He's not going to be upset at her being busy, given that he's the cause of the busy-ness.

"May I speak to you in confidence?" He would ask about her being Lawful and whatnot, but Echo has told him that she is to be trusted, and so he will trust him.

"It concerns the recent echoic phenomena in the valley."

The presumed Dr. Bishop's expression quickly changes from parental to serious as she nods, opening the door wider. "Please come inside my office."

Visible through the door, her office is dimmer than the hallway, though not dark, primarily lit some of sort of heatless lamp, situated on one corner of Dr. Bishop's desk, alongside some drafting supplies and a fist-sized stone cylinder whose curved side is covered in intricate and fine inscriptions. There's a well-upholstered armchair fit for the desk, as well as a mess of books and loose papers on the floor next to the desk that Conrad can guess was made just now. The wall opposite the door has a window looking out over the night-cast darkness of the valley, a handful of points of light visible through the mostly leafless trees, and a second chair sits before the window. Both of the remaining walls are occupied by shelves, one set full of books and the other a mixture of books, loose pages, and additional office supplies.

He comes in, but refrains from sitting, unless Bishop offers.

"Lord Echo bid me to come see you, Dr. Bishop. They say you are trustworthy." He keeps his hands behind his back, as if standing before his battalion commander. A part of his mind thinks about the window: he might need to jump out of it to make an escape. But Echo hasn't led him astray thus far, and again, it's very unwise to doubt the entity that just revived you. He's Wise, but not that wise, so he has to manually push away these thoughts.

As he enters, Dr Bishop quietly closes the door behind him, before stepping back to her desk and turning the stone cylinder upside down, causing it to briefly emit a quiet hum.

"Lord--?" She seems confused for an instant, then fascinated, though she quickly regains her composure. "So, you're the Recognizant the anemometry array picked up, and one who has some strange ideas about the winds, or at least about the echoic wind. You've been communing with it, and it directed you to me, specifically?"

He looks intently at the stone cylinder, then looks back at Bishop.

Conrad similarly loses his composure, looking abashed, before wiping the emotion on his face.

"Yes. I don't know what you mean by strange. I think...I believe that Lord Echo brought me here from another world. Specifically, I believe that this world is outside of Pharasma's Creation. Are any of these names familiar to you? Rovagug, Sarenrae, Iomedae, Asmodeus, Pharasma, Abadar? 

Yes, I have been communing with Them, and was...concerned for my safety. They said that I could trust you."

He's a little put off at the fact that Bishop refers to Echo as an 'it', but it tracks with the fact that they don't consider Them to be a god. Weirdly. Perhaps they have different conceptions of gods? Well, the Golarion concept of 'god' wouldn't track at all in a world outside Pharasma's Creation, now, would it? But he expected people to be more...deferent? To powerful entities? It seems like the sort of thing you would do. Even paladins of Iomedae speak respectfully of Her, even though She doesn't demand obeisance from Her followers.

Conrad can all but literally see the gears of Dr. Bishop's mind wheel and spin as she processes what he's said. "None of those sound familiar at all, no., and, I believe your special circumstances may explain some anomalies with the anemometry as well." She looks over Conrad again, noting his rigid posture and perhaps a hint of weariness from his trek to the facility. "Please, feel free to take a seat if you're tired. I can only imagine that it's been at least as long a day for you as it has been for me."

She offers as she begins to pick up the spilled books and papers, setting them on her desk and sorting through them for a moment before picking out one particular page. "Yes. We haven't picked up any Recognitions this close to the facility before, there were a number of differences between the measurements taken earlier today and extrapolations based on more distant measurements and measurements taken from other facilities. Most of the others chalked it up to some previously undetected property of the Swarthwalls' resonance, but I was in the process of comparing it to some records of non-Recognition echoic phenomena."

She plucks another page from the pile, and then another. "I'm going to look through these now, but I get the feeling that I know what the numbers are going to say, if your story has any truth to it. In the mean time, if you're comfortable, can you tell me what's happened so far? After you, ah, appeared here? And before then, in this other world of yours, if you're willing to share."

He sits wordlessly. He could have stood for longer, but he's not going to refuse the offer. He's willing to give the whole story, but he'll...omit a few details that pertain to his capabilities, in case he needs to make a hasty escape after all. He's also very curious about the process by which echoic phenomena is detected, but he'll hold off on asking questions.

"Normally, I would be much more reticent in sharing details about myself, but you were specifically called to be the one I ought to talk to." He looks up at the ceiling as he begins to retell his story.

"I was a soldier in Her Majesty Abrogail Thrune II's Tenth Battalion, in the fifth crusade against the Worldwound. The Worldwound is a planar tear from which Abyssal demons pour forth to threaten our world, Golarion. The country I am from is called Cheliax, and Cheliax worships Asmodeus, the god of tyranny, slavery, compacts, and pride. During my service, I developed...theological issues with Asmodeus, which is to say that I became a heretic, and defected to try and find refuge in some other church also at the Worldwound. I was killed by Chelish Security in the process of defection. With fire," he adds, in case that's relevant.

"I woke up in a forest, healed of all wounds, when Lord Echo began to speak to me. They gave me facility in your world's language, and told me a bunch of other information as well. Oh, and orders to 'be free', and to 'speak and listen'. I'm not sure how to interpret that.

They spoke...really weirdly. I'm not sure if that's heretical to say. I can recite their exact words to me, although they also communicated things to me that was information, but not in the form of speech. I cannot recite that for you.

A man – I'm not sure who he is, though he seemed to be...in charge of the forests? – saw me and gave me directions to nearby sites, and I decided to go here."

He feels tired. Not physically – his Constitution is high and the metabolic road made it so he expended less energy than he had to – but...spiritually tired. Perhaps all that one can hope for is to have a kind and understanding master. What's the afterlife situation here, if Pharasma's jurisdiction doesn't extend here? What's Echo's afterlife like?

Dr. Bishop listens to Conrad's story as she collates the data. She remains serious, but there's an unmistakable sadness or pain that rises within her, though also a kind of happiness. "I'm glad that you were able to reject your god. If I may be honest, they sound awful. And, I'm glad that, ah, Lord Echo as you call them, brought you here. I assume you don't have the winds in the world you came from? This is only a hypothesis for now, but, I imagine that the echoic wind's appearance to you has been shaped by your history. It is the wind which most strongly reacts to human experiences and concepts, and seems to naturally assemble them in a way, to construct a sort of familiar form through which it interfaces with its Recognizants. Strange speech-rhythm, repeated speech, reversed speech, and similar interpretations are all common elements reported by other echoic Recognizants. The charge to 'be free' and to 'speak and listen'..."

She sighs. "They aren't something I have any specific records of but, informally, they certainly sound like things the echoic wind would say. As for the man you met, I imagine that's one of the forest rangers. Swarthwalls has a considerable tourism industry and it's not uncommon for people to get lost in the woods when they go hiking or camping, so there's a ranger patrol to catch them and help them back to civilization."

Echo's presence remains distant, but seems to respond to Conrad's uncertainty. It's wordless, and fuzzier somehow than the previous instances of received understanding, there's still a strong sense of there being...more, after life. More life to live, and more than life, more than living, or living more than just life. It's not a very clear idea, but it stands apart from Conrad's ideas of afterlives as they existed in Pharasma's Creation.

He's going to also elide that he was a very devout Asmodean, and that he thought he was worthy of clerichood.

The forest ranger thing sounds very Good. Right, they...probably don't have the concept, do they? What with not having Pharasma.

"I call Them Lord Echo because it is wise to speak respectfully of powerful entities, and also because They are a god. At the very least, They share many abilities with Them. Namely: ability to send visions – not necessarily visual – to their followers, and the ability to choose specific people aligned with their goals and interests and grant them the ability to cast divine magic. During my Recognition – I had interpreted it at the time as a clericing – Lord Echo specifically invoked an analogy between being Recognized and being selected as a cleric by a god.

It has been my understanding so far that you do not worship – both in the sense of defer to and venerate, and also align one's goals and philosophies towards – the echoic wind, though I'm not sure about the other three. Lord Echo said that there were four. Why is the echoic wind called the echoic wind, by the way? I did not feel any wind during my recognition. 

Anyway, it seems that you treat Lord Echo impersonally, even though They are sapient? You, and the man I met, refer to Them with 'it'. We would not use such language to refer to deific entities in our world. But it seems that there are people who worship the Recognizants of the winds – the ranger said that there was a shrine to the Mother-Maker nearby, and offered me directions to it, but laughed when I asked whether there was a shrine to Lord Echo."

Dr. Bishop nods along as Conrad explains. "Calling them winds is I admit not entirely sensical, but it's simply how the language has developed. There have been many proposals to implement more accurate terms in the scientific community but none of them have found much real purchase among the laity. The original association of them with the cardinal winds is traditionally attributed to the Wind-Waker, but it's unclear if that is truly the case, if the Wind-Waker even actually existed, which archeology has yet to substantially evidence. I believe the metaphor is something like, they drive the world and everything in it, the way that the wind determines the fate of a fallen leaf, or something like that."

She pauses for a moment, having finished collecting the relevant papers, sitting down in the chair at her desk and beginning to review the papers in detail. "It's not actually unheard of for people to venerate the echoic wind specifically, especially its Recognizants and their followers, and such groups tend to have something of a poor reputation, which may have been what prompted the ranger's amusement. Regardless, aside from their testimony there isn't any tangible evidence that the echoic wind is any more personal a force than the poetic, metabolic, and chorismic winds. I'll refer to the wind with 'they' if the alternative bothers or worries you, though. I haven't heard of anyone worshiping Recognizants as a whole, but it's true that the most prolific religions of this age happen to pivot on central figures who are at least widely believed to have been powerful Recognizants. The Mother-Maker is one, as is the Wind-Waker, and there two others as well,the Road-Builder and the Storm-Slayer. The four of them are sometimes taken together as a sort of set, and among quadrivists it's not uncommon to associate each with one of the winds as well, which I suppose might be as close as one gets to wind-worship in the mainstream."

"Could you elaborate on the people who venerate the echoic wind? Also, it's not particularly a problem for me if the echoic wind is impersonal – deities in my world very rarely give visions, and many of them are also inhuman – that is to say, they were never human, and so have some trouble relating to he human experience.

It's not important to me that you refer to Lord Echo respectfully, unless They bid me to ask you to. Which They haven't. 

Could you describe the other powerful Recognizants? What did they do that gave them their titles?"

He sinks deeper into his chair. Maybe he was more tired than he thought.

"There are all sorts of them, oddly enough they don't tend to congregate into larger groups most of the time. They also don't tend to be very fond of echoic anemonomasticists like us-- like those of us who work here at the Swarthwalls facility. Trying to interview them about the echoic is a bit like trying to interview a wakerist about the Wind-Waker. Very low signal to noise ratio, if you're familiar with the metaphor. I know of a small group in town, I could introduce you to them tomorrow or some time next week if you like. I'm sure they'd be ecstatic to meet you."

Dr. Bishop picks up a pen and notebook and begins to scratch down some notes as she flips between the various pages she's collected. "The Road-Builder and Storm-Slayer are best attested to, with clear historical records of most of their deeds. The Road-Builder, well, built the network of metabolic roads that still serve as the primary arteries of land travel for the entire continent, You might have encountered one of them on your way here from wherever the echoic first placed you. The Storm-Slayer exterminated, or more likely lead and organized the extermination of, the dragons."

She considers that for a moment. "I don't know if you have dragons in your world, you haven't mentioned them. They're a sort of living weather-system formed by anemonic activity. Incredibly powerful, incredibly destructive things, like if a hurricane could hate you personally, or so the legends say. A part of me wishes I could have studied them, but mostly I'm glad they are gone. Regardless, that's the Storm-Slayer. The Mother-Maker and the Wind-Waker are both much older and much more mythical figures, with countless different stories associated with them across many cultures. The Mother-Maker is commonly associated with the invention of agriculture and writing and the other trappings of civilization, while the Wind-Waker is usually thought to have 'awoken' the winds, or founded the relationship humanity has with the winds in one way or another."

Noticing more of Conrad's tiredness, Dr. Bishop asks. "Can I get you anything? Some food, or maybe a coffee?"

"Why aren't they fond of you? I don't know the metaphor, but I think I get what you mean – it's difficult to get useful information from them. Regardless, I think meeting them would be good. Tomorrow is a good time, unless there's something else that's more urgent.

Yes, I traveled along a metabolic road to get here. It was very pleasant. I've never felt anything like it before. I assume the Road-Builder was a Recognizant of the metabolic wind; what about the Storm-Slayer and the Mother-Maker? And the Wind-Waker. Or is it that you can be a Recognizant of multiple winds at once? In our world, you can only be a cleric of one god at any one time.

We have dragons, in the sense that we have entities called 'dragons', but they are nothing like what you describe: they have nothing to do with the weather. They are very large reptiles, vaguely like lizards, who have powerful breath abilities: the ability to breathe fire or spit acid."

He yawns.

"Food would be good, yes. I don't usually drink coffee. Is it possible for me to stay here?

Also, what is an 'invocation'? The guard I met at the front talked to me about it. Apparently it's important, or something, and determines a Recognizant's status."

"I'm not a psychologist, and I'm not entirely fond of them either so I may be biased, but I figure they don't like us taking an empirical, evidence-based approach things, rather than trusting the echoic 'at its word', so to speak. And, yes, people can be Recognized by more than one wind, though it's quite rare since the winds are attracted to broadly different sorts of people. The Road-Builder is confirmed to have been Recognized by the metabolic and there's reason to believe he was recognized by the poetic as well, though it's not certain. There's no solid confirmation of which winds Recognized the Storm-Slayer, but there's fairly strong evidence of at least one of the chorismic and the echoic, or possibly the metabolic. Claims for the Mother-Maker and Wind-Waker cover the entire gamut, and wakerists in particular are fond of claiming that the Wind-Waker was Recognized by all four. The most common quadrivist associations for the four are poetic to the Mother-Maker, metabolic to the Road-Builder, chorismic to the Storm-Slayer, and echoic to the Wind-Waker, but that's as much based on aesthetic sensibility and philosophical pondering as it is on historicity."

Dr. Bishop stands from her desk, putting down her pen and notebook and tidying up the papers on her desk a bit. "Yes, you can stay for the night at least, and invocations are a bit difficult to explain, so I'll give you more details when I'm back with the food, but they basic idea is that they are a consequence of the special relationship a Recognizant has with their wind. The winds react fairly predictably to certain sounds, movements, and shapes, which forms the basis of anemonic ritual and inscription, but Recognizants are able to change the way the winds behave, which is generally though not always characterized by a personal phrase or sign they make by meditating on and interfacing with their wind, that they can speak or form to produce anemonic phenomena of much greater complexity and magnitude than a ritual or inscription with a similar amount of investment would be able to, and maybe more importantly, alters and expands the sort of, landscape of potential rituals and inscriptions around it."

She turns toward the door. "Anyway, do you have any food allergies or dietary restrictions I should be aware of? With my privacy indicator on no one should knock, but in case someone is rude and does anyway, you can just say that I'm out of the office and will be back in a few minutes."

"No allergies or dietary restrictions."

He's going to wait for Bishop to return before asking his questions. It does seem as though the winds are also a system of magic, as well as a pantheon, in that specific negotiations with the winds let you effect magic. What sign or phrase does he have that evokes Echo? He thinks on his previous interactions with Echo. Is his specific invocation dying and getting resurrected? 

Once Bishop comes back, he plans to ask the following:

"What sorts of people is each wind attracted to? What are the differences between the four winds?

About how many people in a hundred are Recognizants? Are there statistics on that?

Are there differences in strength between Recognizants, or are they on the same footing?

What are rituals and inscriptions?"

He doesn't have any other questions about the winds for now.

Dr. Bishop is indeed only gone for a few minutes, and thankfully no one knocks during her absence. It does start gently raining outside, gently pattering against the windowpane.

When she returns, she's carrying two paper-wrapped baguette sandwiches, warm to the touch when she hands one to Conrad. "I hope it's to your liking, The canteen has limited selection during night hours."

She sits back down at the desk chair, opening up her sandwich. She's either taking a break from the note-taking and computing she was doing on paper or is satisfied with her work, as her attention is entirely on Conrad as he asks his questions.

"Informally, the echoic tends to be attracted to people in the midst of transition or change, the poetic to those with creativity and ambition, the metabolic to those who are isolated or who don't conform to the people around them, and the chorismic to those who are contemplative and intellectual. That's the common sense anyway, all of that's rather hard to define with any rigor, let alone test. We don't know exactly how many Recognizants there are, but estimates put them at about two million worldwide, or about one in every five hundred, though more than half of that estimate is a theoretical projection of the prevalence of invocationless, unidentified Recognizants. Actually confirmed cases of Recognition are more like one in every twelve or thirteen hundred. Between the winds, among recognized cases, about 33% are Recognized by the echoic, 29% by the metabolic, 21% by the poetic, and 17% by the chorismic, and significantly less than a percent are recognized by two."

"The exact natures of the winds are pretty nebulous, though naturally we're working hard to clarify it, here and in all the other anemonomastic facilities around the world. Traditionally, though, the poetic wind is thought of as being the power of creation, or bringing new things into the world, the metabolic as the power of changing what already exists, the chorismic as the power of destruction and rejection, and the echoic as the power of connection and communication."

"It's difficult to get any exact measure of 'strength', it's a very slippery concept, but there's certainly a lot of variation in the scale of what different Recognizant's invocations can seemingly do. One of my colleagues is working on measuring the degree of 'alignment' between a Recognizant and their wind, which he believes serves as at least an upper limit on the amount of anemonic force their invocation can draw on. The common sense on this is that Recognizants tend to get stronger over their life, with all sorts of potential explanations, though this isn't supported by the statistics and I think it's more shaped by people's interpretation of various celebrity Recognizant's lives rather than the average Recognizant's trajectory."

"Rituals are prescribed scripts of words and motions that when performed correctly generate a predictable anemonic phenomenon, and inscriptions are similar but are instead specific shapes that continuously produce a consistent phenomenon. My privacy indicator and lamp are examples of inscribed devices." She gestures to the stone cylinder and lamp on her desk. "Both rituals and inscriptions are limited by their 'investment', though what exactly that means is somewhat different for rituals than inscriptions. The investment of a ritual depends on its length, the complexity of the its script, the minimum number of simultaneous ritualists needed for it, whether it requires any special circumstances or ritual settings, whether it requires ritual props and whether those props need to be anemonically active, and countless other factors of a similar sort. Investment for inscriptions meanwhile is almost solely determined by the length of the inscription, though there's some ongoing research into the potential for the material composition of the inscribed object to influence the investment of the inscription as well."

The fact that the sandwich is a.) warm and b.) not Worldwound rations makes him immediately love it. He consumes the entire thing at a frighteningly quick pace. He nods at appropriate times as Bishop explains.

He could see himself fitting with all four winds, except the chorismic. Wizards are usually contemplative and intellectual, and certainly, he's capable of that, but it isn't natural for him. He has to consciously make himself adopt that posture (which is surprisingly often, it seems). He shouldn't count on being recognized by more than one wind, though, given the numbers.

Ah, that's the more confusing part. This time, he can relate to all of the winds save the echoic. He's never been good at talking. And he specializes in transmutation magic, which seems centrally metabolic. Not that he's going to reveal he's a wizard to Bishop. It's not good to reveal your capabilities like that, in general, it is unwise. Also, it's highly likely, given the sort of person Bishop seems to be, that she'll get distracted and become the one asking questions. Better not to broach the topic.

Alignment! So it is similar to clerichood, just that it's more freeform rather than with discrete circles...time to learn how to connect and communicate. Mmmmm. This is going to be difficult. In a different shape of difficult than what he's used to expect. But he'll get over it. He gets over everything.

"Could you talk more about this concept of alignment? There is a parallel to our world, where the clerics of gods choose to align their interests and manners of thought closer to their god's, which makes them more likely to bestow more abilities to them."

Ah, so rituals are like spells, and inscriptions are like magic items. Although rituals can be cast by multiple people, it seems – no, that's a requirement most times, it seems.

"Let me see if I have an accurate understanding of the winds. I would guess that your privacy indicator light is echoic, or perhaps metabolic, whereas your lamp is metabolic, or perhaps poetic.

I'm deeply interested in learning whether I could learn to cast rituals or make inscriptions." Especially since he used to make wondrous items. Not that he specialized in it, but he's competent.

Dr. Bishop, who is eating her sandwich much less ravenously, sighs with long-suffering weariness. "Slawmoth is one of the worst when it comes to being excessively secretive with his work, so I don't have more than guesses and office gossip regarding his methodology or framework. If you're willing we might be able to trade your cooperation with some of his tests for a proper explanation, I'm sure he's as desperate for Recognizant data as everyone else in this building. We should figure out how to break the news about you to the rest of the facility, if you don't plan on making yourself scarce tomorrow."

"Those are both just about correct. The privacy indicator is actually a mixture of both echoic and metabolic, which I suppose might not have been obviously possible. Most inscriptions that have some kind of control mechanism are at least a little bit metabolic, even if their primary effect is entirely the product of another wind. My desk lamp in particular is primarily poetic, again with a minor metabolic component to let me extinguish and relight it, but the ceiling lamps in the halls are purely metabolic."

"As for learning to cast rituals and make inscriptions, I'm certain you'll have plenty of opportunities to do both. Most people here in the facility aren't exactly ritual specialists, but you don't end up in anemonomastics without learning at least some, and the same applies to inscriptions. None of us are master builders, but making and especially designing inscriptions is an unavoidable part of the research process. Of course, you'll find a reasonable number of professional ritualists and inscribers in town, mostly in the medical and repair sectors. Even beyond that, Recognizants are demonstrably better able to develop ritual and inscription skills than the unrecognized, so you could probably just buy some books-- Oh. You don't have any money, do you? Hm. That could be a problem."

She taps a finger on a section of her desk in an odd way, winces slightly, and then opens what was apparently a secret compartment, retrieving a handful of paper slips before standing up and offering them to Conrad. "This is 200 ducats, which should cover modest room and board for long enough to get steady on your feet, in case you don't stay here and work with us. It wouldn't do to force you to choose between working with us and having to rough it for who knows how long."

Hm? The lamp is mostly poetic with a little metabolic, but the ceiling lamps are entirely metabolic? How does that work? Maybe the lamp can run on its own, but the ceiling lights have to rely on some other source of energy or power, since the metabolic wind can only transform, not create.

He thinks about questions to ask, but the last part derails all the trains of thought running through his mind. He lacks neither the Splendor nor the Bluff to prevent the expression of shock and mild horror from coming to his face. He keeps his hands close to his sides, as though the currency was somehow cursed, and touching them would bring certain death.

"Really? You're just – you're just – just going to give this to me? No strings attached? You're not even going to ask me to do anything for you? There isn't a compact tied to the money?" The words tumble out of his mouth before he has a chance to think about what he's saying. "How does this benefit you?"

He looks more scared now at this moment than at any other point since Bishop met him.

There's the same sadness as before in her eyes as she sees Conrad's reaction. "I'm sorry, I didn't consider how your particular...background could weigh on your interpretation of my offer. Given what I understand of your homeland, I don't know if we have the common philosophical ground for me to properly explain, but I will try."

She pauses for a moment, bringing the hand holding the money back to her side as she considers her words. "I, and many people here, in the facility, in this town, perhaps even in this world as a whole, are encouraged through out their lives to care deeply for others. For some this caring extends primarily to family or close friends, but for others it extends to much larger groups such as their coworkers, ideological allies, or countrymen, though perhaps to a lesser and unequal degree. For some, it even applies to total strangers. We, who study the wind of connection and communication, are some of the most likely to fall into that latter category, or close to it at least. It is easy for me to feel the suffering of others as my own, and the desire to ameliorate it comes almost as easily. Helping you benefits me by assuaging the pain I would share with you in this way."

She raises the money back up to Conrad. "So, yes, this is a gift offered without expectations of recompense. Consider, you were charged to be free, and instructed to find me here. If you cannot yet trust me, then trust your Echo."

Surely he cannot have been clericed by a Good deity! He's not even Neutral. Wait, he should discard his Golarian preconceptions and think from scratch. This is outside Pharasma's Creation – there is no reason why a god wind has to decide who to Recognize based on alignment.

With great reluctance, he accepts the money, and puts it into his pocket. He's surprised that they use paper as currency here, and not coins, whose value is in the metal they're made of. He has heard of bank checks, though, so the currency might operate on a similar principle, where you take the slips to a bank in case you want to exchange it for gold. 

Right, he should be appreciative. "Thank you," he says, still sounding bewildered.

"It would be good for me to sleep now. Where should I go? As for tomorrow, I think that it would be good to talk to the people who venerate the echoic wind – do they have a name? – as well as do divination rituals on me. I may or may not accept Slawmoth studying me depending on the terms he provides, since I want copies of the results of the scans to be given to me."

Dr. Bishop gives Conrad a fragile but genuine smile. "You're welcome." She makes an expression of embarrassed surprise. "Sorry, I just realized I never asked your name. I understand if you don't want to share it, though. I'm just surprised I didn't think of it sooner."

"Anyway, the chair you're in now can be leaned back and have leg rests folded out, if you'd prefer to stay here with my privacy indicator on. The beds in the office dormitory might be more comfortable but you'd certainly be noticed. I wouldn't let anyone wake you but you'd probably be waking up to a lot of questions...and I can imagine one or two of my colleagues might follow you into town to try and persuade you to participate in their research. As for the echoic venerators, I think the local group calls themselves the Mesh, or maybe the Net? It's been a long time since I've talked with them and they don't make a point of being very loud about their activity, even if they aren't exactly secret about it either."

She very briefly seems confused, with maybe a hint of insulted, but it disappears just as quickly. "Yes, we can have some scans done, and the results will be shared with you. It's illegal, in this country at least, to perform these sorts of experiments and not make the results available to the experiment's subjects, and this is fairly well-enforced law so long as you're able to self-start about it. The trick will be getting Slawmoth to give us the framework to interpret meaning from the results. Though, even if we can't get everything, I might be able to piece together something from whatever snippets he is willing to share with his prior published papers."

"Conrad Ferrer. I was named after my grandfather."

Why did he say that. It's true. But why did he say that.

"I'd prefer to stay here. I was fortunate enough to be able to come here with my blade and my gauntlet, which are very precious to me. The former is a family heirloom. I do not want it to be stolen." Normally, he'd say 'Touch it and die', but he doesn't actually know whether he can credibly back that up? And besides, it seems like that isn't a wise thing to say to the person who just...gave you money...for free...

The sheathed dagger is on his belt. If Bishop examines it, she'll see the dagger and sheath are very well made, even if she has no expertise in appraisal: the wooden sheath has a rich oxblood varnish, and on the very top edge, just where the sheath meets the hilt, Conrad's name seems to be engraved in very faintly glowing red letters. On the pommel and on one side of the sheath, there's an inset of ruby, and the handle is wrapped in leather dyed dark red.

The locking gauntlet will look like a very strange gauntlet, if Bishop isn't familiar with plate armor. There's a hook and eye mechanism on the side where the back of the hand would be, and it's shaped for the right hand.

"I am content so long as I get the data. I might be able to interpret the results myself, if I apply myself to anemonomastics." He says it matter of factly, with neither boasting nor insecurity.

"It's good to meet you, Mr. Ferrer." She gives the the dagger an appreciative look, much the same she'd give to a colleague showing off a watch or necklace, polite but not terribly interested. The gauntlet holds her curiosity for a moment, before she grasps its approximate function.

She steps back around her desk, replacing most of the books and papers on it onto the shelves except for a few which she holds under her arm. "I've more or less confirmed my suspicion, and I think I'll be able to convince the others of the truth of your testimony, at least up to the point of you being from beyond this world. I'm going to sort out some things to get ready for tomorrow, then head back to my apartment in town to get some sleep myself. I'll let the staff know I've brought in a guest, and if you need me for anything you can head to the front desk and ask them to send me a message."

She almost leaves, then remembers to mention one more thing, "You extinguish the lamp by tapping this spot here," she indicates a little bump on the foot of the lamp, "and tap it again to relight it." She nods, perhaps more to herself than to him. "Good night, Mr. Ferrer."

Then, unless he makes a sign or word to keep her, she's away and Conrad is alone in the office but for the sound of cold winter rain and the distant, intangible presence of Echo.