A/N: Here's a nice long chapter for you all to read, hope you enjoy!
And a few notes…one guinea is worth about £74 sterling nowadays, and ceruse is a type of white lead that women in the 18th century put on their faces to make them look pale. It was often used to cover up blemishes, markings or scars. White lead, if used in large amounts, often ended up causing lead poisoning.
Please read and review! Thank you!
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"Shh, shh! Calm down dear, it's alright!" Lorraine turned around to see an elderly woman desperately trying to quieten her. Well, this was unexpected. The woman was just a bit taller than Lorraine, but she looked very well-fed and was larger than her. She had a warm, almost motherly face with red cheeks and caring eyes which were small and squirrel-like. Her hair was tied up in a loose bun, and looked rather messy with several strands of mousy brown hair hanging out. She wore a dark dress with a white apron over it – an addition common with the lower classes – and a thick cotton shawl hung over her shoulders. "Are you lookin' for somewhere to stay for the night, pet? It's dangerous for a young duck like you to be roaming the streets at night."
"Err, I…" she struggled to speak as she held her hand to her chest.
"I can take you to my inn, it's just there -" the stranger pointed to a building across the street. It looked small but neatly kept and clean. Lorraine bit her lip as she considered the inn.
"I don't have any money…" she mumbled, fiddling with her hands and intertwining her fingers.
"Oh that'll be fine, love! It doesn't matter, I'm just doing you a favour," the kindly woman said with a warm smile before pulling Lorraine along the path and towards her inn.
When they arrived at the door the woman pulled out a ring of keys from a pocket somewhere and started studying them closely as she held them right in front of her eyes. It was difficult to see in this darkness and Lorraine wondered why this innkeeper had been outside in the first place at this time of night. Surely she didn't actually go searching for customers?
There was a faint click as the key turned in the lock and Lorraine's companion emitted a hitched breath as the key fully turned and was pulled out. She opened the door and held her arm out to let the younger girl in first.
"There you go, dear. Nice and lovely and warm and safe here." They both stepped in and the woman went across the corridor looking for something. Lorraine couldn't see anything but she heard a cupboard door being opened and a quiet rattling. A light suddenly shone out in the darkness and the match was used to light a few candles nearby. They lit the corridor and Lorraine saw that the wallpaper on the walls was patterned with flowery designs, and a painting of King George II of England hung above the cupboard. A thin, worn rug lay across part of the wooden floor and another (pointed towards a door to their left) overlapped its edge. The stairs were to the right of where Lorraine stood and she looked up at them before turning back towards the innkeeper. "Come on, I'll show you to your room."
*****
She sat on her bed with her legs crossed and her arms hanging loosely on her lap as she looked out of the dirty window in her room. It was made of glass, surprisingly. It wasn't a common material for a building of this small size, but at least it kept the room relatively warm.
The bed was squeaky and unstable, so she tried to keep still so as not to disturb the customers in the other rooms since it was quite late at night, possibly even the early hours of the morning by now. Lorraine felt sleep pulling at her drooping eyelids again, so she gathered the energy to get up and blow the candle out before getting back into bed, lying her heavy head upon the pillow which seemed as if it hadn't been stuffed with anything at all, and pulling the sheets up to her shoulders.
*****
Sleep came easily that night and she remained in a peaceful slumber until there was a rapping at her door.
"Wake up! Wake up! Breakfast will be served in ten minutes!" came the loud voice of the woman Lorraine had met last night.
She yawned and rubbed at her eyes in a child-like way and she stretched her arms and legs out as she pushed the thin sheets away. Once she could see clearly again, she (reluctantly) got up and pushed the window open, breathing in the cool morning air. It was almost like waking up on the Black Pearl, but this time she was on land. Then why did she still feel so groggy? Her stomach didn't feel all that settled today either. But why? She wasn't on a swaying ship anymore, and after a few hours on solid ground yesterday, the effects of the motion of the sea had worn off.
A few breaths of fresh air and some food should hopefully make her feel better. Lorraine noticed a bucket of water and a cotton flannel upon a small wooden table with a square mirror leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. She washed her face with the ice cold water and immediately felt refreshed and wide awake, but as she looked into the mirror, she saw that there were grey smudges beneath her brown eyes. Lorraine frowned; her reflection had never looked as miserable as this before. Oh well, there were more important matters at hand. Like the process of getting back home. She supposed that it would be a good idea to find the captain again so that she'd know when they'd be leaving for Orchila. It could be today for all she knew!
She trotted out of the room, and was halfway down the stairs when the chattering of two girls' voices made her stop.
"Oh but he's so handsome and daring…" one voice sighed. It came from the room opposite the staircase, and the door was open.
"I was at the market once and –"
"Market? You hardly ever go there!"
"Shush! I was at that time, alright? Anyway, I was at the stall, all bored and that, and I saw him! He smiled at me and winked – I bet he's in love with me - and now he's come back to take me with him, wherever he goes, because he can't bear to stay away from me!"
"Oh, yes, I'm sure…" the first voice said sarcastically. It was quite a soft voice compared to the loud, bragging tone of the second.
"Oh, do shut up Georgie!" the second voice mimicked the first in an annoyingly stubborn way.
"What's he doing here anyway?"
"He's here for me of course! But I did hear this morning from 'water-well William' that he's looking for some missing girl."
"Why would Jack Sparrow look for a girl? Pirates normally take; they don't help look for something." Lorraine felt her heart trip over a beat and she poked her head between the bars of the banister and listened intently.
"Dunno. Apparently she ran away from him or something. There's a reward for whoever gives her back to him though. Maybe she's important or something, and now she's run off, he wants her back."
"What's the reward?"
"Susannah from Dock Street told me it was a whole guinea!" A reward! If she was found she'd be handed over to him for a price? Treated like a sack of hay bought at the farmer's market?!
"Wow, can you imagine that! I'd be able to buy that small corset brought over from London!"
"And I'd be able to buy lots more of that ceruse, and perhaps that blue dress I've always wanted!"
"But how are we supposed to find this girl?"
"Apparently she's quite small, and has dark, curly hair. I think Jacob said her name was Lauren or something." Lorraine held her breath; would they recognise her? It wasn't exactly the most detailed of descriptions, besides; they'd got her name wrong too.
She bent her leg, intending to kneel instead so that she would be more comfortable, but the step she was sitting on creaked horribly loudly and she knew that the two gossiping girls would have heard it. Lorraine quickly stood up and wiped down her dress (which she now always seemed to do after she had been hiding from something or someone) before trotting down the remaining steps to the main corridor. She didn't really know where she walking; was the room that the girls were occupying the dining room? She tried to quickly peek in through the gap of the slightly open door, but it was suddenly fully pulled back and Lorraine quickly straightened up as she came face to face with a girl of about fifteen, with gracefully curled, light chestnut hair.
"Yes?"
"Umm…I…I was told that breakfast would be served soon?" she said unsurely as she tucked some of her loose, wavy hair behind an ear, gently tugging at it in an attempt to make it look straight.
"Oh, I think it's almost ready…" the girl replied, twisting around and leaning back to see through to the kitchen. "Come in," the girl let Lorraine through and then closed the door.
"I'm Georgina and –"
"And I'm beautiful!" the self-absorbed second girl with the loud voice interrupted and giggled, flicking her long golden hair over her shoulder. "My name's Jeanine. Who are you?"
Lorraine thought quickly and decided not to reveal her name; she didn't think she'd be able to trust these two money-hungry gossips. "Rebecca." That was the first name that flew into her head. Surely her best friend wouldn't mind? Besides, it was quite a common name anyway.
Jeanine studied her, particularly trying to estimate her height and taking in her hair. Lorraine straightened up and raised her head slightly, hoping this made her look taller.
"That name doesn't suit you." Jeanine declared after a few moments as she leant back against her chair and folded her arms.
"Why not?" Lorraine asked, trying to stay calm. If they caught her out…
"It just doesn't. I think Lauren would suit you better…" Jeanine glanced up a Georgina, who was standing next to her. They suspected her. She hoped against hope that she didn't look nervous, then they'd know she was lying about her name!
The two looked Lorraine up and down and Georgina bent down to whisper something into Jeanine's ear. Their eyes both glanced at Lorraine's tatty, white dress. The golden-haired girl sighed.
Why did they have to judge her like this? Like a piece of meat? She felt like she was standing here just for show!
A maid came into the dining room carrying a tray of food. She placed it upon the table and left. The girls each took a plate, a slice of bread, a knife and began spreading the butter onto their food. Lorraine edged over to the table and sat down at the opposite end before taking the pitcher of milk from the tray and a glass to pour herself a drink. She sipped at it quietly whilst the two girls whispered to each other and sniggered, pointing a finger at Lorraine every now and then.
After she had eaten a slice of bread with some butter and jam, she decided to leave. It was really annoying trying to eat breakfast with two gossips talking behind your back. She stood in the corridor at the foot of the stairs, at a loss of what to do. She couldn't go outside, not with Sparrow hunting her down like a dog. Why did he want her back so badly anyway? It wasn't as if she was of any use to him. And for a reward? Wasn't that going just a bit too far? Well, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of being found so easily.
Lorraine trudged up the stairs and back to her room, where she began to feel queasy again. Maybe she shouldn't have eaten that jam, it didn't look very fresh, but she had been dying to eat something sweet for ages! She stuck her head out of the window, but the fresh air didn't cool her now sweating forehead.
She clutched at her stomach and ran over to the bucket in the corner of the room, relieving her stomach of the contents of today's breakfast. Eating that jam was not a good idea after all. She sighed and leant back against the wall, sliding down to the floor as she wiped her forehead with her sleeve.
There was a knock at the door and the innkeeper entered. "You alright, dear? I thought that – oh, you don't look too well…" she hurried over to Lorraine and knelt beside her, holding her up by her shoulders and brushing away the hair that clung to her damp forehead.
A few minutes later and Lorraine felt fine again. How strange was that? The innkeeper however was not satisfied. "I think you'd better stay another night dear, I don't think you should be wandering around in this state."
"No, no, I'm fine. Really."
"No, you can stay here, love. We'll look after you, so that you're well when you leave. I can see you're alright for the moment, but we'll wait a while just to make sure." The innkeeper told her before she left and went down the stairs.
Lorraine followed a few moments after her and sat at the top of the stairs, leaning forward against the banister. The innkeeper was talking to Georgina and Jeanine. Lorraine couldn't hear them clearly from up here, but she didn't dare go down any further incase she came across that creaking step. She strained to hear them, but couldn't make anything out so she sighed and went back to her room, where she sat reading a book she had found in a drawer on Shakespeare for most of the day, only going downstairs briefly to eat dinner, which was a bowl of soup, and to acquire a glass of water to drink.