Music and loud conversation spilled through the opening door. Stepping into the room with the door, Kael was stunned for a second at the sheer number of people occupying the room. Feeling Martin’s hand on his shoulder, he looked back at his friend and saw the silent question. Shrugging, he stepped fully into the room, making space for his friend to enter. While Martin took the room in, Kael closed the door again, eyes looking around the room for Andrea.

From what he could see, over twenty people occupied the room. Thankfully the place was big enough so that all groups had at least some privacy thanks to distance. Couches, chairs, and tables were arranged in neat groups. The most impressive features of the room were the huge windows facing the front of the street, or rather their absence. Two massive openings made up most of the outer wall, giving access to a small balcony, looking out over the busy street. It was there, on the balcony area, that he noticed a young woman solitarily sipping an orange liquid out of a wine glass filled with ice. Tapping Martin on his shoulder, he began traversing through the room, half expecting someone to come up to them, asking what they were doing here. Thankfully, that did not happen.

Stepping through the huge open windows, they arrived at the little corner table his friend occupied unmolested. She, Andrea, seemed to be focused on something down on the street and had not noticed their arrival, furrowing her brows in stern consideration. Next to the table were two more chairs, hopefully, arranged for them. Kael was just about to speak out to her when Martin acted first. “Good evening. Andrea, I presume?” Kael did not need to see his friend to know about the giant smile that would surely be on his face right now. “Oh? Ah, Kael, and this must be your friend, Martin! Good evening to you too, sit down will you? We have much to talk about.” Sitting down, Kael knew he would be in for a rough night when he saw Andrea don her best Cheshire cat impression.

“HAHA! Really? He just ran away? Come on Kael, when a beautiful woman like Andrea invites you to spend the night in a hotel, you don’t say no.” Not gratifying the teasing of his two friends with an answer, Kael just wanted to be home right now. Even listening to one of Edward's rants about idiotic customers sounded like a fun time right about now. “Aww. Don’t make such a face Kael, this is your first friend aside from me, we are just having a little fun.” Kael fought hard to suppress the harsh answers that tried to spill out of him. Not trusting himself to speak, he simply put on a tired smile, nodding at her. Emotion and rationality continued to fight as his friends guided the conversation away from the topic. “Man, but I am really happy that I convinced my dad to let me come here. The music is amazing and the company is even better.” Martin said and took a drink from his cocktail after tipping it to Andrea.

“Why thank you! Did your father not want you to be out this late? Or was it because of where you were going?” - “No, no, neither of those reasons actually. The school I go to sent out a letter today. There was little detail, but two students have vanished over the summer holidays.” Kael noticed Andrea sitting up a little straighter out of the corner of his eyes. “Oh?! Is that unusual? I’m no expert of course, but things do happen after all.” Both Kael and Martin nodded at her statement. “Very true. However, the situation is a little more complicated than that. The Institute has… very powerful connections to both the government and the police. Aside from the kinds of families sending their children there, no expenses would be spared to find a missing student.” Martin was dancing around the whole magical aspect well, Kael thought. “From my experience, running away is also very difficult if someone is looking for you. I had many run-ins with the police when I first started. Granted, they might stay at a friend’s place, but once the call goes out?”

After a long silence, Andrea spoke again. This time, however, her voice was strained. “I don’t know how much Kael has told you about me, so don’t take this the wrong way. How intense do you think the search efforts will be?” - “Ah, well Kael did not say much, only that you worked in the area. As for your question… very extensive I would think. Both the current Major and the head of police were once students. There is also a certain loyalty involved that I can’t talk about. So yes, extremely intense, why?” She grimaced. “Haa damn. This is going to suck, isn’t it? Give me a second, yea?” Only a minute later, Kael and Martin were sitting alone on the balcony, Andrea gone, walking off somewhere with her phone in hand. “Do you know what is going on? She seemed spooked.”

Kael considered Martin’s question for a moment. There were certain things he knew about Andrea that were controversial, to say the least. He trusted his friend, but how much of it was his to tell? “No. I can make a guess, but… Haa. Well, you know how I told you that she was working here?” - “Yeah. That have something to do with it?” - “I think so. Well, when I said she worked here, I meant that quite literally. She works for the people that own this club.” He waited for a second to see if his words sparked a reaction from his friend. “Ok, and?” - “The organization controls quite a few of the stores on the street, and if something bad happens in the capital, this is the first place the police look.” - “So they fear for their income? But why? It’s not like they have to close right?” They were getting dangerously close to Andrea’s job, and Kael did not know how to skirt around the topic anymore.

Before he was forced to choose to either reveal something private about Andrea or lie to his best friend, Andrea returned. “He is trying really hard, thank you for that dear, to not say that I work for a semi-legal group.”