Master Smythe sighed. He put his pipe to his lips—a very long-stemmed Outwaller pipe decorated in an extravagant excess of porcupine quill work—and inhaled, and the pipe lit itself. “Yes,” he said. “In the next phase, almost whatever we do, we will be noticed. Even now, our adversary must be wondering if there is another player in the game. Or if the dice are rigged. He has made two attempts to put his pawn on the throne of Alba. He has made a half-hearted attempt to bring about the collapse of Morea. I think he believes that his adversary is Harmodius. So far.” Master Smythe smiled with prim satisfaction. “Now—” He exhaled smoke. “Now he is bending his schemes to Ticondaga and Dorling. My own backyard.”

Ser Gavin stiffened.

“Down, boy,” Ser Gabriel said. “I’m sure that Mater can overcome anything we face.”

Master Smythe shook his head. “Ghause is the victim of her own vanity,” he said.

Gabriel nodded. “I’ve always thought so.”

Father Arnaud laughed, and so did Sauce. Bad Tom allowed a snort to escape him. “Comes by it honestly,” he said.

Gabriel pretended to fan himself with his hand. “If you are all quite finished,” he said.

“They love you,” Master Smythe said. “Laughing at you helps them deal with your tiresome arrogance.”

“You do just keep saying these things. You must be very difficult at parties.” Ser Gabriel nodded. “Can I try that thing?”

“He just wants to learn to blow smoke,” Sauce said.

Ser Gavin was unhappy and it showed on his face. He pulled on his own beard and then shook his head. “He’s going for Ticondaga? What are we doing to counter him?”

Master Smythe handed his pipe to the captain. “We’re trying not to be deceived. We’re trying not to tip our hand. He—you know who I mean—does not care a whit for Ticondaga. He wants Lissen Carak and what lies beneath it. But—but. Do you know how my experience of your reality functions?”

Silence fell.

“You can imagine from the intensity of our stares how much we’d like to know,” Ser Gabriel said. He coughed and handed the long pipe to Master Smythe.

Master Smythe laughed. “I had that coming. Very well. If I play no part in your affairs, I find it fairly simple to observe them in a general way. In fact, it is as easy as breathing for me to regard the general flow of your reality, past, present and, as you see it, future. Or, as I might put it in your excellent language, in your infinity of presents.”