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month record rogue 4 5 1
With the Nagara named Katsidiya complete, the Anasa begin their journey. They carry nothing in their arms or on their backs. As they walk, they see only endless Catastrophe, devastating disease, and spreading famine. They seek the city shrouded in Catastrophe year-round, and the wisdom in its great bell tower allowing all beings to break free of suffering. Jieyun carries a heavy backpack, following along behind her people.
They cross mounts, ford rivers, navigate deep ravines, and fight Catastrophes, but the further they go, the lighter her backpack feels. She looks behind her. It seems she overstuffed it. It had split during the trials and tribulations of the long road, and one by one her things had fallen out. She hefts her lightened burden, and begins to walk in the opposite direction.
'Why do you turn back, my child?'
'Because all my things fell out of my pack.'
'Are you going to look for them, my child?'
'They're important.'
'You will not be able to follow us, my child.'
'I'll catch up afterwards.'
Jieyun walks back the way they came. There on the road, she finds a flower she dropped. The day that heroine touched her forehead and gave her the name Jieyun, the desert wind brought a flower from who-knows-where straight into her hand. She places it back in her pack, but it is still too light.
Jieyun continues walking back. There on the road, she finds a short sword. The day she put her all into throwing one last punch at that unparalleled martial artist, her heart was full to bursting with joy. She places it back in her pack, but it is still too light.
Jieyun continues walking back to where she started. She picks up a piece of broken porcelain, a crude bowl used at the last drunken brawl at the Sword Forge. She picks up a piece of Originium, a gift from the ship that sails across the land. She picks up a piece of bark inscribed with words, a sign left by an old tree to guide her when she was lost in the snowfields of the far north...
Only once the sun and moons have chased each other across the sky for several turns is her pack heavy once more. She knows she has managed to retrieve everything. She turns and traces her footprints, once more walking the road that all Anasa should walk. To Nagara Katsidiya, where she will meet with her people.
She returns to where she parted with them, where the Ashoka woods offered them shade. The sacred land is within sight, yet her people were gone, their footprints erased from the road. A bell tolls, and Jieyun knows they have reached their destination. But she cannot see the bell tower, nor the path that leads to it.
She eagerly searches amongst the trees of the Ashoka woods. She asks Sarkaz travelers on the same road if they have seen anything. She calls out the names of those who have entered, and thinks back to the teachings they imparted as they walked. But the bell tower remains unreachable with silence. Day after day, she paces back and forth within the woods, like a fowlbeast abandoned by its parents. She cannot find the entrance, nor any explanation. The pack on her shoulders gets heavier and heavier, until she finds herself unable to take another step. She sits beneath a tree.
The Anasa girl who carries everything on her back cannot see the gate to the bell tower.
