Alek flopped on to his bunk. He had abandoned his air service coat on the chair and had left his boots at the door. He was still sopping wet from his tesla wire adventure. He heard Borvil scampering around somewhere above him .Alek couldn't care less what the Loris was up to. He was much more interested in the events of the past hour, more specifically the events involving one Deryn sharp.

Any memory beyond stepping onto the waterlogged leviathan was fuzzy. Alek could tell that the memories were there, they just slipped out of reach whenever he moved to retrieve them. Not that Alek cared, one memory stood out to him as bold as a German zeppelin against the Swiss sky: Deryn had kissed him.

The memory was strangely clear in contrast to intangible blurs that surrounded it. Alek remembered warmth, the most amazing warmth, made even more amazing by the cold water and sleet falling around them. The air had smelled of hazel nuts but not hydrogen, Alek could taste the distinction, hydrogen was much more bitter. This smell was sweet, almost like honey.

Alek smiled, he had seen Deryn for the first time. Literally he saw her every day but figuratively he saw Deryn, the girl under Dylan's tough exterior. He liked Deryn much more. While it was not the love poetry he had been taught he felt his sentiments did the situation justice quite well.

"Emperors are vain and useless things." Borvil concluded.

Alek glared at the beastie on the ceiling.

"And what does that mean?" Alek asked angrily.

The Loris just giggled.

"Stupid animal" Alek muttered.

Borvil stared at prince Alexander of Hungary as he rolled over, still sopping wet, and tried to remember what Deryn smelled like.

He giggled

"Very good Ms. Sharp."