'Lo all! It seems I haven't written a fic in ages that I've kept up. This one, I actually have a storyline for (for once!) so it ain't just going to dissolve into nothing. I promise. Please read and review! This chapter is short as it's intended to be an introduction (sort of.) The next one'll be longer!

Disclaimer:

I own nothing that you recognise from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow etc. All historical references are obtained from various Internet sites and books. Tess Ella O'Sedna (and any other name she sails under!) is MINE, as is Peter Stealer and his father Jonathan Stealer, Celia Whiteside, Michael Calico and any other character that you do not recognise. So if you wanna use any of them (why I don't know!) please ask.

To Begin ...

Tess Ella O'Sedna is sixteen years old at the time this story begins. She is living in England on the West Coast, Cornwall to be precise, having been plucked (slash 'rescued') from a tavern in Tortuga where she was orphaned after her whore mother died giving birth. Whilst her English 'family' have been nothing but kind, she still longs for the freedom and excitement the sea and Tortuga gave her. One way or another, she intends to get back there. Born a scallywag, always a scallywag, right?

UNDER LASS SHADE

Chapter 1: The Ashes of Love

I'm just a ghost in this house

I'm just a shadow upon these walls

As quietly as a mouse

I haunt these halls

I'm just a whisper of smoke

I'm all that's left of two hearts on fire

That once burned out of control

You took my body and soul

I'm just a ghost in this house

(Alison Krauss)

I stared out at the melancholy English weather, grey and sombre, reflecting my sulky mood. I had no anger left, nothing to give to anyone, and I was bored stiff of sitting inside this house, with it's high ceilings, cold rooms and tall windows full of mist and damp.

What a way to go. Sailing out of Falmouth Port into the worst English storm I'd known in my sixteen years. At that point, there was no doubt in my mind that Peter was still very much alive, utilising his boundless energy and intelligence to steer his ship through the hazardous seas off Cornwall. My love had always been the man to take on a challenge, eyes glowing and heart ablaze, yet I wondered how long he would be able to avoid the pirates. He was not a cruel man; on the contrary he was kind, gentle and fair, and from what I knew one needed to be ruthless in order to keep those legendary rogues at bay.

"Peter Stealer." I smiled as I said his name, before testing it out alongside my own.

"Mrs Ella Stealer."

"It will always be an excellent match Miss," my maid Celia had appeared at my shoulder and was now fussing about with the coals in the fireplace. I was somewhat embarrassed. Whilst marriage between Peter and myself was assumed and inevitable, I'd never spoken about it with anyone but him. There was no one else I dared trust. "Don't you worry Miss, he'll be right back in no time. That ship has your heart on it. With luck like that, they'll already have outwitted the storm." I grimaced and said nothing. With a quick curtsey, Celia left me with my sorrows and the rain on the windowpane.

My heart was not on that ship and never would be. It belonged to no one but myself. Yes I had loved Peter, I still did, but we had both known that my promise to wait for him was false. It was him alone who had anchored me to an English house in an English harbour with a life as an English lady. When his father's merchant ship had sailed into Tortuga four years ago and 'rescued' me from the pirates and whores whose company I was kept in I'd found a companion in the bright- eyed Peter, two years older than me and eager to share his knowledge of the seas and the ships his father sailed. In return I'd recounted my tales of the pirates whose conversations I had eavesdropped on in the taverns. His love and soul had persuaded me to stay alongside him in Cornwall, or I would have run away long before my sixteenth birthday. My heart was back on Tortuga, and it ached for the excitement and unpredictability the Caribbean winds brought.

All that was left of the fire between Pete's heart and mine was a heap of cold grey ashes. I cared for him deeply, but I would not stay in England a moment longer to await his return. I took his ring with me- I still wear it, but I took my heart and my soul. It was time to scatter the ashes of our dying love in all corners of my globe.

"Miss?" My reverie was immediately broken by Celia's voice and worried expression. I smiled wearily.

"What is it?"

"There's a gentleman at the door as is askin' for you." she lowered her voice slightly, "If you ask me, more a pirate than a gentleman! Be careful Miss, he's a rascal, make no bones about it."

I grinned at her words, my heart lifting slightly. Was this a much- needed sign? Would my passage out of England be easier that I expected? And sooner than I could have hoped? Rising to my feet and heaving at the layers of silk and brocade that swirled around my hips I half skipped out to the landing and hurried down the stairs. Standing in the hall was a man I could almost regard as a father to me, if it wasn't for the pigsty cologne he was partial to.

"Joshamee Gibbs. It's been a while."

The man, sideburns still very much intact, grinned wryly at me and lifted my hand to his mouth.

"Ain't you quite the lady now!" he was mocking me already, but his absence from my life was enough to stem the flow of insults I could have hurled back. I didn't particularly welcome his sudden appearance in my hall. Despite the smell and the fact that where Gibbs was Sparrow would never be far away, he was dripping water all over my carpet. Sure I welcomed a face of old, but I had no desire to see Jack Sparrow and I would not travel with him to Tortuga if he owned the last ship on earth.

"What are you here for?" I demanded, eyes narrowing. There was something in Gibbs manner that suggested he had one mission and purpose in the Port of Falmouth; to bring me back to Tortuga.

"Ella, you need to go back."

I stayed silent and waited for Gibbs to feel he had to say more.

"You don't want to stay here."

"Oh I don't huh? And how would you know?"

"Jack says."

Damn Jack. How would he know either? The presumptions of that man over my life were what had driven me away from him. I'd had no mother since I was born and no father that I knew of. She was a whore, he'd most likely been drunk, childbirth had killed her and thus I existed, an orphan to be cared for by the weird lot of Tortuga. Now, I resented care of any sort from anyone, bar that of Peter. I watched my own back.

I thought carefully before choosing my next words. "I'm going back. But I ain't going with you. Or him." That was added as an afterthought. "Or any of your crew. Or that ship." More afterthoughts. Jack would find a loophole in my words if he could, and I sure as hell was going to do my best to see that he couldn't.

"Now would you please leave? I have rather over exerted myself today and must rest. Besides, you are ruining my father-in-law's carpet." Of course, Jonathan Stealer was not yet my father-in-law, but lying can be very useful. With that I turned and climbed the stairs as haughtily as possible, leaving Celia to see Gibbs out.

"We leave early tomorrow. Out by Lizard's Point. You'll be there Tess. You're too restless to remain here."

I paused at the top of the stairs as I heard the door shut. The temptation to get away was strong, but I would never sail under Jack Sparrow. I told myself I would rather die than be in his company ever again. Preferring not to dwell on the matter, I instead began to pack my things. There was still passage on a ship to find, and escape from people who had treated me so well would not be simple. But, I was going back to my old life. The driving veil of rain seemed to have lifted a little. Tortuga would soon be on my horizon.

I said a prayer for Peter aboard his merchant ship and gazed out of the window, where I knew The Black Pearl lay. Either way, I would bump into Sparrow eventually, and there would be bloody fireworks when I did. I lifted his ring out of my pocket and slid it onto my finger. It was likely he wouldn't be best pleased that I managed to pick it off him. That and that blasted hat of his that I'd also claimed as my own. 'Captain' Jack Sparrow had something coming to him, and it weren't just his effects.

Author's Note:

Not very OHMIGOD WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN! I know … but we shall improve me hearties, we shall! It's short, just an opener. The chapters that follow this 'un will be HUGE. Please hang on for a bit and see what's going to happen, and review! I'd much appreciate it. Grins