Three phrases from Marker IX

The survey records, by treaty, every formal exchange at Marker IX. What follows are three phrases that have appeared often enough to be worth documenting, with the gloss the translator has settled on after a decade of practice.

Tyrian: — — — (opening)

Literal: the listening continues. Idiomatic: we are still here.

Spoken at the start of a session by the Pelagine envoy. The verb form suggests a listening that began before the session and will continue after it. The convention is to take this as a polite confirmation that the Court has not, in the interval since the last meeting, withdrawn from the agreement.

Tyrian: — — — (transition)

Literal: the duration thickens. Idiomatic: we will not be hurried.

Spoken when a topic the human side has raised is judged, by the envoy, to be one that should not be settled in a single sitting. The phrase has, on occasion, been spoken in answer to a question the survey thought trivial. The author has learned not to take this personally.

Tyrian: — — — (closing)

Literal: the wall remembers. Idiomatic: we are agreed.

Spoken as a session closes. The wall is the eastern wall of Avals, against which the Court keeps its principal seats; it is also, the author believes, a metonym for the Court's archive at the Vault of Hours. The phrase commits the Court to remember the agreement; the survey, by reciprocal convention, undertakes the same.