AFTER THE SECESSION OF THE FIGHTING, the crew was tired; exhausted from having played with such zeal. Some slept in their cabin, while others dozed gently in steerage.

The boat was no longer advancing, and had come dangerously close to Earth, for no apparent reason for some. We wondered where the famous Captain Jack Sparrow had gone: the one who went up to defy the devil, and not the one who floated like a bottomless buoy.

The days were calm and mundane, and all seemed to be alike. Near the Isla Cruces, they had come so close to opening the chest, and Jack was still biting his fingers with guilt.

At night, no one wandered on the boat, the winter cold still residing in the air despite the arrival of spring. Asteria shuddered. Sitting on the steps leading to the helm, she admired what was given to her to see. She had missed the whole show terribly, and she couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Inspire.

And exhale.

Her lungs were stuffed with air, as she had been suffocated for so long back in her mansion. She knew that going back there was in no way a desired choice, but rather an opposite that she had grieved in order to escape her too pestilential nature. It wasn't that she was descended from pirates, no: she had even begun to like them, if she had ever despised them.

She could not accept the atrocity committed by her blood, and wished by all possible providence the end of a dynasty that would carry this gene.

But after all, she knew she was capable of killing, as she had done in the battle. Kill, for a good reason; for a good person.

She and Will hadn't spoken a word since, and the blame lay heavily on her shoulders. At that thought, she released the weight of her head, which hit the wet planks of the ship.

"Ouch."

She chuckled silently at her stupidity, and breathed again. Renewal. It was kind of what she was looking for here. The news, she had already had a cast. No, she was trying to rebuild herself, like nations torn apart in the aftermath of a war.

For his part, Will had had a deep thought and headed towards Gibbs' hammock. He had pondered back to his distant words, echoing in the resonance of a few months ago. This space of time, Will had felt it, inside and outside. He had changed, matured – maybe, and felt more ready than ever to face anything.

Finding his father with Sparrow's help had upset him, for good and bad, and it had marked a new chapter in his life. Asteria wasn't part of it, and while he was grateful that she had saved his life days before, he hadn't forgotten. Bitter and harsh, their relationship, which had never actually begun or been materialized, was no more. It was only the unsaid, the smiles, and the feelings that Will knew the unique way round.

He had appreciated Asteria dearly, and didn't think he would ever stop, only the cold between them helped him to turn the page more easily. He hadn't expected her to come back, but she always had a tendency to surprise him.

Arrived at Gibbs' mattress, the young man heard the sage's words again, at Tia Dalma's.

"Aye, come back to me when you will know who you want to be."

Will pretended to drop an old book, which woke the sailor.

"Stop! Who is here?" Gibbs uttered, half asleep, eyes closed.

"Gibbs, it's me, Will," the latter whispered.

"Oh! Boy, if you want rum, it's in the holds," Gibbs muttered before falling back to sleep.

"Hey, Gibbs. Gibbs?"

No answer.

Will laughed tenderly, but quietly so as not to wake the others. He took that same book and tore out a page. Taking out a quill and ink found on the way, he wrote copiously on the page:

"Gibbs, I know who I am now."

Will had received an extraordinary education for a poor person. In England, his mother had tried to impart all the knowledge she could to him, mobilizing all her years of research and work.

Rose Turner, born Primavera, was the one and only child of a librarian couple. All her life she had been able to read freely, even though she was not legally allowed to. "Reading is for erudite," said the guards she heard passing by, long ago.

Like Asteria, she had a thirst for knowledge, and it was this same temperament that Will appreciated in the young girl. He was not looking for a mother, but a reminder of the qualities of the deceased with a woman he had liked was always well received. Perhaps that was what had drawn him: the way Asteria could give her all for her loved ones, and the next day could be the calmest girl in the world, just like his mother had been.

Bill Turner had come to buy a book, on a trip to Edinburgh. It was there that he had come face to face with the most beautiful girl he had seen in his life, and he considered her much more than a boat. Innocent and tender, she was surely the reality of what was said about Mary Shepard, which on the other hand was all lies, at least in her case.

The man had waited a month to propose to Rose. Every day he had gone to the library counter, pretending to do research for his captain. Rose was not insensitive to the charm of the man but remained reserved.

On a holy day, Bill had dressed in his best suit, swapping his salty pirate clothes. Intending to return a book he had borrowed, he handed it to Rose, who upon opening it found the most beautiful engagement ring in the world.

Devoid of diamonds, of any considerable immaterial wealth, Bill had simply fished an oyster to extract the pearl in its yoke. Rose, too moved to speak, dutifully nodded and smiled at the sailor, who immediately fell madly in love with her. Although they didn't know each other much, they spent their days at the beach, chatting about their lives before bonding.

Going up from the holds, Will wondered why he wasn't sleeping like everyone else at this late hour. And climbing only three steps to reappear on the surface, it didn't take him long to recognize the pensive figure in the distance against the stairs. And at the same time, who would be so meditative at this hour on a ship, contemplating the stars?

She hadn't seen him, too obsessed with her stellar study, but he was looking at her. How could you blame her, when she was sitting like that ; an angel diving towards the heavens? Abhorring her was simple from a distance, but now that she was here, nothing made sense anymore.

Will rubbed his hands together, trying to maximize his chances for some philanthropic body heat. He closed his eyes and tried to do like his peer in the distance. Concentrate, and only listen to his heart.

The latter was beating, intensely, and he didn't know if it was still the euphoria of reunion or if it was malfunctioning. Maybe Maccus had hit a vein that was messing up the whole system. Yes surely. But, Will wasn't going to stand there for hours. What was the point of not talking to each other?

If they shouldn't even be poor colleagues anymore, maybe they deserved an explanation. A fuller and more driven explanation than the last one which was wet and wild to say the least. Here, the scenery was quiet, and Asteria seemed able to speak. She appeared to be in those moments when she could pronounce for hours on her feelings or on the stars. So that was the most inconvenient moment.

The young man approached slowly as his boots scraped the floor. Although he wasn't as dreamy as she was, he had to admit the beauty that surrounded him: the shimmering water, the dust-strewn sky, and the island in the distance, waiting. Asteria was alerted to his presence and an expression of surprise came over her face.

She probably didn't expect them to talk, and the young man to come on his own. To return the favor, she decided to start.

"Beautiful stars, no?" she asked.

She looked him straight in the eye. It was there that the young man noticed the poverty of her clothes. Barely in a dressing gown, Asteria was almost bare if she had been at court. It was the first time he was seeing so much of her.

White dress filled with lace, it had short sleeves that went up over her shoulders. Like a reflex he couldn't control, Will, despite the cold, undressed his navy blue jacket, and quickly passed it over to Asteria, draping it thinly over her shoulders for her to put on.

At the contact of her skin against his, Will felt an electric current pass through him to his stomach, and abruptly withdrew his hand, shaking it.

"Oh, thank you William."

William. It was the first time she called him by his full name.

The girl quickly put on the jacket and hugged it to her to feel the warmth. A scent specific to the young man came through her nostrils and she was not complaining: it was pleasant. She swallowed and looked down, the wind tickling her long brown hair.

"Look, I...I'm sorry."

She lifted her head to meet his gaze, which remained impassive. He let no emotion filter through and looked like a stone statue – like the ones on Easter Island, although these were even more expressive.

She breathed hard and decided to fight back again, after all she had nothing to lose after losing, him.

"I was stupid and incongruous, I was everything I hate the most. The shock was just too great, and I couldn't afford to allow my father to stay in his lane. I was scared, terribly scared of who I was, who I am. But I got over it."

Will listened to her but said nothing, as if he had lost his way.

"Will, please talk to me."

"Why would you talk to a pirate."

"Why would you talk to a pirate."

Those were the only words he said.

"I am deeply sorry and ashamed, if you knew. I never wanted to hurt you."

Asteria's words blew away on the evening wind, whoever could listen. She stood up, only to be two feet away from Will, who hadn't moved an inch. Stoic, he did not react. And, that's where he was strong: ignorance was the best weapon to hurt in the artery.

As a cool gust passed, Asteria fought back tears, which forced out like a caged pirate. She took off the jacket and slammed it roughly against Will's chest and started to leave. In her exhaustive walk, the sobs fell, like an oath kept for too long. Her face drowned, she had to stop in order to breathe.

She rubbed her hands together, and swore there was more water on her body than in the sea beside her. Far behind her, she heard the echo of a voice.

"So how does it feel to be married? Do you feel...changed?" Will snapped, a mocking tone in his voice. What would sound like rejoicing was concrete contempt.

And like the stroke that broke the camel's back, Asteria turned, the sadness planed into a benign anger. She took Will's hand roughly to show him hers.

No wedding ring.

No marriage.

No marriage?

Will took a deep breath, and annoyed, he dropped a few spears.

"You left us! Abandoned! Why are you so selfish? You were there, languishing in your mansion as you see fit, because you have a choice where you want to go. You play with people's feelings; how many times will you come back to Norrington? You're just a spoiled girl who doesn't know what she wants."

He had never expressed how he felt so much, keeping all this pain to himself because he was thinking too much about it.

The words sounded like daggers in the chest and Asteria was extremely hurt.

The young girl left, hurt and tears flowing like a banshee. She tried as best she could to wipe them away with the back of her hand, and as she approached, she smelled Will's alluring scent stick to her skin. What a moron.

Sure, she had her faults, but he had acted like a real cockroach tonight, as much as he had cut her any desire to continue gazing at the stars for tonight.