It took some finagling, his station as a Lieutenant lent him to some authority however definitely not as much influence as he used to have as Captain or Commodore.
He still was able to ensure that Will Turner and youth his age were offered a program by the Navy, seeking to make sure that the listless young men of the port had something to aspire to and a road to goals that seem unteachable when born of a lower station.
He paid a personal visit to Mr Brown's shop to present the program to Turner. And he wasn't surprised to see that Brown was almost halfway through the bottle even at five in the afternoon while Turner was already sporting more than a few burns on his person, nothing serious but it spoke of negligence and abuse on the part of Wills Master and James was surprised at just how vehemently his hate rose against Brown on behalf of the romantic rival of his past life.
He had immediately set the ultimatums. Will would be required to report into the Fort daily, this would be part of his morning run and then he would be training on various levels of fitness and ability for at least two hours. During this time he will be scrutinised closely by his trainers and if further evidence of abuse and neglect was evident then not only would Brown lose his apprentice but he would also lose his commission to the navy and possibly even his shop.
Brown had protested in drunken anger that a jumped up Lieutenant didn't have the authority to do that. James had grinned and leaned close to the disgusting man menacingly while Will looked on in shocked awe.
"I may be just a Lieutenant for now Brown," he spoke softly but with steel behind his words. "But I have the Governors ear and his trust. You don't want to see me try and exercise the full extent of my influence in this port," he threatened deliberately. "you will live to regret it." James smiled as even in his drunken state Brown swallowed hard.
Straightening up he walked to the door and turned back. "I expect to see Mr Turner in the Fort at the crack of dawn. If he's not there, it will be on your head Mr Brown." with a parting bow James walked out leaving behind a disgruntled, slightly terrified Blacksmith and his bewildered Apprentice who's outlook in life had changed drastically within the last ten minutes.
Will showed up in the morning and James believed was somewhat regretting doing so by the end of his first time at the Fort. James himself took the boy through the paces wanting to see what the lad was made of this early on, knowing his abilities first hand later in life. But early stages the boy was spry and agile and definitely capable. Aside from Will some other few hopefuls showed up, some James himself recognised as children who would grow up to eventually serve prison time. Maybe as a side effect of James wanting to secure a better future for Elizabeth, he might just be able to ensure some other lost souls found purpose.
With Mr Turner's future in a much better place already than it had been when he first came to Port Royal in James' past, James decided he also needed to make sure that Elizabeth and Will reunited and got along. He knew eventually the two would start spending time in secret whenever Will could get away and Elizabeth could sneak out. But those moments were probably few and far between and James would assume caused more problems than not for Will especially, he imagine Brown didn't appreciate Will shirking work in favor of gallavnting with the Governors daughter.
Fortunately for everyone involved, James had not been lying to Mr Brown when he said that Governor Swann had his ear and trust. The Governor had taken a liking to James readily from the voyage to Port Royal and kept calling him into his office and home to have regular chats about anything and everything. There was an age difference to be sure, but just like before him and the Governor were becoming fast friends.
What was different from last time was that Elizabeth herself had taken a liking to James. The last time, while he was a frequent visitor to the Governors mansion, Elizabeth usually remained either quiet or absent on his visits. She didn't really approach him and James never thought anything off it because he himself presented an aura of propriety that didn't really welcome adolescent girls to come want to make friends.
What confused James was that he hadn't changed that about himself this time around, especially with the Swann household. He was determined to be on his best behaviour with them and didn't really intend for anything to go different between them this time around. He didn't want to be more approachable or nice to Elizabeth, he didn't need her to want to be friends with him, it's best that she think of him like she had thought before. But for some reason she had started approaching him. She was precocious, mischievous and clever and it had been a surprise to one day be shown into the parlor only for Elizabeth to come and sit across from him.
James immediately got up and bowed to the little lady. "Miss Swann," he intoned and tried to hide his smile as she giggled.
"Hello, Lieutenant," she said happily waving at him. "Father said for me to tell you he'll be out in a minute." she leaned in conspiratorily waving him to bow further so she could whisper. He obliged because of course he did. "It will actually be more than minute, I made sure of it."
James nearly raised an eyebrow at that, nearly. "And why pray tell, Miss Swann, did you feel the need to delay your father and our excursion to the docks."
She waved away his reprimand. "Pish," she remarked. "Excursion. You two go to the docks nearly every week. I needed to talk to you so I came up with a plan."
Talk to him? He felt dread creep up. Why would she want to talk to him. He had shown no indication that he would welcome this sort of familiarity and yes while Elizabeth had never strived to be proper, she still hadn't done this in his past so he had done something to make Elizabeth want to talk to him. This was concerning, he didn't not want Elizabeth to get too close to him. He didn't want reasons to not do his duty by Elizabeth and Will.
"And why did you want to talk to me?" he asked hesitantly taking his seat back but not being able to relax in it.
Her eyes sparkled as she smiled. "I wanted to thank you, for helping Will."
James stiffened. So this was Turner related. Of course it was.
"Pardon?" he asked reflexively.
"You helped Will. He told me, got some messages across to the manor and he told me how bad it was at the start and then Lieutenant Norrington came and helped him!" she beamed at him and he cursed himself. No good deed. He had no idea the boy had been in contact with Elizabeth this early on.
In the month following Turners training commencing he had slowly began to see the veil of hero worship being shone in the young boys eyes. He tried to be firm with the lad. Tried to show him that he wasn't someone to worship. To learn from sure, but the boy had become a fan of his or something. He had heard Gillette relate Turners renditions of Naval battle enactments with his cadet friends during their down time and how Turner had firmly taken the mantle of Lieutenant, soon to be, Captain Norrington. Regaling and reenacting the battles that the town knew James had been involved in. Not helped he was sure by Groves who tended to hang around the young lads during brunch and tell fantastic tales about the Dauntless and it's victories a lot of them featuring some amazing or brave feat by Groves, Gillette and more often than not, James himself.
And now looking across at Elizabeth he had a feeling that Turner had somehow inducted her into his fan club as well despite him being sure that they couldn't possibly have met ever since being seperated when the Dauntless made port in Port Royal.
"Will is my friend," she said excitably. "And you helped my friend, so I wanted to say thank you."
James sighed. This was not good. But it was done. What was he supposed to do about this? "You're welcome, Miss Swann. The sentiment is unnecessary, I'm just doing my duty, but your gratitude is much appreciated." There; proper response, cordial, acceptable, appropriate. But she wasn't done, because of course she wasn't. The next thing he knew her eyes went downcast and tears filled up.
James' own eyes widened in alarm. "Miss Swann?" he asked cautiously fully knowing that this was probably a manipulation act, but also knowing that he would move heaven and earth for her to never have to spill a tear.
"I, I just," she sniffled and it broke his already tattered heart in two. "He's my friend. And he's nice, and I haven't even seen him since we came here. I've asked father, he won't let me go and I can't go by myself. I just want to spend some time with my friend and all they say is that it's not proper." James had to admire that despite the obvious anger and frustration in her voice, she didn't let those tears spill. Always fortified was Elizabeth.
And as always it was about Mr Turner. He sighed again but nodded thoughtfully. This needed some thinking about but there was a chance that if he gave Elizabeth an avenue to her hearts desire of wanting to meet Turner then he could get the ball rolling between the even sooner. So when the Governor finally came down the stairs having finally located his wig that Elizabeth had hid, James already had a plan formulating.
Elizabeth smiled as she entered her father's study wondering about the purpose of her summons but she was always happy to talk and listen to her father.
"Hello father," she said demurely curtseying to show her manners. The governor laughed and waved off her formalities allowing her to run up to him with a hug.
"Hello my dear," he greeted and offered her the seat across from him which she took.
"Lieutenant Norrington and I just had a very interesting conversation at the docks, dear." he began hesitantly and her eyes widened in what the Governor believed to be trepidation, he sighed. "Ah, he warned me that he might be breaking your confidence in this matter but also believes that his solution for your dilemma would please you also." he could see that her trepidation was now turning to anger at the betrayed confidence and he wanted to head it off. He believed James Norrington to be an honorable man and since Elizabeth herself had chosen to confide in him, it seemed that she believed this to be true of him as well and so he quickly spoke more lest Elizabeth starts thinking less of him.
"He told me that you have been disappointed in the lack of adventurous and educational books in our library?" and he saw Elizabeth blink at that. "Our librarys as you know are vast," he continued pleased to see her anger quickly abate the more he talked. "But I am aware a lot of those books are concerning politics, history and medicine." Elizabeth merely nodded, signs of previous frustration gone and now replaced with interested intrigue at her father's words as he spoke on. "Well the good Lieutenant has offered access to his own stores of books at his home." Elizabeth's eyes widened at this declaration and offer. "He tells me that his late mother used to be an avid book collector and he had made sure to have all of her collections be brought to Port Royal when he sailed across. It was a massive investment but one he was willing to make. He laments that he himself doesn't have enough time to read them and would not mind if you were permitted access to it, chaperoned as I see fit of course, should you wish so, if you wanted to indulge in your fancy."
Elizabeth looked positively delighted now. "Oh father, the Lieutenant is so gracious to offer this access. I promise Father I will not abuse his generous offer nor will I disgrace myself by disrespecting the good Lieutenants kind offer by refusing his offer."
"Excellent," the good Governor declared. "He had offered to escort you to his home tomorrow, chaperoned if I wish it to be so, and he has offered to extend the offer to once a week indefinitely as long as young Miss Swann chooses to make use of his library. He believes at least someone should be reading these books that his mother painstakingly bought and he does believe you to be a worthy candidate."
Elizabeth had no idea where this offer was coming from and she had no idea how the good Lieutenant knew of her frustrations with the Swann Manor library but she had every intention of accepting this offer. She was positively giddy in anticipation of the morrow.
I feel awkward writing authors notes but here it is. This is me writing after a long hiatus. I forgot how cathartic it was for me. Would appreciate any feedback if possible. Cheers!!
