Alfred frowned at her and exhaled loudly through his nose. He felt a little stuck. He wasn't going to let her come, but he didn't know what he could say to get her to back down on it. He didn't want to try and push this narrative he'd started about it being dangerous, because he couldn't carry it much further without saying something he didn't mean, about her capabilities or her capacity for handling crises. He knew she was good at all of that. He'd seen her in action, and he knew how devoted she was to her work. He knew she could do this, and if it had been anyone else's ship he wouldn't have tried to stop her.

But it was his ship, and he had to think of something to say. "Does your father know you're here?" he asked, which was an unfair question but the only strategy that occurred to him at the moment. And, just in case the answer was yes and Brannon Fisk apparently had more qualms about letting the two of them sit together in a parlor than he did about sending her out to sea for an indefinite period of time to do dangerous work for the Ministry, he added, "With me?"