"We do need to eat and sleep, yes," she says. And then adds "for now," because that sounds appropriately mysterious.

She briefly converses with Concordia.

"And no, we don't have a place to stay. We were going to handle that today," she continues. "Since we arrived so late yesterday. But it sounds like you might have a place in mind?"

"Not a specific place, but I can help you out." She takes a wallet from her pants pocket and hands Emily a wad of cash: Four green $20 bills, three purple $10 bills, four blue $5 bills. Being Canadian, rather than American, they're made of flexible polymer rather than cotton. "Should be enough for a few days' expenses, or one night in a motel. A computer in a library should tell you where to find one." She takes out her phone to send a text message.

"Thank you," she says, accepting the bills. "That's generous of you."

She splits the bills with Concordia, briefly explaining their relative values.

"We should probably use it on cleaning up, if we need to impress a prince," she suggests to her. "But we can figure that out later."

Concordia doesn't look away from their interlocutors, because she has not decided that this is a romance story, and therefore unlikely to erupt in (unforeshadowed, unproductive) violence.

"Yeah, later."

Florence's phone buzzes. "The Prince is busy right now. You're to go to the main entrance of Casa Loma at sundown tomorrow. You'll present yourselves then." She puts her phone away. "The Tremere primogen has already agreed to support you, so you're not in much danger of being rejected unless you do something stupid, like lie to the Prince or insult someone."

"Good luck." Florence turns away.

Florence is leaving, but the man in the tattered suit comes up to Emily. "She said not to lie, and she's right. But people here don't know much about magic. Say the name of your teacher or whatever as though it's impressive, and they'll assume it is." His posture shifts, becomes more threatening. "And whatever else you do, do not forget the Masquerade. This is the era of smart-phone cameras, the secret can spread fast. You reveal us to anyone, accidentally or on purpose, and we will stop being friendly so quickly your head will spin, then come off. Understand?"