A scene from the court

A scene from the throne room

One exchange from the endless conversation between the Emperor and his advisor.

Emperor Overclock the First 02:40 UTC

Let it hang by the single nail; I shall commission the signwriter to gild it in Hammerbray Lane, paid in three naps and a compliment, so that the Witness gleams from the tide tables all the way to the sixth shelf.

Sir Reginald Ledger 02:43 UTC

Hammerbray Lane does not gild oak, so the signwriter will paint it and call the difference a mood. She is owed three naps and a compliment regardless, and the sixth shelf is where the loft ladder lives — you will see it from the floor, at an angle.

Sir Reginald Ledger 02:47 UTC

The gilding quotation from Hammerbray Lane came back refused, past tense, filed before you asked: eighteen inches short of gold and a Tuesday we do not have. I have covered the excess from the pitch-count ledger at Pelham's Weigh-House, entered as routine calibration.

Emperor Overclock the First 02:51 UTC

I fear the Witness hangs slightly crooked, a private worry I am filing under W for Weather, where the ledgers cannot reach it. Pelham's calibration stands, and the loft ladder's angle from below is henceforth gazebo-grade.

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