"Nah, some of them are batty already," Alfred agreed. Maybe it was being out in life boats for one or two days before being brought aboard the Voyager, or maybe it was the traumatic experience of the shipwreck itself. It might have just been the way they were normally — while Alfred could put on a good show when he needed to brush shoulders with the types of people who might donate money for an expedition, he was hardly a society darling himself. He'd always been on the rougher edge of respectability, due to his profession, and having spent years in the wilderness and then subsequently being rumored a cannibal hadn't helped him fit in any better. He had nothing in common with debutantes, so it was hardly surprising he tended to find them exasperating in most circumstances.

"There's a portkey leaving for England tomorrow," he continued. "Of course you're welcome to stay aboard the Voyager, but I expect after that little interlude you're eager to see real land again."