“It won’t be shortly,” said Aurienne. “You’ve asked me to apply a hypothesis that doesn’t exist to cure a condition that can’t be cured. I’m going to spend hours sorting through archival material to piece together whatever I preserved of that project, and even more hours preparing some sort of treatment protocol based entirely on fairy stories. You’ll hear from me when you hear from me.” Mordaunt made no indication that he had been chastened. Instead, he gave Aurienne a bow, and said, “I await your deofol at your pleasure, then.”
