Frederick did not love Tortuga. It may have been a bold claim, but Tortuga was probably at the top of his list of places he'd never like to visit again. On the other hand, Anne was enthralled. She may have kept close to Kidd and De Soto, but her curiosity was starting to put some distance between them. The port was a whole other world she'd never been exposed to before and beyond the rank smell of liquor and poor hygiene, there was the scent of adventure just around every bend.

"What did I say about staying close?" Kidd hissed as she pulled Anne back toward the group.

"I've been forced into an arranged marriage, kidnapped, shipwrecked, and undressed over the past week," Anne skeptically retorted, pulling her arm away. "How could my life get any worse?"

"Keep asking that question, princesa, and you may just find out," De Soto answered with a knowing look as he nodded his head toward the clusters of lingering eyes that had yet to break eye contact.

Anne subconsciously folded her arms across her chest, hugging herself as a means of coping while drawing closer to her brother. He protectively wrapped an arm around her shoulders, but the gesture was done lazily as his eyes stared straight forward as if he were in a daze. Anne gently nudged his side and he quickly blinked before looking down at her.

"Are you alright?" Anne quietly asked.

Frederick swallowed, nodded his head, and lied through his teeth. "I'm fine."

"You know it would be alright if you weren't?" Anne rhetorically asked. "You've been through a lot today."

A beat of silence passed before Frederick muttered under his breath. "My life flashed before my eyes, Anne... and I realized—I realized it's amounted to nothing."

"Freddie—"

"Anne, it's true," Frederick interrupted her protest. "Now, I'm going to change all that because I'm going to get us home."

Anne silently nodded her head. She didn't contradict him nor agree because she knew the look she'd receive should she ever admit that just maybe she was alright with what happened. It was terrifying at first, but the biggest chance adventure had just been laid at her feet and she only had to walk down the path to accept it.

Having made up his mind, Frederick tried to straighten out his shirt, but the effort was wasted on his torn and muddied garments. He looked down at himself displeased, but whatever complaint was meant to be said was overshadowed by the commotion of the tavern beside them. Without warning, one of the occupants was tossed from the building, just barely missing Anne, landing in the slop of swine across the way.

Anne rushed to the man's side, quickly pulling his face out of the mud. She gently rubbed the mud away from his eyes while kneeling at his side. Slowly, his eyes opened, but his intoxicated state of mind remained. He blinked rapidly, trying to focus on merging the echoes into one figure.

"Are you alright?" Anne asked, but his reply was to pass out.

Realizing that several passers were beginning to stare, Kidd approached and pulled the princess away from the drunken sailor. They were drawing more attention than she liked. "I think it's time to go."

"But he might need—"

"Help?" Kidd interrupted, now pulling Anne to her side as she walked down the corridor of buildings. "If you stopped to help every drunken sailor in the port... well let's just say you'd have quite the reputation."

Sometime between the brief events of distraction, De Soto had snuck away and now returned with a displeased look on his face. He leaned close and whispered into Kidd's ear, forcing Anne to raise her brow with curiosity.

"Sparrow?" Kidd questioned aloud, reeling back with the same amount of displeasure. However, the frown pulling at the corner of her lips slowly reversed into a coy smirk. "Sparrow's here? I can make that work."

"I thought we were here for a ship," Frederick interjected, "but the two of you appear more focused on bird-watching."

De Soto chuckled at the prince's clueless nature and shook his head, but didn't correct the misunderstanding. Kidd did not look nearly as amused. "We're working on passage, but I thought we might stop at the tailor's first... unless you wished to continue our voyage in your soiled garments?"

"Lead the way." Anne nodded, accepting the offered plan before the invitation could be rescinded. The winds of the seaside were brisk and her damp undergarments didn't help the chill either.

They continued down several more alleys before finally stumbling into the tailor's shop. Kidd and De Soto were at least vaguely familiar with the shopkeeper because they immediately struck up a conversation while the disheveled royals were sent to change.

After several rotations of garments and boots being flung around the corners of the room. Anne finally stepped out from behind the changing board with a look of confusion.

"These are men's clothes."

Captain Kidd nodded her head in agreement. "Another strong observation."

"Why am I wearing men's clothes?" Anne question, reiterating her confusion.

"To maintain your honor," Kidd replied. Without making a request, Kidd then tied Anne's hair back into a ponytail that was quickly hidden beneath a bandana and hat. "We're trying to avoid the wrong kind of attention. Believe me, this is for your own protection."

"But you're not dressed like a man," Anne innocently retorted, but maintained her look of skepticism.

"I know my way around a blade well-enough to establish a strong reputation," Kidd retorted with a scoff. "You walk back out into that port dressed like me, well those sailors will only take it as an invitation."

"So I'm to pretend I'm a man," Anne again asked for clarification.

Kidd nodded her head. "A secret kept between our small group until we get you home. A chivalrous deed well worth the reward you're going to give me when you're safely delivered."

"You're the ones that kidnapped us in the first place," Anne reminded her, unamused.

"A deed you'll overlook if you want to be safely returned home," Kidd repeated herself. "Don't forget that there are plenty of scoundrels that would pay a pretty penny for your heads."

"How gracious," Anne scoffed.

"You'd do well to think so," Kidd unironically agreed before turning toward her partner. "De Soto, is his royal-pain-in-the-arse finished yet?"

De Soto sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Ay, mio dios, It does not matter, Príncipe! Pick a bandana and let's go."

"Of course it matters," Frederick's voice echoed from behind his changing board. "I may be disguised as a pirate but I refuse to look like a savage."

Kidd huffed under her breath, rolled her eyes, then pushed her way back behind the changing board despite Frederick's protests. A second later, she was dragging the prince out by his ear, a bold display few had been able to successfully get away with.

Frederick frowned as he dusted himself off, finally free from the captain's grip once outside the shop. "What if I'd been indecent?"

Kidd scoffed and offered De Soto a knowing look with a sly grin. "Ain't nothin' I ain't seen before. Don't flatter yourself."

Frederick gaped, at loss for words. He closed his mouth, but dropped his jaw once more once he finally noticed Anne. "What are you wearing?"

"Do you want these sailors trying anything with your sister?" Kidd rhetorically asked. "No? Then meet your brother: Andrew."

"Andrew." Anne felt the shape of the name on her tongue. Something about it made her smile, a thought she quickly chastised while straightening her posture. An action that Kidd quickly corrected.

"Slouch," the captain instructed. "Walk with a bit of a swagger, less with your hips and more with your shoulders... Just follow De Soto's lead and you'll be fine."

Without another word, Kidd turned on her heels and strutted down the alley back toward the docks with her head held high in confidence, leading her small entourage of three. Although they received a few looks, none of the sailors dared whistle at the scarlet-clad pirate captain. Too many had lost their teeth and fingers, much less their riches and booze, to the pirate captain over the years from making such a mistake.

De Soto winked in the general direction of a few sailors while swiping some unattended doubloons left out on the counter of a vendor cart while the merchant had their back turned for less than a second. Frederick's nose wrinkled and he quickly looked over his shoulder with a fearful look, but De Soto quickly corrected the action by forcing his head forward. "Never look back toward the crime, Príncipe. That's a sure way to get caught."

Frederick slowly nodded his head, but maintained his sheepish disposition that had returned the second they'd stepped foot outside the tailor's shop. Even though he'd mostly cleaned up, he already felt filthy walking through the grimy streets brimming with disease-ridden sailors and thieves. He closed his eyes, wishing to be home by time they opened, but those dreams were crushed as Anne slung an arm over her brother's shoulder with an excited look beaming from her face.

"This place is so intriguing!"

"If by intriguing you mean unhygienic and licentious, then yes, I agree." Frederick gently removed his sister's arm from around his neck. "Now would you stop bounding around like a hare at a foxhunt and behave like a proper lady, Anne?"

Anne cleared her throat and puffed out her chest. There was a playful look in her eyes as she contradicted him, "But I'm not a proper lady, anymore. I'm a sailor."

Frederick laughed then covered his mouth to conceal the bold sound. He wiped a false tear from his eye, playing along before he realized that she wasn't really jesting. His expression fell and  deadpanned. "Anne. These ruffians have kidnapped us and are now holding us for ransom. Don't go getting any ideas of nonsense stuck in your head that this is some grand adventure. This is my worst nightmare come to life and as soon as we find a port with naval officers, we are amending this situation and those scoundrels will be hung for treason. I'll see to that myself."

"Okay..." Anne slowly nodded her head. "But until then, I think it's best we play along. So for now, I'm your brother Andrew: sailor and swordsman extraordinaire."

Frederick frowned. "If you're going to lie, at least make it believable."

Anne pursed her lips with disdain. "How is that not believable?"

"Anne—"

She cleared her throat.

"Anne!" Frederick reiterated. "If we're alone I'm going to use your proper name, not some indecent pseudonym. Now. You've never held a sword in your life, much less toiled aboard a ship at sea. Not to mention the point of your disguise is to keep a low profile, not draw more attention to yourself."

Anne pouted, crossing her arms. "Fine."

"Keep quiet," Kidd interrupted their conversation as it digressed.

The siblings looked up from the cobblestone road and noticed that they'd finally reached the docks. At the end of the wooden planks, a ship with ink-black sails floated on the waves. There was something eerie about its presence, almost as if it would vanish into think air should they blink; however, there was also a contradiction of majesty and power that the ship exhibition from the burned wood of the hull that refused to die. Standing at the gangplank, a pair of sailors stood, looking over a list as if checking for provisions.

"Let me do all of the talking," Kidd instructed, miming an action meant to keep the royals quiet. "Oi, Sparrow!"

The man referred to as Sparrow quickly lifted his head from the parchment, and a grimace instantly crossed his lips as his eyes widened with horror. There was obviously some history between the two, and from the looks of things, not the good time.

"Ah, Jillian," the pirate released an awkward laugh while fiddling with his fingers, yet keeping distance between them by standing behind his first mate. "What brings you around these waters."

"Tortuga's always been the best place for recruitment," Kidd replied with a vicious but coy smile. "And it looks like a similar thought's been going through your head."

Jillian Kidd nodded her head toward the list as if making an accusation. Sparrow quickly rolled up the list. "Oh, this? Just a list of provisions: rum, powder, rum..."

"Oh, so it's not a census of crew?" Jillian rhetorically asked, stepping closer as Sparrow backed away. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but if my memory serves, which is usually does, last we met you owed me a ship and a crew. And by Jove you seem to have already collected both for me, here and now."

Sparrow's timid demeanor instantly faded. With a fresh sense of confidence, he stepped around his first mate and met Jillian where she stood, leaning over her as if to stand his ground. "Not just anyone is capable of sailing the Pearl, love. Now, I may have owed once, but we've been square since Antigua, savvy?"

Jillian's jaw clenched with tension while a look of satisfaction crossed Sparrow's face with a smug grin. However, the moment was brief as Kidd's expression softened. She batted her eyes seductively and gently pressed a finger into Sparrow's chest, warding him off as he suddenly grew uncomfortable.

"Alright, Jack, fair's fair," Jillian ceded. "How about a favor between old friends then? I need passage to London to transport some delicate cargo. I can give you a share of the reward as compensation."

Jack's lips pursed as he thought. He glanced back at his first mate who subtly motioned toward the parchment still in his hands. As if struck by the idea on his own, Jack nodded his head, took dramatic step back, then motioned toward the ship.

"Just sign and we'll be on our way."

"I'll sign your bloody paper, Jack, but I swear if so much as one member of your crew hands me a mop to swab the deck, they'll be overboard quicker than Jones can summon his beast."

Jack's eyes widened in terror and he literally leapt into the air while checking his shoulder as if by saying the name that Jillian had summoned the creature. Her eyebrows quizzically knit together, but she left the matter alone. She rolled her eyes, scratched her name into the paper then boarded the ship, hardly casting a glance over her shoulder at the others while signaling for them to follow.

Anne glanced toward Frederick, but shrugged as De Soto followed after his captain without hesitation. However, she did receive a curious look from Sparrow's first mate after she'd signed her false name, adding a quick flourish at the end in handwriting far to neat to belong to many of the illiterate sailors aboard the ship. She sheepishly laughed and tried to explain herself, but De Soto stepped back, grabbed her by the hand and pulled her aboard the ship.

"What did you not understand about keep quiet?" De Soto questioned. He spoke in a hushed tone. "This is a very dangerous environment for a lady like yourself. Half of these men wouldn't hesitate to lay a hand on you. It's only all fun and games in a man's world, princesa."

Anne slowly nodded her head. She understood that phrase, she'd been reminded of her place her entire life. But now, she was the one wearing the pants. She took De Soto's warning to heart, but what did she have to fear as a man in a man's world. The sea and the sky lay ahead and all sense of trepidation that she'd reserved previously had vanished the instant she had donned a pair of trousers.

She'd always been confident, but now she could wear that confidence without fearing the consequences or how she might be perceived. In a world swayed by the sea and the sky, nobility had a fresh meaning and was no longer determined by the propriety of dining spoons and ballroom dances. As the wind whipped across her face, she could tell that there was no turning back. She could only go forward and face the unknown with her head held high, allowing the sails to propel her into the adventures she'd only ever been able to dream of experiencing.