I'm afraid you'll have to find another way to address me now.
Lemuen
And I was under the impression that the Curia wasn't letting anyone visit me. Isn't that right?
Amos
I put in a report.
Amos
I was only just created. It's only natural that I would seek my predecessor's advice.
Lemuen
Haha. You've adapted quickly, Cardinal Amos.
Lemuen
I thought you said you didn't really have aspirations.
Amos
Cardi... Seniora. I didn't come to gloat. Our relationship was never cloak and dagger, was it?
Lemuen
Sorry.
Lemuen
But if you came to ask about Lemuel, I've already said this many times—I have no idea where she is.
Amos
It's something else that I want to ask about.
Amos
Did you sacrifice your career only to protect your sister? Or did you truly believe what she said...?
Amos
From the Nativity, to the Summit of Nations... something doesn't seem right about all that has been happening in Laterano lately. It's like we've come down with a sort of illness.
Lemuen
...
Lemuen
They're the same thing to me.
Amos
Th-There's something I want you to see.
Amos turns his terminal on and hands it to Lemuen.
Lemuen
What's this?
Amos
Application to join the Legati. I wanted to be a Legatus, and get assigned to Bolívar.
Lemuen
You want to leave Laterano? Why?
Amos
My wife and I...
Amos
We had a big fight and I left. When I came back, she had gone on a mission, dealing with Sarkaz raiders attacking caravans in the wilderness near Kazdel.
Amos
She's always been like that, never listening to people. It was winter. I figured she wouldn't be back until spring, and I was thinking about doing something to make up for my leaving...
Amos
You know the rest about what happened to her. Fallen, exiled, et cetera.
Amos
It was convenient that the Seventh Tribunal was responsible for national security and foreign relations. It took a long time, but I finally found out where she went. I thought...
Lemuen
I understand.
Lemuen
What do you mean, though, when you said something didn't feel right?
Amos
The selection standards for Legati are extremely high. A man of my ability didn't really have much hope... so the application sat in my draft box for a long time, until...
Lemuen
You approved your own application when you were created cardinal of the Seventh Tribunal?
Amos
Y-Yes.
Amos
Reverend Patrizion said all I needed was an opportunity when he informed me of my imminent creation...
Amos
I'm sure he meant something else, but this is all I could think of.
Amos
However, the moment I approved the application, it just... vanished. No notice of rejection, no record to be found anywhere.
Amos
It just disappeared from my terminal, l-like it never existed.
Lemuen
—!
Amos
There was no way the application would have gone through. I would not be allowed to resign my cardinalate and become a Legatus so quickly.
Amos
Besides, all the Legati have been recalled to Laterano. I wouldn't be able to go and see Aurela, even if I really did become one.
Amos
For me, approving the application wasn't even about making up for anything... it was just a small, insignificant comfort.
Amos
Who would want to wipe away such a small comfort?
Amos
For me... that was enough to make me question if this Laterano is real.
Amos
Maybe... your sister was right.
Lemuen
Have you told anyone else?
Amos
N-No. I couldn't sleep last night... you were the only one I could talk to about this.
Lemuen
This isn't some newfangled interrogation technique, is it, Cardinal Amos?
Amos
You can trust me, Seniora Lemuen.
Amos
We both have things that truly matter to us. Few things.
Lemuen
An interesting point, Senior Amos.
Amos
By the way, there's an even bigger Nativity scheduled at the Shrine of Nurtury today.
Even in a place like Rocamarea, where everything is washed out by tides of plague and famine, an old man may lick his parched lips and say something to the effect before his eyes close forever.
Words as old as time, as they say. To some, they are an eulogy to wishes unfulfilled; to others, an utterance free of regret. But there is a common premise between the two—
The mother has breathed her last. Andoain gently closes her eyes.
The fledgling leans over. He is trembling, even the sheen of his hide darkened. Andoain places him on his own knee and looks into his eyes.
The fledgling's voice is mumbled. Andoain does not speak the language of beasts, but he can feel sorrow, like a current running beneath the calm surface—the fledgling's and his own.
Andoain
Death is accompanied by new birth. When your mother knew that her own life was beyond saving, she chose to leave the hope of life to you.
Andoain
She used her last strength, and succeeded.
Andoain
This is your first lesson.
Arborbeast
(Soft chirp)
Andoain
Rocamarea, the town with the clock tower, the abbey in the wilderness, and now... I've experienced many such moments, and now I have another. Each experience brings deeper insight.
All walk toward the inevitable end. That is why the continuity of meaning is so precious.
Death is a parting.
A gift from the departed to the living, the beginning of the living's own salvation.
Andoain
Do not fear, child.
Andoain
Lament and remember... I will do so with you.
Arborbeast
...
Nurturer
I will stay outside and leave her funeral to you, Andoain.
Andoain
What of the Matriarch?
Nurturer
She is indisposed, preparing for the Nativity to bestow halos upon all the non-Sankta here... she sends her apologies.
Andoain
No matter.
Andoain
We have grown accustomed to welcoming new life with ceremony, while funerals are always simple... Tell the Matriarch that it will be a little while before I return to duty.
Nurturer
Are you alright?
Andoain
The mother's passing was sudden. The child is young, and unaccustomed to such sorrow. I must stay by his side.
Nurturer
No, it's you the Matriarch is worried for.
Andoain
What do you mean?
Nurturer
Matriarch said she and you had been with this mother for a long time. She understands the sorrow in your heart.
Nurturer
You are a thinker. Every journey gives you inspiration, but also fatigue.
Nurturer
As for the child... he is a miracle. He has the strength to emerge from darkness.
Nurturer
The Matriarch wishes me to tell you that no new life in Laterano will ever succumb to calamity nor sorrow.
Nurturer
They will be born equal, they will be brave, and they will be strong... Laterano will see to it.
Andoain
...
Andoain feels the fledging arborbeast push against his arm. He wants to calm him down, but the fledgling pushes his hand away and spreads his wings.
The fledgling takes flight, landing on a comfort bell in the middle of the room, making a pleasant sound.
Andoain watches in confusion. He has worn a halo for decades, yet his eyes still struggle to adjust to the fledgling's dazzling light.
Arborbeast
(Flaps wings forcefully)
Arborbeast
(Loud cry)
He has been with the fledgling day and night. He knows what these movements mean.
The fledgling is inviting him to play.
The Nurturer, who can never turn down a child, stands stunned.
He wants to communicate his sorrow, decline this incomprehensible invitation in the most tactful way possible.
But eventually, he steps up and takes the young arborbeast's claw, dancing a waltz in the middle of the empty room along to the comfort bells.
The arborbeast's excited cries echo throughout the room. His feathers shine bright under the halo, showing its sheen unreservedly in the spinning circles.
Their steps grow quicker, and Andoain looks toward the body of the deceased mother, trying to ascertain his own emotions. Then he realizes with a start—
He is no longer sad.
He is joyful as the fledgling, he is beautiful as the fledgling, he sings and dances for the future with a heart full of hope, just like the fledgling.
Their spinning steps draw beautiful circles on the ground and in the air.
Andoain
Is... is this...
Andoain
Is this what Sankta means?
Andoain
Only the instinct to avoid pain...
Andoain
But no right to sorrow and mourning?
Andoain
Is this the Sankta? Is this the miracle of life?!
Nobody answers his hysterical call. His Matriarch is bestowing halo after halo upon the people in the Hall of Enlightenment.
He alone stops in his tracks. He recalls a funeral, one that should not exist in his memory.
Ouch! The sound hurts my ears... it's just noise! I can't make out anything!
Fallen Angel B
What's going on, Aurela?
Aurela
You're asking me?
Fallen Angel B
You're a gun-knight. Were, at least. You know more about these things than we do.
Aurela
You said it yourself, I was a gun-knight.
Aurela
The static is bad enough. You wanna add to the noise, and I know plenty of ways to shut you up.
Fallen Angels
...
Bolívarian Child
Sister...
Nueda
Don't be afraid, Hugo.
Nueda
(Please, Aurela. The children are watching.)
Nueda
(These Sanktas have come a long way after a terrible ordeal that left them with broken halos, and a heart full of fear, with no comfort in sight...)
Aurela
...
Aurela
The intercity net of Laterano has always been very stable, with dedicated personnel performing regular maintenance on communications equipment located in settlements outside the city.
Aurela
This emergency communication post is only three kilometers from the Lateran City. If any one of them is still working, this would be it, but I've sent a dozen hails through the special channel with no response.
Aurela
Is Laterano really done for? Hah.
Nueda
Could you try a few more times, Aurela?
Aurela
You look even more nervous than them.
Nueda
Do I?
Nueda does not say more. A few children come over and grab the hem of her dress, staring forward with her.
The white walls of Laterano are already visible from this settlement. Impeccable as the clouds, it looks like the abode of a holy spirit who accidentally ventured into the mortal realm, a miracle that should not exist.
The pilgrims are but a stone's throw away. Dusty and tired, their broken halos and wings seem even darker in this wilderness.
The pilgrims have reached the end of their journey, but is it truly the end of their suffering?
Nueda
That's it... Laterano...
Aurela
Looks like the people in there can hardly even fend for themselves at this point. Get your things, we're going in.
Fallen Angel A
You're right, we can't wait here forever. Let's go!
Fallen Angel B
But if we enter the city without the Curia's permission...
Aurela
Tell me, did we fallen sinners ever ask the Curia for permission when we decided to return?
Aurela
Don't tell me you came back to repay Laterano's kindness. I'll put you first against the wall.
???
Stop.
Federico
You must not enter Laterano.
Aurela
Look who we've got here. A Notarial Hall executor.
Federico
Are you Aurela?
Aurela
You know who I am?
Federico
I looked you up in the Notarial Hall database after receiving your message.
Federico
Aurela, former citizen ID LC0073458, former captain of the Third Gun-Knights. You were tasked to escort a Lateran caravan through the northern wilderness in the winter of 1090, when you engaged a group of Sarkaz mercenaries in combat.
Federico
You completed your mission, but the nomadic abbey encountered a small-scale Catastrophe on your way back. The Sarkaz prisoners attempted an insurrection and were executed on the spot, by you.
Federico
When a fellow gun-knight attempted to record the events truthfully in a mission report, you threatened your cohort with a gun in order to hide your excessive use of force.
Federico
In the chaos that ensued, you killed your cohort, resulting in you being stripped of citizenship and exiled from Laterano for life.
Aurela
...
Aurela
And what of it, Senior Executor? Are you trying to remind me that Laterano will never forget my sins?
Aurela
Look at the hundreds of people here. Some are fallen angels who were exiled like me, some are errari who left the Holy City for different reasons...
Aurela
Some of them have never even seen the Holy City, growing up in a cesspit like Bolívar, yet still believing in the tenets of Laterano...
Aurela
Have you not seen their halos? Are they fallen, or are they sick? They've crossed mountains and rivers to come here, for an explanation, for any comfort they can find.
Aurela
And all the Lateran does is send a single executor to stop us from entering?!
More and more errari Sanktas gather, surrounding Federico, pointing their weapons at him.
Sankta Errari A
You'll keep us out because we left Laterano for too long and forgot how to live like other Sanktas?
Sankta Errari B
The Law punishes sinners, but what sin did I commit when all I did was live twenty honest years in Leithanien?
Fallen Angel A
If the Law is that cruel, then it's not us who should be punished. It's you—you and your cohorts, tuskbeasts of the Law!
Fallen Angel B
I fell because you punished an innocent man! You've never used your power for good!
Federico
...
Federico watches the crowd quietly.
The street lamps have lit at an inopportune time, casting eerie colors upon their faces. Fear, anxiety, anger, confusion, panic... all these emotions come together to twist their visages.
Their hands tremble as they hold their weapons. The tension is palpable in the air.
Federico is confident he can take out their leader quickly and suppress the rest by force, bringing the situation under control.
He has always done so. It has always worked.
Federico is an outstanding executor. He has been with the Notarial Hall for eight years. He knows what he is doing.
This is his third year as a saint. Other than a burnt flower and a few chance acquaintances, there is no one to guide him or instruct him.
Federico
...
Slowly, he moves his hand away from the gun at his belt—making sure the tense crowd sees it—while his eyes never leave them.
Federico
I did not come to repeat the judgment that Laterano once passed upon you.
Federico
I am not here as a representative of the Notarial Hall, the Curia, nor any other official Lateran organ.
Federico
The reason you must not enter Laterano is because the city is currently affected by anomalies beyond comprehension. Your presence may cause the situation to further deteriorate.
