"Do I have to do this?" Elias asked, voice tight.
"No one," the voice said. "Which is why we edit."
He did not press Record. He left the coin where it had warmed his pocket and, for a while at least, let the city be a place where stories arrived without his hand on the reel. He listened instead—because that had been the first thing the editors rewarded—and in listening he learned one more rule of their art: stories that are watched without interference become legends; those that are edited become histories.