One For the Ladies
Oh, it's time to tell tales, is it, ladies? Kitty, shove over and let me sit down. And pass me that bottle, I see it there in yer skirts! Ach, it's terrible to be so old and so parched on an island full of rum-soaked pirates! Ah... that's better, thank'ee, Nan. So, ye new girls want to know about my Mistress' ship? The Persephone she's called, right enough. Now, I'm just a simple girl, never had no real education, so I didn't know what that meant. When I asked Cap'n Swann, she gave one of her funny little twisted smiles and said something about having a foot in one world half the time, and another in t'other, rest of the time. Something about her having been to hell n'back. Many sailors say that, but not all of 'em with the conviction o' Cap'n Swann. 'Course, the whole thing made no sense to me, and Cap'n Swann up and tells me the story 'bout Persephone and her dead love who's King of Hell. Fair gave me the shakes, it did! I tells her, "Ooh, Miss! Your tales always give me a shiver, the way you tell 'em!" I forgets to call her Cap'n sometimes, she so young and all, and she's good enough to let it ride.
"What about Captain Sparrow's tales? None of his give you the shivers?" She eyeballs me slyly, knowing me weak spot.
"Pish posh," says I, airily, "His tales are all faerie nonsense and man-boasting. Can't believe a word that one says," I sniff, for good measure, but she ain't fooled. Every woman born has a thing for Cap'n Sparrow's foolery, no matter how they try and hide it. 'Specially her. But then, he seems to have a hankering for her as well, if you follow me.
She's only been in Shipwreck 'bout five or six months now, as I recall. First Pirate King in Lord knows how long, and a woman to boot. Not that there ain't been women captains -- that Mistress Ching scares me silly! -- but Miss 'Lizabeth, as I call her to meself, she's something else. Slender, the slightest little figure. Like a bird. Young, pretty, educated... I heard tell as how she came from nobility or summat. Anyways, not long after The Battle... you know? The one 'gainst the Navy and the Dutchman and the 'Pearl and all? 'Parrently her own sweetheart was the one what stabbed the heart of Davy Jones and took up the Dutchman for hisself. Don't recall his name, but it tore up Miss 'Lizabeth something terrible, of course, and they just married! Well, some things ain't meant to be, I says as wisely as I can (and wouldn't me Ma laugh something turrible if she heard me putting on them airs?).
Anyway, so Cap'n Jack shows up again with Miss 'Lizabeth in tow -- Cap'n Swann as it were -- maybe a month after The Battle. No idea where she's been or what she's been doing, but she looks a mess. Skinny enough to see through, eyes like a wounded doe. Ol' Jack has a word with Cap'n Teague (that delicious man!) and they stows her in a fine room. She doesn't say much, won't do much. I hear Cap'n Jack bellowing at her sometimes, something about not sitting on her arse and sometimes summat about duty and a lot of times right out calling her a coward. Now, if you know Miss 'Lizabeth, Cap'n Swann, the girl's no coward. I 'spect it's those taunts that finally snapped her out of her doldrums. That or the times Jack's voice got real low and soft and he almost sounded like he was... well, I don't like to say begging, 'cos that ain't Cap'n Jack's way, but I think those are the times that really got her. One morning, after I'd heard them have a particularly bad row and then a whole lot of silence, she comes bouncing out her room and bless me if the girl isn't suddenly blooming. Now, I have my own notions about that, but I ain't going to pass no judgment on a girl who's all but widowed and has Cap'n Jack Sparrow paying her that much attention, if ye follow.
So. Cap'n Jack (those eyes of his make me weak!) up and puts me in charge of Miss 'Lizabeth, telling me, "Peggy, you be looking after Cap'n Swann from now on, and make sure you take good care of her!"
"Bless ye, Sir," says I, "Me and the Pirate King? Thank'ee, Sir!" Or some such foolery. Cap'n Jack has a way of making me babble, if ye get me. "And, er, might I be doing some looking after for yerself, Sir?" Oh, shame on me, Peggeen O'Riley!
He gives me one of those sidelong smiles... ye know the one. He comes up real slow-like and puts a finger under me chin to lift it and stares into me eyes. I tell ye, girls, I thought I'd be falling over right there. "Peggeen, mo cridh," he says, in me own Irish! Could have knocked me over with a feather. But then I always did 'spect Teague to be Black Irish, what with his name and all, so it only goes to follow that Jack... oh, alright, I'll continue the story! "I'll be in and out with the tide, as always. But you keep an eye on my girl... er, Cap'n Swann... and I'll be back before ye know it." And then girls, can ye believe it? He kissed me cheek.
"Oh, yes, Sir," I breathed, or tried to. I turned to see Miss 'Lizabeth watching from the corner, a slight smile on her lips, and wondered if she'd be coming at me with something sharp and shiny in her hands. You can laugh, girls, but I know how well I look for a woman my age! There's been jealous wives before, and I don't care how married that child is to some dead Captain, Jack is the girl's true love or I'm a goat! But no, Miss 'Lizabeth just watches him with that sadness in her eyes, and then she follows him into the corridor. Of course I listened! I have to look out for her now, don't I?
So I peep 'round the corner, and Cap'n Jack is giving that girl the sweetest, most romantic kiss I've ever seen. Melts me even now, girls. And I see that Miss 'Lizabeth is crying just a little, but she's laughing too. "There isn't a single man who's ever stayed with me," she laughs, twisting her face in the way she does when she's trying not to show her feelings.
"You know I can't stay here. I'd go mad... er." He kisses her again, gently.
"And I can't go with you. Not yet. I can't leave..."
"I know. You think you still need to be waiting." He looks like this is an old argument, his eyes darkening a bit. Fair frightening, that particular look of his is. "One of these days you'll realize you aren't chained here, and that all he could ask is that you're here when he returns. That gives you about 9 years, 10 months and three weeks, darlin'. Years you could be living."
"I am living," she replies, dully. Anything but, thinks I. "I'm doing my duty."
He lets out a bark of laughter, "If you think any of these pirates give a damn if you do your duty as King, well..."
"Teague cares," she shoots back, and Jack falls silent as the grave. Those eyes get even darker and I begin to worry for Miss 'Lizabeth's safety, but I'm a fool that way. No man who loves a woman much as Jack loves her, well... I needn't worry for Miss 'Lizabeth. She continues, "Teague cares, and you should too, about me learning to be a better sailor. A better Captain. To do otherwise would be irresponsible and arrogant and..."
"And I understand you better than you think," he breaks in.
"Do you, Jack?" She asks him, tilting her head up at him in a way that must melt that man's bones. "Then you'll understand why I think I should be in port for at least another year. Gallivanting across the sea wouldn't be exceptionally good for my health."
Bless me if Jack doesn't put a hand on her belly! I nearly jump up and down, but his next words stop me, "He's a lucky man, Will Turner. Aside from being dead and all." Miss 'Lizabeth's face turns to stone and she steps back from Jack, looking like she's about to slap him, but Jack pulls that girl back into his arms and kisses her for all he's worth. I think she's nearly boneless by the time he's done, and I'm about there meself. Man are such stupid creatures when they're jealous, but oh, how they make up for it!
"I'll be back soon," Jack tells her.
"I'll keep a weather eye out," she replies, with her twisted smile and over-bright eyes.
He walks away, not his usual saunter-swagger, but a sad, slow kind of moving. He stops and looks back at her, "Teague has a present for you. Something from the both of us. Be good to her." And the way Jack Sparrow looks at Elizabeth Swann, well, ladies... that look just made the words "I" and "love" and "you" utterly and completely obsolete. Obsolete? Tis a word Miss 'Lizabeth taught me. Outdated. Outmoded. Useless. Oh, for Mary's sake? D'ye ken? Ye do.
So off goes witty Jack, and here stays Cap'n Swann. And the present he and Teague got for her is the Persephone. 'Most as black as the 'Pearl, not quite as fast (though nearly so!) and a fair bit prettier in my eyes. Miss 'Lizabeth? Well, you see for yourselves how she's blooming. For a first one, she's having an easy time of it, no sickness in the morning, nothing slowing her down. She crawls up in the rigging and me heart is in me mouth every time. I catch Cap'n Teague watching her though, and I think there will very soon come a day where that rumbling voice of his will drop a word in her ear and it'll be over with her and the rigging for awhile! But she's a good girl, and a kind one, though I've seen her take down men thrice her size and quiet a bunch of squabbling pirates with a few choice words. 'Course, that's cause they don't generally understand her and by the time they puzzle out her words, they see Cap'n Teague standing 'back of her, backing her up. Poor lass, she still doesn't quite understand that Teague is the real power behind her Kingship, but we shan't let on, shall we? Not to say the girl can't take care of herself. Anyone who thinks she can't is a fool, and one that usually finds hisself on the point of a sword to boot. No, Cap'n Teague may keep her actual Kingship safe, but Elizabeth Swann earns her own bloody respect, I tell you that, my girls.
Drink up, ladies. It's back to work for us. We never thought we'd find ourselves here at this age, living and working in a town full of the nastiest pirates the world over. But we have ourselves a fine King, do we not? Here's to her, Cap'n Swann, and to Cap'n Jack Sparrow for certain! And a health to William Turner, where ever he be. Slainte!