When James woke up again he felt completely lost. He didn't remember falling asleep or anything beyond walking and the horrible pain of having a boulder strapped to his back. Well, he supposed that was a lie; he remembered the beautiful artwork showing scenes of people being humble. He also felt lost because he was upright and walking behind someone.
"Congratulations on the promotion, Captain Potter," the man turned, speaking to James as he opened a door leading outside.
"Thank you," James answered. He decided he'd just go along with whatever was happening and hoped he wouldn't screw up too much. As the man ushered him through the doors he took a quick look down to figure out what the heck he was wearing.
A long navy blue frock coat with gold buttons and shiny little pins on his chest and lapels. Brown trousers and knee boots. He assumed there was probably a hat that went with the outfit. It just felt like it came with a hat.
The doors opened and James felt the rush of warm, salty air that meant he was at the seashore. He blinked against the light of the early morning sun and took in the area around him. He was standing on a wooden dock that stretched out far into the distance. What stopped him short and made his jaw drop, however, was the massive things moored to the dock.
"Welcome to the Shipyard, Captain. Did they not tell you that you get to pick an airship with your promotion?" the man teased him and followed it with a hearty laugh. The man, who on closer inspection wore a set of coveralls that had the word 'manager' embroidered on the left chest pocket, grinned and gestured with his head towards the ships. "Do you want a tour or do you know what style you want?"
James blinked and remembered that he wasn't just watching this, he was actually living it, and shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Why don't you give me a short overview from here. What do you recommend?"
"Well, the different ships mean different types of jobs, see? That one in the back with the black balloon is a galleon. That one can get you to the Caribbean and back on a full lift. Though since it can go the distance, that means you'll be deployed for longer. Great if you don't have a family waiting for you back home. Deployment in the Caribbean means fighting pirates, too, so it's outfitted with the latest magic and weapons tech."
"Magic?" James asked half surprised that this man knew about magic and half wondering where his wand might be stuffed in this uniform.
"Didn't think I knew 'bout magic, mate?" the manager laughed. "It's the shiny little doodah on your lapel there, that seven-pointed star? Means you're with Her Majesty's Special Division. 'Sides, I'm a squib. Got a couple wizards on my construction team, though. Have to have someone to work the permanent floating charms or what-have-you." He paused looking back out over the ships and squinting when a cloud allowed the sun to slip through for a moment. "All these boats ship out with their own four-man. After you decide your ship, your CO will assign your deployment and the remaining men needed to fill out a running crew. Some of them might be Muggles, though."
"Four-man?"
"If I didn't know you, James, I'd think you hadn't been dying to be an airship captain since you were eleven," he laughed. "It's fine. Many a new captain are so flabbergasted that they got this far in the program they don't know up from down for a while. Good thing these babies can float and fly. A four-man is a crew of four men that are assigned to a specific ship. Master Navigator, Engineer, Wandmaker, and Boatswain. If later, you and your crew are transferred to a different ship, even of the same class, you get a different four-man."
"Right, right," James said, nodding. Somewhere in the back of his mind, those words did sound familiar. "So, what was the name of that big one in the back?"
"Thinking about fighting pirates, then?" He grinned, "That one's HMA Voldemort. One of the lads says it's French for 'flees from death'."
James started coughing to hide his shock.
The manager laughed and patted him hard on the back. "Not my choice neither, I told 'em to name it something in English since she's an English ship, but they insisted."
James shook his head. "No, no, I don't think I could captain a ship called that. Might as well have called it the Dark Lord," he joked.
The manager, however, looked thoughtful. "I'd say it has a better ring to it than Voldemort. Might have to see what the lads think. Would have to go through a lot of paperwork to change it, but seeing as how nobody's wanted that one and she's been sitting out here for a couple of months now, a new name might be the thing to get her in the skies. She's our only galleon, though."
"How about this one, the one with the red and gold balloon?" James asked, pointing to a mid-sized ship. She wasn't the largest but she wasn't the smallest either.
"HMA Marauder. She's got a sister already in the skies called Mischief. Great carrack there. Deployment isn't fighting pirates, but it's not close shore patrol either. You'll spend a bit of time down in the Mediterranean or up in the Baltic on a ship like that. Diplomatic sorts of missions."
James smiled, thinking to himself that if Remus or Sirius were in this time and place, they'd probably be on a ship called Marauder or Mischief. Though neither felt exactly right. He decided to get the full little tour as there was only one type of ship left to talk about. "And if I wanted that little one with the green sails?"
"It's a little caravel, you'd be patrolling the coast, mainly in the south. The one with the green sails is the HMA Harriet."
"That one. I want that one," James said. Not even thinking about it. Green sails the colour of his son's eyes and a feminine form of his son's name? Of course, he wanted that one, even if it was the tiniest ship. Even if it meant his deployment in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, Special Division wasn't anything adventurous.
The manager nodded and brought his hand to his mouth to whistle loudly. James turned to see a young boy, not even seven, come running over from where he was lurking near the building. When he was close the manager gave him a job to do, "Go get the four-man for Harriet from the barracks; tell 'em their new captain's here." The little boy ran in the other direction as fast as his colt-like limbs could take him. The manager grinned as he watched and then turned back to James. "I remember when you were just a little one, running around doing errands while your Dad was doing business. Always knew you'd end up in the skies somehow. Shouldn't have been surprised that you followed in your old man's footsteps and joined the Navy."
There were footsteps behind them and they turned to greet the four men coming toward them. Three of them were average and forgettable, but the fourth was tall with dark wavy hair, grey eyes and sharp cheekbones. He reminded James of Sirius but there was something different about the man's eyes.
"Captain Potter, this is your Master Navigator Beauregard Walsh. Beau, Captain James Potter."
"Pleasure to meet you, Beauregard," James greeted him.
"Captain," he answered, his accent that of post aristocracy that Sirius always had, no matter how normal he tried to carry himself. "And Beau, please, only my mother calls me Beauregard." Beau introduced James to the others. Jones, Smythwick, MacDuffie.
"So, you have a family you want to stay close to home for, Captain?" MacDuffie asked.
James smiled and answered, "I've got a Lily."
"Ah yes, the beautiful Lily Potter," Beau said. "How is your sister doing these days, Captain? I think I got a spot on her dance card the Season she debuted. But that's been, what? Four years ago now? No suitors good enough for her? Or maybe it's that spitfire personality of hers scaring them all away. Not many men willing to wed a firecracker no matter how much fun she is to dance with."
Beau's words rattled in James's brain, but James was too busy being shocked. Sister? Sure enough, hundreds of images and memories and sounds flooded his mind, all of redheaded, green-eyed Lily, his sister. There were still memories from his former life, more carnal memories of bare flesh and bliss, but he felt awkward thinking of them and pushed them away. Instead, choosing to answer Beau's veiled insults. "I don't mind if my Lily never marries. She can do as she pleases as long as she never settles for someone who isn't worthy of her. When I retire from the Navy she can join me in the skies if she wants."
The manager laughed and changed the topic, "Well, the day's only so long and we've got paperwork to get started on to get this rig in your name, Captain Potter. Navigator, men," he said, looking at the four men and nodding, dismissing them. When he and James walked away, he muttered, "can't stand men who think it's fair game to insult a man's sister just because she hasn't finished being a kid yet. Sweet Lily is only twenty. Just cos she didn't give him the time of day aside from a single dance. Hmfph."
James agreed.
* . * . *
"Brother, Brother!" Hermione woke up in the middle of running towards... Apparently her brother. She let momentum carry her forward through a large door into a cavernous, dark space, not unlike a potions laboratory. When she saw who was standing at one of the tables in the room, she stopped and stared.
Severus Snape stood there staring at her, unreadable as always. "What, sister?" he snapped.
She could only continue to blink at him in confusion.
"Perhaps the parchment in your hand will remind you of whatever it was that you felt you needed to tell me so urgently that you had to burst into my lab." He gestured to the cauldron, beakers, and flasks set up in a complicated array on the table in front of him. "I'm busy."
Hermione looked down at the paper she was clutching.
Miss Prince,
The Appointments Board in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, on behalf of Her Royal Majesty The Queen, officially welcomes you as a member of our Foreign Ambassadors Committee, Special Division. As such, you will be required to attend at least three meetings each month with Special Division dignitaries of other nations to promote peace and goodwill. Please speak with Magdalena Boswick at Twilfitt and Tattings, Diagon Alley about your uniform and formal robes for events.
There is a mixed assembly for Ambassadors being held Saturday next, 10 September 1887 on the SkyShip Embassy in the airspace over the Island of Tortola in The British Virgin Islands. You are asked to attend though transportation to the Embassy is your responsibility.
Congratulations on the appointment,
Orville Clemens
Chairman of the Appt. Board, Foreign & Commonwealth Office
There was a postscript in a different handwriting that read, 'Hermione—I know how independent you are, but the upcoming assembly at the Embassy is formal and you will need an appropriate escort for a young lady such as yourself. —Winifred Langley.'
She looked back up at Severus, who had continued to look at her even though his potion was bubbling lightly underneath the alembic. "I've been appointed as an Ambassador in the Queen's government."
"To the Special Division, of course," he added. "Mustn't forget the modifier designating our magic to those in the know. Congratulations, Hermione. Have you been given an assignment?"
"Next Saturday, I need an escort and transport to..." she looked back down at the parchment, "the Skyship Embassy, which will be in the airspace above the British Virgin Islands."
"I'll take care of the accommodations as long as you leave me alone while I'm in my lab. Do we have a deal?"
Hermione hesitated, so very confused. Was he the Severus she remembered? That she knew? It was obvious that this body had been living a life before she woke up in it. She didn't even know if she looked like she had in her previous life. All that she was truly certain of was that she had a different name and a different family. She nodded in agreement and left the room.
* . * . *
Hermione wandered the rest of the day. Learning—or rather, relearning—the house and gardens. When her stomach growled she found the kitchen and a little house-elf in a pink dress and white apron making dinner.
"Mistress Hermione!" the elf squeaked, "You mustn't come to dinner in your day dress. Upstairs, upstairs. Petal has sets out an evening gown for you to wear for dinner. Master Prince has asked guests for dinner and you and Master Severus is asked to attend proper. You is knowing how your father is. Go, go!"
Hermione blinked at the elf, just as confused as she had been with Severus earlier. Instead of staying to ask questions, she headed up the staircase and down the short corridor to her bedroom. She didn't really know how she knew it was her room, but after questioning her mind and coming up hazy, she assumed based on the evening gown lain across the bed. It was burnt sienna in colour, something Hermione doubted would go with her colouring. She shrugged and shut the door. Her hands moving with muscle memory to remove her bonnet, unbutton her bodice and untie her overskirt and underskirt.
When she had redressed she turned and looked in the mirror. Her brown hair was dark. Too dark. She took a step closer to look at her features more closely. Black hair, brown eyes so dark they looked black. She had a longer nose and thinner lips. She looked like Severus, but she still felt like she was Hermione inside. Like there was something undeniably her even with slightly different features.
She took a step back and looked at the picture she made. Her dark hair was pulled up, with curls spilling down around her face. The dress was more red than orange once it was on her, and the underskirt had a layer of cream coloured lace. There were feathers on the shoulder and the skirt. It was much more revealing than the dress she had been wearing. Now her shoulders, arms, and the top of her chest were on display. Despite her earlier hesitation on the colour, it looked well with her pale skin and didn't make her look washed out. She turned to walk out of the room, but a squeak from behind her stopped her.
"Mistress! I is here to do your hair!" the elf said, standing tall. Her dress was a darker pink than before and she wasn't wearing an apron.
"Weren't you wearing-"
"Oh, Mistress Hermione is playing games again! Pretending not to know Petal or confuse her with her sister Lace! At least you've never pretended to confuse us with our brother Pan out in the gardens," the elf said, teasing her.
Hermione nodded and let herself be directed to the vanity table along the wall. She sat and the house-elf dragged a second chair behind her and let down her curls only to put them back up in a slightly different way. She added a tiny hat that matched the lace of the dress. It was also decorated with a matching red-orange feather.
"All done!" Petal shouted with glee. "Now, Mistress Hermione must be on her bestest behaviour. Master Prince has asked guests for dinner."
Hermione nodded slowly. Both house-elves she had encountered had cautioned her to be on good behaviour and act properly. She was beginning to wonder how the Hermione of this life typically behaved. There was a knock on the door and she could hear Severus's voice clearly through the wood.
"Are you dressed for dinner, Hermione?" he asked.
She stood, took one last glance in the mirror and Petal nodded in the reflection. Hermione opened the door and was met with Severus in more formal attire than his frockcoat. He was wearing a dark charcoal grey instead of his normal black. He offered his arm to her and she rested hers on top and he escorted her down the stairs toward the dining room.
"Severus...?" She asked, hesitating.
"Hmm?" He responded, stopping before entering the dining room so she could talk.
"Do you... umm, remember?" she whispered.
His eyebrows raised. "Remember? Remember what? I remember distinctly asking Mother to return you for a baby brother when you were born. I don't remember, but I've been told I was the best big brother a little sister could ask for even though I didn't like you at first. I remember Mother dying of fever when I was seven and you were three. I remember when Father let you name the newest house-elves and thinking you silly for the names you chose. I remember our first airship voyage and how scared you were of flying. I remember when I got my wand and how jealous you were and when you got yours and how nervous I was to have you join me at Hogwarts." He paused, looking her up and down. "I remember the both of us finishing school. But I don't remember you growing up. When did that happen?"
She smiled at his gentle teasing, both more at ease and more nervous. Did he not remember their previous life? Was he not 'awake,' like she was?
"And I do seem to remember that Father has invited guests," he said and then sighed. "I know you're not going to like them, but please, humour Father. He knows he can't actually arrange a marriage for you with the new legislation that's recently passed so he's doing the best he can by introducing you to young gentlemen, and their families, that he thinks will suit."
Her smile slid off her face. "What?"
He rolled his eyes and tilted his head at the door. "Let's just go in and get this over with," he said and then turned and opened the door, leading her into the dining room.
Dinner was awkward. Her father was older than she would have thought, but he had a sharp tongue and matching wit. She liked him immediately, though she wasn't exactly sure if that was the new Hermione's memories bleeding into her current thoughts and colouring her opinion of him. She learned through conversation that his title was 'Master' and it wasn't just a house-elf's honorific. He held both a mastery in mediwizardry and a Muggle degree in medicine. 'Master' just happened to be the highest honorific in the Wizarding world because they didn't have 'doctors.'
The suitor was the younger of two brothers, both with dark auburn hair and light eyes. She didn't recognize either of their names or their faces from her previous life or her time in Limbo. The eldest, Wolfgang Savage, worked in the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Law, and the younger, Sebastian, was finishing up his mastery of Transfiguration and set to teach at Hogwarts in the Transfiguration Department. They were both respectable gentlemen and relatively attractive, but the fact that they had agreed to come to dinner to be introduced to the young Miss Hermione Prince who was in need of a husband soured any attraction she had to either of them.
Hermione smiled and bit her tongue throughout the evening. She even suggested after-dinner drinks in the parlour like a proper hostess, even though she wasn't sure from where the thought had come. She wondered if these 'other' thoughts would assimilate over time or if the awareness that she was currently experiencing would instead slip into the 'other.'
When the gentlemen finally left Hermione leaned back in her seat and rested her shoulders against the upholstery, slouching as best she could in the corset she was wearing.
Her father scoffed to get her attention. "Sit up Hermione, if you tilt your pelvis just right the corset will act like the back of a chair and you can slouch sitting up," he informed her. Then more to himself but still loud enough for both his children to hear he said, "Just as wild and willful as your mother. Hated that blasted thing. Scandalized the neighbours when I told her she didn't have to wear one while she was pregnant." He had a wistful look in his eyes as he talked about the woman Hermione could not remember.
Hermione pulled herself up using the arms of her chair and tried slouching while sitting up as her father has instructed. It took a bit of wiggling, but when she was finally able to sit and slouch she grinned.
"So," her father started, "I thought you'd like the younger of the two men. Can't get much more boring than if he were to be teaching history. But you seemed more attracted to the elder."
"I did not!" Hermione retorted immediately.
Severus smirked at her from his armchair.
She glared at her brother and but her answer was for her father. "I was merely more interested in the elder Mr Savage's work than in the younger."
"I'm going to figure out the proper combination of traits for a son-in-law eventually, Hermione. You could at least help an old man out and confirm whether you fancied one over the other or not."
"Father!"
He laughed and she knew he had been teasing her. "So what's this I hear from your brother about you being an Ambassador?"
* . * . *
Regulus blinked. Disorientated was an understatement. There was blue beneath him and blue above and he wasn't sure if he was upside down or right side up. He tried to turn his head to see, still shocked that he could see, but he heard his brother's voice, "Not yet, Reg, I've got two more straps to tighten up."
Remembering the pain that had come from straps being tightened over his body by his brother the last time he was awake, he started to panic and he jerked away from the direction his brother's voice had been.
"Reggie, be still, or you'll fall out of the ship before your whatever-you-named-it is on. Flight suit or wings gadget thing. I don't know." Regulus felt a leather strap tighten over his bicep with a yank. "All done, now you can jump off. Ready? Good," he said without waiting for a reply.
Regulus didn't know what was happening but he felt two hands on his back give him a shove. He tipped forward, losing his balance and fell over. Except he didn't land on the ground or even directly in water. No, instead he found himself moving quickly through lots of air. Without thinking, without knowing what he was doing, he flicked his wrist and felt the familiar surge of his magic as he grasped his wand. He cast the first thing to come to mind: "Ascendio!"
His body turned and righted and he gained a temporary lift from the fall off whatever it was he had been standing on. And then another spell came to mind, one that he'd never even heard of, possibly making it up on the spot, "Volao Alae!" And the mechanism that was strapped to his back came to life. Suddenly he wasn't falling he was bobbing in the air. He turned his head and saw a giant pair of silver wings spread out, flapping slowly behind him. They were shaped like a bird's wings but made of metal if the shininess was any indication. He looked back around, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
Below him spread the ocean, turquoise and cerulean. He turned and his entire body turned as well. The wings moving in a way metal probably wouldn't have normally. The wings made a slight clinking sound as they shifted and he made a mental note to work on feather placement. Behind him was land, the coast of one of the British Isles he assumed. He looked up and his jaw dropped. Above him, blocking out the sun was an enormous black balloon. It was long and oval and on its sides were sails that spread out like wings. What shocked him the most was the netting and heavy ropes that tied the balloon and sails to the wooden pirate ship beneath it.
"Reg? Reggie! Regulus!" Sirius's voice could barely be heard coming from the deck of the wooden ship. "Accio broom!" Sirius shouted and before Regulus had much time to blink, Sirius was zooming over the ship and nosediving toward the ocean.
"Sirius!" Regulus called, laughing when his brother pulled up on his broomstick handle so much that he bounced in the air.
Sirius looked at him with wide, awestruck eyes. "Merlin, Reg, they're beautiful!"
Regulus grinned and spun, not even thinking about how the wings seemed to just know and understand how he wanted to move through the air.
"Reg!" Sirius started laughing, an amused, shocked, still awestruck-laugh. "I can't believe you actually made them work. I've been ragging you for months about how they'd never... And look at you, defying everything! I bet they're more comfortable for long flights than a broom between your thighs, even with a Cushioning Charm."
Regulus nodded and decided to test the mechanism that he had apparently created. He dipped and flew around Sirius, spinning quickly and shooting above him, then swooping down within arm's reach of his brother.
Sirius rocked from the air current and grabbed his broom tighter. "Careful, they might move like Azrael, but you've got a much greater wingspan than him. Not to mention if you clip me with those things, I might lose an arm."
Regulus somehow knew that Azrael was his Animagus form. His peregrine falcon Animagus form. He looked at an empty patch of sky and focused his intent towards it, he could feel the wings flap hard and fast to move him up towards his goal. When he stopped to look around he realized he was even higher than the balloon of the airship. Sirius was hovering close to the level of the ship. He looked like a tiny doll in the distance.
"Don't fly too high, Icarus!" Sirius yelled up at him.
Regulus laughed and nosedived. He closed his eyes and instinctively cast a Bubblehead Charm as he descended, his metal wings wrapping around his body protectively as he gained speed. He swooped and pulled out of the dive so close to the water than he felt it spray up and soak his trousers. He sped back up towards Sirius laughing in reaction to the immense adrenaline rush.
When he was within speaking distance of his brother again, he said, "This is amazing. You've got to experience this."
"Yeah, but you told me you wouldn't let me have my own set of wings. That since they were a prototype you probably wouldn't be making a second pair," Sirius said. He didn't sound like he was pouting but there was clear disappointment in his voice.
"Yeah, but that was before. You've got to feel this. It's so much better than a broom."
"Blasphemy!" Sirius pretended to be scandalized.
They laughed together and flew back towards the airship. Wherever they were and if Sirius was really the brother he remembered, he'd worry about later. Now he just knew that whatever was going on, everything would be all right.
* . * . *
Lily was giggling. It was a strange feeling to wake up giggling, but there she was, sitting very straight, hand covering her mouth, giggling with two other girls.
"Did you see his face when I told him yes to that waltz?" the girl on her left asked. She was very pretty with long, straight black hair and high cheekbones. Lily thought the girl looked remarkably like Sirius. "But then, of course, Daddy had to interrupt and tell poor Mr Mathers that as this was my first Season, I would not be allowed to waltz unless the gentleman in question spoke with him first."
Lily could feel the memory the girl was talking about bubble up to surface in her mind. She could see the gorgeous scarlet-coloured gown the girl had worn, see her father's disapproving look, and the stuttering young man who had asked the girl for a dance. It took a second longer for Lily to recall the girl's name. Calypso. Miss Calypso Black. Well, that explained the resemblance to Sirius, didn't it?
Lily shook the memory from her mind and listened to the two girls next to her continue to giggle and gossip about the ball. There was that strange feeling of memories bubbling and she let them come to her in bits and pieces.
The ball had been the last of the Season and now they were home in the country with her family. The two girls lived nearby and Lily lived in this house. Wrotham Park in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. Owned by the retired Admiral Fleamont Potter of Her Royal Navy, Special Division, and home to his wife Euphemia and their two children James and Lily. The thought struck her in the gut and Lily had no idea how she didn't visibly flinch and alert her two companions that something was wrong.
Brother.
James was her brother in this life. It was a strange feeling in her chest, but it wasn't misplaced or awkward. She had loved James. She still loved James. They had grown comfortable together even though they didn't grow old together. She still loved him, that feeling had just transmuted into something familial rather than romantic.
She looked at the girl on her right, wondering, hoping she would recognize her. She did. This was a younger Pandora Lovegood. Though in this life, it was back to her maiden name, Miss Pandora Greengrass. Blue eyes and hair that seemed to shimmer between a dark blonde and a light brown. Instead of the plump woman she had been, in this life, Pandora only carried a bit of childish fluffy in her face and arms. She had more curves than either Calypso or Lily, but they made her quite lovely in the silhouette of the times.
Lily decided that since she didn't know Calypso, that she should probably get Pandora alone before asking what she remembered from their time in Limbo. Lily felt her breath hitch as she briefly remembered a time after Limbo. Full of running and full of pain. That memory faded quickly and Lily was happy to let it.
"Is James going to be home this winter, Lily?" Calypso asked, bringing Lily back to the conversation.
Lily only had to relax her thoughts before the right answer came to her. "No, I don't believe so. When he wrote me last, he said he had been promoted and he would be getting a new assignment soon."
Pandora and Calypso both swooned in their seats. Pandora grinned, "Oh? Commander Potter is now a Captain? How dashing. I bet he chooses the assignment to go fight pirates in the Caribbean!"
"Can't you see it!" Calypso agreed and stood, pretending to swing a sword this way and that. "Swash-bucklers don't stand a chance against the magnificent Captain James Potter!"
Lily laughed with her friends as Calypso dropped back into her seat. "I can see it, though I hope he doesn't. I like having him close," she confessed.
"You're just too close to him for your own good, you'd think you were twins with how often you like to be in one another's company," Calypso teased.
"We're not that close," Lily told her. "But he does make me feel safe."
"I wish I had a brother," Pandora said with a sigh.
"I don't! Boys are good for flirting with but I don't think they'd be good to live with in close quarters," Calypso said.
Pandora gasped, "Surely you don't mean that! You want to get married. You told me so at the beginning of the Season."
"That was at the beginning. Then we got invited to all the balls and evening soirees and parties and the theatre! And I got all that attention from all of those men. Why would I want to get married and settled when I can go several Seasons and enjoy my time so?"
"But surely you'd still want to get married, after your third, or—umm," Pandora looked with wide eyes at Lily and corrected herself, "your fifth Season or so?"
Lily grinned and let the memories bubble up again. This had been her fourth Season, Pandora's second because she'd come out at seventeen, not sixteen, and Calyspo's first. No wonder she was still so excited and overwhelmed.
"Well, yes eventually. I'm really interested in what happens after the wedding!"
"Calypso!" Pandora said on a gasp, sounding scandalized. Lily could only try not to smirk knowingly.
"How about you, Lily?" Calypso asked.
"What about?"
"Are you hoping to marry? And aren't you interested in what happens on the wedding night?"
"I... yes, I suppose if someone asks next year, though I'm already getting too old," she hedged, trying to remember more of this life or details from her primary lessons in history from her last one. "I don't want to be an old maid."
"Pish posh," Pandora said. "I'm sure what with your father being a retired Admiral and your brother now a Captain, there's bound to be someone that would offer. An officer deployed with James, perhaps."
"Well, you've still got one more year, at least, before you're an old maid. Maybe next year you can try dresses with a more... titalating neckline?" Calypso offered. Lily and Pandora gasped in response and that set the three of them to giggling again.