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Docking in the Southside was a jarring experience in the sense that everything went smoothly. There was no cluster of waiting ships, no careful navigating through overcrowded landings. Everything moved like clockwork. Cornelius didn't even have the chance to complain because as soon as they were docked, an assistant to the harbormaster was there to help with the ship's registry. "I could get used to this," he said, making the last flourish to his signature.

Frederic smiled at the quartermaster. "This too shall pass, Master Culton," he said, and Cornelius chuckled just as a runner came hurrying up the gangplank. She looked between the two of them and settled on the older man.

"Captain Lassiter?"

"Does this look like a captain's jacket?" Cornelius huffed, thumbing the collar of his marine-blue coat. Frederic waved her over as the quartermaster laughed. "You're lucky. In my day, the captain was the man with the biggest hat. You'd look terrible in a hat."

"Thank the Three the world's more civilized now," Frederic said, exchanging a coin with the runner for a small package with his name on the outside. The paper was easily ripped away, and the wooden box inside was simple but pretty, like a jewelry box. He opened it, and Frederic's eyes widened. "Reveries," he said in a strangled tone, closing it again.

"What is it?" Cornelius asked, and the captain said nothing, turned the box and opened the lid so that the older man could see. He hummed loudly, mustache bristling as he pursed his lips. "Special docking, a warm reception, expensive trinkets... I'd wager the prince is wooing you, Captain."

Frederic made a choking noise and snapped the lid shut.

"What?" Cornelius asked, unable to conceal his grin. The machinist raised his hand, closed his mouth, and walked away, heading below deck and ignoring the older man as he followed. "At least he's doing it in the proper fashion, Captain. I certainly can't fault him on that. These are no longer the days where a suitor had to ask permission before he could—"

"Alright, everyone!" Frederic said loudly, stepping into the crowded mess room. Dane and Otha sat with Thomson, helping him prepare the pattern guns, their focus hardly disturbed by the captain's entrance from the gunner's lecture. Bonnie and Julius had their kits out and they were adjusting holsters, the latter fixing the chest strap for Myka's rifle. Neonna was still picking out fruit for the ship, flanked by Buck and Bassett who took her rejects and repackaged them. Her earnest instruction on how to pick a proper lemon hadn't slowed at all. "Just a moment, please, for your assignments."

Ruth came in behind Cornelius and Frederic, Bohman trailing in after her. "The wagon is here, Captain," she said, and he nodded a quick thanks.

"Thomson, Barristers," he called out, as more hands slowed and heads looked up. "Join Doctor Sigg up at the wagon, we're heading to Ariano Memorial."

"Don't leave yet!" Julius said, mouth half full of pins as he squeezed out into the hallway, leaving Myka standing awkwardly. Thomson and the brothers gathered around the boxes, lifting one each, and Bassett trailed behind with a small smile as Neonna pulled two more lemons out of the last box. Frederic watched them all troop out and his eyes fell on his first mate.

"Ruth, Dane, you're on guard duty."

Dane strapped his shotgun over his shoulder and smiled at the first mate as he walked by her. "Name a color," he said. "And I will tell you the fighting style that it resembles." She followed half a stride behind him, eyebrows raised thoughtfully.

"Cornelius, Nona, report in to SMS headquarters. File our recent registry, chat with the locals," he smiled as the quartermaster nodded Neonna over, holding out his elbow. Behind her, Otha stood and secured his shotgun. "But don't accept any dinner invitations. I want everyone back at the ship one hour before sundown."

"Might be necessary, Captain," Cornelius insisted, patting the cook's hand as she accepted his arm. Otha followed with a small hum. "The dinner bell loosens the unwitting tongue, and all that."

"We wouldn't want to be rude," Neonna winked at Frederic, and the three of them left, Cornelius shouting back that they'd send a message along if things ran late. Julius came barreling back into the room, holding out a letter which the captain grabbed as the engineer returned to Myka's side and began putting his things away.

"You two, up to the Rede Academy, shake some trees, play nice," he emphasized, eyeing Julius who widened his eyes in a vague show of innocence but couldn't keep his mouth from curling. In return, Frederic frowned. "Bonnie, go with them." The redhead saluted, closed the lid on her sewing kit, and Myka gave her a sideways glance.

"Are you sure you want to come? That is, we know people at the Academy," he explained. He was pocketing his tools, securing his rifle, and adjusting its weight. "It might get boring."

"I'm sure I'll find a way to pass the time," she said, holding up a collapsed spyglass and smiling when he quickly patted down his sides. She held it out to him without protest, tapping his nose with the forefinger of the same hand. "Besides, between the both of us batting our eyelashes, no one stands a chance." Myka said nothing but the moment Bonnie's back was turned, he signed a quick string of words to Julius who snorted and bit his lip to keep from laughing. They would have filed out like the rest except Frederic signaled the engineer to wait and he waved the others on.

"Freddie, I apologized to Carver ages ago and his hair grew back in, you know, for the most part," but the captain shook his head and held out the small, wooden box in his hands.

"You absolutely cannot take this apart, promise me," Julius began to roll his eyes, but Frederic leaned forward and added, "Your most solemn vow."

"Ancestors mark me if I lie, I swear," he started to say, two fingers held up over his eyes, and if there had been more to his promise, it was lost in a sudden gasp. Julius' eyes rounded to saucers as Frederic held open the lid of the box. The radio tower in Wheelis had had the bastardized components of a military audiomatric resonator, and this was that same design made ten times smaller. It had an opaque glass surface to hide the components, a dial that cycled through alpha glyphs, and a small pocket on the velvet lining of the lid padded with folded paper. Julius squawked, gestured at the box, at Frederic, he warbled unintelligibly and wiggled his hips as he squealed. "Do you know what this is?"

"I know it's not a toy," Frederic said. Julius instantly straightened his shoulders and even managed a convincing nod. The captain smirked. "At least, read the instructions before playing with it."

"There are instructions?" Julius squeaked, his hands inching forward until Frederic finally relented and pressed the box into his grasp which he accepted with a shuddering breath. "Sweet Marlea, ward and guide us."

"You can thank the prince yourself when we call on him later," Frederic said. Julius nodded his head, eyes still glued to the box he held reverently in his arms. There was a beat of silence before he warned, "You have to leave that here, Jules."

"I was just taking a moment."

"Take it to my cabin, second drawer, you know." He dropped a key into the engineer's outstretched hand, sighed as Julius skipped away, and hurried up the stairs, squinting in the sudden daylight. He waved off farewells and jogged past his crew to the end of the pier, hopping onto the back of the wagon where the Barristers and Thomson already sat. Sitting on the driver's bench, Carissa smiled at him but turned back when the wagon started to roll forward. Frederic glanced back only once; long enough to catch the silhouette of Ruth at the stern, watching them go.

- - -

Laurence Swafford sat down with a noise that was more groan than sigh. His office had a layer of dust to it evident in the sunlight from his window and while it was pretty to his tired eyes, it was beginning to wreak havoc with his sinuses. His gaze briefly flickered to the stack of applicants for a new apprentice, because it was slightly more attractive than the larger stack of paperwork requiring his attention that sat beside it. It was just a little past noon, but Laurie found himself closing his eyes and drifting off. The door hardly made a noise but the doctor startled awake when it opened, hand wrapped around a pen, arm up in a defensive posture.

"You're not fooling anyone, Papa, put it down," Piper Swafford said. The pearlescent fabric of the bolero she wore was a lovely contrast to her chestnut skin, her black curls held up with silver pins, and his daughter's smile could fill a room. "Look who I found downstairs with a bunch of fruit!" She said, grinning at Frederic who walked in quietly behind her. "That's not a joke, by the way. He donated several crates of food for the hospital, putting us all to shame." Piper gave her father a peck on the cheek and then threw open the window behind him, prompting Laurie to throw a hand over the papers on his desk so they wouldn't fly away. "There, that's better. I saw Carissa downstairs too, surrounded by three beautiful men. Can you believe it? I've tried to set her up before, and she's never said she liked the sailor type."

She winked at Frederic and while the captain smiled, it hardly reached his eyes. Laurie looked between them and back to his daughter, trying to decide where he should start first. She threw up her hands and laughed, bright and cheery. "You forgot our lunch date! You're a mess without someone to run your life, aren't you? Have you found a new Carissa yet?"

"Piper," he found his voice and pushed her hand away from flipping through the applications on his desk. "Did you really think I could replace Carissa that easily? I'm going to tell her you said as much."

"I'll invite her to lunch, you can tell her then."

Laurence laughed, surprised into the sound, and it was enough to pull him to his feet. A nap would have to wait, because Piper wasn't generally one to be stopped. "Won't you join us, Frederic?" He asked. The captain opened his mouth to reply, eyes flicking down, but Piper clicked her tongue and flapped a hand in his direction.

"Don't bother, Papa, I've already tried. Can you believe it? He said no, to me," she pointed a decorated finger at him, her bracelets clinking together. "I have been Ellerbeth! I have been Sohre. There are crowds of adoring fans who are dying to lunch with me, Frederic."

"I'm sure they die of other reasons too, Pip," the captain replied and Piper gasped, striking a sudden pose that surprised no one in the room.

"I'm going to reserve a seat for you at the Paragon," she said, naming the most prominent theatre house in Tremont. "And when the curtains lift, I will look up hopefully into the balcony and have my heart break there on the stage. The first chord will begin tearfully, but I will turn away from the empty seat, I will persevere, and finish with my strongest crescendo. I will have the Pearl Quarter against you before the curtain falls."

"But they just attended my royal banquet a week ago," Frederic said gamely, and the actress scoffed.

"A week is a month in this game, that ceremony is old news." Then she clapped her hands in sudden delight. "Unless we got the royals involved! Do you think we could? I've always wanted to meet Princess Katharina," she sighed lightly and held a hand over her heart. "The name of her dressmaker alone."

"I can't wait to read about it in the gossip rags," Laurie chuckled, smiling when Piper turned back to him with a pleased look. "Go and tell Carissa about lunch and Frederic can finish his business here." The doctor rounded his desk as his daughter flounced from the room, and as soon as the door closed, he could feel the tension rolling from Frederic's shoulders. His questions were paused when the captain held out a sealed envelope. "From Evelyn? Is she alright?" His voice pitched higher in panic, he rushed to open the letter when Frederic shook his head.

"Right as rain, I promise. She sent you some scholarly notes to my knowledge, about my prosthetics. I'm fully functional," he raised his arms on either side and dropped them, slipping his thumbs into his pockets. "But I think I gave her a scare."

"Did she give you that for her troubles?" He asked, indicating the bruise on Frederic's cheek. The younger man chuckled, shaking his head no. "Recent, a day old. Are you getting into fistfights now?"

"More or less," Frederic sighed, reset his shoulders and frowned at Laurence. "Laurie, I need to find my brother. Do you know where he is?"

His mouth agape, he managed to blink at Frederic before he blurted out, "In fifteen years you have never asked me that."

"In fifteen years I haven't had cause."

"Frederic–"

"I had an interesting conversation with Prince Jovanni the other day,"

"Oh, it's Jovanni now, is it?"

"That my brother's ship had been docked at Tierra Lue the day before my crew suffered a rebel attack. A coincidence I'd like to talk to him about." Frederic's stance remained loose, his shoulders relaxed, but there wasn't a hint of levity on his face. "I have never judged you for your past deeds, because you do good work for a lot of people. I know that you have a legacy on your shoulders, but I have never questioned your morals, Laurie."

"This is in part your father's legacy too," Laurence insisted but the words stuck in his throat, closed off by how Frederic's eyes sharpened in his direction. "I have never taken sides with you boys. I help, I don't interfere, and I have kept both channels open in the hopes that one day you two might be able to bridge this gap."

"Today's the day," Frederic said flatly. "I'm not asking for your allegiance, Laurie, just tell me where I could find him."

The doctor ground his teeth, crossed his arms and shuffled back for a moment before exhaling loudly. "The Raleigh Crew is said to have won an underground stockshot tournament last night," he explained. "I sent my congratulations when I heard they were celebrating their victory in the Outer Rim, at the Landy Root. Their quartermaster, Ophelia Dunixi, has connections there."

If he had more to say, Frederic didn't get the opportunity when the door opened and in spilled Piper, Carissa, Thomson and the Barrister brothers. Buck was following behind Piper like a starstruck puppy, and she seemed to appreciate that someone was giving her their full attention, so she invited them out to dine with them as well. Four hopeful glances—five, if one included Thomson's furtive peek—turned to Frederic, and he resisted a sigh.

"I need to get back to the ship. Carissa, I'll leave two with you—"

"I volunteer," Buck said immediately.

"Can Bassett come?" Carissa asked, and the question earned Piper's focused curiosity almost immediately. The actress wrapped one arm around Bassett's shoulders and started leading them away, while Bohman glanced back in apparent concern. The whole party was nearly at the stairs when Laurence smacked his forehead and claimed he'd forgotten his pocketbook.

"If only I had a famous daughter that could pick up the check every once and awhile."

"Hurry up, Papa, don't fall behind!" Piper yelled over him, leading the way downstairs with Buck on her heels. Carissa tossed him a grin and a shrug of her shoulders, one he returned with a sigh as he jogged back to his office. He crossed the room and closed the window with one strong pull, the papers fluttering on his desk drawing his eye, but nothing compared to the surprise of seeing someone else standing in his doorway.

Laurence inhaled sharply, only to roll his eyes and set his pen back down on his desk. They posed a question to the doctor. "He asked about Ethan, of course, and where he could find him," Laurence admitted. They asked another question. "That I'd lost touch a while ago and didn't know where to start. What else was I supposed to tell him?" They said something in return, and Laurence shook his head slowly. "Don't underestimate him. Frederic has a way of surprising you," his voice trailed off, and he glanced down, traced the tip of his finger along the edge of his desk, and he laughed. "Personally, I think it's our fault. We've become so cynical that we cannot fathom the actions of an honest man."

When Laurie looked up again, he was alone.