BARBOSSA DECIDED TO TAKE his entire crew to the lair of the terrible witch Tia Dalma.

She was terribly attractive, despite the deplorable environment in which she lived. Marshy, muddy and asphalt, the place was very desolate.

Residing in the bayou swamps of Cuba, his cottage being in the mouth of the Pantano River.

Tia Dalma was a gruesome-looking voodoo enchantress. She stood out mainly for her black teeth, blue lips and gloomy makeup.

Constantly wearing a filthy robe, this priestess constantly walked around barefoot. Despite her appearance, Tia Dalma possessed unparalleled power. The scope of this power was not limited to the mortal world.

Before each step, Jack probed the water with his yew rod. The murky water kept everything out of sight, both dangerous and benign. A sudden burst of air bubbles could be a drop from a submerged tree, or the rancid breath of a hunting alligator. The landscape was as scary as it was fascinating: dripping black-trunked trees, decaying vegetation, foaming water, and reeds.

You could hear the drops of water and the croaking of frogs.

Sovereign nature let her call resound, the flies buzzing, and the cries of birds hunting and hunting in this heavy silence. The aroma of brackish seaweed and methane bubbles rising in the water co-melted with the mud mixed with the sweat that flowed into the pirates' mouths.

The heat was not pleasant, heavier than ever. Clothes were sticking from the hot, humid air, water seeping into the boots.

The shiny black body of a leech had become swollen from feeding on a sailor's thigh. Disgusted, he tugged at it, his fingers trembling with the stain. The sound he made was almost a sigh, like the contentment of a pot-bellied king walking away from the table after a royal feast.

The buccaneer formed a team to go and talk to him about the others who were to remain to watch the launches and the ship. Two stones in two shots.

Barbossa, Asteria, Will, Jack and Gibbs headed for the bewitching cabin.

Entering without knocking, the merry cluster penetrated the hovel. Tia Dalma was seen, flamboyant and threatening. She was quite small, but taller than Asteria. Her long hair resembled Jack's. Her swarthy beauty exuded sunshine and purity.

There was no doubt, she was sublime. Her rags, as ravaged as the marsh, gave her the air of a magician at a fair. And how.

"Tia! What a joy to see you again!" Jack exclaimed, running towards her.

She approached, seductive, and smiled at her neighbor. With her delicate hands, she brushed the arm of Jack who closed his eyes.

"Jack! Looks like you owe me a compass, right?"

"I wonder who he's not indebted to," Asteria whispered to Will, who laughed quietly.

"Duty is a big word, my dear..."

"Go, keep it, you would need it very much."

"Excuse me, what's so special about it?" Asteria interposed, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, a few fleeting loose strands falling over her cheeks.

"You... you're Asteria Roberts, aren't you?"

"Swann, Asteria Swann," Barbossa interjected.

"This compass tells you what you want most in the world," Jack explained, soon cut off by the girl.

"To hell with that compass, Tia, what does that mean?" she answered, aggressively.

Tia looked at Barbossa, worried that she had said too much. She had to find an excuse.

"I mistook you for someone else, honey."

"As if, how did you guess my name? For weeks, hints have been made and I'm not bigle."

The witch stared at the pirate, as if waiting for some authorization.

"Will you explain to me?" she cried, unable to handle the stress she was facing.

Will came up behind her, trying to calm her down, and surprisingly, it worked. He had his hand resting on her shoulder and stroking her flesh over the pearly linen shirt.

"Hey, it's fine," he muttered.

Tia took a deep breath, and raised her voice.

"O you, young child. The truth has been hidden from you for far too long."

Asteria frowned and the wait became unbearable.

"You are not the Governor's daughter."

At these words, Asteria's mouth dropped open, she didn't know what to say. It was not possible. It couldn't be conceivable. Her father had been the best mentor she could ask for, and she loved him with such complexity. Who was she then?

She had spontaneously gone on this quest to embrace the person she was, not knowing that her quest was to find her own identity. Her whole life echoed like a deep lie, the court of Port Royal of the masked idiots participating in this fiery ball. How far did the farce go? Where did the truth begin?

Everyone was speechless, thinking they had a sovereign on board.

"But who is she? Whose daughter is she?" Gibbs asked.

"Black Beart. Also known as Bartholomew Roberts," Tia replied.

And there, Jack and Gibbs fired mines, amazed.

"It can't be, good old Bartholomew died already that, what, eighteen years ago? The little one is barely seventeen," cried Jack.

"Bartholomew died in seventeen twenty-two. Asteria was born in the year one thousand seven hundred and eleven. It is quite plausible, and it is even the reality," retorted Barbossa.

The person concerned was imprisoned, could barely hear when spoken to. She had lost her father, and her just procreator was also lifeless.

The shock was too harsh, too strong. Will tried to reassure her, understanding the pain of the news she had just heard, which he was just as surprised by.

"However, who exactly is Bartholomew Roberts?" Will asked.

"Oh, you don't know who he is. Bartholomew Roberts is one of the most terrible pirates the ocean has ever known."

"But not terribly impressive like me, no," Jack said. "He was a fearsome mercenary and killing every prey in his path. He ransacked thousands of lives, all more innocent than the others."

This new discovery felt like a second dagger deep in her heart. Her real progenitor was a slaughterer.

She could not conceive such nonsense, yet everything rang true, like a buried secret that she had never dared to admit to herself.

Will found Jack's words harsh, and unmeasured. He looked at him with animosity.

"How... did he... die..." Asteria managed to say, tears beginning to flow against her will.

"He is said to have had the most successful career as a pirate in history, capturing several hundred ships in just two years. His career as a pirate captain came to an abrupt end in February twenty-two near Cape Lopez, Gabon. On the fifth, a British warship, the Hirondelle, attacked your father's fleet. He would have confused the Hirondelle with a Portuguese merchant ship and decided to attack it. Others say that Chaloner Ogle would have found his fleet anchored on the coast, most of the men drunk after celebrating a victory the day before; Bartholomew Roberts would then have sped with the Royal Fortune towards the Hirondelle, thus trying to overtake it with the help of the wind. Either way, the end of the story is the same. Arrived within firing range, the guns of the Swallow fired a salvo, the Royal Fortune retaliated. Your father was killed in the first and last salvo: a volley of chains fired from a cannon broke the bones of his neck. Before it can be carried away by Chaloner Ogle, your father's body is thrown overboard, in accordance with his wish to rest in the sea forever. Shortly after these events, it was the end of the golden age of piracy," told Tia Dalma.   

After this story, everyone was greatly immersed and deeply touched.

"To die in the ocean, a beautiful last wish," Jack said, wanting to break the immortal silence.

"Is my mother really my mother? Was really," stammered the girl.

"Yes, Mary Shepard is your mother. In love with the Governor, she was ready for anything. But, seduced by Bartholomew, she succumbed to the adventure with him. Your father was not a womanizer, but what vexes all men?" Tia asked.

"The ocean?" Gibbs offered.

"The dichotomy of good and evil," suggested Pintel and Ragetti, the two men who had hunted Asteria back when everything was simpler.

"A woman," said a voice in the simulacrum.

Violette arrived, Asteria paying attention to her two perfectly hung legs.

"Missed me?" she asked, smiling.

"Violette Perpendulum, what joy to see that you are not dead!" Tia blurted.

Jack was no longer shocked, so many revelations today came to light that nothing could be impossible now.

He looked at Gibbs, as if to tell him that he had been right, and that he was sorry he hadn't believed him.

"A woman," Violette resumed. "A woman who was thirsty for adventure and freedom. Her talents as an astronomer allowed her to be useful to Bartholomew, and they maintained a liaison. Mary loved Weatherby, but was too ashamed to admit the child was not his."

Asteria, unable to contain her emotions any longer, left the cabin, slamming the wooden door.

It was too much.

Outside, going far enough to pass the rowboats, she collapsed and burst into tears. It was excruciating.

She wept in the dark night, her hands patting the moss against the greenery. She was struggling madly, so lost and at the end of the abilities that had been enacted into her.

A rain, not a gentle and friendly shower, an icy torrent came, and struck her face. She no longer even knew how to discern her tears from the water falling from the sky. The thunder rumbled like her heart, damaged.    

She was immediately struck by the sound of footsteps behind her. Will was there, supporting her no matter what. He was dressed in his traditional garb now. A pirate outfit. He was terribly attractive, but succumbing to passion was like giving reason and her predecessors.

The rain had wet their hair, the strands dripping all over. Will looked as shaken as she did, and she raised her eyebrows, enjoying every bit of the person in front of her. She didn't deserve it. He came close to her and helped her up. He gently brought his rough hand to her cheeks, trying to wipe the tears away.

But, Asteria brutally pushed his hand away and turned her back on him.

William was too surprised to say anything.

"Will, I can't. I cannot! And you know what's the dumbest?" she admitted, turning back to him, her face flushed with sobbing.

He shook his head, unable to determine what was going on.

The gust rumbled louder and louder, as if it were a repeated pattern of the chaos that was Asteria's head right now.

So many emotions passing through their eyes, without saying a word. Joy, to see his neighbor. Anger, to learn that life is just a pixie. Sadness, who was she? Desire, to follow his heart which itself needed to be guided.

"I take exactly the same path as my mother! I'm leaving, in a stupid way, and I take myself for the queen of the oceans! It's unbearable. I am unbearable. I categorically refuse to take the same path as my father, and end up like him. I can't follow a pirate like my mother. I am so disappointed! She, whose praises were told to me, was only treacherous and unfaithful! Nothing good is in me, therefore my redemption must be made. I do not wish to continue my destiny and my lineage; I would not grant this victory to my father! Will, I can't continue with the pirates. I cannot continue by your side," she said.

Between sobs, she abruptly tore off the family necklace and threw it in the mud.

Before suddenly leaving, she backed up her last eloquence to Will, who was extremely hurt. So much implicit, sore words hidden behind conventions and nice words.

"Forgive me."

She rushed to a rowboat and rowed, alone, under the downpour which had no mercy for her.

Why did she always leave.

Will wished he had time to explain to her that she had nothing to do with her parents and that she was master of her own destiny, but he barely had time to blink before she walked away. Gone, forever?

The young man returned among the pirates, no longer sure where he belonged now that Asteria was gone. No matter. He loved being at sea, and he would never force the girl to stay, to stay for him.

"Where's Asteria?" Gibbs asked, ever faithful.

"Volatilized, she no longer wishes to interfere with our condition," asserted Will hoarsely, tears reaching his cornea, which he swallowed the fall.

He found it hard to swallow and wondered how everything he had ever wanted could have disappeared so easily.

"That is a pity. Well, all this entertainment wasn't the reason I came here. Tia Dalma, guard Jack and his crew, after all, he does have a debt to pay. Take good care of them, though, so they'll be fit for the final battle," Barbossa directed.

Leaving the cabin, he left Jack, Gibbs and a few of his sailors to fend for themselves.

Violette, passing the door, showed her knife in front of Gibbs, just to scare him away once and for all.

"What a pile of garbage, he'll pay for it," Jack retorted.

But Tia was good friends with the pirate and fortunately for him, not resentful. She settled her new companions and found suitable diapers for them.

The world went to bed, and Will just stared out the little window, deeply angry and hurt. On the one hand, he understood the precarious situation she was in, but to push him away in such a way was like she was shouting at him, who would love a pirate and a man like you.

Gibbs saw Will's pain and tried to tame it:

"I am sorry. You know women, I can't take it anymore I think," he began.

"Switch to men, then," Will suggested.

Gibbs sneered, glad to see the openness of a Port Royal resident. Nevertheless...

"Ha-ha! No, I subsequently love women. The ocean and the ladies are my one and only great love."

He took a deep breath and continued his conversation, his fatherly monologue.

"Listen Will, I've known you since you were tiny, I was there the day you rescued me. If I have learned anything over the years, it is that you have to know yourself before opening up to others. I bet that without it, you won't find your account anymore. Find your place, claim it, you are never better served than by yourself."

Will was smiling, grateful, hearing those wise words he knew were true.

"Thank you, Gibbs."

"No problem. Come back to me when you find who you want to be in this globe."

"Count on me," he laughed.

And Will intended to achieve it, thinking back to his original and factual quest: find his father.