The Flower That Bloomed Nowhere

Inner Sanctum Loft | 9:05 AM | Third Day

We had two more stops to make before Anna's plan was to be put into action. The first didn't take us far. We left the theater and headed down the hallway Kamrusepa and I had taken for our ostensible bathroom break the previous day, aiming for the same little lounge we'd investigated.

"This atmosphere is getting really creepy," Ptolema said uneasily, as we walked through the darkness. There was an increasingly stale quality to the air the longer time passed. Linos had assured earlier that life support couldn't be compromised, but whatever was originally being done to emulate the freshness of a natural atmosphere had clearly ground to a halt. "Every time we turn a corner, I feel like some monster is gonna lunge at us. Like we're in a horror drama or something."

"That's probably the effect our opponent is trying to cultivate through all these theatrics," Kamrusepa said. "They want to set us on edge-- As Su would put it, to tell a good enough story that we start to believe we're in it."

I glanced at her, frowning behind my mask. "What do you mean, 'as I would put it'?"

"You're always using language like that to describe things," she said. "Putting things in terms of narratives, people thinking in narratives..."

"No I'm not," I said stubbornly. "I barely do that."

She shrugged. "Whatever you say."

"I'll be relieved if there is a monster," Seth said, bitterly. "Then we can gut the thing's fucking chest open and be done with this crap."

My mind wandered for a few moments as we walked, glancing up at the ceiling. What had Sacnicte said when we were telling ghost stories? That she thought she'd seen a strange beast on the rooftop of the order's headquarters. Unless there was a loft I didn't know about, that would be right above where we were standing right now.

I shook my head. This wasn't the time for peculiar trains of thought.

We soon made it to our destination, and Seth (who had been delegated the task on account of being the tallest and, by assumption, the most likely to win in a physical brawl, despite being only slightly less gangly than myself) carefully slid the door open, just in case there was another nasty surprise waiting for us within. But it was just as we'd left it the previous morning; a few lounge chairs and sofas, and the bookcase, which in particular looked to be in the exact position I'd returned it to on our way out.

"This is it?" Ezekiel asked, an eyebrow raised. "I don't see anything."

"The entrance is hidden, I think it's--" Linos hesitated, and glanced towards me and Kamrusepa. "Sorry, where exactly is it? This room was only refurbished to hide the chamber recently, so I'm not sure what they did specifically."

Zeno rolled her eyes, stepping forward before either of us could speak. "For all the flak you all gave me yesterday morning about failing to follow procedure, I feel like I'm the only one who remembers anything about this fucking organization." She took a breath, and with surprising strength for the build of the body she was using, pulled the bookcase. "I still can't believe we did such a hack job of hiding this stockpile when we decided to start having guests. We should have just disposed of it."

"If we'd done that, we'd only have the six rifles in the security center left," Linos said.

"Then we should have kept buying new guns!" Zeno said, throwing her arms up as she looked back towards the group. "Everything that gets done in this place is some sort of half-measure. It's a damn nuisance."

"Hey, this worked out for us, right?" Fang said, smiling. "Without us being armed, the culprit would have a waaay easier time of getting us while we change the runework."

At that moment, the exchange from a few minutes ago, where people had speculated about the culprit predicting our next move, came back to mind. Assuming that what we were facing was a person and not, in fact, some sort of monster, there were only really three plausible explanations for why we'd been able to come here. One, that they hadn't predicted this action, which meant they probably wouldn't have known about Kamrusepa and I's discovery. Two, that they were unable to stop us, which meant they were part of our group.

...and three, that they didn't care if we were armed or not. Either because they were just that confident, or because they liked the idea of us all swinging firearms around.

We'd decided to make a stop at the 'armory' for two reasons. The first was so Linos, Zeno and Anna could confirm our story and the identity of Vijana, which could help us collectively figure out what was going on. The second was to give everyone a means of defending themselves. Without the Power and with only Zeno's weapon to protect us, we could all easily be taken down in an ambush.

Of course, there were obvious pros and cons to this. But that was the decision we'd collectively reached.

"If anyone needs to incant, it should be possible here, unlike the rest of the building," Linos informed us. "This room is part of the 'spine' of the building, so to speak. It's considered part of the tunnel complex."

"I didn't know you could make exceptions to the field like that," Ran said. "Figured it'd be all or nothing."

"Not at all, miss Hoa-Trinh," Linos said, his eyes scanning the area. "All of these features are designed to help defend the building, not to create absolute rules."

Were there other exceptions, then...? I'd need to clear that up later.

"Huh... I don't see any guns," Ptolema said, as we all stepped into the chamber. The smell, which I remembered from the previous day, had worsened, though nobody commented on it.

"Ah, there's some rope, here," Ophelia said, kneeling down. "That could be useful... Oh, and some tape, too..."

"They're around the corners, Ptolema," Kamrusepa said, stepping forward.

"Oh," she said, peeking her head around. "Oh. Wow."

"I'll keep watch on our rear, and the research material," Zeno said, in reference to the now not-so-floating luggage platform - it apparently had a mundane engine and wheels for situations like this, though it'd been a small nightmare when Zeno had insisted we get it up the stairs - which had been left in the hallway on account of not fitting through the door. "Try to be quick. Time isn't exactly on our side."

People started to fan out and examine the stockpile, while Kam, Linos, Anna and Yantho all went to inspect the body. The latter said he'd climb down the ladder to confirm her identity-- When we'd relayed the story for a second time during our planning downstairs, I'd seen his face contort with guilt. It made sense, since they probably worked together frequently, and he'd been the last one to see her before her disappearance.

With everything that'd happened, a significant part of me had earnestly expected the body to have disappeared. But when we craned our necks over the hole - Linos leaning forward in his chair to the point I was worried for a second he could fall in - there it was, staring up at us with the same empty look from its one remaining eye, its complexion having visibly greyed over the past twenty-something hours. The stench was revolting, too, the sour scent of rotten filth now joined with a sickly sweetness that reminded me of long-expired perfume. It was a good thing Ophelia had gone off to the right instead.

"...yes," Linos said, the word as much a sigh as anything else. "That would seem to be her."

I will go, Yantho's board transcribed, although his expression strongly indicated his desire to do the exact opposite.

"There's really no need for that... Young man," Linos said. "I think we can be reasonably certain of what's happened here. And besides, going down alone could leave you open to an attack."

He shook his head, a conflicted expression on his face. I won't go all the way down. Just enough to be sure.

Linos exhaled reluctantly, frowning. "Well... If you're certain."

Yantho nodded, then leaned forward, taking hold of the first steps of the ladder before slowly lowering himself downwards.

"I'm a reasonably good shot," Kamrusepa said, holding up one of the rifles. "If I see anyone come up through the tunnel below, it shouldn't be difficult to hit them. The shaft is wide enough."

I frowned at her. "Where did you learn to shoot, Kam?"

She made a strange sort of amused snort, more bitter than her normal ones. "My father used to take me hunting. It was with ballistic rounds, but it's the same principle aside from the recoil."

"You didn't mention it the last time we were here," I said.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why would I? It was hardly relevant."

I blinked. I guess it wasn't.

"The boy is quite quick," Anna said, as Yantho continued his descent at a rather athletic pace. "He also seems to be acting in contradiction of his earlier statement."

She was right. He had now arrived almost at the bottom of the shaft, and showed no signs of stopping, occasionally turning his head to glance at the body.

"I shouldn't have let him go down," Linos said, rubbing his brow.

"You needn't worry, grandmaster," Kam said, holding the sights close to her eye. "If the culprit goes after him, I'll put a swift end to this whole affair."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," he said.

I decided to take this moment to try and resolve a question that had been lingering in the back of my mind for a while. It wasn't exactly one of the big ones, but I was at least curious. And with both Anna and Linos here, there was a chance I'd actually get a truthful answer.

"So," I said, "what exactly is going on with Yantho and Sacnicte, anyway?"

Linos looked to me. "What do you mean, Utsu?"

"Well... They're both from the Duumvirate, which is unusual to begin with. And I don't speak Lluateci, but they have similar names, which makes it seem like they might be family... And Zeno mentioned that being a steward isn't even a paid position, but, uh, Sacnicte mentioned that she was having problems with her finances." I was trying my best to avoid mentioning the whole blackmailing thing, though at this point, that felt like the most peripheral possible concern. "I suppose I was wondering if there was some special circumstance behind it."

I didn't know much about solving crimes, but anyone who's read a murder mystery novel will be able to tell you the three M's: Murderer, Method, and Motive. Whodunnit, Howdunnit, and Whydunnit. In books, the idea is that if you figure out one, you can work your way around to the rest more easily. If you know that the victim was shot through a secret window in the parlor at 10 AM, for example, then you can filter out every suspect who wouldn't be able to be at that secret window, and who doesn't know how to shoot. Or if you piece together the fact that Gopala secretly bore a grudge against Yue for sleeping with his wife, it might suddenly make sense why the latter were both victims.

In an ideal mystery, these elements are perfectly balanced, so that regardless of how the reader's mind operates - whether they're plot-focused, mechanics-focused, or character-focused - they still have a shot at figuring it out... Though in reality, authors usually end up favoring one over the others. Anyway, I didn't have any idea how useful this sort of thinking would be when it came to reality, but I was realizing I'd spent a lot of time considering the first two, but not the third.

To change that, though, I needed to at least have some idea of where everyone was coming from, at least on the surface level. I knew my classmates well enough, and was slowly learning more about the council members.

But those two, Balthazar... And Samium, I supposed, though no one had even mentioned him so far since I'd woken up... They were almost total enigmas.

"Well, it's not exactly a secret," Linos said, casting his eyes up to the ceiling thoughtfully. "Their parents were sponsors of the order in the past, but sadly ran into some... Financial difficulties, and I understand one of them passed away. So she was able to get a position here as a stepping stone for a career in the Mimikos, where the training she has is much more in demand--"

"What on earth are you talking about?" Anna asked him, frowning beneath her hood."Isn't it about the boy's illness?" She gestured downwards.

Wow, I thought. I didn't think it'd be that easy.

Linos closed his eyes, letting out a prolonged groan. "Anna, I was trying to be delicate about the issue."

"Bizarre behavior," she said bluntly. "If you didn't want to talk about it, you should have simply said so. You're just going to give people the wrong impression if you talk around the truth."

"Quite good advice, it must needs be said," Kamrusepa spoke dryly, without looking away from the sights. "You're not exactly covering yourself in glory tonight, grandmaster Melanthos."

"Yes, yes-- Alright, I get it," Linos said, holding up his hands. "I'm constantly making an ass of myself. I'm sure it's very amusing."

"It's not that," I said, frowning. "It just makes it a little hard to trust your word in a situation like this, sir."

"On balance, I think I've been quite honest with you, Utsu," he said, sounding a little dejected. "I just... Don't like to talk about other people's secrets I'm privy to, that's all. I don't think that's some kind of abnormal personality trait. And if I were to tell you I can't say it outright, that'd just make the atmosphere more uncomfortable, and make it clear there is a secret there. Which defeats the entire point."

It was soothing to me, on some level, to know that people could live for such a long time and still be so socially awkward.

"It seems like you might be better off spending the rest of this ordeal mute," Anna said flatly. "I have a knife, if you need one."

Kamrusepa snorted.

"Fine. Fine," Linos said, his tone now a little huffy. "I'll just keep to myself for the remainder of the night, then. Outside of when we're making plans."

"L-Let's not get over the top with this," I said, hesitant. "I'm not angry at you or anything, sir... I think everyone is just tense. Everyone has aspects of themselves that tend to become a little frustrating in difficult situations. It can't be helped..."

That was the optimistic interpretation, at least.

He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "I'm sorry. You're right-- I'm making things worse, acting like this." He paused for a long moment, biting his lip, before looking back up at me. "I'll give you the full answer. As I was saying, Sacnicte and Yantho's parents were sponsors to the order - donors. Under your grandfather's direction, we'd planned to expand our recruitment efforts to the Duumvirate's academic community, and they were an instrumental part of that process."

"You said 'parents'," I said. "So, are they siblings?"

Linos shook his head. "Not in the way you might be thinking. I mean parents'. Plural." He furrowed his brow. "Their families were quite close both personally and professionally, and so both were involved in the project. They ran a business helping people who wanted to immigrate convert their assets for the other economic system - turning kakau into property, business stakes and luxury credit, and vice-versa."

Kakau beans had been used as a form of currency in the predecessors to Lluateci civilization all the way back in the Old and New Kingdoms era, and so in later eras had become the word for money in their society. Of course, in modern times, it wasn't backed up by anything physical, since raw materials had ceased to have any value. They did mint ornamental gold coins, though.

"What happened?" Kamrusepa asked, now curious too.

"The civil dispute," Linos said. "Or rather, the treaty. One of the more minor provisions closed a lot of loopholes they'd been using to make their clients' assets more internationally fluid. As a result, the entire business went down in flames before it could adapt. Of the two of them, Yantho's family fared worse... I don't know much about the situation, but I understand his father committed suicide, and his mother was... Unable to take care of him, afterwards." He cleared his throat. "So he ended up being de-facto adopted by Sacnicte's family."

"So... How does an 'illness' factor into all of this?" I asked. Far down below, I could see that he was reaching over to close Vijana's remaining eye, before investigating her body.

"The boy has associative-collapse dementia," Anna said.

I blinked in surprise, and saw even Kamrusepa's eyes shift for a moment. "What?"

"Not-- Not in the sense that you're probably thinking," Linos said, holding up a corrective hand. "I don't know how closely you follow the scholarship, but it's very much an emergent field. We've only just begun to understand that rather than a single condition, as was once believed, associative-collapse is more akin to a spectrum of many different dysfunctions in the relationship between the brain and pneuma."

"I've read a little about that stuff," I said. "But still... He's so young."

"Nature is cruel," Kam said distantly.

"More apt to say that physics is indifferent to our priorities," Anna replied. "As I understand it, the boy's parents opted for natal anima scripting faithful to their own, rather than utilizing modern methods to prioritize his health. They wanted their child to carry their blood, and so he did - along with all its historic dysfunction. One should not be surprised when deficient soil bears poor crop."

That led to an uncomfortable silence. Most people would shy away from using such deterministic language about anima scripting in order to not sound like they were advocating for eugenics on the down-low, but apparently, Anna had no such compunctions.

"A-Anyway," Linos continued after a moment, "in his case, the condition appeared even before his teens, and begun with loss of motor function rather than executive function. His parents, on account of the order's relationship with them, brought him here for treatment. That was around the time he lost his ability to speak..." He looked down at his lap thoughtfully. "Though they become increasingly ineffective in old age, there are many experimental treatments for dementia which produce good results in cases like his, though they often require extremely regular observation and extensive tailoring for the circumstances of the patient. Though we couldn't restore what had already been lost, we were able to stop the progression of the disease in its tracks."

"I think I can see where this is probably going," I said. Down below, Yantho looked like he was about to start climbing again. "When both his and Sacnicte's parents were ruined... No one was able to finance his treatment. Right?"

He gave an uncomfortable nod. "That's right. Under normal circumstances, we would have had to terminate it. In this sort of work, you have to be utilitarian, when push comes to shove. The time we were putting in to treat him ourselves could have saved far more people."

"That's a little callous," Kamrusepa said. "For one of your own people, more or less."

"Well, we didn't go through with it, in the end," Linos said. "Sacnicte put herself forward, saying she'd do anything if we continued with his treatment."

"So the way you decided that debt would be paid would be her working for you," I attempted to deduce.

He shook his head, though. "Not really. Honestly, we don't have a shortage of people who want to work as stewards of the sanctuary, or in any position that might get their foot in the door, even for no reward other than that. ...but when she came to us, she really was desperate. And since we were already acquainted with her since she was a little girl-- Well, it was hard to just tell her 'no'." He scratched the neck of his neck. "So I suppose it's more a pretext than anything. Some of us wanted to show our gratitude to her family, and keep those relationships intact..."

I nodded slowly. This was yet another illustration of the order's nepotism, but in this case, it felt harder to condemn it. "So... How did Yantho end up working here, too?"

"It's an informal situation. He's not a steward in the same way that Sacnicte is," he explained. "Between meetings, we often only have a single person in the sanctuary outside of busier periods. He didn't like the idea of her being alone so much of the time on his behalf, I suppose, so he volunteered to work alongside her during those times." He shrugged. "It's redundant, really, but we didn't see a reason to turn him down."

"There was a perfectly good reason, in fact, that the majority simply did not see," Anna said coldly. "Which is that he has no formal training, and is a blatant security hole."

Before Linos could respond to this, we heard the sound of Yantho drawing close in his climb back up the ladder, cutting things short. Kam pulled the gun back, giving me a hesitant look from behind her mask.

After hauling himself back to his feet and taking a few deep breaths, Yantho pulled his tablet back out from under his robes, touching the false iron. It's definitely her, the words read. I found these, too.

He reached into his pockets and withdrew two items. The first was a copper amulet like the ones the council members had. This one, however, depicted a sword instead of an eye.

Why a sword? I thought, right off the bat.

The second item was the pistol that'd been lying on her body. The three front-most lenses were down, and it looked like the drop had damaged it slightly, with a crack running along the side of its casing.

"I see," Linos said, with a nod. No one seemed interested in bringing up the fact that he'd lied - what was done was done, and it seemed to have worked out. "Was there anything else?"

I tried to examine the body a little, even though I didn't really know what I should be looking for, he wrote. It did look like she'd impacted the ground from pretty high, but something was strange. There wasn't any blood in the shaft itself, only at the bottom.

Kamrusepa narrowed her eyes. "Why would there be blood in the shaft?"

Yantho took a few deep breaths before continuing. Looking at him now, it was obvious he'd been crying a few moment ago, and was still upset despite trying to keep it together. Well, if she'd shot herself in the head right before falling, you'd think that the bleeding right after the fact would have scattered some drops around... Or on her chest. There wasn't any there, either.

I knew it. I shouldn't have trusted Kamrusepa's stupid reasoning. 'It doesn't seem likely' my ass.

I gave her a Look - she was glancing to the side, presumably seeing it coming - and then took a few steps around the corner, calling out. "Ran."

She emerged from the other side, now carrying a pistol of her own as well as her scepter. "What is it, Su?"

"I need you to cast the Anomaly-Divining Arcana, with a scope of at least the last three days, and a range of this room," I said. "Can you still spare the eris?"

She glanced at her dial, which was still relatively full-- At least compared to mine, which was down to close to half after all the barrier-casting. "Yeah. Take my hand."

I followed the instruction, and she held up her scepter.

A n o m a l y - D i v i n i n g

"...𒈣𒄀𒌈𒀭𒊍. (𒌍𒍣𒍥𒊒𒊬𒉌𒌫𒐼). 𒄭𒌋𒌋𒌋𒌋, 𒊹."

The information entered my mind. One incantation, cast... Yesterday morning, at 10:43? That was only an hour before Kam and I had discovered the room. Some kind of conjuration incantation... Simple, but still multi-elemental--

"Water," Ran said, furrowing her brow. "Someone conjured about 15 liters worth of water. Right here." She pointed to the area opposite the entryway, where the passage split.

15 liters was enough to fill a large bucket. I looked at the spot Ran had indicated closely, and it seemed cleaner, with faint stains in the surrounding dust where droplets of water must have fallen.

There was no doubt about it. This was the explanation for how the room had been mysteriously cleaned prior to Kam and I's arrival-- Someone had been in here just prior. And judging by what Yantho just told me...

I walked back over to the four standing by the hatch. "I think someone meddled with the scene of the suicide-- If it was a suicide," I said. "When Kam and I first came here, there was damp on a lot of the shelves, and Ran just checked for people using the Power. Apparently, not long before we'd found her, someone had been in here creating water."

Anna started casting the Anomaly-Divining Arcana herself, apparently not trusting us, and Linos took her hand. "It's true," she said, after a moment.

"Well," Linos said. "That's not good."

Do you think she was murdered? Yantho asked. I could see his hands trembling a bit.

"I don't know. I don't think there's any way to know, based on this." He let out a deep sigh. "When we get back underground and can cast again, I think we should do a more comprehensive investigation of both this letter, and the suicide note we found independently - I believe it's in our archive at the moment, so it should be close to the security center anyway. Kamrusepa, you know the Form-Chronicling Arcana, don't you?"

"Y-Yes," she said, with a nod.

"Right. Then we'll use that to verify when the notes were written, and if one is likely to be a forgery. We'll try and find time to investigate the body too, but..." He sighed. "Frankly, even if it does make the fact this could have been averted a little more frustrating, at this point it doesn't really matter if she was murdered or not. We just need to put the plan into place and escape."

It feels wrong to leave her body in that state, Yantho wrote, with a pained expression. I did what I could to give her some dignity, but...

"We'll come back for it when we return and regain control of the sanctuary," Linos said soothingly. "For now, though, we need to get moving. The others have probably already finished."

When we return and regain control of the sanctuary. It was a confidence that was clearly meant to be inspiring and reassuring, but just ended up seeming desperate in a way that was off-putting.

As it turned out, Linos was right - almost everyone else had already picked out guns. Most of them - Seth, Theodoros, Ophelia, as well as Linos, Anna and Yantho after they'd had a moment - had chosen pistols, with only Ptolema and Ezekiel having opted for rifles in addition to Kam. I decided to go for a pistol, too. Fang was the only exception, not seeming to be carrying anything.

"Aren't you gonna take somethin', Fang?" Ptolema asked.

"Hmmmm. Nah, I'm good," they said, holding up their hands. "I'll leave this crap to you guys."

"We agreed it would be better if everyone was armed," Anna spoke bluntly.

"Listen," Fang said. "I don't know how to, like, get this across? But I'm a really lousy shot. Like, shoot-your-own-eye-out bad. It'd be safer for me to grab a candlestick from somewhere and try to get 'em with the sharp end." They glanced behind them. "Unless it'd be okay if I took some of those grenades? I could work with grenades."

"I think," Kamrusepa said delicately, "that it would be better if we went about our business without bringing live explosives with us."

They shrugged. "I figured somebody would say that."

"Sir," Ran said to Linos. "Back when we were traveling, you mentioned that some of these weapons were damaged."

"Ah, yes," he said, as he sheathed his new weapon where the one Mehit had taken once sat. "I didn't mean to the point of them being broken-- But we make a habit of taking firearms with even minor defects out of regular service. It's things like sight misalignment or cosmetic damage."

"Still," she said. "It would be better if we tested them, don't you think?"

He thought about this for a moment, raising a finger to his lip. "...I suppose you're right," he eventually said. "It's not as if we're being stealthy to begin with."

"Ohh, it could be fun to have a little target practice," Zeno said, with a small grin. "Let's go out into the hall, though. As that girl said, it'd be better if we didn't blow ourselves up."

Kam frowned, probably annoyed she'd seemingly forgotten her name, on top of everything.

We filed back out into the hall, and Zeno held out a hand for us to assemble in front of the platform. Once we were assembled, they rubbed their hands together in excitement.

"Tell me," she said. "How many of you little idiots have any experience with guns?"

Kam, Ran, and Theo rose their hands. Ezekiel started to raise his, but then hesitated for a moment, before lowering it back down with an irritated look.

She shook her head in dismay. "Fucking abysmal. This is what 200 years of peace does to a culture." She clapped her hands together. "Well, nothing for it. We'll make this a quick lesson, too." She turned to face the wall at the far side of the room. "First thing, you want to put down the first and last lens. That'll give you a good lethal shot without draining too much of the battery or setting anything on fire. Now, I'm sure you've all seen enough dramas. Hold it up with both hands, sights straight ahead--"

𒊹

When that was all said and done and we'd confirmed there were no issues with the firearms - and also that Ezekiel was almost as bad a shot as Fang had claimed to be, managing to somehow hit the side of the wall to our side instead of the one in front - we set back off. The final stop we'd agreed to make had been Lilith's room, in case that was where her and Mehit were holed up. It was one half of the compromise we'd agreed in lieu of searching the entire estate, the other being to leave some notes lying around informing them that we were here and where we were going, though leaving the details of our plan out. Some people were worried it would tip the killer off, but again, I couldn't imagine they'd struggle to find us.

On the way, we passed by the doorway to the tower again... But something was off. The arcane lock had been broken, and the heavy doorway had been left slightly ajar. At the sight of it, Linos, Anna, and Zeno all made concerned expressions. Linos said something quietly to Zeno, and she took a peek in, before shutting it and moving us along.

When we made it down to the second floor, I decided to speak up.

"Since we're here anyway," I said, "would it be alright if I took a look around the room I was in? When Lilith woke me up, everything was already happening, so I..." I cleared my throat. "I rushed some parts when I was getting dressed."

This was a lie. I wanted to take a proper look to see if I could find any clues about the gap in memory, or about the meeting which must have taken place with Samium. If it really did happen, I couldn't imagine I'd have nothing to show for it.

"This isn't the time to be doing your makeup, Saoite," Ezekiel said.

"I am rather certain that is not what she means," Kamrusepa said flatly.

Linos cleared his throat loudly. "I don't think anyone would have a problem with that, Utsu. The two chambers are right next to each other. But would you be alright with another of the girls going with you? Without the Power, whoever's doing this can't pull any tricks on us like at the guesthouse... But still, it never hurts to be careful."

"Uh, I suppose," I said.

"Better leave the door open, too," Seth said. "Just a little. So we can hear you if you cry out."

A minute or two later, and Ran and I were stepping back into the large room I'd awoken in. First, I went back to my trunk and started rooting through it again. I'd felt confident at the time that everything had been there, but I wasn't willing to trust the judgement of the me-from-a-few-hours-ago who was in a mad panic after thinking she'd just had a stroke. I went through it all again - clothes, journal, logic engine, books, medication...

"It might've been a little too much information to tell everyone you forgot to put on underwear, don't you think?" Ran asked flatly.

"That was just an excuse," I said, frowning at her. "I'm looking for anything that might tell me what happened with Samium."

She ran a hand over her face. "Gods above, Su."

"It'll only take a minute," I said. "If it really happened, I'm sure I'd have left something. Made notes, or... Something like that."

She let out a long sigh, sitting down on the bed.

I gave up on rooting through the trunk, and went around the rest of the room. Now that I was actually paying attention, I was realizing it was a lot sparser than the other bedrooms here that Neferuaten had shown us. It wasn't that it wasn't luxurious, just... Without character. The bookshelves were almost empty, and the dressers completely so. Even the walls were undecorated, save for a single large painting at the back.

It depicted a battle from the Great Interplanar War. This itself was rare - while the Tricenturial War was looked on nostalgically by modern culture, the second of the two great wars the world had suffered since the collapse was far more controversial. Even if it had given birth to the Grand Alliance of the Mourning Realms, it was also a campaign predicated on what was, ultimately, the pursuit of annihilating a less powerful culture simply because it posed a threat to the status quo. The more years passed, the more public figures officially condemned everything that had happened, even those who had spearheaded the campaign themselves in bygone days. The more cities tore down memorials and poured financial aid into what was left of civilization on the Diakos.

How did the truism go? 'It's easier to apologize than ask for permission.'

I was able to identify it as such because it was obviously set on the oceans of the Atelikos, with airships in the sky and alien forms rising from the waters below. It was a very long painting, one of those ones you couldn't view all at once, but had to turn your head as you took it in, as if you were really there...

When I'd finished looking at it, my eyes turned downwards, and I noticed two objects left at the corner of the end-table below.

The first was Zeno's weird, multi-headed key he'd given me after our first meeting, which I had to confess I'd half forgotten about, assuming I'd left it in my old clothes.

The second...

I wasn't sure quite what it was. At first, I'd thought it was a book that'd been left awkwardly open, but then I realized there was no cover. Then I'd thought it was maybe a manuscript... But something was peculiar about the binding. Putting aside those notepads which just have metal loops for the parchment to be hooked on to, all books have basically the same kind of spine. The vellum is bound to a narrow strip, leaving only really two states for the object - open or closed. This, of course, was the point; it made it easy to hold and easy to keep from being damaged. There was a reason we didn't write things on scrolls any more.

But this... Was different.

The spine, once I lifted it up, was less like a strip and more like a rectangular conveyer to which the parchment had been weaved through in a complicated design. Pages were turned vertically, and when enough were pushed back, they began to slide into it, disappearing from sight. This made it hard to tell just how long the text was, and no matter what position you left the object in, it seemed... Awkward. Like you'd just left it open.

Curious, I looked down at the page it was open on. And slowly, my eyes narrowed.

To Gilgamesh the Elders spoke, and they said this:

"Gilgamesh, do not put your trust in your great strength alone.

Train your mind to be sharp, and make each blow land true!

The one who scouts ahead may save his comrade,

The one who knows the path may protect his friend.

Go in the wake of Enkidu,

for he knows the road to the Cedar Forest,

for he has known the bloodshed of the battlefield.

Enkidu will protect you, his comrade and friend.

And his body shall bear you back to your family.

Enkidu! The wisdom of our Assembly shall entrust our king to you!

And we expect him to be borne to us safely upon your return!"

Gilgamesh then spoke to Enkidu, and he said:

"Come my friend. Let us go to the temple of Elgamah,

to Ninsun, the Great Queen;

She who is without peer in wisdom.

She will show us the path we must walk."