CHAPTER SIX
Bedtime Stories

Whatever reply the captain might have given to this admission was lost in groans of timber and rope as the Black Pearl shuddered violently. But neither Jack nor Jeanette moved an inch despite the sounds; each remained firmly fixed in their positions until the clamour died away and a new sound began, the crash of the waves as the ship cut elegantly through them. They were setting off, slipping out of the cove, now as silent as the grave. Out to the open sea, and off to Antigua.

"Shouldn't you go and -" but Jack stopped Jeanette with a flick of the hand before her suggestion could be made.

"A goddess."

Jeanette looked down to the floor without a word.

"A goddess," he repeated persistently.

"Yes."

"As in..." he gave a series of wild gesticulations, fingers splayed wide, as though he was trying to scare a small child.

She glanced up, meeting his inquiring look between a few loose wisps of hair, "Yes, Sparrow, as in that kind of goddess."

"Oh," he shrugged. "Just checking. Carry on."

"Well..." she lingered with her thoughts for a moment, trying to decide the best way to go about this. Sparrow had seemed to have accepted Amphitrite as a goddess, which was more than a lot of people even got close to. But would he go so far as to believe the story in its entirety? It doesn't matter, said the logical part of her mind, he wanted to hear what I knew - whether he believes me is no consequence of mine. But still, she hesitated, choosing her words carefully as she continued. "Well, I suppose one should start with her family."

"Her family? Etty, I want to know about her treasure, not about her dear old Aunty."

"Quiet, it's important," exasperated at being disrupted this early in the tale, she sucked in a deep breath, before returning to her oration. "Amphitrite had a royal lineage like no other. Her blood was bluer than... the ocean, I suppose," Jeanette chuckled at this, whilst Jack remained perplexed. By way of explaining her laughter, she added, "She was the granddaughter of Oceanus and Tethys, who -"

"Oceanus. I'm guessing he's somehow related to the ocean, yes?"

"Don't interrupt," she said sternly.

"Sorry," he raised his hands high above is head in overzealous apology. "Please, keep on going."

"Well you're right. Oceanus was one of the Titans - you know, the giants that ruled before the Gods - and he was the Lord of the Oceans. A lot of the Greeks believed he was the origin of all things, being the master of the waters... Tethys was the mother of the greatest rivers in the universe. She was also the childhood nurse of Hera, who rose to become the Queen of the Gods."

Jack frowned at this, his brow creasing in uncertainty, "But, and correct me if I'm wrong, love, weren't the Titans against the Gods?"

"Yes, except Oceanus and his wife. They were the exceptions to the rule," at least it seemed like he was listening to what she was saying. "Well, they had a daughter, Doris -"

"What kind of a name is Doris for a goddess?"

"Quiet, it's a Greek name! Doris married Nereus, the old man of the sea, a very gentle and wise sea-god. And Doris' third daughter was Amphitrite."

"Warms my heart, all this family talk, it really does," Jack sat back heavily on the table. "But how is this relevant?"

"To prove that she was steeped in sea-royalty right from the start. Just let me tell my story, Sparrow, this is what you wanted out of me, and I'm going to do it right.

"A lot of people mistakenly think Amphitrite was an Oceanid – that's the name given to the offspring of Oceanus. The female Oceanids were all sea-goddesses of sorts, and each held guardianship of a particular spring, or river - something along those lines. But 'Oceanid' actually only applied to the direct children of Oceanus."

"And how many of them were there?" Jack slipped in a query whilst she took a breath after her little speech.

"Three thousand, give or take the odd nymph."

"Blimey."

Jeanette continued as though she hadn't heard him, "Amphitrite actually had a greater title; she was one of the Nereids, as all the fifty daughters of Nereus were called. They were an 'elite' group of friendly sea nymphs who guarded the oceans and helped to rescue drowning sailors."

"A bit like mermaids, then?"

"Yes, but without the fins. And Amphitrite was the most beautiful, loving and chaste of the lot."

"Isn't that always the way..." Jack muttered to himself. "Beautiful, loving, and then they have to go and be chaste. Ruins the whole bloody..." he looked up to see Jeanette giving him a cutting look. "Sorry."

"Well, then Poseidon arrives on the scene."

"Poseidon."

"Poseidon," she repeated.

"As in..." yet again he started to gesture wildly.

"Yes, the god, Poseidon."

"Again, just -"

"Just checking, I know."

He nodded, and Jeanette picked up where she had left off.

"Poseidon first saw her dancing at Naxos - you know, the island - with the other Nereids, and as gods often do in these sorts of stories, he fell madly in love with her - promptly asked her to marry him. But rather than throwing herself at his feet, as her fellow nymphs would have been tempted to do, she refused him. She wanted to remain a virgin."

"Typical woman. Oh, didn't say a word..." he defended himself before Jeanette could make comment.

"Amphitrite fled from him to the farthest ends of the sea - the Atlantic in those days."

"Ah," Jack brought up his hand to twirl his moustache absently, giving the impression of mulling things over. "And the Caribbean therein?"

"Yes. Amphitrite hid among the Caribbean islands for many years in a cave, isolated from all her nymph friends, sisters and aunts. To keep herself occupied, she dived to the ocean floor, and drew up all the treasures lost over the ages to place in her cave -"

"As lonely nymphs tend to do," he interjected.

"- and she continued helping shipwrecked sailors, not caring that they weren't Greek. She gained quite a following among the locals, who left her yet more offerings - more treasure to add to her store - not that she cared for it."

"I'd have taken it off her," Jack grumbled.

"Well, that's why we're here, isn't it?"

The captain grinned at this.

"Poseidon was undaunted by her flight, and sent many to look for her. Among them was the dolphin, who, after long wanderings, found her in the Caribbean. He pleaded the case of Poseidon so well that Amphitrite found herself persuaded to marry the god, and return to the Greek islands on the back of the dolphin."

"Very easily persuaded, wasn't she?"

"It was the only sensible option. If she hadn't gone willingly, then the dolphin would have returned and reported to Poseidon, he would have come and taken her by... It wouldn't have ended well, for anyone.

"But she didn't completely yield to the god. When the dolphin suggested it, she flatly refused to say anything to Poseidon about the cave and its contents. It was to be kept secret, as insurance should the union not turn out well. That was her accord with the dolphin - help her hide the island, or she wouldn't come freely. So he agreed, and together they hid the island, and drew up a map telling of its location, laying a spell on the parchment to protect it from the worst of theravages of time."

"This would be our map," never one to stay out of a good story, Jack was keen to supply information to aid the telling of one.

"It would appear so, as a matter of fact. When she got back to Greece, it was given out that Delphinus - that's the dolphin - had found Amphitrite in Atlas, near North Africa. He was placed among the stars as a constellation as a reward. Anyway, the couple were wed, and Amphitrite became the Goddess of the Sea."

"If she really is the... Goddess of the Sea... and I'm not saying she isn't before you say anything, love - then why haven't I heard of her? Being a sea-faring bloke and all." He fixed his dark, sober eyes with her own blue, equally serious ones whilst waiting for an answer.

"Put it this way - Poseidon wasn't exactly the most devoted husband. There were plenty more, ah, nymphs in the sea. Amphitrite, whilst being his legal wife, was rather pushed to the side by his many... liaisons."

This disclosure prompted a nod, a smile, and then, after a moment, a question from Jack, "What happened to the map?"

"It remained a secret for years, but eventually it came out that it had been passed down Amphitrite's female line, to her eldest daughter Rhode, who lived on the island of which she was a patron - Rhodes. Rhode in turn passed it to her only daughter, Elektryo. But Elektryo died young, before she could marry and pass it on again."

"And so the map was lost..." Jack mused quietly to himself.

"And the location of Amphitrite's Cave with it."

Silence and stillness washed over the cabin after those words, the only movement being the moonlight that danced across the floor as clouds drifted through the sky. Neither party felt the need to speak. Jack was clearly lost in his thoughts, perhaps formulating some sort of plan. Jeanette was equally detached, but she was looking at the sea outside, her eyes following the movement of the waves, lost in the sway of the ship. She remembered this, remembered how it felt; the rocking of the vessel beneath her welcomed her back, like it...

"So," she broke her train of thought abruptly. Jack looked up, and waited for her to continue. And waited. And waited. He rolled his wrist and fingers around, prompting her to speak. "So, eh," she could think of nothing to say, "have you... err..." Think of something, idiot. "The map," she blurted out the first thing that came into her mind.

"What of it?"

"How did you..."

"Raided a merchant ship a while ago with the Pearl. Man on board," he chuckled at the memory of Jenkins, "had a chest he seemed exceedingly keen for me not to get hold of."

"So you..."

"Wouldn't have been a self-respecting pirate if I hadn't. Consequently I had a look around in it, and something... I've always had an eye for maps, and this one was - unusual like, more than it seemed - well, I was right, wasn't I? So I then had a look at the map, and it was all written in Ancient Greek. Well, I got the gist of it, know a bit of Greek myself - Amphitrite's Cave - but not recognising it, I thought I'd look up an old friend."

"And threaten her, and kidnap her, and take her off to god-knows where."

Ah. So, it seemed Jeanette was still angry about that.

"Sorry about that, Etty. Needs must and all that."

"Indeed," Jeanette did not bother to correct him with regards to her name this time; she merely accompanied her reply with sniff of disdain. Despite this sniff, Jack remained positively serene, his fingers idly tapping out a tune on the table surface. Then, the still-annoyed governess spoke - "Now that's all said and done, aren't you going to tell me how you got the Black Pearl back?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you a bit old for bedtime stories?"

"No more, it would seem, than you," Jeanette retorted.

Smiling in agreement, Jack walked over to the window seat and sprawled himself across it, like some kind of large cat.

"Well, I suppose one should with this dashingly handsome young pirate captain..."


A/N: Just so you all know, some parts of Jeanette's anecdote are of my own invention - namely the parts involving Amphitrite's Cave and the map. According to Greek legend, Amphitrite did flee Poseidon, but it was to Atlas rather than the Caribbean, and it was there that the dolphin found her - there was no treasure involved. The rest of it, her lineage, her story, is all taken from the original Greek myth.