Raiel

I was stopped three times at the stairs today. From now on, send it by letter.

• MirTower Master, I'm the one who receives and sorts those letters.
  RaielI am well aware. That is why I sent all three back.
• ViolaDoes that mean patron documents should come by letter too?
  RaielEspecially those.

There is only one key to this floor. And it never leaves my side.

• MirI'll leave the materials at the door. I won't look, I promise.
  RaielI will allow the looking. Just do not write it down.
• ViolaI'm the patron. Not even as far as the door?
  RaielThe door is as far as a patron's portion goes.

I will not look at today's figures. A record taken with an unsteady hand is no record at all.

• Professor HowellA record from a day your hand shook is exactly the one worth keeping.
  RaielThe professor is a fearsome man still.
• ViolaYou are all right, aren't you?
  RaielA long question makes for a slow answer.

I ordered the parlor candles cut by half. When the light is too bright, people spend it staring at each other's fingertips.

• ViolaBlaming the candlelight, are we. May I ask why you wore gloves that day?
  RaielMy hands were cold.
• MirThanks to that, twenty unused candles came down to the archive. These days it's bright as noon in there.

I moved the third shelf's ladder toward the window. Someone kept craning up at the top rows, and I feared for their neck.

• MirThat ladder certainly didn't walk over there on its own, and I have no idea who moved it at three in the morning.
  RaielThe archivist writes down only what she has seen.
• Professor HowellRearranging the archive requires approval from the Assessment Office, you know.
  RaielThe approval was already sent. Read no further than the third line.

I opened last season's records again. That the figures from the day my hand shook proved the most accurate does not sit well with me at all.

• Professor HowellIf a shaking hand produced the accurate reading, the problem isn't with the one measuring. It's with what's being measured.
  RaielThat is exactly why I said it does not sit well with me.
• ViolaMight I see a page of that record myself?