I don't own anything, nor am I making any profit off of these fun bowls of word salad.
In tinkering with my other fics, I managed to eke out some vignettes to help keep the ideas and motivation flowing. I've got a few done that I'll share and working on a few more when I have a bit of time. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter One
"So you've returned?" Madi's expression softened as John Silver took a seat next to her in front of the fire.
From the looks of others in the vicinity, no one had expected him to join her for the evening community gathering where her people gave blessings and enjoyed each other's company. He hadn't before. Instead, as usual, he had disappeared after meeting with a group of people from her community and from his ship to inventory their supplies. She thought he'd retired for the night to the temporary shelter her people had allowed for the pirates at the outer edge of the settlement – for those who chose to sleep on land rather than the ship.
"So it seems," he responded.
His eyes pierced her calmness, for only a moment, though. He had a way of inciting a tenseness in her, not always bad, but an extreme response, nonetheless.
The evening gathering was an occasion she did not often miss. Her mother insisted on the reminder of their good fortune as an offering for more. Silver wasn't the first pirate to join the groups throughout the open area. Many of the former slave or native West Indies pirates on Flint's crew had discovered something welcoming in the presence of others so like them in appearance even if worlds apart in experience. And, of course, a few were recognized from those who had spent time in Nassau before her father could smuggle them to the island. Others who had never much known the weight of colonial rule and had lived well alongside mixed communities also felt quite comfortable with the friends and neighbors Madi called family. Thus, the gathering remained a replenishing occasion even with the new faces.
Madi hoped the presence of this new guest wouldn't alter this.
Silver adjusted himself until he was comfortable next to her, flipping the ends of his coat free from constraint and stretching his injured leg in front of him. No words were initiated, a surprise to Madi given the man's penchant for easy conversation with her. The few times they'd worked alongside each other for any length of time, they'd managed both a casual and revealing flow of revelations. She'd wondered if he enjoyed such camaraderie with any of the others on her island.
And then she wondered if it was the leader or the woman in her that instigated such a musing.
After all, he was, perhaps not handsome, but appealing in a way with his unique wit and charm behind the dirt and scruff and insecurity born of his injury. He remained so different than other men she'd held affection for before him. Of course, she remembered a world before this island, when she and her parents had been property of the Gutheries, favored but still chattel. She'd run the fields of Nassau on the heels of the beautiful Eleanor Gutherie who was as close to her as a sister ever could be. On the guidance of her parents, she'd steered clear of the white men who she knew only as dangerous.
Those times were so long ago, and she'd shed many of the ways she'd known then. But she remembered the danger of men like Flint and Silver, no matter the indulgences they showed. No matter the indulgences she showed in return in moments of strife and mutual interest.
"Is your mother well?" Silver looked around as if expecting her to sneak up on him. It made Madi smile. The pirates were wise not to underestimate her mother. It seemed Silver had received this lesson well.
There was no denying her mother's trust in the daughter she raised to lead, her fear for her also. As their leader, she understandably avoided the daily reminders of what the world was to become for those she cared for. Of all the people to invade her sanctuary, Silver was most tolerable to her; that didn't mean that his welcome into the community would be any warmer than Flint's. So her mother had retired not long ago, leaving this time to the young.
Madi had sat alone in the distant company of her people and thinking about the responsibilities ahead to keep them safe. It seemed fitting that Silver would join her in that moment.
"She is." Madi responded. "Retired. It's been a long day."
Silver nodded. "Is it alright that I'm here?" His tone wasn't tentative exactly. She understood him to be a man who took what he wanted either by force or guile. Yet he asked with a deference that she'd come to recognize as close enough to respect for her to accept. Kofi sat nearby, attention alerted. His hand rested on his thigh close enough to his knife for him to act but not close enough for it to be an open threat.
Having kept an eye on the reactions of those around her, Madi turned to this unexpected companion; saw him meet her regard of him with a steady composure. She saw the sincerity in the request.
"It is alright." Moving to the tray beside her, she poured a cup of spiced rum for her companion and for herself. Silver took what was offered without fanfare.
As she returned her attention to the night and her community around her, her mind recalled his gaze, much less menacing than the sharp brightness felt in the light of day, she allowed herself the hope of triumph – and knew that this was shared between them as well.
Together in silence, they took in all those around them and reflected on the weight of their shared duties and the future of their alliance.
TBC