Pasco scooped Ada up and nodded to Missa and Forte. Forte belayed them so that Pasco could rappel down, Ada gripped close. 

She was so small, like this. 

They landed by the moored boat and Missa removed the anchor above and started to climb down. Pasco settled Ada in the boat, and as he stood to wait for Missa, he noticed a tangle of pink seaweed-like hair peek over the edge of the rock. 

He drew his sword, but the siren merely scooted herself slightly further up the rock so that she could plop sleepily next to them. She waved a hand dismissively at his sword.

“Two thingsssss,” the pink siren said, waving two fingers in front of her as a drunkard might.

“One… the dragon is welcome back… anytime.” The pink siren giggled happily.

It really was like she was drunk. Is this how sirens got when they finally fucked themselves out?

“TuuuuWOO!” the siren waved her hand around. “I have… a thank you gift… for sharing your dragon friend.”

Pasco quirked an eyebrow and glanced at Forte. The other pirate shrugged.

The siren pulled up her other arm with some labor and put something on the rock in front of her. It was something small, on a chain, and it was especially slimy.

Pasco nudged it with the tip of his sword. “Was this in your…”

“It’sssss important! For the magic. Take it.” She pushed it towards his feet.

“Can I wash it first?”

“Yes yes.” The siren waved her hand dismissively at him. “Now, asssssk what it does.”

“What does it do?”

“It holdsss one of my songs. The dragon… likes our songs. Nobody… likes our songs anymore. I noticed…” the pink siren lolled to look up at Pasco, and seemed remarkably lucid in that moment, “that you also liked… how she likes our songs.”

Pasco blushed, which wasn’t like him. Which also meant that the siren was right.

“If you wear it… and open it… it’ll play a little song. She won’t be able to come… until you come…”

“Oh.” He quickly picked up the locket, no longer caring about where it had recently been. This was a precious object to be protected, regardless of its state of cleanliness. “That’s actually… that’s actually really amazing. Does it have some sort of limit? Like a number of charges?”

“I’m not sure how many,” the siren said, “I don’t usually give giftssss. But, when it runs out… You’ll jussssst have to come back and visit, and I can recharge it for you.” The siren rested her cheek on her hand and grinned up at him.

He narrowed his eyes at her and considered. “She’ll have to want to,” he said. “She just said she hates sirens.”

“She’ll want to, eventually. But don’t worry. I wasn’t too ssssssstingy. Well, I wanted to be. But it chargessss by coming and she just kept… making me and… making me and…” The siren’s eyes started to glaze over and she sunk back off the rock like a drunk pushing too far back in their chair. She yelped and pulled herself up, just as Missa reached the bottom of the rock.

She didn’t say anything else, but just looked up at them, dreamily. Probably rubbing herself underneath the water.

“You know,” Pasco said, “People would still be affected by your songs if you didn’t keep fucking pirates so much that all pirates have siren’s blood.”

The siren pouted at that. “It’s not my fault,” she said. “We just… can’t… stop…”

She was definitely rubbing herself under the water.

“Okay, time to go,” Pasco said.

Missa and Forte were already in the boat. Pasco hopped in and shoved off and Forte started rowing. Pasco adjusted Ada, who was now sound asleep, to nestle in his lap. 

He carefully dipped the locket in the saltwater to clean it, then took a closer look. It seemed to be made of a closed clamshell. The surface was carved with swirling runes. He gently pulled it open, and the runes started to glow slightly. A soft melody whispered out. Ada stirred, and he quickly closed it. 

They’d figure out later exactly how it worked. He’d normally have been exceedingly suspicious of a siren, but he was quite sure that that one was too dazed to lie.

Would Ada ever want to go back? He selfishly hoped she would. But for now, he was happy to see her safe. 

Pasco could tell that Ada was truly exhausted by that she chose to continue to sleep below-deck even while the upper deck became a full-on orgy. They’d be even later in getting to the pirate capital, but that was better than losing the ship because they were trying to sail while incapacitated by arousal.

The pirates with lesser siren’s blood like Sendia couldn’t help but fuck themselves to exhaustion like Ada had, but the others would be sated enough after a good couple of rounds.

It was only right for Pasco to join in — after all, he couldn’t ask his crew to do anything he wasn’t willing to do himself, orgies included. And even though Ada was below deck, he still found himself to be particularly motivated. For two reasons. 

One, the scent of Ada still lingered in the air, having poured out of the cove and over the surface of the ocean. Two, the locket around his neck, seashell light and cool on his skin. Even closed, it filled his mind with thoughts of Ada begging for release, and that was something he could not wait to see again.