Elaine practically stomped her way to Pomander street, where she located the dean's house, tried not to scowl, and made her way up to the door, knocking tentatively. She stood back, putting her hands in her pockets and waiting to see if anyone would respond.

Neely had since decided to leave all the food shopping to Gioia, partially because Gioia ate more than she did, partially because there had been An Incident wherein a shopkeeper gave Neely a handful of change containing a estrelle made of an iron washer turned black on top of a stove. Iron dropped Neely's glam, Neely dropped her purchases, and she had just gotten out of there before before she was burned as a witch, or whatever the fuck tallfolk did to make themselves sleep better at night.

The figure on the doorstep, however, was not Gioia. Neely took a moment figuring out who the hell it was. The child was vaguely familiar . . . then it clicked into place. Judith's apprentice. Meaning, Judith was about somewhere. Meaning . . . anything, really, knowing Judith.

Neely weighed the pros and cons of getting involved with anything that involved Judith, then decided that if nothing else, the bitch owed her and she was a way back to Fiona.

The red-haired woman jerked the door open and, just as quick, jerked Elaine inside.

"Whoa!" Elaine nearly toppled in as the woman grabbed her. "Ow, hey!" She exclaimed. "I'm sorry; I was looking for, err...the man who lives here. Dean Harlan something?"

"He's off somewhere discovering a new principle of motion," Neely said dryly. "Where is your captain?"

Elaine blinked. "Pardon me, my what?" she asked.

Neely pressed her lips together in impatience. "The very small shrill woman who runs your ship. Who sent you, girl?"

"No one sent me," Elaine replied, wriggling a little bit. She peered up at the woman. "How the hell do you know Judith?"

"Better question is how the hell do you know Harlan." Neely backed off the girl, frowning. The woman shifted quickly, her face passing through a series of veils, until she was glaring at Elaine through the eyes of Neely O'Niall. "I know her because I slept with her at one point. I hope you can't say the same for Harlan, because I will have to object to his being far too old for you."

"Um, would it matter if I pointed out that the age difference between you and Judith is a few centuries more than the one between me and Harlan?" Elaine asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't know him. My father knows him. And Jochy knows him. Why the []i]hell[/i] are you staying at his house, and why are you dressed like a lady?"

He looked down at himself, rolled his eyes, and swapped the glam to his usual black. "One word. Starts with P, rhymes with 'fuck.' And we're here because that . . . crackbrain madman is supposed to be working to get us back there--to the Erins. From whence we were snatched, and probably replaced with Jochy and some tenured professor of physick, if Harlan's guess isn't off."