Private Message to Aurora Sinistra

[alt_poppy]

Have been thinking of you all day, dear.

I hope that today's proceedings were a step towards clearing whatever confusion seized Fulton et al on Saturday.

I've taken the liberty of asking an elf to deliver a small pot of peppermint balm to your rooms. Don't be alarmed when you see it there: I promise that it has not been hexed or snared.

Do let me know if there is anything else I could provide. An ear, for instance.

Comments

[alt_sinistra]

I appreciate the gift. And thank you for the warning - after December (good grief, was that only six weeks ago?) I admit I get suspicious of unexpected objects, still.

On today: I finished with them about an hour ago, and am having a quiet dinner with a friend before I trust apparating back. Better, this time round - Campanella set some very clear but fair expectations of how things would go - but four hours of detailed questioning is four hours, no matter how you look at it.

As to the results - nothing like a clear answer has emerged, and I gather the oversight board will be investigating further. (Apparently, I'll hear more on that in a day or two.) Fulton swears I sent him different instructions, I swear I didn't. But honestly, I don't even know any more. Nothing about the whole situation makes much sense.

[alt_poppy]

I feel certain that time will bring answers, but I'd hoped--and I'm sure you did, as well--that it would all have been resolved upon an examination of the evidence.

I confess I'm baffled that the misunderstanding could lie in a set of written instructions Fulton says were sent by you if you know you didn't send them. Could the handwriting really leave that in doubt? Are they at least looking into whether someone deliberately sabotaged you by forging the message he received? Or is it really still at the impasse of his word against yours?

[alt_sinistra]

I'm baffled too. They are looking more deeply, but apparently that will take a little time - the person they'd like to do the analysis had some family matters this week and perhaps next.

Campanella says that that's one of the complications they've seen with the journals. It's very easy, of course, to get a wide-ranging sample of someone's writing, if they write in public, which of course makes it easier to duplicate.

She said that she'd have thought it was my writing on first glance, and even second or third, but there were small things that made her look more closely. But of course, she's known me far longer, and she's also not an expert in that field, so it must wait for one.

And I... well. Clearly this is an excuse for something else. Just before I came up to teach, I got the notice there's a more detailed investigation scheduled, meeting with the oversight board on March 13th. More details on what they want to cover to come, apparently.

(As to your apology below: you know I'll tell you if I don't wish to answer. In this case, I keep switching between wanting to sort it out, and wanting to ignore it entirely, and I'm rather firmly in the former mood this hour.)

[alt_poppy]

A more detailed investigation? Gracious sakes. And more than a month away? Someone is playing a very ugly game here.

What does Rabastan say? His perspective might be especially valuable, I should think.

[alt_sinistra]

Rather, yes.

As to Raz - he was in the midst of duelling practice when I got back last night, so we've not had time to talk about yesterday in any detail yet.

Honestly, I've been half-expecting a complete review since the oversight board turned over new membership last spring. And they made a reasonable enough point in the letter this morning that the YPL leadership must not only be above reproach, but also appear so to the public. I suppose I'll only find out more when I get the actual list of points they want me to address.

(As to the timing: I gather some of that is to give them time to review in detail, and also due to some schedule conflicts.)

[alt_poppy]

You are being entirely sensible about this. And you don't need me stirring the pot.

I rather think that someone has not counted on your being quite so capable or well-organised as you most certainly are. I have every confidence that you will come through this process with an absolutely unassailable dossier: the more they poke into the details of your work, the better documented your competence will be in the end.

That doesn't make it any less odious, of course.

[alt_sinistra]

I am very much trying to be sensible. I know I gave Raz rather a scare Saturday, and I'd like to avoid more of that for all sorts of reasons. And besides, panic would waste energy I'd prefer to use for other things. (Or so I keep telling myself when I'm tempted that direction.)

On the rest: thank you for the compliment, and I do rather hope that's the case. I'd only relatively basic notes with me yesterday, but they were clearly startled that we had such a clear process for official communication and so on.

I think my goal - until I get the specific lists - is to make sure all my files and notes are in crystal clear order, and comment on our usual practices, and why they're that way. And then respond to whatever specifics they come up with when I get them.

I've had a few letters with Diane and Chiron, in fact. And Chiron offered, up front, to help me prepare, as he's quite used to that sort of thing from the other side. (He's in Internal Affairs, as I think I mentioned.)

[alt_poppy]

I quite agree with all that. And your last paragraph raises another point in your favour: you've got good connections with people who can help you avoid being crushed in the machinery of bureaucracy, which sometimes turns for the sake of turning without regard to sense or principle.

I'm very glad your brother in law is offering to help; I imagine his insight into such processes will be invaluable.

[alt_sinistra]

I am very glad too.

And particularly glad that Diane and I worked out some of our difficulties. It's still a little hard to trust, after so many years of just rubbing each other the wrong way, but she's clearly trying hard to make amends.

And I've always rather liked Chiron: he can be stiff and unbending sometimes and we've never had much in common beyond a general fascination with patterns. But he loves her and adores his children, and there's a lot of good in that.

On the rest, quite. I wish I knew if it were personal or just the wheels turning, but I suppose that may become more clear in time.

[alt_sinistra]

A quick note, before I head up to teach.

Thank you for the balm - most soothing, and my shoulders appreciate. I slept better than I was afraid I might, but I was near out on my feet by the time we finished class last night, which certainly helps.

As to the ear: I would like, sometime, though I'm trying to figure out when would work. Friday afternoon, around 3? By that point, I'll feel less at odds with my pile of marking, I hope. (At least it's all star charts right now, which are easy to do with only half my brain.)

[alt_poppy]

Aurora, I owe you an apology. As soon as I'd written what I did above, I realised that I'd crossed a line. Really, dear, there's no need to answer my questions. They were impertinent and ill-considered.

I would be most pleased to see you Friday afternoon if you've time then. And I promise that I will not pepper you with questions. You've had far too many of those this week.