NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ellinor" data-source="post: 5734538" data-attributes="member: 14561">26x03Happy pre-Thanksgiving!  I'd like to express my heartfelt thanks to all of you for reading and commenting.  In anticipation of the holiday and to say thanks, here's a longer-than-usual update...SUNDAYTwiggy stood alone, waiting outside the closed gates of the headquarters of the Ring of the Military.  She felt very exposed.  I can do this, she tried to reassure herself.  I know how to play Go; I can play the sorts of unorthodox strategies Lady Mochizuki enjoys.  I don’t have to win, and anyway, I’ve played with her before.  The only difference between then and now is that this time I have to convince her to support our efforts to go the long way around the Circle.It didn’t make her feel better.  I need to practice my pep-talks, she thought.A guard finally appeared and led her across well-appointed parade grounds to Lady Mochizuki’s office chambers.  The walls were covered with maps of the Sovereignty and the Halmae.  Baskets of scrolls surrounded her desk.  The room was crowded and yet, somehow, ordered.  In one corner lay a Go board and two cushions.  “Welcome,” said Lady Mochizuki.  A woman of few words, thought Twiggy, and resisted the urge to babble about the weather, and the manicured look of the military compound, and the scrolls in Lady Mochizuki’s office, and . . .  “I appreciate the invitation.”Lady Mochizuki offered Twiggy a cup of tea, and they sat down to a game.  It was quieter and more intimate than their last, but no easier.  Twiggy made a few mistakes early, but Lady Mochizuki did not cut her down, as she could have.  She let Twiggy recover, and in the end, although Lady Mochizuki won definitively, Twiggy felt like she hadn’t bored her opponent.“I was curious to see what you’d do when backed into a corner,” Lady Michizuki said, as the game drew to a close.“Sometimes the corners are the most interesting places,” Twiggy said, and sensed her opening.  “In fact, my friends and I have found ourselves in an interesting kind of corner.  I learned to play Go because we need your help.”  Lady Mochizuki paused for a long time.  Twiggy cast about in her mind for something to say, hoping she hadn’t just ruined everything.  But just as she opened her mouth to continue, Lady Mochizuki responded.  “You have laid an intriguing new piece on the board.”“I’m glad you think so,” replied Twiggy.  “The situation is this.  I presume you have heard of the group calling itself the Restless Tide of the One True Path?”Lady Mochizuki nodded, warily.“My friends and I have learned that the Tide controls the Ring of the Priesthood,” Twiggy said.  Lady Mochizuki kept her emotions in check with perfect Sovereign decorum, but Twiggy noticed the General’s mouth twitch just as it had when Twiggy had made her most daring move during the game.  “We are working with the Inquisition against the Tide," Twiggy continued.  "But we must go the long way around the Circle if we wish to defeat them.”Lady Mochizuki frowned.  “You are a bold player, Signora.  You are attempting to take a very well-defended piece.  Am I to understand you are requesting my aid against the Priesthood?”“Yes,” said Twiggy, attempting her most confident tone.  “But to be clear, this is not a request for your charity.  Helping us is in your interest.  The Tide has made an attempt on the life of Lord Ono.  History is littered with assassination attempts against leaders like yourself, attempts that have torn countries apart.  Together we can stop a civil war before it begins.”  Lady Mochizuki remained silent, and Twiggy could not resist adding an analogy to her own combat magic.  “You are a great war wizard.  You must see that the Tide is like a veil of illusion that makes the citizens of Cauldron fight among themselves.”Lady Mochizuki pursed her lips thoughtfully.  “These are not unfamiliar thoughts, and you speak with no small degree of intelligence.  Therefore I assume you have a plan.”Twiggy explained their plan in detail, including their successes thus far and their continuing attempts to develop relationships with the city’s religious leaders.  Lady Mochiuzuki stared past Twiggy for some time after Twiggy finished, no doubt playing the board forward in her mind.Finally, she spoke.  “I must caution you about the Mother Superior.  She is a dangerous player, and when she is backed into a corner, she will not hesitate to slash her way out.   But if you continue to play the Circle as well as you played Go to get my attention, you have a chance of success.  Consider the Military behind you.”Lady Mochizuki held out her hand, and Twiggy took it.  The two thanked each other for the game, and Lady Mochizuki summoned a guard to accompany Twiggy back to the gates.As she reached the door of the Inn of Comfortable Repose, Twiggy couldn’t resist doing a little dance.“There you are!”  Rose said, as Twiggy opened the door.  “Tell me all about the match on the way to the Inquisition.  We’ve been summoned there by Lord Ono.”###Arden stood behind the others as the group crowded into Lord Ono’s broom-closet of a replacement office.  She felt an involuntary tightening in her chest as she squeezed against the room’s stone wall.  But even more unsettling than the small space was the look of anger and frustration on Lord Ono’s face as he paced back and forth across it—three steps, turn, three steps, turn—“I’m going to assume you aren’t responsible for arresting the head of the Sedellan Church and placing her in Chief Questioner Mawu’s care?”  Lord Ono asked, as soon as Arden closed the door.“No!”  Savina exclaimed.  “Who arrested her?  Why?  When?”This is what Shen was talking about, thought Arden.  When she’d returned to the group with Shen’s gleeful pronouncement, they’d all been worried…but how could they have guessed it would be the incarceration—and torture—of the leader of the Sedellans in Cauldron?  Lord Ono explained what little he knew:  Sister Sweet Scent had—without his knowledge or approval—been arrested by the Inquisition, on orders from the Priesthood.  Apparently someone (obviously the Tide) had made allegations against her in connection with the fixed matches at the Trials—something the group was quite sure she had nothing to do with.Not just an incarceration, Arden thought, but a wrongful one.  It was infuriating, as well as a demonstration of just how fragile their whole plan was.  One word from the Priesthood, and Sister Sweet Scent was being poked and prodded—or worse—by Mawu.  If they couldn’t fix this, the Sedellans would riot in the streets.  Rightfully.  And be massacred for it. Lord Ono continued.  “I’ve ordered that she be released and that her Inquest be called off.  I presented the evidence you collected in connection with the Trials-fixing, which established unequivocally that the Eighths bore sole responsibility.  The Inquisition has made an official finding that neither Sister Sweet Scent, nor anyone affiliated with the Fortune Riders, is guilty of any heresy.  By now, she should be returned to the care of her own people.  But by the time I found out, she’d been in Mawu-san’s care for days.”“Is she well?”  Savina gasped.“Knowing Mawu-san,” Lord Ono replied, “I’d imagine she is still… functional.” “So the whole thing is resolved now?”  Kormick asked.  “She’s back with her people, and it’s squared away?” “It’s not that easy,” Lord Ono said.“It never is,” Arden muttered.  Mena smiled, ever so slightly.  Lord Ono continued.  “Normally a person of such standing would not be given over for Questioning quite so immediately.  There are protocols, procedures, processes, what have you.  But someone in the Inquisition fast-tracked the investigation.  They knew when the papers were coming in and they signed off on an expedited Inquest without consulting me or Lady Ono-san.  That means that beyond any doubt, that the Tide have operatives in this Inquisition.  I’ll give you all of the documents—the record of arrest, questioning, and so forth—but I’ll need you to get to the bottom of this.” ###WEEK 11 | MONDAYMena took a deep breath and put her hand on the hilt of her ceremonial flail as she stood at the door of the Harbingers’ headquarters.  Mena really didn’t like the Harbingers.  She couldn’t abide a sect that was just as comfortable with change for the worse as it was with change for the better.  And she knew they wouldn’t spare any affection for her.  It’s hard to like someone whose sect is dedicated to loathing your God, Mena reflected.Regardless, she had to meet with the Sedellans.  Lord Ono had arranged for the release of Sister Sweet Scent, but the Sedellans were—understandably—still angry.  And angry Sedellans did nothing to advance the cause of the Affirmation.  It was imperative that they understand that the Inquisition was not responsible for her wrongful detention.  Assuaging the Sedellans had become the group’s top priority—assuming the Sedellans would listen.“I’m happy to introduce you to their leader,” Twiggy said.  “I think she likes me.”Twiggy barely had the chance to say “This is my teach—” when Mena stepped forward.  “Dame Philomena of the Defiers of the Wind,” Mena said, and slammed the hilt of her flail down against the woman’s desk for emphasis.  She was cranky—not only about what the Tide had done to Sister Sweet Scent, but also about being here, surrounded by Harbingers with their hands on their weapons.“Your reputation precedes you,” Sister Gentle Breeze said.  “I have enjoyed conversing with your student, and am honored to meet the Defier in the Inquisition.  I wish it had been under happier circumstances.”  Sister Gentle Breeze’s words were kind, but her voice was icy.  She took a tight breath and folded her arms in a hostile, but not aggressive, stance.“The Inquisition is not to blame for the circumstances,” Mena said, and did not wait for an answer.  “The arrest was the work of the Tide.  The circumstances will be righted, or I will die trying.”“I should hope it does not come to that,” Sister Gentle Breeze said, her voice still cold.  “But as your student will tell you, we see little principled distinction between the Tide and the Inquisition.  Each may be an agent of change or of stagnation.”Mena scowled.  “The distinction is that I intend to hunt down the Tidesmen responsible for Sister Sweet Scent’s arrest.  Remember that.”Mena gripped her flail, turned, and left.  ###TUESDAY“You are an Inquisitor,” the Twilight Sister said to Savina, “and an Alirrian.  Why would you want to help us?”  Savina was standing in the doorway of the House of the Twilight Sisters.  They had let her in, but hadn’t exactly been inviting.  “I am concerned for the health of Sister Sweet Scent,” Savina replied.  “I have read the Inquisition report.  I know that she was held by Mawu.  I am sure it was not pleasant.  I am a healer.  If Sister Sweet Scent is injured in any way . . .”The Twilight Sister interrupted her.  “Thank you for the kind offer, but the matter of Sister Sweet Scent’s health is well in hand.”  “If I could meet her, tend to her—” Savina remained polite, but she felt desperate.  How can we explain to Sister Sweet Scent that we are trying to help, if we can’t get anywhere near her? she thought.The Twilight Sister put her hand on the doorframe in a gentle suggestion that it was time for Savina to be on her way.As she turned to leave, Savina stopped.  “You should know that the arrest of Sister Sweet Scent was ordered by the Priesthood.  Someone falsified paperwork to worsen the conditions of her Inquest.  Please know that the Inquisition is not your enemy.”Savina noticed the slightest light of recognition—and maybe even appreciation—in the Twilight Sister’s eyes.  ###WEDNESDAYNyoko was as worried as everyone else about what had happened with Sister Sweet Scent—but she knew she couldn’t fix it.  What I can fix, she told herself, is my balance on the fourth note of the 17th phrase.  It was progress, she knew, to be able to focus on details—but she needed to get it right.  The previous evening, she had officially accepted her invitation to dance the Dance of the Sevenfold Secrets at Lord Tanaka’s Indulgence Party, and had asked when it would take place.  The group needed that information in order to be prepared for what they hoped would be a persuasive meeting with the head of Lands—but the event was so secretly run that the date and location were kept under wraps until just before the event.  Kormick’s contact at the Eighths had let slip that it would take place on a weekend, but Nyoko wanted to know how soon that weekend would come.  “I need time to refine my performance,” she explained. “Is a week enough time for refinement?”  The man had asked.  “One can always refine more,” Nyoko responded, “but a week is sufficient.”“Then you’ll have more than enough refinement,” the man had replied, with a glint in his eye, as harsh as it was mischevious.  So it’s more than a week away, Nyoko thought, and when it comes, I’d better be refined.###FRIDAYTavi threw up his hands and barked angrily at the Teleport Center guard.  “Where is it?”  Tavi gesticulated at a piece of paper.  “It’s written right here.  Wool, jewelweed, and fennel.  They should have arrived at noon.  I don’t see them.” The guard apologized profusely.  It was all going according to plan. While Savina and Mena were out trying to counteract the effects of the Tide’s offenses against the Sedellans, Tavi was working on a plan to confound whatever the Tide had planned next.  What’s done is done, he thought, but the future is flexible.  Twiggy had made a list of strange arcane components and fragmented instructions for what a skilled arcanist would instantly recognize as a variation on a scrying spell.  The instructions were useless, but they looked enough like a sorcerer’s notes that even someone with training would trust their arcane value.  Tavi had ordered them from various places around the Halmae, sending letters and payment through the Teleport network.Arden had taken the paper, crumpled and dirty as if she'd had to steal it, to her Tide contact.  She told Shen that her masters had developed some magical means of detecting Tide operatives, and—once they had all of the components for the spell—would be able to scry the locations of Tidesmen, find their hiding places, and listen in on their activities.  It had worked.  A shipment of cats-eye stones had been stolen the day before, and now the Tide had, clearly, devoted resources to stealing the other worthless components.  And the more time they spend foiling our non-existent plans, Tavi thought, the less time they spend forwarding their own…“I’ll be back tomorrow,” Tavi announced, loudly enough for the furtive Tide spy he’d noticed outside to overhear, “and my fennel had better be here by then.”</blockquote>

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