Disclaimer: Don't own them, so whatever injures I do or do not inflict upon them don't really count for anything, the same with anything else I happen to used borrowed characters for. The ones you don't recognize and the semblance of plot are all I own here.
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Last Time:
Miles away, in Tortuga, Jack Sparrow sat in the prow of his ship, watching the stars spin by overhead and making the last plans for his departure. Soon my lady, soon. You have lesson to learn about challenging pirates, luv, and it's one you'll be learning sooner rather than later. At the thought of such a lesson, Jack started to grin.
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Winn awoke slowly the next morning, feeling ever so much better for a night's sleep, not mention the knowledge that she was going to be able to avoid strangers for the majority of the day. I'll get to see Marcus, Grace, and the children tonight, she thought. I wonder if I should try to dig up some presents while Liz is showing me about. I'll need them for when I get to Grandfather's, so I suppose I might as well.
For several minutes she simply lay in bed, listening to the commotion of life that could be heard rising faintly from the little black figures on the waterfront. She shut her eyes again, blocking out the glittering pattern of sun on the water of the bay. She felt incredibly languid, unwilling to do so much as stretch for fear that it would wake her up more than she already was. She was seriously considering going back to sleep (after all, it's not as if she actually slept well aboard the Pearl) when her bedroom door slammed open.
"Get up, get up, get up! You're wasting daylight and I want to show you Port Royal before you go to your brother's this afternoon." The tropical storm usually known to humans as "Elizabeth" blew into Winn's room. Confronted with such an abundance of energy first thing in the morning, Winn did the only reasonable thing she could think of; she threw one of her many pillows at Elizabeth with deadly accuracy, hitting her squarely in the mouth. That done, she pulled the covers up over her head and hid.
"When will you people learn that I don't like, nay, detest mornings?! Go away until a more civilized hour, and leave me in peace!" Why do I have to be surrounded with so many freakishly cheerful morning people?
Picking the fallen pillow up from the floor and tossing it back onto the bed, Elizabeth glowered at her friend. "Well. I am not at all sure that I deserved that particular greeting."
Briefly sticking her head out from underneath her covers, Winn said, "It's your own fault. And you're right - you didn't deserve that. You deserved much worse, but unfortunately my dagger is in my trunk. Go away." Once again Winn vanished under her blankets.
Switching tacks, Elizabeth once more resumed her campaign to get her friend out of bed. "There are fresh blueberry scones for breakfast," she persuaded. "They're still hot." At this, the blankets in the region of Winn's head lowered a few inches to unveil her eyes. I like blueberry scones. She took a long, considering look at Elizabeth.
"Is there coffee?"
"Yes, there's coffee. It's still hot as well." Elizabeth started to grin, thinking that she had finally prevailed.
"Too bad, I don't like coffee. Will you please go away?" Before Winn could withdraw once more, Elizabeth grabbed the covers and started pulling them from the bed. Winn, being thoroughly entangled in said covers, managed to get pulled off the bed as well. Hitting the floor with a muffled thump and a not so muffled yell, Winn was finally finagled out of bed.
Half an hour later, Elizabeth looked up from the table at which she sat to see Winn coming down the stairs. She was dressed in a dusty blue walking dress with cream and navy embroideries. "Winn, that's a beautiful dress."
Muttering under her breath, Winn said, "What good does beautiful do you if you can't move at anything faster than a demure pace? What if the house should catch fire? I'd be roasted alive before I'd gain the door. Whoever came up with this dress ought to be keelhauled and then marooned on an island inhabited by bloodthirsty cannibals. Walking dress indeed." To Elizabeth she said, "Thank you."
Having overheard Winn's mutinous mutters, Elizabeth asked, "Let me guess, Ryan picked it out."
"However could you tell?"
"I doubt you'd mutter so much about something that you had decided to wear. You're usually the biggest supporter of you own ideas."
"That's because, dear Elizabeth, all my ideas are good ones." Winn had a decidedly superior look on her face, managing to look down the length of her nose at the taller woman.
Innocently, Elizabeth inquired, "What about that time you broke your arm because you had decided to climb fifty feet up into a tree just so you could draw an oncoming thunder storm and fell when the winds started blowing your tree every which way?"
"I was a child, I know better now."
"How about the time you decided to ride that half-broken horse that Father had bought, and it threw you into a clump of poison oak?
Winn rolled her eyes, a slight smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "That was a slight miscalculation of my riding abilities."
"And the time we stole that fisherman's boat and tried to sail around the point and nearly died?" Elizabeth asked.
Grinning, Winn said, "That's where you just lost this argument, Liz. That was Richie's idea and the reason I was glad when he became a plantation owner instead of a sailor. Can I eat now?"
The rest of the morning passed amicably between the two friends. Despite having kept busy writing to each other every month or so for the past nine years, they had seen each other rarely, the last time being when Winn had come to Port Royal for the birth of Marcus's first child four years ago. There were many questions about past letters, greater details given to specific escapades, and much laughter shared.
By the time lunch came around, Winn knew all about Elizabeth's ordeal the past year, and Elizabeth knew all about the rivalry (perhaps even enmity) between Winn and the pirate captain.
"I know the man is somewhat rude, conceited, peculiar, and so forth, but he really isn't as bad as all that," Elizabeth said to Winn. "Will himself helped Jack escape last summer, and you know how Will feels about pirates. Even I stood up for the man."
"Yes, but you did it because you love Will and you thought that if you helped, then perhaps he wouldn't get into as much trouble for his actions, not because you necessarily like Captain Sparrow."
Elizabeth looked mulish. "I did feel sorry for Jack when he discovered that his crew had run off with the Black Pearl, and I thought that it was a terrible injustice to hang the man simply because he decided to stick around and help us."
Winn sighed. A mulish Elizabeth was no treat. "Look, I agree that had Captain Sparrow and I met under different circumstances, I might have liked the man. But considering what has happened between us, Liz, I simply can't excuse the man's behavior."
"Why? If you've admitted that you could like Jack under different circumstances, then why can't you admit the real reason you don't like him?"
"Yes I can admit such a thing. I don't like him because he's pushy, he left my crew sail-less, he enjoys annoying me for annoyance's sake, and he dug into my past without permission. Not to mention that he is rude, has no concept of personal space, and . . . and . . . and I just don't like him. Why are you pressing the issue?"
"I just think there's more to it than that, Winn. I've never known you to openly dislike someone. You've met people who've annoyed you before, and you just ignored them, gave them the cold shoulder if you will."
Becoming increasingly tired of this conversation, Winn said flippantly, "Fine. I also can't stand the way the man dresses. Can we drop this? I thought you wanted to show me Port Royal at some point today."
Knowing that she wasn't going to get any farther in this conversation, Elizabeth conceded to Winn's desire to drop it. "Yes, I did. I know that Will in particular wants us to drop by the smithy."
Smiling for the first time in nearly a half hour, Winn said, "Of course he would. Let's go."
The smithy was not particularly different from the score of others that Winn had entered since coming to the Caribbean. Which is to say it was cramped, dark, dingy, and smelled strongly of smoke. One difference that set it apart from the others that Winn had visited was the enormous gearwork tool-holder that took up most of the space in the small building, and the donkey that was connected to it by a harness. Standing in the entryway of the building, Winn looked around her. Seeing the drop off from the landing, she wondered, How many people have fallen flat on their faces after coming in here? Especially on days when you come in blind from the sun?
Not seeing her fiancé anywhere, Elizabeth called, "Will? Where are you?"
"Back here." Will emerged from a back storeroom, a bucket in his hand. "I needed more water." Setting his burden down by the forge, Will came over to offer his assistance in getting down to the two women. Winn, for once, accepted the helping hand gracefully and gratefully. Elizabeth had talked her out of wearing her sea-boots, so her feet were shod in dainty little slippers that did little to improve her footing and less to improve her attitude.
Once on the ground, she commented, "Nasty little drop you've got there. Did the builder forget to put in an extra step, or was he just drunk when he was studying the plans?"
"I'm not sure, actually. The man who owns this building, my former master who has since retired, never said. And he's never been sober enough for me to ask." Will grinned. "Normally I didn't mind, it's not as if he had anything left to teach me, but he had the habit of waking up at rather . . . inopportune moments." Will and Elizabeth shared a smile. Deciding she didn't really want to hear the story behind that, Winn settled for examining the smithy in more detail.
I was obvious that while Will may have been a blacksmith, his true love (other than Elizabeth of course) was forging swords. There were dozens of them nestled into every corner and nook, they surrounded the enormous shafts that supported the equally enormous gears; there was even a pile of them on the floor next to a large grindstone, obviously waiting to have an edge put on them.
Picking one up and examining it, Winn commented, "I see Liz wasn't exaggerating when she said that business was booming, and I can see why. This is a beautiful sword, Will. You must be proud. No wonder they're in such demand." Glancing up from her inspection of the finely crafted weapon, Winn looked a semi self-conscious Will in the eye. "I'll take three, should you have any to spare."
Will looked stunned. "Three? But that's –"
"I'm well aware of how much that is, Will Turner, and frankly I think I'm the one getting the better part of the bargain. Grandfather and Ry will be pleased to get these."
"That's only two. Who's the third one for?" Will, beginning to look a bit less like a stunned fish, was starting to get curious.
"Why, for yours truly, of course. I'm afraid that I was forced by necessity to leave my sword on the Black Pearl. Seeing as how it's not going to do me a whole lot good there, I think that it's a good idea to replace it, don't you?"
"Yes, of course. If you don't mind me asking, why is your sword on the Pearl?" Will had a feeling there was a story behind this, and if there was one thing that he enjoyed more than spending time with Elizabeth, it was hearing Winn Morgan tell a story. She had a special talent at such things.
"Umm . . . I believe it got knocked out of my hand during my duel with Captain Sparrow. Sadly, he didn't see the need to return it to me. Not that I can't see why, it's not like he beat me." At Will's incredulous look, Winn explained, "It was a draw. We both drew first blood at the same time."
"How'd you manage that when he had knocked your sword out of your hand?"
"He never said anything about combat being limited to swords. I stuck him with a hair pin."
Once Will had gotten over the fact that Winn had managed to cross swords with Jack Sparrow for nearly an hour (he had demanded on hearing the entire story), he was ever so helpful with finding the right swords for Winn and her family.
After they had gone through and chosen the appropriate swords for Winn's brother and grandfather, Will turned his mind to finding the perfect sword for her. "Now, what have do I have around here fit for a lady?" Will muttered as he surveyed the room.
"I resent that statement. I'm hardly a lady, Will. Most so called 'ladies' wouldn't be caught dead buying a sword for someone else, much less for themselves."
"I'm aware of that, but you do have the hands of a lady." Taking her hand, he matched it to his. His hand easily dwarfed hers. "See? Most of these swords have handles that are meant to fit larger hands. I need to find something with a smaller grip." Letting her hand go, he returned to his mental inventory.
"I've been fighting with men's swords for years, Will. I don't think you need to go to too much trouble to find something satisfactory."
"Nonsense. I know I have something around here that will be better than 'satisfactory.' If I don't I'll make something. A swordsman, or woman, is only as good as their weapon."
After several minutes, Will strode forward decisively. Picking up a sword only slightly smaller than the rest, he handed it to Winn who took it with some misgiving. But I need a larger sword to fight effectively against larger opponents, she thought.
"I don't know about this, Will –" she started to protest. The full weight of the weapon coming to rest in her hand caused her to stop; the sword was heavier than it looked. Testing its balance, she found it to be perfect in her hand, the precise weight and heft she looked for when choosing a sword. She looked up at Will, a question in her eyes.
"I cored the handle with lead, which allowed me to keep the blade longer than I would normally be able to for a grip that size." Winn nodded in comprehension, returning to her study of the blade.
It was an understated weapon, deceptive in appearance, much like the woman who would weld it. The hilt was inlaid with copper wire which almost disappeared into the black leather of the grip. In the dark it appeared plain; in the sun it would glitter like the dying embers of a fire. She loved it.
"Will . . . it's perfect," she breathed. "I'll take it."
"You had better; it is a gift after all. The last time I checked it was rude to refuse a gift."
Winn looked up sharply. "Oh, Will, I couldn't possibly accept this."
"If you don't acquiesce soon, I might have to challenge you to a duel over the matter." Will and Winn grinned mischievously at each other.
"Sounds like a plan. How about tomorrow? I'm not at all dressed for it today. These blasted skirts would just get in the way. You'd have me beat within seconds, which would not at all be good for my reputation."
"Sounds good. Do you want to take these with you now, or leave them here to be picked up later?"
"Umm . . . let's," (she really wanted to take the sword home with her), ". . . let's leave them here. It might be somewhat awkward to walk down the street with a sword strapped over this getup." Looking at Elizabeth, Winn said, "I think it's time for us to leave. I still have gifts to buy for the tots before I arrive at Marcus's for dinner." Giving Will a brief hug, Winn whispered, "Thank you so much. I will treasure that sword for as long as I have it."
That night:
"Don't be ridiculous. If I don't show up at dinner looking like this, Marcus will wonder if I'm really his sister." Winn was wearing the same clothing that she had been wearing while on the Pearl. Freshly laundered and pressed, she fussed with her pant leg – it wanted to stay caught up in her boot, which was completely unacceptable. Elizabeth lounged on the bed, looking wronged.
Meeting her friend's eyes in the mirror, Winn said, "Don't give me that look. You know you'd love to change out of your skirt and into something like this. I know you Elizabeth Swann, and I remember the stunts you used to pull, so don't go around looking like I'm completely and utterly hopeless when it comes to behaving like a proper female."
"I know, I know. You're right. I'm envious." Elizabeth continued to watch Winn get ready to leave. "Winn? Have you ever wondered if there's someone out there for you?"
Winn, somewhat stunned by the abruptness of the question, briefly paused in her preparations before answering. "Of course not. I've had better things to do. What would make you ask such a silly question?"
"Well, I'm marrying Will six days, and I was just thinking . . . if you ever . . ."
"If I ever changed my mind about getting married?"
"Yeah. I mean, you couldn't have been more than fifteen when you announced that you'd rather be a pirate's doxy than ever fall in love and get married. Do you still feel that way?"
Winn was silent for a moment. "No," she said abruptly, "I changed my mind about wanting to be a pirate's doxy. My views on love, however, remain pretty much the same now as they were then. I'm happy for you and Will, but I'm not at all convinced that love is for everyone. And I know it's not for me."
"But how can you know?"
"Because that's what I've decided. Now, what's brought this on? You feeling sorry for your friend who's quickly becoming an old maid? Don't be ridiculous. Someone needs to be a substitute aunt for your children, and everyone knows that maiden aunts are the most fun." Winn came over and hugged Elizabeth around the shoulders. "I'm happy with my life, Liz. Really. You don't need to start nosing around to find me a mate. I'm content. Leave it at that."
Getting up from the bed, Winn said briskly, "Now, if I don't leave at this very moment, I am going to be late for dinner, and you know how much I hate being late." Kissing Elizabeth on the cheek, she continued. "I shall be back later tonight, probably after you're in bed. So, sleep well. It won't do for a future bride to have circles under her eyes." With that she left the room in a determined stride, stopping to pick up her box of painstakingly chosen presents. Waving to Elizabeth, she said, "Don't make a mess. Good night."
Elizabeth lay on the bed for a bit longer after Winn left. She was worried about her friend. Since having been engaged to Will, she could hear the emptiness of Winn's arguments. Not that my hearing the falseness of it will do me any good. She's the one who has to be convinced that she's lying to herself. Getting up to change for her own dinner, Elizabeth saw the sketch book lying on the nightstand. I wonder . . . .
Picking it up, Elizabeth opened to the back of the book and started flipping pages until she reached the last sketch. What she saw made her open her eyes in astonishment, before she started to grin. Can't stand the man, hmm?