A few minutes later found the at the top of the hill. Davy didn't look very happy about being placed in his bucket but Vixey knew, as she landed beside him on the hill, that he was doing it for her. Jim's final resting place was just as she had wanted it. A bare patch of earth surrounded by conch shells, Jim's favorite, and a large wooden cross with Jim's full name, his dates of birth and death and his favorite saying carved on it. "I would rather die on my feet then live on my knees," Vixey said as she touched the carvings. "It's beautiful John," she told Silver as he stopped to stand beside her. "Only the best for me boy," Silver said as he threw and arm around her shoulders. "Did ye carve the little dragons on it as well," Davy asked as he ran a finger across the wood. "No, Jim did that himself a few months before. Just something he started and never finished. I thought it only fitting." Nothing more was said as the mourning parents each said a silent prayer before the three of them headed back down the hill. Davy glanced back to see that the places in the dirt around the grave Vixey had touched were now sprouting various tropical flowers. He started to say something then thought better of it and concentrated on the exhilarating feeling of flying on his wife's back.
A few hours later, night was beginning to fall and Davy had the crew rushing around gathering supplies. They would leave in the morning to find Cat's father. As Davy made his rounds, he noticed that Vixey was no where to be found. He searched the whole ship and even under water before he thought to look on the Pearl. As soon as he appeared on deck, he could feel her presence. He couldn't help but chuckle as the crew scrambled to get out of his way. As he approached the Captain's quarters he could hear giggling on the other side of the door. As he walked in, he could see Jack, Jayde and Lucius laying on the bed surrounding Vixey. All three of them had their ears pressed to Vixey's stomach and as he watched, her stomach shook and the two women began giggling. "Well, what be all this then," Davy said as he raised an eyebrow. "I told Jayde how the twins wrestled sometimes at night so loud I could hear them and Jack and Lucius walked in and being Sparrow men, had to be nosey." "Hey," Jack and Lucius said at the same time. "Hay is the first step in horseshi-," Vixey started before Jayde clapped a hand over her mouth. "It's bad enough living with a bunch of pirates and trying to keep Lucius from having a sailor mouth. I don't need his Aunt adding to it." Vixey knew she was just having some fun with her so she didn't take her too seriously. "How long will ye be staying here," Davy asked as he scooted next to Vixey. "Well, truth be told we haven't made any plans but if I know my little mermaid, we'll be here a while. If I had my way, we'd leave with the tide." "If you had your way, we would have left the day after we got here. I swear you never want to be on land long," Jayde complained. "Pirate," Jack reminded her. "Yeah, like I need any help remembering that. I'm surprised you haven't tried to take Lucius on a raid yet." "Oh don't worry about that Luv, it's coming." "When pigs fly and the sky turns brown." Vixey just shook her head at Jack and Jayde's banter. "Come on you two, let's leave these two to their conversation." As Davy and Lucius followed her out the door, they heard a loud crash followed by a squeal of joy. "Oh yeah, we definitely wanna get away from here," Vixey said as she and Lucius began to jump overboard. "Now hold on, ye don't need to be exerting yourself so much," Davy protested. "It's swimming, I'm not gonna try to lift a boat. Lucius needs to practice his swimming while we are in shallow water. You're more the welcome to join us if you're gonna get bent out of shape about it." Davy decided to ignore her last comment as he followed them into the water.
Vixey reveled in the coolness of the water as she sank to the bottom. She noticed that the further along her pregnancy progressed, the quicker her skin dried out. She watched as Lucius struggled to learn how to breathe underwater. Jayde had tried to teach him but as it had been a long time since she had had to learn, she had forgotten. Finally, Lucius' gills fluttered and he took his first breath underwater. Vixey breathed a sigh of relief and watched as Davy floated down and landed beside her. "The Lad learns quick." "He has to, to make up for the human half of him. Whether or not he'll have a tail is unknown. But if he does, only he will know how to find it. My kind have to learn how to use their abilities, the merfolk are born with the instinct how. They have a superiority complex because of it. Normally, Drakel and merfolk don't get along as well as Jayde and I do." "Why is that," Davy asked as he lazily floated beside her. "A long time ago, it is said there was a great war because a mermaid and a Drakel fell in love. When their parents found out, they forbade the young lovers to see each other. But the two eloped. When the mermaid's parents found out, they demanded that their daughter be returned to them. The Drakel's parents told them that they had nothing to do with their daughter's disappearance. To make a long story short, the mermaid's parents declared war. But in the process of the battle, the young couple was killed. Some say they committed suicide so they could be together forever. In any case, who killed them is unknown to this day. Most of the elder merfolk still blame our side, and some of the old Drakel still blame the merfolk." "I thought you were the oldest?" "The oldest available, yes. There are many that are older then me, but once you get a certain age, you become ineligible to become Elder. They are the ones who still hold on to the old beliefs." Davy said nothing more and watched Lucius try to get his bearings. A smile crossed his face as he realized that it wouldn't be long before he would be teaching his children like this. Vixey caught what he was thinking and her heart fluttered as one of the twins kicked.
It was a few hours later when they drug themselves out of the water. Lucius headed back to the Pearl while Vixey and Davy headed to their cabin. Davy watched as Vixey removed her wet clothes and braided her long hair before crawling into bed. "Love, I think ye forgot something." "Really? What would that be?" "Yer clothes." "Oh that. I didn't forget, I just felt like being naked for a while. Sometimes my clothes itch. My skin is so sensitive these days." Davy swallowed hard as he weighed his options. He knew he should get above deck and make his rounds but his "other brain" had a few other ideas that were more fun. He was debating in his mind when Vixey's tail snaked out from under the covers and unbuckled his belt. Before he knew what was happening, he found himself on his back, minus his pants, and Vixey sitting on his chest with a 'cat that ate the canary' look on her face. "You looked like you were having trouble deciding what to do so I decided to help you out." "Out of my pants, you mean."
Jayde was about to knock on the Captain's door when she heard a squeal followed by a loud thud. The knock forgotten she barged in, thinking Vixey might have fallen. Instead, she found Vixey on top of Davy in a heap on the floor. Vixey was completely naked while Davy at least was wearing a shirt, albeit unbuttoned but he was wearing it. "Do I want to know what happened," Jayde asked as she tossed Davy a blanket. "Well since you asked," Vixey started as Davy wrapped the blanket around them and somehow managed to maneuver them onto the bed. "As you know, when I'm pregnant I'm more, um playful. And I was in one of those moods and someone got a little too playful rolling around on the bed and rolled us right off of it." "Oh, is that all? I thought you might have seriously fallen." Davy was trying so hard not to be mad, more at himself then Jayde. He realized he could have hurt Vixey and the twins if she had been the one on bottom. Without a word, he pulled on his pants and headed above deck. Vixey knew what he was thinking. "I guess I better get dressed and go after him. It's not like it's the first time I've fallen off the bed when I was pregnant." "Yeah, but he doesn't know that. Hey, I didn't know that either. When did that happen?" "Second trimester when I was pregnant with Jim. John was surprised to find me in his bed that night and we just kinda got carried away. I was on the bottom that time. John acted the same way when it happened. It took a long time to convince him I was fine. I finally had to sit on him." "Well, Davy is more stubborn then Silver ever hoped to be. Have fun." Vixey threw on her clothes as she hurried out behind Jayde.
When Davy wasn't at the helm she started getting worried. By then night had fallen and she was glad her kind had night vision. She was about to ask one of the crew when out the corner of her eye she caught a feint flicker of light. Almost instantly she smelled the spicy odor of his pipe tobacco and followed the source of it to the man she shared her life with. She knew he was troubled by the look on his face and she slipped behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist as she buried her face in his back. "I don't deserve you," came his quiet voice. "Would you stop with that? I'm fine." "But you might not have been, you might have been on the bottom." "Didn't hurt me last time." Davy's next words could barely leave his throat as he turned to face her. "Excuse me?" "When I was pregnant with Jim, John and I were messing around and we fell off the bed and I was on the bottom." "I thought you were only with him the one time." "I never said that, you just assumed. Look, when my kind is pregnant sometimes we get super horny and cant help ourselves. I was only around three people during that time and since I'm not into females and Jack is more like a brother, John was the only option. And believe me, he is a lot heavier then you, or at least he used to be. He's lost a lot of weight lately. Anyway the point is, I'm fine and it's ok for us to continue to do that if we want but if you want to be careful we can roll around on the floor. It's not ok to blame yourself," she said softly as she draped her arms around his neck. Davy sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her close against him. "I'm not used to being a husband yet, and I'm even less used to the idea of being a father. You have to give me a wide berth sometimes. I've been set in me ways for a long time and it's gonna take a while yet not to be so paranoid." "You mean stubborn. "Whatever," Davy snorted.
A while later into the night still found them wrapped up in each others arms. Davy loved holding his wife in his arms and by now, didn't care if the crew saw him or not. Clanker had made the mistake once of saying something along the lines about the Captain going soft. Davy had overheard and was about to order a flogging when Vixey had talked him into let her talk to the crew. "I know what you must think, seeing us together," she had said. "But I don't want to hear any smart remarks about it. If I hadn't had my say Clanker, you would be getting the flogging of a lifetime. But lucky for you, I stepped in. I have heard all of you at one point or another make wisecracks about your Captain. Your punishment is that for the next day or longer if I see fit, is that you all will cook for yourselves. I will not cook one morsel of food for any of you scurvy dogs. If I catch you trying to steal food out of the kitchen while I am cooking, I will let the Captain have you. Am I clear on this?" "What about stuff you haven't cooked, like apples," Hadras had said "If I haven't cooked it, its up for grabs. The apples, however, for now are out. I plan to be making a pie." They had grumbled over this but decided that it was better the alternative. Since then, they hadn't heard one bit about the Captain going soft. Finally Davy broke the silence. "As much as I would love to stand here all night with you in my arms, I should make me rounds." Vixey was used to his odd hours by now so this didn't surprise her. "Alright, I think I'll get ready for bed. See you in a bit?" "Aye, I'll be there shortly." It was Maccus that found them kissing, it always was for some reason. He knew better then to interrupt them and politely turned his head until he was sure they were through. "What is it, Mr. Maccus," Davy finally said. "Forgive my interruption, but the crew has finished gathering supplies." "Did they remember to pack plenty of fresh fruit?" "Aye Mrs. Jones," Maccus grinned. He was the only one left of the crew who refused to call her by her first name. "Very well then, we will leave at first light," Davy said as he reluctantly let Vixey out of his embrace. "I suppose I should make my own preparations to leave," Vixey sighed before hopping off the side and glided to the beach. Davy wondered what she meant by that. He supposed that she would say her final good byes to Jim and Silver. He was only half right. She had already said her goodbyes but there was one more thing she had to do before she could leave. It wasn't something she wanted to do, more like something she had to, for the safety of her unborn children. As she made her way through the jungle, she kept her eye on the mountain ahead. She could see the beginning of the trail that led to the top and as she started her climb, she knew someone was following her. She didn't have to turn around to see who it was, she could sense him. "What do you want Maccus?" "The Captain asked me to keep an eye on you Mrs. Jones." "If you don't start calling me Vixey once in a while I'm going to start ignoring you. But this is as far as you go." "I'm afraid not. I will do as my Captain orders." "The worst he can do to you is flog you, trust me when I say I can make his worst flogging look like a raindrop. This is something I must do alone." The look in her eyes almost made him reconsider but then he thought about his duties. "Nay, I must do as my Captain commands. While I have no doubt of your powers, I was loyal to him first." Vixey had to admit, she did admire his loyalty. "Alright, but you must promise me no matter what you will do exactly as I say and not interfere unless I ask you to." "I swear by everything I know as a sailor." Knowing his talents, she agreed and they continued up the mountain. "May I ask what are ye doing," came a familiar voice from a nearby stream. They looked to see a very irritated looking Davy glaring mostly at his first mate. "Don't blame him, I wanted to go alone but he refused to abandon his duties you assigned him. As for what we're doing, well I don't know how to explain it but I'm going to perform an ancient Drakel ceremony to insure the twins safety. I've been having so many dream and visions about HER that I have to do something." Davy knew the HER Vixey was referring to. "I'll not let you do anything to harm yourself." "It's a small price to pay if it works." "If it works?" "I've never seen it done before so I don't know if its just an old wives tale or what. I'll try anything."
Davy followed the stream all the way to the top of the mountain. Vixey and Maccus had already beat him there and Vixey had pulled out a dagger and what looked like an albatross feather. "I need absolute silence," she said as she began waving the feather over the dagger. It was as if all of nature had stopped. There was absolute silence as she began chanting in a language they had never heard of. Then, before they knew what was happening, she took the dagger and cut a section out of each wing. Davy tried to stop her but it was as if his feet were frozen and his voice was gone. He couldn't move an inch as she raised the sections of bloody wings over her head. "Great Dragon of the Spirits, with my sacrifice I ask that you protect my family from those that would harm us and ensure the safety and well being of my unborn hatchlings." All of a sudden, a bolt of lightning zig zagged across the sky and enveloped Vixey's hands. When the light subsided, Davy was relieved that she was unharmed. Finally, she took the dagger still dripping with her blood and plunged it into the earth. "As it is above, so is it below." All of a sudden, Davy realized he could move and talk again. But he had no time for words as lightning shot out of the sky and struck the hilt of the dagger. He hadn't noticed the dark clouds before but now they were spread across the sky like a blanket. The thunder rumbled as the rain started to fall, slowly at first then turning into a torrential downpour. Vixey's clothes stuck to her like a second skin and her hair was plastered to her skull. But the look on her face was pure glee as Davy noticed the sections she had cut had grown back. "What be this?" With a joyful cry, Vixey ran to the edge of the cliff and dove off, spreading her wings the second before she hit the water. Davy watched her play in the rain and shook his head. "We tell no one of this Maccus, are we clean?" "Crystal, Captain."
Davy was waiting for her hours later when she returned to the cabin. As she walked in, she knew there would be questions but she didn't know if she could answer them. "So," Davy said as Vixey began to remove her wet clothes. "What be that just now?" "That, my dear husband, was extra insurance for the safety of our family." "Care to elaborate?" "Fine, but I don't know if I have it right. You know about our wings. If we lose one etcetera it doesn't grow back. But there are some rare occasions that they do. One such occasion is in a selfless sacrifice. If we cut out a piece from each wing with our own hands in exchange for something selfless then they grow back. The thunder and all that was a sign that my offering was accepted." "So what ye are saying is that you don't trust me to take care of out family." "No, Mr. Negativity. What I am saying is that while I trust that you will defend us with all of your power, there are things that none of us can foresee and this is a way to insure that our children will be safe. I don't put anything past HER." Davy knew she was right. Calypso was pissed and anyone on her bad side was in danger. "Alright, so what does this mean?" Vixey yawned and stretched before laying down on their bed, her tail hanging off the bed. Every so often, it made an irritated twitch. "I'm really not sure. All I know is that if the old tales are true, then we will be protected. Now either shut up and join me or go do something else quietly. That little show drained a lot of my energy." Davy smiled to himself, he was used to her mood swings by now and loved to see the fire in her eyes when she was really irritated. "So ye don't want me making noise eh," he said loudly. Vixey rolled her eyes, she knew he liked to rile her up and she also knew what it usually led to but she was just too tired. "Look, I know where you're going and any other time I would go along with it, but I'm just too tired and so not in the mood for this." Davy sat on the bed behind her and leaned over her. "I didn't mean to aggravate ye love, well not much. If ye had just told me ye were so tired I would have left ye alone. I'll leave if ye want me to." Vixey smiled as she looked up into his eyes. She never failed to get lost into his eyes as blue as they were and the way he was looking at her now made her forget her irritation. "Oh for crying out loud. You always know how to get me. It's those eyes of yours." Davy smiled and tenderly ran a hand over her belly. It was getting bigger by the week and now he could see the skin bulge out every so often when one of the twins moved. "Sometimes I still can't believe how lucky I am to have found you in that storm," he said almost too quietly for her to hear. Vixey smiled and laid her hand atop his. "Sometimes luck has nothing to do with it, especially with me. I've always had bad luck but good fate. I think it was our destiny to find each other." "Never believed much in destiny and all that." Davy finally laid his head on the pillow next to her and pulled her against him. Within minutes, both of them were sound asleep.