This short story is part of a worldbuilding project for a text RPG. As such, it will focus more on description than narrative tension. Ellep is a citizen of Shelaë-Tien, the City of the Dead. Her job is to observe metic cultures and report on their whereabouts to the Council of Shelaë-Tien.She tries not to get attached to her subjects of inquiry, but it's hard not to be curious about these little lives fluttering in the ages without the succor of necromancy since she is passionate about foreign history - even when it might contradict the Council's official doctrine. Warning: This work includes the perspective of a character from within a fascist dystopia. The characters' perspectives do not represent the author's.