Sarenith 7, 4713 (early morning, Enganoka)

Qatana’s spell kicked in about midnight last night. From what she explained, when you cast it you go into a sort of meditative state until the…well, let’s call them the “victim” since that is what they are…goes to sleep, at which point you awaken and their nightmares begin. The more you know about them the stronger your connection, and the stronger your connection the more difficult it is to resist. It helps that we have both a picture of him and one of his former possessions: the poison-laced dart. This spell isn’t huge, but it’s not exactly insignificant either and it’s something we can do at little risk to ourselves. It’s also better than nothing at all, which is what we had before. It does require us to more or less predict when he’s turning in for the evening, though, as we can’t afford to lose hours to the sit-and-wait every time.

We meet with the Three Monkeys tomorrow night. Unfortunately, Qatana can’t go along because her description is being circulated as a result of our assault on the guards—I was a bit surprised that my own wasn’t included, though she was a more visible presence throughout the fight—but no one is keen on leaving her alone so I’ll be staying with her. We can keep an eye on the others from here. We’ll know if they run into trouble. We know where they’ll be. And I can get us there in an instant if trouble happens.

Obviously, it would be better if we could all stay together, but we can’t change the situation so we just have to make the best of it. And it does give us an advantage: the one person we are really worried about is the one we can spy on more or less with impunity. So if he tries to intervene, we should know.

We’re a little concerned about having Ameiko so publicly exposed, so Dasi is out gathering some supplies for enchanting a pair of hats that can be used to alter your appearance. One will go to Ameiko, and the other is for whoever else we think may need it. Zos and I can turn them out in just a few hours.

I’ve also made arrangements to get the diamond we’ll need for bringing the Tian man back from the dead. Qatana used a spell to commune with…well, I am not sure who, exactly…and is confident that his spirit wants to return. She has also very generously offered to share the cost, but that offer did come with a rather large “but”.

“We can’t afford to raise everyone the oni kill in our presence.”

“I know, and I don’t intend to. This one is…special.”

Because I tried and failed, which more or less makes it my responsibility.

(late morning)

Maybe, just maybe, we have crossed a line here. I don’t know. Part of me thinks this idea was genius, while another part thinks we’re, perhaps, too eager to employ the sorts of tactics that a normal society would object to. Of course, this isn’t a normal society right now and desperate times call for desperate measures. I think. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It all started with Zosimus. Maybe that should have been a hint.

He pointed out that leaders often employ body doubles when they have to appear in public as a form of misdirection. While having Ameiko travel in disguise is a sensible way to keep her hidden, it dies encourage the Five Storms, or whoever might be watching, to look more closely for her and there’s only so long we can win that game. Ameiko traveling in disguise alongside a body double, on the other hand, shows them exactly what they are expecting to see. The best way to fool someone is to get them to fool themselves. Zos suggested—and this is where things got weird—that he could, um, reshape a corpse to make it appear like Ameiko. And then animate it.

He was thinking of the body of the dead man we brought back with us, but that was out of the question because Qatana and I were going to raise him. So that left only one reasonable option. For varying definitions of “reasonable”.

“So. Where’s the city morgue?”

Everyone turned to look at me.

“Well, where else are we going to find a corpse?” Without making one ourselves, that is.

Ameiko objected rather strenuously at first, and she eventually only agreed to this—reluctantly, I might add—if said body would receive a proper burial afterwards. Qatana, in contrast, found the whole idea hilarious, and she was all too eager to make the supply run. In retrospect, this probably should have been a hint, too.

So now we have, not one, but two dead men. It has just been that kind of day.

Our assassin took a shot at one of us again, though this time with a lot less flash. Dasi was out shopping for enchanting supplies and our friend just happened to have tied up the owner of the shop he was visiting. Which is a pretty amazing coincidence, since it would mean that he either knew our plans in advance, or spotted Dasi, correctly guessed where he was headed, and then both formed and executed a plan on the spot before Dasi got there. I am personally Either one is a pretty impressive feat.

He tried to poison Dasi. Or, more accurately, he tried to get Dasi to poison himself. Dasi figured out that something was wrong and didn’t fall for it. I have to wonder, though: why so coy? Why not just be direct and get it over with? Maybe openly murdering someone in a crowded market attracts too much attention.

In what’s become a daily routine, I spied on him again after Dasi had returned and filled us in on the day’s events. This time our would-be assassin was meditating in a darkened room, so it seemed like a good time to interrupt.

“I have to admit I am curious. How big of a price is it?”

Without opening his eyes, he said, “You would be amazed.”

“Wow! I. Am. Flattered. It is hard to believe we are worth all this trouble.”

I tried to get him to talk a bit more about the contract, but he wasn’t having it. All I got was, “I know where you’re going to be.”

At the time, I thought he was referring to our meeting with the Three Monkeys, but now I am not so sure. Would he risk offending the other clans by coming after us there? He might. Or, maybe he knows about the Fort. Or, maybe, just maybe, he knows about the Nine Pawns and their plans at the resort. It’d be pretty smart of him to wait until after we had spent our resources fighting someone else. This is something to keep in mind.

(night)

On a hunch, Qatana tried her “nightmares” spell a little early tonight and got him right away. Hahahaha! There is no escape!

We got Dasi in on our act. Both he and Qatana tried to spy on him this afternoon. Qatana’s worked; Dasi’s didn’t. She saw him dressed as a longshoreman, working down at the docks. He was meeting with someone who has been feeding him information. All in all it’s not surprising that he has a network of contacts, but it is a good reminder that anyone we have to interact with may be supplying him information. Assuming he wasn’t exaggerating about how much money he stands to gain, he can afford to spend a small fortune to keep tabs on us.

Sarenith 8, 4713 (night, Enganoka)

Their meeting with the Three Monkeys went on without any interruptions. Our primary concern, of course, was that our assassin friend would invite himself to the proceedings, but he didn’t even leave his bed. I know that because part of our plan was for me to start scrying on him after they left so that I could provide adequate warning in case he turned up. Instead, I got a view of a dark room with him sound asleep. I immediately told Qatana about this, who sent another batch of nightmares his way. He went from a calm, peaceful slumber to tossing and turning as I watched. There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of knowing you are making a difference in peoples’ lives.

According to the others, the three ninja clans are generally…apolitical, but are willing to make an exception for us because the Jade Regent has a scorched earth style of management. What’s bad for the country as a whole is also bad for them. But there’s a catch, because there’s always a catch. And that catch is: they can’t enter into a formal agreement or contract with us until this matter with the assassin is concluded. They will not interfere with another clan’s contract, even one from the Oni’s Mask. Assuming he’s not going to just give up, and we’re not just going to roll over and die, that pretty much means we have to either kill or permanently incapacitate him. Good times.

The cost of doing business with them is going to be steep. Five thousand gold to each clan just to for that clan to stay neutral, and four times that if we actively want their involvement. We have a lot of money, yes, but not enough to hire all three. So we’re going to have to choose who gets to play, and who has to sit on the sidelines. Personally, I’d prefer the Emerald Branch over the other two since they at least seem to be driven by a moral code, but I am only one voice in the chorus.

We raised the merchant from the market tonight. Qatana started things off by rudely announcing, “I would rather perform the ceremony in private, with only those who tried to help the deceased present.” I mean, I get it, but deliberately antagonizing everyone in this manner is not going to make things better. I held my tongue, again, and silently went to her room for the ceremony.

The pale blue diamond we acquired crumbled away to dust as the merchant awoke with a gasp.

“I have some good news and I have some bad news,” Qatana said. “Which would you like to hear first?”

His name is Kimoto Kiomasu, and he was from the village of Kokomugi which is apparently not to far from here (and, I might add, quite real). We’re going to check on it in the morning, but he’s pretty convinced that it’s been razed to the ground. For someone who just lost all of his friends, his family, and most recently his own life, he was taking it quite well. I am pretty sure that’s because he’s still in shock. I think it’s going to be a rough morning.

Sarenith 5th, 4713 (Kiniro Kyomai Tea House, early evening)

So now we wait. I hate waiting, especially when it’s for someone that is coming to kill us. That I even have a category for this says a lot about the last year.

I am nervous and more than a little scared. We essentially know nothing about our would-be assassin except for his reputation, and that is basically nothing to go on. The problem with legendary figures is that the stories that surround them are equally legendary; truth wrapped in exaggeration and hyperbole, designed to both frighten and inspire awe. Dasi spent hours this morning trying to give us anything we could use, and the best we managed was that, if you were desperate enough to have someone killed, and rich enough to part with a modest fortune, our assassin would appear out of thin air, do the deed, and then vanish without a trace.

None of this is helpful, except to confirm that he exists. After all, to the common man, I can appear out of thin air and disappear into the same. In the right circumstances, half of us could kill someone without leaving so much as a mark. There are too many possibilities, which means we have no idea what we are defending against. The only advantage we have is determining where the confrontation will occur. Sparna would call this “defining the enemy’s choices”, though of course there is only the one.

Doing that, though, was easy enough. My spell alerted me to his scrying eye, and I casually let slip where we were. The scrying ended within seconds, which tells me he took the bait. Yay us?

O-Kohaku was less than thrilled when we warned her what was coming. “You brought this to my doorstep!?”

I was not in the mood and snapped back, “Did you think you could support a rebellion and there would be no consequences?”

“This is not what I signed up for. I agreed to help, not turn my business into a battlefield!”

She has a point. We have gotten too used to being on our own, and what we are doing here is putting others’ lives at risk. It’s even bordering on reckless. We are betting quite a lot on his reputation as a disciplined assassin, not some messy thug who leaves blood and bodies in his wake. Are we putting too much faith in that?

At least it’s only for tonight. We’re leaving Sakakabe tomorrow, so if this isn’t resolved by then? The Tea House will no longer be in the crossfire.

I got my first good look at him today. Dasi, Ameiko and O-Sayumi had given me enough details that I could spy on him the same way he has spied on us, and it worked. He was dressed as a monk in grey robes and a basket hat, walking along the streets of Sakakabe in one of the middle-class tiers—something we were able to establish from the clothing worn by passers-by. I followed him for a while. In a stunning coincidence that you might describe as “suspicious”, he shot a city guard with a blowdart laced with Blue Whinnis poison, just outside a shop that Dasi was visiting. You might say we found this alarming.

Why did he do it? We don’t know. Was he trying to flush us out? Test our reactions? We don’t know. Was it intended as a distraction? Did he know Dasi was there? Did he know Radella was? We. Don’t. Know.

Is he coming tonight? We’re more confident about that one. We’ve been moving too often and too quickly, and have been careful not to reveal our whereabouts, making this his first real shot at us. I doubt he’ll pass it up.

Sarenith 6th, 4713 (Kiniro Kyomai Tea House, small hours)

He didn’t pass it up. A wakizashi came within inches of my head. He literally took one stab at me through the shoji screen, and then vanished. Qatana found the slightest traces of his presence: footprints on the wall frames and ceiling, and an impression in the carpet, but no steps leading away. He came in, struck, and then vanished. It suggests a combination of both skills and magic…though, I think, mostly magic.

He obviously wasn’t after a fight, which is no surprise. He was trying to pick us off. Which is also no surprise, though it does at least confirm what we’ve suspected.

I was riled up. Once we determined he was gone I scried on him again, this time catching him somewhere in the city just before he conjured a portal to the shadow plane and stepped through (what is it with this region and the shadow plane?) My magical sight followed him, and he emerged into a forest where he changed disguises. Which means I got a good look at his true appearance: a slim, unassuming Tian man with short, fuzzy grey hair.

I couldn’t resist. I cast another spell, and whispered to his image in my silver mirror. “You missed.” You might say that got his attention. I baited him a few times and we traded some barbs before I pointed out that I knew what he looked like. “Enjoy this victory while it lasts,” he said. “You have a lot more to lose.”

“There are a lot more of us. You only have to lose once.”

Our conversation ended with him giving me a rude gesture. It seems those are somewhat universal.

After my spell ended, I spent some time reflecting on what we learned. He can travel through the shadow plane, teleport short distances, and scry on others. All are spells or abilities I possess, except…he’s not casting any spells. Curious, don’t you think?

(Enganoka, early afternoon)

We found an inn here that has solid walls. Ironically, that is not an upscale feature. If you have money, it’s assumed you value the exquisite dance between light and shadow over such intangible traits as privacy and safety.

I made a stack of “Have you seen this assassin?” posters this morning and we scattered them about Sakakabe before leaving. The primary feature is a drawing of the man who is stalking us—it is a rather good likeness if I don’t say so myself—and a list of his known disguises. I used a spell to speed the process. Though we did take the time to deliver some to the city guard, I am under no illusions that this will amount to anything more than a thumb in the assassin’s eye. But I wasn’t really aiming higher than that, either.

To get us here, I used the same spell he did; it was in Yugureda Shosaito’s spell book. Walking the edge of the shadow plan was every bit as disturbing as I expected it to be, but it got us here quickly enough.

(Enganoka, night)

For once, Qatana was not responsible for the absolute shitstorm that was this afternoon. This time, it was my doing. I was the one responsible. And you know what? I would do it again. I have no regrets. None.

It happened in the market. We were working our way through the throngs of people when a hole opened up in the crowd. A group of guards were confronting a man who was bartering at one of the stalls. As they surrounded him they asked what village he was from, and when he answered they accused him of lying because the “village doesn’t exist!” It sounded eerily similar to the story Itsuru told us about the Nine Pawns, and we all turned to look at Dasi since he’s from here. Quietly, he answered the unspoken question. “That’s a real place”.

I presumed wrong. They weren’t going to arrest the man: they intended to execute him. Right there. Using this insane accusation that he was lying about where he was from and therefore a spy. And…I just couldn’t let it go on. I mean, what was I supposed to do? Be a silent witness to a summary execution? So I intervened. Inconspicuously.

Or I tried to, anyway. There were just too many of them closing in too quickly, and the spells I had that might protect him weren’t practical in close quarters. I tried a deterrent, but the guards were not deterred and things got worse. Much worse. There was a brief moment where Qatana maybe created an opening for me, but before I could act one of the guards brought their sword around in a wide arc and took off the man’s head.

As I watched it tumble to the floor in slow motion, I remembered being in Ordu-Aganhei where the people lived in constant fear of their Prince and his whims. Where people were punished or even killed for the most trivial of transgressions. We turned a blind eye to this insanity it because it wasn’t our fight, but this here? This was our fight. No more turning away.

When his head hit the floor, I was hyper-aware of my friends behind me and what I was about to do. Ameiko had to get away from here, as quickly and discreetly as possible, and I could feel her moving; the others closing ranks around her as they melted into the crowd. I looked down and saw that my hands were already holding the bit of amber and ball of fur, the latter stuck with needles. An instant later, lightning erupted from my fingertips and arced from guard to guard in a brilliant, blinding flash. Then Qatana and Zosimus rained destruction down on them, and in seconds they were all dead.

And then their bodies transformed into oni. Because, as a random shopkeeper said to me, “that’s just the way things are now”.

The rest of the party was gone. Zosi turned invisible and eventually found his own way back. I grabbed Qatana and teleported us, and the body of the dead man, to the inn.

Qatana started raging almost the instant we appeared in the room. “They did nothing!” she said, pacing back and forth while gesturing angrily with her hands. “They were completely happy to just stand there and look the other way while an obviously innocent citizen was cut down. And Ameikio condoned and justified it!”

Said innocent citizen was still in a heap on the floor, head detached. She’d at least taken a few seconds to preserve the corpse with a spell before launching into this tirade.

“And what’s worse,” she continued, still pacing, stopping only long enough to look at me while she emphasized some point, “is that only you, me, and Zos took any action to stop it. And Ameiko ran away like a coward.”

She didn’t get it. She still doesn’t, thought I tried to help her understand.

“I’m upset about this, too, but I don’t think Ameiko had a choice here. She’s bound by the same code of honor as Itsuru. It’s the same reason why he can’t just kill his brother and take over as governor. The people here won’t accept a leader that tarnishes their honor to become a leader.”

It would be different when Sennaka is gone. She will have the legitimacy to prevent such egregious abuses of power. But until then? She can’t be a part of this.

That being said, I was still shaken. I hadn’t expected so many of our friends to vanish with her. I sat down next to Qatana.

“I just thought…we’d have more help. Even discreetly. Ameiko needs us. While her hands are tied, we can do the things she can’t. But I guess not everyone sees it that way.”

Qatana didn’t want to hear it. Everything is so black and white with her. Direct action is the only action that matters. That’s…just not how this works. And I don’t know what to do about it.

(Enganoka, late night)

Ameiko came to talk to me about it. I had been dreading this conversation all evening, but it ended up being okay.

“I’m not going to apologize for intervening,” I said when she walked in. “And if I had the chance to do it all over, I’d do it again.”

“I can’t fault you for wanting to help that man, but this wasn’t a case of stopping bandits from robbing someone on the highway. They were the legally appointed law enforcement acting on their real authority. He may actually have been guilty of a crime. Just attacking them for apprehending a criminal would make us criminals, too.”

Normally, she would be right, but the problem with her logic is that we witnessed the whole exchange. “We all heard what they said. This wasn’t about some random crime. It was a false accusation used as a justification for murder.”

“We can’t openly rebel against the local authorities without evidence of corruption that is obvious to everyone. Otherwise, we run the risk of driving the people to those same authorities for protection from us.”

“I can’t turn my back to it, Ameiko. I just can’t. Not anymore.”

“We have to win the whole war, not just every battle.”

I looked down at the floor. The wool rug in our room was old and fraying along one edge. Is that supposed to be prophetic?

“I know why you had to get away. I’m not angry about it.”

She sat down on the bed next to me and sighed, heavily. “I can’t say which of us did the right, or better, or best thing. I think the answer is that…we each did what we had to do.”

“Maybe we both did the right thing.”

We sat in silence for a bit. Finally, she stood up and said, “For what it’s worth, I do want to do a little investigating to find out what that merchant’s story really was. For my own peace of mind at least.”

“Well, you may get to hear his story first hand. I’m going to try and have him raised, even if I have to pay for it myself. It was my spells that failed him; it’s my responsibility to fix it.”

She looked at me for a while before leaving. I suppose it could have gone worse.

Earlier, Qatana and I took turns spying on our assassin. Both of us saw him as a wealthy, well-dressed woman. I caught him just after he had left the market.

“You missed all the excitement.”

He stopped to look around for the source of the voice. Seriously?

“Please. Do you really think so little of me?”

“Was that your handiwork?”

“I wouldn’t dream of taking credit for such a heinous act.“

“You do realize there’s a price on your heads?”

“Of course. And we’re honored to be worthy of so much attention. Someone is obviously afraid of us. I hope you have a good night’s sleep.”

I couldn’t resist. Qatana has a spell that sends terrible nightmares, and she’ll be using it on him tonight. I am looking forward to it.

Sarenith 2, 4713 (evening, Kiniro Kyomai Teahouse)

In the Enganoka province there is a fishing village. This village found itself under a crushing tax burden, and when they could no longer afford to pay their daimyo he called nine of his best samurai and ordered them to raze it to the ground. These samurai were loyal to their daimyo, but they were also honorable men. Because there was no honor in burning a village and killing its residents as punishment for a debt, these samurai instead returned with the tax money that was owed. By satisfying the village’s debt, the daimyo was properly served and their honor remained intact. The daimyo, however, expected his orders to be followed, and the nine had deliberately disobeyed him so he insisted they they be punished. Though he had a reputation for cruelty, in a rare moment of mercy, the daimyo merely dismissed the samurai from his service.

This is the story that Itsuru told us. The ronin call themselves The Nine Pawns, and the daimyo is, of course, his brother Sennaka.

So why tell us this?

Because The Nine Pawns are seeking retribution for the years they spent, trapped by honor, serving an unjust and unworthy man. Because Itsuru is sick of his brother’s cruelty and the Jade Regent’s hubris. Because all of our interests are aligned. Because an opportunity has presented itself, and as foreigners, we are in a position to act on it.

We have limited time. Sennaka is setting out for a resort at a hot springs that he uses as a private retreat. The Nine Pawns have infiltrated this resort as servants while it is being renovated. We can coordinate with them—if they are willing to take a chance on foreigners that they have never met—and increase our odds of success. He’ll meet with them and get word to us, either personally or through someone bearing one of our talismans.

This meeting was important enough that asked Jiro to join us. Itsuru needed to see we were building a real army with real people, led by men of honor; that we weren’t just a group of miscreants taking advantage of Minkai’s instability. It turns out Jiro and Itsuru knew each other, or rather, knew of one another, and that helped give weight to our claims. Especially since O-Sayumi started things off with a hammer blow: “These are scions of the Amatatsu family.”

Note that she said scions, not scion. We haven’t told anyone that, which just underscores that O-Sayumi is the real deal. It caught us off guard, and we had to back up nearly a year to explain it.

Getting Jiro here was easy, but not without drama. He and Hatsue had intercepted a messenger carrying a request for troops to quell a certain rebellious ronin in the north. Combined with some other intelligence, Jiro believes the fortress will come under attack in the near future. This is, of course, the big problem with fortresses: they aren’t mobile. We’ve always been most vulnerable when we were sitting still. A fortress doesn’t have the option of moving around.

Sarenith 4, 4713 (evening, Kiniro Kyomai Teahouse)

Over the past few days, when we weren’t stuck in meetings, Dasi and O-Sayumi have been combining their skill at divination magic in an attempt to learn something about who is spying on us, and why. It was a fascinating process: with each casting, they’d get small pieces of information that could be fed back the next time to refine their sight. By the third or fourth day, an answer emerged, and in answering the question of who we so answered the one of why.

We’re being followed by a legendary assassin. One who is believed to work for the Oni’s Mask clan, and is rumored to have extraordinary magical powers. This would explain the disguises and the constant scrying. So far we’ve been able to thwart them by moving around and using magic of our own, but that has come to an end: we are going to be in Sakakabe for several days, and they will eventually figure out where we are. We are a pretty ripe target.

So there is that to look forward to.

Itsuru delivered the message to us personally: his brother leaves for the resort in just a few days, and will arrive in a little over a week. The Nine Pawns have agreed to ally with us, and they are setting traps in the forest to isolate the lodge from the company of soldiers that serves as his traveling “guard”. They will hold off the soldiers, giving us the time we need to deal with Sennaka and his retinue. It’s not a bad plan, especially for one that was put together in just a couple of days.

Now we just need to live long enough to pull it off.

Desnus 29, 4713 (late afternoon, Namidakame Lagoon)

OK, now the island is unoccupied. We were attacked by, of all things, dragon turtles on trip back. They were aggressive, belligerent and unwilling to listen to reason, so we ended up killing them. This sucks. I don’t want to be killing dragon turtles. Why are we killing dragon turtles?

The answer to that is about as surprising as gravity. It’s because Yugureda Shosaito made a deal with them. They said as much: they threatened us, and when we tried to explain his daughter was aboard, they insisted we were lying because we weren’t taking “the arranged way”. The “arranged way”? Are you fucking kidding me? Was it not enough to own an island? Did he have to control the whole lagoon, too? How many boats did they sink? How many people did they drown or kill because this lunatic wasn’t satisfied with prosperity?

OK, fine. Dragon turtles can be a menace to anything both on or in the water. They are territorial and not above extorting “offerings” from sailors in exchange for safe passage. But encouraging them like this is reckless and dangerous, just like everything else in Shosaito’s life. And it encouraged conflict and violence that led to their deaths, too. It’s all such a waste.

For what it’s worth, we saved one of the bodies and Ivan is harvesting it for meat while Zos prepares that creepy treasure map spell. May as well put it to use. It’s certainly better than just letting them all rot.

Dasi is an endless source or surprises. Piloting a barge is not a simple matter of picking up oars and rowing, and yet he made guiding it out of the docks look pretty easy. He even kept it afloat as the dragon turtles were ramming into it, intent on sending everyone into the water. I could hear dad’s voice in my head, telling me how I’d regret not learning to sail some day. How do my parents keep being right about these things?

I finally got a good look at our voyeur. They were spying on Ameiko again, and this time I was able to trace it back to what I assume was Sakakabe. I got a vision of a man or woman dressed as a beggar, hunched over like they were sleeping on some street corner. I’m going to suggest that there’s more to this than appearances.

You think?

We’ll be spending the night at Numataro-sama’s home again, assuming of course he’s up for extended company. We’re all pretty spent, and if Zosi’s map pans out we won’t be in any shape to pursue it until the morning. That, and everyone is just tired. It’s been a long day, and being scalded by steam several times over did little to help with that.

Desnus 30, 4713 (late afternoon, Namidakame Lagoon)

Zosi’s map led us to an enormous, underwater cave beneath the small island that neighbored Shosaito’s home. Inside was an extraordinary hoard of pearls, seashells and gemstones that was hauntingly beautiful even in the silty water of the cave. I’ve never seen anything like it.

My first thought was that these pearls were his end of whatever bargain they had struck, but I quickly realized that dragon turtles could get pearls far more easily than he. Since they didn’t need him for pearls, he must have been offering them something else. The range of possibilities here is limited, and most of them are awful. I am choosing not to dwell on it.

We’re spending another night with Numataro-sama. I am not complaining as the change of pace is welcome, though we made the decision out of an abundance of caution and not a desire for extended sightseeing. Our daily preparations were geared for any threats we might have faced under water—again, out of caution, though as it turns out there weren’t any—and not for safe transport back to Sakakabe. With someone out there watching for us, and potentially waiting for us at our destination, an abundance of caution seems like the right idea.

Ivan sent ahead to O-Kohaku to let her know when—and how—to expect us. I am sure she’s seen wind-walking before, but having a large group unexpectedly coalesce in the middle of her business would probably be equal parts alarming and rude. We are trying to make friends here, after all. That, and causing a small panic would seriously crimp our triumphant return.

Desnus 31, 4713 (evening, Kiniro Kyomai Teahouse)

O-Kohaku is arranging a series of meetings with notable figures in Sakakabe: from aristocrats to merchants to nobility to social and political mavens. Apparently, that list is quite long as there is no shortage of people who are fed up with Minkai’s economic decline and the leadership responsible for it. What they’ve been lacking to date was a credible alternative, and credible alternatives is basically our whole business.

Having their support is, of course, both welcome and necessary. But, I pointed out that it fell short in one, key area. “This is all moot if we don’t deal with the daimyo here in the north. He has to go.”

O-Kohaku shook her head sadly. “I can’t do anything about that.”

Then O-Sayumi surprised us all. “I can help with that.”

O-Sayumi knows Sennaka’s younger brother, Sikutsu Itsuru. She assured us that he’s both an honorable man and a capable leader, and is itching to see Sennaka tossed aside. The problem is, the code of honor binds him to Sennaka’s service. He couldn’t take arms against his own family even if he had the military strength to do it, as that would be no better than Sennaka’s own disregard for the same. However, if Sennaka were to be removed from power? Then Itsuru would eagerly fill that void.

More importantly, Itsuru’s code of honor does not compel him to intervene should someone make that move for him, and he would be more than willing to look the other way. We can work with that. O-Sayumi is, you guessed it, setting up a meeting.

It occurs to me that I keep coming full circle. One of the reasons I left home, and wanted out of the family business, is that I didn’t want to spend my time in meetings.

I have spent the last few evenings studying Shosaito’s spell book. He specialized in illusion magic, but there is a load of necromancy in it as well. It makes me want to throw up. There are spells here to animate and create undead, and of course death magic because the first step when doing the former is the latter. That being said, some of what’s in here is actually useful. I’ll just have to hold my nose while I work.

Sarenith 1, 4713 (evening, Kiniro Kyomai Teahouse)

Olmas took O-Sayumi out for dinner last night. I am not the best judge of these things, but I got the impression he was on a date and she wasn’t. Not that it went poorly, or anything. Though I get the impression she gets taken to dinner quite often and has considerable experience at gently disappointing suitors.

We took Koya to one of the larger temples to Desna. For the immediate future, she will be staying there as a religious pilgrim from the west. Since that’s primarily why she signed on, we didn’t even have to lie to them, which is, of course, a plus.

The way we figure it, there’s few places safer than being surrounded by clergy in a huge temple to a major deity. And they were thrilled to have her, too. It’s not exactly unheard of, but a visiting high priestess from Avistan is something of a rare event. It was clearly a red-letter day.

I got another look at our voyeur today. It’s just dumb luck I happened to catch it, too, as the last thing we need is me being tied to Ameiko every minute of every day. We both need space and privacy, and to not feed each others’ anxiety.

This time, he—or, I suppose, she—was dressed in generic, brown clerical robes and wandering through the woods about 10 miles outside of the city. So they are close, but they obviously left, so whoever this is they know who we are, but don’t have a good grasp on our schedule. Though that’s not really surprising: I don’t have a good grasp on our schedule, and I don’t think anyone else does, either.

We have a new sense of urgency about all of this. Dasi did this divination, just trying to get advice on our upcoming trip to see the Three Monkeys. The answer he got back? “End the scrying.”

I am not wholly ignorant about these sorts of spells. A response this direct is almost unheard of.