The fire was crackling in the hearth at number seven
Tentacle Lane as Ellis, Siren, Annabella and Gulliver sat before it in the
Former Baron's mouldy armchairs, sipping tea.
The old man himself was in his laboratory, as indicated by the
occasional crash reverberating through the floorboards beneath them.
"This is just so excitin'!" Gulliver said with
genuine enthusiasm. Ellis was pleased,
but surprised by how quickly his typically morose friend had adapted to the
course of events. "I've never
actually been to a weddin' before, but now I can't wait!"
"I'm glad," Ellis said, "but you're sure
you're okay with it all? I know how...
well... this wasn't the way you wanted things to work out, was it?"
Gulliver gave Siren a furtive glance, then blushed. "Per'aps not," he conceded,
"but, then it's not like I 'ave any say in the matter anyway. I'm just pleased to see my two friends so
'appy together."
"You've grown, Gulliver," Siren declared proudly.
"I've 'ad to," he admitted. "Now, what exactly does this 'ole best man thing entail?"
"Well, on Earth the groom chooses a male friend or
relative to receive the honour of being best man. That friend then has certain duties to
perform, like making an amusing speech about the groom and looking after the
rings."
"Wise-crackin' and takin' care of loot? No wonder you picked a pirate!"
"And yet a wonder he picked you," Siren added with a grin.
"Yeah," Gulliver said, suddenly sounding
suspicious, "why did you pick me?
It was the lack of competition, right?"
"Not at all.
I've made dozens of new friends here at the Colony since you've been
away and any of them would have been fine, but... well you were the first
friend I made, other than the Former Baron - who I'm not sure really counts -
after Siren. We've had our differences,
but having you as my best man would really, really mean something,
Gulliver."
"Aw..." the lanky pirate replied before fading
into blushing silence for a moment. When
at last he looked up properly and met Ellis' eyes he added, "Thank you. When we were last all together I think I was
at my lowest point. I wasn't sure what I
should be doin' or what I was even for anymore.
It's been a tough year, I guess, but this... this is somethin' special,
so thank you."
"You're welcome Gulliver," Ellis replied with a
grin, "but you know that, now you've accepted, there's a lot of work for
you to do. You're part of the wedding
party now and there's a lot of planning and preparation that needs to be done
before we can hold it!"
Gulliver's smile slipped slightly. "Just 'ow much work are we talkin' about
'ere?"
"Don't worry, Gulliver," said Siren warmly,
"we'll all work on it together and we'll get it sorted in no time."
"Actually there's something we can all do tomorrow once
you're rested," Ellis said.
"Oh?" Siren and Gulliver both raised their
eyebrows.
"Yeah. Annabella
and I were thinking that we needed to work on some interesting decorations -
things a bit more colourful and exciting that what we could pull out of the
rubble here."
"So," Annabella continued, "I thought we
could go to the scrapyard in the Borough and see if we could salvage something
shiny!"
"The scrapyard!?" Gulliver asked in
disbelief. "But that's where we 'ad
that encounter with Adelbert! Why on
earth would we want to go back there?"
"Whilst that's true, Gulliver, I think it's safe to say
that we are not going to have any more run-ins with Mecha-Geists there,"
Ellis reassured.
"I wouldn't put it past 'im to be waitin' for us there,
irritatin' old man that 'e is," Gulliver muttered.
"After what happened with Lakhma, I really don't think
Adelbert Von Spektr, or any of the remaining members of the Noble Society are
going to be haunting an old scrapyard.
We'll go tomorrow, we'll look out some interesting pieces of scrap we
think we can work with and then we'll come home. You'll see!"
"Fine," Gulliver grouched, "but don't say I
didn't warn you!"
"Speaking of warnings," Ellis continued, his tone darkening
even as he lowered his voice, "there's something I wanted to talk to you
all about whilst the Former Baron is out of the way."
Siren and Gulliver shared a brief, puzzled expression, then
leaned in close. Annabella watched them
all intently.
"Go on," said Siren gently.
"I've been starting to worry about him for a while
now," Ellis began, "ever since we left the ruins of the obelisk, I
suppose. I mean, he's been great as a
leader for the Colony - you've seen that, Siren - but at the same time, there's
just been something... off about him."
"He's been more tired than I remember him being
before," Siren agreed, "but then, in a way, so have we all been. All that stuff with Lakhma took its toll
Ellis. I'm... I'm still having
nightmares myself."
Ellis nodded. He knew
all too well about Siren's nightmares and his own. One didn't face off against Elder gods and
their myriad, monstrous spawn without gaining a few mental scars to match the
physical ones, but he didn't think that was the core of the problem with the
Former Baron.
"I understand that," he continued, "but the
Former Baron has been making some very questionable decisions recently,
especially since you left. I mean...
just this evening I discovered he'd been keeping unfed monsters captive in a
collapsing old barn - and he couldn't even tell me a good reason for doing
it!"
"And then there's the pain," Annabella said in a
soft voice, yet all faces turned her way.
"What pain?" Ellis asked, concerned that the girl
was suffering in some way.
"Franck's!"
The others looked puzzled.
"He tries to hide it, brush it off as something minor,
like a bad back that day or... I don't know.
He always tries to make it seem small, but it's not. I've been watching him and it's not. He's in a lot of pain and I think it's
getting worse."
"But why wouldn't 'e tell you?" Gulliver
asked. "Why would 'e try to 'ide
it?"
"I don't know," Annabella replied, obviously as
worried at the implications as Ellis was.
"Well, what do you want to do about it?" Siren asked.
"I'm not sure," Ellis replied, shaking his head,
"I was... hoping you'd have some idea."
"Well... I can't make any suggestions just on what
you've told me tonight. I'll admit I've
seen Franck make some odd decisions in this place over the last few months,
but... well he's always been prone to that and I'm not ready to judge just
yet. Let me keep an eye on him for a
while and we'll see if he does anything else worrying, then... then I guess
we'll confront him about it."
"If you're sure... those creatures nearly killed me
this evening."
Siren's face darkened and Ellis saw a hint of real anger in
her eyes.
"Even so," she said more calmly than she appeared,
"we need to give him a chance."
There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other,
Ellis doing his best to read their thoughts from their expressions and finding
both comfort and worry in the fact that they seemed to mirror his own.
At last the silence was broken by a loud crash and then a
blast from the basement laboratory.
Gulliver was startled to his feet and Annabella rose instinctively.
"We should go see if he's okay," she said,
glancing meaningfully at Gulliver.
"Ah.." the lanky pirate replied uncertainly, then
glanced down at Siren and Ellis.
"Ah, yeah, sure," he amended."
"Thanks," Ellis said after them as they hurried
out of the room.
And then he and Siren were alone for the first time in
weeks.
"I really did miss you too much," she said,
focussing her gaze on his eyes and making him blush despite himself.
"I..."
She leaned in before he could say anything else, her kiss as
urgent as it was satisfying. She slid
off her chair and found her way to his.
There was barely enough room, but they made do.
"I love you," he whispered, "and I can't wait
to spend the rest of my life with you."
"Even here?" she asked, revealing that old doubt -
that Ellis might still want to go back to Earth - had not faded away.
"Especially here," he said, wanting her to feel
the truth of it, "home is here."
She wriggled around to face him, placed his hands on his own
chest and then hers on top, covering his heart.
"My home is here," she said with a smile, "everything
else is just the decor."
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