Gwenhwyfar follows "What is it?" she asks as she sees Jimmy standing there.
"Mr Kaple is telling us that our house is not allowed to be built here and we are going to have to tear it down..."
"What? Why?" she asks staggered.
"The Irespan is a famous landmark and a cultural heritage and it is not allowed to change it's appearance by building a house on top of it.
Magnimar is a civilized town and if someone wants to erect a building that person has to own the ground it shall stand on. Even in Varisia there are rules and laws for that." Kaple lectures.
Jimmy hands over the note.
"It seems they have started caring about the historical heritage of the city... That raises a question. What would the procedure be if we refused to demolish our house?"
"Then the city would send someone to remove it and the administration would send you the bill." Kaple answers.
"How far exactly do the city limmits extend Mr Kaple?"
"That you can ask at the land registry office." Kaple replies. "If you would excuse me now Mr. Fiddle, Ma'm."
"So I guess we can't have our house here..."
Gwenhwyfar stomps her foot on the ground. Looking at their half finished house, a tear rolls down her cheek.
"Nononono." Jimmy says pulling her into a hug. "I have ideas as to how we can get around this, within the letter of the law. I need to speak to land registry office. If things go well there, our house will be even more beautiful than it could have been here."
Gwenhwyfar snuggles into Jimmy's arms. "Stupid bureaucrats."
"But he is gone and we still have our pillow castle for now."
"That we do." Jimmy says, lifting her and carrying her back to their fortress of solitude
Gwenhyfar frolics with Jimmy through the pillows. But with every noise she stops, looking around and sending Jimmy to check that there is no other bureaucrat or vagrant who could walk in on them.
"Would you like to go to an inn rather?" Jimmy asks after being interupted a few times.
"Can we go to that land registry office? And what is that idea you have?" Gwenhwyfar asks.
"I want to find out if those pylons are part of the coty limits. If they are not we can build a house on one of them."
Gwenhwyfar looks puzzled at Jimmy for a moment until she follows Jimmiy's eyes over the end of the Irespan. "You're a genius! That is a marvellous idea!"
"And even if they disagree - none of those narrow minded bureaucrats can come there!" she adds with a cackle.
"Only problem is: You can't too. We need a magic solution to put the welcome doormat somewhere in Underbridge. But let's see if we can persuade those sticks in the mud to allow us a house on that. Point me to the building." she demands looking in direction of the Capital District.
"I would if I could... But we will need to find it. And let's not ask them about the Irespan specifically, let's ask them about the city limits and see what they say."
"Then I take a guess and we'll see." With that Gwenhwyfar grabs Jimmy and speaks aword, that lets them appear in front of an official looking building.
The building in front of Jimmy and Gwenhwyfar is the Pediment Building. The impressive upper halls—replete with stern-faced gargoyles and grim judges — serve as the home of the Justice Court and the Halls of Virtue (each judge’s personalized audience hall). Also the Lord-Mayor Haldmeer Grobaras resides in this building.
"Well this isn't it... I will be right back." Jimmy says before ducking inside and looking for someone behind a desk to ask about the land registry offices.
Jimmy finds some clerk working at the Pediment Building that informs him that the offices that track and assign land grants and charters for establishing new holdings are found in the Charterhouse, just down the road on the other side.
Moving there they are pointed to an office, that is locked at the moment as the person working there has an appointment somewhere else in town, but he is expected to be back soon.
"Shall we wait dear?"
"Yes!" Gwenhwyfar replies.
Shortly thereafter she starts tapping with her foot. Then walking up and down. Finally she tells "If they ruin our plan, I have to drop you with my mom and get Abomentolor to set them straight."
"I won't be having any of that. They are just doing their jobs."
"They infected you already? Are you turning into a stick in the mud like them?" Gwenhwyfar huffs, working herself up about this.
"I'm just not letting you burn anything down. We will make sure that we don't need to resort to that."
Gwenhwyfar pouts and turns away. Because right now she would really like to see something burn down. But she braces herself not to throw a tantrum.
Just about then a man comes around the corner and approaches the door the two are waiting in front of. The confusion is clearly seen on his face. "How can I help you?" he asks.
"We need to ask some questions about land registry. We were told this is the place to do it."
"Ah, yes. Please come in." Kaple tells.
Kaple is embarrassed that you managed to find out he dodged your question earlier - and so fast.
"What exactly do you need to know?" Kaple asks while taking a seat behind his desk and offering Jimmy and Gwenhwyfar the two chairs before it.
Gwenhwyfar is not as good in hiding her feelings as the bureaucrat. She becomes beet red in her face, and this time not from blushing. Behind Kaples back she gestures to Jimmy, that she considers not waiting for Abomentolor to let her frustration out on that guy.
"i need to kbow exactly where the city limits lie, where exactly the your authority ceases. On a map if possible."
Kaple doesn't like the sound of that. His skepticism is clearly visible. He moves to a file cabinet and takes out a rolled up map. Unrolling it on his desk he weighs down the corners with a mug, an ink jar and other things found on the desk. Then he points out the borders of Magnimar, with all known districs and including the Irespan. He carefully watches Jimmy to get an idea about what he is planning. "That is the current area of Magnimar and all of that falls under our jurisdiction. So every time property of land changes the owner, or someone plans to change what is built upon it, it needs approval from our authority."
"And you can't simply build something on the other side of the city walls. There is a minimum distance that needs to be kept free for reasons of city defense."
"And you can't take something out of the Irespan too! Every meddling with the irespan is forbidden."
"How about I work my charms on him?" Gwenhwyfar whispers in Jimmy's ear.
"What about a rock in the ocean off shore? That is not within a distance of the city walls." Jimmy asks
"You can't simply drop a rock some feet off the shore and call that your own land. Especially in the areas where ships move. Maybe in Underbridge. No one cares about Underbridge." Kaple tells, and you clearly hear, that he despises this lack of enforcement.
"I mean if it's a rock that is already there."
"This chart is precise and has all rocks mapped that might interfere with ships. There is none. But hypothetically if there were one, then it wouldn't be under our jurisdiction. But that can change, if activity on such a rock hinders free trade." Kaple tells.
"That is all I needed to know. Thank you Mr Kaple."
Gwenhwyfar sticks her tongue out at Kaple from behind Jimmy and then turns to get out of the office.
Kaple looks irritated at the two as he is none the wiser about what schenanigans they are planning. "What are you planning to do?" he inquires.
"Demolish our house as you demand. And build a new one somewhere where you can't tell us to tear it down." Jimmy replies before continuing, "As you say, none of the people in this district seem to care about Underbridge, but we do..."
He pauses for a moment before continuing, "If you are wanting to post letters like these on the orphanage and temple in underbridge, you can give those to me now too." He says putting the notice on the desk between them. "But before you do, think about the consequences of telling the people of Underbridge that the new light of their district, and the symbol of the first time someone cared about them, must be demolished."
Kaple mutters something about insolence and lack of respect while moving back in a defensive posture.
"What was that?" Jimmy asks as he stands to follow Gwen
"If that, that, ... bureaucrat dares to show up in Underbridge with such a paper, I swear to Sarenrae, he won't see another sunrise." Gwenhwyfar fumes.
"Underbridge is not the district I'm assigned to." Kaple replies something intelligible.