“All I'm offering you is a chance, Shouyousei."

She stood before a man who defied description. It seemed like any time she tried to focus on one part of his face, the others sneakily shifted, and since his face was naught but falling sand to begin with, it was rather hard to get a good look at him. She was already reaching for the die though, to take it, to roll it, or to inspect it, she wasn't sure, but his hand closed around it and pulled back before she could take it.

“You should know the stakes before you gamble, girl."

He was right, of course. She wasn't sure why she was instinctively reaching for the chance, any chance, but that was just who she was. A risk taker, through and through. She opened her mouth, and said as much.

“Yes, Shouyousei, but this is different from an ill-advised hike. Here, look."

The sandman swept a grainy arm out, gesturing, and a lifetime played out in the sand, individual grains rising and falling to take shapes. Even though it was just sand, she recognized herself, and Khaesho, with Kalokin and Nikolak. It was about then that she realized that she must be dreaming.

“Yes, this is a kind of dream. I doubt you'll remember it when you wake up, but even forgotten dreams can shape you. Now, pay attention."

She did. The sands played out their future. One of them, then another, sliding through possibilities as easily as the sandman slid through faces.

“You have awakened a powerful loneliness in Khaesho, a hunger that will consume him. He will no longer be satisfied living in his cave. It will not be enough."

Good, the thought. Maybe she might be able to convince him to move in with her, try to integrate back into society. Her society.

“No, Shou. He yearns for his people, his culture, his family. As it stands, he's liable to say goodbye in a few months' time, after which you'll never see him again."

Oh.

“And even if you convince him to stay with you instead, a long shot, but not impossible, they'll eventually make a mistake. For those like Khaesho. Those born into magic, those raised learning about it, those possessed by the power and strength of a Vash, using ones soul is as easy and thoughtless as moving your hand."

He could still hide it though, right? Just use it in private?

“Shou, imagine if you moved to a nation where nobody could move their right arm. At all. How long do you think you could keep it absolutely limp? How long, until someone tickled you, or bumped you, and your reflexes took over and you flinched? For an ordinary mage, it still takes effort to cast, but the reflexive, instinctive ability is something only another Vash could really sympathize with."

Shou thought for a moment that she might like to be a Vash. It sounded fun and exciting… and she wanted to understand Khaesho better.

“Be careful what you wish for, Shou."

The sands shifted. Shou recognized the others, but she didn't recognize herself. Then she saw Nikolak layered around her, similar to how Kalokin was layered inside of Khaesho.

“I'm offering you a gamble, a single roll of the dice."

An additional sand-figure appeared. It was Shouyousei, but she was alone, walking through her life.

“If you accept, it will change your current path. You will either become Vash, or you will lose what is most precious to you. The entire world, both to gain and to lose."

That didn't seem like something that should be left up to the roll of a d20. She questioned the figure, asking if he could see the future, wouldn't he know how the die would land?

“You're sharp, even asleep. You're a fine woman. Yes, I can see parts of the future, but I can only see the parts that are open to chance, to change. Any time someone rolls a die, I see a different future for each face that it might land on."

Sifting through that many possibilities sounded tiring.

“Excruciatingly so. I don't often bother to try and make sense of the future, it's seldom worth the effort."

Then why now?

“That is beyond the scope of your understanding at the moment."

He palmed the sand, leaving a crimson red D20 resting atop a dune. She reached for it, and again, he stopped her.

“If you touch this die, it will change everything. You don't have to keep it, you don't even have to roll it, simply touching it is enough. It will inflict a powerful curse upon you, so great that Khaesho and Kalokin will find themselves with two options."

He lifted one palm, lifting the die with it. She saw herself, and

“In curing it, Nikolak may make you her Vash. Khaesho will stay by your side, to teach you of magic, and of his people, and the duties of a Vash. From there, the future unfolds like a flower, chances and choices leading in a thousand directions, with most of them revolving around you and Khaesho."

That sounded good. She wasn't really sure what it was about the desert outcast, but she was already smitten with him. Not just with him, she was in love with the way he walked and talked and thought. With his ever-moving eyes that missed nothing, with that curious frown when he was contemplating the complex. He seemed awake and alive in a way that so few people were nowadays, lives buried in their electronic personas, their personalities withered and dry from the attempt to appear exciting on facebook.

“And he has a penchant for tying knots, as you've already discovered."

Shou grinned. That was certainly a lovely bonus.

“On the other hand, though."

He raised the other palm. This one was bare, showing Shou, a normal life, a normal world.

“In curing you, Kalokin may remove your memories of them, of magic, of the In'Gha, and your ability to channel magic in any way. In forgetting them, you will not mourn your loss, because you will not know it, but some deeper part of you will always ache for something, something unknowable and untamed. You'll still be happy, but there are precious few men in the world quite like Khaesho, and any man you settle for won't quite be enough for that voice in the back of your head."

That sounded like a terrible fate.

“Longing is an ache that pierces the soul. I know it well."

She wondered at how likely either path was. Above all else, a D20 was supposed to be fair… was it a 50/50 shot? What were the odds?

“This is no roll of the dice. You're not gambling against me, you're gambling against fate itself. As you so rightly thought, the path of the Paenitentia isn't be decided by chance, it is decided by those who dare to change it."

She stared at the possibilities, able for just a moment to see life unfurling before her. If he could see so much, couldn't he see what choice she'd make?

“No, Shouyousei. At this moment, I cannot see your choice at all. That means you've already made up your mind, even if you don't understand it yet."

She thought about that for a moment… gambling a lifetime of longing against the chance to chase love. But then, if she'd spend her life longing for him even without remembering him, surely having memories of the desert man would only make that pang sharper, for knowing what she might have missed?

“I stand corrected. It seems you understand your choice just fine."

He extended his hand, and she clasped it in his, shaking it firmly. The die stabbed into her hand like teeth, stuck fast, red tendrils spreading through her hand even as she pulled it away. It hurt like hell.

“My apologies for that. If it helps you abide the pain, there is no world where they fail to cure you and this backfires horribly. This is far from the least painful option, but it was the only one I found where your survival was assured."

And here I thought you couldn't see assurances.

“I can't. I couldn't see the future of any affliction that would have absolutely killed you either, but I'm smart enough to sort the lethal ones out."

She thanked him for that much, at least, and wondered if she'd remember the dream when she woke up.

“You'll remember exactly as much of this dream as you usually do, and even then it will be fleeting, fading with the night. It is not for mortals to remember, much less understand the dreaming."

That sounded about right.