Title: Deep Blue
Author: Xehra xehra1@hotmail.com
Summary: Night, and the port sleeps
Rating: G
Category: Gen, not strictly canon
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Disney. I make no coin
Thanks: To Bridget, my fantastic beta
***
A fresh wind rushed over the mountains and down through Port Royal, making the trees shiver slightly at its passing. The port town lay still, the night-silence broken only occasionally by the sporadic movement of nocturnal animals as are found in such places: cats, dogs, rats and drunks.
Respectable souls lay asleep in their beds, day-time cares and worries cast aside as they walked in dreams. Three souls did not sleep as well as their fellow citizens, however. The night wind, as it wound its way through the houses, visited them all.
In the mansion on the hill a girl slept fitfully. In truth, she was not a girl, she was a Miss; a name given by others to remind themselves of her place above them - not servant, not whore. A Proper Little Miss, though at times she thought she fell quite short of her father's expectations of the role.
The breeze rushed in the window and lifted tendrils of the curled brown hair that fell over her bare collarbone. If it saw what she wore around her neck, it did not care, for it left as quietly as it had come.
In another house, one not quite as exalted in position or size, a man paced restlessly. Properly he was a Commodore, a recent promotion that had given him a new name, a higher rank. But he still thought the thoughts of a man and could not sleep this night.
He saw the wind gently shift his curtains, and moved briskly to shut the window. Much had passed that day; his mind turned the events over ceaselessly, searching for meaning. And answers.
The wind continued its journey unoffended; it sought out others in the town, blowing out candles, stirring dust and caressing the skin of the careless sleepers. The same cool breeze that carried away some of the stink of the docks brought the scent of tropical flowers that opened in the moonlight.
It came at last to lowliest dwelling of all - a shop not much more than a stable inside. In the back, a boy tossed on a mattress stuffed with straw, his eyes closed but spirit restless. He desperately wanted to be called a Man, to seem grown in the eyes of others. There was a fire inside him that consumed his soul; he dreamed of swords and blood and revenge.
His bed sheet slipped off and the wind swept over him. Its light touch seemed to calm something in his mind and the boy slipped into deeper sleep. He dreamed of a girl.
Restless itself now, the wind moved on, rushing out over the ocean in search of new lands, or perhaps just succumbing to a desire to touch the horizon.
In the sky, the moon passed behind the clouds and a black-sailed ship slipped into the harbour. Gold had called her; she cared nothing for the night-breeze. Her captain looked out over the deep blue waves at the port and smiled. He would shatter their peaceful sleep.
END
Author: Xehra xehra1@hotmail.com
Summary: Night, and the port sleeps
Rating: G
Category: Gen, not strictly canon
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Disney. I make no coin
Thanks: To Bridget, my fantastic beta
***
A fresh wind rushed over the mountains and down through Port Royal, making the trees shiver slightly at its passing. The port town lay still, the night-silence broken only occasionally by the sporadic movement of nocturnal animals as are found in such places: cats, dogs, rats and drunks.
Respectable souls lay asleep in their beds, day-time cares and worries cast aside as they walked in dreams. Three souls did not sleep as well as their fellow citizens, however. The night wind, as it wound its way through the houses, visited them all.
In the mansion on the hill a girl slept fitfully. In truth, she was not a girl, she was a Miss; a name given by others to remind themselves of her place above them - not servant, not whore. A Proper Little Miss, though at times she thought she fell quite short of her father's expectations of the role.
The breeze rushed in the window and lifted tendrils of the curled brown hair that fell over her bare collarbone. If it saw what she wore around her neck, it did not care, for it left as quietly as it had come.
In another house, one not quite as exalted in position or size, a man paced restlessly. Properly he was a Commodore, a recent promotion that had given him a new name, a higher rank. But he still thought the thoughts of a man and could not sleep this night.
He saw the wind gently shift his curtains, and moved briskly to shut the window. Much had passed that day; his mind turned the events over ceaselessly, searching for meaning. And answers.
The wind continued its journey unoffended; it sought out others in the town, blowing out candles, stirring dust and caressing the skin of the careless sleepers. The same cool breeze that carried away some of the stink of the docks brought the scent of tropical flowers that opened in the moonlight.
It came at last to lowliest dwelling of all - a shop not much more than a stable inside. In the back, a boy tossed on a mattress stuffed with straw, his eyes closed but spirit restless. He desperately wanted to be called a Man, to seem grown in the eyes of others. There was a fire inside him that consumed his soul; he dreamed of swords and blood and revenge.
His bed sheet slipped off and the wind swept over him. Its light touch seemed to calm something in his mind and the boy slipped into deeper sleep. He dreamed of a girl.
Restless itself now, the wind moved on, rushing out over the ocean in search of new lands, or perhaps just succumbing to a desire to touch the horizon.
In the sky, the moon passed behind the clouds and a black-sailed ship slipped into the harbour. Gold had called her; she cared nothing for the night-breeze. Her captain looked out over the deep blue waves at the port and smiled. He would shatter their peaceful sleep.
END