[CRYSTAL]

[heirring]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Wysteria
RECIPIENT: Everyone
NOTES: Wysteria is going to be scampering off to Orzammar on official business sometime after mod plot. A catch-all log for misc monthly interactions/goodbyes is HERE.

Good afternoon, all. I'm soon for Orzammar and am in need of some assistance for the tidying of various loose ends before then, as I expect to be abroad for some time.

[She clears her throat. There's a sound of paper being squared. Apparently, she's made a list.]

As mediation officer, I request that any disputes or inquiries be filed to me by no later than month's end. This will ensure I have proper time to review and refer various resolutions or suggestions to either yourself or to your respective division heads.

I also have need of two to five volunteers unafraid of heavy labor in order to assist with the final renovations on Riftwatch's meeting hall in the city. [Is she talking about her haunted mansion, which she's generously lending while she's away? Who knows. But you're all incredibly welcome.]

Lastly, and somewhat of less official business, I'm in need of a referral for a reliable house and groundskeeper who may oversee some property while I'm abroad. I stress reliable, as it seems keeping hired staff is somewhat difficult to retain despite offering a perfectly respectable wage. If you know of any well mannered or dependable individuals in Kirkwall to recommend, I would be most grateful.

—And I suppose if there is anything you wish to have sent from Orzammar, you may make those requests as well.

Comments

private.

[cozen]

Would you like me to continue with the Hangman’s Papers while you are gone?

I would like to, but of course it is your enterprise.

private forever.

[heirring]

Yes, of course. It would seem highly suspicious if it were stop publishing while I was away. And I suppose I might send along certain notes for inclusion when I do my other dispatches.

[This last bit is more muttering to herself than it is a real statement—a note to self, as it were.]

In any case, I suspect I may be able to secure an advance from Valentine's solicitor to see the costs covered. So long as paper doesn't become more spare than it already is.

[cozen]

I will let you know if it becomes a problem.

[ It won't. Sometimes, when a man gets news about the war at the speed of sending crystal when everyone else gets theirs at the speed of raven or horse, a man's favorite merchants and manufacturers get warned days or weeks in advance of the need to stockpile and cut exclusive deals. Sometimes a man gets a steady price on set quantities out of the bargain.

But not quantity enough to tend to all of Riftwatch's needs on top of his own, so it's a secret. ]

And I will send you copies as they come of course. It will be a good excuse to bother you with a letter even if I have nothing very important to say.

[heirring]

Very good. I would very much like to keep informed on at least all the salacious gossip, so I'm not entirely out of step when I return.

And you will have to tell me how testing the airship goes. It's one thing to have Viktor's assessment and an entirely different matter to hear the opinion of a layman.

[cozen]

[ This feels more than anything else like the clearest sign he has been forgiven, and in turn he sounds a bit merrier, less businesslike. ]

I will describe every ripple of the sails for you. But you really should come back if you can, to see it, after all your work... I guess we'll have to see how things go.

What is it you are going to do in Orzammar, do you know?

[elegiaque]

( but we've just started getting on—

isn't even true. it's been a bit, actually. Gwenaëlle is still struck by quite how much she finds herself struck by this development. )

I know someone who knows people in Orzammar if anyone gives you any trouble.

[heirring]

How thoughtful! If you had a chance to ask this someone to write a letter of introduction or the like, I would be most appreciative.

[elegiaque]

I'll write him— Lord Luthor, in Markham. He trained in blacksmithing there.

( she casts about for something intelligent to say. failing that, )

You're going to write, though.

( it lilts very near a question. )

[heirring]

I would imagine so. I'm to be working as an agent abroad, so to speak, and so imagine I will have to send regular dispatches back. Surely they will be too heavy for a raven, so it cna do no harm to send extra letters with the packet.

And vice versa, of course.

[elegiaque]

Of course, ( more assured, ) although I don't know if the daily goings on of the Gallows will be as interesting as Orzammar.

( then again, )

Though with Alexandrie back, you never know.

( it feels a little like a trade she didn't realise she was making, which is irrational but lingers anyway. )

I'd be very interested in any particular curiosities. Lord Luthor made a jointed dragon once using his dwarven techniques—

[notathreat]

Do you, um. Want me to write you letters? About the bullshit that's obviously gonna keep happening around here?

[heirring]

Yes please. I would very much like to be kept informed of all the good gossip, thank you.

[But more importantly!:]

However, I have a more pressing favor to ask of you.

[notathreat]

Ah. Sure, yeah. What's that?

[heirring]

There is the matter of the rifle. I won't be able to oversee it's field testing directly, but I believe it is still valuable work. Indeed, I have ambitions while I'm abroad to determine whether the design can't be modified into more convenient dimensions.

You and Miss Anderson have, as we have discussed, some manner of expertise with such weapons. I will require written notes and so on of its performance, and I would like to entrust that to someone who knows some of the technicalities of the thing already.

[notathreat]

Shit. Yeah. I mean, absolutely.

I'll- get with Abby about it. Do you have any notes for like, basic repairs and maintenance or anything?

Backdated to before he got fucking poisoned by a demon

[overharrowed]

I trust you'll leave me a list of any outstanding disputes.

[The content is businesslike, but the tone isn't without warmth.]

Also, I'm sure someone closer to hand will reply, but if you haven't, you could consider writing Mssr. le Duc. He's kept a full staff in the house with Gwenaëlle's young cousins for some time, I believe. Though I fully grant you, the secret may be a more-than-respectable wage, considering.

[elegiaque]

Guilfoyle's facilitated a lot of that— he might have names.

[overharrowed]

Even simpler, presumably.

[Is it sort of funny that he 100% would presume to recommend writing to de Coucy but wouldn't have felt comfortable mentioning Guilfoyle unless Gwenaëlle offered? Not no.]

[elegiaque]

I'll mention it to him next he's running his little errands.

[heirring]

If, perhaps, the owners of those names were particularly unsuperstitious or very resolutely stubborn, it wouldn't be entirely amiss.

[For no reason in particular. Definitely not poltergeist reasons.]

—And naturally, Seneschal, I will make sure to file any relevant papers with you before my departure.

also backdated!!

[portalling]

( It takes Strange a while to circle back to this, taking some time to process the mental image of the Research workroom without the whirling dervish of Wysteria de Foncé present. But he does eventually clear his throat and chime in: )

I can’t help you with the heavy labour or housekeeping,

( well what use are you, doctor, )

but if you’re able to send back a dwarven-made pocketwatch— I’ve been dying to take a look at that craftsmanship I’ve heard so much about. I’d send you payment for it, obviously.

[heirring]

They're rather expensive.

[Does he have enough pocket money for dwarven luxuries?]

[portalling]

( Sigh. Sometimes he misses that neurosurgeon’s pay, used to spend it as fast as he could make it, but, )

I have a better salary as Head Healer. There’s not that much to spend money on in the Gallows, so I’ve been inadvertently saving up. I’ll be good for it, or— I’ll send you what I have, and a debt for the rest. Regardless.

( Talking money sucks. )

[heirring]

I am a very strict bookkeeper, Doctor.

[Just as a warning.]

But otherwise, yes of course.

[portalling]

Of course. Thank you very much, I appreciate it.

( And there’s a lingering pause of his own, halting, before: )

And so that it’s said, Madame— it’ll be a shame not having you around the workroom, but Orzammar shall simply have to have the best of us, for a while.

( Strange is very bad at this part, but he’s trying. )