Work Text:
Elijah stepped through the door of his favorite tavern in Kaneyra—the Shouting Lobster. He had no idea how it had gotten its name, but it was certainly memorable. The tavern was always raucous, full of arm-wrestling matches, live music, and patrons trying to have conversations over all the noise. Tonight was no exception, as nearly everyone inside was singing along to a rousing song Elijah had never heard before. It must be new, if he hadn't heard it, but it seemed to be very popular if so many people know the lyrics.
Elijah stalked over to the bar, first mate Leonora close behind him, and ordered them each an ale. Elijah was used to getting strange looks when he left his ship, but he could have sworn the look the bartender gave him was not the usual ‘Holy shit, you’re Elijah Graeme’ stare.
As Elijah retied his graying hair—it was really just gray, now, wasn’t it? —into its customary top knot, Leonora elbowed him in the ribs. “Are you listening to these lyrics?”
“Not really,” he confessed. “Should I be?”
The song ended just as Elijah started paying attention, but the crowd called for an encore that the musicians quickly granted. As the tavern began singing again, he almost spit out his first sip of ale.
“Is this about me?” Elijah exclaimed.
“Yeah, keep listening,” his first mate urged.
Elijah was shocked to find the crowd was singing about his life—not very accurately, but nonetheless, it was clearly about him.
“Fifty times? That’s ridiculous. I’ve died a very reasonable two times.”
“You’re not gonna critique any other parts?”
“It’s about me, let me critique what I want.”
The song ended for the second time, letting patrons start calling for more rounds for their tables. As heads turned to the bar to call for the barkeep, the tavern slowly grew quieter and quieter, until all that was heard were whispers about the man standing at the bar. Elijah just rolled his eyes.
“Veezara regenerated it,” he lied to the crowd as he pointed to his left eye. “I still have the eyepatch, though.” The tavern got a little louder, but Elijah couldn’t enjoy his ale with everyone staring at him. “I thought this place was called the Shouting Lobster,” he said pointedly. The tavern was still quiet. “You can talk about me as much as you want, I don’t care. Just be loud about it, this isn’t the Annex.”
Finally, the crowd felt comfortable enough to work themselves back up to a roar. The inevitable crowd formed around Elijah, asking him for stories about himself and the Band. He told them about one of his fifty deaths fighting a three-headed dragon, and much to their delight, he showed off the tattoo he got to commemorate the occasion.
“That was only my seventh death,” he explained, “so I was still sentimental about them.”
Elijah was pretty sure most people listening to his story realized his number of deaths had been greatly exaggerated—if not from the song, then from his not-so-convincing lies. There were a few in the audience, however, that were hanging on his every word and certainly believed he had died so often.
Elijah smiled, adding wrinkles to the ones that already sat in the corners of his eyes. It finally sunk in for him that someone had written a song about him—an honor that was typically reserved for heroes. Yes, Ekarthia had considered him one for some time, but Elijah had always felt like his time as a pirate overshadowed what he had done with the Band. This song, though, made Elijah feel like he had finally overcome the darkness of his past. He could finally believe what everyone else already knew about him.
***
Terrel and the rest of the Bright Marked Order were gathered around the ship Wyvern, looking at the 20-foot bite mark that had been taken out of the ship’s stern before it had been thrown into Vindana’s docks—this was the third ship to be found with a bite taken out of it. Whatever this creature was, it came without warning, and it was enormous. Terrel’s personal theory was that the creature thought the ships were whales, and this ship had been thrown onto the docks in frustration. The government of Halldorstand, however, was certain that some sort of evil attack was being taken against them.
“If your party would be so kind as to get rid of this creature for us,” the Halldorstand government liaison imparted, “you will be paid very handsomely.” The half-elf liaison’s hair was a stark white, and his gait was just a little more unsteady than Terrel could be comfortable with—they were starting to get nervous that he would fall over.
“We’ll start looking into it right away,” Terrel acknowledged.
The party looked around the ship a bit more before deciding it was too late to do any research now and that they would start in the morning. They headed back to Vindana proper, where the comfortable beds of the tavern were waiting for them.
The government liaison said goodbye to the party at the door of the tavern. Before Terrel was out of earshot, though, they heard him mutter “Oh, I’m too old for this,” as he stretched out his back.
“Have you thought about retirement?” Terrel called out.
“I am retired,” he replied, his face showing his surprise at being heard. “But I keep getting asked to work with keepers since I apparently know so much about them. It’s like they don’t even remember what happened to me the first time…”
The liaison walked away from Terrel, apparently finished with the conversation. He pulled something from his pocket and spoke into it, and then immediately was teleported away.
Terrel shook their head, letting the strange interaction leave their mind, before joining their party at a table in the tavern.
“Eris, you didn’t have to,” they insisted as they saw an ale already at their seat. Eris just shrugged.
As the tavern’s bard started up a new song, the previously calm patrons were suddenly enlivened, ready to sing along. “I haven’t heard this before. Is it new?” Hundred pondered. At the first verse of the song, it was clear that it was, in fact, new. Terrel was sure they would have remembered hearing a song about Captain Graeme.
The words were easy enough to learn, and soon the party was heartily singing along with the rest of the tavern. Terrel only had one issue with the song—when had Captain Graeme lost an eye? It could have happened since they saw him last, they supposed. It had been a couple years.
***
Nathaniel and his son, Isaac, were pulling in their catch for the day when Nathaniel realized the people they were passing with their fish were giving him strange looks.
“It looks like the pub has news about Uncle Eli,” he told Isaac.
“Weird stares, again?”
Nathaniel just nodded. “You’d think I’d get a message before his adventures reach the pub a little more often. Or at all. You wanna head that way?”
Isaac gave an enthusiastic yes. Nathaniel let out a gentle sigh of relief—he had been worried that Alicia wouldn’t be able to finish making Isaac’s twelfth birthday gift while they were gone, but a detour to the pub would give her plenty of time.
Both Nathaniel and Isaac could hear singing coming from the Upset Dragon before they even crossed the threshold. “Something’s got them excited,” Nathaniel muttered under his breath. This could mean weird looks from most of Vergeter for a week or two if this was about Elijah.
As soon as Nathaniel heard the lyrics being sung, all he could do was roll his eyes. “Of course he has a song about him.”
“Can we go in and listen?” Isaac already had a foot in the door before Nathaniel could say otherwise, so he followed his son inside. When the pub’s patrons saw Nathaniel, they let out a cheer, giving him congratulations on his brother’s new level of fame. He just nodded his head in acceptance before sitting next to Isaac at a table in the back of the room.
Nathaniel furrowed his eyebrows at some of the lyrics before pulling a stone, perfectly smooth other than the arcane symbols carved in it, from his bag.
“You still have both your eyes, right?” he whispered into the Sending stone, careful not to let Isaac hear and ruin the surprise. “And are you still planning to stop by this week? Isaac misses you a lot. I do too.”
There was a long pause before Elijah’s voice appeared in Nathaniel’s head, sounding out of breath. “My song’s in Vergeter? Oh, shit—” Another pause. “I still have both eyes. Some people in Kaneyra think one of them is regenerated, though. Leonora! Get the—”
And Elijah’s voice cut out.
The shanty started up for the third time, so Nathaniel had Isaac get ready to go. All during the walk home, Isaac was humming and miming raising his glass. Once Isaac had gone inside the house and Nathaniel was putting away his fishing equipment in the shed outside, Elijah’s voice returned.
“Isaac’s present is turning out to be harder to get than I thought. I’ll be there, though. Stay out of trouble. I miss you too.”
“There’s no reason to tell me ‘Stay out of trouble.’ I caught fish today. You’re the one fighting a monster for your nephew’s birthday present.”
Nathaniel went inside the house to find Isaac captivated by a hand-sewn replica of Elijah’s Cloak of Embers. As he watched his wife and son smile over Isaac’s birthday present, all he could think about was what his life might have looked like if Elijah hadn’t convinced him to leave that prison twenty years ago.
***
The Gray Sheep was one of the liveliest taverns in Drakkenmond. Kerazi had been a loyal patron ever since she discovered its existence nearly fifteen years ago. Most of the crew of the Red Coquette had followed Kerazi to her favored place to cut loose, including Giles—the only member of the original crew other than herself to remain on the ship.
Kerazi dragged Giles to the center of the tavern to dance with her, knowing that he would be willing now that he had a couple of drinks in his system. The crowd cheered as the establishment’s owner started a familiar tune on his fiddle—and Kerazi began to laugh. For the last few months, it was like the song Captain Graeme had been following her across the Cobalt Gulf. The captivating tune had only grown increasingly popular as the ship made its way home to Drakkenmond, yet only yesterday did she learn the song had originated in her favorite tavern. Now she got to hear the song from the mouth of the man who wrote it—none other than Mickey Avalon.
The patrons of the Gray Sheep sang along with vigor, and Kerazi and Giles danced as if they had known the song their whole lives. The sound of the fiddle could barely be heard over the voices calling for everyone to raise their glasses to the sky.
***
Bravery strolled through Lesledu, waiting for Veezara to finish his business with the Council. She didn’t mind the stares she got as she walked, fully armored, through the busy streets.
A street performer was finishing a familiar tune on his lute, one that Bravery had recognized immediately. She could only imagine how much Elijah hated how quickly this song had grown popular. Bravery left the performer a coin, and she could tell from his small nod that he hadn’t realized she had left him a platinum piece.
***
Austalfur was in a frenzy upon hearing that Iodessa Avanin had decided to make one of her rare appearances after such a long time in the Astral Sea. The Archduke had convinced her and her partner, Selavra, to accompany him to a concert the city was putting on for another keeper who had deigned to make an appearance in their hometown.
Iodessa Avanin and Terrel Grey had somehow never met, so they exchanged pleasantries before awkwardly sitting in silence rather than attempting to make small talk. It was a relief to both of them when the lights of the concert hall dimmed, and the curtain rose.
The concert was meant to show the evolution of music in Ekarthia over the last 100 years, though, since this was Austalfur, there was a strong focus on Halldorian music. Only very popular songs from other Ekarthian countries made an appearance, though they were played by people from their home countries.
About halfway through the concert, a trio of humans began to perform a tune clearly Nyvaldian in nature. “This song I actually know,” Terrel said under their breath.
Iodessa’s eyes widened as listened to the lyrics and realized who the song was about. “Terrel, how old is this song?” she whispered.
“It’s probably nearing thirty years old, now. You haven’t heard it before?”
The moon elf shook her head.
As Iodessa heard the disastrously inaccurate account of Elijah’s life, she began to silently laugh in her seat, but along with her laugh came tears. Her partner attempted to comfort her, but they both left their seats as soon as the Nyvaldians finished their set. Terrel followed.
Terrel found the couple in the foyer of the concert hall. “I know you miss him, love,” Selavra comforted. “I do too.”
Iodessa saw Terrel approach and immediately wiped her eyes, trying to look presentable. “No, you don’t need to do that,” Terrel entreated. “I don’t even really know why I followed you. I really just wanted to say that, well, I knew Captain Graeme, too. Not as well as you, I’m sure, but, I thought maybe swapping stories about him might, I don’t know, make you feel better.”
Iodessa gave them a kind smile. “You’re so young,” she pointed out. “When did you know him?”
“I was only twenty-three when I met him. I rode his ferry. We stayed friends, after. I think he mostly just wanted to check in on me every so often because I was a mess back then, but my party ended up riding his ferry a lot. He made a loyalty discount just for us,” Terrel chuckled.
The three keepers remained in the foyer for the remainder of the concert, reminiscing about old times and old friends between laughs and tears.