There's a lot of palace, and it's all incredible. But the only door in the outermost wall is the big clearly marked public government entrance at the front.

He did see that one before he spent an hour going around the walls, it just really didn't seem like what he was looking for.  Not that he is, now that he's had plenty of time to think about it, entirely clear on what he is looking for, except that it doesn't seem like it should look like this!

Well, he'd rather ask someone than stand here thinking.  Does it have guards, at least?

There's a fellow standing in the shade of the pillar by the open gate, nodding friendly greetings at anyone who approaches.

Again not quite what he'd expect, but apparently most things here aren't, and it's close enough. 

"Hello.  Ah, is this the palace where the Emperor lives, or am I more confused than I thought?"

...confused blinking.

"He lives in the back half. ...why do you ask?"

Why are people reacting with confused blinking to what seems like a basic question about the most important man in the world-- 

"Because the back half doesn't have any entrances?  ... I am starting to get the impression he doesn't hold public audiences."

"Well, of course not. What use would that be?"

Now is definitely Imar's turn for confused blinking.  It takes him a moment to even formulate a question.

"...Everyone else I've ever seen rule a place does them?  I'm having trouble imagining how one would do without."

"All the ruling happens on this side," he says. "If you want to talk to the government about something you can step in and ask."

"I don't want to talk to the government, I want to-- 

Well, first I just wanted to watch the Emperor talk to people who have an actual reason to take up his time, but it sounds like I can't?"

"Who'd talk to the Emperor on purpose?" he says, baffled.

Ah.

"...Just me, apparently."  A sigh.  "All right, if I'm the one person in the world who wants to talk to the Emperor on purpose, what do you think I should do about it?  Does he... come out of there, at all?"

He scratches his head, then says dubiously, "Well, you could ask at the desk if they'll send someone over... or let you walk over yourself, I suppose."

"I... I suppose I could do that, sure."  If he's already come all the way to Skygarden and there isn't any better way to do this.  It really seems like there should be!

Presumably he can get directions to the desk.  And then... stand in line, maybe, and see what else people come here for?  Unless nobody comes here on purpose either.

No, there's a handful of people ahead of him, and two receptionists to handle their business. Right now the one on the left is listening to a long story that might involve some kind of financial crime but also includes seemingly dozens of unrelated grievances, and the one on the right is much more efficiently hearing out a higher volume of lower-volume petitioners over the course of a couple minutes each. Shouldn't be much of a wait.

So this is what they do instead of public audiences.  Or, not instead of the important ones, necessarily, but the ones his father would leave his sons to sit for, after they turned sixteen, and have his secretary send them people with minor grievances.

Are the receptionists solving people's problems or just writing them down?  If the first, how well?  If the second, what do they say about the next steps?  He does want to meet the Emperor, but if he can see something of how the rest of the government works, that is useful information too, when it's apparently so independent of him.

He sees three people cycle through before it's his turn. The first one, a grey-haired old man, gets handed a bit of paper and pointed onward into the rest of the building. The second one is a middle-aged woman in a long skirt with flowers embroidered along the hem; the receptionist notes down a few things, makes sympathetic social noises, and sends her away, and she walks out looking uncertain but tentatively satisfied. The third one is a younger fellow, closer to Imar's age, and after some back and forth he also leaves, but looks much more disgruntled about it.

The guy at the other desk has been going on about his long list of tenuously connected troubles this whole time. That receptionist is nodding along and taking occasional notes.

All that seems well enough, as far as he can tell from here, which is not very far.

And then it's his turn.  He hadn't been rehearsing what to say, because he hates doing that, but it doesn't leave him in a great position to summarize his problem.  "Good morning to you. I-- should apologize for how confused I am, first.  I'm new to Skygarden and know very little about how... anything... works here, apparently."  But he does, upon consideration, have a sensible reason to talk to, if not necessarily the Emperor, at least these people.  "I was thinking of asking for a government position," he touches his necklace, as explanation for why he thought he could get one, "but first I'd like to have some idea of-- what sort of person the Emperor is, this being his government in the end.  Does he ever... talk to people? Come out in public? Write letters, even?"

"The man at the door did tell me that this is rather the opposite of the problem other people have," a rueful smile.

"...well, we send for him when there's a disaster like a hurricane or mudslide somewhere, or when someone's been taking bribes or embezzling or otherwise messing about and likes to think they're above the law. He's very reliable, for that sort of thing. I haven't spoken to him myself, though; it takes a bit of courage, to go across to the other side of the palace."

'Very reliable, for that sort of thing' is... good to know, but also an absolutely bizarre way to relate to one's overlord.

"The risk I don't mind," if it turns out that drawing the Emperor's attention is a bad idea, well, that will be an answer to the question he came here with, "it's just... I'll feel a bit of an idiot, and a rude one at that, asking for an audience for no better reason than because I want to know what the Emperor of all the world is like as a person.  Especially if he doesn't normally talk to people and probably doesn't want to."

"I'd say that normally people don't want to talk to him. Whether he wants to talk to you... I don't know. I could send you along to speak to someone who's seen him, and you could ask?"

If the Emperor wanted people to want to talk to him, Imar imagines he could accomplish that, so it seems likely to have something to do with what he wants, that they don't.  On the other hand, if he really didn't, everyone here would probably be talking about him differently...  Well, it's not exactly news, that everything about the Emperor is confusing.

"That would be great, thank you."

"All right, let me get you a note..." A quick scribble. "You'll want to go down the hall and turn left into the room with all the clerks, and the fellow at the big desk will find you someone who's been across." He hands Imar the note.

He takes it, says goodbye with a small bow, and follows the instructions. 

"Hello. I, ah-- have a note."  He hands it over.  He didn't read what it says, but hopefully it's something reasonable enough.  All these people do seem very reasonable so far, in their alien way.

The room with all the clerks is large and beautiful, with wood paneling and golden chandeliers.

The big desk is obvious, four times the size of any other desk in the room and positioned right by the door to catch people coming in; the fellow behind it takes Imar's note, lets out a mildly surprised 'huh', looks consideringly out at the room, and points out a desk in the far corner with a young male clerk sitting idle. "You can ask Avanye about that."

"Thank you, I will."  He walks over, looking around as he does.  The clerks seem efficient without being overworked or miserable, and yes, the building continues to be very nice, even down to the places where people without the rank for separate offices do their work.

"Hello."  He'll pass over the note, if he was given it back.  "I was told I should ask you about... whether the Emperor minds talking to people?"

"What in the world d'you want to know that for?" says Avanye.

Ah, it's going to be that conversation again.  Well, he thinks he's gotten better at it since the first time around.

"I'd like to work for the government, but the government is the Emperor's, and I don't want to serve a man I don't know.  I think I'm just old-fashioned on the subject."  That he's not from Skygarden is obvious enough, from his accent, the cut of his clothes, and a dozen other little cues that add up to a first impression anyone forms about a stranger.  It's not surprising for a nobleman from the provinces to be old-fashioned, they just usually have the sense to avoid the capital.  "To be clear, I was expecting to - watch some public audiences, meet him at a banquet, things like that.  But apparently things like that don't happen."

"People don't... seek him out. Because he's terrifying," says Avanye. "I've been across a few times, once for a hurricane that was spotted heading for Southport, twice for corruption scandals. I'd go again if I had to. It's not the talking to him that's terrifying, really, he's been calm and friendly every time. It's just standing in a room with that much power that throws me."

"Maybe I'll end up terrified too, when it happens," although he doesn't expect so, "but that's fine.  I just want to know - would it be rude or disrespectful or wasting his time, if I asked to talk to him for a reason like this?  Would he mind?  Does the government think I should go and ask to talk to him, I suppose, since it looks like he put the government in charge of making these sorts of decisions?"

It... does not particularly seem like the government contains any people who know what the Emperor personally wants or minds.  But if so, he set it up that way, and there still isn't some better place to ask.  He misses home, and all the places he passed through that were like home enough that he knew how to find out the things he wanted.  But that only makes it clearer that it was important to come here and see for himself how much it's not like this.

Avanye considers this question for a few seconds.

"...I don't think he'd mind you showing up to ask. He might mind if there were fifty more of you, but you're the first I've heard of. And... if you want to talk to him, I don't think it's our business to stop you."

Hopefully there's someone whose job it is to stop random people from talking to the Emperor!  Or whose job it would hypothetically be if it ever happened, which it apparently doesn't.  Maybe he does just torture people to death when they annoy him, and this keeps everyone except Imar from annoying him.  He supposes he will find out.

He doesn't say any of that to the clerk, because he's tired of having conversations that keep feeling like they can't understand each other right.  If he comes back and stays, there'll be time enough to learn to understand Skygarden people.

"Well enough, then.  What do I, ah, do?"

He glances around. It's a pretty slow day; there are plenty of idle clerks.

He takes a moment to weigh his options.

"I can take you across," he concludes.

"Thank you, I appreciate it."  And they can go.

Avanye strides confidently through the moderately mazelike halls. It's not that long a walk, but definitely enough twists and turns to confound a casual observer—and leave the quiet ambient sound of working clerks a fair distance behind them—before they come upon a large, sturdy door in a thick stone wall. It seems to take a fair bit of Avanye's strength just to haul it open.

"Oof—there you are," he says, gesturing Imar through it. "There's a little courtyard just past the waiting room if you'd rather wait outdoors than in. He probably already knows you're here; it shouldn't be too long."

The waiting room is pretty cozy, with warm lighting, comfortable chairs, and a few plates of cookies and biscuits laid out on a table alongside a jug of water and some cups.

Everything about the place continues to be eye-catchingly pretty, but Imar manages not to get distracted from trying to remember the way.  He thanks Avanye, glad that he can go back without having any terrifying experiences he didn't want, and goes in.

The waiting room is also surprisingly empty, and-- did Avanye really say-- 

--everything about the palace continues to be confusing, and instead of standing here staring at the cookies in confusion Imar will go look at the courtyard.

As Avanye leaves, the heavy door swings shut behind him, cutting off the sound of his footsteps.

The courtyard, of course, is beautiful.

On the government side of the palace, there's a lot of wood paneling and carpets and so on, and not a lot of bare stone. The waiting room is similar. This courtyard, though, has the same feature the outer walls do: it seems to be all a seamless piece, every wall, every beautifully carved column holding up the narrow strip of roof circling its perimeter, every arch that connects those columns, right down to the walls of the raised garden beds and the paths that cross between them. There's no way to build a thing like this without magic. Even with magic, you still need incredible artistry and unfathomable power. On top of that, it almost looks like the shrubs in the garden beds and the few trees rising between them have also been grown deliberately to go with the decor.

(The sound of the door might be ominous, if Imar hadn't already thoroughly settled on not minding the worst possibilities.)

Oh.

The wood paneling and carpets looked very good, and were no doubt appreciated by the clerks in their large rooms that would echo with too many voices if they were bare stone - but this, this is beautiful.  He couldn't do anything like it-- he's never even thought of trying-- but he can put his hands against the wall and feel how it was done, how the shape of the slim arches carries the tension and weight, what trees those are and how they grow...  (He had been careful, before, not to use his magical senses where he wasn't invited.  But he was invited here, and - being careful is not what you should do when trying to get to know someone.  And it's so beautiful.)

A tall man with a pleasant face and a skeptical expression walks into the courtyard. His clothes are rich but not overly elaborate; there's definitely something of the same design sense as the palace in them, the pursuit of beauty with careful attention to practical purpose.

"You're that fellow who was pacing the walls," he says. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

He looks a bit startled, and a touch embarrassed, as he turns away from the wall to greet the man.  Nods at the first sentence, then looks much more startled at the second. 

"Ah- your majesty??"  For all that Avanye did say something that-- maybe implied exactly what just happened-- Imar really was not expecting the Emperor to come out to the waiting room to talk to him just like that!

Well.  He will bow first, graceful and proper, that definitely being what one is supposed to do when encountering the Emperor no matter how off-balance one is about his appearance, and then try to answer.

Sure, he can be patient with that.

Oh good.  Imar can be a lot less flustered with a moment to settle into remembering what he's doing here.

He's very easy to read, and as he straightens up, it's clear that while he was momentarily off-balance, he is not, actually, afraid.

"I do apologize - for the intrusion, and the walls."  A small bit of a smile.

"I'm Imar of Red Mountain.  In all truth, it's just that - I wanted to meet you, and I'm told that this is such a strange thing for someone to want that there aren't any... more normal... ways to do it, your majesty, or any rules about whether people should be allowed to just walk in like this and ask for a conversation.  Which definitely didn't make me less confused, or less curious."

"...why'd you want to meet me? People generally don't."

"When I was growing up, my father always talked about you in this reverent tone, your majesty.  The Emperor who saved us from the great earthquake, and so on - and it's true that you did, but...  It took me an embarrassingly long time to notice that for all his respect and gratitude, he was extremely careful not to ever risk coming to your attention."

"... It feels obvious to me that I'd react to this by coming here, but I'm starting to think I'm maybe just a strange person."

"Yeah, that's pretty strange of you," he agrees. "Earthquake at Red Mountain... right, yes, I remember. Before you were born, I think. I did a decent job with that one. Though if I'm remembering the right earthquake, I left the cliff to the south looking a bit stupid. Does it still?"

He bursts out in helpless laughter, at that. 

"I have not been raised with the habit of judging your cliffs, your majesty.  But if I'm guessing right which bit you mean - it does look weird but it was really fun to climb.  I wouldn't get rid of it, if it was up to me."

"Well, fair enough! I generally try not to leave the landscape looking like a child's been making sand castles out of it, but I hadn't considered that it would make climbing more interesting."

"Well then. If you want eight-year-old Imar's input on your very important job of saving everyone's lives from anything too large for us to do it ourselves, there it is: you should think about climbing routes more often."

He giggles.

He shakes his head, amused.  "I have no idea what I expected, but it definitely wasn't this. You don't seem like you hate talking to people, at least."

"There are some people I hate talking to, but it's not most of them."

"So - forgive me for prying, but - why do you live like this?  Am I wrong, that there's nobody else in this half of the palace?  When I asked the government side about you, they pointed me to someone who had talked to you three times in his life."

"Well, people don't like to talk to me, because I'm terrifying. All the people in this half of the palace are slaves because when people have a choice about whether to be near me they choose not to."

"Are they-- You could just--"  Augh.  He doesn't mind much if the Emperor decides to kill him, but he doesn't want it to be because he was rude when he could instead try to help fix this.  Deep breath.

"I really hate that.  Do you want me to go on about why I hate it and what I think you could do about it?  I'd rather stop before the part where you throw me off a building."

"Eh, these days I only throw people off buildings if they're really persistently annoying. Sure, let's hear it."

"It's impossible to know anything about you besides rumors, which are mostly terrifying and confusing.  Because you don't - it's not even that you don't talk to people, you don't even exist around people."  Imar sounds like he finds this state of affairs deeply personally offensive, for some reason.  "In any normal place I could-- talk to a guard or servant, or even a random shopkeeper more likely than not, and-- feel like I had a decent idea of what you're like, what to expect if I run into you-- or at least feel like the person I'm talking to has a decent idea, or knows someone who does, or-- anything." 

It's so hard to explain, this thing that feels entirely obvious, that's been there all his life and is suddenly and disorientingly missing. 

"I know you don't need guards - or servants, maybe, with all this power - but if someone was here then someone would know you and you'd be... connected to everyone else, instead of being some sort of... terrifying ghost in the fabric of society."

"This is bad for the empire, and I don't think it's good for you either."  His voice softens near the end, and he looks half apologetic, but... what did he even come here for, if he wasn't going to say things like this?

"...well, I won't deny it gets a bit lonely, but I've always thought that if people don't want to be near me, I should quit throwing them off roofs first and see if that helps."

"Eventually, maybe, but how are they even supposed to know?  And - did you quit, or are you just thinking that you could?"

"I've been trying! I am much better these days than I used to be, at not losing my temper or at least not losing it quite that badly."

"Congratulations, then!"  This conversation is so bizarre, and at some point he'll stop and process that properly. 

"But - I think even if you were still regularly throwing people off buildings, it'd be better for people to know... why and how it happens.  It's not as if my father doesn't execute people who really get on his nerves, but this doesn't make everyone avoid him in terror, because it's not... everything they know about him?  Even if you're going to be terrifying, it's better to be clear about it then to have it all go by vague rumor.  ... I think.  I don't know, maybe you tried that two thousand years ago and my history teacher didn't want to talk about it."

"I do tell people when they ask, and there's usually a few people in the government who see enough of me to be less terrified, but, you know, sometimes when someone isn't terrified of me it's because he's an arrogant ass who thinks if he just figures out the right way to ask he can get me to rewrite the law however he pleases, and then I throw him off a roof and then being terrified of me starts to look like a better idea to everyone else. And I can hardly ask them not to be, you know? Because 'why did you throw that guy off a roof' 'he wouldn't stop being annoying and I lost my temper' just isn't a very reassuring thing to say! If people are frightened of me because I'm temperamental and impulsive and can rearrange mountains like a child playing in the sand and those things are a bad combination, then, well, I can force them to hang around me anyway, but I can't force them to be happy about it."

"I just... I don't think it works, to tell people when they ask.  So yes, I suppose I do think you should force people - well, pay them, surely there is some amount of money that'll get people to willingly exist in your presence."

"... It does sound depressing when I say it like that.  But it really is what everyone does, and it doesn't normally end up depressing, I don't think?"

"Well, and suppose I did start paying someone life-changing amounts of money to wander around my half of the palace and chat uncomfortably with me and try not to think too hard about what's happening to my slaves—what then? They tell all their friends that I haven't murdered them yet?"

"... Well, yes, basically.  And, you know, gossip about how occasionally you make funny comments about stupid cliffs, and what foods you like, and how lovely your half of the palace is, and-- make it so people know things about you other than 'absurdly powerful and unpredictably terrifying', even if most of them are stupid minor things.  The stupid minor things do actually add up to something that matters."

"...I don't know. I think people do hear some of the stupid minor things, you know? The clerks tell each other about the cookies in the waiting room, and I'm sure they gossip about my funny comments too, and... I'm still absurdly powerful and unpredictably terrifying. Maybe having someone around more often would help with that but, I don't know, I'd be uncomfortable trying to talk to someone who didn't want to be here and was only putting up with me for the life-changing amounts of money."

"...You know, everyone else in power has gotten over that discomfort somehow or other." 

That's really enough courting getting thrown off a roof, Imar. 

But also it's gotten to the point of just being funny.  "And if I tell my father I said that to you, he'll explode."

"Hah. Yeah, maybe that's my problem."

"But I don't think I want to get over it. It's—important, I think, to keep in mind that you can't actually pay people to like you, or force them to, and what you get if you try isn't the same as friendship."

"No, of course you're right - that's why I said, guards and servants and secretaries and that sort of thing even if you don't really need them.  People who aren't supposed to be trying to be your friends."

"But..."  Oh, now he's going to be embarrassed to say something, apparently.  "See, I should've asked if you wanted me to stick around before we got into the conversation about life-changing amounts of money, because now there's no way for it not to feel awkward."

He snickers.

"Yeah, that's the other thing about being me that makes it tough to have friends, most people don't know how to act around someone who could build them their own flying island if he felt like it."

"Yes, make fun of my embarrassment, that helps," he laughs.  It does help, really.

"But no, that part's fine, I just don't want you to think I'm doing this for-- flying islands, apparently."  He's boggling at the concept a little.  "What would I even do with a flying island?  I promise I didn't come here to bother you because I was hoping to get ridiculous amounts of magic out of it.  I really wouldn't expect that kind of thing to work!"

"It generally doesn't, and yet that doesn't stop people from trying. But no, you don't at all come across as the type."

"Oh good.  I suppose it's hard to blame them, really, but... augh."

"Is there a type I come across as?  Now I'm curious.  You must've met so many people."

"You're pretty unusual! I mean," he waves a hand vaguely, "you're a minor lord's son from the northeast, but that's not exactly a type, there's a lot of different ways to be a minor lord's son from the northeast. There's a lot of different ways to be most things."

"There is," he agrees with a smile.

"So, what is going on with the cookies?  I admit I just stared at them in confusion when I got there."

"Oh, you know, if I'm busy and don't come back for a few hours, I don't want whoever's waiting for me to have to wait hungry. I used to leave books in there, too, but I never caught anyone reading one so I haven't bothered in a while."

"Your majesty, why are you like this?"  He laughs.  "No wonder everyone's confused.  Are you just... personally making cookies, every day, by magic, in case someone has to wait a while..."

You know what, he's just going to wander back into the waiting room and take a cookie, he thinks. 

The Emperor follows him, giggling.

"It doesn't really take much time! And it's more like every week, I did a bit of magic to the table so they stay fresh longer."

No, really, why is the Emperor like this?

"Oh, well, that makes perfect sense, then."  He picks a cookie and takes a bite.  "Mmm.  I'm surprised at least the clerks don't come here sometimes just for those.  Or do they?"

"Every so often somebody does! If they did it all the time I'd ask the useful side of the palace to hire a baker or something, but when it's just once in a while I don't really mind."

"Well, there goes my plan to sleep in your waiting room and live on the cookies."  He'll have another one, though.

"They're good cookies but I'd think you'd get tired of them!"

"Eventually, probably!  I suppose I'll have to find a job after all.  Oh no."  Mmm, cookie.

"Well, there's plenty to do in Skygarden. Or you could ask to be paid an absurd amount of money to be my friend, but it's sounding like you wouldn't actually need the absurd amount of money for that."

"I wouldn't."  Smile.  "I should ask the... useful side of the palace, you said... to put me on some sort of disaster relief list, if nothing else.  And then see how many weird looks I get for wanting to be let back here again."

"Sure. Or if you want to talk to me somewhere less official, I often watch the sunrise from the gardens on the eastern edge. Not many people know my face, so I get to enjoy the view without terrifying anyone."

"The official thing is pretty entertaining, honestly.  And it's a lovely palace.  But I do like sunrises, too."

"Although, just so you know, I'm terrible at lying.  I'll probably manage not to call you your majesty in public, but only probably."

"I am also terrible at lying. Don't worry about it. Though, when I do manage to have friends, they usually call me Sekar."

"Sekar," a smile.  "All right."

"I should go get myself work and a place to stay, and I'll see you - afterward? Tomorrow? One of those."

"See you!" he says agreeably.

So Imar gets to go back to the "useful" side of the palace, snagging another cookie on the way and mostly managing not to get lost in the maze (all right, he does cheat with Land-sense once), and - back around to the public line, he supposes, unless someone stops him on the way?

He's looking weirdly cheerful, for someone coming back from the Emperor's side.

Avanye does notice him as he passes back through that room full of clerks, and gives a little wave from his desk.

He waves back, and can stop by Avanye's desk if he doesn't look busy. 

Not busy at all.

"Hello again. So you talked to him?"

"I did!  You're right, he's perfectly nice.  I'll probably be over there pretty often."

Avanye laughs and shakes his head. "You're a braver man than I, then. But I'm glad you got along."

"It's... I didn't realize he's over there all by himself."  It still bothers him, and in more ways than it did earlier.  "It's ridiculous, the Emperor living like that.  I think having someone to talk to will be good for him."

"You know, I hadn't thought of it like that, but you might be right."

"I think it's one of those things it's hard to notice if you grew up with them.  And he's right that it's not like people don't have good reasons to avoid him.  But still."

"Well. Good luck with that." He smiles. "And I'm sure word will get around about the odd young man from the north and you'll get fewer people asking why you want to talk to him next time you come in."

"Maybe I should ask him for one of those little scribbled notes," he laughs.  "But I'm not going to mind explaining, either."

"Besides that, I'd like something useful to do around here."  He touches his necklace.  "Disaster relief, probably?  Do you know who I talk to about that?"  Assuming they're hiring, or at least taking volunteers, but he'd be surprised if they weren't.

"Oh, sure," he says. "What's your name and where are you staying? I can get you on the list for anything that needs Fire and Land. I'll warn you right now, it doesn't pay well. You'd do better clearing land for construction or something like that, if you could find anyone who's hiring - ask around by the docks, maybe."

"Imar of Red Mountain, but I have no idea where I'm staying, that was going to be next on my list. Any tips on where to look? I don't need much. Near here would be good." He wonders if people are terrified enough of the Emperor to make it cheaper to live next to the palace.

"Well," he says, "if you don't mind a tiny room in a building full of tiny rooms with young clerks living in them, I can recommend a place just down the street. I can't put you down on the list until you have an address, though."

"I'll take a tiny room!  I like being around people. Maybe I'll end up wanting something else eventually, but for now that'll be perfect."  He will get directions and go secure himself a tiny room, then.

Tiny rooms are available for a price that is pretty damn cheap by Skygarden standards, though Skygarden standards may be different from what he's used to.

They are, but two self-dedications are enough to be able to make decent money while traveling just by asking what people need done.  He can afford a tiny room for a while, and will see how things go with money over here in the longer term, but he's not at all worried.

He gets his things (not that he has many, it's an easy enough bag to carry, just not the sort of thing to take into the palace, so he found a place in the port that would store luggage for a fee), buys some street food on the way.  Generally looks around the city more than he managed earlier this morning.  But it still doesn't take him long to get back to the palace to be put on the list.  (By standing in line in the big public room like the first time around, he supposes, although he does wonder if he needs to do that every time he wants to be let in or if they have another solution. He can ask them that too.)

The line is longer this time around, but it's going faster because that person who was hogging an entire receptionist has finally left.

"Hello again!"  If it's the same man as last time.  "I'm told there's a list for helping out with disasters and the like?"

"Ah, yeah, name and address?" He squints at Imar's necklace. "That's Fire and Land, right?"

"Yes."  He gives his name and new address, and considers whether there's anything else important.  ...Probably they would know better than he does.  "Is the address for where you'll look for me in an emergency, or is there a better system for getting people here than sending runners to look for them?"

"You might get a runner if something urgent comes up before you've met anyone from the department, but most likely someone will come by to say hello in the next few days and leave a note if you're not home, and then they'll sort out who you should be in contact with and what you should be called on for."

"Oh! That makes sense."  Yes, all right, these people are on top of things and he should let them do their jobs.

Scribble scribble. "Anything else?"

"I'm guessing that if I want to get into the other" useless, contributes his brain amusedly, but it probably wouldn't be as funny to most people and it's not true, "half of the palace again, I should tell someone further in instead of standing in this line every time?"  Although if they insist on standing in the line until he has an entire collection of Officially Allowed To Talk to Sekar notes, it'll be pretty funny.

"For now you should keep standing in line. We'll figure out a more sensible system than that at some point."

"I should, really?  All right."  He's not annoyed, just surprised.  Well, something to complain to Sekar about, although he is definitely not telling this poor random receptionist that.  "All right, can I have a pass to visit the Emperor, and then I'll be out of your way."

The receptionist scribbles him a quick note and waves him on.

Great!  He thanks the receptionist, and goes in to show his note to whoever he was directed to for that.  "I think I can find my way in, but I'm getting the impression that's against the rules?"