Zelda had nearly bitten her head off when Jo mentioned asking Holsten — a talented and experienced cursebreaker — to work on the ship. It was true that the Pictish language wasn't commonly known, but a curse was a curse, wasn't it? Surely, someone with everyday experience dealing with the intricacies of the magic involved was preferred over someone with none? Jo hadn't pushed the issue then mainly out of respect for her friend. But, given Alfred's near death experience she regretted that now.

Not that she was going to relay all of which to Alfred and further stress him.

"You're right." She said easily. "I've just known Zelda a long time...it wasn't hard to pick up on the fact that she was anxious about more than the ship. You'll have to talk to her about that."

  

"I'll add it to the list," he responded, though he had no intention at all of bringing this conversation up to Zelda. He wasn't sure he was entirely convinced by Jo's explanation, still, because it didn't seem like much to go on in order to leap to the conclusion that two people she'd met under entirely different circumstances were connected in that way — but it wasn't as though he could argue the point. She had, apparently, known Zelda much longer than he had, so who was he to say that she hadn't been capable of reading into her words or body language if Jo said that's what she'd been doing?

Maybe Zelda had let something slip that had clued her in. Maybe she had read his letter, and picked up on something he'd unintentionally left in between the lines, which confirmed an earlier suspicion she'd had. Maybe there were rumors floating around somewhere — he had, after all, asked to court her in front of her entire family, so it wasn't as though he could really claim that his attachment to her was a secret. All the same, that didn't mean he was comfortable discussing his personal life in this capacity when he hadn't decided to tell her any of those details himself.

"Let's talk about something else," he prompted, shifting his weight on the sofa.

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER

She had made him uncomfortable, of that she was certain. Between the proposition and Zelda Jo was no longer sure he would remain friends with her after today. Such was the way of life it seemed.

"I'm leaving in June, I can't remember if I told you." Jo said easily. "My position in Venezuela isn't availble anymore, unfortunately, so I'll be in Egypt instead." She was devastated not to be returning to South America, as it was by far her favorite locale she'd been to. However, Egypt would hold its own adventures. The only downside of the desert was Saturn wasn't yet sold on joining her. For the first time since his graduation they might have cause to part. "Have you been there?"

  

Traveling was a very welcome change of conversation. He was surprised to hear that she was leaving, and June particularly seemed rather soon — but that was the way that things went, in an adventuresome line of work. Alfred himself was supposed to set sail to India months ago, and up until this week he'd still been planning on doing so at a moment's notice when he got word that the ship was fit to sail again. He certainly couldn't be disappointed that she was leaving, since he knew her well enough by this point to know it was what she would have wanted.

"I have. It's nice," he said with a nod. "Where exactly are you going in Egypt? If you're traveling by boat you'll probably land in Port Said first," he continued, rising from the sofa and wandering in the direction of his bedroom, where he had a book of various harbor charts from around the world. Port Said was among them. He didn't think she'd be particularly interested in the water side of the chart, but it had enough of the surrounding geography and the city that he could point out a few of his favorite landmarks to her. "It's at the north end of the Suez canal. It's basically where everyone pulls in," he explained, returning to the front room with the book in hand. "Here — let me show you..."

  

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MJ made the most Alfredy of sets and then two years later she made it EVEN BETTER