"Thank you. But If you mean the part with actually opposing the demons, you probably shouldn't. Not that I'm opposed to having more allies; it's just that it involves diabolism. Convincing people that some diabolists are a net positive and they shouldn't object would help a lot, but keep in mind I thought outcompeting two families for Jacob's Bell was the easier way to get that kind of leeway."

"What counts as diabolism?"

"If you have to ask, the answer is probably.

It's defined by interacting with demons, or their imps or motes. Dealmaking and summoning are the problematic parts; technically protecting against them is also diabolism but by itself that wouldn't get you more than suspicion."

"And sealing them would count, I presume?"

"Yes, definitely. An agreement of any kind with a demon earns you the karma, and of course that's the metric people in general judge by.

It's also just dangerous. You can't afford mistakes when protecting yourself against them; that's part of why a world without diabolists would be so doomed."

"So why aren't people trying harder to fix the problem?" she asks plaintively.

"Some combination of it being unsolvable, it being far off, and it involving demons. For most people it's not their problem."

"Ugh, people."

"People. Or even just practitioners. Neither of our plans would fix this, but at least we can route around them."

She sighs. "I feel like making a new plot that will make people care more about this."

Shrug. "Let me know if you do. They settled on this default because it's what the spirits agree with; it's probably not impossible to change their minds but acting on any disagreement could cost them. Us."

"But the spirits agree with this in the first place because of them, no?"

"With someone somewhere along the line. Before Solomon or so, any interaction with demons would have been every bit that bad. From there, no one wants to drop it first."

She sighs. "This magic system is stupid, I want a refund."

"If you find anyone who's in charge of it, let me know. I might want to yell at them."

She smiles. "So, why'd you come here to Montreal?"

"Completely mundane reasons, believe it or not. School. Jacob's Bell doesn't really have anywhere to learn old languages, and that was a priority."

"Because of diabolism books or?"

"Kind of. More like Others in general; books might exist in translation."

"Oh, Others that speak old languages? Huh. What kinds of languages? Latin, Greek...?"

"There are a lot of texts in those. Sometimes there are Others that speak that or ancient Hebrew or something; there are really too many relevant languages for one person to learn."

"That makes it sound—more than it already did—that this should be a group endeavour."

"Aren't you about to disappear for sixty years?"

"I mean more people than you and me."

"Ah. You're probably right, but working with a diabolist can be hazardous to your health. Bad luck isn't usually well-targeted. If you find people who want to share languages with you, go for it."