Chapter Text
Caleb was having a bad day.
No, scratch that. He was having a bad week.
After Rumblecusp everything had seemed so simple. His friends had agreed that the next item on their agenda would either be bringing down the Assembly or finding out what the Eyes of Nein were. By aligning themselves with Vess DeRogna they could have achieved both at the same time. But as soon as his friends had seen the sandy beaches of Nicodranas, away went all of their plans. And they had insisted on a real vacation.
And yes, he too felt Veth deserved some time with her family.
And yes, it was fun to enjoy the water without being attacked by dragon turtles and Uk'otoa summoned beasts.
But they should have known leisurely days simply didn’t agree with them.
Most of them had been bored within the first two days. So when the harbour master had showed up one early morning at the Chateau, awkwardly requesting their help to investigate the ship that had stranded in the bay during the night, without any signs of life on board, they had jumped at the idea. That was their first mistake.
They then decided not to bother Veth. The only one of them who was actually proficient at checking for traps. Which of course, this entire ship was. Or at least it’s cargo had been. Mistake number two.
It hadn’t been that hard to figure out what had happened. The deck, scattered with blood and sword marks spoke clearly of an ugly fight. The few bodies they found when descending further into the ship had been pirates. Hopefully they had stranded the original crew somewhere safe, but Caleb had seen too much of the world to presume such kindness.
The pirates themselves had died from a plethora of reasons: acid, arrows, fire. Someone had invested a lot of time to set up traps below deck. Not a regular ship at all. Luckily the Mighty Nein were better equipped than a ragtag group of pirates for such an exploration. That, and all of the traps had already been tripped... The cargo bay welcomed them with even more bodies. Caleb wondered if this had simply been a small crew, or if the others had decided to cut their losses at that point and had abandoned ship. It seemed like a wise thing to do.
So off course, they didn’t. Mistake three.
They started carefully and found a few chests with fancy clothing – from Marquet Jester had said, ever the fashion aficionado. She had pulled out one of the dresses and twirling around with it promptly slipped on a pool of blood. Beau then tried to catch her and they both fell against a wooden chest. And suddenly there were two little girls in their place.
That looked an awful lot like them.
For a moment, everyone just froze.
Until the little tiefling cried for her mother and then blinked away.
A few more seconds passed.
Caduceus was the first to recover, gripping Fjord’s shoulder and casting Word of Recall, after yelling at the others they were going after Jester.
That left Beau for Yasha and himself. But when they turned around to look at her, the little girl had vanished. Since she did not have magic, she had probably ran out during the hubbub. Scheiße. He quickly used telekinesis to grab the item he assumed had transformed them, put it into a bag and ran after Yasha who was already in pursuit.
A few things became clear fast.
Eins. Even this small Beau was fast and flexible. She had hidden herself under the bed in the Captain’s quarters and neither of them could reach her.
Zwei. She was still stubborn as hell and refused to budge when asked nicely.
And drei and most importantly. She had apparently no idea who they were.
So there he was, on his knees trying to coach out a child from under a bed. Again he lamented the fact that Veth wasn’t there. As a mother, perhaps she would have been able to say something useful.
“Not s’posed to talk to strangers.” The little girl finally answered to one of his questions.
Caleb sighed. Well done Beau’s parents, you did do something right by your daughter.
Changing tactics. “But Beauregard. We are not strangers. You are Beauregard Lionett. You live in Kamordah. Your Father’s name is Thoreau, and your Mother’s name is Clara. Your family makes wine. They asked me to take care of you.”
Thank the gods this hadn’t happened a few months ago. Beau hadn’t really opened up about her past before they all had been confronted with it. At least now he had some material to work with. Not that he liked the material…
A shuffle. Her head peaked out from under the bed. He knew not to startle her now and gave Yasha a subtle signal to stay back. It would be better if the girl came out of her own accord. He saw a very Beau-like assessing look on her face. “You look like nanny Martha.”
Success. In his mind he apologised to his friend for lying to her. But it was the only way to get her trust.
“Yes, she is my schwester… my sister. My name is Caleb. And your parents asked me to keep you safe, because they are sick. They and Martha and all the people on the vineyard have the pox and they don’t want you to get it. Don’t you remember?”
Dirty trick. But effective most of the time. Leading your mark to believe they already have all the information and you are only trying to help them remember.
“I’m tired.” The girl whined. Again, sounding very much like the Beauregard he knew. Not that she would ever admit something she considered a weakness. But he could sympathise. This day had been very trying. He too could use a nap. And he was an 33-year old man, not a 5- or 6-year old child. It seemed like she was a little bit older than Luc. But he wasn’t really an expert on children.
“You had a nightmare when you fell asleep earlier. That’s why you don’t recognise us. If you come out, we can go to our friend’s house. Miss Marion is very nice.” At least it’s where he assumed they would gather later.
A moment later, little Beau emerged. “Hi Caleb.” She said, fidgeting slightly.
“Hi Beau.”
This was the first time he could really observe her. He wondered if the spell had somehow de-aged her to herself at that age. But her clothes and hairstyle were still clearly her adult self. An undercut probably hadn’t been in style in Kamordah twenty-some years ago. And then there was Jester’s magic to consider. He very much doubted the Traveller had taught her Word of Recall at this young age.
His thoughts were interrupted by a polite cough. Right, Yasha was here as well. Stay on task, Widowgast. He introduced her. Well, reintroduced her.
“This is Yasha. She is our … bodyguard.”
Beau looked up. And up. And up. A tiny wow escaped her. Caleb supressed a grin. Yeah, that hadn’t changed either.
Yasha squatted down to shake her hand. Caleb noticed that not only Beau’s clothes had shrunk, but also the headband and her bracers. He made a note to remove them later. He did not want to deal with a lightning powered tantrum later.
“I have some work to do.” He said and snapped his fingers. “But I have another friend that could keep you company meanwhile.”
“Frumpkie!” The girl ignored both of them, running over to the Bengal striped cat.
Ever so slightly insulted that Beau had remembered his cat, but not them, he decided to push the feeling aside as it did give their story that they had been travelling together before extra merit.
“She’s still in there.” Yasha said quietly. The Aasimar wasn’t the easiest person to read, but Caleb thought that she sounded relieved. But perhaps he was transferring his own feelings.
“Good. Then we can get her back. Can you watch her while I make a teleportation circle?”
He, Jester and Caduceus had polymorphed into birds earlier and carried the others to get to the boat. Waterwalking and waterbreathing had also been cast on them. But neither option seemed particularly childproof. Then again, teleportation would probably be very scary as well. Caleb sighed and asked another favour of his friend. “And perhaps prepare her for what is about to happen?”
Yasha swallowed audibly, but as a true team player she nodded before joining the child.
Caleb pulled a chalk out of his pocket and started to work. As always he focussed 80% of his attention on his work, and the rest on his surroundings. Old habits die hard and dangers were everywhere.
At first he heard Yasha prompting Beau to be more gentle with her petting. Frumpkin would probably appreciate that. When he was partway through his enchantment, Yasha took this as a signal to start warning Beau.
“Beau, have you ever seen magic before?”
“Like the witch that gave my daddy a lot of money?”
He heard Yasha falter for a moment. He didn’t blame her. Damn, Beau had been right that she had heard that story plenty before.
“Yes. Well, Caleb has magic too.”
“The witch taught him magic?”
Caleb snorted. Hexe, Zauberer … he hadn’t actually met Isharnai, but presumably she would have been about as nice a company as his former master.
“He learned it at a school, I think?” Yasha sounded a bit unsure. He decided he was going to show her the Academy when they eventually went to Rexxentrum. And have a drink together in one of his favourite pubs. Make some happy memories for her in that city.
Meanwhile Beau didn’t relent with her questions. “Cool! Can I go? I can write and count to a hundred already!”
A moment of silence. He had been hunched over the ground with his back to his friends, but could practically feel Yasha’s begging stare burning into his coat. He used his free hand to sign her with a thumbs up. She was doing pretty great, all thing considered. And he was nearly finished.
“Maybe when you are big. But I’m telling you this, because he is making us a magic circle. And it is going to take us to a very safe place. Very fast.”
“Will it hurt?” The first time in this conversation Beau’s little voice lost its enthusiasm.
“Not even a little bit.” And the first time Yasha’s voice grew in confidence.
That was his signal. He turned around.
“Ready when you are, ladies.” Frumpkin gave a little insulted meow, so he adjusted his statement. “And gentleman.”
Little Beau still looked a little apprehensive. She stared from Yasha, to Caleb, the chalk circle and then back at Yasha. Yasha took pity on her. “Do you… want me to carry you?”
Two outstretched arms, raised lighting fast, were her answer.
Caleb couldn’t help but smile. One day he would look back at this and laugh his ass off. And tease his little sister for all she was worth. But for now, he needed his focus to get his two friends back. He drew the final line and the circle crackled into existence.
“Let’s go.”
He could come back and torch this verdammte ship later.