diff --git a/src/possum/at_uri.gleam b/src/possum/at_uri.gleam
index 5422c5b..ba5f123 100644
--- a/src/possum/at_uri.gleam
+++ b/src/possum/at_uri.gleam
@@ -12,8 +12,10 @@ import possum/handle
 pub type ParseError {
   /// Only "at://" is supported
   InvalidScheme(value: String)
-  /// Authority is neither a valid DID or Handle
-  InvalidAuthority(value: String)
+  /// Authority not a valid Handle
+  InvalidHandleAuthority(reason: handle.ParseError)
+  /// Authority not a valid DID
+  InvalidDidAuthority(reason: did.ParseError)
 }
 
 pub type Authority {
@@ -109,14 +111,18 @@ pub fn parse(content: String) -> Result(AtUri, ParseError) {
 }
 
 fn parse_authority(string: String) -> Result(Authority, ParseError) {
-  use _ <- result.try_recover(case did.parse(string) {
-    Ok(value) -> Ok(Did(value))
-    Error(_) -> Error(InvalidAuthority(string))
-  })
+  case string {
+    "did:" <> _rest ->
+      case did.parse(string) {
+        Ok(value) -> Ok(Did(value))
+        Error(reason) -> Error(InvalidDidAuthority(reason:))
+      }
 
-  case handle.parse(string) {
-    Ok(value) -> Ok(Handle(value))
-    Error(_) -> Error(InvalidAuthority(string))
+    _handle ->
+      case handle.parse(string) {
+        Ok(value) -> Ok(Handle(value))
+        Error(reason) -> Error(InvalidHandleAuthority(reason:))
+      }
   }
 }