“You haven’t been to The Pub before?” The fact that Rowena hadn’t been to The Pub before was not a surprise to Theo. The fact that Finn had not, however, was.

Finn shrugged, Rowena’s hand in his. “It’s not a boat, or a fish market.”

It was then that Theo remembered that growing up barely supervised around a lot of drunk adults was probably not how most people grew up.

“I’m sure I’ll like it – you can’t get worse booze than booze that smells of fish.” Finn said, with fondness and a lack of conviction, as if describing the bad traits of a lifelong friend.

Rowena’s nose wrinkled, and she turned to look at him. “Why on earth would a drink smell of fish?!”

Finn looked back, with an almost wistful look in his eyes. “Because where I’m from, everything smells of fish. Plus, the drink helps keep you warm on cold waters.” Rowena blushed, burying her face into Finn’s shoulder as she mumbled an apology.

He didn’t respond, content to pull her in closer.

Theo looked around, wondering who had seen that public display, and ignoring the whispers inside his head that he had been much worse with Jenny. He could feel eyes on their group, observing them from a distance.

Right now he and Jenny were holding hands, but after having a taste of their own uncomfortably-charged medicine, there was a lot more restraint in their actions.

As he looked around, however, Theo spotted something different plastered on all sorts of surfaces on their way down.

He veered off their course, dragging Jenny along to see what exactly it was.

“What is that?” The others slowed, but none were curious enough to actually go up to see what it was.

A series of sketches were spread across any vertical surface. What they had in common were a pair of piercing eyes that Theo clearly recognised.

Across the top of each poster were the words “WANTED: Information on spies.”

At the bottom were places to go with information (the Colleges and the Guild of Magic, as well as the Guard), and a reward for ‘useful intelligence’.

The eyes looking at them took on a different meaning.

“Ah, I see the information posters have been distributed.” Theo turned away to look at Rowena, who had come up close to look at the posters. She looked at it in a different way than he did; she did not pay attention to the contents, instead looking at all the details and its presentation. There was a good chance she had seen it before it was put up here.

Theo pressed his guess. “You helped make these?”

Rowena nodded. “In a way.” And with a wan smile, she glided back over to Finn and continued their walk. Theo took one last glance at the posters, storing them with Tome of Memories as Jenny started walking back towards the group, tugging him along.

---

Theo did not need to study how Rowena acted to know just how out of place she was. She would make a lousy spy.

He suppressed the urge to laugh at her expression. She was looking upon everything with a tight smile, and a tighter grip on Finn. Her eyes looked between the rowdy drunks who were here at every hour, the sheer number of people crowded around and seated anywhere they could fit, and the (frankly deteriorating) state of the building itself.

Finn had less restraint, and earned a slap on the arm in response. It was, however a lot lighter than before they were dating.

“Welcome to my second home!” Theo roared, and a wave of sound came out of the inhabitants of this establishment, out of his people.

“Er, yes thank you Theo. This is a rather…charming place.” Theo could almost see the sweat beading on her forehead, as her mind (sharp enough to cause winter to come early) struggled to stay polite in unfamiliar conditions.

This specific condition being the condition of poverty, of course.

They managed to get seats, mostly because people gave their spot up to Theo while giving an excuse about wanting to stand and the condition of the wooden seats (which, in fairness, were the second hardest substance known to man after existence itself).

“Barkeep, can we- oh, thanks.” Before Finn could properly explain what he wanted to order, Alan had sent over a server with a full contingent of frothy mugs of beer.

He grabbed one, and drained it with the measured calm of an expert. He slammed down the now-empty mug on the table, wiped the foam head left around his mouth, and belched (to the cheers of the crowd).

Rowena haltingly patted him on the back, face stuck in the most anguished-yet-polite expression Theo had ever seen. It was a quiet, seething panic barely constrained.

“S’good!” He raised the mug and the crowd (and a crowd had indeed gathered) raised theirs back.

And with that out of the way, beers were consumed and shoulders started to relax.

Except for Rowena, whose entire body seemed to be stiffening more and more as everyone else loosened up.

Even the beer in front of her stayed untouched. “Are you gonna try that?” Finn asked.

“Of course.” She swallowed thickly, smile faltering as she closed her eyes and brought the mug to her lips. She took a deep breath, and almost audibly counted to three, before taking her first sip.

Her eyes widened in the most unlady-like expression Theo had ever seen grace her face. She choked slightly, rasping out a cough as specks of foam fell from her lips onto the dirt floor.

Finn of course found that hilarious, and cackled even as he helped clean up her face and brought her some water.

Others did as well, and a ring of laughter and gossip propagated through The Pub. Any who laughed a little too mean-spiritedly were quickly elbowed in the ribs. They turned to look at their friends, who were subtly gesturing with their heads to indicate that this person seemed to be close with Theo.

The laughter died down.

Rowena gathered her composure.

“That was lovely.” She lied through her teeth.