Work Text:
Safe and sound at home again, let the waters roar, Jack
Safe and sound at home again, let the waters roar, Jack
Long we've tossed on the rolling main, now we're safe ashore, Jack
Don't forget your old shipmate, faldee raldee raldee raldee rye-eye-doe
Retirement had been an adjustment period for everyone. Ed no longer remembered who first suggested a transitional period, but the crew and co-captains of the Revenge spent quite some time posing as a merchant ship. The crew had seemed to have fun. Despite no longer raiding–or, at the very least, raiding far less often–merchanting had posed its own set of challenges. Ed was reminded of the time he and Lucius had to hold Stede back from passive-aggressively wounding potential clients, or how Wee John Feeney and Frenchie took so effortlessly to making a profit off of fine clothes and similar things that they built a merchanting empire.
Since we sailed from Plymouth Sound, four years gone, or nigh, Jack
Was there ever chummies, now, such as you and I, Jack?
Long we've tossed on the rolling main, now we're safe ashore, Jack
Don't forget your old shipmate, faldee raldee raldee raldee rye-eye-doe
Ed and Stede ended up leaving the two the ship and a fair amount of the profits–enough to continue their borderline swindling. Even as retired pirates, they couldn’t resist conning rich actual merchants out of their money.
We have worked the self-same gun, quarterdeck division
Sponger I and loader you, through the whole commission
Long we've tossed on the rolling main, now we're safe ashore, Jack
Don't forget your old shipmate, faldee raldee raldee raldee rye-eye-doe
Meanwhile, Ed and Stede had collected more than enough riches through both pirating and merchanting to settle comfortably. They ended up on the outskirts of a small village, where they mostly kept to themselves.
Oftentimes have we laid out, toil nor danger fearing
Tugging out the flapping sail to the weather earring
Long we've tossed on the rolling main, now we're safe ashore, Jack
Don't forget your old shipmate, faldee raldee raldee raldee rye-eye-doe
They kept up with the crew as well, at least, at first. They exchanged letters as Frenchie and Wee John expanded their empire; as Olu and Jim left the boat to settle in the Republic of Pirates; as Fang, Lucius, and Black Pete left for land in the New World. Getting letters from the crew was something that the two of them looked forward to.
When the middle watch was on, and the time went slow, boy
Who could choose a rousing stave, who like Jack or Joe, boy?
Long we've tossed on the rolling main, now we're safe ashore, Jack
Don't forget your old shipmate, faldee raldee raldee raldee rye-eye-doe
Eventually, however, they just kind of… stopped coming. Ed didn’t know what happened; who stopped replying first; just that they did. Somewhere along the line, the letters slowed, until instead of weeks passing in between correspondence, it was months. Then it was months upon months. Thinking about it now, Ed can’t think of the last time that he heard from any member of his and Stede’s former crew.
There she swings, an empty hulk, not a soul below now
Number seven starboard mess, misses Jack and Joe now
Long we've tossed on the rolling main, now we're safe ashore, Jack
Don't forget your old shipmate, faldee raldee raldee raldee rye-eye-doe
Of course, some settled into retirement much… easier, than others. Ed would always remember Ivan’s official sendoff to shore, a few months before he himself would officially step away from the sea with Stede. The other former pirate had been sent off with a party. Complete with copious amounts of drinking. Enough drinking that Ed had no memories of the night; just memories of waking up in the morning, sleeping sitting up and sandwiched between Stede and Izzy. The three of them never did end up talking about it before Stede and Ed left.
But the best of friends must part, fair or foul the weather
Hand yer flipper for a shake, now a drink together
Long we've tossed on the rolling main
Now we're safe ashore, Jack
Don't forget yer old shipmate
Faldee raldee raldee raldee rye-eye-doe
The last news Ed had heard of Izzy had been from someone else’s poorly-written letter to Stede. Izzy had done his best to stay with the ship–even despite finding the merchanting idea the “stupidest thing he’d ever heard of in his life”–but had apparently called it quits sometime after Ed left. He’d apparently signed on with a new captain. Ed wondered if he showed them the same loyalty he’d become known for.
Above all else, Ed just hoped his old crew were happy.