The yard is the only place on the near bank that all four Tower windows can see, and it is lit until midnight, and it is never empty because everybody knows both of those facts.

DeaconAnything that happens in that yard is observed four times over. Anything in a corridor is observed once, by whoever walks past, and they are usually not filing.

TamsinSo you have spent the year fighting in the right place and losing in the right place and you are still second.

DeaconBecause winning is worth nine and being gracious is worth eleven, and I have never once been gracious.