A lamp flickered low; a slouched figure could be seen hovering over a map. Every now and again the figure would swear, bang the small box on the table and quickly turn to check on the sleeping girl in his cot. He was tired, frustrated and wanted some answers but he wasn't about to wake her up, once again he was back to tinkering with the compass he had retrieved from her belt.
Another curse on the trinket and that was it, "It's the same bloody compass Jack gave my father, it doesn't point north, and my parents always said it pointed towards what you desired most." He sighed and took another look back at the girl, "She's not Jack... I can say that much, but how'd she get a hold of this? And why does it keep pointing towards her?" he thrust it across the room along with several maps and other trinkets from his desk.
His gaze wandered from the girl to the flickering lamp with a sigh, rocking back and forth; it stole his concentration, "Maybe, what you think you desire most isn't what your heart truly desires." Came a soft female voice from his cot, he spun around in his chair so fast he made the thing topple over, taking him down with it. He groaned while she laughed, "Now that you've entertained me, why don't you untie this thing and let me up?" he stood rubbing his head, "You have a better chance of the Kraken taking us down." He stopped and thought for a second before continuing, "On second thought, tell me who you are, why you were out drifting at sea, how you came upon that compass and how you know of it's secrets." He dragged the chair close to his cot and sat down, folding his arms as if not budging until he got every ounce of information from her.
She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, "I'm not telling you everything for personal reasons, but I'll tell you what you need to know." She shifted under the straps, "As you already know my name is Jaclyn, I really have no clue why I was out here… last thing I really remember was drinking with my crew aboard The Pearl. That compass belonged to my father; he gave it to a couple of his friends at their wedding. It was actually passed down to their son, who I was friends with. I stole it a day before our parents died he had made me mad. So I got even, he didn't notice it… doubt he ever has." A quiet silence followed for several minutes.
Her eyes wandered away from Brandon's face, "What happened to the boy?" he asked cautiously "Haven't you seen him since?" she looked at him again "No, since my mother was found dead and they couldn't find my father I was sent to an orphanage. From what I heard he lived with a family friend. I ran away from the orphanage when I was ten and joined one of my father's old friends on his ship. When he died I took it over, renaming it The Shadow Pearl, his son who was older than I was became my first mate." Her eyes wandered again as she whispered "Thatcher..." Brandon shifter his weight, "What about the boy? He stayed with a family friend, and then what? Haven't you wondered where he'd be? What he'd be doing?" he tried to calm his quivering voice, this couldn't be the same annoying girl from that long ago. Let alone she being the thing his heart desired to find… stupid compass it was messing with his head.
Hey eyes shifted warily towards his face, he looked somehow… nervous, "Not really, Brand Turner has probably long forgotten about Jaclyn Sparrow." With her last sentence he lunged at her causing her to scream, "What're you doing you lunatic?" he undid the straps binding her, "Jac, it's me Brand!" she half believed him "Right, now just calm down captain… I've heard the seas can make some people crazy…you're not a eunuch are you? I hear that can makes things worse." She slowly inched away from him trying to find a way out of the room; she smiled and walked slowly backwards away from him and the cot "Jaclyn! Come on; remember when I pushed you into the fountain? It was the same day you were taken to the orphanage. Please say you remember."
She tilted her head to the side and smiled, "Of course I remember… the lady working there scolded me for playing with a boy, and about wearing pants. She gave me a bath and dolled me up…you sat at the bottom of the stairs laughing cause my hair was curled and put into a bow." He stepped towards her, "When I finally realized why you were being fixed up you'd already been taken away, I cried… it was like my only sibling was taken away. I had nothing, my parents were dead and I had to live with Commodore Norrington." She didn't like to see him unhappy, her steps were quick and deliberate. Soon her arms were wrapped around his neck, "Come, come Brand. Cheer up." A smile spread across his face as his arms slipped around her waist. He had found her… he wasn't going to let this chance slip by; he wasn't going to lose her ever again.