"But then where are the other two?" he asked again.
Elizabeth looked around the room, out the window, down at her hands, then returned to the Captain. "We're….not actually sure," she said.
"Oh," he replied. He hadn't expected it, but he felt… sort of bad for them.
"I'm sorry to hear that," the captain sympathized. "But why were ye teenagers doing on a boat all alone in the middle of the ocean?" He looked at Tom, wondering if he noticed he had not called them kids this time.
"Do you want the whole story or the condensed version?" Elizabeth asked.
"The whole version," he chose.
"Are you sure? It's pretty long," she warned.
"The whole version will do, we have plenty of time," he said.
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you," she cautioned. "Well, I guess it all started...oh, about 6 months before I was born," she started.
"This will be a long story," the Captain thought to himself.
*Beginning of Flashback*
"My mother and father had been married for about 8 months, and then they found out that my mother was pregnant. My parents were a much respected couple back in England. My father's father was a governor, his wife was a debutante and my mother's parents were high class high society, so no objected when they fell in love. When my father found out that my mother was pregnant, he decided to go out and find his fortune (think Wesley- Princess Bride). So, a month later, he set out on a ship, and my uncle and mother decided to move to Port Royal, so they packed their bags and came across the ocean and settled there. My mother never really believed that that was what he was really up to, and she knew that he wouldn't be back, at least for a very long time. And she was right; he said goodbye and that was the last they heard from him."
"I see," said the captain. "Go on."
"So my mother, her sister and my dad's brother came over, and they moved into a big house, and became almost like royalty. Then my Grandfather and Grandmother (on my dad's side) moved to Port Royal. My Grandfather became governor and they were all settled in. No one outside my family knew that my uncle was my uncle; everyone thought that he was my father. So did I. My mother went by my father's name, which was also my Uncle's last name, and so did I, so I guess that's why. I guess he felt responsible to care for us because my father left us.
My mother never told me that he wasn't my father, but I don't think I would have cared, on account of I was only three. Anyway, a couple months before I turned four, my father showed up, but it didn't surprise my mom. From then on, I knew my dad as my dad and my uncle as my uncle. We were one big happy family. Whenever we talked about my first four years of life, they just added my dad to the story, like he had always been there."
"Interesting," was all that the Captain said as he rubbed his chin.
"My dad would always tell me stories of Pirates and sailors and all that, and I was fascinated by it. Then, after a while, he stopped telling me stories of Pirates and started telling me the traditional fairy tales, like Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. I wasn't happy about it, but I gave in. So as I grew older, my dad became very well known and respected. He even became friends with Norrington. Well, not exactly friends. They get together with my uncle and some other men to play poker every other Wednesday. But when Norrington turns his back, my father is always making fun of him. It's quite funny, actually."
"Ha! Yeah! Norrington is so stiff. And he's really weird! He even fancies Elizabeth!" Tom added.
"Tom!" Elizabeth scolded; embarrassed. "You're not supposed to talk about that!" she yelled.
"Ugh," the captain grunted. "That is quite strange," he said.
Elizabeth went on. "Anyway, my father tries very hard to do what's in my bet interest; He lets me do whatever I like usually, but sometimes he tries too hard. I guess he feels guilty for being gone as long as he was. I don't blame him for it, but sometimes he really gets on my nerves. He doesn't make decisions for me, but he does occasionally pester me to the point where I give in, just so that I do not have to hear him ask one more time."
"An example?" the captain requested.
"Like Commodore Norrington has had his eye on Elizabeth for along time, and he was trying to make… arrangements." Tom said.
"What kind of arrangements?" the captain inquired.
"Like when Elizabeth is old enough, she'll marry him!" Tom blurted out. That just made Elizabeth's face turn extremely red.
"And he seriously wants me to consider it!" she moaned.
"That's rough, but it hardly seems like any reason to run away and ne'er return," the Captain responded.
"Well, we were going to come back. We were just going to sail to Port Smith Island, where our friend Isabelle used to live, and stay there for about a month. But then we hit a reef, our boat sunk, you saved us, but our friends were no where to be found," Elizabeth replied.
"Now there is something that I still do not get. How did a bunch of kids---"
"Ahem, Teenagers," coughed one of the crew members in the room.
"Teenagers, thank you, manage to get a boat out of a harbor without being noticed and sail it that far without anyone following?"
"Skill?" Tom guessed.