He laughs. "Thank you."

"And thanks for informing me on whether someone's messing with the Seal of Solomon.

I'm not very directly powerful here, but if you need exposition some time let me know."

"—oh, yeah, since we're on that topic, what's Matthew's deal?"

"His family line serves the Lord of the city. I imagine it's not a pleasant job. I do know some of how it came about, but that's not really mine to volunteer."

"So it's not, like, public knowledge. Gotcha."

"Right. He's one of Conquest's trouble-shooters. Sometimes literally.

The other practitioner, the Shepherd, he's a bit of a hermit. Works with ghosts and seldom socializes with the living. He's also taken a vow of silence and won't speak outside of rituals, at least that's what I assume. He hasn't exactly explained."

"Conquest also mentioned other people, like the Astrologer..."

Nod. "What Diana does isn't really very well understood by anyone except her and her predecessors. It involves computers remotely triggering lights to form constellations spread across the city. There definitely are rules, more so than most of the practice, even, but I couldn't say what they are.

The High Drunk is Jeremy Meath, priest of Dionysius. He's married to a Duchamp, but you might know her from Jacob's Bell because they've been separated for years.

The Eye of the Storm isn't a practitioner. It's a fire elemental, fire as in disaster not fire as in heat or light. It takes orders from Conquest for one reason or another, and is more a weapon than an agent."

"—I kinda want to meet this Diana person. Using computers for magic sounds cool."

"She'd be happy to explain it, but always starts with a warning that everyone else finds it tedious. I didn't last far into the explanation when I asked."

"I'm a nerd, I can take it."

He smiles again. "She says the same."

"Where do I find her?"

"I've got people's contact information written down somewhere..."

He pulls out a relatively new-model personal digital assistant, pokes at it a few times, and then reads off email and literal addresses.

He writes them down and thanks him.

He's happy to help. (After all, geeking out about complicated magic is a much better pastime than ambiguously undermining the fabric of society.)

It's more fun anyway.

"I'll see you around, then. And do let me know if there's any information I can help with."

"You're very kind," he says rather than "I will."

Now, introductions made, time to email an Astrologer:

Hello! I'm Sam and I'm new in town. I met Paul today and he mentioned you're basically a computer wizard and that sounded interesting. Want to grab some coffee and nerd at me?

Hi! Calling me a computer wizard is a bit generous. Computer-assisted practitioner at most. Moon Bean in Kensington Market? Paul probably also warned you that it bores most people out of their skulls, but if you're prepared for that I'd be all in favor.
And welcome to Toronto!

He thanks her and they decide on a time and at that time he is there.

The Astrologer is surprisingly young. Early twenties, it looks like. When she arrives she squints around the room and then walks straight to Sadde. "Are you Sam?"

He grins. "Observant, aren't you? I should presume you're Diana?"

"Oh, you could do the same if you look.

Diana Thompson. A pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine. I don't actually know this place..."