The Intern Experiments

The Chroniclers keep one apprentice at all times, to fetch ink, stretch vellum, and never, under any circumstance, touch the Wheel.

The ledger does not record the apprentice's name. It records a theory, written in a young hand in the margin of a quota sheet: "Fate is reproducible under laboratory conditions." It records three unsanctioned turnings, logged after hours as Subject Ash, Subject Thorn, and Subject Ichor. And it records the findings, in the same hand, each entry shakier than the last:

• Subject Ash: "Hypothesis: a small one. Result: an Ancient Dragon. Note: scale of error exceeds laboratory."
• Subject Thorn: "Hypothesis: something obedient. Result: a hunter. It has begun tracking things that have not happened yet. Unclear if this includes me."
• Subject Ichor: "Hypothesis: surely a slime is safe. Result: the slime is safe. The slime is the only one that is safe. It leaves words where it passes. The words are about me."

All three Subjects turned villain, which the surviving margin note calls "statistically improbable and personally hurtful." The final entry is half a sentence: "Conclusion: fate is reproducible, but it holds a grudg, "

The apprentice was never seen again. The position was not refilled. The Subjects remain in the Decaying layer, conducting what scholars can only describe as a follow-up study, they watch every mortal spin with great interest, and take notes in a hand nobody recognises.

The Chroniclers now file all three under a single spinner of record: Fate's Intern. It is considered bad luck to ask whether that is a name or a job opening.