An answer came to mind immediately, but it was a complicated one. He missed South America, and if he was going to pick a place to travel to tomorrow that would be his first thought. It wasn't as though he could just admit to someone in England (even an American) that he'd enjoyed any part of his whole lengthy ordeal after the shipwreck. And there was a good deal of it he hadn't enjoyed — whole tracks of land, as far as the eye could see, that held no memories except sorrow and death as he'd led his men to their doom through his own inexperience. He couldn't say anything about that. It was too nuanced for a conversation in a restaurant, where the topics were meant to be superficial, for one. He didn't know her well enough to know how she would react, for another. And it wasn't the sort of thing one said to people who were about to join the family — Evander would likely not forgive him if he scared her off and she ran all the way back to Boston.

He turned his attention to his drink, pretending to consider her question. The next thing that came to mind wasn't so much a place, but a time — before the Sycorax expedition, when he'd been young and inexperienced and every new port had seemed like the most exotic and mysterious place in the world. There was so much excitement in the air, and it was such a simple excitement because he didn't understand anything about the way the world worked — but such a confident one, too, because of course he thought he knew everything about the way the world worked. It was something he'd never have again. It was, also, not the sort of thing he could say to Caroline Delaney in a restaurant a month after she'd accepted his brother's proposal.

"I like the open sea," he said eventually, which wasn't an answer to her question but also wasn't a lie. "When there's nothing on the horizon at all except waves and clouds. The way the ship rocks beneath you and the way the stars spread out at night. That's my favorite place."

  

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

Mr. Darrow's answer surprised her. Most people would have responded with a land they had been to, a port they had seen. But instead he described a scene she knew very well, capturing the very essence of what she had grown up with. She hadn't often been allowed on the ships, but there had been times when the family sailed together - to Philadelphia or Charlottesville or a number of other cities they had visited. Those times Caroline had loved the feeling of being on the ship. It went beyond pretending that one day she'd take a ship to another land and deep into her bones. Her people were of the waves and water, and she too felt the siren's call in the lapping of water and the comfort in a rocking ship. On the journey over the Atlantic Caroline had snuck onto the deck of the ship on still evenings to look up at the seemingly endless sky above. There had been more stars stretching above than she ever could have imagined. Caroline smiled at her future brother in law, "It is certainly one of the most beautiful places." She agreed.

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   J. Alfred Darrow

"It is," Alfred agreed with a smile. He was mildly surprised by the sincerity he sensed in her tone; he'd been expecting a polite response, but little more. If anyone was going to understand it, though, perhaps it would have been her, given her family's industry. Evander had told him at the beginning of the courtship that Miss Delaney had nothing to do with that at all, but given the way she'd just responded, Alfred had to wonder a bit.

"Well," he said, pushing himself up out of the chair. "I probably shouldn't keep you. I'm sure we'll have plenty of other opportunities to talk coming up," he concluded with a slightly teasing grin.

  

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

Caroline smiled, "I do hope so." Despite the fact that the words were required my politeness Caroline sincerely meant them. She truly enjoyed speaking with Evander's brother. Mr. Alfred Darrow reminded her of her own brothers and she felt in him a kinship in both interests and sense of humor. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening, Mr. Darrow." Caroline smiled at him as he departed.