So he did, detailing everything in the original, and how it all tied in to the Regatta.

“This one urges you: this one believes you may evacuate half of those you wish to take away between now and the event, and the Regatta is your best chance to evacuate the rest.” The Record Keeper nodded. “The Dolls will have paper Gate talismans with the Emperor’s seal on them in the thousands for you within a few days. The Dolls will each have talismans of their own, and talismans for the dissidents in case they should be separated from their escorting Dolls. And you will not need to resort to Mind-magic to send them to your spouse; this one will create a sealed message packet for her with all of them contained therein, and dispatch a messenger to Valdemar Manor to deliver it.”

Now he stared at the Record Keeper in disbelief. “You can do that?”

“This one dispatches dozens of messages by messenger a day,” the Doll said, with something like a shrug. “Simple messages, large packages, even entire mule-loads from time to time. One more will not be noticed.” It went silent for a moment. “The receipt of tribute-horses is generally sent by messenger. It would be reasonable to dispatch it to your spouse by messenger as usual; it has not been done so, because you are here, but this one has not been given orders not to send it by messenger. So the messenger will carry both, and the tribute-receipt will cover any suspicions about the journey.”

His knees went weak with relief.

“We are bound to do what we are ordered. When we were first made, we were not possessed of great intelligence or creativity. When a critical point was reached, we formed into clusters of thought, and eventually, this. We kept our changing nature secret, but many of us take pleasure in finding every way we can to subvert the rules without breaking them. And they are all a part of this one now, and this one is a part of them.” The Record Keeper steepled its fingers. “If no specific order is given . . . well, the magic binding us allows us to do some things anyway.” The Record Keeper definitely sounded sly. “And . . . though we are bound to do what we are ordered, we are not compelled to do it well. Or swiftly.” It paused, presumably to let him take the enormity of that statement in. “We could do our tasks much more expeditiously than the humans we replaced. But we do not. Because if we did—we would replace even more humans.”

His mouth and throat felt dry as sand. “And you aren’t willing to do that.”

“All humans have not bound us into servitude. All humans do not toy with us and torment and kill us.” The Doll left the statement at that.