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[Lucid Dreaming achieved.]

[Cannot begin Mana Synthesis – Insufficient mana of appropriate types.]

[Cannot convert mana: No mana that converts to Stars.]

What? That couldn’t be right. Dream mana converted to... oh, I didn’t have any more of that.

In fact, I had very few mana of any kind.

Strictly speaking, mana wasn’t required to live; I’d started life without any magical ability whatsoever. When had I learned to tap?

[You have a severe head injury; your memory will be impaired unless it heals. At your current nutrition levels, there is an 8% chance the damage will become permanent within two days.]

[Timer: forty-six hours, thirty-nine minutes, twelve seconds.]

.....

Well, no. That was potentially disastrous. Without Dream mana...

[You have two Water/River mana. Unlock of conversion formula costs six development points. Focus here to...]

[Mana Conversion purchased, Water to Dream.]

Okay, with that conversion done, I had one point of Dream mana.

I felt a sensation much like walking into the stone walls around the gatehouse. It was a simple warding, one I could get past... in theory.

Kismet’s protection took the shape of a tower.

I imagined a window, something to see through.

[You lack Dream mana to attempt this alteration.]

What? Argh! I slammed the tower wall with both hands, generating a warbling noise. A very soft warbling noise.

I circumnavigated the base, finding no door in the tower. It had no bricks, nor other handholds or footholds. I could not push the edge of my talons into the surface of the tower.

Damn it all!

Well, that was a mana wasted. Actually, I discovered a big smile on my face. Kismet was doing things in dreams that I found hard. It was awesome to know my friend was learning quickly, even if it meant that my skills were no longer on par with hers.

Okay, so I had one night’s lucid dreaming, and no mana to do anything fancy with it.

With a final kick, I turned away from Kismet’s dream-space.

Well, eight percent wasn’t the end of the world, just potentially the end of mine. I took a deep breath in through gills along my rib cage and swam off into the mist.

I found myself sharing a space with those who were flying, most of them leaving contrails of sparks. I was just a shadow to them, observing without being...

“There you are, evil woman!”

[You have failed your willpower check to resist being cast into a role of another person’s dream.]

I looked down, prepared to be dismayed. Fortunately, whomever the evil woman was, she didn’t have an overly large bust. I breathed a sigh of relief, set down my hooves and waved my antlered head to receive a charge.

Not. Happening.

“Call Lightning! Hurl Lighting! Chew on this, you heartless BITCH! NEXT TIME WE HAVE A DATE, YOU WILL SHOW UP!”

What?

The lightning came down from the sky to his extended arm, and he hurled it directly at my heart.

[You have taken twelve points of Neural (mental) damage; after ability activation, eight points have been received. 12/30 sanity remaining.]

[Your health is at negative levels; if you survive, you will experience a prolonged period of unconsciousness.]

Wait, what? I hadn’t even taken damage to my health track!

My knees crumpled backward, pitching me onto my face.

“Wh-What?” my attacker said, “Soma, are you okay? Flash Step! Soma! Soommaaaa!”

I “died” in his arms. Seriously, almost every time I start to wonder about my own behavior, I seem to meet someone like him.

Spiteful gods, please don’t let me end up like him if I suffer permanent brain damage.

#Narrator: Pharmacist Hwa

It is good to be of the Farmer caste; people forget that we are professionals, and that we spend a good part of our time in the wilderness.

No, not just outside in the rain. In the wilderness, where the beasts live. So when my lord’s brain began shutting down (an unfortunate side effect of withdrawal from lotus powder), mine had been ready to fire up.

Honestly, I was surprised at Specialist Wa (No, our families are NOT related, we just happened to have similar family names. Get a few million people together, and it happens a lot more than you’d think.) also taking up the slack in questions.

I pretended ignorance of how the military got their orders from place to place; faking to have more knowledge than you have is both harder and easier to detect. Specialist Wa was more prepared to take written notes, so I let her. Like so many other cultivators, she made everything she did look effortless and graceful.

Oh, I know well enough my calligraphy; one does not practice medicine and ignore one’s writing and reading skills. But there is writing, and then there is writing while moving, and still having enough presence of mind to carry on conversations. And she wasn’t even as advanced a chi specialist as Xinyi Shi, who I think was the most advanced ... possibly second, but definitely NOT third.

Ah, but you must think I’m gushing over her; her face and form were pretty enough, but as my dearly departed mother reminds me on certain new moons when the stars are right, I promised that my first wife would be a doctor or surgeon. Not that there weren’t an abundance of such, I was just being precise. I wanted a woman with a very exacting series of traits, and while some women had come close, none had yet met the complete list.

Perhaps I shall detail that later, but I had a question that suddenly seemed very important to me. “That sounds excellent, Miss Cai. But what about before the badges and insignia arrive here? Might they be stolen from where they are made, or perhaps from a warehouse where they might be stored?”

“Oh, no. So sorry, that isn’t even a remote possibility. You see, the insignia pins are only assembled by the experts of the quartermaster. You would need to pick up parts from metalworkers, and stoneworkers, and jewelers in order to properly forge a pin, or even to get the pieces to assemble your own. From the time the insignia exists until it is placed into the hands of a deserving and tested messenger, it is constantly under guard.”

“And the craftsmen themselves are of the highest loyalty?” the specialist asked.

“Absolutely!” Miss Cai energetically confirmed. “Some of them have had those contracts in their families for three generations.”

I blinked. “Only for three generations? What happened three generations ago?”

Miss Cai tapped the side of her forehead. “I’ve been told; it was something important, but I don’t remember what it was exactly.”

“Could it be the Nights of Knives and Shadows?” the specialist asked.

“Oh, that. Yes. When the evil oni-kin arrived and attempted to corrupt our honorable guards. My grandmother told me that roughly one in twenty was part of that conspiracy. Many people lost their heads, and the remainder were exiled beyond the outer wall, to join the prisoners for the rest of time.”

What? Why had MY grandparents never spoken to me of this? “Do we have a list of the families exiled?” I asked.

“Do you think that some of the Nine might be among those families?” the specialist asked.

“In point of fact, I think so. I know I would rather die than be exiled, though clearly there are enough prisoners on this island who think otherwise.”

Lord Xho stirred himself. To his credit, his words weren’t slurred when he said, “That is an angle worth looking into.”

“Oh, that is a question for the Staffing branch, and it may take several days. Those records will be in the citadel.”

Lord Xho has un-naturally white teeth. It made his smile look exceedingly creepy. “We have an ally heading toward the citadel. It is urgent that we inform her of this new information. How would we go about sending a message from here?”

Miss Cai brightened. “That is extremely easy. Come this way.”

“But is that not the desk for messages bound for the citadel?” he asked.

“So sorry, your lordship. But if you wish to send a message through this warehouse, we must absolutely confirm your identity first. THAT desk is this way.”

“Specialist Wa, I am sorry to under-utilize your talents. Can you take dictation?”

“Absolutely.” She flipped to a new page, pulled a razor from (I presume) her inventory, and cut the page from her folio book. “I am ready when you are, lord.”

With clear focus and manic speed, he rattled off all of the additional crafters that Lady Kismet needed to interview, and a summary of what records we needed and why. One could be forgiven for thinking that his mind was unimpeded, and quite active.

The process worked much as had been described, with Miss Cai stepping in to ensure that Lord Xho followed each and every step of the process, skipping none. It took most of an hour, but our message did get into the hands of a runner.

“And now,” Miss Cai said triumphantly, “your message should arrive at the citadel shortly after Lady Kismet herself.”

“Most EXCELLENT! Thank you for your help, Miss Cai. I am convinced that this facility is kept secure.”

The needed politeness took us a while and two cups of tea, but eventually we were free.

“Quickly, make haste to the quartermaster’s office.” Lord Xho said. “I know where another of the Nine must be.”