Jackson arrived at the lesson first. Much to his disgust, Valentine arrived. Though in an inebriated state. At least he was too drunk to be anything but jolly while muttering about girls.
"Women are just so complicated...you know?" The blonde lamented, draping himself over the back of the chair before sitting down.
"No. I don't." Jackson huffed, folding his arms.
Every time that his mind strayed to her, he remembered the devastated look on Pauline's face.
"That's why YOU are here isn't it?" The pirate grinned lopsidedly. "Because you DON'T know...No one...loves you."
His conversation with Pauline flashed before his eyes. He scrunched his eyes closed and violently shook his head.
"N-no. No! Why can't you ever take this seriously?"
"And you do after the way Antony made us dress?"
"No, but I'm trying!"
An awkward silence followed. The pair of them mulling over the reasons they agreed to these lessons. Jackson stared at the floor. The elf fiddled with the necklace he tried to give Pauline, winding it around his hand. His thoughts occupied by the brunette. Valentine stared up at the ceiling imagining what Kira would have been doing. Probably reading. Surrounded by stacks -neigh- mountains of books. He adored the way she looked when she was nose deep in ink, wood pulp, parchment and leather binding. He never understood the appeal of reading, but her body appealed to him. Her chocolate skin. Those brown eyes. The way her hair fell over her...
The tension was so thick it would take a saw to cut through it. Both of their heads lifted to the clack of heels. The swish of fabric rustling as someone more dainty than a man hurried along.
Jane scoffed; rolled her eyes at McCormick's charismatic grin. She was a married woman. He could not persuade her. She folded her arms, showing him that she was not one of his drooling fangirls.
"Nice try, Cap'ain." She smirked, lifting the hem of her gown to flounce it playfully in his direction like the barmaids he was used to. A woman's intuition told her exactly why the dishevelled captain was here. He could have any woman on the seven seas, but his heart ached for Kira.
"Morning tea is provided." The peach blonde smiled sweetly to them, "Courtesy of Antony's mother and myself."
"When is Antony getting 'ere?" Valentine chuckled. "Did he lock himself away in his dungeon again?"
Jackson did feel bad after the last time he saw Antony- driven to breaking point by him and Valentine. He noticed that Jane was not carrying a silver tray like last time.
"You give yourself too much credit, Valentine. He is away on business. I will be your teacher." Jane replied sweetly.
Jackson and Valentine looked each other into laughter and burst out laughing.
Jane waited patiently for them to finish.
"Are you two finished?"
"Wait. You're serious?!"
The half elf woman nodded with a high-pitched giggle.
Typical. Is it so hard to believe that the best way to learn about women is to talk TO them?
She huffed externally while she followed the pair of misfits to the dining hall.
"Help yourself to the food, gentlemen. When you're done comparing the 'sizes' of your 'ships', we shall continue."
After her heart to heart with Bates, Janes wanted to keep the mood lighthearted and playful.
"Today, we're going to do something...different."
Something that not even Antony can do. She blushed. We're going to express our true feelings.
"All of the dancing, the dining etiquette and the grooming is wasted window dressing if you can't romance your partner. Sometimes...Finding the right words to say is...difficult."
"Ha! This'll be easy."
"Valentine." Jane sighed, recalling how intimately the pirate embraced HER husband.
Jackson waited intently for orders, like a puppy. Hanging off Jane's every word.
"Sit down, gentlemen." She smiled, waiting by her chair.
"Don't mind if I do." Valentine said, puffing out his chest as he sat down. Rolling back his sleeves. Jane did not mind. She was not invested in the lessons. She had faith that Antony would find a way to learn about their friends strengths AND weaknesses enough to teach them to be themselves, but also gentlemen.
"There's no tricks is there?" Valentine asked, turning over the napkins their silverware rested on. Jackson gulped. If he was Jane, he would have at least put something in the tea after how the pirate had twirled her husband in the ballroom.
Jackson recalled Antony's dining lesson. He pulled out a chair for Jane before seating himself. He spread a napkin over his lap.
"No Valentine." Jane responded succinctly, lifting her tea cup. She took a deep, soundless sip. Jackson felt a punch in his chest. Antony was a lucky man to have the peach blonde maiden.
They all ate in an awkward silence that the wizard would have used to teach them small talk.
Both of the unfortunate love-birds gaped at each other with open mouths as the table was cleaned away by the maids and Jane rolled out three long scrolls of parchment, three ink pots and three extravagant feather quills.
Trying to outperform Jackson, Valentine pulled out a chair for Jane across from them.
"Thank you Valentine, but I am participating too." She reached under the cleavage of her dress and unfolded a small note. It was torn and had seen better days. It was the letter Antony sent her long ago. It felt like a lifetime ago. She held it over her heart as she gathered her hem in one hand and sat down in the middle chair. She picked up the quill and wrote in perfect cursive. Spilling her heart onto the parchment. A letter she should have written long ago. She did not want to waste another opportunity. Even her relationship was not as perfect as it appeared to be. She hoped that one day, they would give their letters to Pauline and Kira to explain where they had been. What they had been through. Why they loved their respective women. She did not like seeing or hearing their distress. Especially since the time-traveller was with child. Kira and Pauline were the strongest she met, but even the strongest people needed to be comforted.
"It doesn't matter if no one can understand your handwriting. This letter may be addressed to the person or people that mean the most to you, but no one is going to read it, except for you."
"Why?" Jackson and Valentine asked in unison.
"Because, no one can read your mind. You need to learn to express yourselves. I know they mean a lot to you. Even Antony and I...No, sometimes, women like to hear why she's loved. As women it is our job to support our friends and family. Sometimes, things are not what they seem beneath our smiles...life is never a fairytale. Life is...cruel and weak. Life is frustrating as it is charming. Sometimes, we would rather be worthless, lost and penniless than sleep in a cold, empty bed. There are no words more comforting than waking up in the arms of your partner."
Valentine sobered enough to comprehend that she was talking about their situations specifically. With difficulty, they wrote down what they wanted to say. They left, with the letters in their pockets and the weight lifted off their hearts. Jane bid them farewell as she walked back to the study she shared with her husband. She slipped her letter into his desk with a content smile.
All it takes is a woman's touch. She thought, blushing as she waited for Antony's safe return.