Disclaimer: Don't own.
Mary and I were led to a lagoon where we met up with Anamaria again. She had already stripped bare and was standing in the shimmering water on the other side of the pool. Surrounding the lagoon were smooth rocks piled up to make almost a staircase leading down into the crystal water. Scattered around the edges were willow trees making a curtain. The trees were strewn with white flowers and also provided shade - there were only glints of the sun through the natural canopy, and as they reflected off the water, the pool looked like a secret treasure. I found myself thinking that this is what the pirates should hunt for - a beauty like this, not gold in boxes that could turn you into the walking dead.
"Bathe," Maurya said, and Mary and I tentatively began to unbutton our shirts, looking at each other nervously. The many tiny buttons on my dress were a hindrance, a I glared at Maurya as she stood tapping her foot at me.
"Hurry up, Princess," she snarled. I scowled back at her and muttered under my breath about Anamaria giving me that accursed nick-name. Maurya sighed loudly and shoved Mary and I unexpectedly, sending us tumbling into the pool and shattering the almost peaceful silence.
"What the bleeding hell's the idea?" I bellowed, quieting down when I saw that Maurya held the sword that Will made for me in her hand. She clucked her tongue at me. "I never did see another female who could use one of this infernal weapons, besides Anamaria, and she is not one to compare to. We do not use these here," she said, making to toss my sword into the bushes.
"Hey! You better bloody watch it, woman, or I'll use that on you!" I yelped, trying to hurl myself out of the water but unable to do so because of my heavy dress. Maurya just shrugged and examined the sword. "It is a pretty thing. I'll bet you do feel the need to carry this. I am willing to bet that your young man did make it for you, or you would not care so much." She grinned at me and dropped it on the ground carelessly.
"I'm warning you -"
"You, Princess, do not be in the position to warn a toad not to croak. Bathe," Maurya said haughtily and walked away. I snarled at her back but returned to pulling off the heavy dress, as it was nearly drowning me. Only when I heaved the dress over the edge of the lagoon did I hear Anamaria chuckling.
"Something amuses you?" I said sourly, working on unbuttoning my shift. Clean water felt so nice after a month at sea with nothing but stale water and a washcloth that had seen far better days. Anamaria only laughed louder, her long hair surrounding her like a robe. She grabbed and ivory comb from a rock that was curiously blue in color and pulled her hair over her right shoulder. She began to brush through it and she reminded me of Elizabeth in the way that she took such care with untangling her hair. Of course, Elizabeth usually had Eleanor comb her hair, but she always insisted on the utmost tenderness either way.
On Anamaria's left shoulder I noticed a tiny red circle that was too perfectly round it couldn't possibly be a scar or birthmark. It looked as if it was made of ink. Parts of the circle were imprinted darker than the other, making it look like a crescent moon within a circle. I squinted.
"Very few people ever have the courage - or stupidity - to stand up to my mother like that. She used to scare the bloody bejesus out of me when I was younger. My sister Taeryn used to pretend to be submissive, but she'd always sneak off to the other side of the island to spy on the men. My mother never did understand how Taeryn didn't particularly care for Jack, she thought that by Taeryn bonding with Jack our family would be almost revered. Aye. He is a legend here -"
Anamaria broke off sharply, and her eyes narrowed at me; her expression changing swiftly from fond remembrance to annoyance. She turned her back swiftly. I blinked.
"Bonding?" I asked. Anamaria snorted. "Marriage. Just, not as formal as ye townspeople call it. No papers," she answered, still not turning around. I slid my shift off my shoulders and pulled it off, dunking under the water and reveling in its cool caress. Feeling clean was truly wonderful. This was so much better than the tub back at the mansion.
I sighed happily and worked through my hair with my fingers, fully intending to stay in the water until my skin was wrinkled and pruned. Mary echoed my enjoyment as she splashed around happily. I found myself thinking of Will and wondering what he was up to. I felt my face get hot as I realized he was probably doing just what I was and bathing. I dunked myself under again hastily and waited a while before coming up. As I did, I found Anamaria and Mary both smirking at me, eerily identical. "What?" I sputtered, wiping the water from my eyes. "Anamaria says that Will is probably naked as the day he was born right now, just on the other side of the island," Mary said slyly.
"Mary!" I yelped, splashing at her. She giggled so hard that she had pull herself out of the pool and lay on the grass surrounding it so she wouldn't drown. I glared up at her. "That was an awful thing to say -" I started.
"Its even worse to think, Christina! I am going to make you go to confession when we get back to Port Royal. It's not proper for a woman to have impure thoughts about a man she's not married to!" Mary retorted. Anamaria fairly roared with laughter. "What about committing impure acts with a man yer not married to?" she demanded. Mary looked almost scandalized.
"Oh, come now, Mary-belle," Anamaria crowed, using the nickname that Jack had given her. "Do ye think I'm headed straight for the pits of Hell? Whatever bed I set fire to isn't going to get me one in with the Devil. You 'well-brought up' women are far too tense. If ye ask me, Princess, ye should march straight across the island and have your way with William in the forest if ye must. It'll keep his eyes off Elizabeth, that's for sure," she said lazily. I tried desperately to ignore her comment. I tried harder to ignore how appealing it was to me. Damn it all, I was spending entirely too much time in the company of pirates!
"Yes, Mary, and we both know that your thoughts about a certain Commodore aren't of the immaculate sort," I hinted, taking the attention off of myself and feeling the slightest tinge of guilt but not enough to help laughter at the look on Mary's face.
She shrieked.
"Anamaria! Christina! Surely not!" Anamaria simply shrugged hauled herself out of the lagoon, striding unabashedly over to where some coarse cloth was provided for us. I waited a few minutes before getting out and drying off myself.
"What's that mark on your shoulder, Anamaria?" Mary asked suddenly. Anamaria looked at her shoulder for a moment and traced a finger over the tiny crescent moon. She smiled sadly. "I cannot tell ye. But, as Naneth promised, ye will know soon enough I suppose." She smiled in earnest now. "Here, I am to show you what ye'll be wearing on this island. As Princess and her honorable guest - the island folk at fascinated by you, Mary-belle, they've rarely seen hair your color before - I'm afraid ye get special treatment. And so -"
She got up gingerly and pulled on the same coarse cloth that Maurya had warn, but when I looked closer I realized it wasn't coarse at all. In fact, it was embroidered with the tiniest of sea turtles and dolphins, and the patterns and stitches were so small and close together that it merely seemed like a homespun dress. As I looked at the dress, I realized it was actually quite beautiful. Not something that Elizabeth would be caught dead in, of course, but I suppose that's why it appealed to me. It had a low scooped neck and no sleeves, and for the first time I realized that Anamaria had put one bracelet on each wrist - and the bracelets were a pale green - jade. The dress would have been quite shapeless if not for the thick band of dark leather used as a belt, which had splayed ends that were braided and had glass beads on the end. Mary and I sat with our makeshift robes wrapped around us, staring at the dress as it if was the most beautiful thing we'd ever seen.
"I hope you don't intend to go near Will wearing that, Anamaria," I said, only half kidding. She grinned as if the thought has occurred to her too. "Don't ye worry, Princess, once he sees ye in this he wont have eyes for anyone else," she said, pulling out a pale white shift from behind her back. It was plain, without any embroidery. It also had no sleeves, and was slit up thigh high on either side. The scoop neck was even lower than Anamaria's. She tossed it to me and I pulled it on quickly, the shade near the lagoon making me feel like I'd rather be dressed - if not appropriately - rather than standing naked with only a coarse cloth as a robe. Mary also wore an identical shift.
Anamaria pulled from behind her back a long green sash and a long blood red sash, tossing the first to Mary and the latter to me. We tied it about our waist tightly, almost like a corset. Finally, Anamaria handed me a bracelet made of silver rectangles and gold lacquered imprints of animals that I'd heard of but never seen.
"Elephants!" I said, astonished. "Are there elephants on this island?" Mary asked, nervously and a bit excited as well. Anamaria laughed - as angry as she seemed before when Maurya was by, the island certainly did soften her. "No, but legend does say that there were elephants here once. That is why we wear them, for luck."
"Well, if they aren't here anymore, how lucky can they be?" I asked. Anamaria stared flatly at me, and I closed my mouth. "Ye're garbed like the maidens now," she said. "This doesn't look to me like maidenly attire," Mary grumbled, fingering the divided part of her skirt, where her pale white legs were exposed. I snorted. "Ye will work with them and sleep in the hut where they sleep and by the dawn in seven days ye will become a daughter of our island, should you so wish it. That means ye can share in our customs and marry by our laws -" she looked very pointedly at me. I looked down at my hands, which were gripping the edge of the ivory white shift ever since the word 'marry' escaped her lips. When I looked up, Mary was smiling at me. But she looked sad.
"Welcome, my sisters." It was the kindest smile I've ever seen on Anamaria's lips.
1
We walked away from the lagoon, but there were no paths through the sparse forest that I could see, and so I had only to follow Anamaria. Mary looked around warily, but couldn't stop her little coos of delight she uttered if we passed by a particularly pretty flower.
"Don't touch any of them, Mary-belle, I do not remember which ones are poison," Anamaria said casually, and Mary snatched her hand back from an exceptionally vibrant tiger lily. "Where are we going?" I asked, not as guarded as Mary seemed to be, but curious all the same. "I am leading ye to the maiden's tents. Naneth will be with ye there, and ye shall share a meal." Anamaria was making a point to be short and to the point. I wondered if she truly was happy to be back home. Then again, the Pearl is the only home for her, so she insists.
"And where will you go?" Mary asked. She seemed to want to have Anamaria around, as she was the only island inhabitant that Mary trusted. Anamaria grinned at us over her shoulder. "I am going to find Jack and see how long we must stay here."
We walked on in silence, Mary's head spinning about in every which direction, while I focused mostly ahead. We came to another clearing, this one a bit larger and filled with demure brown tents, five in all. Naneth was sitting on a large rock in the center of the clearing that was hit directly with sunlight. She seemed to be asleep.
"You are in luck, Princess," Naneth said, sliding off the rock but making no other motion. Anamaria darted away. Naneth watched her and sighed, not sadly but in resignation. "I always did know that girl would never stay on this island while Jack Sparrow lived," she said softly. Mary and I waited in polite silence, waiting to be addressed. Naneth shook herself out of whatever reverie she had subsided in.
"One of our daughters was married a fortnight ago, and tonight another shall celebrate her wedding night," Naneth told us, not a trace of embarrassment in her voice. Mary coughed delicately and out of the corner of my eye I saw her face flushing again. Naneth's lips twitched but otherwise she gave no notice.
"The maiden's live three in a tent, and you shall share one with another woman not a daughter to this island. I looked past her and saw a familiar blonde head emerge from the tent Naneth had indicated. A woman garbed in a gown similar to Anamaria's.
"Laurelyn?" I gasped. Naneth blinked. "You two did meet?" she asked, looking mystified. "Yes - nearly a month ago!" I blurted, staring at my fast-friend. Mary was surveying Laurelyn's dress sharply, with pursed lips. She didn't seem as surprised as I, but maybe that was because she was envious of the more conservative cut. Naneth shook her head, bemused.
"Perhaps the seas are not as large as we did think," she muttered to herself. I was still gaping at Laurelyn, wonder what on Earth could have happened to find her here at the same time as we were.
"Followed Jack," Laurelyn said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I blinked, and then started to laugh. "Indeed," Mary said lowly. I cast a glance at her quizzically, and was studiously ignored.
"In any case," Naneth said patiently. "You will be sharing that tent, and living with the maidens. You will enjoy your stay here, but you will work for your stay; you will take part in the morning chores, you will help gather herbs and prepare meals, and you will learn, if you want, our songs and our dances."
"Good practice for being a wife, eh, Christina?" Laurelyn asked slyly. Mary smirked at me, finally having let up her glare at Laurelyn. I grinned back.
"Are these all the women on the island?" Mary asked. Naneth shook her head. "The married women stay with their husbands on a different part of the island. The children under thirteen summers stay with their parents. Once a child, male or female, reaches their thirteenth year, the females come here, and the males to the men's side of the island."
"Why?" I asked.
"The men teach the boys to hunt for food and to prepare it, and how to care for a woman properly. The women in turn teach our daughters how to gather good berries and nuts, which herbs are safe for healing, and eventually how to take care of children." I didn't bother asking what if the women would have preferred hunting. It seemed that life on the Pearl had made me more of a liberal, but I held my tongue. Naneth smiled at me. "We do not hunt, because the men cannot bear children and are very rarely adept enough to heal," she said gently. "But sometimes our women, like Anamaria and Taeryn, get restless here. Anamaria fled the island and now she does whatever she pleases. Taeryn, though Maurya would faint to know it, roves around the island with her husband's bow and quiver. Among us we think she is a better shot than him," Naneth turned and went to sit on her rock again. Mary, Laurelyn and I exchanged glances and Laurelyn shrugged. "You may wander the island, but stay away from the men's side," Naneth said, shooting a hard glance and Laurelyn and then, offhandedly, one at me.
Laurelyn grinned and bobbed her head, leading us down to the shore. "When did you get here? How did you get here?" I asked incredulously. Laurel shrugged, "There are always rumors of the Pearl; if Jack knew just how many, his head would swell to the size of this island. I followed the rumors," she said simply. Mary rolled her eyes. "And what, you just walked over the bloody ocean to get here?" she snapped.
"Mary, first of all that's blasphemy and second of all since when do you say bloody?" I asked, perplexed at why she was so frustrated all of a sudden. She turned her glare at me and I almost cowered. She can be a right maniac when she wants too, I'll have you know. "Its nothing," she said sullenly. Laurelyn shrugged again. "Actually, I bribed my way onto a small 'merchant' vessel," she explained. Mary looked like she was about to say something, and something rather nasty, to be sure, but she held her tongue.
"Well, its so good to see you again," I said, and we walked on in silence. We arrived at the shore under a quarter of an hour and I stood, staring out at the miles of ocean in front of me. I was slightly amazed at how far I'd strayed from Port Royal in just over a month. I wondered for a moment what my father was doing, if he was worrying himself sick over where I was. I also wondered, albeit painfully, what Elizabeth was doing, and if she still thought she was entitled to my fiancé. Then I realized that I really didn't care anymore.
I glanced at Mary again and saw her wistfully staring as the waves hit the sand and erupted into foam. She had her arms hugged around her waist and was standing as if she was cold, but unmindful of how our long skirts were billowing around us. She looked sad. I fiddled with the edges of my dress, unsure of what to say.
"Oy, Laurelyn! Why do you have a different dress than Mary and I?" I asked suddenly. Laurelyn grinned slightly. "Was wondering when you were going to ask that." She cleared her throat and met my eyes rather sheepishly. "It turns out that I haven't been completely honest with you - either of you," she said, including Mary. Faint splotches of pink colored my blonde-headed friend's face, which was already rosy from the sun.
"Remember when I said that Jack and I hadn't been lovers…"
"Laurelyn!" I yelped.
Mary turned around sharply and headed back to where our tents were. I brushed a hand through my hair exasperated, and rolled my shoulders back, resolved to find out what was biting Mary in the ass so consistently. But it could wait until later.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I implored Laurelyn, indignant, who grinned wider. "What the bloody hell was I supposed to do? I mean, you were the bloody daughter of Governor Port Royal himself. I couldn't go corrupting your virgin mind now could I?" she asked. I shoved her. "And it didn't seem strange to you that the daughter of Governor Port Royal was at Tortuga in the first place?" I demanded. Laurelyn looked puzzled for a moment, and then grinned crookedly at me again. "You've got a point, you know," she said. I sighed sat facing the sea, washing the waves crash down again and again; feeling confined even before the vast expanse of the ocean. I wondered what Will was up to.
A/N: Boy do I get sidetracked. This story may never end, the way its going now.