"Mother voted after they made her a Lord," puts in a new voice. A young woman in her late teens, dressed in men's clothing, who has briefly paused her fencing practice nearby to make this addition. She looks interested.

"Admiral Roland is a bit of an unusual case," acknowledges Hammond, "but perhaps evidence that with sufficient merit, men or even women can rise high in--"

"If you hit them over the head hard enough even their Lordships will see reason, you mean," summarizes Emily.

"I am of course aware that I should also not expect Napoleon to be impressive on this axis, but if you are trying to tailor arguments to me you should know that you are from two hundred years in the past relative to my understanding of politics and that's an awful handicap in coming across as progressive and broad-minded and liberal, so you might want to focus on other things than how you have about as much democracy as ancient Greece."

"Napoleon hasn't got any at all, though."

Laurence is not exactly positive on the notion of "democracy" necessarily, not entirely, but he isn't going to say that.

It's at this point that Granby breaks in and says "Laurence, I hate to interrupt, but this discussion may not be as urgent as-- we found a wrecked pirate ship at a cove inland. ... It had maps."

The conversation with May is put on hold while the aviators scramble to investigate.

It turns out that this island is remarkably close to the coast -- not quite flying distance, but there are other islands along a chain, which, with the help of the pirates' long-abandoned maps, Laurence can use to chart a course that the dragons will be able to fly all the way to Peru.

Later that afternoon, as rations are being distributed -- hardtack, dried jerky, bilgey water -- Laurence goes to find May.

"It appears we will not be in urgent need of your services after all," he says, "but I would still prefer to have your support, if we can earn it. You are welcome to join us as far as you would like; I expect provisions to be in better supply once we are on the mainland." He inclines his head towards the dry, hard biscuit.

(Hammond trails behind Laurence with an air of focused readiness, as if he's watching a baby to make sure it doesn't put anything untoward in its mouth.)

May is eating one of her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead of hardtack and jerky but is keenly aware that she does not have a third one after she eats the second one. "I would appreciate the escort. Have the Inca also got dragons among them? Where are dragons native to?"

"Native to... ? More or less everywhere-- no, not everywhere, not Australia," he corrects himself. "Most places. Europe, Russia, China, Africa, the Americas; all have dragons, though of different varieties, somewhat like those of men. I've been told the Inca have particularly fearsome fighting dragons, though no firebreathers that I have heard."

"Humans are native to Africa," she says. "I suppose that was probably discovered later than this so it's reasonable that if there's dragons all over you don't know where they started out. - it is very odd that Australia's an exception, is it not reachable in flight through some island chain from Asia via, like, Indonesia - do they not like to eat kangaroos -"

"I don't care for them particularly," Temeraire puts in. "Far too stringy."

The bit about humans coming from Africa does not sound right to him but he does not know enough about biology or the future to dispute it. He shrugs. 

"But it's a little odd that would have completely prevented dragons from spreading there, if they're edible. I don't think marsupials are deficient in vitamins or anything... this doesn't matter, though, what've we got in immediate matters? Should I be helping pack or anything?"

Packing is a highly choreographed exercise with the aviators; an extra person who has no idea what to do wouldn't be particularly helpful. He shakes his head. "No need. We'll leave at dawn tomorrow."

Then she will stay out of the way. (The cold wears off in the night, and she doesn't renew it.)

They reach the coast after just a few days of flying, touching down on small islands at night to give the dragons a rest. It's hardtack and jerky the whole way.

Laurence sends out a group of men to go hunting as soon as they reach the mainland.

And he goes to find May, Hammond in tow as before. "Do you wish to continue on with us? Our next goal is to find our way to the Sapa Inca. The journey may be long."

"Of course you may stay with us as long as you would like," Hammond adds, with a meaningful look at Laurence.

"...am I incurring obligations in so doing?"

Hammond clears his throat. "Ahem. Well. Er. Not as such, although-- although should you choose to journey with us as far as the Inca's court, we would hope that you would not choose to-- that is--"

Laurence sighs. "What he means to say is we would prefer not to spend effort transporting you to the Sapa Inca if the result is your forwarding Napoleon's cause with him. If you have no such plans, or part ways with us substantially before we reach there, I think we can say there is no other obligation." He glances at Hammond.