The clash of metal against metal rang out over the town as swords met, sparking off one another in the heat of the battle. Dugan staggered backwards, cursing fluently as his feet tangled in a tattered bush, knocking him to the ground. Marin advanced on him, refusing to give the little lad a chance to regain his feet as she thrust her sabre towards him. He rolled swiftly to one side, hooking his foot about her ankle and yanking it towards him. She fell with a laugh, her sabre flying from her grip as his had done only moments before. They held one another's gaze for a few moments, both breathing heavily, before scrambling to regain both feet and weapons.

Gibbs laughed, watching as the two combatants circled one another again, both fighting to prevent their giggles from distracting them. He shook his head, watching as Dugan was pressed backwards again, his feet nearing the edge of the escarpment. The little lad should never have aired his opinion that boys were naturally better at sword-play than girls, he thought, impressed with Marin's display of skill as she pressed her advantage.

Governor Swann sat beside him, also enthralled in the duel being fought before them. It would never have occurred to him that everyone on a pirate ship knew how to fight, not only with swords, but pistols and daggers as well. As he thought about it, he realised that it actually made a lot of sense, since the main premise of piracy was fighting. Briefly he wondered if the two engaged before them could man a gun as well.

Both men started forwards as Dugan toppled backwards off the escarpment, saved only by Marin's quick reflexes. She grasped the younger lad's shirt collar as he started to fall, heaving him around and throwing him to the ground behind her as he regained his composure. They all heard the sharp splash as his sabre hit the water far below.

'An enemy would let you fall,' Marin told him, watching as he nodded in understanding. 'You have to be aware of the scenery around you. Mr Gibbs, your sabre, if you please.'

Laughing again at this sudden switch from duel to lesson, Gibbs threw his sabre to her. Dugan took the proffered blade, watching her warily as he got to his feet. Marin waited until he was ready, stepping carefully away from the escarpment before beginning again. The little lad barely managed to raise his sabre in time, reluctantly giving ground as he retreated to regain his even footing.

'I thought they were duelling, not having a lesson,' Swann said quizzically, his eyes never leaving the pair as they slashed at one another.

Gibbs grinned.

'Aye, well, this is how most pirates learn to defend themselves, sir,' he explained. 'We don't have no fancy schools or trained teachers.'

The governor frowned.

'But there's no style there,' he criticised. 'No finesse in the execution of the moves.'

'Sir, when you're facing a man with a sword and the only outcome is your death or his, style don't mean sh -' Gibbs stopped himself just in time. 'It don't mean nothing, sir.'

Swann swallowed a smile, knowing implicitly what the former navy seaman had been about to say.

'Whatever do you mean?' he asked, wincing in sympathy as Dugan side- stepped a very precise thrust by his opponent.

'Well, sir, imagine you're a pirate,' Gibbs said wearily, having been through this with many young men, both pirate and otherwise. 'Your ship's been attacked and boarded, and you're locked in a fight to the death with one of the other crew. Style and chivalry count for nothing in a situation like that sir. It's kill or be killed.'

The governor looked shocked.

'Is that really the way it is?' he asked, horrified. 'None of the books I've read ever spoke about that.'

Gibbs rolled his eyes.

'Most books about pirates've been written by men who don't get out enough,' he muttered, filling his pipe as the fighting before them escalated.

Dugan had hit out at Marin in desperation as she advanced on him, his blade passing a little too close to her face for comfort. She'd leapt backwards, landing awkwardly on a bit of dead wood and stumbling sideways. Now that he had the advantage, the little lad wasn't taking any chances. He hurried to keep her occupied with defending herself, rather than letting her find her feet. However, he didn't account for the fact that pirates are armed with many different weapons. Marin withdrew a dagger from her sleeve, and pressed the flat of the blade against his arm.

'Ach, crivens,' he muttered, staggering backwards as he would if he had been hit in the arm, and switching hands with his sword.

Marin dropped the dagger a safe distance away and straightened up, swapping her sword hand as well to keep herself from having too unfair an advantage. The governor watched, fascinated by this addition of imaginary wounds to this already intriguing lesson. Gibbs glanced at his rapt expression, nodding to himself. There was hope for the old bugger yet.

Further along the wall from them, James leant against the window ledge, also watching the lesson as it played out before them. He was impressed with the many subtle methods he had already noticed his cousin using to teach the young cabin boy the desperation of a fight to the death. Dugan was in no danger from her that the commodore could see, her control over the sabre was so complete.

The window beside him opened, and Jack Sparrow leant out, his head level with James' shoulder. He'd removed his hat, on the governor's insistence, whilst in the house, and James could see the many trinkets and beads that adorned the pirate's hair. Jack grinned up at him, shaking him from his contemplation of the dark dreads.

'Don't even think about taking them out, mate,' he was warned. 'They've all got sentimental value.'

James sighed, turning his attention back to the lesson.

'I assure you, Mr Sparrow, I have no intention of even touching your hair, let alone removing those objects from it,' he said wearily, wincing as Dugan lashed out with a fist and caught Marin in the midriff.

Jack laughed at the commodore's tone, following his gaze to where the girl had fallen backwards suddenly, making the little lad over-balance and lose his grip on his sabre. He grinned in approval.

'She's good at that,' he praised, seeing the proud smile on James' face as he watched his cousin.

'It may lack beauty, but I've not met many people who could change their attack to match that of their opponent,' he agreed, leaning back once again against the wall. 'It's a very effective style, I'll admit that freely.'

Jack nodded, admiring both players' ability as they circled one another. Despite the lack of experience, Dugan was a good fighter. He just needed to learn to anticipate his opponent's moves. Granted, Marin was one of the more unpredictable fighters Jack had ever come across, mainly due to the fact that most men didn't expect a woman to be able to lift a sword, let alone use it, but if Dugan could learn to hold his own against her, he would be well on the way to a long life on the open seas.

James drew in a deep breath suddenly, still refusing to look at the pirate by his side.

'I feel I must thank you, Captain Sparrow,' he said softly, 'for your conduct towards my cousin. You have behaved like a gentleman in resisting my cousin's advances, persuasive though she may be. My thanks.'

Jack stared at him, incredulous.

'You called me captain,' he exclaimed quietly, astonished.

James coughed.

'Don't get used to it, Sparrow, I don't believe it will be happening again,' he muttered.

The pirate laughed.

'Well, that's a relief,' he agreed. 'I don't know what I would do if you actually turned around and decided you approved of me, mate.'

The ghost of a smile flickered across the commodore's face as the joke was registered. He sighed softly, blinking as the glare of sunlight off the flashing blades hit his eyes.

'I'm afraid I must ask you something,' he admitted, 'something that may or may not offend you. However, you must bear in mind that I have only Marin's best interests at heart.'

Jack rolled his eyes, guessing what was coming.

'Ask away, mate,' he said. 'I can't guarantee you'll get the answer you want, though.'

The commodore paused for a moment, his eyes still on the duelling pair before them.

'What I wish to know, Sparrow, is whether you are going to do the right thing by her,' he said firmly. 'Make an honest woman of her, so to speak.'

'She is an honest woman,' Jack protested obtusely. 'She's completely open in everything.'

James sighed again.

'That's not what I mean, and you are fully aware of it,' he said sternly. 'You're determined to make this difficult for me, aren't you?'

'Am I?' came the answer, and he could hear the grin that had manifested on the pirate's face. 'Besides, mate, you know as well as I do that we're already married.'

James blinked in surprise. He hadn't thought either of them had worked it out.

'Then may I ask why you haven't taken her to your bed yet?'

Jack smiled at the awkward tone.

'Because she didn't know at the time what Elias was doing, and the last thing I want to do is confuse her with a relation that she's totally unaware of,' he told the commodore. 'There're other reasons, but that's the one I think you'd understand.'

Pointedly ignoring this reference to his naval ignorance, James sighed.

'If you were not already, would you marry her?' he asked bluntly, anxious for a reply as he ran through the varying methods he had thought up to back the pirate into a corner.

Jack sighed softly, so quiet that James almost missed it. He risked a glance at the pirate, and found his gentle smile fixed on Marin as she struggled with Dugan. He could almost feel the regret that radiated from the love-struck man.

'Pirates don't marry,' he muttered, a little bitterly. 'There's too much risk of widowing, especially when they're both pirates. It's a cruel thing to marry a pirate.'

James nodded, understanding implicitly. It was the same with any man who lived a life on the ocean. She was a jealous lover, apt to take the married man and leave the loner alive. But this was a question of family honour, and he was not going to let Elias down. The old pirate had known exactly what he was doing when he commissioned James to make sure they kept their word.

'If that is the case, then I am afraid I must ask you to leave my cousin alone,' he said harshly, aware of the expression on Jack's face as he turned shocked eyes on the commodore. 'Your confession of not wishing to make your joining official betrays your less than honourable intentions and so I cannot, in all conscience, allow you to continue meeting with her.'

Jack's fists clenched.

'Now, look here, mate,' he said fiercely. 'I never said I didn't want to marry her, I just said I can't. What right have you got to keep us apart?'

James turned, his eyes burning coldly into Jack's.

'The right of blood,' he hissed, making the pirate achingly aware of his promise to a dying man.

Jack subsided, agreeing the commodore's superior right over his own. Blood is thicker than water, he thought bitterly.

'If, and this is just hypothetical,' he said hastily, making sure James knew that before continuing. 'If I gave her up, what would you do?'

James shrugged, inwardly exultant that Jack was so reluctant to entertain a life apart from his cousin.

'I would arrange a suitable marriage for her,' he said, throwing the comment away deliberately.

It occurred to him that perhaps he should have moved away slightly, as Jack's fist grasped a handful of his cravat, forcing the commodore to look at him. The pirate's eyes were dull with fury, his visage fearsome to behold.

'Over my dead body,' he hissed. 'You'd condemn your own cousin to a life of misery just to satisfy your family pride?'

James made no move to remove the hand from his cravat, staring impassively into his companion's eyes.

'If you give me no other option,' he told him, keeping his features neutral and hoping none of the others around them noticed this hostile tableau they had made. 'I will not let you abandon my cousin.'

Jack's eyes blazed angrily.

'I have no intention of abandoning her,' he spat.

'No, you will just shame her good name and deprive her of any reputation she could have had,' James spat back, becoming angry himself at the pirate's refusal to just agree to his terms.

Jack had no answer to that, furious still that Marin's happiness was being used to corner him into marrying her. It was not the way of pirates, but he couldn't deny he had thought about it. The thought that she could be irrevocably his, that no other man could lay a claim to her, had haunted his thoughts for many nights.

'You'd barter her happiness for her respectability?' he asked, trying to draw some control over his temper.

James' jaw clenched, realising that he would have to lie if he wanted the answer that would solve the problem.

'Yes,' he said tightly, hoping the pirate didn't notice the falsehood.

Jack drew himself up, and sagged, releasing his hold on the commodore with a gentle push. He leant on his elbows, his eyes once again finding Marin as she danced just out of reach of Dugan's blade. Could he live with himself knowing that she was living a miserable life with another man when he could have protected her happiness with a single word?

He sighed, a lifetime of longing and sadness in the sound.

'Alright,' he murmured.

James glanced up at him, setting his clothing to rights once more.

'I'm sorry?' he said politely, needing to hear the words from Jack's mouth.

The pirate glared at him.

'I said yes, I'll marry her,' he agreed, adding, 'Again. But only if she agrees.'

James nodded, not trusting himself to say anything that wouldn't get him punched. His gaze slipped from Jack's brooding expression to the duellers once again, watching as they came together in a flurry of blows.

Dugan threw Marin away from him, almost falling on top of her as she lost her footing and fell onto her backside with an audible grunt. He knelt over her, certain of his impending victory and brought the sabre down. It crashed against her own, sending a jolt up his arm that seemed to earth itself in the base of his spine. Marin kicked up, pushing her friend onto his back as she drove him backwards with the crossed sabres. As she rolled to kneel on his legs, she drew her dirk from her boot, slapping the flat of the blade firmly against his throat.

'Dead,' she said grimly, ignoring his attempts to get free.

Dugan flinched away from the cold metal, cursing.

'Get off me, ye great bully,' he laughed, letting her haul him to his feet as they made their way back into the house, each wincing at various new bruises and bumps that adorned their bodies. The governor laughed, turning to Gibbs with an expectant expression.

'I believe you owe me two pounds, Mr Gibbs.'