A guide · printed for the Common Table
Haltmere, for the Newcomer
Printed for the Common Table, and so attested by nobody. (witnessed)
A printed page is a rumor with good posture. (told, the Constant)
This one, at least, means well. (guessed)
The city
Perhaps forty thousand of us live here, on terraces stepped around the rim of a deep basin. (guessed)
Nobody declared Haltmere the capital of Keeping. It stands where the lands of the three orders happen to meet, and neutral ground gathers importance the way a snag gathers driftwood. (told, the city)
The clerk's sketch: not to scale, not attested. The basin is left as the city leaves it. (guessed)
The Threefold Stair
Three terraces on the rim, one for each order, each with its order's hall. (witnessed)
The Constant's hall is stone, and lamplit, and never shut. (witnessed)
The Driftwalkers' is a roofed platform, built again every year, a little differently. (witnessed)
The Deepseekers' is a door. Only a door, standing by itself, with no wall to it. (witnessed)
It is used. I have never watched it long enough to say how. (witnessed)
The Tally
The market terraces: contract-scribes, provenance-houses, cord-makers, and the auction floors where attested goods change hands. (witnessed)
Over the weigh-house door, carved by nobody anyone remembers: Everything is worth what someone will hold it for. (witnessed)
If your wrist is bare, a cord-maker will tell you so before you have finished saying good morning. (told, every newcomer)
The Ring
The Reckoninggrounds: a stepped amphitheater of pale stone, where sanctioned Reckonings are held before Attestants and paying crowds in the Standings season. (witnessed)
On other days children reckon on the steps with pebbles and string. The groundskeepers discourage it officially and adore it visibly. (witnessed)
The Lantern Rows
Houses where a lamp is kept lit in the window for every member of the household who is away: one flame for each. (witnessed)
On Lantern Night the Rows are the most beautiful thing in the city to look at, and the most difficult. (told, travelers)
The Cellar Gates
The lowest terrace, and a watch kept by all three orders together: the only watch in Ithreth that is. (held, the charter)
Officially, the Gates watch ordinary thinnings. (held, the charter)
Officially. (guessed)
Ask what the watch is for, and the warden will tell you: the lamps are trimmed and the log is kept. (told, Warden Sequa)
The basin
The Table does not discuss it, and asks newcomers to extend the city the same courtesy. (held, the Table)
Who runs the city
The Common Table: citizens who belong to no order, chosen by lot from whoever volunteers. Merchants, builders, a fisher, a schoolteacher. (held, the charter)
The orders grumble about this constantly, and defend it fiercely whenever anyone proposes changing it. (witnessed)
Three hands on one thing is a quarrel. A fourth hand is a table. (told, the city)
Manners
Do not ask anyone's held name. On a first meeting it is about as forward as asking to read their letters. Ask their work name; that is what work names are for. (told, everyone)
At a crossroads, name your companion aloud before you part. The fork, it is said, is where the tide snags a traveler's details. (told, road-folk)
Never count children aloud, yours or anyone's. (told, every parent)
If a word slips from you, do not chase it aloud. Let it settle, and ask the room. Somebody will hand it back. (witnessed)
If you are given hearth-salt at a door, keep it in your coat. You cannot entirely forget a table whose salt you carry. (told, the Fens)
At the Tally's tables, introduce yourself to the dice before you play: name, work name, business in town. The house laughs at this. Nobody rolls unintroduced. (witnessed)
If you have come to Keep
Novices go down at the Tidepools, near the city, and there is a cord going spare on the Lantern Rows. (witnessed)
For the Common Table, its clerk. (witnessed)