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Elizabeth Swann stared longingly out her bedroom window. Will had been gone for three weeks now, away on trade business. Ever since he became a tradesman, it seemed Will was always away on business.
"I'll be back in about a month," he said the day he left.

"Please try to hurry Will. I miss you terribly when you leave."

Will smiled and stroked Elizabeth's cheek lovingly. "I'll give my best effort."

Elizabeth leaned in and gave Will an affectionate kiss.

Three weeks seemed like an eternity in Port Royal. Elizabeth sighed, and snatched her diary off her bookshelf. She sat at her desk and opened to the next blank page of the small journal.

I do wish that Will would hurry, she thought. I have absolutely nothing to write about when he is gone.

But, painstakingly, Elizabeth wrote about the day's menial events, starting with paper work, arranging plans for her wedding and ordering more couture from Britain. After only a page and a half, she tired of writing and closed her book with another sigh of boredom.

"Pirates may be bloody idiots but they certainly have much more fun than I ever will."

Elizabeth stared back out her window to the harbor. Suddenly, memories of a certain Captain Jack Sparrow flooded her mind. She smiled fondly. She remembered the first time she met Jack on a dock in Port Royal's bay. He had saved her unceremoniously from the depths of the bay after she had fallen off a cliff. She remembered opening her eyes and seeing the unusual pirate hovering above her a look of wonder on his tan face. Who was this strange man, whose only interest was the medallion hanging around her neck? Immediately, she found she had fascination toward this man, one she had never felt towards anyone before.

Although, no sooner had he saved her from death, that he threatened her life. Elizabeth frowned. Jack may have seemed impulsive at the time, but it wasn't until later that she found out that almost every move was calculated carefully.

Vaguely, she wondered where Jack was or what he might be up to. Probably searching for some long lost treasure that did not exist or pillaging some poor village.

A man calling her name drew her from her own mind.

"Elizabeth! Please make yourself present, I wish to have a word with you."

Elizabeth rose from her desk and walked across the hall to her father's quarters. Governor Swann was sitting at his desk, his spectacles hanging off the edge of his nose.

He looked up from his work and smiled fondly.

"Please sit down dear."

Elizabeth sat in a chair next to her father's large oak desk.

"I notice you have been much more quiet lately Elizabeth. For you, that is out of the norm."

Elizabeth laughed, "Oh, I'm quite alright Father. I just miss Will when he's away. I know I've grown too old for such things but, I feel so...bored at times."

Governor Swann nodded, "Well I would expect nothing less from dear. You have always been the restless type. But I am forgetting why I called you here. You see, I thought maybe you would like to go on trip of sorts tomorrow. You know, to the bay a few miles from here?"

Elizabeth grinned, her white teeth shining in the candlelight.

"Truly? That would be wonderful! Thank you Father...why have you let down your defenses now," she asked becoming suspicious.

Governor Swann laughed, "You are becoming of proper age now Elizabeth so that you may travel more freely. But I will send a servant with you."

Elizabeth nodded serenely but then kissed her father affectionately on the cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered before skipping to her room.

The Governor sighed with a frown.

"Yes...you're welcome."

The next day, Elizabeth woke early to find her servant woman, Anna, still sleeping in the servant quarters. Elizabeth smiled to herself mischievously and walked to the stables, satisfied that Beth would not be up for another two hours at least.

"There is no way that I am taking that ugly black coach across the island," she muttered half to herself and half to her mare.

Within a few fifteen minutes, Elizabeth was riding along the worn path west of Port Royal. The morning brought with it the sultry tropical breeze and the scent of strange fruits. Elizabeth urged her mare into a gallop, grinning and enjoying the sting of the wind on her face. After riding for four miles or so, Elizabeth stopped in a secluded bay, wide enough to see the open ocean. She tied her mare to a palm tree next to some cool grass and walked to the beach. Warm and soft was the sand under Elizabeth's feet and she sat down watching the waves roll in and out. This is what I need, she thought. A day away from business and useless tasks. Elizabeth smoothed out her long, red dress and her breeches underneath. Her dress was that of Spanish origin, something she had ordered from Britain. Thank goodness it wasn't a tight fitting dress, but actually quite billowy and comfortable.

After a few minutes of walking around the beach and wading through the water, Elizabeth noticed a black spot on the horizon out at sea. She squinted her eyes and walked a few feet out to a sandbar. The black spot could now be distinguished as a ship. She shrugged and sat on the sandbar. It was probably just a trade ship coming down from England.

She sat enjoying the cool mist of the waves for a few more minutes before realizing that the ship was turning wide to the west, as if trying to evade Port Royal's sight. Elizabeth watched the ship draw closer, and finally realized with apprehensiveness that the ship was coming straight for the secluded bay. And what was worse was the final comprehension of the ships true intentions.

"It can't be," Elizabeth whispered in disbelief.

The Black Pearl's ebony sails whipped fiercely in the wind.


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