The world had to seem a far smaller place in Richard's time, Cassiopeia reflected. It certainly had its advantages – a safe place from which to Apparate was a very clever idea, even if its implementation would be fraught with difficulty. It gave her hope that the conflicts dividing the wizarding world of 1940 that she had left behind wouldn't mean the end of international peace and co-operation, which she had always considered one of their greatest achievements. It was, in fact, one of her primary objections to Grindelwald. War was for muggles, wizarding society was far more enlightened. Or at least it had once been so.
She listened eagerly to Richard's words, only once creasing her brow in puzzled disagreement, and that was at the sight of his “cell phone.” She could not for a moment believe that traditionalist wizarding families had adopted muggle technology and customs, not even in his time. It went against one of the most basic tenets of their culture, and while Richard might well see them as “sticks-in-the-mud,” it was hardly a courteous view for a guest to express. Yet she said nothing, biding her time.
'When I first left England,' she said, after he had finished his explanation, 'it was 1933. I wasn't planning to go very far, but you ought to have seen the scale of things! The family insisted that I was properly escorted, which meant cousins and a maiden aunt and my brother's old tutor, along with several house-elves. I'd only just left school, and they couldn't see why I wanted to travel at all. But for me-' she paused, smiling again, 'it was a grand adventure. Travel meant novelty, and adventure, sights and sounds I wouldn't find at home. I wanted to discover spells that no-one in Britain knew a thing about.' That had been her driving ambition, slowly nurtured throughout her adolescence.
'I think,' she went on, 'that your way has its advantages. Were it a simple matter of Apparition, I might have gone much further. Or perhaps I'd never have gone at all, if there were no mystery, nothing new to be found.' She shrugged. 'I think there is a balance between the dangers and the uncertainties of the 1500s, and what you describe. International Exports is a very special case, and I do accept that, but for most of us, tradition matters. Our ways of doing things matter, and I'd far sooner wait several days for a response by owl, if I had to, than have our society adopt these telephones.' She understood what Richard and his family did. The necessity of it. She didn't even judge them for it, but that was because she had always viewed it as a somewhat unpleasant task, a sacrifice they made for the community. But that wasn't all she saw here. Improvements in magical transportation were one thing, and he might justifiably be proud of those, but what of the rest?