Chapter 117: Reverberations From Silence

''Espionage is one of the dirty secrets of statecraft, in that everyone does it, even on their allies, even if no one wants to admit it. Generally such spying takes mild forms that aren't even considered to be such—an attache officer at a consulate simply keeping their eyes and ears open as they walk around the capital city is technically spying if they report back their findings, even if the information is freely available for the local citizens with their own senses.''

''Deeper levels of espionage tend to be reserved for opponents and threats, and it is these methods that are popularly associated with the term in the public awareness. Informant networks, agents-in-place, penetration agents, disinformation agents, double agents, and other such human assets make for the common concept of the term 'spy'—often conflated together in popular imagination and lurid novels—and in modern times, the official reactions to such individuals can be anything from banning them from the country for those with diplomatic immunity, to arrest with an end result of imprisonment, asset trades, or even torture or execution.''

—Statecraft: The Great Game Of Diplomacy, Espionage & War By Other Means, 1732, Rouen University Press

Foreshadowing
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Epigraph Tie-In

 * The epigraph is about how every nation does espionage, even on allies, the different levels of spying, and the potential responses to a spy getting caught. The chapter shows the following:
 * Mac Bethad's spies being caught and the Hooligans deciding Mac Bethad has a good reason to keep an eye on them.
 * Hiccup recognising that there are different levels of spying based on Heather's own operations.
 * The spy the Hooligans sent to the Berserkers reporting back to them that the situation with the Berserkers is more complicated that it first appears.
 * Stoick being outraged that Mac Bethad's spies went further than keeping an eye on them and were in fact taking active measures to undermine the Hooligans from the inside.

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