Of Workings Ancient and Present
11th of December 2006 A.D.
A tale deftly woven and almost in accord with everything she knows, in some ways more charitable than it might have been. It is not hard to guess what the moment of panic might have been. Yet as you join her in gazing out at the city for a moment, then let your eyes shift focus to her faint reflection in the glass. You see a pensiveness on her face, for all that she hides it behind a diplomat's practiced serenity - a worry that could turn to fear, and a fear that could poison all of your efforts towards a good relationship with the White Council if unaddressed.
There is the faintest scraping of the chair across the floor polished almost to a mirror sheen as you shift in it.
Of course she would not notice Molly, everyone else can't hear ants skittering in the walls, you remind yourself as you clear your throat. "I thank you for the advice in the spirit it was given, but your conclusions are wrong. These things I know, from the angels of the Lord, other forces trustful beyond reproach, and my own understanding that to others would be called Intellectus: This power of mine was made for mortal hands, and mortal hands only, in ages past, so that impossible can be made inevitable."
The look she gives you is not so much of distrust as disbelief mingled with pity, thus you pause and with a tilt of the head invite her to asnwer.
"Understand I do not mean to speak ill of your faith Ms Carpenter, in truth it and your father's works are among the principal reasons why the council has approved the fact finding mission on such short notice, however it has ever been the hope and often the folly of those dwellers in the Middle Kingdom to believe that a message which comes from up high is the asnwer to all questions. Alas that distance, even if it be the begotten of unmatched virtue often strips an account of its context. Many of the lords of Yomi Wan were once mortal, perhaps all of them were and that is the order of things, that those mortal souls which have achieved enlightenment should look over the mechanisms which bring their wayward fellows back to the path. They would hardly admit it
now given the perversions they have become."
"Why are you here though?" you ask, taping a finger on the slate on the table beside you. "The
other reason, to learn, to make treaties as the Council has done with many new made realms, but also to trade. Has there ever been an instance of solid substance dredged from the depths of the Nevernever?"
"Three thousand leagues and three thousand leagues again traveled the princess Bari to seek the water of the Western Heavens and thence find the cure for her parents ailments even beyond death," she recites slowly, clearly translating from verse or song. "Rare is the thing found in the spirit world that can be brought to forth beneath one sun and one moon, but such there are and have always been."
In the silence of your thoughts there is a flicker of
recognition from Usum for a journey whose echoes passed even into the depths of Kakuri where no hope dwells.
"A treasure of great worth, a power undreamt, salvation unhoped for, yes the tales of mankind are filled with them." You flip over the slate. "This is mass produced, from case to chip to hard drive, to the arcane circuitry that allowed the first sparks of a true SUTRA to dwell within it. To be clear this isn't a suggestion, but how many tales are there, how many accounts of armies out of the Spirit Worlds marching into the realms of common day and then just staying there, needing neither the working of some sorcerer nor the sustenance of their unearthly home?"
She scrutinizes you for a long moment, giving you the uncomfortable feeling of being weighed against an unknown measure. At last she asks. "What do you propose then?"
Having pondered the things you wish to say and those which would be unwise to recount you say at last."I will not deny the correlation you have found for it it plain for all to see, but you have cause and effect inverted. Rather than this being a hell among other hells this these Courts of Brass are the newest shoot of an ancestral stock with the dark master of Yomi Wan ape as Mikaboshi apes progress Ravana piety and on and on thousandfold."
"I do not have the evidence to disprove that," Wu Min speaks slowly, reluctantly. "It is not unfalsifiable either, but it would be quite difficult and
perilous to find evidence one way or the other."
"A messenger of Heaven confirmed that it is a thing out of lost ages," you press.
"I do not wish to sound too stern and
legalistic—" she pauses to make sure the word is the right one for a moment before continuing—"but that is hearsay. I cannot make a judgement based primarily upon it." Finally Wu Mei gives a small sigh, her smile growing a touch more sympathetic. "I will be sure to present your theory as well Your Majesty and give it proper weight."
With a nod as much of thanks as parting you take your leave. It is getting close to morning in Chicago and you have school.
***
13th of December 2006 A.D.
Carlos Ramirez you soon learn is not quite as young as you had guessed against the background of Wu Min's polished demeanor, Donald Morgan's grim sense of duty or Harry's general... Harryness, he is three and a half years older than you, enough to be awkward about it when he asks your age and then blush when he notices you noticing.
Bet he'd be pretty surprised if he knew I'm —be honest about it Molly— carrying a torch for.
Would Mom be more or less grumpy about a wizard who's twenty? you wonder, briefly entertaining that old trick about getting a boyfriend who smokes and drives a motorcycle just to get one's parents on board with the one you actually wanted, but no, that feels a little too underhanded... and you have never heard of it working outside a sitcom admittedly.
Personal musings aside whoever had chosen to send him on this mission had a good eye since Carlos has both an interest in science and technology, so keen that he spends several hours reading up on the Ring of Fire and the various alien creatures that call it home.
"I don't think that is quite what your boss had in mind when he told you to study the no-sphere."
"I'm not, aren't I?" he asks, arm slung over the back of the chair in what might just be the most improper posture you can have in a seat meant to adjust itself to one's anatomy. His smile slips a little as you look at him and he sighs. "Look you have actual engineers working on compatibility and programmers, AI programmers working on software. I'm just some guy who used a bit of
C99 back before I blew up two PCs inside a month thanks to all the phenomenal cosmic power at my fingertips." With a dramatic motion he makes a somewhat wobbly ball of water coalesce in mid air and tossed it at the cairn-fern in the corner. "I'll be honest here if you wanted to get some magic Trojan past me or something you wouldn't have to try too hard what with you know the whole world working for you. I'm just here so that if something like that
does happen the Senior Council knows who to blame."
Your allow the professional facade to crack into a smile and ask...
[] How do did you learn your phenomenal cosmic powers?
But for that moment in Arctis Tor this might have been your fate, if you had been permitted to live at all
[] You don't really like the old guard do you?
Carlos is not on the list, but you imagine there are plenty of non-cosmic evil tensions in an organization as large and far reaching as the White Council, not least inter-generational ones
[] How's the war going?
You are curious if the council learned about Arianna's fate
[] Write in
OOC: Given the way the vote was structured it did not make much sense to ask you 'what next' again, especially since all the things will be done eventually to some degree. 
