Amelia Rose tightened her bandanna at the nape of her neck. Now, she imagined that she was a bandit as she hurried across the empty mess hall. She heard Dr. Nejem working inside the infirmary, but if she was careful, he wouldn't even know she was there. Everyone else was on duty. She, Dr. Nejem, Rafaele, and Oliver would share the night watch.

Jade wasn't in her room. Amelia Rose hopped across the threshold, only eliciting a small creak from the floor. It blended into the moaning of the vessel. With as much caution as could be handled, she worked the door shut. She hadn't made a sound so far. The other day, Amelia Rose had seen something strange on Jade's desk. Maybe it was her imagination, but Amelia Rose had to check anyway.

Her sextant was wrapped up tight in one of Suzaku's spare shirts. She tugged the sextant from the fabric and set it on Jade's desk. There, just like she saw, was the spyglass. Amelia Rose compared the lenses—they were the same. They were crafted in the same way—mismatched metals and strange colors. They went together like two halves of the same heart. Her chest fluttered. How did her mother's spyglass get on a Durantan ship?

Amelia Rose itched to take it back, but every time she thought of running back to her cabin, her feet froze. She stood still, the pads of her fingers turning white as they clutched the ornate, leather and gold instrument. It was worm by whether, probably twice as old as she was, if not older.

The cabin door slid open and then shut again as Jade entered. Amelia Rose staggered back and set the spyglass down on the desk. Jade came at her, the tip of her nose bright red and her jaw clenched. She took Amelia Rose by the collar and slammed her up against the wall. The furniture shuddered.

"Let's settle this quietly," she whispered. "You step into my cabin one more time whether I'm here or not and I will not be so merciful."

Amelia Rose stared at her, wide-eyed. She wanted to pull her hat down over her eyes, but she was pinned against the wall. The anger in Jade's breathing radiated through her. Her legs shook with fear.

"What?" Jade slammed her back into the wall. "Acknowledge me."

Amelia Rose shook her head and writhed under Jade's body. Jade's elbow pressed into Amelia Rose's sternum. She tried to kick, but she had no room. It was starting to become a joke now. Who didn't know that Dirty Jim was just an Aydesrevean waif? It didn't seem like Amelia Rose was being as careful as she used to be anymore. She hated the part where people found out, but she loved the part where she could stop pretending. Maybe she just wanted to go back to being Amelia Rose.

"I won't come here again," she nodded.

Jade's fingers unraveled from around her neckline. Her elbow drew back. Amelia Rose sucked in huge breath. "You're a..." Jade drew away from her. "Who are you?"

Amelia Rose stayed tucked against the wall. She loosened the leather strap tying her hair back. Her hair tickled her jaw as it fell. "My name is Amelia Rose Holden."

Jade crossed her arms and stepped back into the chair. She pushed it out of her way. "You aren't a cabin boy."

"Yes I am." Tears ran out of the corners of Amelia Rose's eyes and cleaned the dirt away. "I don't—I'm not like you. The rest of the world isn't like this. If my husband found out—"

"I understand," Jade muttered holding her hands up as if to stop Amelia Rose from saying anymore. "You don't need to explain yourself to me."

Amelia Rose shifted further into the wall, wondering how hard it might be to push herself through it. If she were a ghost it might be different. "I wasn't waiting for you." She wrung out her hands. "I came here to see why you have my mother's spyglass. I want it back."

Jade's hands shifted to her hips. Disdain fluttered across her face before she looked at the desk. "Your mother's? That's mine—my father's."

Amelia Rose's eyebrows folded in. She gestured at her sextant. "No. It has to be mine."

Jade ignored her and picked up the sextant and unwrapped it from Suzaku's shirt. The lenses on the sextant shimmered as she moved them back and forth. "Amelia, what—"

"It's Amelia Rose," she said, crossing her arms.

Jade bit at her cheek and her entire face contorted. "What is your mother's name?"

"Isabella Soledad," she said.

Jade's eyes fixed on the sextant. She set it next to the spyglass and stared at the two halves. "Where is your mother? I need to speak to her."

Amelia Rose shook her head, squeezing out from her place against the wall. She hopped up onto Jade's cot and then back down, grabbing the sextant out of Jade's hand as she ran around her. She found Suzaku's shirt and rolled it back up. "She's deceased."

Jade pressed her fingers into the hallows of her eyes. "Isa..." She trailed off. She motioned for Amelia Rose to wait a minute before she left. With that, Jade crawled under her bed frame, popped up a floorboard and pulled out a canvas parcel and a small box. Amelia Rose stood near the doorway, her free hands twirling around her leather hair tie.

Jade sat on the floor with her gangly legs filling the space, her back tucked against the cot. She picked up the parcel and unraveled it, fingers shaking with nerves. It wasn't everday that you found out that the woman you were looking for was dead by accidentally meeting her daughter. A coat bloomed from the dusty canvas. Jade threw it at Amelia Rose. She coughed the dust out of her face and held the coat up.

"That's your mother's," Jade said. She opened the box. Arm outstretched, she handed off the letter. "And this explains how."

Amelia Rose read the letter. Her heartbeat slowed until she felt a sputtering, drowning sensation. She was a little rock skipping across the surface of the page and then plunging into the depths of memory. Her hand tightened on the paper. It creased under the bite of her fingernails. Finally, she pushed the paper away from her. "You're wrong." Her voice clabbered with emotion. "My mother loved my father."

Jade rose off the floor and dusted off her clothes. "And? She obviously fell in love before that."

The tears ran down Amelia Rose's cheeks harder until she collapsed to the dusty floor. The proof was undeniable. Isa's coat soaked up her grungy tears as they rolled off her body. A hand came down over Amelia Rose's back. She flinched and curled up, but Jade pulled her in and they sat together for some time in the quiet of the cabin.

After she had exhausted her body into a state of calm, Amelia Rose looked up. Jade's eyes were red-rimmed. "I've been letting my grief get the better of me, just searching for some kind of answer." she wiped her eye. "You're the closest thing I have to understanding my father."

Amelia Rose rung the coat out gently. "And you of my mother."

Jade shifted on her knees and sat back down on the floor. "Are you familiar with Dr. Nejem?"

Amelia Rose dusted the grime off on her pants. All she offered was a nod.

Jade used her shoulder to scratch an itch on her cheek. "We need to go talk to him. He's been looking for Mink—uh, Isa."

Amelia Rose crawled back and hit the door. It shuddered behind her. "No, no," she shook her head. "I'm not telling anyone who I am. I..." Amelia Rose breathed. "I just have to start over." Amelia Rose folded Isa's coat and set it down on Jade's cot. She pulled her bandanna up.

Jade bit her lip. "Fine," she said.

Amelia Rose got up. "Thank you, I should leave now. Do not tell anyone about me."

Jade stood up. "Wait, Amelia Rose," she held her arms up and looked at the bed. "Take your mother's coat."

Amelia Rose looked at the coat. "I can't use it." A pause. "But maybe one day." After picking it backup and pressing it across her chest, she went to the door and unlocked it.

Jade handed her the sextant. "Come back if you need something."

With her disguise set back in place, Amelia Rose wandered to the door. Jade opened it for her as she fumbled with the last buttons.

Jade closed her cabin door, leaving Amelia Rose alone in the mess hall with her mother's sextant that looked different to her than it did an hour before.