It's genuinely surprising to hear that Izzy lead with mercy. Darcy appreciates it, the glimpse at something more than just anger and brutality that she'd gotten from him so far. They're alike in more ways than one, and she knows that despite their tempers and despite their endless capacity for violence... sometimes you don't want to kill someone, you just want to be left alone.

Unfortunately for Izzy, she doesn't share his ideas about what 'men like him' deserve, and the touch transitions to holding his hand now, her thumb on his knuckles, pressing gently to keep him grounded. He'll note that they have the same callouses on their fingers, where gripping a sword has pinched and abraded until the skin gives up its softness. Taunting him with the duel on their first meeting sinks like a stone in her stomach, and it's only that he's still talking that stops her from apologizing for it. It's all... so complicated, and she's not sure how to reconcile the images of Stede she's been presented with. But Izzy is hurting, clearly, and she needs to be here for him now.