Hello! Thank you all for reading and reviewing, your support means a lot and it makes me happy to know you are enjoying this story! I will not be able to update until friday. Finals are to blame.

Meanwhile, I hope you like the chapter!

Morning transformed into afternoon in the blink of an eye.

Time meant nothing to Alice when she was closing deals with people like the Ambassador of Peking. It was no less demanding than escaping from pirates or surviving in a storm.

Now that their reunion was over, she had to leave Peking and go back to Tianjin port, where her mother, ship and crew waited for her.

And she was bringing bad news.

Anger still had her body and mind numbed.

She got off at the station of the port after two hours of travel. Outside, it was as hot as Peking. Her sweat and the salt from the sea breeze stuck her clothes to her skin.

The train's whistle echoed across the station. The machine filled the air with smoke as it rode the rails towards its next destination.

Alice watched it go until disappeared into the distance.

She swiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand and went on her way. Her steps were quick and heavy, as if she wanted to pulverize the ground with her boots.

The words of the Ambassador resonated in her head like a loud bell. Her heart pounded hard inside her chest.

They made her blood boil.

"Miss Kingsleigh." A young servant called her at the station's entrance. He wore the Ambassador's logo on his uniform. "Your transport is ready. Let me take you to your lodgings."

Alice didn't look at him. She ignored him as if she didn't understand his language.

"Miss Kingsleigh!" the boy ran after her.

"It's Captain!" She exclaimed without stopping.

Luckily for Alice, the streets near the station were always overflowing with people and merchants. She blended with a mob gathered together by their curiosity for a man with the newest type of camera, brought directly from the West.

She pushed her way through. The deeper she went, the less she heard the servant's screams.

Once she reached the other side, the boy was nowhere to be seen.

Alice guessed he would remain trapped for a few minutes in that sea of people, and felt sorry for him. It hadn't been him who had upset her , after all; he was just doing his job.

She felt some guilt, but she was too angry to go back and look for him.

All that she wanted was to go to the port and check on her ship… and spend some time there alone.

It took her half an hour, or perhaps more, to get there on foot. It was as busy as in the morning, when she had left James and Tom in charge of the supervision.

Sailors from other crews were still unloading their cargos, while the newly arriving ships weighed the anchors and slid the sails back down the mast.

The other captains watched her as she passed by. Some with intrigue , others with indignation.

Alice had grown accustomed to both reactions in her career at the sea, and had learned to keep her head high even with those eyes trying to bring her down.

But now it was not a good time.

Her confidence wavered, but she managed to keep it until she got to the Kingsleigh & Kingsleigh ship.

She boarded it and went to the upper left corner of the deck.

She rested her hands on the board and looked down at the sea.

The waves distorted her reflection like a broken mirror.

"Alice?" the voice came from behind.

She turned around.

It was James. He was sitting next to a barrel in the opposite corner of the deck. His sleeves were folded up to his elbows. The hat on his head covered his eyes almost completely.

"Good to see you. It was a hell of a morning." James said after a long yawn. He stretched and stood up. "There's nothing like a quick nap to recover from-. "

"Why are you still here?" Alice's words came harsher than she intended.

James flinched at her tone.

"I was just…" He claread his throat. "Let's just say the linguistic breach between me and the cargo inspector caused some curious misunderstandings that prolonged the whole process. We just finished a few minutes ago."

"Didn't Tom help you?"

"He did, but his chinese is hardly better than mine, so I dismissed him and the rest of the crew."

"If your chinese hinders you efficacy, then you should be studying it instead of dozing off." Alice sentenced. "The same goes to the others. Where are they?"

James scratched one of his sideburns.

"I'm not sure. Probably in a bar nearby…"

"Wonderful." Alice stomped her feet. "I bet they know how to order drinks more fluently than in english."

James didn't say a thing for a while.

The silence allowed Alice to calm down, if just a little.

"What's wrong?" James was now at her side. He was also staring at the sea.

"Nothing."

"You can tell me."

Alice bit her lower lip. She had longed to be alone ever since she had gotten off the train.

But now…

"The Ambassador said this is the last time he does business with our company." She sighed. It was like taking the world off her shoulders. Though she couldn't say she felt better, at least Alice had obtained some relief.

James had to hide his surprise. It wasn't the news he had expected to hear.

"Why? You've been working with him since you first arrived here." James looked at Alice. "Has he lost his good sense for business… or was he drunk?"

Alice laughed a little at his suggestion.

"No. He just said that he doesn't want to be associated with a perturbed woman like me. That it could hurt his company's image."

Jame's ears became red. It happened every time he got mad. It didn't make him intimidating at all, but Alice appreciated his concern.

"How dare he!" Hissed James, genuinely enraged.

"The news about my little stay at the Asylum travel faster and farther than I thought." Alice rubbed here temples and closed her eyes. "Don't get me wrong, breaking our association with him is a loss for our company…but we can survive it. This isn't what angers me."

"Then, what is it?" Asked James in a softer manner.

Alice swallowed before answering.

"He said he'd always known it would come to this, that it was only a matter of time before the stress of being on a ship drove a woman to hysteria. That it was natural, and I had nothing to be ashamed of. He said it with so much condescendence that I could almost feel him patting my head, as if I was a little girl."

James clenched his jaw and fists. If only the rules of etiquette didn't forbid violence against ambassadors.…

"I understand why he is disconcerted about the whole matter, but it's as if he had assumed I would fail from the beginning."

"Alice..."

"And I thought he actually believed in me, all these years... that he took me seriously. " Muttered Alice. "I'm on the other side of the world, but I guess some things don't change. Maybe I've been too naïve, thinking that I would ever be able to change someone else's expectations of me other than my own."

The sun was beginning to set.

James didn't know what else to say, even less how to say it.

After considering for a few minutes, he finally gathered enough courage to talk.

"You could have explained to him why you were in the Asylum." He bit his tongue, calling himself an idiot in his mind.

But the damage was done.

Alice laughed without humor.

"And then he would have had his guards put me in a straitjacket." Alice said with sarcasm. "He wouldn't have believed it. No one in this world would."

"I would." James ventured. His heart was thumping.

Alice stopped staring at the sea and looked at James. She sensed no mockery in his voice.

But what were the chances?

"No ." She said, without letting her hopes get too high. "You wouldn't."

"Try me." This time, James spoke with total confidence. "Don't assume that I can't."

Alice was left speechless.

For the first time in that day, she smiled without resentment.

"Very well." She said. "But not tonight. I don't want to talk about it right now."

"You just love cliffhangers." Joked James. "But I guess that only will make the story the more interesting once you actually decide to tell it to me. The suspense will be the end of me, Kingsleigh"

"Don't worry, Harcourt. You'll survive."

Above them, fireworks exploded in shades of red, green and golden.

Alice went to the other side of the deck to see where they came from.

"The night market."

"They came out of nowhere!" Said James, walking to where Alice was while looking at the sky."They didn't scare me, though…"

"Let's see what they have for sale." Proposed Alice, with her curiosity overcoming her other ill feelings. "It can also be a chance for you to practice, James."

"As long as I don't end up offending someone's mother while thinking I'm saying hello." Said James with resignation.

"It's part of the learning process." Alice grabbed him by the arm and led him out of the ship. "Come on, you'll see things you'd never seen before."

They crossed the pier while another set of fireworks painted the sky.

Alice didn't forget about her business problem and its implications.

How would she explain it to her mother?

And how many more of her associates would turn their back on her once the news reached them?

She had no way of knowing, but she wouldn't let it dragged her down; she would confront it all when the time came.

Right now, she would explore every corner of the market together with James, and she would make every second count.

The rest were thoughts for another time.

"I don't know why the he milkman wanted to punch me. I just wanted to buy a bottle!"

"You pronounced it wrong, James. What you told him was that you wanted to buy his grandmother."

"Oh god… Remember me never to show my face there again."

The streets were dark and lonely, but their chatter gave some life to their surroundings.

Alice and James had seen many wonderful things to buy, but both returned to their lodgings empty handed.

In their eagerness, they had forgotten they didn't have any money with them. They still had a good time, especially Alice.

Her favorite post belonged to a woman that sold kittens. Alice would have spent her whole time there without regrets, but then James started to sneeze.

After that, they had found the same photographer Alice had seen at the station. He was looking for voluntary models for one last picture, and found his recruits in Alice and James.

When he asked them to pose, Alice began to dance. James had imitated her as best as he could.

To say the photographer had been bewildered by their behaviour would have been an undertstatement.

"What was the name again? Fruits in basket?"

"The Futterwacken."

"It sounds german, though it isn't like any other dance I've seen. Who taught it to you?"

Alice felt a lump in her throat.

"A friend."

"Don't tell me he's part of the story you owe me."

Alice stopped walking.

"How did you know?"

James looked over his shoulder, and smiled with victory.

"I didn't, I was guessing. That story of yours just keeps getting more interesting."

Alice took a quick glance at the crescent moon. It looked like a smiling cat.

"It is."

James accompanied her to the door of an elegant building. It was the last time the heads of the Kingsleigh and Kingsleigh company would reside there as the Ambassador's guests.

The thought cooled some of Alice's enthusiasm.

She and James said their goodbyes at the entrance.

"Good night, Alice. I hope I get to hear your story soon." Said James with little subtleness.

Alice mused about it.

"We'll see." It was her last verdict. Just to tease James, she added : "I might as well tell you tomorrow."

James nodded and pointed a finger at her while he walked wayward to the crew's lodgings, a few streets away.

"I'll hold you to that."

Once he was gone, Alice entered the building. It was just as she remembered, and she couldn't say anything had changed in her absence.

The traditional decorations, the smell of tea on the air, the quietness…

Everything was in its place.

"Alice!" Helen emerged from one of the rooms like a ghost. "Where have you been?"

Alice almost slipped in her surprise.

"Mother, please don't do that." Alice said, putting a hand on her chest.

After looking at Helen a little more closely, she became truly scared. Her mother's face had aged since she had last seen her in the morning, with the wrinkles around her eyes and on her forehead more visible than Alice could rememeber.

"What happened?" Inquired Alice, toying with the idea that the rumors had reached her mother too.

It wasn't impossible.

Among merchants, news traveled faster than a spark in gunpowder.

Her mother grabbed her hand and took her inside the room.

Her hand was cold.

"Look, about what happened with the Ambassador." Alice began, deciding it was best to get over with the matter once and for all. "We'll get over it. He is not the only- "

But her mother didn't listen to her

"There's someone you need to see." Helen explained in a somber manner, sliding another door that led to the other part of the room.

In there, someone was kneeling in front of a tea table.

The figure had long golden hair, identical to Alice's and her mother.

The stranger's legs trembled as she stood up.

Alice felt how her heart sunk to her feet.

Her mother needn't make any introductions.

"Alice." Said the other, her voice at the brink of breaking.

"Margaret."

The two sisters embraced. In the past they hadn't always been glad to see each other, and fought more often than not.

But now they were together , after years of not seeing each other.

Margaret began to weep, and Alice held her tight.

That was enough to end her day in a brighter note, Alice thought.

It hadn't been perfect, but now she couldn't say it all had been in vain either.

In a sense, it had been like Time: it had taken a great deal away from her, but it had also given her back much more in return.