Abbey House | 5:34 PM | First Day

"The bottom of the ocean...?" Kam looked behind her, out of one of the windows. "How is that possible? We were up in the Empyrean--"

"Perhaps it would be better to say an ocean," he said, correcting himself. He reached over to the table in front of him, and poured himself a small cup of tea from a pot, setting it on a plate before bringing it up to his lap. "To be specific, we're under the northern Innocent Sea in the Atelikos."

I blinked, a little taken aback.

It was well known that, when the Ironworkers were attempting to recreate the old world, they made seven attempts. The Mimikos was the seventh and final, while the other six were abandoned, becoming what were today known broadly as the Lower Planes. The Atelikos, from the Inotian for 'unfinished,' was the sixth. In contrast to the bowl shape of the Mimikos, it more resembled an octagonal plate or pan, and while the surface of the Mimikos was around 63% water, the Atelikos was closer to 97%, with the only land area being solitary islands or archipelagos.

...at least that was what I'd read. I'd never been there personally-- Well, until now, apparently. Travel to the lower levels of the Remaining World had been restricted since the Great Interplanar War; most people, even most arcanists, never did it. Knowledge of the subject had even begun to fade from the public conciousness.

If what he was saying was true, then I wondered why the Order would go to such lengths. Suffice it to say, there were many simpler ways to base yourself somewhere impossibly remote.

"That was cross-planar travel?" Kam said, her eyes wide. "But surely the eris expense would be tremendous!"

"It's not as bad as you might expect," he told her, his tone relaxed as he sipped from his teacup. "You were probably wondering why you had to wait until a precise time that seemed like a pretty arbitrary number, right?"

Had I wondered that? It sounded like something I would've found strange, but I'd been so overwhelmed by everything going on back in that place...

"That's because the teleportation only initiates when this sanctuary lines up almost exactly with the position of the Empyrean Bastion," he explained. "Honestly, it's far from my field of expertise as it can get, so some of the finer points go a little over my head. But the trick of it is that Mimikos and the Atelikos aren't entirely stationary, but rather shift and bob with the weight as they turn and their lamps orbit them. As a result, what happens to be in the same place on the other plane is constantly in flux. Years ago, we mapped out the windows where this sanctuary's location corresponds closely with somewhere discreet, and, well. Those became our entrances."

"I thought you could only travel between planes with a fixed, anchored gateway," Ran said, her brow furrowed. "Where one location is linked to another permanently, regardless of the change in position."

"I see you know a bit about the subject," Linos said. He shifted forward, clasping his hands together. "No, that's the modern method, but there are other, less known ones. This is a more archaic one that hasn't seen use since the Tricenturial War. It saves eris and can be done on the spot with only a little preparation... If you're willing to put up with a lot of inconvenience."

And risk, I thought to myself. If it had happened slightly too late or slightly too soon, we would have been transported into the water or some bedrock, and would presently be extremely dead.

Almost seeming to pick up on inner monologue, Linos made a slightly guilty smile. "I'm sorry we didn't inform you what was to happen in advance. If it's any consolation, we have plenty of failsafes. There's never been a single incident since this sanctuary was built."

"Oh, no, you needn't apologize, of all things!" Kam said, seemingly on behalf of all of us. "With the caliber of the arcanists you count within your ranks, well-- I'm sure that you know what you're doing. In fact, I must say I'm incredibly impressed. It's a more exotic method then I ever would have predicted. To think I was imagining you using something as basic as an arcane refuge..."

I flattened my brow. I was starting to wonder if there was anything the Order could do that wouldn't impress Kam.

"I think the organization did have one, at some point before my time," Linos said. "But all it takes to infiltrate or destroy an arcane refuge is one lucky turn for a prospective intruder. We wanted something truly elusive, that couldn't be accessed through a static entrance at all."

"S-Sorry to cut in," I interjected, "...but doesn't the treaty of the Grand Alliance forbid permanent settlement on the Lower Planes?"

"Ahah. Well, yes." He looked away for a moment, scratching the back of his head.

"Um, are we going to have to take an oath of secrecy after all, then...?" I looked over to Kamrusepa. "Because there was a questioner this morning who asked if it would be alright if we talked about this place when it was all over, and I think Kam said it was fine."

"I said it was conditionally fine, Su," Kam said, her face flushing a bit. "You mustn't give the grandmaster the wrong idea."

"No, no. Don't worry. There won't be any need for oaths," Linos soothed me. "This place is legal, though it's a bit of a technicality. This structure was erected before the treaty was ratified at the Illykrian Assembly, and was missed during the decolonization beforehand. So as long as we don't build anything new, it's acceptable." His brown eyes flicked downward for a moment. "As for talking about it after the fact, we have a measure in mind to make sure the location remains discreet. So you needn't worry."

"A measure, hm?" Kamrusepa raised an eyebrow, the corner of her lip curling upwards. "Would you mind indulging me?"

"I probably shouldn't discuss the specifics," he said. "Although, I think you'll probably have a sense of it by the time this is all over."

That was a little mysterious.

"There was another thing," I said. Ran glanced at me for a moment, subtly tensing.

"Of course," he said. "Go ahead, Utsu."

Utsu. It was really only him and Theo, who still shortened my name that way.

"When the teleportation happened..." I looked downward for a moment, trying to moderate myself so that the strange feeling of paranoia - was it paranoia? - didn't leak into my tone. "...we experienced something strange, like we weren't anywhere for a few moments. Just in a sort of void. Ophelia-- Um, you know Ophelia, right? I'm assuming you looked into everyone, when you arranged all this."

I saw Ran relax again, but her expression also became puzzled.

It's not time to bring that up. Not yet.

"Well now, I'm not sure I'm important enough to have much in the way of arranging." He let out a weak chuckle, scratching at the side of his head. "I did look into everyone a bit, though, yes. If only so I wouldn't make any silly blunders."

"Right," I said. "But no, it was enough to make Ophelia throw up. It was very severe."

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," Linos spoke, a frown crossing his features. "Is she alright?"

"She's doing well enough, I think," Kam said. "I expect she said she just wanted to get up here so she could clean her clothes as soon as she could. She did say that, didn't she, Su?"

"Yeah," I said with a nod.

"I wish she would have said something," he remarked, with a small sigh. "I would have asked Sacnicte to get her some medicine. Though she's a Biomancer, of course, so perhaps that's a little condescending of me to even suggest... But yes, I'm afraid that's a side-effect of interplanar travel, though it doesn't surprise me that you haven't heard of it. After all, you're all from the 14th generation."

"It always happens...?" I asked. Something about this was still nagging at me.

"Yes," he said. He took another sip from the tea. "Though some people experience it worse than others. It's a consequence of the disparity in time passage between separate planes. Time moves slightly slower here relative to the Mimikos, to the tune of about eighteen seconds per day, and that dissonance means that the body can't be directly transferred from one to another, since it would be--"

"Out of sync," Kamrusepa interjected, eager to please. "I read about this phenomena when I was studying my discipline. Ugh, blast it." She slapped at her forehead with her fingers, though in a playful way that made it clear she wasn't self-chastising with much seriousness. "Now I feel foolish not for having realized what was happening there and then."

"Well, you were going in without much in the way of context, so that might be a little unfair on yourself," Linos said. "But yes. Since the body - as an amalgamation of objects - would be moving slightly too fast relative to the rest of reality if it was simply transported directly, the universe needs a moment to adjust it first. That's what you were all experiencing."

"It felt like a long time," I said. "More than a single moment."

"That's because you're temporarily existing outside of any external conventional time, Su," Kamrusepa said, holding up a finger and using her I'm-very-smart voice. "Your only sense of it would have been from your own body, which is a very subjective experience."

"Yes," Linos said, with a nod. "Some people get it much worse than others. Your poor grandfather used to say that it felt like hours for him, Utsushikome, so maybe something of it runs in your family."

It was funny how the idea of physical traits 'running in the family' had survived into the modern era, when it hadn't applied in any scientific sense since the collapse.

"How was it for you, Theo?" he asked, turning towards his son for a moment.

"U-Um, it was alright," he said. "I think it felt like it was about a minute?" He frowned. "Maybe closer to thirty seconds..."

"A little worse than I have it, then," Linos said, with a small smile. "I'm a lucky one. For me, it passes in just an instant."

"It was more than that, too, though," I said. "Something happened to my mind. It was like I felt... I don't know how to put it. half-asleep."

"Mm, that's a product of sensory deprivation, most likely," Linos said. "The body is designed to always be collecting information. When it's deprived of it, it gets a little confused about what's going on."

I frowned. I looked to the faces of the others, and saw no indication that any of them had problems with this explanation, even Ran, who was generally more of a skeptic than I was. And looking at the situation objectively, it was hard to find anything that seemed wrong with the explanation.

So why was something about it still bothering me?

"If you don't mind," Ran said, "there was something I wanted to know, too."

"Oh?" Linos looked to her.

"I was wondering a few things about the mural in the room we were transported from," she said.

Theo looked confused, for a moment, but didn't say anything.

I was a little puzzled, too. As a person, Ran was incredibly goal-oriented. It was rare indeed for her to be curious for the sake of being curious.

"Ah!" His eyes lit up with recognition. "The one in the Gynaikeian entrance?"

Ran looked as if she were about to say one thing, then hesitated, her expression contorting in confusion as she switched to another train of thought. "...Gynaikeian? As in, for women?"

Linos's expression flattened a little bit, some embarrassment creeping in, and he let out a soft chuckle. "Ah, yes. You wouldn't know about that, I suppose." He cleared his throat roughly. "You might have surmised as much already, but the order has some, uh, shall we say somewhat old-fashioned customs when it comes to gender. I've never been completely comfortable with it, I admit..."

"Wait, uh, hold on," I said. "You're telling me that we weren't split up to make our group smaller, but... Just because men and women have their own dedicated entrances?"

"Well, in this case, it was a bit of both," he said. "But... That's not incorrect, no."

"Why?" I asked, more baffled than offended.

"It's a hold-over from the conservative days when the group was founded, during the First Resurrection," he explained. "I believe the original logic was that men and women traveling together on a regular basis would be more prone to creating inter-organizational conflict."

He means that they'd have started getting into relationships, and would have become distracted from the work, my brain translated.

"That's hardly a popular belief nowadays, of course," he said, in a reassuring tone that he didn't seem completely confident in. "But, well, the charter of the order can't be changed without a unanimous vote from all full members, which isn't exactly realistic. So the custom has remained..."

I didn't say anything, but I expected the reality was a little more complicated than Linos was presenting. When one has lived for a very long time, especially fixated on so esoteric a goal, it can foster very strange, long-lingering beliefs about essential truths. I felt like it might be worth asking one of the female members of the inner circle about later.

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"I suppose that's... Understandable," Kamrusepa said, audibly struggling as her imperative to be a suck-up clashed with her actual beliefs. "We heard a little bit about that from your man back during the trip - that stability and continuity is considered paramount over all else."

"That's the logic," Linos said. "Though I'm not sure how much I agree with it. In fact..." He glanced upward, and then gestured a hand outwardly. "The bedrooms here are split by sex, too. The ground floor is for men, while the upper one is for women. Your friends are probably learning that right now."

"It really is a good thing Fang isn't here," I said, my voice flat.

"Mm-hmm." Kamrusepa nodded, holding a finger up to her lip. "Well, I suppose there's a certain antiquated charm to it? I mean-- It's a harmless custom, in the end."

"That's sort of an unusual attitude for you, Kamrusepa," Theo said, chiming in for the first time in a while. "You're always getting, ah. Worked up about women being treated differently. That sort of thing."

"I think the word you're looking for is 'sexism', Theo," I said.

He scratched the back of his head. "W-Well, you know. I didn't want to make assumptions about her politics, or anything..."

Probably smart. Theo hadn't scouted the minefield that was Kam's belief system as frequently as I had.

"I wouldn't call this ill-treatment," Kamrusepa said, although something in her tone had a certain tactical reservation. Like she was conscious that her attitude didn't quite make sense. "It's just a little quirk, and it's almost pleasant to have these things acknowledged, every so often."

"I'm, uh, not sure I understand," Theodoros said.

"Neither do I," Ran said, her expression serious. "Frankly, it comes across as a bit creepy to me."

I bit my lip.

"Tch, never mind." Kam said, making a dismissive gesture. "And come on, Ran. There's no need to be impolite about the issue."

"No, it's quite alright," Linos said. "I admit it's a regressive situation. All I can do is apologize." He looked down into his tea, swirling the liquid inside around a little bit. "But we've strayed rather far off topic. What did you want to know the mural, miss Hoa-Trinh?"

"Mostly just what it was intended to represent," Ran said. "We were speculating about it earlier."

"Ah, right." He took another sip. "It's supposed to represent the Epic of Gilgamesh, but you probably surmised that much yourself, right?"

Ran nodded. "Yes."

"Only because of you, Ran," Kam said, mirthfully. "Without your input, I expect it would have gone over all of our heads."

"It was simple enough," she said, nodding just a little. Ran didn't tend to respond much to compliments. She looked back to Linos. "I was curious about why it's there."

"Hm, I see." Linos looked thoughtful for a moment, leaning his head forward. "The epic is something of a... Motif, for our organization, I suppose." He smirked slightly, although it feels wrong to use the word 'smirk' for him. I wasn't sure Linos's face was capable of producing an expression with any trace of actual smugness. "I'm sure the reason why isn't hard to guess."

"Because it's the oldest story about the pursuit of immortality?" I suggested.

He chuckled. "I confess it's not a particularly deep explanation." He paused for a moment, his expression suddenly introspective. "Although, to be pedantic, that's actually arguable-- Some scholars contend that the resurrection narrative predates it, in some Old Kingdoms era mythology."

Ran seemed to understand what he was talking about, nodding. "It's at least the first one that was fully codified."

"That's true," Linos admitted. "I'm being a little pedantic. It's a bad habit of mine, I'm afraid."

Upstairs, where was a thumping sound, probably from one of the others as they were settling into their rooms. There was a faint stir in the air.

"I'm sorry, what's the 'resurrection narrative?'" I asked.

I had an idea where he might've been going with what he was saying, but I was sort of curious about how he'd frame the concept.

"Ah, forgive me. I'm talking ahead of my audience." He set the cup back onto the dish, for a moment. "There's a school of thought that there are two monomyths when it comes to the stories humans invent concerning everlasting life. The first is the 'elixir' narrative, of which the Epic of Gilgamesh belongs. Where there is some potion or herb that can grant eternal life, if not for being just outside of the reach of man. While the second..."

There was another quiet thump. Overhead, I was pretty sure I could hear Ophelia say something, or issue some kind of command loudly, though not in a fashion that made her out to be in any kind of danger.

"...is the resurrection narrative," Linos continued. "Sometimes called the dying-and-rising myth. It's about a person... Or deity, though the two are often interchangeable in a mythological context... Losing their life, only to be reborn with new, superior life. The two both appear in essentially all cultures, but it's questionable which one came first." He hesitated. "Well, if one came first at all."

"If?" I asked.

"There's an argument that they're stories as old as the human condition itself," he explained. "Concepts - or perhaps desires - that will come naturally to the mind of almost any living person. Primal, rather than cultural."

"You're talking about the archetypal hypothesis of comparative mythology," Ran said.

"Ahah, you know a lot for your age." Linos smiled to her, looking a little impressed. "Have you ever head that, as a byproduct of evolutionary development as tool users, all human beings are born with the instinctive understanding of how to sharpen out a simple knife from raw materials, in the same regard that all birds have an understanding of how to construct a nest? From a certain perspective, you could perhaps see the pursuit of vastly increased longevity in the same light. Something that strikes a chord deep within the heart. That people pursue, without truly knowing why."

"You're being a bit over the top, dad," Theodoros said, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Ah, come on, Theo," he said, though the words were warm - it wasn't a reprimand. "This is my life's work. You have to give me a bit of a pass to embarrass myself."

"Well, I think it's a romantic way to think about it, sir," Kamrusepa asserted, idly crossing her arms.

Gods, I thought. She's really going for it like her life depends on it.

"Thanks for humoring me, miss Tuon," Linos said. "Really, though, I probably am over-intellectualizing the subject. Most likely, there's just an inherent appeal to both ideas. No one wants to die, after all." He gave a small smile.

"It is rather funny that there's two distinct ones, though," Kam said. "I've never really thought about the subject in these terms, before."

"They have different fundamental appeals, I think," Linos said. And then a funny look crossed his eyes for a moment, his bushy brow furrowing in thought. "What's the better dream, do you think? Living forever, but only being young once? Or having to grow old and die, but then getting a chance to be truly young again, and start over in every sense?"

The dragon versus the phoenix.

"The dragon versus the phoenix," I said, the filter that is supposed to keep my insane trains of thought from leaking out of my mouth apparently malfunctioning.

"Ah, that's a cute way to put it, Utsu." Linos said, pointing to me. "You always did have a literary way of framing things." He sipped from his cup again. "Hmm... Personally, I'd have to pick the phoenix, though I'm an old man, so of course I'd be biased towards fresh starts."

"Well, obviously, either would be wonderful," Kamrusepa said. "Hmm... I'd have said the phoenix in the past, I think, but dragon would suit me more at this stage."

"I suppose I'd pick dragon too," Theodoros said. "What about you, Utsu?"

"Huh? Oh, uh." I hesitated for a moment. "Phoenix."

That's what you're here to do, after all. To resurrect someone.

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked to Ran expectantly. She frowned, seeming annoyed by the question.

"Dragon, I guess," she said, reluctantly. "I don't even really understand the other option. If you die and become young again, but your mind isn't somehow wiped, it's the same as staying young anyway. And if it is wiped, then... You're basically dead, right? You might as well just be a new person."

"That's such a you response, Ran," Kam said, with a smirk.

"I don't know how I'm supposed to respond to that," she replied flatly.

"I suppose it's a bit of an abstract judgement," Linos said. He took up his cup again, and took another drink, this time for a few moments longer. "But we've gone wildly off topic, so I digress. The name of the sanctuary is also taken from the epic. It's 'Apsu', the name of the ocean in which Gilgamesh dives to retrieve the flower. In terms of the broader mythology, it's sort of a 'primeval sea' that lies beneath the underworld."

"Is that the reason it was built here at all?" I asked. "I'm sort of surprised how much interest the order pays to aesthetics, for a scholarly organization. With this, uh-- Motif, with the gardens. All of this..."

"One should never underestimate the power of aesthetics, Su," Kamrusepa interjected. "Man is a creature that is incredibly responsive to his environment. Reinforce a story in the world that surrounds him, and he'll stay more focused on following the script." Her eyes briefly flickered from me to Linos, presumably to see if this line had impressed him.

"You're quite literary yourself, miss Tuon," Linos said, smiling. "To answer your question, though, no. While it's a quaint idea, this place was chosen because the barebones structure already belonged to one of the members, not because being underwater makes it evocative. As for the deeper details of the mural itself..." He picked up a spoon, stirring the tea. "I might not be the right person to ask - I've only even seen it once, since I don't exactly use the women's entrance often. You'd be better off talking to Anna. She's the one who set up the gateways to the bastion to begin with, and was involved in-- In commissioning it, I think."

Ran nodded. "Thank you. I'll do that." She shifted a little on the spot, looking down the hall. "For now, though, I'm going to check out my room."

"I, uh, think I'll go, too," I said. "I want to unpack before the evening gets going."

"Be my guest," Linos said. "It'll be a few more hours until dinner, but the kitchen's by the stairs if you need anything to eat or drink, and there's a game room through the double doors upstairs if you're bored, so make yourself at home." He gave a warm smile." And good to see you both again. I'm looking forward to both your presentations."

"Thank you," I said.

Kam gave an idle wave to the two of us, then turned back to Linos as we started to walk off, her eyes still glimmering like an inquisitive child. "If you don't mind, sir, I still have a few more things I wanted to ask?"

"Of course, of course," he replied, accommodatingly. "Why don't you take a seat instead of just standing there, though? And have some tea--Oh, hell, I probably should have offered everyone tea, shouldn't I? Gods above, my manners are going to rot in my old age."

"It's alright, dad..." I heard Theodoros say soothingly.

The two of us set off down the hallway to the right, the group starting to fall out of earshot.

"We should find that girl who you have a crush on now, so we can get your luggage and our keys," Ran said dryly.

"I don't have a crush on her," I protested.

"Uh-huh. Well, she's probably upstairs." She glanced upwards at the tan-colored stone ceiling.

We turned a corner and came to a stairway leading to the upper floor. The ceiling in the building was unusually high, so it was more steps than you'd expect. It made me conscious of how tired I was starting to feel from the amount of walking I'd been doing over the past several hours.

"So what did you think of Linos...?" I asked her, idly.

"Seemed about the same as he was a decade ago, I guess," she said. "Sure liked hearing himself talk. But then, that's most old rich men."

"I can't imagine how strange it must be for Theo," I said. "To be here with him, after being shut out of this part of his life since... Well, since forever."

She looked to me, an eyebrow raised. "Isn't it strange for you?"

I blinked. "I mean. Kinda."

"Speaking of which," she continued, "I was surprised you didn't ask him about Samium."

I hesitated, looking downward.

She stared at me for a moment, then sighed. "It's okay. We have plenty of time. Why don't you just focus on relaxing for tonight? Bring it up if you feel like it, or don't."

I was silent for a moment, then looked up again at her. "Thanks, Ran," I said. "Uh, for all of this, I mean."

She grunted.

We came up to the second floor, which was another hallway much like the first, only here the ceiling was taller still, with rafters and the curve of the rooftop exposed openly. It was also decorated a little more fancily, with hand-painted walls adorned with an intricate, flowing floral design that evoked the garden outside. In one section there was a mosaic of a flock of birds flying across an evening sky.

It was nice, but it - well, really, this whole place - felt strangely quaint. Not a setting that evoked a reclusive order of taboo scholars.

The area was almost empty, though I heard the muffled sounds of people behind the various doors, suggesting the others were in the process of settling in. We spotted Sacnicte heading down the corridor along the opposite direction.

"Uh, sorry," I said, calling out to her. "Have you got a second?"

"Oh, hey," she said, in the same aloof, casual tone as earlier. She stopped. "You were wanting your room keys?"

"That's right," I said.

She reached into one of her pockets and produced a keyring, before detaching two elegant, bronze keys and handing them over to us. She passed one to each of us respectively.

"Thanks," Ran said.

"Just doing my job," she said. "You're in room 3, just over there--" She pointed to a doorway to the side, and then turned to me, "--and you're all the way at the other end in room 7, at the back." She pointed one of her long, slender fingers towards the far end of the hall. "I left your stuff at the doors. That's fine, right?"

"Yeah," I said. "That's fine."

She nodded, and left.

"I'm going to go get settled in," Ran said.

"Alright," I said. "I'll see you later, then?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding. "Lemme know if you have any trouble."

"You really are babying me today, you know," I said, with an awkward smile.

She ignored my remark, and moved to unlock her door.

I continued down the hall. One thing that was starting to strike me was how quiet the sanctuary was, when there was no conversation to fill the air; there were none of the ambient sounds of the city, but few of the countryside, either. No subtle hint of wind, no dripping of water. Just my footsteps against the stone flooring, without even much of an echo.

Soon enough, I came to the door, unlocked it, and stepped inside. The room was nice enough. There was a brown plush carpet, some archaic-styled wooden furniture, and a large bed, as well as a window with an pleasant view of the gardens outside. It even had a private lavatory with a small shower.

There was also a logic bridge embedded into the back wall of the room. Another pillar of black, obsidian-like metal, this time embedded into wall next to the bathroom door. They really had spared no expense for these accommodations.

Doesn't that strike you as a little strange? I thought, to myself.

Strange? Why?

Because this is supposed to have been the first time they've ever courted outsiders in any serious capacity. Did they build this whole place, just for you?

Alright, that was a little peculiar, now I was considering it.

Maybe it's not just for guests, I speculated, but rather for lesser members of the order. Or potential initiates.

They were both plausible theories. My inner skeptic was silenced, if only for the time being.

I picked up my trunk and bag, which were where Sacnicte had said they'd be, and moved inside, closing the door behind me. Then I started unpacking. I took out my clothes - I brought a dark grey dress, another stola, a blue chiton, a robe - and placed them in a pile on the dresser, after which I set the books and runeplates I needed for my presentation on the desk, as well my logic engine. I fished out my medication and some cosmetics and left them in the bathroom.

And I retrieved the pulpy adventure novel that I'd been reading on and off for the past week or two about a ship overtaken by a mutiny. It was a loan from Ran; half of the stuff I read was. I preferred thrillers and mystery, but it wasn't terrible. I deposited it at my bedside table.

Finally I saw the letter from Autonoe, and felt tempted to look at it again. But like Ran had said, it was early in the weekend. It would be weird if I started looking for care wards or asking conspicuous questions when I'd only just arrived. So I decided to wait until tomorrow to get myself worked up, and stuffed it back in my bag.

As I was finishing, I noticed that, over the bed, there was a scenic landscape picture of a lodge in the autumn. The leaves on the trees that flanked the building had begun to brown, and fall to the earth below... Except it wasn't just any lodge, now that I was taking a second look at it. It was obviously a picture of the building we were in, except for the fact that the environment was different.

But that was strange, too, wasn't it? This place obviously didn't have seasons. Sure, the plants would have to shed their leaves every so often, but...

Well, it wasn't really important.

Having run out of work to do, I idly wandered over to one of the chamber's windows. I stared out of it for a little bit, trying to clear my head while I admired the garden. The subtle design, the careful mix of wild and curated elements. The contrast of the colours.

I took a breath.

Don't be anxious, I said to myself. You've come a long way to be here, and to have the chance you'll have now. And soon, all of this, everything that's happened since your mistake that day, will finally be over.

And, even if that doesn't happen...

I flinched.

No. Let's not think about if it doesn't happen.

The event proper wasn't until tomorrow, so for the rest of the night, I decided I'd just try to relax and take it slow. I took off my glasses, letting everything nearby blur a bit. Staring at the carefully-arranged flowers, I let my mind wander. I thought about what they might serve us for dinner. I thought about my presentation.

About Kam's weird speech from this morning.

About Ophelia's mysterious box.

About how uncharacteristically kind Ran was being, and how much I owed her.

And about--

Huh, the thought came suddenly from an unknown place in my mind, as my eyes wandered to another group of trees.

This garden looks a little different from the last time.

I blinked.

The last time...?