Section 12: Blue Eyes

The past two weeks had started to take its toll on the weary Commodore. Between repairs and complaints, Doctor Winchcombe requested his presence for two hours everyday. Not for personal company but so that Norrington could spend time with his prisoner. It was not a task that he relished as the woman was out cold for most of the day and so he spent his time talking aloud to no one or bringing his violin to practice. Such were the simple things he could do in a place where no one could find him. On days where documents were heavy he brought one or two of the longer parchments and set to work at the small table in the corner. The break from the daily humdrum was refreshing.

On this particular day, Norrington had decided to bring a gift. After spending a great deal of his time with the unconscious, delirious woman, he had seen for himself her gradual recovery. She had stopped sweating and mumbling in her sleep and she was keeping water and broth in her system. Her improvements pleased the doctor greatly. But today…today he had a feeling. Something was going to happen, so James had thought it appropriate to bring a present in the case that his intuition was correct. Perhaps would be the day she would awaken. She was no story book princess, so he wouldn't count on fate but his gut instinct had never failed him before. The worst case scenario was that he was justifying his time around her. After all, he still hadn't decided her fate.

Seating himself in a comfortable chair by the bed, James sighed and opened the book he had brought along, the present he planned to give. He still found it funny that any pirate would benefit from his presence, but Winchcombe was adamant that she showed signs of improvement when Norrington was near. As he thought more and more about, he realized that he must have been the proverbial flower to the bee, he attracted pirates right left and center. Jack Sparrow never left him alone and seemed to prosper daily. Or at least that's what merchant rumors had told him. There was no telling what that man could do. He was a menace on the ocean and on society. Woe be Jack Sparrow if Gillette ever caught him.

Trying to set this from his mind, he settled comfortably into the soft, cushioned oaken chair and thumbed through the book until he found an interesting chapter. He read for an hour, reciting the rules both out of memory and from the bindings. He stopped at one particularly entry, one that he found very amusing. "Section number 2; Subset 6a: Piracy is a crime unto and under God. All those involved in such practice of illegal manner, who do not carry letters of marque nor fly under colors of King and Country are subject there to and not excluding death, torture, public flogging, imprisonment, removal of hands at the wrist…"

"My, my. You have a lovely voice, Commodore, but must you be so macabre?"

Norrington started at the sound and looked over the edge of the book to find two very blue eyes peering curiously at him. He noted the amused glint. "You're awake."

The eyes blinked and he could see the thin blonde eyebrows raise, "very astute." Upon inspection, she was lying on her side with her arms folded beneath a pillow, her head resting heavily upon it. While they were quick and attentive, her blue eyes were dull and their lids were half closed. Some stray strands of hair fell down over her eyes and some stuck to her dry lips, making the captain look warm and sleep ridden, even though she was alert and in full control of her faculties.

"How long have you…"

"Been conscious?" A smile formed on the parched lips, "a little before you arrived, but I knew you wouldn't read to me unless I appeared to be comatose." Andraste let out a small, hoarse laugh and wetted her lips with her tongue.

"Is that so?" replied James. "Well, now that you're all better I suppose that I can fetch the doctor and have him tend to you now. Then I can get back to more important matters, like trying to find a means to dispose of you."

Frowning, Andraste raised her head off the pillow. "Perhaps you could open to subset 5a point 36 and read to me the first three lines." She watched attentively as the Commodore, her executioner or savior, flipped through the pages of the heavy brown book resting on his lap.

James was entertained by the notion that the pirate might know something more about Port Royale than he did. Finding the correct passage he read it silently, skimming the words and picking out appropriate phrases. Indeed, it was definitely a loophole, but it did not apply in this case. Still, it was surprising.

He could almost see the smirk through the book's cover as he heard the Rose's voice; "I'll set sail from here as soon as I'm better."

"Indeed you would, if the situation applied to you. Privately owned ships, flags and registered ports have nothing to do with your imprisonment. I thought you understood that your letter of marque was now null and void."

"Oh yes," she sighed, eyes dimming, "I forgot about that. Rotten luck."

Closing the book, Norrington, placed it on the bedside table. "This was a gift."

Andraste must have read something in his tone because her brow furrowed and she frowned at him. "I have to know passages like that, Commodore or else I'd be dead by now." It was only one obscure passage, he didn't have to speak to her like that!

A small silence passed before Andraste laid down her head again and fixed her gaze upon the officer, "in all truth, I really did enjoy your reading. You were a great help through my fever. I could hear a voice; someone anchoring me as I weathered out the storm as it were. I know that it was you, and I must thank you. I've never been fond of nightmares."

Uncomfortable with the praise, James shrugged his soldiers, "the doctor said I should come and spend time with you, considering I was partially responsible for your situation." He felt it again, that gnawing guilt.

Nodding her head in approval, Andraste reached an arm forward and placed her hand gently on the Commodore's knee. James stared at her hand and then at her face. Andraste only smiled and gave his knee a squeeze before it slipped back to its original place. "I heartily appreciate the sentiment of your gift. That little blurb you read is all I know of Port Royale's rules." When she received no answer from Norrington, she started again, "the Artemis does not often travel near Port Royale's way. We usually gather supplies from Falmouth or Nassau. I can easily give you excerpts from their rulebooks. Never had to use them, mind you, but it's always best to be prepared." She gave him a fleeting smile.

Rubbing the edge of his cuff between a long fore finger and thumb, he gave a small tic of disapproval. "No, I'm quite well aware of the rules of the surrounding ports, Miss Rose."

Andraste leaned her head on one shoulder and raised her eyes to the ceiling above. It was a position that assumed totally innocence of the speaker, but did not belie the intention to say or act in some fiendish manner. "Strange how Port Royale used to be a pirate haven."

The Commodore fixed a glare on the privateer, though from her angle she was unable to see it. "What are you implying?"

"Commodore!" came the mock hurt response; "I'm so anguished that you think I might be implying anything." Andraste's laugh was cut short by a wince as she displaced the position of her injured leg. It took a moment for her to recover. "What I meant to say, was that you've done an excellent job in reforming the place. You can't catch everyone granted, but I commend you."

James gave another shrug and took a glance out the window. "We do our best to lessen the danger of travelling the sea. But to clarify, I was not a part of Royale's reformation. I wasn't even born, let alone in the Caribbean."

"Very true, but you maintain that order. Is not the 'now' more important than the 'then'?"

"A wise saying, Miss Rose, but what about the future?"

The Captain gave a halfhearted smile, "the future? It doesn't really matter in my case, does it?" Her words were said in a type of gaiety, but her eyes told a very different story. She was fearful of what was to come.

"So your past does matter then. If you hadn't gone against your word and attacked that ship, then you might not be in this predicament?"

Frowning, Andraste shook her head and slowly adjusted herself on the pillows, "ancient history, Commodore, that's what I refer to. As to going against my word, well, once I give it I never break it."

Norrington hardly doubted her claim but she was still considered a felon under his law. "You-"

Andraste put up a hand, "no..."

"The-"

"No."

"Admir-"

"No."

"Were-"

"No."

"Given-"

"No."

James paused for a moment and then released his words rapid fire, "the reports from the-"

"No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No!"

"Will you let me-"

"No."

He gave a frustrated sigh, "I could have been trying to set you free." Remarkably, he wasn't interrupted.

"But you weren't and that's the difference, my dear Commodore."

James gritted his teeth and sat back in his chair, waiting for the next bell to allow him a release from the stubborn woman's presence. "You assume quite a bit."

"I'm very good at reading others, I can assume all I damn well like," came the woman's curt reply.

"That's a bit rude."

"No more rude than accusing someone guilty of a crime they never committed? Hah. What a proper society you live in!"

"There are witnesses-"

"And I have forty witnesses of my own who -"

Aha! James could learn something of her crew. "- skulked away at the first sign of danger."

The Rose gave a sniff of indignation, "hardly skulked."

"Oh? Then what did they do? What plans have they made without their Captain to guide them?"

"Currently? Well they're walking across land, braving the jungle to get to the other side of the island where my fleet of Amazons is waiting. Then they're going to sail all the way back and blow your tiny port all the way to Gibraltar."

Somehow, Norrington expected no less a wit from the child of Robert Rose. "You're getting very good at telling those lies, Miss Rose. Now really, inform me of their whereabouts?"

"They're seamen, they sail."

"So they're…?"

"On the ocean. I thought you could put two and together, obviously I was wrong."

"How could they be on the sea? Your ship is destroyed."

"If they begrudge the loss of the Artemis, then they probably stole one of your ships, Commodore. It's only fitting in pirate custom. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth…"

"A ship for a ship."

Andraste smiled, "so you are catching on! I must have midjudged you as you have done me. Yes, a ship for a ship."

In the distance, a bell rang.

Norrington stood, his time with the patient over.

Andraste noted this, "am I to expect you again for conversation tomorrow?" Idly she plucked some lint from her blanket, tossing it to the ground when it came free.

"It would seem so. Doctor Winchcombe is quite insistent that I take better care of my prisoners. This is his lesson to me."

"And a fine lesson it is," commented Winchcombe dryly from the doorway. His brown eyes were visibly twinkling with mirth.

Norrington nodded to Andraste, "good day, Miss Rose."

The Captain gave a smile and waved her hand in dismissal. Her old habits would die hard. "Farewell, Commodore."

Norrington turned his back and strode to the Doctor. He found that hand wave remarkably irritating.