Annie picks up, again. "Salutations."

"Salutations. Again. Sorry, I know I'm calling a lot. The necklace was extracted just fine from the vase, your idea worked quite nicely."

"Oh, good, I helped."

"Yes! Actually that was part of why I was calling. I don't just want to throw the necklace at - literally anyone that wants it, because of the whole 'in love irrevocably' part. I realize that some people can do some excessively nasty things in the name of what they think's love, and - I want to be careful. You're smart, and you have a different perspective than me and know the problem. Want to help?"

"Uh - maybe. Have you already checked the people who were already necklaced because they've been cut and ruled them out as helpers?"

"Haven't, yet, I figured I should ask you first."

"Well, there's those, but if you need more people - if any of the necklaced people have already found the objects of their affections you could necklace them without it spiraling out of control, if they agreed - and if you need to involve completely new people I'd say find single ones and find out why they're single. And avoid respondents whose answer is of the form, like - 'people just don't like me' or whatever. 'Focusing on my career' is probably fine, breakup stories that don't vilify the ex are likely fine, I mean as a first pass - but not - you know what I mean?"

"Dangerous mental processes," he agrees. "We're on the same page, there."

"And you could get them to guess what they'd do with necklace-targets - and keepers, where applicable - just in case that turns up any red flags."

"Right. I think when dealing with trackers, I'd also like to talk to their keepers and figure out how they're already being treated and try to prevent any sort of - jealousy problems."

"Yeah, that sounds good. I can do some of the interviewing if there's a lot of people and you don't think it'd be a big deal to handle it over the phone."

"Mhm. Some people might also want to hear your side of things, so they know what the object of their affections might be getting into by accident. Fair warning."

"Yeah, that's reasonable, I can do that too."

"Okay, I'll send people your way if they're curious. Feel free to be brutally honest, I'm not going to ask them what you say and will actually be annoyed at them if they start talking to me about it."

"Will do."

"Thanks. Another problem I foresee is - couples that are afraid of mind reading and certain that they'll fall in love with each other. I'm not sure how to handle those, I - if I could give everyone immunity to mind reading I would, but I also think it would cause a great deal of heartache if their guesses were wrong."

"Well - the Dean thought it checked for compatibility. Are there any obvious counterexamples yet?"

"Mm. None yet, but I don't think the Dean had time to check for what level of compatibility was required. The compatibility levels to go on a few dates with someone without issue versus the compatibility levels required by the necklace might be very different."

"Well... tread carefully, I guess. And if one of the couple is willing to be squirreled away like Sintre just in case the necklace disagrees with them, necklace that one first as a test."

"Yeah. And - it might be possible that if they both are squirreled away together it just might not be an issue. They can not immediately break up over it, just - tweak their lifestyles. A lot."

"Yeah. It doesn't have any effects until you see your chosen person, so."

"Which is convenient. Do you suppose it's possible for some people to just - not have anyone that's compatible for them, ever? Zevaia hasn't had the - love thing yet. I'm holding out hope that she misses it entirely."

"Maybe. Maybe some people are just super picky."

"I did go through a crowded city with no problem until I met you," he observes. "So I don't think it's just casual compatibility."

"We seem to work pretty well."