[From— somewhere behind her ear or from the midst of her plaited hair, Wysteria draws forth a pen. She flicks one of the tracts closer to her so she may make notes of these sums and timetables and so on in the corner so as to commit them permanently to memory.]

Very good. I think I can afford that.

[It will be a pinch on Riftwatch's pay, she thinks, but should worse come to worse she will simply berate Val until he loans her the money. The pen is absentmindedly disappeared behind the ear or into her braid once more.]

I mean to solicit other authors to start. Maybe something amusing that no one will take very seriously but everyone will still read when it appears in with their mail. It won't be anonymous or tawdry like these exactly, but ought to be equally disposable. Something which may be taken in and then discarded without much effort.

I only ask that you be willing to keep who is paying for it a secret. From most everyone, anyway. I don't care if the Division Heads know.