Chapter Text
Jester isn’t sure that she will ever completely get used to how it feels to walk on land again after being at sea for so long. When she walks through the streets of Nicodranas, it feels like her body expects the ground to keep moving under her feet, even when it’s not. Fjord says that it’s called sea legs, but Jester thinks that’s stupid because it’s not just her legs, it’s her whole body. When she mentioned it to Mama, she said that it’s called “mal de debarquement” syndrome which she thinks sounds much fancier.
She realizes that she has been leaning to the side more than she has been meaning to when Kingsley catches her arm and wraps his tail around her waist with a grin. Jester returns the grin easily, even as Kingsley nods to where Fjord is walking a couple of paces ahead of them and remarks, “I hate to see him go, but I also love to watch him leave.”
“I hear you back there!” Fjord calls back to them, tearing his gaze away from the map he recently acquired and glancing back their way.
Jester laughs and pulls on Kingsley’s horn a little bit. “Get your own boyfriend.”
“I’m working on it!” Kingsley says. He adds in complaint, rolling his eyes melodramatically, “It’s so difficult being at sea when your only options are a bunch of smelly sailors.”
“You are also a smelly sailor,” she points out.
Kingsley feigns shock at the insult. “How dare you, I certainly smell much better than Marius. Although, if one of them with good, calloused hands were to be interested…”
Jester giggles and looks back towards Fjord, who is still looking at the map. Kingsley tilts his head to the side and says, “You know, Captain, if you don’t know where the small ones live by now, you never will.”
Fjord sighs and slows his gait so that he’s walking next to the two tieflings. Jester’s tail waves a bit behind her, unbidden. “It’s less about navigation and more about examining how the city has grown in the past couple of years. I’m also noticing a couple of potential ‘trap streets,’ which the wizards might find intriguing.”
“Trap streets?” Kingsley releases Jester to get a closer look at the map, talking enthusiastically to Fjord. Jester watches the two of them fondly before her gaze turns towards the thoroughfare surrounding them.
Jester loves her city. It’s bright and colorful and there are always so many people to see. There are lots of interesting people who live here on their own, of course, but the ships also always bring in a menagerie of strangers from faraway places including merchants and travelers, and sometimes even adventurers. Back when Jester still lived with her mama, she liked to watch people from her bedroom, oftentimes drawing or painting them. She can draw so much better now and part of her wonders if it’s because she’s able to see people up close now.
The blue tiefling glances towards Fjord and Kingsley. She tilts her head to the side slightly, looking them over and seeing the intrigue and excitement on their faces as they discuss the map. She grabs her bag and starts to rifle around inside to find her sketchbook.
Fjord pauses what he is saying to Kingsley and looks at her, amused. “What are you doing?”
“Don’t look at me,” Jester instructs, withdrawing her sketchbook and a piece of charcoal.
“Joy, we are in the middle of the street,” Kingsley says, smirking slightly.
“Don’t look at me!” says Jester again, flipping through her book to try to find a blank page.
This sketchbook has several drawings from the past couple of years; mostly they are sketches of the various things she has seen at sea, such as a kraken that attacked the ship one time and Marius’ hilarious facial expressions while Orly gave him a new tattoo. Interspersed between these are sketches of her friends and family, such as Yasha kneeling in her garden in Rexxentrum, mama singing to a busy crowd at the Lavish Chateau, Beau sitting on a windowsill with a book, Veth aiming her crossbow, Artie posing in a way to highlight his mane of hair, and Caduceus pouring a cup of tea.
One of the pictures that Jester is most proud of is of Caleb and Essek. Caleb is sitting in one of the plush armchairs of his own home in Rexxentrum. There is a book loosely held in one hand and his head lulls onto his shoulder, clearly fallen asleep. Essek, not in disguise for once, has his own book in his hands but his gaze is instead looking tenderly at the wizard in the chair next to him. At the time, he hadn’t noticed Jester sketching him and she’s pretty sure that he wouldn’t have wanted her to see, but it was just so sweet she couldn’t help it. Jester told herself ages ago that once the two of them stopped avoiding their deeply obvious feelings for one another, she would do a proper painting of the moment. Looking at the sketch now almost makes her forget that she is still miffed at the Drow.
Upon managing to find a blank page, Jester walks backward down the street, her tail lashing a bit for balance, trying to get the gist of their positions. She is buffeted by the people on the street and gets more than one person telling her to watch where she’s going, but she’s too busy laughing at the deep amusement on Fjord’s face and how Kingsley shifted into a slightly more pompous pose. Once she decides that she has the general gist of their positioning down, she replaces the sketchbook back in her bag. There’s a slight spring in her step as she continues on to Veth’s house.
The Brenattos recently moved to a condo that’s closer to the Opal Archways. Their last apartment was nice, but once they realized that their family was going to get bigger, they knew they needed a larger space. As money was no object now that Veth had retired from her adventuring days and Yeza had always been interested in the historical aspect of that area of town, they were able to find a good home for the soon-to-be four of them. They still run their alchemy shop in the Open Quay, but Jester is happy that they live closer to the Lavish Chateau now because it makes it easier to visit them all when she and Fjord are in town.
Jester knocks on the front door in a rhythmic pattern, calling out, “Hey! It’s me! Are you home? Are you ready to go?” From within, she can hear Nugget barking loudly.
She can feel Fjord and Kingsley walk up and stand behind her. Kingsley says helpfully, “You know when the baby is born, you probably shouldn’t knock like that anymore. Pretty sure Veth will shoot you if you wake it up.”
“What do you know, you’re two,” Jester jokes.
“He’s right, though, Jessie,” says Fjord.
Before Jester can get a chance to answer, the door swings open to reveal Veth Brenatto. Her long hair is twisted back into a bun and she is wearing a red dress with yellow flowers along the skirt and short sleeves. The dress is not low enough that Jester misses the dagger strapped to her thigh, nor the swollenness of her ankles. Her face is also much rounder and her cheeks darker than they were when Jester saw her last. Veth is slightly plumper too.
Jester beams and leans over to hug her. “Veth! I missed you so, so much! Did you get my messages?”
Veth laughs and pats the tiefling’s back. “Of course I did, I responded to them every day, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, well, except for the days I didn’t have the spell slots,” Jester pouts.
She releases Veth so that the Halfling can usher the three of them inside her cozy living room. The furnishings are much too small for anyone Jester’s height but perfect for anyone Veth and Yeza’s height. There are a few boxes here and there from their recent move, but it looks like they have got most of the important things out, like Nugget’s toys and Luc’s practice targets.
Veth looks at Fjord and Kingsley critically. “I see you clearly haven’t gotten any stronger,” she says to the half-orc. Fjord stammers something indignant while Kingsley laughs, making Veth’s gaze move over to him. “And you’re still alive?”
“I’m afraid so,” Kingsley says dramatically with a wink.
Veth smirks at the two of them and strides past Jester to hug the legs of the other two. “I’m glad to see you guys. It’s been so boring since I haven’t been allowed to work with the chemicals for the shop.”
“I’m glad you’re doing well,” Fjord says, hugging her back.
“I like your new place, it seems very nice,” Kingsley says, his tail wagging a little bit.
“You’ll have to regale me of all the stuff you’ve been doing on the Nein Heroez; I’m sure it’s much more exciting there than back here,” says Veth, releasing the two of them.
“So! Are Luc and Yeza coming?” Jester asks, clapping her hands together. “And Nugget, maybe?”
“Nah, they’re going to stay behind this time. Besides, this is pretty much a Mighty Nein-only event,” says the halfling, waving lazily.
“But they’re basically part of the Mighty Nein!” Jester protests.
Veth leans forward conspiratorially. “I know that and they know that, but Luc has been really excited about his lessons and Yeza is kind of a homebody. I offered to let them come, but they said no.”
“Ah, well, next time. I know Luc will probably want to see his Uncle Caleb,” says Jester brightly.
Most of the members of the Mighty Nein are regarded by Luc as their aunts and uncles, save for Essek and Kingsley. Jester knows that on some level, Veth still doesn’t trust Essek, which is a shame in her opinion. He tries almost too hard to be liked by the group and Jester doesn’t really think that someone could go through a place like Aeor with them and not be trusted. Kingsley, on the other hand, is younger than Luc so the Halfling boy seems to view the tiefling as a strange cousin. Jester remarks upon Caleb in particular because she knows that he is Luc’s favorite uncle because the last couple of years he has been teaching him magic. Jester is a little disappointed that she isn’t Luc’s favorite, but she’s pretty sure that if she sneaks him more sweets it might push her to the top.
“They’re missing out,” Veth agrees.
“Does everyone have everything they need?” asks Fjord, looking pointedly at Veth.
The Halfling shrugs. “I told Luc and Yeza that I’d be leaving as soon as you got over here so I already made my goodbyes. It’s not like I’m going to be gone for more than a couple of hours anyway.”
“Okay, everyone, gather close to me and I’ll take us there!” Jester says.
Fjord takes her hand easily and she beams at him. When Kingsley and Veth gather close to her too, Jester pulls out her holy symbol and prays. “Dear Traveller, we’d like to go to the shrine I set up in Beau and Yasha’s garden in Rexxentrum thank you!”
Despite the fact that they are inside Veth’s living room, the breeze around them picks up and swirls around their feet. Jester can hear Artagan chuckle in her ear and with a flash of green light, they are suddenly standing in a lovely garden. There is not much lawn at all, instead being filled with plants that are likely native to this area of the Empire and a few that have been transplanted from the Blooming Grove. They are mostly flowers and it is very clear that they have been lovingly tended to. There’s a small stone patio with a little table set for two and a punching bag beneath an ivy-covered lattice. Next to where they have appeared, however, there is a stone carved in the shape of an archway with a winding path and a couple of dick-shaped Traveller statues.
Jester smiles at the statues and thanks Artie, reaching up to scratch Sprinkle’s little head inside of her hood and starts to march towards the house. She is still holding Fjord’s hand and he tells her with a laugh that she doesn’t have to drag him. She can’t help it, though, she’s just so excited to see everyone.
“Beau! Yasha!” Jester calls out, letting herself into the house.
The door from the backyard leads into the kitchen. Yasha has her long white hair tied back into a ponytail and looks startled as Jester walks in with Fjord, Veth, and Kingsley in tow. She seems to be in the process of transferring freshly baked cookies onto a platter. Jester gasps and swipes one before hugging the Aasimar.
“Yasha! I missed you so, so much!” Jester says.
“I missed you all too.” Yasha smiles and envelops Jester in her arms, squeezing her hard enough that the air is briefly pressed from her lungs. Yasha gives Kingsley and Fjord the same treatment while Jester swipes another cookie from the plate.
“Don’t eat them all,” Yasha warns, “I want there to be some left for the others.”
“Is the unpleasant one here?” Kingsley asks, stealing a cookie of his own.
“She’s here, she just got off work so she will be down in a moment,” says Yasha, not bothering to scold him for stealing the cookie.
“The Cobalt Soul is keeping her busy, then?” Veth asks.
“Oh yeah, it feels like things have only barely slowed down after Ikithon’s trial,” says Yasha.
“What about you though? Your garden looks nice,” Veth says, smiling up at her.
The two begin to chat about gardening as Yasha fidgets a little bit with her wedding ring. Jester starts looking through their kitchen cupboards for curiosity’s sake, finding mostly baking ingredients. It isn’t long before a freshly bathed Beau trots down the stairs, calling out for Yasha to tell her how good the cookies smell when she is almost bowled over by Jester’s hug.
“The fuck! Why didn’t you tell me you guys were here? I would have come down sooner,” Beau says, hugging Jester back.
“Oh, we just thought it would just be funnier if we left without you,” says Kingsley, his tail waving lazily even as he gives her a wicked grin. Beau flips him off, which the tiefling returns with two middle fingers of his own.
Fjord approaches and claps Beau on the back. “Good to see you.”
“Yeah, man, how’s the crew doing?”
Jester grins and listens to everyone chat for a little while. Fjord tells Beau of the last time the sahuagin warlocks of Uk’otoa attacked the ship, Kingsley jumping in every now and then to embellish some details. Yasha tells Veth about how when Essek is in town, the two of them garden together, occasionally joined by Eadwulf. Although Jester has enjoyed being at sea, she really has missed being with the rest of the Mighty Nein. She’s glad that she came up with the idea for yearly reunions on the sixteenth of Sydenstar. Granted, they all see each other as much as they can— Jester insists that they get together for everyone’s birthday every year and she relies heavily on Caleb to remember when they are— but there’s something different about meeting up compared to when they were all traveling on the road together.
It feels like most of the members of the Mighty Nein are off living their own lives now and to Jester, it feels kind of lonely. Beau had living in Rexxentrum and is busy with her work as an Archivist at the Cobalt Soul. Yasha is taking time to figure out who she is in a life where she doesn’t have to fight every day, looking at houses in Zadash that she and Beau would find comfortable. Caduceus is spending more time with his family after having been apart from them for so long. Veth is running the shop with Yeza, in addition to her own summer camp, and is going to be having another baby in five months. Caleb and Essek just got back from a honeymoon in Aeor that they insist wasn’t romantic but everyone else can tell that they were totally flirting the whole time. Even Kingsley has been talking more and more about “expanding his horizons” and moving onward. Some days it really just feels like just her and Fjord. Don’t get her wrong, Jester is happy for everyone, it’s just that sometimes she misses those nights when they were all cuddled up underneath the dome together, swapping stories and laughs.
“Anyway, we should probably head over to Caleb’s home before he chews us out for being too late,” Fjord announces.
“He wouldn’t do that,” says Veth primly. “He’s a good boy.”
“Yeah he would,” Beau says, glancing sideways at her in amusement.
“Let's go! I want to see them,” Jester says. Fjord smiles at her, seeing her obvious excitement, and takes her hand. He starts to lead the way out of the house when Jester stage whispers to him, “Do you even know where Caleb lives?”
“Not a clue,” Fjord admits.
Jester snorts. “Maybe you should let Beau and Yasha take the lead this time, then, ‘Captain?’”
Fjord chuckles a little in agreement, leaning over to kiss Jester’s nose, making her face scrunch up a little as his beard tickles her. The two of them fall back a bit, Beau apparently challenging Veth to a race through the streets. Beau easily takes the lead and Jester smiles, remembering the time that the two of them had raced up the tree near Uthodurn and Veth had shot Beau with her gun. It’s moments like this that really make her miss when they were all still together.
As if he could sense the direction of her thoughts, Fjord gives her hand a light squeeze. Jester squeezes back, perhaps with slightly more force than necessary, and leans closer to him. It makes walking a little more awkward, but she enjoys his warmth and grounding presence. Her tail waves a bit more with each step she takes.
Caleb’s house is smaller than that of Beau and Yasha. It has stone walls and small rectangular windows with little planter boxes underneath them, and a few bowls of food and water for stray cats on the front steps. Whereas the Lionett-Nydoorin household is closer to the Cobalt Soul, the Widogast house is closer to the Soltryce Academy. Caleb insists that it’s because he wants access to the library, but in one of her Sending conversations with Essek, he had mentioned that Caleb was going to try to obtain a teaching position there. Jester thinks that that is a great idea but she doesn’t want to bombard him with that just yet; he was so fragile for a while after Ikithon’s trial, and she wanted to find other ways to talk to him because she didn’t want to potentially scare him away from it. That meant when she was able to get into conversations they’ve been mostly about when he was going to ask Essek out and how he should totally get more cats. Jester’s gaze lingers for a moment on the cat bowls on his front step and she nods approvingly while Veth just lets herself into the home.
It’s clear that Caleb has made the effort to bring more chairs into the living room knowing that he is expecting guests. By the time Jester is able to make her way inside around the others, Caduceus is already sitting in one of the chairs, a fresh pot of tea on the coffee table in front of him and nine cups circling it. Caleb is hugging Veth and chatting with her happily. Jester shoves her way forward and gives him a hug too before moving on to Caduceus.
“You’re all nine minutes late,” Caleb tells them helpfully as Caduceus starts to pour them each a cup of tea.
“Ha!” Beau shouts, pointing at Veth.
“Fuck you,” says Veth, flopping down in one of the chairs.
Caleb frowns. “I feel like I am missing something here.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Fjord says, clapping the wizard’s shoulder before sitting down on the couch.
Jester takes one of the cups of tea and sits down on the half-orc’s lap, enthusing to Caduceus about how good the tea is. Caduceus smiles and tells her about how it was made from an old Veluthil elvish family, explaining that they are one of the oldest families in the graveyard, and because of that he made this blend of tea special for the occasion. Jester smiles and leans her head against Fjord’s shoulder, enjoying hearing everyone’s overlapping conversations and pitching in every now and then to make a joke. Her eyes wander around the room, seeing how happy everyone is and how comfortable they are together. Jester’s tail wraps affectionately around Fjord’s ankle as her gaze rests on the table where there is one cup of tea left.
“Where’s Essek?” Jester asks the room at large, glancing around.
The conversations peter out as the rest of the Mighty Nein realize that one of their number isn’t there. “He’s not chickening out, is he?” Veth asks, raising an eyebrow.
Caleb frowns and a twinge of worry enters his gaze. “He said he’d be here for this, as he won’t be able to find the Nestled Nook on his own and needs to be teleported with us.”
“Yeah, he needs to be here because he’s part of the team and stuff but I also gotta chew him out,” Jester says. “Caleb, you and Essek better be working on something cool.”
“What the fuck, man, you said you’d be taking it easy now that you’re back from Aeor,” accuses Beau.
“I’m not working on anything at the moment,” Caleb says flatly, “at least nothing I wasn’t already doing.” He looks back toward Jester. “What did he say?”
“Okay, so, like, I messaged him like I always do and I was like, ‘Hey Essek I miss you so much and I hope you’re doing good, don’t get too lonely and come visit us on the Nein Heroez and I love you and you’re super cool and stuff—’”
“That’s more than twenty-five words, dear,” Kingsley says, tail flicking lazily.
“That’s not exactly what I said, that’s just the gist,” says Jester. “But anyway, when he responded he sounded super angry. Well, maybe not super angry, but irritated I guess? And he was like, ‘I’m working on something important so please don’t contact me until I say you can.’” She puts on a poor imitation of Essek’s accent. “I guess he didn’t say he was working on something with you specifically, Caleb, I had just assumed, I’m sorry. I’m a little mad, though, ‘cause he didn’t tell me when I could start messaging him again.”
She glances towards Fjord, who knows her frustration about this. Jester had promised, after all, to message him every day and she had to stop herself from doing so for the last two weeks. Fjord looks a bit worried, but also thoughtful, his eyebrows raised but drawn together.
“What’s he been saying in your messages with him?” Yasha asks Caleb, looking a little worried.
“He, ah, actually hasn’t been Sending to me,” admits Caleb.
“Have you Sent to him, though?” Beau asks, raising her eyebrows.
“I don’t have that spell,” Caleb admits sheepishly.
“Caleb, that’s stupid,” says Veth. “What if something happens?”
“I can probably teach it to you, Caleb,” Jester offers.
Caduceus cuts in before Caleb can respond. “Does he usually let you know what sorts of projects he is working on?”
“Yes, or at least he describes where he is theorizing; talking out arcane theories with someone else can help with the thought process,” says Caleb, “but he knows the date of this event; I saw him write it down so he would remember, and he said he would teleport directly into my home before everyone’s arrival. It’s… odd that he’s not here yet,” he adds, frowning.
“Do you think something went wrong?” Yasha wonders aloud.
“I don’t know,” Caleb says, frustrated. He stands and begins to pace with his hands folded behind his back.
Jester frowns, not liking seeing him upset. She summons one of her brightest smiles and says, “Maybe he’s working on something for you, Caleb!”
“That could be why he didn’t tell you,” Veth agrees easily.
“Or he could be up to some shady shit,” suggests Beau, “and doesn’t want you to find out.”
“I don’t think he’d do that at this point,” Caduceus says, a calming force within the mess of anxiety building in the room.
“Whatever he’s working on has gotta be big since it’s been, like, three weeks since I’ve heard from him,” Jester says brightly.
“Three weeks?” Caleb asks anxiously, wringing his hands.
Jester’s face falls; making him even more worried was the opposite of what she wanted to achieve. “I’m sure he’s fine!” she says quickly, waving her hands in a slow-down motion.
With a flash of arcane energy, something appears on the table, nearly falling into the final cup of tea and making everyone jump. Beau leaps to her feet and Caleb looks like he is about to cast before they realize what they’re seeing. There is an envelope, sealed with wax, although there is no insignia on it. They all stare at it apprehensively for a moment as if it might jump. Jester clambers off of Fjord’s lap and pokes it with her tail. When it does not move, Veth snatches it up and passes it to Caleb, who gives her a questioning look.
Veth shrugs. “It’s your house.”
Caleb frowns as he cracks the seal. He shakes the envelope open and something shining falls to the ground with a faint tinkling sound. Veth reaches for it first and looks at the silvery metal in her hand with a growing look of horror.
“What is it?” Fjord asks.
Veth ignores him and shows Caleb, whose face blanches immediately, the note in his hand momentarily forgotten. Jester moves around the coffee table to peek into the Halfling’s hands. She finds herself looking at a single ear cuff and the accompanying earrings, silvery in nature and elvish in design. They are tangled together and bloody, as if they had been torn from the ear, rather than carefully removed.
Jester’s tail lashes anxiously. “What does this mean?”
Caleb doesn’t seem to be able to take his eyes off of Essek’s single ear cuff. Beau moves closer to him and takes the note from his hand. She clears her throat and reads aloud, “Hello, Mighty Nein. My name is Doctor Reynold Brueska. I would love to arrange a meeting to…” Beau falters a little as she reads. “...to ensure the safe return of your Drow friend into your custody, lest he is released to the Bright Queen and her court instead. Perhaps we can arrange a trade. I look forward to hearing from you.”
Beau’s words hang in the air as silence takes the room. All eyes are either on the note in the monk’s hands or the blood on the shining silver earrings.