"You can lie, if you'd like, I don't mind," he says cheerfully. "If I minded I would simply make the punishment more fun until I was once again indifferent about whether you lie. You have to preserve your patience, if you do a lot of training new petitioners. I think we are getting the gossip ahead of everyone who isn't officially in line with it, what with you having come straight to me - good girl, by the way - but we'll know soon, from whether Dis has soldiers in the streets, whether there's a broader fight or a one-off bit of nonsense." Conspiratorially: "I think there might be a broader fight."

"You can lie, if you'd like, I don't mind," he says cheerfully. "If I minded I would simply make the punishment more fun until I was once again indifferent about whether you lie. You have to preserve your patience, if you do a lot of training new petitioners. I think we are getting the gossip ahead of everyone who isn't officially in line for it, what with you having come straight to me - good girl, by the way - but we'll know soon, from whether Dis has soldiers in the streets, whether there's a broader fight or a one-off bit of nonsense." Conspiratorially: "I think there might be a broader fight."