Oh, my.

It doesn't take much guessing to discern the source of this lovely little vignette (now where do you suppose we might find a Hornblower fan among our little band of Holmesians, hmm?). But it's nice to know that between bouts of amusingly accusatory speculation in the guessing post, sanguinity still likes me enough to write small gems like this one. The glimpse of very young Mycroft and very old Hornblower is kind to both men in all the right ways, yet not at the expense of sacrificing honesty. Very well done, indeed.

[Note to self: signup for next round may take more editing than usual, due to people actually writing stories for several of the longer-standing obscure sub-canons!]