all this has happened before

[lost_boy]

We were running. Running from Peter. Running toward the pirates.

It hadn't been difficult to convince the others this was our best option, not after all Peter had done. They knew now, they had seen what he was like, they'd been viewed under the cold, dismissive gaze of Peter Pan and understood he thought nothing of them. Of us. Because I may have been his favourite once, but it was clear I was too grown up, too close to being a man to be loved by him any longer.

I knew that had upset me once, but now, surrounded by my friends, running toward other friends, I didn't feel that same sense of loss that I had before. As with Charlie and Sal and Nod, I was choosing these good people, people I loved, and I was turning my back on Peter.

We crossed the Island, skirting the plans with the Many-Eyed, taking the path up into the mountains, toward Bear Cave, and then beyond. I paused at the cave, remembering Harry and his death here, but only for a moment. I had learned long ago how to mourn my friends while on the move and today was no different. My other friends needed me now, they needed me to lead them to safety away from Peter.

Leading the way down the mountain path, past the Marking Rock, I could see the camp and the cove in the distance, the shipped docked where it usually was when the pirates weren't away, raiding whatever places they were able to find. And I could see people. Pirates, yes, but familiar faces, too, and I picked up my pace, hurrying the others toward them.

[Coming together post! Gathering, as usual, Jamie and everyone who was with him at the tree is going to come to the pirate camp/the Jolly Roger, so feel free to have threads that take place on the ship or on the shore at the camp. Also feel free to employ fairies if you like, they'll be spying for Peter, who'll be coming soon enough. In a few days I'll post a second top level for Jamie and Peter's big final fight where Jamie will be losing his right hand.]

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[shieldmaiden_rohan]

Eowyn had not awoken in this place of Corsairs-who-were-not with her sword, but she had obtained one since her arrival. She had been glad of that sword when they encountered the creatures that were here called the Many-Eyed. They reminded her of the tale of a large spider demon in the Ephel Duath, one which she hoped never to confirm to be true.

She stood guard outside the camp they had established on the shore with steel in her spine and on her hip. If any threatened those who were within the camp, she would defend them.

[lost_boy]

I was bruised, a little battered, all of it from Peter, but I had never felt as relieved as I had when I burst down from the mountain path and saw all these familiar faces. After reuniting with Eddie, I had done my best to speak with some of the pirates and I believed there was a reluctant truce beginning.

They were without a captain, they told me. Will had been the one to tell me. Will, who I had played with twenty years ago. Will, who had been banished because he began to grow up. So many of the boys were here and now I recognized in them what had begun happening to me before I'd come to Darrow. We had stopped loving Peter. We had started to become men.

I was glad to see them, but I was glad to see my Darrow friends even more, and when I spotted Eowyn, I hurried toward her. "Hi," I said breathlessly. "Are you well? Have they hurt you?"

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

"I am well," she assured him. "They have not hurt me. But you, you are bruised. Need you anything?"

The pirates had, at first, been unsure of how to behave around her, but she had bested one of them in a test of swordsmanship, and then they had been more respectful. It was the pirate she had bested whose sword she carried, in fact, which she had earned through skill at arms.

[lost_boy]

"It's nothing," I promised and I meant it. At Peter's hands, I had suffered far worse than a few bruises, and I wasn't concerned about my own safety now. The others were the ones who were really in danger, because they were more important to me than Peter had ever been, and I knew what he would do to anyone I prized above him. He seemed angry with me for having started to grow up, but at the same time, I knew he was lonely and afraid.

That was why he had done all this. Peter was so afraid of being alone.

"Peter is coming, though," I said. "He's going to be angry."

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

"I do not doubt it, from what has been said of him here," Eowyn replied, still calmly and steadily. "But there are warriors here, and your friends also. We will fight, if he comes, and he cannot defeat all of us together."

This she was certain of, though she did not promise that all would be unharmed. If there was a battle, there might be harm, though she did not wish it.

[lost_boy]

Even though I still hated that my friends were here, Eowyn's words made me smile, a little tremulously, and then I drew in a deep and steadying breath.

"Who else is here from Darrow?" I asked. "Daine came to see me, but I'm not sure if she was able to count everyone when she reported back on how many of you were here."

I was lucky she had been able to go between groups, though, mostly unnoticed. Peter had asked once why a bird was hanging around so much, but I had only shrugged as if I hadn't noticed and that had been the end of it.

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

"Daine, Eddie, Rapunzel, Elio, Magnus, Ellie, Octavia, and Aggie are the names I have learned," Eowyn told him promptly. "If there are others from Darrow, I have not seen them here. And your group? How many are you? Are you all well?"

She had seen them all arrive, but truthfully it had been quite difficult to determine who was with what group.

[lost_boy]

"Eight of us in all," I said. "Stan, Richie, Beverly, Eponine, Rosie, Luke, Regan and myself. We're all safe, it's only... well, we had to leave. Peter's gone mad. Worse than before."

I knew Peter was dangerous, I had known for a long time now, but I had honestly thought keeping him happy would be the safest course of action. It was foolish, many, because it seemed there was no keeping Peter happy anymore. No matter I did. I was too grown up now and I had other people I loved more than him.

He hated me now.

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

She committed these names to her memory, though she did not know if she would learn all those faces that were attached to them. Rosie she knew, but not the others. Perhaps she would know them all before this time ended, but she knew not whether they would return to Darrow or their own lands. She wished to return to the Mark, of course, but not if it would leave Jamie unprotected.

"A mad ruler is a dangerous one," she agreed. "Even more so if their kingdom is not large. What need we do to prepare for his arrival?"

[lost_boy]

No one had asked me that before and it took me a moment to consider what we ought to do. I inhaled slowly, steadily, then exhaled, trying to calm myself further. I knew what to do, I was good at this, even if I hadn't needed to fight in this same manner since coming to Darrow.

"We have the advantage here at the ship," I said. "We know he's coming and most everyone knows the layout of the ship and the camp. Going out into the Island brings us into Peter's territory, so I think we should stay here. We should all be armed. Anyone who cab't fight ought to stay in or near the ship."

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

Eowyn nodded. It was a sound plan, and used the advantages that they had.

"I agree with this strategy. It was one that was employed by my people when they were threatened in battle and served us well. All who wish to fight with us against Peter will be welcome."

She scanned the hills and the beach, then pointed.

"That rock and that one are large enough to be lookout points but also to be used as cover."

[lost_boy]

"And there," I said and pointed to the Marking Rock. It was where Peter and I used to spy from when we wanted to watch the pirates without being seen. It stood there at the mouth of the trail that led into the mountains. "He'll probably come from there. He always does. We always did."

Knowing my enemy helped, but only to a certain extent. Peter could be unpredictable and now he was angry.

I looked at Eowyn again and said, "I'm so sorry you have to be here because of me."

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

"Dryhtbearn, I will hear nothing of this," she told him firmly but kindly. "Whatever strange gods brought me here knew that I was needed, and so I am here. I am glad to be."

In truth, she had felt more at home here than she had in the city. Here her skills as a shieldmaiden were needed. Here she did not spar against the air. Here she could do good.

[ithastobeseven]

Eponine had told him to stay still or find an adult he knows. He doesn't actually know the blonde woman with the sword, the way he knows John or Martin or Michael or Alex. But he's seen her a couple times, at the stables that he always wants to show Nell and just around, and she has a sword, like a real pirate or a warrior princess or something, and he thinks he might want to be near someone with a sword.

"Hi," he says, tentatively, and looks up at her. "Um. Can I stand with you?"

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

Eowyn had not expected a small boy to approach her. She was reminded of Eothain and Freda, who had been driven from their homes by the Wild Men, and she smiled down at the boy. He was very young to be brought on this adventure, and she would care for him as she could and as he had need.

"Of a certainty you may. What is your name?"

[ithastobeseven]

She speaks kind of old fashioned, like the way they tell the stories in the Celtic Legends book he's been reading with John, but it's not hard to understand. He likes of a certainty, it sounds more sure than of course.

"I'm Luke," he says, and after a second remembers his manners and reaches out his hand.

He explains nervously, "Jamie and Eponine said I shouldn't be alone, because Peter doesn't like littler kids. Is your sword real?" It definitely looks real.

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

"Well-met then, Luke," she replied seriously, and shook his hand equally seriously. "I am Eowyn, and I will make sure that you are not alone. And if there is danger, I will make sure that you hide so that you are safe."

When he asked if her sword was real, she nodded.

"Indeed. This is not my sword, for my sword was not brought with me to this place, but it is a sword, and it is real. Know you how to use a sword?"

He was young to use a metal sword, but not to use a wooden one.

[ithastobeseven]

"Well met," he says back seriously, because if that's how she says it, that's how he should say it to her. "Eowyn." He smiles a little relievedly. He sort of wants to give her a hug, only he's not sure you just hug strange women you've barely met, even if you are trying to keep out of trouble. "Thank you..."

His eyes go curious and wide at her description, and at her question. "You have a sword back home, too?" He shakes his head at the question. "I mean, I had a plastic sword back home that went with a pirate costume..." He glances furtively at the ship. "Before I knew pirates were a real thing. But I don't think we were doing anything the right way. Can even kids learn how to swordfight?" He's never even really thought about it but he kind of wants to learn now.

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

"I have a sword in Darrow that I brought from my home," she told him seriously. "And I would say that children may certainly be taught to use swords. My brother and I began playing and fighting with wooden swords when we were not yet seven years."

It was not so in all lands, but she had no complaints about the training and swordsmanship that she had had. Ever was it useful, even when she had not been placed in a pirate camp.

[ithastobeseven]

"Wow," he says, soft and awed. His eyes light up a little bit. "That's how old I am. Six and a half." A little more, even, because September is his half birthday. Maybe it's not that important but he likes knowing it anyway. "Do you think I could learn too?"

A shout goes up from the pirate ship, out in the harbor, and he looks over, wide-eyed and takes a half step closer to Eowyn. "I miss my brother and sisters," he mumbles a little and glances up at her. "Is yours here too or back at home?"

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

Eowyn would not place her arms around Luke, for he might not wish it and she must also keep her hands free, but she shifted so that he was more protected by her. She watched carefully the ship, but nothing seemed to be occurring there.

"Of a certainty you could, if those who are your guardians would wish it. They may not."

There were those here who did not think children should be taught to fight, and she understood their wish to keep them as free of care as long as possible.

"My brother remains in my lands, and I also miss him very much. But he is Third Marshal of the Mark, and he is needed there to fight."

[ithastobeseven]

He thought about that. "I guess the Children's Home are my guardians," he says. They sign permission slips for school, anyway. "Would you teach me, if I could get them to say yes? I could tell them it was just practice and I wouldn't get hurt."

It sounds useful, or at least cool, and he's pretty good at persuading people to do things.

Luke's brow furrows. He knows what a marshal is, kind of. He doesn't know what a Mark is, except a kind of name, but it sounds like a sort of army. "Who are they fighting?"

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

"If they would agree, I would teach you. I would assure them that the sword would be not sharp, nor the blade heavy. It may still hurt if you drop it on your foot, but that is not often done more than once," she chuckled.

Whether he would remember that he wished to learn to use a sword after this time, she did not know, but she would teach him. As for how she would explain the forces of Evil to a child, she did not know either.

"They are fighting those who would wish to destroy my land and my people. We cannot allow this to occur, so my brother fights. I would fight too, if I were there, but I am not. Instead I protect you and all those here, and that is worthy also."

[ithastobeseven]

He laughs a little at that, and nods. "I'll ask them," he says, determined. "I'm a very good arguer." His smile is a little conspiratorial. "And if you'd tell them too I bet they'd say yes."

His eyes go a little wider when he hears that. There was the war in the desert he watched on TV at home, the one that's kind of like -- but that he has to remind himself isn't the same one -- what Alex was in. But that's a different kind of fighting than people coming to your home and trying to destroy it, he thinks. Maybe a little more like World War II, like his green soldiers in the can are from, because the Nazis went into other countries and tried to take them over and blew things up.

"That's scary," he says. "I'm sorry the -- bad guys," he says, because sometimes people tell him it's not that simple, but it seems pretty simple to him. "Are trying to hurt your people. Your brother must be really brave. You are, too." He mulls over that for a long few moments.

"I don't think they let girls fight, where I'm from," he says after a minute. "It's stupid, but I don't think I've seen a girl soldier." His toy soldiers are all boys, anyway.

[shieldmaiden_rohan]

"And what shall I tell them, then?" she asked, and teased only a small bit. She liked Luke's spirit and his stubbornness. It would serve him well in a land such as Darrow.

"There are female soldiers in many lands, but not always are they seen. And not always are they welcomed, but still they fight, for they must. Their people and their lands depend on it and they cannot ignore that responsibility."