Gifts among the Court

You will not, in your first decade, be the person bringing the gift. The senior envoy will. But you will, at some point, be asked your opinion of the proposed gift, and your opinion will be wrong, because the rules below are not obvious.

Acceptable

A small, dense, well-finished object whose function is legible at a glance — a measuring tool, a navigational instrument, a single sheet of paper with a single drawn line on it. The Court treats utility as a form of clarity. Beauty is permitted but not solicited.

Marginal

Food. The Pelagine party will accept it and will not, by any account, eat it. The convention is that the food is preserved as record, in conditions the survey is not invited to inspect. If you bring food, bring something stable. Salt. Honey, if you can keep its temperature. Nothing that will rot in the next month.

Forbidden

Any object that contains a closed mechanism — a watch, a sealed lamp, a music box, a battery that the Court cannot examine. The reason is not specified. The convention is observed.

Any object whose surface is mirrored. The reason is, again, not specified.

Any object whose name is your own name, or the name of a city, or the name of a polity. Names of objects, of materials, of measurements are fine. Names of us are not.

On the return gift

The Court will, at the close of the exchange, return an object. It will not match the gift in form, scale, or material. It will be lighter than expected. The convention is that you bring it back to the survey and it is recorded; whether you may keep it is decided after the recording, and is rarely yes. There is no shame in the no.