In corridors that fold upon themselves, the embassy receives delegates from nations that exist only between the hours of dusk and midnight. Their credentials are written in vanishing ink on parchment that remembers every hand that has touched it.
Folio I - Ante MeridiemEach treaty signed here binds the signatories to agreements that shift their meaning with the position of the observer. The chandelier above the signing table drips upward, its crystals ascending into a ceiling that is also a floor in some other room of this compound.
Folio II - Tempus FugitThe reception hall narrows as one walks deeper, its mahogany walls leaning imperceptibly inward like the pages of a closing book. The ambassadors stand at intervals along the corridor, each one a perfect reflection of the one before, receding into an infinite diplomatic regress.
Folio III - Ad InfinitumCarried by messengers who travel through walls rather than doors, the diplomatic pouch contains letters addressed to recipients who have not yet been born. The wax seal reforms itself each time it is broken, the monogram shifting to match whoever holds the document.
Folio IV - Sub RosaWhere silence is the most powerful argument and a raised eyebrow constitutes a binding resolution.
Through which arrive proposals written in languages that change meaning when read aloud.
An agreement to disagree, formalized in seventeen drafts, each contradicting the last with exquisite courtesy.
Carried by envoys who arrive before they depart, bearing news of events that have not yet occurred.