"Momma, what's this?" Sophie called from the top of the stairs. Deryn sighed and set her paperwork aside.

"What darling?" she chuckled when she rounded the corner out of her study and saw her little girl struggling down the stairs with a large wooden box in her arms.

"What have you got there?" Alek asked and took the box as he stepped out of the doorway to the kitchen. He laughed and glanced at his wife when he saw what was carved into the top of the box.

MIDSHIPMAN DYLAN SHARP

"What is it?" Sophie pestered as he set it gently on the kitchen table.

"It's Momma's treasure box." He stated plainly in response and gently lifted the lid and set it aside.

"Treasure?" Deryn and Alek smiled as their young daughter's eyes filled with awe.

"Aye," Deryn whispered as she lifted her father's medal from the box. "This was given to your grandfather for being very very brave." Deryn smiled sadly, and replaced the medal with another almost exactly like it, "and this," she continued, "is mine. For being almost as brave."

"I don't know about that, love, it was pretty brave," Alek turned to little Sophie and continued, "Momma thought it was a good idea to sneak off and trick the entire-" Deryn interrupted her husband with a glare and he laughed nervously.

"I'm only joking, Soph," he began again, "Your mum always wanted to fly, just like her da-your grandfather- he was an air balloon pilot and he used to take her up flying, but after he died, she couldn't fly anymore, so she ran off and had an adventure.

"Wow!" Sophie exclaimed and reached her hand into the box for another story, "What about this?" she asked, referring to the pocket watch in her little hands.

Her father then proceeded to tell her the rather romantic tale of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Countess that he fell in love with. As he expected, his tomboyish daughter was less than interested in some royal's relationship woes. She gently placed the watch back in the box and in its place removed a small, brightly painted piece of metal. The paint was burned and scratched and peeling along the metal's jagged edges.

Alek and Deryn shared a sad glance at the piece of Zaven's destroyed walker and opted not to tell their daughter the story of the rebellion in Constantinople, lest she get any ideas when it came time for chores.

"Careful!" Deryn piped up, "Don't cut yourself." She took the scrap and began to wrap it in a piece of burnt netting from the box.

"Whoa!" Alek yelled suddenly and snatched away the bit of mesh. "That's from your wedding Veil!"

"How did it get burnt?" Sophie asked suspiciously. Deryn laughed and replied:

"Now, that's a story that you'll want to hear!"