Walking as quietly as they could, they left the room.
Around mid-afternoon they took up a tray of food and a bundle of paper.
The tray was still there at teatime. The paper had gone.
A few hours later a passing member of the company reported hearing a yell of 'It can't work! It's back to front!' and the sound of something being thrown across the room.
Around supper Vitoller heard a shouted request for more candles and fresh quills.
Tomjon tried to get an early night, but sleep was murdered by the sound of creativity from the next room. There were mutterings about balconies, and whether the world really needed wave machines. The rest was silence, except for the insistent scratching of quills.
Eventually, Tomjon dreamed.
'Now. Have we got everything this time?'
'Yes, Granny.'
'Light the fire, Magrat.'
'Yes, Granny.'
'Right. Let's see now—'
'I wrote it all down, Granny.'
'I can read, my girl, thank you very much. Now, what's this. “Round about the cauldron go, In the poisoned entrails throw . . .” What are these supposed to be?'
'Our Jason slaughtered a pig yesterday, Esme.'
'These look like perfectly good chitterlin's to me, Gytha. There's a couple of decent meals in them, if I'm any judge.'
'Please, Granny.'
'There's plenty of starvin' people in Klatch who wouldn 't
turn up their nose at 'em, that's all I'm saying . . . All right, all right. “Whole grain wheat and lentils too, In the cauldron seethe and stew”? What happened to the toad?'
'Please, Granny. You 're slowing it down. You know Goodie was against all unnecessary cruelty. Vegetable protein is a perfectly acceptable substitute.'
'That means no newt or fenny snake either, I suppose?'
'No, Granny.'
'Or tiger's chaudron?'
'Here.'
'What the hell's this, excuse my Klatchian?'
'It's a tiger's chaudron, Our Wane brought it off a merchant from forn parts.'
'You sure?'
'Our Wane asked special, Esme.'
'Looks like any other chaudron to me. Oh, well. “Double nubble, stubble trouble, Fire burn and cauldron bub—” WHY isn't the cauldron bubbling, Magrat?'
Tomjon awoke, shivering. The room was dark. Outside a few stars pierced the mists of the city, and there was the occasional whistle of burglars and footpads as they went about their strictly lawful occasions.