Time Cannot Mend, Part 3
Teammates:
They are on the same side for a matter of five minutes or so. In the rowboat sharing a grimace at the idiocy that is Pintel and Ragetti, they look to each other for confirmation and are shocked to discover they are thinking the exact same thing. James looks away first with a wry twist of lips, and then the stupid pirates do it again and their eyes meet a second time across the rowboat. Elizabeth bites her lip to keep from grinning outright.
“I missed this,” she murmurs confidentially.
“What, the pirates? Or me?”
“Either. Both. Take your pick.”
Parents:
Weatherby Swann is the closest thing to a father James has had since he went to sea, and he is eternally grateful to the older man for the affection he so lavishly bestows not only on his only daughter, but on her friends as well. James is privileged to know the Governor personally, and some of the best advice he’s ever received has been handed down to him at Swann’s immense tea table. It is there, when she turns sixteen, that he confesses his affection to her father. Weatherby smiles.
“I know, James. Love her well. You deserve each other.”
Children:
They were both very young, once. He was a foolish gangling boy who let her weave him daisy chains, and she was a child who was far too obsessed with gruesome stories of his encounters with pirates. He never should have fed that obsession, he realizes now as he worries over where the pirates have taken her, lecturing Turner that he is not the only one who cares for Miss Swann. Elizabeth, he thinks privately. Yet he did it, as foolish boys will, to see her face light up and that wicked gleam in her eyes. He inspired her, once.
Birth:*
He washes up on a strange shore, spluttering and confused.
“What do you mean, ‘she chose me?’ Turner?! You can’t just breathe life into me again and then leave me here!” The Dutchman sails away. James curses under his breath. Now what?
“A hundred years have passed, James. The world is different now,” Will said before heaving him over the side of the Dutchman. His Elizabeth must be long dead and gone, so why bring him back at all?
“Oi, Jamie! Are ye coming or am I t’arse around waiting for yeh to make up yer mind?” Sparrow. Alive. Interesting.
*part of a series, prior parts: “Last,” “Years,” “Ends”.
Death:
“Death himself, Norrington.”
Elizabeth hears the pirates in Tortuga mention him by name. He is the most dedicated pirate hunter in the eastern Caribbean, and the most deadly. The justice he brings is swift, but he is also merciful. He does not torture pirates, for information or otherwise, nor will he hang pregnant women or children. The tone of fear and respect in their voices is truly something to behold. Elizabeth wonders at finding him, then, in a pigsty outside a tavern, drowning in muck and self-loathing.
“What has the world done to you,” she whispers, and finds herself crying.
They are on the same side for a matter of five minutes or so. In the rowboat sharing a grimace at the idiocy that is Pintel and Ragetti, they look to each other for confirmation and are shocked to discover they are thinking the exact same thing. James looks away first with a wry twist of lips, and then the stupid pirates do it again and their eyes meet a second time across the rowboat. Elizabeth bites her lip to keep from grinning outright.
“I missed this,” she murmurs confidentially.
“What, the pirates? Or me?”
“Either. Both. Take your pick.”
Parents:
Weatherby Swann is the closest thing to a father James has had since he went to sea, and he is eternally grateful to the older man for the affection he so lavishly bestows not only on his only daughter, but on her friends as well. James is privileged to know the Governor personally, and some of the best advice he’s ever received has been handed down to him at Swann’s immense tea table. It is there, when she turns sixteen, that he confesses his affection to her father. Weatherby smiles.
“I know, James. Love her well. You deserve each other.”
Children:
They were both very young, once. He was a foolish gangling boy who let her weave him daisy chains, and she was a child who was far too obsessed with gruesome stories of his encounters with pirates. He never should have fed that obsession, he realizes now as he worries over where the pirates have taken her, lecturing Turner that he is not the only one who cares for Miss Swann. Elizabeth, he thinks privately. Yet he did it, as foolish boys will, to see her face light up and that wicked gleam in her eyes. He inspired her, once.
Birth:*
He washes up on a strange shore, spluttering and confused.
“What do you mean, ‘she chose me?’ Turner?! You can’t just breathe life into me again and then leave me here!” The Dutchman sails away. James curses under his breath. Now what?
“A hundred years have passed, James. The world is different now,” Will said before heaving him over the side of the Dutchman. His Elizabeth must be long dead and gone, so why bring him back at all?
“Oi, Jamie! Are ye coming or am I t’arse around waiting for yeh to make up yer mind?” Sparrow. Alive. Interesting.
*part of a series, prior parts: “Last,” “Years,” “Ends”.
Death:
“Death himself, Norrington.”
Elizabeth hears the pirates in Tortuga mention him by name. He is the most dedicated pirate hunter in the eastern Caribbean, and the most deadly. The justice he brings is swift, but he is also merciful. He does not torture pirates, for information or otherwise, nor will he hang pregnant women or children. The tone of fear and respect in their voices is truly something to behold. Elizabeth wonders at finding him, then, in a pigsty outside a tavern, drowning in muck and self-loathing.
“What has the world done to you,” she whispers, and finds herself crying.