That is why you are a young lady, after all.

[To be fair, she had thought everyone was gone since it had been fifteen years for her and she thought it might have been the same for Asgard.]

I'm sure they would have, yes. [She offers a smile.] Of that much I am sure, without any insistence. Still, it is nice to know these are mere worries and hypothetical thoughts than anything else.

Well, if you do not wish to be, that is your choice.

Thank you, Clementine. I'm sure if I did leave, I can have the utmost faith in knowing you are here to care for my dear pets.

Well, unfortunately, not everyone's home life is as exciting as the Doctors. My home life was nothing spectacular.

It is, and I did. I also learned to fence despite my mother's protesting when I decided to take up some sports. I also took part in equestrian, that's horse back riding, activities.

As for what I did after, I took after my mother to learn from her. I was learning how to tend and to manage a household staff, how to hold proper house parties, and in my spare time I wrote and painted when not at a sport.

[Victorian lifestyle for women is not "thrilling."] But I was never a suffragette, despite my agreeing with them.

I was also being formally courted by some young men, something I don't think will interest you as much. It certainly didn't interest me, neither before nor after my debut.

Indeed, it is. I became skilled with both sword and fan and learned the language of both.

Hmm... [How best to explain this...] A suffragette, Clementine, is a woman who fights and demands equal rights in the work place or society, to put it in its simplest form. They would hold rallies and marches, trying to gain awareness and support for women to earn as many, if not all, the same legal rights as a man.

As an unmarried woman at 22, I can hold private property and keep my inheritance, however, as soon as I get married, everything I own will belong to my husband. If I were to work, say as a governess or midwife, whatever wages I earn I keep, unless I am married and then my husband would get those wages instead.

As for courting, being courted is when a man wants to make a formal proposal for my hand in marriage. Nothing has moved past introductions and I am always chaperoned by my mother or aunt or a dear friend, when in out in society.

Oh yes, Clementine, the language of a fan can be very deadly, but not the way you think. Do you know what all a code is, Clementine, either something you make up on your own or one already in existence?

I'm from a very different time, yes.

Mnn.... not quite like a password or a set of rules. But a language within a language.

Imagine if I wanted to send a message to you in secret, but I knew other people might see that message, by sending it in a code only you and I understand, no one else would think anything of the message while you actually understand what I really intended.

Take for example if I asked you in a message: "How is my garden, Clementine? I'm worried about the marigolds and the lady bells. Would you check on them, for me?"

Now, what else might that mean?

Yes, see, how clever of you. Well, the language of the fan is a code, however it has far many more meanings and rules than something as simple as that, and a lady would be wise to learn it.

No, not nearly to the same extent, but back home, it was completely unheard of for a lady to attend anything without a fan.

And yes, that's quite right. And some men too, depending on how well versed they were. All of it was to convey meaning without saying anything and potentially embarrassing yourself.

Oh yes, but there were a lot of... unwritten rules for a woman that would seem silly to you.

We could make a code together, if you like?

You're welcome to tell me.

Of course.