ceylon

The way she taught me... first a spin, then another—

Ouch!

Look how clumsy I am. I could never dance with the passion that you did.

Hourglass!

How did you find me, director?

You mentioned the beach where you first met her, in your recording.

I immediately knew you must have meant this place. I used to play here all the time.

...I'm sorry.

I stole your pass while you were at the funeral.

That doesn't matter... Well, maybe it does a little. But why?

How do we prepare ourselves for the passing of a loved one?

You've always said you would do everything you can to prevent it.

As for me, I recorded everything about her.

And look what happened.

I haven't had a single night's sleep since she died.

I even broke the rules to steal her ashes.

Why didn't you then?

When I saw the shelf holding her ashes, I realized how meaningless it all was.

It's not her ashes I wanted to take.

She's dead.

All I wanted was to see her one last time. And it made me do something so stupid.

What finally hit me was that—

She's never coming back.

I wasn't ready for that.

How could I be?

Ceylon sits down next to Hourglass.

My father was always busy when I was little. Schwarz was both my bodyguard and my companion.

I liked to sneak out and walk towards the volcano.

I never managed to reach it, though, because Schwarz always stopped me partway.

But there was always something fun, something interesting, at wherever she stopped me.

And so I would enjoy myself there, and follow her home.

I always thought those days would last forever.

Until I learned what Oripathy was.

And so I set my mind to curing her.

To be honest, I'm even more selfish than you.

If there's a chance I can cure her, I will seize it, even if it means sacrificing the time I get to spend with her.

I always thought that, this way, I could console myself when the time comes—that I gave her all the time I could.

But it's just as you said. We were both wrong. All our preparations will mean nothing when our loved ones really leave us.

It was hard enough listening to your recording at the funeral.

If the day really does come when Schwarz leaves me... I would probably take it even worse than you did.

That's how I used to be...

We're all the same, until we truly come face-to-face with the final farewell of death.

Proud, blind. Thinking we can take it.

But when someone we love dies, they take part of us with them.

We can never be whole again.

If... just hypothetically...

If you really did take her ashes... where would you go?

I... I would have traveled with them.

I wanted to take her to all the places we've visited together.

I wanted to take her ashes to all the places we weren't able to.

But... that's just wishful thinking.

...Go. Do it.

Huh?

I said go do it.

I never told anyone that you stole my pass. Officially, you still have my permission to take Delia's ashes.

I'll go back to the landship and submit a formal application for you to go on your journey.

There will a penalty, of course. I'm going to dock your pay for six months.

We also don't have a suitable container in New Siesta yet. While I'm there, I'll ask Engineering to prepare one.

That'll be quicker than waiting for them to send us one.

Wherever you go, however, you must report to the local Rhodes Island office and have your container examined.

If anything dangerous happens, or if I find you spread her ashes anywhere—

You're finished.

Other than that, though, I'll ask them to work with you and allow you to go wherever you want with Delia.

...But there's no point.

I know I said we were wrong. But were we?

We raged against the dying of the light. If parting is inevitable, if we can never be whole again—

Then, at the very least, the traces our loved ones left behind might fill in that hole, little by little.

I'm sorry for acting like I understand what you're going through.

Our situations are different. It's also not my place to order you to do anything. I just thought that, if the day ever comes for me...

I would go everywhere we had left our marks together and cry there. Just like you did.

Once I'd cried my heart out and my tears run dry, then I'd start thinking about what to do next.

But if not even that works...

Then let's get together and talk again.

...Mm-hm.

Thank you, director.

I'm not sure I can be as strong as all that...

But I'll try.

How's my condition, Medic?

A little worse than last year.

You've been pushing yourself too hard these past couple years, both as an instructor and as an operator.

I'll put in a request to reduce your workload.

But my reassignment request—

Would you stop pushing yourself once you get back to New Siesta?

I'll get plenty of rest.

Oh, please. You've been with us for two years now, you think we don't know you?

You'd never take care of yourself, not without someone forcing you to.

Ceylon would've been the best for the job, but with the New Siesta office just getting up and running, it's going to be at least a year before we're comfortable with letting you go back.

But—

Then I'll care for her here on the landship.

Lady Ceylon?!

Hey Ceylon. You're back already?

I was hoping to give Schwarz a little surprise, though.

Oh, did I interrupt you? Apologies.

Okay, take 2!

...I see.

Ahem. Anyway, there's no need to worry, Schwarz. We've come up with the perfect solution for your situation.

Which is—

Ta-da!

And there you go. Soon after you returned, Ceylon made a request to stay on the landship for a while.

Anyway, problem solved. Now I'll give you two some space to catch up.