Andre’s Backstory

Andre was born into a rather well off family. He was the second born of three, his older sister was married off before he really got to know her, and his younger brother wasn’t born until Andre had already left for school. Andre’s parents were distant, he always had a caretaker, and when he was old enough he was sent off to naval school. 

Andre did well in naval school. He adored the sea. He excelled in fencing, did well remembering the rules of diplomacy and was an astute navigator. His school life was not without turmoil however. He felt attractions, not only to the girls, who went to the posh ladies school across the street but also for some of his fellow classmates. He kept these feelings to himself, intrusive thoughts would come and go, and he did well to focus on other things.

Andre graduated his class with some of the highest marks. He soon after joins the navy and becomes a naval officer on a very big, very important vessel and he falls in love with the sea. 

The ship’s captain was very impressed with Andre. He saw him as a focused individual, with a keen sense of direction and a knack for hand to hand combat. Andre was quickly brought up in ranks. Small squirmishes had shown not only his skill with the blade, but his ability to bargain and parlay as needed. Andre also made friends within the crew, particularly with a man named Bastien. Bastien was the quartermaster for the ship and an excellent musketeer. His relationship with Bastien became more than that of just friends, and sometimes they would sneak away to each other’s quarters. Sometimes nearly being caught together, but always finding some clever way to disguise their frequent time alone together.

Andre loved his time on the ship. The esteem he had, the connection with the ocean, even the exhilaration of having to hide his relationship with Bastien. 

However, his glory days would not last forever. A battle, more gory, more brutal than he had ever faced had happened between his ship and another. During this battle, Andre was ultimately responsible for eliminating the other ship’s most notorious crew member, and saving the day. Upon coming back to his cabin, to tell Bastien of his heroic duel with his dastardly foe, he finds Bastien wounded in bed. His left hand had been blown off when the musket he was using backfired and explored in his hand. Over the days following Andre did all that he could to help nurse his friend back to good health, but it was no use, Bastien died of infection two days before they reached port.

Andre was distraught, he drowned his sorrows in Bastien’s favorite wine, a red imported from some Spanish occupied isle in the carribean, and refused to talk to anyone until they arrived at port. 

Upon arriving on the mainland Andre was commended for his heroic service to the navy. He’s given the highest honors, a large sum of money and a large plot of land. He is also given a wife. 

Andre numbly accepts the accolades, and is promptly married to the eldest daughter of another high ranking official. Her name was Charlotte. 

Andre and Charlotte’s relationship was awkward at first. Neither had any interest in being married, Charlotte had even been offered to other men before but had been turned down, not for looks or status, but because of her impulsiveness, her brashness and her inability to ever sit still. 

Charlotte and Andre became good friends however, Andre confided in her the stories of his childhood, of his time at sea, and eventually of Bastien. Charlotte shared her love of tales of myth, magic and adventure. She told him stories of gods and monsters, of pirates and witches. She told him how, she hated her name, and how she hated having to be proper and well mannered. They connected, and eventually, gradually fell in love. 

Andre was restless on land however. He tried new hobbies, imported grapes from the Spanish occupied isles Bastien had been so fond of and created his own vineyard on the land given to him. He tried winemaking but it never really stuck, and ended up hiring someone else to carry out the managing of his budding winery. 

Charlotte, whom came to be called Charlie, as she much preferred, begged Andre for lessons in sword fighting. Charlie excelled at this and her skill with a sword quickly came to match that of Andre’s. 

Then one day, while Andre was nearly dozing as Charlie recounted the details of the adventure story she was reading, Charlie had an idea. What if they, themselves, became pirates. Andre was hesitant at first, he’d squirmished with pirates before while in the Navy and never really understood the appeal at the time. But he missed the sea, and the idea of leaving behind his life on land appealed to him. 

So they began preparing, Andre would sell his land and winery and commission a ship, and Charlie would continue to train her sword skills and learn how to maintain a ship. It would be several months before they would be able to completely leave but Andre grew more and more excited everyday. 

One day, days before the ship was to be finished and the final arrangements for sale had been done. Charlie came home from the city with a ragged red headed girl and a cat. 

Charlie explained how the girl had been living in the streets, how she witnessed her pickpocket several men (without them ever even glancing in her direction) and how she herself would have fallen victim too if not for having seen her wiles in action. She told Andre that she offered the girl a place on their ship,

that she could be a pirate too, that a ship would need more hands anyway. She also explained that the cat, which the girl called Sam, would be good for keeping the rats at bay. 

Andre doesn’t love the idea, but Charlie says she can do most of the work taking care of Cosette, the girl, and he does agree that while it’s a modest ship they will need more crew, though he was planning on hiring them once the ship was completed. Begrudgingly he accepts Cosette and even Sam. Charlie and sometimes even Andre begin teaching her about what their life on the ship will entail. Sam, watching them intently, almost as if he too was taking in the lessons.

~~~~

The day before the ship would sail, Cosette was practicing her blade work with Charlie. Sam, who normally followed her everywhere and who Cosette had started to insist could actually speak, was outside sunbathing in the vineyard. Cosette was much more adapt with smaller blades, daggers and knives, weapons she’d picked up some skill with when living on the streets. She was pretty good, but as kids do made plenty of mistakes. As they practiced, She told Charlie of the poisons she’d learned about when she was living on her own. How she could kill a man much larger than her self, simply by scratching him with a poison dipped knife, and how he would die later never knowing the cause.

“Here, watch and stand back,” She said, as she dipped her throwing knife and aimed it at a rat who had come out from behind a metal shield resting against the wall. “The rat is much smaller so the results should be a lot quicker” Charlie watched with great interest as Cosette aimed the knife and threw it at the rat. The rat, doing as rodents often do, scurried off at the last moment. Cosette’s knife bounced off the metal shield and back at her. Cosette dodged it easily, but Charlie who was standing behind her was not so lucky. The blade had knicked her side as she tried to step out of the way. 

Cosette’s eyes went wide with abject horror at what she had done. Before she could cry or scream, Charlie covered her mouth. “Don’t.” She let go, “How long?”

Cosette’s eyes welled with tears, “A week, maybe? If you’re lucky two?” 

“Is there a cure?” Cosette shook her head. 

“Don’t tell Andre. After we leave, I might say something, but he needs this. He needs his boat. He needs the sea.”

~~~~

And so, Charlie nor Cosette told him what happened. And when they set sail that next day, the wound in her side throbbing, her complexion paler than before. She blamed her weakness on sea sickness. Days later she was bedridden and Andre knew it was more than just that. 

On their fifth day at sea, Charlie told Andre she was going to die. That she had an illness, that was incurable, and that not even the gods of the sea could save her. She lay in agonizing pain in their chambers day and night. Andre tried to tend to her best she could, he asked the few crew members he’d hired for help but none had answers, nor were they eager to catch what they thought might be a contagious disease.

On the sixth night a storm had begun to form around them. Most of the crew was asleep now, save for his boatswain who was at the other side of the ship, Manning the wheel. Andre, distraught from the idea of loosing his second love and best friend, was on the upper decks, the first drops of rain from the clouds above falling on his face, mingling with the unstoppable torrent of his tears. 

Quietly, he whimpered to the clouds above, “Please... save her. I will give anything, DO anything, but she cannot die...” 

As if in response, thunder clapped in the sky and lightning stuck the water behind the boat, directly in front of where he stood. Andre quivered but started again. “Please, I beg of you. God of storms, god of the sea, god of the fish, whoever hears me now. Please save her. I promise on my life that I will serve you forever more. Please don’t let her be taken from me.” 

And with that, the sea began to bubble and foam in the wake of the boat, and slowly from the ocean rose a frightening fishy beast. (Could be Kougies sea god? Could be a different god 🤷‍♀️)

“Bring her to me” Andre turned back to look at the boatswain, who didn’t even seem to notice the creature, and who was busy navigating the stormy waters. “Bring me the woman.”

Andre scrambled to get Charlie, who by now was so weak she could barely speak. He lifted her on his shoulders and brought her up deck, to the stern. 

The godly creature rose from the water and boarded the ship. First it, softly touched the side where Charlotte had been knicked. She gasped, but instantly regained her strength.  Then, nonchalantly the godly creature touched Andre’s forehead and he felt a pang of intense pain rush through his body. He steadied himself and the pain was gone. 

“She will live and so will you, one bound forever to the sea, the other bound to the service of myself.” 

Charlie, who had regained her strength but not necessarily her composure, gasped when she turned to look at Andre. Where the rain had touched his skin, iridescent scales gleamed, his hands were webbed and the spiney fins had begun to grow from the sides of his arms. 

The godly being extended it’s hand to Charlie, “We must go now,” and with that, took Charlie from the stern of the ship and disappeared deep into the depths of the sea. 

Andre, from shock at what had just happened, both before his eyes and to his body, collapsed on the stern of the ship. 

When Andre awoke the next day, it was sunny, not a cloud in the sky, and looking down at his hands he realized they were his own, flesh and all. And even though he awoke on stern of the ship, he was convinced it was all a dream, and rushed down to the quarters where Charlie rested. But she was not there. 

~~~~

The ship sailed back to port. Andre told the crew that his wife must’ve thrown herself overboard, though they were all convinced he’d done it himself. He sold the ship, that reminded him too much of Charlie, and him, Cosette and Sam found themselves a ship to join. One where he could still roam the seas, looking for Charlie, but where he wasn’t burdened with the responsibilities of being captain. 

Andre also found that he was now cursed. When touching any water from ocean or sky he would begin to transform into a monstrous fishy creature. Upon drying off, he regained his human form. It would be difficult to conceal but he hoped taking a position as a navigator would keep him below deck and away from the water for the most part.