Something, somewhere, was wrong.

Late in the night of the Watch party they'd done Deductions - attempts to read as many personal details off strangers as possible in the style of hero detectives in novels. Brill had cleaned up, of course and he'd taken the time to dunk on Adila while doing so - "you've spent so long doing princess work you've forgotten how to pay attention to your surroundings". And then he'd picked her pocket. Bastard.

He'd been right, though. Everything in her brain had been too noisy lately - so many new places, so much heartache and heartbreak and heartrealization. In the Bazaar where things had been quiet it had felt like she'd had scope to expand her mind outwards until her thoughts could soak into the fabric of the city. Becoming so used to the rhythms and flows of the place that she could sniff trouble like a shark princess. She hadn't had a mind quiet enough to do that since...

Well, the when hardly mattered any more. 

She was surprised that now of all times she was noticing the feeling. Here, on the [i]Pear[/i], when she should be coping with the complicated feelings that came with being a Captain or stressing about the final battle with Oberon and saving the world... instead all she had was this constant sense that something wasn't right. It was almost the same sense she had when Hornet visited the Bazaar - a warning that today was going to be an overtime day. Maybe there was some trick of Oberon's at work? 

She prowled the ship. Around the engine deck. She knew she should be preparing, but...