"Rose," Tia warned. "Put id down."
Rose only gripped the pillow tighter. "Not until you tell me why you brought Barbossa back. How did Jack know he was back? Explain!"
Tia took a deep breath. "Him be a Pirate Lord of da Seven Seas. Him must come back."
Rose furrowed her brow. Pirate Lord. She knew Jack was the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean, and she had head Sah Muhsine mention something about a Pirate Lord in Tripoli…but otherwise her knowledge on the matter was sparse. "Pirate Lord? Barbossa?" she asked.
Tia nodded. "Ammand, Chevalle, Ching, Jocard, Sao Feng, Angria, Villanueva, Barbossa, Sparrow."
"Sparrow?" Rose whispered. "What are they and why is Jack among them? Why Barbossa for that matter?"
As though hearing his own name, Barbossa at that moment began to convulse. His eyelids began to flutter over his still pulsating eyes, and his body began to tremble ferociously.
Tia rushed to his side, pushing Rose out of the way. She stood over him, her arms outstretched over his writhing form.
Rose's healer past took over in this moment, and she called out to her mentor, "Which herb?"
"Whad?"
"Which herb do I fetch?"
Tia looked at her gravely. "No herb can fix da dead." Rose then watched in awe as she saw Tia Dalma perform something she had never seen before. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her mouth opened wide. Words in a language Rose had never heard before emerged from her mouth, though her lips did not form them. It was like the voice was coming from somewhere deep inside of her. The chanting grew louder and more dissonant. Soon Tia's own arms began to tremble violently. A hazy, white light began to branch out from her palms, producing a sort of radiating energy. This stopped Barbossa's convulsions, and soon, Tia Dalma worked her hands further and further down towards Barbossa's chest until they ultimately made contact. Just then, his body jolted one final time, then Tia regained consciousness. The strange occurrence seemed to have drained her energy, and she almost fell backwards upon coming back into her body.
Rose rushed to her side to steady her, but Tia's gaze was already focused on Barbossa, whose eyes were now glazed over.
"No…" Tia whispered, checking his pulse. "No, no, no…"
After what felt like centuries, Barbossa's body finally took a staggered inhale of oxygen, and both women let out a sigh of relief. Tia continued checking Barbossa's pulse, then ran her hand down to his chest, where she quickly recoiled.
"Needle n' thread. Him wound opened back up."
Rose rushed to the sewing cabinet and procured the necessary items to stitch him up, as well as a knife, a basin of water and a cloth, and a chair for Tia to sit. Once seated, Tia extended her arms for the thread, but Rose protested. "No, I'll do it," she said. "Rest." She then rushed to Tia's cabinetry and found enough materials to make her some healing tea. Bringing that back to her, Rose then knelt at Barbossa's side and began to restitch the bullet hole where Jack had shot and killed him a little over a year ago.
Tia sipped on the tea, taking deep breaths as she began to calm down. Rose worked silently, giving the occasional glance over to her mentor. Finally, she asked, "Would you like to explain to me what just happened?"
Tia said nothing.
"Voo doo?" Rose asked.
"Nay," Tia finally replied. "None of dis be voo doo."
Rose looked to her in alarm. "All of this?" she asked, motioning to the room. "They call you the voo doo priestess of the bayou, Tia. What is this if not voo doo?
"Some," her mentor replied cryptically. "Some dis, some dat. Never all one thing. I be learnin' id all."
Rose had finished with the stitches by that time and had cut the thread. As calmly as she could, she placed her hands in her lap and plaintively asked, "What was that, Tia? What did you do to stop…whatever overcame Barbossa? I need to understand."
Tia took a deep breath and opened her mouth several times to speak, but said nothing. Finally, she decided upon, "The Pirad Lords have commanded da seas for many years. Nine of dem, one for each of da seas. Da most fearsome pirads from around the worl' convened under the order of Davy Jones. Togedda, using dem object of value, day bound da sea goddess Calypso so dat men could rule da sea for all time. Dey keep these items with dem at all times, and pass 'em to a successor before them die."
Rose suddenly began putting pieces of this story together with what she had just heard her tell Will and the crew. "The woman in the story. The woman who broke Jones's heart…it was Calypso, wasn't it?"
"Aye."
Rose sat closer by Tia's side and looked earnestly into her eyes. Her heart raced in anticipation of her next question as she asked, "Tia…are you Calypso?"
Tia blinked. She returned her gaze, saying evenly, "No. I be but her servant. And for dat, Barbossa must live. As long as she be bound, dere must always be a Brethren Court."
Rose nodded in understanding, but quietly protested, "You do see how much danger this will cause for Jack, don't you?"
Tia shook her head sadly. "Dere be no odda way."
And so, with that, Rose resignedly began aiding Tia Dalma in helping to heal Barbossa. There were no further episodes like Tia's strange commune with a mystical realm, thankfully, but they now had to ensure that his body was nourished enough to maintain the healing process and that it wasn't receding back into its natural, lifeless form. Just two days later, his eyes had stopped pulsating and he was able to move and blink them, which greatly disturbed Rose. That afternoon, it was her turn to feed him a broth Tia had concocted, and she was not pleased about it in the slightest.
As she sat at his bedside, she saw his yellow eyes shift to her and narrow.
"Remember me?" she asked. "I'm Jack's sister. The one you left here all those years ago so you could mutiny against him." She poured a bit of the bowl down his throat, and as he swallowed, she saw his eyes glow with rage.
"And then you proceeded to kill Bill Turner," she continued. "And for what? Now my brother has his ship back, and you can't even eat on your own. You got what you deserved."
At this, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and noticed that Barbossa was tensing his right hand into a fist. Rose quickly poured the rest of the broth into his mouth and went to find Tia. He was getting stronger by the minute, and she knew it wouldn't be long before soon she could not longer have these very satisfying, one-sided conversations anymore.
Three more nights passed. Their patient could now move his jaw, but could not form words. His legs moved from the knee down and his arms moved from the forearm down, much to the glee of Jack the monkey who could now be pet once again by his master.
On the fourth night, Rose and Tia sat in the main room by the fireplace. Tia was running her fingers along the rounded chain of the silver music box locket that hung around her neck and was looking pensively into the flames. Rose too was lost in thought, but it was the same thought that had plagued her for a week now. She could no longer ruminate in these thoughts any longer and had to finally ask, "Tia?"
"Mm?"
She took a deep breath and leaned towards her. "When you foretold my destiny, you mentioned that I would marry a dead man."
"Mmm?" Tia croaked again in reply.
"I thought I knew who you meant… Benjamin McHenry, my childhood friend. We found each other again and...my feelings for him grew once more," Rose had to stop here temporarily, lest her tears begin anew. "He had been undead aboard the Pearl, as he too had been cursed, so I figured that—"
"That he be da dead man," Tia finished, her eyes still fixated upon the hearth. "But id was not so. He be not da man I see."
Rose's heart ached. "Now he really is dead. Devoured on a cannibal island. I've lost my friend forever."
She let her tears fall, and Tia took her hand sympathetically. "Him did not love you. Not like you be lovin' him still."
"I know," she said quietly. "I know you speak the truth but...I was so certain I could change him."
"Him is not da broken heart you will mend. Id be da udder man. Ye will fix him heart."
"The…other dead man," Rose huffed. "I still don't know what you mean by that. I can't marry someone who's not alive!"
"You will," she insisted.
"Answer me this and I will ask no more," Rose whispered gravely. "Will he die when I am in love with him? I can not take it if it's true."
Tia shook her head. "Nay," she replied. "Ye will be broken too when he dies."
Rose's head fell. She had the promise of another love on her horizon, but she would ultimately lose him and be broken hearted. Why then did Tia promise great joy from this union? Rose vowed she would ask no more questions, though still her heart ached for absolution.
"Dat why ya be leavin' Jack an' him Pearl?" Tia asked. "Ben?"
Rose shook her head. "I don't know anymore. I was upset with Jack, I was confused at all the many things he kept hidden from me, I was overwhelmed…and then I saw Barbossa and knew I had to do something about him. But I suppose Jack was right. There was no point in me staying here. Bringing Barbossa back was inevitable."
"When will you return ta him?"
Rose shook her head sadly. "I told Jack to free the Pearl once and for all. No mutinies, no debts to Jones…once she was fully his, I told him to come back for me."
"Looks like you'll be waitin' a long time fer that day," a haggard voice growled behind them. Rose leapt to her feet and grabbed a nearby dagger in defense, then realized where the source of the sound was coming from.
"The Black Pearl," Barbossa sneered, leaning up against a door frame for support, "Shall be mine again."
