#ask-tamiyo

Tamiyo stared into her own cup, swirling it and watching the ripples of the black pool in contemplation. "That's just chance. Or rather, the fall of dice is determined by a variety of physical interplays such as shape, force, wind-"

"Yes, true," Sagi intervened, knowing that the Lady Tamiyo was fully capable of kneeling there and listing every step of the process by which dice fall "But the theory this man gave me posited something else, that all those factors you just mentioned were manifestations of the principle of Al-haza. He said that through manipulation of Al-Haza, you could make a die land on six indefinitely.”

“Something like that is not so difficult.”

“That was my reply, after all, making a six sided die land on a six consistently is more a parlor trick than proper magic, but…”

Sagi reached down and took the simple ivory die he had left on the woven mat where they knelt and placed it in front of the Lady Tamiyo for her inspection.

“You see that it is a normal, unenchanted, six sided die, correct?”

Her elegant nose wrinkled in amusement “You sound like a carnival illusionist, sir. Shall I confirm that you in fact have ‘nothing up your sleeves’?”

“Yes, very droll, Good Lady.”

The Lady Tamiyo finished her inspection and nodded in assent, placing the die back into Sagi’s upturned palm.

Sagi took it in hand, and giving a brief pause for dramatic effect, rolled it onto the table. The ivory cube bounced once, it bounced twice, it landed at last with a face to the world.

Tamyio looked at it an blinked...and blinked.

“How…” she wondered as she snatched the die from the table and counted again the seven marks on its upturned face. There were none of the tell-tale signs of artifice, so he had not simply transmuted the face, nor was there any illusion present, and she would have noticed if he had transpositioned it with another die.

“How?” She asked again.

“Well, according to the theory, when you do anything, you are forcing Al-haza to set parameters upon the world. A die must land with one side face up, so there are five other faces that must not. This is basic common sense. Where things get interesting is that the theory posits that the ‘event’ of the die landing on those other sides is not gone completely, it still exists, and can be reached.”

Sagi would have continued but for the clear and unmistakable strike of insight he saw in the Lady Tamiyo’s eyes.

“I see! I have heard similar things, the view that things that have not or do not happen, in other words possibility, still exist in a tangible form of sorts. That’s what happened here! This magic system of Al-haza, rather than altering the physical state of the die to achieve the desire result, it selected the strand of possibility it wanted to follow and brought it into reality..”

Sagi merely sipped his tea quietly, knowing the Soratami planeswalker’s keen mind would quickly unravel the rest.

“Now a simple thing like making a die land on one of its six sides is all well and good, but could just as easily be explained by any other method, however, grasping a much more far reaching strand of possibility, in which the die had been made with seven faces, and bringing that into the world is another story entirely. This method could hold the key to unlocking the depths of the nature of time and causality itself!”

Sagi finished his tea and set it down, waiting

“Not to mention the practical applications! Any area of study is limited by what perspective you could gain, but if you could use this technique to alter parameters and observe the effects, you could quickly analyze the true nature of any phenomenon! Oh if only I had some way to test it on a large scale.”

There it was.

“Actually, Lady Tamiyo…” Sagi began, but the Soratami was already on her feet and heading for a door, so excited she wasn’t bothering to walk on the ground but floated a good foot in the air.

“Right! You would not have called me for nothing more than theoretical speculation, I assume you have an experiment in design already. I must see your notes at once!”

And with that she was gone. Sagi did not even bother looking up from his cup as he called out “Wrong way, Lady Tamiyo.”

He sighed as he heard her quickly double back and almost burst through the other door. She was still a Soratami aristocrat though, and they do not burst through anything.

Sagi would have gotten up but then his eyes fell on her cup of tea, barely touched.

Now that is just wasteful, it is such good tea.

His personal favorite to be sure. He reached a hesitant hand out towards the cup, eyeing the place where her lips had touched.

No one is around, who would ever find out?

But Kasou Sagi knew better than anyone that any house with servants also had walls with eyes and ears.

Nothing under Heaven remains a secret forever, if you do not wish others to know, do not do it to begin with.

He sighed and rose at last, setting off to find the Lady Tamiyo before she got herself lost again.

To drink tea from a lady’s cup, how scandalous.

“So tell me, Mr…Locke was it?” The Constable began, pouring himself another glass of the same liquor.

You remember exactly what my name was.

“What business do you have here on behalf of the esteemed Lord Childermass?” The man’s voice was powerful and deep, echoing well around the room.

“Well, Colonel-“ The man straightened up at that,

Oh, enjoyed it did you?

“Please Sir, I am retired after all.”

“Ah, a soldier can retire. But a warrior, Sir? I think not.”

“Hah, quite true.” The Constable stood to walk over by the painting to observe the glowing visage of his past.

                “In actuality, Sir, I have come about a prisoner your men have recently arrested up in the mountain passes.”

“Ah yes, now there is a strange one. She has yet to speak to anyone; she just sits there, looking off into space. Most bizarre looking thing too, skin so white and that crazy hair…bah, like no Elf I’ve ever seen.”

“I’d like, if at all possible, Colonel, for you to release her into my custody.”

                The Constable turned to face him, frowning. Sagi himself stood and walked closer to the Constable, looking at the painting himself until he drew just close enough that the Constable would not be required to look up at him to speak.

“And what interest…” The Constable began “Does the good Lord Childermass have in my strange prisoner.

Sagi kept his eyes on the fire while he spoke “I’m afraid that is a sensitive issue, however know that my lord would be very grateful for your cooperation, Colonel.” here he did turn to look at the Constable.

The Constable frowned with his mustache, moving back toward the desk, just close enough that Sagi had to step out of his way. He set his glass back on the desk, twisted the crystalline stopper off of the bottle and poured himself more of the libation.

“Yes” the Constable said, walking back again just close enough that Sagi was once more forced from his position.

Oh, you want to play? We can play.                                                        

“I can certainly understand your proposal, but you see the law is the law, and I cannot be allowed to simply flaunt it for any man with a noble title or even for a friend.”

He’s enjoying moving me around

“Of course Colnel, but I’m afraid that it is hardly so simple as all that!” Sagi let some exasperation bleed into his voice and the Constable stopped his pacing to turn his whole body on Sagi, an enormous eyebrow winged in a flight of false astonishment.

“There is more to the story?” He asked innocently.

Sagi himself shuffled in place and fidgeted with his glass, turning his back to contemplate the painting once more.

It really is expertly done. There’s not even a window in here, nothing to look at but his overbearing face up on the wall or the actual one.

“Mr. Locke, if you wish to fulfill your task to your master, you really must tell me everything” The constable almost whispered, his voice so conspiratorial, near ecstatic in its dripping avarice.

“Yes, quite” Sagi relented, allowing his shoulders to sag ever so slightly, and speaking with a low resignation that forced the Constable to come close, and closer just to hear.

“I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors Colonel, about my Lord’s disfigured child, whom many say is locked in a tower on his estate where she raves so madly and howls so fiercely that townspeople all hear it in their beds.”

The Constable nodded, barely breathing “By gods you mean she is…”

Sagi nodded solemnly, moving back over to the desk and turning, placing a hand on the cold, polished wood to steady himself.

“So you can understand…” Sagi addressed the constable, who all but ran back to Sagi in order to hear him, “Why my master the good Lord Childermass would want this incident quietly and quickly buried. And he would be…ever so grateful” Sagi turned here, to look the Constable directly in the eye “To anyone who helped him in this matter.”

“Why of course” the constable smiled with his mustache “Now that I know the full story of the poor childs plight, how could I want less than to speed her with all haste to the arms of her loving father.

Sagi sighed in relief “Oh thank you Colonel, your reputation is truly deserved as a man of dignity and virtue.”

“Oh no, imagine that” The Constable laughed, tugging pleased at his mustache before walking around to the desk and pulling up a fresh parchment. Sagi drained what was left of the burning liquor as the Constable finished writing, folded the paper closed and affixed it with his seal of office. Sagi bent low to accept it with his thanks and turned to leave.

“Come along,” he said, standing before the cell of the Soratami with the cell key. She simply observed him like a particularly shiny rock before recognition dawned.

“Kaso Sagi? What are you doing here?”

“What ‘we’ are doing here, Lady Tamiyo, is leaving.”

They left as quickly and quietly as possible, Tamiyo weaving herself a glamour of humanity to avoid undo attentnion about the town.

“Really Lady Tamiyo, getting yourself arrested” Sagi sighed.

“Now that was hardly fair, I was simply doing some observation with my telescope when those Heiromance brutes came by and accosted me. This world has three moons, Kaso Sagi, three!”