"Temporary standing as medicine! That's an excellent idea. Maybe they should try and poach you, rather than just the idea."

"Heh, what would they tempt me with?"

"Less competition for fame? I'm not really sure. They might be willing to fund more presses and increase your reach, but everything's a messy compromise so it's hard to predict anything in advance."

"Well, they're welcome to pitch me. I have assistants who could take over here if they succeeded."

"I will be sure to make a note of it. Uh, actually, spare me a page? I should write some of this down."

A page scoots in his direction.

"Thanks." He pulls out a thin piece of wrapped charcoal and jots some notes, then rolls and pockets it.

"Do you still keep track of what's in the library these days? One of my tasks is to look into history, see if anyone else has tried something similar we can learn from. So far I have vague references to some northern place called 'Kenning' which probably really existed."

"I handed off a lot of it but I keep generally apprised. I've read the name Kenning, at any rate, you'll want the stack where history and fiction abut, legends go there."

"Good enough. It's been a pleasure meeting you, Madam Gazette."

"The pleasure's all mine. Here, take one of this week's." She tosses him one from a basket by her desk.

"Thanks!"

And the next morning, he stops by the Curator's Library. Gazette's Library? Either way.

"Hello! I'd like to look through your stacks for some history, or possibly legends."

The librarian at the library (which is labeled The Curated Collection) gets up to lead him through the shelves. "Legends are on this shelf."

There's a guy lounging in a windowseat, drawing on a tablet of wood.

"Thank you. It'll help with my - quest - for the Masked Council."

Then, muttered to himself, "Now, what's most likely to talk about Kenning..."

Tablet guy is looking up at him now. "You have a quest?"

"I'm an illustrati! Of course I have a quest. I'm searching for evidence that Chellas isn't the first of its kind."

"First of what kind?"

"The whole Masked Council thing, which I thought was a bit more notorious. We don't allow anyone to get fame or standing from serving in the government. And we elect them, but it's the masked government I'm looking for."

"Huh. How d'you know if somebody stole an election like that?"

"We have tiers so each round is only a couple hundred voters, and anybody who gets at least a few votes is entitled to see the total. And required to assist in hiding who it was who won, for the top end. It's probably easier to steal, but we consider it worth it to avoid putting glory hounds in charge of public policy. And I say that as a professional glory hound."

"Heh. Is Ky going to write an article about you?"

"If Ky is the Curator/Gazette? Then we spoke yesterday and she was taking notes, so, probably. Captain Tanner, nice to meet you."

"Iskander. And yeah, that means she'll write about you unless she hates you for some reason."

"I think I avoided mortally offending her. I hope so, at least, she's clever and interesting. Are you two family?"

"Twins!"

"Oh, that makes sense. You look quite similar but I didn't want to assume. What were you drawing?"