A/N: Hi, all. This'll be the last chapter, so boatloads of thanks go to my trusty and stalwart reviewers for all the kind words and support. It's been a bumpy ride; I appreciate immensely those who have stuck around for its end. If you're all not too frustrated with me for my delays and tantrums, perhaps I can hope to see a review or two tossed in the general direction of my other stories.
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"Okay, here goes," Will says, "The story of Jack and the mermaid princess."
I curl my legs up on the chair I sit in, "I like the title, anyway. But you forgot the Captain, and the Sparrow."
Will grins wryly at me, "Am I going to have a running commentary?"
"I haven't decided yet." This gets Elizabeth laughing as well.
"This'll take all day, by the looks of things," Will grumbles without anger, "As I was saying. The story of Captain Jack Sparrow and the mermaid princess." He pauses and Elizabeth and I nod our approval. He smiles and continues, "Captain Jack Sparrow was in Singapore finishing up celebrating yet another daring escape from the clutches of the King's Navy when he first heard of the mermaid's ransom. He was immediately taken with the story, and upon investigation decided it was worth his precious time to go after.
"He dragged as much of his crew as he could find back to the Black Pearl and set sail. After several months of searching and under heavy threat of mutiny, he finally came upon an island not on any map. He went ashore, daring to hope he'd found it. He found nothing but a girl. She offered him and his crew shelter in the island's cove, as a storm was blowing in. Jack agreed, and harbored the Pearl in what he named Chapel Cove after the strange rock formation. He and his crew set up camp along the shore for the night." Will hesitates here, obviously not wanting to go over exactly what happened next.
I rescue him, more out of the desire to continue the story than save him the embarrassment, "Jack bedded the girl, and thus I was conceived. Huzzah. Please continue."
Will smiles gratefully and proceeds, "So Jack and the crew of the Black Pearl prepare to leave. Just before that, the girl came to Jack with a present-"
"The compass, right? That would only work for him and his kin?"
"Yes," answers Elizabeth. She picks up the story this time, "What Jack didn't know was that he actually had reached the island on which the mermaid's ransom resided. Not only that, he also didn't know that the mermaid herself also resided on the island. And that he'd impregnated her with you, let alone the fact that she'd planned for all this to happen."
"Not too quick on the uptake sometimes, is Jack?"
"Certainly not. Anyway, the mermaid was tired of having her ransom hanging around. Her father and his subjects had no use for gold in their kingdom. So she decided to wait for someone from our world who was worthy to have the ransom. She also decided that the only one worthy would have to be someone with some blood from her kind in them. Only they would be able to touch the gold without destroying the island. So when Jack thought he'd successfully seduced this lovely island girl in truth the mermaid had successfully seduced him to accomplish her plan. When you were born she left you in a town so you could be raised by humans."
"That makes me part mermaid, doesn't it?"
"Yes." Elizabeth gives me a gentle smile, "Are you alright?"
I nod, but I can't help running through everything that has happened in my life I can recall, looking for clues that would have revealed this strange heritage. I find myself more than a little disappointed when I can think of nothing but my fondness for the sea or my admirable strategic capabilities, both of which in all likelihood come from Jack. I want to check myself for scales or something, but Will has continued the story.
"What the mermaid didn't count on was Faulkner."
I blink, "Faulkner?"
"Yes. Faulkner was the closest descendent of the man who kidnapped the mermaid and demanded the ransom in the first place."
"That's why he felt he was the worthy one." The realization makes me grimace.
"He had been obsessed with what he thought of as completing his destiny his whole life. He heard years later rumors that a Jack Sparrow had found an island no one had heard of before, and he hunted him down. When Jack refused to reveal the island's location, Faulkner flew into a rage. He grabbed a lantern and swung it into Jack's face. He threw Jack, bleeding and unconscious, into the sea. It's a miracle he survived, but blinded and without his ship Jack decided it was time to retire. He gathered together what little of his crew that had survived Faulkner's assault and told them to go their own ways and to never speak of him again. Anamaria sheltered him on an island on her rum running route."
"I wish I was the one to kill Faulkner," I mutter with growing rage. Elizabeth places her hand on mine and I call up the cool breeze inside to calm me.
"I believe that brings us up to date," Will says after a moment of silence, "Do you have any questions?"
"No, I don't think so." I stand up to leave, but pause and ask, "Can I go out for a bit?"
"Yes, dear," Elizabeth says, "Just be back by supper, alright?"
This sounds reasonable, "Alright, supper it is."
I'm halfway up the stairs before I hear, "And don't forget to take your dagger with you. Lord knows who you'll come across out there." I smile. Ever since the battle with Faulkner Elizabeth has loosened up about propriety and my role in it. I believe she is slowly becoming the mother she would have been had she not felt forced to comply with Jack's promise to keep me away from all things pirate. There is hope yet, I think as I go out the front door, tucking my compass into my pocket and enjoying the feel of my dagger in its sheath at my calf. Adolph scowls at me as he prunes some bushes. He's peeved that our game has come to an end and I no longer have to sneak out of the house. I spare him a sympathetic smirk. I also shoot a greeting to Gibbs as I pass, though I doubt he heard me over his snoring in his chair on our lawn. I wear a simple dress today, but no wig. Anamaria was right down there in the Osprey's brig; my hair does need a trim. It is about an inch from brushing my shoulders.
"Can't a girl get a drink around here, Ricky?" I ask boldly and clearly as I take a seat at the old Mermaid's Tale. I'm pleased to see it's just how I left it, complete with Richard smearing the film more evenly around his vessels behind the bar.
He squints at me, and I relish his moment of realization, "Dear Lord. That you, Gawain?"
"Name's Guinevere actually. And before you start thinking inappropriate things about an innocent girl, it always was Guinevere. Now, can I have a drink, please?"
"Er, um, yes, m-miss," Richard bumbles around the bar and eventually produces a mug ever so slightly less dirty than the rest and fills it up. I sip it quietly and enjoy every time Richard glances back at me. I had no idea being a girl could be this fun.
"Hey, boss," says a familiar voice near my ear. Pete drops a quick kiss my cheek as he sits next to me. Somewhere along the journey back to Port Royal we passed that nervous, red-faced stage and acknowledged the fact that there was more than friendship between us. I don't know if I'll marry Pete, but I'm sure having a fine time as of now, and I'm starting to think that's the most important thing.
Pete is soon followed by Tom and Tuck, who arrive in their usual fashion. Richard approaches us all a-twitter. But his tirade loses steam as I blink in wide-eyed innocence at him. "Gawain! I mean, um, Guinevere! Er, you an'- um, you an' yer boys- you... Oh, bugger all." I flutter my eyelashes at his retreating form and Pete laughs.
"Hello, boys," I greet the twins as they sit down, "Where's Stanton?"
"He's scampered back to his folks," Tom reports, "Says the pirate's life ain't fer him."
"Got a plan today, Guinn?" Tuck asks the inevitable question.
"Well, boys," I say, "I've been thinking-"
"You're not turnin' wig, are ya', Guinn?" Tom asks suspiciously.
"How dare you insult my honor, Tom!" I say with my nose turned up in wig fashion perfected at innumerable dinner parties Elizabeth says I no longer have to attend, "I was going to say- before I was so rudely interrupted- that I've been thinking. And I believe a girl will be able to get away with a great deal more than any boy, wouldn't you say?" We all laugh and I catch Richard muttering something about things never changing. Now that can't be right, Ricky. If things never changed, how could I be here, in a bloody dress, laughing with my boys? How could I know my ties to pirates and mermaids, for Heaven's sake? Things change all right, and I'm thinking it comes down to the person when they do. Some run from it, and pretend everything's fine, and some run up the sails and head straight for the horizon, and enjoy every minute of it.
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A/N: And so ends the saga of Guinevere, daughter of Jack Sparrow. Hope you've enjoyed it, I know I have. Review please, maybe check out some of my other stuff. Bye!