THE SULKIEST NAVAL OFFICER.

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

Good Mundane,

Glad though I am to be held in your high esteem, I am... concerned about your intentions for me.

Do not forget that I am first and foremost, an officer of His Majesties Royal Navy. I have a duty to my country and to my captain, and I cannot have you pursuing some alternate commission for me beyond the navigations of the heavens! Not any more than I could stand idle while you linger upon your indecision of my fate.

Will all due respect, you could offer me no landscape so wondrous as the sand and sea of the Indies, no adventure so great as the war on France, and no duty more honorable than my service to my country! I must insist that you allow me to return to it at once!

Now please, let's have no more of this talk. I wish to return at once to my ship.

Yours
Lt. Horatio Hornblower

Comments

[negotiates]

[He did not expect so much interest, but Elijah did spend over a century in New Orleans, so...]

We first arrived under French rule, as a matter of fact. It certainly makes for an interesting culture.

[sssiiiiirrrrr]

[Horatio is pretty notoriously incompetent at small talk, but Louisiana is the kind of current affairs matter that he can fake his way through neatly.]

Is there much thought on the war there? Or are you too far removed for any mind to be paid to such matters?

[negotiates]

["Current" affairs is probably stretching it a bit. Elijah thinks back.]

Considering the size and power of the British Empire, we certainly weren't too far removed. I assume you're referring to Napoleon, but the United States had its own conflict with the British.

[And he'll stop there, because he's not entirely sure what year Hornblower is from. The war in 1812 might not have happened for him yet.]