Chapter 7: A Pirate's Life for Me

Anna smiled serenely, her attention solely on the sight before her and not the hustle and bustle that surrounded her. The sea was a calming, constant blue, a few shades darker than the sky; the waves rocked the ship back and forth in a soothing manner and the dull roar they made was a soothing background to the shouts that were being exchanged on the main deck of the Jolly Roger.

After their deal had been made, Killian alerted the crew to the new addition and that if she was given any trouble, he would deal with them personally. John immediately set to work giving her a tour of the grand pirate ship; he pointed out the galley, where she would be helping George—a portly man with a jolly face—with the meals until she was comfortable cooking on her own, joked about the state of constant disorder on the crew's mess deck and kindly helped her memorize the different corridors and staircases, which deck they led to, and what she'd find there. Once the tour was over, Killian had ushered her to a small room right down the hall from his own cabin, one that she could now call her own.

"We've been using it to store the extra gunpowder for the cannons," he told her as she examined the tiny, tiny room, which now contained a single bed, a washstand and a wooden chest that could store Anna's belongings. "I didn't think you'd take kindly to staying with the rest of the crew."

"Thank you. It's wonderful," Anna told him sincerely with a broad smile because, despite its size, it was wonderful. She had slept soundly that first night, and she had been pleasantly surprised that, for the first time in her life,she wasn't woken to the sound of incessant knocking or her mother's shrill voice. She was given her privacy and she cherished it dearly.

The crew, save for the few she had encountered in the forest, had welcomed her with kind greetings and smiles, despite their initial hesitation due to the taboo of having a woman aboard. After seeing how dedicated and diligent Anna was with the tasks she had been given by their captain, they quickly stifled and believed that as long as she didn't cause much trouble, she would be an asset, rather than a burden or a danger. They especially tossed all superstitions aside when Killian had told them that she would be mending clothes. Anna had been bombarded immediately by an abyss of torn shirts and jackets, trousers that needed hemming, and even a hat with a gaping hole that needed patching thanks to an angry hunter and his spear.

I wonder if the tale is true, Anna thought as it was entrusted in her care. Surely he wouldn't have survived if it was.

It was early afternoon now and Anna had been aboard the Jolly Roger for nearly a week. Killian watched her from his place at the helm with a pleased smile quirking his lips; she had adapted to their unorthodox life easily, acting as if she belonged with them for her entire life, which surprised him, considering the privileged life she had led in Doria. Yet, there she was across the deck, leaning against the railing with a shirt of his in her hands, fingers swiftly plucking a thin needle through the dark fabric as she quickly fixed a torn shoulder. She wasn't even watching what she was doing; she was staring out at the sea, transfixed by it.

A girl after my own heart, he thought casually.

He looked over her shoulder to Felix, one of the helmsmen, and as he stepped away from the wheel, the skittish man took his place. Killian then hastened down the stairs from the quarter deck and towards Anna. She didn't notice him as he sidled up beside her, she just kept pulling at her needle and thread, humming a dreamy tune to herself.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" he spoke of the sea. She smiled and looked over at him.

"It is," she agreed. "I suppose I took it for granted all my life in Corwyn, despite it being so close." She was silent then, turning her eyes downward.

"Now you're thinking of home," Killian observed.

"Am I that easy to read?"

"Well, I'm the Captain, love. I know everything." Anna laughed, causing his condescending smirk to grow.

"How can I help you, Captain?" she asked.

"I wanted to let you know that we'll be docking soon," he told her. "In Montem."

"Montem?" she repeated slowly with a frown, letting the foreign name run over her tongue as if she could taste it. She didn't know if it was bitter or sweet.

"Yes." Killian nodded. "An island. One big city and then a vast…nothing of forests and beaches."

"Why tell me?"

"I wanted to give you some warning. Montem is a very dangerous place; it's filled with thieves…killers…"

"Do you mean to say it's filled with pirates?" Anna asked with eyebrows raised in amusement.

"Cheeky girl."

"Don't worry. I can take care of myself."

"Ah, I don't doubt it. But there is safety in numbers. I'm sure John would accompany you if you'd like to do some exploring."

"If you're so worried about me, why don't you do it?"

"I have other matters to attend to," he replied pensively, but then glanced at her and smirked then. "Someone has to sample the local rum before restocking our supply."

Of course, Anna thought. The rum.

While she had been coerced into drinking it, specifically during meals, she wasn't accustomed to it and didn't see why the men consumed it in such vast quantities.

"I wouldn't want to be a trouble for John. Why don't I just stay on the ship," Anna suggested. "There's plenty for me to do here."

"I wouldn't want to deprive you of experiencing a new land," Killian replied thoughtfully. "It may be dangerous, but it is very beautiful and filled with wonders and oddities that you can't find anywhere else in this world. You'll enjoy it."

"I'm sure I will," Anna smiled brightly.
"I'm hoping that you won't try to stay though," he laughed. "If I have to endure George's cooking for another day, I'll probably jump overboard."

"Don't worry. I quite like it here."

"I'm glad." Killian said gently, surprising both himself and Anna. He nodded an awkward goodbye and then returned to his place at the helm.

The Jolly Roger sailed into harbor in Montem early the next morning. Once the anchor was dropped and the gangplank lowered, most of the crewmen ran to the nearby pub. Anna had been much more hesitant to leave the safety of the ship for two reasons, one being patience, as John some final tasks to oversee, and the other being fear.

The fear had gripped her since dinner the previous night; it had been quite a revelrous affair filled with numerous bottles of rum, unbelievable tales and boisterous laughter. One tale, in particular, had turned Anna's expectations of Montem bitter.

"They say that Montem is cursed," Gibbs had said, interrupting all the ongoing conversations, causing everyone to become absolutely silent. Gibbs, the oldest member of the crew by far, was a skilled navigator—maybe even moreso than the Captain—and had seen many things in his long life. Because of this, he had the respect of everyone aboard; so, on the rare chance he spoke anything more than a grunted response, everyone knew to listen and listen well.

"Things disappearing," Gibbs continued with a hacking cough. "People disappearing. Once when I was young, I ventured into the great forest, drunk, with a bunch of me mates; I was the only one who lived to tell the tale. Couldn't find their bodies, no. Just great pools of their blood and echoes of their screams against the trees."

Gibbs grew silent then, and the noise resumed; Anna could barely utter a word for the rest of the night, though. She got little sleep that night, thanks to vivid nightmares of running through a dark, frightening forest with someone—or something—giving chase close behind her, thirsty for her blood.

Anna's fears were put a bit at ease once she set foot on solid ground; with a quick glance at her surroundings, she took a deep breath and willed her insecurities away. She was in a different kingdom, in a different part of the world. There was a harbor filled with magnificent ships, more than she could count if she had the time to and…and there was a mountain! Aside from a few low hills, Doria was completely flat; even the King's castle wasn't as colossal as that mountain. It towered over everything.

"So," John began as he joined Anna on the dock. "I took a look at the ship's stores—it seems we're low on a few things—and I thought we could do a little exploring while in the market. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," she nodded eagerly and took the arm he had offered.

As they made their way down the long wooden dock and into town, Anna observed as much as she could—every ship, every passerby. She had been surprised to find that mostly everything she turned her eyes to felt…familiar. The people appeared normal, the buildings were built similarly to those in Doria, as was the layout of the town. She felt no disappointment, and yet it still seemed odd to her. What had she expected? People who wore trousers on their arms? Or perhaps horses with eight legs and three heads? No…that was just silliness. Perhaps she thought that the further one got from home, the less like home things would look.

That became true the second she and John stepped into the marketplace. Rather than sit along one long street, it made up an entire square; it was filled with hundreds of makeshift stalls and stands aside from a few actual buildings, and every square yard was occupied with at least three bodies that were bartering or crying or yelling so wares could be sold. It was all chaos and—

"It's wonderful," Anna clapped with glee.

"Yes," John chuckled at the girl's enthusiasm. "Well you won't say such when we are in that mess."

"Come then," she said, tugging him along. What he hadn't realized was that her main source of joy in Doria—aside from sewing—was spending time in the market. It gave her a chance to speak with people who weren't stuffy nobles and experience a life that wasn't limited by the walls of a manor. Being in this market gave her the same joy, and maybe, an increased sense of it because, just as the market itself looked very different, the wares being peddled were also very different.

There were fruits and vegetables of strange shapes and colors and odd bobbles that seemed useless but were far from it indeed. Anna found that even the money was strange; one of her gold Dorian coins had been accepted, although with much hesitation, when she wished to purchase a box of thread and a set of new needles, but she received a handful of multicolored and sized coins in return. She was puzzled at their appearance; they looked to be made of neither a metal, nor a gem, although they had attributes of both.

"They are called Irises," John explained when Anna expressed her confusion.

"Like the colored part of an eye," Anna suggested, running a finger on the surface of one of the blue coins.

"Yes, exactly. No one knows what they're made of, though; I suppose it got lost over time."

"But why don't they use gold coins? Or silver?"

"Again, it—" John began.

"Got lost over time," Anna sighed in conclusion, somewhat dejected.

"Don't worry, Miss Anna, I've found it best not to ask questions here," John shrugged. "You'll never get straight answers anyways."

"Why?"

"The Montemi like their secrets," he replied simply, taking her arm to lead her to a nearby stand that displayed barrels of, both, wine and cannon powder for sale.

Anna, not really interested in either one—she liked a good wine as much as the next person, but her knowledge was limited—just stood by idly as John bartered with the merchant for a good deal on both. From her spot, she could make out a few familiar faces from the Jolly Roger, including Killian himself, who stood on the far side of the market, arguing with a man dressed in finery. They both had furious expressions plastered to their faces, their arms flailing wildly as they spoke, and Anna expected that their conversation would turn to violence.

She hadn't gotten a chance to see the outcome though, as she was soon swept along by a crowd of shoppers whose path she had been standing in.

"Excuse me," she strained as she was pushed and jostled about. "Excuse me!"

"Yes, excuse you," a woman scowled, pushing Anna out of their stampede. She quickly looked around, thoroughly disoriented, and frowned.

I couldn't have gotten so far in so short a time, she thought as she observed her surroundings.

She spotted the cart where she and John had stopped for a few boxes of apples…and the shop where Anna insisted they get clean bandages to keep aboard the ship. She took a deep breath and paused as a familiar scent overtook her senses; it was the scent of her mother's perfume. Her heart skipped a beat, and worry overtook her as she wondered how she had been found; she soon realized that she was being silly. There was no way her mother could be in Montem. Out of curiosity, followed the scent as best she could to a nearby shop, one with a wooden sign over the door that had been carved and painted in the shape of a flower.

Anna pushed past the gauzy curtains that served instead of an actual door and she was overwhelmed by the flowery scent that reminded her of home. The shop consisted of a single, large room that was cluttered with burlap sacks and wooden crates; in the corner near the window, she spotted a middle-aged woman who was hunched over a mortar, grinding its contents intently. By some coincidence, the woman looked up and smiled brightly at the sight of a possible customer.

"What do we have here?" she greeted in a gentle voice. "Hello."

"Good morning," Anna greeted in return, taking a few steps further into the shop.

"I am Mirabelle," the woman cooed. "Can I help you with something?"

"I was just…" Anna fumbled with her words sheepishly. "I smelled lilacs, you see..."

"What an astute nose you have," Mirabelle laughed. "I've been working on a powder for one of the healers in town; he believes a fever will spread soon and wants to be prepared. He's a silly man; he only treats injuries."

"No one falls ill here?"

"No one I've met."

"How strange. What is this place anyways?" Anna asked, looking around the shop once again.

"My husband liked to call it an apothecary. I took it over when he passed on a few years ago," Mirabelle said sadly. "I've always thought of it as a glorified spice shop; he didn't like that very much."

"If no one gets sick, how do you stay in business?"

"Oh I make perfumes too, decorations for holidays, and a heavenly root stew; so good, you wouldn't know that it is root stew. And of course, there are travelers, like you, who think I'm some sort of magician, so they come in looking for some kind of charm to fend the curses off. "

"Curses?" Anna frowned, recalling Gibbs' tale.

"Silly superstitions," Mirabelle waved. "They help bring in some more coins for merchants like us. So long as you keep your nose in your own business, nothing is going to hurt you here."

"Well that's a relief," Anna replied with a laugh.

"Why do you say that?"

"It's just an idea that worked its way into my head. It's rather silly."

"Go on," Mirabelle gestured for her to continue.

"It's…I heard a story that people died in the forest near here," Anna said softly. "And, for some reason, I dreamt that there was some terrible beast lurking there that was the cause of it. Silliness, as I said." The shop was silent for a while before Mirabelle uttered a nervous reply.

"Silliness," she cleared her throat, "yes."

"What is it?" Anna asked, noticing the change in the woman's tone. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing. I just realized that Healer Vincent would be expecting the lilac powder soon. I must go," Mirabelle said hastily, standing from her seat and crossing the distance between them. "You must go."

"B-but—" Anna stammered as she was led through the curtains and back out into the market. Mirabelle smoothed a hand over her hair in a motherly way and leaned in close to Anna to whisper in her ear.

"Keep your silly thoughts to yourself…and do not ask questions. You must go. Now." Mirabelle backed away and smiled sadly before disappearing behind the curtains again. Anna stared at the material as it billowed lightly in the wind and frowned; what had she said to make Mirabelle so restless? Just moments before, she herself had been mocking such silly superstitions, and now she acted as if something was actually out in the forest, waiting to pounce.

"Found you." Anna jumped and turned around to find Killian standing just a foot away from her, a triumphant smirk on his lips. Anna simply raised an eyebrow in question and he chuckled. "John thought he had lost you; nearly started crying at the thought of something happened to you."

"How thoughtful," Anna smiled, her previous worries vanishing.

"How embarrassing," Killian corrected, recalling the event. "I pride myself in having the fiercest crew of pirates to roam these lands and seas, and my own first mate was nearly sent to tears at the thought of something happening to you."

"He was probably troubled at the thought of eating another of George's meals," Anna teased. "That was how you so kindly put it yesterday, was it not Captain?"

"Aye."

"Then let us make haste; he might die of fright if we take our time."

Killian smirked and offered his arm, which Anna readily accepted with a bright smile of her own.

Oh yes, he thought as he led her to the nearby pub where the crew had gathered. She most certainly belongs with us.

Author's Note:

PrincessOfSilence: Thanks so much for reviewing! I hope you liked this chapter too!

BluePixieOfTheGalaxy: Yep, and he's here to stay. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter; hopefully you liked this one too. Thanks for the review.

orcafan1: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. I hope you liked this chapter too. Thanks for the review.

missastoria: Yep, kinda AU. I'm debating whether or not to eventually follow the storyline of the show, and the more I watch, the more I'm swaying towards it. That won't be for some time though, so I have time to decide. I'm glad you like the story so far! Thanks for reviewing!

BeckyBoo12221: Happy Belated Birthday! It was your birthday you were referring too, yes? I'm glad you like the story so far! I'm trying to keep it exciting, and reading reviews makes me doubt my writing much less. So thanks for the review!

Hope: Thanks for reading! I'm glad you like it so far. More to come soon; I promise.

Oh, my! I'm back! I had lots of stuff to do this past month to get ready for Christmas and no time to write at all. We literally put up our Christmas tree two days before Christmas Eve! But now that the holidays are over—and OUAT is back on TV—so I found some time to write another chapter. I'm not absolutely happy with it, or the fact that it's Killian Lite, but I think this is the best version of it that I have written (out of 5 drafts). The next chapter will have a little more action, a little more Killian and a lot more suspense…I promise!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited after the last chapter; I'm really happy that you guys are enjoying this story. See you soon. Sooner. Haha!

Thanks for reading!