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Pazu glanced at Sheeta from the corner of his eye even as he helped Motro load the wagon. She was sitting on a crumbling bit of fence with a hand twisted into the loose fabric of her pants. More worryingly, her eyes were distant and unfocused. Pazu didn't like it.
Sheeta had been acting strange for days. Ever since they had landed in this little fishing village she had been distracted. She was still doing her work well enough that Dola hadn't complained, but he had seen the pirate giving Sheeta a few looks of her own.
When the last of the bits and bobs they had traded for were safely packed into the wagon, Pazu left Motro to his fussing over the crude connection between wagon and the back of the automobile. He inched closer to where Sheeta was sitting to give her plenty of time to react to his presence but was unsurprised when she failed to do so.
"You feeling alright?" he asked.
Sheeta startled and rocked back on her perch. "What?"
"How are you feeling?" Pazu repeated. "Did breakfast disagree with you?" He asked the question while knowing that Sheeta had chosen not to eat. She had nursed a cup of tea in the background as Dola's boys had fought over the hearty spread she had laid out.
"Oh, Pazu," Sheeta said as her distant eyes softened and focused on his face. "No, I'm fine." She graced him with a smile that had only a trace of her usual brightness. "I had a headache this morning and it's lingered a bit."
Pazu frowned. It was a perfectly believable sentence except her symptoms clearly hadn't started that morning.
Sheeta stood and dusted off the seat of her pants. "I am getting hungry though." She paused and then quickly kissed his cheek. "Thank you for worrying about me. I'll see you back at the Tiger Moth!"
Pazu watched as Sheeta jogged off to where they had hidden the flaptors and felt uneasy.
"You keep an eye on that girl," Dola said from behind him.
Pazu didn't try to hide his startled jump. "Dola?"
"She'll tell you when she's good and ready, but something's going on, mark my words," Dola said grimly. Almost as an afterthought, she lightly added, "And call me Captain, boy."
Pazu grinned at the familiar refrain and didn't shrug off the rough hand that ruffled his hair.
"Yes, Captain," he said agreeably.
Dola barked a harsh laugh. "We'll make a proper pirate of you yet, Pazu."
The rest of Pazu's afternoon was spent in the engine room, replacing old parts and twiddling with new ones. The Tiger Moth was of a similar make as the one that had been destroyed at Laputa, but Morto was forever tinkering to squeeze a bit more speed from the airship. Pazu matched him well in that.
He hadn't forgotten about Sheeta, but daydreaming in the engine room was a good way to get hurt, so he shuffled his worries into a mental box for later. By the time dinner rolled around, Sheeta had found a place at the table and was gamely crossing forks with Louis for a good slice of the ham. Pazu almost thought he had imagined the past few days. Maybe Sheeta had really only had a bad headache she was working through.
Having no further responsibilities for the day, Pazu stayed in the galley after dinner to help Sheeta with the dishes. Normally they chattered back and forth about what they had done during the day, but Sheeta was humming a song she hadn't shared with him before, and Pazu liked listening to her voice.
"That's pretty," he said when she finished. "Does that one have words?"
Sheeta paused in handing him another dish to dry. "What's pretty?"
"The song you were humming. Or is it just a song to pass the time while doing chores?"
"Pazu," Sheeta said slowly. "I wasn't humming."
Pazu frowned. "You definitely were," he said and tried to repeat the last few bars.
Sheeta's eyes widened. "I was humming that?"
"Yeah, why? Does it mean something?"
Sheeta's hand twitched in a way that Pazu had come to recognize as her wanting to reach for her lost crystal. "It's a song you're supposed to sing when you're lost, to help your family find you and bring you back home," she explained slowly. "I haven't sung it since my grandmother died."
"Oh," Pazu said in soft understanding. He could understand why humming something like that unconciously could be a shock. He still didn't like playing his mother's favorite songs on his trumpet. He wasn't sure if he could make this better, but Sheeta was his friend and he wanted to try. "You're not lost, but we're kind of like family, right?"
Sheeta smiled at him softly and laced her soapy fingers with his dry ones. "Yes Pazu, we're like family. And the Tiger Moth is like home. I was just surprised. I haven't thought about that song in years."
"It's very pretty," Pazu said again. All of the Gondoa music Sheeta had taught him had a cadence and rhythm that was very distinct from what he had grown up with.
"Yes," Sheeta agreed absently.
Pazu jerked his head back up and worried at the distant look that had returned to Sheeta's eyes. He was debating on what to do about it when Sheeta shook her head sharply.
"Pazu, I think something has been trying to talk to me," Sheeta said. She continued over his strangled noise of confusion. "Like how Uncle Pom taught us. And I think whatever it is has been giving me a headache." Her hand tightened around his. "Sometimes I almost think I can understand it but the words slip right out of my head."
Dots connected in Pazu's head and he spoke without thinking. "Then let's go find it!"
Sheeta's grip loosened. "What?"
"If something has been speaking to you for days, it's not going to stop until you've understood," Pazu reasoned out loud. "If it's the earth, then it can speak to you anywhere, so even leaving isn't going to stop it. So we should go find it!"
Sheeta looked unconvinced.
"The voice hasn't done anything bad, has it?" Pazu asked. He was willing to switch courses if it had.
Sheeta shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Then all it's done is make you distracted trying to get you to understand. That's not unreasonable. We just have to find it and figure out what it's trying to say."
"And if it is something bad?"
"Then we'll take care of it," Pazu said firmly.
Sheeta lifted her chin and nodded sharply before glancing back at the dishes. "We'll have to finish these first, though."
With renewed purpose, Pazu and Sheeta finished cleaning the detritus from dinner until the galley sparkled. From there, they fetched their jackets and boots and sneaked their way to the flaptors. While they were not quiet machines, they were far enough away from the sleeping area that Pazu believed they'd be able to leave and come back without alerting anyone to their late night jaunt.
"Where has the voice been loudest?" Pazu shouted to be heard over the wind.
"Near the village," Sheeta answered as turbulence made her grip around Pazu's waist tighten.
Pazu set them down just outside the village, hiding the flaptor as best he could behind some large rocks. He looked at Sheeta expectantly.
"This way," Sheeta said as she grabbed Pazu's hand and headed down to the shore.
They left footprints behind in the sand as they followed the shoreline to a small cove. An adult couldn't have fit into the opening, but Sheeta and Pazu were just small enough to be able to wiggle through.
"It's much louder here," Sheeta said. There was just enough light to see her face twisted in concentration.
"Can you understand it any better?" Pazu asked.
"Yes, I think..." Sheeta trailed off as she took a step to her left and dropped to her knees. "Pazu, look!"
Pazu squinted against the darkness and wondered if he should light his lamp. Sheeta scraped her fingers through the sand and beneath her hands something started to glow with a familiar blue.
"It's like my crystal!"
"Can you pry it out?" Pazu asked. There really wasn't enough room for the both of them to try.
"Maybe," Sheeta said as she tried just that. She grunted as she dug her fingers into the sand and yanked with enough force that she tumbled back into Pazu and knocked him over. "Oof!"
"Are you okay?" Pazu asked as he ran his hands up Sheeta's arms.
"I think so. Oh, Pazu, look at it!"
This time the sliver of moonlight through the cove's opening was enough to see what was in her hands. It was a crystal, somewhat larger than Sheeta's had been, with rougher edges and a cloudier color. There was no family crest laid in gold, but something that looked like letters had been etched into the surface.
"I don't think you can wear this one around your neck," Pazu blurted out.
"Pazu!" Sheeta laughed as her fingers closed around the crystal. "It feels happy. I think it must have been here alone for a long time."
Pazu eyed the opening of the cove critically. "The tide must have washed it in and since the opening is so small, nobody ever found it." He gauged the water level outside and said, "We should probably leave before we get trapped in here."
"Good idea," Sheeta said as she tucked the crystal into her pocket.
They took turns squeezing out of the opening and gained a few new scrapes for their trouble as they tumbled out onto the beach. They stayed where they fell for a few long minutes, breathing deeply and watching how the moon's reflection shimmered in the water.
"Thank you for coming with me," Sheeta said finally and leaned in to kiss Pazu's cheek.
Pazu turned his head at just the wrong moment and met her lips with his. They sprang apart with their faces burning.
"You're welcome," Pazu said as his voice cracked. He watched as Sheeta bit her lip and tried not to laugh. He supposed that was better than if she had been trying not to cry.
Sheeta cleared her throat and asked, "Do you want to try that again?"
Pazu's voice raised a full octave. "What?"
Sheeta's cheeks burned brighter. "Can we try again?"
"Sure," Pazu said numbly and turned to present his cheek.
Sheeta ignored it and kissed his mouth. It was a quick kiss but it left Pazu weak in the knees.
"I think you're going to have to fly us back," Pazu said dazedly and listened in delight as Sheeta's laugh rang out across the shore.