Another short chapter... so I'll just have to upload the next chapter too. If you recognize 'em, they ain't mine.
12. Tales Told: The Swanns
I regret to say that I was impolite enough to fall asleep on the carriage ride to your old manor in England – I don't remember much of the scenery, which is a pity because I never did get to see as much of London as I'd always hoped I would. I awoke as the horses whinnied to a halt, and sleepily climbed out of the carriage, trying to rub the sleep from my eyes as discreetly as I could. As I approached the grand doorway of your house, following your father who was dressed in his best, I felt rather awkward and out of place, since I had after all just spent the day sailing. The servants were kind enough to let me wash up and put on some different clothes before going to the dining hall for dinner.
I remember that that is where I first met you. I had just been telling your parents a full account of everything that had befallen me since I left England for Port Royal, when there was a loud clanging noise behind me. We all turned around, and there you were, wearing some fashionable dress that made you look like a porcelain doll. You had just pulled the sword the merchant ship's crew had supplied me with from amongst all my belongings and had a very guilty look on your face, as if you had had the intention of making off with it. In truth, I was rather annoyed that a little girl of five had the audacity to try to steal my sword, but your parents were quite amused.
'This here is Elizabeth,' your mother said, picking you up and setting you on her lap, where you tried your best to charm your mother into letting you go, no doubt so you could go off and create some more mischief. (I never got to know your mother as well as your father, of course, but she always seemed like a very lovely lady, quite graceful and refined, yet never boring – like you, she always had a sparkle in her eye that made you wonder what she was really thinking.)
Your father gave a slightly worried chuckle. 'She's fascinated with swords, for whatever reason,' he explained wearily to me. 'Like the ones in the crest above the mantelpiece there,' he nodded, 'she's always asking if she can play with them.' He leaned across the table and whispered to me, 'I haven't had the heart to tell her yet that they won't pull out of the crest.'
By this time, your mother had released you, and you cheerily flounced back to the other room. I couldn't help but think about my sister at that age, and whether or not you would grow up to be anything like her.
'So, Master Norrington,' said your father finally, when dinner was long since done, 'you said earlier that you had no plans for the future because you lacked the means to follow your ambitions. What exactly is it you would like to do with your life?'
I bit my tongue, not quite sure what to say. 'Well, sir, I always have fancied going into the Navy and following in my father's footsteps… that is, it's what I would have liked to have done, if my father was still alive…'
Your father waved his hand impatiently in the air. 'My dear boy, I see no reason why you should not follow in your father's footsteps! You seem to have quite an aptitude for sailing, and for swordplay, and I have no doubt that you could very well become one of the finest naval commanders our navy has ever seen, should you put your mind to it.' He turned to your mother, who nodded in approval at a question that he did not even need to ask. 'Therefore, I think it would be entirely proper if we arranged for you to go to the best naval schools in the country. Goodness knows, our Navy is getting far too old, and some fresh blood would be a very good thing for it.'
My mouth had gone very dry all of a sudden, and I had to stammer out my thanks. I could hardly believe that this was happening – from having been close to a nobody this morning, I suddenly was able to see the key to pursuing the course I had so long dreamed of. Your parents gave me the greatest thing I could have been given: the life I had always wanted. At your father's recommendation, I was sent to the best naval school in England; your parents were generous to pay for all my schooling, as well as expenses such as bed and board at the academy. I suppose in a sense they sort of adopted me – they took a great interest in my progress, and were very supportive. That they cared gave me the determination to succeed, and before long I was top in my class.
In a few years, at the young age of seventeen, I was made a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. It was one of the proudest days of my life, to be able to show your father and the rest of the world that I was somebody, I was worth something, and all that your parents had done for me had not been done in vain. It was decided that I should be sent back to Port Royal, and so I went, eager to prove my worth in a different corner of the world. By the age of nineteen, I had become known as one of the top pirate hunters in the Caribbean (and I pray you'll excuse me for it – it is not something I look back on with a mind that rests at ease).
It was around this time that I received a letter from your father, a letter that made me all the more proud of my reputation as a pirate catcher. 'James, my boy, it seems you have managed to do everything you set out to accomplish,' he wrote, 'and I can't say how proud of you I am. I'm sure your own father would have been just as proud at how closely you are following in his footsteps.' The thought of my father, which once would have made my heart sink in sorrow, somehow did not seem so bad when it was your father writing about him. Reading further, I learned to my great sorrow that your mother had died a few years prior, but shortly after digesting that bad news, I read that your father had been appointed the new governor of Port Royal. 'I would like nothing better than for you to return to England and accompany me and my daughter Elizabeth to the seas you know and love so well,' he finished.
How could I refuse? I was eager to see your father again, so that I could thank him again in person for having paid for my schooling and, most importantly, for having believed in me even when I did not fully believe in myself. And so, in a few weeks, the good ship Intrepid to which I had newly been assigned, had sailed to England and been loaded with your father's belongings… and off we sailed towards the sapphire waters of the Caribbean.