Day 69: Courtyard

[his_legacy]

Link was feeling overall good as he was escorted outside after breakfast. The food had been good, and the weather was nice. It wasn't so cold anymore, but still comfortable. He much preferred coming outside to being cooped up in that stuffy, dull building. The Hylian was trying to remain positive. They had the cure now, did they not? People were getting better.

The death toll was impossible to ignore, though.

He sighed, hands in his pockets as he shuffled through the grass and settled himself on the lawn. This was nice. At least, it was as nice as things could get around here. Link's mind drifted back home, back to Ordon and Hyrule and Midna and Zelda. Everything was okay there, now. And he couldn't even see it for himself.

[Free!]

Comments

[earthling]

Guy seemed a little shy about the thanks, but Claude wasn't sorry he'd said something. In a place like this, with so few guarantees, he wanted those close to him to know how much he appreciated them. That was why he was glad Guy was able to accept it before they moved onto another topic.

The caverns -- it felt like a year since they'd been down there, even though Claude knew that wasn't true. But a lot had happened between then and now, so maybe it wasn't so surprising that the thought had been so far at the back of his mind until recently.

"That's true!" he replied with a boyish grin before giving a small chuckle. "I'll bet that weird skeleton guy hasn't missed us any, though."

[nobleman]

Right, the skeleton. As far as Guy was concerned, it was the other way around. He hadn't missed that weird ferryman one bit. Actually, the caverns wouldn't even be that hard to deal with if it wasn't for the fact that they had to endure that ferryman.

Although Guy wasn't so convinced that the skeleton hadn't missed them, at least a little bit. "I don't know," he said with a crooked smile, "I think he might get pretty lonely down there." It seemed like the ferryman was stuck doing that job for the rest of eternity, and who knew how long he'd been working at it before now.

On the other hand, had that many other groups of patients really gone through there? Guy had no way of knowing, of course, but he still had to wonder if this institute was truly as long-lived as Landel tried to make it seem.

[earthling]

"Good point." Claude rubbed his chin. "Maybe we'll have to ask him when we see him."

Of course, he'd probably just get annoyed at the ferryman all over again once they saw him for real. But Claude was in a good mood -- the best mood in a long time, actually -- and he was going to try to enjoy it. Sure, he still felt bothered about sleeping so much. As long as he was well-rested and healthy with good friends at his side, though, Claude knew he didn't have much room to complain.

On some level, he knew the tattoo on his shoulder was a reminder that he had plenty to worry about. But he didn't have to think about that today. Not when the sky was so beautiful.

"Oh, by the way," he suddenly added with bright eyes, "I have a small something I want to give to you tonight. We're going to meet in the same place as usual, right?"

[nobleman]

Guy got the feeling that even if they were bold enough to ask the ferryman if he got lonely, they wouldn't get a truthful response. That skeleton preferred to make jokes and take jabs at them, rather than talking about anything actually helpful. And chances were that applied to personal questions, too.

Speaking of which, they needed to figure out who would be giving the toll tonight. They had gotten into a system of switching off, but they'd have to remember who had been the last person to sacrifice something for the night.

Guy was about to bring that up, but then Claude mentioned that he had a gift of some kind for him. He wasn't expecting that, since Claude hadn't exactly been in good health lately. What could he possibly have for him? Guy blinked and tilted his head to the side, speechless for a moment.

"Uhh, yeah, the same place as always. You can give it to me then. You really didn't have to, but thanks all the same." He smiled and crossed his arms over his chest, already curious to know what this gift might be.

[earthling]

"It's nothing fancy or anything!" Claude said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Hopefully he hadn't given the impression he'd made a present, or had gone to great lengths to retrieve it. "Just something that's been collecting dust in my room, and I thought you might get a small kick out of it."

That was all there was to say about the matter. At the very least, he hoped it would give Guy something to look forward to. There wasn't enough of that in the institute, as far as Claude was concerned.

"Anyway," he added as his hand dropped to his side, "we should probably figure out who's going to pay the toll tonight, but it might be better to do it in a place where Anise can have some kind of input. Maybe the bulletin?"

[nobleman]

Something that had been sitting around in Claude's room? That didn't really narrow it down. The only thing that came to mind was some kind of weapon, but Guy doubted that was the case, as Claude knew that he already had a sword and a sheath.

Well, he'd be finding out soon enough, so Guy set that aside. He and Claude were pretty much on the same page, it seemed, since Claude brought up tonight's toll next. Guy definitely agreed that it wasn't something they should discuss without Anise.

"The bulletin should work," he said with a nod. All three of them were good about checking it, so it wouldn't be a problem. "One of us can put up the message -- whoever gets to it first, I guess." That was going to leave Luke in the lurch, but Guy had to track him down before he could do much about that.