The wind licked at her face, the evening sun blinded her eyes but she didn't stop, she didn't stop Gypsy, her horse. Instead it prompted her to go fast and get out of the clear quicker. As she got closer to the town she could smell the brews and stews that were being prepared for dinner, she could see the of people haggling, she could hear the ocean crash against the docks. Everything excited her, and the more ground they covered, the wider her grin became.
Gypsy slowed down considerably as they neared the edge of the town, giving Emma enough time to throw on her hood before they entered the town. Like clockwork, Gypsy strolled into the town and made way for the Crescent Hill, side stepping small children running carelessly into the street.
Once in front of the inn, Emma inhaled and the familiar smell of toil, rum and stew filled her lungs, prompting a smile to curve on her lips.
"Hello miss!" A young boy said grabbing the horses reigns as Emma dismounted, "Would you like me to tend to your horse?"
"If you please, thank you," Emma said giving the boy a smile as she walked away towards the tavern. It had been almost a week since she last left the castle (unsanctioned of course), a week since she last visit the commoners and listened to their stories. Of course she knew she should have stopped going but she couldn't help it, life in the castle was anything but exciting.
She took her usual seat at the end of the bar, sitting down and hunching over the counter, so that you would have never assumed her to be the princess. The bartender brought over her usual, he was the only one who knew her identity, but made no show of it, though he always pointed her in the direction of interesting characters or watched out for her.
"Hello, princess," he whispered lowly, handing her a beer, then looked over at a table on the far side of the tavern, "Pirates pulled into port this morning, the crew and their captain are over in the corner."
Emma followed his gaze and peered through the dimly lit tavern to a table in the center of the tavern with a loud group of men.
She turned back to the bartender and gave him a kind smile from under her hood, "Thank you."
She picked up her drink and slowly made her way over to a table adjacent to the rambunctious group, taking a seat in the chair closest to the table, but her hood had fallen from its place. She wasn't dressed in her usual grandeur and her hair was undone over the sides of her, all for the purpose of being unrecognizable as the princess amongst the commoners.
She had barely taken a seat when someone to her far right (opposite of the table of pirates) took notice of her and shifted from their seat.
"Hello," A voice said from her right, "Why don't you and I leave this place?"
She turned to see a tall man, with dark eyes and chestnut hair, he wasn't bad to look at though his grip on Emma's forearm was deterring; she could see the bartender tense but other than him, the rest of the bar remained oblivious.
"I just arrived, I'd prefer to stay a bit longer," She said politely shaking her head and tried to pull her arm away, "Sir, please let go your hurting me."
"Oh come on darling, come on," He said yanking her off her chair to stand in front of him, "Just one night. Come on."
A few of the men from the table that she was eavesdropping at had silenced and were now watching the display quite uneasily.
"Let go of me, sir!" She said, firmer this time and tried harder to yank her arm away, "Please!"
"Oh come on! Don't be such a prude!" He growled pulling her closer to him.
"Excuse me but I believe the lady said no," A voice said from her left side.
"This is none of your business," The man hissed to the pirate next to Emma, not letting her go for a moment.
"Please sir," She groaned, pulling her arm desperately, "Let go."
"Silence, woman!" The man barked at her.
At this the pirate pushed Emma out of the way, putting himself between the princess and the ruffian, "Sir, I suggest you leave the young lady alone."
The men from the table all silenced and a few of them had stood up, their drinks on the table, eyes trained on the three people. The miscreant saw that he was outnumbered, and that no matter how much he tried he wasn't getting Emma out of the tavern without getting into a fist fight. He glanced with a glare between Emma, the pirate and the group, before grumbling as he threw her arm back at her.
"Trollop," He grumbled as he stumbled backing away, but he only made it a step because the pirate's fist connects with the ruffian's jaw sending him face down on the ground.
"That'll teach you to slander a good woman," The pirate growled, wiping his hands clean and turning to Emma, "Are you hurt, love?"
The entire time, Emma had been frozen, she wasn't sure how to handle the situation, she never had to get violent, she was the princess why would she have a reason? But Emma tore away from the thoughts and turned to the pirate.
"No, no. I'm fine,"She said as she straightened herself,smoothing out a wrinkle in her dress, "Though I have you know I had it under control."
"Oh, it truly looked that way, lass," The pirate said giving her a wink as he turned away and sat back down at his table.
Emma was going to reply to this but why should she, she's a princess and didn't have to defend herself against this pirate, she just came here for stories and that was it. But she couldn't help herself.
"I did," She said indignantly.
"Oh, I'm sure you did," The pirate said patronizingly, taking a swig of his rum but Emma ignored this instead and went to sit back in her seat, which also happened to be right behind the pirate. With a smug grin she watched the villain from a few moments ago come to and crawl out of the building.
"What business does a beautiful young lady like yerself have here anyway," The pirate continued, "It's quite a dangerous place to be."
Emma turned back to the pirate to see he had his arm draped over his chair so that he could look at her without straining his neck painfully.
"Iā"
"Is this man bothering you?" The bartender asked, drying a mug in his hand but he was no longer behind the counter and instead in front of the two.
"Ah no, no it's fine," Emma said quickly but reassuringly, giving him a smile waiting for him to leave. He doesn't for a few more awkward moments but after a few reassuring nods from Emma, he relents to the princess' wishes and resumes his post behind the counter.
"As you were saying?" The pirate said with a chuckle as her turned back to Emma.
"I come here to listen the strange tales of wanderers," Emma confessed bashfully, looking down at her half drained mug.
"Ah, I knew there was a reason as to why you made the effort to sit near our table," The pirate said with a light laugh, "And here I thought it was because of my good looks."
Emma turned to look at him, actually look, at him; because when she was listening to their stories she didn't see his face, only heard his voice and when the man was attempting to assault her, she never really looked at her rescuer:
He had a slim figure, his dark hair (vaguely brown in the light) was cut short enough to pleasantly run her hands through. His eyes were a vibrant blue that made Emma feel like she was looking into the depths of the ocean.
"Oh you flatter yourself, good sir," Emma said coyly, which surprised her because she had no right to lead this man on.
The man's eyes brightened differently: fondly.
"Where are my manners," The pirate said, bowing as much as he could while sitting down, "The name is Killian Jones, Captain of the Jolly Roger."
"Emma," She said gently bowing her head.
"Pleasure to meet you Emma," Killian said, taking her hand and gently placing a kiss on it, smiling against her skin with eyes looking up at her.
Emma had to keep herself from shivering against his breath on her hand, thankfully he doesn't hold too long and lets go extending an arm to the other guests at the table.
"This is my crew," Killian said waving his arm around at the table, prompting a gambled mess of 'nice to meet you miss' and 'pleasure to meet you'.
"Nice to meet you all," Emma said courtly, taking the chance to give each of them a nod of acknowledgement.
"Would you prefer to sit here, love?" Killian said, motioning to the free chair next to him, "You won't have to trouble yourself with the struggle to hear our tales."
"Oh I'm very much fine here, thank you," Emma said politely, shaking her head, "I don't want to intrude."
"Non-sense," Killian said with a smile as he pat the seat next to him, "Come, come. You can sit here and listen to our adventures, it won't be an intrusion."
Emma relented and tentatively took a seat in the chair next to Killian, clutching her mug tighter. She sat there nervously, she had never expected pirates to be so receptive and polite, but the more she watched them, the more she noticed little things: such as how they all had perfect posture and all cleanly shaven. She suspected they were ex-navy men, but she would never say it aloud and risk the flight of her new storytellers.
The more beer she drank, the looser her mind and muscles became and before she knew it, she was no longer the rigid princess but now she was Emma the girl with the beautiful laugh and love for adventure that was no longer suppressed. She had become the center of attention of the crew as they told their stories one after another, each trying to surpass the latter and impress the young beauty. All of them told their tale but the Captain; he instead sat and watched the fair young woman who intrigued him.
ā
She was laughing at a story being told by one of the crew members when she looked out the tavern's stained glass windows and saw light protruding through.
Morning had come faster than she expected.
Much faster.
And she had about an hours ride awaiting her while her mother was to wake her in half that time.
Panicked, she rose from the table abruptly and stumbled to the door, making the entire table fall silent while the rest of the tavern went about their business. They watched the young woman stagger out without a word or excuse though no one of the crew dared to follow her nor ask her.
She fumbled the door open, regretting drinking so much, but eventually made her way out into the fresh air. She had to shade her eyes from the relentless sun beating down on her drunken eyes.
"Emma!" A voice called after her as she struggled to get onto her horse. She turned to see Killian running to her, "What's your rush, lass?"
"I'm expected home within the hour," Emma looked up at the sun rise then back at the pirate, "I'm truly sorry for running out as I did."
Killian looked back as if to see the whole scene replay but returned his gaze back to Emma who had gotten atop her horse, "Ah, it's forgivable, lass. I've had worse happen to me."
"I'm sure you have, but sir, I've to have left half an hour ago," Emma said apologetically but urgently, "I must go."
"I'm not stopping you," Killian said with a smirk as he raised his hands innocently, "Though I do question if will I see you again?"
"Perhaps," Emma said, giving Gypsy a kick to start, then shouted over her shoulder (to which Killian faintly heard), "Perhaps not!"
Emma rode and dared not look back and instead hurried Gypsy on to arrive at the castle. She was going to return again the next night, she wanted to hear more stories of such grand adventures, but now she had to focus on arriving at the castle before her parents took notice of her absence.
