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Sunniso: Oh, hi, little humans, you need the password to enter.
Sciel: Golgra said to shout the password “as loud as we can.” Well, Gustave, you’re the loudest.
Gustave: Really? Hey.
Sciel: Come on, don’t be shy.
Gustave: Ahem. GET OUTTA MY WAY.
Sunniso: Geez, you don’t need to be so rude.
Gustave: Nonononono, uh… it’s just… um… it’s the password…
Sunniso: Well, I don’t know! Golgra never told me the password. But whatever, just go in.
Gustave: Look. I am very sorry. It’s just that Golgra told us that’s the password and I–
Maelle: Come on, it’s a Gestral, he’ll have forgotten in about a minute.
Gustave: I’m sorry.
Sciel: Interesting decor.
Lune: Esquie is said to feed on light.
Gustave: Are you ok, Maelle?
Maelle: I dunno. Getting a bit of … déjà vu again.
Sciel: The light here– Feels a little– I dunno– Yeah.
Lune: Hmmm, no Esquie–
Esquie: WOOOOOOOOOOOH! Bonjour, mes amis.
Sciel: Hey. Bonjour, mon ami.
Lune: Sciel.
Sciel: What? I dunno, he seems nice.
Esquie: Oh! It’s you! Hello again, my terrible swimmer friend. You’ve finally come to learn to swim!
Sciel: No? Uh. I’m not– I’m not that fond of water.
Gustave: Uh. Actually, that’s sort of why we’re here. We need to cross the sea. Golgra said you could help?
Esquie: Mon ami! “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”
Lune: Pardon me?
Sciel: In the stories, they say Esquie like to speak in riddles.
Esquie: In what way?
Gustave: I don’t get it.
Esquie: OHOHO!
Lune: We really need to cross the sea. Would you help us?
Esquie: Mmm. There’s a lot of you to carry. I’m strong. But I’m not that strong. I will need Florrie.
Sciel: Who’s Florrie?
Esquie: One of my rocks!
Maelle: Rocks?
Esquie: See, Florrie helps me swim. But Florrie was stolen by my archnemesis! The one whose every step SHAKES the foundation of the world! The one known as… François.
Lune: Ok.
Gustave: Let me guess. François is located deep in Nevron-infected territory, right?
Esquie: Oh, no, he’s right next door. Over there!
Gustave: Oh.
Esquie: François is my neighbour.
Gustave: Okay… Well, I guess we could take a look–
Esquie: FAN-TASTIC! Good luck, mes amis! Please, bring Florrie back to me.
Sciel: You seem to know me.
Esquie: Yes.
Sciel: How–? I don’t understand–
Esquie: “Men trip not on mountains, they stumble upon stones.”
Sciel: Okay…
Lune: The more information we get, the more questions I have.
Sciel: Hmm.
Gustave: You okay, Sciel?
Sciel: Yeah. Esquie is… surprising.
Lune: There’s nothing here.
François: Who dares enter my lair?? You can’t just walk into someone’s home without knocking. This is incredibly rude.
Maelle: Is that– Are you François? He’s just a talking rock!
Gustave: Wait, I thought Florrie was a rock.
François: A ROCK! I am NOT a rock, do you have rocks for eyes? You certainly have rocks for BRAINS. I am clearly a TURTLE! ESQUIE! Stop sending hooligans over here.
Esquie: Stop being a meanie. They’re nice Mélanie.
François: Then keep them on your side of the caves! Now get off my lawn!
Lune: It’s okay, we’ll leave, we’re just here for Florrie.
François: So not only are you intruding, you’re here to STEAL? Oh my word. HUMANS! Well! OVER MY DEAD BODY RAAAAHHHH!
François: Ok, let’s us put an end to this foolishness. I need to sleep. Like a turtle.
Maelle: All this trouble for a tiny rock.
François: Take it, and never come back!
Esquie: Hahahaha, ahh, François, you got smashed!
François: But know I will never stop chasing you.
Maelle: But you can’t move…
François: SCRAM!! Hmph, you can give him back his stinking stone, I don’t care. Now, SCRAM!
Lune: François and Esquie are very different from Gestrals and Nevrons.
Gustave: You think the Paintress created them too?
Lune: If not, who else?
Sciel: Maybe they came from another world?
Esquie: You got Florrie! That’s not Florrie.
Lune: What do you mean, “that’s not Florrie?”
François: Ha! I never HAD Florrie! Your rock is still on the Stone Wave Cliffs!
Esquie: Eeeeh, bah, he got me good.
Gustave: Wait, does this mean you won’t help us?
Esquie: If you promise to get me Florrie, then you could be buddies.
Lune: Can’t you swim without–Florrie? We saw you flying just now?
Esquie: You’re much too heavy. I need my rocks!
Lune: Your rocks?
Esquie: Alas! I’ve lost them all. I can do MUCH MORE than swim. I can FLY! Into SPAAAAACE! I used to fly all the time with my best friend Verso!
Lune: We’ll help you find your stones.
Esquie: Oh, how lovely of you.
Gustave: Wait. François said the Stone Wave Cliffs. Where’s that?
Esquie: Allllllllll the way to the north! Just aim for the big “33.” I’ll meet you outside.
Yellow Harvest
Maelle: Wow… That Nevron is the size of a mountain.
Sciel: Is it… eating the mountain?
Gestral: Am I the only one seeing this? A Nevron that is not hostile… All it does is eat the landscape around it.
Back at camp
Maelle: I see why you like throwing rocks.
Gustave: You’ve been quiet since you saw those people.
Maelle: It felt like they knew me. Like they actually knew me. I don’t understand what’s happening. And, and I feel like I– I never understood. Like I’m always missing something that everyone else just gets. In Lumière, life never made sense and I never fit, and now out here, when it was just starting to maybe feel good, then this… this happens, and…
Gustave: Yeah, I hate it too. Things we don’t understand. They just make us feel small and powerless. But it helps, you know, to focus on the things I do understand. The people I care about and who care about me. And, uh, you know now I feel a little less lost, ‘cause at least, we’re lost together.
Maelle: (laughs)
Gustave: What? Stop it. Too cheesy? Naah. Well, if it makes you feel better, I was even more lost when I was 16.
Maelle: I heard that was because you were only thinking about girls.
Gustave: Yeah, but guess what, the girls weren’t thinking about me. At all.
Maelle: I believe that.
Gustave: Yeah. You can talk to me, you know. We’re family. Or that’s what the paperwork says, at least.
Maelle: Well, the paperwork probably says we’re dead, too, so…
Gustave: Yeah. Probably. Ooh, nice one.
Maelle: I know.
Gustave: I told you, don’t get cocky, it was… okay.
Maelle: You taught me great. Nah.
Maelle: We finally found someone who loves rocks more than you.
Gustave: So it seems.
Maelle: I think you and Esquie are soul mates.
Esquie: I haven’t seen a human in so long! You’re much tinier than I remember.
Gustave: When was the last time you saw a human?
Esquie: Oh, my best friend when he asked for my help!
Gustave: Your best friend is human? I thought François was your best friend?
Esquie: Yes!
Lune: Esquie must have experienced so much over the centuries.
Gustave: You’re going to grill Esquie, aren’t you?
Lune: A creature of legend? Yeah, just a little.
Gustave: I think you have a new best friend.
Sciel: Esquie? Yeah, he’s sweet. And somehow he knows I’m a “terrible swimmer.” When he said that, it made me think of… you know.
Gustave: Yeah, I thought it might. I, uh– After the beach… when I was alone, um– I almost…
Sciel: I know.
Gustave: Lune told you.
Sciel: No, but I could fill in the blanks. And I understand… better than anyone. You know that.
Gustave: …
Sciel: I’m just glad Lune found you… before it was too late. Just like whoever found me. I like having you in my life.
Gustave: Same.
Sciel: Good night, Gustave.
[Gustave finds a spot where he can be alone. He spends some time writing in his journal. He writes about Esquie and how incredible it is to travel on such a legendary creature. He hopes that one day, his apprentices will read everything he wrote.]
Gustave: For those who come after.
Masked woman: I envy them, those who can’t see. Those who know not, that they are not. And those who live, blithe and free, sins forgotten and thus absolved. A fresh dawn in their playground, while we live in shadows, swimming in ink. We are but a fragile dream, a singular weed, resisting, ever resisting. That iron dirt, that eternal law. Those who can’t see. Those who know not, that they are not. Do you know? We are fellows. Those who know not, that they are not.