Tongue of the wise ones you must seek.

"Ackbl nda itewh ixedm ogethert in armonyh.

Erewh ereth is ackbl ereth is itewh, nda erewh ereth is itewh ereth is ackbl.

Ouy illw indf eth neo ithw othb ereth."

 

---

 

frux | value

 

 

The rising Sun’s beams hit Jongdae’s eyes and awoke him from his slumber. He yawned and smacked his lips a few times. The deck was empty, and Jongdae felt incredibly bored. At least during the night, he could admire the moon and the stars. During the day however, he had nothing to look up at.

 

It wasn’t until a couple hours later that Baekhyun strolled onto the deck with Cirrus behind him. He grinned at the pair, and chimed, “Good morning! The weather is lovely today, isn’t it?”

 

Weather. That’s what friends talk about, right? Jongdae asked himself.

 

“Yes, it’s just the perfect temperature for translating ancient texts,” Baekhyun said sarcastically.

 

“Good morning, Jongdae,” Cirrus greeted the troll.

 

Baekhyun walked behind Jongdae and withdrew his sword. He swung his rapier at the ropes and cut them with ease. The ropes fell to the ground, and Jongdae shimmied the cut pieces off of him. He took a step forward and stretched in place.

 

“I didn’t think you’d let me go so quickly,” Jongdae said to Baekhyun.

 

The captain shrugged and sheathed his sword. “You won’t run away.”

 

“How do you know that?” he asked mischievously.

 

“Well, if you did then you’d be making the princess upset,” he replied mockingly.

 

Princess, thought Cirrus. Last night, Baekhyun had used her name. She admitted him using her name was a little out of the blue, and she wasn’t sure why he did it. But when he used her name, she felt a sense of liberation. It felt nice to know that she wasn’t just a “princess”.

 

So, why was he back to calling her “princess”? Would “princess” be a title that would haunt her forever?

 

“True,” Jongdae sang.

 

“Alright, come to my room. We’ll discuss the translation there,” Baekhyun ordered.

 

Baekhyun turned around and headed back to his room. Cirrus scurried after him, while Jongdae skipped behind Cirrus. When they reached the captain’s room, Jongdae ran towards the bookshelf and gazed at it in awe.

 

“Are these the books you’ve read over 100 times each?” he asked Baekhyun.

 

The pirate dropped into his seat and replied, “Some of them I’ve probably read over 200 times each.”

 

“That’s so boring,” Jongdae commented as he scrunched his face up.

 

“Yeah well now I have a new hobby that interests me even more,” Baekhyun told him.

 

Cirrus took a seat opposite to Baekhyun, and Jongdae slipped into the chair next to her. “What is it?” Jongdae asked.

 

“Figuring out where this treasure is,” Baekhyun said with a smirk. “And I can’t wait to figure out this next clue.”

 

He dug into his pocket and fished out the notebook that had contained the map’s translations. He flipped to the second translation and pushed it towards Jongdae. The troll examined the verse, even though he had already read it once before:

 

”Ackbl nda itewh ixedm ogethert in armonyh. Erewh ereth is ackbl ereth is itewh, nda erewh ereth is itewh ereth is ackbl. Ouy illw indf eth neo ithw othb ereth.”

 

“What does it mean?” asked Cirrus.

 

Jongdae turned to look at the both of them, and grinned. “Oh you’ll love this.”

 

“Just tell us the damn translation,” Baekhyun said impatiently.

 

Jongdae cleared his throat and spoke the translation, “Black and white mixed together in harmony. Where there is black there is white, and where there is white there is black. You will find the one with both there.”

 

There was a pause, then Baekhyun exclaimed, “That’s it?!”

 

Jongdae hummed a “yes” in response, and nodded his head. Baekhyun combed through his raven black hair, and groaned, “Great. More riddles. Why couldn’t this one be as direct as Luhan’s?”

 

The familiar name brought a wave of nostalgia to Cirrus. It had been days since the merman bid them goodbye, and she missed him dearly. Cirrus brought a hand to the necklace she wore, and clutched the strawberry blonde pearl that he had given her.

 

You’ll always have a part of me wherever you go, his melodic voice rang in her head.

 

Those words meant more to Cirrus than anyone would ever know, and it gave her the strength to face the future. He gave her strength, and she wondered whether or not she had influenced Jongdae in a similar way.

 

“Life isn’t easy, nor is it fair,” Jongdae said. “But there’s always a little bit of light in every situation. You just have to grab hold of it.”

 

The troll glanced to look at Cirrus and smiled at her. Cirrus smiled back, and felt a warm feeling of accomplishment in her chest. In that moment, she realized that what Luhan was to her, she was to Jongdae. It made her feel like she was one step closer to Luhan. She knew it didn’t mean much, but Cirrus liked to think that she was becoming more like the free merman who swam wherever he wanted to go.

 

“What does that even mean?” Baekhyun muttered. “Black and white? Where is ‘there’?”

 

“Maybe you have to look for the gray,” Jongdae snickered.

 

“Black… and white…” Baekhyun mumbled to himself.

 

“Yeah, mix black and white together and you get gray,” Jongdae told him.

 

“There… black… white…” Baekhyun continued to mumble. His voice was becoming softer and softer, and his eyes were locked onto the notebook in front of him. Jongdae? Could the riddle be hinting something about the troll? The troll was a hybrid, so he’s kind of like “gray”. No, the riddle doesn’t talk about “gray” – it mentions white and black separately, but somehow they’re in harmony? I don’t think it’s hinting at Jongdae…

 

Cirrus nudged Jongdae’s shoulder and stood up. “We should go,” she whispered to him.

 

“What? Are you sure?” he asked. Jongdae didn’t know Baekhyun very well, but in the few encounters he’s had with him, he knew one thing: the captain liked to tell people what to do. He could only assume that he didn’t like it when people didn’t listen to him.

 

“Yeah, when he’s like that not even an elephant can snap him out of his trance,” she chuckled. “Ardent told me that.”

 

“Oh,” Jongdae’s ears perked up at the bit of information, and his lips curled into an impish grin. The troll stood up and inched himself closer to Baekhyun. He brought his tail up to the captain’s face and positioned the tuff of fur over his upper lip.

 

“Every pirate captain needs some facial hair,” Jongdae said with pride.

 

Baekhyun swatted the tail away from his face, but didn’t look up at either of them. His eyes were glued to the notebook, and he wore an intense expression of deep concentration. Jongdae didn’t give up though, and continued to brush the captain’s face with his tail.

 

Baekhyun kept swatting it away, and eventually told him, “Why don’t you go do something? Like, outside of my room?” He still didn’t look up at them.

 

Jongdae wiggled his eyebrows and mused, “Like baking?”

 

“Mhm,” Baekhyun hummed.

 

“If I bake cookies, will you eat them?” Jongdae asked.

 

“Sure, yeah,” Baekhyun agreed without thinking.

 

“I’ll put lots of sugar in it,” Jongdae said.

 

“Sure, yeah.”

 

“So you won’t be bitter anymore.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Even though I can’t bake for my life, you’ll still eat them?”

 

“Mhm.” Baekhyun really hadn’t heard a word that Jongdae had said.

 

Jongdae wore a devilish smile and looked at the princess. “Cirrus, you heard that, right? He’ll eat my cookies.”

 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to push cookies onto him,” she laughed nervously.

 

“None of you are any fun,” Jongdae pouted.

 

Cirrus sighed and walked towards the door. She pulled it open and looked at Jongdae. “Let’s go,” she said.

 

Jongdae wanted to stay in the captain’s room for a bit longer, but he trudged his feet towards the door because Cirrus was leaving. They walked through the halls and out onto the deck. She spotted Ardent sitting on a crate with his feet propped up on a second crate. She walked up to him and he immediately brought his feet down when he saw her.

 

“Where are my manners?” he smiled at her charmingly. “Good morning, love.”

 

“Good morning,” she greeted him.

 

“You’re out by yourself today,” Ardent pointed out. Then he swiveled his head around her and spotted Jongdae squatting down and examining the cracks between the wood like his life depended on it. The blond pirate continued, “Well not really, but hey, at least Baek’s not with you.”

 

“Baek?” she echoed the nickname amusedly.

 

“Oh yeah, sometimes we call him that,” Ardent replied. “But he doesn’t care for the name very much.”

 

“Hm,” Cirrus hummed and stored the new bit of information in the back of her mind.

 

“So, how come you’re not with the captain today?” Ardent asked.

 

“He’s busy studying the new clue,” she replied. “He even agreed to letting Jongdae bake cookies for him to eat later.”

 

Ardent burst into laughter and slapped his knee. “Him? Cookies? Oh I’d love to see that! But what’s this new clue?”

 

As if on cue, Jongdae appeared beside Cirrus and grinned at the first mate. His eyes glistened in the Sun and he exclaimed, “Did you know that each plank of wood is exactly 2 mm away from each other?”

 

“No, I didn’t,” Ardent said in an unimpressed tone. “Don’t tell me that’s the clue. Is he speaking in riddles again?”

 

“Oh no, that would be stupid,” Jongdae waved his hand in the air.

 

“Really, I thought it was some useful information,” he said sarcastically and rolled his eyes at the troll.

 

Jongdae didn’t sense the sarcasm, and added, “This is the clue: Black and white mixed together in harmony. Where there is black there is white, and where there is white there is black. You will find the one with both there.”

 

“Who are we supposed to find?” Ardent asked aloud.

 

“I don’t know,” Cirrus said. “We don’t even know where to start looking.”

 

“Are you sure that’s the correct translation?” Ardent asked Jongdae skeptically.

 

“Of course! It’s not my fault you’re dumb and can’t figure it out,” Jongdae said with an air of arrogance.

 

“Oh, and you can?” Ardent scoffed.

 

“No, and I never said I could. That’s your problem, not mine,” he replied snarkily. Then, he turned to Cirrus and with a glisten in his eyes like a child asking their parents for candy, he exclaimed, “There’s a kitchen here right? Let’s bake the cookies!”

 

“Oh, you’re not serious about that, are you?” asked Cirrus.

 

“When am I not serious?” answered the troll.

 

“See, that’s why I’m concerned,” Ardent breathed.

 

.::.            .::.            .::.

 

Push came to shove, and needless to say Jongdae was both the pusher and the shover. Ardent didn’t know a person could be capable of whining for hours until he met Jongdae. Eventually, the blond pirate gave in and led Jongdae and Cirrus to the kitchen.

 

When they reached the small compartment in the back of the ship that the crew called their “kitchen”, Cirrus was surprised to see that they weren’t alone. Xiao Guang was sitting at the table sipping hot tea. As he moved the cup towards him, his arms curled and so did the black dragon tattoo on his arm. When he saw Ardent, he stood up and bowed at him.

 

“Good morning, Xiao Guang,” Ardent chimed.

 

“Good morning, Vice-Captain Ardent,” he replied dutifully, then sat back down.

 

“You’re the Vice-Captain?” Jongdae asked in disbelief.

 

Ardent puffed his chest out and smirked at the troll. “First mate, Vice-Captain, whatever you fancy, really.”

 

Jongdae slapped his forehead and exclaimed, “Ya’ll are doomed then!”

 

Ardent grumbled incoherent profanities and made his way to the stove. Cirrus could barely make out what he mumbled, “What do all these mythical creatures have against me?”

 

Xiao Guang turned to look and Jongdae and inquired, “What are you here for?”

 

“To bake cookies!” he chimed.

 

“Cookies?” Xiao Guang asked. For some reason, the sight of a macho man such as Xiao Guang saying the word “cookies” seemed funny to Cirrus, and she almost stifled a laugh.

 

“Yeah, they want to feed them to Baekhyun,” Ardent explained.

 

Xiao Guang grunted and continued to sip his tea, “Good luck with that.”

 

“Thank you,” Jongdae mused.

 

The troll went through their supplies and gathered the necessary ingredients. At least, he thought he had gathered the correct ingredients. Xiao Guang glanced at the counter and asked, “And why do you have soy sauce there?”

 

“For flavour,” Jongdae replied confidently.

 

Xiao Guang stood up and removed the bottle of soy sauce from the counter. “You don’t need that. All you need are flour, milk, eggs, sugar and butter. And skill. Maybe cinnamon if you want it. Clearly you’re missing one of the ingredients.”

 

“And what do you know about baking, hm?” Jongdae asked.

 

“A lot, actually,” Xiao Guang replied. He placed the bottle of soy sauce back in the cupboard and pulled out a few bowls. He poured flour into one of the bowls, then added a cup of sugar and some cinnamon. In a separate bowl he mixed milk, eggs and butter together and whisked the wet ingredients together using a pair of chopsticks.

 

“But Captain has never had my cookies before,” Xiao Guang said dejectedly.

 

Cirrus stared at the scene in front of her. A big, buff man who was literally twice the size of her and had probably 4 times her muscle mass was standing in the middle of a tiny kitchen preparing cookie batter. Xiao Guang caught her staring at him and cocked his chin towards the bowl of dry ingredients.

 

“Can you stir that for me, princess?” he asked.

 

Cirrus stiffened and she pointed a finger at herself. “Me?” He nodded his head, and Cirrus didn’t know what to do. She had never cooked in her life before, and even though the task was simple she was afraid she’d mess up.

 

“I wanna do it!” Jongdae volunteered and grabbed a spoon. He dug the spoon into the dry ingredients and started stirring.

 

Cirrus sighed in relief, and watched as Xiao Guang combined the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. He continued to stir the batter, and when it was done he brought out a flat pan and started spooning balls of it onto the pan.

 

The Asian pirate handed Cirrus the batter and encouraged her to prepare a cookie. She had watched him do it several times already, and with a shaky hand she scooped up a ball of batter and dropped it onto the pan. She flattened the ball with the back of the spoon, but it didn’t come out circular like Xiao Guang’s had. Hers was rectangular, for some strange reason.

 

She frowned at her cookie and asked Xiao Guang what she had done wrong. He chuckled at the sight of her rectangular cookie and said, “There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s beautiful.”

 

She felt giddy at his compliment and handed the bowl of batter back to him. Jongdae was leaping behind the Asian pirate, who was significantly taller than he was. “I wanna try too!” he exclaimed.

 

“No,” Xiao Guang replied immediately. “If you make one, Captain will never try them.”

 

“Okay,” Jongdae sighed.

 

.::.            .::.            .::.

 

Baekhyun hadn’t even realized it was past noon until his stomach started to growl. He clenched his belly and recalled he hadn’t had breakfast. It was now time for lunch, and he was starving. His head was also pounding.

 

He stopped studying the translations and got up from his seat. He exited his room and locked the door behind him, then made his way to the kitchen. He was expecting peace and quiet, so when he waltzed in on Ardent and Jongdae arguing and practically at each other’s necks, he groaned. In the corner of the kitchen he saw Xiao Guang talking to Cirrus, and Niteo was busy crouching down in front of the oven.

 

“What in bloody hell is going on here?” Baekhyun demanded.

 

Throb.

 

He rubbed his temples and clicked his tongue because his migraine wasn’t subsiding. He quickly added, “Actually on second thought, no one talk.”

 

Baekhyun walked to the cabinet and grabbed a slice of bread and an apple. He didn’t have much of an appetite and wanted nothing more than to go back to his room and think about the next clue.

 

“Hey Baekhyun, cookies are baking right now,” Niteo chimed.

 

“I said, no one talk!” Baekhyun snapped.

 

Throb.

 

He reached for his temples and massaged them again.

 

“Sorry,” Niteo mumbled.

 

“It’s fine, I shouldn’t have yelled,” Baekhyun sighed. “And why cookies?”

 

“You said you would eat them,” Jongdae said as he feigned a look of pain. “Did you forget?”

 

“When did I make such a ludicrous promise?” he scoffed.

 

“Before Cirrus and I left your room, but after I used my tail as a mustache for you,” Jongdae explained.

 

Baekhyun stared down at Jongdae’s animalistic tail with disgust and reached for his upper lip. He’d have to disinfect his face now. “I don’t remember such a thing.”

 

“You should pay more attention,” Jongdae mused.

 

A quiet beeping noise went off, and Xiao Guang quickly turned it off along with the oven. He slipped on a pair of oven mitts and opened the door to the oven. He carefully removed the platter of cookies from the middle rack and set them on top of the stove. Xiao Guang gingerly dumped the cookies into a clean bowl.

 

Baekhyun wasn’t sure if it was because he skipped breakfast, but they smelled delicious. He his lips and slowly walked towards the bowl of fresh cookies.

 

“Maybe one,” he muttered.

 

“I thought you didn’t like sweets, Baekhyun,” Ardent said with a gasp.

 

“I didn’t put a lot of sugar in this time,” Xiao Guang informed the captain.

 

Baekhyun inspected the cookies and one in particular caught his attention. The cookies were all circular, except for the one rectangular cookie that sat at the top of the pile. He didn’t have to think twice, and grabbed it. He bit into the steaming cookie and moaned in satisfaction.

 

“You did a good job, Xiao Guang,” Baekhyun told his crewmate as he took another bite of the cookie.

 

Meanwhile, Cirrus stared at Baekhyun eating the cookie she had made. Granted, it wasn’t like she had prepared the batter or anything, but she had poured the batter onto the pan and shaped it. Just moments ago, she had experienced cooking for the first time in her life. Now, she was experiencing the joy that came with someone eating her food.

 

“Is it good?” she asked him unconsciously.

 

“Decent enough,” he replied nonchalantly, when in reality he was craving another cookie. His words gave Cirrus a sense of accomplishment, and she felt her heart swell with pride.

 

Baekhyun wanted to reach for another cookie, but stopped himself. If he had too many, his crew would start to think he was turning soft for going back on his words. He turned to leave with his slice of bread and apple in hand.

 

“I’ll be in my room. No one is to distract me, understood?” he announced.

 

“Aye, Captain!” Niteo, Ardent and Xiao Guang replied in unison.

 

.::.            .::.            .::.

 

3 days had passed before Baekhyun finally trudged out of his room. He looked like death, with his dark under-eye circles and pasty white complexion. He gathered the crew (including Cirrus and Jongdae) on the deck and spoke in a hoarse voice, “Well, I have good news and bad news.”

 

“Good news first,” Ardent said.

 

“We’re leaving the island today,” Baekhyun announced. The crew cheered in response, but Jongdae felt saddened because that meant he would have to be separated from Cirrus. The princess wasn’t exactly all too thrilled at the news either, because that meant she would have to bid another friend goodbye.

 

“What’s the bad news then?” Niteo asked.

 

“I don’t know where we’re going,” Baekhyun laughed. “Actually, I lied. We’re going somewhere, but not anywhere that’ll take us closer to the treasure. We need provisions anyway.”

 

Ardent’s face lit up and it looked like Baekhyun had read his mind from the way his lips curled into a smirk. “That’s right, we’re stopping by Piscari. We’re leaving in 10 minutes.”

 

“Ah, the island of fishing,” Jongdae said with a hint of sadness. “It’s much different than Dolum, the island of tricks.”

 

“Jongdae,” Cirrus started. “Take care of yourself.”

 

“I will,” he smiled at her. “I’m going to change things around, Cirrus. I’m going to grab hold of my own light and the next time you see me, I’ll be an ambassador for the trolls and humans of Dolum.”

 

“I know you’ll be able to do it,” Cirrus assured him.

 

“Well, looks like it’s time for this performer to make his exit,” Jongdae said with melancholy. He jumped onto the edge of the ship and balanced himself on the wooden beam. He took one last glance at the Lux Pirates before he jumped off the ship and landed on Dolum’s orange sands.

 

“I’ll become the bridge! And I’ll learn to bake cookies too! Just watch me!” he yelled from the ground.

 

Cirrus reached over the ship and looked at Jongdae. She took a deep breath and shouted, “Good luck, and goodbye, Jongdae!”

 

He waved up at her, and she waved back. One by one, the members of the Lux Pirates leaned over the edge of the ship and waved at the troll. Niteo’s eyes were moist as he took one last look at the island he had grown up on, and he waved at Jongdae with both arms. Ardent waved, and so did Xiao Guang.

 

Baekhyun was at the edge of the ship too, but he didn’t wave his arms in the air. His arms were folded across his chest, with his hands tucked away at his sides. That way, no one would have to see the faint moving of his hands as he bid Jongdae goodbye.

 

Their anchor was raised, and the Lux Pirates slowly sailed away from Dolum. Jongdae watched the ship until it eventually became a tiny dot in the distance. Perhaps it was because of the glare from the water’s surface, but Jongdae found that light was somehow reflecting off of Baekhyun’s ship.

 

And it looked just like a star.

 

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A/N: Hello my loves, since I'm currently in school this term I'm gonna try to update once every 2 weeks. I hope you enjoyed this 3.7k chapter of lowkey crack :') I would love baking cookies with Jongdae and Xiao Guang tbh. This also marks the end of Jongdae's arc, and I know a lot of you have asked me if Jongdae was gonna join the crew or not. The answer is obviously, no (for now :^) )

 

Also I started a new story, starring kitsune!Baekhyun. You can find it here: Spirit Me Away

 

\\ xoxo