he had been given approximately forty seconds of warning, which was enough to make it downstairs and not enough to do anything useful about his appearance. the eye was what it was. the cane was not going anywhere. he had straightened his coat and decided that would have to suffice. he had not expected her to take his hands. he had not expected, if he was honest, to feel fourteen again quite so immediately. caroline, who had squeezed his hand at the funeral with the gravity of a child who understood that something had gone permanently wrong. he looked at her for a moment before he found words. "your royal highness." gently, with some deference. then, because she had called him augustus first: "you need not have come at all. the honour is entirely mine." he glanced down at his own face, as though he might somehow assess it from the inside. "the eye is the worst of it and it is improving. the leg is," a pause, "pre-existing." he said it before she could add it to her list of oversights. "please do not trouble the physician on my account. i have had worse and the zhaos have been very attentive." he looked at her properly then, with something that was neither quite formality nor quite the warmth of old acquaintance, but somewhere in the narrow space between. "it is good to see you. truly."

"  i  appreciate  the  reassurance  .  i  did  not  think  you  were  a  lurker  ,  colonel  ,  nor  do  you  seem  to  be  the  type  to  lurk  —  unless  i  am  mistaken  ,  "  seoyeon  cleared  her  throat  .  truth  be  told  ,  she  was  more  terrified  of  someone  seeing  her  outside  unchaperoned  than  the  man  in  front  of  her  .  femme  held  her  head  high  and  yet  her  hands  were  clutched  together  nervously  .  it  wasn't  the  dark  or  the  fact  that  seoyeon  still  did  not  know  her  way  around  london  she  was  scared  ,  she  was  more  terrified  of  the  perception  and  judgement  if  she  were  to  be  found  out  .  still  ,  despite  the  baron  covenhall's  home  being  lovely  ,  at  times  it  felt  ...  suffocating  . "  i  ...  i  like  to  walk  .  "  she  blurted  out  ,  looking  at  her  hands  .  "  but  only  when  the  streets  are  quiet  ,  "  she  continued  .  “  it  allows  for  a  certain  …  clarity  of  mind  .  ” her  gaze  flickered  toward  the  dim  stretch  of  road  ahead  before  returning  to  him  ,  throat  cleared  —  something  she  often  did  when  we  was  nervous  .  "  though  i  am  aware  that  is  not  a  habit  often  encouraged.  "  a  faint  ,  wry  tone  crept  into  her  voice  .  "  are  you  off  somewhere  ,  colonel  ?  i  do  not  wish  to  keep  you  .  "

"you are not keeping me," he spoke quietly. "i was going nowhere in particular." which was true. the circuit had no destination, only the virtue of being preferable to standing still. he looked at the stretch of road she had glanced toward, then back at her. a young woman who liked quiet streets and clarity of mind and had the wry good sense to acknowledge the impropriety of it herself. "i also walk," he said, after a moment. "when the leg permits." he glanced down the road. whatever his feelings on london and its social machinery, there were some things that did not require deliberation. an unaccompanied young woman on a dark street was not a situation a man of any decency walked away from. "i would offer to accompany you. on the understanding that i did not see you leave that door, and you did not see me standing at this railing, and we are simply two people who happen to be walking in the same direction." he looked at her. "if that would suit."

augustus looked at the apple. looked at the woman offering it. looked at the apple again. "i appreciate the theology," he said, settling onto the bench with considerably more caution than adam had managed in the original account, "though i note it did not end especially well for either party." he considered the apple for a moment longer, with the expression of a man performing a risk assessment. "i will take one," he said. "thank you." he did not elaborate on what had changed his mind. the leg was aching and she had candied dates and the morning had already been strange enough that an apple from a stranger seemed, on balance, unremarkable.

Something occurring to her, then, she added, "Oh, might I say -- it was splendid what you did at the garden party, stepping in and helping Their Highnesses --" she bit her lip, glanced away trying to find a polite euphemism for ending a brawl. "Regain their composure. Though, I think you will forgive me for saying that I do hope you won't be called upon for such services any time in the near future." Despite herself, she smiled. "Though who's to say when royalty are coming to blows in garden labyrinths over tea. I've been away from town for some time, but I must say, its all rather more...rowdy than I had recollected. Do you imagine the rest of the season will prove just as...uppity?"

augustus settled onto the bench with the careful economy of a man managing several complaints at once and disinclined to advertise any of them. he glanced at the rose she had been sketching, then at the page. she had caught it well. "the rose made for a more demanding subject, i suspect," he said. "i would not take the distraction personally." the garden party arrived with the inevitability of something he had been expecting since she looked at him properly. "instinct," he said, simply. "seventeen years in a regiment. one develops certain reflexes." his leg had a view on that particular characterisation which he did not share. "uppity is generous." he paused. "i had been given to understand the season was a relatively civilised affair. i am revising that opinion." he glanced at her sketchbook. "what brought you back to town? i hope for something more compelling than the promise of good entertainment in the form of the princes trading blows."

"it has looked worse," augustus said, which was not entirely true but was the sort of thing one said. he regarded darius for a moment with the even expression of a man who had arrived at acceptance about the whole affair, more or less. "your highness." he paused, unable to move his mouth to address the prince in any less dignified manner. "i appreciate the sentiment. i have broken up more raucous disputes in a regiment. perhaps why i dove headfirst into yours." a short silence. "lady whistledown, at least, seems thoroughly delighted by it. which i imagine is its own particular consequence." he glanced at darius then, with something more direct. "are you well? you took rather more of it than i did."

after all, it was difficult to forget the face of the man who had inserted himself into a royal brawl. whistledown had supplied the name for her to attach to the face. " i do not believe we have been formally introduced, colonel stirling. i am gwendoline st. clair, dowager baroness granville. "

"a use it performs admirably," augustus said, with a glance toward the late princess augusta, who did look rather more approachable in oil than royalty tended to manage in person. he had come for the quiet, mostly. the academy had struck him as a reasonable alternative to the park on a leg that was not cooperating, and portraiture required nothing of a person beyond standing still and looking. he turned toward the baroness as she offered her name, and noted, with the particular composure of a man who had been recognised twice this week by people he had never met, that she had known his before he gave it. "baroness granville." a small bow of his head. "colonel augustus stirling." a beat. "it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"no,  nor  i,"  yu  jie  laughs  brightly.  the  whistledown  of  ten  years  prior  was  a  ruthless  thing  —  though  she  had  gone  relatively  unscathed,  flying  under  her  notice  as  a  married  woman  at  the  time.  "i  am  curious  to  see  her  recount  of  events  however."  she  eyes  the  captain  curiously,  prying  into  his  guarded  composure.  hating  to  be  called  a  gossip,  but  terribly  nosy,  "i  had  heard  the  princes  had  been  involved  in  some  ruckus,  though  i  cannot  say  i  was  witness  to  it."  she  had  hoped  to  read  about  it,  but  still  her  palms  were  empty.  "did  you  catch  what  proceeded  it?"

"some of it," augustus said, with the air of a man choosing his words the way a surgeon chooses an instrument. lady church was looking at him in that particular way, he was certain she knew what happened, and was waiting only for confirmation. the eye was, he was aware, not helping. he took a quiet sip of tea and set the cup down with great composure. "there was a disagreement. it escalated." a pause. "rather quickly."

Though she was quite surprise as a voice rang out to her. Jolting ever so slightly, she looked up at the colonel with a gentle smile. "Oh—no, please, do sit. I hold no objections." Gesturing to the spot beside her, Beren moved aside to offer more space. "I must admit, I am quite glad to know I am not the only one who enjoys the park at this hour. It's quite peaceful, is it not?"

"it is," augustus said, settling onto the bench with less grace than he would have preferred and rather more reliance on the cane than he generally liked to advertise. "peaceful" was perhaps the thing he had come for without quite naming it as such. he looked out toward the pond for a moment. the light was doing something agreeable to the water. "i had forgotten that about it." he had been fourteen the last time london had felt like somewhere worth being in the mornings. that was not something he intended to say aloud. "forgive the interruption," he added, with a glance toward her book. "i had not anticipated company either."

"she has been very kind," augustus said. "their whole family has." he left it there a moment. "i would have been perfectly content in the barracks. alphonse had other ideas." which covered it sufficiently without elaborating on the particulars. he glanced out across the grounds. "he did not mention he had seen you. i am not surprised." a beat. "he always did like you. he is a collector of sorts, i suppose."

"miss zhao," he said, and then: "it is not as bad as it looks." which was what he had been telling everyone and which had not yet become more true through repetition. he glanced at the tray with the expression of a man who recognised he was not going to win this particular exchange and was calculating how much dignity he could preserve in the losing of it. "you did not have to do that." which was not a refusal. he shifted to make room at the table, because there was no graceful way to send a woman away when she had already carried a tray across the house on his behalf.

he glances at rafael sidelong. "i was navigating a princess to safety," he says, evenly. "though i am far more interested in discussing dark hair and shadow. anything you would like to share, or shall i wait for the next issue?"

" i, too, was navigating someone to safety. " sevda durmaz was safe in his embrace! was she not? same difference. " though, mine was not a princess. i am afraid your story stands to be more interesting, brother. " it did not matter if emilio was providing the truth or not. he would not pry further not wanting to be examined himself. " as long as your wife does not care, why should you or the ton! " he meant to sound encouraging.

"only in appearance," augustus repeated, with something that was almost a smile. "i know the feeling." he did not elaborate. he looked out across the grounds, the season in full performance around them, everyone thoroughly occupied with being seen, and felt something settle that had not quite settled in some time. "i am glad we are both here," he said, and heard how it sounded, and added: "alphonse will be insufferable about the dinner. i thought you ought to have some warning."

augustus had been of the opinion that lady whistledown would get there eventually. these things had a way of finding their way onto the page regardless of how many people would have preferred they didn't. "i imagine," he said, with the measured calm of a man who had a personal interest in the answer, "she is simply building anticipation." he lifted his own cup. the eye was not invisible in this light, which he was aware of, and lady church was the sort of woman who noticed things. "or she is being uncharacteristically considerate." a pause. "i would not wager on the latter."

Grinning at his bemused reaction, Eleanora laughed. "I must commend your priorities, sir, as well as, I think, your courage in the face of the extremity of our situation," she japed. "I confess, I am of your opinion in that matter, as well. I believe I might find myself in something of a quandary, in truth, upon the third -- risk losing myself forever in the hedges -- or gain something else entirely which might alleviate altogether different circumstances in life? It is not an easy question to answer. Would you, Mr. Castelo, regard asking for an infinite number of wishes as an honorable request, or do you regard that as a scandalous hoodwink of an honest sorcerer?"

"lady eversmere," he returns, with an inclination of his head mid-stride. "an infinite number of wishes," he considers, with the full gravity the question deserves, "sits in uncomfortable territory. the spirit of the arrangement is three. one feels the sorcerer would have opinions, and strong ones at that." they turn down the untried route, the hedgerow pressing close on either side, and he keeps his pace measured, the kind of man who does not rush a problem simply because it is inconvenient. "though i suspect the truly clever approach is to wish for something that renders the remaining wishes unnecessary." a brief glance at her. "a single wish of sufficient precision, in other words, rather than three of moderate ambition." he considers the path ahead. "the difficulty being that precision requires knowing exactly what one wants, which most people find considerably harder than it sounds." the hedgerow opens slightly, and he slows, assessing. "as for the third wish and your quandary," he says, almost conversationally, "i would argue that remaining in the maze indefinitely has a certain appeal in theory and very little in practice. which perhaps answers the question without requiring a wish at all." a glance at her, something briefly, genuinely amused. "what circumstances, if i may ask, did you have in mind for the alternative?"