Chapter Three—Double Talk

As Tetra was practically captain herself, Jack's equal all but officially, she celebrated the Black Pearl's success along with him over a good meal in his cabin, as the rest of the men enjoyed more rambunctious festivities on the deck.

When both of the leaders had eaten their fill, Tetra grabbed her flagon of ale and reclined in her chair; she was about to put her feet up on the table when Jack, lifting his own pint, said, "I think we ought to drink to our excellent partnership."

Tetra paused, but willingly leaned forward to clink her heavy mug with Jack's. "Cheers, then," she said.

"Aye."

After they had both taken deep draughts, however, and she had returned to her more comfortable position, she added, "I don't know what you think you meant by our 'partnership,' Jack, but I'm never going to be anything other than a fellow sailor to you. Got it?"

"Oh, to be sure," Jack conceded. "Wouldn't dream of thinking otherwise."

Fixing him with a judgmental stare, Tetra gave a slight snort of disbelief and muttered into her drink, "I'm sure you wouldn't."

Jack chose not to comment, but when it became clear that Tetra wasn't about to speak again, he inquired curiously, "The men said you had some fancy manoeuvres with that sword of yours. Where did you learn to fight like that, love?"

"I'm gonna tell you again: Call me by my name. And in answer to your question…" Tetra cocked her head. "Well, you have to fight, to be a pirate. I'm mostly self taught, but I did pick up some basics from my father, and other stuff from Link."

"You're lucky. Not many girls grow up knowing how to defend themselves properly."

"Not many girls grow up as pirates," Tetra countered. "Which goes back to my first point. I fight because I'm a sailor and a pirate, not because I'm a female."

Jack gave half a nod of agreement. Taking a different approach to the subject, he leaned forward and inquired, "So tell me this then. What did you need to defend yourself from in your youth?"

Tetra was eyeing him suspiciously. "Why do I get the feeling you're going to want to know everything about me?"

"Ah," Jack said sagely, "that would be because I do."

"At least you're honest."

"Never. Honestly."

"Then you don't want to know everything about me?"

"Did I say that?"

Tetra took in a deep breath of consideration and let it out slowly before commenting decisively, "I don't know why I asked. What you say often has little to nothing to do with what you mean, unless you want someone to know exactly what you mean, and that doesn't happen often." She sighed impatiently. "In summary, if you want to ask me something, just ask it."

Jack shrugged. "Making conversation, that's all. And curious about my best sailor's background. Is there some reason you don't want to tell me about it?"

With a shrug of her own, Tetra informed him, "I told you everything I thought you needed to know already."

"And yet you still surprise me."

"That's life," she told him frankly. "You'll learn something new about me every day."

Raising his glass, Jack said, "I look forward to it," and took another sip. Tetra smiled tightly.

"Well, I'm glad we've settled that," she said contentedly. "No awkward prying into each other's lives. Let me tell you, nothing destroys an alliance faster."

"There is one more thing I want to know, though," Jack added, before she had even fully finished her sentence.

Tetra peered over the rim of her flagon suspiciously.

"Your men's reasons for leaving you?"

With a sigh, Tetra dropped onto all four legs of her chair and placed her drink back down on the table heavily. "You've been thinking about non-stop that from the second I mentioned it," she deduced.

Jack nodded.

"And you haven't figured it out?" she asked delicately, looking at him closely. "Not even a guess?"

"I have my suspicions," he said evasively, "but I make it a point to find out as much as I can about what and whom I'm working with. You haven't really given me much to base my guesses on, love, to be honest."

"Right… Well," she sighed, "to put it simply, my men refuse to sail under me because they don't think I should be sailing right now."

"Why's that?"

"Because…when we were last at sea, we were having some difficulties with people following us," she said carefully. "We never did find out who they were…but they were official ships, looked like they might've belonged to the government of our country or something, and very heavily armed. Since we're pirates, we didn't stop to wonder, we figured they just wanted to arrest us. But when they wouldn't leave us alone…" she faded out with a sigh. "Well, we kept going west until we hit uncharted territory. Didn't think they'd follow us."

"Except they did," Jack guessed.

Tetra nodded bitterly. "My men are convinced they want me. I don't think so."

Jack noted that she very obviously did think so. Still, he asked innocently, "What do you think?"

She frowned into her drink. After a moment, she replied bluntly, "We're pirates. Like I said. Why wouldn't they want us? Now, I've gotta go…check on…something."

He said nothing, and watched her without moving his head as she stood up abruptly and left the room.


Early the next morning, Jack was to be found not on the deck captaining the ship, but inside, with the captive they had taken during the previous day's hostilities. Chris, the largest man on the Pearl's crew, was standing by for backup. The scrawny captive was tied to a chair just outside his cell for interrogation, and the captain paced before him.

"What's your name, mate?" he asked by way of beginning.

"'Mate?'" the other man repeated dryly. "No."

"All right, then," Jack agreed. Stopping to face the man, he asked loftily, "Adversary who has learned not to challenge the Black Pearl under the command of Captain Jack Sparrow… What's your name?"

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"No… Odd name. French?"

"No."

"No, it wouldn't be. You never hear of anyone named 'No' anymore, it must be a dead language. Latin, maybe."

"No."

"But it doesn't matter," Jack went on, ignoring him. "'No' it is. So, then, Mr No, would you like to tell me what you think you were doing attacking my ship?"

"No."

"You wouldn't? All right, then, let me rephrase the question…" He paused to consider, then gave a thoughtfully approving nod before he spoke again. "Tell me what the hell you were doing attacking my ship," he ordered harshly.

"No."

Jack sighed. "You're going to regret giving such monotonous answers, Mr No, let me assure you."

"No."

"You really don't think so?"

"No."

"Is that no you really don't, or no you do?"

"No."

"Thanks for clearing that up."

Mr No shrugged. At least it was a different response, Jack thought.

"Well, then," he said, resuming his pacing, "I guess I'll have to prove you wrong in order to prove myself right." Making a slight grimace, he explained, "I hate being wrong, see."

Mr No gave no answer whatsoever. Apparently he was tired of his own one-word vocabulary.

"So," Jack began again, speaking slowly and clearly, "I'll ask you again, and this time, if you don't give me the answer I want—which is any answer at all that doesn't involve your name, Mr No—I'll see to it that you wish you had. Savvy?"

"No."

Jack felt his hand twitch almost involuntary with the desire to hit the man. "Right, then," he snapped. "Why were you attacking my ship?"

Mr No said nothing.

Jack struck him around the face with his fist as hard as he could. When Mr No still didn't answer, Jack punched him a second time, then tried a different question.

"Who's your captain?"

No answer. Jack pulled his pistol from its holster and used it to strike Mr No yet again, much harder.

"What was your ship's mission?"

Nothing.

Jack drew his cutlass in place of his gun, and delivered with the hilt as harsh a blow as he could muster to Mr No's temple. Flipping it over in his grip, Jack placed the tip of the blade against his captive's chest and warned in a low, deadly voice, "Don't make me use this end."

Mr No continued to glare at him.

"Where does your ship make berth?" Jack asked.

No answer. Only a glare.

Now Jack was angry. With a snarl, he swiped a shallow wound across the prisoner's chest, then threw his cutlass aside for a more hands-on approach.

"Why the hell did you attack my ship?!" he demanded angrily, stepping forward to violently seize Mr No by the collar of his shirt and shake him hard. "Damn it, man!"

He threw the man backwards, and since he was tied to his chair, Mr No toppled over and struck his head against the bars of the cell behind him with a grunt of pain and muttered curse. Jack made a noise of satisfaction in his throat, though he was still enraged.

"Fine," he said, "that's your choice then. We'll see how long you last."

As he stormed away, he ordered Chris, "Throw him back in his cell. And tell the crew, the prisoner's not to be given food or water until he decides to talk."


At the same time, Tetra was to be found at the helm of the Black Pearl instead of Jack. Besides he fact that he was busy with the prisoner, the captain had also decided that since she best knew where they were going, she should be steering. The problem was, she couldn't easily determine in which direction they needed to go while she was trying to run the ship; she needed peace and quiet and focus, just herself and the sea.

She had gotten some the night before, after sunset, when everyone had gone to bed except those charged with keeping the Pearl on a steady course overnight. Tetra had been the last of those who had worked during the day to retire to sleep.

Night aboard a ship was the most breathtaking miracle of which Tetra knew. The whole sky was infinite, and then doubled by the gently rippling mirror of the black water. Somehow, even though she couldn't see a thing in the pure, silky darkness, she felt like she could see everything.

So she had stood at the prow, climbing up precariously to perch atop the head of the mermaid that gazed out over the Pearl's course. It would have been a beautiful painting, she knew, the mermaid and the pirate woman, both staring into infinity, one carved in the image of the other, though it was impossible to say who was the creation and who was the inspiration.

Then she closed her eyes, trusting in her affinity with all that was around her in order not to fall. She often felt she had been born on the sea, and as such didn't see why she would fall from here any more than she would from a place on solid ground.

Her soul reached out careful tendrils, exploring the world in search of another consciousness like her own. Somewhere… She knew it was out there somewhere…

It was something of a disappointment when she couldn't find it, but she had to grudgingly admit it wasn't that much of a surprise. After all, Link was probably hundreds of miles away. With a sigh, she opened her eyes and looked around in a more conventional way. If the Pearl was making for the waters she knew, the Great Sea, they would probably be wise to shift their course slightly to the south. She had made a mental note to advise Jack of that in the morning.

Now here was morning, quickly wending its way towards afternoon, and she had adjusted their course accordingly, though the wind wasn't exactly working with them. Whereas it had previously been blowing in the exact direction they needed, it had now turned more northward. She couldn't help wondering if Link, some indeterminate distance away, needed to go northeast. A smile crept over her face at the thought.

"Bloody pirate."

Startled, Tetra glanced behind her to see Jack approaching with an angry scowl.

"Excuse me?" she asked. "I take offence to that."

"Not you," he sighed impatiently. "That prisoner we took. He's not talking."

"Did you expect him to?"

"No, of course not. Not willingly, at least. But I did expect that I would be able to…persuade a few things out of him."

"And you couldn't?" she guessed.

Jack's grunt confirmed her question.

"Ah. Well, don't give up, captain," she advised him pleasantly. "Just give him a bit of time, his resolve's bound to crack sooner or later."

"Certainly," Jack agreed. "Every man's got a weakness. It's just a matter of finding it, aye?"

"Very true," Tetra said slowly, glancing out ahead of her. After a moment's consideration, she returned her gaze to Jack and requested, "Next time, can I try to get some answers out of him?"

"All right," Jack agreed indifferently. "We can give it a go later today, if you like."

"Sounds good."

"Good. You're on a break now," he told her, jerking his head to indicate that she should let him take over. "Lunch is waiting in the cabin, go eat something. You didn't have breakfast."

"Yeah, you're right," Tetra agreed; she stepped back and was about to leave when it occurred to her to say, "Neither did you."

"I'm not hungry."

"Liar."

Jack laughed slightly.

"The men can handle the ship for now, Jack," Tetra pressed him. "It's a steady course, no complications in sight. You need to eat something."

"All right, fine," he gave in, "something quick."

"And you can tell me all about the interrogation, too."

"Not much to tell. Wouldn't answer when I just asked him, or when I threatened him, or when I carried out on my threats. Only word I could get him to say was 'no,' and even that was only when there was no way it could be an answer to my question."

"Figures. I bet he's military trained."

Jack looked at her in surprise at the swift confidence of this statement. "Why do you say that?"

"Because men in the military don't ever answer questions that a pirate asks. I met a couple of them in Tortuga, couldn't get a thing out of them, not even their names. Probably the only men worth talking to on that rock, and they wouldn't talk to me." She shrugged. "You can use all the torture and aggression in the world, it's not gonna work. They'd rather die. That's how they've been trained."

"And I suppose you know what does work?" Jack asked, allowing a bite of impatience into his voice.

Tetra shrugged again. "There's a few techniques I've used in the past that have proved highly effective," she answered mysteriously.

Jack narrowed his eyes at her. "You're almost as good at saying nothing as he is."

"Almost? I take that as an insult, sir," she informed him in a dignified tone. Laughing at herself, she advised him, "Lighten up, would you?"

Jack gave his own quiet chuckle. "There's a phrase I never thought I'd hear. No one's ever accused me of being too serious."

"Really?" she glanced at him with raised eyebrows. "I'm surprised. You are serious, sometimes. But I guess people don't really see you that way, do they? I don't know… How do they see you? You haven't told me much about yourself."

As he followed her through the door to the cabin, he commented, "That's not the subtlest way I've ever heard to get information out of a man. Is that the kind of technique you're planning to use on our prisoner?"

"Of course not," Tetra blew him off. "But I don't expect I should have to pry answers out of your cold dead hands, should I? Or is it part of your 'code' not to tell anyone any more than they need to know?"

"I like to remain a figure of distant authority," Jack admitted. "The name of Captain Jack Sparrow would not strike terror into the hearts of man if they knew what I was like as a three-year-old clinging to my mother's skirts."

Tetra laughed heartily at this mental image; for some reason, she imagined three-year-old Jack Sparrow with the same facial hair and gold teeth he had as an adult. When she had recovered herself from this, she said innocently, "Yes, I can see why that would be." She bit back further laughter at the sight of his glare. "Sorry," she said, pulling her face straight. She cleared her throat, then took a seat and said, "No, really. Tell me about you. Where did you grow up, what was your family like, how did you get into piracy… I told you all that stuff about me."

"All right," Jack consented, albeit not entirely willingly; he and Tetra took their seats at opposite ends of the table. This already felt like a regular arrangement for meals.

"Well," he began, with the air of one about to embark onto a long story, "I was born in England, the bastard child of a merchant's daughter. No idea who my father was. When I was born, her parents sent me and her both off to live with her aunt and uncle, who were farmers. I grew up on their farm, and they became Mother and Father."

He paused, seeing that Tetra looked disturbed. "Something wrong, love?" he asked.

"Well—No," she conceded. "It's just…I'm a little surprised you can talk about it so easily…"

Jack shrugged. "On this side of the world, more men have been born bastards than otherwise, love."

"Did you know that, when you were little?" she asked uncomfortably.

"Know what?"

"Know about…how you were born. Who your mother was. Or did they make up some story or something?"

"Oh, aye, they told me she was my sister," Jack confirmed with a nod. "I believed them until… Well, that's part of the story." He cleared his throat, then continued.

"Remember before when I told you I stowed away on that ship?" he asked. Tetra nodded. "I was about eight then. I'd always loved the ocean and the ships…the freedom, really, that was what I loved. I didn't realize that yet, though.

"So I snuck onto this ship and I learned the basics of sailing. It was a merchant trade vessel or some such, I'm not really sure, I wasn't paying attention to that sort of thing. I was in my own world, as I told you before. I believe they went down to Spain while I was aboard, and then came back. My family was furious when I turned up again. They'd been looking for me for months, they thought I was dead.

"And that was when I found out."

"The truth about your mother? They told you then?" Tetra gasped. "Oh, that's horrible!"

"Well, they didn't tell me, just like that. What happened was, Mother and Father had some children of their own, and when I came back, those boys and girls who I thought were my brothers and sisters told me that I wasn't one of them. They said that our oldest sister was actually my mother, and that was why she had always taken such care of me when I was little. So I asked her about it, and she admitted it was true.

"That was when I decided to leave. I could tell they didn't want me, if they'd lied to me for that long." He shrugged. "And since I'd loved the time I spent on that ship, I decided that the first crew I heard of who was leaving England and never coming back, I'd be with them. They came when I was nearly ten years old." He gave an abbreviated laugh. "How was I to know they'd be pirates?"

"So," Tetra concluded, "you joined a pirate crew, they came here, and you've been a plundering scoundrel ever since. Is that about it?"

"That's about it," Jack agreed with a nod.

"Well…I guess it's true what they say, then. Everyone has a story."

"What's yours?" Jack asked.

"I told you mine," Tetra replied immediately.

He had to admit that she had given him a concise summary of her life. But somehow…he didn't think it was enough.

Neither of them spoke for several minutes, but steadily ate in silence. Jack was turning over in his mind the information Tetra had given him about herself, and knew that she was doing the same for him. She was also, he noticed when he looked up from his own plate, eating at a remarkable rate, as if she wanted to get away from this meal and any awkward questions that might result from it.

She stood up sharply when she had finished, and smiled briefly. "Well, I'm done. I'll get back to the helm until you're done, all right?" She didn't wait for an answer before crossing the room to leave.

"Don't forget about the prisoner," he called after her, just before she reached the door. When she stopped and turned back, he elaborated, "You wanted to help me interrogate him, didn't you?"

"Oh, yes," Tetra confirmed; the mention of such a comparatively normal task seemed to relax her back to herself. "Are we doing that now?"

"We can, if you'd like."

"Great." Grinning wickedly, she requested, "Bring him in here."

"Here?"

"I've got some special equipment for this kind of thing," she said by way of explanation. "I'll go get it."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"You'll see," she answered his unspoken question mysteriously.


Half an hour later, Jack was sitting with his back to the door, opposite the captured sailor, the table between them. He was staring at the lesser pirate evenly, cutting as intimidating a picture as he could as they waited for Tetra. Although he tried to look calm and confident, Jack couldn't help wondering what on earth was taking her so long.

"What are you going to do with me?" the prisoner spoke up finally; his voice was clearly trying to sound nonchalant, but in contrast to the silence, it came across as anxiously fearful.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Jack answered shortly. He allowed himself a grin, knowing the foreboding this expression could strike into any man's heart when worn by an enemy.

Seconds later, they both heard the muffled sounds of voices just outside the door to the cabin, and Jack recognized one of them as female. He twisted around in his seat to see what her "equipment" could be.

The door flew open dramatically, and the rich colour of the setting sun that poured in added to the picturesque image before them. Jack couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Tetra stood before them with a playful smile, looking quite unlike her usual self. Her golden hair was curled in elegant waves around her face, diamonds glittered at her ears and throat, and her eyes and lips were painted; but far more noticeable than any of this was what she wore—A dress of crimson silk, not like the cumbersome gowns that were in fashion with most women, but with simple shape that hugged the curves of her body flatteringly, a plunging neckline, and a slit in the side up to her hip. She strode forward with a sway in her hips completely different from her usual tomboyish gait, her red heels clicking gently against the hardwood.

"Jack," she began silkily, "you weren't going to hurt this sweet man, were you?" Her voice, too, had undergone a transformation; it was less a commanding shout and more a soft purr. Yet the subtle glance she shot him communicated within half a second that she was still the same pirate, and he should just play along.

"Just trying to get some answers, that's all," Jack replied. He was trying not to look as flabbergasted as he felt, but it was difficult when his heart was pounding so hard and fast in his throat.

"Aw, I'm sure he's not being that difficult," she sighed. She took a seat on the table between Jack and the prisoner, and crossed her legs. For a girl raised at sea, she had the grace and dignity of a noblewoman when she tried. Her every action was also fraught with an irresistibly tempting seduction that suggested she wasn't as truly proper and ladylike as she tried to act. Casting the sailor a sweet smile, she said innocently, "If you just answer our questions, we'll be nice to you. Promise."

The charm in her voice was such that Jack doubted any man could hold out for long against it before he would give up all dignity and self-respect in favour of throwing himself at her feet as her willing slave in the hope of gaining some favour from her. At the moment, he could see this exact conflict in the way the prisoner's eyes darted over her face as he licked his lips nervously.

"I—Well, I mean, I don't really…" he stammered awkwardly. "Are you…Who are you? A sailor?"

Tetra giggled, a sound Jack wouldn't have expected from the same lips he had heard uttering harsh battle cries and curses in battle. "No, I'm not," she said, shaking her head so that her hair swung around her face; Jack caught a whiff of perfume, and knew the other man had as well. "I was a prisoner before, they captured me when they raided my town. But I'm really friendly," she told him warmly, "so they kept me around." She shrugged and gave a playful smirk. "Y'know, for fun."

Jack had to bite back his laughter at the sight of the man's expression, especially when Tetra trailed a finger along the edge of the prisoner's cheek and down his neck, past his collarbone.

"I pretty much get to do what I want now," she said, "and you can, too, if you just answer the captain's questions. Come on…" With a wink, she leaned in slightly closer, and whispered, "Be a good sport, hm? I'm a good sport. That's why they're so good to me."

By now the sailor was practically salivating; it was obvious he would give Tetra anything she wanted if he meant he could get something from her in exchange. "Okay," he consented.

She smiled fondly at him, toying absently with a button on his shirt. "So, what's your name?"

"Michael Crawford."

"Michael…" she repeated, drawing the word out luxuriously on her tongue as she tilted her head so that her hair trailed along the curve of her neck. It was amazing the effect a woman's voice could have on a man when she was saying that man's own name. "And you're a sailor? Pirate?"

"Yes. Well, I mean, I just became a pirate. I used to be a sailor with the navy, but I thought that was kind of boring, so I came to Tortuga."

"Looking for excitement?"

"Yeah. Exactly."

Tetra beamed flirtatiously. "Well, let me assure you, you've found it here with us." Pausing to look at him with an endearingly thoughtful frown, she asked, "Why were you coming after us, anyway?"

For the first time, the man appeared not to want to answer. But his eyes lingered on Tetra, and he gave in to his instincts. "Our captain said to. He said we were after other pirate ships, but the Black Pearl especially."

"What makes us so special?"

"I don't know. I asked him that. He said he didn't know, either, but—"

Here Michael stopped himself, apparently thinking he had said too much.

"But what?" Tetra pressed gently. "You can tell me, Michael, you won't get in trouble." She shifted slightly where she sat, her hand grazing past her leg.

"Well…" Michael began uncomfortably, his voice slipping out of his control slightly, "he said we'd been commissioned to catch other pirates, or kill them, or sink their ships, just stop them somehow. He also said that if we found a female pirate—He said it was very important that if we caught a female pirate, we weren't supposed to hurt her at all, just take her prisoner, alive and unharmed. If we did that, we'd get a big payoff, and he said that he knew for sure there was one on the Black Pearl, so that was our target."

"A payoff? For bringing in a woman?" Tetra asked. Jack thought he heard her carefully maintained poise slip slightly to be replaced with a tinge of fear. "Who would give you that?"

"Not just for any woman," Michael corrected. "Had to be a female pirate. And I don't know who would give us the money, 'cause our captain didn't say, but—"

Again, he stopped, catching himself before saying something Jack and Tetra both could tell was important. The former was very impressed at how patient the latter was in reaction to this; he would have been much more aggressive. But then, her strategy was working very well. Much better than he would have thought possible, in fact.

"But?" she inquired, fingering the collar of his shirt, allowing her delicate fingers to brush his skin.

"But—but—I did see him talking to someone on the streets. A day or two ago. I don't know who it was, though, or if they were even talking about it…about the commission and the payoff and everything…" Michael stammered, clearly unfocused in his attempt to give Tetra all of the answers she wanted as thoroughly as possible, to make her happy in the hope that she might do the same for him. "They must have been, though, right? I mean, who else could it have been?"

"Of course," Tetra agreed, nodding. "You're absolutely right. Did you see who the other person was?"

"No. Some big guy in a cloak, trying to keep himself hidden. That's all I saw. You know how it is in Tortuga, don't you?"

"Oh, yes," Tetra agreed, a reminiscent smile lighting her face briefly. "Yes, I'm no stranger to the streets of Tortuga."

Michael gave a nervous sort of laugh. "No. I didn't think so."

After another indulgent smile, Tetra glanced at Jack inquiringly. In response, he asked of Michael, "Who's your captain?"

"Geoffrey Morgan."

The name meant nothing to Jack; he logged it away mentally, but had a feeling it would be of little consequence compared to the identity of the mysterious cloaked figure.

"In that case… Thank you. You've been most helpful." Jack gave a shrill whistle. "You can return to your cell now."

"I—What?" Michael asked, as the two pirates who had been standing guard outside the door entered on Jack's signal. "But…I thought… Hey!" He looked at Tetra for support, but she only glanced back at him placidly, sliding off of the table to stand out of the way as the Pearl's men led their captive away.

When the door had closed behind the three men, Jack and Tetra looked from it to each other, and the captain spoke first.

"That's some fancy equipment you've got there," he commented.

Tetra smiled. "It comes in handy, all right." Glancing at him briefly, she added, "Now put your eyes back in your head and take a few deep, calming breaths. This dress clearly isn't good for your blood pressure."

Jack couldn't help laughing as she strode out of the room—even though she was right.