Disclaimer: -bows- Thankyou, thankyou… But it's not mine. Squirrel is, but POTC is not.
Squirrel sits on the roof of the blacksmiths, gnawing through a handful of nuts. I'm such an idiot! Nearly killing myself for a stupid piece of paper…
(("Take it," He smiles at her, placing the coin in her open palm. "It's very special."
"How s-special?" A young Squirrel stares up at her father in adoration.
"Very, very special." The man laughs. "It's a lucky charm."
The young girl turns the coin over in her fingers. "It's just a c-coin. How is it lucky?"
Squirrel's father pats her on the head, ruffling her hair. "Whenever you're in trouble, little squirrel, it will save you. And if you ever want to go on an adventure, it will guide you to one."
"I don't ever want to go on an ad-ad-adbenture." The young girl says with the authority of someone who already knows their place in the world at a very young age. "I want to stay with you and Mother f-f-f-forever!"
Squirrel's father laughs…))
Squirrel chews thoughtfully, then reaches into her cloak and pulls out the slip of paper. Breaking the damp wax seal, Squirrel unfolds it carefully.
The first thing that stands out at Squirrel is the giant 'X'. The second thing is the fact that the whole paper is…
"A m-map!" Squirrel nearly chokes on a mouthful of nut. While catching her breath, Squirrel looks over the edge of the roof. Jack is peering cautiously out of the door, and Will follows him. The two men exchange brief words in the street, Jack still watching for the guards, head and hands jerking around.
"…Elizabeth won't like this." Will is saying. "She doesn't want me going off on any adventures anymore…"
"Who said you would be?" Jack asks, slightly annoyed.
"… or have anything else to do with you." Will finishes with a weary smile. "The wedding's a few weeks away, and she doesn't want me hurt."
Jack rolls his eyes and mutters something. Squirrel takes off, creeping along and jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Somewhere in the pit of her stomach, Squirrel feels guilty. Jack saved her from Tortuga. But he's also betrayed her. He only saved her for her skill. Squirrel refuses, however, to compare him to her uncle, even if the two men are remarkably similar in the reason they keep Squirrel around…
But what if both her uncle and Jack knew about the map?
Squirrel nearly trips at that thought. She stops to catch her breath, looking around the town, trying not to think about the map. A carriage is passing in the streets below. If I could walk behind that carriage for a way, Squirrel thinks, shimmying down a drain pipe, I might be able to stay unnoticed for a while…
Unfortunately, as Squirrel tries to blend in behind the carriage, the occupant leans out and looks her dead in the eye. Squirrel freezes.
"Stop the carriage!" The woman shouts. The horses rein up. Squirrel bites her lip, thinking frantically. The door opens, and just as Squirrel turns to dash away, the woman inside the carriage calls out to her.
"Wait! Girl, hold up a minute!"
What did I do this time? Squirrel thinks, as she reluctantly makes her way back towards the carriage.
The woman steps out, her hair set above her head, and her dress white with lots of lace and frills. Squirrel can't help but stare. The woman is, putting it gently, very beautiful, and Squirrel feels like an ugly duckling standing in front of her.
"You're the girl who was with Jack Sparrow, aren't you?" The woman asks, curious. Squirrel nods, scuffing her feet in the dirt.
"Where is he now?" The woman asks. Squirrel indicates with a vague hand that he's somewhere behind her. A platoon of guards rounds the corner, and Squirrel's eyes widen. They haven't seen her yet, but if they keep coming…
"Quick!" The woman grabs Squirrel by the arm and pushes her towards the carriage, "Get in. We need to talk."
Squirrel climbs in, glad for a moment of safety. The woman climbs in after her, and the carriage picks up speed as it rolls through Port Royal.
"My name's Elizabeth." The woman smiles. "Soon to be Elizabeth Turner."
Squirrel gapes. "Y-you're the w-w-woman who's m-marrying W-Will?"
Elizabeth smiles and nods. "You must've already met Will." She frowns. "Jack's not asking him to go off on one of his 'adventures', is he? I made Will promise me that he would never have anything to do with that ruffian…" She sighs, fanning herself with a decorated fan. "At least, until after the wedding. You know what boys are like."
Squirrel finds herself feeling more and more out of place. The inside of the carriage is ornate, silks and velvet cushion and drapes, gold inlays… And then Elizabeth's dress and jewellery… Squirrel shrinks into her cloak.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Elizabeth says in her prime English accent. "I never got your name."
"S-Squirrel."
Elizabeth tilts her head sideways, as if trying so see Squirrel's face under the grey hood. "Why were you running with Jack? He's not dragged you away from your family and forced you to work on the Black Pearl, has he?" Elizabeth continues like this for some time. Every time Squirrel opens her mouth to speak, she finds herself assaulted by Elizabeth's questions and speculations in an accent that only the very rich can afford. Finally, Squirrel manages to get a word in.
"I …"
"Oh, good." Elizabeth says, looking out the window. "We're here. Come inside, I'll have my maids get you a dress and organise a hot bath for you. You must be terrified! Or at least mildly in shock. I mean, this is Jack Sparrow we're talking about here."
We're talking?
"… And you simply must tell me a bit about yourself…"
Haven't I been trying?
"… But of course! It's nearly time for lunch. Are you hungry? I can…"
Starving. Also, tired, blisters on my feet, burns on my arm and side, years of mental and physical scars from my life in Tortuga, and trapped on a ship where I can hardly trust anyone. Now, of course, I'm feeling like a fish out of water, being made to come into this fancy mansion and having people running around to get me clothes, food and hot water…But enough about me.
"Now," Squirrel and Elizabeth sit down at a wrought-iron table overlooking the bay, "Tell me a little about yourself, Miss Squirrel. Where do you come from? How do you know Jack?"
Squirrel picks at her food, uncomfortable under the rich woman's pleasant gaze. "Forgive m-me for s-saying this, E-Elizabeth, b-but I d-don't know if I should be…"
Elizabeth laughs, waving a hand. "Should be talking to me? No, it's perfectly alright. I'll just tell father you're a friend of mine. Besides," Elizabeth lowers her voice, conspiratorially, "Anyone who knows Jack somehow ends up being a friend of mine anyway." Elizabeth smiles, fanning herself. "You look like you need someone to talk to, anyway."
I also need someone to listen to me, Squirrel thinks wryly, but for some reason Squirrel feels like telling this rich woman everything. About her life on Tortuga. About her skill. About her parents. About how Jack rescued her from Tortuga. About the fight with Dawn. About the bullet in the coin, a special gift from her father, and a 'lucky charm'. At least, she would, if she ever gets the chance.
Elizabeth instead tells Squirrel about how she met Jack, and the legend surrounding the Black Pearl. As the story progresses, Squirrel finds herself listening more and more intently, hanging on every one of Elizabeth's words. The attack on Port Royal. The pirates that were neither dead nor alive. The cave and the treasure. The rescue by Will. The fight between the Black Pearl and the Interceptor. The battle with the moonlight-dead pirates and the navy. Squirrel has to laugh when Elizabeth tells her about the rum incident.
"He was really frightfully upset." Elizabeth says, sipping her tea daintily. "But I suppose rum is to pirates as air is to the rest of us." Squirrel chuckles, trying to imitate the way Elizabeth drank her tea.
"Oh! But how rude of me!" Elizabeth suddenly realises something. "You were going to tell me about yourself! Do, I apologise, I had no idea I was talking so much! It's just that it's hardly ever that I find someone whose willing to hear about what happened to me."
"Let me g-guess." Squirrel says, holding up a hand before the rich woman could continue. "They all th-think it m-must've b-been terrifying for y-you and they w-w-won't talk about it?"
Elizabeth nods, and opens her mouth, but Squirrel cuts her off. "You wanted to hear ab-about me?" She takes a deep breath. "Then p-p-please excuse the s-s-stammer. It c-comes and g-goes sometimes."
So finally, Squirrel was able to talk. And she talked, and Elizabeth listened. Squirrel tells the rich woman everything she wanted to tell. Squirrel was just reaching the part about Dawn shooting her when a maid appeared, telling Elizabeth that Squirrel's bath was ready.
"You go." Elizabeth says, smiling kindly. "I'll be waiting here for you, and you can finish your story then. Sounds fair?"
Squirrel nods, and allows herself to be led through the huge white mansion, staring in awe at everything she sees as she goes.
A/N: Call me cynical, but this was my first impression of Elizabeth. "Blah, blah, blah"… Well, I know better now… but somehow my first POTC fiction set the trend. I apologise.