Chapter Text
“Honey, I'm home!” Rowena called out lazily, letting the door slam close behind her.
A bag slung over her shoulder.
In addition to the satchel she usually carried.
“Do I even want to know what’s in the bag?” Tempest called over her shoulder, barely looking up from her painting.
“It’s just some clothes and stuff. I'm staying for a while, if that's alright.” The brunette answered flatly, heading towards the guest room.
Tempest put her paintbrush down at this. “Beloved? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I'm just tired. What time is it?”
“Almost dinner time. I was just going to throw some stuff in for a stew, but since you’re here, we can go into town, if you wanted?”
“As you wish.” Rowena threw a smile her way. But it was… off. Different. “Do you want to go now or after you're done painting?”
“How about after you’ve told me what’s really bothering you?” Tempest took Rowena’s hands in hers and squeezed.
“I…My brother and I got into a fight.”
A fight was a bit of an understatement, in her opinion, but she wasn't sure how else to describe it. No blows were exchanged but she was sure the words they had both thrown at each other would leave a mark on them both for a long time.
“I’m so sorry, love.” Tempest stroked Rowena’s cheek. “I know how much you love your brother.”
“Aye. But… well, he's not going to be around for the foreseeable future. Hence—” Rowena gestured to her bags.
Tempest raised an eyebrow. “ That bad? Or was he already planning to leave?”
Rowena grimaced. “ Both. ”
Tempest pulled Rowena closer, kissing her on her forehead. “I’m sorry.”
“Let's just try and forget it, for now.” Rowena sighed. “Where do you want to go?”
Saturday came and the group converged in Tempest's little home, as they usually did.
Only this time, Rowena didn't come out to greet them.
“Where’s Ro?” Pen asked, slinging her bag next to the couch with an ungraceful thump.
“She's asleep in our room.” Tempest called out, from where she stood in the kitchen. Stirring the fruit stew she was making.
Kiran pulled out a deck of cards from underneath the table. “Well, wake her up then. She’s gonna miss me decimating everyone in poker.”
The mermaid stopped stirring. “That's… not the best idea.”
“Why not? Did something happen?” Pen was frowning now.
She said nothing. Not looking at any of them.
“Temp…” Warren went up to her, flashing his pretty green eyes. “What’s wrong with Rowena?”
“She got into a bad fight with her brother because he was going somewhere. She said he's not gonna be around for a while and she hasn't been in the best mood since she got here.” The siren sighed. “I think she’s scared he’s not coming back.”
Pen covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, poor Rowena.”
“Is there anything we can do?” Warren asked, and Tempest could hear the desperation in his voice to help her.
Tempest went back to stirring the pot, almost absentmindedly. “I don't know… she's…she's barely left our bed and she's talking and eating less. I don't know what to do.”
Warren gently took her forearm and squeezed. “She’ll be okay, T. Maybe we just have to invite her in, make her remember that not everything revolves around her brother, you know?”
“Maybe…”
Rowena cried at night, in the days after her brother left.
Everyone was worried about her, Tempest and Warren more than most.
Nobody quite knew how to help her, though.
“Heeeeeeey–” Silver, Kiran, and Pen started visiting a lot more than usual, hoping that that would lift her spirits. “We brought caaaaaake!”
The ravenette looked up at them, looking tired; she always looked tired these days. Her eyes lacking the usual spark. “...Cake?”
“I got the servants to make it myself~” Kiran kept his sing-songy voice, trying to coax Rowena out of bed.
She snorted, trying not to smile. “Careful buddy or your mom’s gonna try, and put you on a no sweet diet.”
“She would never! Her sweet tooth is worse than mine!” Pen giggled, while Silver rolled his eyes.
Rowena just eyed the cake. “It's not a carrot raisin cake, is it?”
Kiran looked offended. “Carrot raisin cake is delicious, excuse you!”
Pen made a gagging sound. “Sorry, love, you’re outnumbered in this one. And it’s chocolate, Ro. Don’t worry, I wasn’t gonna let him poison you.”
Silver gave them all a wary look—clearly not sure whether or not the red head was serious about the poison comment.
Kiran blanched. “Not real poison, Silv. Pen was being dramatic.”
“Was I?” Pen muttered under her breath.
“You sure about that, Kira?” Rowena teased, causing the wolf to relax. “I'm pretty sure even Warren hates that cake and he almost never hates anything!”
“Don’t drag me into this!” Yelled Warren from the other room.
Rowena broke into a fit of loud, infectious laughter. Falling back into the bed.
Everyone else started laughing with her, pleased that they had managed to cheer her up.
“Glad to hear that laugh again.” Pen said through wheezing laughter.
The pirate didn't seem to hear her.
There were murders going on in the small village closest to the Jones-Banks Shack.
And of course, now that Rowena's brother wasn't around, she had decided to investigate them.
“This is a bad idea, even for you, Rowena.” She’d brought Silver along for backup, but was starting to regret it.
“You didn't have to come along if you didn't want to.” The pirate rolled her eyes, continuing to search for clues—her patience had started to wane lately. After her brother left, of course.
“No, I gotta come along, so you don’t get yourself killed—or worse—trying to do a stupid thing.” Silver kept his voice remarkably calm.
Rowena threw him an offended look over her shoulder. “I'm not stupid. I'm not gonna do anything that will get me killed—I would never do that to any of you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Ro, I love you, but sometimes when you want to do what you think is the ‘right’ thing, you get…single minded.”
“Love you too.” The dark haired girl replied, ignoring the rest of what'd he said. “Smell or hear anything relevant?”
Silver sighed, but decided to drop the matter. He lifted his head, taking a big whiff of the air. “No, nothing yet.”
Rowena groaned.
“Good news everyone!” Rowena kicked open the front door, carrying in supplies from town. “I've got a lead on the murders!”
Everyone groaned.
“Rowena. My beloved. My sweetheart. The love of my life.” Tempest placed her hands on Rowena’s shoulders. “Can’t you leave this matter to the village itself?”
“Nope. Eighty percent of the village is dead. Now….come get breakfast! I got a lot of strange looking fruits and drinks.” Rowena said, popping the ‘p’. Stubborn as always.
Kiran threw up his hands. “Why the bloody hell don’t they just move out of the murder village?!”
“Because they can't. And the village is called Lurch , for your information, princey.”
“Charming.”
Pen whacked him. “Don’t be mean, Kir. Not that you’re one to talk, prince of Linos. ”
Rowena snickered.
“Oh shut up. You can't talk either—” Silver quickly shot out and covered his mouth before Kiran could finish that thought. Having a jolly good idea of what he'd been about to say.
“Anyway! Can you guys give me a hand while I tell you the good news?”
Now mostly silent, the group grabbed things at random out of Rowena’s arms, and shuffled into the kitchen.
Once everything was put away, they all sat down at the small table so Rowena could tell them the ‘good news.’
Which she did, after grabbing a coconut from the fruit pile and sticking a wooden straw through one of the holes and sitting down, of course. “So, I ran into some other people investigating the murder and they have a lead on it that we plan to follow up with tomorrow.”
“What’s the lead?” Tempest wasn’t sure she really wanted to know.
“They think they know where the killer's been hiding out.” Rowena said gleefully. “And we're gonna catch the bastard.”
What the fuck.
“Pause.” Tempest looked at her like she was crazy. Because she was. “Why can’t you just let them do it! They clearly know what they’re doing!”
“Because they need backup and the bastard killed some of my friends from the village. So I need to make sure they get him.”
Silver put a hand on Rowena’s shoulder. “That sounds really dangerous. You could get seriously hurt.”
The younger girl was starting to get frustrated. “Can you guys just trust me? Everything will be fine .”
“You keep saying that, but have yet to prove to us that it’s fine!” Pen snapped, uncharacteristically angry.
Rowena stepped out of reach from Silver, scowling. “You guys don't have to come but I'm going and you can't stop me.”