contact part deux

[bouchonne]

if this were modern times byerly would probably make you listen to total eclipse of the heart before you were able to leave a message

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[heirring]

[Look at them—full of concessions and agreements and truth today. This too without seeming to bat an eyelash.]

All right, you have it.

[bouchonne]

[ A puff of breath, audible between his lips. This is going to sound...bad. Maker, this could be absolutely disastrous. ]

I've sworn an oath of service to Ferelden, such that I must give to them certain pieces of information I've discovered. This is one of those pieces of information I'm honor-bound to tell them. [ Making excuses: ] But it will not be of any great interest to them; they have no great love for the Chantry, nor any mistrust of Rifters. It will be as nothing.

[heirring]

[Not all that long ago, this particular information may have been met with little more than disbelief. What does she care who does or doesn't know her association with the arcane arts? Far more ridiculous that Byerly Rutyer could be an informant.

But working in close association with certain suspicious parties eventually inspires caution in even the most incautious people. And she has been spending a great deal of time with Richard Dickerson, and much as she might pretend otherwise Wysteria knows a thing or two about the man she's speaking with at present.

So, cue the aural equivalent of squinting and the bristling of hackles. Like how a small terrier might show its teeth—]

You're lying to me. No one asks to be told things they don't think are important.

[bouchonne]

I have sworn to be honest with you.

[ His voice is even. He doesn't sound like he's lying - though with a confessed spy, who can tell? ]

And if I thought this information would put you in true danger, then - [ Well. ] I suppose I would be compelled to dishonor myself.

[heirring]

Wouldn't it? Put me in danger.

[bouchonne]

No.

[ A small shake of his head. ]

The Queen intends no malice towards magic-users. Truthfully, she intends nothing at all towards magic-users - there are far greater issues at stake than meddling with one person.

[heirring]

But isn't that precisely why it would put me in danger? Because I would just be thought of as any mage and treated so, despite the fact that I'm most certainly not one. Not in the sense that you would think of it, in any case. Everyone is always clanging on about how dreadful that would be.

[Technically, no one can even prove she's a Rifter anymore—]

[bouchonne]

Hardly. I'm not going to describe you as a mage. I'm merely going to mention that you're more...talented than was previously known.

[heirring]

[Squint.]

How exactly do you mean to describe me?

[bouchonne]

[ He hesitates, then asks: ]

Is there any sort of description you’d be comfortable with?

[heirring]

That's not the point. I want to know what you're imagining you'll tell— whoever it is you tell exactly. You don't speak with Queen Anora directly, do you?

[How do spies work. Surely there's some sort of complicated string of contacts like in the clever little books she sometimes reads.]

[bouchonne]

[ That's absurd enough that he gives a huff of something approaching laughter. Without amusement - this is a grim discussion - but. ]

Certainly not. I'd hardly be able to play a convincing scoundrel if the Queen herself were seen to keep my company.

But it is rather the point. I am asking if there is a version of this tale, which is true, which you would not mind finding its way to others' ears.

[ Has Wysteria worked with enough lawyers, in her real estate matters, to be able to imitate their twisty minds? Perhaps not. Especially not in a matter as weighty as this. ]

[heirring]

No, that's not the point. Not of what I'm asking. [Semantics, quite insistent.]

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.]

[bouchonne]

[ 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.

[heirring]

You've already— [is the sound of bristling surprise, the way a stubborn little creature might balk at finding itself in a headstall.]

Very well. Read your notes to me.

[bouchonne]

[ Is this a terrible idea? - Maybe. Well. ]

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.

[heirring]

[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.

[bouchonne]

[ Well, that -

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.

[heirring]

[Here though, her affront is right on cue:]

'Magical talent, unspecified—! Mister Rutyer, never has a more suspicious and concerning series of words ever been arranged!

[bouchonne]

Well, you have not specified it.

[heirring]

And for that reason, you would choose to be so needlessly ominous? Really, Mister Rutyer! Must I do everything myself!

[bouchonne]

Well, then, how would you do it?

[heirring]

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.

[bouchonne]

[ A light protest - ]

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.

[heirring]

Then why bother to report on it at all? The magic, or indeed any facet of my person whatsoever?