushed him back into the deck with a minor hiss.

He pointed to the brown box on the inside of the hinged hold cover, "In there." She went to retrieve the medicine crate while he examined the state of his skin. His eyes traced the thin lines along his arm, across the expanse of the ripped skin across most the right side of his torso. Chased, the numerous marks all up and down his legs, even the segmented line around his waist. They were all so much angrier than the rest of him, as if protesting the further abuse he submitted them to. All hope that everything would subside quickly, faded.

He seemed to have checked out because he didn't take stock of anything until after she knelt next to him, holding a bowl of blue-green glop in her hands. "Wha'zat?" what little elegance he had seemed to have slipped away in the heat.

"Did you know you had a blue potion in there?" sh asked as she gestured to the medicine box. He shook his head no, he forgot about it. "Though I use the term 'potion' loosely." she mixed the bowl with her fingers, "It was odd smelling a little like baba's"

"Wow," it slipped out from him, grabbing her attention, "That had to have been from Hollo."

"Who?" she asked having never been to the Forest Haven.

"He was the potion maker in the Forest Haven." He tried to come up with the words to describe the little Korok.

"Link that means it was,” she stalled, her mind tried to account the amount of time, “really, really, old."

"Probably 9 years easy. I kinda stopped needing them after I got the last Goddess Pearl." he nodded towards Gran, "Her soup had always been delicious, so I normally had that instead."

"You mean to tell me that you healed yourself with soup?" her incredulousness shone through her voice. He just smiled and nodded. "Why am I not surprised?" there was a smile in her voice as she rolled her eyes and doled out some of the medicine on her fingers, "Well, Gran said it probably wasn't really a potion anymore, but we could mix it with the aloe and it would help your skin heal better."

She started applying the navy-green gel to his face, "She also said we should keep on the lookout for chus, their juice was better."

The cooling effect of the gel, combined with the naturally icy nature of her hands caused a sigh to escape him. "Feel good?" she asked him quietly. He could only nod at the relief. She worked her way across his face and along his neck until she found the first of his scars. She followed the thin lines that extend from just below his shoulder and traveled the length of his arm. "They said that small stints of exposure to the sun helps build up an endurance to this." She rubbed more of the mixture into his arm.

Being so close, she saw his mouth twitch, fighting the frown. "Link," her voice was unusually quiet, "Why do you hide your scars?" It was something they never talked about it.

"I, um.." he tried, but the words ran from him. There were parts of himself that he did not look at very often. The part of him that slipped up at times. "I don’t like reminding you that I left you vulnerable." he talked to wood below him, his vision passing through it. "Trapped," He saw her dangled by Ganondorf, "Afraid." he saw the frozen face of a statue. “Alone,” his voice cracked as the vision of her dangling from Bellum’s grasp danced unbidden in his mind.

"Is that what you think I see when I see your scars?" he could only bob his head up and down. "Well, what I'm remind of is someone who," she worked on the scars left by the Helmrock King, "who fought tooth and nail for his sister." She moved to his arm, "Someone who crossed all over the great sea for people he barely knew." and finally worked on the segmented line along his waist. "I see someone who never gave up." He looked at her, trying to see what she saw. There was no joke or tease in her eyes. She continued in silence giving him time to absorb her words.

It was not until she moved in front of him, taking one of his legs into her hands that he returned to himself. He tried to take over, but she shooed his hands away, simply telling him, "I got it." It was the first time he noticed a thin crisscross mesh of random lines. "Where did you get these?" she asked as she traced one of them, I've never seen scars like this before."

He tried not to jerk his foot as she moved her finger along the lines, but the urge to do to compounded the longer she had it. He couldn't fully clamp down the laughter that tried to escape, which emboldened her. She brushed her hands along the bottom of his foot. He jerked awkwardly away, throwing himself off balance. She was giggling as she reached for him to steady him. He hissed as he caught himself, grazing his elbow and aggravating the burn. He loved hearing her laugh, but when she reached for him, he still pulled himself in even tighter, causing himself to go off balance again.

She caught him. "Ok, ok, I'll be good," she was still giggling, "I promise." Despite his misgivings he extended his legs back out and let her return to her ministration. The gel was cooler on the back of his legs than anywhere else, "So where did they come from?"

He contemplated the jagged scars on his legs for far longer than he’s proud of before it hits him, "Oh yea, Gold Chus."

"Gold Chu?" her voice was as cool as her hands that were cooling his shins, it was relaxing.

He wanted to lean back so bad, but the flex of his skin creaked each time he tried. "Yea, most of them are in The Tower of the Gods." She didn't look up, but frowned at his words, her eyes tracing the sporadic scaring on his legs. "They like to sneak under you and shock your legs before tossin ya." That explanation seemed to satisfy her.

She was quiet as she worked her way up his legs, the medicine working it’s magic. If he were not seeing it, he would have never believed that she could be subdued. "Well, you don't have to hide them."

'Kay," he didn't really have a response to that.

She started working on his upper thigh, he was fighting every impulse in his body to keep from jumping or yelping, "Look, all I'm saying is that I want you to be comfortable." she was intently staring at her hands. Which was a good thing because his face and ears would show he was the opposite. It was almost no time before she finished with his skin. However, with a gentle hand on his thigh she held him stronger than any rope ever could. "I mean it." her voice was oddly stern.

There was more to it, she was searching to the right words. She had been getting like this lately, thy both had. Ever since he gave her that necklace, they have tried to be more open, more direct in telling each other things so there's no more misunderstandings. She started to speak several times, but the words died off with each attempt. It wasn't perfect, but it was much better than the four years of pining they had gone through when they could have been happier together.

Her hand had found its way to the hem of his short, absent minded she started playing with it. He wanted to say something, that it was ok, or even point out her hand. However, he'd done that in the past and found it to only irritate her. So he waited for her to collect her thoughts, all the while, resisting the urge to squirm every time her fingers moved. Eventually she found them, "I mean, if you don’t mind them. Don't feel like you have to hide them for me." she curled her gingers around the shorts leg, "I've made my peace with everything that happened a while ago." He glanced over to see Gran and Aryll looking at the various bits and baubles that were pulled into the baskets before, paying no attention to them. "But if you don’t like them, I don’t want you to think you have to keep them for me either." More fabric ended up bunched in her fingers, "If you wanted to cover them all? We would find artist to ink you from head to toe if that's what you want." She looked up at him. With her heart in her eyes, "I want you to be happy too." Thankfully she let go of the fabric and released him.

"Well," he smoothed his shorts, "that would depend on what you think."

"Link," her eyes hardened at him, "this isn’t…"

He held up his hand to his chest, getting her attention. "Tetra, that's not it." the earnestness in his voice probably did more to halt her words, "My happiness is intrinsically tied to yours." he placed his palm on her cheek. "I could never intentionally make you uncomfortable."

There was his favorite look again, it was the one she only gave only to him when they were alone. She leaned over him, putting her forehead against his hair. "Where did you learn the word 'intrinsically' from?"

"Mako." His admission caused her to laugh. He was so mesmerized by it as he always. So much so that it took him a moment to notice something causing him a sharp intake a breath.

"What?" She seemed to panic slightly, "Did I bump your sun burn?"

Shaking his head frantically he struggled out, "Your hand." It was an embarrassingly croaked whisper. She followed his eyes. When she leaned in, she placed her hand on his shorts, splaying her finger. Her smile turned mischievous, "Does this bother you?"

He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "Quite the opposite," he looked over at his family at the bow, "but we have company." Realizing his state, she snatched her hand back, and he gave a quiet cough to recenter himself. "So, like I was saying, I wanted to know your thoughts."

"Like I said, I've made my peace with," she paused looking for the right words to convey all the insanity their lives had been. "All that." she added somewhat lamely.

"When I see them. I see all the time I should have been dead. They are a reminder of how lucky we are." He motioned to the large one, "And everyone who helped us along the way." She seemed to be waiting on him for something, but he didn’t have an answer, "I'll have to think about it." giving her a genuine smile, "It's kinda permanent."

She scooted over next to him, close enough to just be, initially resisting the urge to tough him like normal. They sat like this for a while before Gran moved into his view. Off to his free side she inspected him, "You'll need one more dose before you'll be up for more sun." Without a care in the world, she walked over to the tiller took hold and steered them to a new heading...

He vaguely remembered her doing so when the sail kicked lose, but he was still surprised to see her do so again. Tetra on the other hand, "What the hell is this?"

There were several moments of silence before he figured out, she was glaring at him. "Huh?"

"What do you mean, 'huh'?" She poked his shoulder, causing him to hiss and scramble away. Making it all worse. "I try to move that thing forever, with all my might, and she just walks up to it like it's nothing."

"Hey, I don't know how the old man works," he struggled out while trying to fend off another finger attack. "Hey -- Ow -- Come on…" She relented on her assault, "Maybe he just likes her." Tetra snorted at that, "I mean he looked to be the same age." She gave him the blankest stare, "you never known when that level of magic is involved," he finished lamely. Her blank stare continued for a few more moments, the her laughter broke in. It was infectious and soon he followed.

A few giggly moments later they heard Aryll call out, apparently that was what Gran was waiting for, she straightened out and locked the tiller. Wandering to the pair, she looked them with an arched eyebrow, "What's going on over here?"

"We were just talking about the fact that you’re the only other person who can steer him." Link pointed at the tiller.

"Him?" she looked at him confused, "most ships are rereferred to as lady. I've been meaning to ask you how the ship got the name."

"It's a long story," he sighed, taking a breath to start into it.”

She stopped him, "We’ll be at an island soon. You can tell me then." He shuffled to get up, but she stopped him, "I think the three of us should be able to beach … the 'King' was it?"

"The King of Red Lions," he confirmed with pride.

"A mighty name." and with those words, she took Tetra with her to find a nice soft beach to land on.

---

It was not long before the King was anchored on a small forested island. They all sat in the shade of a tree and let the colors of the sunset wash around them. Tetra took it upon herself to apply the next dose of the jell to cool his skin. "I can’t believe you let it get this bad."

"I didn’t know." He sighed at the relief.

"So, you mentioned a story about your ship?" Gran prompted his memory.

"Oh yea," he leaned on his palms, "We have a history." And he started as he told them of the first of his adventures on the Great Sea and the old King below the waves who helped him. Tetra made sure to include the catapult incident. Before long they were sitting there enjoying bottles of soup just as he was describing his decent into Old Hyrule.

When he described King Daphnes, he could have sworn he heard his grandmother say "Sounds dashing."

Aryll was fading fast, however, and was almost asleep by the time he was looking for Medli. "Maybe we should continue tomorrow," Tetra suggested, getting up, pulling him with her. Aryll protested, but since no one could understand what she was saying through all the yawns, she was overruled.

They moved to separate parts of the island again, once again, this time at Gran's request. She didn’t share her reasoning, but he didn’t mind. Tetra mumbled about getting something from the King while he tried to work out the logistics of laying down without going through sensory overload. Just the idea of a million blades of grass presses all along his back sent shivers along his spine. Let alone of what that would feel like on his sunburn. Tetra was going to need the whole bedroll because she be able to snuggle against him. He spread it out once again, waiting for her to return. He had full intentions of wrapping her in there and silencing any protests with a kiss, no matter how many kisses that took. He felt the goofy smile that took root at the thought.

While he waited for Tetra he thought about his plan. The more he thought on it, the more Gran's reasoning came through. He also wondered if he would get away with it, she didn’t let him kiss her too much, but they weren't often this alone either.

When she returned, she was wearing his shirt overtop her other clothes. "This should keep me warm, huh?" Her question in and of itself ruined his quickly made plan. "Hey, what's up with that pout."

She surprised him in the fact that he didn’t know he was pouting, "Nuthin," he pouted. "ugh." He tried to shake himself out of it before…

It was too late however, Tetra stalked him, flexing her finger ready to poke him, "That didn’t sound like 'nuthin'." she threatened, "You better tell me before things get," she paused, flexing all her fingers for dramatic effect, "drastic…"

"Eep," his mind raced, "now Tetra, do you really want to know what goes on in my mind?" She nodded at him, now flexing both hands. He had no idea which would be worse, being tickled within an inch of his life, or being tickled over a sunburn. He fessed up, "I was gonna have you lay down then surprise you by wrapping you up." She had her arms crossed, with a flat expression, as expected. "Then I was gonna keep you from complaining by kissing you every time you started."

"How do you do that?" she exasperated at him, her head in hand.

"So what?"

"Sound so stupid, earnest, cheesy and sweet all at the same time." She closed the gap between them, "We can skip the bedroll wrap and go straight to the kissing part."

His ears we on fire now, and it had nothing to do with the sunburn, but he was happy to oblige. They kissed several not-so-chaste kisses before Aryll's gagging sound could be heard across the island.

"I think she's messing with us." the realization drawing on him.

"I know she is. You, specifically." she paused, glancing over at the two resting on the other side of the island, "I've seen her book collection."

"Hey!!" Aryll squeaked over the rustling as her top cover was pulled over her head.

Gran started laughing, "It's ok dear, I've already read them." Aryll squeaked again.

Tetra snickered as she settled down on the bedroll, inviting him next to her. Instead of sleeping snuggled together, they laid there, hand in hand, fingers interwoven. He didn’t mind so much, but he would be happier when they could lay closer again.

"You know," she sounded so sleepy all of a sudden, "I think this is the longest I've seen you less than fully clothed." she placed her hand on his chest for a moment, tracing the edge of his largest scar. "I think I like it." It was always sudden when she fell asleep, almost like a switch. He'd always been envious of that ability in her. He was awake, his mind brought about to their conversation earlier. He mulled it over as sleep took him as well.

---

He awoke the next morning to blond hair in his face. Tetra has rested her head on his shoulder and at the moment, he didn’t mind. With his free hand, he started testing, poking various spots to see. His skin was dry, and he had an overall ache, but the searing pain seems to have alleviated overnight. The longer he was there, the more awake his mind felt.

"Wha…?" an adorable sound of confusion made him smile. HE could hear the sleep leaving her eyes and the realizations of where she was hit her. "I'm sorry,"

She made a move but his arm held her. "Don’t be, I'm alright." and at his words, she snuggled closer to him.

He only got a few moments of this before he heard her sniffing. "I smell coffee," with that she was awake. They looked over and saw Gran sitting there with three mugs nearby. She just smiled and raised her mug when she noticed them looking.

With all the excitement and work yesterday, there was an unspoken agreement to not push anything. They let Aryll rest a while before they got their day started. Tetra returned his clothing, and it was decided, three to one, that he should get cleaned up first. He did, getting a good look at his beleaguered skin. The red was gone, and he had bronzed quite a bit. He followed the now exceptionally dark lines on his arm, then the ones on his side. They were always so pale compared to the rest of him. The dark contrast of his scars and skin helped him come to a decision.

After he bathed, he put on his vest and found a pair of baggy breeches he'd forgotten were in his bag. He added a pair of socks and his short boots, then he was set for the day.

When he returned, he first caught Tetra's eye. She stopped, looking him over openly. He tried to act like he didn’t notice, but could not hide the blush that crept down from his ears.

Aryll was behind her, but Tetra paid her no mind. "Quit ogling my brother and come on." Grumbling, Aryll pushed her along, "It's not like you didn’t stare at his chest all day yesterday."

Tetra choked on Aryll's words. "That's nu-not…" her thought was lost in the sputtering. She pointed at him with an accusatory finger, "That's not fair."

Staring at her finger, he was fairly sure that he's going to be in trouble for the rest of his life, "what?"

"I spent years getting my tan. Sunburn after sunburn, and you get … get … this,” she waved her hands at him, “with one burn. That's--"

Gran interrupted her before she could really get going, "He takes after his grandfather," she nodded with her words and took Tetra's hand. "Let's go get cleaned up, dear." and with that she was pulled away.

He did see the look she gave him as she was led away. That look cemented his decision, and made him smile.

---

The ladies were clean and they were on their way. There was no rush, so the King rode the winds as the proud stately monarch he was. All the while Link stood under a makeshift canopy and told the stories of his adventures. This had to be his favorite audience. Tetra often added to the story where he was either not there, or too embarrassed to recant it. He was getting to the point where he met Linebeck when Aryll interrupted him, noticing something on the horizon.

She bounded to the front of the ship, telescope in hand, "Hey Link, I think it's that knife guy again."

"Knife guy?" he remarked at the, less than helpful, description.

"You know that flag with a knife and circle on it." she waved at the speck as if they should see it.

"Oh, one of the Duke's ships." he concluded.

"Anything stand out about it?" Tetra prompted.

"Well, I can see 6 canons, and it's butt looks funny." she snickered at her words. "And I think their guy is blind too. He looked right this way and kept on going." She kept her scope trained on the offending

"How does the aft of a ship, look funny?" Gran asked her.

"How does she even see that?" Link followed with

"Well, it's got wood that's two colors." something about her description tingles at his mind, but he could not place, "and why can't you?"

"She's taken fewer hits to the head," Tetra teased him, then smiled one of her biggest grins, "You know I think that's the ship from last month. The one where you snuck up behind them because they were focused on the Princess. and tore them a new," she smirked at Aryll, "poop deck" Aryll started giggling. "She probably can’t see the other two guns because of the angle."

"Oh yea. That was the time I ran out of shells, right?" he clarified, Tetra nodded. "What was the name of that ship?" He asked, however, her nonchalant shrug told him that she didn't exactly care. He shrugged since he really didn’t either, "we could always just go around," he offered, "but that could take hours." His voice was full of boredom and monotony.

"We could," both Tetra and Aryll agreed.

"We could always ask them the name of their ship." Gran voiced. For a moment he wanted to tell her of all the excitement involved in that. One look at the vicious grin on her face told him that she already knew. He couldn't help grinning like the Wolfose that found the hare.

"We could," both Tetra and Aryll agreed again.

The calmness lasted for about half a second, just long enough for Aryll to hand Gran her telescope. Aryll and Tetra scrambled to the front of the King while Gran stood next to his place at the tiller and trained her sites on the ship in the distance. Taking a moment to look at the telescope before bring it back up. "Good eyes," was all she said.

One short call from the bow that they were ready and he reached out his hand to the tiller and called up everything he had. Then it sent them on their way.

---

When they set sail, they planned on a trip that would take between eight and ten days, depending on the weather. While they were out at sea, the weather was fair, the seas were calm, and the wind were, as ever, favorable. They were on the fastest ship in the fleet and had left long before any of the others.

The others had long since returned, and many thought that they were lost. Even those who knew them best began to worry. Other ships would have been pulled from their normal tasks to search, if it were not for the weekly reports and threatening missives that had occasionally filtered in from the duke’s lackeys.

However, thirty-four days after they left, The King of Red Lions pulled back into the dock they left from. There were smiles across the faces of all who crewed the ship as Tetra slipped the tie line and secured them to the dock. "Welcome to Aboda." she called to them with a wry grin, "also known as Outset Village."

They had all changed, Aryll's skin darkened, much like his, only not as dramatically. Gran's skin took on her own light tint, making her look more weathered than old. They had traded adventures with each other as much as they traded cannon balls with the duke. In the process, creating their own adventure filled with family, love, explosion and even some treasure. He would always treasure the time they spent together.

Aryll was the first over, handling the transition from sea to land as expected. Tetra was next off, helping Aryll up, helping the swaying girl get her land legs again. Link moved at a more stately pace, helping his grandmother across after he locked up the hold. They watched Aryll drag Tetra all over the place, shop after shop, each window getting an impression of Aryll's face pressed against the glass.

He heard Gran's laugh mix in with his own and could hear her smile. It made him smile. The whole ordeal multiplied when Aryll met some old friends she had not seen in a long time. He almost felt sorry for Gonzo, whom she was dangling from, except he was smiling too.

"It's going to be really hard to get her to leave, wouldn’t you say?" Gran's voice drifted up to him.

"If you really want to go back, I think she’d go with you."

They watched Aryll, put Joel into in a headlock and give him a nogie. Much to the laughter of Sue-Bell and Linda. "I guess we won’t ask her then."

He looked at his grandmother, realizing what she said with those seven words. She patted him, but he was not going to leave it at that, he reached down he gave her a hug, not caring about the tears of relief that spilled down his cheeks. His family was together, and they were going to stay that way. Everything they went through was behind them, and they only had their wonderful, happy, if not a little crazy adventure ahead of them.

Notes:

I promised a wedding didn't I? *points to new chapter list* There's a reason for another chapter, I promise.