***Winner of the Wattys 2016 for Hidden Gems***
The Edgewise exists everywhere and nowhere. A sanctuary to all realms, should you find the door. Managed by one Macklemore Edgewise, proprietor, guardian of the between places, and barman of mystery...
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Mack leaned against the door frame to watch them. Three days after, the Edgewise still bore signs of damage, cracks that hadn't quite healed but from where he stood, he could tell the tavern would be just fine. The realms were another matter. Those wounds ran deep. He'd be busy for awhile, patching the holes Jacob left behind but, he had a feeling they'd manage.
"So wait, Cal is the bête noire and the Edgewise?" Ravelock hovered at his shoulder, nursing a glass of the tavern's best surviving rum. He frowned into his drink, an expression Mack decided he found somewhat endearing. Oh, bother.
"Haven't wrapped my head around it completely myself," he said with a chuckle, taking a swig of his own drink, a vintage cask the captain had generously brought from his realm to help restock supplies. It wasn't half bad.
A steaming cloud of spices wafted from the kitchen. Curry, she was making curry. Calponia leaned over a massive simmering pot, an apron knotted around her waist. Her curls were pinned back in a severe ponytail that revealed her serene face as she leaned over the bubbling mixture to stir. The stool wobbled beneath her feet.
Eugene shifted beside her, absently holding the back of her apron as she stirred, moving in perfect sync with her. The vampire was still healing; a faint tracery of scars ran down the right side of his body from hip to ankle and he used a cane to support his weaker leg. One the Edgewise crafted for him, an interesting gesture on the tavern's part.
Mack felt content watching the two of them. He couldn't think of two more disparate beings but they belonged here. He did notice the subtle shift in the kitchen's wallpaper, printed rows of sunflower blossoms. Calponia hummed as she stirred.
Mack mused they would run the tavern just fine one day...
Behind them, the tavern room was in full swing, bubbling with the raucous laughter of Ravelock's crew as they placed bets on an arm wrestling match between the Munch and Caliban. To their grand shock, the Munch slowly bent the burly man's arm down. Ariel and Lady Agatha were in deep conversation by the fire, Yosepf's mask rested on the table between them. Mack felt terrible she'd lost her stalwart companion but when he'd found the mask intact she'd snatched it from him, insisting the apothecary wasn't 'gone'. He'd have to keep an eye on those two.
The fire crackled. The lights shimmered overhead. He could feel the strength of the Edgewise chiming within him, bolstered by the energy of its patrons, and by the new barrier protecting its Heart. A piece of Jacob was immortalized in the foundations of the tavern for all time, however long that lasted.
"How, just how?" Ravelock leaned over to peer into the kitchen alongside Mack. "What does that make her lifespan? Does she have lifespan? Does she actually exist?"
Mack shrugged with a happy grin. "I don't know. It's a complete mystery."
Ravelock made a face. "That sounds like a terribly uncertain future."
"Yeah," said Mack, beaming until his face hurt. He slung an arm around the pirate's shoulder, amused as the man choked on his rum. "Looks like we'll have to wing it."
