RenPinefur_Lanterns=
The Honeydew Trail pt. VI

RenPinefur_Lanterns_Lanterns=
Aldersong in Early Fall

Wheat05=
[]
There is a piece of paper on the ground. 
It seems as fresh as it ever was, as if whoever wrote it left it here while your back was turned. And yet...
There is no smell on the wind for you, Honeydew. 
No playwright to be found. You would know. This was the work of some other spirit.
{#feb77f} I do not know who you are. Forgive me.
I know who everyone is, but I do not recognize you.
Please leave. Though I cannot stop you, I implore you, see the error in your ways. 
There is someone beyond the cliff that does not wish to be found. {#}

Wheat10=
[]
There is a piece of paper on the ground. 
It looks like it was ripped right out of the oldest book in the world. It's bigger than any page you've ever seen.
It looks like the first hands who held it belonged to monsters or giants or gods. 
Somehow, the ink upon it still hasn't dried. 
You can almost see, out of the corner of your eye, the twitch in the wind that wrote it for you, Honeydew.
{#feb77f} You keep going despite my warnings. I can see that you are not going to listen.
I've looked at the way the breeze flows behind you. I know who you are now,{#} {#a3e580}Harvey.{#} 
{#feb77f}I almost wish I didn't. Did you not want to talk to me? 
Do you remember, in that house ages ago, when you would teach me the ways of nature, of science? 
You would take me out in the middle of the woods to a ruined chapel much like this one. 
You would tell me tales of the Honeydew. I still remember them all. Are they how you lived this long?
I suspect you know who lies atop this cliff and further beyond. I do not know why you wish to talk to the playwright. 
I know we haven't always seen eye to eye. I've left my idealism behind with the turn of the next three centuries. 
Please turn back. We could discuss this over the smell of coffee, perhaps. It's the best I can offer you. 
I miss hearing from you. I miss the airs of rebirth. I used to shun them but now I yearn for them again. 
That I would escape this domain I guard. Do you know how? What quest would aid me once I cross the gates? 
How many lives have you lived? Are you a judge in this one, or an executioner? {#}

Wheat10b=
[Madeline left distracted]
{#a3e580}...
You can't find me here, can you? 
[Madeline left normal]
...I don't think anyone's ever made it here. If the Honeydew's cruel humor allows you passage here too...
[Madeline left upset]
Well, it wouldn't be the first time it screws me over. 
...
[Madeline left distracted]
Look... I don't hate you as much as you think I do,{#} {#feb77f}Finnick.{#} {#a3e580}I swear.
You're stuck in the past. That's your flaw. 
It's for a very similar reason that I can't talk to your brother. 
[Madeline left normal]
Whenever it is you end up reading this... After I leave, or just over my shoulder...
Just like. Take it easy. 
I know {#66d9b4}Reynard{#} well and you know that. I'm not here to hurt you or him. 
[Madeline left distracted]
I have questions to ask him.
...About the day I die. 
You know I can't ask{#} {#ff9999}Finnley{#} {#a3e580}anymore. It doesn't talk to me and I doubt it talks to you.
I can't ask either{#} your mother {#a3e580}or whoever the newest{#} {#7fb7fe}King{#} {#a3e580}is. 
I can only talk to {#}Genesia{#a3e580} in between cycles now.
...
And the Honeydew... 
...
[Madeline left upset]
I don't know why I'm explaining myself to you.
The point is, if there's anyone that still remembers why my quest fails me on the inevitable day I die, it's{#66d9b4}Reynard.{#}
That's all there is to it. I don't want to scare you.
Hopefully hiding this place in space and time will make it harder for you to find. 
{#}

Wheat15=
{anchor bottom}
[]
The wind is as loud as it ever was. This time, it's here for you.
Before even hearing what it has to tell you, you know this is the final effort of a late Aspect of Inspiration.
Your heart breaks. You know how hard this must've been. 
{#feb77f}I accept that your path has taken you this far.
I cannot let you find the playwright in this state. I'm sorry.
I cannot let my efforts be in vain.
I trust that you know what to do.
Before it is too late.
I beg of you, {#a3e580}Harvey,{#} {#feb77f}find it in your heart to forgive me.
...
...
{#ffffff}And just like that, for the first time since a frightened girl took a piece of the sky with her...
You feel scared. You feel helpless. All your thoughts flee your mind and never come back. 

10a1=
{anchor middle}
{#feb77f}I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

10t2=
{anchor middle}
{#feb77f}Honeydew forgive me. I'll never falter from my quest again. 

19a3=
{anchor middle}
{#a3e580}Harvey,{#}{#feb77f} please... speak to me. Promise me you won't hurt him.

WheatEnd=
[Theo right normal flip]
Oh, hey, {#a3e580}Harv.{#} It's been a while. 
Poor {#feb77f}Finnick{#} told me you were coming. He thought you were going to kill me. Can you imagine? 

[Madeline left sad]
...

[Theo right normal]
Hey. Don't worry. He'll be fine. 
It was a noble sacrifice but nothing the Honeydew couldn't fix. 
[Theo right serious] A pretty good idea, hiding me in time. 
I didn't think anyone would find me like this.
[Theo right normal]
But if anyone were to do it, it would be you, wouldn't it?

[Madeline left distracted]
{#66d9b4}Theo.{#} I... 
...

[Theo right normal]
You're scared because you know you're going to die. 
That's fine. It's not anytime soon. 

[Madeline left upset]
I know that. It's just...
[Madeline left distracted]
...Why? 
[Madeline left sad]
I thought I had rebirth figured out, like you do.
I was so sure I had several centuries left ahead of me. 
I saw the honeydew on the way here. I couldn't understand any of it. Clearly my quest is still unfinished.
So why? Why do I die? 

[Theo right serious]
{#a3e580}Harv,{#} I promise, I would tell you if I knew. 
I've talked to the honeydew a little, through song and plays. 
I've never gotten an answer. You know I still care about you, right? 

[Madeline left distracted]
...I guess, yeah.
...
What do you mean, the honeydew didn't tell you? 

[Theo right serious flip]
...I'm not the {#7fb7fe}King, {#}or anything.

[Madeline left upset]
Close enough.

[Theo right normal]
No, seriously. 
[Theo right normal flip]
The honeydew likes me because not many people do what I do, but I'm just some guy. 
Maybe your life and its inner workings go beyond this world. In fact, I know they do. 

[Madeline left surprised]
What? 

[Theo right normal]
Yeah, I mean...
[Theo right serious]
It carries over, right? In every bit of time? You always die on the same day. 
Skipping forward and back just delays the inevitable. 
If ever July 27th comes to pass and you're there to witness it, you die. 
[Theo right thinking]
...Suppose it's fate, in a way? You avoid death by avoiding that date until you've lived every second of every other day.
And the flows of time lead you to your very deserved death.

[Madeline left distracted]
...I can't think in four dimensions. 

[Theo right normal]
That's okay. I can't really, either. Your life is finite, but this concept gets...
[Theo right nailedit]
Uncomfortably close to infinity.
[Theo right normal]
Something outside of this world causes you to die in a way that interferes with your quest.
That, or it's so powerful that even {#fffff}Genesia{#} and the honeydew can't stop it. 
[Theo right normal flip]
I'm not the greatest at seeing the future. There's too many actors that manipulate the flow of time. 
You're one of them, so it makes seeing what you do much harder than it should be. 
That being said, I can't see anything in any timeline that explains why you just...
Die. On a random summer day. 

[Madeline left sad]
So... there's nothing you can do? 
Nothing you can tell me? 

[Theo right serious]
I can tell you not to fight it. 
It's not too different from being a regular, questless mortal. 
Like you were before all this. Like I was. 
As I've said, it's... out of this universe. I suspect it's beyond even the honeydew.
It doesn't belong to the arts, I can tell you that much.
You don't pass your quest on to anybody else afterwards. 
I think your quest just ends on that day, whenever it happens to be.

[Madeline left normal]
So I just have to never return to it, then.

[Theo right nailedit]
Surely. 
[Theo right serious flip]
No, but genuinely, {#a3e580}Harv.{#} Don't worry about it. 
Time is a weird enough thing as it is. I don't think either of us was meant to live in it fully.
You've seen what it did to {#feb77f}Finnick{#}. He's gone... a bit crazy. 
[Theo right normal]
As I'm sure you've seen.

[Madeline left distracted]
...Yeah.
I left a message for him, between the eras the honeydew sent me to.
I hope he'll see it.
[Madeline left upset]
Not that it'll make a difference. I don't think I want to be between time anymore.

[Theo right normal]
The equinox is a really weird place to be, yeah.
It's pretty though.
[Theo right serious flip]
...
I might write a play about it. 

[Madeline left normal]
Send it over if you do.
I've missed your writing.

[Theo right nailedit flip]
Thanks.
[Theo right normal flip]
I'll keep you updated. Maybe I'll send the honeydew after you. 

[Madeline left normal]
Please do.

[Theo right serious]
For real, though. Stop thinking about it.
[Theo right serious flip]
Honestly, if I had any right to tell you this, I'd recommend you just... 
Live life normally, for a bit. Until the next summer rolls around.
And then you see, you know?
[Theo right serious]
If you skip ahead. Or if you face it head on. 
...

[Madeline left distracted]
...
Yeah. I guess that makes sense. 
...
I'll leave you be. 
Thanks, {#66d9b4}Theo.{#}

[Theo right nailedit]
Anytime, doc. 