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Chapter 2

I looked out over the ocean through my telescope. A few seagulls were flying around the watchtower, as always, and there was gentle night-time breeze ruffling my hair as I stood out on duty. I couldn't think of a job I liked more, being up here with the gulls. I think they were starting to rub off on me. Before I just thought them to be pests, stealing my lunch every time I came up here. Now though, it was quite soothing to see them quietly circling the tower and sitting to watch the waves. I finally understood why Aryll liked them so much.

Where was Aryll?

I looked down across the island with the telescope. She was sitting by the short, he feet being swallowed up by the waves as they came bake and forth. It may have been over a decade since I rescued her from the fortress, but I still saw the same seven year girl in her whenever I saw her, despite how much she had matured since then. I smiled.

Ah, memories. When I was just a wee fourteen year old saving the world from an ancient evil hell bent on bringing back a sunken land so he could rule as all as our malevolent and evil overlord.

Good times. I don't think Aryll felt the same way. Being captured by a massive bird, and all.

Suddenly, I noticed something out to sea. On some of the rocks a bit further out was a small rowing boat. It had been turned on it side, and a particularly sharp rock was sticking through it. I frowned. I hope no had been on it; if someone had, he or she would have had quite an unsavoury end...

I heard a scream from the shore. I looked down to where Aryll was; she had retreated further up the shore and was shaking and staring into the sea. As the tide retreated, I saw what had scared her.

A body had been washed up on the shore.

"...oh no." I said under my breathe. I quickly slid down the ladder of the watch tower, ignoring the friction burns and splinters I had picked up on the way down. I ran as fast I could to where Aryll had spotted the body. The tide retreated again; there was the body. I quickly pulled it out before the tide could wash over it again.

It was a man. He looked about twenty-something, perhaps a few years older than me. He shaggy black hair that was plastered against his skull by the water, and some slight stubble that hadn't been shaven cleanly. There just across the bottom of his jaw. It looked like a shaving scar. He wore a navy blue jacket with a white shirt underneath, brown leather trousers and boots. He was covered in blood that had been dried into his clothes. On his back, clipped onto his jacket with a clasp, was a massive hammer. Aryll slowly approached from behind.

"...Is...is he alive?" she asked. I looked for the man's pulse. For a second I couldn't feel anything, but then, there it was, a faint throbbing just below his head on his neck.

"Yes, he's alive." I said. "But by the looks of it just barely."

"Should I go get the doctor?" Aryll asked.

"Fast as you can." Link said, trying to haul the man up. Slowly, I carried him back to our house.

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Noden, our doctor, was quite literally one of the least pleasant men I had ever met. He was grumpy, angry, sarcastic and cynical, and always, always unhappy. He arrived at out island a few years back, bringing all his experience-and attitude-with him.

Of course, I owed the man a lot. He acted as midwife when Tetra was giving birth to Jake. Without him, Tetra and Jake probably wouldn't of survived the experience. I owed him both there lives.

That still didn't do much to improve his mood.

Right no, he was looking over the man who had washed up on the shore. I had lay him on our spare bed, and Noden had taken off his jacket and his shirt. He was quietly staring at the large gash that was across the man's chest. He cleaned his glasses, bent down and stared at the wound, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"...well?" I said expectantly. Noden turned and looked at me.

"Well what?" he said, raising one of his bushy eyebrows. If only all that hair had been on his bald patch. It would give him something less to complain about.

"Well, what do you think?" I said, gesturing to the man. Noden looked over at him.

"He'll live." he replied. "He's lucky. I'm surprised his not dead. He had more sharp objects sticking out of him than a cactus."

"How long do you think he'd been floating out in the sea for?" I asked.

Noden threw me a look. "How am I supposed to know that?"

"I don't know. Your the doctor." I said.

"Yes, I'm the doctor. Because the doctor knows everything about everything." Noden said, rolling his eyes and disinfecting the wound.

I sighed and leaned against the wall. Jake was asleep right upstairs. I'd have a hell of a time trying to get him back to sleep when he sees a half dead man lying in our spare room.

"...where's Tetra?" I asked.

"I think she went up to the Sue-Belle's. Said she was going to help her move some pots about or something." Noden said absent mindedly, pulling out a needle and thread. "I doubt that when she comes back to find your good friend here sprawled out here she'll be particularly happy."

"What, so you suggest I should of left him out there?" I said.

"No, I don't." Noden said briskly. "Now, if you don't mind I have a wound to stitch up. I could do without your constant interferences."

I glared at him for a few seconds, then sighed and left him to his business. He started humming to himself, as if he enjoyed the grisly business. I would never properly understand that man.

I sat down by the doorway, and as if on cue, Tetra walked in. She looked a bit tired out.

"Why is that women so obsessed with pots?" she said before I could greet her. She sighed and sat back into one the of chairs just across from me. "It's all she talks about. Pots this and pots that. It's like she doesn't think about anything else."

"Hey, Tetra?" I said. "Theres-"

"And, my god, there heavy." Tetra continued. "What does she put in them? Bricks? I swear, my arms are about to fall off."

"Tetra, I think there's something-" I started again.

"Right, I stitched up the wounds. You wouldn't happen to have any spare bandages, would you?" Noden said in boredom, walking in. He noticed Tetra, and nodded her way. Tetra looked up at Noden, and then my way worriedly.

"Why is he here? What happened?" she said quickly.

"Hello to you to, Tetra." Noden said, shaking his head and sighing.

"Quiet, you." Tetra snapped at Noden, before turning to me again. She got to her feet, looking ever more frantic by the second. "Is it Jake? Is he hurt? Is-"

"No, no." I said, getting up and calming her. "Jake is fine. He's up stairs in bed, okay?"

"...oh. Okay." she said, calming down again. As much as Tetra didn't like showing people she cared so much about this sort of thing, she was massively protective of Jake. Sometimes I swear she won't even let him blink without someone supervising.

"...why is here then?" she asked, looking away.

"Someone washed up on the shore. He was pretty roughed up, so I called Noden to see if he was all right." I replied.

"And he will be, thanks to me." Noden said proudly. Tetra ignored him.

"Oh, right..." Tetra said. She paused for a second and rested her head in her hands, like she was still dealing with the fact that Jake was hurt. "...where is he?"

"In here." Noden said, waving a hand towards the spare rooms door. Tetra made her way in, and I followed her. But as she neared the bed, she froze. He eyes went wide. She stared at the beds occupant, who stirred in his sleep slightly. Tetra slowly backed out of the room, as if she had seen something horrible.

"...I...I..." she stuttered. And with that, she spun around, opened the houses door, and slammed it behind her. Me and Noden stared at the doorway in surprise.

"See, like I said." Noden said. "Now, about there bandages."

"In the cupboard..." I said absent mindedly, staring at the doorway. That...was more of a reaction than I had been expecting. I'd expected her to just fuss about me not telling her immediately, not storm off into the night...

"That girl needs to put a cap on her temper." Noden muttered, fetching his bandages. I turned and glared at the doctor.

"That girl happens to be my wife." I said, venom rising in my voice.

"I'm just saying."

"Shut up, Noden."

"Alright, alright..."

I looked back at the doorway. I opened it to see where Tetra had gone. She sitting by the shore again, staring out as she had done a few days ago. I quietly left the house, closing the door behind me. I felt the night air wash over me and the cold sand between my feet as I went to sit with her. I sat cross legged beside her, mirroring what we had done before. This time though, we didn't talk for some time. I kept trying to start combination, but every time I opened my mouth to speak the atmosphere got the better of me. Eventually, though, I managed to get a word out.

"...I take it you don't like our new guest, then." I said.

Tetra didn't reply. She just stared out to sea.

"...is this because I didn't tell you as soon as we found him?" I asked.

Tetra was still silent.

"Please, tell me what's wrong." I said. "I can't help if don't tell me what's bothering you."

"You can help me by throwing him back in the sea." she said coldly.

"Tetra, what is it?" I said again, insistently.

She was quiet for a few seconds, and then said,

"...its him."

"Who?"

"Remember when I was telling you about my brother the other week?"

"Yeah..." I said, raising an eyebrow. And then it clicked. "...that's Brenz?"

"Yes."

"...are you sure?"

"I know what my brother looks like, Link." Tetra snapped with a surprising amount of anger. I paused for a few moments.

"...it's been years though, right?" I said. "And he looks nothing like you..."

"Yeah, well, I didn't look like my mum and dad either." Tetra said curtly, crossing her arms. "It's him, Link. I'm sure of it."

I sat there for a few seconds, staring out into the water. Now...probably wasn't the best time to tell I thought we should let him stay here for awhile.

"...he can't stay, Link." Tetra said, as if reading his thoughts.

"You can't want him to leave that much, Tetra."

"Yes I do!" Tetra barked, and I reared backward slightly from her sudden ferocity. "I don't want that bastard coming into our family and ruining everything. He can live his life, and I can live mine."

She looked out to sea again, anger spread across her face. There was a serious End-Of-Conversation aura about her. But I couldn't let this drop, just like that.

"...Tetra." I said, wrapping an arm around her. "I think Brenz deserves to know he has a nephew. And I also think he won't be as much trouble as you think he will."

"You don't know him." Tetra said. "Don't act like you know him."

"I know I don't know him personally, but...look, its hard to explain, but I just get a feeling, y'know?"

Tetra threw me a look. "...a feeling?" she said sceptically.

"Don't give me that, Tetra." I said. "I get feelings all the time, don't I? The good feeling about good things?"

Tetra didn't answer for a second. She looked out to sea again.

"...remember, ages ago, when you were ill in bed? You kept throwing up, didn't you?"

Tetra didn't reply, but I saw her loosen up a bit.

"And I said I felt like it was a good thing, and you were angry with me all week? Then Noden came and checked you up, and-"

"-I wasn't I'll. I was pregnant." Tetra finished. She sighed, and she leaned against my shoulder. I squeezed her a bit tighter with the arm that was wrapped around her.

"For someone who spent there childhood barely speaking, you really have a way with words." she said admittedly.

"Just let him stay for a few days." I said. "He can help around the house and take care of Jake when were busy."

"And what if he doesn't?" Tetra asked.

"Then you can kick him out on his arse." I said, patting her on the shoulder.

Tetra managed a smile, and sighed. "...fine. He can stay. For a bit."

"There we go." I said. I gave her a little kiss on the cheek. She smiled at me again, and then she quickly landed a kiss on the lips, as if she were worried someone might be watching.

"...how can you be so confident about these sort of things?" she asked.

I smiled at her. "Well, you know the saying about this place, don't you?"

She nodded, and laughed a bit. "Yes, Link, I know." she said knowingly.

"All good things..." I said.

"Flow to our island." Tetra finished.

And both of us knew that was all that needed to be said.