With the morning came hope. Sarann awoke refreshed and feeling much stronger than she had the previous day. Her skin had regained some colour but her injuries were as bad as ever.
She was the last one to wake. Sitting up, careful not to bang her head or re-open any wounds, she found all the lost boys at breakfast; some sitting around the tree stump table, some on their beds, others scattered around the floor. The natural cacophony of young boys at breakfast unsupervised soon lapsed into a tense quiet when they realised the pirate in their midst was awake. Only Jake's face held a grin at seeing her and he soon rushed over to hand her the empty bowl that held her breakfast. Sarann knew this game, she had described it to Jake numerous times, but it didn't stop her feeling childish when she had to pretend to eat. All embarrassment soon disappeared though as she tasted porridge and her hunger made its presence known. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten and healing was taking a lot of her energy.
There was no sign of Pan that morning, not during breakfast or the uneasy quiet that occurred afterwards. Without a leader to direct them none of the lost boys knew how to act around their prisoner. Jake was upset that they viewed his sister as such, he wanted them to love her as he did. And he knew just the way to make that happen.
"Tell them the story of Peter Pan and Hook and the flute."
Sarann looked down into the expectant face with confusion writ on her own. She did not know this story, she did not know any story. She had a single memory from her previous life of telling stories to Jake at bedtime, but of the stories themselves? Nothing. She could see the disappointment creep onto Jake's face at her silence. He'd expected Sarann's memory to come back immediately as his had, he didn't understand how she could still not remember everything, especially her amazing stories.
"You remember." He coaxed, hesitantly. "The one where Hook tries to lure Slightly off by playing a flute and Pan finds out and saves him by..."
And there it was, not one memory, but many. All of bed time, all of stories, a multitude of adventures stockpiled night after night and all available to her once more. Instantly, with no forethought, Sarann began her tale. As the story of Hook's plot to capture the music loving Slightly progressed Sarann got more and more involved, losing herself in the adventure of her old pirate captain. One by one the lost boys forgot their fear of their captive, moving closer to her as the story got more exciting and danger filled the air. It was only as Sarann neared the end where Pan triumphs over Hook that her excitement left her. To tell a tale of Hook's defeat was a betrayal to her pirate self and it stung. Her initiation into the lost boys would take a while but she took a deep breath and continued, determined to distance herself from the pirates while never integrating fully into the lost boys. She had to be free to escape and that meant no ties, no loyalties to any part of the island.
Her audience noted nothing but a pause for dramatic effect however, and by the end of that one story they were her faithful lost boys just as they were Pan's. Jake felt pride in his big sister and happiness that she appeared to remember more of her old life. Not that he ever wanted to go back there, but he believed then that Sarann would be able be mother to them all if she remembered her old life and forgot her life with the pirates. Such was the simple mind of a child.
Once the story was over the lost boys began to introduce themselves to her and Sarann found herself lost in a sea of names. She remembered Stix, the boy who had told Peter that the graves were done. He was small for his eleven years, but he proudly announced that he was Peter's second in command despite his youth.
Jake was known as Sockz as explained earlier. Next came Carrot named, oddly, for his vigorous aversion to the vegetable, the youngest of the group but very talkative. Bob and Duck were two brothers of twelve and thirteen, known for their strange swimming habits of spending more time below the water than above. Toff was the eldest at fourteen. His name came from his habit of wearing the top hat John had left behind and effecting what he thought of as an upper class British accent but sounded to Sarann more like cockney.
The news of John's top hat had surprised Sarann, even after living in Neverland for a few months she found it had to believe parts of the classic Peter Pan tale. She soon discovered the truth though. Wendy, John and Michael had indeed come to Neverland. The original lost boys; Tootles, Nibs, Slightly and the rest had been the first boys to come here. They'd gone back to London with Wendy and her brothers but had been replaced over the years by other boys lost by their nannies or parents over the years. Since Wendy there had been other 'mothers', girls brought by Pan to care for and entertain the lost boys. It occurred to Sarann that it was only ever the girls that found the desire to go home. Neverland was a home and playground for boys, but the girls never felt truly comfortable here for long. Each time a 'mother' had been brought, within months they'd left again, usually taking a lost boy or two with them after stories of what a true mother is like had kindled a desire for a real family in their heart.
These boys were always replaced though, boys were constantly getting themselves lost so Pan was never alone. But the older he grew, the lonelier he got. At seventeen his desire for more than a 'mother' had caused his infatuation with Sarann and she knew there could be trouble brewing, but this was not the time for those thoughts.
The rest of the lost boys passed by in a blur and Sarann knew she'd never remember all of their names. There were fourteen in total after the losses of the latest battle with the pirates. Despite their disadvantage, Sarann and the pirates had managed to kill six lost boys but she would not think of that, not now. Ten of the remaining boys slept in the room she currently occupied, four stayed in an adjoining room.
"How many rooms are there?" Sarann asked, beginning to be overwhelmed by the information coming her way.
Instantly every boy was on his feet. Four of them, including Jake, had attached themselves to her arms and were trying to propel her out of the door. No orders had been given by Pan to keep her where she was and the boys' pride in their home would have probably forced all such orders out of their heads even if there had been. As it was, each boy was eager to show off any area of the hideaway they'd have any part in building, decorating, altering or even destroying. And there were a lot of them. The door from the bedroom led into another bedroom, almost identical with the tree bunks in the walls and the stump table in the centre, but this one was smaller. Toff was eager to point out that he'd been the one to cut down the trees for the tables, Bob and Duck were proud of their carving skills and showed off the various plates and bowls they'd made. Stix pointed out the rudimentary hanging baskets he'd made out of sticks that held the boys' clothes.
From there Sarann was led out of the second bedroom into a much larger underground room filled with toys, weapons, basic furniture, plants and a whole manner of other assorted items, all strewn around in no order leaving a chaos that could only have been made by children. This was introduced as the 'battle room' and was used for any general purpose they could think of. The kitchen was beyond the battle room with a hole in one corner for the smoke from cooking food could escape. Sarann marvelled at the ingenuity but assumed it was more a result of trial and error rather than clever planning. To the left of the kitchen was a small tunnel that led to Pan's private chamber and to the right a larger tunnel that Jake informed her led out into the forest.
All in all it was an impressive hideaway, obviously the result of years of work and Sarann was suitably impressed. Unfortunately she was also exhausted. It had been a long morning and she was still suffering from her injuries and bloodloss. A simple lunch was immediately followed by a long nap to recover her strength. When she awoke the afternoon continued as the morning had; with stories. Mock battles followed; training disguised as play, but this Sarann did not join in. Not only because she was not physically up to it but also because she vowed to herself she would be involved in no more fighting. She was through with that, the violence of this world was not a part of her and she would take no part in it. Jake did though, Sarann could not stop him. Pan had returned at some point while Sarann slept. He'd slept late after laying awake most of the night thinking about what to do with his new prisoner but had taken command as soon as he was awake.
With the boys he was a playful leader, but with Sarann his attitude was erratic. Friendly one minute, cold the next. Sometimes distant, sometimes his words were laced with a meaning Sarann did her best to ignore. He was a boy infatuated and she was a woman who wanted nothing to do with him. This would not end well.
