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Sailing the warm southern seas, it felt more like summer than the beginning of winter. There was so much going on that none of the Mighty Nein even realized what time of year it was. At least, not until Jester got a rather pointed reminder.

“Wake up, little one. I have a gift for you.”

The familiar voice drifted through her sleeping brain, jerking her awake. The blue tiefling jolted upright, a delighted smile already on her face.

“Traveler? A gift? What is it? Why?” She looked around eagerly, searching for the familiar green robe. Beau stirred sleepily across the room and tugged a pillow over her head.

The Traveler’s low chuckle came from the end of her bed, but she couldn’t see him.

“Have you forgotten what day it is? It’s Winter’s Crest. Now come outside, my little trickster.”

Gasping in delight, Jester covered her mouth with both hands to muffle an excited squeak. No need to wake Beau, not yet, the monk had been drinking late. It would still be Winter’s Crest after she saw what the Traveler had for her.

Almost wriggling with excitement, the young cleric dressed quickly, tugging on her dress and boots and forgoing the rest, hurrying for the door. Most of the inn was still asleep so early in the morning, the sun barely risen over the crest of the buildings.

No one was around to watch a blue blur dash through the halls and out the door.

Once in the street, Jester looked around eagerly for a clue of where to go next. A familiar green robe was waiting at one corner of the inn, and she leapt into the Traveler’s arms with a happy squeal.

“Traveler! I did forget, but I will get you a present too! I could paint you something, or go and fuck up one of the temples, or cover the whoooooole city in your name! What would you like!”

The Traveler caught her, cool arms wrapping around her waist as he chuckled softly.

“Now now, my dear. You have to open your present first. It was not easy for me to do this for you, and you will have to spend the whole day enjoying it.” His voice was gentle, warm, with that familiar hint of mischief that Jester so loved.

But... she pouted a little, peeking up into the hood.

“All day? But I want to do something for you...”

“You do so much for me, little cleric. Plan me something wonderful. But today is the only day that I can give this gift to you.”

As ever, nothing but bright green eyes were visible beyond the warm slash of his smile. Jester squinted up anyway, hoping to see a little more, then nodded.

“Okay...” a thrill of anticipation ran through her and she wriggled in his grip. “What did you get for me?”

The smile widened beneath the hood, and the Traveler held out an arm, pointing into the alley. A little confused, Jester turned to look into the alley. Her jaw dropped.

Mollymauk Tealeaf stepped forward, dressed in a white shirt and his colourful leggings, a slight smile on his face.

“Miss me?” He asked, a cocky smile almost covering his uncertainty.

There was no air left in the street. Which was stupid, they were outside, all the air in the world should have been around them. Dimly Jester felt the Traveler step away. She felt like she already was, miles away from her own body. Static filled her ears.

Molly’s smile faded and he took a step closer, worry in his eyes.

“Jester?”

Hearing her name, her name in that voice that she thought she would never hear again, broke the spell. Jester dashed across the street, half afraid she would pass right through Molly like a ghost. He had to be a ghost. Didn’t he?

But the body she hit was solid even as it stumbled, the tears in her eyes landing on cotton and leaving little wet spots. She buried her face in his chest, breathing in deeply. He smelled... not quite like Molly. More like bird feathers. Like Kiri.

Both of his arms wrapped around her, squeezing as hard as he could. She giggled through her tears, resisting the urge to squeeze back. What if she broke him.

“Molly... are you... is... are... are you back?” She whispered, her voice choked with tears. A gentle hand cupped her cheek, tipping her face up to meet familiar red eyes.

“Not for long, I’m afraid,” he told her softly, the same sorrow in her heart reflected on his face. “Just for today, I think. While the veil is thin.”

Jester’s brows drew in, scrunching into a frown.

“I have diamonds now,” she told him firmly, “and I can do healing spells! You... you can stay?” Her voice trailed off, and Molly smiled sadly and pressed his forehead to hers.

“It doesn’t work like that, love. I’ve moved on. I’m allowed to come back today because I need to say goodbye. Besides, look at you. You’re all doing so well! You don’t need me anymore.”

“We’ll always need you,” Jester insisted, fighting back tears. “Always. We got fired from being pirates!”

“That, I did see,” Molly snickered. “If anyone was going to do it...” A reluctant smile tugged at Jester’s lips.

“You were watching us?”

Molly pressed his lips to her temple and pulled her in close.

“I’m always watching you. I’m always with you. Whether you like it or not.” He tweaked her nose lightly and she giggled in spite of herself.

“We... we should go tell the others,” Jester said slowly, arms tightening for a moment around Molly’s waist. “They’re going to want to see you.”

For a moment neither moved, then Jester pulled away a little, her hand finding Molly’s almost automatically.

“Will they be able to see you, Molly?”

The other tiefling smiled, lacing his fingers through hers.

“They should be able to. I’m not sure how this whole undead thing works.”

Jester stifled a giggle, shaking her head.

“Oh no, Caduceus really doesn’t like undead people...” she perked up, beaming suddenly. “You get to meet Caduceus! You’re really going to like him, he’s really big and tall and kind, and he’s a cleric too! And a firbolg, like Pumat Sol! But don’t ask him if they know each other because Nott already did and they only met the one time.”

“Not everyone who looks the same know each other, I’m aware,” Molly told her with an easy smile, walking slowly back to the doors of the inn. Jester followed happily, bouncing with barely controlled energy.

“He thought Pumat was twins! And then triplets, and really it makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? I mean except for them all having the same names.” There was a little pause as they reached the door, then Jester whispered, “Do you know when you have to go?”

Molly hesitated at the door and glanced down at her.

“Dawn tomorrow, I think. They said I’d have a day and a night.”

Jester sighed softly, looking down at their hands.

“That’s not very long.”

“All the more reason not to waste the time we have,” Molly told her gently, giving her hand a soft squeeze. She forced a smile onto her face.

“We... we will all want to talk to you I think. There is a lot to say.” Jester nodded firmly, drawing in a deep breath. Molly turned to face her fully.

“Do you want to say it now?”

Jester drew a deep breath, indecision sticking her in place. There was so much she wanted to tell him... everything. Anything. She shook her head quickly.

“No, no, no, not yet. We should wake everyone up first. It... it will take too long.” Before she could change her mind, she grabbed his wrist and ran inside, through the bar and towards the stairs. “BEAU! BEAU, YASHA, CALEB, NOTT, FJORD! WAKE UP!”

Dragged behind her like a balloon, Molly stifled a laugh. Not much had changed in his absence, at least as far as the chaos was concerned.

A few other patrons cursed loudly and at least three variations on “shut up” came loudly back. None of that mattered as a door down the hall opened and a sleepy monk head poked out.

“Jester, what the fuck are you...” her voice trailed off as she focused on the figure beside her tiefling friend. “Who...” she swallowed, tried again. “Is that...”

Molly grinned, spreading his arms wide.

“For a limited time only.”

**

The rest of the Nein were roused in some degree of panic between Beau’s loud swearing, Jester screaming, and the thud as Beau knocked Molly almost all the way down the stairs. They reconvened in the bar, under threat of eviction if they made any more noise.

Jester had cast a higher level healing spell on Molly and hadn’t shifted from his side since, the two tieflings taking turns to explain the situation to the others. The mood was... still largely uncertain.

Beau had mumbled an apology while Jester healed Molly, which the tiefling had cheerfully waved off as no harm done. Now, the news was sinking in.

Sick of the budding silence, Molly cleared his throat and rested both hands on the table.

“Alright... so there’s one big question we need to deal with first.”

The other seven turned expectantly to him. Everyone had touched him just to be sure he was here, but no one had tried to budge Yasha when she stole the spot on Molly’s other side. Now, with all eyes on him, Molly leaned both elbows on the table and grinned at Fjord.

“Who let you eat my damn sword?”

Tension shattered like glass as Fjord blushed and stuttered a denial, Beau, Nott, and Jester all chipping in their two cents worth, split between “I told you so” and “you didn’t need it”. Yasha’s shoulders began to shake with silent laughter. Satisfied with the chaos, Molly leaned back, raising his hands.

“I’m just kidding. I think it’s sweet, I really do, that you want to keep me inside you,” he teased, batting his lashes as Fjord blushed a deeper green. Jester burst into giggles and Beau rolled her eyes dramatically.

“Is it too early in the morning for beer?” She grumbled, dropping her face to the table.

“We’re not spending Molly’s only day hammered,” Fjord argued, doing his very best impression of someone who wasn’t the half orc equivalent of cherry red. Molly made a show of sulking and slumped into Yasha.

“Yasha, darling, Fjord is trying to make me sober. Beat him up.”

Fjord paled a little, leaning back as Yasha turned her gaze on him, flexing her muscles... then rolled her shoulder out of the way, causing Molly to fall.

“No,” she said simply, smiling down at the back of Molly’s head. The tiefling sighed dramatically and shot a dazzling smile around the table again.

“So, do we want to have the fun first, or do the serious stuff? We’ve got all day.”

The mood sobered a little, with the others glancing from one to the other. No one seemed sure what to say. Certainly no one exactly wanted to volunteer to go first to say goodbye to their murdered friend.

Caduceus came to the rescue from the far end of the table, shooting a smile around the group.

“I would like a proper introduction at some point, if we have the time?” He had been unimpressed with the situation at first, but when Jester had confirmed that Molly was only back for the day, and with the blessing of at least one god, he had settled down.

It was an interesting experience, meeting the one who had left such an indelible mark on his companions. And Molly wasn’t quite what you’d call undead; he was still distinctly himself, not an obsessed and haunting shade.

Molly beamed down the table at him, leaning forward to wave in lieu of actually moving away from the ladies flanking him.

“An excellent idea! I am Mollymauk Tealeaf, formerly of the Moondrop Traveling Carnival and of the Mighty Nein.”

Caduceus couldn’t help a smile; the tiefling’s overt mannerisms did seem to gel very well with their other companions. He could see why they got along.

“Caduceus Clay. I ran a small graveyard near Shadycreek Run.”

“Have they told you about the time Fjord swallowed a rock yet?”

“There have been some references,” Caduceus conceded, glancing across at poor Fjord with a slight smile, “if not a detailed account.”

Molly’s pupil-less red eyes gleamed with an eerie glee in the morning light.

“I’ll fill you in on the whole thing later.”

Fjord groaned, entirely convinced he was being divinely punished for his unpleasant behaviour of the last few weeks. Not wrongly.

“If we could please stop talking about things shoved into my body?” He protested weakly. He’d almost rather try and say goodbye. Almost.

Molly snickered and nodded, leaning across the table to pinch his cheek.

“I’m just glad they got you back in one piece, big guy.” His tone softened for a moment, his smile suddenly genuine, warm, and affectionate. Then Molly sat back and looped an arm around the ladies on either side of him. “I’m glad you’re all back together! Especially you, Yasha. It’s not good to be alone too much.”

Molly had to stretch up a little to reach Yasha’s cheek, but he planted a soft kiss there anyway. Yasha smiled a little, turning her head just enough to lay a soft kiss on Molly’s cheek in return.

“Yeah. I know.”

“Hey!” Jester piped up dramatically from the other side. “I want a kiss too!”

“From me or from Yasha?” Molly teased, turning to dip Jester off the back of the bench and kiss her deeply. When they resurfaced a long moment later, her cheeks were faintly purple and Molly bestowed a wicked grin on Fjord. “You’re next, big boy.”

Fjord wasted a moment on pretending to brush off the idea or play coy. But they didn’t have so many moments left. His chair screeched back across the floor as he rose, circling the table to pull Molly into his arms.

“Damn right I am,” the half orc growled and sealed their lips together. Molly eagerly wrapped his arms around the taller man. A moment later he turned back, surveying the table with a wicked gleam.

“Ooooooh Beauregard!”

The monk actually knocked her chair over as she bolted to her feet.

“Don’t even fucking think about it.”

Molly ignored the warning, cackling with glee as he vaulted the table. Beau bolted, ducking through a fortunately mostly empty room and tossing chairs behind her in an attempt to evade pursuit. Molly forwent the ground entirely, leaping from table to table after her with his arms outstretched.

Jester surged to her feet as well, laughing and cheering on both sides indiscriminately. Fjord and Yasha exchanged speaking looks, wondering if they should go and break things up.... and neither moved. Nott leapt up onto her seat to yell encouragements.

Only Caleb and Caduceus remained sitting, side by side. Caduceus leaned in a little, counting on the noise of the others to mask his question.

“Are you alright?” He asked softly. A loved one raising from the dead was always difficult, and to know they’d be leaving again so soon... Caleb managed a strained smile.

“I... I am not sure.” He waved a hand at the surrounding chaos, Molly and Beau dashing the full length of the room behind him. “It is... it’s...”

“A lot?” Caduceus offered, resting a hand on the table, there if Caleb needed it. The wizard stared at it for a moment, then hesitantly reached out.

“Ja. A lot. But Mollymauk was always a lot.” A weak smile tugged across his face, fond memories misting his eyes. “Things were never dull with him around.”

“They’re not exactly dull now,” Caduceus pointed out, a slight smile of his own on his lips. Caleb started, jolted back to the present. His smile firmed a little and he nodded.

“That is true. I think our failures were a little less epic in the past...”

“The hospital,” Fjord put in without taking his eyes off the ensuing destruction of Molly and Beau. Caleb made a face.

“Alright, but less people died.”

Caduceus looked between the two, confused but intrigued.

“I would like to hear more about that, I think.”

“Another day,” Caleb promised, his attention caught by a loud crash. Molly had finally tackled Beau to the floor and was sitting on top of her, covering her face in smooches.

Beau made faces and disgusted noises and batted ineffectually, but it was clear her heart wasn’t really in it. Molly was still conscious.

Finally Molly helped her to her feet and the two returned to the table. The tiefling gave Nott a calculating grin. The goblin whipped out her crossbow.

“Watch it Tealeaf,” she snapped, and Molly raised his hands in surrender.

“Just one kiss?” He asked. Nott squinted at him, then sighed and stowed the crossbow.

“Alright. It’s your holiday present though,” she warned almost crankily. Molly gave her a gentle kiss to the top of her head, smiling gently.

“Thank you, mother.”

Nott waved a hand at him, smiling into her mask.

“I’ve missed you,” she admitted in a whisper. About to move on, Molly paused and ran a hand through her hair.

“Me too.” Then he turned a broad grin on Caleb, sauntering around the table. “I guess that just leaves me and you, love.”

Caleb pushed his chair back from the table but before he could stand, Molly had dropped into his lap and draped his arms over his shoulders.

“Hey.”

“Hello,” Caleb whispered, his hands moving automatically to Molly’s hips. The tiefling smiled, pressing a tender kiss to his nose.

“You’ve been quiet.” Molly cocked his head, resting his forehead to Caleb’s. The wizard smiled and leaned into the touch.

“You’ve been busy,” he replied, nodding towards the rest of the group. Caduceus noted that they’d managed to tactfully distract themselves, mostly with consoling Beau. It seemed best to follow suit, and he moved away to the other end of the table.

Molly noted him leaving, but kept his attention focused on Caleb.

“I’m back to see everyone, Caleb. That includes you, if you want to see me?”

Caleb’s gaze ducked away, staring down at the floor instead of looking at Molly.

“Of course I want to see you, Mollymauk,” he whispered, the sound barely audible. Molly smiled and placed another tender kiss on his lips.

“Then let’s focus on that for now. There’s time for the rest later.”

There were tears welling up in Caleb’s eyes now.

“That’s what I am afraid of,” he choked out, falling against Molly’s warmth. The tiefling wrapped his arms around him, rocking him slowly against him.

“I know, love... I’m sorry. But I’m never really gone. I’m always watching, keeping an eye on you.” His fingers traced small, soothing patterns over Caleb’s shoulders and the wizard buried his face in Molly’s chest.

“Then you must be quite disappointed.” Muffled by shirt and torso, it took Molly a moment to work out what he was saying. When it sunk in, he sighed softly and began carding his fingers through Caleb’s hair.

“Oh, love. Never in you. You’ve been amazing, keeping everyone together and strong. Learning a lot of new magic too, I think?”

Caleb managed to tear himself away from Molly’s warmth long enough to frown up at him, and Molly grinned.

“That fire wall was really something. Seems like you’ve been working hard?”

The wizard managed a small nod, wiping his eyes on Molly’s shoulder. He couldn’t seem to let go long enough to use his hands.

“If... if I could have learned it sooner...”

Molly sighed softly, wrapping arms and tail around Caleb and gathering him close.

“I would rather it were me than you, love. Or Beau, or Nott, or any of the others. The weeks we travelled together were the best of my life,” he told Caleb quietly, a low sincerity in every word. Caleb managed a weak chuckle.

“There was not so much competition for that,” he pointed out, making Molly laugh.

“Maybe not. But we’ve all gone down in battle before. And you, love, you got everyone back together and you saved our friends. So I have no regrets.” He glanced across the table, checking up on the others.

Caduceus and Yasha, of all people, were holding an extended conversation, keeping most of the attention focused their way. Jester was still glancing over, openly concerned, and Nott’s ears were cocked towards them. He appreciated them pretending, at least. And probably bribing the inn’s owner.

Caleb’s shoulders were shaking. Molly carded his fingers slowly through his hair, holding the wizard through the worst of it. When the Raven Queen had given him the offer, he’d had a feeling there might be this. It was something of a relief to be able to be here himself, to help his friends through their grief.

Gradually Caleb stilled, not too long after several hot plates of breakfast found their way onto the table. Molly half smiled at the top of his head and kissed it.

“Did Beau still stuff bacon in her pockets while Frumpkin was in there?”

Laughter really was a lot like tears from the outside, especially muffled by person. Caleb’s head rose slowly, his eyes red with crying but a smile on his face.

“He doesn’t eat bacon,” he pointed out, hand reaching automatically towards his cat.

“No, but you’d think he’d get all greasy,” Molly snickered, fingers playing through the long ginger tail. Frumpkin mrrped at him and flicked his tail out of the way. Caleb’s brow furrowed.

“I... that is a good point. Beau!” He called, and the monk’s head snapped around at the sound of her name.

“What!”

“Were you rubbing bacon on my cat?”

There was a long, bemused moment while all the rest of the Nein tried to work out how the conversation could possibly have gone from tears to cats. Beau herself was visibly worried, shaking her head slowly.

“I... what? No? When would I do that?”

“While he was an owl!” Jester cut in, clapping her hands happily. “He was in your pocket!”

“Oh!” Beau’s expression brightened and she grinned. “You know, I didn’t even think of that. But we didn’t have a lot of fresh bacon on the...” she shot a glance at Jester, “the Squalleater.”

Jester huffed but didn’t say anything, slowly pulling apart a breakfast pastry.
One
of Molly’s brows rose slowly but he didn’t comment, shifting for a better view without leaving Caleb’s lap. The
group spread out a little to enjoy breakfast, both ends safe now that Caleb was talking again.

Jester migrated down to steal Fjord’s old spot next to Caleb and Molly, tucking herself up into both of their sides. Caduceus gestured Yasha into his old spot, once again taking the seat farthest from Molly. He had the least reason to be close.

It didn’t take long for the musical chairs to finish, not quite long enough for the crew to stop giving Jester worried looks. It was not a good day for tension.

“Pretty sure it’s the Ball Eater now,” Molly pointed out cheerfully, “and I’m honoured you named her after me.”

Beau choked on her bacon and had to be rescued by Caduceus pounding her on the back. Jester, sat next to her, was cackling far too hard to be of any help to anyone.

**

The rest of the morning followed much the same way, solemn moments interspersed with laughter. They lingered for hours around the table, occasionally suggesting places to go or things Molly should see on the island. No one moved. No one really wanted to give up a minute to distractions.

At one point Molly draped his legs across Jester’s lap to dump his feet on Beau, leaning back into Yasha and winding up touching the whole side of the table. Beau cussed him out long and loud, but a hand curled around one foot when Molly went to move them. The boots stayed.

It was actually Caleb who came up with the best idea.

“We should go and find a bath.” Of course, surrounding conversation stopped entirely as everyone turned to check it was Caleb who had spoken. He hadn’t waited for a relevant break in the conversation.

The wizard’s cheeks flushed red at the attention, but he had a lap full of one and a half tieflings and couldn’t exactly run. Fjord leaned in across the table, visibly confused.

“Are you sure, Caleb?” He asked, possibly wondering if the wizard was possessed. Caleb looked down into Molly’s lap.

“It makes the most sense,” he informed the colourful fabric. “Obviously we would all like to be as close to Molly as possible while he is here, and the table does not allow as much space. If we could get a private room in a bathhouse, we would have more freedom to move around.”

Beside him, Jester was beaming at him like he was her next present.

“Winter’s Crest orgy!” She declared cheerfully, pumping her fists into the air. To absolutely no ones’ surprise, every window in the tavern burst open.

Nott hopped up to stand on her chair again, scowling as Beau made a long series of “yuck” faces.

“Oh no, I don’t want to be any part of that! If you lot are going to be groping I’m not coming!” The memory that there would be water passed visibly across her face and she settled a little. “By which I mean you should all do it and I’ll wait here.”

Beau raised both hands, scowling down the table.

“No, we shouldn’t all do it! I’ve already seen as much of that as I want to,” she declared sharply. Molly snickered, completely unashamed.

“You’ve seen all of this,” he pointed out cheerfully and Beau shuddered dramatically.

“Exactly. And I’d really rather not be subjected to Fjord’s dick in action. Uh, no offence, Fjord?” She added a little uncertainly. Fjord raised his glass to her.

“The feelin’ is mutual.”

Jester gave her most dramatic sigh, sprawling herself across Molly’s legs.

“Fiiiiiiine, we can go in the bath and just have a baaaaaath,” she grumbled, dragging out the words for extra effect. Caleb made a face, shifting a little under Molly.

“And in the water perhaps Jester will stop squishing me.”

The blue tiefling sat up abruptly, looking momentarily worried.

“Oh, am I too heavy, Caleb?” A sudden, wicked grin split her face and before he could regret his life choices she had reached over, scooped him up, and moved both him and Molly to her own lap. “Is this better?”

Yasha shifted into the abandoned chair and Molly laughed, wrapping his arms around both of them.

“Works for me. Are you gonna carry us to the bath house?”

Jester bounced them on her lap experimentally a few times, making Caleb clutch at her shoulders with a panicked grimace.

“I don’t know if I can carry you all the way, but I can try?” She suggested cheerfully. Yasha glanced down at the three of them, a slight smile on her face.

“I could carry the three of you?” She offered. Further down the table, Beau’s mouth dropped open. Molly and Jester exchanged grins around Caleb’s terrified stare.

“Yeah!”

“Okay!”

“Please no!”

Getting out of her chair, Yasha leant down to Caleb’s eye level.

“Would you like to get out first?”

Caleb glanced from Jester to Molly, both doing their best equivalent to puppy eyes. Molly’s were a little insincere.

“Do you want to deprive Beau?” Jester asked, her eyes almost unnaturally wide.

“You know how she likes to watch Yasha lift,” Molly added, grinning and flicking his tail away from Beau’s snatching hands.

Caleb sighed, but couldn’t resist a small smile. It was far too familiar, this chaos, these shenanigans, this silliness.

“Okay. Lift away, Yasha.”

Yasha gave him a reassuring smile, then slipped her arms under Jester’s knees and behind her back, lifting all three into her arms. Beau took a break from trying to pull Molly’s tail to stare.

A wistful sigh escaped and she pulled herself to her feet.

“Okay. Alright, if we’re going, let’s go.”

The rest of the Nein rose with the exception of Caduceus, heading for the door. Fjord hung back a little, cocking his head.

“You coming, Cad?”

The firbolg smiled, looking from the group at the door to the half orc.

“I don’t mind. This is something special for you all; I wouldn’t want to be in the way.”

About to follow the others, Fjord stopped and turned back to the table.

“You wouldn’t be in the way, Caduceus. You’re part of the Mighty Nein. I’m sure Molly would like to meet you.”

Caduceus studied his expression for a while, his own face unreadable. Then he nodded slowly.

“If you’re sure I won’t be intruding?”

A relieved grin spread across Fjord’s face and he nodded after the others.

“I’m sure. Molly likes gettin’ to know people while they’re wet and naked.”

Both of Caduceus’ brows rose at that as he followed Fjord to the door.

“I feel like there’s a story here.”

**

Not many bath houses anywhere had private rooms large enough for eight. The Mighty Nein wound up taking over a bathhouse which had been closed for the holiday. It meant heating the water themselves, but that seemed a fair price for a private space.

It was around chest deep on Jester when she was standing, around four feet deep in the middle of the pool. It wasn’t the longest bath any of them had been to, but there was plenty of space for them to spread out comfortably.

The Nein picked an end.

Soon, everyone was relaxing into steaming water. Almost everyone. Nott had not relinquished her ring of water walking and was sitting on top of the water as a compromise. She was also gesticulating wildly, telling Molly the story of Button Beard.

“And then THIS ASSHOLE,” a sweeping arm sent a spray of water towards Fjord, “goes and makes a BLOOD PACT with a TABLE!”

Fjord did his best to look contrite, but didn’t quite pull it off as well as Caleb’s shameful frown. Jester and Beau flicked water at the half orc too, snickering and Molly laughed.

“That sounds about right, frankly. What did the table do?”

“Nothing that we saw,” Jester piped up, prodding Caleb with her toes. “Caleb did a lot of looking at it though?”

The wizard sighed softly, leaning back against the rim of the tub. As planned, the oval bath allowed them all to get a lot closer huddled down at one end. Not factored into the plan was that this meant Caleb was a lot closer to everyone else as well.

“Do you remember the storm that swelled up after we left?” He asked the group at large. Beau’s jaw dropped.

“No fucking way.”

“Is that what would have happened right away if you’d finished?” Jester gasped, hands covering her mouth. Fjord put a little more effort into his sorry face.

“It... well.... I think Dashilla might have finished off the ritual once we’d gone.”

“You would have SUNK OUR BOAT?!” Nott shrieked, and kicked a deliberate spray of water at the sailor. Wiping a wet hand across his face, Fjord raised the other in surrender.

“I didn’t know! Okay! I thought it might be useful!”

“Useful to a sea hag!” The goblin girl snapped back, splashing him again.

“Yeah!” Jester agreed and added a double handed splash of her own. Caleb slipped along the rim of the bath closer to Caduceus, away from the budding splash fight.

To his surprise, the firbolg was watching the proceedings with a smile. And a certain extra degree of distance that suggested he’d been sneaking further away for a while.

“You are not going to join in, are you?” Caleb asked warily, glancing at Caduceus’ hands. They were large enough to move a fair chunk of water.

Caduceus shook his head, chuckling softly.

“I was just thinking that it’s nice to see everyone so relaxed.”

About to ask what he meant, Caleb paused and glanced around the room. Fjord wasn’t bothering to defend himself from the splash onslaught, but Beau had joined in to splash at Molly, sending the other end of the tub into a free for all. Nott was shrieking with every drop that landed on her, and only Yasha was keeping mostly out of the way.

On the surface, it didn’t look relaxed.

But Caleb couldn’t remember the last time they had all gotten together to do something so... silly. To mess around and laugh and not think about tomorrow. A small smile stole across his lips and he nodded, eyes falling automatically to a certain purple tiefling.

“Ja... it is nice.”

A soft hand brushed his arm, the texture of wet fur strangely plush and he glanced back at Caduceus.

“He was good for you, wasn’t he?” The firbolg asked softly, his gaze flicking to Molly. Caleb’s cheeks flushed.

“I... ja, I suppose he was. He was the one who brought us all together. There was... a lot more of this, in those days.” He waved a hand, gesturing to the soaked room and cackling laughter.

Yasha was wading into the splash fight now with a bellow, Fjord turning pale and doing his best to hide behind a giggling Jester, who promptly turned to dunk him. Caleb flinched and Caduceus chuckled softly.

He was well aware that he had joined the Nein at the darkest point in the group’s history, if not the darkest of most of their individual lives. Even when things had been happy and light, there had been undertows of sorrow.

And of course since that disastrous day in Nicodranas, things had been growing tense. Blowing off steam was exactly what they all needed.

“I like this,” Caduceus declared quietly, closing his eyes as a stray wave came his way. “I would be okay with more of this sort of thing. Maybe a little less wet,” he added thoughtfully, flicking his long pink hair out of his eyes.

Splattered with the drops, Caleb made a face.

“Maybe a little,” he agreed. “We’ve been spending a lot of time in water lately.”

“Warm water is a nice change,” the cleric pointed out, running his hands through the water. Caleb couldn’t argue with that.

“We were all getting a little rank,” he said instead. Not that anyone was spending time scrubbing the salt from their hair.

Wait.

That might be what Yasha was currently doing to Jester, but Caleb suspected it was more likely to be a noogie.

“What are you two talking about?”

Caleb jolted forwards and off the edge of the low seat, dunking himself into the water. When he resurfaced Nott was watching him with some concern. Apparently the little rogue had snuck away from the chaos at the other end of the pool and made her way to the quiet end without anyone noticing.

Caduceus took a moment to give Caleb a once over before turning to Nott with his same calm smile. Only someone very familiar with his mannerisms would spot that his ears were still perked with surprise.

“We were talking about how nice it is to see everyone relaxed and getting along.”

Nott gave him a sceptical look and turned as Caleb had to survey the group.

“Getting along isn’t so much what I’d call it...” her expression softened into a smile, “but I think I get what you mean.”

About six feet away, Beau was up on Yasha’s shoulders and jousting with Fjord as he was supported by Jester. Molly had sat himself up on the edge of the tub to watch and egg them on.

It was the sort of cooperation one might see in a group of particularly energetic five year olds, complete with splashing, laughing, and the occasional scream. Caduceus made a face.

“If one of them gets dropped they might be hurt...” His gaze flicked to the changing room, where his holy symbol waited with the rest of their clothing. Nott followed his gaze and shrugged.

“Probably not a whole lot? I can go get your staff if you’re worried?” She offered, always happy to escape any additional splashing. Caduceus considered it for a moment, then shook his head.

“No, I can get it if they need it. I don’t think more things to potentially hurt themselves with is a good idea.”

There was a kind of fundamental truth to this statement that sent Nott into a fit of giggles. Even Caleb couldn’t help smiling as he looked back towards the duelling group.

Catching his eye, Molly ducked quickly around the battling pairs and hurried over, a broad grin on his face.

“Hey, Caleb! Fancy a boost so we can show these sissies how it’s done?” He waggled his brows cheerfully, and Caleb flushed. He had been getting better about being naked with others, but up there...

Beau and Fjord may not have noticed, but without the screen of water, everything was on display. Luckily there was another option. Caleb gave Molly a critical once over.

“Perhaps you could go up on my shoulders?” He was reasonably sure he could lift the tiefling, and it wasn’t like Molly was shy.

Sure enough, the tiefling beamed at him, hopping up to stand on the seating bench, legs spread wide.

“Don’t drop me, darling!”

Caleb couldn’t help a slight smile, rising and rolling his shoulders slowly. A large, furred finger trailed down his spine as he stood, tingling with magic and he turned to give Caduceus a questioning look. The large cleric gave him a reassuring smile.

“Just a blessing, Mr Caleb,” he said simply. A surge of strength did seem to be filling the human’s muscles and he couldn’t help but smile back before making his way to Molly.

The tiefling watched the little interaction closely, a distinct tenderness in his eyes. As the wizard approached he leaned down, cupping his face and kissing him softly. Caleb leaned into the kiss, lips parting easily as his hands came up to cover Molly’s.

A moment later Molly drew back, grinning wickedly.

“Ready?”

Caleb smiled back and nodded, turning and backing the last of the distance between them.

“Just try not to topple us over.”

The current combatants didn’t seem to have noticed; Fjord was too busy trying to grapple Beau and pin her arms while Beau went for his pressure points.

As far out of the way as possible, Caduceus and Nott watched Molly carefully balance himself on Caleb’s shoulders, his tail sticking out for balance.
It was rather comical, especially when Caleb began trying to walk.

Caduceus shot a grin over at Nott.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like to join in?” He asked with a nod towards the action.

Nott critically surveyed the current field of battle. Water was sloshing everywhere, often over the sides of the tub. The floor was not exactly safe.

On the one hand, on Caduceus’ shoulders she would be well out of that. On the other... being part of the combat meant people would be actively trying to splash her.

Or tickle her, apparently, as Molly made his first attack against Beau.

The monk was completely unprepared for a second opponent, lurching sideways and making Yasha stumble to keep their balance. It would have been a perfect opportunity for Fjord to join in and knock them all the way over, but Jester was distracted and delighted by Caleb and Molly’s arrival and splashed towards them instead.

Fjord made a half hearted swat at Beau, coming dangerously close to toppling his own mount when Jester moved at exactly the wrong time. Giving up on a finishing move, he turned his attention to a grinning Molly.

“Didn’t think you were going to be joining us,” he remarked, a grin of his own stealing across his face. Molly laughed, flexing his thighs around Caleb’s neck.

“I just needed someone to mount.”

Beneath him, Caleb flushed and Jester burst into giggles, her own hands on Fjord’s thighs to steady him.

“You make a really pretty horse, Caleb!” She chirped happily. Caleb’s whole face was going a deep red, but he did his best to ignore it.

“You make a lovely horse too, Jester,” he told her quietly. Above, Molly and Fjord were squaring off, hands ready and raised in the finest t-rex fashion.

Recovering her balance, Yasha sloshed her way back into the fray, Beau above shouting insults. Jester beamed and bounced a little, making Fjord grab her horns in panic.

“Yasha! Do you think we’re pretty horses!”

“Jester, dammit, what the fuck are you doing!”

“GET HIM!”

Molly and Beau lunged to converge on Fjord, making Caleb and Yasha shift to support them. Yasha seemed a little confused, but the small smile on her face didn’t shift.

“You are both very beautiful horses,” she agreed softly, her gaze flicking from one to the other. Jester giggled and bounced again, clapping her hands.

It proved to be just barely too much.

Fjord toppled from her shoulders with an almighty splash, sending spray almost to Nott and Caduceus’ end of the tub.

Nott ducked to hide from the drips. When she resurfaced, she gave Caduceus a solemn look and shook her head.

“I think we should stay over here. That looks dangerous.” Although... she crept a little closer around the edge of the tub. “Could I ride on your shoulders later? When we’re all dry?”

With seven extra feet off the ground she would be unstoppable.

Caduceus chuckled softly, considering the question.

“We might have to limit that to outside,” he remarked slowly, glancing at the door into the high bathing chamber, “but I don’t see why not.”

The goblin punched the air in triumph.

“Who’s short now, Fjord!”

“What?” Fjord called back, shaking water from his eyes and ears. Beau and Molly had refocused their attention on each other now, both hampered by Jester still bouncing happily between their mounts.

Nott stuck her tongue out at the warlock.

“Cad’s gonna let me ride on his shoulders!”

That drew all eyes, stopping to stare at the lanky firbolg. Caduceus smiled serenely back, raising a hand in wave. Even seated he was as tall as half the group.

“Not fair!” Jester insisted, sticking her tongue at both of them, “No one is going to be able to reach you!”

“We won’t be playing water fights,” Caduceus explained calmly. “Just going for a walk outside.”

This seemed to settle matters, and Fjord came to nudge Jester’s arm.

“Am I goin’ back up?”

“Sure!” She chirped happily, splashing her way back to the edge of the tub. Beau and Molly exchanged glances, and Molly grinned wickedly.

“Bet I can take you down before they get back.”

“No fuckin’ chance,” Beau snickered, cracking her knuckles.

At the other end, Nott returned her attention to Caduceus.

“Does it ever bother you, being the tallest?”

The firbolg considered this, then shrugged.

“Does it bother you to be the shortest, Miss Nott?”

“Yes,” she answered immediately, “quite a lot.” It seemed to surprise the cleric.

“Oh. I... I didn’t expect that.”

Nott shrugged in return.

“I spend a lot of time talking to butts. Like you spend a lot of time hitting ceilings. It really doesn’t bother you?”

Caduceus thought about it a little more and finally sighed.

“I spent most of my life with my family, but I never really knew any other firbolgs that I wasn’t related to. I’ve learned a lot since we’ve been travelling.”

“Like that boats are too small?” Nott offered, a knowing gleam in her eye. Caduceus chuckled softly.

“I can’t say I wouldn’t be happier with a slightly larger boat, yes. But that’s okay. It’s all part of the learning experience.”

“I bet Jester could make the doorways taller?” Nott mused, her brows furrowing as she tackled the problem.

“The ceilings would still be too low. But it’s okay; most days I just make myself about a foot shorter and I fit in fine.”

Nott’s jaw dropped.

“You can do that?!”

Unperturbed by her reaction, Caduceus just smiled.

“Sure. I’ve done it most of the days we were at sea.” It was an inherent firbolg ability that he didn’t tend to worry much about, but it came in useful.

Nott stared at her fingers, apparently working on some complex equations.

“I KNEW something was different about you!” She crowed triumphantly, slamming both hands on the side of the tub. “I thought it was just not liking the sea!”

“No, I’ve been about a foot shorter,” Caduceus agreed placidly. “No one else seems to have noticed.”

“You’d think Fjord would,” Nott muttered, “you’ve been about the same height.”

“I’m still a little taller than Mr Fjord. And he’s had a lot on his mind,” the cleric added charitably. Nott snorted, eyes narrowing towards the water fight at the other end of the room.

Fjord had remounted and joined the battle once more, and was teaming up with Beau against Molly.

“He’d have less on his mind if he talked to the rest of us.”

Caduceus couldn’t argue that so he nodded instead.

“He does make some questionable decisions.”

Nott made a rude noise, dropping to sit on the floor, shielded by the edge of the tub.

“That’s a nice way to put it. Button Beard,” she snorted, shaking her head. Caduceus chuckled softly, settling back to keep watching the water war.

Things seemed to be going well so far, no one had been seriously hurt and the three on top were merrily pushing and shoving. Jester was still more a liability than a help, bouncing happily and chatting with Caleb and Yasha.

At one point, the three mounts had been taking things seriously, ducking and helping for position. Now things seemed to have become a separate party that interfered with the battle.

As he watched, Jester swept Caleb into her arms and began a splashy waltz, Yasha backing away quickly. Fjord and Molly had to clutch at each other for balance, winding up in an approximation of the waltz position.

Beau hesitated, not sure if she wanted to go back on the attack.

“Yasha... what are they doing?”

Yasha shrugged, apparently entirely unencumbered by Beau’s weight on her shoulders. The monk seemed torn between swooning and sheer terror as she clutched Yasha’s hair, wobbling dangerously.

The barbarian didn’t so much as sway at her shifting.

“Do you want me to get closer?” She asked, tilting her head back a little. Beau glanced up again and frowned.

It had become a two tier dance routine, with Jester and Caleb stumbling through a slow and stable waltz while Molly tried to lead Fjord through something more like a salsa.

Caleb was having trouble keeping his balance.

“I think they’ll both go down soon,” Beau decided, folding her arms. “We can wait here or go sit with Deuces?”

Yasha thought about it for a moment and nodded, moving carefully back to the bench around the rim of the tub.

“Alright. Would you like to get down?”

Privately, the answer was no. Never mind the water fighting, Beau very much enjoyed being up and close with Yasha, reminded of the barbarian woman’s strength. But getting off meant being able to sit next to her and look at her, which was almost as good.

The monk nodded, resting a hand carefully on Yasha’s head.

“Yeah, probably a good idea. It’s a little chilly up here.”

Yasha nodded between her thighs, sitting on the bench and reaching a hand up for Beau’s.

“Hold on then.”

Beau took her hand carefully, a thrill of excitement running through her the same way it did every time. Yasha supported her effortlessly, guiding her down and off her shoulders like she did this every day.

Maybe she had. Back with the circus, and Molly.

Once the two women were both back on the closest dry land equivalent, they made their way through the water to Nott and Caduceus. Their former wrestling partners didn’t seem to have noticed, all cheerfully bickering about rhythm and tempo and about a minute away from another splash fight.

Caduceus raised a hand as they approached, a slight smile on his face.

“Did you have fun?” He asked calmly. Beau shot a quick glance at Yasha, who nodded with a small smile of her own.

“It was a lot of fun,” she agreed, taking a seat beside the firbolg and twisting to look over the edge. “I thought I saw Nott over here?”

The goblin poked her head up a little, looking suspiciously past Yasha.

“I’m hiding from the splashes,” she explained, giving Beau a nod of welcome.

“Nott, you’ve walked along the bottom of the sea,” Beau pointed out, her brows furrowing, “why are you worried about a bit of splashing?”

Nott gave her a very dirty look.

“Violating my boundaries once doesn’t make it alright to do again!”

That drew Yasha’s attention from watching Molly back around to her.

“We did ask you first?” She said a little hesitantly, questioning her own memory. The goblin huffed, folding her arms.

“And I loosened the boundaries for those occasions, under heavy duress! I didn’t say anything about splash fights!”

“Nott... you started the splash fight,” Beau said slowly, gaze going distant for a moment as she thought back. Yasha hummed and returned her gaze to the purple tiefling.

Fjord had just tumbled from Jester’s shoulders into the water, the tiefling herself toppling under along with him. Caleb and Molly weren’t looking significantly more stable, both teetering dangerously.

The barbarian sighed and rose once more, heading back across the water away from a budding argument. She made it just in time to catch Molly on her own shoulder and Caleb under the arm as the wizard slipped.

A loud gasp was forced out of Molly as he folded over Yasha’s stony muscle but he managed a laugh, patting her on the back.

“Always here to catch me,” he wheezed, and for a moment a look of intense pain crossed her face.

“Always,” she whispered. Caleb glanced up, understanding in an instant where her mind had gone. He covered her hand with his for a moment, patting it lightly.

“I am okay, Yasha,” he told her softly, “thank you.”

Seeming to have forgotten he was there, Yasha stared blankly at him for a moment, then nodded and let him go. Caleb stepped away, catching Jester’s arm to guide her to the other end of the bath. The tiefling opened her mouth to protest, caught Yasha’s eye, and turned it into a demand.

“Come on, Fjord! We have to go see Caduceus now!”

Fjord was not daft enough to argue and let himself be steered away, giving the two circus folk as much privacy as could reasonably be expected. Still draped over Yasha’s arm, Molly watched them go with a fond smile.

“Subtle as a bag of bricks, aren’t they?” He asked rhetorically. A moment later he twisted as much as he could. “Yasha? Are you going to put me down to talk?”

The aasimar woman’s face was unreadable as stone, especially the side that he could see. That was always a very bad sign. At the sound of his voice, her grip tightened around his waist.

Lowering his voice a little, Molly stroked his fingers through her hair.

“Let’s go and sit for a bit, okay? That way I can hold onto you too.” For a moment he thought she might be too far gone to hear him; then she nodded jerkily, lowering him delicately back to the floor and sloshing her way to the bench.

How very like the awkward warrior, Molly mused, following her over and promptly dropping back into her lap. Always one to deny herself the comfort she wanted.

One muscled arm curled around his waist again, the faintest hint of a smile tugging at her lips.

“You always knew me so well,” she whispered, her voice harsh and rough with unshed tears. Molly leaned up, pressing a chaste kiss to the corners of her eyes.

“Always do, darling,” he told her softly, resting against her chest. “You know I’m never going to leave you really. We’ve been together and apart before.”

Yasha nodded, closing her eyes for a moment and drawing in a deep breath.

“Did... did you see anyone? On the other side?”

Molly cupped the back of her neck with one hand, drawing her forehead down to press against his.

“Of course. She’s still waiting for you.”

The barbarian’s breath hitched, her grip tightening on Molly’s hips and her face screwed up with pain. He hushed her softly, letting his fingers curl through her hair.

“And she gave me a message for you.”

That snapped her back, mismatched eyes catching Molly’s with an intensity that usually only meant rage. He smiled back.

“She wants you to keep going. Live your life, and collect so many flowers and stories that you’ll have a mountain to show her when the time comes. We’re both so proud of you.”

A lavender hand rose to cup her cheek and she pressed her face into the touch.

“She... she will wait for me?” Yasha’s voice trembled at the question, her body held still only by rigid control. Molly tutted and pressed another kiss to her other cheek.

“Darling, she’ll be furious if you don’t keep her waiting for a very long time. You’ve got so much to do, so much to see. You need to spend more time with the people who love you. This whole group of misfits need someone to keep them in line.”

That brought a weak smile to her lips, tears still welling in her eyes.

“What if I lose them too?” It was barely even a whisper this time, barely more than an exhalation, filled with fear.

It was something she couldn’t stop thinking about; not with everything that had happened since leaving Nicodranas, the numerous times they had come so close to death. With every new battle, every new accident, the fear wound tighter in her chest.

It had taken so long for her to let anyone into her heart again.

Molly sighed softly, pressing his forehead a little harder to hers. Just so she couldn’t forget.

“You hold onto them tight. Keep a good grip on those bloody clerics and don’t let them wander off on their own again. Even if that means carrying Jester under your arm.”

Another weak smile tugged at Yasha’s lips for a moment and she nodded, not breaking contact.

“We have so many diamonds now,” she whispered, her grip tightening again. Molly curled his tail around her leg. “You don’t have to go.”

“Jester already told me, love,” he told her softly, giving just a little squeeze, “but I can’t stay. This is a one time deal, because someone thought you were all falling to pieces without me.”

This time it was a laugh forcing through, cracked and twisted but with a hint of Yasha’s wry humour to it.

“We are,” she agreed firmly. “Nothing is going right anymore. It all seems so... hard.”

“We’ve been through hard times before,” Molly began, and was immediately cut off.

“We.” It was strange to hear such emphasis in Yasha’s gentle voice, but it said it all. They weren’t “we” anymore. Not if he couldn’t stay. He forced a smile, his free arm curling around her brawny shoulders.

“These will get better too. You’ve got good people around you, darling. A good place to come back to. Don’t let me have ruined that.”

A sound almost like a whimper dragged its way from her chest and she curled around him, holding on like she could bring him back through will alone. Molly held her back, doing his best to match her grip even knowing it was futile.

He knew enough of Yasha’s history and how she fell to know what loss meant to her. Watching her leave the Nein had scared him a little, even knowing that she couldn’t stay.

He could have learned more on the other side, if he’d wanted to. Found another soul watching over his dear friend. But Mollymauk Tealeaf was never one to pry into someones’ past.

They talked about the present instead, and about flowers.

**

At the other end of the bath, something rather important had come up for discussion.

“What should we do next?” Caleb asked, glancing over the rim of the tub at Nott. The goblin girl was clearly not happy to be close to the water for this long.

“I don’t think any of us have anything we want to do,” Jester mused with a slight frown towards the other end of the tub, “except to spend some time with Molly.”

“We probably can’t go back to the inn just yet,” Beau put in, not a hint of shame on her face. “If we make much more mess there we’ll probably get kicked out.”

“What else is there to do?” Fjord asked. Silence fell for a moment as they contemplated the tiny island town they found themselves in. Most of the shops were closed for Winter’s Crest, but they were no Invulnerable Vagrant anyway. Nothing worth showing Molly.

“We could take a walk?” Caduceus suggested after a while. The others turned questioning looks in his direction and he shrugged. “There’s no snow out and it’s quite warm here for the time of year. We could explore the island a little.”

“I don’t think Molly has his swords,” Jester said slowly, trying to remember what her fellow tiefling had been carrying. Nott snickered.

“Not since Fjord ate one!”

The half orc had the grace to look a little embarrassed.

“Look, he wasn’t using it and he said it was okay!”

“What else was he gonna say?” Beau asked with a raised brow, a grin tugging at her lips. “It’s a little late to complain now.”

“Why would we need weapons?” Caduceus asked, cutting in before the teasing could become a distraction. Jester shrugged cheerfully.

“Because there might be monsters or knolls or something on the island that we would have to fight!”

“Or bandits,” Beau agreed, cracking her knuckles.

“We are pretty good at running into trouble,” Caleb remarked softly. Caduceus looked from one to the other, his head tilting to one side.

“This isn’t a large island. I’m sure someone would have mentioned if it were dangerous.”

The rest of the Nein exchanged looks.

“That doesn’t sound like our luck though,” Jester said slowly. “Like it sounds more like there’ll be a whole new batch of monsters arriving just because of us.”

This was certainly true of their more recent adventures even Caduceus had to admit, but the firbolg remained firm.

“If the worst comes to the worst, the rest of us are all armed, and we can stay close to town. We could bring a picnic.”

That perked Jester and Nott back up from their somber thoughts, and Beau made an interested noise.

“But where are we gonna get a picnic? Everything’s closed.”

“We have the supplies from our ship,” Caduceus pointed out calmly, “and I’m sure the good people at the inn could give us some fresh produce to get us out of their hair. If we found some wood for a fire I could probably make a stew.”

“I saw wood!” Nott volunteered eagerly, thrusting a hand into the air. “I went out for a bit of window shopping when we first arrived and there was a small copse of trees out past the edge of town. We could go there!”

It was also coincidentally in the exact opposite direction of the ocean, ensuring there would be no more entreaties to swim. Purely coincidentally.

Fjord nodded slowly, mulling the idea over.

“That might be nice. We could have a bit of a hike until we find a place to stop for lunch, see what we can discover. Sort of like being back on the road again.”

“Except we wouldn’t have to sleep on the cart!” Jester agreed happily, splashing both hands into the water in excitement.

“It might be nice to camp out though,” Caleb said thoughtfully, leaning away from the flying drops. “There is not room at the inn for all of us to spend the night together but we have my spell and we can bring our bed rolls.”

“And raid the inn for pillows,” Beau put in with a broad grin that drew her a few confused looks. “What?” She asked a moment later.

“I think we sort of all expected you to be the hold out,” Fjord explained for the group. “You’re usually not one for the tender gestures.”

Beau huffed and folded her arms, giving him a half hearted scowl.

“Yeah, well, you’re tryin’ to teach me better, aren’t you? And I’m your first mate now. I gotta look out for the crew and how people are feeling.”

“I think that having a night all cuddled up could be very good for us,” Caduceus agreed into the slightly stunned silence. “Good for morale.”

Beau nodded, pleased to have someone seeing her side.

“It’ll be nice for everyone. Spending some time just us as a group again.”

“So long as you all keep your hands to yourselves,” Nott cut in sternly, “I have no desire to see any groping!”

“What about tails?” Jester asked with a teasing tiefling grin.

“No tails!” The goblin snapped, wagging a finger at her.

“It’s probably for the best,” the blue tiefling sighed, resting her chin in her hands and her elbows on her knees, “we’d all end up arguing over who got Molly’s dick anyway.”

Fjord and Caleb both flushed and Beau made a disgusted noise.

“Not all,” she argued firmly, making Jester giggle.

“Not quite all,” she agreed, “but still enough of us. Unless Caleb can learn to make actual duplicates like Pumat Sol?”

All eyes turned to the blushing wizard, who shook his head.

“I... I am not... not anywhere near that level,” he stuttered out, staring into an empty patch of water instead of meeting anyones’ eyes. A blue face slid sideways into his vision.

“Helloooooooo!”

Beau gave the leaning tiefling a quick nudge with her elbow and she toppled from the bench and into the water with a splash.

“So we have a plan?” The monk asked as innocently as you please while the cleric flailed her way back to the surface.

“We have a plan,” Caduceus declared authoritatively, reaching out to catch Jester’s elbow and tug her to sit on his other side before another splash fight could begin. The tiefling huffed but let herself be moved, sitting beside him.

“So when are we going to go?” She asked sulkily, gaze drifting back across the other pool to Molly and Yasha. The others followed her gaze and Beau made an uncertain noise.

“I guess we wait til they come back over this way?” The idea of going over and disrupting the moment didn’t even occur to them. It wouldn’t be right.

And Yasha might toss them through a wall.

Jester sighed dramatically, sprawling sideways onto Caduceus.

“So what do we do til then?”

“You could wash all the salt out of your hair,” Beau pointed out reasonably, twisting to look around the rest of the room. “There should be soap around here somewhere.”

Jester turned a violet gaze on Fjord.

“Fjooooooooord, find me soap,” she pouted and gave him her very best puppy eyes. An indulgent smile stole across the half orc’s face and he nodded, standing and arching his back to stretch.

“Anyone else need anything while I’m up?”

“More soap,” Beau called, reaching out to slap his ass. He jumped a little and swung a leg over the side of the tub, grinning wryly.

“Anything else?”

“Maybe some snacks?” Nott suggested, glancing around the rest of the group.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to eat in the bath,” Jester pointed out, twisting on the bench to dunk her hair into the water.

“It could get rather messy,” Caduceus agreed, glancing over at her speculatively. “Would you like some help, miss Jester?”

She tipped her head back a little further to look at him upside down.

“I think you’re going to need it more. You have a whole lot of hair and fur,” she pointed out, grinning broadly. Beau cocked her head, glancing over at the firbolg curiously.

“You do look cleaner than the rest of us. I kinda thought you’d be getting dreads or something.”

Caduceus smiled and shook his head, one hand gently cupping the back of Jester’s under the water.

“I’ve had some help brushing out the salt water after our swimming excursions,” he explained with a fond nod to Jester and Caleb. Beau’s mouth opened in a silent “o” as she nodded slowly.

“I kinda thought y’all were fucking,” she explained a little sheepishly. Jester giggled, twisting to watch Beau upside down.

“That would probably not take half as long,” she pointed out brightly. Caleb nodded, the blush creeping up his forehead by now.

“He is very large,” he said quietly and immediately regretted it as Jester burst into giggles and sank below the surface. Caduceus fished her out again and brought her back to the bench.

“Perhaps you should stay put a while,” he told the tiefling with a fond smile. Jester sighed dramatically and brightened as Fjord stepped into the water beside her, handing over a bar of soap.

“This is going to have to do,” the half orc said, passing around a few more bars, “there wasn’t much available.”

Jester cupped the soap between her hands and sniffed it, then nodded happily and began working it into her hair.

“It will work! So we can all get started washing up and then whoever is done first can help Caduceus?”

The firbolg nodded with a slight smile, beginning to lather one of his arms.

“That would be very much appreciated, yes.”

“And Caleb, you need to wash your hair too,” Jester called over, leaning around the skinny grave cleric. “The salt is really bad for your hair!”

“We’re going back under anyway,” the wizard muttered but obediently took a bar.

“I’ll buy more soap and give you a bath on the boat,” the tiefling either threatened or promised. It largely depended on perspective. Either way, Caleb knew better than to argue and dunked his head under the water.

**

By the time the Nein were all washed and salt free for the first time in weeks, Molly and Yasha had settled enough to rejoin them. Both happily agreed to the new plan and Nott led the expedition back to the changing rooms to dress.

Molly hung back a little though, waving the others on without him with an effortless smile.

“Just want to rinse off,” he told Jester lightly when she reached for his hand, “I’ll catch you in a minute?” She gave him a look that was far too sharp for comfort, then nodded and skipped away.

About to leave himself, Caduceus was a little surprised when the tiefling stopped him.

“I was wondering if we could talk for a minute,” Molly said quietly, below the sounds of Beau shaking down Nott for the rest of her jewellery. The firbolg glanced at the doorway the others had all passed through, then nodded and turned to face him.

“Of course.” He wasn’t sure what exactly Molly would want to talk to him about alone; they had no history, and no chance of a future as things were. But he could make a few guesses.

Molly looked around as well, making sure they were alone before squaring to face the firbolg as best he could. This meant being about three feet back to meet his eyes without getting a crick in his neck.

“Tell me you’ll take care of them.”

To hear it so bluntly was a bit of a surprise; Caduceus blinked slowly, considering the words. If asked, he might have expected a little more prevarication. Perhaps some flowery and elaborate words.

It would have fit the tiefling’s look.

But no, Molly just stood before him, baring all in the very literal sense, waiting for his response.

There was only one response Caduceus could give him.

“I will do my very best to keep them safe,” he said slowly, searching Molly’s face for a hint of his intentions. Molly gave him a long, piercing stare in return.

“They’re very important to me,” he said quietly, like it wasn’t obvious in every word and deed, “and they... they need someone to take care of them. Not just the healing. Someone’s got to be there to tell Fjord when he’s getting his head stuck up his ass, and to keep Beau from getting too cranky. Will that be you?”

Caduceus nodded slowly, fingers drumming a rhythmic pattern on his upper thigh as he thought.

“I think we all try to do it for each other,” he said thoughtfully. “But I think I understand. You want someone to break the tension. Why not ask Jester?”

As far as he could see, the other tiefling delighted in shattering dramatic moments with a well placed joke. Molly smiled fondly at the thought of her and shook his head.

“Jester... Jester’s soft. She’s happy to let other people lead the way. I don’t want to see her pushed farther than she can go. They all need someone who can stand up and say “this is a bad plan. Stop it”.”

“Do you think we need to be stopped?” Caduceus asked slowly, frowning a little. There were two more temples to go and they did have both spheres. It could be riding a line.

Molly sighed and shrugged, tossing his hands into the air.

“If you want some beyond the grave wisdom, I don’t have any. But I know these people, and they’re all riding pretty close to breaking point. I want to know if you’ll be able to stop the train if things are getting too much.”

Caduceus took his time to reply, thinking back over their recent adventures and wringing water from his hair. It was true; all seven of them, himself included were carrying far too much stress. They were being pushed to their limits.

The question became what it would take to stop them if it became clear things were going too far. What it would take to stop Fjord, more likely than not.

Caduceus was reasonably sure that if he made a firm stand, at least Yasha would be at his side. Yasha could drag Fjord back to the boat kicking and screaming if it came to it. Yasha could see what Molly had, how close they all were to breaking point.

Honestly he wasn’t sure any of them would try to stop him if he cast Sleep on Fjord and headed the boat towards the mainland anyway. It was just that none of them were making the move.

Which, he realised, was exactly Molly’s point. Someone had to be the first to stand.

He nodded.

“I can do that. There’s something... important, here. More important than a little curiosity.”

Molly nodded back, satisfied with both the answer and the amount of thought going into it. Something in him seemed to deflate a little and the easy grin stole back across his face. He slapped Caduceus on the back.

“Excellent. Best not keep them waiting, eh?” And with that he was gone, tail bobbing jauntily as he headed into the change room, still completely naked. “Caleb! You’ve saved a towel for me!”

A slight smile stole across Caduceus’ face as he followed. Something was important here; something the Wildmother wanted him to see, to safeguard. This group was going to change the world one day, in their haphazard and generally goodhearted way.

He could fight for that.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Acquiring food for a picnic turned out to be a rather simple matter when the alternative was cooking another meal for eight rowdy adventurers. Caduceus chatted merrily with the inn’s chef as they went through the pantry, the rest of the Nein doing their very best not to make a spectacle of themselves.

It went reasonably well.

Molly and Beau restrained themselves to teasing and were soon distracted by Nott in any case. Before long, their firbolg was back with a heavy hamper that Jester cheerfully snatched off him and they could head out of town.

They didn’t actually have a cart anymore, so everything had to be carried with them. Caduceus ensured everyone helped by the simple expedient of handing things to them until their arms were loaded, then moving on to the next person.

The tents had to be unloaded from the Ball Eater itself, which of course became the cue for a guided tour. Most of the crew had taken advantage of their pay to sleep in town, so there was no one around.

Molly stopped on the dock first to admire the hastily repainted nameplate of the ship, hands on his hips.

“It does look different when you’re alive,” he declared cheerfully. “A lot more colourful. You’ll have to add some illustrations, Jester.”

His fellow tiefling perked up and spun to face the ship as well, Fjord groaning low in his throat.

“Molly, please, we have to take this ship into port and I’d like to be able to sell the damn thing.”

This news caught the attention of the rest of the crew and raised spirits immediately. Fjord pretended not to notice Beau tossing both fists into the air with a loud whoop, while Nott performed a war dance around her feet.

Torn between disappointment that her artistic endeavours were being put on hold and thrilled that they’d be back on the land for a while, Jester tapped her lower lip thoughtfully.

“I suppooooooooose I could hold off for a while,” she admitted with a sigh, glancing through her lashes at Molly. “At least the pornographic version.”

“Draw it for the Traveler, darling,” Molly suggested as he swanned towards the gangplank. Jester clapped her hands and nodded, hurrying after him.

“Oh yes! He would like that! Now let me show you what else I’ve painted!”

Fjord watched the two tieflings heading off and tried to turn a fond smile into a resigned sigh.

“Anyone else think we should follow ‘em just so we know everythin’ we need to fix before flogging this heap?”

Beau saluted cheerfully beside him.

“Aye aye, cap’n! I think I know where a few are.”

“We could compare notes!” Nott suggested cheerfully, tugging a small and dirty notebook from her pocket. The pages were all crinkled with water damage. “Or make it a game and see who’s found more places!”

That got Beau’s attention and she nodded, patting down her own pockets.

“I don’t think I have anything to write with... hold on, I’ll go tell them to wait so we don’t miss anything!” She turned and dashed up the gangplank while Nott tore pages from her notebook for Fjord, Caduceus, Yasha, and Caleb.

“No cheating,” she warned sharply as she handed them over. “Just the places you’ve seen Jester mucking around.”

Caleb’s cheeks flushed delicately pink but he tugged a worn pencil from his pocket and began to write. Nott ignored him. Fjord wasted a moment considering if this game was unbecoming of a captain until Caduceus hummed thoughtfully.

“I think whoever names the most places should have a prize. It’ll be good team building.”

“What kind of prize?” Nott asked suspiciously, her eyes narrowing. Her list was already half way down her paper.

“How about a favour?” The large firbolg asked in his calm, cheerful way. “They can make a request of each member of the Nein and we all have to do it.”

Nott let out a loud hum of interest and went back to scribbling with a renewed fervour. Beau, a little winded from her jog back, nudged her for a sheet of paper.

“I like the sound of that!”

Only Caleb seemed to be concerned, frowning a little from his sheet.

“What kind of a request?”

“Nothing serious,” Fjord added quickly. “Just a little thing.”

“How about something lasting five minutes or less?” Caduceus decided, a slightly worrying smile curling at his lips. He did have very sharp eyes.

“And the loser has to obey one request from everyone else in the group!” Nott added with an excited little bounce.

A series of wicked grins swept the group and Fjord hurriedly began work on his own list. This was not a competition he wanted to lose.

Jester and Molly rejoined the group a little after Beau, chatting happily arm in arm and with their tails linked around each other. Yasha moved over automatically to accommodate them and Molly tucked up against her side, grinning.

“I hear there’s a game on?”

“We’re playing for favours,” the barbarian woman explained quietly, frowning down at her paper. Jester gave an excited little bounce, rising on her toes to peer at the list.

“Ooh! What kind of favours!”

“You don’t get any,” Nott cut in quickly, her eyes narrowing, “you know where everything is because you drew it!”

Their tiefling cleric pouted, folding her arms.

“So! I still want to play! I want people to owe me favours!”

“We did say the loser would owe everyone favours,” Beau pointed out thoughtfully, tapping an acquired pencil off her chin, “you could get a favour from the loser, Jester?”

Jester mulled the idea over a little, her pout still firmly in place. Molly draped an arm around her shoulders, grinning broadly.

“Darling if you ever need to trade in favours I’m sure everyone would be happy to help? But think how fun it’ll be to watch them trying to pull favours on each other,” he purred, his tail flicking lightly over hers. She pretended to pout for a moment longer, then grinned.

“Okay! I guess I can just give suggestions when the time comes.” It’d be like getting to choose five favours instead of one, if she was lucky. And she was definitely creative.

Beau grinned wickedly at the idea too, punching the air before hurrying to finish her list. Silence punctuated by soft waves and scribbling settled on the dock, only to be broken by Molly.

“So what do we do with the picnic stuff until then?”

Caleb paused, glancing up from his almost entirely covered second sheet of paper.

“I could cast the silver thread around it and leave it there?”

“That’s a whole ten minutes, though,” Nott pointed out with a slight frown. “We don’t want to take that long.”

Caleb shrugged and folded over the sheet, tucking it away.

“That is okay. I’m finished anyway and you all seem to have a lot to do.”

There was a brief moment of hope in Fjord’s eyes as he looked up from his own struggling list.

“You’re out of places already?” His face fell when he saw the tiny, cramped writing filling both sheets.

Alright, they’d been at sea for weeks. They’d given Jester carpentry tools and left her near entirely unsupervised. But he just couldn’t remember seeing that many little dicks all over the ship.

Caleb gave another shrug, a slightly smug smile curling his lips as he pulled his silver thread from his pocket.

“I write very fast. There is no rush.” He got to work on his spell, nudging a few fallen pillows back into the middle of the pile to wrap them.

Beau wasted another moment just staring at him, then quickly got back to work on her own list, muttering about bookworm wizards.

Fjord spent the following ten minutes in increasing levels of panic and staring into space, trying not to see his friends writing away around him.

The two tieflings were wandering through the rest of the group, peering at all of their lists and commenting. When they reached his, Molly let out a low whistle, a small grin on his face. Fjord gave him a look.

“Don’t say anythin’,” he muttered in a low voice. His sense of impending doom was definitely beginning to tingle.

“I wasn’t going to,” the purple tiefling said innocently, red eyes bright with amusement. “You’ve been very busy, after all.”

Trapped in that crimson gaze, Fjord shuffled his feet.

“I... well... I’ve been learning a lot,” he muttered weakly. Jester had bounced along to lean over Caduceus’ elbow so there was nothing to distract the too perceptive carnie.

Left to himself, Fjord had been beginning to realize that he’d been a little self absorbed lately. Self indulgent. Selfish. A lot of those kinds of words. Not paying attention to his friends.

In his defence, he had finally begun finding answers about his new powers and his mysterious connection. The whole reason he had begun travelling over land in the first place. He liked to think he’d started with introspection.

And maybe gotten a little bit too tangled up in chasing his own wants. And stopped paying attention to what his friends needed.

But it was nearly over now, and then they could put it aside and he could maybe ask Caleb for some help just researching in a library instead of risking all of their lives.

Provided he survived owing a favour to all the rest of the Nein. Even Yasha still seemed to be writing still, between gazing at the sky.

Fjord swallowed, pulling his gaze away from Molly.

“This isn’t gonna go well for me, is it?”

Molly shrugged cheerfully, patting him on the shoulder.

“Look on the bright side. It’s going to be a lot of fun to watch,” he said, tail swaying as he sauntered after Jester.

“Dammit, Molly, that’s not helping,” Fjord called after him, staring in despair at his list. He could... he could guess. Statistically speaking, anywhere he picked would probably have fallen under Jester’s brush...

And he could just picture her face if he wrote somewhere she hadn’t drawn anything.

There’d be a drawing there before dawn the next day.

Finally he gave up, handing Nott back her pencil and waiting for Beau and Caduceus to finish their own lists. Both seemed to have quite a lot of ideas.

Yasha had given up and was sitting on the edge of the dock with Molly and Jester, smiling as they regaled her with tales of adventure. Whether either had actually been on the adventure in question didn’t seem to matter.

Nott was winding down, and Beau had her tongue stuck out the corner of her mouth, slowly finishing her list and nodding triumphantly.

“That looks good,” she declared with another scan of the page. “Should we count now or after we’ve had the tour?”

“After,” Fjord said quickly, stuffing his own list into his pocket. He didn’t particularly want anyone to see how short it was.

Beau nodded again in agreement and made her way across the dock to give the tieflings a quick poke. Jester tipped her head back in lieu of turning, grinning at her friend.

“Are we all ready to go?” She asked cheerfully. Assuming the answer would be yes, Yasha was already pulling herself to her feet. Molly followed, shifting a little to the side so that Beau wouldn’t be tempted to tip him into the ocean.

The monk couldn’t say he didn’t have cause. Her foot might have been edging in his direction.

“Yeah, if you guys are at a good stopping place?” She couldn’t help a small smile as she looked up at Yasha. The large woman smiled back, inclining her head gently.

Being able to vent her emotions in something other than rage had been good for her; it wasn’t something she was used to.

“We’re ready,” the barbarian agreed softly, reaching a hand down to tug Jester to her feet. Bouncing all the way up to her feet, the blue tiefling snatched Yasha and Molly by the arms and began to skip towards the boat.

“Come on, everyone,” she called merrily over her shoulder, her tail flicking happily. “We’re going to start in Avantika’s cabin!”

A hopeful smile stole across Fjord’s face; he could think of at least three places in there that would be on the tour. Jester’s displeasure hadn’t been subtle.

It was even less subtle than he had been expecting.

“And over heeeeere there’s one covered in eyes, like that stupid sculpture she had over the door,” Jester narrated cheerfully, waving a hand at the now bedecked top of the doorway.

Molly stepped back to get a better view, not bothering to hide his grin.

“It’s not a bad likeness when you think about it,” he pointed out, slipping a hand into Caleb’s. “You do usually call it a one eyed snake.”

Beau snorted a laugh, trying to stifle it in her hand but not bothering too hard.

“I’m learning things I’d rather not know about your sex life, Tealeaf.”

“I wasn’t referring to me personally, but I can go into detail if it makes you happy.” Molly blew her a kiss, dodged a quarter hearted punch, and spun back to find Jester. “Is that all for in here?”

They’d covered most of the walls, the ceiling, a dozen around the bed, and something drawn in fingerprints on the window that Jester had huffed into view. Not even Caduceus had spotted all of them before.

Fjord was having very serious concerns about his own list.

Jester hummed and pretended to think about it, tapping her lower lip a few times.

“I thiiiiiiink so?” A grin stole across her face and she nodded. “Now we can go up on deck!”

“Maybe we should finish on deck?” Beau asked, nodding towards the corridor outside. “Get all the cabins and inside done first so we’re not going back and forth.”

“That way you can save the wheel for last,” Caleb added, just a hint of smile tugging at his lips. His hand squeezed briefly around Molly’s. Jester clapped her hands and beamed, nodding.

“Okay okay okay! So we can go out and along and down and do allllll the cabins!”

“All the cabins?” Fjord asked a little weakly. The look he got in return was all gleaming fangs and wickedness.

“All of them.”

**

She had not been kidding. There wasn’t a cabin on board that Jester hadn’t snuck a little drawing into, not even those of the more esteemed crew. Orly’s cabin was decked in more attentive, stylish drawings that the tortle had requested after catching her early sketches.

Caleb and Nott had both managed to catch most of the drawings in their cabin, though there was one that Caleb slapped a hand over in the corner of his own bed.

Nott peered curiously towards it (and had Beau, Fjord, and Caduceus leaning over her head in a stacking tower) but Caleb refused to move his hand. Given the way his cheeks were heating and Jester was grinning, the goblin quickly decided she didn’t want to see that one anyway.

Fjord made a note to come back later.

Caduceus seemed to be winning at the moment, nodding with a satisfied smile at each new drawing. Jester and Beau’s room was strangely devoid of pictures. There were a couple of doodles on the ceiling, but for the most part Jester hadn’t bothered to deck her own room.

Yasha’s was covered in pictures of flowers, all different kinds and shapes and colours. It was amazing what shades Jester could manage from her stash of inks. Some of the flowers were suspiciously phallic, but the barbarian smiled softly at each and every one.

Fjord and Caduceus’ room though.

Well.

Fjord had thought there wasn’t much in there.

Right up until a broadly grinning Jester grabbed the bottom of his bunk and folded it up, revealing a complete tapestry of dicks. The half orc gaped at her, speechless.

“I... but... how?” He sputtered before giving up. Jester stuck her tongue out at him.

“At first I wanted to see how close I could put one before you noticed.” She pointed to a very small dick painted just above the floor inside the door frame. A little poop was painted next to it, leading into a line of tiny figures all dancing towards Fjord’s bed.

He couldn’t imagine why he’d never noticed them before. Well. He didn’t spend a lot of time looking at the floor, but still.

“And then?” He asked weakly. A particularly large dick was ejaculating directly under his pillow.

Jester shrugged.

“And then I got mad,” she said bluntly. Caduceus had both hands in his pockets, smiling calmly with the serenity of someone specifically not saying “I told you so”.

Fjord opened his mouth to ask why Jester would be mad. Realized the full list could take days, and that none of it would be unreasonable. Sighed.

“I’m sorry, Jester,” he said quietly, eyes on the floor. “I’ve been makin’ an ass of myself a lot lately, I think.”

He could feel Molly’s eyes on him, bright and red and weighing. The rest of the Nein were all staring at him, and he forced himself to look back.

“I’m sorry to all of you. It’s been a lot, all of this. And I’ve been putting all of you in danger without asking first. Making stupid decisions just because I got curious.” His gaze lingered on Caleb, the wizard flushing and unable to meet his eyes. It firmed his decision and he nodded slowly.

“But I’m going to do better. One more, and we’ll go back to land and I’ll do all I can to be a better friend. The kind you all deserve. If you think you can forgive me, I’d be most grateful for the chance to try.”

There was a long, awkward silence. Apparently none of the Nein had expected anything of the sort from him, which was kind of the problem all along. They were all staring at him with varying levels of incredulity, all except Molly.

The tiefling was smirking, arms folded and leaning back into Yasha, Caleb’s hand tucked into his elbow. His tail was looped through Jester’s just above the floor, pulling them all in together. Even Beau wasn’t moving far from his side, though she’d claim she was sticking close to Yasha. For moral support.

Then Jester snorted and dropped the bed back down, the chain jangling as it caught.

“I’d have shown you them sooner if I knew you’d be less of a butt,” she told him cheerfully, leaning up on her toes to place a kiss on his cheek. “Of course we’ll let you try, Fjord.”

No one seemed inclined to disagree, though there was a satisfaction in Beau’s smirk that seemed to indicate that she wouldn’t be letting this drop. It was the best he could hope for, and a broad, relieved smile stole across the half orc’s face. It felt strange where his tusks were growing back in, his lip pulled out almost unnaturally. Different, but not exactly bad.

“I guess that just leaves the deck?” He asked hopefully, gaze drifting to the door. Jester snickered.

“The outside, anyway,” she corrected, skipping merrily towards the door. Fjord groaned, closing his eyes for a moment.

“Did anyone happen to look on the side before we came in to port?”

Beau made a face.

“The docking master did give us a weird look...”

“Did we always have that figurehead?” Nott asked, pushing her way through the group to follow Jester.

“What figurehead?”

“The one with a dick on its forehead like a unicorn.”

Fjord groaned, dragging a hand slowly down his face.

“I don’t even know if I wanna know if you’re kidding,” he moaned as they group made their way back above decks. Molly snickered and patted him on the shoulder.

“Look at it this way. You hadn’t noticed so far.”

“But I know now,” the half orc protested weakly. On the one hand, Molly had a point; the crew had lived with it long enough that none of them would notice either way.

On the other... it might be easier to finish burning the damn ship than cleaning it up for sale.

Jester was waiting in the open air, spinning happily on the spot with her arms spread wide. It was hard to remember the last time any of them had seen her dance; it might not have been since the Hour of Honour.

There hadn’t been much to dance about on board ship. Not since an aborted attempt or two before any of them had their sea legs which had lead to her and Nott rolling across the deck. Ships were hard.

When she caught sight of the group, Jester spun to a halt, grinning dizzily and reaching out a hand.

“Hello!”

Beau caught her, a grin of her own on her face as she steadied the blue tiefling.

“Hey. Careful there. If you go off the side, who’s going to judge the competition?”

Jester laughed and leaned into her for a moment, leaning up to press a kiss to her cheek.

“You could always just pull me back up!”

Beau pretended to consider it.

“Nah, that sounds like a lot of work. You’ll have to climb up yourself.” She gave the cleric a light shove and caught her again, smirking as Jester flailed and giggled.

“You’re so mean, Beau,” Jester declared, spinning away to wave at the ship. “Okay! We can start at the bow!”

As the group headed to the front of the ship, Fjord couldn’t help being a little proud. Not so long ago, the whole Nein would have called it “the pointy end”. Reluctant sailors they may be, but they were becoming sailors.

Jester had added more than just one dick to the figurehead. It wasn’t easy to see from on board ship, and raised a lot of questions about how she’d managed to do it, none of which would ever be answered.

However she managed it, the figurehead now sported a moustache and monocle they’d have to view from shore, a forehead dick horn, and some explicit alterations to the clothing.

If absolutely nothing else, it would allay the suspicions of anyone who thought they’d recognised Avantika’s ship. The former captain wouldn’t be caught dead with such a thing.

The sails had mostly escaped Jester’s attentions, largely because she didn’t have enough ink or paint left to do something truly spectacular. Remembering the number of small shops on the island, pretty much the entire Nein made a mental note to talk her out of it in private later.

All except Molly, who grinned and made some artistic suggestions.

“You guys do need a new flag. Why not Fjord’s dick?” The purple tiefling said innocently, leaning back against the railing to grin up the mast.

Fjord flushed a deep green and groaned, covering his face with one hand.

“Molly, please, don’t you think I’ve suffered enough?”

“No,” Nott answered for both of them. The fact that none of the crew argued was a potent reminder of just how tired they were of the sea.

It was Caleb who took pity on him in the end, patting Jester on the shoulder.

“Our flag should be representative of the whole group, I think, not just Fjord.”

“So it should be all of your dicks?” Jester asked innocently, just to see him blush. Beau snickered and folded her arms.

“What about the rest of us?”

“I’m not sure our flag should be genitals,” Nott cut in with a slight frown.

“It could have buttons?” Fjord offered by way of a peace offering/distraction. The little goblin snorted in disgust, a very faint hint of smile tugging at her lips.

“I do have a crossbow,” she reminded him, only a little heat in her voice. Fjord grinned and shrugged, hands in his pockets. Beau snickered, but it was Yasha who came up with an actual idea.

“It could have our name on it?” All eyes turned to the large barbarian woman and she flushed, but held firm. “We’re the Mighty Nein.”

“Sort of with a stylised M and an N?” Nott asked, turning the idea around in her head.

“Or the number nine?” Jester mused. Caleb shook his head.

“If we use the number people won’t understand the joke.”

“They don’t understand the joke anyway,” Beau pointed out, nodding subtly towards Caduceus.

The firbolg wasn’t sure what part of the name was the joke yet. He assumed if it was ever actually important, someone would tell him.

Jester shrugged, clapping her hands and spinning to face the ship’s wheel.

“Anyway! We have to finish the tour, and get our camping stuff, and go find a place for lunch! Only one stop left!”

“The wheel,” Fjord groaned. He had noticed the wheel. Everyone noticed the wheel.

The sun gleamed on the points of Jester’s fangs when she grinned.

“The wheel.”

**

“It’s beautiful,” Molly declared with a soft sigh, reaching out almost reverently. Fjord swatted his hand away a little possessively.

“Don’t fuck with it while we’re at port,” he reminded both tieflings as Jester went to touch. One stuck a blue tongue out at him while the other snickered.

“But I want to read the whole thing!”

It must have taken hours. The wheel was a tough wood, old and weather hardened and gleamingly well maintained. No one could remember seeing Jester near it, and either Caleb or Orly was fixed there at all times.

Both insisted that they hadn’t seen Jester.

Yet one morning, there it was. Dozens of dirty little limericks carved lovingly around the surface of the wheel, all angled inwards so that they were upside down on the bottom of the wheel.

They’d travelled in a circle for half an hour while people read the wheel before Orly told them all to stop.

Molly craned his neck, leaning to try and read his way around the wheel.

“Hey, is that one about me?” He pointed and the rest of the group leaned with him, curious to see which poem he’d spotted. Jester caught his hand before he could tip himself over.

“Of course,” she told him softly, pulling him up to press a kiss to his cheek. “I love you.” Molly smiled back and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“I love you too, sunshine. Did anyone happen to grab the tents?”

A quick inventory showed that no one had indeed remembered to get their camping supplies. The group broke up, Caduceus heading for the kitchen for a few of his more interesting spices, Jester and Nott down to fetch tents, Caleb and Fjord to find their other bag of holding to pack things into.

As people began to run this way and that, Molly caught Beau by the arm.

“Hey. We should talk.”

Beau glanced around, her shoulders hunching into a defensive stance.

“There’s a lot to do before we go, Molly...” her gaze caught on Yasha and softened. “I don’t really need a talk like that.”

Molly made a deeply disbelieving noise and tugged her away to a quiet corner.

“Yeah, well, either way I need to thank you, so suck it up.”

Beau set up a few token protests but followed him. She wasn’t good at the touchy feelly emotional talk, but she couldn’t exactly say no. Not to Molly.

Maybe the bastard wouldn’t get all touchy feelly. They’d been good at avoiding it while he was alive.

She was slightly satisfied to note that Molly looked a little awkward as well once they’d tucked themselves out of the way.

“Well?” She asked, folding her arms. Maybe a little defensively. Molly shot her a grin, running a hand through his hair.

“Shut up.”

Beau snickered and for a moment, things were comfortable. Molly bumped his shoulder against hers.

“You did good, you know?”

For a moment, Beau considered pretending she didn’t know what he was talking about. But that’d just keep them there longer. And as much as she’d enjoy watching Molly stumble his way through their emotional relationship, he’d make her do it back.

Instead she sighed, looking down at the deck.

“It should have been me. Not dying,” she added quickly, seeing Molly’s brows rise, “but I coulda got in the way. Made him take a swing at me instead of running you through.”

Molly didn’t look quite like he believed her, but he didn’t call her out on it.

“It wouldn’t have helped,” he pointed out quietly. “I wasn’t getting up on my own, and none of you could’ve had the time to get a potion into me. Fuck, I’d have been stepped on by a horse if nothing else.” He made such a disgusted noise that Beau had to stifle a laugh.

Tears were burning in the corners of her eyes. They both ignored them.

“Better an asshole with a stick than a horse?” She offered with a weak smile. Molly nudged her again.

“Better you all got away mostly unscathed and able to take another run.” His voice was low, without any of his usual flowery showmanship. It was a little like seeing him naked, except Molly never cared about that.

It made her deeply uncomfortable.

“Better if we all got away,” she replied, her own voice quiet and rough. Molly shook his head.

“He wasn’t going to let us hit and run. And none of us were going to stop while we still had a breath in us. There were too many of them, too well prepared. And I was the easiest to replace.”

Sudden fury flared through Beau and she rounded on him, fists grinding her nails into her palms.

“Shut the fuck up you were,” she snarled, a dampness on her cheek suggesting that tears had escaped. “No one’s going to replace you! No one could even try!”

Molly took a step back, startled by the strength of her anger. A small, self deprecating smile spread across his face and Beau was tempted to punch it right back off.

“Alright, it was a bit melodramatic. But think about it. I didn’t have any ties in the world. All that I wanted, all that I needed was to be with you lot. You and Caleb and Fjord, you’re all going places. You’ve got goals. Shit you need to do. I didn’t have any of that.”

He sighed softly and ran a hand through his hair again, jangling his horn jewellery.

“I never wanted to grow old, Beau. And dying for you lot, to keep everyone I loved safe... it’s the best thing I could have asked for.”

“Bullshit,” Beau spit the word, trembling with the effort of restraining herself.

Her knuckles actually ached to swing, to shut him up. Anything to stop him from telling her that they didn’t need him.

“That’s a crock of shit and you know it, Molly.” It took so much to keep her voice steady, to keep from screaming. “Just say you’re too much of a fucking coward to keep going. You didn’t wanna find out who you used to be so you just up and died. Ran away and left us. But don’t fucking try and tell me it was for the best. That we need to fucking accept it.”

Something softened in the tiefling’s eyes, an unexpected flare of warmth. And then he grinned, the smug bastard, and spread his hands.

“You’re all still here, aren’t you?”

Beau wasted a moment considering just telling him to fuck off. Then she swung, catching Molly in the chest hard enough that she had to grab his tail to keep him from going over the rail.

“Cut that shit out,” she snapped, tugging him back for another sharp strike to his gut, taking the decision out of his hands, “you fucking died, Molly. There was nothing we could do. There’s still nothing we can do. But this “you should be happy” bullshit is not fucking helping!”

Her breathing came harsh and ragged as she stood over the slumping tiefling, fingers still curled for another blow if necessary. Molly wrapped both arms around himself and wheezing for air. It sounded almost like a laugh.

“Feel better?” He asked when he could get a proper breath, squinting up at her. Beau’s brows drew further down.

“I will knock you off this fucking boat,” she warned him in a low voice. Molly raised a hand to hold her off, hauling himself awkwardly to his feet.

“No, no. You’re right. I deserved that.”

“Damn right you did,” Beau muttered, huffing and rubbing a hand across her chin. Molly grinned and swayed into her, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

“You’ve gotten tougher since I’ve been in the ground,” he teased gently, voice still rough from having all his breath forced from his lungs. Beau folded her arms and glared at the ocean.

“Yeah, well. I’m not letting anyone else die.”

“You didn’t let me die, Beau.”

The monk tensed and Molly squeezed her shoulders, laughing raspily.

“Don’t throw me off the fucking boat, just hear me out.”

A moment to make sure she’d obey, despite the taught set of her muscles.

“Sometimes shit happens and there’s nothing we can do. But I know, I know
that if there had been the slightest chance you could do something, you would have. If there had been anything, any possibility, any way for you to break that fucker’s grip, you’d have done it. Cuz you don’t let anyone die, Beauregard. You gave it everything you had. And you killed the bastard.”

“Caleb killed him,” Beau muttered, feeling an unwelcome swell of tears once more. The sincerity, the depth of Molly’s faith in her even now caught in her throat, choking her. Molly snorted and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“That one was a collective you, asshole. They couldn’t have done it without you but you’re not the center of the universe.”

That was a bit much and Beau shoved him away, a weak grin pulling at her lips.

“Go fuck yourself, Molly.”

“Come fuck me yourself you coward,” the tiefling shot back, ducking away and taking off in a run as Beau swore loudly and swung.

Planting one hand on the railing, he launched himself over just ahead of the yelling monk and landed directly in Yasha’s arms. The barbarian caught him on autopilot, not even missing a step on her way down the gangplank.

Forestalled by not actually wanting to tackle Yasha, Beau huffed and stuffed her hands in her pockets, making her way around to walk down herself.

“Are we ready to go, then?” She called to the rest of the group. Nott shook herself to get her gaze away from Yasha, where she had been staring in awe.

“What? Oh, yeah, we have what we need. How did you do that?” The goblin asked, bouncing hurriedly along to keep pace with Yasha.

The aasimar hadn’t bothered to put Molly down, just shifted him to a more comfortable position along with the tent she had slung over her shoulder. She seemed surprised to even be asked.

“You get used to it.”

“To raining tieflings?!”

Molly grinned and kicked out a leg, draping his arms around Yasha’s neck.

“You can get used to anything if you try, sugar. But I promise not to rain on you.”

Nott rolled her eyes and snorted, scooping up a couple of pillows from the pile on the dock.

“Good, cuz I’m not catching you.”

Jester beamed from beside her, hauling the large carrier of food from the inn onto her back.

“Does that mean I could jump on you and you’d just catch me?” She asked eagerly, her tail twitching behind her from excitement. Yasha gave her a calculating look as Caduceus came down the ramp with another, smaller bag of food.

“I don’t think that would be a problem.”

Jester gasped in delight, vibrating with the effort to keep still. Molly looked from her to Yasha and grinned.

“Why don’t you come give it a try?”

“Hold on,” Yasha said sharply, shifting her grip on Molly to lower the tent to the ground. Jester was up on her toes, bouncing in place in an aborted leap, her bag dumped unceremoniously to the ground.

In the background, Caduceus sighed and shook his head.

“Try not to slam that around Miss Jester, we don’t want to break anything.”

He was ignored as Yasha straightened, juggled Molly around a little more, and finally nodded.

“Alright.”

A high pitched squeal of delight turned heads up and down the docks as Jester charged, scrambling up a small stack of crates to leap at Yasha. The barbarian’s face screwed up in concentration and she adjusted her stance to compensate for speed, catching Jester. With Molly. Because he hadn’t thought ahead enough.

All the air was knocked out of the taller tiefling and he groaned, head dropping back over Yasha’s arm. Just narrowly avoiding being kicked in the head by Jester as it happened. Yasha shuffled the pair of them carefully, Jester squirming with her to try and find a more comfortable position for both of them.

“You okay, Molly?” She called and Molly raised a hand in a thumbs up.

“I’ll do. Are we about ready to go?” He nudged her legs to the side enough to raise his head, glancing around at the rest of the group. Fjord was watching them with a soft, almost sappy smile.

Beau seemed satisfied with Jester crushing the life from him, and Caleb had paused from pillow collecting to smile slightly. A quick inventory showed that no one could think of anything they might be missing.

Yasha bent to let Jester slip, giggling, to the ground, but her grip tightened just a little when Molly went to follow. He readjusted himself instead and pointed down the street imperiously.

“Then find me a picnic site!”

Beau took a shot at the back of his head as she passed, but Yasha lifted him out of the way without comment.

**

It took a few hours of walking and a little hiking away from the main road for the Nein to find a clearing sufficiently out of the way. No one wanted to be disturbed, or spend time dealing with other travellers. As noon approached, they were all becoming aware of just how little time they had.

All the Nein but Caduceus took to the woods to hunt for firewood, none wanting to be left behind and miss another minute. This may have impeded the search a little, but on the whole there was a lot of strange, scrubby brush that seemed to burn well.

Caduceus spent the time setting up a reasonable campsite, clearing the ground for the fire pit and the tent and making a circle of rocks. He had begun prepping the meal by the time the others reemerged and Caleb set to starting the fire.

It felt... pleasantly domestic. Like they had been travelling as eight all along. Jester and Yasha dragged some larger stones and stumps to make a couple of chairs, while Molly spread blankets over them. Beau “helped” by throwing pillows at his head while Nott and Fjord set up the tent.

The tent wasn’t going so well, but the rest of the campsite took shape quickly. Before long the Nein were sprawled around the roaring fire, watching Caduceus cook. Beau made a few overtures to try and help and was quickly distracted by Jester.

The monk’s additions to meals in the past had always been... interesting, to say the least. Harrowing, if Nott could be trusted to describe them. Said with the professional opinion of someone who had accidentally eaten a baby because of dubious cooking.

No one exactly wanted to tell Beau not to cook anymore, though; not because they thought the monk would be angry, but because she might be hurt. She was trying so hard now, taking up the mantle of first mate, looking after their crew, looking after all of them.

The rest of the Nein were watching with a mixture of affection, pride, and apprehension. Caleb was mostly responsible for the apprehension, as the unofficial worrier. He was also banned from cooking assistance for hygiene reasons, as was Nott.

Caduceus didn’t mind doing the cooking on his own. And tended to wonder how the group had managed before he came along.

But today, Jester had a proper plan.

“We need to braid flowers into Molly’s hair! You have to help me find lots of flowers!” She clutched the monk’s arm, giving her her very best puppy eyes. Beau made a face, glancing over at Caduceus.

“Do we have to? I don’t wanna leave Cad doing all the work...”

The firbolg raised a hand quickly, his serene smile just a little hurried.

“It’s quite alright, Beau. I’m sure Fjord won’t mind helping out while you help Jester?” He gave Fjord a meaningful look. The half orc jumped a little, snapping out of whatever thoughts he’d been lost in.

“What? Oh, yeah, sure. Go find flowers, Beau.” He shuffled closer to the cleric, doing his best to look helpful. Beau chewed her lip and Jester leaned up with a grin to whisper to her.

“I bet Yasha would love some more flowers too.”

Beau nodded firmly and hauled herself up, holding out a hand for the blue tiefling.

“Nott, you coming?” She called over her shoulder, already heading to the edge of the clearing. The goblin girl chuckled softly, slipping from her own stump to follow.

“Alright. We can get some for everyones’ hair!” She nodded happily, looking around for some flowers.

Back with the group, Molly chuckled and leaned back against Yasha’s legs, sprawling his own into Caleb’s lap. He was trying to keep in as much contact as he could with as many of the Nein as possible. Something to savour while he could.

Yasha was certainly in favour, staying firmly within arms reach. Caleb was a little more reluctant, less trusting of his presence, but the wizard couldn’t bring himself to move away when Molly came closer. Molly didn’t mind bringing him in.

The tiefling glanced around the group, noting the girls had gone no farther than the edge of the woods. Still in earshot.

“So, who won your little game?” He asked, feigning nonchalance and looking through his lashes at Fjord. As expected, the half orc jumped and flushed, nearly dropping the potato he was peeling. Caduceus reached out a hand calmly to steady him.

“I don’t think we’ve worked that out yet,” the firbolg said, glancing around the rest of the group. “We never actually counted up.”

Caleb frowned a little, pulling the folded paper from his pocket.

“I suppose we could do that now? Unless you need more help, Caduceus?”

Caduceus glanced at the pile of vegetables beside him and shook his head with a slight smile.

“This won’t take me long,” he decided, pausing to pull his own paper out and pass it to Yasha. “You count for me, okay?”

Yasha nodded silently and handed her own list down to Molly, who took it with a snicker and unfolded it to begin counting.

“Shall I just let you know when I’m finished and you can tell me how long til you’re done?” He teased. Fjord sighed heavily, tugging out his own list.

“Bet I’ll finish first,” he muttered, already dejected. Molly leaned over, Yasha reaching down absentmindedly to put a steadying hand on his horn.

“Are you impugning my counting skills?” The tiefling asked, faking maximum offence. Fjord had to laugh, shaking his head.

“No, Molly, jus’ that I don’t have a lot. I’ve been... distracted.”

“That’s one word for it.”

All heads turned to Yasha but the barbarian didn’t bother looking up from Caduceus’ list. She had a lot of counting to do. Molly grinned and poked Fjord with the tip of his tail.

“Look on the bright side, they’re only short favours. I’m sure no one will be cruel.”

Fjord made a face.

“I’m a little less confident, Molly.” Even less so when none of his remaining companions spoke up to argue. Not even Caduceus, who didn’t have keeping count as an excuse.

Molly shrugged cheerfully, flicking Yasha’s paper back and forth, noticeably not counting.

“You know, I don’t think we answered the big question. Do I get a favour from you? And do I give one to the winner?” He batted his lashes at Caleb, trailing one heel up the wizard’s thigh. Caleb’s cheeks flushed but he didn’t look up.

“I don’t know, Mollymauk. Would you like a favour?” He almost managed to keep the innuendo from his voice. Molly’s grin spread.

“We’ll have to make them quick, but absolutely yes.”

Caleb shook his head, staring at his page like a shield, but unable to hide a small smile.

“That may be unfair to Nott and Beauregard,” he pointed out quietly. Molly sighed dramatically, stretching and tilting his head back into Yasha’s lap.

“Well, if we must... hey!” He straightened, grinning over at the pink haired firbolg. “Does this mean Caduceus would be down to join us?”

The cleric actually considered it for a while, pausing his patient cutting. One by one the others turned to look at him, including the three ladies circling the clearing for flowers. Curious anticipation filled the air.

Eventually Caduceus smiled, redirecting his gaze down to Molly.

“I’m flattered to be invited, Mr Mollymauk, and you are a very lovely individual. But I don’t think it would be the best use of your limited time.”

Molly nodded in agreement and shot him a flirty grin back.

“In another life, Mr Caduceus. In this one, we have a winner to crown.” He turned expectantly to Caleb and Yasha, the former was finished and reaching for Fjord’s sheet. Molly handed it over with a kiss. “Where are you up to?”

“I had 326,” the wizard said absently, scanning Fjord’s and beginning to count. Fjord groaned and picked up another potato.

“Don’t even fuckin’ say it.”

Yasha paused, frowning down at Caduceus’ sheet.

“I... I think perhaps we should switch.”

“How many have you counted so far?” Caleb asked, twisting to offer her her own page back.

“Thirty-seven.” Pale cheeks flushed a little as she shoved the well covered sheet at Caleb. “I’m not a numbers person, okay?”

“Better than me, darling,” Molly assured her, twisting to press a kiss to her knee. She smiled fondly at him, running her fingers through his hair.

“I know.”

“I am better at numbers than the average person,” Caleb admitted from behind his hair. It made a good hiding place when he was embarrassed. He leaned a little into Yasha’s leg as well, just a brush with his shoulder for solidarity.

The barbarian looked surprised for a moment, then smiled and went back to counting her own sheet, her fingers straying from Molly’s hair to Caleb’s. A quick snap later and Frumpkin was sat on her shoulders, curled around her neck like a scarf.

“OKAY!” Jester declared cheerfully, making half the group jump as she skipped back over, her arms full of small and scrubby flowers. “Do we want to do the bet first or do we want to do hair first?”

“We should settle the bet,” Beau said, nudging Caleb forward with a foot so she could sit beside Yasha. The wizard went to shuffle away but Molly’s boot hooked over his hip, tugging him back in for a cuddle.

Even the monk’s hand went down to tousle through the tiefling’s hair, though she “covered” the soft gesture with a playful shove. Molly stuck his tongue out at her, shifting closer to Caleb to let Jester drop to the ground on his other side.

The blue tiefling snuggled close immediately, nuzzling Yasha’s knee on her way to tuck her chin into Molly’s shoulder.

“Who’s winning?” She asked cheerfully, her arms looping around Molly’s waist. Caleb wasted a moment wondering if he should pull away, let them have their moment.

Maybe a little bit because he didn’t deserve to have this much time, this much closeness. He didn’t think any of them would notice he was punishing himself.

Then Jester’s tail slipped into his lap, curling as far around his waist as she could reach, and he let himself relax. He wouldn’t want to cause a fuss. Wouldn’t want to upset Jester again. It was easier to tell himself that, and let himself relax into the warm-and-cool touches.

Molly had looped his own tail back and around Jester while Caleb contemplated the universe, giving her a brief squeeze as he laid out the land.

“Caleb found three hundred some of your little treasures, no one else counts that fast, and Fjord is already bemoaning his fate.”

Jester giggled at her drawings being called treasures, her tail wrapping briefly around Caleb’s elbow in an affectionate hug, before her expression turned a little arch. She twisted in place to glance over her shoulder at the half orc.

How deliberate her seating had been remained in question.

“That’s okay, Fjord was very busy on the boat, weren’t you Fjord?” She asked haughtily. Fjord sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

“I was bein’ an idiot, Jester, an’ I shoulda appreciated your drawings more. The ones I did see made my whole day brighter.” It could have sounded overdramatic, could have easily tipped the line into melodrama, but there was a sincerity in his voice that rung true.

Jester regarded him for a while, then nodded, her lips tugging up into a broad smile almost automatically.

“Yeah, okay. Which was your favourite?” Without actually releasing Molly, she shuffled around until her back was to Yasha’s stump, leaving her more open to the group. Nott came to sit in the ring beside Caleb, facing the others and began her own count.

Fjord considered the question seriously, a ghost of a smile tickling his lips.

“Of the ones I’d already seen or all of them?” He asked, just a hint of tusk showing. Jester shrugged cheerfully.

“All of them! They were a whole lot of fun to do.”

“That would explain there being more than three hundred of them,” Caleb muttered, a hint of a smile on his face. Molly snickered an agreement and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“It’s not nice to play favourites, Jester,” he teased. She blew a raspberry on his cheek.

“It’s not my favourite, it’s Fjord’s favourite!” And both turned expectantly to the half orc, who grinned sheepishly.

“Probably the dick horn on our figurehead. How did you manage to paint that one anyway?”

Jester shrugged cheerfully and threw her arms wide.

“I got Nott to dangle me off the side of the boat with her magic hand and then Yasha saw us and said we were idiots and held onto my tail for safety!”

Nott chuckled softly at the memory, sharing a fond smile with Yasha over the rambunctious tiefling. Fjord stared between them, a little incredulous.

“And... was everyone in on these? I know Caleb helped with wheel.”

“And Orly!” Jester corrected happily. “They both let me turn the wheel and held it so I could do the carving.” She leaned over Molly, reaching out to tug Caleb in for a kiss on the cheek. He leant with her, telling himself it was easier to follow than resist.

Fjord groaned dramatically, running his hands down his face and dragging at his cheeks and lip.

“All my crew have turned against me!”

“Only if you’re against me, Fjord,” Jester pointed out with a giggle. That seemed to cheer him up and he nodded down to her.

“I guess that’d make you the captain now. Since we’re all joining you.”

The thought made Jester giggle more and she leaned into Molly’s side, considering.

“If I’m the captain do you all have to do what I say?”

“About as much as we all do what Fjord says,” Nott said innocently, shooting a grin across the fire at the half orc. He seemed a little surprised but laughed, shaking his head.

“So not at all, then?” Beau snickered, poking Molly in the butt with her foot. He nudged her back and grinned up at her.

“Finished counting up there?”

“Yeah, yeah.” The monk dropped her paper on his head. “Nowhere near three hundred though.”

“How close to twelve?” Fjord asked gloomily.

A long silence settled over the clearing as all eyes turned to the half orc. Finally Beau cleared her throat, doing her best to break the tension.

“Uh... yeah, a lot more that way. Yeah. Like about sixty-five.” All eyes turned towards Beau now and she shrugged defensively. “A lot of them are really small, okay! And you totally can’t see the figurehead from the ship!”

“That’s true,” Jester pointed out with a giggle. A fair bit of tension seemed to defuse with the laugh; if Jester wasn’t going to be upset about it, the ribbing could begin.

Molly started it, for old times’ sake.

“Seriously, Fjord? Twelve? I’d have at least counted every poem on the wheel separately.”

“You are a filthy cheater,” Caleb pointed out, a fond smile on his face. Molly leaned in to kiss it.

“Unrepentantly.”

Beau booed them both and nudged a knee into Molly’s side, then turned a grin on Fjord.

“Seriously, how did you manage that? Which twelve did you see?”

Fjord shuffled uncomfortably and gave Jester a sheepish smile.

“I mean I’m sure I saw a lot of the smaller ones around but it was really only the big ones that stuck in my head.”

“You do see a lot of dicks,” Jester agreed, not a hint of innuendo in her tone. It was all in her smile. Fjord grinned back, shaking his head.

“They all sorta blur together. You understand.”

Jester dissolved into undignified giggles, shoulders shaking.

“We all understand except Beau!”

Beau huffed and folded her arms.

“Look, just cuz I don’t like it doesn’t mean I don’t see it. You dumbasses do all come in to bathe, I don’t have to see it in action for them to blur together. And you,” she added sharply as Jester flopped over, laughing even harder, “draw them everywhere!”

There was a brief, tense moment while the others tried not to laugh and Beau glared. Molly broke first, cackling and flopping back against Yasha’s knees.

“Are you actually defending your right to be sick of dick?” He gasped, accepting the sharp jab of knuckles as entirely deserved.

“Yes! No! I don’t know they made it seem like a bad thing!” Beau huffed, glowering around the circle.

A snicker slipped from between Nott’s hands pressed firmly over her mouth. Beau whipped around to glare at her, only to turn back in dismay as Yasha broke into giggles.

“I’m sorry,” the large woman gasped, wrapping her arms around her waist, “it’s just... you sound so angry...”

Safe in the knowledge that Beau wasn’t going to punch Yasha, Fjord and Caleb relaxed enough to grin. Beau huffed and folded her arms, a hint of smile playing around her lips even as she tried to force a frown.

“You’re all ridiculous,” she groused.

Caduceus watched the group with mild confusion, but he’d pretty much finished preparing the stew. He focused on settling the pot above the flames with the lid on to... well. To stew. Ridiculous wasn’t new to him, so it didn’t seem like a problem.

“Mr Caleb, I can finish counting my own list if you’d like to keep talking to everyone?” He offered. Caleb jumped a little, surprised to be addressed. It made Caduceus worry a little more every time, but now wasn’t the time to dig deeper.

The wizard gave him a sheepish smile, holding up the page.

“Yes, sorry, I got distracted... I think you’ve won anyway, Mr Clay. You are very observant.”

“How many did he find?” Jester asked as she picked herself up, her voice still a little breathless from laughter. Caduceus smiled modestly.

“Oh, just a couple.”

Fjord nudged him with a shoulder, grinning broadly.

“Cad, Caleb found more than three hundred, and he said you found more than him!”

“I didn’t find all of them,” the firbolg insisted, giving Jester an apologetic smile. “But I may have caught you drawing some of them.”

“He found 350,” Caleb cut in with a laugh.

“And none of you found them all!” Jester exclaimed delightedly, tossing her arms into the air. “That means I win!”

Protestations rose immediately all around the fire.

“You can’t win! You weren’t even playing!”

“How did you even draw that much anyway?”

“Of course you knew where they are, you drew them!”

Molly grinned and reached out to help Jester tug herself back to a sitting position.

“There there, precious, we can each get a favour from Fjord.” He waggled his eyebrows around the fire at the half orc, who considered protesting. They didn’t ~know~ he’d lost, not without everyones’ numbers... but no one was going to have less than twelve. He knew that already.

“Yeah,” he sighed, slumping down his rock to sit on the ground. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Does that mean Cad gets a favour from each of you, too?” Beau asked, settling back into the usual banter.

Two identically wicked tiefling grins turned towards the large firbolg. Caduceus found himself leaning away a little without thinking about it.

“I... I suppose that seems fair?” He seemed more wary of asking either for a favour than Fjord was to owe both. Possibly because he was much wiser than Fjord.

“No objections here!” Molly agreed readily, doing nothing to assuage his trepidation. Jester giggled, leaning back to trail her fingers up Caduceus’ shin.

“Make it cool, okay?” She asked, then grinned around at the group. “So, who’s first?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Jester beamed and clapped her hands, looking excitedly from Fjord to Caduceus.

“I don’t mind what we do,” she said cheerfully, “but we should probably start now anyway. There’s a lot of dares to get to!”

“Can I save mine?” Caduceus asked thoughtfully. “I might want to use them on other days.” The remainder of the Nein exchanged slightly worried looks. Molly snickered.

“I wouldn’t recommend saving mine up for a rainy day.”

Beau punched him in the shoulder and he groaned dramatically, swooning backwards into Yasha’s knees.

“I’m under attack!”

Beau squeaked as Yasha looked up at her, the barbarian’s face inscrutable. Then Yasha nodded, a smile curling her lips.

“You deserved it,” she told Molly simply, reaching down to tousle his hair. Molly huffed playfully and swooned into Caleb instead.

“Defend my honour?” He asked plaintively. Caleb had a very hard time fighting back a grin.

“Beau, if you’re going to spank Molly, do it properly,” the wizard declared, leaning his head back to look up at the monk. Beau stared back, aghast, then grinned and cracked her knuckles.

“Get up here then, Molly.”

Molly was halfway to his feet and her grin just a little less certain when Fjord cleared his throat, raising his hand.

“I’d prefer to get mine out of the way today, if no one else minds?”

The general consensus seemed to be a no, and Jester giggled happily, clapping her hands again.

“Okay okay okay! I dare you... toooooooooo...” she paused for a moment, frowning, and perked back up. “Help us braid flowers in Molly’s hair!”

Rising tension broke as though she’d cast a spell and Fjord grinned, relieved.

“Is that all?” He paled a little at the grin she shot him.

“I figure someone else isn’t gonna know what to do with theirs anyway, so I can help.”

“I think I know what my favour from Mr Mollymauk will be,” Caduceus cut in somewhat randomly. Whether he’d bothered following the conversation or kept thinking about his own problem was always a little difficult to tell.

Attention turned towards him anyway, Molly grinning broadly and nodding.

“Ask away!”

“I’d like you to match everything they ask Mr Fjord to do,” the firbolg said with a very slight smile curling his lips. Molly’s expression shifted to pensive for a moment, then he grinned.

“I like him,” he declared to the group at large, nodding cheerfully. “Does this mean I have to help braid my own hair too?”

“You can help best by sitting still,” Nott pointed out, busily sorting flowers and cleaning their stems. Even the prospect of coming up with a “punishment” for Fjord (because what else was she going to ask for?) wasn’t dissuading her.

Molly nodded brightly again, accepting the assignment.

“Anyone else got ideas for Fjord and I?” He asked, a broad grin exposing his fangs to an almost frightening level. Fjord paled at Beau’s sudden wicked grin.

“Now Beau, remember I’m doin’ it too,” he began slowly, raising a hand so as not to startle her into motion. The monk cackled.

“That’ll make it better!”

Jester spun around on the ground, beaming up at Beau.

“What are you gonna make them do!”

“We have to braid Molly’s hair first,” Fjord tried, making a last ditch effort for freedom. Jester waved him off without looking at him.

“We can do that later, there’s plenty of time! Come on Beau!” She did her very best puppy dog eyes, Sprinkle snuggling around her neck to look up at Beau as well. Beau didn’t even glance over, too busy grinning down at Molly.

“You gotta go around the circle and say one nice thing about all of us, AND mention a time we did somethin’ for you that showed how much we care.”

Molly tipped his head back to raise an eyebrow at her upside down, a silent challenge that said “really” as eloquently as his words could have. She smirked triumphantly back and poked him in the forehead. The rest of the group seemed confused by the apparent mildness of the suggestion, but she was pretty sure Molly would get her point.

The tiefling sighed dramatically and hauled himself to his feet to muted complaints from Caleb and Yasha. Bending quickly to press a kiss to each of their foreheads, he stepped over Beau and Yasha’s stump to stand behind the monk.

“Guess that means I’m starting with you then, asshole,” he declared dramatically, dropping both hands onto Beau’s shoulders. Beau’s hands twitched to toss him but she resisted the urge. Regretted resisting it just a little as Molly began rubbing her shoulders, making a hugely dramatic show of thinking. “Something nice about you.... something nice...”

“Hurry it up, Molly,” Nott snickered, discarding a pile of leaf trimmings into the fire, narrowly missing the stew pot. Molly pouted over at her and batted his lashes.

“I’m doing my best here Nott, it’s just sooooooo difficult!” He ducked away from a sharp elbow, grinning and pressing a kiss to the top of Beau’s head. “I’ve always admired your spirit, Beau. The way you never take anyones’ shit.”

The sincerity in his tone startled the monk a little and she twisted to squint suspiciously into his face.

“You mean that?”

“Yeah,” Molly grinned and planted another kiss on her forehead, “even when you’re being terrible. And for the one time...” this appeared to actually stump him, until a softer smile took his lips. “I guess it’ll have to be you punching me today. I never realized how much you cared.”

Beau huffed and made a show of swinging for his gut, rubbing her forehead with her other hand.

“After you’re dead doesn’t count, fucko,” she groused and Molly pouted.

“My other choice was you keeping my tarot cards. You’re just not affectionate with the living, darling!”

“She’s affectionate with me,” Jester cut in, her voice just a little thicker and more strained than it should have been. Beau’s attention dropped to her with a slightly concerned frown and Jester showed her a beaming smile. Resolving to ask later, the human stuck her tongue out at Molly.

“Yeah, it’s just you.”

“Then let’s see Fjord come up with a time,” Molly shot back, grinning across the fire at the half orc. Fjord himself was still relieved that it wasn’t something worse, and grinned over at Beau.

“That shouldn’t be a problem. You’ve been doin’ a real good job as first mate, Beau. I’m impressed with how well you’re taking care of people.”

The monk blushed, suddenly and sharply uncomfortable.

“Yeah, well... someone’s gotta,” she grumbled, possibly regretting some of her life choices. Molly cackled delightedly behind her, leaning forward and folding both arms onto her head.

“No, I think this is even better than you being a grouchy fuck. Embarrassed responsible Beau is my new favourite.”

This time she did punch him in the gut and he folded up, still laughing. Yasha twisted a little to watch him fall, her concern fading to a soft smile. Fjord cleared his throat pompously to draw their attention back.

“Excuse me. I believe I still have a time to talk about Beau showin’ how much she cares about me.”

Beau groaned and raised a fist semi threateningly in his direction. The half orc grinned smugly at her.

“You literally asked for this.”

“You really did,” Jester agreed cheerfully, scooting closer to Caleb and sticking a flower behind the wizard’s ear. He gave her a small smile. Fjord cleared his throat again, enjoying the attention.

“You’ve all done so much for me on our recent trip, so I’m not gonna point to those specific instances cuz we’d be here all week.” A general agreement swept the group, grins and nods all around. Fjord nodded, shooting another grin at Beau. “So I’m gonna go back a little further.”

There was a wicked gleam in his eyes that made Beau shift uncomfortably, one hand automatically reaching for her throwing darts. Fjord ignored this blatant sign.

“Beau, it truly touched my heart the way you didn’t murder Deuces and I when that merchant was tyin’ a bow on your staff,” he proclaimed dramatically, “an’ I could see how bad you wanted to.”

Relaxing back a little, Beau grinned and flipped him off.

“Yeah, well. We need you til we get back to the Menagerie coast, right?”

Fjord raised a water skin in toast. Molly laughed and clapped his hands, wandering around the group now to stand behind Caduceus.

“You’re next, big man. We may not know each other so well, but I do want to thank you for looking after this group of assholes. They’re far too trouble prone to keep going without a cool head.” Even sitting, Caduceus’ head was level with Molly’s, so the tiefling had to fling an arm around his shoulders.

Caduceus didn’t seem to mind the contact, not really moving closer or farther away. He just kept going with the stew, stirring the little pot as it began to heat.

“It’s been a pleasure to know them all, Mr Mollymauk. I’m sure I do my best to pull my weight,”

“And Jester’s,” Nott cut in with a laugh, dumping a handful of cleared stalks in the tiefling’s lap. “You’re a really good healer, Mr Clay.”

Jester stuck her tongue out at the goblin, plucking up a flower and beginning to work it into Caleb’s hair.

“I do heal you! You’re all just dumbasses who walk into trouble!”

“Whereas you run into it?” Beau teased and nudged her blue friend gently with a foot. Jester swatted back and stuck another flower into the top of Beau’s boot.

“I make my own trouble, thank you,” she declared primly. Beau laughed and leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head.

“I like your trouble best,” she admitted with a grin. Jester pretended to consider this, then grinned back and rose on her knees to catch Beau for a return kiss.

“My trouble is always the best!”

“You have cultivated it to a fine art,” Fjord agreed with a broad grin of his own, waggling his brows at Beau. “That count as a nice thing for Jester?”

The blue tiefling twisted just enough to pout at him and bat her lashes.

“Are you having trouble thinking of something nice to say about me?”

“Having trouble picking only one,” Fjord returned without missing a beat. Jester dissolved instantly into giggles.

“Are you having trouble thinking of something nice to say about Caduceus?” Nott called with a cackle of her own. Fjord drew himself up, putting on his best affronted airs.

“Why Miss Nott, are you casting aspersions on my admiration for our fine furry friend? I’m merely waitin’ for Molly to give his first.”

“Can I count calling you level headed?” Molly asked, giving Caduceus his very best winning smile. “I don’t usually like that in people but you’re a winning sort.” The smile Caduceus gave him in return was significantly more confused and he turned to Beau.

“I suppose that’s up to Miss Beau, since she set the rules for this little dare?”

Group attention returned to the monk and she shrugged, one hand still stroking idly through Jester’s hair.

“I kinda wanna say no just to torture you, Molly. But we don’t have all day for you to wax poetic about wanting his dick.”

Having opened his mouth to do just that, Molly shifted into a grin.

“You know me far too well.”

“It’s a constant burden.”

“Is that how you got those muscles?”

“Quit flirting,” Yasha told the pair, a very faint smile dancing across her lips. The pair of affronted looks and over dramatic proclamations of disgust tugged it up into a proper grin.

Fjord sighed dramatically, and turned another gently sincere smile on Caduceus.

“You didn’t exactly come to us at a good time, but I’ve always admired your sense of calm. The way you just take your time and think about everything.” Something very much like a mumbled “someone has to” came from Nott’s direction, but the half orc gracefully ignored it. “You also do so much to heal us all, not just physically but emotionally. Thank you for always takin’ the time to touch base with us.”

Caduceus gave him a soft, if mildly confused smile in return, inclining his head.

“It’s my pleasure, Mr Fjord. You’ve all proven yourselves to be excellent travelling companions.” He paused, leaned over the fire to check the pot, and smiled. “Food will be ready soon.”

“Then this is a speed round!” Molly declared dramatically, clapping his hands together. “Do we do each other next, Fjord, or do we both do ourselves too?”

“Do each other, no one wants to hear you wax lyrical about your own dick either,” Beau called, grinning. Molly blew her a kiss and went to drape himself over Fjord’s shoulders.

“You’ve always done your best to be a steadfast and reliable friend. And I think recently we’ve all seen just how much you prefer running face first into walls, so thanks for that.”

Green cheeks flushed a muddy russet, but Fjord didn’t try to push him away. Instead he leaned back into the touch, taking more of Molly’s weight.

“As a true expert of runnin’ face first into walls, thank you.”

Molly chuckled softly and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

“My pleasure. I dunno what you’ve done to show me how much you care that Beau and Nott want to hear, though.”

Beau raised her water skin in a toast.

“Here’s to that.”

Fjord gave him a gentle nudge, snickering.

“Pretty sure makin’ it dirty’s cheating, Molls.”

With a dramatic sigh, Molly folded his arms on top of the half orc’s head and rested his chin on them.

“But it’s really my only talent. My favourite talent,” he corrected with a wink to Jester. The other tiefling closed her mouth and winked back, giggling. Turning his attention back to Fjord, Molly pursed his lips.

“Hey now, shouldn’t be that hard,” the half orc protested playfully, “I thought we had a pretty good time.”

“Well I know that,” Molly grinned down at him, leaning over so he could press a soft kiss to his lips. “Honestly, I doubt it was cuz you cared but I was touched you agreed to share a room with me for more than one night. That wasn’t exactly common.”

Ears pricked up around the circle.

“What did you do that night?” Jester asked, curiosity all but bubbling over.

Molly and Fjord exchanged grins, Molly’s sly and Fjord’s almost sheepish.

“Let’s just say I like pushing peoples’ buttons to see what they do.”

“We knew that,” Beau snorted, rolling her eyes. Molly stuck his tongue out at her.

Fjord tore his gaze from Molly with a half smile to grin at Jester.

“He does also sleep naked. It was a lil disconcerting the first night.”

“No wonder you’ve warmed up to Caduceus so quickly,” Caleb murmured, a slight smile on his lips.

Hearing his name, the firbolg looked up, confused.

“Do you guys not sleep naked?”

All eyes turned back to Fjord, whose cheeks were tinging brown again. The half orc shrugged.

“You get used to it?”

Bracing her hands between her knees, Jester leaned forward.

“Does this mean we’re allowed to sleep naked in company?”

“Not in the bubble,” Caleb cut across firmly, “you may not freeze but we will.”

“You can do it in our room though,” Beau added, not quite looking at anyone. Jester burst into giggles, leaning back to spill across her roommate’s lap.

“Well I know you don’t mind,” she teased, sticking a flower behind Beau’s ear too. Clearing her throat, Beau glared across at Molly and Fjord.

“This is a shitty speed round,” she prompted firmly.

For a moment, it looked like neither Jester nor Molly was going to let her get away with it. Then Fjord cut both off with a low whistle.

“Well alright then. Molly...” and then he paused, indecision weighting his words. There was definitely one occurrence which had showed how much the bloodhunter cared.

But no one really wanted to think about that.

He settled on

“Thanks for coming for me.”

Their eyes met for a moment, and he could see the understanding in soft red. Molly nodded silently, one hand rising to gently trace his cheek.

Nott broke the moment.

“Worst. Speed round. Ever! I’m gonna get more firewood, you guys suck.” And off she hopped from her log, stomping towards the woods.

Her announcement may have been influenced by running out of flowers to braid in Caleb’s hair. It might have been actual annoyance.

Either way, she was going. Molly glanced down at Fjord for a moment. Smiled and booped him on the nose.

“Keep going without me, I’ll go help.”

As he turned away, Jester made a noise of protest, only to be hushed by Caleb. Trust the wizard to have worked out what Molly was doing.

Smiling to himself, Molly lengthened his stride until he caught up with the goblin girl. Behind him, Fjord moved on, quickly recapturing all wandering attention.

Nott squinted suspiciously up at Molly, then back to the wood.

“That’s not gonna speed things up,” she muttered grumpily. Molly shrugged easily, nodding to the trees they walked through.

“Gonna speed this bit up, two sets of hands are better than one. But if you don’t want the company...”

For a moment, he thought she would send him back. She certainly considered it, but eventually she shook her head.

“No, it’ll go faster. Just make sure you pull your weight.”

“I always try to,” Molly protested, feigning great injury. It had the intended effect of making Nott snort with laughter, shaking her head as she bent to grab a stick.

Grinning to himself, Molly began searching for fallen branches of his own.

They worked in companionable silence for a while. Finding wood, occasionally discarding a bit as too punky or rotten. Nothing damp, which was a bonus.

Eventually, Molly broke the silence.

“I’m sorry, by the way. That you had to be there to see it.”

Nott froze, bent half way to reach for another stick. Molly glanced back at her, watching from the corner of his eye. He couldn’t be sure if she’d want anyone looking at her.

The moment stretched, long and awkward, and then she finished the bend. Took the stick. Kept her back to him.

“You don’t have to worry about me.” Her voice was tight, just a little choked. “We weren’t... close, like you and the others. You just focus on Caleb.”

Molly made a dismissive sound, adding another stick to his own pile.

“We weren’t fucking,” he corrected, deliberately examining the stick for any imperfections. “I still consider you a very dear friend. And I’m still sorry.”

Nott made a choked, broken little half sobbing sound. Stared at the ground. It was hard to see through the tears welling in her eyes. She tried to take a step forward. Jerked to a stop, wood spilling from shaking fingers.

Molly turned at the sound, half concerned and half waiting.

“Nott?”

The goblin shook her head firmly, wiping her sleeve across her face more harshly than necessary.

“I never lost anyone before,” she admitted in a whisper. “Never a friend.”

Molly took a step closer, and paused. Bent to set his own pile of sticks down, and sat on them. Almost lost his balance, too, but Nott didn’t notice.

“Yeah,” he agreed softly, “I think it was new for all of us.”

Something in his words made the rogue laugh bitterly.

“Not many die more than once,” she remarked dryly, shaking her head. Her eyes were wet again, and nothing she could do seemed to stop them.

Molly shrugged again, watching her closely.

“Guess the body got into the habit.”

That surprised another laugh from her, and she turned finally to face him. Tears made her lamp like yellow eyes gleam in the shadows of the wood.

“Why didn’t you come back?” The question was... tight. Squashed to barely more than a whisper. But there were no louder noises in their little patch of forest.

Molly almost shrugged again, but he caught himself.

“I don’t want to come back,” he told her gently. Hoping he could make her understand. “Not for more than this. I had a good life. Made good friends. Imparted a few good lessons. And now... it’s over. I can just watch you all carry on. It’s a bit of a relief,” he added with a dry chuckle of his own, “I wasn’t sure that what I was counted as a soul.”

Something that might have been laughter strangled itself in Nott’s throat. The tears were falling now, thick and fast and melting into snot from her nose.

“I think you’d have made yourself one if it didn’t,” she sobbed, taking a hesitant step towards him.

Molly held out his arms for her.

“I learned from a very persistent young goblin.”

Nott hesitated for a moment before closing the distance. Not sure if she’d pass through him, despite seeing all the others touch. Not trusting it not to be some kind of cruel mockery.

But Molly was still warm to the touch when she fell into his arms, thick and solid and as real as they’d always been.

They hadn’t been... close. They’d had their differences, butted heads more than once. Molly was never afraid to hurt feelings, though he did usually soothe them over. But for the most part, even when they’d fought... Molly wasn’t like Fjord.

He didn’t remind Nott of brothers who’d teased, bullied, chased her around all of her life. He wasn’t cruel for the sake of cruelty, and he never judged. He was about as trustworthy as a stiff breeze, but then, Nott didn’t trust anyone anyway.

And even when they’d butted heads, it had been... amicable definitely wasn’t the right word, not when Nott and Caleb had considered leaving. But Molly admitted when he was wrong easily, apologized, respected her in ways she wasn’t used to.

He didn’t recoil that she was a goblin.

And he was a tiefling.

Nott saw the looks he got. Molly knew what it was to be feared, to be hated on sight, distrusted and Other. Neither he nor Jester ever let it bother them, but... it helped.

Nott knew they understood.

And they accepted her with open arms.

And then Molly had died.

He’d been everything children’s stories suggested an older brother should be. Mentor, confidant, pain in the ass, but she’d never doubted that he’d have her back. He’d never let her.

There weren’t any words she could force out. But it was Molly.

He already knew.

And he held her while she cried, close and tight, rocking her back and forth and murmuring meaningless noises of comfort. If his own tears rose, he didn’t let them distract him.

Finally Nott seemed to be all cried out. Wrung out and empty, no water left in her to cry. Molly’s shirt was thoroughly soaked, both in tears and goblin snot. She tugged guiltily at it for a moment.

“Sorry...”

Molly glanced down like he hadn’t noticed, then waved it off with a grin.

“I can always take it off. I doubt anyone will mind.”

Laughing felt good. It helped to dislodge the numbness doing its best to creep around her heart.

“I might,” she grumbled for the look of the thing, but there was no heat in her words. They’d all seen each other naked more than once.

One long, knobbly finger found its way to the back of Molly’s hand, tracing the serpent tattooed there.

“I’ve missed you,” she confessed in a whisper.

Molly caught her other hand in his, leaving the other to wander unimpeded.

“I’m never far,” he told her gently. “And I’m so fucking proud of you.”

Large eyes narrowed, and Nott pulled a hand away to punch him in the shoulder.

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a kid,” she snapped, and Molly raised both hands immediately in unequivocal surrender.

“Hey, I’m talking about the stealing! Nothing else!”

She glared at him a moment longer, then nodded stiffly. A smile crept its way back across her face.

“Only from grumpy people,” she agreed quietly. Looked up and grinned at him. “We were fucking pirates.”

“You got ~fired~ from being pirates,” Molly cackled, shaking his head. “Fuck, I wish I’d been there.”

Nott hesitated a moment. Wasn’t sure if it was even necessary to tell him, or how he’d take it if it was.

“In a way... you were. Jester turned herself into you as a disguise.”

It was Molly’s turn to pause, unsure what to let show. The scowl snapped back onto Nott’s face, fierce and sharp.

“Talk to her,” she snapped, glaring daggers hard enough that Molly actually leaned away.

“I will, I will. I just... don’t know what to say.” A wry grin found its way easily back across his face. “But hell, I haven’t known what to say to any of you, and it’s gone fine so far. Not counting Beau.”

Which hadn’t gone all that badly if he was honest, but hey. The old, familiar dig made Nott smile again, and that was more than worth it.

The goblin girl shook her head, bending to scoop up her dropped pile of sticks.

“Find the words soon,” she advised, waggling a stick pointedly at Molly, “you may never get another chance.”

Hauling himself to his feet, Molly stretched until his back cracked before bending for his own.

“Wasn’t expecting this chance, but I’m not gonna blow it.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

By the time Molly and Nott returned to the campsite, the rest of the Nein had almost finished eating. Caduceus had a pair of bowls put aside for them, along with sandwiches.

The amount of fuss Molly made over the gesture brought a barely visible flush to grey furred cheeks, but the firbolg smiled quietly through most of it. Molly actually eating was a little more difficult, as as soon as he sat between Yasha and Caleb, Jester had her back pressed to his knees.

The only reason she wasn’t in his lap was basically because he still needed to eat, but he was hemmed in on three sides.

Beau contemplated taking her turn to stand behind him and rest her chin on his head, just to be a pain in the ass. Definitely not to be closer to him.

But they did also need to catch up on Fjord’s dare progress.

“He got through everyone,” Jester declared cheerfully, her tail curling around Molly’s ankles. She nudged against Caleb’s knees briefly as Nott wormed her way onto the stump beside her boy, but Caleb was already so tucked to Molly there was easy space.

Molly grinned over at Fjord, nodding.

“Do we get a recap? Or should I just finish on my own?”

“If you need help finishing,” Jester trailed off, giggling. Molly knocked on the back of her head with his tail.

“If I’m not allowed to make it dirty, neither are you,” he snickered as she tilted up to pout at him.

Beau rolled her eyes at the pair of them, waving in Molly’s direction.

“It was all very touchin’. Fjord’s still gotta do Nott though, since you guys fucked off.” It got her several sharp looks from the group, but Molly waved them off in return.

“I’ll start there, shall I? Nott, I’ve always been impressed by your bravery, and stubborn insistence on doing right by your friends. As for one time... well, there’ve been a few. Stabbing the baby manticore was a good one, but I think my favourite was when you followed that grumpy lady from the Cobalt Soul and put my lessons to work.”

Nott perked up at the memory, a grin slipping across her face and bearing sharp, jagged teeth.

“Yeah, that was fun!” And then her expression softened a little and one slim green hand patted Molly’s list.

“I’m still doing it. We only steal from grumpy people.”

For a moment, the spectre of tears hung over both. The memory of what was gone, what they’d lost, rose.

Then Molly pulled out another grin.

“Steal anything from Beau yet?”

“HEY!”

“Not that she’s noticed,” Nott giggled, rubbing at her eyes.

Beau turned and immediately dived for her bag, setting the rest of the group laughing. How much she was playing along vs how much she actually believed something was gone remained to be seen... probably by if she actually noticed anything missing.

In the meantime, Nott bestowed a sweet, terrifyingly gnarled goblin smile on Fjord.

“Now you have to say something nice about me too.”

Fjord pulled a face suggesting he was in great pain and had to dodge a rock immediately after. Settling back in place, he gave her an easy grin.

“No trouble at all, ma’am. I’ve always admired how you ‘n’ Caleb take care of each other, and how loyal you are to your friends. Hell, you’ve come to the bottom of the sea for me how many times? You’re an admirable young lady, Nott the Brave.”

There was a moment of silence; Nott clearly didn’t know what to say to the sudden rush of sincerity, and none of the others wanted to interrupt the moment. Eventually she nodded stiffly, fighting to keep a haughty expression on her face.

“It’ll do.”

Spreading his arms, Fjord burst immediately into wounded noises and the others laughed. Rescued once again from deeper emotional waters, the Nein settled around the campfire as Beau returned, her pack snugged securely into her arms.

Nott gave her her very best snaggle toothed grin and Beau swatted at her half heartedly before dropping to sit on the other side of Yasha. If asked, she’d insist she swatted at Molly on the way past for being an asshole.

Definitely not reassuring herself he was there.

Molly leaned briefly against Yasha’s shoulder, passing his now finished bowl down to Jester to put out of the way and grinned around the group.

“I suppose that leaves me with Jester, Caleb, and Yasha to do, hmm?”

Jester grinned, pretty much just tossing the bowl towards Caduceus’ feet and turning to rest her chin on his knees.

“Do me first,” she prodded, batting her lashes. Molly gave her a fond smile, one hand dropping to her hair.

“I’d say you’re the easy one, but none of you will be hard. Now you, Jester, I think my favourite thing about you... well, it’s always been the same thing. The way you accept the world so openly, always looking for and embracing new experiences. Even if you know you’re being conned.”

He tipped her a wink and Jester giggled, pressing a kiss to his knee.

“You had a pretty good con.”

It got her a tweak on the nose and then Molly tipped his head back, pursing his lips.

“There’s been so many times you’ve taken care of me, too. Healing, carrying us out of places, always sharing what you have. I think the biggest definitely has to be the time you helped me skin an alligator and lumped that slimy heap onto the cart. You wouldn’t have done that for just anybody.”

“Nope!” Jester agreed loudly, her face scrunching in disgust as she leaned away. Paused. Frowned. “We never took those off the cart.”

“Is this those slimy, horrible, rotten things?” Caduceus asked amidst the gagging and exclamations of disgust.

Fjord did his best to answer, his entire face pinched at the memory and doing his very best not to puke.

“Y... yup. We never tanned them either.”

“We are not trustworthy with skins,” Caleb announced solemnly, maybe just a little bit resisting the urge to grin.

“Shoulda fuckin’ sold ‘em in the swamp,” Beau sighed, bracing her hands behind herself on the log. The others made various noises of agreement and Molly turned his grin on Caleb, hand staying to stroke slowly through Jester’s hair.

“And you! Well, you’re very impressive, aren’t you mister Caleb? I’ve always admired your ability to read.”

There was a frozen moment, broken when Beau scoffed loudly and reached around Yasha to swat at Molly’s head.

“That doesn’t count!”

“I mean, you do read a lot, Caleb,” Jester mused, tilting herself back to bump against the wizard’s knee, arching her head back up to look at him. His expression was unreadable, blank and frozen.

When Yasha finally intervened in Beau’s attempts to beat Molly the tiefling rocked away, almost into Caleb’s lap before straightening to grin at him again.

“No, she’s right, I’m fucking with you. I’ve always admired your ability to commit. I’ve never seen you do anything half assed, even when we were just starting to travel together and we were all thinking of ditching.”

For a long moment, Caleb’s expression still didn’t change. He just... didn’t know what to do with that. He never knew what to make of compliments anyway, but he’d always thought of his stubbornness as a flaw... at least since he was Caleb.

He also tended to think of himself as a flighty little fuck who was only using everyone around him and couldn’t be trusted, but hell.

Molly wouldn’t lie.

Finally realizing the tiefling was watching his face intently, grin fading into concern, and jerked his gaze down.

“Thank you, Mollymauk,” he all but whispered, staring at his hands in his lap.

A moment later, a lavender hand covered his and a fall of deep blue hair spilled across his fingers as Jester stretched herself further into his lap.

“Are you okay, Caleb?” She asked quietly, lilac eyes wide and soft.

Caleb considered looking away, but couldn’t imagine looking at anyone else would be any easier. He did his best to give her a smile, turning his hand over to squeeze Molly’s.

“Ja. I just...”

“Suck at compliments,” Beau cut in loudly, rolling her eyes and stretching expansively. Taking the attention of the group.

A truer smile tugged at Caleb’s lips as their gazes left him. All except Jester, who pushed herself up on her knees and twisted enough to press a kiss to his hand before sitting once more and turning to Molly.

“Now do a time Caleb showed you he cares. But nooooot a sex thing,” she teased, singing the word as her tail curled around the wizard’s ankle.

The first he knew that she’d untangled it from Molly’s, but apparently the other tiefling had his tightly wrapped around Yasha. Not willing to be out of contact any more than they were.

Molly made a great show of thinking about it, pursing his lips and counting on his fingers wordlessly for a while. Nott threw rocks at him, which he ignored, and eventually turned a smile on the wizard again.

“Honestly, Caleb... you stayed. There’s a lotta pretty ways to say it and a lot of other little moments, bits and pieces, but it all comes down to that. You stayed with us, even when I was being an asshole, or Beau was a dick, or times got tough. You coulda disappeared into the night a thousand times. I wouldn’t have blamed you.”

“I don’t think any of us would have,” Fjord added quietly, staring into the fire.

Aware of the mood lowering again, Jester blew her bangs off her face.

“I totally would have and I’d probably have come and found you.”

“Jester!” Even Beau herself didn’t seem sure if she was scandalized or laughing, but Jester ignored her to give Caleb an entirely unrepentant grin.

This time, the wizard managed a proper smile in return, reaching down to flick the top of her head.

“I know. It factored into my decisions,” he told her solemnly as she rubbed the spot he flicked, giggling.

Molly gave them both an indulgent smile and a squeeze of Caleb’s hand. His other arm wrapped around Yasha’s shoulders, giving her a quick shake.

“And you! Well, how much have you told them of our adventures at the circus?”

Ghost pale cheeks immediately flushed as all eyes turned to Yasha and she stared down at where Molly’s tail crossed her lap.

“None, really... we have not been back together for long, and things have been... busy.” Her voice trailed off slowly, fingers trailing slowly up and down across lavender skin.

Molly chuckled and shook his head.

“Yeah, I saw. Busy bees. Okay, so first let me tell you how Yasha and I met,” he said, shifting just a little so he was still cuddled to Yasha but facing most of the group.

The barbarian’s lips quirked up into a small smile.

“He fell on me.” Her voice was a little louder this time, stronger and more sure. Nostalgia may have lent the words some extra weight, as did the smile.

Nodding enthusiastically, Molly draped himself across her lap.

“Spectacularly!”

***

The next few hours flew past in a blur of colourful stories and laughter. Jester, apparently tired of waiting, had knocked Molly gently from his spot on the log to the ground and planted herself behind him, demanding Fjord and Nott’s assistance in braiding his hair. Not one to skip a beat, Molly kept going, gesticulating and breathing his own kind of life into the tales.

Even Caduceus found himself enthralled, admitting around forty minutes in that he’d never heard of a circus.

The exclamations of shock and dismay were followed promptly by demands for a demonstration; the fact that neither of their resident carnies had performed doing nothing to lessen the enthusiasm. Without his swords, Molly borrowed some of the fruit to juggle.

Yasha refused to actually juggle tieflings, but she was more than willing to hoist Molly into the air and let him stand on one of her hands for a show. She was quite adept at hoisting him around, and more than willing to do it again.

Not willing to be left out, Jester turned herself into a copy of Orna and scared the shit out of Beau trying her own version of the fire act.

No one actually died, and Caduceus was thoroughly delighted.

On the plus side, by the time a round of healing spells had been applied and another round of similar stories, Nott knew what she wanted from Fjord and Molly.

“Dance for me! I want an interpretive dance of our adventures on this fucking boat!”

“Dibs on being Nott,” Molly called immediately, hurling his arm into the air and nearly taking out Caleb. “You’re clearly going to be the hero,” he added with another sweeping gesture that made Beau and Fjord duck.

Nott preened just a little at the words, puffing herself up. She’d mostly stayed out of the circus shenanigans (despite Jester begging to try juggling her) and had taken a seat on the tallest rock in their little clearing. It didn’t quite put her at human eye level, but she was up above the waist which was a nice change.

Fjord side eyed her, either for a joke or to see how mad she really was at him.

“Guess that makes me the bad guys?”

“All of them?” Jester wondered, pursing her lips and dropping back into a spot in the middle of the longer log. “There were kind of a lot.”

“Are you volunteerin’ to help?” The half orc asked, maybe just a little hopefully.

Jester perked immediately, paused, and considered the question, her lower lip pushing out in a pout.

“Oh, but I reeeeeally want to watch...”

“What if you have a duplicate join in?” Molly offered, grinning, “And then you can join in practice and watch with everyone else?”

The suggestion brought a grin back to her face and she bounced in place, clapping her hands.

“I guess we gotta start then!”

“I think you will have to improvise,” Caleb said quietly, slinking back towards the relative safety of the fire, “there are only four more hours before sundown.”

He may as well have stopped time. The entire circle froze, no one looking to Molly but avoiding it so hard that they may as well have been staring. The faint buzz of insects in the grass swelled almost to the volume of an orchestra.

Which left it up to Molly to break the silence.

Clapping his hands together, he pointed to his two dance mates.

“Alright motherfuckers, let’s do this. We’ll start with stealing the boat, Fjord if you could be the former captain, Jester, the guards rushing in?”

“Who gets to be Avantika?” Jester asked perhaps a little too sharply, and Fjord visibly flinched. Which he’d prefer was an open question, but Molly figured...

“Fjord’s the one with the eyeballs,” he said with a broad grin, shoulders settling with the half orc’s. Yeah, figured he wouldn’t want to see the pirate’s shadow in Jester’s eyes.

Awarding himself a ten out of ten knowing his old bunkie, Molly pressed on quickly.

“You’re probably both gonna have to be yuan-ti though for full effect, and I bet you could do an excellent rising water, Jester?”

The younger tiefling opened her mouth, closed it again, frowned and suddenly grinned.

“I have a few ideas!”

“You really have been watching us,” Caleb murmured to himself, gazing into the flames so he wouldn’t have to look at the others. Molly shifted enough that he could tousle his tail through red hair.

“Little known fact, there’s sweet fuck all for the dead to do if they’ve got no one to watch, and not much in the way of supervision. The Moonweaver seems to like my stories.”

And yeah, the name dropping got him a little extra attention, which was always the point. Molly tipped his audience a melodramatic wink.

“Story for another time. Who wants to be the Plank King?”

Both Jester’s hands shot into the air and then she paused again and turned, grinning at Fjord.

“Will you wear a hat?”

Fjord considered it a moment, dread and trepidation swirling in his head.

“Where would you find me one?” He asked slowly, which was a fair question. Not one Jester had considered.

“We can stick a bush on your head!” Luckily Beau was very good at improvising.

Or unluckily, depending on perspective. The baleful glare Fjord sent her didn’t seem to be doing any good so he sighed instead, nodding.

“Yeah, alright. But when I banish you you’ve all gotta do a dramatic reaction,” he added, sweeping the rest of the group a look with a hint of a grin.

Okay.

He might be getting into it.

He had a pretty damn good idea how to play the yuan-ti.

***

The performance itself was... a thing that happened.

Yup.

It occurred, alright.

About the best thing that could be said about it really. Not for a lack of enthusiasm, of course. It had been so fucking long since they’d done something light hearted, something silly and fun and without life or death consequences.

Molly, obviously, was a force of nature, all expansive gestures and some distinctly goblin-esque jolting. Jester was a happy, bubbly whirlwind, her duplicate spinning and menacing as best she could from almost eight inches below Fjord’s eye level.

And Fjord himself?

Fjord had never actually mentioned that he knew how to dance. Maybe not specifically interpretive dance, but he was graceful, athletic, and extremely good at embodying emotion in every line. He loomed, he swooped, facial expressions matching exaggerated gestures that took his whole body.

Motherfucker almost managed to elevate both tieflings to the level of art.

And then they got to the yuan-ti island and he dropped to the ground to do the worm.

***

There was some debate about going back to the inn versus camping out for the night; no one exactly wanted to share space, but even in this part of the world the nights could get cold. They’d brought enough food for a picnic, which could stretch to dinner if needed, but in the end it was the lure of hot drinks and the enclosed fireplace that won out.

The inn may be busier now than the morning, but they’d already paid for the night anyway and would be moving on the next day - better to enjoy solid, stationary beds while they had them.

While they were packing up, Yasha quietly approached Fjord. The half orc was busily stomping out the fire while others bustled around him. It took him a minute or two to notice her, but Yasha was always happy to wait.

“I know what I want from you,” she said quietly, arms already full with pillows and supplies.

It startled Fjord just a little; he wasn’t exactly used to thinking of Yasha as part of the crew even now, she had dipped in and out of their lives so much. And honestly, when he had, he’d assumed she’d be one of the people needing Jester’s help to dare him.

Yasha didn’t exactly give off an aura of fun.

Still, he paused in kicking dirt over the fire to give her his full attention.

“Yeah? Should I get the others?” He assumed whatever it was should probably be public, since all the others had.

But Yasha shook her head, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

“I want you to apologise.”

Dark brows drew down, tugging at the scar over one slitted eye.

“Then I feel like I should definitely get the others?” No point in saying he was sorry to just one of them, though he’d already said the words once. He was more than happy to say it again, and again if needed, over and over until they forgave him.

If they decided he was worthy of forgiveness. This fucking voyage had been... more than a lot.

And then the fucking dragon had happened.

Yeah. He was extremely sorry.

But Yasha shook her head again, her expression sharpening with intensity.

“Not just apologise to us, Fjord. To yourself too. You’re beating yourself up inside.” There wasn’t a trace of uncertainty in her tone and the bicoloured eyes fixed on his were uncomfortably knowing.

Fjord didn’t exactly want to think about why Yasha would be so familiar with that look. There was one part of it at least that they both were definitely still going nine rounds with themselves over.

And at the moment, he was just a little too stunned for deep perception. His mouth opened and closed a few times as he searched for words, trying and failing to find them.

Yasha shook her head again and rested a large hand on his shoulder. The warlock didn’t usually feel small, not unless he was next to Caduceus, but words and bulk combined to make Yasha almost tower over him.

“We all know you didn’t plan for any of this to happen. You’ve been doing the best you can to keep us all safe. It’s okay to acknowledge that some things have gone wrong.”

Unable to meet her eye, Fjord found his gaze fixed on pale fingers where they crossed his armour. They were strong, sure. Scarred. Like she’d been reaching through broken glass.

They also tightened for a moment when he didn’t speak, and he managed to look up. Not exactly at her face.

“What good will apologising to myself do?” Not exactly belligerent, not quite. He really did want to know.

Fjord’s methods of forgiveness usually involved a whole lot of self flagellation and nothing else.

He could catch her soft, sad smile from his peripheral vision, though.

“I’m told it’s the first step to forgiving yourself. If you find out what the next one is, let me know?”

And what else could he say to that?

So he nodded slowly, doing his best to think through the words. When she didn’t so much as twitch, he realised that yeah, she expected him to do it in front of her.

Well. It’d make sure he actually did it.

Blowing out a long breath, he did his best not to feel like an idiot.

“I’m... sorry. I’ve been too hard on myself. And I’m sorry for followin’ Avantika and gettin’ all of us into this mess.” Whether the latter was addressed to Yasha or to his dick was a question that almost pulled a smile to his lips.

Yeah, okay, he’d owed himself that apology.

He was somewhat surprised to find that the words helped; he really did feel a little lighter. It showed in the smile he gave the barbarian, mirrored in the one she gave him back.

“I’ll say it to the others again when we get back to the inn.” Didn’t seem worth trying to do it now. It wouldn’t be worth the delay, not when every second counted.

Speaking of every second...

“I think that’s everything,” Caduceus declared contentedly, hauling his pack onto his back. “Shall we head out?”

By the time Fjord glanced back to Yasha, the large woman was half way across the campsite, picking up a bouncing Jester like a planet snaring a small moon. Fjord grinned wryly to himself and shook his head.

Yeah, he hadn’t known what to say to her either. One last check to make sure the fire was truly extinguished and Fjord took a heaped basket of dirty bowls from Caleb, the wizard giving him a relieved smile as he shouldered the weight. It wasn’t a hugely long journey back to town, but it’d give him time to work out how to word a deeper apology.

Time for Caleb to come up with a dare of his own.

Time Fjord wasn’t going to get to use, apparently, as Molly joined him at the back of the march. Again, his absence was immediately noted, but this time no one did more than glance back and then turn back to the path.

Maybe Jester’d started the sing along with Nott to bolster the illusion of privacy. Maybe she just wanted to practice her dirtier sea shanties, interspersed with enthusiastic renditions and variations on Dashilla’s lament.

Either way, it sounded like it was coming from a long, long way off when Molly rested a slim lavender hand on his wrist.

“You’ve been avoiding me.” He didn’t sound hurt, or particularly judgemental, so Fjord pulled out a grin.

“If you mean I’m not fightin’ the others for your lap, I guess so?” He knew Molly’s answering smile so, so fuckin’ well that it hurt. Pulled at every string in his heart and made him long for the days when that sarcastic smirk was aimed at anyone else.

When he was in on the joke instead of the cause.

“And don’t think I don’t miss your lap,” Molly teased like he couldn’t see the pain in Fjord’s face, tail twining briefly between the half orc’s legs and almost tripping him, “but I don’t have the time to beat around the bush. Why are you hiding from me?”

Fjord’s first instinct was to deny it; to bluff, blow the whole thing off, and tell Molly he was imagining it.

But...

They didn’t have time. Wouldn’t have time ever again. A breath drawn in to start the defence blew out, taking all of his walls with it.

For now.

He couldn’t bring himself to look at Molly when he spoke, eyes fixed on the ground in front of him. The least he could do would be not to fall on his ass.

“You’re busy,” he said quietly, Vandren’s accent fading to be replaced by his own. If Molly noticed, he didn’t comment. A quick wave of one green hand indicated the rest of the group. “You’ve got a lot of people to say goodbye to, Molls. People who want every second they can have with you. I’m not gonna push into that.”

Whether Fjord could see him or not, Molly put enough emphasis into the eye roll that, pupilless or not, Fjord couldn’t miss it in his voice.

“And it didn’t occur to you that I might want some time with you?”

And it hadn’t. The realisation felt like a punch to the gut and Fjord nearly stumbled.

Things had felt... wrong for a while now. Wrong with the Nein, like he was separated from them by some invisible wall. A wall with the word “captain” on it. They’d all deferred to him readily enough, following his lead and trusting his judgement.

And if that wasn’t the whole fuckin’ problem. He didn’t trust his judgement. Couldn’t anymore, not since that first night of curiosity and impulse and the deep, abiding realisation that he had fucked up real bad.

And none of them had stopped him. Because he was In Charge. Because they trusted him, and he didn’t deserve it.

Didn’t deserve to take Molly’s attention away from them, not when he could so easily just shove down his own feelings and sink to the shadows. It could be a penance, part of him had decided.

Part that didn’t seem around now to explain itself to Molly when the tiefling called him on his shit.

Fuck, he’d missed the mouthy bastard.

Couldn’t help wishing that he’d been around sooner to tell them this was a dumbass idea and they should get off the fucking boat and go home.

Fjord wasn’t sure when he’d started shaking, but suddenly Molly’s grip had shifted, tail coiling tight around his waist and holding him close. Stumbling to a stop, he let himself turn into the smaller man and bury his face in his hair. Breathe in that soft, spicy scent. Feel the heat of his body even through armour and clothing.

Molly wrapped his arms around the man and tutted softly, rising on his toes to push his face back against Fjord’s. Not exactly a full tiefling headbutt, but not far from it. Didn’t seem to need Fjord to actually say that that was exactly what he’d thought.

“You can be a real dumbass sometimes,” the tiefling sighed gently, his voice as soft as his touch as he held on, “but I’m so glad you’re safe.”

The word cut like a knife and Fjord almost flinched, but pressed closer instead. Breathed deep, letting that familiar smell calm him. One hand slid open palmed up Molly’s back, searching for a heartbeat.

There wasn’t one. And that was entirely too fucking weird.

He managed to surface just enough to look into Molly’s face. To stare at him the way he’d wished he could have for weeks. The tiefling smiled back, but this was one Fjord had never seen before.

This smile was soft, and open, and sweetly, gently fond of him. Exactly what he wanted burned into his brain whenever he thought of Molly.

Although for aesthetic purposes, it couldn’t be as beautiful as how he’d looked in orgasm.

The thought dragged a smile to his own lips and he shook his head, unsurprised to find his voice shaking.

“Seems like we’ve been safe in spite of me more than because of me lately.”

Molly rolled his eyes, smile not shifting, and pushed up to drop a gentle kiss on the end of his nose.

“And you’re still missing the most important thing about that. They’re here. All still with you, no matter what you need. Just because you need it. No one’s going anywhere, and no one’s sorry we came after you. And you’ve never needed extra balls or some big ass snake to get that.”

Unable to stop himself, Fjord’s knuckles whitened in the back of Molly’s shirt.

“You went somewhere,” he whispered, voice hoarse. Not ready to deal with what it meant for the others yet. Not ready for the idea that he wasn’t disposable.

Molly couldn’t exactly argue the point, so he stroked gentle fingers through Fjord’s hair instead.

“I’m still here. Just usually a little more... intangible. And may I say I’m deeply disappointed you’ve not used those watery tentacles on Caleb yet? Seriously, I’m gonna need you to work that one out for fantasy purposes.” Changing the subject, kind of. Lightening the mood at least, and he succeeded in startling a laugh from the half orc, so it counted as a win.

“Molls, I’m trying to be serious,” Fjord said, doing his best to sound reproachful through his smile. Molly waved a hand dismissively, carding it through his hair again.

“I know, that’s the problem. You’re spending all this time trying to be Big Serious Fjord, someone scary enough to fuck with pirates and chase after some sea snake. You’re good enough already. We don’t want you to be anything else unless it’s what you want too.” He paused, gaze flicking between Fjord’s eyes, searching for some sign that he got it.

It would have been lovely to be able to just... believe him. A deep sigh welled in his chest and Fjord shook his head, burying his face in Molly’s neck again.

“I keep nearly getting everyone fucking killed. Nearly got Caduceus fucking killed, and for what? I don’t even know why we’re out here anymore.”

“Hard to get all the way back to land without the travelling,” Molly remarked dryly, tilting his head to give Fjord a little more room around his horns. “They were willing to go to Rexxentrum to help you work out this shit. Pretty sure the sea’s a whole lot less scary to everyone but the cow man. And you got answers! It’s a good thing!”

“The answers sucked,” Fjord grumbled, but he was having to fight to keep his mood and it showed. Molly worked a finger in the armpit of his breastplate to tickle.

“Answers always suck. That’s what you get for looking.”

Not that Molly’s philosophy of “just try to stay in the fucking boat” had gone any better in the end. Squirming away from the finger, Fjord managed another wry grin.

“So what do I do now?” It sounded more like a real question, so Molly considered it a moment before answering. Then reached up to peck gently at deep green lips.

“The same shit you’ve been doing. You get everyone home, and you play support for a while. Get the others where they’re going, wherever that is. Show them that you appreciate it and that none of this has been a waste of time.”

Fjord examined his expression for a while, torn between desperate to believe him and afraid to.

“It feels like a waste of time.” Which was kind of the heart of the problem. Even he felt like everything they’d done, all the shit they’d been through, had all come to nothing.

They’d found out who gave him his powers. And almost released a fucking titan and destroyed the world as they knew it.

He couldn’t go back, couldn’t unknow any of it, and he didn’t know what to do next. Not finish the unlocking, not even if the rest of the Nein would be okay with it. Fjord just... didn’t have the heart for that kind of callousness. Wouldn’t know how not to care about all the lives lost and ruined.

He fucking missed not knowing. Even the fear and the mystery had felt better than this self recrimination.

He was a chosen of Uk’otoa, and he didn’t know why, what to do, or how to stop.

He could feel himself beginning to spiral, to slip away. Molly pulled him back, grip firm.

“You wanted answers, Fjord. Now you’ve gotta decide what to do with them. But no matter what you decide, no matter what you do, you’re not in this alone.” Hands moving from hair to shoulders, Molly pushed him back enough to meet his eyes. “If you haven’t pushed them away already, they’re not fucking going.”

And that... that felt more like the truth. He’d done all he could to sabotage his relationship to the Nein; pushed them away, experimented with dark demi gods, gotten lost in chasing Avantika’s wildness even when every one of them told him it’d kill him.

Hadn’t actually killed him, though that was certainly more luck than his own work.

And he’d fucked that up too. They were still here, still willing to get back on a boat none of them knew the first thing about, despite a few weeks’ tuition. Willing to fight monsters and rock the foundations of the world because he just couldn’t make them not care.

All he wanted in the world was one more idiot to follow.

Alright, his hands were shaking again, and Molly pulled him back down into another tight embrace. Fjord let himself be held, didn’t know how he would ever manage to let go.

“I’m sorry Molly,” he all but whimpered against one lean shoulder, basket finally dropping from his spare hand as it clutched at the tiefling too, “it should have been me.”

The sharp smack on his ass should probably have been expected, but it still made his whole body jerk.

“The fuck it should have,” Molly told him sternly, brows drawn down into a scowl. “You’d have done the same for any of us. And I’d do it again without a single regret. You’re worth saving, Fjord. Don’t make me tell you again.”

There was more than a hint of threat in his voice, but Fjord couldn’t have stopped the smile if Molly had been about to run him through. It just... it felt right, and it hurt, and he’d missed the fucker so fucking much and he was here and calling him a fuck again.

“I wish I could make you tell me every day,” he told the tiefling softly, willing the words to carry through. To somehow convey everything he was feeling even if he didn’t know what half of it was.

Molly’s gaze softened and he shook his head, cupping the half orc’s cheek.

“So fucking listen to Jester, and Caleb, and Beau, and Yasha, and hell, even Nott’ll tell you in her own way. We’ll tell you until you believe it.”

Eyes pressing closed, Fjord pushed his face into Molly’s palm. Tried to force the whole tangled mess back down.

“Should probably catch up with them for that,” he mumbled slowly, not willing to look and see where the others had got to.

Molly’s thumb traced his cheek a moment longer, then his hand drew back. Stepped away, fingers firmly entwining with Fjord’s in a strong grip.

“Should indeed. No more hiding.”

Opening his eyes to the lowering sun was one of the tougher things Fjord had done over the past couple of weeks, which had been the worst of his life. But he still managed to bend and scoop up the dropped basket, stacking scattered pillows on top without releasing Molly’s hand.

“I’ll try.”

Molly rose on tiptoe to press a kiss to his cheek, still carrying absolutely nothing and making no movement to help.

“You’ll do fine.” And tugged him after the retreating form of their group, hurrying to catch up and make up time.

Fjord didn’t let go of his hand the whole way back.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As expected, the inn was much busier by the time the Mighty Nein returned. It seemed that yet more ships had arrived throughout the day, and while most were off duty that only meant they’d retired to the taverns for the evening.

Getting an actual table looked to be the next thing to impossible.

Well.

Getting a table by normal means.

Jester, chipper as a sunbeam, skipped her way to the largest table, closest to the fire.

“Drinks up,” she declared cheerfully, confused sailors cautiously obeying. And then she picked up the table and walked away with it like it weighed nothing.

Gaping behind her, a few opened their mouths to speak or protest. Then Yasha came over, glaring at the surrounding tables until their occupants slowly scooched them aside. Once they had a table settled neatly in front of the fire, they waved the rest of the Nein down.

Caleb was doing his level fucking best to hide inside his scarf.

“Why are they like this.”

Beau, much closer to drooling, shook herself.

“It’s fuckin’ hot.”

Something that very very possibly might have been a “ja” came from the depths of the scarf. Molly, grinning broadly and as likely to take it as a challenge as not, clapped both on the back and nodded to where Jester was now sat on the table.

“I’m sure we can buy a couple of benches from some of these obliging young sailors to go with that! Who wants to order dinner?”

Still on the tiefling’s heels, Fjord hesitated and looked towards the bar. It sounded like a captain job, but he didn’t want to go far. Not when he’d already wasted most of the day. Nott might just have glanced in his direction before sticking her hand in the air, waving them off and heading towards the bar herself.

“Make sure I get a good seat,” she called over her shoulder, wending easily through tables and bodies.

Molly slipped an arm through Fjord’s and Caleb’s after Beau ducked away, swinging at him, and made his way to the circle of disgruntled sailors so recently bereft of their table.

“Why hello there, ladies and gents! Terribly sorry for our young friend, perhaps a little gold could improve your evening?”

All ten brightened and Fjord reached for his coin purse, giving the group a smile of his own. Not as bright as Molly’s, sure, but decidedly winning.

“Perhaps five gold each could find you a spot at another bar?”

Both Caleb and Beau reached for their own purses but he headed both off, pulling the coin from his own funds. Better to get it over with as simply as possible. And best not to leave a chair unattended in the busy bar, so Beau, Molly, and Caleb got started moving them to Jester and Yasha’s little circle of space while Fjord paid off their eager friends.

When the half orc brought the last chair they needed (the other two being immediately swiped), there was a pile of gold on the table. He hesitated and Beau shoved it towards him with an unimpressed stare.

“Don’t be an asshole. We can all chip in for a spot.”

Fighting a smile, he scooped the coin into his own purse as Nott returned, hopping up into a free chair.

“They’ve got a pretty good spread, not as much as the carvery but it’ll do,” the goblin reported, nodding to Jester and Caduceus in turn, “fresh milk and no meat coming with it.”

“And beer for the rest of us?” Caleb asked quietly and Nott nodded cheerfully.

This time the shuffle of chairs had been more complicated; the round table forced more space between them than the rectangular one from the morning had. Caduceus had been more than happy so cede the space, taking the opposite point around the table from Molly and leaving his companions to fight it out.

He’d not actually expected Nott to join him, but she hadn’t so much as tried to scoot her chair into the clump as she returned. Beau too had accepted a little distance, aware of her more touch oriented companions and their needs.

For the first time Fjord was actually in the middle of it, tucked in close to Molly’s side. Yasha had the other side, chair pressed close enough that they were probably touching from knee to hip.

Close.

Safe.

Caleb had almost pushed his chair around the table to Nott before Fjord caught the back of it, pulling the human back in. Not replacing him. Making space for him. The wizard had hesitated before accepting it but only long enough to meet his eyes. Arms forward on the table, he could still take Molly’s hand if he wanted to.

It had taken a minute to persuade Jester to get off the damn table, but since they had food coming and they would lose the damn chair, she’d slid off for long enough to dump her bag on it. Then she’d piled into Yasha’s lap and dropped her legs over Molly and Fjord, her feet resting in Caleb’s lap.

There’d been a trace of a smile on the human’s face, one hand coming down to cup her ankle. He was still holding it as they settled, the fire behind Beau and Jester’s chair. All around them the inn still bustled, drinkers celebrating the holiday no matter how far they were from home.

None quite pushed into the personal space of the large table; Jester and Yasha had made quite an impression. They still had to almost shout to hear each other across far sides of the table over the ambient noise.

Which, realistically, was pretty much only a problem for Yasha, and she much preferred to listen.

Jester kicked her heels gently in Caleb’s lap, grinning across at the wizard.

“You and Yasha still need to dare Molly and Fjord,” she pointed out cheerfully, tipping her head back enough to gently butt her horn against the barbarian’s chin.

Apparently slightly surprised to be mentioned, Yasha started a little, then glanced across at Fjord.

“Actually, I already gave Fjord a dare...”

Which the half orc had actually forgotten the second half of, what with Molly distracting him and all. He straightened in his chair and cleared his throat, cheeks flushing.

“Right, yeah... and honestly I should be doin’ this more even if she hadn’t dared me. I’m real sorry for everything that’s happened. For chasin’ Avantika in the first place, for following her and putting you all in danger, an’ for not listening to all of you about how dangerous she was. I got... all tied up in this Uk’otoa business and I shoulda listened more to you guys than some mad pirate I just met. You never shoulda been scared I would really unleash some fuckin’ snake.”

He glanced over at Caleb, a small smile tugging at his lips.

“An’ I’m sorry for my recklessness. It means a lot that you backed me even when you knew better.”

Jester huffed loudly from behind him.

“NOT necessarily a good thing!”

Turning to her, Fjord surprised pretty much the whole table by nodding.

“Yeah. Came pretty close to fucking that one up really bad. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, Jester.”

The open shock on her face cut a little more than it should, but Fjord couldn’t say it wasn’t deserved. He’d not exactly shown more restraint in the Happy Fun Ball, and that had run them face first into a dragon.

Nearly killed Nott and Jester.

But then the surprise faded into a smile and she giggled, tugging an ankle back from Caleb to nudge at his thigh.

“You don’t have to be sorry about the rest, you know. We knew it wouldn’t be easy when we followed you.” She was clearly happy about the last apology, glowing from every pore, so that helped. Especially when he caught Yasha’s slight smile over her head.

On the other side of the table, Caduceus leaned forward with a frown on his face.

“Wait, did Yasha dare you to say something to us?”

A moment of extremely localized silence broke into relieved laughter, any solemnity left in the moment completely shattered. Judging from Caduceus’ expression that probably hadn’t been a conscious intent... but he was more than happy to have the effect.

Shaking his head wryly Fjord offered the firbolg a grin.

“Did you happen to catch any of it?” He called, deliberately raising his voice past the level of the room. Pleased to have worked it out, Caduceus nodded, folding his arms and resting them on the table before him.

“Most of what you said, yeah, but I missed what Yasha said. I think I can guess though,” he added, shooting the large woman an apologetic smile.

Pale cheeks pinked and she shook her head, leaning forwards just a little and raising her voice.

“I’m sorry... it is rather loud in here.”

“It is,” Beau agreed with a grin, stretching out a leg to kick Fjord’s ankle under the table. If she hit Molly as well, fuck it, that was just a bonus.

Any other complaints, or questions about why they’d come back at all, were cut off by the arrival of hot, steaming plates piled high with holiday food. Menagerie Coast holiday food, which meant that of the group, only Jester and Fjord recognized about half of it.

The fact that Jester’s immediate response was a squeal of glee and (probably temporary) dive to her own chair to eat was probably a good sign.

As most of the table tucked in, Beau carefully starting with food she recognized while Yasha and Caduceus just followed Jester’s lead and dived in, Caleb gave Fjord a gentle nudge.

“Jester is right, you know. We all knew before we came to Nicodranas that following your quest could be dangerous. This whole journey has been dangerous, and you have been the only one really providing any sense of direction. I do not think many of us think of where we’re going to go beyond the next destination.”

A slight smile tugged at his lips as he carefully lifted a chunk of hot, dark bread to pick at.

“You gave us... purpose. First to Zadash, and then down here. Now we will go to the next temple and you will have your reward. That is good for all of us, Fjord. But even if it were not, it would be enough that it is good for you.”

Green cheeks flushed an immediate muddy brown and Fjord nearly dropped his fork. Switching his gaze to stare into his plate, he swore he could feel Molly’s tail tracing its way gently up his back.

The tiefling kept his peace though, enthusiastically picking his meal apart and giving Beau a detailed answer on where she could stuff “do the dead even have stomachs”.

“Thanks, Caleb,” the half orc finally mumbled, immediately stuffing a massive bite of fish and sauce into his mouth like it might cover the words.

Only too used to awkward silences, Caleb let that be it, finally focusing on his own meal.

Frowning at it.

“What is this?”

Relieved by the change of subject, Fjord leaned over enough to point with his knife.

“This is a real nice, meaty fish called a tuna. You don’t see it much away from the sea but it goes well with the red sauce here, which is kinda spicy. I think there’s fruit in it, but Deuces could probably tell?”

Both men glanced to the firbolg, who had a plate entirely devoid of meat or fish, but with extra vegetables, sauce, and bread. He was quite happily swirling what looked like a mushroom through the sauce in question and paused when he noticed them.

“Hey, what do you guys think?”

Leaning a little closer to the firbolg, Caleb raised his voice a little more.

Beau and Molly weren’t exactly quiet even if both did have their mouths full.

“We were wondering if you thought there might be fruit in the sauce. You have been doing much of our cooking?” Which, honestly, didn’t mean much except that he’d been first hand tasting what supplies they’d been able to pick up.

The cleric licked his knife thoughtfully, examining the flavours.

“Could be fruit?” He decided after a moment, nodding and smiling like he had no idea and found it delightful. He probably did. “It’s good, though.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Caleb decided with a soft chuckle, dipping his bread carefully through the sauce and taking a large bite. He’d been trying a lot of new things while they’d been at sea, and none had actively killed him yet.

Passively... well, they had two clerics now. It would balance.

The combination was decidedly different from most of what he’d had before, but the bread was faintly sweet and complimented the sauce well. Seeing him smile, Fjord grinned and tucked into his own food.

It was... nice, being able to introduce the others to the special things he’d grown up with, seeing them enjoy the things he loved from his past life. Not that he’d been rich enough for much of them, before the Nein. If he’d known it could be this good he’d probably have tried to join an adventuring party sooner.

On the other side of the table, Molly and Beau seemed to have come to a truce. The tiefling leaned forward on folded arms, grinning around the table.

“I guess this means I gotta give a group apology too, huh?” He was trying for a light hearted tone, but the words sobered the mood immediately. Already done her food, Jester huffed and rounded the table to drop directly into Molly’s lap this time.

Molly was not done with his food and seemed a little surprised to have his chair summarily pulled out, but didn’t protest when she landed in his lap and burrowed in.

“You don’t have to be such a downer,” she pouted, resting a horn on his shoulder. Molly gave her a quick squeeze, an arm looping automatically around her waist.

“I’m sorry love. But I am sorry I left, too.”

“So let’s go find a really big diamond and we can bring you back,” Jester insisted, fingers gripping the front of his shirt.

Molly chuckled softly, his free hand coming up to cover hers.

“It’s not that easy, Jester.”

With a loud huff she pulled away and rose, storming away from the table towards the door. Molly barely hesitated for a moment to follow, winding his way through the tables.

At the table, Beau paused with her chair half pushed out, frowning down at Caduceus’ hand on her arm.

“What?”

Caduceus shook his head.

“Leave them be. They can sort it out.”

For a long moment, Beau wasn’t sure what to do. Finally she slumped back, scowling down into her plate.

“She’s not wrong.”

“She is if Mollymauk doesn’t want to come back.”

The glare Beau turned on Caleb would have curled his hair if she’d had any magic to put behind it. He ignored it, staring steadfastly into his own plate.

The rest of the table looked from one to the other, air thick with tension. Fjord cleared his throat abruptly and shook his head.

“While they’re gone, we should work out what we’re doin’ for the night. Don’t think we’ll all fit in one of the rooms upstairs.”

***

Jester made it out to the alley before Molly caught up to her, her breathing coming fast and sharp. The cold in the air didn’t sting her lungs, bit it still didn’t feel like enough. Like she couldn’t breathe.

When Molly fell into step beside her she didn’t even look at him.

“Where are we going?” The blood hunter asked lightly, like they were doing nothing more than going for a walk.

“To get a bigger diamond,” Jester growled, both hands clenching into fists at her sides.

Where didn’t come into it; any shops that had been open on the holiday would have closed by sundown, the owners turning to their own celebrations. But there had to be a jeweller somewhere on the island, or one of the ships would have one.

Somewhere. It didn’t matter.

She didn’t actually know how large she would need, or any spell which could bring the dead back more than a minute in. But Revivify needed a diamond, and the Traveler would tell her.

Sighing softly, Molly reached for her hand.

“Jester...”

“Don’t tell me not to!” She snapped, wrenching her wrist away. But Molly didn’t stop, catching her elbow instead to pull her to a stop.

And she let him. But she didn’t turn.

“Jester. A diamond won’t help.”

The cleric closed her eyes tight, hating the feeling of tears prickling in the corners. Taking her quiet as encouragement, Molly closed the distance, coming to stand at her shoulder.

“It’s been too long, love. The kind of magic it would take to bring me back now... it’s a lot. More than I ever saw in my life.”

“All two years of it,” Jester grumbled. She was shaking, could feel it, the only still place under Molly’s touch. Hearing him force a laugh didn’t help.

“More than you’ve seen either.”

“I can do it!” She protested, turning a burning glare on him. The sadness in his eyes took her breath away.

He did his best to paste a smile over it, taking both of her hands in his.

“One day, maybe. But we’ll talk about it again then, okay? For now, let me say goodbye. Because I didn’t get to beforehand.”

She pulled away again with a baneful scowl.

“You don’t have to say goodbye, because you’re not going! I’ll get a bigger diamond and the Traveler will tell me the spell and I’ll bring you back!” Her voice cracked at the end but she pushed past it, turning to walk even faster down the street.

Molly had to all but run after her, alarm beginning to show on his face.

Maybe he should have brought Yasha. Though he couldn’t have said for sure that the barbarian wouldn’t have sided with Jester.

“Jester please, listen... if you could have done it, the Traveler would have told you by now. Wouldn’t he? He wouldn’t leave you to worry like this.” It was a guess at best but he could only hope the name would calm her.

He wasn’t expecting her to lurch away like he’d stung her. But she stopped.

“He brought you here...” The tremble in her voice was almost worse than the yelling.

Hoping it’d dissuade her from running again, Molly closed the distance to pull her into a hug.

“To say goodbye. I’m sorry, but... this is all the time we have for now. And you can always give me an “I told you so” when you do have the power to bring me back. Won’t matter if it’s next week or ninety years for the spell.”

The tears streaking her cheeks when she looked up at him were at least more expected.

“You know what spell I need?”

Pressing a kiss to her temple, Molly tucked her into his arms.

“I asked when I knew I was coming back. Figured you would want to know.”

It dragged a watery smile from her lips and she leaned into him.

“I don’t want you to go.”

“I know,” he told her softly, one hand coming up to cup the back of her head, “but it really is okay. I’d rather go out trying to save a friend than die old and grizzled in bed.”

“There are some pretty exciting ways to die in bed,” Jester pointed out with a solemnity the topic didn’t usually get from her. Molly snickered anyway, pressing another kiss to the top of her head.

“That happen often at your mom’s?”

“More often than you’d think,” she admitted with the faintest of smiles, pressing her cheek into his chest.

Still no heartbeat, but he was reassuringly warm and solid.

Slowly she raised her arms to wrap around him in return, doing her best to ignore the way her hands were shaking.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered into his shirt as tears began to fall.

Molly made a soft, soothing noise, their tails coiling together as he stroked her hair.

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for...”

“But I do though,” she protested, her voice tight and wavering, “you wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for me. And you didn’t have anyone who could heal you. Any one of you could have gone down and you couldn’t get them back up. It’s my job to keep everyone safe-“ she choked off, words failing into an inarticulate cry as she clutched him tighter.

And okay, yeah, whatever this body was it could still register pain.

Not that he paid it any mind. Instead Molly wrapped as much of himself around the other tiefling as he could, rocking her gently in place.

“Jester... Jester, sweetheart, it’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong, love. And there’s not a possible world where I wouldn’t have come for you. For any of you. Just like I know you’d have come for me.”

He couldn’t be sure how much of the words got through but she was shaking almost too much to stay on her feet, clinging to him like a lifeline. Like she could bring him back just by wanting it badly enough.

And who knew; maybe in a year it would be possible. They were all growing at an almost startling pace and learning new spells pretty much by the week.

But it couldn’t be soon.

And he couldn’t make himself want that for them.

Glancing around, he guided Jester quickly over to a stack of crates by the nearest wall, lowering them both onto one about a foot off the ground. She took advantage of the change to lock her legs around him too, holding on with everything she had.

It gave Molly a better angle to rock her gently back and forth, humming into her hair as she sobbed.

Her next words were almost lost in tears and harsh breathing.

“If I’d been a better healer...”

Nope.

Nipping that one in the bud.

“You’re a great healer Jester. You got us all through so much, and we couldn’t have done it without you. Not even the best healer in the world can do something when they aren’t there.”

This time he was pretty sure she heard if only because she lapsed back into sobs.

“I should have been there,” she choked out the words and Molly gave her a quick squeeze.

“It wasn’t your fault, darling. You didn’t ask to get taken by slaving fuckwads, did you?”

He felt more than heard her shake her head, hiccups coming between heavy sobs that drowned out any words. Taking that as read, he kissed the top of her head.

“And you didn’t ask us to come after you. We did that all on our own, because we love you, and Fjord, and Yasha. And we weren’t going to just let anyone take you away.”

“But now you’re gone...” It took an effort for Jester to push the words through the mess of everything else in her throat. More tears, another gasping breath that didn’t reach her lungs.

Even saying the words made them too final. Too close to true, even when she was holding him tight.

Molly pressed his cheek to the top of her head, careful to keep their horn jewellery from tangling. There wasn’t much he could say to argue that, really. Not when any of the others said it. Not when Jester did.

But while the others had had their hardships, their tough times, had lost someone before... Jester hadn’t. She’d never had a wound her god couldn’t heal, never seen a friend fall that she couldn’t bring back. The same survivor’s guilt they all carried had tangled itself through the responsibility of being “the cleric” and twisted into something that choked her.

Something that wound tighter with every jab, every comment about being slow to heal.

Molly didn’t know how to tell her it didn’t count now. It had been easier with Yasha, with Fjord. There was nothing either of the two could have done even if they had been there. It was easy to remind them that’d he’d do it again in a heartbeat, that they were more than worth the sacrifice.

He’d have leapt into that battle for any of the Nein, face first with nothing held back.

Because they could leap into danger when they had a cleric at their backs. Could take bigger risks, trade caution for the decisive blows that ended fights quickly. Could worry less about protecting themselves when they knew Jester or Caduceus would be able to heal them.

How could she not have absorbed that?

All he could give her was what he had.

“I’m never really gone. I’m always keeping an eye on you, I promise. And it’s really not all that bad, being dead. I’ve managed to avoid all this Uk’otoa nonsense, haven’t I?”

Jester’s watery giggle was closer to hysteria than merriment, but it wasn’t sobbing and that was a start. Rocking her slowly, Molly let his fingers trace idle patterns across her back.

“You’ve never failed me, Jester. Never failed any of us. And I know you’d have been the first to come and get me back had our positions been reversed.” A tied first, certainly, since not one of the Nein would be left behind, but that wasn’t the important part.

When she finally managed to look up, scrubbing her face with a trailing sleeve, her eyes were puffy and almost purple from crying.

“I can heal people,” she pointed out in a rasping whisper, throat raw and voice still thick from tears, “you lot just came running in. Did you even have any healing potions? What if you’d ~all~ died?” Just saying the words visibly upset her, her tail twisting tighter around Molly’s.

He did his best to match her without a huge deal of success, brushing wet hair back off her face.

“But we didn’t. And they found you, and they brought you back. And I’m okay with that as a result, Jes, I really am. It means you’re okay.”

“But I’m not though...” she paused, swallowed, and took a deep breath. It felt like the first she’d had in a while. “I’m not okay. Not without you.”

Cupping her chin gently, Molly raised it until she met his gaze. She didn’t want to, eyes skittering across his face until finally their eyes locked.

“You will be, love. You’ve got all those other idiots to deal with. I don’t want you to be sad whenever you think of me, and I don’t want your memories of us to be sad. We had a fantastic time together,” he told her quietly, a hint of smirk breaking through at some very... specific memories, “and you’ve been very good at keeping that part alive.”

That made her giggle in spite of herself and she brushed fresh tears from her eyes with a gloved hand.

“The first thing I thought when I saw Caduceus was that you’d probably already asked to ride him,” she admitted with a weak attempt at a smile.

“I was definitely thinking the same,” Molly assured her cheerfully and grinned when she laughed. “When you do climb that mountain, plant a flag for me.”

Jester laughed hard enough that she had to hide her face in his chest again, shoulders shaking almost as much as when she’d been crying. Molly couldn’t actually prove that she wasn’t also crying, so he stroked her hair anyway. Just in case.

Even out on the balmy seas, the night of Winter’s Crest still got chilly. They were only a couple of hours into the longest night of the year, but a cold breeze was already creeping its way through the town. Shivering a little Molly gave Jester a gentle nudge.

“Speaking of that mountain, we should get back. Are you up for walking or do you wanna Send for Yasha to come carry us?”

In his lap Jester stilled, uncertainty filling every breath. Getting up meant returning to the real world, at least a little. More space between them. Acknowledging that they only had a little time left.

But...

It wasn’t fair to the others, to not be spending that time with them. They all missed Molly, bone deep and aching, and they were all thirsty for any time they could get.

It wouldn’t be right to keep him to herself, no matter how much she might like to.

And... in her heart of hearts, she didn’t want to. She adored Molly, always had, and they’d always been at their best when tangled with the rest of the Nein. When Jester was hurting she wanted everyone close, the comfort of touch and noise and love piling in around her so that at least she knew she wasn’t alone.

So she forced herself to nod. To straighten, and give him as close to a smile as she could muster. It felt terribly fake and unreal on her face but it would have to do.

“We can go.”

It held right up until Molly slipped his hand into hers and squeezed.

“You don’t have to pretend, Jester. Not for me.” He waited a moment while it faltered, then raised her hand to his lips. “It’s alright not to be okay. That’s how your friends know to comfort you.”

Fresh tears welled in her eyes and she wiped them away viciously, pulling away enough to stand... but not far enough that it pulled her hand from his.

“No one else is crying,” she pointed out, hating how sulky she sounded. Petulant. Like a child.

Rising after her, Molly tucker her into his side again and grinned, turning back in what he was pretty sure was the direction of the inn.

“I’m pretty sure Beau punches instead of actually crying. Her tear ducts are probably in her fists.”

Jester didn’t want to giggle. Didn’t want to laugh at his jokes when everything was awful and wrong. But she couldn’t help it.

It felt... like things just might be alright again. At least for one night.

Molly gave her a gentle squeeze as a reward, nodding towards the lights of the inn.

“I think the reason no one else is crying is because they don’t think they’re allowed to either. You could help by showing them it’s fine.”

Jester gave the lights a doleful frown, weighing Molly’s words.

“But I don’t want them to worry about me... not when we only have a little more time with you.”

As they drew nearer to the door, Molly dropped a kiss on her horn.

“They’re worried about you anyway. All tears will do is show them you trust them with your sadness.”

This one earned him a frown as well, and a pair of folded arms. Not even a tiny step away though.

“So why don’t they want to cry?”

“Dumbass ideas about machismo,” Molly declared brightly, pushing the door open. “You can join them if you want, I just want you to know feeling isn’t a weakness.”

Jester still didn’t seem to be convinced, but a genuine smile found its way across her face as they entered the busy bar.

The others had been busy while they were gone.

The night was still young and if anything, there were only more revellers pouring into town from ships and the rest of the island. But the Mighty Nein had acquired themselves four tables and laid them on their sides, legs facing outwards, to lay definitive claim to the spot by the fire.

The den inside the tables had been filled with the cushions and pillows they’d brought for their picnic, on top of what looked like most of the mattresses from their beds. Nott was sat on one corner with her crossbow, and while they were getting odd looks, the partiers were giving them a wide berth.

The goblin girl grinned and waved when she saw them.

“They’re back,” she called down into the nest and Beau’s head popped up, grinning widely.

“Hey guys! We made a fort!”

Molly stared for a long moment, unsure exactly what to make of this development.

Impressed.

He was so, so definitely fucking impressed.

Beside him Jester had dissolved into giggles, taking control and taking him by the arm to drag him over and in.

“That’s so cool you guys! It looks so comfy!”

Surrounding tables pulled back as fast as they could to avoid the two tieflings pulling through. Molly couldn’t imagine the bar’s owners were thrilled with the state of affairs, but fuck it, the Balleater would be leaving in the morning.

All they had to do was not get kicked out, and coin was good for that.

Jester hopped table barricade without a care, landing hard in between Beau and Caleb as they scrambled apart and burrowing in happily. A little more sedate, Molly took a moment to peer over the tables and pick his spot.

And, of course, climbed directly into Fjord’s lap.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” the half orc grinned down at him, offering a pillow, “Nott just went to bother the barman for some mulled wine, so we’ve got that coming.”

“Good, I’m freezing,” Molly declared dramatically, shivering and slumping down the warlock’s chest. Almost before he stilled Beau dumped an armful of blankets on top of him.

“Can’t have that!” She declared happily, scooping another double handful of cushions to add to the pile. Cackling along Nott hopped down from the table to join, snatching at any spare cushions she could get.

Even Yasha helped, taking the last pillow and holding it above her head.

Just who she was helping remained in question until Molly burst through the top of the pile and she placed it delicately on top of his head.

Somewhere below, a green hand emerged from the pile and flailed vaguely for help.

Not even bothering to stifle her giggles, Jester caught Fjord’s hand and hauled him free. The pile of bedding collapsed in his wake and Molly was able to disgorge himself, laughing and tossing pillows around.

“Alright, alright, I’m all warmed up! Now quit smothering me or I’ll think you wanna bury me again!”

There was a brief moment of silence... and then Nott grabbed a pillow and smacked him across the face.

“Quit doing that!” She commanded sternly, standing with her hands on authoritative hips.

Molly was already flailing for a pillow of his own when Beau snatched one up and beaned him across the back of the head.

“PILLOW FIGHT!”

**

The mulled wine was left outside the safety of the fort walls while the pillow fight raged. Caduceus slipped out to guard it, ready to cure any wounds or cancel any crits as needed.

He was very, very familiar with this kind of shenanigans from when his siblings were at home, and it brought a pleasant nostalgia to watch his friends waging full out pillow war.

Fjord was obviously a dab hand at pillow fights, snatching two immediately and dual wielding like an expert. Molly followed suit, though as the target of more than half the group he was being pummelled from all sides.

Nott, predictably, went full feral bastard goblin, using both hands to swing her oversized pillow as hard as she could. Beau would occasionally try and fend off an attack with one arm while flailing with the other, but she was clearly having fun. Jester was trying to triple wield, but the mechanics involved in getting both arms and tail going meant she was more an uncontrolled whirlwind of pillowy bludgeoning than a targeted strike.

Yasha had tried to escape, mostly bemused by the whole thing until a stray swat from Jester almost knocked her over. From then on out she focused exclusively on the smaller tiefling, trying to get past her mass of pillows to take her down and tickle her.

Caleb... if asked, Caduceus would probably have expected Caleb to avoid the affair, excusing himself with that small, shy smile to sit off to one side. But no, the wizard had gleefully snatched a pillow of his own to join in. Letting himself get lost in the fun for one night at least. Unlike most of the others he didn’t seem to have a specific target, or just contributing to the chaos; he seemed more intent on catching every member of the Nein at least once.

Beau, Nott, and Molly were easy, tangled in their war and occasionally catching an innocent in their crossfire. Jester and Yasha too were becoming distracted and the barbarian didn’t even seem to notice a sneaky wizard smack.

Fjord must have worked out what Caleb was up to, because now the two were slowly circling, pillows at the ready. It might almost have seemed serious, if not for the broad grins on their faces.

It made part of Caduceus long for home. Miss the brothers and sisters and their childhood so many seasons back. He found himself wondering where they were now, how they were faring on their own journeys.

Then Jester and Yasha put aside their differences for long enough to flop one of the mattresses over onto the other five. And then sat on their squirming bodies.

Yeah, he kinda missed Clarabelle.

**

Jester had to be bribed off the Nein sandwich when only Nott could wriggle her way free, but sending the goblin back to the bar for hot milk with chocolate seemed sufficient. It wound up being three when Caduceus and Yasha expressed an interest, and the ladies released their trapped companions.

Reorganising mattresses, blankets, cushions, and themselves took longer than catching the barman’s eye and by the time Nott returned they were about half way to settled.

Beau plumped a cushion and tucked it into a corner, turning the gesture into a wave as the goblin hopped up to sit on the edge of one of the tables.

“Think they’d do me a hot apple cider?”

“I think they’d try, but you’re gonna have to find out yourself,” Nott replied, nodding to the corner she was in, “someone’s lost a shoe.”

“It’s probably best if we leave all shoes on the side for now,” Caduceus mused thoughtfully. He was still off to one side, guarding the drinks while the others cleaned up. Firm principles of “well you made the mess” kept him out of it.

The others didn’t seem to mind and before long, Jester had kicked off her boots and burrowed back into cushions, grinning out at everyone.

“I’m good here.”

Flopping down beside her, Beau grinned and poked a finger into her side.

“If you don’t sit up, you can’t have your wine. What! It’s good!” She protested when Jester made a face.

“It’s not exactly hot anymore,” Caduceus told them, offering the tray across their barricade before climbing in. Beau shrugged, taking one of the mugs and downing a gulp.

“Doesn’t have to be, it’s got spices an’ shit in.”

“At least try it?” Molly asked Jester, reaching for his own mug. “I’ll finish it if you don’t like it.”

Jester made a few more faces then sighed laboriously, hauling herself back into an upright sitting position to take a mug as well. By now Fjord and Caleb had theirs too, the sailor obviously familiar with the drink and the wizard equally obviously slightly suspicious, sniffing at the still warm liquid.

Whatever he smelled couldn’t have been too bad as he took a long drink, both hands curling around the mug.

The last to take his, Caduceus set the tray down on the outside of the nest and took a seat, once again keeping to an outside edge. Tonight wasn’t for him the same way it was for the rest of the Nein, but he was still having a good time.

Beau and Molly took seats on either side of Jester, Caleb on Molly’s other side. Fjord hesitated for a moment over where to sit, which turned out to be long enough for a tail to curl around his wrist, tugging him to lay across all four. If he hadn’t already drained half his mug he’d likely have spilled it everywhere but as it was he was happy enough to settle.

Nott tucked herself close to Caleb’s side, angled enough that she could still see Molly and join in the conversation. Yasha was a little more uncertain, surveying what was left of the available spaces.

None immediately beside Molly.

Not until he reached out and scooped Jester into his lap, patting the spot where she’d been sat.

“Come on Yasha, cuddle up. I think we still have Caleb’s dare to do.”

At his name the wizard started, distracted from giving a slightly jealous look to Jester. But then, he was tucked as tightly to Molly as he could be, and it wasn’t like he’d be comfortable sat in his lap in a public space.

In private, though... if they’d be going anywhere private. Caleb had a feeling they’d be spending the whole night in front of this fire.

Moving again would mean wasting yet more time that could be spent holding on to Molly.

None of which actually helped him come up with a dare, he realised a minute later, cheeks flushing when he noticed they were all watching him. He gave Jester a helpless look and she beamed at him, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

“Aww, Caleb, I almost thought nobody would want my help!”

Staring into his lap, Caleb shook his head.

“You are very good at these things, Jester...” he said quietly, a hint of a smile curling his lips.

He’d always been useless at dare games. Competitive as shit, but entirely useless when he had to choose the dare. It was so much easier to be dared.

He was definitely surprised when Jester slid from Molly’s lap into his, wrapping her arms around his neck. Privately he hadn’t expected any of them to give up a chance to be holding Molly in any way.

The reason why became obvious a moment later when she nudged Molly with her tail.

“You go into Yasha’s lap, and we can all take turns snuggling you.”

“Like a tiefling teddy bear?” Molly snickered, already half into the barbarian’s waiting arms. Entirely unabashed, Jester just nodded happily at him.

“That way everyone gets a turn.”

Since he couldn’t exactly argue with that, Molly just cuddled into Yasha, grinning up at her.

“This seems fair.”

She managed a soft smile in return, squeezing him gently for a moment.

Meanwhile, Jester turned a grin on Caleb, draping her arms around his neck.

“Okay, now we have to think of a dare for you. Do you have any thoughts about what you’d like?”

The wizard glanced over at Fjord, a slight smile curling his lips.

“Nothing too onerous, I think? Nothing that we would have to move for,” he decided with a nod.

Fjord, about to slide into Molly’s vacated spot, gave him a nod of thanks and a grin in return.

“Much appreciated, Mister Caleb.”

And if Caleb’s cheeks pinked up just a little, they were in front of the fire. Surrounded by warm bodies. It was just a little toasty in there.

In his lap, Jester nodded very seriously, shifting cushions with her tail to make a little extra space for Fjord. He was just a little bulkier than Molly’s skinny ass.

“Just something little and fun?” She asked cheerfully, resting her cheek on Caleb’s shoulder. He nodded, arms coming up and around her automatically.

“Something little and fun,” he agreed, leaning into Fjord’s shoulder as the half orc settled himself. Jester kicked bare heels across his lap immediately, grinning up at him.

“Little and fun... hey Fjord, do you think you could identify all of us by our hands? With no gloves or jewellery or anything?”

That drew all eyes around to her again, and Fjord’s jaw dropped. Then he frowned, seriously considering before rising to the challenge.

“With my eyes shut, you mean?”

“Yeah,” Jester agreed happily, wiggling her fingers, “just by touching.”

Fjord considered it a while longer, then gave her a calculating grin.

“And what do I get if I can?”

“Our unending respect and admiration,” Beau cut in with a snicker. Her fingers may have found themselves playing with the spade tip of Molly’s tail, but she’d deny having anything to do with it if asked.

Fjord gave her a grin too, leaning around Yasha’s bulk.

“I think I could get pretty darn close.”

“Could you identify us by wet willie?” Molly asked with a decidedly wicked grin, utterly at odds with the light, innocent tone.

All Fjord’s attention immediately snapped to him.

“No,” he declared emphatically, not even remotely about to let that become a thing. Casting Jester a wary look, he was a little relieved to not see the familiar sunshine bright, bubbling with excitement grin on her face.

She might not go for it.

She had turned her cheerful smile on Caleb instead, wiggling her fingers at him.

“What do you think, Caleb? Have Fjord and Molly do a race and see who can identify us all the fastest? Or we could get them to do drinks service for us. Or let us paint moustaches and dicks on their faces. Or have to blindfolded paint each others’ faces. Or blinded feed each other pudding. Or-“

Barely restraining laughter, Caleb cut her off by pressing a kiss to her lips.

“I think the hands one is good,” he told her when she obediently stilled to listen. Immediately she was grinning again and kissed the tip of his nose back.

“Can we use your scarf to blindfold them?” She asked cheerfully, fingers of one hand tracing down to trail through the fabric.

Caleb hesitated a moment, then shrugged. He was wearing it more from force of habit than any need. It was easy enough to unloop it from around his neck and hand it over.

Fjord was beginning to smile again, looking around the group and calculating. Size alone was going to give him an edge, and he was pretty sure he could suss all of them out. Jester and Caleb’s hands were both intimately familiar and he probably could have picked them out by taste if he had to... which he would not be mentioning.

Caduceus would be a gimme even for Molly, Nott too. The only question would be speed on the other five.

“You wanna go first or shall I?” He asked, half turning to shoot Molly a grin.

Pretty much as soon as he shifted, Jester draped the scarf over his eyes and tied it tight.

“You!” She declared cheerfully, grinning at the rest of the group. “Okay everyone, get all your bits off your hands and we’ll sit Fjord in the middle. Should we spin you around, Fjord?”

Beau glanced down at her arm wraps and sighed, reaching for an end.

“If we spin you we’re moving all the drinks first.”

“Probably a good idea anyway,” Yasha pointed out quietly, taking her mug and twisting to set it down on one of the table legs.

Molly peeked over her shoulder to take a look at where she put it, pulled a face, and rose to his knees in her lap to put both his and her mugs on the floor just below the table leg. Then he returned his attention to his collection of rings and bangles with a weary sigh.

Fjord pressed his fingers lightly to the cloth covering his face, just to check he couldn’t peek out underneath. To precisely no ones’ surprise, Jester had a little practice with blindfolds.

“I don’t mind spinnin’ as long as y’all keep me from falling in the fire,” he decided with a trace of a chuckle. He hadn’t expected to still be playing these kinds of games in his mid thirties, but if he was gonna do it he couldn’t have imagined a better group to do it with.

Caleb glanced up, busy with his own bandaging, then gave Jester a gentle nudge.

“Perhaps you should go between him and the fire while he spins? Just to be safe?”

She was mostly done pulling her rings off, her gloves already stowed safely in the haversack. She pretended to consider it a moment, then kissed Caleb on the nose and rose, picking her way carefully around pillows and blankets until she was safely blocking Fjord from the fire.

“Okay, Fjord, spin away!” She called happily.

For a moment, Fjord considered trying to spin on his knees. Getting tangled in blankets. Probably falling on his ass.

Holding out both hands for balance he rose carefully and moved a little in the direction of Jester’s voice.

“‘M sorry if I fall on anyone...”

“We’ll shove you off,” Nott assured him brightly, her own jewellery already gone into various pockets.

Just the thought made Fjord take another step towards Jester and he almost came off the edge of the mattresses. Luckily she was there to catch him and right him, giggling.

“Careful, Fjord! Just a couple, okay?”

He gave her an nod, arms out again to keep his balance and began to spin. Most of the Nein were done or almost done disgorging themselves of their wraps or jewellery, gathering closer together in a ring. Glancing over, Beau waved Caduceus in.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.”

Caduceus looked around the group, glanced at his hands, then shrugged and scooted into the group. He couldn’t see how anyone could fail to tell his hands from anyone else’s, but that probably wasn’t the point. Jester guided Fjord down and into the middle, grinning at the others.

“Okay, you hold out your hands and I’ll point to people and we’ll put our hands in yours, okay?”

Fjord nodded, settling to sit cross legged with both of his hands out, palm up on his knees. The others shuffled around enough to make space for Jester to join them and the tiefling wriggled herself into a spot between Caleb and Nott. She considered for a moment, then grinned and placed her own hand in Fjord’s.

“Like this,” she mouthed, resting the back of her hand on his palm. Fjord’s hand closed around hers at once, slowly, gently, thumb and fingers stroking across her skin. After a moment he brought his other hand over, carefully feeling for the size.

The pad of his thumb brushed across her nails and he grinned.

“Jester. Easy.”

Stifling a giggle the tiefling pulled back, pointing around the circle to Yasha. The barbarian hadn’t actually put Molly down, and leaning forward meant that he got folded in half a little. Not that he minded.

Fjord took a moment to feel Yasha’s hand too, squeezing gently to measure the size against his own. He was a little quicker this time. A little more sure.

“Yasha. Next?”

The barbarian was smiling as she drew her hand back, both arms wrapping around Molly once more. Fjord was clearly getting into it and that competitive streak was showing.

Which, of course, just got Molly’s ramped up in return.

Predictably, the warlock had no trouble identifying Nott, Caduceus, or Molly’s hands, knocking all three off quickly. With just Beau and Caleb left...

Actually, that was a bit of a problem.

Frowning, Fjord turned over the hand currently in his palm. Definitely human warm, calloused, smaller than his own... fucking fucking fuck, he shoulda held Beau’s hand more. The callouses didn’t feel exactly like Caleb’s but that might just be because he was paying more attention.

He couldn’t remember if he’d ~ever~ touched Beau’s bare hands.

Sure as shit not in detail.

Seconds ticked by and he frowned, thumb running idly down the middle of the palm and along the middle finger. The hand jerked and a grin stole across his lips again.

“Caleb.” He could hear the smile in the wizard’s voice as he pulled his hand away.

“Ja.”

“Do I still gotta do mine?” Beau wondered, leaning back on her elbows.

“Might as well?” Jester offered with a shrug, grinning across at Molly. “He doesn’t know know he got the rest right.”

That made Beau snort a laugh and she flopped her hand into Fjord’s.

“Pretty sure I screwed the pooch on that one then,” she snickered, flipping down all fingers but one. Fjord’s hand curled around it and he laughed, pushing up his blindfold with a thumb to grin at her.

“You’re unmistakeable,” he teased and swatted her hand away.

Beau flipped him off with her other hand too and snatched for his blindfold, tossing it at Molly.

“Go on, blindfold him and we’ll give him a spin.”

The fact that Yasha didn’t so much as hesitate, tying off the scarf with the same confident expertise Jester had, raised a couple eyebrows. The large woman was still a mystery in so many ways.

And Molly was all too eager to bounce to his feet despite being unable to see. Jester rose with him before anyone else could volunteer, taking him by the shoulders to spin enthusiastically.

“Okay, everyone shuffle!”

The rest of the group froze, shooting each other perplexed looks. On her way around between Molly and the fire, Jester rolled her eyes.

“He’s just seen where all of you are sitting and he’s gonna know where the fire is,” she explained like they were all children. Not sure how much position would help but not willing to call her out on it, the Nein began awkwardly repositioning while Molly twirled.

It made it easy to shuffle a spot for Fjord, too, which did help.

Jester kept the other tiefling going until they were done, then guided him back down into the group.

“Okay! Ready to go?”

Molly nodded enthusiastically, rubbing his hands together.

“Just keep ‘em coming, I don’t need a break in between.” He was clearly already into it, getting hyped and ready.

Off to one side, Fjord stuck his tongue out at him.

**

One thing was quickly clear; Molly was not out of practice from being dead. Caduceus, obviously, was the easiest to identify; his hands were almost twice as large as Fjord’s, and furred.

Molly barely waited past the first brush of fur to call his name.

He knew Caleb, Nott, and Jester just as easily. Fjord gave him a moment’s pause - just enough to have to check his nails.

“Now that’s not Yasha,” Molly declared cheerfully, giving his hand a squeeze, “Fjord. Next!”

The idea that his nails were the only difference between his hands and Yasha’s made Fjord grin wryly, glancing over at the barbarian woman’s large hands. Alright, they both bore the marks of hard labour, but he had a hard time imagining any part of him being comparable to her. She was just so... big. Solid. Strong.

In the end Molly was definitely a little faster, not least because he cut down the time between people by prompting them to go faster and faster. Since no kind of reward had been agreed on, he cheerfully declared he’d be accepting one kiss from each of them as he handed back Caleb’s scarf.

Jester, laughing delightedly, pulled him into a deep kiss at once. It tugged him more than a little off balance but she kept a firm grip on the front of his shirt, keeping him upright. Before he could regain his balance she’d pulled back and passed him off to Fjord beside her.

The half orc grinned as he took over Jester’s grip, Mollymauk still overbalanced in his grasp, and pulled him closer for a kiss.

Leaning into it because of course he did, Molly cupped his face as he kissed him, trusting his entire weight to Fjord’s grasp.

Not like the man would ever drop him.

Fjord quite literally passed him on to Yasha, who was fighting a smile as she grabbed a handful of the front of Molly’s shirt.

“This must be some kind of fantasy,” she murmured, pulling him up to press a soft, sweet kiss to his lips. It wasn’t like the other two, open mouthed and immediately deep with the familiarity of those who knew his body well.

No, Yasha kept it gentle, a press of closed lips to lips and a soft hand in his hair. Bracing his arms on hers Molly chased her when she went to pull back, stealing another kiss and toppling more of his weight into her grasp. She took it easily but when he drew away she looked wrecked.

Pulling himself upright, Molly kissed away the tears on her cheeks. There was nothing he could say to help; in the end, he’d given her all the words he had.

None of them made it easier.

For a long moment it seemed Yasha wouldn’t let him go. But then she drew in a shaky breath and redoubled her grip on his shirt, steering him down in front of Caleb.

As the wizard’s fingers crumpled fabric, he gave Molly a shaky smile.

“You may need to do more work here... I don’t know that I can hold all your weight.”

Molly smiled back, butting his brow gently against Caleb’s.

“I have absolutely no problem being tumbled into your lap,” he teased before closing the distance for another kiss.

It seemed even Caleb wasn’t quite sure where the kiss was going for a moment; it started soft, sweet like Yasha’s. Then Molly’s tongue brushed his lips and his knees went weak.

It was so, so easy to open to Molly, to give himself up like he’d done so many times when the tiefling was still alive. To let himself taste what he’d thought he never would again. To feel that familiar brush of tongues.

Drawing back felt like having his air supply cut off, but Caleb managed it. Stole a moment to catch his breath, their foreheads touching. Forced a smile before pushing lightly on the tiefling’s chest, steering him down to Nott.

“No tongues,” the goblin warned sharply, catching Molly with both hands braced on his chest to keep him at a distance. He nodded easily, grinning down at her and spreading his hands.

He’d regained a little more balance now, and would probably need it.

“Never for those who don’t want them,” he agreed with an easy laugh, and when she nodded he leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek, then steal another from her lips.

She swatted at him as he swayed away, but she was grinning. It was soft, familiar, the touch of family and a love that went beyond simple lust. A love all the Nein shared, to one degree or another.

As Molly turned to find Beau, the whole group tensed a little. Molly himself tensed to spring, ready for another chase like their one in the morning. Even Beau tensed, clearly unsure herself what to do.

The moment she decided “fuck it” was clear on her face and she reached out lightning fast, grabbing the front of Molly’s shirt and yanking him in for a rough, chaste kiss. More slamming their mouths together than anything the others had, though she slowed enough at the last second that teeth didn’t actually knock.

A bit like a striking bird really, darting in for a quick peck and darting out.

“Don’t get fuckin’ used to it,” she warned him sharply as she pulled back, narrowed eyes daring him to comment.

And he was sorely, sorely tempted to.

But they didn’t have so many tender moments left for him to cheapen all of them. So he just nodded and smiled, turning his attention to Caduceus.

“That just leaves you, big man. How would you like it?”

The moment Caduceus spent considering, watching with his head cocked and a very faint smile sent a thrill through Molly’s spine. There was something... piercing in the expression, intense and stripping past every layer or mask he had. Like he knew the tiefling better than Molly did himself.

Yup.

Molly could definitely see why they all thought he’d wanna fuck him.

“Let’s see where it goes,” Caduceus decided, smile spreading as he nodded and beckoned Molly in.

Molly obeyed eagerly, shuffling across the mess of blankets and pillows on his knees until he was in front of the firbolg. Caduceus was definitely amused, a fond smile on his face as he reached out to brush his fingers over the front of Molly’s shirt.

“I believe this is how we start?” He might have been asking because all the others had done it; he might have been joking. He might have seen the way red eyes darkened with laughter and want and a teasing joy.

And he might have finally been warming up to Molly.

Not that it mattered as Molly leaned in, pressing their lips gently together in lieu of a verbal answer.

For a moment he thought that would be it; another chaste, gentle kiss, fitting for two who barely knew each other. Then Caduceus’ lips parted just enough for his tongue to slip through and Molly was more than happy to reciprocate.

By the time they parted Molly was grinning like an idiot, ruffling a hand through the firbolg’s hair.

“That was fun. Learned a lot from Caleb, hmm?”

Because the way Caduceus kissed... well. It was a little like Fjord, a little like Jester, a lot like Caleb. Molly knew all three intimately and couldn’t help grinning at those moves he recognized. Caduceus, entirely unashamed, smiled back.

“I’ve not had much practice until recently,” he agreed without an ounce of shame, “but I think I’m learning fast.”

“Real fast!” Jester agreed cheerfully, clapping her hands together.

“Faster than the service on the milk,” Yasha muttered, glancing around towards the bar. There were enough revellers still around that she couldn’t quite see through, all drinking and eating and talking loudly.

Singing had started in one corner though it hadn’t spread far yet, since the song seemed to be in a strange variant of Elemental that sounded like creaking boards and rhythmic waves. The inn was about three degrees past bustling.

Nott glanced around, half burrowed into blankets.

“I could go ask again?”

The barbarian hesitated for a moment, gaze drifting across to Molly. She visibly drew herself together and pushed herself up.

“No, I’ll go. Did you already pay?” Pausing for a moment beside Molly, she stroked her fingers through his hair for a moment. He looked up at the touch, a question in his face, and she shook her head slightly.

She had to get used to going without him again.

Nott was still watching her, her expression somewhere between wary and concerned. When Yasha raised a brow at her she shook herself out of it.

“Oh! Yeah, I paid for three already. Unless anyone else wants something more now?” She asked, looking around the group.

Beau raised Jester’s mug of mulled wine.

“I’m good for the minute. Don’t wanna get too wasted.”

This time no one looked at Molly, hard enough that they might as well have been staring. Fjord cleared his throat after a moment and reached for his coin purse.

“I suppose I could try a hot milk, if you’re already going?” He glanced into the purse, frowned, and pressed the whole thing into Yasha’s hand. “And for anyone else who wants some, on me.”

Yasha nodded, weighting the bag for a moment.

“Anything else?”

“See if they have any pastries!” Jester called cheerfully, crawling across the blankets to spill herself into Caduceus’ lap. “Just for snacking.”

“You’re insatiable,” Molly teased, poking wiggly fingers into her sides. Jester squirmed away giggling, pulling Caduceus’ sleeve over her face to “hide”.

Yasha waited a moment longer but when no one else seemed willing to comment she headed for the bar. There was something about her large, imposing figure that almost always meant quick service.

“She used to do this with the carnival,” Molly confided as she left, a fond smile on his face, “wouldn’t always step up or take charge, but she never minded going to be a looming presence to get things done.”

“That must have come in handy,” Fjord muttered as he watched Yasha go, a hint of a smile on his lips. Then started as his lap was suddenly filled with tiefling blood hunter.

“It really did,” Molly agreed with a chuckle, giving one of Fjord’s biceps a quick grope. “You’ll have to do it some time. For now, cuddle me.”

Fjord definitely did not need telling twice, a half smile on his face as he wrapped himself around Molly as much as he could. He buried his face in the tiefling’s hair for a moment, hoping to breathe in that familiar smell.

It was... just slightly off. But not enough that he wanted to look up. Not when he could take a moment and just hide from the world.

Around them the rest of the Nein continued to chat, Jester musing loudly over what kind of pastries they’d have on the island, Beau reminding her that they’d already asked at breakfast. Even Caleb got involved for a little bit to tell them about some of his favourite pastries his family had made for the holidays.

That was enough to drag Fjord’s attention back out; Caleb never spoke about his family. But he was now, a somewhat distant, nostalgic smile on his face as he tried to explain cinnamon rolls to an entirely enraptured Jester. She had just enough tact not to insist that Caleb take her home immediately, but she did firmly insist they’d have to find some to try.

Zadash would do.

By the time Yasha had returned with the drinks (remarkably quickly given how busy the place was), Beau had opened up too.

Winter’s Crest in her household had been a stilted affair apparently, her superstitious father filling the day with every obscure tradition possible and very little family or warmth. A smile did steal across her face when she described decorating the tree, though. It was the one family tradition her mother had always insisted they do together.

At which point Jester eagerly piped up about her own Winter’s Crest traditions with her mother, and the conversation spun on.

None of them wanted to dwell too long; to let pleasant memories be tainted by the shadows which all of them carried. And their group was diverse enough, from all across the continent that they all had different stories. Different customs to share.

Sat in front of the roaring fire, with mugs of hot milk and chocolate or mulled wine, for just a moment this was all there was. The rest of the inn beyond their table barricade faded away, even the occasional drunk trying to retrieve a table or stumble across nothing more than a passing distraction.

No one mentioned trying to sleep, even as the night wore on and revellers passed out or were sent home. Molly moved from lap to lap, having a good long cuddle that ended when someone had to move, or conversation shifted.

From Fjord to Caleb, on to Jester, even Beau tugged him in when he seemed ready to move again. Nott glared daggers at him when he suggested she might need to sit in his lap instead and he wound up side saddle across her, scrawny goblin arms wrapped tight around his waist. It looked utterly comedically like a mother and ridiculously large child, and set the group to giggles.

Finally as the inn fell silent around them, the owners packing up and heading for their own beds, the Mighty Nein ended up almost all cuddled in Caduceus’ lap. Jester had made her way there the instant Molly left hers, and just... casually accumulated the others throughout the night.

Caduceus certainly didn’t mind, propping himself up with pillows and accepting all of his friends into a long armed hug. Finally silence fell, leaving nothing but the crackle and pop of the fire, and the sounds of eight people breathing.

It was Beau who broke it this time, her voice almost aggressively calm.

“You could stay, y’know. You don’t have to go.”

There was only one person she could possibly be talking to, and Molly drew in a deep breath. Jester hid her face in Caleb’s scarf.

“I do though, Beau,” Molly told her softly, his own voice gentle, soft, and sad, “it’s not my call.”

“It could be,” Beau insisted stubbornly, frowning around the others at him. “You could ask the Traveler or the Wildmother or the Raven Queen to let you stay. Or hide. Who’d notice?”

Just the thought made Molly snicker, picturing the Mighty Nein even trying to go on the run from the gods themselves. No doubt they would do it; no doubt how it’d end up.

“Tempting as getting literally all of us smited is, it’s not that easy. And as charming as I am...”

“Even you are not that charming,” Caleb said quietly, his voice choked and thick with tears. One hand came up to stroke gently through Jester’s hair as the younger tiefling clung to him.

“Even I have my limits,” Molly agreed with a humble smile, spreading his hands wide.

“We could find a cleric,” Beau insisted, scowling into the flames, “someone really powerful. We’ve got connections now.”

“We’ve got a list of places we can’t go back to,” Fjord muttered almost under his breath. And received a sharp jab to the shoulder for his trouble.

While he rubbed it and feigned mortal injury, Molly took a moment to survey the group. Beau at least was resolute, and Yasha was nodding along. Whether or not Jester could actually breathe between her smothered face and Caleb’s white knuckled grip remained in question. Fjord... looked like he’d already given up.

Well.

Time for the trump card.

“We don’t really know that it’d be me who’d come back.”

The words opened another silence, horrible, yawning, and resonant while they all contemplated them. Molly forced himself to continue, burrowing deeper into the group embrace and back into Fjord’s arms.

“We don’t know if you’d get the original inhabitant of the body back, or me, or someone entirely new. And I don’t... I don’t want to find out. I don’t want to see someone else walking around in my skin, talking to my friends, taking pieces of my life. I’m the only Mollymauk Tealeaf... and I was here. I was alive. I was enough.”

With a sob that was almost a wail Jester detached herself from Caleb’s grip, even his strongest grasp entirely unable to hold her, and twisted to bury her face in Molly’s chest. Tears soaked his shirt and he wasn’t exactly surprised to see Caleb’s eyes wet too. Reaching out a hand, he coaxed the wizard in.

“That is... a very selfish thought, Mollymauk,” Caleb rasped, though he still shifted his weight to press as close as he could. “What if we are not done with you? What if we are not ready to be without you?”

There was only one thing to say to that, and Molly drew him close for a kiss before responding.

“You’ve been without me for weeks, love. You’re doing fine.”

“We’re not though,” Jester whimpered, and Caduceus managed to juggle all seven in his arms enough to squeeze. It startled a giggle from her, and several gasps or exclamations.

Molly shot the firbolg a thankful smile. No surprise he was good with grief.

“So you do it. Work real hard, and when the time comes... I wouldn’t trust anyone but you to pull the real me back. But that’s going to take a long ass time, and I don’t want you all to spend your time sad just because I’m not there. You’ve got to move on and live your own lives, and then maybe some day when we can be together again we will be, and maybe we won’t. But you’re not doing me any favours by moping around and missing me.”

His tail coiled around Fjord’s waist, giving the large warlock a squeeze of his own.

“Makes for very dull watching.”

They could have ignored the way tears choked his own voice. Beau so clearly wanted to, fuming pressed between Yasha and Caduceus. But when Molly met her eyes she looked away first, glaring down into soft grey fur.

Spreading his arms as wide as he could, Molly did his best to get as many of them in as possible for a squeeze of his own.

“Now come on, not everyone gets to throw their own celebration of life. Let’s not get lost in the tears, yes? We have a few hours left, don’t we Caleb?”

Startled by the question, the wizard actually had to think about it for a moment.

“Three,” he managed to whisper, not able to meet Molly’s gaze.

The tiefling grinned but before he could speak Fjord cut him off.

“We’re not havin’ an orgy in your last hours, Molly.” Even doing his best to sound serious, the laughter cut through, and Molly’s loud, indignant response made it impossible to hold back.

“Whatever happened to a final request!”

It wasn’t... happy laughter, not full of joy, but it was a release. A way to let out all the tension, the emotional build up into something other than tears.

Caduceus watched the rest of the Nein break down laughing with mild confusion, not sure what was going on. He knew all about grief, certainly, and the myriad ways it presented itself. But that did also mean he had to know.

“Is this something we’re actually considering?” Not because he was against it, mind you.

It didn’t seem to matter, though, because the question caused the whole pile to laugh even harder, even as Beau did her best to sputter an indignant response.

Caduceus decided to put it down as a Molly thing. There were a lot of Molly things, and he hadn’t understood half of them so far.

**

Quiet fell again as dawn approached. It started with Caleb, who always knew the time. When he began glancing towards the windows in between conversation, the others began to notice.

Fjord gripped Molly tighter and fell silent. Nott, in contrast, got louder, trying to distract herself and the others by explaining to Molly about the drugged fruit she and Caleb had eaten to solve a temple puzzle. Jester did her best to keep it going, but for once in her life she was also lost for words.

Finally all of them were silent, each holding on to whatever part of Molly they could reach as colour began creeping through the sky.

Eventually the tiefling sighed and straightened as much as he could, patting Caleb and Nott on the shoulders.

“Time to go.”

There were... less tears now. With the immediacy upon them again, there just wasn’t time. The last few seconds they might get with Molly just wouldn’t feel right drowned in sobbing... there just wasn’t enough left to miss a second.

Not enough time to argue.

They all rose, carefully extricating themselves from the pile with as little trouble as possible to let him out.

Followed him to the door of the inn, pausing in front of the mist covered streets.

Jester was half expecting to see the caped form of the Traveler, but the shape stepping from the fog wasn’t wearing green. It looked like a half elf, with long black hair decked with beads and fine, black leather armour. He gave Molly a companionable nod before his gaze drifted across the others.

“These your friends, then?” He asked, voice tinged with an accent that none of the Nein had heard before, not even Fjord when he’d sailed all up and down the coast.

Molly just grinned, taking one last look at the Nein, his eyes full of love and sadness.

“Yeah. They’re a good bunch.”

Beau grumbled something under her breath and Fjord stomped on her foot without looking down. The half elf laughed, the sound so much warmer than any of them would have imagined.

“Well, make it quick then. Time for one last goodbye.”

There was something wistful in his voice, a sadness in his eyes as he looked... more past than at them. Like he was seeing something else, a long way off.

Jester leaned towards Molly and stage whispered,

“Who’s he?”

It seemed to snap the tiefling out of a revery of his own and he turned a smile on her, gathering her into his arms.

“A new friend. He’s been enjoying watching your adventures too.” He dropped another kiss on her nose, then squeezed her as tightly as he could.

Jester allowed it for a moment, then seemed to decide it wasn’t enough and returned the squeeze so hard it lifted him off his feet. If he’d had breath to lose it’d be gone but he was laughing when she released him, pulling her back for one last kiss.

Then on to Fjord, pulling the taller man down and dipping him expertly before lowering his head for another deep kiss. One of Fjord’s hands came to his hair and for a moment, he wanted to hold on. To never let go. To force Molly to stay.

But then Molly was straightening and he rose, getting his own feet back under him.

Beau raised both fists as Molly approached her but he just laughed, arms spread wide.

“Hug me, you filthy animal!”

And after a moment she did, dropping the fists to pull him in for the tightest hug she could manage. It wasn’t as rib crushing as Jester’s, and Molly managed to match it, squeezing as tight as he could. Like it just might leave a mark that could still be felt.

Nott was next, looking shifty and uncomfortable as Molly went to one knee before her. There wasn’t a moment’s hesitation when he opened his arms though, and she was in them, holding on as tight as she could.

“Stay safe,” she whispered for his ears only, pressing her face to his hair. And maybe swiping a single shining chime from his horn.

She only stole from grumpy people these days, but Mollymauk... it wasn’t stealing when she knew he wouldn’t mind. Not now.

And when he pulled back he gave her a smile and pulled another charm from the other side to press into her hand.

“Keep the set.”

The half elf chuckled again, looking at Nott with a sharper, more familiar gaze.

“Not bad,” he noted, and for a moment she wondered if he’d seen her. Wondered how.

He sounded impressed though, so she stopped eying his shiny buttons.

Molly ruffled her hair as he rose, turning to Caleb. The wizard had his arms tightly around himself, but he still stepped forward when Molly came to embrace him. Leaned in, clutched at the tiefling’s back.

“I’m... I am sorry,” he whispered again, tears doing their best to choke him.

Mollymauk shushed him gently, pressing soft kisses into his hair.

“Nothing to be sorry for, love,” he murmured back, tipping Caleb’s chin up to press a soft, sweet kiss to his lips. “Stay safe for me?”

Caleb managed a jerky nod, clinging tighter for just a moment before forcing himself to let go and stand back. So of course Molly just had to pulled him back in, one hand in his hair to guide his face down for another kiss.

Caduceus seemed a little surprised to be next, surprised again to be included at all when Molly turned to him. But he wasn’t the sort of guy to turn down a hug, and wrapped large arms easily around Molly as the tiefling hugged him.

“Take care of them, big guy,” Molly told him cheerfully, leaning back just enough to be able to see Caduceus’ face and tip him a wink, “I know they’re in very capable hands. Just wish I had a chance to be,” he added with a dramatic sigh as he pulled away.

Caduceus considered for a brief moment, then smacked him on the ass.

“We’ll see.”

After all, who knew how long it’d be before they could master a strong enough resurrection spell?

Molly jumped about a foot but couldn’t wipe the grin from his face as he turned to Yasha. The barbarian woman didn’t even wait for him to open his arms to sweep him into a crushing hug.

His own arms came slowly up around her, one hand stroking through her hair as she clung to him. She was trembling just a little, clinging tight enough to break bones if that had been possible.
It took several long minutes before she was able to release him, but even when her grip loosened he held on.

“Stay strong, Yasha,” he told her gently, rising on tiptoe to press their foreheads together. “You’ve got a lot of people counting on you.”

“And who love you,” Jester cut in firmly, coming down the line to wrap the barbarian in a crushing hug of her own.

The half elf watched them all with a broad smile, his attention now more focused with them all. When Molly turned back to him he nodded, holding out an arm.

“Well, let’s be going then. She’s waiting for you.”

“I’ve got some new stories to tell,” Molly agreed, coming up to stand beside him. The half elf laughed, linking their arms together and holding out a hand. The fog in front of them began to shimmer, becoming hazy even by the standards of fog.

“I’ll say. Too bad about the orgy.”

And then the last sounds in the street was the echo of Molly’s laugh.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

For a long moment the Mighty Nein stood staring into the fog. Then Jester sniffed loudly, wiping her eyes and turning to Yasha.

“I told you we should have an orgy.”

Stifling a snicker, Caleb slipped an arm around her shoulders. His cheeks were still damp, but then, he doubted any of them had dry eyes.

“You have a gift for ruining the moment,” he told her fondly, then looked to Fjord. “Do we have a plan, Captain?”

Fjord seemed a little surprised to be asked, but he rallied magnificently.

“Back to the boat and on to one last temple?” He was expecting a series of theatrical groans, complaints, or a desire to just go home.

Instead the others all nodded, drawing themselves up and back together.

“If we push off this morning we get less docking fees,” Beau noted, rolling her shoulders, “the crew should be ready to go.”

“I’ll catch a nap when we’ve cast off, if no one else minds?” Caduceus asked and stifled a yawn.

“And then we’ll go and get you your super powers!” Jester cheered enthusiastically, linking an arm through Caleb and Yasha’s and hauling both around bodily towards the docks.

Fjord couldn’t help but smile as he watched her begin towing them off.

“All of you get some sleep. I’ll keep an eye on things.” It felt... good to be a member of the team again. To be part of the disaster that was the Mighty Nein.

Beau gave him a slightly sceptical frown, folding her arms.

“What about you though? You’re gonna need to rest too.” She was really leaning in to this first mate business, and Fjord couldn’t help but be proud.

He gave her a nod of acknowledgement.

“I just want to be sure the crew knows what’s going on and where we’re going, then I’ll come take a nap too. I’m sure Orly can keep an eye on things.” And... well, he wasn’t going to say it aloud. But he wanted to make sure they were safe.

They were still on the seas, still in his back yard, and for as long as they were he couldn’t help feeling responsible for them. Responsible mostly for whatever harm became them really. Seeing Molly again had reminded him of how high the stakes were. How easily someone could be lost if they were even a little careless.

Fjord had no doubt that if he tried to go to bed now, he’d just be tossing and turning for hours.

Beau squinted at him but whatever she saw in his face was enough to settle her. Finally she nodded, posture settling as her arms dropped to her sides.

“I’ll come check in though,” she warned him with a defiant raise of her chin, “make sure you go to sleep.”

Stifling a grin, Fjord tousled her hair.

“I don’t doubt it.”

“You sound like my mother,” Jester snickered, one hand raised to cover her mouth.

Beau nearly tumbled head over heels, thoroughly aghast at the words.

“What! Don’t say that!”

“Very responsible,” Caleb agreed with a hint of a wicked smile, watching the other human from the corner of his eye.

Deeply offended, Beau flipped him off. Paused. Frowned around at the group.

“Wait, that’s a good thing, right?”

“Technicallyyyyyyyyy,” Jester dragged out the word, giggling as she skipped ahead.

“It’s usually used that way,” Yasha agreed quietly, a small smile on her lips.

Neither seemed fully convincing to Beau, who huffed and folded her arms again.

They all knew what they were doing. All knew why. Trying to go back to normal, to use banter to fill the gaping empty space where Mollymauk had been.

And the bloodhunter had been right about one thing at least... there was nothing they could do but press on right now. On to see what the future held.

Some of the group had begun losing sight of it, bogged down in weeks aboard ship with nowhere to go and nothing to do, but as long as they were together the future held one thing for sure.

Alright, several things, because it was definitely going to involve violence, pranks, and danger.

But it also held hope. It had poured in along with the grief, into each of their chests. So long as they were together, so long as they were still the Mighty Nein, there was always hope.