In a Maze of Boxes

[old_man_acht]

The Grail War has kindled quickly, and so it is for the best that Acht has thought better of ordering his father's documents shipped via train. Airplanes strike him as a highly unreliable mode of transportation, but this much he can say for them: They're fast.

He is at present bent over a stack of documents, hands closed in cotton gloves to preserve the paper, searching for that queer code of slashes that is Rider's native language. All around him, leather-cased chests and cardboard boxes lie waiting to be cracked open.

Acht would curse his father's prolific note-taking, were he not convinced that it will be the Einzberns' salvation.

Comments

[37thstrategem]

Caster does not knock, but makes his presence known as he materializes in the doorway, with the dust of his workshop activities still on him. "Master," he says, "Assassin is dead."

[old_man_acht]

He scarcely raises his eyes from the notebook currently open on the desk. "Hm. The Assassin from the train massacre, or the presumed Assassin from the battle at the docks?"

[37thstrategem]

"The Assassin from the train massacre," Caster says, "though presumption may also be in order. There are differences between the deaths, but Saber connects them."

[old_man_acht]

"Saber--have we come any closer to discerning her identity?"

[37thstrategem]

"No. Between how often she changes her armor and al the false names we have seen her give, there are only leads for who she is not. Even those, I cannot wholly believe." Caster considers, though, "in this last fight, she said the names of her swords are Fancy and Imagination, though that may also be part of a ruse."

[old_man_acht]

"It might mean no more than that she's read Coleridge--but those words were most often paired between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth century. That may narrow the frame of our search, or it may be another false lead." He tilts his head, raising his eyes from the pages at last. "Can we trust that she has truly killed either of the champions we've seen her kill? We'd discussed her penchant for offering alliances, and her tendency to employ ruses is well-documented."

[37thstrategem]

Caster fans away the dust, and crosses the threshold. "We can trust now that one is dead. The manner of this death has changed the temper of the air. It carried with it more prana than that of the previous encounter on the docks."

[old_man_acht]

"Which suggests that the Grail has received its first sacrifice--does it trouble you? The necessity of sacrificing the other Servants to the Grail?"

[37thstrategem]

"No," Caster says. "Our legends do not die with us. This second chance is proof enough of that."

[old_man_acht]

"Five remain, then. As well as Assassin's Master; if such a Master allowed this Servant to kill dozens of innocents, then I doubt he or she would scruple to kill another Master and steal a new Servant. Is there any further intelligence to report?"

[37thstrategem]

"I have also delivered my intentions to Lancer, and permitted him to name the place of our battle." His Master has a right to know, but at least this is all according to plan.

[old_man_acht]

"To what advantage?"

[37thstrategem]

"None he does not already possess. Sanada Yukimura will fight defensively wherever he is placed; he is also native to this land, and I am not. We have also both agreed to hold it outside the city limits and involve as few uninvolved citizens as possible, and that is mutually advantageous. No matter where he chooses to stage the fight, he will have--so to speak--the home court.

"But for us, it will teach me what he prioritizes, and something of his specific tactics as opposed to his overall strategy. Furthermore, I will thus know that any person I see at all on the field who I did not bring may be considered an enemy. Had I named the place, I could not be assured of that."

[old_man_acht]

"Sound reasoning," he allows. "Has he chosen his terrain?"

[37thstrategem]

"He will inform me by lantern within the next several days," Caster says. "In the meantime, I await my Master's recuperation." That last, he is somewhat pointed about, but perhaps his true Master does not perceive it so.

[old_man_acht]

"Have you spoken with her?" If Caster is pointed, Acht's hide has long since grown tough against point such as his.

[37thstrategem]

"She remains asleep every time I consider it.'

[old_man_acht]

"That is troubling. Perhaps she requires more prana--I'll search our vaults for a Mystic Code to renew her."

[37thstrategem]

"If I may--"

[old_man_acht]

He doesn't interrupt; his gaze is cool and appraising.

[37thstrategem]

"--in anticipation of the siege, I would like to evaluate the contents of the vaults. And appropriate some, with your permission."

[old_man_acht]

"All of my resources are yours to appropriate. Are you seeking anything in particular?"

[37thstrategem]

"As I said, any person on the field of battle other than myself or my Master can be considered an enemy," Caster says, with some amusement. "Nevertheless, I anticipate that though I will be besieging him, I may find myself likewise besieged."

[old_man_acht]

"And you require weapons." Venturing, "Weapons that do not at first glance appear to be weapons?"

[37thstrategem]

"Weapons are of little use to a man with no skill to wield them." Caster smiles. "And of all the arts I have mastered, I cannot claim proficiency with many that I have not already in my armaments. I merely require light."

[old_man_acht]

"If you can find it in the vaults, you're welcome to it."

[37thstrategem]

Caster nods, and bows, fan in hand as he fades. "I appreciate your indulgence."

[old_man_acht]

Hardly indulgence, he thinks, studying the page once more before retrieving a small prana-imbued ceramic egg from his desk drawer. He'll fold it into Lara's hand, he thinks, and she need never know whence it came.