Chocolate
| Name: | Chocolate |
| Location: | The Lady Sinister |
| Rank: | Master Gunner |
Noted Favors and Awards
Biography
I was born the youngest child of strict parents. I grew up a normal girl child in warm southern climes. I learned sewing and cookery, etiquette and deportment. I became skilled as a seamstress, but never more than a passable cook. But I learned to command a household. My family name is well known in France, so you will never hear it from my lips. As my family was highly placed, I had no need to sully my hands with labor, but only busy myself with trifles. On only one thing did I defy my parents, then. I wanted to KNOW. I learned to read, to write, to cipher. All these things I learned that a well-bred girl should not know. I read many books, tales of knights in armor, tales of adventure. The ones I loved most were the stories of pirates, dashing and brave, defying king and country in pursuit of riches and bounty. However, as a noble born girl, I could do nothing, though my heart sang at the thought of the open sea.
Soon enough, with parents like mine, I needed out. I left home as soon as I came of age, but life was cruel, and I was young and innocent. My father’s guards found me and brought me back. My father’s rage knew no bounds, within our own walls. He soon announced my betrothal to the lord of a far-away village. I had not met this man, but I had heard he was a harsh master. I was young, and with it, naïve. I did not know this man, I said. We would not marry. My father paid no heed to my denials. He set a date, and one thing further. He set me a guard, to watch at my door night and day, that I not escape again.
I spent four months without ever once being allowed to step outside, to breathe fresh air, to see the sky. I brooded, I sulked. Then I began to make plans. I sent my maid with orders to secure me weapons. She brought me knives only, and one small flintlock pistol, as I have always been small. I taught myself as best I could the use of weapons. I never had the chance to practice with my pistol, as the sound would be noticed and I would be found out. But, the knives. Ah, the knives I learned as well as I could in those few months. I was not allowed out, so I had lots of time to practice. I fashioned a sheath, as I have long been skilled at needlework. I kept it hidden so that none would suspect. I left for my wedding resigned, but well trained.
My father kept me shut away in a carriage, so I could not see the way to my new home. We were days upon days on the road, and I began to despair. I later found that we travelled steadily north, and west, and when I was allowed out, we were near some mountains. I had never learned cartography, so I knew not where we had come. I soon learned that my father had lied. I was not being wed to a lord, but sold to an apprentice falconer of the lord of Larkspurshire. My family left me there, alone, and I had no one but that lout to whom to turn. He got me with child, to my great chagrin. I was innocent, I protested, but that mattered naught. Once I had borne a daughter, I swore to myself, as there was no one else I could trust, that she would never suffer as I had. My falconer taught me more of knives, thinking it an odd whim. He did not think it so odd when I crippled him to gain my freedom. I fled, taking with me nothing but my child and what jewels I had managed to hide from him.
I had no way to support myself, so I fell to robbery to survive. By then, I had become very skilled with my knives, and I had learned to use my pistol. I went to the ports, as sailors, fresh off their ships, had full pockets and half closed eyes. I lived well there for several years, but robbery is hard on one burdened with a child. Slowly, I came to know the ships and their crews. I fell loosely in with a group of pirates after I met the tall, dark woman who ruled them. I learned that I could survive as well or better with them than I could on my own, and I was no longer alone. It was too bad that strife lived among my new friends, as it had in my family before. She was overthrown, and I could do nothing to stop it.
Luckily, I knew well those in charge of the mutiny. The man in black had long been my friend, and my life knew very little change. My daughter was growing into a person, and it became known that I was not interested in the politics of pirates or of kings. I met a rogue, tall and dashing. Dutch, he was, and beautiful with it. Skilled robber that I had become by then, he bested me and stole the one thing none had ever had of me. He took my heart, as my family never could. One year later, we were wed.
The group of pirates found turmoil once again. This second mutiny was far-reaching. The entire group was changed, some for the better, and some for the worse. From one ship came several, all to recruit their own crews. From one captain, several, and one Commodore to lead them all. I was not to escape this mutiny unchanged. My husband was well known and much trusted within the group. He was appointed one of the captains. I left my life among the ruffians at the port to ship with the ruffians of the sea. For my skill with weapons, and my strong temper, I became Gunnery Master, my young daughter my apprentice, finally at home on the Lady Sinister.
