"Back then, when everyone realized you went through all that trouble just to hand her over to Dawn and the Vineborne, most of them could more or less understand it. She really is exceptional. Still, deep down, they did not truly agree with you."
Foolishness lounged lazily atop a cloud as she spoke, idly playing with a small block figurine.
"Oh." Deceitful Bloom was trimming the flowers in her garden. She showed little reaction to the topic and no curiosity about how others felt now.
Foolishness, however, was a considerate storyteller. She continued on her own. "But now even Boiling Orange has gone quiet. They are all discussing how to bring her into their own kin worlds. So of them are even asking whether you already knew she would reach this point."
Deceitful Bloom lifted her gaze from the sea of flowers and glanced at Foolishness. "The second question is what you really want to ask."
Foolishness did not deny it. "Yes."
"I did not know." Deceitful Bloom saw the doubt in Foolishness’s eyes and sighed softly. "If I had known earlier, even at the risk of being discovered, I would have acted sooner."
Unfortunately, she had still been one step too late.
"So you saw that she was extraordinary very early on? When she first joined the ga, she was honestly pretty foolish." Foolishness pressed the block figurine in her hand. The little figure clutched its head, swaying side to side, shouting, "I did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong."
"Not that early." Deceitful Bloom thought carefully, then spoke in a tone that even surprised herself. "You might not believe this, but at first, I did not intend for her to belong to Vineborne at all. I genuinely thought she was interesting, so I went to play with her.
"The mont I truly decided I had to have her was when Cat’s Ideal moved toward her of its own will.
"Wrathful Moon, which belongs to no one yet willingly allows itself to be confined, and Cat’s Ideal, which yearns for freedom and despises war and restraint. Both were drawn to the sa person.
"She was destined to be extraordinary. Why should she not belong to and to Vineborne?"
...
Beacon is a world so beautiful that simple words fail to describe it.
We live among the clouds. In our world, wind is never invisible, because whenever it rises, it sweeps up countless petals. As a result, the shape, color, and scent of the wind are always full of surprises.
Flowers are the symbol of Vineborne. When we are born, a unique vine is born alongside us.
As a child, I often felt troubled by the presence of my vine, because it made it impossible for to hide my emotions.
It blooms different flowers based on how I feel, and releases different scents as well.
Beings outside Vineborne may find this confusing. They often cannot distinguish the subtle differences between flowers and fragrances. But Vineborne can.
And we just happen to be a race with delicate yet intense emotions. Because of this, Beacon is never lacking in flowers or floral scents.
Even if one day every flower and flowering tree in the world were destroyed, as long as Vineborne still exist, you would still see blossoms and sll fragrance.
There is only one very small problem.
Whenever a Vineborne feels sorrow, our vines bloom rapidly, then wither just as fast, shedding their petals. If those fallen petals are touched by water, their scent instantly becos overwhelmingly contagious, plunging every being who slls it into uncontrollable grief.
If this happens in a remote area, it is manageable. But in a city, it can cause a minor disaster, because crying Vineborne produce even more sorrowful petals.
A vicious cycle. A grief epidemic.
And so, this gave rise to a profession unique to Beacon. The Petal Wardens.
This profession exists solely to clean up petals that bloom and fall during monts of sorrow.
You might ask whether Vineborne are simply lacking in manners. After all, we know our fallen petals affect other Vineborne. Why can we not just pick them up ourselves while crying?
I must say, no. That would be far too cruel.
I am already miserable, and you want to cry while picking up petals? The tragic atmosphere would multiply instantly.
Besides, Vineborne have another small habit. When emotions are intense or extraordinary, we enjoy sharing them. That can be a beautiful experience too, can it not?
So, well. Yes. We do it on purpose. We want the whole world to feel our love, our hatred, and our sorrow.
Even when I worked as a Petal Warden, I never cleaned up my own sorrow petals. That is every Vineborne’s principle.
I would quietly leave and leave a huge surprise for the colleague responsible for that district.
Just like they did to last ti.
Petal Warden is not the worst job, though. The worst job is working in the Vine Tribunal.
Every day, I had to handle property disputes born from emotional conflicts.
This involves yet another Vineborne habit. We have a fixed process for confirming romantic relationships.
First, you raise your ring finger toward the other person. This ans, from this mont on, my vine blooms only for you. Every Vineborne knows this is a lie.
Then, you let your partner consu part of your vine to express love.
When emotions run high, all beings behave this way. But we are not irrational fools. Usually, we agree in advance on how much to consu. Vine is tied to our magical talent, after all. So you eat as much of mine as I eat of yours. If soone accidentally eats a little more, it is usually fine.
The trouble begins when you break up.
Who secretly took one extra bite of vine is a question that can fuel an argunt for an entire day.
The Vine Tribunal exists to resolve disputes like these.
I worked there for half a year. It was the longest half year of my life.
Eventually, I quit and began traveling.
The wind always carried flowers to . During that journey, I decided to record how many kinds of flowers exist in Beacon.
I could not find the answer in any book.
My elders told that as long as Vineborne continue to be born, the question of how many flowers Beacon holds will never have a definitive answer.
Still, I wanted to gather as much as I could.
I wanted to know whether Beacon truly has no identical vines or flowers. I wanted to know what the legendary Flower of Deceit looks like. I wanted to know why My World is called Beacon.
Many years later, I fell on a battlefield.
As I looked at the countless flowers shimring with light across the battlefield, my foolish self finally understood, far too late, why My World is called Beacon.
When a Vineborne dies, our vine blooms one final ti, and it lights up.
The mont Beacon is illuminated is the mont of Vineborne’s extinction.
Beacon must be unimaginably beautiful at that mont.
That thought is truly hellish.
I hate it. I hate the na Beacon.
Why did it have to be lit like this?
Beacon
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