13 September 1891 — At Sea

They'd set sail on September 1st, after assuring Herbert Fudge that they'd be back in time for the end of the season in a few weeks. Zelda wouldn't have wanted to take so much time away from her job, anyway, and it didn't take so long to sail along the coast of Europe and back up. Alfred had been a little nervous about coming around the coast of France and towards Portugal, because of what had happened to the Voyager the last time, but ultimately they weren't going into any waters that might have been dangerous. The little sailboat clung to the shoreline as they traveled, always keeping it within sight. By now they had turned around and were headed north again, with their little vessel laden down with various souvenirs from places they'd stopped.

The sun was starting to set, though they still had plenty of good daylight left. Even so, Alfred was feeling fatigued. He'd woken up in the middle of the night yesterday to move their anchor after the waves had picked up in the spot that they'd chosen, and now he was feeling the lack of sleep. He moved to where Zelda was at the back of the boat — she had been steering for the last twenty minutes — and rubbed his hand lightly over her knee.

"I think I need a nap," he announced, punctuating this statement with a yawn. "Can you handle her by yourself, or should we anchor?"

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Zelda Darrow Cassius Lestrange

  

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

When they were on the Wanderer — or, Zelda supposed, generally on their honeymoon — it felt like they were the only people in the world. As this was exactly what she'd wanted for a very long time, now, Zelda was definitely enjoying things — even if one ignored that they had actually gotten to travel, and see the world.

And whether she could sail the Wanderer by herself &mdas; hm.

Zelda rolled her shoulders back, as if setting herself in motion would take her any closer to an answer. "I think I can handle her," she said, looking up at Alfred with a crooked grin. "Well, probably." She'd observed, and done enough sailing on their trip, that she was fairly confident she could avoid sinking the ship for the duration of a nap — but this would be a hell of a way to find out otherwise.

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AMAZING set by MJ

"I think you can, too," Alfred said, tone indulgent. He wouldn't have suggested it if he'd had any serious doubts, and she'd been doing well with the Wanderer so far on their trip. Besides, the weather was fair enough and the route ahead was clear; he wasn't putting her into any difficult situations, at least that he knew of. "But if you change your mind, just wake me up and I'll help you anchor her. Or —" Alfred grinned mischievously and leaned over to kiss her neck. "If you decide you want to join me."

He was still a little in awe of the fact that he could just do this now, and he felt a little thrill of adrenaline when he kissed her, as though they were breaking a rule. They weren't — this was sort of the entire point of honeymoons — but they'd spent so long sneaking around and trying to avoid being caught by her family that it still hadn't really sunk in that now that they were married, no one would care what they got up to on their own.

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

Zelda leaned into Alfred's kiss, and grinned again. Being allowed to be intimate — and having ample opportunity to do so — was one of the most surreal parts of being married. This had come with the potential of trouble for so long that, to some extent, she still felt the thrill of it.

"Well that's much more tempting," Zelda said, turning further away from the steering. "If losing her pilots won't cost us too much time?" she added, quirking an eyebrow; it was obviously said mostly in jest.

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AMAZING set by MJ

Alfred grinned at her. "You're the one who has to get back to work," he teased. Technically, he did, too, but there was no pressing, time-bound work to be done at the Sanditon for the rest of the season. He was planning to put several of the boats there into winter storage, but not necessarily because of the winter — the weather charm surrounding the Sanditon meant the boats were safe from frost or winter squalls. He was only moving them out to minimize the normal wear and tear they'd accumulate from sitting at the dock for months without being used, since they expected far less traffic in the off season. In any case, he could do that on September 30th just as easily as October 30th or November 30th; if they overstayed their holiday Herbert Fudge was unlikely to haunt him.

"We could just take a short nap," he suggested, though that was unlikely. If he did talk her into bed, they'd more likely just spend the rest of the day there, occasionally making remarks about how they ought to go back to sailing and then falling back into a pattern of kisses instead.

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

Zelda smiled at Alfred's teasing. Although she would have been hesitant to admit it, she did miss work — sailing wasn't something she could do all the time, even if she loved this. And Urquart likely wouldn't let her get away with vanishing forever.

But a short nap did sweeten the deal. Zelda quirked an eyebrow at Alfred. "You're sure a short nap would be enough?" she asked, not entirely convinced they'd manage it. But maybe they could make the time up later?

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AMAZING set by MJ

Enough was a funny word to use, in that context (assuming that nap was still a euphemism and she hadn't gone back to talking about actual sleep). Would any amount of time spent with Zelda ever be enough? They'd known each other for years and he had yet to grow tired of her company. He regretted every time he had to say goodbye. Fortunately, there were fewer goodbyes in their future — and all of them much more temporary than the ones that had occurred in the past.

"I'll make do," he teased, reaching over to caress her arm.

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

Zelda fully relinquished the steering and turned to face Alfred, twining her arms around his neck. "Well, as long as you think you can handle it," she said, leaning up to kiss him — not as deeply as she wanted to, because they still needed to anchor the boat, but she still couldn't resist the opportunity to touch him more. They'd been forbidden to be alone for so long that it was still thrilling, even after an entire Honeymoon of just being with each other.

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AMAZING set by MJ