Eden Isle

By: L'Morgan

Only Disney owns or can make money on anything to do with Pirates of the Caribbean. I-just-borrowing-to-play-with-for-personal-entertainment-and-giving-back. Can I be any clearer? NO profit being made here by or for me!

Rated: Mature Teen for violence, innuendo and some language. Mild W/E pairing, J/A pairings.

Chapter 8: No Place Like Home

William Turner the Second was greatly relieved when the small boat his one and only beloved wife was in finally came into view in the lagoon that was the heart and center of this strange and unique island. Slowly it came up to the sand beside the log and plank pier that was built to extend out into the water. He hurried over as AnaMaria hopped clear of the dingy. He helped the female pirate pull the small boat more up onto the damp sand. The only people in the boat had been Elizabeth, Jack Sparrow and the dark skinned female pirate.

"What happened! It's been hours since Dr. Cook and I got here. Everyone else has come already. What went wrong!" Will demanded worriedly. The pirate shook his head as he rose and swayed a bit.

"I do happen to be the Captain son… The Captain is always the last to leave the ship, whether she be tied up at a dock or sinking to the very depths of Davey Jones Locker." Jack told the younger man as he stepped carefully over the short side of the boat and winced hard as he did so.

Elizabeth went to her anxious husband and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She stood near him and now considered the thick jungle expanse before them and the large lagoon they had just crossed. Across the lagoon she could make out what appeared to be a steep rise in the land that led up to bluffs on each side of what should be the entrance to the cove – only instead of being able to see the ocean beyond, the area was completely shrouded with a thick, slowly twirling mist that lay between the two sentinels.

Looking up she realized that the high, ragged edge of the bluff actually encircled the entire island, looming above the forested slopes that came all the way down to where they stood.

"This is certainly an unusual island! Why can't we see the ocean out there Jack?" she asked and the pirate considered the direction she had indicated, thumbs tucked casually into his belt.

"Waterfall. There's a large one up on the top of that bluff that falls all the way down to the water level in one sheer drop. Kicks up a constant mist like that all the time. But then, if we can't see out, that means no one can see in at the same time, savvy?" he asked and she smiled at the word.

"They've only let us go up this path to the building where they put the Commodore. Mr. Gibbs told us not to go anyplace else or there would be 'all hell to catch," Will told her rather unhappily. She turned to the pirate who nodded casually.

"Yes, you may go as you wish along the beach here – but only where there is sand, and up the pathway to the longhouse, as we prefer to call it. But I do ask that you limit your investigations to only those areas for the time being." He said rather absently as he surveyed the high edge of the rock wall that ringed the island as if searching for something.

"You're not exactly a very trusting soul, are you Jack…" came the Doctor's voice as he came down the walkway from the nearby jungle. The pirate gave him an annoyed look, but it was Ana who scowled blackly at the doctor.

"And you expect him to be? Now? With the likes of you?" she asked indignantly and the elder stopped and gave her a sigh with a hands up gesture and looked about to say something.

"Enough – the both of you!" the pirate suddenly growled in a very 'no nonsense' tone and they all turned to him. The man sighed as he limped a little ways off from all of them, then turned to consider them for a moment and his normal subterfuge seemed to fall away.

"Look – the truth of the matter is that this is NOT a place I ever dreamed of bringing any of you, much less the military elements. There are other people who live here - who also did not have any say as to whether or not I brought all of you here. All I am asking is that for the sake of common courtesy, if nothing else, that you stay in the area of the one place I can bring you to that serves as our 'guest house' - of a sort. We won't be here all that long really – at least I certainly hope not. There's no huge mystery involved – but going traipsing through people's gardens and property is not usually something anyone, anywhere, appreciates. Is that so much to ask?" he said with a both hands out gesture and an utterly sincere and earnest tone. He straightened and gave them all an extremely direct stare, his hands parked on his hips.

All three of them quickly looked away and seemed uneasy. Will rubbed at his ear while Elizabeth considered the sand. There was a long uneasy silence and the pirate began to frown.

"Alright then, if that seems like an incredibly impossible request to ask of you –" he started very sternly, and it was Elizabeth who quickly looked up and came to him shaking her head as she met his rather black stare.

"No Jack – no its not too much. We will be only too happy to comply, won't we William, Dr. Cook?" she asked a bit firmly. Both looked up and the blacksmith quickly nodded.

"I need my medical bag off the ship Jack. No one thought to bring it, and I doubt you have all the medicines I need for the Commodore. Nobody told me that when I got up that we would be leaving the ship. All the man said was that you wanted to see me on deck right now, and then later I didn't think to get it myself." The doctor interjected as he came up to the pirate who took a few uneasy steps back to lean away from him with a dark look and one hand up warily.

The doctor stopped when he realized the man's position and read the body language.

"Quid pro quo – I'll have someone get your bag – and you agree to stay within the area specified. Do we have an accord?" the pirate captain asked very seriously and the doctor quickly nodded.

"Very good then. If you will come this way then," Jack said with a casual wave of his hand and limped slowly across the sand to what appeared to be the beginnings of a concrete walkway that lead off into the jungle. As soon as the pirate reached the trees and was standing in the shade he stopped to lean against one of the massive palm trunks, his head down for a minute and with his eyes closed and a rather pained look to his features.

The doctor stepped up to him on the same side as the injured leg and ankle. The pirate startled, swaying hard and unsteadily as he gasped softly, then immediately started to try to extricate himself from the doctor's hold, leaning rather than taking another step to get away. Despite his rather obvious hint, the doctor only looked down at the man's legs as he put his other arm around the pirate's back and gently straightened his stance.

"Shhh – Hush… Here, let's at least get you up to the house where you can sit down and THEN you can continue growling if you care to. I know it's a fair bit to walk still." He told him, not giving the man time to object as he started him forward again.

The pirate quickly grabbed the one's arm as his step was forced and he obviously put much of his weight on the elder. It took them a bit at the injured man's slow pace as the path wound through the trees in a very twisting and twining trail.

"Ah, here we are!" the pirate finally exclaimed as he came to a stop beside a large upright rock and shook off his helper. The others caught up with him and for a long moment just stared.

What stood before them could only be described as amazing! It was definitely a one story building, with two large even sections, divided in the center by what appeared to be a covered area that led to a recessed door. Wooden shutters were opened over the windows, and the area around the building had been cleared of plant growth and had gravel carefully spread along the walls.

They followed Jack up to the recessed area, to find its roof was made of long tree trunks with palm fronds lashed to it, providing a large shaded area before the door. The door itself was arched and made of wooden planks with only one handle and no sort of lock or bolt to secure it. Even before they reached it, several of the ship's crew burst from the doorway, wide grins and happy smiles abounding at seeing their Captain finally putting in his appearance. Elizabeth noticed that several of the men were now accompanied by women – women they appeared to belong to even and that had certainly not been on the ship!

In a moment they came to the entrance of what seemed to be a large central room that boasted an inset stone floor over its entire expanse. At the far end, directly before them was a sunken and stone lined fire ring, with the ceiling above it open for a space then above that some kind of blackened tin cover. To either side were large wide archways with 3 steps leading up to each in turn.

The pirate ventured further into the room, then paused to look back and seemed amused by their silent staring around them in surprise.

"Oh come on, its not all that bad!" he exclaimed and Elizabeth reacted first, shaking her head.

"No, its amazing! Who did all of this?" she asked and he sighed and shrugged.

"Actually, it was back during the days after the mutiny. I ended up taking a slaver ship, and we needed a place to hide out and found this place quite by accident. We relieved them of their cargo, ye might say..." He replied with a casual wave of his free hand.

"Most of the stuff used in making this is natural materials from the island. The concrete, well that we managed to pick up from a merchant carrying construction materials. Its just basic shelter. There's a covered area out back with native style clay ovens for cooking, The boys and I have added little touches here and there since then. Its kind of a 'continual project' ye' could say I guess." He remarked as he carefully limped up one of the sets of the stairs.

"You used slaves?" Will asked darkly and the pirate laughed softly and shrugged with a dismissing gesture as he kept going across the room.

"Well that depends on who you be askin' whelp! Them that wanted transport back to the Congo in the end, we took back. Those that wanted to stay here and farm a patch of land and become tradesmen on their own, stayed here. Not a lot of them were all that eager to continue on the American Colonies or the Caribbean where they might be considered slaves on the loose for just anyone to gather up and try to put back on the market!" he said and the young blacksmith gave him a definitely surprised look. The pirate shrugged as he continued across the room.

"Believe me boy, they weren't exactly reluctant to be set free from that thing. We treated them with the same respect you would any man, and most of them were more than happy to pay for their property here, or passage home, by helping us build what we needed. A man's not quite a slave when he's earning land he can consider his own - or when he's earning a means to get back to where he probably already had land of his own to begin with. Now the slavers we took them from – THEY seemed to think we had absconded with their slaves who had a monetary value each, and I'm sure they think so to this very day. I just never could get used to the idea of the whole slavery thing myself I'm afraid." He said as he reached the other end of the room and they all followed him.

"So, you set them free, or took them back where they came from, at your own expense Jack? You set all those people free who would otherwise be slaves today?" Elizabeth asked in an awed tone, and the pirate turned to give her one of his rather smug looks with a wave of his hand.

"Oh don't get me wrong luv, I wasn't out to challenge the social conditions of the world – I needed a place built – I had the materials, and they wanted to be somewhere besides destined for the auction block. I can assure you, we managed to pick up a few goods over on the Ivory Coast and bring them back to make the entire enterprise lucrative for myself and the boys. I'm not quite the humanitarian you're thinking up there young Missy, so you just cut that out right this minute. It was an exchange – a business accord, an agreement between gentlemen lets say. Nothing more to it than that, savvy?" He said firmly and she grinned even wider as she nodded. The pirate seemed satisfied and stepped into the room beyond. They all followed close on his heels.

This room was even bigger and had a plank floor. All along the walls were 'berths' of a sort, each with 2 wooden bunks that had drawers under them for storage, and 2 plain wooden chests between the bunks. One shuttered window sat above each pair of chests, and one metal lantern above each bunk. At each end of the room was a round iron cast stove with a length of split wood nearby while the metal pipe chimney extended up towards the roof. At the far end of the room, in the center of the wall was an open archway and from beyond came the sound of soft voices.

The pirate stopped some ways from the arch, his hand waving to a beat none of the others could hear as he seemed to draw himself up somewhat. He surprised them all by suddenly heading for the doorway at a very solid steady pace that relaxed into his normal wavering sway as soon as he crossed the threshold into the room.

"Ah, Good day gents, Commodore Norrington, I trust you are comfortable?" he asked casually with one of his sweeping gestures.

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