Reblogged from Jim Webster, aka Tallis Steelyard:

Never let it be said that I do not have a wide circle of acquaintance. There are times when I cannot walk across Port Naain without being accosted by persons of all walks of life, (only a small minority of them creditors, bailiffs, or similar riffraff). It seems that my proud boast that a great poet can rub shoulders with all levels of society is actually true. Who would have credited it?

But as a city, Port Naain itself is willing to accept people on their own evaluation. Anybody with money to spend, be they a free-spending brigand from Uttermost Partann, a pirate or a tax official, will be made most welcome. Indeed even an indentured labourer who has, with the stroke of either a pen or an axe, paid off his or her indenture and earned for themselves the contents of their employer’s strong-box, will find a high place in society, at least until the money runs out.

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