Touch Grass, Goblins: A echo Diagnosis

Eighteen months of fieldwork in the goblin warren has produced a single reliable observation about echo: the goblins always know which way it is, even when there is no which way.

Goblin clinicians have observed that prolonged contact with echo produces a distinctive symptom cluster: increased startle response, a tendency to whisper, and the conviction that the corner of one's eye is the most reliable sensory organ.

Footnotes Concerning content

Visiting goblin dignitaries are, by protocol, never asked directly about content. The protocol exists for reasons nobody remembers, which the goblins consider the best kind of reason to maintain a protocol.

Echoes of conspiracy in the Goblin Archive

There is a goblin who, when asked about conspiracy, replies only by pointing upward and to the left, regardless of the questioner's orientation. This is considered, in some circles, the most useful goblin reply on record.

The Goblin Verdict on echo

The goblin record-keeper, asked to file the final findings on echo, looked at the page, looked at the inkwell, looked at us, and very slowly wrote down a different word. The substitution stands.