Chancing Fate - Jack Sparrow x OC

Interlude 2

A/N: Updated 7/28/26

~~~

June 02, 1729

The plan is madness. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get Jack back, but even I must admit how outlandish it all seems. Barbossa, brought back from the dead, as if he weren't our enemy. And he is to lead us to the ends of the earth? I am not alone in my doubts, but I can only pray that this doesn't lead to our actual end. My trust for him does not go far.

Before we can find Jack, we need a chart as well. Apparently, there is a map that leads to various lands and mythical treasures. We almost have the location of it locked down, though how we shall get to it without a ship is beyond me.

~~~

The afternoon had been easier than Lena expected.

Not because she enjoyed hauling supplies through crowded streets or haggling with merchants who seemed determined to charge twice what anything was worth, but because for the first time in days she wasn't surrounded by sailors, plans, and constant reminders of everything that still needed done. Elizabeth walked beside her with the inventory sheet tucked beneath one arm while the wagon rattled behind them over uneven stones, and the familiarity of that alone made the port feel a little less foreign than it had when they first stepped ashore.

The assignment itself had come with little ceremony. Barbossa had thrust the supply list into Elizabeth's hands, informed them the ship would not restock itself, and immediately turned his attention toward a merchant unfortunate enough to disagree with him about the price of water barrels. Neither of them had argued or volunteered for the task. They had simply taken the list and gone.

Several hours later the wagon was already half full as Elizabeth checked another item off the inventory sheet while Lena wrestled a bundle of canvas into place, and when she finally stepped back to inspect it, Elizabeth's eyes narrowed toward a merchant still arguing several stalls away.

"He's still talking."

Lena followed her gaze toward the distant cluster of people and adjusted the bundle of canvas against her hip. "Barbossa or the merchant?"

After a moment Elizabeth folded the inventory sheet closed and started walking again. "Fair question."

Lena shook her head and fell into step beside her. "I'm beginning to think they're the same person."

Elizabeth tucked the inventory sheet beneath her arm and continued down the row of stalls. "One simply has a better hat."

The laugh escaped before Lena could stop it, and for a moment Elizabeth's mouth softened into something that looked almost normal. As they continued through the crowd with merchants calling from every direction and sailors weaving between overloaded wagons, the afternoon settled into an easy rhythm that reminded Lena uncomfortably of Port Royal. Not because the port itself resembled home in any way, but because Elizabeth moved through the chaos the same way she always had, stepping around obstacles before they became problems, already reaching for the inventory sheet before Lena remembered she'd tucked it under her arm, and somehow keeping track of a dozen separate tasks without appearing rushed by any of them. They moved through the next several stalls the same way they always had, slipping around one another without needing instructions and dividing tasks before either had to ask.

They spent the next hour comparing prices, inspecting supplies, and arguing with merchants who swore their goods were worth far more than they actually were. One vendor attempted to pass off water-damaged canvas as new while another tried charging them for rope that looked ready to unravel before it ever reached the ship, and by the time Elizabeth threatened to take their business elsewhere for the third time, Lena had stopped counting how many people seemed personally offended that someone had inspected their merchandise before paying for it.