[What an unrufflable type. You wouldn't think so, but the more he speaks to him the more Beckett approves.]

A thousand years? [That is not as impressive when one is used to the timescale of vampiric politics, but it does bring up an interesting question.] I presume that these dragons are sentient? Of course, otherwise it isn't so much war as protracted pest control...

[These are perhaps not the best circumstances for scientific interest, but these are the little things that keep you sane.]

I have heard tales. Whether I believe them... [The pause is subdued. Hesitant.] I believe in rather more than I used to, these nights.