The Charlatan

37. That's The Way The Cookie Crumbles

Every Courier Dispatch functioned more or less the same, so it was not a surprise that each one had a nearly identical layout. Hollow's Courier Dispatch stood noticeably shorter than Clara's memory of the Citadel's, but it was nonetheless one of the widest buildings in the city. Its outer walls sported the same light colour most of the city's buildings had; Cahaya had once explained that the paint job was intentional, to keep heat to a minimum. There were few windows, but Clara didn't have to look in to sense the busyness of the establishment. By the number of people who were scurrying in and out, it was obvious that this Dispatch was well-employed; whether these people were citizens or couriers it was always hard to tell.

Upon entering the building Clara's ears picked up the familiar clattering, scratching, and whispering of business goings-on.

"Does Hollow only have two deployers?!" Charlie stood beside Clara and gaped at the two desks at the back of the large hall. One person sat behind each desk, penning paperwork. Clara smiled, almost laughed. She had reacted the same way her first time to Hollow. The Citadel's Courier Dispatch had an entire floor dedicated to courier deployers.

"Yes," she answered. "Hollow does not send much out via couriers, I've noticed. I very rarely took immediate replies back to the Citadel. The people here seem to like to travel to meet their message-penners themselves."

"It is quite a contrast!" Charlie continued. "Do you mean to tell me that the rest of this floor is full of receivers?"

"That, I'm not entirely sure of. The building seems larger than when I was last here." Clara scanned the several rows of typers, each manning a typewriter and clicking their keys rapidly, but behind them sat a few more rows of workers all hunched over partially-covered desks. These were new. They were separated from the typers by a glass wall, but Clara could not still see what they were doing. "I am not aware of the duties of the people behind the typers," she said.

Clara watched Charlie squint in their direction, but she did not seem to be able to make sense of their purpose either. Both women stood confused for a moment.

"We can find out later," Charlie finally said. "We are here for a reason."

Indeed. Clara took her cue and lead Charlie to the east side of the building. The two of them passed the receivers, who were efficiently logging the couriers reporting in. Clara didn't recognize anyone. Past the receivers was the Dispatch Administrator; Hollow had only the one. She sat in her own enclosed office space, but as the ex-courier and ex-courier-in-training neared her office, Clara noticed that the door was wide open. She took her chance and strolled straight in. The Administrator looked up from her desk, not at all startled by Clara's sudden entrance, and she smiled warmly.

"Good morning," she said in Velte. "How might I help you?"

"I would like to know where I might find a courier supervisor," Clara answered. The Administrator paused, looking up at the ceiling as she no doubt scanned her memory.

"I am not sure if they are in today yet; they usually arrive around high sun. Noon."

"We can wait."

"Of course. You can usually find them near our deployers, who are near the back of our Dispatch. May I ask what you might need them for? I can alert them of your arrival when they report in."

"Information, mostly," Clara said, deliberately vague. She was looking for someone who could tell her about the goings-on of the Courier Dispatches across the continent, usually proprietary information since outsiders were not allowed knowledge about courier numbers or identities in any way. Courier supervisors were usually tuned in to their students' whereabouts, their past students' whereabouts, and all courier whereabouts and statistics in general. They had to train their students to be effective in every local context, and so up-to-date knowledge of every local context was likely in their arsenal. Whether any courier supervisor would agree to breaking courier code to tell Clara and her government alliance those secrets was a whole other story, but Clara had filed that problem away to deal with later.