"Awesome," she says, laid-back but not insincere; she relaxes very slightly as it seems less and less likely he's going to dismiss he knowledge out of hand.

"Probably the best person to talk to is Valentine de Foncé." Val, she likes you, but she is not going to say all of the names in between every single time. "He's the overall head of the research division, which includes work on the rifts and the anchor shards. We're in the process of consolidating a lot of our research now, since the move here to Kirkwall, but if you're in earnest about helping I don't see why you shouldn't have access to what we've got. de Foncé comes off a bit glib at first, but he's smart and knows a lot of people."