Elizabeth lowers her gaze to the end of the bed and takes a deep breath.

"Father can't either," she notes.

And he would be, she thinks. Hovering just beyond the door with a smile as excited as it was nervous. At that moment, she'd do just about anything to see his face again. Her eyes well up and she blinks back tears before they fall.

The feeling fades faster than it used to, now. She remembers how it was when her mother died. How one day she couldn't recall the shape of her face but could still remember exactly how her mother smelled.

"Thank you," Elizabeth says again, and means it. "I think... I'll change now." A glance back at Demeter. "Perhaps I could read? There are a number of favorites in the room upstairs."

Pirate adventure stories, every one.