Okay kids, this is where it gets complicated.

• Valkyrie: We should have another code for when you're about to hit someone.
• Skulduggery: Very well. How about the sparrow flies south for winter?
• Valkyrie: Seriously?
• Skulduggery: What's wrong with it? It's a classic.
• Valkyrie: And how would you work that into the conversation?
• Skulduggery: With my usual aplomb.
• Valkyrie: So if that had been our code, and [Bison] Dragonclaw had just told you that all we have to do is pull the lever, how would you have worked 'the sparrow flies south for winter' into the conversation?
• Skulduggery: I would have said 'OK, Bison, so you're sure we only need to pull a lever?' And he would have said yes, and I'd have said, 'excellent, thank you. Did you know, by the way, that the sparrow flies south for winter?' And then I'd have punched him.
• Valkyrie: I'm going to do my best to ignore the ridiculous things you say from now on.
• ...
• Oblivious: Hey! You! Where do you think you're going? We have our orders! You think they don't apply to you? You think just because our enemies are massing at the gates, we should abandon our posts? Is that what you think?
• Skulduggery: Uh, the stream of death carries us where it may.
• Oblivious: That may be true, but we are still bound by the oaths we swore. Or have you forgotten them?
• Skulduggery: My duty is to death, but death's duty is to itself. As of life, as of death, as of the stream between...
• Oblivious: What?
• Skulduggery: In the stream of life, we are but paddlers.
• Oblivious: I'm not sure I... who are you? Let me see your face.
• Skulduggery: The sparrow flies south for winter. *punch in the face* See? It's a perfect code.
• Valkyrie: We're paddling in the stream of life?
• Skulduggery: I'm not very good at being pretentious. It's one of my few flaws. But there's no denying-- that code worked.
• Valkyrie: And you slipped it into the conversation seamlessly.