Proof

"What did you see?"

The journey Susan, Lionel and Adelina had embarked on together had been quite the long, difficult one. Not only did they face that bounty hunter that Lord Piggot-Dunceby had sent, but also the pompous arse himself. There were also the yetis who despite being distant cousins of Mr. Link's, decided that their disdain towards mankind extended to him due to his close interactions with humans– they even went as far as to throw the trio in a pit until their final days, which luckily never came as they escaped. There was also the case of them nearly plumetting to their deaths like Piggot-Dunceby had after smashing the ice bridge with his rifle and when Stenk tried to loosen their grip on the remaining edge, but they had worked together and got out of that mess alive.

And now, they were on a boat at the port of London, England. Susan was dressed up in his fancy yellow suit, complete with a green bowtie and a brown hat that rested on the top of his head. He might not have gotten to be a part of yeti society, but he did have something that was much better – the position of being Lionel's new partner in investigations.

Yes, that was right – Lionel had appointed Susan as his new assistant. After climbing back up onto the edge of the ice bridge, there had come the question of what would happen next. Susan's response had been one of uncertainty, but Lionel, on the other hand, had his own idea.

"Well, turns out I'm on the look for a new valet," had been the explorer's words, before Adelina coughed and elbowed him, correcting him.

"Partner."

"Err, partner." They had both smiled at Susan. "You wouldn't happen to know anyone, would you?"

Susan hadn't caught on right away, offering to find one for the explorer until Lionel stated that he meant him. The look on Susan's face when he heard those words – he'd been more happy and thrilled than a child at the park.

Looking back on that memory, Adelina smiled a little, before she then giggled as Susan kissed her hand. They had all come a long way, but now... now was the time they must part ways. Susan and Lionel would go on their own adventures, travelling the world and searching for creatures – not so they could become a part of some posh, elite group, but because they wanted to.

"You have seen the world," she said with fondness. "Remember every moment of it, Susan."

Behind her stood Lionel, who had a bit of a smirk on his face as his arm leaned against the railing of the ship. "And you, Adelina?" he asked expectantly, standing up straight. "What did you see?"

Adelina turned to him, looking at him for a moment.

In the beginning, she hadn't been too keen on him. She had her reasons not to be, what, with their past together... they'd once been a couple and she had loved him more than the moon had loved the sun, more than the sky had loved the ocean, yet she didn't feel like she was an equal to him. He might have said he loved her, but that didn't change the fact that he wasn't there for her when she needed him the most, which eventually led to her breaking it off between them. If he wasn't going to be there for her, then fine. She'd just have to find someone who would treat her as his equal, and she did find that someone... in his past partner, Aldous.

This drove a wedge between the three, with Lionel not attending Aldous' funeral all due to his past relationship with the latter's wife... which infuriated Adelina, leading to her confronting Lionel when he tried taking his former partners' map. In the end, they made a compromise: she would allow Lionel and Susan to use the map, but only if she accompanied them to Shangri-La, and so it was agreed on.

During the adventure, she and Lionel had some rather... close encounters, to put it lightly. There was so much tension between them – on the boat, he had stumbled forward into her arms as the ship rocked, leaving them to hold on each other for a while until she talked him into speaking with Susan. Then, there was that one instance in the jungle of India where they reminisced the old times they'd had together, before they almost kissed, only for Lionel to get hit by a branch before their lips could meet.