The smile will not leave my face! What a delight, what a confection of setting and tone, dialogue, quote and characterisation! And in its midst, lest we think we are indeed in an enchanted wood, is a snake, drawn with such fine lines that one might mistake him for a deadly viper. Greg, however, knows he is only a garden snake.

Your portrait of Mycroft's strengths and weaknesses is masterful. Mycroft at play! And Mycroft wounded in a moment of unguarded hope. Oh.

Greg's POV is brilliant, the observations, the good humour, the doubts (the hand flick!) and the urge to protect, to take the risk.

I love Robin (and what she was wearing!) and wonder whether she and John conspired or if she hijacked John's blind date plans with a plan of her own. I mean the flight delay could have been arranged. (Was Sherlock, perhaps, doing a turn on the stage during it all?) And Andy Cole, let us note that with a few deft lines he is shown to be a good guy, worthy of being put forward to Greg and of being carried off by Robin.

I am still grinning. I cannot think about all the sparkling craft, the art and the good will in this story without a grin. Thank you, dear author, for this wonderful, solstice treat! (And I am thinking that I know who you are...)