A Curse of the Heart - Jungle Cruise

~What We Were, Who We Are~

"My father was a mercenary and he was recruited by Aguirre's father in Algiers. When my father died protecting him, he took me in. Raised Aguirre and me together, like brothers. In 1556, Aguirre's daughter, Anna, had fallen ill, the same sickness that had claimed her mother's life a few years previous. That was when we first heard tell of the legend of the Tears of the Moon..."

"Anna was all he had, and he vowed he wouldn't lose her. So off we set on our voyage. We fought the ocean, only to be beaten by the river. The jungle fought our every step. I would have done anything to find the Tears of the Moon and save Anna - even chart the Amazon."

"You were Aguirre's cartographer? You drew my map? Oh, Frank-" Lily breathed. 

"You really think my work is extraordinary?"

"I think you were a minor master of your time!"

"Minor?"

She just shrugged in amusement.  "So how did you two meet then?"

"We're getting there." And he continued. "One by one, the jungle took us. We were all but dead. Still, Aguirre wouldn't turn back. There was no world for him without his daughter in it. And then she came, our beacon of light, of hope." At this point in the story he turned to his wife, who took over from here. 

"I found them, had been tracking them for days, and they were way off course. I set them back on their path, but first, they needed much-needed rest and recovery." 

"We would have all died had they not saved us with the Tears of the Moon. The petal's magic was real, it's powers unlocked by the chief and Rafaela, his daughter. All that was broken, the petals mended. Still, it took us a long time to heal and regain our strength, but the village took us in, welcomed us with open arms. We were revived. Aguirre was happy, because he was closer than ever to finding a cure for his daughter."

 "I had sought the outside world for a long time," Raf explained.  "Wondered what lay beyond our camp. But my curiosity got the best of me when I found the outsiders and brought them home..." She trailed off and her tone became serious.

Frank's expression had turned grave as well.  "But soon Aguirre grew impatient. He demanded that they give him the arrowhead and take him to the Tree."

 "But my father refused, said he was not worthy. Well, you can imagine what that did to Aguirre-"

"Despite all the kindness they had shown us, he would have killed every last one of them. I loved Aguirre, but I couldn't be part of the madness. I couldn't just stand by."

"Aguirre stabbed my father, and Frank tried to stop him from doing more damage, leaving me to flee with the arrowhead. My father knew he was breathing his last breath, and he used that breath to protect the arrowhead and our sacred tree. He cursed Aguirre, all of them, even Frank, so that they could never leave sight of the river again, or the jungle would take them back to it, for all eternity. And me, he enchanted, to always protect the arrowhead from the terror I had brought upon our people, and so protecting the Tree as well."

"It wasn't your fault," Frank assured her. 

"It doesn't always feel that way."

Lily shook her head in astonishment at the tale. "So now you're immortal?"

"Essentially, yes. Aguirre hated me for betraying him. We found each other over the years, and we fought. And fought again. Eventually, I got tired of being stabbed-"

"And I got tired of removing blades and treating wounds," Raf cut in. 

"And so I made sure he would never hurt us or anyone else again. Raf knew the jungle, so she knew just the spot. We trapped them in a cave, where the jungle couldn't take them back to the river. And for three hundred years the jungle ravaged their bodies, turning them into the monsters they are today."

"The wonders of the jungle," added Raf. 

"I don't know how they were freed, but we were safe for a while."

"What did you do?"

"Made the best of it. Built a town, that was fun. Made some friends, lost some friends. Got married. That's when I decided to search for the Tears of the Moon. Built a boat and named her after the goddess of the moon, Quila. While Raf was travelling around making sure the arrowhead never got too far out of sight, I charted every inch of this river, searching. Till I finally gave up-"

"Don't say that," she cut in again.

"-And since I could never leave site of the river, I started giving jungle cruises to tourists."

"And do they enjoy your terrible jokes?" Lily joked herself.

"No," Raf answered for him. "The worst one is, 'Oh no, Piranhas! Don't worry women and children, they're man eating!'"

"Oh God!" The ladies shared a laugh, followed by a growl from a certain cat.

"But of course, we can't forget about you." Frank stroked Proxima's  ears. "Over the years I would find strays that needed someone - the next after the  next after the next - but don't worry, you're my favourite, girl."

She growled in a way that sounded a lot like something along the lines of 'Of course I am'.

"What are you going to do when you find the Tree?" Lily asked the question that had been burning on her tongue. 

Frank shrugged.  "Finally lift the curse."

"But what will happen to you?"

"Start another adventure, I suppose. Probably somewhere else though," answered Raf. 

Frank paused before answering himself. "We get to make a choice - and I choose to rest."

Silence overcame them.

"But-" Lily began to protest. 

"Look, all that new stuff in the world I've seen thousands and thousands of times."

"But it's never been meaningful."

"I've lived longer than any man can, or ever should."

"No, don't say that-" Raf cut him off, her voice trembling.

"Raf-"

"No, shut up!" she suddenly shouted. Then, without another glance at him, she stormed away, locking herself below decks. 

(Had to add in one of the jokes I remember from being on the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland! ;) 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed as always! :))