[ It occurs to him to wonder suddenly if the issue isn't that she's worried about her safety, but rather that she wants to know how she would be talked about. ]
Well. I have already described you in the past, as I've already sent reports. I could read my notes, if you would like.
[ There's the sound of rustling - and some odder sounds alongside the rustling, of mechanical clicking and wooden scraping. One's mind might go into thinking of false bottoms being removed, traps being disarmed. Then a flutter of pages, and he speaks again - ]
Wysteria Poppell. This was submitted when I first arrived at Riftwatch, hence the use of your maiden name. Recently arrived. Of tender years and a kindly disposition. Shows no evidence of abilities that might be of political significance.
[ He pauses just a moment, then decides to move ahead: ]
Then, a later addendum, after you had shown me a recent project you were working on. Wysteria Poppell has shown an aptitude for the development of weaponry enhanced by magic. Her alignment remains firmly against Corypheus. Nevertheless, there is a reckless enthusiasm that may well warrant caution. Her ambition is considerable enough that it, combined with her talents, may prove dangerous or destabilizing.
[Throughout this recitation, pauses included, Wysteria is very quiet. For someone so prone to little noises of acknowledgement and interjection, this may be a particularly ominous sign for what is soon to follow particularly as Byerly reaches the very end of this addendum.
Indeed, when he's finished, she is quite quick with her reply—]
Well yes, all right. I knew all of that already. Really, Mister Rutyer you ought to be thankful no one has ever intercepted your communications. You would be identified immediately. You should consider a most complicated cipher if you haven't one already. I've been reading all about them and would be pleased to show you—well, no, I haven't the time now. But I highly recommend Bartlebrown's Dictionary of Codes, Sign Languages, and the Various Secret Keeping Arts, Etc.
[Honestly.]
What would you write them next? If I'd no input. You must tell me truthfully. This is not an invitation to tell me what you believe I wish to hear.
Certainly could have been worse. Perhaps Byerly is simply too accustomed to Wysteria assuming his bad intent, so that this little entente - and with it, a belief in his better intentions - is still confusing to him. ]
Madame -
[ He cannot help but protest. ]
If a cipher has been written down, it is already quite thoroughly useless.
[ Honestly!! Anyway - more to the point - ]
And what I would write them next is an addendum that I now know that you have a magical talent, unspecified. That is all.
I wouldn't tell them anything at all, for starters.
But if I were for some reason obligated to say something, I might write a note along the lines of 'Very minor magical talent, wholly unremarkable.' You cannot say 'Magical talent, unspecified'! The reader will imagine all sorts of dramatic things! And when it goes in combination with what you have already written and sent of me—that I'm highly clever and have a keen eye for design—
[Are those the words he'd used? Close enough.]
—then I will seem highly formidable indeed. I can't imagine your masters are in the business of letting formidable persons simply do as they please. Particularly not once the war has ended.
My good madame, I think you perhaps do not understand Ferelden's priorities. They do not concern themselves overmuch with questions of magic per se. They would be anxious about you if you were passionately allied with the Orlesian nationalist expansionist cause. But simply being formidable, without any additional motivation involved, is not enough to trigger their paranoia.
Yet here you are attempting to assure me of just that! That you are knowledgeable in the weight of these things. Why should I trust your assessment if you haven't practiced it?
[It doesn't sound particularly grateful; rather, it is exactly as prim and sniffing as Byerly's justification had been petty. Someone (not her!) might suggest the phrase 'two of a kind.' Presumably that someone would also find themselves being vigorously shouted down.]
Now we will both just have to make due with the truth. In any case, I suppose it will make little difference in the immediate future.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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I'm asking how you would describe me to whoever it is you would be required to describe me to. I want to know.
[Lawyers, schmoyers. He isn't answering the question.]
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Well. I have already described you in the past, as I've already sent reports. I could read my notes, if you would like.
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Very well. Read your notes to me.
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Of course. Give me a moment.
[ There's the sound of rustling - and some odder sounds alongside the rustling, of mechanical clicking and wooden scraping. One's mind might go into thinking of false bottoms being removed, traps being disarmed. Then a flutter of pages, and he speaks again - ]
Wysteria Poppell. This was submitted when I first arrived at Riftwatch, hence the use of your maiden name. Recently arrived. Of tender years and a kindly disposition. Shows no evidence of abilities that might be of political significance.
[ He pauses just a moment, then decides to move ahead: ]
Then, a later addendum, after you had shown me a recent project you were working on. Wysteria Poppell has shown an aptitude for the development of weaponry enhanced by magic. Her alignment remains firmly against Corypheus. Nevertheless, there is a reckless enthusiasm that may well warrant caution. Her ambition is considerable enough that it, combined with her talents, may prove dangerous or destabilizing.
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Indeed, when he's finished, she is quite quick with her reply—]
Well yes, all right. I knew all of that already. Really, Mister Rutyer you ought to be thankful no one has ever intercepted your communications. You would be identified immediately. You should consider a most complicated cipher if you haven't one already. I've been reading all about them and would be pleased to show you—well, no, I haven't the time now. But I highly recommend Bartlebrown's Dictionary of Codes, Sign Languages, and the Various Secret Keeping Arts, Etc.
[Honestly.]
What would you write them next? If I'd no input. You must tell me truthfully. This is not an invitation to tell me what you believe I wish to hear.
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Certainly could have been worse. Perhaps Byerly is simply too accustomed to Wysteria assuming his bad intent, so that this little entente - and with it, a belief in his better intentions - is still confusing to him. ]
Madame -
[ He cannot help but protest. ]
If a cipher has been written down, it is already quite thoroughly useless.
[ Honestly!! Anyway - more to the point - ]
And what I would write them next is an addendum that I now know that you have a magical talent, unspecified. That is all.
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'Magical talent, unspecified—! Mister Rutyer, never has a more suspicious and concerning series of words ever been arranged!
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But if I were for some reason obligated to say something, I might write a note along the lines of 'Very minor magical talent, wholly unremarkable.' You cannot say 'Magical talent, unspecified'! The reader will imagine all sorts of dramatic things! And when it goes in combination with what you have already written and sent of me—that I'm highly clever and have a keen eye for design—
[Are those the words he'd used? Close enough.]
—then I will seem highly formidable indeed. I can't imagine your masters are in the business of letting formidable persons simply do as they please. Particularly not once the war has ended.
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My good madame, I think you perhaps do not understand Ferelden's priorities. They do not concern themselves overmuch with questions of magic per se. They would be anxious about you if you were passionately allied with the Orlesian nationalist expansionist cause. But simply being formidable, without any additional motivation involved, is not enough to trigger their paranoia.
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[ He finds himself rather at a loss, unable to form a capable counterargument to this. ]
I have practiced it. It's - Look, it's - complicated.
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I trust the people I work for.
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[ Though he does briefly air the most churlish complaint of all: ]
I also didn't have to tell you, you know. I could have stayed silent about it.
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[It doesn't sound particularly grateful; rather, it is exactly as prim and sniffing as Byerly's justification had been petty. Someone (not her!) might suggest the phrase 'two of a kind.' Presumably that someone would also find themselves being vigorously shouted down.]
Now we will both just have to make due with the truth. In any case, I suppose it will make little difference in the immediate future.