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Tazza leapt up fro over to snuffle at Deryn’s boots She knelt to cup his nose with her palm

"Good to see you, Tazza"

"Tazza," Bovril repeated, then chuckled

"A pleasure to see you too, Mr Sharp," the lady boffin said, turning from the view "We’ve all been quite beside ourselves orry"

"It’s brilliant to be home, ma’am"

"Of course, it stands to reason that you’d make it back safe and sound, resourceful lad that you are" The lady boffin’s fingers druh I see you’ve caused a bit of trouble in the meantime"

"Aye, ma’am" Deryn allowed herself to s out that Tesla cannon But we got it done"

"Yes, yes" The lady boffin waved her hand, as if she sarapped in lightning topple every day "But I meant that creature on your shoulder, not this tireso at Bovril "You lad to have it back, then?"

"No, Mr Sharp, that is not what I otten already? I went to great pains to make sure that the loris hatched while Alek was in the machine room So that its nascent fixation would be directed entirely at him"

"Aye, I remember that," Deryn said "How it’s like a baby duck, latching on to whoever it sees first"

"Exactly, which was Alek And yet here it is on your shoulder, Mr Sharp"

Deryn frowned, trying to re on her shoulder as often as Alek’s "Well, the beastie seems to like me just as much as it does hi Clanker, after all"

Dr Barlow sat down at the ned to bond with two people! Not unless they’re " She narrowed her eyes "I suppose you and Alek have rather a close friendship, haven’t you, Mr Sharp?"

"Mr Sharp," Bovril repeated, then giggled

Deryn gave the beastie a hard look, then spread her hands "Honestly, I don’t know,the walker tonight, so Bovril started off on my shoulder, and I suppose that - "

"Excuse me," Dr Barlow interrupted "But did you just say Bovril??"

"Oh, aye That’s its name, sort of"

The lady boffin raised an eyebrow "As in the beef extract?"

"It wasn’t ht us all that inattached But this anarchist lassie kept insisting on calling it Bovril, and the name sort ofstuck"

"Bovril," the beastie repeated

Dr Barlow stepped forward to peer ain "I wonder if this excess of bonding is Mr Newkirk’s fault He never quite kept the eggs at an even teht be defective?"

"One never can tell with a new species You say an ’anarchist lassie’ started this Bovril nonsense?"

Deryn started to explain, but found herself wavering on her feet, and plonked down into a chair It wasn’t exactly goodin a lady’s presence, but suddenly all that had happened tonight was hitting Deryn hard - the battle, Zaven’s death, the narrow escape of the Leviathan fro else, it was a relief to be home To feel the ship beneath her feet, real and solid, and not burning horribly in the sky And Alek aboard by noell

"You see, ma’am, when I found hiress, ere dead keen to overthrow the sultan I didn’t approve of them, of course, but then we found out there was a Tesla cannon being built Knowing that it could destroy the Leviathan, I had toup with anarchists - or revolutionaries, whatever you want to call them"

"Very resourceful, as always" The lady boffin sat across froer wasn’t far wrong, was he?"

"Count Volger?" A squick of panic went through Deryn at the na,about?"

"He said that Alek had fallen in with unsavory ele prince"

Deryn nodded slowly Volger had been sitting right there, of course, when she’d heard the clue about Alek’s hotel "He’s a clever-boots, that one"

"Indeed" The lady boffin stood up again and turned to stare out "Though heabout this Committee However unsavory their politics, they have performed a valuable service for Britain today"

"Aye,ship!"

"They seem to have toppled the sultan as well"

Deryn hauled herself up and joined Dr Barlow at theThe ship was under way again, heading back across the water In the distance the streets of Istanbul were still alight with gunfire and explosions, and Deryn couldclouds of spice dust in the war elephants’ searchlights

"I’m not certain he’s toppled yet, "

"This battle is quite pointless, I assure you," the lady boffin said "A few minutes after the Goeben was destroyed, we spotted the Irounds, flying a flag of truce"

"Truce? But the battle’s hardly begun Why would the sultan surrender?"

"He did not According to the Staha was in co the sultan to a place of safety, far from the troubles of Istanbul"

"Oh" Deryn frowned "You n?"

"As I said to you soo, sultans have been replaced before"