Chapter Text
Present Day London
The tour guide led her small group to the next room of the museum. It wasn’t often quiet, but the steady and heavy snow that fell outside kept people away and in their homes.
Despite these days being dull and slow for most tour guides, Emma loved these days.
She got to spend more time answering questions and staying in rooms longer if her group wanted to admire the paintings and artifacts. And sometimes, she got to share stories that weren’t part of the tour.
It was a slow day, and Emma spent her time at the front desk talking to her friend Zack when two girls and one boy walked through the large doot. Usually, when a group was this small, they wanted to be left alone and wander the museum.
When Emma led the group around, they passed a few people and one other tour guide. The man was leading a group of six people instead of the usual ten they grouped. She thought about joining Ben’s group since sometimes tour guides did, but she knew from where he was, they were closer to finishing than she was.
“And now we come to the next room, my favourite room,” Emma said as she led the friends into a large room with several paintings and artifacts.
It was another thing she only did when she had a small group. A lot of the time, they had to skim a room because people took up too much time asking about a painting, and when someone else asked about a vase, they had to keep on schedule and rush through the history behind the artifact and question.
“This room is dedicated to the pirate Captain Louis Tomlinson,” she said when one of the girls—Zoey, she learned—looked at a portrait of a man with a scowl and piercing blue eyes.
“Is he actually real?” the boy, James, asked as he walked over to the portrait and turned to face Emma, who smiled and nodded.
“As I said, this whole room is dedicated to the captain, and everything is fact-checked.”
She didn’t usually share this information; she was instructed to recite the script they all practiced and share only what she studied from all the paintings and artifacts that came through the museum.
“Was this his ship?” the other girl—Natalie—asked as she pointed to a large painting of a ship.
In the painting, it looked like any ship.
A large brown base with three large masts, but it was the significance of who sailed it that made it important.
“Yes. It may look like nothing, but Captain Tomlinson made this one of the most feared ships. It also helped that his reputation was just as feared.”
“Was he feared, or is this just a made-up story?” James asked.
Emma smiled at him. She was used to people not believing the legend of Louis Tomlinson or having people only believe bits. It was understandable, but she knew the truth.
“Not only did he burn villages, kill, and steal, but he was also the deadliest mermaid hunter.”
“Mermaids?” all three asked at once.
“Yes, like how pirates walked among us back then, mermaids swam through the sea.”
“What happened to them? Are there any left?” Zoey asked, sounding excited at the idea that mermaids were real.
“There aren’t any left, unfortunately. Like everything in life, things must come to an end. So the mermaids went with the pirates.”
“That’s sad," Natalie said, and Zoey nodded.
“Did this pirate kill them all?”
“No. Even though there were many stories of the Captain killing mermaids, there were too many mermaids in the sea.”
“Are there any stories about vicious killings of mermaids or burning down of towns?” James asked, sounding excited that Emma had some stories about Captain Tomlinson’s crimes.
“There are, but I prefer the story of how this fierce and feared pirate found love. No one thinks telling this story is important, but I think it’s just as important as the other. Everyone wants to tell you the gorey part of Captain Tomlinson’s life, but I want to share a story that shows a softer side to the pirate.”
“So you are going to share any of the mermaid killing or the sword fighting?” James asked, trying not to let the disappointment slip into his voice.n’t
“Oh, this story has that too, but it doesn’t focus on every kill he was responsible for or every crime he committed. This is a story where he let his guard down and let one man in.”