Sorry for taking awhile! This is the fluffy second part of the 9th chapter. I'm having some issues with the next chapter, plus I'm about to finish grad school and have been working late, so chapter 10 might be a little bit. Thank you everyone who keeps reading and reviewing - it may not seem like much but getting an email that someone's reviewed the story always makes me pull up my doc and write a few sentences on days that I hadn't planned on writing. :)

There was a party at the inn that night. Very few people had stayed, as they had moved on further into Montressor to visit their friends and families – the Benbow was often just a stopping point. But townsfolk arrived and Dr. Doppler arrived with Morph in tow.

Kate was fascinated by the pink blob. "What is this creature?"

Morph bubbled and split into a thousand particles that rearranged into a miniature version of her wearing her new dress. Mini-Kate curtsied, giggled and reformed into the floating cloud of goo.

"I dunno…he's a morph. Silver left him with me, and since I couldn't take him to the Academy, I left him at home. He sometimes goes with Dr. Doppler to the University… I think he misses the Etherium and all of the adventures he used to go on."

Morph nuzzled the side of Jim's face, cooing, before racing off to the kitchen.

"Jim, my boy," Doppler abruptly approached the youth, fidgeting with the glasses on his snout. "How goes it at the, erm, the Academy?"
"Good enough," Jim grinned. "Staying out of trouble, at least I think."

"And you," Doppler rotated to Kate. "I'm sorry, I didn't, um, I didn't catch your shame…I mean your name. We've met before, haven't we?"

Kate dipped her head. "Yes, sir. Um, at the Academy. In the Captain's office? I'm Katherine Blake. You're friends with Captain Smollett?"

The doctor began stammering. "Yes, um, yes, well, yes, of course! Yes, we're friends. I am…let me see here… I am Doctor Delbert Doppler. Old friend of the Hawkins family. Sarah and I go way back. We met in high school, you see, back when her parents worked at the Troubadour Inn."

"Turnbuckle Inn, Delbert," Sarah called from the table, where she was graciously filling the wine glass of one of the few patrons that had remained behind.

"Sarah," Delbert's attention veered for the third time, and he went over to speak with his old friend, telling her of how the project at the college was going along. The inn was a jar of marbles, gently swirling in the hands of curious child. There was a controlled chaos, with a hum of pleasant voices, a peace of movement. More and more people filtered into the inn for the party, clicking into the swift environment. Someone began playing music on the phonograph that entwined itself into the buzz naturally.

Kate had never seen a party like this. The few that her father had hosted had been military affairs, with a dash of royalty. She had been either bundled away and ordered to stay upstairs, or, as she had gotten older, tucked into tight petticoats and breathless corsets that kept her constrained to the outskirts of the hubbub. Military men and women and their spouses talking strategy, swapping stories, gruff voices not used to the social pleasantries of a party.

Many guests were fascinated by Jim. Gone was the delinquent, and in his place remained a confident young man who had already had legends and stories built around him. He awkwardly smiled and joked his way through questions about Treasure Planet, deflecting some of the more pointed questions.

"Parties were never my strong suit either," a clipped voice said behind Kate, who was still clutching at her skirts and observing the messes of people. Captain Amelia Smollett had somehow come into the party without much fanfare. She was out of uniform, in plain trousers and a vest and tie. "I didn't know you had plans to visit Montressor, Blake."

"Hawkins invited me," Kate tried to maintain the air of professionalism with her favorite teacher. "And I didn't really have any other plans."

"Like I said, we are not too different." The Captain's eyes had lazily landed on the doctor, who was still animatedly discussing something with Sarah, who had managed to find a seat and take a break from serving. "It's nice to have…friends that care." She jolted, almost imperceptibly, back into her brusque manner. "I hope that you and Hawkins have been using your time well and studying for your exams."

"Of course, Captain," Kate nodded. Despite the hours that had been dutifully spent poring over notebooks and textbooks, she still couldn't help feeling a little guilty for many "breaks" that she had taken with Jim Hawkins.

The Captain's eyebrow rose. "Good. This isn't from me, but you, Hawkins and Annick will be announced as the midshipmen at the promenade, so long as there aren't any last minute snafus. So stay vigilant."

Kate's heart swelled with excitement and anxiety. Here was her chance, dangling in front of her, to escape. She could start a Navy career and escape the clutches of her father. Year long journeys, adventures, relief.

Another woman approached Amelia and they began speaking intently about politics, wherewith Kate tuned out of the conversation, glancing around the room to try and find Jim, but she needn't have even tried, for he'd appeared at her side. It suddenly felt as though her abandoned corner was stuffed with people.

"Captain," Jim saluted.

"Hawkins," The felid broke her conversation shortly to nod at the boy and say, with her lips quirking upward. "At ease, spacer. I see the Academy has worked magic on your attitude."

"I wasn't so bad on the Legacy."

Amelia hissed out a genuine laugh. "Blake, this upstart thought that he could man a ship himself because he could work a treasure map."

Jim laughed too. "I was so mad at you, ma'am. Especially for making me call you ma'am."

"That's enough of that. I'm out of uniform and I'm not here on business, Hawkins."

Jim turned to Kate and Amelia turned back to her acquaintance to resume the original conversation. He watched the captain surreptitiously before reaching out for Kate's hand.

"Do you like the dress?"

"I do," she said, adjusting the collar. Jim could tell that she wasn't quite comfortable in the outfit, but chalked it up to having to leave her school uniforms' trousers. He had that thought again, that nagging at the back of his skull that he was forgetting something important. Kate had successfully pulled her hair back and as his eyes caught on the little tendrils of curls escaping around her ears and neck, he thought he remembered it, but then immediately lost it. The two weren't talking, but it was one of their comfortable silences, as they let the noises and smells and sights from the celebration wash over them.

"There's a meteor shower tonight," Jim said, suddenly. He still knew exactly when stars would shower through the black steely sky over Montressor. Every four and a half weeks, on the nose, and he'd counted yesterday just to make sure. He felt as though if he took Kate to the docks, he'd recapture the feeling of when his parents took him down to watch the space above their little inn. And he felt as though he might remember whatever had been bothering him if they were down there, he wasn't sure why. "Do you want to go down to the docks? We could bring some of the bread and soup that Mom has in the kitchen."

"Okay. I'll go grab it," Kate seemed relieved to slip away from the cluster of people, immediately reaching out to open the door they were standing by. She snapped the entryway shut, leaving Jim to unknowingly eavesdrop on the Captain's conversation.

"I don't know about this treaty, Smollett," the woman, an impossibly tall humanid with a crooked nose and bushy eyebrows, said slowly. "Why would the Procyons agree to peace after all of this time?"

"Trade, of course," the Captain shrugged. "Prince Edward has been placed in charge of diplomatic missions as the Emperor begins to phase out of the picture. He hasn't many years left and he knows it. So the prince has been very passionate about establishing relations with the Procyons."

"And the little foxes just agreed to the whole thing?"

"If you remember our time on the Armada, we did quite a bit of the instigation at the beginning of the war. They demand to remain a sovereign state, rather than joining the Empire. Edward's washed his hands of that venture and just wants to start bridging the gap so that we can start importing. Not everyone agrees with the move, but, we'll see where it takes us."

"Do you agree with the move?" the woman demanded, catching Jim's glance and shooing him off with a flick of her hair. He took a few steps forward and turned his back, but continued to listen. He wasn't the type to be interested in politics, but the conversation was reminding him of a similar one that he'd stumbled on, hidden in the shadows of a closed inn.

"I do," Amelia nodded, "You know I never liked the war, Potter. There's no point to it – the Procyons will send quite literally all of their men to die at our hands before they join the Empire. I follow the orders given to me, but I don't know how well genocide would sit on my conscience."

"I hope you're in the minority," the woman sniffed. "I was with you on the Armada, but times change. I've lost too many spacers to those furry little bastards. They don't play fair either."

"I am in the minority. Most of my superior officers are…frustrated with the peace treaty, but we are in service to the Empire. I will obey the orders from the crown."

"I highly doubt Admiral Blake is taking this sitting down."

"He has voiced his frustrations, but it appears to be ending – the Emperor did not take the criticisms well and sent Blake off on a diplomatic mission. This doesn't leave the room, Potter, but it was rather his just desserts."

Potter nodded, with a bitter laugh. The two women did not appear to hold their commanding officer in the highest regard. Jim wondered, for a split second, if he should tell the Captain about the conversation he had overheard at The Silver Fish. He wasn't sure how it fit together – Admiral Blake angry about a peace treaty, Admiral Blake conspiring with pirate ghosts, Admiral Blake and the Centurion, Admiral Blake and his concerns about a traitor working at the Academy.

Admiral Blake's daughter came out from the kitchen, a knapsack balled in her fist and a thermos in the crook of her arm. "Are you alright, Jim?"

He flailed his arms and head for a second, clearing his thoughts. "Of course! Let's go to the docks."

Down at the docks, there were very few spacecrafts parked. Jim balanced easily across the rickety boards stretching over a cliff, nimbly crossing his legs and perching at the very end of the planks. Kate lifted her skirts, kicked off her clunky shoes that would only contribute to her lack of balance and moved much more cautiously to where her friend was sitting. She lowered herself onto the wood, dangling her stockinged feet over the edge. Heights weren't usually a problem for her, and the chasm beneath them blended in with the thick darkness around them. Jim had brought a lantern with them, but snuffed it out as soon as they were sitting. He pulled a long and skinny loaf of bread from the bag and tore off a piece, stuffing it into his mouth, making a content noise from the back of his throat. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed his mother's fresh cooking. He tore off another piece and held it in front of Kate, who playfully bit it from his fingers. They shared a laugh.

"Look," Jim said, pointing up.

"Is it really a meteor shower?"

"Well, kind of. It's kind of a storm of stardust and meteors and space junk that's caught in Montressor's orbit. But my father always told me that it was a meteor shower, and I just never really got out of that habit."

"Do you miss him?"

Jim didn't answer the question, merely looked up at the glittering spray that spliced through the infinite sky. He could feel the rough wood splintering into the hand that gripped the edge of the dock and the callused skin of Kate's fingertips in his other hand. He could barely see her, just the vague outline of a smaller figure and the flash of bright eyes. He wondered if he still missed his father. The missing used to tangle through him, day after day, night after night, thrumming in his veins. But an eye-patched scoundrel had dulled that ache, at the beginning of the year. He missed John Silver and wondered where in the vast sky above Montressor that the pirate was travelling.

It was strange, loving a pirate more than your real father, Jim thought to himself, knitting his fingers into Kate's. And it was then that he remembered. That fleeting thought he'd had at the beginning of the Solstice break, falling asleep holding Katherine Blake in his mother's guest room. He wasn't sure if he should say it out loud, if he should bring the feeling into the open.

"Kate?"

"Yes?" she said eagerly. Jim wondered if she knew what he was thinking, if she wanted him to say it.

"Do you…do you like Montressor?"

She deflated a little bit. "Yes. I do. I told you that I was glad you made me come with you for break. I feel very…at home here."

Here was his chance. A way to ease into what he wanted to say. "I feel at home when I'm around you. Ever since we hid in the library when your father came to school. You…I, uh, I…Kat I think I'm…I think I love you."

The weight that had been pressing into Jim immediately disappeared, but flooded around him as Kate didn't answer. His cheeks turned red and he wondered if he'd messed up.

"Jim…I…that's very sweet."

Jim's cheeks went redder. She didn't feel that way. She didn't feel as strongly. He got it – he really did. He was her first close friend, she didn't want to ruin that, he was suddenly worried that she had only tagged along into these romantic events because he'd taken it there. He began stammering. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…I mean, you don't have to…I mean I just…I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Her voice was quiet.

"I shouldn't've said that."

"Why not?"

"You…if I made you feel uncomfortable…"

"No, Jim," Kate rushed out. "No you didn't. I just…I think I love you too. I, um, it's very scary to say. I don't think I've ever loved anyone before. So I didn't know if I should say it."

Both of them didn't say anything for the rest of the meteor shower, they simply sat side by side, their bodies so close to the cavernous gap underneath the docks. Jim wondered if their hands would ever unjoin as they both clasped each other's palms with the force of someone trying to climb a mountain. He wondered what was next, but the silver shower dazzling their gazes reminded him of what he'd been told and what he'd told Kate – they would go out and rattle the stars.