“Dumpling soup,” Clive said with a wave.

* * *

Since Jason had started taking contracts, Rufus, Gary and Farrah had been increasingly busy. They each had their own projects, and in-between they were taking bronze-rank contracts from the jobs hall. One of their key reasons for coming to Greenstone was the chance for some independence, after all. Between the Vane Estate contract going wrong and Jason’s training, their own adventuring had moved down the list. Now Jason was a full-fledged adventurer, they were back to adventuring themselves.

While they were all busy, Jason was seeing a lot less of the trio. He was unsurprised, then, that evening found him alone in his room at the inn. He decided to go out and see if there was anything on at the concert hall, seeing as it was so close.

Although there wasn’t anything on the scale of the grand magical symphony, there was a string section recital taking place. He thought it might be interesting to see it from the main floor, given that he usually watched performances from the Geller’s private viewing box. He was looking for a ticket box when Cassandra Mercer had spotted him wandering about.

“Mr Asano,” she called out as she approached.

“Miss Mercer,” Jason said. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“You seem a little lost.”

“Well, I’ve never actually purchased a ticket before. I’ve been meaning to sign on to the patronage program with the Musical Society, but I’ve been a bit busy.”

“The life of a new adventurer.”

“Mostly,” Jason said. “I did spend the afternoon working in a dumpling restaurant.”

“You got a job in a dumpling restaurant?” she asked incredulously.

“I didn’t get a job there,” Jason said. “I just worked in the kitchen for the afternoon. I wanted to learn to make dumplings with local ingredients.”

Cassandra invited him to view the recital from the Mercer family’s private box.

“Thadwick won’t be there, will he?”

“Thadwick treats culture like catching a cold,” Cassandra said. “You can't always avoid it, but you can take precautions.”

Jason laughed. Cassandra explained the reason Jason hadn’t found the ticket box was that it was on the other side of the building. He had been looking where he usually entered, which he discovered was for patrons, private box holder and their guests.

The patron lounge was a place for concertgoers to engage socially before the performance and during intervals. They took drinks from the long bar and sat down in a pair of comfortable seats. Jason had a tall glass filled with rainbow layers of liqueur, while Cassandra took a neat measure of amber spirits.

Jason wasn’t used to drawing a lot of attention at such events. He was usually an adjunct to groups with Rufus and Danielle Geller, who were much more interesting to high-society mavens. Being the solitary companion to Cassandra Mercer proved very different.