Six years later, Fitzjames and Crozier broach a delicate topic in the privacy of a well-heated room.

Sequel to More Fools Than Wise.

Sometimes Tang Fan does indeed forget that he is not, in fact, the only learned man under their shared roof.

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

Later, Holden and Debbie talk Vacaville.

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.)

Goodsir takes stock of his practicals.

If they cannot be vulnerable with one another as brothers, who else will shoulder that weight for them? Who else could survive it? Who else would dare risk their back and their life in the trying?

Ed's still looking for a human connection, and Billy Cole is the next best thing.

In Monte Carlo, Lermontov aims to turn Craster's head. It works out differently than intended.

January 15: Lucca and Matteo observe the hours of night.