~~~~~~~~Delbert's POV~~~~~~~

After the mishap at the Arrows' I didn't hear from Amelia for nearly two weeks. After she returned from attending to Mrs. Arrow she walked out with me and I drove her back to her flat and that was it. I had called her everyday with no prevail...now her phone was disconnected... I'd began to worry. So I walked out donning my hat an hitching up Delilah. I had to make sure she was alright. The ferry ride was boring and uneventful from what I may recall, yet I'll admit it wasn't much on my mind...I was too busy thinking of Amelia.

What if she wasn't grieving what if she was just done with me..No, no Amelia was far too compassionate and caring to just stand someone up. I shook my head from those horrid thoughts and stepped off the ferry.

"Now which way...was it 23rd street or 32nd street...oh blast it Delbert can you ever remember anything!" I cursed at myself looking around. The spaceport was bustling with people of all races and walks of life were footling bout...footling that is certainly an Amelia word there. I shook my head and started off getting myself hopelessly lost.

I sighed trying to find my damned way or at least find someone who spoke Montressorian well enough to tell me if they knew where Amelia Smollet lived. But alas it seemed everyone on the spaceport was too busy to help me out...no matter though I'd find her...some...how. Oh who am I kidding there was absolutely no way I was going to find out where amelia lived...not on this spaceport. I slumped against a stand sighing deeply but also accidently knocking over the cabbage stand.

"Oh oh pardon me sir I-"

"MY cabbages!" The clerk screamed and glared at me in franic fashion before I knew it I was being chased by all the shop keeps in the market place. I found myself nearing an alleyway with a dead end...i just knew I was going to be beaten to a furry pulp that is...until I heard a beautiful voice say "Stop! He's with me." It was Amelia. The beautiful Captain I'd been looking for all day, I been her slip something to the cabbage clerk and walk over to me helping me stand. "A-Amelia! I been-" "I know you been looking for me." She smiled, "Word got around a gentleman scholar was looking for me so I went looking for him." "I'm sorry about the clerk allow me to pay you back-" "it's fine dear it is. I'm sorry for...going into isolation for so long."

"It's fine love you needed your space.."

she sighed and noded then looked at me, "How about we go back to my flat and I'll fix us up some dinner hm?" I smiled and noded at her. "I'd like that very much."

We walked through Crescentia once more to a set of row houses going to the top floor entering a rather large all open flat with high open ceilings where you could still see the air units and all. the decorations screamed Amelia with all her nick-nacks and such on it. The colors were warm blues and chocolate browns with a white sofa perched i the center. She directed me to sit as she began dinner then returned to where I was , "Well Doctor why don't I tell you that story I promised you hm?"

"Story?" I perked my ears. "Yes the one of how I went from being a rich Smollet girl to living with the Arrow family and their children."

I nodded once sitting back and allowing her to start.

"When I was a girl," I began, adjusting myself against the arm of the couch, "I was the definition of a perfect little lady. I never spoke loudly, I always smiled. My shoes were polished and there wasn't ever a speck of dirt on my dress. I played with dolls and tea sets, and I had weekly playdates with all the other little girls, whose mothers always asked why they couldn't be like the little Smollett girl." I shook my head.

"There has been...some change." Delbert said, a tone of amusement and disbelief on his face. I nodded.

"Dramatically. Anyhow, I had that...what I consider a phase for awhile. Up till I was ten, I believe. Where I lived. on Felindsia, was a very rich, very safe neighborhood. No one could remember the last time a crime was committed there-I think it's partially due to the soldiers they have milling about. Anyway, due to the safety, and my good behavior, my parents would allow me to walk the mile down to the town library and back by myself. I took a little wagon with me to carry books. Once when I was there, there was a young woman-early twenties, if I recall correctly. She made me stop in my tracks once I entered the library...she was so strange-so...different from any woman I'd ever seen before. All the ladies of my community were, well, just that. Ladies. Dresses, corsets, makeup. Rarely spoke and when they did they sounded like angels with how soft their tones were. There hair was always elaborate, their faces were always pale."

"Then there was this woman, just..standing there. In the library. She had on a uniform-older version of mine, actually. I'd never seen a woman in pants-hell, I didn't think it was physically possible. She was well kept, smooth hair and all, wore no makeup. Her skin was dark-tanned by the sun. It was one hell of a sight, that girl." I breathed deeply and stood, turning to the kitchen, speaking as I went.

"curiosity overcame me. I went over to her, knowing full well I shouldn't-she was strange and different and dangerous by my mother's standards. I went over and I asked her who she was, and what she was doing there."

I glanced over to see Delbert leaning against the kitchen counter. His ears were raised crookedly, and his mouth was slightly open as he listened. Never thought he'd be that fascinated.

"She said to me, 'Little girl, I am Admiral Marie Johnson of the Silver Darling. I'm here looking for a book, as anyone in the library would.' And I told her that she was very strange, and that she should probably get out of town before the men or the ladies told one of the soldiers to escort her out. She just laughed and told me they wouldn't do that, because she was in charge of them. I told her no girl could ever be in charge of a man; it simply wasn't done. She laughed again and said I had some pretty warped ideas. She had me set down with her at one of the tables and we talked. She told me about the planet she was from-Transcolia. She said there women and men were equal. They had equal pay, equal education. They held respect for each other more than any other planet. She told me about women in the military and what they did and how they worked. She told me of all her travels, of how she became an admiral so young through an act of heroics that involved saving the king of her planet and stopping a smuggler. I couldn't believe it, quite honestly, until she provided proof. I completely disobeyed my parents and went to her hotel room with her. She showed me newspaper clippings and articles-books I'd never seen before about women's rights and...and a whole lot of other things. Told me women can do much as men, though there was nothing wrong with being a housewife or a teacher or anything, but that there was something wrong with not having the choice to choose to be something else. Where I was from, that's how it was. You either married young or taught school and married young, or you grew old and died alone. Most marriages were arranged to prevent that."

"Oh my…" Delbert said quietly. I nodded, stirring the soup on the stove and checking the meat I had cooking as well. I nodded.

"Women there were beyond repressed. She opened my eyes, Delbert. She was as kind and compassionate as any of the ladies of my community, but she was strong and independent as any of the men. It was stunning…

"After that, I went straight to the library and checked out all the books I could on the military and strategy and fighting and adventure. I got a couple on etiquette and the like to, to cover the other books and make the librarian think I was just getting the others for my younger brother. Took them straight home and read all of them in less than a week, between socializing with family and dealing with finishing school. When I was fifteen I told my parents all about it, and they said I was insane. They honestly thought I was joking, or mentally ill, or sick. They had a doctor check on me and when it was declared I was physically and mentally well by all his standards. Then I told them I planned on joining the academy-I'd already gotten myself signed up with some forged signatures and exceeding expectations on the entrance exam, which I took by sneaking out of town for a day-hard to do but accomplished. My father whipped me and my mother cried on and on on where she went wrong..but nevertheless, I left-even though my father said I wouldn't and couldn't, I left."

I inhaled deeply and stirred the soup again. Wasn't often I told the story of how I got to Arrow, which made it equally un-often that I recalled my parents had legally disowned me-a detail of which I planned to keep out of this retelling.

"I came to Crescentia and got set up at the academy. I did well with my studies and made a couple of friends. But...then came breaks. Winter break and spring break they close the academy and send all the students home so they can clean up the place and the like. Well, I had no home. They paid for a ticket there, but I didn't use it. I couldn't. So I sold it and stayed in a hotel for a couple days, where I chanced a meeting with Arrow. He was staying there since he was on business-he lived one planet over on Cragoria. He thought it peculiar I was all alone and, long story short, got my story and took me home with him. I got along with his family well, and eventually they moved here and...well that's it. I graduated and went onto a successful naval career. I lived with them for most my early adult life before moving into this flat, and the rest is history."

I turned off the heat of the stove, pouring two bowls of soup and adding some meat into each, and passing Delbert his with a spoon.

"That….well that was quite interesting-and thank you." He slid the soup closer to him, stirred it, and took a bite. He smiled. "This is rather lovely."

"Glad you like it." I smiled and ate some of my own, breathing deeply. Finally got that out of the way.