As Nanami and Hood arrived, so did Enterprise and Amagi. Enterprise came as Belfast's guest, and Amagi as Illustrious's. Though they arrived at the same time, Hood and Nanami were seated separately from the others due to their station.

Nanami and Hood sat with Queen Elizabeth, Richelieu, Warspite, Howe, Duke of York, Prince of Wales, Valiant and King George V at the largest table in the room. When they arrived, Nanami had just helped Hood to her seat when she heard a familiar voice.

"Big sister," Unicorn called out as she ran towards Nanami. Yuni was hugged tightly in her arms. She had nearly reached Nanami when she tripped, falling forward. Nanami swiftly caught her and swept the young carrier into a hug.

Nanami hugged her tight as she sighed, "Unicorn, please be careful, this big sister would hate to see you get hurt."

"I-I just wanted to s-see you big sister.." Unicorn quietly cried as tears began to form. Nanami realized in that moment that Unicorn was able to control her just like the destroyers could. These little girls reminded her far too much of herself after the Battle of Puget Sound.

"My dear little sister, I am not upset with you in the least, and I am very happy to see you. You look very cute in your dress," Nanami comforted the girl, wiping away her tears. Unicorn looked up at Nanami with huge, shining eyes before hugging her tightly.

"Thank you big sister! I-I'll be careful," she sniffed. After letting the girl hug her for a couple moments longer, Nanami set her down.

She asked, "Where are you sitting? I will come by later and visit everyone at your table." Hearing this, Unicorn's face brightened immediately.

"You promise? I'm sitting with big sister Illustrious," she exclaimed, pointing toward the table using Yuni.

Nanami smiled warmly before answering, "I promise. Now, go on back, Illustrious is probably missing you." She leaned down and gave the girl a kiss on the forehead before she ran off. After ensuring she made it to the other table without incident, she turned back to the table to see everyone had been watching the entire encounter.

"We are pleased to see you have such a soft side Commander. All of our knowledge of you indicated you were a serious, stern woman with few outward emotions," Queen Elizabeth stated. Nanami was unsure how to respond, but luckily she didn't have to.

A woman with long red hair, turquoise eyes, and most notably, pointed ears, added, "Thy display of affection for young Unicorn, 'twas beauteous. Thou carest much for the younger girls dost thou not? That such a lady as thyself was awaiting us, had I known, I would have insisted I arrive with Lady Hood." She was quickly rebuked by a blonde woman to her right.

"York, please restrain yourself. You have not yet introduced yourself and you are already hitting on the good Commander. In that vein, I am King George V, namesake of the King George V class battleships, and Knight Commander of Her Majesty's Royal Knights. Please excuse my little sister for her her transgressions," King George V apologized for York as she introduced both of them. King George V had long blonde hair with a blue ribbon tied into it, and her eyes were a deep red. Before Nanami could get in a word, another woman cut in. This one had short blonde hair and similar red eyes.

"You can hardly blame York for her words George. The Commander's beauty is one to be courted. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Prince of Wales, second of the King George V battleships. Please lead us to victory Commander, so that we may never experience the pain of losing our comrades again," Wales countered her older sister before introducing herself. Again Nanami was unable to speak before another at the table did.

This woman admonished, "Wales, that is hardly a fair thing to put upon our Commander. I am Howe, King George V class battleship, Commander. I hope we may build a healthy relationship." Howe's long blonde hair faded to red near the tips, and there was a softness in her turquoise eyes where her sisters had a fire.

Hood lightly admonished the group of them, "You are all embarrassing Her Majesty in front of not only the Commander, but also the Cardinal. Please control yourselves."

"Thank you for your consideration Hood. I do not know what I would do without your poise at my side these last two weeks," Nanami admitted honestly. Nearly every face around the table burned bright at the statement.

Even Hood, whose elegance normally hid her emotions, had a smile on her face as she responded, "Nanami, you really must remember to choose your words more carefully. Otherwise one might mistake your words for something more one day." The fact that she had called the Commander by her given name did not go unnoticed.

Wales pounced on the opportunity to tease her friend, "So you are one a first name basis are you Hood? The Commander has already stolen the heart of the Pride of the Royal Navy? Now I really must get to know her." Hood did not give her the satisfaction of responding, but the slight blush that crept into her face betrayed her.

"Servant explain yourself," Queen Elizabeth ordered in a huff. Nanami realized after a moment of confusion that the Queen meant her.

"Your Majesty, while I respectfully acknowledge your power over your subjects, I am not one of them. I will however, insist that whatever you may be thinking about my relationship with Hood is wrong. We have simply come to great understanding over the time she has mentored me so I may sit at your table as an equal," Nanami explained to the Royal Navy ruler. The fact that the Commander had the gall to say that to her face riled the Queen up further until her sister, Warspite, stepped in.

"Your Majesty, the Commander is right. We are here to get to know one another, not to bicker over who holds more power," Warspite reminded her Queen. As she did this, Nanami could feel an incredible coolness wash over her, emanating from Hood. When she looked over, the Pride of the Royal Navy had wiped almost all emotion from her face, but even Nanami could not miss the slight pout there.

Nanami, now seated, leaned over to her and whispered, "My dear Lady Hood, if I insulted or offended you in any way, I apologize. To make it up to you, if you will allow it, I will cook dinner for you this weekend." The Commander's sudden closeness and her breath tickling Hood's ear caused Hood to blush. This forced the elegant Battlecruiser to organize her thoughts for a moment before speaking.

"Commander, if you are thinking to buy my good graces with a simple meal, I wish to inform you that you are poorly mistaken," she denied the offer prompting a sigh from Nanami. The sigh was loud enough to tear some of the attention away from the back and forth between Warspite and Queen Elizabeth. However she didn't notice as she went to give a counter offer.

"Would you prefer I spend the entire afternoon and evening with you?" She asked hopeful that this would be enough.

Hood quickly countered, "The entire day Commander. I want your attention for a full day. That includes three meals Nanami. Of course we will also be required by Her Majesty to attend a small tea party that afternoon, likely in the gardens." After she stopped speaking, she turned to look at Nanami. Their faces being in such close proximity caused another round of faces at the table to turn red.

Nanami smiled with amusement before caving, "You have never ceased to amaze me in the two weeks we have known one another. I did not know you were so stubborn. I have the entire day off Saturday."

"You may be surprised by many things about me Nanami. 8 AM works, and I already know your schedule quite well dear Commander," Hood revealed with a satisfied smirk. The pair's attention quickly shifted back to the table as someone cleared their throat.

"I-If the two l-l-love birds are quite done, we can c-continue with the tea party," Queen Elizabeth stuttered, her face burning at the display, despite the fact she had only witnessed the tail end of it. Nanami tilted her head in confusion, but shrugged it off as just another of Queen Elizabeth's peculiarities.

In the interest of moving forward, others concurred and the conversation turned to other topics. It was not long however, until the topic turned back to the Commander.

"Commander, thou art truly a warrior maiden. Thy body bears the marks," Duke of York commented, and was swiftly rebuked again.

"That was an incredibly rude topic to bring up in this setting Yorkie," King George V admonished her sister.

Nanami shook her head and explained, "It is fine George, it was a topic that was bound to come up if I wore this dress, any dress really. And you would be wrong as well York. These were not given to me as a warrior, but they did set me on my current path. I was an innocent, a child, when the Sirens gave me these." Around the table every face showed varying levels of horror at the simple revelation. Every face except for Hood's, as she had already been told the full story

Warspite was the first to break the silence, "Commander, I pledge to you that your orders shall be my highest priority in combat."

"We shall carry out your will Commander," King George V quickly added., and each of her sisters responded similarly.

"As you see Commander, you need not ever question the loyalties of the Royal Navy," Queen Elizabeth boasted with pride.

Richelieu assured, "So long as your cause remains just in the eyes of the Lord, you have the strength of Iris Libre as well Commander."

"Thank you all, your words have put me at ease," Nanami managed to reply, her throat constricting for a reason she did not understand. Luckily for Nanami, the conversation once more turned to other topics. After a little while longer she excused herself to visit Unicorn as she had promised.

"Good afternoon ladies, how is everyone finding the tea party?" Nanami asked the table. There was some initial confusion from a few of the women who had not yet been introduced to the Commander.

"Ah, Commander, thank you for stopping by! It has been a lovely party," Illustrious greeted the Commander, and realization dawned on the faces of others at the table. Enterprise looked surprisingly comfortable in her dress as she sat next to Belfast, and Amagi looked poised as always.

"I am sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Nanami Winters, your Commander here at Azur Lane," Nanami politely elaborated. The women went around the table and introduced themselves in turn. Illustrious's sisters Formidable and Victorious as well as Perseus and Centaur were the women Nanami had yet to meet.

After a brief conversation with the group she returned to her own table, and shortly thereafter the tea party ended. As Hood had predicted, she also received an invitation to a tea part on Saturday afternoon in the gardens. She graciously accepted before heading to the door.

"As I expected of you Nanami, you did quite well. Though I don't think you realize the effect you have on people. You unintentionally inspire loyalty with so few words and such little emotion. It is, frankly, rather frightening," Hood praised her as they stood at the exit to the dorm.

Nanami was confused by what she meant, but she didn't get a chance to respond before she saw Belfast and Enterprise go into another room together, alone. Again that beast of jealousy began to well up inside her, but Hood quickly ended that by placing a hand on her cheek.

"Remember what I told you Nanami. Jealousy is unbecoming for one such as yourself," she admonished before planting another kiss on Nanami. This time it was gentle, and on the lips instead of her cheek.

"Good luck tomorrow Nanami," Hood added before sweeping off deeper into the building. Nanami stood there stunned and confused for a moment before making her way back to her home in something of a daze.


The next morning Nanami woke early, dressed in her uniform, and skipped breakfast to head to Akashi's shop. She and Yuubari had just arrived as planned, and the trio headed to the lab so that they could run over the modifications that had been made to Nanami's pseudo-rigging since the final exercise.

Throughout the rundown Yuubari was clearly excited about something, and as they came to the end, she finally got to mention, "We also figured out how to make the addition you requested that first day! Get in and we'll tell you how to activate it!"

Yuubari's excitement was contagious and Nanami stepped into the suit with a grin.

"Now just quickly flick your right arm out to the right," Yuubari continued explaining. Nanami did as she was told, and was met by a satisfying SHINK as a trio of steel claws extended from her gauntlet.

"Theoretically it should be able to pierce through armor, but as a human you should probably aim for soft spots if you get into a battle, nyaa," Akashi warned. Nanami repeated the motion and the claws slid back into the gauntlet. She then slipped out of the rigging and picked up her R&D team in a hug.

"You two are incredible," she praised the pair before letting them down and patting their heads. Despite Akashi's protestations, she leaned into the pats, and Yuubari contentedly remained silent.

With the pair's help they got the rigging to the site for the mock battle where a crowd was already forming. Akashi left as soon as they got the rigging into a hidden spot where Nanami could put it on in private. She did not return for some time, but when she did, it was with a merchandise cart full of customized mock battle gear Nanami shook her head in disbelief, this entrepreneur never passed up a chance to make money.

While Akashi was gone, Enterprise and the rest of Nanami's chosen fleet had shown up at the meeting spot. Her vanguard would be Laffey, San Diego, Charles Auburn, Fletcher and Minneapolis, while her back line would consist of Enterprise, Hornet, Yorktown, South Dakota and Pennsylvania. Though Pennsylvania and Nanami had previously argued, and still needed to settle that argument, the woman was a professional, and Enterprise had insisted upon her inclusion.

Throughout the entire process of getting ready, Nanami could not shake an uneasy feeling. The skies were incredibly blue, the waves minimal, and yet something felt off. She brought it up to Enterprise.

"I think you may just be nervous Nanami, but I trust you. What do you want to do?" Enterprise asked seriously.

Nanami thought hard for a moment before giving an order, "Bring Helena and Cleveland here. I want Helena's radar, and she gets along with Cleveland well, so she will make a good emergency guard for Helena." Enterprise nodded and jogged off to carry out the order. It was not long before she returned with the two women in tow. They had apparently already been together.

"Helena, I need your eyes, ears and radar to keep a look out for me. I have a bad feeling and I do not know why. If you have any contact, retreat and put out a blanket warning. I do not want to be surprised today," Nanami explained what she wanted her best scout to do. Helena nodded in understanding.

"Cleveland you are to keep her safe, ensure you both make it back safely if there is a problem," Nanami continued/

"We'll make you proud Commander," Cleveland exclaimed and Helena nodded again in agreement. As the two of them left, Nanami allowed herself a deep breath. She figured she was being too cautious. At the same time, something about this many of her girls gathered dockside at once put her on edge. It was as if there was something she was on the verge of remembering, something terrible.


A/N: Thank you for all the well wishes last chapter. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and a little more of the Glory of the Royal Navy! Next chapter is the long-awaited battle!

Please remember to review to tell me what you liked/disliked, or what you look forward to! I welcome critiques with open arms as well!