Disclaimer: Still don't own Pirates (Blast it all). Incidentally, couldn't resist having a little fun with Johnny Depp. Should get interesting, no? By the way, sorry about leaving the title off last chapter; I'm still a bit new with writing here.
Chapter 5: Men of the Navy
Later the next day, the four of them were suiting up.
"Lose the dresses, sweethearts; you'll need pants for this trip." Depp himself wore a heavy coat, and what looked like some fur items. He tossed some pants, furs, and pistols at the women.
After they were all dressed, Jack observed their outfits.
Will, still in a state of near-death, was to be carried in a large bear suit.
AnaMaria wore a coat of rabbit, and her floppy hat. She also had her loaded pistol at her side.
Johnny wore a dark brown cloak that looked close to moose. He also wore light brown pants and shirt that looked to be deerskin. He bore not one or two but four pistols on his person-one on each hip, and one each in holsters on his chest. His fourth pistol, on his right hip,was an odd design with two barrels. Also, he wore two scabbards on his back, both with sword. Quite the weapons master, it appeared. He'd probably have some weapon ideas for Will when he woke up.
Elizabeth was resplendent in a cloak of white that was probably from Arctic bear-though she probably didn't know it. She also bore sword and pistol.
Jack himself wore an outfit similar to his normal getup, but all moose skin, and wore his old pistol, plus a sword. And of course, his effects-his dark brown leather coat and his worn tricorn hat.
"Well, shall we? It's a long walk, and we're better off going during daylight."
"Jes' a moment, Johnny." Jack called over Gibbs. Whispering, he said, "Go to the ship, and start on this course." He whispered a course in his ear. There was evidently something he wasn't telling Johnny.
"Aye, sir." Gibbs went back to the ship.
"Okay, let's get going. It's a long walk to the Circle from here." Depp proceeded out the back door, into the snowy depths.
"Commodore Gillette." The officer stepped up.
"Yes, Admiral?"
"Where are we now?" The Dauntless was floating through a rough patch of ice floe, large chunks bumping the ship.
"We're near Northern Ireland, sir. The last townsfolk said this is the direction the Pearl went."
"Indeed." Turning to his second-in-command, Norrington asked a very poignant question. "Gillette, do you plan on being a Navy man all your life?"
Taken aback, he responded, "Well, yes, sir."
"Hm. No family? Friends?"
"My wife is the sea, my friends the crew." Gillette gave the Admiralty a strange look. "Is that not your own thoughts, sir? Surely an Admiralty thinks of little but the sea."
"You forget that an Admiralty, for all the pomp and splendour, is still a man. And yes, my thoughts do stray from that. You do mean to tell me, Gillette, that you have never considered a wife, or children?"
"Honestly, sir..." There was a pause as the commodore composed his thoughts. "Admiral Norrington, the reason I joined the Navy was to avoid such...complications. I don't think I could settle for life on land."
"Hm." Then, after a pause, Norrington said, "another question, Gillette; do you think Will Turner to be a sailor like us?"
"If not a sailor, sir, then the best blacksmith there ever were on the sea, certainly as good as us-pirate or no," the subordinate officer added.
"Careful now, Gillette-he was never accused of piracy nor charged with it. So you think him on our level of naval skill?"
"Well, not to compare the Admiralty to a blacksmith-but yes. Sir," Gillette continued, "why all these questions of what I think of Turner?"
"You are aware of his relationship with Elizabeth Swann?"
"Yes. She's his wife, is she not?"
"Yes. She often goes sailing with him. Think you that perhaps a woman like that would be more suitable for yourself?"
A rather loaded question, considering Admiral Norrington's high opinion of Will Turner, and his wife. "Well, not Elizabeth Turner herself, but a woman like her would be of much intrigue. Unfortunately, there are few women with a love of the sea, fewer still who would share it with a man." Finishing his thoughts, "No, Admiral, Elizabeth Turner is one-of-a-kind."
"Hm." Norrington was silent for a moment. Then he spoke again.
"Myself, I sometimes tire of Navy life. The glares in the street...the fear rather than interest or adoration...you've been to Tortuga, have you not?"
Another pause. "Are we as officers or men here, sir?"
"For the moment, mere men," the Admiralty said, smiling at the other man's distaste for commoners.
"I've gone several times, James."
"But ever in uniform?"
"Never. It's madness."
"Why is that, Gillette?" Norrington turned to his subordinate.
"Well, because...ah." Now Commodore Gillette understood.
"You see my point?" The other officer nodded. "That is what tires me. Never being able to walk in the street as another man might...but I doubt His Majesty will allow me to retire; it seems he's taken something of a liking to me." Norrington didn't add, unfortunately.
The truth was that Admiral Norrington did, in fact, desire retirement. Not now, certainly, but in a few years... when he was in his forties, the term 'Admiralty' would mean more to him as a sign of respect on the street, or in his home, and not as a greeting from one naval officer to another.
But pushing those thoughts from his head, he straightened. "Commodore."
His subordinate...friend, Norrington conceded...noted the change in attitude from James Norrington to the Admiralty. "Admiral." The other man walked away, leaving the Admiral Norrington to his own thoughts...whatever they might be.
