"Hullo Will." Said Elizabeth, poking her head around the door. Will, who had been in the process of hammering a sword out on the anvil, turned towards her. He was about to give her a courteous reply when his hammer missed it's intended mark and instead found a new mark on his thumb, so what actually emerged from his lips was more along the lines of "Hello Elizaaaarrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhh! DAMNIT!"
"Oh, Will, are you alright?" Cried Elizabeth, running forwards.
"Oh, yes." Said Will, waving his hand about then sticking it into the barrel of water he used to cool metal. "It's happened before. Hello Elizabeth."
Elizabeth ran her fingers through his brown hair and kissed his cheek. "I was just passing and thought I'd pop in to see how you were." She rested her head on his shoulder. "Just think, this time next week I'll have to give Elizabeth Swann as a false name to cursed pirates." Will smiled and lent his head against hers.
"Hopefully that situation won't arise. How are the wedding preparations coming along?"
Elizabeth sighed. "As well as can be as expected. Father keeps insisting that I wear a dress with a corset. Will you be coming to dinner?"
"Just let me finish here and I'll be along, savvy?"
"Will? You just said savvy."
His cheeks coloured. "No I didn't." He said hastily. Elizabeth frowned.
"Will? Are you sure you're happy here, as a blacksmith?"
"Of course I am! I don't want to be a pirate!"
"I didn't ask if you wanted to be a pirate." Elizabeth said quietly.
Will jerked away from her and went back to the anvil, he was going to have to re-heat the metal. "I shall see you later, Miss Swann." He said curtly.
Elizabeth gave a deep sigh and left.
Will sighed and pushed his food around his plate with his fork. Governor Swann was droning on about the duties he, William Turner, would have to take on once he married Elizabeth.
I didn't ask if you wanted to be a pirate. Of course he didn't want to be a pirate. Not that he had anything against them. You know for having such a bleak outlook on pirates, you're well on your way to becoming one. Some of them were all right, Jack was all right, so long as you didn't get between him and his rum. Pirate is in your blood, boy, So what is his father had been a pirate so you'll have to square with that someday. He didn't have to follow in Bootstraps boot steps. A pirate and a good man. Being a pirate was like visiting Tortuga, he would never forget it, it had been a bit of an adventure, it would definitely linger, but he wouldn't want to live there. You forget your place, Turner! It's right here, between you and Jack. Was it-? He was shook from his musings by a servant boy running through the door.
"Guv'ner, sir!" He gasped.
"What is it boy?" Demanded Governor Swann, rising to his feet.
"The Commodore, 'e's caught a pirate!" Will and Elizabeth exchanged glances. "A deadly dangerous one, sir! Took fifteen men to bring 'er down, sir!"
"Her? A female pirate?"
"Aye sir. She looks even younger than lady Elizabeth, sir!"
"Blast!" Said Governor Swann. "Females are always the worst."
"The commodore wants ya to see 'er immediately, sir." The boy added.
"Very well. Have him bring her up to the house."
"Female?" Mouthed Elizabeth to Will. "Fifteen men?"
So, a little less than half an hour later, the famous female pirate was standing in the hall of the Swann's residence, surly faced and with an entire battalion guarding her.
"'S nice place yer've got 'ere." She said. "'S very clean an shiny. An all those people in them dusty wigs, very posh."
Governor Swann came through the doors, flanked by Will and Elizabeth, who were both eager to see this feisty female. What they saw was a girl in her late teens, who seemed a little shorter than normal. Her long, black hair was matted into dreadlocks, a plain brown scarf kept it out of her eyes, which where the same greeny-blue as the ocean seen through the window. She was fidgeting with her heavy iron cuffs in an ill tempered way.
"Ahhh....." She said in a cheerfully hopeful voice when she saw the governor coming. "Yer'll be the cap'n of this 'ere berth, mayhaps yer'll be able to explain to these 'ere fine men that they've got the wrong girl 'ere."
"And what is your name?" Governor Swann asked sourly.
"Thatch...... Kitty Thatch."
"Governor Swann?" Put in Commodore Norrington. "I think you should see this." Norrington tried to grab the alleged Kitty, who squirmed out of his reach.
"Keep yer 'ands off me!"
Norrington eventually succeeded in holding her still by knotting his fingers into her hair. The girl bared her teeth and hissed as Norrington pulled her shirt down over her right shoulder, revealing a tattoo of a sea serpent.
"Sally Drake?" Elizabeth was the first to find her voice. "You are the infamous Sally Drake, first mate of the Siren's Vengeance?"
The pirate bared her teeth in a grin, she had a couple of gold ones. "The very same."
"We caught her trying to steal from the market." Said Norrington distastefully. "In the ensuing struggle several of my men were killed."
"Victims of circumstance." Sally held up her shackled hands in a disarming manner. "I was mearly tryin ta dodge outta the way of those knife guns-"
"-baronets" corrected Will absentmindedly. He was staring fixedly at the girl, she seemed vaguely familiar.
"Yeah, them." Sally continued, not missing a beat. "An the damned silly buggers stabbed each other. A tragic misfortune, if I may be so bold."
"Then why was one of them missing a head?" Asked Gillette, Norrington's second.
"'Is mates aim was off."
"Hang her."
"'Ang me?!" Said Sally in disbelief. "Ya aint even given me a trial!"
"You killed several soldiers of the British navy in-front of approximately fifty witnesses. I rather think that a trial at this stage would be a waste of valuable time and resources, don't you?" Said Norrington dryly.
Sally shrugged. "Aye, I suppose, Mr Commodore Doddington." Elizabeth sniggered and Will was almost sure that sally winked at him.
"It's Norrington." Said Norrington through clenched teeth.
"Aye sir. An a right fine an noble name is Northampton.... Oh, sorry, 'S me memory, see? A blow ta the head o' couple years ago an it's clean gone." She rolled her eyes at the look everyone was giving her and held out her chained hands to the soldier in-front of her. "Take 'er away.....?"
While Norrington was thanking Governor Swann for his time Sally said to Elizabeth in an undertone. "Ya know, ya keep might odd comp'ny fer a Guv'ner's daughter miss.....?"
"Swann. What do you mean?"
"Well, miss Seagull, fella-me-lad over there-" she jerked her head to Will "-is a pirate if I ever saw one. Tis written all 'is face." She smirked. "Oh... An 'e's an 'ansome one at that, most of 'em are right ugly bast-"
"Right, come along you." The guards pulled Sally away and as she passed Will she flashed him a lewd smile, which caused him to blush deeply.
"So...." Murmured Governor Swann after they had gone. "That was Sally Drake...."