Ding Rong has walked himself through five vivid calculations of Wang Zhi’s death at his hands in the carriage before Wang Zhi speaks.

“I’m in need of a second,” he says.

"Do you still need to be told?" he teases, reaching up between them to path his finger across the pattering pulse in Sui Zhou's throat. "I thought I had you taught."

"No," Sui Zhou assures him. He does not.

He feels Sui Zhou's smile unlace over his pulse, languid and nude in its amusement. "You've had the morning," he answers, unmoved. "The day won't keep for you."

Richard likes secrets, and Mowbray likes oaths.

(What urge will save him now that sex won't?)

There's a first time for everything. India is Charlie's first and last.

New Year's Eve, 1845: Crozier drinks punch and mulls his options on Beechey Island.

Two things are unavoidable: death and laundry.

(A take on the bathing scene from '...on the earth, and not on him', from a perspective other than Richard's.)

The crew of the Volunteer take pains to revive their surgeon after his plunge.

Irving enjoys a range of Christian pleasures and graces: singing with friends, watercolors, study, climbing exercises, handball.