White and Black Pearls 1 - Seven Pearls

Prologue


“The stars seem very bright tonight.”

“Aye captain. They’ve been bright for the last several nights, but nothing like this; perhaps something is going on in the cosmos.”

Will’s gaze turned over to the crewman at that remark. Ten… even twenty years into his life, he would have dismissed a remark like that as foolish, but now, all this time later, it was anything but. “Perhaps,” he allowed with a nod. His gaze lifted once more when something sparkled at the edge of his vision; another shooting star streaked across the sky, then another. “The stars have been falling all night.” Will’s brow creased slightly with concern. He still wasn’t familiar with a majority of the lore about the seas and the skies, though he’d picked up quite a bit in his time on the Flying Dutchman. Still, he’d never seen them fall like this, so many for so long.

“She weeps,” one of the other men remarked quietly.

This caught Will’s attention. “Who weeps?” he prodded. He didn’t like outright asking his crew to tell them all the sea-faring tales they could think of, it made him feel as though he was giving up some amount of authority and respect by having to ask. When the stories could be pulled out with just a casual inquiring question when they made their mysterious remarks, Will jumped upon the opportunity.

The men all turned their attention in the same direction as their captain then, setting their sights upon the one who had spoken up. It was Bill Turner. “She has many names,” the man said slowly, his voice quiet as he glanced up once at the sky before lowering his head, as though somebody from above might be listening and punish him for speaking ill of the powers that be and all their facets. “We called her Celeste. She weeps tonight, and she’s wept before… the last time it was not this bad.” Bill lifted his gaze to stare at his son. “She came upon the Dutchman now and again. Most who would remember her are no longer with the crew.” He scratched his head and looked back and forth at the faces all pointed his way. Being put on the spot like this was uncomfortable and Bill waffled under the pressure, turning to look at the rigging. “Work to do,” he muttered, shuffling away from the others.

The Dutchman’s captain followed his father with his gaze, and when the men had broken up to go back to their duties, Will went to stand beside Bootstrap, placing his hands on the rigging and stopping his father’s work. “Tell me about her,” Will probed softly.

Bill shook his head. “You should leave it alone, Will. It’s trouble, all of it. Lots of trouble.”

Saying something like that… did Bootstrap not know his own son well enough yet? Of course that only made Will’s need to know even greater. “Father. Tell me,” he insisted quietly. “If she’s been on the Dutchman, will she come again?”

A weary, dry sigh rattled Bootstrap Bill’s chest as he looked up at the sky again. “A lot of what I know is a mix of stories from the other members of the crew… only some of it is what I experienced myself.” He knew that Will wouldn’t let it alone until his curiosity was satisfied, and it was too late to take back what had been said. He ran his fingers through his hair and shuffled over to sit in a tight coil of blackened anchor rope piled on the deck, wanting to settle in before beginning such a hefty tale. “I guess it traces back to Davy Jones and Calypso, and even before that… she’s older than Calypso. Sisters. But not really. It’s hard to explain.” His brow furrowed and Bill’s expression became troubled as he looked over to the prying gaze of his son. There was no good way to start this. “Calypso is the sea, the ocean… the Great Waters. Celeste is the Sky.” There. That was about as blunt as it got. “The clouds, the stars, the sun and moon… the fresh wash of rain on your face and the warm fingers of sunlight that dry you off, she is all of that. She’s the hurricanes that have flung ships onto the reef and the tornado that scars up the lands, too. Her reach is not limited to the waters; there is no hiding from her.”

It was Will’s turn to look troubled. His father hadn’t been lying; this was most certainly something that they didn’t want to fringe their destinies with, it had already been a close enough shave with Calypso, who was apparently less powerful of the two sisters. Still, knowing the story wouldn’t hurt, it would only help to benefit later on if such a thing happened -- Will could be further prepared for such an encounter. “Go on,” he prodded, while taking a seat as well and resting his elbows on his knees, leaning forward with interest.

Bill nodded and licked his dry lips before continuing.


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