"That's perfectly all right. I'm certain we will all three of us have a grand time regardless. So long as you are partial to little cakes and cheeses and wines and that sort of thing. Those do, I confess, take up a great deal of the time." If Derrica is not a fan of any of those things (or the specter of this invitation which is being pitched), she isn't afforded much of an opportunity to protest for Wysteria continues cheerfully right along.

"When next we meet, I'll be certain to alert you and we may walk up to Lady Alexandrie's estate together. And in the mean time, we need only each of us concern ourselves with unearthing a little kernel of interesting news which we might discuss while there. It's usually best if it involves a person who everyone is already familiar with, but hardly required. Why, only the other day she and I discussed—"

And what follows is a very long retelling of a bit of Hightown gossip featuring a series of sisters with minor titles all of which are evidently attempting to court the same wealthy gentleman. The story involves each sister dosing her siblings with a mild concoction to induce a certain aggravation of the stomach—yes, that kind—so that when they at last met with the suitor all three were fantastically and appallingly out of sorts. Allegedly, as Wysteria tells it, he is said to have promptly left Kirkwall and returned to his winter home in Ansburg.

This story, for better or worse, carries them the remaining length of the harbor.