the Dalaverse

FOMG idea time! So I was pondering yesterday that, if Will doesn't look surprised to see Elizabeth with the kid in the coda scene (kept in mind that I haven't seen it yet), perhaps the two of them have been able to keep in contact over the years, even if they haven't seen each other (and I don't necessarily think they can't, I'm just going with the most extreme interpretation of it). At first I was thinking cake letters, delivered by some supernatural means or a mysteriously intelligent animal.

But this morning I remembered Elizabeth interacting with Weatherby on his way to the underworld (*sob*). And I thought - what if Elizabeth sends her messages to Will through the dead? Yeah, it's kind of one-sided, but it's really Will who needs to receive the correspondence; she knows exactly where he is and what he's doing already.

So maybe she encounters a dying person by sheer chance, and bids them give her husband the Boatman a message. And whether or not they think she's off her rocker in life, once they get to Will, they do remember what she asked them to say. That's how it starts.

And then I had this idea of Elizabeth traveling around and becoming an earthly counterpart to Will's role on the Dutchman: helping souls, particularly sailors, pass out of life before they begin the crossing, comforting them in their time of dying. Maybe she picks up some herb lore and medicine to help ease their pain, maybe some knowledge of midwifery - especially after she gives birth to her own child. Thus she enters legend as a sort of Green Lady (stolen from Tamora Pierce's Immortals, in which Daine's mother becomes the Green Lady, rural goddess-protector of women in childbirth; but I'm sure it's based on older legends and myths).

Now Dala, you say, this is the 18th century and taking up the mantle of a wisewoman is likely to get her called witch. And I say yeah, it probably will, and her status as a single mother isn't going to help. It won't be an easy life by any means, and maybe it'll get her into trouble on occasion, and/or she'll take breaks from it to go pirating with Jack and Barbossa (which probably pays more) once the kid is old enough.

So she does this for ten years, and that is how Will is released from his bonds on the Dutchman, through their mutual good deeds rather than through a vow of chastity. Maybe it'll just sort of happen automatically; maybe Calypso or some other deity will descend upon her to grant her this one boon (maybe they even speak to her early on, grant her the ability to hear the calls of dying soldiers and go to their side - I don't know, I prefer her wholly mortal, but that could work). I could get really goddess-happy with this one.

Okay, so it's not all that piratical, but for all his hot bandanna and earring, neither is Will's new job. But it's interesting, and different, and would give her a chance to interact.

I'm planning on seeing AWE again today and then - ::rubs hands together:: Let's get our write on. I'm also determined to finish the earthquake fic and Brothers in Arms, now more than ever.

Also, this score is fantastic. Way better than either CoBP (though I do have a soft spot for it, it gets repetitive) and DMC (I'm not particularly fond of the organ, actually).