"Captain, sir?" Gibbs' voice sounded at Jack's elbow.

"Yes, man?"

"Flint wanted me to tell you there's a small vessel off the port bow (A/N: lol, dingy off the port bow!). He says it appears unmanned, but he also wanted me to remind you about the life boat we lost in that last storm a few days ago."

Jack considered it for a moment, then swung the wheel around towards the boat. "Gibbs, assemble a party to get that boat aboard."

"Aye, sir."

As soon as the ship came near enough to see inside the boat clearly, word went up to the captain that there was a small, female person slumped over in it.

It could hardly be a dead woman. If she had died, they just would've thrown her overboard. Mebbe she's a stowaway. Ah, well, we'll see when she comes aboard. Jack sent word to proceed.

There was much crossing of selves and the making of the sign against evil when the boat was wenched aboard. Jack came down from the wheel, leaving it to Mr. Cotton, to inspect it. When he arrived, he boldly marched right up to the edge of the vessel, reached inside, and violently shook the captive into wakefulness.

Tanwen's POV

My eyes suddenly opened to the bright sky and a blurry figure above me. I was being roughly jostled around, so I made a slight mewing sound to let them know I was alive. With the verbalizing, the pain of hunger hit me (again) so hard that I nearly passed out again.

"Food..." I begged pitifully. "Please, I need food..."

Some hard bread and dried meat were shoved into my hands, along with a flask of fresh water (A/N: fresh as in not salt. Not fresh as in straight from a spring.). I hastily wolfed down the food and drink, and slowly my vision cleared. I sat up in the boat and looked around at the hard, weathered, masculine (save one) faces surrounding me. It was deadly silent. I began to worry that they were waiting for me to speak, but I remained silent. The man that had revived me seemed to be studying me most solemnly. Finally, he spoke.

"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl. Who are you and what were you doin' floatin' in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?"

Memories overcame me.

Fire. Screams. It had all gone out of control. What had once seemed lawful and righteous was now full of hatred and spite. Pain lashed behind my eyes as an explosion wracked the galley that had once been bound for freedom...

A sob escaped my lips. "No," I croaked. They were dead, all dead, and now I'm going to die... Their pains were all for nothing...I'm going to die... Darkness overtook me again.

Jack's POV

"No," she whispered, then collapsed again. No? What's that supposed to mean? Is she defying me and my order? I sighed, and looked at Anamaria. I knew what she was thinking. I couldn't give the order for them to kill her, although I knew they wanted me to, because she hadn't done anything wrong. Yet. I scratched my head and pondered the situation over. Thinking was not one of my strong points. Well, at least, not this kind of thinking. Life and death situations are not my favourite kinds of thinking.

Finally I give the order to weigh anchor and told Mr. Rotis (A/N: you might recognize him from The Story of Sarah Swann) to carry the girl to my chamber. He set her on the bed, and then I sent him to get some sort of food for her. The poor thing was quite obviously starving to death, quite literally. Her clothes barely hung onto her bones, and her sunken eyes were covered with a film when open.

She had pretty eyes, I thought to myself. On the whole, she'd be a good lookin' lass when properly nourished, but she wasn't my type. I could tell she was rich, and probably had quite a tale or two in her past, and issues to boot. But I didn't want to get involved in these issues at all, so I figured it would probably be best to find out what she was doin' out here, then drop 'er off at the nearest civilized place.

Mr. Rotis came back with a tray of food. I told him to set it on the table where she could see it, then dismissed him. I sat on the edge of my bed, and reached out towards her. Wait, I thought. How the hell am I going to wake her again? I with drew my hand and sat there for a while. The I tentatively reached out again and gently poked her on the shoulder. She moaned, but didn't wake. I poked her again, harder.

Her eyes fluttered open this time, and I smiled at her, to make her think she was in no danger. It was time to find out her story.