piratejournal | [Voice & Written]

So you were always a sailor? My home was on the Cliffs of Conobar that overlooked the Waking Sea, so I had some small experience with sailing for pleasure before arriving here. A sailing skiff is much, much smaller than a ship, however.

Correct.

My world is all ocean and islands, and my father was a pirate emperor who led me and my brothers in an escape from the laws of the world. I've been a pirate many decades before coming here.

Can't say I envy you rookies at it.

The way you describe your life makes it sound like some grand adventure one might read in a book. I would certainly be happy to read it. The son of a pirate emperor? Few can claim that birthright!

More than you'd think. [He's laughing.]

My Pops' dream was for a big family. He adopted well over a few thousand of us.

But any son or daughter of Whitebeard is a sibling of mine forever.

Over a thousand of you? You have to be jesting. How could one man possibly attend to the needs and education of that many children? Were you truly like his children or merely the recipients of his charity?

[More laughing.] Pirates don't do charity, Miss.

We're his children. I was spoiled enough to be with him the longest. He didn't even become an emperor until later years. He was recognized the world over as the strongest man in the world, but he always said it was because he had to protect us. So we all protected him right back.

He didn't find most of us as children, but he took us in as his own because we were all outcasts of the world: monsters, okama, what have you.

Ace is the baby of the family, and he didn't come to us until he was 17. But he's our firestarter. We're very proud of him. He set the world ablaze and changed an era.

We had sixteen hundred directly in the crew before I wound up here. And sixteen divisions of one hundred each. Ace was the second division commander, Thatch led fourth, Namur leads the 8th division, and I led the first and some additional jobs. [Because Marco's basically first mate.]

But Pops also adopted a lot of our allies. [Normally Marco wouldn't explain this much, but he's over the top giddy from Spring and so extra forthcoming with words for once. And this is an important facet of the Whitebeard alliance for canon reasons.] Whitey Bay, Doma, Squardo, the Decalvan Brothers, Jinbei, and several thousand others. So long as they wanted to call him Pops, and wanted him to be their old man, he'd look after them. It was his dream, and it made him happy, so it made us all happy too!

And the more of us there were, the more we all looked after each other. That's how he made sure we'll never be alone even if we wanted to. Someone like Namur or my other brothers will always be sent to come get me and vice versa.

[Reading his words brings a smile to Elissa's face.]

Your Pops seems to be a wonderful man. I would like him, I am certain. He sounds like a man with a big heart to have created family for so many of those in need of it. That is quite admirable and your words are a glowing testament to his success.

You have reminded me that family can exist beyond the bounds of blood. It is a much-needed reminder for me this time of year.

What happens at this time of year?

A sad remembrance. In a few weeks, it will have been two years since I lost my family. I was too busy fighting a war to make much note of it last year which is probably for the best. Thus far, the approaching time causes me to struggle a bit with memories of the event.

I miss them.

I see.

I'm sorry for your loss.

It was my Pops' birthday just last week. They say it gets a little easier with each year. Do you think that's true?

Perhaps that is true. Deep wounds grow less sharp with time and become more of a dull pain. We can hope it is the same in this instance. I am sorry your Pops is gone. Losing a beloved father is not an easy thing.

Still, it is Spring and that is a time of renewal and new life. It is a good reminder that life continues.

If you truly do send me a flower crown, I will wear it with honor and with a happy heart, that I promise.

[Oh lord, he's actually hissing at the whole renewal and Spring thing.]

[But yes.]

[Joys.]

[Flooooowers.]

[He is the slayer of flowers, the weaver of the crowns, and the spreader of their joy. He is good with this.]

I hope you will enjoy it very much!

[Have some quickly doodled flowers all around the page because he's seriously kind of insane right now.] Does your family have house colors?

Yes, we do. Blue and white - though green is also predominant. There is heraldry for my family. Give me a few moments and I shall try to show you.

[Elissa is not an accomplished artist, but she is more than fair at drawing her family's heraldry - including that of Highever and the Grey Wardens. Colored pencils are painstakingly applied to the page to draw out the Cousland family heraldry as displayed upon the shield of the guardsmen - a green laurel wreath outlined in white and blue.

]

Let me see if I can't do something suitable then. [He will literally duplicate that laurel crown to the best of his ability and complete with an armband.]

My family has variations on a mark of our own. It's our flag of course. We use Ace's Spade mark here, but we all had a tattoo of our own so that Pops could watch over us even if he wasn't there in person.

How many family members did you lose that day?

All of them, but for my brother Fergus - and even he might be dead near Ostagar's battlefield as I was not able to find him before being brought here. For all that I know, I am the last of the Cousland bloodline.

I suppose your tattoos were your family heraldry. They did identify you to others are being in your father's family.

I'm sorry. Can you tell me some more about them if it's not too painful? [If she gives him numbers he'll work it into the band & crown.]

Correct. We also had variations on it. First division often went with my mark, Ace got a duplicate of Pops' mark right on his back, Curiel put his mark on his chin, and Kingdew made his own version.

Namur has an 8 near his gills though, as a reference to his division, but also because he's a bull shark fishman so the 8 also represents a sea and sky effect.

Most everyone at the castle died - from those who were family by blood to those who were family of the heart. Father, Mother, my brother's wife Oriana, my little nephew Oren.

The old sage Aldous was killed as was the librarian. So was Nan who was my childhood nanny before becoming the cook. So many, really.

[Now that she's started, it is difficult to stop as the flow of faces marches through her memories.]

Ser Gilmore, Mallol, mother's friend Lady Landra, Landra's maid Iona, Landra's son Dairren. Our brave and loyal guardsmen. No one was safe from Howe's men. Not children nor servants. They were ruthless.

[Wait - he wrote of a fishman? Perhaps he meant fisherman.]

Howe? Family enemy?

[He makes tally marks on the page as he starts hunting down the right kind of branches.]

Until he attacked, he was thought a family friend as well as my father's vassal. He betrayed us out of jealousy for our status and position, hoping to usurp it.

He succeeded for a time.

When I broke into his home, it was with three companions. We came in daylight instead of attacking while everyone was abed as he did. The four of us killed everyone in that house who took arms against us, but we did not harm those who were innocent. His servants did not harm my family. They did not deserve to suffer my retribution.

I see.

That was wise of you.

My family also has a reputation for vengeance, but my Pops always taught us to let the weakest, and the innocent go. And he always said not to hold a grudge beyond the parent. The sins of the parent don't pass onto the children.

I suppose it's strange that a pirate would have that sense of order, but that's what made him an Emperor.

I agree about the children. He was the only Howe to die at my hand.

Did you say you have a friend who fishes for bull sharks? Are not those rather large?

No no, my brother is a bull shark fishman.

You are familiar with merfolk? Mermaids? Human busts, but fish tails? Namur is a fishman, human legs, but gills and shark teeth.

You should see his Mom. She's really something.

But he is rather big. About eight feet tall. All my brothers are too tall. Only Ace and Haruta are shorter than me. It's too easy for people to forget I'm the oldest.

Part fish and part man? And eight feet tall?

You know, if I had not served with Ser Crocodile for a time, I might think you were exaggerating about the height of your brothers. Still, if I ever meet your brother Namur, I shall do my best not to rudely stare at him. I am trying to imagine how he might look, but it seems incredible.

How tall are you, then? I am around five and one half feet tall.

You sound adorable.

I'm six foot three.

My Pops is a good four times Crocodile's size. I suppose he seems tall to a lot of otherworlders and those around here, but I still remember his rookie days before he even got the scars and hook. [Which you know... Marco may or may not have given him. He's kind of a jerk like that and his feud with Crocodile goes back decades.] It makes him seem shorter than me. [But he's not, Marco, get over it.]

Even Thatch is about seven feet tall though. And I think one of the Straw Hat crew members is around eight feet tall. Nico Robin of that crew is nearly my height too.

You are not overly tall in comparison to some warriors that I know. Taller than my old friend Alistair, perhaps, but not so tall as Sten. Still, if you took your brothers to the dwarven city of Orzammar, you would all be giants in comparison!

I am somewhat short for a human female from my homeland. Very nearly elf-sized.

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