level_act47side_st02

Where's the exit? According to the map, we should be able to see the checkpoint machines now...

A-Are we gonna keep going? There's nobody else here, and it's so eerily quiet...

Of course there's nobody else here, or we'd be exposed! Get your act together!

Eek!

R-Red liquid... it's dripping from the ceiling! It fell on my face!

It's rusty water from the pipes... don't make me sew your mouth shut.

Mr. Tannen? You said we'd be exposed if there's anybody else here, right...

They look in the direction that Ferne is pointing, and see this 'somebody else'.

An ethereal figure walks towards them slowly from the end of the passage, flickering like a ghost in the dim light.

Something feels familiar...

Oh, shit...

Keep walking. My authority over the Rhine experiment area is legitimate and absolute. Doesn't matter who's coming—

Is that so?

I would like an explanation, Tannen.

The Rhine experiment area is under investigation, Nasti. You agreed to cooperate with the administrative officers and the Propeller Paradise police.

How am I supposed to cooperate with an investigation that I know nothing about?

Besides, it's news to me that guides are 'administrative officers' now.

The guide visited Rhine shortly before the lab accident. It makes perfect sense to have her along for evidence-gathering.

As for the lack of prior notice, it's entirely within my rights to make the decision to ensure the integrity of the investigation...

Gordon Tannen considered every potential contingency, even an interrogation by Gustave.

He knew he could not depend on Mercia, and he was confident he could handle this. But he cannot stop his thick tail from nervously slapping the ground, as though it senses a threat, something beyond his control.

Nasti is gazing at him, indecipherable, seemingly hiding something. Eeriness and anxiety cause Gordon Tannen to tighten his left fist in his pocket.

(I was just supposed to keep an eye out with a water clone hidden in the plants! Nasti never told me the head of Propeller Paradise would be so hard to fool!)

(I'd wear myself out arguing with him all night. Let's do this my way.)

Ahem!

The sound of dripping water, which accompanied the trio their whole way down the tunnel, is suddenly silent. Water droplets break free from the constraints of physics and float in midair.

They feel a coolness at their feet. Only now do they notice that the water on the floor has reached their ankles.

Mr. Tannen! Look! I-Is that still Director Lunorey?

Gordon Tannen cannot believe what he is seeing. Water streams into 'Nasti' from all directions, carrying her higher and higher, looking down at the three invaders.

Gordon Tannen has never seen such effects from an Arts unit. Prudence would certainly be in order, if this was Banshee witchcraft. But there is something that scares him even more...

'Nasti' bends down at him, with a cute expression that the one by the name would never wear.

There really isn't a single fresh thing on Terra, is there? I've heard this pre-written spiel a thousand times.

How about we talk about something else? Like, what's in those two big boxes of yours? Don't tell me they're presents for Rhine Lab? We've still got a ways to go until Christmas, I thought?

...Who are you?

Nasti, the director of Rhine's Engineering Section, whose Vivarium you just ruined a few hours ago. Who else?

She would never talk like... THAT. And why do you look like you're saluting? That's a casting gesture, isn't it?

Heh, you noticed.

You can't fool me. I don't know what your Arts do, but this underground passage belongs to Rhine, and anything that happens will only come back to bite you.

You're not satisfied with just losing the experiments for the exhibit, eh? You want to go to jail with the rest of your people?

Let me remind you of something.

Like you said, this underground passage belongs to Rhine. And you personally gave the order to shut it off.

But I'd bet a whole lot of gold certificates that your people don't know about tonight's 'investigation'.

How many would know where to go to look for your corpses?

You dare...!

...Run!

It is nighttime. Nasti feels a daze as she walks the streets of Propeller Paradise.

This place began as a proposal from Rhine, built by Nasti personally. But Nasti no longer recognizes any of the myriad inventions that adorn it.

She even has to stop and think in order to figure out how the inflatable street lamps by the roadside work.

Nasti cannot help but feel that she is walking into an unfamiliar life.

It's like when I first came to Rhine.

Muelsyse emerged from the sink, teasing me for my ignorance as she walked me through sterile lab cleaning procedures.

Nasti stops in her tracks. Another fragment of the bone pen lies quietly in the gaps of the bricks, having guided her all the way here.

She picks up the fragment, as she once did when she walked into a new life for the first time.

Young Nasti walks the forests of the Convallis, carrying a bag far larger than she is, and stuffing it with broken twigs.

It has been two weeks since she and Væla arrived in the Convallis, and Væla is busy with younger Banshees who come to her with questions of every kind.

Only when the Banshees are all asleep and there is no one in the valley, does Væla have time to take Nasti's hand and walk with her through this beautiful place...

Finally, Nasti decided to build a treehouse on her own. But the bag of twigs is too heavy for her, and she must wait for Væla to pick her up.

It has been so long since the rainy season. Isn't it time for another rowing competition? When do we...?

Let me clear the mud off the eastern shores of the lake.

But no 'spin' incantation on the boat this time, please.

Teacher! One of the mistapple vines is getting in my house. Can I cut it?

No, my child. Nothing is better for wiping one's feather horns, than the pulp of the mistapple. Perhaps you could 'guide' the vine to grow in a different direction?

It'll be a chance for me to see if you've been practicing the incantations I taught you.

How long has it been since we last received a 'token' from outside, Custodian?

We've only had five or six this month. I dealt with them when I was in Kazdel to ask the Child of Soil and Stone to treat the Roosting Tree.

So few?

Isn't it a good thing?

It's been half a year since you taught me the elegies, but I haven't really had the chance to sing for anyone... can I go next time, and help our kin...?

Alright, let Væla rest.

It's all right. This is what I'm supposed to do.

The children call you 'Teacher' and 'Custodian'. I never conferred these titles.

What you've done for the Convallis over the past two centuries puts me to shame as the Lord of the Banshees.

You know the reason. I have to keep working... to distract myself.

Did Duq'arael cause you any trouble during your audience with Her Highness? He's been hostile towards our people ever since we retired to the Convallis.

He's hostile to everyone. But speaking of Her Highness...

She showed me the early fruits of her exploration into the nature of Originium. Perhaps she has already chosen a more resolute path.

What about us, then? What about the Convallis?

The Convallis is no longer associated with the future of the Sarkaz, even if Her Highness really has changed her mind.

It remains the Banshee sanctuary.

You brought a girl back a little while ago, didn't you?

The daughter of a stray sister... I should have found her five years ago.

Aefanyl keeps asking me when he can come and see her... he's so curious about everything beyond the valley.

The boy...

Please tell Aefanyl that Nasti is rather timid and needs time to get used to the Convallis...

That's not true. I'm not timid. You know that.

Yes. But you'll be living with other Banshees for a very long time.

They'll share fruit with you, rather than throw rocks at you. Living with them will be very different from living in Kazdel.

That's why I want your meeting to be more... formal. Give me time to prepare, won't you?

Understood.

But what are you preparing? Does it have something to do with the 'token from outside' that you were talking about?

The things in your house? Those black blood crystals, dirty shrouds and dried-up hearts?

But why do you say there were only five or six?

You always stay up late, peering at them, with a deep frown on your face—

...Nasti.

Do you like this valley?

Yes.

There's no blood in the mud, no black rocks in houses, no fighting, plenty of food, and no one ever disturbs you...

Do you want to stay here?

Yes. That's why I want to build my own treehouse soon.

Have you decided where?

There's a big, beautiful tree deep in the valley, right? What's the name... the Roosting Tree?

Yes. It's the Banshees' final resting place.

Everyone lives there, right? Even though you've never taken me there...

I want to live closer to that place. Can I?

And when will you teach me incantations? That way, I can move this bag of twigs myself.

No need to be so hurried.

When will you teach me how to play the bone whistle? That way, I could play in front of the others when we play together.

I took one from your house, but I couldn't make a sound with it.

No need to be so hurried, my dear girl.

The tired Banshee suddenly seems so unfamiliar to Nasti. She knows where Væla always starts when polishing her own feather horns, and how many nearly indistinguishable black dresses she has.

But she can never tell what Væla is thinking.

Nasti stops asking questions and raises the bone whistle, obstinately blowing on it in futility.

Until a soaring melody covers up the muffled sound she is making.

You want to play the whistle for the other children, don't you?

One does not need a bone whistle to accompany a smile.

Come, child. I'll teach you.

Nasti does not understand how that simple leaf in Væla's hands can make a sound, much less why that sound is so full of sorrow. The sky is blue, the waters of Mist Lake murmur on, and everything seems perfect.

Nasti follows Væla's gaze. The branches of the Roosting Tree are just barely visible in the distance, swaying like reeds—like fate.

Nasti is still in Rhine experiment area, and is preparing to kill Tannen?

Stay behind me, Miss Selene.

I run faster than Mr. Tannen, should we really get into a fight with a Banshee.

But that 'Nasti' was just a potted plant.

A water clone?

Muelsyse? Here?

Just a little gadget enchanted with Water Elf Arts. Doesn't actually do much.

A combination of Nasti's image, Muelsyse's inspiration, and home field advantage... no one could have predicted it. No wonder those three were scared away.

Should we evacuate with Mr. Tannen, then?

No. Keep going, following the traces left behind by the water.

According to the blueprints, we're almost at a dead end.

There's nothing except the water marks. Maybe that was indeed a bluff by Muelsyse.

Nasti is a genius engineer. It wouldn't be hard for her to leave a hidden space out of the blueprints. Besides, the presence of the water clone itself is a sign that there are potential secrets here.

I've been thinking. Why is Nasti the only one here, when there are two Rhine directors working on the project?

By all accounts, the Vivarium should fall within Muelsyse's domain, shouldn't it?

Unless... by its very nature, it's something only Nasti can do.

You mean...

If your potted plant suddenly died—sorry, purely hypothetical—would your first reaction be to keep checking the time on your watch over and over?

No. I would be more concerned about the cause of death than the time.

But that was what the most experienced researchers near Nasti did when the incident at the Vivarium occurred—check the time.

It was almost as though they expected the wilting to happen.

It just didn't happen at the expected time.

Therefore, Rhine's claim that they were studying plants that can survive at high altitude, based on data from the Galleria Stellaria...

It's a cover story.

I think Maylander has found Rhine's true secret.

Rhine doesn't need the plants in the Vivarium to live. It needs them to die.

Not the life that an Elf celebrates, but the death that a Banshee knows well.

But why?

Death will 'water'—

A 'tree' that is even more special.

The elderly Banshee stands in the shadow at the end of the street. She has waited a long time. The night is longer than the three centuries that she has lived.

She watches as the familiar figure approaches...

It is taller and sturdier than she remembers.

The facial features look different. The clothes are of an unfamiliar style.

Not so familiar anymore.

Væla's head begins to ache. Her chaotic memories are like Mist Lake in deep winter, the cold and heavy mist swallowing her in an instant.

Na...

(In Sarkaz) Separate.

(In Sarkaz) Guide.

Nasti places the fragments of the bone pen in the center of her palm, and recites the language of the Banshees.

The incantation separates the scent that does not belong to her, but is very familiar, and leads her to its source.

There is no wind, but the bone pen begins to sway... all will be answered, soon.

Then—

Na... sti... careful...

What's the situation over there?

There's... someone else...

*pant*... *pant*...

M-Mr. Tannen... stop...

I think we're lost.

I think we're lost too. I can't believe how much space Rhine has beneath the experiment area. This has got to be against the rules...

Usually, when scientists leave so much space in their labs, they're either saving it for a big plan... or it's from a big plan that's already gone off the rails.

S-Sir, is it just me, or is the ground...?

The ground's cracking...

...Looks like it's the former.

S-Somebody help...

When did the door behind us close?

Dammit, please tell me it's not a giant missile, Nasti.

The concrete beneath their feet shatters, as though it were made from crackers.

Gordon Tannen tries to hook the pillars with his tail, grab the walls with his hands, but all he finds is... a single twig, glowing dimly.

Beneath him, a canopy made from metal and withered wood expands in the darkness.

The glowing tree rises up silently into the night sky, as if a thousand stars are rushing upwards.

This thing...

Does it have a propeller? An engine?

There isn't any sound of machinery... how could it possibly fly?

Nasti, Rhine Lab... I'll be completely damned.

Shit, why do these guards feel the need to shine lights into the sky just because some humongous thing is taking off in the middle of the night? Who the hell trained them—oh, right, it was me. Great.

Would you say we're... exposed, sir?

I would say we are, given that everyone who's awake in Propeller Paradise right now is seeing us hanging off a tree with two big boxes of contraband.

You think there's a chance if I yelled that I found some dangerous Rhine experiments to the people below?

...No, no, no. Not a finkin' chance. I can't let this thing get ruined, until I figure out how on Terra it could fly.

Okay, it really is over now.

Wh-What just happened?

I think our intrusion might have awakened something...

But now, there are no secrets on Propeller Paradise anymore.

Is this another miracle, Director Lunorey? Or is it...?

A stillborn miracle?

No need to say anything. I can see it all from here.

...I'll head back right away.

Na...

A moment of hesitation, and the elderly Banshee fails to say the name.

Væla watches as the young Banshee departs. She looks in her direction, and sees a huge, glowing tree, slowly rising into the sky.

The roots of the tree are not secure, swaying in the night breeze. At this distance, they sway like weeds, like fate.

Is that... the Roosting Tree?