HALLO! This is another scene between Koleniko, and Lydia. It is set two days after Lydia has been recruited into the Dutchman crew. Hope you readers enjoy! Reviews would be very much appreciated!

I would like to thank 'Captain Jones' and 'RandomPirateWriter' for your comments so far, and also 2bethz2 for encouraging me to carry on with my writing after I said I would give up! I know I am sorry for thinking that, I was really depressed with school stuff! I apologise greatly, and I will never think of giving this fan fiction up! I will only do so one it is actually a book and not just scenes! Thanks for believing in me Beth and also 'Neko Airie' my best friends ever! Without you I may have given up this fan fiction! I would have disappointed soooo many! Any way I will not think like that ever again and here is the scene! Thanks Beth and Erin! XX Loving yah! 3

Scene 21:

Wrote: 21.4.12

(Setting the scene: Lydia is talking to Koleniko whilst they are repairing some ropes on the lower part of the main deck. It is two days since she has been recruited into the crew.)

"When the Captain was recruiting crew members two days ago, he said to the French speaking man, Phillippe, that he was not a pirate. I am confused, I thought this was a pirate crew?" I asked Koleniko, mending the rope in my hands. Koleniko fiddled with the rope he was mending for a moment then looked up at me.

"You're right... We are a pirate crew, just not the type of pirates that go round pillaging and plundering all the time... And the Captain is a pirate, even though he said he wasn't." he looked down at the rope he was holding and continued to mend it, his face full of concentration.

"Why did the Captain say he was not a pirate then?" Koleniko looked up at me again.

"The Captain is a pirate, but one that isn't interested in plundering, he just sails the Dutchman and makes deals with dying sailors. Mourning as he goes, and making other people's lives as miserable as his." Koleniko paused for a moment then carried on. "What the French sailor said did not interest the Captain, and what he said was stereotypically what a pirate would want, and search for. What the Captain said was a quicker was of saying he wasn't interested in booty, and was interested in making a deal with the sailor's soul... The Captain was a fairly well known pirate a long time ago... Almost all pirates knew him, because he was Pirate King of The First Brethren Court and was the pirate who told the Brethren how to bind the sea Goddess Calypso in her human form. He also told the Brethren a few secrets of the sea, which helped them greatly."

"Wait the Captain was Pirate King of the First Brethren Court?" I asked slightly surprised. I knew he told the Brethren how to bind Calypso in her human form, after she betrayed him, but I thought he was just someone who told the Brethren that, and they decided to act upon in. I didn't know he was actually Pirate King! Koleniko gave a small laugh.

"Yeah the Captain was Pirate King of The First Brethren Court." I was quiet for a moment, looked down, and continued mending the rope I had been given. The First Brethren Court... First... I did some quick maths, which unfortunately took a while, because I wasn't so great at it. Hang on, the First Brethren was almost a century ago! I figured out finally. I looked up at Koleniko.

"The First Brethren Court was around a hundred years ago!" I said. Koleniko looked up at me again, and gave a small smile.

"Yeah, which means the Captain is around a hundred, give or take a few decades. I don't know how old he was when he was placed under 'Calypso's curse' as he calls it... There are two curses." Koleniko explained, picking up another rope to mend, and placing the mended one in another pile. He moved himself into a more comfortable position against the main mast. He was sat with his back against it. "One that is 'Calypso's curse', which is where the Captain in immortal, bound to the Dutchman for eternity, made to ferry souls to the next world, and where he is only aloud to set foot on land once every decade... The other is self inflicted. He calls it the 'Dead Man's curse'. One part of it is where he is physically heartless, and if anyone is to stab his heart theirs has to take its place, and would then be Captain of the Dutchman, forever. The other part of it is where he doesn't ferry souls to the next world from the Locker any more, causing himself, his crew, and the Dutchman to be cursed in appearance. It's a very cruel world." he looked down at the rope in his hands, and continued to mend it. "The part where the crew turn to part of the ship is a bit of both curses." he said. "We are bound to the Dutchman forever, but we turn to become part of the ship herself because we are cursed in appearance. Also we turn to become part of the Dutchman because we give up the will to live."

"Hoay!" came the rough voice of Maccus from the helm. Koleniko and I looked up at him quickly. "Less talking! And more work!" he snapped.

"Aye sir." we responded, and we turned back to our jobs quickly. I fiddled with the rope in my hands, mended it, and then picked up another, placing the mended one in the mended rope pile. I processed the information. Life on the Dutchman did seem pretty bad. I felt a small amount of sympathy for the crew, they were slowly turning to part of the Dutchman herself, but I also felt sympathy for the Captain. He was cursed in two ways, all because he fell in love with the wrong woman. I don't know why I felt sympathy for him, he was cruel, heartless in both the metaphorical and literal way, and he makes other people's lives a living hell. Personally I would prefer to be dead and in hell, rather than living in it. And only now did I feel a twinge of regret for choosing to join the crew of the Dutchman. I pushed the thought aside and continued with my work.