Even in the wee hours of the morning a place like Tortuga was still alive with light, laughter, and the equally uplifting sounds of shouting and gunfire. From the still waters of the harbor the settlement at the foot of the hill glowed with the mirth of the place, yellow lights against the dark blue of the rising rock behind it. The night crew of the Black Pearl stood assembled on her deck, gazing at the place with fire in their hearts and light in their eyes. Gibbs, who'd only just woke from his slumber, slugged a drink from his flask and placed the container over his heart in a silent salute to the place of buccaneer dreams. The sailor turned to Anamaria with a grin and waggled his bushy brows.
The dark beauty of a pirate rolled her eyes and slapped a line into his hand. "Get it out your head, Joshamee. We ain't here for no jig steppin or rum drinkin."
As much as Anamaria loved the crew of the Black Pearl, as well as the ship's slightly senseless captain, she was neither prepared nor willing to put up with the problems recently presented to them. She had agreed to sail along when Jack had told her that he had planned a celebration for Turner's birthday. The Turners weren't her favorite people in the world, but they weren't her least favorite by any stretch of the imagination. Their children were a breath of fresh air, no matter how much the boy got under her feet. Turner wasn't that bad either when he let his hair down. Even the woman, Elizabeth, who she had thought to be a spoiled thing at one time, was a welcome sight at sea. But Jack and Turner always managed, somehow, to be at odds and this was no exception. She had not agreed to sort the fool's sordid situations. She had not left her own ship to watch over the pirate's blunders, even if she did miss the Pearl and her crew and her captain and her friends from Port Royal.
Turning from course and sailing to Tortuga had not been something she wanted to do, but something she had to do. Not only was her ship moored there for the entirety of her romp at sea with the Pearl, but it was moored in the private harbor of one of the only other people Anamaria trusted to talk sense into the senseless Sparrow. Or slap it into him, if necessary.
Anamaria glared at the other ships anchored in the water. Two bobbed closely, dark and silent under the light of the moon. The third, far across the water, was lit up. Torches flamed and lit the darkness, illuminating her decks. There were but a few sailors aboard. Even across the distance, Anamaria saw them spot the Black Pearl, pointing and running to each other, and she grit her teeth. Captain Jack Sparrow, for whatever reason, was always the talk of the town. It wasn't easy slipping the Black Pearl by Tortuga without some sort of fanfare but she intended to do it.
"Ya know where we're goin," Anamaria told the crew. "Easy sailin through that pass."
Luckily the Pearl was as fast as she was. The ship had no sooner followed and crossed the curve of the bay than it disappeared into the rocks. Between the crags the ship slipped silently into the hidden channel. Tortuga vanished and Anamaria let out a sigh of relief.
"See," she smirked at Gibbs, "ain't no show when he ain't puttin one on himself."
As soon as the words left her mouth an explosion rattled the very rocks around them and the sky beyond the rocks lit up with a burst of red sparks. Popping orange blossoms followed and yellow surges of light boomed above. The men on deck looked up, up past the jutting rocks on either side of them to the display. Their tired faces perked and glowed with the colors bursting in the sky. Two men stood taller and nodded to each other, and a third let loose an appreciative whistle.
Gibbs gave a grunt of approval and smiled at the fireworks.
She scowled.
"Aye Marie," he nodded. "No show at all."
"Alright already!" Anamaria smacked the closest gawking pirate in the back of the head. "Get on with it, ya scurves. I ain't Jack Sparrow and I ain't got no time for this dill-dallyin around. We've a ship to put into harbor and anchor there!"
Behind Gibbs a great mouth of stone loomed agape. The bow of the Black Pearl pierced through its breath of fine mist, tendrils licking her lithe form as she sailed through to the other side. Two shimmering falls of water flanked her, thundering into the tranquil black water to froth it silver and drench the deep, dark lagoon in a curling fog. The breeze was cool and wet. It swept over the Sparrow's swan to flutter her great black wings. All around them the deep green of the midnight palms rustled and somewhere deep in the foliage the soft chirp of winged insects kept a gentle melody in tune with the fronds' wavering whispers.
Anamaria paused to gaze at the glow of the tiny flickering orbs swirling in the air, fireflies like sparks of gold against the darkness. She sighed, softly, her awe of the things having never left her. The light they shown in her dark eyes had never gone out, not ever, and she knew that it never would. She followed a flashing fly across the water and over the sleek glossy ship resting there. Pride swelled her chest.
"There she is," she whispered, the very sight of the thing knocking the wind out of her. "My Celamar."
Gibbs allowed her the moment, a smile flitting across his face as he raised his flask in a silent toast to her ship. Captain Anamaria Soledad sighed once more and then she nodded curtly at the sailor to send him running off to the rest of the crew in order to ready the ship they were on for her mooring. When she turned back to her ship, she couldn't help but smile fondly on the little beauty dark against the gleaming white of the massive thing beside it.
If Celamar was glossy, the ship beside it was glittering. Under the moonlight and against the dark of the night, the brilliant thing was a sight to behold. The deep blue of her long, sweeping side was cast in the silver light of the moon, her white shining brightly and gold embellishments glinting much as the fireflies. Even Anamaria had to admit that the Odessa was nothing short of majestic.
"And," she added, Jack's voice in her head, "perhaps a touch superfluous."
Of course neither Celamar nor Odessa could rival the beauty of the ship that the pirates were stilling between them. The Black Pearl was a rare gem indeed. Anamaria loved her nearly as much as her own.
But not enough.
"Nice work." Captain Soledad patted the young, nervous helmsman on the back and smiled at him. "Jack ever lets ya go, you're sure to have a place on my ship!"
He blushed. "I'd be honored, Cap'n."
"Go get ya some sleep," she said, glancing over her shoulder toward the other crew still furling sails and tying lines. "We're in a safe spot here and ya been too good all night." She acknowledged his nod and watched as he relinquished his post and tread warily toward the stairs. "Ey!" She winked at him when he turned around. "Take me quarters, Roth. Captain's orders!"
Roth's face flushed. "Aye Cap'n!"
She nodded at his salute and watched the lean line of the lad until he disappeared from sight.
"Robbin the cradle, eh Marie?"
Anamaria glared at the grinning Gibbs and pointed toward the shoreline. "You're goin with me."
Gibbs paled.
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Celamar is loose Spanish for "watches over the sea", but I confess I was thinking of the phrase "cellar door" as referenced in the movie Donnie Darko(I highly recommend that film) when writing this and thought the lovely Anamaria's ship needed a name that was both applicable and beautiful as she… Odessa's named after a port on the Black Sea Coast of Ukraine, at one time heavily populated by pirates.
