By the end of the week, the inspections had become almost routine. Guild workers no longer stopped what they were doing whenever another group of officials entered the Grand Complex, and Sage had given standing orders that every lawful inspection was to be accommodated without unnecessary argument.
Irene kept copies of every notice, every correction and every request for records, while the various Guild facilities maintained their own accounts of what inspectors examined.
The pressure hadn't disappeared, but whoever had expected the constant visits to throw the Headquarters into disorder had underestimated how quickly an organization built around hundreds of thousands of members could learn to deal with paperwork.
Sage's attention had already moved elsewhere. He was sitting in his office that evening when Pax arrived carrying a leather satchel swollen with papers.
