endbook_rogue_5_1_3

After her ticket is inspected, Mu pushes past the turnstiles and steps into the Garden of Grotesqueries.

In truth, she had not been looking forward to this trip. When she was younger, her family would spend half a day in the car just to spend a few hours at some crowded place, leaving her with an instinctual aversion to trips. Were it not for her unwillingness to go against her friends—along with a slight interest in the exhibit itself—she would never have come to this sort of popular tourist destination.

But it is rather different from what she expected. After passing the towering Kou-wu Hill by the entrance, she does not see many people along the road. During a midday stop at Mangshan Town, she had seen great crowds, no doubt headed to the Garden. But now... despite looking all around, she sees only four or five tour groups.

On this point, the tour guide boasts of the Garden's tourist management policies. Guest flow prediction, foot traffic management, batched tours... It all sounds very logical. A moment's reflection makes it obvious that it's just the usual spiel of a tour agency, but since it seems rather effective, Mu doesn't feel the need to contradict him.

Speaking of the guide... Mu looks at the young man passionately waving the tour flag ahead of her. Why is it that whenever he introduces some aspect of the scenery with the same gushing passion, it is as if he were showing off his own private collection? Despite people asking inane questions like 'Why are these flowers and trees here?', he still provides flawless answers. Yes, she had already put him to the test. The same plants in different locations still get the same vivid explanation from the tour guide Yi, each and every one described as if he had the entire textbook memorized back to front. As if he dearly wants every visitor to see how ingenious the master of the Garden was when designing it. At least, that's the impression Mu gets.

After visiting two or three different places, Yi leads the tourists to a pavilion to rest. Mu's never seen a tour guide take people to a rest spot before, but not far from the pavilion is a tourist service center. Soon, many of the students stand up, as if commanded by an invisible force to go purchase something, she thinks. Travelers from across the land gather here to sample local fare, purchase trinkets from the gift shop, or line up to get a park seal stamped on some paper. Apparently, there are many different seals here, and indeed, there was not a single duplicate among her classmates who received one. And so, to get a full set to decorate their classroom with, even more students join the queue.

Taking advantage of their departure, Mu nestles herself in a pile of their backpacks to watch the three other visitors who were orbiting their tour group: a lady dressed like a Tianshi, always at the head of the pack and sweeping her eyes across their surroundings, giving others the impression she would be the first to fight if anything goes wrong; a handsome young man wearing some kind of mandarin's robes who always stayed at the very back of the group, fearful that someone would leave his sight; and a refined, long-horned gentleman, who constantly paced back and forth within the group, occasionally advising against uncivilized behavior from the students. Why were they being so wary? Mu looks at her ticket, then glances at the giant sign next to the service center:

'Heed well these eight 'Do Nots'.'

Could it be that there was some sort of selection of Yan's cultural parks going on, and these three were plain-clothes inspectors? After seeing the weapons and badges hanging at their hips, Mu was sure of it. She pushes her way to the side of the tour guide, quietly telling him about her discovery. The 'surprised' guide was profuse with 'thanks', eventually giving her a strangely-shaped copper coin and 'begging' her over and over to not tell anyone about it.

Their break ends, and the group sets off once more. The guide soon brings them to an observation deck. From atop it, one can see ancient complexes scattered across a distant mountain. Some are at the mountain's feet, arrayed with charming irregularity. Some are by lakes, splitting waterfalls in two. Some are secluded within the mountain's forests, only exposing a single tip of their eaves. Some are by precipitous cliffs, suspended amidst the wind and mist. She turns around, looking towards the peak, where a lonely memorial hall stands, wrapped in a sprinkle of sunshine and pink-teal mist. Dim and indistinct, those are the parts of the Garden temporarily closed to the public. Apparently they're Tianshi forest dwellings. Students who have come before explain to Mu that every time the Garden opens, there is always a new area open for tourists, and each area will inevitably have a lookout point like this one so that guests can appreciate the serene beauty of the Garden's closed-off areas. After hearing them chat about the Garden's various attractions, another of her classmates comes over, mentioning the changes in the scenery. He mentions three distinct periods: when the park is just opened after maintenance is complete, when the sights are at their most real; three months after that, when a faint layer of pink-teal mist will blanket the garden, as if enshrouded in a dream; and a further three months, when the park closes for maintenance, and the entire mountain is like a realm within a painting, its pagodas, pavilions, and plants taking on completely different forms within the pink-teal mist. Mu finds herself moved by her classmate's vivid account, and wonders when she should come by herself so she can see these changes in scenery. She inadvertently turns her head, noticing that she can see the entrance from here, and the people flowing from one spot to another. For whatever reason, this is the first time she does not hate the vast, dense, and lively crowd. Maybe it's because they're not squeezing into this observation deck, she tells herself. Or maybe...

The people are like... a fire? Mu rubs her eyes, but feels the worldly flames before her grow, herself a part of them. Fire sweeps along the ground under her feet, slowly winding its way towards the mountain's peak, searing the stagnant air into vitality, burning mount and peak to form the mortal realm.

Bam.

Someone pats Mu on the shoulder, pulling her out of her deep reverie. She turns to see the tour group about to depart to some other spot in the park. The tour guide noticed she was missing, and went to bring her back to the flock.

'When the garden closes, is there fire here?' Mu mumbles the question to herself. As if he heard it, the guide follows her gaze to the teeming crowd, and nonchalantly speaks.

'Of course there is.

'The candle's flame is bright indeed.'