Vivian very kindly took us to the next island. Really they weren't all that big. It was just that there was so much ground to cover. With it roughly 20 bigger islands, it was assured that you would be able to find a token or two on each. If somebody was watching they would have really enjoyed it. But the senseless loss of life... It irked me.

  Better to have the life be lost for purpose.

  That was part of why we talked about while Martin cooked the same swordfish I had eaten a dozen ways. He had a way that was wholly different than I had ever experienced and I was considering an opening for the head chef of my entourage.

  "This is how the fae treat their best?"

  "It's a matter of traditional values."

  Martin scoffed. "Tradition gets you killed. I don't understand why I know whatever give in to this type of tradition."

  "When you grow up in faerie, it's what you expect. It's what your family expected for years and it's what you get used to. You. Go up on these stories of the ones that have completed the challenges and become heroes of the realm. You don't hear about the ones that are intentionally left behind."

  Martin paused for a long moment. "It's like the swordfish. You don't see the ones that don't make it to full size. And even then predators like us end them in their prime and they have no recourse as a species."

  "They have their horn, which that doesn't do much against our nets. Otherwise it's... I've never thought of fae as predators. That's such a human way to think of things."

  The sound of fish on the grill, sizzling drew my attention. I would have loved to have more. Unfortunately, despite the size of the fish, not all of the parts were edible. The chunks that we wouldn't eat would become chum to attract larger fish for tomorrows meals.

  "But still. If you're able to cook this well, is this a thing all humans can do?"

  Martin smiled. My cheeks reddened. Hel, was I blushing? Well if he could cook?

  "It's... I got bored on campaign once. We were hunting orcs but we never found any."

  "I've never fought an orc... are they difficult opponents?"

  His sigh said it all. His shoulders slumped. I had a flashback to how Stuart looked when I asked him for particulars about our clients.

  High fae were notorious for treating the underclasses like scum, it was well known, but someone had to clean up their mess.

  If I was going to clean up a high faes mess, it would be because they paid well for it. I wasn't doing this for charity. I didn't even know how I felt about the next job we would inevitably get.

  "They're not more difficult than fighting a fae, provided that they don't use their magic. They're more brute strength than finesse. You would think that means that it's a different fight but no I always fight the same way."

  "With those dirty tricks, right?"

  He winced so briefly that I almost didn't catch it. "Yes, you're correct. Tricks like the Mage Gazette always wants to play on senior leadership."

  He held out a folded piece of paper. Looked at it but all I saw were the words 'Killer apprehended' before he tucked it away again.

  He wants to be done that I hadn't seen it. I would pretend. He might pretend that I didn't know how to read. I definitely knew how to read. I just had never seen a copy of the Mages Gazette and now I was curious about it

  "The Mages Gazette? Can I get a chance to look at that? I haven't heard any news from the humans realm in ages."

  He didn't want to pass it over. His body language was telling me that he would rather close himself up than let me see. He would rather chew it up.

  "This changes nothing, right?"

  "Is there some gaes upon this paper? Let me read it! Things are slow enough out here without me dipping into my stash."

  He stared at me flatly. "You have a stash? A stash of breeding material? Err I mean..."

  "I have a small collection of books yes. I will swap some of them out when we get back to port."

  He looked at me like I had three heads. "Share."

  "The uhhhh thing about that is..."

  "I don't care if it's fae smut. I'm bored up here and there's only so many times I can tell you about how they're trying to use dragons as strategic national resources."

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  It was interesting it was true and it sounded like a lot of work. That was not for me. I was fine with him enjoying his dragon riding so long as they didn't come back and bite me.

  Martin made it sound like he wouldn't be a dragon rider anyway. That would be a shame. It had to be a glorious way to die.

  "I'll let you take a look at my secret stash but only if you let me have your Mages Gazette."

  "Deal." And I didn't even taking him 2 seconds to agree to the deal. I blanched. But a deal was a deal especially a deal with the Faye. So I reluctantly grabbed my brown bag with the specialty material and handed him one that I finished.

  It was going to be an interesting time. I handed him the worn book.

  His eyes popped at the cover. I grabbed a different novel.

  "This used a printing press!"

  "Of course. Do you think we'd see what the humans did and not take advantage of their advances?"

  "No, it's just that I didn't think that they would be so into this."

  But he was and we settled into a nice companionable silence for a while and read. As much as I love being on this ship it was refreshing to be able to just not have to worry about it. I was a passenger I was being paid to do a job and if I had my way I would get more of these steaks everyday.

  ---

  It took us nearly a week to finish up everything and even the contract stated that we had to get 95% of them, not 100%. So there were several that had been clearly eaten or devoured by sea serpents. Those were obviously outside the contract bounds.

  Those were easy to see because you could just point to where the the trackers were moving. It was invariably in a circle around the islands. One of the sea serpents came close enough that we could tell that unless they having fun with incredible ability to turn into a sea serpent, that was almost certainly a very well fed creature.

  "We're heading back to the port now," Stuart said that afternoon. "We're going to have to... Explain why you are here but that shouldn't be so much of an issue."

  "I think that I can take care of that. I've got a writ from the academy." He felt all over his body trying to find it but I held out the piece of paper for him. "Thanks for holding that for me. You have quick hands."

  "It's a requirement of the job."

  He grunted, inspecting it. He placed the paper back into the same pocket that I had been easily able to take it from. It wasn't that I was handsy, thought I would never admit to it. But the thrill when properly used made me fast. It was just kinda a waste to keep it and not use it.

  There have been so many times in my hands had saved me and work. But now that I chose any slower work time, it was so much easier to just work with what I had. Part of. The problem we had was that I didn't know where we're going next to, neither did Stuart.

  "Any clue about our next job?" I said.

  "If they pay us for this one on time, we'll be good for another three months. I was thinking that we might take a little trip to someplace else." Stuart already has his eyes on Martin.

  "What. Oh yes. Apologies but I cannot make an offer on behalf of the academy. I can, of course introduce you."

  My eyes flitted to the book I had been reading. The bookmark had been the article about how another student had died senselessly. Really, these humans needed to consider the long term. They lived such passionate lives and so many of them died before doing anything.

  It was a shame, really.

  If I was going to go to a place where there was ample human blood I would have to consider how I would keep up my magic. Outside of faerie, things were different. The air wasn't the same and the ambient magic... It left a lot to be desired if anyone that ever went there was to be considered.

  "Would you like to sign on for a longer tour?" Martin said. "We can do it the human way if you prefer. No fae bargains here."

  Stuart shrugged then eyed me. It was nice to be viewed as a reason to stay away from his boring job. Technically this job was boring but we got to see so much of faerie.

  "We can discuss that in town but this feels like I might not want to head back to the academy."

  Why did I feel a little bit of thrill when he said that? It had to be nothing. I would deal with that... Later.

  "Tell me more about the academy."