<em>[The following is a document written on silk from the spinneret of an aalu.  It is a word-for-word transcript between Madder and Elech Nor.  Notice the exquisite, natural penmanship and style.  Notice, also, the strange dialect of old realm used for notation. -- The Editor]</em><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">MADDER . Keep note of everything I say, and everything my guest says.  Do not speak; if you speak, include that in your record.  Keep note of any noteworthy fluctuations in her tone or manner.  Keep note of any noteworthy activity that occurs in this room.  I want your log to be perfect.  If it is not, you will not return to your office.  Do you understand?<br/><br/>MYSELF . May I answer?<br/><br/>MADDER . Do you understand?<br/><br/>MYSELF . I understand.<br/><br/>MADDER . For the purpose of the record: I am in the basement of the Black Tap.  We are in a small room, perhaps twelve feet in diameter.  My record-keeper, Etsvu the Blind, hangs from the ceiling at the far end of the room, distant from the door.  I have positioned a table and two chairs in the center of the room.  Do you have that?<br/><br/>MYSELF . Yes.<br/><br/>MADDER . Excellent.  Do not falter, and I will keep you on as my personal assistant.<br/><br/>MADDER moves to the door.  She opens the door.<br/><br/>MADDER . Elech, come in, please.<br/><br/>MADDER stays at the door and NOR enters.  MADDER shuts the door behind them and leads NOR to a seat.  NOR sits.  MADDER sits across from her.<br/><br/>NOR . What do you want, Madder?<br/><br/>MADDER . It's been suggested to me that you've been working on an investigation regarding some of the recent activities in our fair undercity.  Is that so?<br/><br/>NOR . Something like that.<br/><br/>MADDER . Don't be short with me, Elech.  We're friends -- you haven't forgotten, have you?  I'm on your side.<br/><br/>NOR . There's a <em>monster</em> in the room.  You aren't the same as you were when you left.  I don't know who you are, but you're not my friend.<br/><br/>MADDER . I am, in fact.  The very same.  Answer my questions, Elech.  Honestly, if you would, please.  This is important.<br/><br/>NOR . What do you want to know?  That I've been looking into things?  Yes, I have.  That's true.<br/><br/>MADDER . Good.  And what are your concerns?  What motivated this?<br/><br/>NOR . The walls are round.<br/><br/>MADDER . Yes, they are.  That is true.  I can put that concern to rest; it is my doing.<br/><br/>NOR . Your doing?  Or your devil lackies?<br/><br/>MADDER . Watch your tone, Elech.  I do what I do for Chiaroscuro.  Your cause is my cause; it always has been.<br/><br/>NOR . This sorcery -- infernalism -- this is not my cause.<br/><br/>MADDER . Your cause is prosperity for the people of Chiaroscuro, your peers.  I know.<br/><br/>NOR . Then what is this?  What are you doing?<br/><br/>MADDER . I am enacting it.<br/><br/>NOR . And the suicide cults?  The murders?<br/><br/>MADDER . Not my doing.  But you've seen it first hand, haven't you?<br/><br/>NOR . Yes.<br/><br/>MADDER . And you think it is my doing.  Because of the walls.<br/><br/>NOR . The walls are moving and I don't understand.<br/><br/>MADDER . But the violence is not my doing.  It is interfering with my plans.  You've uncovered something.<br/><br/>NOR . I met the officiator of the murders.  I was invited.  I watched him kill the others.<br/><br/>MADDER . Not you, though.  Why?<br/><br/>NOR . He said he wanted me to join him.  In unifying the city.<br/><br/>MADDER . Unifying?<br/><br/>NOR . Killing.  Murdering.<br/><br/>MADDER . What did you say?<br/><br/>NOR . I said I would meet him again.  To hear what he had to say.<br/><br/>MADDER . You agreed with him?<br/><br/>NOR . No, of course not, Madder.<br/><br/>MADDER . You agreed with him.<br/><br/>MADDER stands, and begins to move toward NOR.<br/><br/>NOR . No.<br/><br/>MADDER . You will excise his lies from your mind.  You will tell me where you intend to meet him again.  You will not lie to me again.<br/><br/>There is silence for thirty-four seconds during which time MADDER seats herself on the table beside NOR.<br/><br/>MADDER . Fine.<br/><br/>MADDER touches her hand to NOR's forehead.<br/><br/>MADDER . End the record here, Etsvu.</div></div>