All pods on the levitation layer are now connected to the detonation web. We have people on the lower levels evacuating people from the square.
Agent
People are very passionate about the exhibition. Things will take some time, but it will not delay our plans.
Agent
We will detonate the levitation layer as soon as Propeller Paradise docks with the District.
Senior Agent
Any movement from Rhine?
Agent
We've taken twenty-three into custody. A dozen are still at large on the platforms.
Agent
We have control of the eight observation points. Those people are going in and out of the exhibit area and the ropeway stations. No special Rhine equipment other than standard maintenance gear.
Senior Agent
They're just playing hide-and-seek? No plan B?
Senior Agent
Keep an eye on them. They don't know the details of Maylander's plan, nor do they have any means of communication. Any last-gasp effort is doomed to fail.
Agent
Understood.
The outline of Max, D.C.—the most vibrant nomadic city in Columbia—is already visible from the ropeway station's waiting area.
The agents have not had a chance to enjoy the view of Propeller Paradise until now. With an excellent visibility, all the elaborate facilities of the levitation layer are brimming with vitality.
Pods float in mid-air like aquatic creatures. Floating botanical units line up orderly between small platforms, forming a power grid that supports the entire layer...
Senior Agent
Wait... where did you say Rhine's people were?
Agent
Exhibit area and ropeway stations.
Senior Agent
Where exactly? Show me.
Senior Agent
Looking at their movements, there's no way they can reach the platform where that 'tree' is, or other companies' pods...
Senior Agent
Could it be... they're not trying to take back their turf at all?
Senior Agent
But Rhine's people, the testers, and the company reps, they all seem to be flying around blindly in the dark...
Senior Agent
What's the point of it all?
The agent casts a casual glance at the nearest planting unit. The unremarkable Rhine creation stands quietly.
He suddenly realizes that the warning lights on their edges are easily visible even during the day, and they have been blinking irregularly for quite a while now.
Agent
Spotters report that all the Rhine people have disappeared from sight!
Senior Agent
No, they didn't disappear!
Senior Agent
They're going in the same direction... there's a pattern to their movement!
Senior Agent
Everybody, listen up! Destroy all the planting units you see along the way! They're not decorations! Rhine is using them to communicate!
Senior Agent
Cut off the exhibit area from all the ropeway stations, and find every one of those people playing hide-and-seek! Find out where they're heading!
Coming to the broadcast room to bother me, when you should be preparing your own speech? You sure have a thick hide, Mr. Tannen.
Gordon
I would have died a long time ago if all my enemies refused to work with me ever again.
Ferne
Work with you? I'm afraid I can't.
Ferne
Maylander has a laundry list of violations that I committed during my career. I don't want to spend the rest of my days giving prison tours.
Gordon
Neither are you looking for a peaceful life. Besides, my proposal has something to do with Maylander.
Gordon
There's no better vantage point than here on Propeller Paradise. Oakley's too excited to notice, but I doubt you would miss what's going on.
Ferne
Well, if I gotta say it...
Ferne
The broadcast screens of the levitation layer are switching too quickly. They say it's because they're doing testing, which I'm not convinced about. There are a dozen testers on the square whom I don't recognize. They don't look like they're taking a stroll; they look like they're patrolling.
Gordon
Like they know that danger is impending.
Ferne
Are you trying to trick me into another plot?
Gordon
There's a plot afoot on Propeller Paradise alright, that's a fact. It's also a fact that I won't let Gustave make a mockery out of this place in front of all of Columbia.
Gordon
You have ten seconds. Yes or no.
Ferne
What are the chances of success?
Gordon
Ten percent.
Ferne
Doesn't sound like a gamble you'd take.
Gordon
I don't have a choice with that old fox sitting across the table, holding all the cards.
Ferne
A plan almost certain to fail... interesting. Tell me about it.
Gordon
I need you to convince as many people as possible to return to the levitation layer, and retrieve the Originium equipment and Arts units on this list.
Ferne
...All contraband that you sold?
Gordon
They have far more potential than just sitting under the spotlight.
Ferne
You want to...
Gordon
Escape. And take all of Propeller Paradise with me.
Gustave and Maylander never intended to allow the exhibition to go ahead. The opening ceremony was just a smokescreen.
Ferne
The levitation layer will fall a second time soon. But miracles don't happen a second time.
Aspen
The Lucky Cystybeast can't afford to start over...
Ferne
Neither can most startups on Propeller Paradise.
Aspen
'Escape. And take all of Propeller Paradise...'
Ferne
It's the only way to save both Propeller Paradise and the people on the lower level.
Ferne
Propeller Paradise has been traveling on the barrenlands for seven days. Fuel is short, and the plate is operating in safe mode. The basic propulsion module is not enough to change its direction.
Aspen
But the Arts unit that the Lucky Cystybeast got was just a transformation stabilizer. It can't supply enough energy to turn a plate.
Ferne
Correct.
Ferne
But it wasn't the only item that Tannen smuggled.
Aspen
You mean, get all the contraband devices, and build a makeshift propulsion module to make the plate deviate from its course?
Ferne
Not deviate. Make an about-face.
Aspen
About-face? Have you any idea what you're saying? It's the direction of the borders!
Ferne
True, the procedures for cross-border travel is a little complicated.
Aspen
It would be treason!
Aspen
No, I can't go to jail. People need to see Lucky Cystybeast on the broadcasts. My wife in Northville needs to see it...
Ferne
In the interest of full disclosure, I must inform you that people won't see Lucky Cystybeast on the broadcasts, whether we succeed or fail.
Aspen
No...
Ferne
I'm sorry, but I'm taking the unit, whether you give it up voluntarily or not. We don't have time.
Aspen
What's the point? We can't even leave the pod...
Ferne
Someone has unlocked it remotely.
Aspen
What?
Ferne
You see the floating botanical units outside the window? Three flashes is a distress call. The current message is cycled after five continuous seconds of being lit.
Ferne
Right now... three, four, five... seven flashes.
Ferne
Looks like the other units on the list have been retrieved. Everyone is rendezvousing on Platform 7. Wait—
Ferne
...The light went out.
Aspen
What does that mean?
Ferne
It means Maylander knows what's up. We're in danger.
Aspen
......
Ferne
Mr. Aspen, you can either come with me on your feet, or you can go to sleep right here, right now.
Gustave looks at the Savra who has butted heads with him for seven years, who now sits stiffly on a chair, like a potato wrapped in foil.
He knows young officers well. They are angry, flamboyant, unhappy about everything, and frustrated about being restricted by rules.
In the end, however, they all sit in the same chair that rectifies their young spine, and become a proper member of the upper stratum of Columbian society.
As Gordon Tannen will.
Gustave
Once Maylander's plan succeeds, the broadcast room will switch over to Cloud. Don't screw up.
Gustave
Put your usual attitude away. Sound sincere, devastated. It's the Propeller Paradise you built. It won't be hard to stir the appropriate emotions.
Gustave
Tomorrow, that sorry face of yours is going to be on the front page of every Columbian newspaper. Look the part, won't you?
Gordon
......
Gustave
And stop staring at your little freak.
Gustave
I know, I know. You don't want to be Propeller Paradise's sin eater, sharing the same spotlight as Nasti.
Gustave
But your little hotchpotch trinket isn't going to save you.
Gordon
So I'm sitting in Gordon Tannen's defendant seat.
Gustave
Yes.
Gordon
I can follow you to the DOD once I apologize, according to the script?
Gustave
Do as you're told, and you'll rise quickly through the ranks.
Gordon
Yeah, guess what? I don't give a shit.
Gustave
What was that?
Gordon
I don't like this seat. It makes my scales itch.
Communicator
...Broadcast countdown. Cloud restaurant, stand by...
Gustave
Broadcast? Now?
Gustave
Impossible... no movement on the levitation layer. Did Maylander screw up?
As the broadcast cuts to the Cloud restaurant, Space Fin 054 leaps at an unprepared Gustave, pinning him to the ground.
The screen in the restaurant lights up, and Gustave sees his own face, writhing in pain and shock.
He knows that this face is being displayed on every screen in Propeller Paradise.
His contingency plans flash before his eyes, but Maylander's plan is in its final phase, leaving little room for distractions. His communicator lies in pieces on the ground, destroyed by Space Fin 054.
Gordon stretches his neck and wrists, crushes the 'defendant seat' with his foot, and leisurely lies down on the sofa next to it.
By the way, tomorrow, that sorry face of yours is gonna be on the front page of every Columbian newspaper. Look the part, won't you?
Gustave
You—
Gordon
What, you didn't expect to be immobilized by a little 'hobby made to fuel sky fever'?
Gordon
You're the elder statesman of ATAO, planning a new chapter at the Department of Defense. You made the rules of Columbia when you were young, and you continue to 'serve your country' even after your retirement...
Gordon
Woo-hoo. First-rate, ain't you? Maybe you've grown into thinking that your enemies will always use the rules to fight back, in smart and clever ways.
Gordon
Did you forget that Gordon Tannen is a bandit who never gives a shit about the rules, a piece of trash obsessed with his toys?
Gordon
I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You don't even recognize Five-Four, even though I didn't change its voice module—
Space Finbeast
Hello, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Arts Units, and Originium, at your service. To check the progress of an application, press 1. To report a safety risk, press 2. To be connected to an operator, press 0...
Gustave
...An ATAO answering machine?
Gordon
I said Space Fin 054 wasn't a rich man's cigar. And I won't be smug just because it obeys the rules I set down.
Gordon
Seven years ago, I sat on a tiny chair that made my ass hurt, writing my first self-reflection letter late at night, wondering if I should quit.
Gordon
Answering Machine 054 started giving off an unusual noise, and I racked my brains trying to figure out the problem.
Gordon
I started studying every Arts unit and Originium device that passed through my hands, just to give Five-Four the ability to operate, communicate, and think on its own.
Gordon
You think the hundreds of self-reflection letters I wrote were the symbol of my submission. But Five-Four is the real culmination of my seven years at ATAO!
Gustave
You're full of crap! You didn't learn the tricks of bureaucracy for your little invention!
Gustave
You think I've never seen you negotiate or threaten? Arrogant, vain, ambitious... I know them when I see it.
Gustave
I can hear shadows of my own speeches even now as you're talking to me.
Gordon
...I never thought I was perfect.
Gordon
Maybe I will never be able to get rid of the bad habits that I learned from you. They disgust me, but they weren't mistakes.
Gordon
My only mistake was to define my transactions as 'smuggling'. I shouldn't have allowed myself to accept the rules that have taken form, rules that don't make sense.
Gustave
Foolish boy, you don't understand what's at stake—
Gordon
Listen, old slug.
Gordon
I don't care what high-and-mighty reasons you have. Propeller Paradise isn't supposed to be a breeding ground of war.
Gordon
Sure, kinetic engines and high-powered Arts unit could become powerful weapons, but what they're supporting now is the dream of life in the sky.
Gordon
Until Propeller Paradise docks with the District, I'm its chief executive, the man who built this little piece of heaven that still has a semblance of freedom—
Gordon
I will decide whether it should be destroyed, or whether it should escape.
It's no use. The central control console is locked. You can't stop the plate from docking with the District, even if you have my passcode.
Gordon
Who said anything about stopping?
Gustave
What...?
Gordon
I said, 'escape'.
Gordon
Not only did the former head of ATAO not disable his passcode when he retired, he used the security access it granted to disable the urban identification code system on the Columbian border...
Gordon
Cool, isn't it?
Gustave
You're going to commit treason for this stupid, pointless children's playground?
Gustave
Hah. You were right. You didn't learn a single thing from me.
Gustave
Let me remind you that Propeller Paradise is running out of fuel. You can't operate the plate's steering system, and you don't have enough energy.
Gordon
Even when you're pinned to the ground by the robot I built, you somehow manage to forget that I've always been an inventor.
The sound of rotary motors has never been so clear.
The skies are clear. Overly-pristine self-cleaning artificial clouds combine with natural clouds to form a wondrous scene, but the people on the platforms are oblivious to it.
Some fifty Propeller Paradise guards and Maylander agents block off every passage and cable connections, forming an impregnable cordon line with their bodies and weapons.
Beneath their feet, the classical black-and-white tiles form a chessboard, the two sides separated by a ten-meter-long open-air passage.
The eyes of the agents are fixed on the support platform on the other side of the passage. The Rhine staff and testers who had at one point disappeared from sight now assemble there.
Agent A
Platform 7... the analysis was correct. This is where the hide-and-seek converges.
Agent A
Our people are ready, but there are more of them than expected.
Agent B
They took out our guys in the broadcast room. The intel was not accurate.
Agent B
We're putting in everyone we have.
Agent A
Strength in numbers alone isn't enough. Be on your guard. They have an advantage when it comes to the new weapons and lay of the land.
Agent A
Propeller Paradise is about to dock with D.C. Do not let anyone pass.
Agent A
Use force if necessary. I'll take responsibility.
Agent B
Yes, sir.
Sky Jagger
Six elite squads...
Tester
We have numbers, but the guys on the other side are...
Sky Jagger
Hard to tell people to keep going when they're exhausted.
Sky Jagger
Get the word out to the others, Jelena. Anyone who's too tired to move, give someone else their core components, pick up any hover unit, and stay behind to guard the support platform.
Tester
You're betting on them being wary about unknown new products?
Sky Jagger
I hope it works.
Ferne
Phew... made it.
Aspen
Are you sure you want to go this way when it's like this?
Ferne
Yes, this is the only way to Cloud.
Ferne
Take my parachute. Things might get dangerous.
Aspen
What about you?
Ferne
Me?
Ferne gazes at the Maylander blockade with interest, as though she is going to meet an old rival.
The camera drones left Platform 7 half an hour ago. Nothing that is about to happen here will be seen in the broadcast room.
Everyone knows that conflict is inevitable. Neither side wants to delay.
Their eyes are fixed on each other. Everyone is waiting for a sign.
Suddenly, a yellow-and-black warning flag is raised. A young Feline woman leaps out from the crowd, loudspeaker in hand.
Ferne
The first day I snuck onto Propeller Paradise, a kind guide told me that no one in this place can be stopped, if even the sky is no longer off-limits.
Ferne
From the exhibits to the underground lab, I memorized every strange and curious invention, the complex ideas behind them, and hundreds of thousands of words of descriptions.
Ferne
I could tell you who made the flying toaster above our heads, its model, and the generation.
Ferne
I could go on and on about how wonderful they are, but to be completely honest, I find the levitating plates less interesting than the sunset of Bleached Wasteland.
Ferne
Then I remember what my father used to say to me: 'A story is always more interesting than an explanation.'
Ferne
I've had many frustrating experiences in the years that I worked as an independent guide.
Ferne
There's nothing wrong with seeking truth, but many people subconsciously disparage exaggeration, inspiration, and dreams yet to come true.
Ferne
I swore I would never again label things that I've never seen for myself as 'impossible', and laugh at my own family with my neighbors, as I did I few years ago—
Ferne
It was not until the day my father died that I truly understood what he said.
Ferne
If Propeller Paradise needed a guide, I would rather tell the people of Columbia about the people I met here, about their stories.
Ferne
Rice Bush.
Lively Tester
H-Huh?
Ferne
A cobbler from Bunkerhill whose dream was to leave a footprint on each of the twin moons, so that everyone who looks up with a telescope would see his shop's logo on the shoeprints.
Lively Tester
There's no bigger billboard than the sky, after all...
Ferne
Owen Fredericks.
Calm Tester
...I'm here.
Ferne
Hardware store owner who wants to put his own screw on the second Ring Lab, and earn a spot for his family when space colonization becomes reality.
Calm Tester
Hey, never hurts to be prepared for the future.
Ferne
Aspen—
Aspen
I'll tell it myself.
Aspen
Aspen, grocer from Northville.
Aspen
After being tricked into taking out exploitative loans, I divorced my wife and left home, so the creditors wouldn't go after my family.
Aspen
My wife and I came up with the name 'Lucky Cystybeast' together. We haven't spoken to each other in two years.
Aspen
She was worried sick when I left. I promised that the name 'Lucky Cystybeast' would be on TV, so that she'd know I'm safe.
Aspen
Now I know that the exhibition was one big, fat lie. But I want her to at least see this red balloon with the Lucky Cystybeast logo on it, even if all the pods crash.
Ferne
Aspen, and all of you.
Ferne
The things we want, whether they're based in reality or just a pipe dream, whether they're the result of blind conformity or superstition... they're much more important than Maylander and Gustave think they are.
Ferne
Run! Jump! Fly!
Ferne
We'll overcome everything that tries to block our path and change us, without ever trying to understand us. We're the ones who'll decide Propeller Paradise's path!
Ferne dashes forward like a fowlbeast, loudly blasting her signal, as the rest of the pack follows behind, charging at the Maylander blockade.
Exhibits fly over the heads of the pushing and squeezing crowd, carrying all kinds of contraband towards the sky.
Outside the window, the pinnacle of the D.C. Government Office and the Columbian flag are already visible.
Gordon's eyes are fixed on the bottom-left of the broadcast, as the red dot on the map gets closer and closer to the District plate.
According to the plan, the devices on the list should have been delivered to Cloud more than ten minutes ago.
He forces himself to not look at the door. Gustave is bound to notice any sign of anxiety.
Gordon
......
Gustave
The plan isn't going the way you expected it, is it?
Gordon
You're calmer than I expected.
Gustave
Being willing to take risks is not a bad thing, but you're not good enough at assessing risk.
Gustave
You didn't have time to prepare a Plan B for your reckless Plan A. All of you will pay a heavy price if it fails.
Gordon
And what's YOUR Plan B?
Gustave
It's all good and well to rediscover your confidence, but never forget who you're competing with. I told you that getting carried away will cause you to overlook fatal flaws.
Gordon
What do you mean...?
Scientific Consultant
......
Gustave
You're late.
Scientific Consultant
I was delayed.
Gordon
Your science consultant...
Gustave
More than just a science consultant. I needed insurance for my plan.
The tall, dark Kuranta walks towards Gordon. The box holding thirty-four Originium devices, safely contained by protective material, seems almost weightless in his hands.
He lifts his arm and hands the box over to Gordon.
Scientific Consultant
What you wanted.
Gordon
Thanks.
Gustave
—!
Gustave
What are you doing?
Gordon
I learned a lot from you. Of course I knew what your trump card was.
Gordon
A rival to provoke competition. A scientific consultant with both brains and brawn. A fair and impartial outsider to give legitimacy to the hearing and plan.
Gramophone made from the tentacles of fossilized Seaborn? Decorative, or specifically functional?
Gordon
Oh, it's for—
Scientific Consultant
I see, automatic tuning with the Seaborn's sound-producing structures...
Scientific Consultant
The grooves on the edge indicate that the designer even tested whether Seaborn adjust their biostructure based on the music. An interesting idea.
Gordon
......
Scientific Consultant
Where does this golden skeletal hand come from?
Gordon
The one on the wall is from Sar—
Scientific Consultant
It forms a pair with the heavily corroded one on the shelf, doesn't it?
Scientific Consultant
The construction of the joints and the level of wear-and-tear indicates that it originated from the western deserts of Sargon.
Gordon
......
Scientific Consultant
Ah, this runed dagger is a familiar face. It—
Gordon
They were supposed to be a pair!
Gordon
I got it from a Sami snowpriest, who said a pair of lovers put a curse on it with their blood. It's driven by witchcraft, and cuts through iron like butter...
Scientific Consultant
I know. The other one was once impaled in my heart.
Scientific Consultant
It no longer cuts through iron like butter, but it's still good enough to carve a walking stick.
Gordon
......
Gordon
Mr. Consultant, I apologize for any offense I might have caused, and I understand your desire for recompense.
Gordon
But I don't have time. I brought you here for a serious purpose.
Scientific Consultant
If we take off part of the structure of the gramophone and combine it with the sensor module on the metal skeletal hand, we might create a new type of voice-guided navigation model.
Scientific Consultant
That witchcraft-driven blade can serve as a low-loss needle. And here, this high-powered Originium internal combustion engine, legal only in Rim Billiton, can provide thirty times the power of standard Columbian equipment.
Scientific Consultant
If only we can find a Victorian transformation stabilizer, which is no longer in production, and a Locus of Sorcery that was once seen on the Columbian barrenlands—
Scientific Consultant
We'd almost have all the parts necessary to put together the initial core assembly of a nomadic plate's mobility layer.
Gordon
......
Gordon
You know what I'm planning to do?
Scientific Consultant
Trying to modify an entire plate's power source with a single device is extremely risky, but not impossible.
Gordon
You're not one of Gustave's guys. Who are you?
Scientific Consultant
You're the one who said you don't have time.
Scientific Consultant
The real question is, what do you need me to do?
Gordon glares at the Kuranta standing at the center of the collection room.
The Kuranta recognized all Gordon's collections, saw through all Gordon's thoughts, and nonchalantly revealed a glimpse into his own past, as though he had pursued death across the land...
To Gordon, the Kuranta seems to stroll through the halls of his thoughts, like a king that knows nothing, and everything.
Once again, the spikes on the Savra's tail rise up on their ends, swaying conspicuously.
This time, it is not because he is on guard, but because of the excitement of victory being in sight.
It will last no more than three days, or one day and a half, if fuel is insufficient.
Gordon
Good enough.
Scientific Consultant
You don't actually plan on driving it out of Columbia.
Gordon
You don't think I would shit on everyone's future for a grudge?
Scientific Consultant
That's what you want people to think, to allow you to protect as many people as possible.
Gordon
Is that so?
Scientific Consultant
Treason is a serious crime.
Gordon
Pfft, you should look up my file. I've got enough charges against me as it is.
Gordon
Come, help me take these stuff to the control room.
The wings of a fowlbeast, the horn of a burdenbeast, the teeth of a manglerbeast, the hide of a sandbeast, and the blood of a beckbeast. What would happen if you took something from thirty-four creatures and put it all together?
Sharp, weird, chaotic, dangerous, malicious... these are the thoughts that flash through Gordon's mind as he gazes upon the power unit he just created.
But he is also filled with excitement that threatens to drive him mad.
Scientific Consultant
The plate's original power system has been turned off. The device is now connected.
Scientific Consultant
You may now decide the course of Propeller Paradise.
Gordon
......
Gordon
I swore an oath when I got my transfer notice.
Gordon
I would be the one who lights the fire of everything new on Propeller Paradise.
Gordon
I would do everything I can to make even the stupidest ideas come true. No one would ever again feel the pain I felt at ATAO, to be forced to admit their own uselessness in rules set by others.
Gordon
Now, I'm still the one who lights the fire, except I'm doing it to the engine of Propeller Paradise, and let it run into the empty wilderness.
Gordon grabs the fierce-looking lever on the power unit and takes a deep breath.
Tin Man, that Ferne is leading a group on Platform 7...
Tin Man
...I see it through the monitors.
Agent
Looks like Tannen got one up on Gustave at Cloud.
Agent
Hearing from the guys monitoring the Rhine tree. Nasti has broke through the blockade. Our guys are trying to follow her, but they're being blocked by something that feels like Sarkaz witchcraft.
Tin Man
Væla...
Tin Man
Send a team over and get the situation under control. I'll deal with matters on the Rhine side.
Tin Man
Looks like we're going to meet an old friend, Larry, Curly and Mo... a mad Banshee on the brink of death might be a bit of a headache to deal with.
Tin Man
As for you, Merry, you can choose to stay here, or help our colleagues outside.
Grandpa turned it into a sprinkler without a single word to me, as though the doll was always meant to do that.
Mercia
The children who grew up with me all have similar stories.
Mercia
You were Grandpa's best friend. You know that, to the 'Founding Father of the Federation', there are only new things in Columbia, the youngest nation on Terra, rising out of the frontiers...
Mercia
The only reason for old things to stay is to be used for pioneering.
Mercia
It didn't matter if we were Victorian emigrants or Gaulish refugees, whether we were children of debtors or criminals.
Mercia
Grandpa wanted us to become the children of Columbia, become Selenes. That was the only reason for our existence.
Mercia
However, that's exactly why I can't accept what's happening right now, and take it for granted.
Tin Man
What do you mean?
Mercia
I can't begin to imagine what you experienced in the long course of history. The Maylander Foundation, the president, the vice-president, they all have more things to think about...
Mercia
I've seen the analyses on Kazimierzian power armor. They've reverse-engineered the technology of the Gaulish Vieux Vanguard, achieving results that surpassed the 'Transmitter' using the flesh and blood of knights.
Mercia
I've read the textbooks of Leithanian 'Basic Arts Tactics' courses. It will not be a surprise if, in a decade, every citizen of Leithanien is a soldier, as is the case for Laterano.
Mercia
I can understand why Maylander thinks Columbia is falling behind, and how a timely arms race could bring us back on the 'right track'.
Mercia
Judging by the standards that Grandpa taught me so many times, there is nothing more efficient from the perspective of national development.
Mercia
It's not that I don't understand these fallacies. Indeed, if I was asked to deal with these problems, I would draw a blank, and I would be able to do little else but cry.
Mercia
But I just can't take it for granted. Not now.
Mercia
If orphans like us, who had nowhere to go, could all become children of Columbia—
Mercia
Then why should a mother who walked a thousand miles in search of her daughter, a merchant who put everything on the line so that his wife would not be hounded by creditors, and testers who are simply trying to earn a living...
Mercia
Why should they be sacrificed for the sake of Columbia's progress?
Mercia
My job is to make people forget. But this time...
Mercia
You decided to pay a price for Columbia's progress. You shouldn't be allowed to forget. You should remember the lives and dreams that were part of the sacrifice.
Nasti gazes at the indistinct figure within the winding branches. The figure of her mother.
Væla's limbs have been replaced by grey-white branches, bark climbing up her clothes and skin like scales, printing countless indistinct visages.
Glowing resin pours down like a waterfall, obscuring her face. Many desperate hands reach out from within, clutching her throat like clutching at straws.
Both the 'tree' and the person within seem almost unrecognizable.
There is only one thing that Nasti can be sure of: this was not a natural occurrence.
Nasti
You merged with the tree?
Væla
Falling... I see your road back falling, collapsing. I must make sure you can go home.
Væla
My incantation could not reach the broken path, but the roots of this Roosting Tree will.
Væla
...I harmed it.
Nasti
(In Sarkaz) Unravel!
Nasti's incantation goes unanswered.
Nasti
The tree's design was based on the grammar of the Banshees. It remains flawed in many ways, but it has never before rejected my incantation. Yet now...
The branches continue to spread around Væla, dragging her floating silhouette towards Nasti, bit by bit.
Nasti
Pease, Væla, stop... let me analyze what's happened to you.
Nasti's plea goes unanswered too.
All Væla does is ask questions, in an urgent, trembling voice.
Væla
There's no mistapple pulp outside the valley... how do you polish your feather horns, Nasti?
Væla
I never taught you incantations, but it looks like you've learned it on your own... a kind of imitation... how did you...?
Væla
And your bone pen... your... your...
Nasti
That's not important, Væla. What I need to know is what happened to you here.
Væla
Not... important?
Væla is suddenly silent, and the creeping branches come to a standstill.
An instant later, they start to spread in the opposite direction, encroaching upon what is left of Væla.
I saw you dig for answers in the great library of the Lich for days and nights... you ruined your eyesight, but the curmudgeon Fremont kicked you out in the end.
Væla
I should have told him that you were never a foolish child. It was because of me...
I saw you sleep on metal scaffolds, where there were no leaves to give you shade. You didn't built a treehouse either, just used a simple metal plate...
Væla
How could anyone sleep like that...? Do you get sick?
Nasti listens to her go on and on. The voice is distorted, barely recognizable, but the words of concern are familiar.
Væla used to say these things when they lived in Convallis.
Nasti realizes that she is not looking at a problem that needs to be solved, nor a patient who needs to be treated.
She is looking at a worried mother who needs to be understood.
Nasti lowers her bone pen.
Nasti
Ferne told me how you looked like when she found you. There were burns from Arts, holes from bullets, and gashes from sandstorms all over you...
Nasti
You walked the path that I once did, only harder and more painfully.
Nasti
You could have died... you should have stayed in the Convallis.
Væla
There was nothing more I could do for the valley, for Laqeramaline, for the children.
Nasti
You've already done so much. The lies you weaved for the sake of all the Banshees...
Væla
I knew it... they couldn't fool you.
Nasti
I began to sense that something was off soon after you brought me to the Convallis.
Væla
......
Væla
I've kept the lie going for two hundred years. This was my greatest achievement as custodian of the valley, and my greatest sin...
Nasti
Two hundred years... do you mean... that war?
Væla
Yes.
Væla
The King of Sarkaz at the time was old and foolish. It was not just the Royal Courts; even outsiders thought they could turn him into a puppet and thus control all Sarkaz.
Væla
It was already a bad year. Catastrophe raked the land once, then the alliance's guns raked it again.
The green Feline appeared on the horizon, leading a wall of steel that stretched as far as the eye could see. Which were the Steam Knights, which were the spire casters, and which were the Vieux Vanguard? I couldn't tell.
Væla
I don't know when they learned to build ships of steel, and tubes that breathed fire.
Væla
All I remember is that the towering Wendigos could only whimper as they were crushed beneath the ships, and our kin fell burning from the sky like broken kites.
Væla
No one who heard the wailing that day would ever forget it.
Nasti
...The wailing of the Banshee.
Væla
We couldn't tell if we were delivering death, or delivering the dead. All we could do was wail and howl, hardly able to put together a single coherent elegy.
Væla
There were less than a thousand of us left when the allied forces withdrew from Kazdel. Half of us had lost our voices.
Nasti
......
Væla
Because of our nature, the Banshees have never missed a single war of the Sarkaz. But such losses were unprecedented.
Væla
I survived by sheer chance and left the blood-soaked land of sorrows, trying to find a place where life still remained.
The vast Mist Lake separates it from the outside. The seasons come to a still in the golden woods. It is a quiet place... one that seemed like it didn't belong to the Sarkaz.
Nasti
There's nothing that shouldn't belong to Sarkaz.
Væla
Yes... we believed it at the time. Me, Laqeramaline, and the new king chosen by the crown.
Væla
We believed in a new life for the Sarkaz.
Væla
Laqeramaline and I took our remaining kin into the Convallis, built a dock by Mist Lake, and built our court in the forests.
Væla
For the first time, we added symbols of life into the song of the Banshee, guided the trees to bear rich fruit, and the vines to weave themselves into bridges with incantations.
Væla
For the first time, the Banshees settled in a single place. They no longer had to sleep with only the night sky as their blanket, traveling from one death to another.
Væla
But 'tokens' from outside soon came flying in like snowflakes.
Nasti
Tokens announcing death.
Væla
...Yes.
Nasti
Not even Theresa and Theresis could solve the problems left behind by war overnight.
Væla
Yes. Death lingers, long after the smoke has cleared.
Væla
We made dried fruit out of our first harvest. It was barely enough for a few hundred Banshees to make it through the coldest month of winter.
Væla
But the tokens in my room... the murky blood crystals of the Vampires, tattered shrouds of the Nachzehrers, the shriveled, rosen hearts that Djaj become...
Væla
They soon piled higher, much higher than our dried fruit. I knew that if we went out to deliver the dead at that time...
Væla
We would return to our old path. But the catalyst for change was won with the lives of thousands upon thousands in war.
Nasti
So you made a choice on behalf of all the Banshees.
Væla
I made the choice. I convinced Laqeramaline.
Væla
I concealed all the tokens announcing death coming from outside.
Væla
Occasionally a Banshee might leave the Convallis to deliver our kin, but I chose the people carefully and sparingly... Laqeramaline faced much criticism outside.
Væla
For a long time, we believed that we could cast aside our nature and lead a different life. If the Banshees could do it, so could all Sarkaz.
Væla
Even if the price was that the owners of the tokens would never find their way to the myriad souls.
Væla
Even the price was that the Banshees, having violated their nature, are swallowed by a lifetime of emptiness, destined to endure a long and painful journey of forgetting upon their deathbed.
Væla
Two hundred years passed. Two hundred years we had endured.
How many deaths did you tell the others about each month? More people die in Kazdel every day.
Nasti
You could fool the others, but you knew that I knew from the beginning.
Væla
Laqeramaline was right. You were too smart, and you grew up in Kazdel... I could not have fooled you.
Væla
But I hoped you could live in the Convallis.
Væla
Not just because your mother was one of the many thousands of souls that I turned a blind eye to... not just because I owed you a happy childhood for failing to respond to the last wish in time.
Væla
But also because I hoped that the Convallis, the sanctuary that was built in the hope of seeking a new life for the Sarkaz, would at least be able to take in a child from outside after two hundred years.
Væla
I took the child who was most likely to expose my lie in, as my daughter.
Nasti
You carefully kept me away from other Banshees.
Nasti
Ultimately, your hopes for the Convallis fell through.
Væla
I...
Væla
I made many mistakes in my life. But there is none that I regret more than your departure.
Væla
You were always a smart girl. I've thought about it many times... that if I had told you the truth about things, you would have understood and played along whatsoever.
Væla
If that was the case, then perhaps you wouldn't have...
You called out to me. I didn't turn around, but I looked down at the water.
Nasti
There was no wind on Mist Lake that day. The boat sailed across the water like a knife cutting through a piece of paper. I saw your face clearly, reflected in the still water.
Nasti
You wept when I said I was leaving, but let out a sigh of relief... so small, so imperceptible, that perhaps you didn't even notice it yourself.
Nasti
Deep down, you wanted me to leave, didn't you?
Nasti
We were co-conspirators in the parting.
Væla
......
Nasti
Haven't you realized it, Væla?
Nasti
It is the Convallis, not me, that is truly your daughter.
Nasti
You discovered it, entrusted the Sarkaz's future to it, and built it with pavilions and boats, fruits and cakes.
Nasti
Your love for it grew as time passed.
Nasti
There were two reasons why you brought me back to the Convallis: to make amends for the price you paid for it, and to verify whether it has grown the way you hoped it would.
Nasti
My departure brought relief, because the one who could expose the fragile lie that ties the Convallis together left.
Nasti
But my departure also brought anguish, because it proved that the valley could not carry the burden you hoped it would, even after two hundred years.
Nasti
It was too fragile to accept a child who grew up in Kazdel, much less become the future abode of all Sarkaz.
Væla
Nasti, don't...
Nasti
Do you know the answer, Væla?
Nasti
You left the Convallis, came here, and merged with this tree, which is like the Roosting Tree, yet different... did you do it for me, for yourself, or simply out of obsession?
Are you running from death, from the failure of the Convallis, or from the fact that you are dying and there is nothing else you can do for the Convallis's failure?
Nasti
Tell me, help me understand, and put an end to this error.
