Chapter Text
Pike waved the bartender over for another round. The mugs were delivered promptly and the empties removed, no need to compete for attention at this hour, when most honest folk were responsibly tucked into their beds. Vax ignored his drink to twist and pin his hair, laughing about matching styles. Pike chugged her stein and stole his. Years of drinking with Grog had given her a hard constitution for alcohol, and only now did she regret how long it took to get drunk.
He would come back. He just needed a break. Pike knew all about that. She had been the first to die and be brought back, and still had nightmares some nights. On the sea, she worked too hard for dreams, her body greedily drinking whatever rest it could get.
So Scanlan would run away for a while. Be with Kaylie, and then come back.
He had to come back.
The ale rippled as a drop of moisture fell into the stein. Pike hastily wiped away her tears before Vax could notice.
Everything happened too fast. Had they fought Thordak three days ago, or two? The weeks blurred in her memory, one battled after another, foe after foe without pause, no spare moment to sit and think.
Pike let her head sink to the table. She always seemed to trail behind. The man she loved found someone else while she built a temple and tried to gather the courage to confess. Then she wasted so much time trying to sort out her confused feelings for Scanlan, and now he was gone with barely a goodbye.
And yet, if she had figured it out sooner, if she managed to have that talk about his letter, about the future, would it have changed anything? Might he have stayed?
Pike bit back a whimper. Scanlan loved Kaylie more than anyone, she knew that. But did it mean he did not have any love left for her?
She sat back up, not bothering to hide her tears. There were too many to disguise.