Chapter Two
Elizabeth wandered inside the captain's quarters. It was messy but otherwise clean if not for the papers, maps, and bottles scattered around. There was a wooden partition made of bamboo at the farside of the room. She went inside and stopped as she came face to face with a small young boy at the possible age of ten or more. His face was very dirty and stained with grease. His hair was black and straight and reached his shoulders. His eyes were dark and round with small nose and thin lips. Elizabeth might have mistaken him for a girl if it was not for the flat very flat chest.
"What are you doing in the captain's cabin?" She asked sternly. She couldn't trust Sao Feng's crew no matter how ridiculously religious they were.
"And you? What are you doing here?" The young boy had a small voice with a Singaporian lilt. The way he spoke however was not small at all. Elizabeth would call it childlike impertinence; the same tone she heard from Will when he was hiding something and didn't like her to find out.
"I'm here by Captain's request." She said, making it as short and as vague as possible. She knew Jack wouldn't like it if his actions or commands were mistaken for kindness... if his motive was really kind, that is.
"But the captain's not here." The boy said, frowning at her. Elizabeth had to admire him for that. Only Tai Huang had been able to talk to her as casually, and even he was riggid at times.
"Do you want me to call him?" She smiled threateningly, watching with amusement as the child's round eyes grew even more round.
"You're his mistress?" The boy blurted out. Elizabeth laughed in suprise. The child was taking his impertinence a knot higher. She hadn't seen that curiosity and straightforwardness for a long time. The crew she had been sailing with had taken it to their head that she was a captain lower than Barbossa for her inerrant stubborness to contradict or question his ideas. She had long noticed that no one contradicted him aside from Jack. And Gibbs were just.. She was too guilt driven to have a long conversation with him; afraid that she might confess her sin.
"I'm not his mistress." She said, enunciating the words tersely. The idea had a disturbing sensation and it must be the reason why she felt uncomfortably exposed. What happened between Jack and her was only a kiss. To deceive him. A betrayal. It was hardly what transpired between a captain and his mistress. And Elizabeth didn't know if she was appalled or amused. Captain's mistress, indeed.
"You're not his mistress? So you're grounded or under restrictions?" The boy said the words slowly; his eyes glinting with young knowledge. He was not some pauper, that she could tell. Maybe he was Sao Feng's successor. That's the only reason why he gave such an impression that he's an important person; much like Jack Sparrow's habit of introducing himself when he's about to escape.
"What makes you think I'm under restrictions?"
The boy fidgeted. "Well, the crew talked about.." He meant the Kracken and Jack's death. Killing a Captain was a crime penalized by death at the plank. Everyone must have admired her for such bravery and, they must be pondering Jack's lack of attention or interest to enforce the punishment. No doubt they misunderstood his silent animosity.
Elizabeth snorted. "Oh, it's hardly a nice story much less an interesting one."
"He has to kill you." The boy watched her; his eyes widening. "You have to get out of here." He said the words with vehemence.
Elizabeth stared at him. His earlier statement was true. A captain must protect his reputation and maintain the fearful respect of his crew towards him. If he ignored her deception the crew might eventually follow her example, thinking that the captain was not as ruthless if he would let her go without even a single fight.
She did not cajole Jack Sparrow to forgive her. They ignored one another as if they never existed. He didn't react when her name was mentioned in a conversation and she just simply called him Captain and not by his first name when it was impossible to avoid him.
Too distant. Too cold. What happened a few minutes ago with Gibbs was the effect of the painful realization that she no longer had a family to return to. No one to talk to. That's why she let Gibbs pry. He's the only one that reminded her of home in Port Royal. He was the only man alive to know what she looked like as a child, except Will, but he was just as cold as Jack. And so the familiarity had beckoned her to be confessional.
"I can't leave." She shrugged and moved away, needing the space even if the one she was talking to was a child who had no idea who she really was or what they were up against with. Jack was the least of her worry. It was Beckett they had to deal with.
"But why?" The child, too curious and puzzled followed her across the cabin.
"Would it matter for you to find out?" She threw the child a glance. He was petite like a doll for his round face and dainty arms.
"Well.. no." He said and bent his head. "I'm sorry."
Elizabeth began tidying the bedroom. As much as she would like to get out of her dirty clothes and just fall on the bed, she could hardly sleep with so many things to think of. And it was inappropriate to sleep wearing someone else's clothes for that matter. Jack seemed to have a few spare of shirts but what would he think of her if he saw her wearing it. She could just lie and say that it was William's but lying would not lift up her spirits with him giving her accusing eyes at every opportunity that he could get.
"You're hiding from the crew. Why?" She asked the boy. Elizabeth could gather facts just by watching other people. And most of the time her assumptions were correct. Only Jack had the ability to thwart her. He had contradicted her expectations when she thought she had read him well.
"I'm not hiding." The boy said quietly, inaudibly. It was obvious that he was lying.
"What were you doing in there if you're not hidding?" Elizabeth said with a tone that said she didn't believe him.
"Fine. I was hidding but not from the crew." The boy followed her with his eyes as she tried to open a door. "That's the map room. A man went there minutes ago and left." Elizabeth nodded. So the boy was not spying, he would not have told her anything about the room if he was a spy of Sao Feng. Leave it to the Pirate Lord of Singapore to use a child to do dangerous tasks such as spying.
"Then who are you hidding from?" She said. "That man is Captain Barbossa."
"Tai Huang. He's scary. Is he a relative of the Captain?"
Was it the boy's intention to divert her interest? Elizabeth noticed he mentioned Jack too much for her own liking. "Why were you hiding from Tai Huang?"
"He'll.." He frowned, his eyes narrowing with anger. "He'll take me back to that man."
"Who?" Elizabeth watched him grip his hands into fists.
"Sao Feng."
"Why?" She sat at the edge of the bed watching him with veiled amusement. She doesn't know think about his sudden willingness to answer her questions when he was just reluctant a few minutes ago.
"He's my father." Elizabeth blinked. What an information. She was already thinking what an asset the child would be if they came up against the pirate lord. But Elizabeth was dismayed at such cruel manipulation.
"But he doesn't seem to care." The boy shrugged indifferently and began to trace the carvings on the center table. Elizabeth kept herself from speaking. He was just like her when she was a child. She turned even more secretive and difficult when a sensitive question was asked.
"My mother was one of his harem. She never wanted to be his mistress but.." He stopped tracing the patterns; his eyes becoming slowly distant as if he was consumed by bitter memories. "We were poor and Sao Feng wanted her."
He seemed older, an aura of maturity surrounded him for such a young boy. Elizabeth slowly became interested of how he came by that wistful look. "So your mother played whore for the pirate lord." Her words had the desired effect, he turned to her with seething eyes. "Dont dare insult my mother–
"For what?" She raised her brows. "For sacrificing herself for the sake of her family?" She stood and went to the side of the room where the barrels of water were stacked. "For wanting to give her child the things she would not have been able to give by hard and honest work?" She took a clean rug hanging from the wall. Opening the lid of one of the barrels, she dipped the rug under the water. "No, I did not insult your mother by telling the truth."
The boy watched her in dumbfounded silence. He didn't think she would say those things. Maybe he never had the opportunity to hear someone's understanding. Maybe the people in Singapore treated him with scorn for having a mother who's honor was bemirched by becoming a serving lady to the pirate lord.
She turned to him and smiled. Then she walked towards him with the wet rug in one hand. "The truth is just a shallow truth. It's the motive of the person which makes the truth acceptable or not." Then she pulled a chair in front of him and sat. She placed the wet rug against his tear stained cheek and began cleaning his face.
She sat there in silence as she bathed his dirty face with the rug and he stood there, watching her with a hopeful innocence of a child.
"Tell me something. Why would Tai Huang bring you back to Sao Feng if he has fathered many child by his harem?"
"I was not like his other children." He said.
"How so?" Elizabeth smoothed his dirty hair away from his face, and smoothed the rug against his forehead. The boy raised his chin and compliantly submit to her ministrations.
"I'm smarter and quick to obey." She chuckled at his answer. "Quick to obey, then Tai Huang did not forbid you to sneak into his vessel and come away with us to the end of the world?"
"He did not tell me anything so I didn't have to break his order." My, the boy was smart indeed, if he had come up with such statement.
"What about your sire?"
"Like I said," He shrugged. "He didn't care."
"So he knows you're here?"
"No."
"So he didn't care if the smartest of his successors went missing?" She turned to his arm. "Did you bathed yourself in grease?"
"Yes, I did not want anyone to find me sneaking inside the cargo."
"So you were not lying about being smart." She smiled and began to clean the grease from his skin.
"You thought I was lying?" The boy raised his brows.
Elizabeth shrugged. "You could say I was bit skeptical of a boy who was hiding in the Captain's cabin." She grinned at his scowling face. "Answer my question. If you're the smartest.."
"I'm not his successor." He answered readily. "Tai Huang was appointed to be my mentor just to keep me occupied. I was always trying to get me and my mother to escape after I had found out he was abusing her."
Elizabeth took a deep breath as she tried to control her rising temper. "Were you abused by Tai Huang?"
"Not really. He was strict and easily displeased if I didn't do things the right way but he never raise his hand. He let me starve as a punishment."
Elizabeth's hand went still at his words. She could imagine his torment, of always being watched, of not being able to save his mother, of begging for food just to stay alive. "You don't have talk to me about it if it hurts."
"It's okay. I'm glad I could talk about it." He smiled, a hesitant effort as he tried not to cry. "In Singapore, you do not complain or you'll take a stick."
Elizabeth regarded him with veiled interest. "I never thought you were complaining a minute ago. You were brave and open about such things but you never complained."
"Even so." He shrugged.
"You speak well. Were you educated?"
"No. My mother was half English and she translates for the white men."
Elizabeth stood up, having finished cleaning him. She placed the rug on the table and gestured for him to follow. He hesitated and Elizabeth smiled. "Let me take care of Tai Huang. You must be starved to death." As if on cue, his stomach made a grumbling sound. The boy smiled in embarrasment.
"What's your name?"
"Lei Zho."
"Well, Mr. Zho, would you like to accompany me to the kitchen?" She extended her hand and he grasped it like a child would grab a toy.