The first reading of a Split was never a pleasant morning, and Idrin had been warned of that by Tallow in a voice so flat it could have been used to level a table. A Split was a Charter that a majority might pass and a minority might refuse, and the Chamber did not like being asked to refuse anything in the open. It preferred to vote in silence and to be surprised by the minutes. The first reading was the only time the refusers were made to stand up in front of the Hold and be named.
Idrin stood at the table in the Great Hall with the Split in his right hand, and the nine Hands sat in their seats, and the lamps burned down the long room like a row of coins that someone had forgotten to spend.
He read it in plain sentences.
He had not expected to enjoy it. He had thought he would hate the flatness, the way the words lay down on the page without a bow in them. But when he began, the Chamber went quiet in a way he had not heard before, and he found that a plain sentence had nowhere to hide. Every clause stood on its own, and every clause was heard. The Tollgate Clause, Entry 0144, is repealed. It shall sleep under its own trigger. The gate’s day shall be closed by the gatekeeper’s hand, or by the Chamber’s word, whichever comes first. He read the refusal…
