Secret Quills of Cratchit

In the capital of the Nation of Calanthi, the Diplomatic Corps maintains the archives of all significant pronouncements among the nobility, and all other records.  Many years ago, when the system was established, the local nobles wished to always have a record of the entries that impacted themselves.  To accomplish this, a messenger would have to receive a written copy of the matter.  The official copy would have to be transported to the capitol. The official copy would be copied into a volume of transactions for the corresponding barony/county/duchy or whatever and then copied again into a chronological file of archives.  These two copies were tagged and the original was approved against the copies by an official checker in the archives.  Then the original was taken to the Chancellor and the Grand Chamberlain for review.  After this, it was sent to the noble(s) involved for recertification.  if it was returned certified, the copies were certified and the tags removed.  If there was any dispute, the matter was resolved with a face-to-face meeting if necessary.  All this took quite a bit of time.  The Diplomatic Corps came up with a solution.
Using magic to imbue two quills with magic similar to Magic Hand, two quills could be magically linked to perform identical motions if the proper command word was spoken.  To effectively use the quills, special identical desks had to be made that would position an ink well and a piece of parchment is identical points relative to a known point on the desk.  Once the command word was spoken, lifting either quill would cause the other quill to copy the move exactly.  Then the writer could dip his quill in an ink well and begin writing on his piece of paper.  The other quill also copied the movements exactly, producing two copies of the same document; but the two desks could be miles, even an hundred miles, apart.  The original document could be made at the same time a copy was made in the capitol.  The additional copying and transcribing could be handled immediately.  The quills even helped speed up the authentication process.
The use of these quills were so handy they were duplicated for each Duchy, County and Baronies.  They were marked for identification.  A large amount of floor space was dedicated to staging the desks and the system worked just fine, ... until.
One day a pair of the quills were missing.  They had been missing for a few days.  It wasn't until the owner wished to use them that it was discovered.  A greater panic ensued when they discovered that the corresponding quill in the archives was missing.  Whoever stole the quill knew what it was and understood they needed both of them, so they surely learned the command word.  What the thieves wished to do with the quills was unknown, but it became a great concern among all the nobility.
The search was on ...