"None of these fine men have seen our professor."

  It was unfortunate. I couldn't stand the amount of smoke that just stuck around in the air. I was ready to head out. Whoever had picked this place knew what their customers wanted and were delivering it in spades.

  It made me curious what they had been through to make this place what it was. With the amount of magical beings crossing in and out of the place, the entire building was thick with aether. Not every single wizarding school professor was human, after all. Many of them had mixed fae ancestry.

  The rice was at least passable. The meat that came with the meal came out steaming, something that I hadn't even considered as an option in my cooking. Every couple of minutes a barmaid would come out with a steaming entree and place it in from of a smoking wizard.

  "Uh, hello?" Martin was standing over me. He looked strong.

  I didn't know how that was working for me but I was going to go with it. There wasn't much that I could say about why a tall dark man standing up over me but I felt protected in that moment.

  "Sorry. Another one of those meat trays just passed by. You were saying?"

  "They are delicious and very much distracting. Just like you."

  Well that was nice. It was nice to be noticed. "Maybe next time you can take me someplace where the atmosphere is a bit more like the sea."

  "Choleric and unpredictable? Enduring and forever?" He rolled his eyes.

  "Fresh and salty." I was really trying to give this man the appreciation he deserved. "I am not going to come back here. Maybe if we sit outside."

  "That can be arranged. We can go."

  Outside, I breathed in fully and the air tangibly felt less oppressive. over our time in there, I hadn't realized how bad it had gotten.

  There were a few tables outside and each of those somehow had ladies on them, almost as if the men inside had made a strong choice in where they sat. But I hadn't considered those until it was too late.

  "It looks like a normal enough establishment but I should have taken a closer look at the glass. You can see the smudges from the layers of smoke." I pointed them out for Martin.

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  "Those are pretty bad. I've got to apologize for this, but... Rek."

  My eyes tracked where he was looking. An older man with grey hair and the classic distracted look of a wizard was walking down the road towards us. If I had my way, he would have shown up either an hour earlier or 2 hours later. But of course I didn't because that wasn't the way of the late was it to show up precisely when he wanted to. It was going to be one of those nights I could already tell. He looked starving and I could see one of the outdoor tables opening up and I immediately made a beeline for it. I was not going to let this go without fresh air.

  I could definitely eat more but I was going to leave Martin to do all of the talking in this one. After all, it was his friend.

  "Martin? How the hell have you been man?"

  "Professor Vaughn. You're just the man that I would love to see this fine evening. I've just returned from my sabbatical and I thought we should catch up. You can see over there my new friend has taken a table."

  For the first time, the professor eyed me. He looked eager to sit down and talk, although I could have been misreading his intentions because he also looked like he'd had enough of the halfling leave to murder a small orphanage. Perhaps he was hungry because of that.

  "Ollie, this is Professor Vaughn."

  "It's a pleasure, Professor" I said, extending my hand. He took it briefly. His hands did not feel close to strong.

  "Please call me Barney. Any friends of Martins is a friend of mine, lady Ollie. Dare I ask, why the red cap?"

  It was one of those things that you didn't really notice until someone said something. I had my cap around my shoulders. It was deep red and very noticeable but I didn't know why he would be looking at it.

  Magically it would feel dead to anyone who wasn't a fae so if they weren't a red cap. He might have been blessed with some sort of site but even then it was rude.

  "It's considered rude within fae society to stare. I know that we're here in your lands, but perhaps we could not linger too long?"

  The man moved as if a weasel had run up his leg. "Oh. Of course. Of course. Pardon. I didn't expect to see... A red cap out here."

  "We're not as common as we used to be but we are definitely rare out here. Please sit and let me order you the most interesting thing I've seen them deliver."

  I pulled out a chair for him. He took it with all the grace of a duck. Martin sat next to him and there was another unoccupied seat. One of the mermaids we'd spoken to before came up and looked us over as if we were new customers or had decided to stay longer.

  "More of the same?" She asked, without a hint of levity in her voice. Her smile didn't reach her eyes.

  Martin coughed. "He'll have that steaming rabbit plate with the rice. Give the two of us something sweet."

  She nodded and returned to her rounds.

  "Well. The last time I saw you, you were considering a very long sabbatical. Did you problems catch up with you or was there something else that caused you to return early. I was under the assumption that you were going to enjoy that time."

  Martin smiled. "I did enjoy most of it and I've been thinking about what I want to do when my term of service is up."

  Barney Vaughn was one hell of a name. I decided right then and there

  "You want to leave? Don't throw everything away my man. You've got what, two years till the pension kicks in?"

  Martin frowned. "Barney, that was five years ago. I didn't have a reason to not keep working." He looked at me. "Until now."