"You are a woman." Adrienne comments some time later, when they are getting ready to go to bed.
Emily sharply turns her gaze on the French woman, narrowing her eyes.
"It is just that I have never seen a woman on a pirate ship before." Adrienne goes on. "Now I have just met two in one day."
"That would beg the question of just how many pirate ships you've encountered before." Emily replies, the hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips, though she is still glaring at her.
Adrienne doesn't respond to this.
The boy who'd been with them is sitting against one wall of the cabin, watching them both as they talk.
"Charles." Adrienne says. "His name. It is Charles." She gestures to the boy.
Charles, although obviously Adrienne's younger brother, is much less prickly than his older sister. His brown eyes are a little lighter in color and much more inviting. He gives Emily a little smile.
"I like to be called Charlie." He adds quietly.
"Charlie it is then." Emily replies. "I have a brother not much younger than you, I think, Charlie."
Adrienne glances at the hammock set up in one corner of the large cabin, which had a bunk on either side to begin with. Emily had brought in the extra hammock.
"I'll sleep in the hammock." Emily says before Adrienne can. "You two can have the bunks."
"How kind of you." Adrienne mumbles before calling out to Charlie. "Come. Time for bed." She makes her way over to him and speaks quietly to him in French, seeming to not even realize she has gone back to her native tongue.
Emily watches as he slides into bed and Adrienne tucks him in, placing a kiss on his forehead. It reminds her of her own brother, whom she misses more than she will ever let anyone know, and leaves her with a hollow feeling in her chest.
Adrienne turns and catches her staring.
"Something wrong?" She asks, sounding more curious than anything else.
"No." Emily replies curtly before climbing into her hammock, forcing the sudden swell of unpleasant feelings away as hard as she can. "It's nothing."
Emily is used to the strange dreams she is given by now, but they do not come every night. She is relieved when she wakes up after that first morning spent in the separate cabin with no memory of having one. It is always nice to get some peaceful sleep, and she does not want her new sort-of-friends to think her strange. Well, not so soon, anyways.
She gets out of her hammock and goes about doing all her usual chores, adjusting a little to the fact that she now has the job of keeping one eye on Adrienne, Captain's orders. The French woman stays below decks for that first day and keeps little Charlie close, too, so Emily hasn't much to worry about.
The same goes for the second night and day.
On the third day, however, when Emily comes down to the galley looking for whatever Adrienne has to offer for supper, Adrienne pulls her aside.
"This boy you are so friendly with." She gestures to Alex, who is sitting at one of the tables set up in the galley, eating his own supper.
"Alex?"
"Alex. Are you two…"
Emily stares at her blankly.
"What?"
"You will have to forgive me my choice of words. My knowledge of your language fails me at times. I wish to know if you two have shared the same bed."
Emily's eyes widen and she can feel a deep blush crawling up her neck and to her cheeks. A smirk creeps its way onto Adrienne's lips.
"What?" Emily responds in a rather non-Emily-like squeak. "N-no!" And she is talking a bit loud, a few others turn to stare, including Alex. She lowers her voice. "I-I mean of course not, he's just a friend."
There is a long and awkward pause, wherein an obviously very smug Adrienne appears to be thinking over what she wants to say next. Annoyance begins to overtake Emily's embarrassment.
"And just how is it any of your business, anyways?" She demands.
"Je suis désolé." Adrienne replies in French. "Je ne voulais pas vous offenser."
"I am no noblewoman, I do not speak French." And Emily knows she is being a bit rude, but can't bring herself to care.
Adrienne goes on again, in English this time
"I was merely curious. I did not wish for you to get the wrong idea if I were to talk to him."
"Yes, well, it might be better if you kept questions like that to yourself."
Alex is making his way over to them by now, brows furrowed, and Emily beats a hasty retreat out of the galley, leaving Adrienne to explain to him why.
She hears him call out to her softly, but ignores it.
The next day Emily avoids Adrienne as much as she can, and is busy with keeping an eye on Charlie, as Adrienne has given him permission to explore the ship.
He is a little too curious for his own good, and she spends half of the day chasing after him to make sure he does not get in any ones way. Of course, watching him should be Adrienne's job, but Emily has a feeling Adrienne won't care if she tells her this, so she doesn't bother.
The day after that Charlie makes friends with the cabin boy, Jimmy, and takes to following him around. Emily doesn't bother watching him.
She does, however, keep one eye on Adrienne as she follows Alex around, appearing to be interested in whatever it is he is doing.
Adrienne is flirtatious with him. Very flirtatious with him. Emily isn't sure she likes this. At all. And, in fact, the more she sees of Adrienne, the more she is beginning to not like her, at all, period.
"I am beginning to like this Alex." Adrienne comments that night, when they are headed for bed. "He is a funny one, no?"
"Oh…" Emily forces a smile. "Yes, I suppose he is."
"He talks of you a lot. If I did not know any better…" She trails off, the hint of a smirk curling at the corner of her mouth. "Mais ce n'est évidemment pas de mes affaires. Forget it."
"No..no. What were you going to say?"
"I was just going to say that I think, perhaps, he fancies you. But I could be wrong, of course."
"What boy would fancy me?" Emily mumbles quietly, then speaks up. "Even if you are, Alex hasn't exactly met many other women that weren't me or his mother. At least, he certainly insists he hasn't. Now he has you to compare me too."
"You do not believe yourself to be very pretty, do you?"
Emily doesn't reply as she gets into her hammock.
"Eh bien. Si j'ai ma façon, les choses vont changer assez rapidement de toute façon." Adrienne goes on again in French, and Emily doesn't bother asking her what she said.
She is only just beginning to worry about the fact that she has not gotten any strange dreams in four nights as she drifts off to sleep.
The tavern is small and dimly lit, but very inviting.
Emily is only a little disoriented by the sudden change in scenery. She is used to this by now.
Two figures are seated at a table in the far corner of the room. One has dark hair that is pulled back into a braid and wears men's clothing, though if one cared to really look they would notice that it is a young woman. The second is young man with unruly dark hair held back by an ancient, faded, red bandanna.
Emily recognizes the pair sitting in the far corner of the room, and is a little unnerved for a moment, as she always is when she is given a vision of herself. She is older this time, it looks like, perhaps by several years, as is Alex, though they are both still young.
She makes her way over to them and recognizes the bandanna Alex is wearing as being his father's, and she's not even sure she wants to know the story behind that yet.
"You let her go in that condition?" The woman hisses, obviously infuriated. Her dark, piercing eyes are cold and angry.
"Don't go gettin angry with me, I didn't mean to let 'er do anythin! She ran off before I could say another word, Emily, wha' was I meant to do?"
"She's with child, Alex, you should have gone after her!"
Emily's eyes widen. Who were they talking about? With child? Alex's child?
Oh, goddess.
"And 'ow am I even supposed to know she was tellin the truth?"
"Did you share a bed with her?" Emily asks in a mocking tone.
Alex doesn't respond, looking startled at her bluntness.
"Of course you did. So of course she was telling the truth. Was she worth it, Alex? All her pretty dresses and sweet French nothings, was she worth it?"
He opens his mouth, but no sound comes out. For once Alex Sparrow is simply at a loss for words.
Emily can feel tears building in her eyes, and she can't quite pinpoint why. Perhaps at the thought that Alex may grow to be just like any other man. Perhaps at the thought that it could be Adrienne they are talking about.
Perhaps at the frightening coldness in her own eyes.
"Ye're right." He finally replies. "I should go, uhm, I mean she can't 'ave gone too far…" He stands and eyes Emily as he backs away a few steps, then turns and quickly heads out of the tavern.
And that's it. The dream is over so suddenly that Emily is frozen for a long moment when her eyes open. When she does finally get her bearings, she doesn't know what to do or think. She looks over at Adrienne, sleeping peacefully in her bed. She thinks of Alex. She wonders just what the dream was supposed to mean; why her goddess would show her that.
She is left with more questions than answers, which is not unusual. She gets up as quietly as she can and tugs on her boots before slipping out of the room for some air.
I'm not sure I like this chapter, but I needed to move things along a little somehow. Let me know if the dream was at all confusing, talking about two different Emily's.
I'm so, so, so, soooo sorry for taking so long. I went on vacation for two and a half weeks, and got an idea for another story, and just decided to put this one away for a while. I promise I haven't given up on it, though!
To anyone who has actually been patient enough to learn a second language, or actually is French – please don't yell at me if the French is faulty , I obviously only speak English, so I'm relying on Google Translate. :D
What Adrienne actually said, in order:
Je suis désolé. – I'm sorry.
Je ne voulais pas vous offenser. – I didn't mean to offend you.
Mais ce n'est évidemment pas de mes affaires. – But of course it is none of my business.
Eh bien. Si j'ai ma façon, les choses vont changer assez rapidement de toute façon. – Oh well. If I have my way, things will soon change anways.