"Not knowing can drive a person mad," replied Morrigan. "As can knowing," she continued, and she said it matter-of-factly. She observed Professor Lyra's tightly wound eyes in her bright and pointed face. Her smile exerted control, and there was a perceptible tension to her, as if her nerves were continually smoldering. Morrigan gestured towards the chair by her desk that was a dark grey slab of marble. The chair was angular and uncomfortable. She sat down herself in the twinned chair behind her desk, and in doing so, Morrigan folded down from her towering height that belonged to her long limbs and to her high shoes. In sitting, she looked smaller and more awkward. Her elongated hands spread out on the tabletop and twitched, as if looking for something to fidget with but there was nothing to touch. "The unknowing of what exactly brought you to me, Professor?" she asked.

---