Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams - Tail Cave [Xeronoia, Electronic Ink, Magnere, Beefish]

Far out in the Great Sea, on a calm and peaceful night, a lone ship sailed. The sky was clear and bright, nary a cloud in sight to obscure the shimmering stars or the waxing moon. The soft crashing of waves filled the air, the ship rocking in a gentle rhythm as the slow but sure sea breeze pushed it onward.

Within the ship, the sounds of chatter, laughter and song echoed off the wooden walls. Gathered inside the saloon, most of the vessels small crew busied themselves with food and drink, tall tales, and games of chance. A padded bench, bent into a right-angle and tucked into the corner, held the source of the song.

Seated in the middle with one leg lightly crossed over the other, crew sharing the bench on either side of her, a young Rito woman sprinkled trills and twitters throughout a smoky, wordless aria. After bringing her song through a crescendo, she let her voice soften and trail off until concluding on a whisper. The end of her song was met with some applause and requests for an encore, and a tankard passed her way.

Lachii accepted the drink gratefully, tipping her head back to pour cool and refreshing water down her tired throat. Bringing her head and the tankard back down and giving a slight 'whew' of relief, she handed the metal cup off once more. Uncrossing her legs and standing upright, much to the disappointment of those she was seated with, Lachii stretched her arms above her head with a long yawn.

Bringing her arms back down she strode towards the saloon exit, the insistent requests for an encore following her. Turning sharply on one foot by the door, her long hair fluttering about her for a moment, she put her hands on her hips and leaned forward with a stern expression. "Now boys, you know a girl needs her beauty sleep. If I don't take care of this lovely voice of mine, I might lose it and then I wouldn't be able to sing at all."

Murmurs of concession fluttered about, some more reluctant than others, but it was enough to appease the songbird. Straightening up and softening her expression, Lachii bid the crew good night and turned away once more. With a deliberate sashay in her step, she departed from the saloon and retired to her cabin.

Flopping onto the bed with more exhaustion than she had shown, the young Rito woman fumbled with the blanket until she had wrapped herself up snugly within it. The cold sea air warded off, she tiredly counted off the remaining days in her voyage. Singing in the ship saloon all day was perfectly enjoyable for her, especially with all the attention she received, but it left no time for her to soar about as a gull.

Thoughts of flying with wings of her own in her head, Lachii drifted off to the gentle rhythm of the ship and the sound of the waves. In that moment, she no longer felt the bed beneath her nor the blanket around her. Though the sound of waves continued, the rocking had ceased and in place of cool night air the warm rays of sunlight shone down on her.

Rolling over in the sand, Lachii's eyes fluttered open and were quickly filled with confusion as the shores of a pale yellow beach and an open sky met her gaze. Pushing herself upright and brushing stray sand from her feathers, she turned her attention out to sea. With no sign of a ship anywhere around, the young Rito woman found one specific thought coming to mind.

A swelling anger filled her, and cupping her hands over her beak she shouted as loud as she could towards the empty sea. "You complete bastards! Insist on drinking water and getting some sleep and I get abandoned on some island?!?" The fury in her voice promised great pain, nearby crabs scuttling down into the depths of the sand for safety.

Afterwards Lachii sat there to catch her breath, glaring out at the open sea as if she was willing a ship far beyond her sight to spontaneously burst into flames.

It was utterly peaceful up here in the sky. The stars were shining brightly against the cloudless sky, reflecting off the ocean water down below. It was perhaps the most beautiful sight that had ever been seen. The loftwing quite often took his companion down as close to the water as he could to give her a view, and Korina was loving it! This was perfection right here.

At least, it was to Korina. Viorla was shuddering in fear in her bag, constantly worrying that Ezio was going to drop them accidentally. Korina had no such worries, and leaned her head over the edge quite often. Nothing but the sound of wind rushing past her ears, the crashing waves, and the occasional tearful whimper.

Sighing softly to herself, she slowly reached into her backpack to carefully scoop out her fairy friend. Viorla meant a lot to her, but it was hard to relax when the fairy was always so upset. "Hey... Everything's going to be fine! I promise."

"F-fine? You're flying above the ocean at night, g-going who knows how fast on this c-crazy bird." The dark blue fairy looked up at her ward as she wiped a tear away. Being a guardian fairy sure was a difficult task, especially with Korina. Never sitting still, she was almost always fearing for Korina's life. "I c-can fly myself... You can't!"

Ezio just seemed to roll his eyes, silently continuing to fly. He seemed to mumble something, but not even Korina could pick up what it was. Probably an angry grumble.

"Shhhh..." As the Kokiri shushed, she slowly leaned down to gently kiss her fairy's head. "We will be fine, I promise. I mean, just look at this view! How can you possibly be scared right now? It's gorgous out."

The fairy slowly looked up and around, nodding her head. She hadn't really seen the night sky yet, as she had been cowering in her bag ever since they started to fly. "I-it is nice out..."

"Good! Glad that's settled!" Chuckling softly to herself, she slowly began to strap herself into her saddle a bit more. It was getting late, and she couldn't stay up all night. At the thought of sleep alone, she yawned and gently patted Ezio's head. Silently, she began to speak to him through her Language of Fauna spell.

"Hey buddy, I'm going to go ahead and hit the hay. You alright with that?"

The loftwing's mouth didn't move at all, yet it still spoke back straight to Korina. "Of course. I'll wake you up if I need anything. I'll find some island nearby and sleep myself eventually... Oh. Can you also tell Viorla to be quiet? I'm trying to enjoy the breeze."

Korina just rolled her eyes. She was too tired to pass on an argument between the two of them. Slowly and carefully putting a still worried Viorla into her pack, she laid down on the top of her bird. Her eyes still open for now, just watching the waves below crash up against each other. Practically rocked to sleep by Ezio, she fell asleep rather quickly.

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"Korina! Wake up! Wake up!!!" A loud, high pitched voice was practically screaming into her ear. Recognizing it as her forever worried fairy, Korina grumbled softly as she slowly sat upright. Surprisingly, she was no longer on her loftwings back. She was laying down on the sandy beaches, her loftwing a few feet away. Now how did it untie her....

"Korina!" Viorla spoke once again, snapping Korina out of her thoughts and back into reality.

Sleepily, she replied. "Ugh... What is it Viorla? What's so important that you had to wake me up for?"

"This isn't where Ezio fell asleep at! I was awake the whole time as we flew because I was worried and... a-and we settled up in a rather tall tree. I t-thought we were safe so I slept too... and now we are here!" She was practically bouncing up and down and all around, desperately trying to keep on guard in case she saw anything that might hurt her precious kokiri.

Korina furrowed her eyebrows, slowly standing up to her feet. This was indeed strange... Since when did Ezio fall asleep on beaches? The tide could come in any second and wash them away. What in the world was going on around here?

"Seriously?" Remei said, more than a little disgusted. "You can't charge that much!"
"Can an' will," the innkeeper said, glaring at her. Remei scowled in irritation, turning on her heel.
"I'm not going to pay eighty rupees just to spend the night," she said, mouth twisted in distaste.
"Well, get out then, gypsy. Yer blockin' up the counter," the man replied without hesitation, and Remei resisted the urge to give the man a rude hand gesture as she turned and left.

Her initial idea for a resting place having been scuppered, Remei made her way carefully down an alleyway, stepping over someone who must have had the same idea as her. She grimaced. She wasn't particularly keen on the idea of sleeping on the ground, exposed in her sleep. If she'd done that back at the fortress Dahlia probably would have planted a knife between her breasts just to teach her a lesson. Instead, Remei opted to clamber up the building, sliding several times down the brick before regaining her grip. When she hauled herself to the top, the balls of her feet sore from the multiple wall kicks she'd had to execute to reach this point, she flopped out across the terracotta roof tiles. They were uncomfortable and jabbed into her back, and she had naught but a blanket to soften their sharp edges.

Laying out said blanket, she leaned back on it and yawned, looking up at the starry sky. It was still better accommodation than the fortress had offered, and she certainly didn't have to worry about having her throat cut in her sleep all the way up here. It may have been chilly, yes- she really ought to get some better clothes, especially since these were becoming worn and ragged- but at least it was safe. Inhaling the scent of wood smoke from the chimney two buildings over, she shut her eyes and breathed out.

At some stage in her restless sleep, however, Remei drowsily noticed the absence of terracotta tiles beneath her.
That's weird, she decided. I should probably do something about it.
Instead, she began to doze off again, curling into whatever the gritty substance beneath her was- her dreams had interpreted it as dust, but she doubted the stuff existed in such quantities outside the fortress. What really woke her was a piercing shriek from some distance away, loud enough to carry across to Remei.
"You complete bastards! Insist on drinking water and getting some sleep and I get abandoned on some island?!?"

Remei, jolted awake by the abrupt loud noise, sat up sharply and was rather shocked to find that not only was it daylight, but she was no longer on a roof. Which...well, was impossible. Alarmed by the shout and her mysterious change of location, she reached back and grasped her glaive, images of some kind of foul play involving kidnapping dancing in her head. This was not normal. But then, ever since she'd left the fortress, she'd come to realise that her definition of normal was completely at odds to that of everyone else. For all she knew, this could happen every day.

Wind whipped through the atmosphere, carried by a looming blanket of dark, grey clouds, fractured here and there by sudden, violent flashes of lightning. Rain was coming down like wrath, pelting against stones and trees, spilling onto the earth in huge puddles. He waded through, the hiss of the rain didn't bother him as much as the octorok glued to his face, muffled threats barely rose over the noise of weather.

Huge green hands tugged at the octorok, its tentacles straining as Griskin tried to pry it away.

"Grudd," tusked mouth barked the word, he didn't relinquish his hold on the cretin, "Now you see here; if ya don't get off me, so help me, I will-"

With a sudden jerk, the smaller monster peeled away, flung into the waterlogged grass. Its blue skin was a barely visible lump under the greying darkness. Griskin held his stance, frustration pulsed through his whole being. With his hands angled outward, breathing heavy like a wild boar, he was a menacing silhouette in the downpour and thunder. He'd had enough of this. The wandering, the hiding. The way Grudd treated him was something like abuse on top of it all. Through the bite of the cold, he glared at the octorok. His mind reeled with accusations against the amphibian. He took a deep breath, held it.

But even if he did tear into the monster, hurl every insult and curse he knew at it, Grudd wouldn't even understand. He wasn't sure if that was something bad or not. He put one hoof forward, and Grudd flinched back, little white eyes blazing through the obscured terrain. Griskin's emotion, the tiredness, the wrath, it was etched into his face and radiated from him like raw, rare power.

Grudd didn't like it.

Lingering in the dark like a night-terror, Griskin released the wind caught in his throat in a huff, and curled his fingers into fists. He didn't have a chance to approach his friend, didn't get the opportunity to say sorry. Grudd wasn't going to let him. The octorok gurgled, rumbled, it was a threat. Get away.

"Grudd, what are y-"

Pfffht- thunk.

It was a particularly large stone. It ricocheted right off Griskin's temple. Everything went silent, and black.

~
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The water shushed him. Whispered like a mother soothing her child. Slow, gentle, the sound washed against the void in his mind. He was only vaguely aware of the heat stinging his flesh. Thoughts chewed on new sounds, chattering, or maybe it was birds calling to each other. All he cared about was the caress of sleep.

The pig found movement in his arm, brought it over his head. It scraped against gritty ground, like very fine gravel. No, he recognised that feeling. Wet sand, like what was in the ponds at the Monster Village. Sand.

Wet sand?

Griskin bolted upright, eyes wild, ears twitching. But the world was spinning around and he immediately fell back into the sand. The sky was brilliant blue. He stared up at the sun, his vision speckled by retina burns. His mind kept going in circles. All he could think about was the alien feeling of sand clinging to his skin, daylight scorching him, the dryness of his throat.

It was all wrong.

In her current mood, if Lachii had her way she would sit there glaring at the ocean for quite some time. The ocean itself had other ideas, sending a surge of water across the sand. Cold water washing across her legs brought out an involuntary squawk of alarm, the young Rito woman jumping to her feet and retreating beyond the range of the tide.

Momentarily distracted from her anger, she glanced around the beach more intently to take better stock of her surroundings. One hand fishing reflexively through her satchel to retrieve a Hyoi Pear, a great green lump in the sand immediately caught her eye. The presence of her favorite snack calming her down, she regarded the lump as she nibbled at the fruit.

With a mental shrug she supposed it was some form of moss-covered rock, and a far better place to eat her snack and think than standing around in the sand was. Making her way over to it, she swept her gaze across the rest of the beach as she ate. Standing before the mossy rock, she failed to notice anything peculiar about it as she spotted a dark-skinned and bright-haired figure.

Not one to talk with her mouth full, the young Rito woman waved her free hand above her head to try and catch the stranger's attention. At the same time she continued her search of the beach, pausing momentarily as she spotted something a bit strange. A glowing dark blue light, fluttering near another bright-haired figure and a nearby white and blue lump.

Tilting her head curiously, Lachii couldn't recall ever seeing or hearing about glowing lights that flew about. Glancing at the Hyoi Pear in her hand, she briefly wondered if it could be controlled in the same manner as the gulls back home. Making a note to try that out, she took another bite out of the half eaten fruit and tried to hop backwards to sit atop the green rock.

"Something strange is going on Korina!" Viorla spoke loudly, nearly on the verge of tears again. If something happened to Korina, then she'd be all alone! And not to mention, she was supposed to protect her. Oh, the Deku Tree would not be happy if she let her Kokiri get killed...

Korina however was already standing up to her feet looking around. This was strange indeed, but nothing she couldn't handle. Just another mystery to solve! It wasn't like she really had anything important going on anyways. Exploring where they were could be just as cool! Maybe a little scary, but she couldn't let her fairy know if she got frightened. Poor Viorla would be a soaking mess!

With Ezio still fast asleep, Korina figured it would be a good time to look around. Trying to wake that sleeping bird was impossible. Stretching out her back a little bit, she turned around and immediately noticed a Rito sitting on a rock. Great! Maybe they would have some answers.

Before Viorla could react, Korina took off in a sprint towards the rock. If there were to be any answers, hopefully they had them. Waving her arm as she ran to try and get her attention, she only managed to slip on the sand twice.

Of course, her fairy immediately freaked out. Korina was running towards a total stranger! They could hurt her! Not good, not good at all. Torn from between breaking down crying and chasing after her, she did a mix of both. "K-korina! W-w-wait!"