It's departure day, and no one is looking forward to it. Mr. Klopp will miss driving around in a small vehicle; Mr. Volger will miss not having any other duties than looking after his young charge, and this means that Jaspert's travels are over. And for Deryn and Alek, well, that's quite obvious, isn't it?
Alek has come to see Deryn and her brother off at the train station and they leave in ten minutes, having just made it with time to spare for goodbyes.
Deryn catches him in a crushing hug, and he returns the embrace, all the while keeping a wary eye on Jaspert. No matter how hard he's fallen in these last twenty four hours, he's not about to cross any lines with her older brother watching.
"When can I see you again?" she says, leaning back, but not completely.
"I hear there'll be a Flying Lorises concert in Switzerland in a few months?" Alek tries for a smile, but he wishes he could stop the clock. Going back to his other life, the one where Deryn is still Dylan and he is just the president's son, is completely unappealing now. "Assuming you'll go with me."
"Of course I'm going, you daftie," she says. "Wouldn't want to miss a Flying Lorises concert, would I? Oh, and there's you, too, I suppose," she adds teasingly.
"No goodbyes, then," Alek says, and steps back, hearing Jaspert cough softly, motioning at the coming train, screeching into the station. "Your train leaves about now, Miss Sharp?"
"Oi, lose the formalities." And lose them, she does, giving him one last, hard kiss on the mouth so that Alek can still feel her lingering on his lips after she's let go. She moves back, putting some distance between them and grabbing her suitcase in one hand.
"I'll see you 'round, Aleksander Ferdinand Fischer," she says, saluting him.
He returns the gesture.
"Until we meet again, Deryn Sharp."