"And inducting someone trustworthy into the practice is not a good idea?"

"It can be if you trust that they won't mess up as much as you trust their motives. It'd be seen as a power play, but all the really big problems are solved."

"Problem is I don't know anyone here that well, yet. Advantage is I don't have a reputation as a diabolist so people would be more willing to listen to me."

"Most people don't go recruiting anyway. If you're not desperate, it's a risk. Do you know how long you're here for?"

"I don't, I don't think the Behaims have a clue yet how they'll send me back."

"It sounds like it'd be hard. Maybe not impossible, but a project."

"Yeah, and will probably take time. But if I can make a positive impact while I'm stuck here then I'll do it. And we're back to what I was saying."

"Fair. I'd be glad to help out with translating things, maybe more, but you might want to not emphasize having talked to me if you bring in other people."

"But then I need a source for my hypotheses about diabolism. And for that matter I should double-check everything you've told me."

"Definitely. The fact that diabolists could in principle be a net good follows pretty logically from demons winning in the end; you could pretend to have come up with it independently if you have to. I don't think there's any way to verify that I am one of those, though."

"One of what?"

"The diabolists who set the demons back more than they help them."

"Yeah. You could just swear to it, according to your best estimation?"

"I definitely plan to be like that. So far, I'm not. Binding anything for the first time is a big deal, especially anything dangerous enough to matter much, and I am not that good yet."

"What kinds of diabolism have you done so far?"

"You'll forgive me for not giving details, I hope. I've summoned imps and sent them on errands for me, but so far only ones that earlier diabolists had dealt with. I've done some good, getting a mote or two to agree to the Seal of Solomon, but I stay away from proper demons while on my own."

"That's reasonable. I had been planning to talk to future-you and ask about this stuff but never got around to it before my little accident."

"She's probably a better source than me, for anything you don't need soon. At least I certainly hope she is."

"She probably is. She does have some notoriety; she and Crone Mara always sort of stood to the side and I had the distinct impression she was one of the only ones who saw through the pettiness of those small town squabbles."

"Somehow I never realized, to other people the Thorburns would be mentioned alongside Mara. Good for us, from a certain point of view, maybe.

Seeing through the pettiness has to be less impressive, now that you know it's because of what you told her."

"Do you not think you'd have seen through the pettiness regardless of me? You seem pretty sensible."

"Thank you. I say I would, but now you don't have to rely on my self-assessment for that."

"Yeah. Okay, so—er, how do people keep in contact in the forties?"

"In person, mostly. Letters, telegraph, telephone if we were in Jacob's Bell but I don't have one here."

"Darn. Well, I'll look into stuff and we'll talk again next meeting, I guess?"