This could have been called "Pointless," to keep with the naming convention of the rest of the Parasol Protectorate books. This is not a short story, this is 3 scenes from a book that was never written. There's no plot here, and it seems to exist only so that fans of Alexia can finally meet her father. I've read all of Carriger's books at this point, all of the Parasol Protectorate, all of the Finishing School series, and Prudence. So I know all of the world building and how the different series interconnect. I don't know when Carriger wrote this, whether she had fully developed some of the plot points in Timeless already or not, but it seems to me, this "short story" could have been a way to shed some clarity on that thread. This didn't do that. There's literally no story here. This could have been fan fiction - and actually that does a disservice to fan fiction, because at least there's a story. Can you tell I feel like I wasted my time on this?