Desnus 28, 4713 (late night, Jikko River)
One way to help unravel the mystery of our missing seer was to involve another seer, so I took Koya aside and asked her if she could do a Harrowing.
I could manage one myself, of course, but as I explained, “I am a little worked up. I’m not sure I can focus.”
“Of course,” she said with a smile. “What is the answer you’re seeking?”
“The best path to finding, and if necessary rescuing, O-Sayumi”
She considered the question, then spread nine cards in front of me for the Choosing. I turned over The Lost.
“Not the best beginning to any journey, to be sure. See the bleak on the card? He’s mad, lost in a world of lunatics, insane asylums, and worse.”
“It signifies a loss of self and identity.”
She nodded. “Whatever is ahead, be mindful not to lose your place in chaos.”
She gathered up the cards and cast nine of them face-down on the table. “Now let’s see the past,” she said as she turned over the left-most column. “The Locksmith. The Foreign trader. The Juggler. Interesting.” She held up the middle one.
“Deals and bargains?” I asked.
“These have certainly been part off your path here, my young, foreign trader. You’re no stranger to a bargain with high stakes. That may yet prove important.” She was suggesting the future was a reflection of the past.
Next she turned over the center column, representing the present: the Unicorn, The Snakebite, and the Cricket.
“The Unicorn offers what you seek, but it’s not in a strong position.”
“So don’t count on it.”
“Correct. The Snakebite, though, is troublesome. I wonder, is it literal…? There are many kinds of venom in the world, in the ambitions and machinations of those who seek power over others for their own gains. Beware of trust betrayed.”
The Cricket sat as an opposite match, and misaligned, but I couldn’t reconcile it. “And the Cricket?”
“Probably nothing, despite its position. It does not match the present.”
Finally, she overturned the last column, representing the future. The Joke. The Wanderer. The Demon’s Lantern. The former and the latter were true matches.
“The Joke, in its true position. A terror will need to be overcome, but it reminds us that not all of them can be beaten with strength of arms alone.”
“I’ve been here before. Some solutions are…unconventional.”
She nodded again, then continued. “The Demon’s Lantern, also in true position. The will-o-wisps represent traps and tricks of a particularly devilish sort.” She closed her eyes for a moment as she reflected on this. “I can’t say exactly what this means, but there are many clever spiders who weave webs of deceit in order to ensnare the unwary.”
I sat quietly for a moment, too, trying to put this all together. Past, present, and future seemed to fold in on one other, the divinations of O-Sayumi mixed in with my own. Had she been forced to come here? Was Shosaito seeking something that only she could provide? It would explain his apparent obsession. At the same time, she left clues for us to follow, and the cards reflected that as well.
“What is the spell telling you?” Koya asked.
“It’s not encouraging any particular course of action,” I said. “More importantly, it’s not discouraging one, either. Though it seems to think we’ll need to be…fluid. Adaptable to a changing situation. More so than usual.”
We had O-Sayumi’s inro and her note, both of which contained clues to…what? Her disappearance? Or how to find her? Or maybe they are one in the same. The answers lay in Shosaito’s home.
And, now, we also had this odd shogi piece from Numataro-sama, the angle-mover. It jumps out at me because Jiro had jokingly referred to Hatsue this way when we first met them. As she was explaining the game to me. The kappa said, “it can summon the greatest shogi player in all of Minkai when broken”. Shogi keeps coming up. This piece keeps coming up. Is there a connection here?
Is the sky blue?