#creative liberties taken with the timeline of Exandria

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There and Back Again

AO3

One thing that you learn when you live for a thousand years is that, yes everyone you love will die and leave you eventually, but sometimes they come back. She doesn’t know why some souls come back and others don’t. Maybe it’s a reward for doing good things? Maybe it’s because that particular soul is needed again?

Grog died in 846 PD. Killed by some kind of mutant lion-treant creature that was terrorizing a small village outside of Vasselheim. It was mutual destruction and both Grog and creature died in that clearing. When Pike found him a few days later, worried when he hadn’t come home, she found him with a smile on his face.

Pike and Scanlan’s youngest child, Groggie, was born in 868 PD. His given name was Reginald and Scanlan tried to get everyone to call him Reggie for short but, as he grew, people began to call him Groggie because he just reminded them all so much of their late goliath friend. Scanlan took him to a bar once to watch his big sister Kaylie perform and, long story short, his first word was ‘ale’. He was never the smartest gnome in the world, though Pike insisted he learn how to read, but he had the biggest heart. That was when Keyleth started to get suspicious. He was too much like Grog for it to be an accident.

Percy died of old age peacefully in his sleep in 882 PD. The entire city of Whitestone had a month of mourning with the Whitestone flag flown at half mast and the citizens of the city brought flowers and gifts to lay at the base of the clock tower he’d built. Keyleth used magic to keep the flowers alive for longer and Vex donated the gifts to a local children’s home.

In the year 1023 PD, Keyleth heard tale of a young half elf inventor living in Zadash with the crazy idea of a steam engine locomotive that would allow people to travel from one side of the country to the other in no time at all. Apparently he spent everyday for an entire year petitioning the local government for an investment and a team to help him build it and Keyleth knew only one soul in the world with that kind of annoyingly endearing tenacity. She only met him once, a dark haired half elf with blue eyes full of ideas and a heart that was a little darker than most people expected of someone so bright. 

She gave him all the money that he needed to start his locomotive and sent him funding for the rest of his life to create all the ideas he had, even the dangerous ones. By the time he died in the year 1181, he had more inventions to his name than any before him and all the biographies mentioned something about a mysterious benefactor who believed in him. He lit the world with bulbs of light and revolutionized land transportation and warfare and communication and all the books agreed that he couldn't have done any of it without the nameless benefactor’s funding and encouragement.

He called her Auntie Kiki in his letters and it made her cry every time.

Scanlan died in the year 1187 PD. His last words were a joke about how he hadn’t expected to live for so long because he’d always expected Pike to kill him a long time ago. She didn’t laugh but the look she gave him, slightly dubious despite the tears running down her face, made him wheeze in laughter.

In the year 102 AR (Age of Resurgence) Keyleth heard a deep, half-orc voice on the radio singing the story of Vox Machina. Most tellings of the story were dark and sad and played up the tragedy of it all and after awhile she couldn’t stand to listen to them. But this storyteller understood that Vox Machina had been more than heroes, they’d been a family. She laughed at his jokes and listened enraptured as if she’d never heard the story before and she cried when it was over.

She never learned his name, he went by a stage name on his radio show, but she was positive down to her toes that it was Scanlan’s soul back again.

Vex died in the year 973 PD. She came to Zephra to die and Keyleth was never sure why. She’d said her goodbyes to her children and grandchildren, she’d said her goodbyes to the gnomes, and then she asked Keyleth to Tree Stride her to Zephra to die in the place her other half loved the most. Keyleth held her until it was over then she took her home to be buried next to her husband.

In the year 16 AR, Keyleth visited the Water Ashari to celebrate the completed Aramente of their new Heart of the Tides. She knew the moment she saw her who she was. She was a beautiful druid woman with dark eyes full of kindness and adventure who spent the entire evening looking for an excuse to wild shape into something with wings. Vex had always loved to fly.

She wasn’t sure when or how Pike had died. After Scanlan’s death she’d gone on a pilgrimage and had just never returned. Scrying revealed little, only that she was in a dark cavern somewhere in Wildmount. They held a funeral for her anyway and buried an empty coffin in the de Rolo family crypt.

Keyleth didn’t meet her again until the year 245 AR on her own deathbed. She’d come to believe that Pike just never would come back. Maybe there was something keeping her on the other side, maybe she came back but Keyleth just never found her. She wasn’t sure, but she hadn’t given up hope.

She looked up when the doctor came in, a young, white haired, red skinned tiefling girl whose cherubic face made Keyleth smile in her last moments. “Good morning, Madam Tempest. I’m your new doctor, Doctor Lavorre.”

Keyleth smiled kindly. “A new doctor? But I’m dying.”

The young doctor’s face turned down in sadness but her words were comforting. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

Keyleth chuckled. “Why? I’m not. I have lived a very long life, Doctor. It’s time to pass the mantle on to someone else. So, you’re a smart young woman, why did they send you to take care of a dying old woman?”

The doctor cleared her throat and met Keyleth’s eyes. “I am especially good at… bringing people comfort when they pass on. And, I’m afraid, your time is coming quickly.”

“I know.” She sighed but she was still smiling. “And I don’t need comfort. I’ve had a long time to think about this day and I’m ready.”

The Doctor hesitated, unsure how to handle comforting a woman so long lived and at peace as The Voice of the Tempest. “You are going to see everyone you love again,” she said. She must have seen doubt on Keyleth’s face because she frowned. “You don’t think so?”

“I… I am not sure which of them are on the other side right now. Maybe I will see them again. Maybe they didn’t wait for me.” Her eyes felt weak and fell closed. The doctor’s soft hand took her own and squeezed. “And maybe I’ll come back as someone else too. I think I’d make a good goliath.” She laughed at her own private joke and the doctor started rubbing the back of her hand with her thumb. The doctor stayed with her in silence for an hour and she whispered “Thanks Pikie” as she faded away.