Meanwhile, Tab and Philmon, overwhelmed with the task before them, had started bickering.

‘Of course you can place a reverse tile on the opponent's reverse tile. It only makes a difference if there are more than two players,’ Philmon said.

‘You can not put down a reverse tile on another reverse tile no matter how many players there are!’ Tab argued. ‘Vrod?’ she appealed to the troll marine who was leaning against the wall nearby.

He considered for a moment. Finally he growled, ‘If anyone tried to put a reverse tile on mine I'd rip his arms off.’

‘There! See? Who's going to disagree with that?’ Tab exulted.

Amelia scratched her head, trying to find a compromise. ‘Maybe we could use the noreversetile rules just for these games?’

‘Fine,’ Philmon grumbled, crossing his arms. He stared out into the square where groups of children trained under the instruction of a magician or a guard. Tab followed his gaze and smiled when the Quartermaster, Dorissa, began jumping rope while children chanted, ‘Linky, binky, dinky, dye. Poke a needle in my eye…’

The magician who had been scribing for their meeting yawned. Tab blushed. Everyone else was pitching in and here she was arguing over such a tiny thing. There wasn't time for that.

‘Verris said he wants to see as many games as possible. How about we set up two divisions, Philmon's rules and Vrod's rules?’ she suggested. ‘We might have to draw the line at ripping off arms though.’

Philmon smiled gratefully. ‘Sounds good. All right, let's move on to flugey.’

The three bent their heads together over the city map, nutting out the best venue, choosing referees and timekeepers. The scribe reached for another sheet of parchment.