There was patio furniture on the terrace, Vincent casually reclined as he looked out into the night. Jason put a bowl and fork down on the table next to him, before taking a seat himself. He pulled a couple of glasses from his inventory, along with a bottle. He poured a little bit of blue liquid into each glass.

“I think you’ll like this,” Jason said. “It has a fresh, crisp flavour that should go nicely with the salad.”

“Thank you,” Vincent said.

“For being so handsome?” Jason asked. “It’s attached to my face, so I had to bring it with me.”

Vincent shook his head.

“Rufus told me you’d be trouble,” Vincent said.

“He told me you were worth showing respect,” Jason said. “Sounds like disparate treatment to me.”

Vincent nodded at the door Jason had emerged from.

“What are they doing in there?”

“Talking about the trap weavers,” Jason said. “Humphrey’s idea, of course.”

“He’s a diligent young man,” Vincent said. “Have they figured it out, yet?”

“That we were never meant to fight them? They might get there, they might not. The rest are more interested in clamping onto the Geller family’s leg.”

“You haven’t given them much of a chance,” Vincent said. “He seems to value your judgement, for reasons that escape me.”

“My judgement is excellent, thank you very much,” Jason said. “Also, I think his mother wants him to learn something from me.”

“Why?”

“You mean ‘what.’”

“No, I meant ‘why,’ Has she actually met you?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, she has. You really do think my judgement is suspect, don’t you?”

“You tried to start a fight with Thadwick Mercer the first time you met him.”

“If I tried to start a fight,” Jason said, “then there would have been a fight. What I was doing was getting you to prevent a fight.”

“For what conceivable reason would you do that?”

“Social advancement,” Jason said. “If I get into it with Thadwick Mercer, then people see me as someone who operates at that level.”

“Doesn’t wandering around with Geller do that for you?”

“No, that makes me look like a hanger-on.”

“I’m not sure outwitting Thadwick Mercer puts you any higher,” Vincent said. “He’s not one of the great minds of the younger generation.”

“The point was to engage with Thadwick Mercer. Just that much puts me above a certain threshold, socially speaking,” Jason said. “As for how far above, what do people see when they look closer?”

“They see you standing next to Humphrey Geller,” Vincent said, realisation dawning.

“Rufus has been very good to me,” Jason said, “but he takes a somewhat top-down view of society. Due to his upbringing, from what I understand. He wants me to reach a level of basic capability as an adventurer before certain facts come to light, but he’s rather oblivious as to building social standing.”