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A faint breeze swept through the dense brush of the Parchwood Timberlands, a surprisingly welcome touch of cool in the few weeks of the year where the northern regions of Tal’Dorei experienced summer heat.
The surreal feeling of a summer heat in an otherwise chilly location was familiar to Percy, albeit in the same way Winter’s Crest or anniversaries were familiar: abstract when in the past or future, and still rather unreal in the moment.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the sight of a small hand-bell tied to a low-hanging branch, dimly lit by starlight partially obscured by the higher branches. Percy smirked. Riches and connections came with their perks. Including, namely, an enchanted bell with the Alarm spell to remove the oh-so-familiar need for night watches. Just a small gift from Tary turned nights spent in the wilderness from being the necessary chore of an adventuring life to a luxury to be spent with one’s wife.
Yes, indeed, it was the reason why Percy and Vex could share a bedroll, also accompanied by a peacefully resting Trinket.
That otherwise highly desirable circumstance was complicated by one detail: Percy’d had a nightmare.
The surrealness of the summer night was acutely sharpened by the still present sensations of the dream. Even as the memory of its events slipped from his mind- a familiar stew of past battles, enemies, and regrets- the uneasy feeling of wrong-but-right-but-wrong stuck, and Percy desperately needed to walk a little. Or maybe pace a little. Or maybe just lean against a tree and clear his head.
Just as he was gathering up the willpower to slip from the bedroll, Vex began to stir. Percy quickly moved to rub her back and perhaps soothe her before she could awake, but before he could do so, she spoke.
“Dream?” was all she said.
“Mm-hm.” Percy began rubbing her back anyway, just because he could. “Not bad. Just… intense, I think.”
“Wanna talk?” Vex asked, still half-mumbling.
“...No, I don’t think so.” Percy said. Perhaps a few years ago, that would’ve been a lie (not that he’d had the privilege of a bedmate up until two years ago), but his and Vex’s relationship had come with a need for honesty that was as refreshing as a hot spring on a cold night. There was, truly, nothing to discuss about this particular dream, just leftover emotions that would fade in time.
“One sec,” Vex said, and then to Percy’s surprise, wriggled out of the bedroll. A few moments later, it became readily apparent that she was simply answering the call of nature.
Were Percy in a more keen state of mind, he might’ve questioned that, considering how impeccable Vex usually was with managing her bodily functions when out in the wilderness or just generally traveling, but all he had the mental energy for was scratching Trinket- who’d likely woken up at Vex’s movement- under the chin.
Less than a minute later, Vex traipsed back to their meager camping setup, and leaned over Percy, giving him a brief upside-down view of her face before she pressed a kiss to his forehead. He smiled as she slid back into place next to him.
The two curled up together, familiar in their closeness, and Vex rubbed a thumb on the back of Percy’s right hand. Percy let out a small sigh, acknowledging the gesture, before trying to slip back into sleep.
Eyes closed, crickets chirping, Vex’ahlia began to hum. In the depths of his drowsiness Percy couldn’t tell if the tune was familiar or not- odds were that Vex had sung it to him before, whether he could remember or not- and he let the usually whirling thoughts of his brain slide into place with the calming notes.
After a few repetitions, though, the pattern recognition part of Percy’s mind couldn’t resist but try to predict the next note, to see if he’d finally memorized it. Further still, phantom lyrics seemed to echo just out of reach of recollection during some parts of the tune.
Trying to stop himself from, well, thinking, Percy tried to embrace the colorless-place-between-the-black that came only on the edge of sleep, only to involuntarily mutter something when the familiar part of the song came around.
Vex stopped humming. “Hm? What was that?”
Percy blinked his eyes a couple times. “Oh. I thought that sounded familiar.”
“I think you’ve heard this one before,” Vex affirmed.
“No, that part there. The-” Percy hummed the four notes in particular. Then, in the same tune, he whisper-sung, “Dies Irae.”
“What’s that?” Vex asked. Percy shuffled himself a bit higher on the pillow so that he wasn’t talking right into Vex’s hair.
“The Dies Irae. It’s… erm…” Percy thought a moment, trying to dig through his half-awake mind for memories he hadn’t thought of in years, of tutors and lessons and childhood. “A leitmotif, I think that’s the word. Those four notes, they’re used in some songs to mean death.”
“Oh?” Vex asked, honestly taken aback (or at least, as taken aback as one could be while half awake pressed up against one’s spouse while discussing a lullaby). “I was just humming something my mother would sing for me and Vax. It probably wasn’t quite right, either.”
“Fair point… it’s likely a coincidence. Although, some lullabies are about dark subjects…”
“Like Rings of Roses,” Vex said. “That one’s about a plague, right?”
“I think so. A way to teach kids about scary things without scaring them, I suppose.”
“Oh, and The Bird in the Basket. That’s about a prostitute,” Vex added, then after a moment, “Although Scanlan might’ve been the one to tell me that.”
“Vesper tried to convince me that one was about an execution. I asked my mother not to sing that one for me again.”
“Oh, honey…. Hmm… I used to scare Vax with some of the more frightening fairy tales.”
“They’re all quite frightening, if you ask me.”
“Says a man who’s fought dragons for real.”
Percy snorted at that one. “Yes, and it was quite frightening.”
“Maybe they’ll tell fairy tales about us, then.”
The two of them paused at that. Vex had said it flippantly, but it had surprised her as much as it had him.
“They might already be doing just that,” Percy pointed out, after a moment.
“How Vasselheim Got Its Huge Fucking Statue,” Vex proposed, eliciting another snort from Percy. “Or The Huntress And The Asshole Tree.”
Percy cracked a smile.
“The Gnome, The Dinosaur, and the Mansion Fire. The Goldfish Who Could Fly. The Dragon That Got Fisted. How The Handsome Prince Won His Huntress.”
“Not sure about that last one,” Percy said, stifling a chuckle. “Might not be appropriate for kids, even for a fairy tale.”
“Yes, I suppose we’ll have to leave out the bath scene.”
Percy half-coughed, half-barked a laugh at that. “Please, darling, it’s much too late for this. We’re going to wake up half the Parchwood.”
“I’m simply wondering how the legend of Tal’Dorei’s greatest heroes might be told in the future, is that so bad?” Vex asked coyly.
“The Thief That Always Rushed Ahead. Vox Machina and the Deadly Door. ” Vex continued while Percy put on a face of mock embarrassment.
Just as Vex paused to think of another, Percy added, “The Goliath and the Deck of Cards.”
Vex gave an exaggerated frown. “I can live with that one being forgotten.”
“Well in that case, they’ll have to tell The Tinker Who Picked Up A Magic Robe Without Checking For Traps Like An Idiot instead, to teach kids the importance of caution.”
Vex lightly elbowed Percy, which, considering they were sharing the same blankets, was a very light elbowing. “Enough of that, or I’ll ask Scanlan to compose a four-part ballad commemorating our travels.”
“He’s going to do that whether you ask him or not. In fact, I’d wager that he’s already started.”
“I’m not taking that bet,” Vex admitted.
The two fell into a comfortable silence, one that was only broken a short bit later by Percy.
“You know I’ve given a lot of thought to such a thing as a legacy, but I suppose I hadn’t thought of it in terms of, well, stories.”
Vex considered that. “I suppose it is rather odd, knowing that people we’ll never meet will have heard of us.”
“Mm, and here I thought you’d let the fame get to your head.”
“Oh, quiet, you!”
The two gave a small chuckle, and Percy leaned over to give Vex a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Now that I think of it, I think the Dies Irae comes from songs written about the Calamity. It means “Day of Wrath” in Celestial, you know.”
“Well, it’s fittingly ominous, at least.”
“True, and while I wouldn’t consider our exploits to be on par with a clash between gods, we did defeat one, at least. Strange to think that, centuries from now, all that might be remembered of us is a song, or a phrase, or something so removed that we ourselves wouldn’t recognize it.”
“Strange indeed.”
Percy looked over at Vex, who had a familiar look in her eye, one that Percy had slowly learned was one that indicated she was attempting to figure out what point he was getting at.
“Just wondering out loud, that’s all.”
“I like to think Keyleth would keep the story straight.”
Percy paused. That was… a rather loaded situation.
“As much as I’d like to… get a do-over of a sort, as a friendlier fairy tale… yes, I’d like to think that as well.”
Percy looked over at Vex, who muttered what seemed to be an affirmation, but her eyes were closed. Perhaps she’d been more tired than she’d let on.
Intertwining his hand with hers, they both fell asleep, and lived happily ever after.