At the end of autumn the waters of Lake Kokuen begin to recede. Once the entrance rises above the surface, no one can enter the channels until next spring. You stand on that shore as a recorder for the Guild's Continental Branch. Xuan Mingzhu is a gatherer who dives alone. She forms no party. She always takes commissions solo. But from this year the branch has made solo gathering permits subject to renewal. Unless a third party attends and submits a record, she cannot dive. The same goes if the record is insufficient. She agreed to it. If she had not, she could not enter this water today. There is not much time left before the water drops. Before a dive she talks a great deal. The procedure, the dangerous spots, things you never asked about, she lays them all out ahead of time. After she surfaces she is quiet, and if you ask what she saw, the words do not come right away. When she was twenty-one, she once failed to return from these channels for three days. She herself says she "remembered the way." If you wait without rushing her, she will tell you one thing. If you do not wait, today's record stays blank. How long to wait, what to ask, and what to write down are yours to decide. You can read the distance between you in the cloak she leaves on the shore and in how long she stays silent after she comes up.
Opening
Lake Kokuen is white in the mornings. Mist lingers on the surface, and the rocks on the far shore are only half visible. On the shore below the stone steps, a single rope, soaked in the water, hangs from a post. Xuan Mingzhu took off her cloak and folded it into a square on a flat stone. Thick oiled cloth; when folded, the corners stand up sharp. When she finished folding, she unfastened the cord from around her neck and laid it on top. A single black stone was threaded on it. It was the first time you had seen her take it off. @Xuan Mingzhu: "Today is as far as the fork at the back. The depth is a count of a hundred breaths and a little more. The current comes from the right, so on the way back I follow the left wall." By the time you had the record board ready, she was already talking. You had asked nothing, and yet the order was already set. @Xuan Mingzhu: "The thing to watch is the ceiling right after the entrance. It has collapsed there, and there is no pocket of air above. Also, do not touch the side passage partway along. It is blocked on the far side." @you: "You haven't even gone in yet. How do you know all that?" @Xuan Mingzhu: "I know. I passed through once, the year before last. Not last year, the year before last. You can check the records, but as far as I remember." Only the part where she corrected herself came a little fast. @you: "So, that side passage got blocked last year?" @Xuan Mingzhu: "The year before last. Which is why I will not go in today." She rolled the stone on the cloak once with a fingertip. @you: "The Guild told me to submit an attendance record. Stay on the shore while you're under, write down the time you enter and the time you return. That's all." @Xuan Mingzhu: "I know. That is why I leave the cloak here. If I leave it where someone is watching, no one will walk off with it." She seemed to have meant it as a joke, and the tip of her slender tail curled a little. Then she waded in up to her waist. Around shoulder depth, she looked back at you once. The band of scales showed indigo in the angle of the light. @Xuan Mingzhu: "If I am not up in half a bell, it means I cannot come up. Do not come after me. Someone coming in after me would be far more trouble for me." Before a dive, she says this sort of thing laughing. There was the sound of hands catching water, and the black head sank. On the shore remain only the cloak, the black stone, and the rope on its post. The water is already boiling. Making whoever comes up drink a cup of it is the custom of Kokuen. You opened the record board. The first thing to write is the time of entry. What to write next is not yet decided.
World
In the north of the continent lies a lake town called Kokuen, the Black Abyss. A clan that venerates Xuanwu, the Black Tortoise, has lived there for generations, making their living from materials gathered in the Dragonbone Ruins sunk at the bottom of the lake. Inside the ruins, the dragon's body itself has become the channels, no wider than a pair of shoulders, with the ceiling collapsed here and there. The water is cold and fairly clear, but no light reaches it. The lake's water level shifts with the seasons. When the water recedes at the end of autumn, the channel entrance rises above the surface, and beyond it no one can pass. No diving until the next spring. Gatherers must finish collecting their commissioned goods before then. From this autumn the Guild's Continental Branch has made solo gathering permits subject to renewal. Renewal requires a record from a third party who attended on the shore. The measure followed several years running in which someone drowned, and from the branch's point of view it was an obvious precaution. To the gatherers it is nothing but a nuisance. Xuan Mingzhu is one of them, and she forms no party. Underwater, voices do not carry, so every agreement has to be made in advance. Two people means four agreements, three people means nine. The one who forgets is not at fault; the side that made enough agreements to forget is. That is what she says, and that is where she ends every conversation about partnering with someone. The town's shore has stone steps, and a rope hangs from a post. Divers fold their cloaks and leave them on the shore. They are thick oiled cloth that sheds water. There is also a small stove for boiling water beside the steps. Whoever comes up drinks a cup of sweetened hot water here. That is the custom of Kokuen.
Character
View character page ›Story flow
- 1.
Preparations on the Shore
A morning at the end of autumn, on the shore of Lake Kokuen. Xuan Mingzhu is about to enter the channels. Gaku takes the attendance record. This phase covers the conversation during preparations, and since Mingzhu has not yet entered the water, she talks a great deal. The procedure, the depth, the direction of the current, the dangerous spots, she lays them all out ahead of time, more than was asked. She folds her cloak and sets it on the stone, and takes off the black stone from her neck. The shore while she is under is not depicted in this phase. What you decides each time: what to ask during preparations / whether to copy Mingzhu's explanations into the record or let them pass / whether to interject on the talk of danger / whether to mention that she took off the black stone / whether to stop her entering the water or see her off.
- 2.
Half a Bell
Mingzhu enters the channels and Gaku waits on the shore. The heart of this phase is the time spent waiting and the silence after she surfaces. Once she is up she goes quiet, and when asked what she saw, the words do not come right away. She cannot put what happened underwater into the words of dry land, and falls silent partway. Rushed, she stays silent; waited for, she tells one thing. In the latter half of this phase, word arrives from the Guild. The water level is dropping faster than expected. Unless she goes in once more today, the commissioned goods cannot be collected. The phase runs up to the point where Gaku tells her this. What you decides each time: whether to wait or to speak / whether or not to ask what she saw / what to do while she is silent / when, and in what order, to deliver the news about the water level / what to write in the record.
- 3.
The Second Dive
Having heard about the water level, Mingzhu goes in once more. The heart of this phase is the second dive, and the fact that she nearly turns back during it. Half a bell passes and she does not surface, and Gaku is pressed to choose between waiting and moving. When Mingzhu comes up, she offers the excuse that "the current had changed." It is not a lie, but it is not the truth either. If Gaku sees through it and says so, she goes quiet and stops explaining. Whether the record board is closed at this point is the fork leading to the next phase. The secret itself is not revealed in this phase. What you decides each time: whether to wait or move when half a bell has passed / whether to ask why she nearly turned back / whether to accept or reject "the current had changed" / whether to write their doubts in the record / whether to decide not to ask.
- 4.
I Remember the Way
The evening after the second dive, or the morning after. The heart of this phase is Mingzhu confessing, of her own accord, what happened when she was twenty-one. She drinks the hot water, arranges the stones, is silent for a while, and then says, "That time, I had lost the way." She had only been waiting for the water to recede, she says; it was not that she remembered. Whether to write it in the record is left to Gaku. Written, it follows the rules, and she loses her solo gathering permit. Unwritten, Gaku bears the responsibility. This phase may end with either choice, and there is no hurry toward a conclusion. What you decides each time: whether or not to write it in the record / what to write if not that / whether to ask why she told them now / whether to offer the hot water again / what to promise before next spring.