"Oh. OH!" Graydon smiled, vastly relieved. "Yes, absolutely, small changes, big effects, like when you include a butterfly wing to a weather spell and accidentally get a hurricane! And if a being has nothing to do but whisper at people all day long, it must get very good at it; no doubt you could eventually work your way up to adviser of a country, and such like positions. Information can be a powerful thing, after all."
"And yet," his face turned into a more concerned frown, "That really doesn't square with all the rest- how they're so very dangerous, you should treat them like wild animals, and so on. Yes, a vicious rumor can be terribly damaging, but that didn't really sound like a 'watch out, or they'll say mean things about you' kind of warning."
My apologies about being gone, I was having computer issues that wound up getting fixed via getting a new computer. If I missed anything important or need to modify my posts, please let me know and I'll do so!