AN:  I am trying relentlessly to fix the formatting in Chapter Four.  Due to a huge amount of confusion that my italicization problems have caused, I will let you all in on a little secret:  Savage is dead.  He was hanged.  Anytime he is mentioned in the story, assume that A) it's a flashback/dream, and B) that Aveline is nine years old.  Everything involving Savage should be italicized, but FF.net says, "No, we shall create infinite difficulties for you and your readers by tampering with your necessary formatting.  MWAHAHAHA!"  SO, yeah.  Savage = dead.  Just so you're all aware.  It doesn't ruin the plot, I'm just taking me time explaining it all, savvy? 

Dearest Nimue:  Thank you eternally for your continued plot guidance.  Could have figured it out myself, indeed.  Without your suggestions, Aveline would have oh-so-dramatically slit her wrists, and I would be re-writing a version of the "Bonding Over Bandaging" scene shared between Will and Elizabeth.  So, as you can see, you have indeed saved me.  OH, and to the rest of you, if you've yet to read Nimue's "Into the Fire" and "Eye For a Bargain," make those little gems your next stops on your visit to FF.net.  Unbelievably good reads, I say.    

This one's for you, Stokes; they meet at last...

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Guiding a ship, it takes more than your skill
It's the compass inside it's the strength of your will
The first ensign watched as tempests all tried me
I sang in the wind as if God were beside me
For all we learned the sea

~Dar Williams, "We Learned the Sea"

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After some eight hours of onslaught, the tropical storm abated.  All that remained of its fury were a few palm leaves and pieces of driftwood washed up in the surf, these amputated limbs left behind as the refuge of nature's battlefield, her army seeking to conquer new territory elsewhere in the southern hemisphere.  The Caribbean was once again a flat pane of glass, her reflective surface begging to be cracked by the keel of the Black Pearl.  Never one to deny such a tempting invitation, the Pearl set sail just as the storm clouds parted to reveal the glimmering and ever-watchful citrine eye of the sun.

Slightly drunk at the helm, Jack Sparrow felt rejuvenated and refreshed, his belly still warm from the liquor.  Anamaria watched him carefully from her station near the fore boom, the wide brim of her hat shading her eyes from Jack's view.  He felt their gaze, though, felt them as sure as he felt the scrutiny of the sun. 

"Have ye assembled yer crew, Anamaria?" he asked smugly, knowing full-well that she had indeed.

"Aye," she replied.  "Have ye found me a ship, Sparrow?"

He feigned alarm, his performance theatrical.  "By the powers, lass!  Ye gave me three days, didn't ye?"

"Aye."

"Gimme three hours.  Ye forget, I'm Capta—"

"Captain Jack Sparrow.  Aye, I know."

Jack scowled at being deprived of his favorite line.  Before he could retort, however, he was interrupted by a sharp whistle from the crow's nest.  He glanced up at Duncan, who was acting as lookout.

"Keep your loof, Cap'n!  Ship ahoy!"

Jack grinned, offering Anamaria an arrogant profile.  "Well, fancy me overestimatin' myself.  Seems as though Captain Sparrow needs but three minutes to make good on his word."

Anamaria arched a thin eyebrow at the pretentious pirate.  "I always did peg you a minute man, Captain Sparrow."  With that, she abandoned her post to make ready the swivel guns for their attack.

"Bloody women," Sparrow mumbled, then shouted aloud: "Mark my words, Gibbs, ne'er again will ye see a curvy shrew aboard the Black Pearl!"

"Aye, Jack!" Gibbs hollered his reply.  "Mark 'em, I will!"

"Captain!" Tearlach called from the quarter deck.  "'Tis the Mary Alice!"

Jack pursed his lips in interest.  "Ahh, Traveler.  We've missed ye, lad." 

Peter Traven had been a thorn in the Pearl's side for the five months during which he'd manned her sails, often straying and shirking duties in order to warm the beds of many a Bahaman bonny.  Jack punished him time and again, until finally the lad tired of the treatment and abandoned the Pearl to become an 'honest sailor.'  Jack had his suspicions as to Traveler's intentions, yet the parrots did tell that the boy captained his trade ship the Mary Alice with a professional air.

'Til now, Jack thought complacently, steering the magnificent ship toward the young man's smaller schooner.  When he'd closed the distance betwixt them, Jack gave the order, and the first and only cannonball was fired, tearing a clean hole in the rear hull of the Mary Alice...

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The blast jolted Aveline from sleep, impelling her from her bed, and propelling her from one nightmare to another.  As she careened across the floor, her mind flew to another time and place, memories of another ship, another attack, distorting her perception of the present...

"All hands on deck!  Don't let the bastards board, boys.  Protect the virgin!"

The virgin... the virgin, the virgin...

In the here and now, Aveline clutched two handfuls of her hair and pulled with all her feminine might, releasing a scream horrific enough to unearth the dead... Her demons were taking hold...

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On deck, the crew of the Black Pearl had wasted no time boarding the Mary Alice, combat continuing hand to hand between crews.  Jack cornered Traveler immediately, spearing the young man's white lawn shirt with the point of his cutlass and pinning the Mary Alice's captain to her wheel.

"Young Pete Traven, my how you've grown," Jack drawled.

"What do ye want wit' me, Sparrow?"

Jack shrugged, as though he wanted nothing with Traven at all, except to torment him for his own amusement, which was partially true, but... "I'm afraid I'm goin' to have to commandeer your ship, Petey."

"What?!"

He rolled his eyes.  "Commandeer, Pete, it's a nautical term."

"No, I mean, why?"

With a downward, sweeping motion of his arm, Jack gestured to himself, smiling handsomely as he did.  "Pirate."

"How many times do I have t' tell ye, Sparrow, I'm an honest man!"

Gibbs leaned into Traven, good-humoredly nudging his arm.  "Best be surrenderin', Traveler.  Jack hasn't made a habit o' trustin' honest men."

Traveler scowled in resignation, knowing he hadn't the means to ward off Jack Sparrow.  "Avast, Fletcher.  Hoist the white flag."

"But, Cap'n!" his first mate began to protest.

"Flag, Fletch."

Reluctantly, Fletcher crossed the deck and hoisted the white flag; Traven's men lowered their weapons in surrender. 

Jack turned to his crew, brandishing his cutlass as he shouted orders.  "Gibbs, make ready the gangplank!  The rest of you, gut the ship for cowards and stragglers, and tie up the prisoners!"  Grabbing Traven's arm, Jack thrust him into the waiting grasp of Mr. Cotton, who at once took about tying up the captured captain.

A ghastly sound filled the air, the unmistakable shriek of a banshee closing in on the crew.  Jack glanced about quizzically; Gibbs' eyes shifted nervously about.  Everyone else stood stiffly, silently, until the hatch flew open and Anamaria emerged, hauling behind her a belligerent young woman, who kicked and screamed continuously as she was dragged across the deck.

"By the powers," Gibbs murmured as he listened to her wail.  Only once before had such a powerful bellow befallen his ears, courtesy of a member of the female sex.

Jack was eying Traveler in amusement.  "Honest man, indeed.  Could it be that our friend Mr. Traven left the pirate life to facilitate his breakin' the pirate code wit'out our interference?"

"I didn't lay a hand on her!"

Jack nodded at Mr. Cotton, who pressed a blade against the young man's throat. 

"Like Gibbsy said..." Jack stepped right up to Traven, staring down his nose at the man, his eyes and mouth the picture of seriousness.  "I don't make a habit o' trustin' honest men."  Suddenly, a smile, almost crazed.  "Never know what they're gonna do, mate."  The wink that followed was more intimidating than it was lighthearted, and intended as such.  Traven swallowed hard, his Adam's apple scraping against the dull edge of Cotton's dagger.

"Anamaria, bring 'er here."

"Aye aye, Captain Sparrow!"

"Sparrow?!"  Aveline panicked; her head swam, her heart skipped, she tried to scream, but her voice evaded her.  Somewhere, in the back of her conscience, she heard a rumbling laughter, familiar to the throaty chortle of her former father.  Clenching her teeth and screwing her eyes shut, she fought to quell the horrid sound as she was deposited haplessly before Captain Sparrow by the somewhat abraded lady pirate.

Gibbs' brow creased with worry as he gave closer inspection to the girl.  He laid a hand on Jack's arm, never taking his keen eyes off Aveline.  "Jack..."

But Jack paid him no heed, as he was preoccupied with addressing the shaky lass at his feet.  "How'd ye come to be making passage with Traveler here?"

She stuttered a bit before she managed a response.  "Of my own accord.  I am a stowaway."

"I found 'er snug in a cabin, Jack," Anamaria interjected.

"Because Captain Traven sympathized with my plight!"

At this suggestion, the crew was in stitches, Jack joining in their chorus of laughter.  Only Gibbs remained still. 

"Lass, they don't call 'im 'Traveler' on account of his experience at the helm.  They call 'im 'Traveler' on account of his experience 'in the hay,' as it were."

Traven struggled against Cotton's hold in protest.  "I didn't lay a hand on 'er, Jack, I swear it!  She has money..."

"Well, her money be of no use to me, Petey.  In fact, she be of no use to me."

"Jack," Gibbs broke in again, this time grabbing his captain's attention.  "I tend t' disagree with ye on this one.  Keep the girl."

"No!" Aveline screeched, her primitive shriek alive again.  She crawled toward Sparrow on tattered hands and knees, then clapped her palms together in fashion of prayer.  "I beg you, please, allow me to walk the plank with Captain Traven."  Her eyes were wild with dangerous frenzy.  Jack merely stared at her; he'd have been shocked were he capable of such an emotion.

"Why are ye so anxious to follow him to the depths, lass?"

Aveline's fraught expression clouded with confusion.  "I desire not to follow Captain Traven.  I desire to evade you!"

The crew of the Pearl burst into laughter once more, all chuckling at the absurdity of the girl's plea.  Again it was Gibbs who remained somber throughout the jovial moment.

Jack leaned over loosely that his eyes were level with Aveline's.  "Well, I'll tell ye, lass.   I'm disinclined to keep ye, especially on account o' that scream of yours."

"Oh, I shall continue to scream, Captain Sparrow, should you choose not to release me," Aveline hissed, her eyes sinister once more.  "I will scream so loudly as to attract the entire Royal Navy to your location, I swear it!"

"Jack," Gibbs interrupted once more, pulling Jack aside for conference.  "Ye'd be a fool to release her.  Ye haven't a clue what ye've found."

"Didn't I eternally swear off the presence o' curvy shrews aboard my ship?"  Jack pointed to Aveline with one long, delicate finger.  "That be a curvy shrew, mate."

"No, Jack.  That be Cap'n Savage's Lost Flower."

The dark pirate's breath caught, his shadowy eyes narrowing in piqued interest.  "Come again?" he asked, his tone flat.

"Cap'n Savage's Lost Flower.  She's a treasure in 'er own right, her value is inestimable!  An' she's –"

"The key to immortality."  Jack twirled his beard, examining her through enlightened eyes.  Her face was that of a girl, with lily-white cheeks and rose petal lips, eyes the color of holly leaves and a precious little bud of a nose.  A slender, stem-like neck attached this youthful visage to the body of a woman, Mother Nature at that, with hips to bear and breasts to nourish.  Jack found the fragile balance between woman and girl to be terribly unsettling in its incompatible union of strength and frailty, and he returned his attention to Gibbs with grave eyes.

"Are ye absolutely sure?"

"Aye.  I was sailin' under Cap'n Savage when he purchased the girl."

Jack cocked his head in inquisition.  "How is it that ye've managed to make the acquaintance of every little strumpet in the Spanish Main?"

Gibbs solemnly shook his head, his eyes shaded by heavy lids.  "I'm a very unlucky man."

"That you are, my friend."  Sympathetically clapping a hand on Gibbs' back, Jack pivoted dramatically to face both prisoners and crew.  "Crimp, you may begin riddin' Anamaria of Captain Traven and crew.  Ladbroc, please escort the lady into the hull and remain with 'er until I arrive to relieve you of said post."

Nodding, Ladbroc moved to carry out his orders, hoisting Aveline to her feet and ushering her toward the hatch.

"No, man.  To the Pearl.  She be coming with us."

Parting her pretty petal lips, Aveline emitted the scream of a witch at the stake, thrashing in Ladbroc's grasp as he attempted ineffectively to haul her toward the Mary Alice's edge.

"On second thought," Jack grumbled as he crossed the deck to join them.  "Maybe I'd best accompany you, seeing as ye be a rather feisty lass."

"No!" Aveline howled, lunging toward Jack despite Ladbroc's firm lock around her arms and ribs and baring her teeth as though she were a lioness, protecting her young.  Jack suspected that, in some strange way, it wasn't so far from the truth.  "Take one step closer and I'll kill you.  So help me God, I will slaughter you.  It doesn't have to be now.  I will slice open your chest and turn you inside out while you sleep.  Then we shall see who is the most fearsome pirate in all the Spanish Main."

Leaning cautiously away from the spitting and snarling lass, Jack pursed his lips in quiet consideration.  She's completely daft, crazier than... than *me.*  Glancing at them out the corner of his eye, Jack observed the crews of both ships to be equally bewildered by the young girl's stunning display of hysterics.  Some of the boys, including Traveler, appeared to be frightened of her.  Jack paused in silent amusement at the thought of Traven making to receive payment from the girl and receiving instead a sharp bite to the jugular. 

Of course, now he would be taking that risk.

Donning his calmest expression, he looked at Labroc, whose apprehension was made evident by the knocking of his knobby knees.  "Take her aboard.  Quartetto will accompany you.  Lock her in the hull and stand guard until I return."

Ladbroc nodded, as did Quartetto, and the two latched onto Aveline and carried her over to the Black Pearl, enduring her screams of rebellion all the way.  Once they had disappeared down the hatch, Jack finally set about overseeing the disposal of the Mary Alice's crew, edging Traven off the edge of the plank with his own cutlass.  The task complete, he ordered the crew not to remove any of the provisions on board, for Anamaria would need them to begin her journeys, and bid them to return to the decks of the Pearl.

"Jack, wait!" Anamaria exclaimed, rushing to catch him before he swung back to his beloved ship.  "How do you expect me to get the ship back to Tortuga to pick up my crew?"

Jack flashed her a gold and ivory grin, planting a supercilious fist against one flared hip.  "Oughtta thought o' that before ye rushed the job, love.  I leave it to you, Captain Anamaria... whatever your name be."  That said, he latched onto the thick rope and swung gracefully across, landing catlike on the forecastle deck.

"Jack Sparrow, you rat!" Anamaria roared.

But the learned pirate merely removed his worn leather hat, tipping it to her with an histrionic bow.  "My condolences, love."  With one finger, he pointed to the sky, or more accurately, the wind.  "Have a care of the lee-latch, woman.  Else you'll lose 'er." 

Before Anamaria could utter her foul response, the Pearl's anchor had been hoisted and she began to drift ever-away from the Mary Alice, and ever-away from Captain Anamaria... whatever her name was.