Connections Readings Book Five

(Underlines, crossouts, and italicized words added by the I Ching)

From Puttering Between The New Ringmaster Te and No Port in a Storm

• Aku's power is directed to keeping the Great Spirits from realizing that Spider is a skinwalking demon.
• The Great Spirits would oppose Spider much more strongly if they realized His true nature.
• Bear told Anto and his visitors that a clash between the people of two Great Spirits would be a civil war.
• Spider touches as many people as the other Great Spirits.

You lightly doodle over "as many"

• Revealing Spider's true nature to the other Great Spirits would result in a civil war in the Middle Kingdom.

You cross out the first "w"

• Revealing Spider's true nature to the other Great Spirits would result in a war in the World Above.

You cross out the same "w", but more lightly than before.

From Puttering Between No Port in a Storm and Stirring up Trouble

• The Sun's Daughter did not return the affections of the Moon's Son.
• As a result, the Sun's Daughter is now encased in the Ice Pagoda.
• The Moon's Son visits the Pagoda every month at the dark of the Moon.
• The Moon's power is weakest at the dark of the Moon.
• The Moon's Son wishes to keep the Sun's Daughter trapped in the Ice Pagoda.
• The Moon's Son is too powerful to safely approach in the World of Dreams.

This is all true.

From Puttering Between Stirring up Trouble and The Producer

• The Dark Sorceress the Adjudicator was looking for in the last run was Chantou.
• Chantou was messing with the Tongs somehow.
• The Adjudicator wants Chantou dead.
• The knife the Adjudicator gave Xian was crafted to kill a certain group or type of person, but mismade so it is "just" a lot of damage.
• The knife was supposed to kill Xian's sisterhood.

You squiggle lightly over "supposed to"

• The Shadow has cut a deal with the Moon's Son to take out the free members of Xian's sisterhood.

From Puttering Between The Producer and Stone in the Earth

• Wolf helped with a change in the world above during the play ritual, so most people think that everything is as it always was.
• The Marked have lost their Mark, so at least most of them also believe that the Arcade is as it has always been.
• The Marked still want to change the Chi flow of the Arcade so they are benefiting from it.
• The Marked still think they arranged for Ezokin to get the Magpie Talisman so that he would set the Chi flow of the Arcade in a way more to their liking.
• Ezokin knows there was a change because he was involved in the ritual, but may be unsure on exactly what happened.
• The Alchemist and/or the Cartogromancer have personal protections that mean they know there was a change.

Not quite true enough to hold together.

From Puttering Between Stone in the Earth and A Horse and His Boy

• The Shrouded Isle blockade is down.
• The blockade was important to the Marked as a means to keep the Song of the Phoenix from working against them.
• The Sea Lord is assembling a large fleet, reportedly to do something other than re-establish the blockade.
• The Obsidian Warlord is rumored to be preparing a push for the Imperial Throne.
• The Sea Lord's fleet will be used to help with the Warlord's plan for laying claim to the Throne.
• The Sea Lord's fleet will be used to put a Spider-ish tag on the North.

Int with Interpret Omens to try and figure out if the verbs are crossed out because they're the wrong tense, or because there's something more wrong with them than that. Successes: 4.

You think "is assembling" is more about tense, but the "was important" is something more wrong than that.

From Puttering Between A Horse and His Boy and Dramatic Arts

• The fates of the Pearl of the Taiga and her husband are tied to the fate of the Taiga itself.
• The Pearl of the Taiga and her husband hold the Fox Talisman.
• The Taiga is Fox's country.
• The Talismans are tied to their Spirits country.
• The fates of the Pearl of the Taiga and her husband are tied to the fate of the Taiga because they hold the Fox Talisman.
• The Pearl of the Taiga and her husband hold the Fox Talisman because they are tied to the fate of the Taiga.

You lightly doodle over the last two.

During Dramatic Arts

• Councillor Qiangdu Lua is trying to make the roads more Tortoise-y.
• The Regent vetoes that plan.
• Councillor Qiangdu & his secret society are planning to frame the Regent as secretly allied with the South to discredit him.
• No actual Southerners are involved.
• No actual assassination is planned.
• The frame will go off tomorrow.

This is all true