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\chapter{Codrin Bălan\#Castor — 2346}}
\markboth{Codrin Bălan\#Castor — 2346}{}

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\emph{Convergence T-minus 2 days, 1 hour, 15 minutes}
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\noindent True Name's ability to keep a steady, half-smiling expression was admirable. Even Why Ask Questions appeared to be only just barely keeping frustration at bay.

Having instructed the Artemisians on how to use cones of silence, there were far fewer breaks throughout the last two days, limited to one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and a longer lunch in the middle. That did not stop them from settling into private conversation every few minutes to discuss whatever answer they might give.

Ey initially found it strange that added downtime would make their party more tired rather than less, but after some consideration—and a brief talk with Sarah—ey'd come to the realization that those periods of quiet between question and answer were still spent in expectation. They were still working during those pauses. They were still in conversation, if only by way of watching and waiting, trying to guess what might have led to the need to have that private discussion. Ey could not read expressions beyond eir limited notes so far, could not speak the language well enough, and certainly could not read lips, so ey was left only with guesses and suppositions.

And through it all, True Name seemed to be trying to match the firstracers for patient expressions.

It wasn't until that second day's lunch that the skunk showed any breaks in that patience. She picked up a plate piled high with salad, brought it over to the table in the center of their rest area then stepped back a few paces, where she activated a cone of silence. She brought her tail around toward her front, held in both paws, and buried her face in it. Ey could only assume by the sudden way that she bent at the waist and pinned her ears back that this was done to muffle a scream or some violent obscenity.

Then, as though nothing had happened, she sat down to eat.

Lunch after that had been filled with laughter and truly terrible jokes. Sarah, it turned out, collected them, and the delegates unanimously voted hers the worst.

All throughout, though, Codrin couldn't shake the image of True Name throwing a very short, very tightly controlled tantrum. The sight of her letting loose so strong an emotion had immediately knocked em back to an interview—decades ago, now—where she'd wound em up enough that ey'd started shouting at her in her own office, then bounced em from her sim.

That, ey'd later understood, had been intentional on her part. It had been a way for her to spin her story in a very carefully crafted way. It set it to a level that sat just on the other side of the line between plausible and absurd. It had wrapped em up in a story that was just a little too much to believe, and the end result was a softening of the impact of the \emph{History}.

She was a consummate actor. Nothing about that experience had been done with a wink and a nudge, just as nothing about this had contained any such acknowledgement that it was intentional, but ey was nothing if not primed to expect her actions to be based in manipulation. There was a non-zero chance that this tantrum had been more for the benefit of the other delegates than anything. It was a way to show that she, too, was frustrated, just as the pun-off that had followed had been a way to\pagebreak~loosen everyone up by lampshading the absurdity of the whole venture.

And then, it was over. True Name cleared away her plate, explained that she was going to write a letter to her \#Artemis instance, made a final joke about needing to do so over letters being much more up Codrin's alley, and then stepped into her room to work in silence.

``What was that about?'' Sarah asked, once the skunk and Why Ask Questions had wandered off again.

``What, the thing about the letters?'' Ey shrugged. ``I guess it was deemed a risk setting up radio between the DMZ and--''

``No, no,'' she said, shaking her head. ``Sorry, I mean, what was with the scream and then all the jokes?''

Ey frowned and set up another cone of silence for the two of them. ``I was just thinking about that, actually. I was wondering if she really is frustrated enough to scream or if it was intentional to make her seem more normal like the rest of us mere mortals.''

``I don't think it was that extreme. Maybe some part of her was trying to build camaraderie with us by doing so, but I'm wondering if it was more that she was trying to downplay the news from Artemis.''

Codrin sat up straighter. ``You mean the Odists struggling over there?''

She nodded. ``It sounds like moving them to a unison room is helping, but they're still struggling with that\ldots what did Codrin\#Artemis call it? The omnipresence of time?''

``Yeah. Dear talked about it some. It called the feeling of being lost as being stuck in an `endless place of no time'.''

``I was going to call that poetic, but the more I think about it, the less I think I could describe it without a whole lot of metaphors, myself.'' She pushed a few remaining pieces of lettuce around her plate with her fork. ``I was wondering if maybe she's trying to hide how she's feeling about that by amping up other emotions. Hiding trauma with humor is not uncommon, and I'm sure she has trauma of her own.''

Ey frowned. ``It would make sense, yes. This morning's letter from Codrin talked a bit more about them, about how they seem to be struggling in masking more powerful emotions. `I don't think I've ever seen an Odist well and truly furious,' ey said, which I agree with. I've seen Dear angry, and Ioan says that ey's seen May Then My Name get furious—at True Name, no less—but I've never seen any of them truly furious. `True Name keeps getting these flashes, though, where her face will twist up in what I can only call abject fury. It'll only last a second or so, and then it's over and she's back to looking tired or in control or whatever she was before'.''

``Anger is a strong emotion. It's hard to cover up something that overwhelming.''

``Right. Anger and sadness or depression seem to be the two that keep cropping up. They've had to take a few breaks so far when Why Ask Questions wound up in a crying jag.''

She shook her head. ``I've not heard anything from my \#Artemis instance, which is fine, but I wonder how she would describe it.''

``Want me to ask? I was going to send off a note before we started back up again.''

``Please. I was going to write something myself, but if you're already sending one, might as well tack it on there, instead.''

Ey nodded and scratched out a note to emself in eir notebook. ``Before I get to that, though, I have a question for you. Something before I drop the cone, I mean.''

Sarah leaned forward, elbows on her knees, and ey did the same. The added secrecy of talking quieter was a difficult habit to break, and eir mind was still on the topic of lip-reading from earlier.

``\#Artemis hinted at something and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. That ey's even hinting at it rather than just saying it outright is telling in and of itself, of course, but I can see why, given the context. The messages are clade-eyes-only, so others can't read them unless one of us grants permission, anyway. It's only a hint, but I think\ldots{}I mean, I think maybe ey's suggesting that it's not Why Ask Questions on Artemis, but Answers Will Not Help.''

The psychologist frowned down toward the floor. ``What form did this hint take?''

Ey dredged up the memory of the postscript. ``Ey asked Dear to check eir work. I remember that, during Secession, Why Ask Questions managed sentiment sys-side and Answers Will Not Help did the same phys-side. The hint was asking, ``Is this correct? I've only met the two of them recently, so I'm unsure how that plays out in their social interactions.'' I remember that, of course, so the hint is in the question.''

``Anything in subsequent letters?''

``Well, Codrin\#Assist confirmed it, saying, ``Dear says that's correct. Why Ask Questions worked sys-side, Answers Will Not Help worked phys-side''. Neither \#Artemis nor I have brought it up again since.''

``You obviously know your communication style better than anyone else, but do you think ey's hinting at the fact that they were switched specifically for their roles? Intra- and extra-system sentiment?''

Ey nodded.

``Well, that'd be a hell of a stunt to pull.'' She sighed, steepling her fingers before her. ``I could only really tell them apart by the way they acted, but, like you, I only really met them a week or so ago. Is ey sure that it's not just due to the way the skew is impacting them?''

``I don't know, really, but given that a good chunk of the rest of the letter, as well as subsequent ones, has been about that impact and the effects it's having on the meetings, I don't doubt eir observations.''

There was a moment of silence as they both digested the conversation. They still had a few minutes of time left, if ey still wanted to write eir note, so ey allowed the moment to stretch.

Finally, Sarah said, ``I guess I have a few thoughts on it: the first is that Answers Will Not Help struck me as less grounded than Why Ask Questions. They're both weird, but Answers Will Not Help was always much more intense, and she sometimes got petty or cruel. The second was that maybe we could ask Tycho. We got a few days with the two of them, but he's been working with them for much longer, since they led with a bunch of science.''

``Alright,'' ey said, scratching out another quick note to emself. ``I'll figure out a way to ask if that's where the observation came from.''

``Oh? As in maybe Tycho noticed that and told Codrin\#Artemis?''

``Right, yeah. Maybe he picked up on it first because he's had more time with her, or maybe her reaction to the skew tipped him off. Who knows?''

``Think you'll ask in a hint, too?''

Ey nodded. ``There's some subtext there that I'm not totally picking up on, and it seems best to be safer than not.''

``Any guesses as to that subtext?'' she asked.

``Only incomplete ones. I wonder if it's to keep Codrin\#Assist from reading too much into it since ey's not experiencing any of this.''

``And you're worried ey might bring it up with the Odists?''

Ey laughed, shaking eir head. ``Nothing so grand. It's just hard for us to leave well enough alone. Ey'd probably start cataloging the differences between them. Well, ey probably already is, given the hint, but without the context that we're seeing here, it'll be somewhat less pointed.''

``Right, that makes sense. That still seems a little flimsy for a reason to be this vague of a hint.''

``Agreed,'' ey said, then shrugged. ``Could be that ey just doesn't trust that clade-eyes-only works on Artemis. All the same, I'll hint back and see what comes of it, just to be safe.''

She nodded. ``Alright. Keep me up to date, I guess.''

Codrin dropped the cone of silence and stretched eir arms up over eir head, ``I'll see you in there in a few, then. Thanks for chatting.''

Sarah stood, waved, and wandered back into the room, leaving em to brush out eir blouse and straighten the apron that rested over eir skirt before starting the note.

\begin{quote}
Codrin\#Artemis

Not a whole lot to add here on my part, and I need to get back to it momentarily, so just a quick note for now. There's been some talk on biology and a bit more on astronomy. This always gets Tycho super excited, of course, so we have to space the topic out so that he and Stolon don't completely monopolize the meeting.

This morning we discussed the science of forking as it relates to time skew, but it was hard to keep the talk out of what should be your area up there.

The most pertinent thing of late has been some discussion over language and how that has changed over time based on the physiology of the races. Iska spoke some ``old Nanon'' for us, which was beautiful, but almost uncanny. I'd keep almost catching words, but then they'd slip away from me again. Why Ask Questions understood better, and was able to ask some questions about linguistic evolution. Most of those went over my head, but she seemed surprised at how little things had changed over that long a time span, which got us on the topic of the history and politics of language. That was cut off since that's your bailiwick up there, so I expect TN will be getting a note to that effect.

Sarah requests that her counterpart reply with her thoughts on the Odists.

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\textbf{BĂLAN CLADE-EYES-ONLY MATERIAL}
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I hope things with the Odists are going as smoothly as possible. It sounds really stressful, particularly with how it's affecting WAQ. You mentioned that Sarah's been keeping an eye on it, but how about Tycho? I know he can get kind of skittish. He's also been around those two longer than any of us, though, so maybe he's got some insight into it.

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\textbf{END BĂLAN CLADE-EYES-ONLY MATERIAL}
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Codrin\#Assist, pass on my love. Pull Dear's tail for me.
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