"A wizard." Sodding paragons, it figures he'd get dropped back into this place and find himself face to face with a mage again. (Not a mage, he ought to caution himself--and magic doesn't go hand in hand with the risk of possession by demons here. Still, the fear lingers.)

"Well," he makes himself go on, latching onto the part of the conversation least likely to result in awkward silence, "it's good to have work like that waiting for you, whenever you get back from here." Good to have something to go back to at all.