diplomacy, gird your loins.

[bouchonne]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Byerly and Eshal.
RECIPIENT: All y'all
NOTES: Blue is Byerly, red is Eshal.

Bonsoir, Riftwatch. I have some dreadful news for you all.

[ Byerly’s voice sounds a bit dry. And characteristically dramatic. ]

My dear comrade and equal, would you like to tell them?

It's not dreadful, get over yourself. Anyway, Diplomacy has two heads, because we're better than the lot of them. Right?

Oh, yes. It’s widely acknowledged as a show of faith to appoint two people to do the job normally done by one. A task given only to truly quality prospects.

Exactly.

[ A sigh. ]

My esteemed self and this esteemed lady have been appointed joint heads of Diplomacy. She, being a decent and righteous soul, has volunteered to hear any and all complaints that might be made about this decision.

Yep. Love to meet the rest of you, honestly. Come by the head office, any time. I'll supply the whiskey.

[ Byerly lifts an eyebrow at her; he’d expected a protest to him volunteering her for that thankless duty. But, well, if she’s willing to be the goat here, let her be the goat. A shrug. That’s it. Meet your new overseers. ]

Comments

[justashotaway]

[She blinks.]

The Deep Roads?

[bouchonne]

[ ??? ]

Yes. Where lyrium comes from? Where the dwarves live?

[justashotaway]

[Oh.

She may need more wine to get through this conversation adequately. It is a useful prop.]

No. I have not been to the Deep Roads.

[bouchonne]

[ Well, it seems like blunt questions without any quips or asides are getting him further. So. ]

So where did the lyrium come from?

[justashotaway]

[Laura shrugs, grateful that it is a question she genuinely cannot answer. Lying is not difficult, but lying to people who might find out the truth is an order of magnitude more difficult. And before it ended up on her knuckles, she has no idea where the lyrium was.]

[bouchonne]

[ He suppresses the urge to sigh, guessing where her obstructionism on this question comes from. ]

How did you get this lyrium that lets you do this.

[justashotaway]

[This feels more and more like an interrogation. Laura dislikes it intensely, the sensation that she must explain herself or risk her position within Riftwatch. But given the choice, she would rather be a part of Riftwatch. She is paid and protected for her work. This is part of the work, now; she has done worse.

She swallows, setting her wineglass on a side table.]

In here.

[With one hand, she points to the other.]

[bouchonne]

[ He wouldn't be interrogating if she weren't cooperating so well with interrogation. ]

How, my dear girl. Not where. How did it become placed within you.

[justashotaway]

[Saying no to authority is a lesson that will take more than a glass of wine to learn. She's picked it up only in fits and starts so far, in moments more dire than this.

Still, she makes a face, stalling.]

With knives.

[bouchonne]

Go on.

[justashotaway]

[She does not want to. She does not want to, and she does not think she can say so. And moreover, she does not know what it is he wants out of this, whether he is looking for a name or a place or a time or the details of what she was told as the straps were tightened on her. It does not occur to her to ask for clarification. So she waits, silent, watching him.]

[bouchonne]

[ And Byerly - he decides to experiment with silence of his own. Waiting, staring. ]

[justashotaway]

[Silence, she is comfortable with--far more so than with talking. She is willing to wait.]

[bouchonne]

[ Experiment failed. So. ]

Did you give yourself the lyrium?

[justashotaway]

[Her expression darkens.]

No.

[bouchonne]

[ A sip. ]

So who did?

[justashotaway]

[She has to force an answer out, any answer--any answer but the one Byerly has asked for. As soon as Riftwatch knows that, they will know everything about her, and she will have to leave.

There is no longer a choice in the matter.]

It does not matter.

[bouchonne]

It does matter.

[ He's not smiling now. ]

[justashotaway]

[She shakes her head sharply. It does not.]

[bouchonne]

Why do you say that it doesn't.

[justashotaway]

[She swallows, trying to find a response that has words, not just overwhelming feelings she's never learned to name.]

Because...because it is over.

[bouchonne]

[ If it were over, she wouldn't be so pale. She wouldn't struggle so much to find her words. ]

Were you taught about justice, in your tutelage? [ If they didn't bother to teach her about the Deep Roads, it seems unlikely they'd teach her about this. ]

[justashotaway]

[Laura shrugs. Her knowledge of justice is a self-taught thing, the knowledge that stopping people is better than seeing them do to others what they did to you. Beyond that: Thieves are punished. Murderers are punished. She would do well not to leave herself open to such retribution.]

[bouchonne]

Justice is the saddest thing in the world. It's the principle that you need to do something even after things are over, just to try to make sure they don't happen again. It's weak and unsatisfying, but it's all we have, a-times.

[ He lifts his wine in a mock-toast. ]

What they've done might be over, but I'd still say it deserves a bit of justice, eh?

[justashotaway]

[This seems like it is also meant to be humorous, but nothing in it sounds remotely amusing. It is, fortunately, something she knows how to answer.]

It will not happen again.