Rachel had been on board the Black Pearl for three days now. In general, she avoided contact with the crew. But she unfortunately had to admit that everyone was relatively nice to her. So she learned willy-nilly that not all pirates were the same.

The loss of her father at the hands of a privateer hurt immensely, but Rachel now knew that she might have to rethink this dislike of pirates.

Even Master Gibbs had dropped his harsh behaviour towards her in that short time.

He had had a fight with Jack. Firstly, because she was a woman and had no business on the ship, and then there was the real reason – Jack had ordered the first mate to let her have his cabin.

The whole crew had gathered on deck at noon today to discuss the further course. Now Cotton, Pintel, Gibbs and Jack joined her in the captain's cabin, just below the quarterdeck. This is where she spent most of the day, when she wasn't standing at the railing looking at the sea.

The four men sat down at the table and started playing with dice as usual. It was boring on the ship, and so she unintentionally but attentively toke the courses of the game.

Rachel sat between Master Gibbs and Jack. The first mate let her see his dice once so that she could learn the game. Rachel quickly realised this was not about honesty.

"So, now you know. Next round you play," Master Gibbs said, watching wistfully as Pintel, the loser, drank rum.

"But this is a drinking game," she contradicted him.

"Right. Then you know what the stakes are now. Although I still think the winner should get the rum," Master Gibbs murmured in Jack's direction.

The latter gave him an ironic, sympathetic smile, which was immediately transformed into a scowl.

"But I don't drink rum," Rachel interjected again, and this time she sounded upset.

"Well, you are on a ship and surrounded by pirates. I guess you'll have to abide by our rules."

"I think you mean more of a bunch of idiots," she mumbled more to herself than to Gibbs.

But he and Jack still understood. Gibbs was about to say something back when his captain interrupted him, "That's enough now, you two lovebirds. Or should I let you both scrub the deck?"

The desired effect occurred immediately – at least briefly. Rachel and Gibbs gave each other angry looks, crossed their arms and fell silent. Jack grinned contentedly. He was no heartless captain. Still, he knew that his crew had to be put in their place now and then to be reminded who was in charge.

"I don't drink rum," Rachel said.

"Just don't lose then," Jack advised her.

"You can't make me scrub the deck."

Jack pulled his hat lower on his face and looked at Rachel calculatingly. "I can."

The meaningful look and amused grin Gibbs squinted at Mr Cotton escaped Rachel. Outraged, her mouth folded down, but she held back the words.

She had slept well until now, but she attributed this to her exhaustion. Slowly, that got away from her. For one thing, she was recovering, and for another, she was smart enough not to give up her fear of the pirates.

She feared them regularly, even though they had not yet given her any real reason to do so. If they wanted to hurt her, wouldn't they have done it already?

Perhaps they were also playing a false game with her. Pirates were no strangers to deceit and fraud.

She had been so stupid to go on that cursed ship! She could only excuse this bad decision by saying that she hasn't been in her right mind. On the other hand … what alternatives did she have had?

Rachel glared at Jack. He was good at being bad. At least he had not lost a single round in this dishonest game of dice.

The captain did not relent in the seriousness with which he looked at her, and Rachel turned away from the sight of him, shuddering.

Jack gave her a leather cup with five dice in it.

"Because this is your first time playing, you may begin," he said magnanimously, and the threat that had been in his eyes and voice was gone.

Rachel felt like despairing. She had lost a few rounds because she was obviously not good at lying. But the point of the game – if there was one – was to fool everyone else.

In the end, she lost miserably. Indecisively, she now looked at the rum. The stupid grin on Jack's face didn't help her get over herself, either. Thoughtfully, he looked up at the ceiling above him.

"The quarterdeck is crying out to be scrubbed," he said.

Finally, Rachel pulled herself together and resolutely emptied her jug, which was only a quarter full. The last thing she wanted was to be inferior to the bunch of pirates. And be it in the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

It tasted simply disgusting. Her body shook, and immediately an unpleasant warmth flooded through her.

"Here's to a new one," Pintel said.

And so they played round after round. Rachel lost twice more.

Gibbs, who was never allowed to be the loser, almost looked like he was going to burst into tears after Jack allowed him to take the last sip of rum.

By now Gibbs, Rachel and Jack were the only ones still sitting in the cabin. Soon Gibbs fell asleep on the table and Jack sensed an opportunity to learn something more about Rachel.

"Tell me about yourself. How did you end up on Tortuga?" he asked her directly.

She tilted her head and regarded him warily. "What do you want?"

Jack did not answer, but only smiled. It had been lovely to see her thinking hard and yet with contempt burning in her eyes.

"Was that beyond you just now? I mean, in your condition?" he asked with a grin, leaning forward.

She backed away.

"Well, where you come from and all that," he said with a shrug, leaning against the back of the chair.

"Well then …"

And Rachel just started telling him everything: That she had been in England, that her father had been killed by pirates, and that she didn't know who her real mother was.

Jack learned all this and more in the next half hour, and he was sure that sober she would not have told even a quarter of it. He had listened to her with interest, and now the two sat wordlessly next to each other. Everybody was chasing their own thoughts.

Rachel stretched tiredly and slowly fell asleep sitting up. Jack watched her close her eyes and breathe deeper and deeper. Then he stood up, took her in his arms and laid her on his bed so that she could have her rest. Jack himself was still nowhere near sleepy and went back on deck.