Chapter Twenty Six – Presents
"Anamaria, have you seen Sarah?" Elizabeth asked after being congratulated by the crew.
"Nay… an' I haven' seen Jack as well…" Anamaria's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Will and Elizabeth exchanged silent looks and smirks.
When the crew arrived at the ship, all they found on the deck was Jack's forgotten hat, which was, of course, extremely unusual. The necklace of sapphires that lay beside it, however, gave them a clue of what had happened… and was probably still happening.
Sarah rested her head on Jack's chest while he played with her wavy hair.
"How's it that yer people do?" Jack asked.
"Do what?"
"What we've just done."
"Oh…. They don't."
"Really!" Jack seemed horrified. "That's awful! An' how's it that they have children?"
"They unite like Elizabeth an' Will, an' then they choose a shell."
"A… shell?"
"Aye, in the Garden o' Life."
"Are yeh tellin' me that merpeople come from shells, such as… pearls?" Jack sat up in the bed. The though was too weird even for him.
Sarah nodded happily. She was glad he had understood so easily. The process of reproduction was much simpler to merpeople than to humans. And quite less funny. Suddenly, Sarah's eyes widened.
"Jack! Am I goin' ter have a baby!" Her tone was scared and worried.
Jack stoked his beard. He had not thought about that possibility.
"I don' think so… have yeh ever… yeh know, bled?"
Sarah nodded, her face gloomy, as if the memory was not good.
"In the house o' Elizabeth. I was scared."
"Then there mus' be no problem. Although I'd like ter see if our baby woul' have blue hair."
Sarah laughed at the idea.
When Jack and Sarah woke up, it was almost noon. They went to Elizabeth's house, where the newlyweds had decided to live, so Mr. Swann would not be lonely.
"Sarah! There you are!" Elizabeth looked radiant. "We were worried!"
No questions were made, though. Everyone knew where Sarah had spent the night, anyway. Sarah congratulated the couple, hugging and kissing them warmly.
"I have nothin' ter give fer a present…" she started rather shyly.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Sarah, your presence here's a present for us, isn't it, Lizzie?" Will seemed very happy.
"Of course!" Elizabeth answered with a shiny smile.
"But, maybe I can…" Sarah's face lit up with a sudden idea. "Please, yeh two, sit here."
She urged Will and Elizabeth to sit down in the sofa.
"Yeh sit too, Jack." She addressed Jack, blushing slightly. She still felt her cheeks go hot just to look at him.
When all of them were sitting and paying attention at her, Sarah closed her eyes, inhaled deeply and started singing. However, her song was not similar to the one she had sung when she had gotten sad, aboard the Black Pearl. It was soft, calm, and yet vibrant. None of the three listeners could understand the lyrics, but the song seemed to enter their hearts and souls and make them feel lighter, jolly, full of life. When Sarah stopped singing, Will, Elizabeth and Jack slowly opened their eyes, as if waking from a dream.
"You like it?" Sarah asked.
"It's wonderful, Sarah. I feel so good." Elizabeth held the girl's hand in hers. "Thank you."
"This song me people sing when two o' we unite. It wish happiness an' long life."
"Thank you, Sarah." Will placed his hand on Sarah's shoulder.
"Me turn!" Jack cried, lifting two wooden boxes that he had placed on the table.
He handed a flat, medium-sized box to Will. Elizabeth's one was square and had the size of a big apple. By opening his box, Will found a pretty dagger decorated with precious stones. Elizabeth, on the other hand, found an exquisite golden bracelet ornamented with rubies. Both gasped in surprise.
"Jack! Have you stolen these!" Will asked.
"Nay. I've pillaged them, it's quite different." He replied while peeling a banana.
He seemed to notice the shocked looks in Will's and Elizabeth's faces for the first time.
"Oh… sorry. I'm starving." He said through a mouthful of banana.
The couple looked at each other. And started laughing.
"Jack, how can you give us stolen presents?" Asked Elizabeth. It seemed Jack Sparrow would never stop surprising her.
"Pillaged! They're pillaged presents. An' don' worry, darlin', the former owners didn't deserve such beauties. They're high officers from the East India Trading Company. An' besides, they won' need them anymore, once they're dead."
Will and Elizabeth silently agreed that it would be better to accept the presents for once.