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."