I feel it's a little... risky, to be hunting such a massive saltfin with the men we have.
Javier
Wouldn't it be safer to go after a school of smaller ones?
Juana
The saltfin schools we've reeled in have been far too small. We'll need a lot more alchemical materials for what is to come.
Javier
We've already prepared plenty.
Juana
Still far from enough. The compass was just the beginning. We'll need so much more once we enter the ocean.
Javier
Poz, the last cook, said you like to make some crazy decisions. Most of the time, it makes our blood run hot with excitement.
Javier
But other times, it makes our blood turn to ice.
Juana
...Yet he was ever-loyal to me, supporting even those decisions that made him freeze up inside.
Javier
Is that what you expect from me too?
Juana
No. Which is why he's the previous cook and you're the new one.
Javier
......
Juana
Do you really wish to spend the rest of your life worrying about your next meal? This is our chance. Seize it, and all our problems vanish forever.
Juana
The ocean managed to nurture the entirety of the Golden Age, but our entire fleet can't even compare to your average gang of smugglers.
Javier
But the Salt Flat has nurtured us for decades! It hasn't been easy, but you've led us through the years.
Juana
The Flat is too barren for us.
Javier
And the ocean is too dangerous for us.
Juana
Think about the townsfolk. They would like nothing more than to be rid of us, and their net draws ever closer.
Javier
You were never afraid of them!
Juana
It's not them that I'm afraid of.
Juana
It's the Flat. Its ecosystem is about to collapse.
Juana
That fissure was just the beginning. Survey teams are reporting that large voids have appeared beneath the Salt Flat, where underground rivers have dried up.
Javier
Voids?
Juana
The underground rivers are drying up. The number of microorganisms has dropped sharply, and with it, the number of saltfins that feed upon them.
Juana
It's been a long time since one of our finships encountered a large school of saltfins.
Javier
Why didn't you tell us?
Juana
What was I supposed to say? That we're finished if we don't escape this place? What would that accomplish other than causing a panic?
Doctor Añora was the first to plant them in town, decades ago. For use in ointments.
Anastasio
Ah... I have seen them before, in the halls of the Bastión de Cánticos.
Silver
I've never been.
Silver
All I know is that it is the first flower to bloom from the salted earth of Aarón, after so many years of being besieged by the sea.
Silver
The townsfolk used to give me these, as a token of appreciation I think.
Silver
Now, I feel I should be offering them to you.
Anastasio
No, señor, I am unworthy.
Silver
Had you not taken those... measures towards the caravans, to obtain the predator burdenbeasts...
Silver
We could never have gone after those despicable bandits in the Salt Flat.
Anastasio
I did no more than what must be done.
Silver
Your duty, of course.
Silver
I believe you mentioned you are after a forbidden relic the bandits have stolen.
Silver
What sort of relic could it possibly be, to bring you all the way to this barren land?
Anastasio
A... compass.
Silver
There are thousands of antique compasses from old Iberia.
Anastasio
None like this. This one corrupts the heart.
Anastasio
It points towards the user's deepest desires, dredged from the depths of the heart... Or so it is said.
Anastasio
But those who cast their eyes towards such base desires can never turn back.
Anastasio
It drives them to theft, robbery, murder. They cannot stop themselves, try as they might.
Silver
...You really think so?
Anastasio
It is simply the truth.
Silver
Is this what you've been preaching to the townsfolk these past few days?
Anastasio
It was not I who preached. The people here already understood this truth, more profoundly than I ever have.
Anastasio
Someone had already revealed it to them. Perhaps you?
Silver
...Yes, it was me.
Silver
It was I who issued those prohibitions.
Anastasio
Why stop then? Why lift the prohibition?
Silver
Look at this town. No one here dares touch the new goods and technologies that the caravans bring. No one dares leave their house after dark.
Silver
They dare not fill their stomachs... even in years of plenty.
Silver
Every word I used to shackle these poor people has continued to shackle them.
Anastasio
They see it differently.
Anastasio
Was it not your deeds that helped them lay aside their dreams and laments for wealth and power. Was it not your words that encouraged them to take up the hoe and the scythe?
Silver
Times have changed, Señor Alguacil.
Anastasio
Times never change, Señor Calificador.
Anastasio
The deepest desires of the heart should never be probed. Not by anyone, not anywhere.
Wait for it to turn and aim for gaps in its shell! If you can hit the nostril, all the better!
Nervous Sailor
It's coming straight for us!
Juana
Row! Hard forward!
Excited Sailor
Aye aye!
Juana
Harpoons ready! ...Now!
Excited Sailor
Argh!
Juana
Good! Keep it up!
Nervous Sailor
It's too strong! I can't hold this rope much longer!
Excited Sailor
I'm with you!
Juana
All hands! Again!
Sailors
Argh!
Juana
Good! Someone hit the nostril!
Juana
Hold that rope like your life depends on it!
Sailors
Hah!
Excited Sailor
Thirty meters left!
Juana
Keep holding on!
Excited Sailor
Twenty meters!
Juana
......
Excited Sailor
Ten meters!
Nervous Sailor
We're out of rope!
Juana
Just a little more!
Excited Sailor
It's coming out of the salt layer!
Juana
Now! Reel it in!
Juana rides her boat towards the saltfin as the rope is reeled in. Its thick hide has been pierced by dozens of harpoons, blood seeping out from the wounds.
Listening to its heavy, rapid breathing, Juana knows that its life is coming to an end.
She cannot help but place her hand on the massive figure, feeling its life flow out of it little by little, until the saltfin closes its eyes, still raging against the dying of the light with its last breath.
Nervous Sailor
Phew... finally.
Excited Sailor
We did it!
Juana
...Hail the salt ship. Have them come for us.
Excited Sailor
Aye aye!
Juana
Wait!
Nervous Sailor
Look out, señora!
Excited Sailor
It's not dead yet...
Juana feels a gaze filled with overwhelming malice upon her.
She looks up at its eyes, filled with hatred and anger.
The next instant, the saltfin begins flailing violently, sending blood-stained salt flying, falling over the sailors like rain.
It breaks free of the ropes, leaving behind only the harpoons still impaled in its hide.
It raises its tail fin high.
Nervous Sailor
Retreat! Retreat!
Excited Sailor
No...
Several boats are quickly snapped in two by the saltfin's attack, and the air is filled with the screams of injured sailors.
The sound seems to fill Juana with a certain resolve. She charges towards the rampaging saltfin, and grabs one of the harpoons on its back.
It leaps up, trying to shake her off.
Excited Sailor
It's too dangerous, señora! Let go!
Juana
No! This one is mine, as long as I still breathe!
The saltfin sweeps aside the boats in front of it and swims into the distance, carrying Juana on its back.
It does so with astounding speed, like an arrow from a bow, or a dying star.
...Are you sure those bandits will pass through here, Señor Alguacil?
Anastasio
Yes... they're short on supplies.
Anastasio
Saltfins are their only food source in the Salt Flat. From what the caravans tell us, they must travel through this passage when they return from a hunt.
Anastasio
Exhausted by their quarry, they will be no match for us.
Silver
Good.
Silver
With this ambush, it will all be over.
Silver
Things will improve in town once we have the bandits' technology and supplies.
Silver
Right, Anastasio?
Anastasio
......
Anastasio mutters something, but Silver does not hear it.
He simply gazes upon the vast Salt Flat before him, as if seeing the town's prosperous future out there.
