Ash smiles a friendly smile and moves in front of me, taking the first seat and leaving me at the very end of the bench. Considering he has been opening doors and letting me go first this entire trip, I find it hard to believe that he’s suddenly changed his MO. He must have another reason, like wanting to put a barrier between me and whoever this man is.

The bearded guy waves his hand in the air and a boy about my age appears, wiping his hands on his apron. “Bring two more pints and a couple more pitchers for the table,” the man says. “And a big basket of chips.”

The boy nods and sighs, like he’s had the same request all night and he’s bored out of his mind. I remember Layla once telling me that all Strategia serve their Families, whether that means assassinating people or, apparently, waiting tables.

The bearded man turns to us. “Right…now let’s see, the skinny one there is Willy,” he says, pointing across the table at a man with thin dark hair tied back in a frayed ponytail and a complexion similar to Ash’s. “But don’t let his appearance fool ya; he’s as strong as Eddie over here.”

“I could crush him with my pinky, maybe eat him for a snack,” says Eddie in a deep baritone voice. He is certifiably one of the more muscled humans I’ve ever seen. His face and arms are covered in freckles and his hair is the color of spun copper.

“Now, Eddie, let’s not,” Willy says in a patient, almost tired-sounding voice. “Last time you went down this road, you sulked for days.”

Eddie pretends he didn’t hear him.

“Mary,” the bearded man says, gesturing toward a no-nonsense-looking woman, whose hair is entirely white even though she appears to be younger than my dad. “Best person to have if you get caught out at sea in a nasty storm or cornered in an alley. She’s reliably steered our bucking ship and crew through the worst of conditions.”

Mary gives us a short, perfunctory nod, and I wonder about these introductions. This is the first time I’ve ever seen Strategia actively offer information about themselves and others. But Ash did say that these unallied crews make their living doing odd jobs. So maybe this is all part of the process?

“Jenny, our weapons specialist, with the fastest blade in all of Europe; before you even reach for your knife she’ll have skewered you,” the bearded man says, indicating a young woman with box braids woven into an elegant bun on top of her head. A silver sword earring hangs all the way to her shoulder from her right ear, accompanying her nineties leather jacket and purple lipstick.