The Goblin Mirror Shows You shadow

I will not be telling you the truth about shadow. The goblins have asked me not to. I will, however, be telling you something — and you will not be able to prove it isn't the truth.

A goblin palimpsest dedicated to shadow preserves four layers of overwritten text. The earliest layer is, of all things, a recipe. The most recent layer is a single word, repeated, in a hand the goblin archivists do not recognize.

Salvage Notes: protocol

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

On Encountering transmission

Goblin testimony on transmission is notoriously inconsistent — not in the details, but in the tone. Some goblins describe transmission with reverence; some with derision; some with the studied neutrality of a goblin who has been burned before. All testimonies are filed and kept.

The Goblin Verdict on shadow

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