Author's Note: Hey again! Thanks for the reviews I've already gotten! Wow, didn't think they'd appear that quick. XDD Anyways, yeah, title change! You see, it was a working title, and I also changed the description... You'll see why as the story progresses. Well then, I'll let you all get to it!

Chapter 1

1742

Amirantes wasn't that big of a girl. Like her land, she was tiny but healthy and strong. Although her islands were lush and fertile, there weren't many minerals to mine or natives to colonize, hence the lack of explorers attempting to claim the place as their own. Of course, Amirantes didn't know any of this. She was just living peacefully on her own, making friends with the wildlife, eating the tropical fruit, and swimming on the beach. When strangers did come to explore her islands, she tried to remain hidden, since the sight of foreigners frightened her a little. But of course, she had been spotted a few times, once by some explorers with funny accents. The leader of their group had decided to name her islands the Amirantes, which included naming her that as well.

Even so, many came to visit but few (if any) ever stayed. And those that did stay didn't stay for long. Thus, the little girl found herself growing up alone, with only animals as friends. After 150 years of this kind of living, she wasn't as afraid of other fellow humans, just wary. More than wary, though, was she curious. Every now and then, she would find new hidden items that previous explorers had stowed away on the islands, and she would sit there running her hands through old coins and jewels, wondering if she would ever see another human face at any time soon.

It was a morning just like any other morning, sunny with a nice warm wind blowing through the trees, when Amirantes spotted a few ships heading for her little islands. Excited, she climbed to the top of a large boulder overlooking the islands and was able to see material of blue, red and white waving in the wind. She was so excited at the idea of another human face that she began leaping up and down, waving at the newcomers. As the ships grew closer and closer, she crouched down and peered over the side of the rock's edge to get a better look at the ships below her. She could barely see men running around on the wooden vessels, pulling ropes, shouting at each other, and pointing at her.

The ships soon landed on the shores, and she watched as they slowly lowered a long plank of wood onto the sand and began walking down. They were wearing the oddest things to the little island girl, strange getups of blues and whites and golds with lots of pointy things strapped around their waists. Some of the men had big frilly objects on their heads, which made her giggle. As more of the men began walking around, conversing amongst one another in their strange voices, one man in particular approached Amirantes' rock and stopped right in front of it, looking directly up at her.

She could hear him say something, but what it was, she had no idea. He spoke strangely, in a way that was both alluring yet suspicious. But his eyes, they were what kept her rooted to her spot. They were a lovely blue like the sky, and his hair was the color not unlike the yellow flowers she found around the islands. His eyes were enticing. She peered further and further over the edge down at him as he seemed to smile and began to make waving gestures with his hand. Another one of them came up to the strange man and they shared a brief discussion, which ended in the strange man sending the other man away. He turned back to the island girl and continued to gesture to her. She figured he wanted her to come down. Amirantes hesitated, still wary of foreigners even though she was originally excited. After all, they wore such strange things, their skin was almost as white as the sand and their hair came in different colors. She didn't know what to make of all of this.

The man spread his arms wide and smiled even more broader than before. He began to speak again in a light, airy tone and slowly began to remove the strap around his waist that held all the pointy items. He seemed to be saying: "See? It's all right!"

Amirantes decided to test her luck and slowly began to slide down the rock. One leg after another, she soon landed in the sand and stood up to eye the newcomer warily. He still continued to smile at her, eyes twinkling. In fact, she found his eyes bluer when up close. Placing his hands on his knees, he bent down so that their eyes were level and he spoke again. His voice was musical and silky.

"Bon jour, ma cherie."

Amirantes had studied many of the gestures and movements of explorers that had come to her island before. One gesture she had noticed was when someone was confused or reluctant, they moved their shoulders up and down. Since she was feeling extremely confused by this man and his strange speech, she did just that.

The man laughed. "Oh, ve jois. Vous ne me comprendre! Ah…"

He cleared his throat and tried a different tactic. "Can you understand me now?"

Her eyes widened and she shrugged again, this time with more fervor.

"Ah…" he sighed. He stroked his chin thoughtfully, trying to think of a way to communicate. After a minute or two, he seemed to come up with an idea. Smiling again, he pointed at her, and then back at himself. When he pointed to himself, he said, "France." When he pointed to her, he raised his eyebrows, as if asking a question.

She tried out the name the previous sailors had given her. "Amirantes."

"Amirantes? Pah! So distasteful…"

She noted to herself that he didn't seem to approve of the name. While he was muttering to himself, she decided to try his name for herself. "Fuh-r-a-n-s…?"

He grinned and tapped his chest. "Oui! Je suis France!"

He seemed so happy at her saying his name that she began smiling herself.

"France!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms up jovially. This time, the name rolled off of her tongue better. The man laughed and patted her head while she laughed as well, rubbing the hair from off of his forehead.

France, or Francis Bonnefoy as he was personally called, couldn't help but smile as he watched the little island girl interacting with his fellow men. She made rather amusing noises which sort of resembled the chatter of an infant as she walked beside the men, touched their uniforms, as well as laughing at their expressions and their outbursts when she jumped on their backs playfully. It kind of reminded him of a puppy.

France was beginning to believe that setting up colonies on these islands may not have been such a bad idea. It was obvious that his men were becoming more and more enamored with this little stretch of land and her jovial ways. At the moment, she was sitting with a couple of men on the sand, staring in awe as they handed her different items that they carried with them and they laughed as she tried to find some use of things like a compass or a spyglass. No doubt about it, the French were going to try to make these islands a new place for colonization.

But the name has to go… he thought, mentally shaking his head. And I should try to teach her our language a little bit, so we can talk more.

"Allez! Aller loin! Allez!" he shouted to the men. They immediately leaped to their feet and began walking away, leaving the girl to her own amusement. "Right! Go build a camp for us or something!" he called.

She still sat there, surrounded by different knicks and knacks the sailors had left with her, intensely studying one of the men's shaving mirrors. When France saw what she was staring at, he chuckled.

"That is a mirror. What you are staring at is a reflection of yourself. It's made by the light hitting the glass." Her eyes were glued to his face as he drew an invisible line from the sun to the mirror. When he met her eyes, he huffed.

"Ah, right. You cannot speak yet. Well, we shall cure you of that, ma princesse!" He held out his hand to her. She didn't know what to make of it at first, but then she looked down by her right foot and saw a small photo of a man and a woman together. Looking at it more closely, she could see that the man was standing like France was, holding his hand out to the woman, who was sitting down. Her hand was in his. Amirantes stared at her own hand for a moment. Then, she did just as the woman in the photo did, taking France's hand. He smiled at her kindly and helped pull her up on her feet.

"First things first, mon petit chou. I know you cannot understand me, yet. But I have come up with a name for you. Your colony name, I cannot decide on my own, but your own name for yourself to keep? That I can give to you. Your name shall be Michelle Gallaud, for the beautyl that you are." His voice softened as he began caressing her cheek with his thumb. A slight breeze wafted through the air, stirring her long, spiraled hair with his own.

...

"What are these?"

"Aiyes."

"Close. Eyes. Try again."

Michelle, as France had named her, slowly touched France's eyelids with her fingertips. He smiled, doing the same thing. "Come on. Eyes."

"…Eyes."

"Very good. Now, try this." He tickled the spot behind her earlobe. She flinched, giggling and he smiled, followed by tapping his ear. "What is this?"

After she calmed down, she studied the ear. Her head tilted to the side, making her look absolutely adorable. "I… no…"

"Ear."

"Ear…"

For the next couple of hours, this is how France spent his time: educating Michelle in French. Surprisingly, he found that she was an apt and quick learner. Plus, he found that he was actually enjoying himself watching her form the French syllables and accents and seeing the happy look on her face when she got a word right.

It was starting to grow late, and France could tell that the little island girl was growing sleepy. Her head was beginning to nod, and before they both knew it, she was sound asleep with her head on his shoulder.

"Ah, bonne nuit , ma tresor." He smiled as he picked her up to carry her to bed. As he suspected, she hardly weighed a thing.

She suddenly stirred in his arms, her eyes opening slightly to look up at his face. "I'm sleep?"

He chuckled. "Oui. You were sleeping. Go back to sleep now. It's all right."

She smiled and snuggled into his chest, feeling completely safe with this man who had been teaching her so many things. He was opening up her world, expanding it, making her realize things she never thought of before. Deep down inside, a part of her was hoping that he'd stay here on the islands with her, and not leave like so many others had done in the past.

France didn't know what to make of this girl. At first, she had just been someone that amused him with her cute expressions and her ignorance of most human activity. But now, he was beginning to feel responsible for her, since he was acting like a tutor to her pretty much, and giving her a name as well. And now, with her smiling in her sleep there in his arms, he wasn't sure how to feel about her.

He and his men had set up several tents on the beach for sleeping. A low fire was burning in the middle of them, giving off a peaceful glow that added to the warm atmosphere. France went into the tent reserved for him and laid the girl down on his cot. As she nestled into the blankets, with that smile still on her face, he bent down and placed a kiss on her forehead. Then he walked out and sat by the fire, mulling over what he was going to do.

...

"You are going?" Marguerite asked France a few days later. She had been traversing through the jungle where she originally lived and had found the French sailors packing things up and loading everything onto their big ship.

France was saddened by the confused look in her eyes. He wasn't willing to leave the island himself, but it had to be done in order to report what they had found on the islands - which included Michelle herself. With a sigh, he placed his hands on her slim shoulders and stared into her golden-brown eyes.

"I have to. Forgive me, ma cher.. My boss will want to know what we have found here, and I will tell him about you. I will try to return as soon as I can. I promise."

She wanted to cry, but she just continued to look at him, memorizing the details of his face.

"In the meantime, here, take this."

He bent down and reached into a trunk that was at their feet. After rummaging through it for a few seconds, he pulled out a leather-bound book and handed it to her. "This will help you continue in your French studies. I want you to be able to speak as well as the rest of us when we get back!" He gave her one of his winning cheeky smiles which made her grin back at him.

"I'm serious! If you can't quote this book line from line when I return, I will be most displeased!"

She laughed. "All right. I will have it learned. But you have to come back!"

He nodded. Then, for a few minutes, they just stood there, unsure of what to say.

He spoke. "I decided to leave other provisions for you as well. I do not know if they will be of any use, but they are there in case you need any thing…"

There had been a tent with a chest of different items (which included small melee weapons) left on the beach for the very purpose he had just said. She glanced at the tent and nodded.

"Merci."

It grew quiet again. France could hear the many calls of the men wanting to set sail, but he didn't want to leave. Just standing there, watching this lovely girl, would have been just fine with him. But he knew that wasn't possible, so with one final sigh, he reached out to her and placed his hand on her neck. Drawing close to her, he placed a lingering kiss on her forehead and whispered his goodbye before turning to leave.

The boat was sailing away in a matter of minutes, and the island girl found herself alone again. But this time, she didn't feel so alone. Glancing over at the tent and down at the book in her hand, she was comforted in knowing that the man called France would be back. Even though she didn't know when, she knew he would be back.

A/N: Okay, that's the second chapter! I probably won't have two notes in each chapter like this, by the way. Just wanted to clear some things up. 1). I'm not fluent in French. I mean, AT ALL. So, the little bits you see were found online and I apologize in advance if they're not accurate. But come one, it's France. You've gotta use French at least some, especially in this scenario.

Also, the underlined dialogue is supposed to mean that they are talking in French, but I just didn't feel like trying to write it all in French. So, maybe that's a good thing. ;)

Lastly, the flowers I mentioned were supposed to refer to the praslin island flowers that are found on the actual islands. You can google them, and you'll find some lovely yellow ones.

So, that's all! Hope you like this new addition to this story! :D