Norrington's Darling

Lieutenant

POV: Zuri Sparrow

The first time I encountered James Norrington, he was a young and ambitious lieutenant, working his way through the ranks of the British navy with impeccable work and speed. He had, however, for the first time in his career, hesitated to carry out the orders given to him—and it was my fault.

The then-commodore, Commodore Andrew Prenett, had learned of my history as a pirate, particularly of my being the sister of Jack Sparrow and daughter of Edward Teague, and had demanded that I be hanged, saying something to the likes that I was "poisoning the mind of the young daughter of Governor Swann, Elizabeth Swann." Something like that, anyway. Anyway, the young lieutenant had believed otherwise, believing—and telling me such—that I brought a new perspective to many things and that I was a positive influence on Elizabeth, who had once gotten seasick and queasy easily but no longer did after spending so much time gallivanting around with me on board the Navy ships.

Needless to say, when Norrington found out about Prenett's plan to have me hung, he was livid. He told Governor Swann of the plot, and, in turn, Elizabeth found out and, though her, so did I. Clearly, I was terrified for my life. I had been expecting a plot like this to show up sooner or later, but I'd been expecting it sooner and had grown comfortable in my life. I had even, for the briefest of times, given up on my dream of running off and finding the brother I barely remembered and had been taken from on a raid on a pirate ship. 

I found myself always looking over my shoulder, terrified of what may happen to me. I stayed as far away from Prenett as I could—which, incidentally, brought me closer to Norrington, who would be the one to save my life.

When Prenett found out about the closeness between Norrington and I, he invoked some right he held as commodore—what it was, I don't know—and overrode the governor's orders to keep away from me.

He had me put in chains and tossed into prison to await my hanging the very next day. 

Sometime during the night, Norrington snuck into the prison, the keys dangling from his hand, and let me go.

Though I'd known the lieutenant for some time by this point—almost about two years prior to the incident—this was the first time I truly saw through the brocade to the man beneath, the man with the good heart and a knowledge of what was the right thing to do, even if it came at the cost of ignoring orders.

A thought occurred to me as I sat, sobbing, on the barrel. If I had seen the good in Norrington then, when my life was quite literally in his hands, when would I see the good in him again, now? Would I see the good in him again? And if I did, would it be at the cost of one of our lives?

Despite the fact it was still early morning, I curled up on the floor beside the barrel and drifted off into sleep, dreaming about the young lieutenant who had saved my life without a second thought.