Moses caught the look on Alfred's face and rumbled out something that lived halfway between a grunt and a laugh. "It has been a while, Alfred. Are you not pleased to see me after so long?"
"I will not pretend otherwise. It has been a while." Alfred looked the half-demon over from horns to boots, weighing the years. "How has life treated you, Moses? You have not changed much, by the look of things."
Both of them stood on the deck by now, Trafalgar at Moses's shoulder, while the vessel woke beneath their feet. Her wings unfolded along her flanks one after another, six of them stretching wide, and the great hull groaned as she made ready to take the sky.
"Life has been interesting enough." Moses set one enormous hand on the rail, and the wood complained about it. "One of these days you will have to fly this little lady of yours through the Dead Meridian. What do you say?"
