The sleepless nights had left their marks on his face and he spied hints of pity in the soldiers' eyes as he passed them on the docks. Though he had been aware for some time that he had slips of anger or sorrow, seeing other men looking that certain way at him was something new and soul-crushing.

The upside of not sleeping was that he had responded right away to the call to the docks. A pirate vessel had arrived in the dead of the night, claiming to switch sides. Not any vessel lead by any pirate, no, but the Royal Rover, captained by Walter Kennedy, the turncoat.

He spied the silhouette of the captain as he reached the jetty, sitting on a crate, surrounded by redcoats. As he got closer, he realised that not only his name, but the man's features looked somewhat familiar to him. The pirate captain stood up and took his hat off at his sight.

"Good evening, mr Rogers. I am Walter Kennedy, of the Royal Rover"

Though he could have been mistaken, given the obscure light, he was sure that he recognised the pale face and the blue eyes from somewhere.

"Good evening, mr Kennedy. I need to ask, have we ever met before?"

He spied a somewhat shameful twitch on the pirate's face, as he delayed his answer for a few seconds:

"I have served on the Buck, sir"

The Buck, one of his former ships. One of the ships who had left him, three years ago, in the middle of the conflict and whose fate was most unfortunate. A number of pardoned pirates had been added to the crew before its departure, in an effort to reintegrate them, yet before they could reach their destination, a number of them had mutinied, along with some soldiers. The names of the mutineers were subject to speculation, as they had been unremarkable sailors at the time, yet one name was certain. The one who had been elected as the fresh pirate captain of the Buck: Howell Davis.

"And you are here to switch sides yet again?"

There was some guilt on Kennedy's face, yet it did not impress him. How could it be that pirates had been offered a new life, only to turn back to the account and drag soldiers along with them? How could it be that they had all somehow ended up propping up Bartholomew Roberts to his fame? Roberts, a man who could have afforded to retire himself a long time ago, as Henry Avery did or as Henry Morgan did before him.

And there he stood, a turncoat, most probably asking to be pardoned.

And there she stood, behind him, the ghost with blonde hair.

Why couldn't she just stay home? Why couldn't she confine herself to her usual corner in the bedroom, from where she stared at him at night? Why did she follow him without ever speaking, without even hinting at what she wanted?

"I am not here for myself" said Kennedy "I am here only to speak for my crew"

Though he hated the man with all of his spirit, he was thankful that his words anchored him back into reality.

"I ask for pardons on behalf of them, so they may return home to England and resume their lives"

"And is it Bartholomew Roberts' head you offer in exchange for it?"

He watched Kennedy's eyes falling down, as the ghost behind him kept watching in complete silence.

"Sir, there is no way for me to offer you Bartholomew Roberts. His crews would have discovered my absence from the camp and, upon it, they would have moved to a secret location, known only to the other consort vessels' captains. But I can offer you Jack Rackham!"

There was complete silence around them, save for the sounds of the sea. More officers had arrived at the scene, including Julian, and they all looked at the two of them, some with mistrust, some with optimism. He spied Kennedy looking behind him, right where her ghost was, yet there was nothing the man could have seen. The contours of her features were blurred and pale, yet her curls danced in the breeze and nobody else but himself could see her.

"Jack was sent to Port Royal with the fleet's faulty canons to repair or sell for smelting and acquiring new ones." Kennedy went on "He captains the Sea King and is on his way to Jamaica at this very moment. I had left as soon as night fell, seizing the opportunity"

It could have been a trap, either to lure him into some place or to leave Nassau undefended … But Kennedy risked too much coming to Nassau. The risk the crew took, fully aware there were no pardons freely offered this time, was far too great to it to be a trap.

"I assume you must not trust us" Kennedy went on, as if he could have sensed him "So me and my crew offer ourselved and the ship as collateral until you set your own eyes on Jack Rackham. When you do so, you may find out from him where the rest of Bartholomew's fleet is"

The opportunity was too great for him to not assume some risk by pursuing it. Not only could he not miss the occasion to put his sword to Rackham's throat, but he wouldn't have entrusted his capture or questioning to anybody. Yet before he set his course, there was one unanswered question.

"Why?"

Despide Kennedy's harsh face, there was some discomfort seeping through him.

"Sir, just like life in the navy was not what I had expected, neither was life as a pirate. Most of us have grown weary of fighting for our next meal and camping in the middle of nowhere"

He could imagine the struggle of living as a runaway, but most of all, he could imagine the struggle Kennedy must have had as captain of the runaways.

"I will reply to you shortly"

Kennedy lightly bowed his head and then put his hat back on, as Woodes turned around to seek a spot away from the crowd. He saw Julian unstick himself from the row of bystanders with a worried look upon his face, then following him on his walk.

"You cannot exactly pardon a full crew after you have hanged so many" Julian whispered

"No, I cannot"

Yet just as the world was full of problems, it was just as filled with solutions.

"But they only asked to be pardoned, it doesn't have to be by my own hand"

There was a puzzled look on Julian's face, yet he knew that the man was not surprised. He was simply trying to guess what he would say next and how best he could object to it. The man had a quality of seeing potential faults in everything and this caution of his was what he prized most about the man.

"We will take the Eurydice to Port Royal and we will make the Royal Rover our consort for the journey, manned by soldiers and keeping the pirates prisoners. One ship will remain here for emergency, while the other six will patrol closely, in case Bartholomew happens to have wanted us lead away."

"You want to go yourself?"

"I need to"

"I see no need for endangering yourself"

So many unfortunate mistakes had been made by other people in his name. Besides that, how could he sit idly in his chair and send other people to do the work? Even if the mission would prove successful without him, where would his name stand? As the one who awaited on an island for the captured pirates to be brought to him by other men?

"Well then … should we not prepare to leave right away?"

"We are missing something … Someone who knows Port Royal"

"Let's take Morris, he had served there for some years"

"I would rather take someone who knows its outlaws"

"Ah dang it, I don't like that woman! Foul mouthed, arrogant, unpleasant"

"You don't need to like her, we just need her to do as she's told"

"Alright, let's go wake her up!"