'Don't. Even.'

Dimity squished down the llama joke hanging in the air. They were standing by Cackles alpaca and llama farm. The sign had a sense of humour, one animal each swathed in cardigans.

'It took a while to pose them for the photos' said Ada cheerfully. The alpaca was wearing the pink one.

'Llamas the bad tempered ones are they?' Asked Dimity as they spotted Agatha through the open door glowering at the phone, dressed in the same shade of brown as the llama's cardigan. Ada just smiled.

'Oh look! Isn't he cute?'

Dimity's date ran towards the nearest llama and cooed over it. Ada hadn't thought it was an odd request to double date at the farm. She seemed to take a lot in her stride, including Hecate's polite refusal to go back to the wine bar.

'Not conductive to conversation' she agreed. 'Of course Dimity and her date can join, she's great fun.'

Somewhere up ahead, a dog toy was squeaking insistently. Hecate looked around as Ada laughed.

'Either she's getting jealous of the attention someone else is getting or Dimity and her friend are a little boisterous.'

One alpaca was squeaking indignantly, pushing her way past the others to be patted.

'There are treats in the office, ask Agatha for some' hinted Ada and she and Hecate walked past the enraptured couple.

'So, Hecate, what is it that you do?'

Hecate detailed the life of a sixth form chemistry teacher. At the time of their five minutes, Ada had engaged her in conversation about the book she had seen in her bag,

'It's a small class. Only the most diligent scrape through. There is always one who just about manages it and tests my patience all year but generally they are of a high standard.'

'My mother was a teacher. Agatha and I were supposed to follow in her footsteps but we were left the family farm instead by our grandmother. It took a long time for us to learn how to work together but we got there in the end. I did go in for teacher training but after a couple of years in the profession I decided that I preferred the animals. There's great satisfaction in giving them a good life and no angry parents to deal with. I never did enjoy giving out detentions.'

Hecate smiled thinly.

'I'm sure that's not a problem for you' said Ada teasingly.

'If a detention makes them more diligent…'

Ada laughed, continued easing information out of the other woman as they made a cup of cocoa and went to greet the animals.

'I've been on a lot of speed dating evenings and it's fun but halfway through it can get a bit of a slog if the atmosphere leans toward lacklustre.'

'I'm not sure I can handle another of those so soon' said Hecate honestly.

'Agatha thrives on that sort of chaos but I can only stand it for so long. Five minutes is a long time when conversation stalls. Truly awkward when it came to the contortionist.'

'What contortionist?'

'The redhead who could wriggle her tongue into various shapes.'

Hecate stared at her in disbelief.

'Very useful had we got to a more intimate stage but this was the first and only five minutes and it was a bit forward for me in such a public place' said Ada teasingly. 'She and Agatha got on rather well, unsurprisingly.'

Hecate snorted.