When he answers, after a moment's pause, it's a in a low murmur, "It was a rather appealing life, wasn't it?"

It had been peaceful in a way his life has rarely been, safe in a way he's not sure he's ever achieved. Watson, admittedly, muses often on these memories of being a seal with a husband and a novel-writing career.

"Though I could have gone without the memories of an entirely new war in my head."