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"Good and bad, then," Montmore mumbled, stroking his chin. "I should really pay a visit, but he always seems to have work or some other visitor. I do want to see that encyclopaedia, however."

"I'd love to see it once it's finished, though it's not that close to completion... Anyway, it's a fascinating project to be a part of."

Montmore smiled and nodded, looking as if he was quite ready to launch into a monologue. Then he remembered where he was and relaxed. "I can only take your word for it, but... like I said, I am interested. Maybe in far too many things. So I'm told by colleagues and certain other people..." he sneaked a look at Auker.

"Not my fault you hobnob with just about everyone," Auker sniffed.

And that might be the best opening Sylvie would get.

"Does that include a... gentleman named Langoll?"

The mage looked startled for a mere moment. "I wouldn't call him a gentleman," Montmore said jovially. "He's quite erudite. He's also an eremite, a maverick genius one might say. Has he visited Old Ivy or so?" Montmore's tone was a little doubtful.

"Just the shop, not Garren." She looked slightly confused. "Maybe we're talking about different people, though, or he's younger than I expect from an eremite genius. Can you describe your Langoll?"

Ayu-Asra watched the scene from a hiding spot behind a few jars on a high shelf.

"Oh, he's fairly young. In his thirties, about as tall as Auker here, brown hair. Last I saw he was trying to grow a beard, but he's one of those who don't look very good with them," Montmore chuckled, rubbing his temples momentarily. "I'm sure he's picked up some more weight since last time, too. He has a, er, healthy appetite, and he looks the part."

"Mh, might be the same one after all, then. Genius, you said? What fields does he work in?"

"He's a bit of an eccentric. Vortices, catalysts... well, the engineering side of magic and those subdivisions. He's especially renowned for artifacts. Also observation techniques and alarm spells," Montmore mumbled and sipped his drink. "Makes one wonder what the devil he'd be doing in Canyet, though."

Well, observation and alarm sounded like bad news. At Montmore's last remark Sylvie looked up without thinking, but turned it into a sort of thougtful gesture, she hoped. "No idea."

"Is it normal," she said, turning back to Montmore, "that magicians don't hold much contact? I mean, somehow I would have thought one staying in a town with only three of his colleagues would visit them."

"Yes, one would assume so. Of course, he is a loner. I would imagine he would have visited at least one of us, because I don't think he's very interested in anything outside his work. Oh, listen to me, speaking as if I knew the man very well."

"Well, compared to us..." Auker pointed out.

Montmore inclined his head. "There is that. To answer your question, Sylvie, he's not your average mage. We others... well, we like to chat incessantly about minor details." He shrugged. "He could always have been interested in meeting Brannig. They had some similar interests."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well, artifacts. Brannig's house is full of different historical artifacts. They're both collectors and workers of that craft. Takes a trained eye to find them, though, and a sense of magic, but there you go. It's really a fascinating area, though -- our ancestors did more than just craft magic swords and sets of ceremonial armour that never have to be cleaned, you know. The apple of Brannig's eye is a delicate set of picks... we're not entirely sure if they're meant for dentistry or something else, but they're ridiculously sturdy."

Encouraged, Montmore went on about Brannig's collection of everyday artifacts that had to have been made for very wealthy people.

"Of course, we still make these artifacts, but only recently have we been able to explore options outside utilitary uses," he finished.

Auker had started to stare at her wine like she wanted to sleep.

By contrast, Sylvie was genuinely interested, and, possibly a bit distracted from her goal. Not distracted enough by far to talk that openly about magic where she was from, though.

"How's that? A way to bind larger scale effects?"

Montmore smiled. "Why not," he said. "It's about understanding the world and its effects, I believe. How things work, such as gravity, magnetism... amplifying those effects in controlled environments and then comparing that to nature, perhaps one could say?"

"A magnified and isolated model to be able to study a particular aspect of the world in detail?" Sylvie rephrased, to check she had understood him.

Up on the shelf, the unusually quiet dragon started twittering to itself.

"Yes! Exactly, and..." Montmore turned to look toward the twittering. Auker did, too.

"Just ignore it," she told Montmore, who looked at Auker and then Sylvie.

"Well, uh, yes, exactly. Like I said. It's a very, very useful mode of study."

The soft twittering continued. Sylvie has some practise in ignoring it, so for her that was no problem. The little disturbance did bring her from scientific curiosity closer to the present, so instead of asking about the how, she said, "And Langoll has been working on that, too?"

"I don't know. I haven't read any study reports at least, but knowing him it shouldn't come as a surprise if he has," Montmore said, gaze seeking the source of the twittering again.

"Again with the hermit-like habits, or do you mean something else?"