With surprise, Will came to recognize that these two were really were Commodore Norrington and Governor Swann. They had changed in the past ten years; Commodore Norrington had a few crease lines across his face, making Will guess his age at about late thirties or early forties, but it was hard to tell with the wig upon his head.
Governor Swann, however, seemed to have aged twenty years in the last ten. It wasn't exactly a physical change that Will perceived, but more of an emotional change. Governor Swann just seemed old, with a slumped posture and sorrow in his eyes.
Will himself was not very old. Having been twenty-one when he had married Elizabeth, he was only thirty-two now.
Commodore Norrington regarded Will with a weary eye. "Ah, Mr. Turner. I am surprised that you would risk such a meeting on a British ship."
"I'm just full of surprises, aren't I now?" responded Will.
"Indeed."
A moment of silence passed, an uncomfortable moment. Will cleared his throat, and asked the question that had been burning at him since he had been asked to come aboard.
"Why am I here?"
Governor Swann looked up then, from his chair in the far corner of the room. The poor man looked so lost, so heart-broken that Will wondered what had happened.
Then it hit him. //Elizabeth.//
"Is it Elizabeth?" he asked out loud, worry creeping in his voice at the subject of his estranged wife.
"Yes." responded the commodore. "Elizabeth has been kidnapped."
Will closed his eyes. //No.//
"By whom?" he asked, after he had absorbed this information.
"We don't know." said Governor Swann, rising from his chair and speaking for the first time. "But we infer that it was pirates."
Bitterness crept into Will's voice as he spoke. "So you thought it was us? Listen here, there are many more pirates than just-"
"No, we don't think it was you." interrupted Norrington. "We came here to ask if you would help us find her."
Will looked over at him suspiciously. "And why would you think that I would know how to find her?"
"Because you helped us find her twelve years ago. Because she was your wife. Take your pick." replied the commodore coldly.
Will sighed. "I don't know..." he said out loud. //I don't know, because I think that if I ever saw her again, it would break my heart.// he thought in pain. For the truth was that Will Turner still loved Elizabeth Swann, and the thought of seeing the woman who had broken his heart was like a stab to the gut.
Elizabeth's father spoke up hastily, wanting to keep Will in the room. "There's another reason too, that you should help us."
Commodore Norrington became strangely quiet, and looked almost... sad. "What is it?" asked Will, slightly suspicious.
"My granddaughter was kidnapped too."
Will scoffed. "Oh, I see. And this would be your daughter, Norrington, that I am going to help you rescue?"
A look of fury came over Norrington's face, and Will wondered what it was that he had said to set him off.
"Listen, you pirate. I would like nothing more than to haul you over to the gallows at Port Royal, but I can't. Because, sadly, I need your help. Elizabeth and Willow are out there, and we need to find them."
"Wi-Willow?" Will sputtered, finding the resemblance to his name to be more than just a coincidence.
"Oh yes," started Norrington coldly, "It seems that Willow isn't my daughter, she's yours. Just another reason why you should help us."
Will sat down in a nearby chair, numb. His daughter? He didn't have a daughter!
But now, as he thought about it, it all started to fall together. How he had explained to Elizabeth, over and over, about his longing to return to the sea. How, in those last few days they had been together, she had started to act quite strange around him.
And now, as he thought about it, he pondered... could she still love him? Was it love that made her leave him?
He closed his eyes, and tried to absorb this information. He wondered what she looked like, what Willow looked like. Did she look like him, or hopefully, like her mother?
Governor Swann's soft voice broke into Will's thoughts. "So will you help us?" he asked.
He nodded, still wondering about his daughter. "Yes. I will help you."
