<strong>Point Respite Magna Sophia chapter house common room</strong><br/><br/><strong>Earlier, with Reliyian</strong><br/><br/>The human woman held out her hands in an apologetic, warding gesture. "Peace," she said. "If you don't enjoy my company, I won't smother you with it." She shook her head and stood again, moving a few chairs away before sitting back down. After giving the elf a final, sympathetic look, she turned away, doing her best to respect Reliyian's wish to be left alone. True to her stated goal, however, she didn't leave. The doors weren't going to watch themselves, after all.<br/><br/><strong>Later, with the gathering crowd</strong><br/><br/>Aeryn's response to her apology both surprised and delighted the self-proclaimed administrator, and she beamed at the other woman for a moment before mustering a reply. "Your reputation precedes you, Doctor. I'm sure they pinch you much more cruelly. I've never had much of a taste for the great outdoors. But nobody has a dual affinity for paperwork and herding rabid felines. Well, that I know of." She shrugged and followed Aeryn's prompting to return to her seat.<br/><br/>Catherine's smile faltered a bit at the subsequent question, however. "If I had an eighth for every time someone asked me a question about this island's history, I'd buy my way out of this damn place. Well, if return trips to the mainland weren't as much of a death trap as remaining here is to anyone with a smidgeon of common sense. I shouldn't …" She sighed, rubbed her face and trailed off.<br/><br/>"Ramble on without explaining myself. That's what I shouldn't do," she finished, eventually. "My archeological expertise is primarily dwarven and early Girissi. I've been able to offer some insight about recovered artifacts, but I am not a historian of this place. In a general sense, they do not exist. I can tell you the general platitudes, of course." She waved her hand vaguely. "The Vuali had a significant influence on the mainland. Significantly more so than their eastern Ikaran counterparts. They vanished over two centuries ago, leaving behind surprisingly little evidence of their civilizations in mainland ruins. Blah blah blah."<br/><br/>"I<em>can</em>tell you that full settlement and conquest of the island will likely have drastic consequences for the world as we know it. I understand that new arrivals are told some preposterously high quantity of crowns as the value of the salvage gathered thus far. It is a criminal underestimate. The golem cortex recovered, for instance, compares favorably to modern designs after being split in half and spending the last two and a half centuries at the bottom of a swamp. The alloy we found in the lagoon makes dwarven steel look like rotten tree bark. I didn't have any more exotic metals to run a comparison with, but it just … it doesn't bend or break or corrode under any force I've found." She shook her head slowly. "I don't know what could have ended a civilization with this level of artifice, and I don't want to know."<br/><br/>She frowned glumly at Aeryn for a moment, then glanced at the doctor's guests for a moment, as though weighing the next words to use. Ultimately, she simply shrugged off her concerns. If Aeryn didn't trust them, she shouldn't have invited them in. "I apologize for my dramatics, but Doctors Ishimi and Kalia were on the docks during the incident a few days ago. The abbess isn't about, and we're not yet certain of their recovery. I came here to study the ruins and keep the my Sisters' gear in good condition. Not to get my arm bitten off while eating lunch in what should be the safest place on this island."<br/><br/>Throughout this entire monologue, Doctor Seabreeze hadn't touched any of the food before her. If anything, she seemed too concerned to eat, at the moment.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">The Good Doctor's Game Face</div><div class="spoiler_body">She doesn't really have one. Feel free to roll empathy or rapport or somesuch if you want to fish more out of her, but she's just relieved to have someone to tell about what's happened.</div></div>