Chapter Text
Part I
Daughter of the Sea
Chapter 1: The Medallion
~ Prologue ~
Benjamin Swann leaned against the railing of the British military ship the HMS Supremacy, staring out across the endless blue waters of the ocean and relishing the feeling of the brisk, salty breeze blowing through his wavy black hair. For the first time in his life, he was going on a real, proper adventure, and he was going to enjoy every damn minute of it, even if he wasn’t thrilled by the new responsibilities that awaited him when he arrived at his destination.
“Benjamin, please be careful — you’ll fall off the ship if you lean too far over the railing!” his uncle Luke called out to him.
Fighting back a heavy sigh, Ben did as he was ordered. He wasn’t afraid of a little danger, but at this moment it wasn’t worth arguing with his uncle Luke. He was always amazed by his uncle’s seemingly supernatural ability to sense when Ben might be doing something he shouldn’t.
Luke Swann had just been appointed governor of Jamaica, and he’d invited his nephew to come with him and serve as his aide.
At first, 15-year-old Ben was excited by the prospect of a long ocean voyage, even if it meant spending a lot of time with his occasionally grumpy uncle Luke. However, he was less thrilled by beginning a career in government. Ben would much rather join the Royal Navy and spend his life on the seas, but his family was eager to steer his future in a different (and safer) direction. In the end Ben had consented to go to Port Royal not because he’d had a change of heart about a political career, but because he wanted to make his mother proud.
Although he loved them fiercely, Ben had fought with his parents more and more often as he got older, and after the tragic death of his father, Ben was sincerely trying to build a better relationship with his mother, Leia. Leia seemed to think that going to Jamaica with Luke was a good choice for his future, and so Ben would do this for her. His mother had suffered enough already; Ben would not bring more sorrow upon her by breaking her heart.
The Swann family had been brought down in London society by a number of scandals in the recent past, and Luke’s appointment as governor was an unexpected offer of redemption from the crown. Ben knew that running off to join the Navy against his mother and his uncle’s wishes right now would not help the family’s standing in society — even if he knew the call of the sea would haunt him for the rest of his life. He’d taken on the Swann family name rather than his father’s, which only added to his complicated feelings about his heritage.
A shadow fell across the deck of the HMS Supremacy, and Ben glanced up and saw clouds gathering overhead, obscuring the sun. The air grew thick with fog, and the captain called for the ship to slow its pace.
“I can’t see a damned thing through this bloody fog,” one of the sailors muttered as he passed by Luke and Ben to secure the rigging.
Luke frowned. “Take care that you don’t pick up any bad habits from these sailors,” he whispered to Ben. “Their coarse language can be quite shocking sometimes.”
Ben simply nodded, deciding it was probably better not to confess to his uncle that he’d already heard most of these “shockingly coarse” words before, when he’d sneaked off to the tavern with his best friend Armitage, who happened to be the son of the HMS Supremacy’s captain, Brendol Hux.
As Ben peered through the heavy fog, he saw a dark shape floating in the water near the ship. Luke spotted it soon after he did, and this time he didn’t lecture Ben as the young man leaned over the railing to get a closer look.
Ben felt an eerie chill slither through him as he realized the floating object was no ordinary ocean flotsam...it was a trunk from a passenger vessel.
“Shipwreck ahead!” one of the sailors called out, and soon everyone on board the Supremacy was rushing to the deck to take a look.
Broken boards were scattered across the water, and although the sailors were ordered to keep a look out for survivors, the wreck had occurred at least a day ago and there was unlikely to be anyone left alive.
Ben felt a tightness in his chest as he stared at the debris-laden waters, a grim reminder that the sea could be a cruel mistress: a place that inspired both awe and terror as it gave and took away, based on its own whims.
“I think we should go below now,” Luke said quietly, trying to steer Ben away from the railing, when something new caught Ben’s eye. It was a small raft floating on the water, and there was a small body huddled on it. He couldn’t tell whether it was an adult or a child, but he did see their chest rising and falling with ragged breaths.
“Help! Over here — I’ve found a survivor!” Ben cried out, pointing frantically to the raft. “Hurry!”
The sailors pulled the raft from the water onto the deck, and as Luke went to fetch the ship’s doctor, Ben knelt beside the drenched form. It was a young woman, dressed in a black cloak and a plain gray dress. Her brown hair was pulled into three tight buns on the back of her head, an unusual hair style for a young lady on a passenger ship. He had no idea who she was, where she was from, or where she was going, but he was grateful the Supremacy had passed by when it did, and saved her from the sea.
All of a sudden, the girl gave a violent cough and her eyes fluttered open, and she and Ben’s gazes suddenly locked. No one had ever stared at Ben so intently before, and he couldn’t look away.
“Who are you?” she rasped, her throat sore from going so long without water. Ben pulled out his water canteen and gently poured some in her mouth.
“I’m Benjamin Swann. You’re on board the HMS Supremacy, bound for Port Royal, Jamaica.”
“I’m...I’m Rey Turner,” she managed to get out before passing out again.
By now the ship’s doctor had arrived, but not before Rey’s hand fell open and a silver medallion fell out.
Ben wasn’t sure why, but he had the sudden urge to grab the medallion before the doctor or his uncle could see it.
“She’s a strong, young lass — she’ll be all right if we get her some food, water, warmth, and sleep,” the doctor proclaimed, enlisting the help of a sailor to carry her belowdecks. “She’s lucky indeed we came along when we did.”
Ben wanted to follow them, just to make sure this mysterious girl was all right, but his uncle gave him a disapproving look and subtly shook his head.
Frustrated, Ben watched them carry Rey out of his sight, and then once Luke’s back was turned, Ben glanced down at the silver medallion resting on his palm.
The medallion was actually a coin that had been turned into a necklace, but it was like no coin he had ever seen before. Some artisan had spent a painstaking amount of time etching a picture into the silver on one side of the coin. The scene depicted was an old man flanked by a young woman and a young man, with their left hands raised in the air and their palms facing outwards. Ben had no idea what this symbolism meant, but he had a feeling it was significant. No one would spend this much time carving a coin with such a strange image for no reason.
As he rubbed his fingers over the metal, he felt an odd sense of uneasiness, as if this coin carried many secrets even Rey herself might not know. He almost thought he heard faint whispers in his mind as he stared at the coin, but he was certain it was only the wind.
He realized he’d never looked at the other side of the coin, and as he turned it over, he immediately felt like someone had punched him in the gut.
On the other side of the coin was a skull and crossbones — a pirate symbol.
He immediately closed his fist and shoved the coin deep inside his pocket. This was a dangerous possession to have, and Ben feared what his uncle and the captain would do if they found out the young woman they’d just rescued had possible ties to piracy.
Although Ben knew the safest option would be to simply toss the necklace into the ocean, where it would never be seen again, he couldn’t bring himself to do that. Instead, he’d keep it hidden for Rey until it was safe to give it back to her.
The fog in the air was finally beginning to clear, and the HMS Supremacy sailed into smoother waters, leaving the shipwreck behind them. Ben couldn’t resist staring back once more into the fog, and for the briefest of seconds, he felt as though his heart had frozen in his chest.
In the mist, he thought he saw a flutter of a ragged black sail, and a flash of a flag with a skull and crossbones. But when he looked again, he saw nothing but the swirling fog, and the HMS Supremacy sailed on to Port Royal without further incident.
***
Ten years later...
Ben woke to the sound of pounding on his bedroom door and he immediately groaned and rolled over, burying his face in the pillow and pulling the sheets up over his head.
He knew exactly what this was all about, but he wasn’t yet ready to face it, and so he’d pretend to be asleep for as long as he could.
“Ben? Ben!”
He could hear his uncle Luke calling to him, the older man’s voice becoming increasingly concerned. “Can you hear me? We cannot afford to be late to the ceremony! Are you almost ready?”
“Yes, I hear you,” Ben grumbled and finally forced himself to open his eyes. Sunlight poured in through the crack between the drapes hanging over his window, and he could tell it was going be a gloriously beautiful day in Port Royal, the kind where the sun sparkled on the water and made the rich green vegetation appear so saturated with color and life that it almost didn’t even look real. He wanted to spend the day exploring; instead, he’d be attending an official ceremony at the fort.
Today his friend Armitage Hux would be commissioned as a commodore in the British Royal Navy. Ben was happy to support his friend (even though he was secretly envious and still wished he could join Hux in the Navy). However, he was NOT looking forward to the mingling and smalltalk after the ceremony itself, especially since Luke supposedly had a young woman of “particular distinction” that he felt Ben should meet.
To Luke, “particular distinction” meant “highly eligible for marriage,” and lately he had been pressuring Ben more and more to select a suitable match and settle down. Although the Swann family name came with years of prestige (now that Luke’s governorship had restored them to the crown’s good graces), Ben had no fortune of his own. Luke reminded him at least once a day that he needed to marry well: preferably a young woman from a prestigious AND wealthy family. Ben kept turning down Luke's candidates, and Luke kept pretending that had nothing to do with Ben’s heart leading him in a direction Luke did not approve.
Ben knew that his uncle would wait outside his door until he came out, so he jumped out of bed and began to dress for the day. He had a new black suit, blue vest, tall black boots, and black tricorn hat commissioned for this event (or rather, his uncle had), and his first thought after putting all this on was that it was going to be very warm wearing this formal attire and standing out in the afternoon sun.
When Ben finally opened the door, Luke nodded at him approvingly.
“Excellent. Just remember to behave in a manner as distinguished as your appearance.”
“Don’t I always?” Ben replied with a roguish grin, and Luke gave him a withering look.
“I won’t dignify that with a response,” Luke fired back, but Ben thought he caught a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his uncle’s lips. His uncle was in good spirits these days, on account of circumstances finally improving for the Swann family. And as much as Ben liked to joke about getting into trouble, he would indeed be on his best behavior today. His mother’s best friend from childhood, the Duchess Amilyn Holdo, would also be in attendance at the ceremony, and he did want to make a good impression.
Ben and Luke made their way down the grand staircase towards the carriage and found a footman waiting for them.
“A visitor for you, M’Lord,” the footman said, and while Ben at first thought that Luke might be flustered by a visitor arriving so close to their scheduled departure time, Luke looked relieved.
“Finally — I feared it might not arrive in time for the ceremony.”
Ben and Luke stepped into the drawing room, and Ben immediately felt as though the floor had dropped out from underneath his feet...as it always did whenever he saw the young woman now standing in front of him.
Rey Turner.
She’d come today with Cornelius Plutt, the most famous blacksmith in Port Royal, with a newly forged sword that would be Luke and Ben’s commissioning gift to the new Commodore Hux. She was wearing a plain brown dress that laced up the front, with an ivory shift underneath, and her hair was wound back into a braided bun. Several wisps of hair had escaped, framing her face and refusing to be contained.
After the HMS Supremacy had found Rey in the shipwrecked waters, she’d settled in Port Royal as an assistant to the blacksmith, as she had no remaining family to turn to. It was unusual to have a young woman working as a blacksmith’s assistant, and originally, Rey had actually been hired as a companion to Mr. Plutt’s wife. However, the Plutts’ son couldn’t be bothered to learn the family trade and had disappeared years ago, and since Rey had shown an aptitude for blacksmithing, Mr. Plutt now had her working in his shop.
Ben knew that Luke wanted his nephew to forget Rey, but Ben had thought about her every single day since he’d first seen her green-brown eyes staring into his on board the HMS Supremacy. It was as if she’d seared herself into his very soul, and after meeting her, he’d never been the same.
There was a reason Ben kept turning down his uncle’s prospective matches, and it was because his heart had been completely, hopelessly lost to Rey. However, he’d never been given a chance to tell her that, and he had no idea if she even returned his feelings. Their differing social classes had forced them into nothing more than a casual friendship, and his uncle didn’t even really approve of that.
“You’re a little late,” Luke said crisply, and Cornelius Plutt bowed in apology.
“I offer my apologies, M’Lord — my assistant got behind in her work. I promise you, this will not occur with any future orders you may place.”
Ben saw a flash of anger in Rey’s eyes, but she kept her lips firmly pressed together, her expression otherwise concealing her true thoughts. Ben knew that Mr. Plutt’s “apology” was a brazen lie; there were rumors that he was just a lazy scoundrel who actually made Rey do all the work, and that she was the craftsman who should be the toast of Port Royal.
Mr. Plutt stepped forward and offered the sword to Luke, who slowly removed it from its scabbard and admired the blade.
“Well, perhaps the lateness was worth it,” Luke remarked. “The craftsmanship is truly exquisite.”
Mr. Plutt smiled and bowed with a flourish. “I am glad you are pleased, Governor Swann. I personally think that it ranks among my best work, and I’m honored that it will be presented to the new commodore.”
Again, Ben saw that flash of fire in Rey’s eyes, and he couldn’t imagine how it felt to have to stand there silently and listen as Mr. Plutt took all the credit for her hard work. Before he even realized what he was doing, he found himself blurting out, “I’m sure Miss Turner also deserves some of the credit for that fine work.”
Rey’s eyes immediately snapped to Ben, and Luke coughed uncomfortably as Mr. Plutt’s face reddened.
“Yes, I’m sure Miss Turner is a fine assistant,” Luke replied, and then swiftly changed the subject. Ben knew his uncle believed that blacksmithing wasn’t proper work for a woman, but Ben wished his uncle could be a little less narrow-minded. Especially since Rey was so obviously talented at what she did.
The sword’s golden hilt was intricately carved with swirls and had a pommel with a regal-looking tiger’s head (Hux loved tigers, and it was Ben’s idea to add that detail to the sword). Ben knew that if he picked it up, he’d find that the weapon was perfectly balanced for combat — a weapon that was both beautiful and deadly. He hated the fact that Mr. Plutt could get away with claiming the work as his own, and the only reason no one wanted to challenge him was because of some ridiculous social rule that blacksmithing was “men’s work.”
“We must bid you good day,” Luke told Mr. Plutt and Rey, obviously wanting to bring this awkward meeting to an end.
“Till next time then, M’Lord,” Mr. Plutt said, and then turned to go, briskly ushering Rey towards the door.
Ben desperately wanted to say something else to her, to let her know that he saw her for who she was, and that she didn’t deserve the way Mr. Plutt treated her. But he could feel his uncle Luke’s eyes boring into his back, and he was afraid that if he pushed the boundaries too much, Luke would do something like forbid him from ever seeing Rey again.
So instead, he watched her through the window as she disappeared from his sight, whispering “Goodbye, Rey,” and wondering how he could stand so close to her and yet still feel like there was an ocean of space between them.
