#Author: Cappn

[lookthedevilintheeye]

One Evening in Calcutta, Summer 1726...

“... Uncle Joshua, I have something I’ve been meaning to ask of you.”

“Oho? What’s on your mind, Little Bran? You can always ask me anything.”

“Cripes, you haven’t called me that since before the Old Man died. ... anyway, actually, it’s about him. The Old Man, I mean - about my father. There is something I’ve realized I’ve never quite known about him, something that the more I try to think about, the less I actually can imagine a satisfactory assumption.”

“Really now? And what would that be, then?”

“.... The Eye. .... The legends say variously that it can grant the wishes of any who possess it. Or give them the power to make whatever they wish for come true. .... so what was it? What was HIS wish?”

“.... Hehe. You surprise me sometimes, Little Bran. I never would have expected you to muse on the motives of others. You’ve grown up a lot since we parted ways. ... anyway. My brother’s wish, the reason he spent a decade searching for that damned thing which cost him his life...”

....

“I honestly don’t know. Well, no. I know what he told me. What we told each other, when we agreed to search for the Eye to begin with. That we’d be richer than rich, more secure than all the Kings of Europe combined! Ours and our kin would want for nothing for the rest of time. But... looking back, I know that wasn’t really why I wanted to find the Eye. It’s what I told myself, but deep down, it wasn’t the whole truth. So I can’t imagine that being Mortimer’s true wish either.”

“Mmmm. .... so then what was it? What was it you really wished for if not the fame and fortune of it all?”

“.... Honestly, I don’t think I even had one. I just wanted to do it, because Mort wanted to do it. That’s just how we did things. Whatever one wanted, the other supported wholly. It’s why we joined the Navy. It’s why we left the damn Navy. It’s why we became privateers. It’s why we adopted you. You handed me that Eye now, right here, and there’s only one thing I can really think of wishing for on it these days.”

“.... and? What? What is it?”

“.... to have him back. Even just for a day. Even just to catch up on things. I’d love for nothing more than to share my current contentedness with my brother. Not a day’s gone by since we lost him that I don’t miss his glum, gloomy glowering. Ha ha ha....”