Jack walked slowly through the bar, glancing around for a petite blonde working as a barmaid. He was half-tempted to take up a drink for the night and resume his search tomorrow, but the rain outside had managed to quench all that remained of any thirst for liquids. Even alcohol had lost its charms. Tonight was for searching. He eyed the counter and saw a few girls working. There was a tall black-haired one, a brunette, and a girl with curly blonde hair. Aletté, as he remembered, had dead strait hair. He glanced into their faces from across the room. The brunette looked somewhat familiar, if only she'd turn his way… Yes! It was her!
Aletté scrubbed determinedly at the filth that lay in the bottom of the mug when she felt a persistent tug on her sleeve. She turned around and almost dropped the heavy glass, her mouth agape as she stared into the dark brown kohl-lined eyes.
"Jack!" She managed. "What can I get you…" And in a much lower voice. "And what are you doing here?"
The pirate smiled devilishly. "Just want a little private moment in the back." He winked.
Aletté shuddered. "You are filthy!"
He raised his hands, a look of false innocence crossing his face. "Just to talk."
"You swear?"
"On me unborn child's soul. Just to talk"
She smiled and motioned for him to follow her into the back room. Once the door clicked shut, she turned to him chattily. "Morgan's with child, Jack? Really?"
"Aye." He fiddled with a broken wine bottle.
"So…" Aletté prompted. "What's taken you across the Indian Ocean to talk about?"
He smiled again. "Just a matter of some prize on your fair little head."
She grasped a dagger from underneath her petticoats and pointed it at his throat. "I swear, Jack Sparrow, if you think you can collect on my life, I personally will send you plummeting to hell."
A daft grin spread across his face. "Then I'll be happy to meet you there, darling. No, indeed, I am not here to stab you in your ever refined back." Aletté frowned and lowered her dagger slowly. "I am here on behalf of my dear Morgan. She seems to think you'd be safer with us in a house in Port Crowne than in your pirate-serving brothel."
She rolled her eyes. "You are horrible."
"You coming, then?"
"What?"
He grabbed her wrist slyly. "You coming with us on the Pearl?"
"You mean-" She laughed sardonically. "You mean just give up everything and come sail away with you to another world where I can watch Will and Elizabeth fall ever deeper in love? Lord, Jack, I think not!"
"Actually," He began. "Will and Elizabeth-"
"Please leave, Jack." Aletté seemed serious now. "Please, for God's sake, just go. I'm not leaving."
"No?" He fished inside his jacket for something and held it out to her. She surveyed the package. It was a battered old letter, weathered by sea and storm. "This is from Morgan."
She snatched it from him and unfolded it. In loopy, confidant handwriting, it read;
My dear Aletté,
We've heard of your predicament and I am horribly worried. Please, go with Jack. You can come back here with us for a while. At least until the troubles blow over. I would love for you to see baby Jacky- he misses "Lettie" as he calls you. I'm sure Elizabeth would be tickled to have you back. I would.
You really must be here for my baby's birth- I want you to be godmother. Please will you come? It would mean the world to me. We are already planning everything, and the nursery is almost ready. I miss you terribly, though I'm sure you had your own reasons for leaving.
Jack has missed you too, though when you read this you will have seen him already. Do take care of yourself, dear Aletté. Please go with Jack.
Your Friend Forevermore,
-Morgan Land
She glanced up. "Not Morgan Sparrow, Jack?" He shrugged. "Hmmm…" She paused. I've left before. Maybe leaving would be an idea. "I'll think it over. Until then, you're welcome to stay here."
He smiled and placed his fingertips together. "As much as I would love to oblige, darling, I have matters to attend to on me ship." He paused. "Then again, it's been a time since I've seen a woman, save for Meryl, but she acts more like a man anyways, that one."
"No Anamaria?"
"She got herself a ship o' her own… been off plundering last I heard. Good pirate, she be…" He let his voice fade into memory, jumping back to reality with a start as Aletté cleared her throat. "Yes, well, should be going then. Me crew will wait a day only. You can make up your pretty little head in a day, now cant you?"
"Aye." She nodded. "Come back tomorrow, Jack. You'll have your answer."
She watched as he turned and left the room, leaving Aletté to her decision-making. I left out of the blue once before, and Danielle and the girls kept the place going. They can hold the fort. Maybe…
Do you want to see Will again? A voice asked her. No, no you don't. You never want to see him again. You're through with him. Going back, even for a little while, will bring it all back.
Or, came another thought, perhaps this will give me the chance to banish my daemons. Perhaps now I will be able to move on. Perhaps I will not care for him any more. And if I don't go, wont I regret it?
Yes.
She closed her eyes, wondering why exactly she was doomed to such an uprooted, drifting lifestyle.
"Danielle?"
A curly-haired blonde girl made her way over to Aletté from the bar. "Aye, Miss Mal- Miss Turner?" She stammered, remembering in the nick of time to use Aletté's alias.
"I Have business to attend to in a foreign land. I trust you will be good enough to hold things down until I return?"
Danielle looked confused, but nodded finally. "Aye Miss Turner. We've managed it before now, haven't we?"
Aletté smiled and nodded. "Thank you. I leave tomorrow, but I'd like to take an evening off to pack up if you don't mind."
"Not at all, Miss Turner." Danielle turned and headed back to her post at the bar.
Aletté sighed, pulled her apron off over her head and headed out into the rainy Singapore night, shielding her hair with her hands to keep the dyes from running. By the time she reached her apartment, her skin was stained with the dribble of eggplant and grape juices. She retched, disgusted at the stickiness that coated her. A bath was now in order, no matter how much she might despise them.
She lugged the barrel of rainwater across the room and placed it next to the feeble flames that adorned her massive cracked marble fireplace. While the waters heated, she slipped out of her wet clothes, hanging them to dry on the grate, and coaxed a little more dye into her resilient and stubborn once-blonde hair. By the time the barrel was warm enough to bare, the drizzle outside had transformed itself into a full-on thunderstorm. She grabbed a glass of water to replenish her parched tongue, then slid into the barrel that now served as a tub.
Her mind dissolved with the dye that covered her skin, and she felt her muscles relax for the first time that day. Baths, she noted, worked in much the same way as alcohol- soothing and blinding at first, then slowly wearing off, until you were left with nothing but cold water and bitter depression. But she resolved to pull herself from the waters before the depression of cold set in.
She wrapped herself in a warm rag-braided rug that she used as a towel, and then slipped a muslin nightdress on over her head. Her clothing was all kept in a large, bulky trunk, but was barely one quarter full, so she stashed her outfits in a weathered old carpet bag and proceeded to assess which items of value could come with her, and which would be hawked on her way.
There wasn't much that could be hawked- she had many things of curiosity in her tiny apartment, but few could bring much on a market price. So she resolved to take everything except the furniture, which she would rent to Danielle along with the apartment. Danielle was always looking to find a nicer residence than her brothel with the other harlot's, so Aletté's apartment would be a welcome change.
Plus, Aletté reasoned, I can trust the girl.
She lay her stiff haired head down onto the pillow of her rod-iron bed and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to come. But the sandman is a slippery creature, and by the time she'd found slumber, Will Turner was in her dreams, breaking her heart all over again.