He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and raised one brow. "No, Rohesia. I think you might be one of the strongest people I've met in a long time."
"Then I find that there's nothing wrong with complimenting people," she said thoughtfully. "Why should I care anyways? I'm just being kind to others. That's a good thing."
"You don't need to take my advice," he agreed. "But there's a difference between complimenting people to be kind and complimenting them because you are genuinely taken aback by their decency. I often fear that if I constantly compliment to be kind, people will not be able to decipher when I am truly praising their goodness."
He hesitated, feeling slightly guilty as a bell rang up on the main deck. He looked up immediately and sighed, wiping the dirt away as well. "That's the captain. She's summoning me. You stay down here, okay?"
He got to the stairs, carefully ducking underneath the board before glancing back at her. "Hey, Avice?"
He hesitated as if he wasn't sure he had the right before his slow smile crossed his lips. "I think your eyes always look good too." With that, he turned back and headed up the stairs, closing the door behind him.
The main deck was in turmoil, sailors running around to prepare for the ship they were rapidly approaching.
The captain was climbing up towards the sails, her black hair blowing in the wind as she shouted down commands in a harsh, growling voice. Jack was speaking quickly to a group of sailors, all of their faces focused. He dismissed them and glanced out to the water for a moment, eyeing the ship before moving with long strides to cross the deck and talk to the captain.
A few minutes later, Jack came down to the cannons, his brows furrowed, but he brightened when he saw her. “Good news, Rohesia! We’re going to see how well the cannons work!”
