Title: Dance With Her Ghosts
Fandom: Critical Role (campaign 1)
Rating: G
Length: 287 words
Content notes: spoilers for campaign 1.
Author notes: Inspired by (and title from) "Jenny of Oldstones" by Florence and the Machine.
Summary: The children of Zephrah ask, sometimes, when they see the Voice of the Tempest whirling and swaying on her own.

The children of Zephrah ask, sometimes, when they see the Voice of the Tempest whirling and swaying on her own. Who is she dancing with? they ask their elders. Is it the wind? They are all used to playing with the permanent breezes of their mountain home, to bending with the wind or standing stiff against it, and they wonder if she’s doing the same.

Yes, some of the elders say, she’s dancing with the wind. It’s the easiest answer, and perhaps it is even true. Or sometimes, no, she’s just dancing on her own - why? Well, why not? Why shouldn’t she? She is the Voice of the Tempest, she can do as she pleases.

And some - a few - say, she’s dancing with her ghosts. Only a very few; the sharpest eyed, who have seen when and where she dances. The studious ones, who know the legends of Vox Machina, who recognise the surnames of strange visitors. The longest lived, who know what it is to outlive loved ones by decades, who know she will outlive them too.

The children and grandchildren of Vox Machina come to visit Zephrah, and Keyleth dances with them at welcome feasts, and sees other faces behind their eyes. A tree bends and sways in the wind, and Keyleth curtsies back. A sunbeam filters through clouds, and Keyleth spins in it, eyes closed, hands held out low. A storm rages, and Keyleth stands in it unflinching and reaches out to the lightning. A raven flies around her, and Keyleth takes wing herself and dances with it through the skies.

The seasons roll on, barely touching her; the children grow up and become elders in their turn; and Keyleth dances with her ghosts.