April Showers

How goes it, Kelly?

Just finished logging the Polar Area's plant monitoring data. Most of our fifty-three newcomer plants show no abnormal traits, and have survived the initial observation period. But as you can see here...

This Sheath Zelkova by the door? These two severely curled up leaves are a sign of dehydration.

That patch of Icefield Cottongrass is clearly still growing, but the number of cotton balls hasn't been increasing much, and the amount of cotton fiber is lower than normal too.

That Square Sunflower is our most obvious case. Its disc florets should be always extending towards the sun, but it's drooping so low it's almost touching the soil.

All within expectations. We've only just begun planning out the vivarium's Polar Area, so we're lacking both data for integration and accumulated experience.

Quick, go ask Director Muelsyse about it. She'll definitely know where the problems lie.

(Speaking of which, there's something magical about the way the Director knows plants so well. Everyone's been secretly wondering if she really can talk to plants.)

(Don't go spouting nonsense now.)

Kelly, try resetting the parameters of this area's circulation system, and add some mycorrhiza bacteria to the substrate to promote the absorption of water and nutrients.

Director Muelsyse!

...But the parameters were precisely configured according to the data sent by Miss Magallan.

It's true that Maggy sent the plants, but she's just an explorer. What does she know about botany?

Every bit of biological data she collected is only true for when these plants are growing in Sami.

The vivarium is still too 'warm' for them.

Try lowering the temperature and humidity a little.

Alright, Director.

Next up is inspecting the Plateau Zone, right? Let's head there together.

...

...

...

(Moving fingers contentedly)

(Vigorously stretching)

Be careful, Sheath Zelkova. Your fingers have been curled up all this time, so take care to not strain your veins when stretching them out so suddenly.

Hey, don't get me started. Quit moving around so much, your cotton's flying all over my face.

What did that guy say earlier? The plateau area is just a little further up? Maybe we can talk to the legendary Stipa if I send my cotton flying a bit further.

You only just left Sami, so everything feels new to you, huh.

Hey, Square Sunflower. Why so quiet?

He's wilting. Where's his energy gone? I guess he's still not used to the new environment yet.

No, I haven't seen him eating or drinking at all, so my guess is that he's feeling a little moody.

...

So they do have emotions.

Who said that?

...It's raining.

It can rain indoors? Or is this that so-called circulation system?

What sort of rain is this? Why are the droplets sticking to my branches? I can't shake them off.

...

Hiya, fellas. Let's reacquaint ourselves, shall we? I'm Muelsyse.

You're here again.

Whoopsie daisy. I went to find Nasti to modify some equipment. She's not exactly the chatty type, so it took some time.

Anyhow, you guys are looking way peppier than before.

We make do.

At least you haven't been curling up your leaves on purpose, right?

...

I'm gonna be personally overseeing the Polar Area until the second batch of plants arrives next month, okay?

So I'll be switching up your substrate at noon. I redid the new formula according to the soil samples I got from Sami.

You'll get all the yummy nutrients you need through the 'rain' or 'dew' at random. We're scrapping the 'regular' pattern.

Lemme know if you need anything else. Terrain, air, soil, water, climate... what are the optimal conditions for you to survive? Don't be shy now, me and the vivarium don't judge.

You're so patient with us, Muelsyse.

I actually included a Polar Area when I first planned this place out, but no one from Ecological had been to Sami back then. So we shelved it.

But I've been directing ecological experiments at Rhine for the past few years, so I thought we had a solid enough foundation to...

Why Sami?

Many see it as an inaccessible and frigid region. Sealed off, isolated, mysterious, dangerous.

Well, it's not just Sami I'm interested in. I've got my peepers on every special ecosystem in Terra.

Sami's just specialer than most. Wetlands, forests, and icefield, in that order. A weird combo, really... Hmm, how do I put it? A little 'forced'?

Plus, while it is absolutely freezing compared to the centrum, it's got abnormally abundant biodiversity that doesn't conform to the laws of ecology at all.

So my best guess is that Sami's just really 'clean.'

'Clean'?

I took some physiological samples from you guys... The amount of Originium granules in your root systems is way lower than average.

Could you try dumbing that down for a plant?

Sami is by far the best environment for my experiments.

...

So, you want to recreate a 'Sami' in this giant glass house?

A glass house... uh-huh.

But why, Muelsyse?

Because I'm the youngest and bestest ecologist here at Rhine Lab, of course!

I've got both the ability and the responsibility to turn this glass house here into the cleanest place in Terra. It'll have the freshest air, the most hospitable climate, and the most nutritious soil.

It'll have the richest ecosystem ever, for every kind of fragile lifeform to freely thrive in.

That's what I've always been... um, pursuing?

(Forcefully shedding cotton)

(Shaking branches and leaves freely)

Hehe, thankies.

...

Is that something worth applauding?

Ah...

Square Sunflower! You scared the spit outta me, suddenly opening your mouth like that!

He's been like that ever since he arrived, more than half a month ago.

What a downer. He's always sulking about something.

He's still brooding over how he got transplanted from the forests of Sami to a strange city.

But what's done is done, so why not just get used to it here? One of my cotton balls floated into the water of the compartment next door, and I could taste the 'seawater's saltiness.'

Who knows? If you'd stayed in Sami you might be manure by now. The seeds of your special disc florets make you both fowlbeast fodder and a digestive aid for carnivores with big appetites.

You should spit out your cotton properly before spouting all that nonsense.

Hmph.

Muelsyse. Don't you want to know why I've been wilting since I got here? Aren't you curious?

A Square Sunflower's disc florets will always face the sun. True, your vivarium's lighting system can even simulate how the sunlight changes at different times of day.

It's very... what you people would call, 'advanced.'

...But in the end, it's no sun.

Hmm...

The real sun is outside your glass house. But remove this layer of glass, and this mix of soil, air, temperature, moisture, and microbial clusters will no longer be tenable.

Even if you perfectly replicated each and every grain of soil, gust of cold wind, and block of ice from Sami, this place would still be no different from the specimen box you put me in to bring me here.

Well... compared to most other plants, the way you photosynthesize is kinda special, so there's not much I can do about that.

That's not what I meant.

No, I gotcha.

Oceans, mudflats, forests, deserts, the Black Flow... Wherever you lift the veil of nature, you're bound to find a nice surprise.

Whether a place has four distinct seasons, is warm and pleasant all year round, has harsh extremes that flip from bitterly cold to scorching hot, or whatever else, it's just the result of natural evolution over thousands of years.

...And not a perfectly set up 'experimental environment.'

This place will never become 'Sami.'

Sheesh. Do you know how much I wish I could grab you fellas and show you around Rhine HQ and Trimounts?

Sure, Sami is a mystery to me. But science is just as much a mystery to you guys.

Science can help us break the boundaries of nature. Shape new environments. It can help us... find answers.

You're lying to yourself, Muelsyse.

Hmm?

A tech company's exploration platform has discovered the last surviving grove of Pale Conifers in the mountainous region of northern Columbia...

And what's that got to do with you?

There's a mountain village nearby, and though the population registry has been outdated for ages... some of the names in it match up with a missing persons list from Trenton.

Pretty sure not even Director Jara would be this concerned with what her employees get up to after hours.

Your behavior is far, far from gentlemanly, Justin Jr.

Hey now, don't get offended. I don't have any ulterior motives, and besides, I don't even know what you've been trying to track down.

I just happened to catch a glance at this while negotiating a business deal, and figured a certain Director Muelsyse might agree to a date if she were interested.

...

Wait, is our well-connected Director of Business actually a coward? They don't keep me that busy over at Ecological, you know.

I'll come find you. Are you over at HQ?

At the café downstairs. I seem to recall you complaining about the decor in my office and refusing to enter.

I'll catch you at your office this time around then.

You're back. Has it already been more than half a month since you left so suddenly?

Mhm.

Icefield Cottongrass, she's...

I saw.

...

Muelsyse, are you crying?

...

I don't blame you.

That researcher, Kelly? She tried her best too...

I know.

Be it adding more nutrient solutions or replacing the substrate, they just can't compare to Sami's natural sustainability systems. But the Polar Area biome still isn't ready...

Hey, stop crying. You're drenching us in your tears and its killing me.

...

Maybe... Maybe I should delay the next batch of plants from Sami coming in next month.

Hmm. Are you the type to be so easily shaken?

Well... exploring new scientific frontiers was never gonna be easy, and a setback or two was expected...

So why are you crying?

...

I made a trip to the mountains in northern Columbia, after my little chat with Justin Jr.

Was it far?

Not really. Took me three or four days... I just ended up staying there for a whole week.

If it wasn't far, why did you only make the trip now?

Because just finding the place took forever.

...

From the orphanage in Trenton, to the deserted old houses, to the university in Trimounts, and to the laboratories of Rhine Lab...

From the voluminous records in the library, to the nameless inscriptions, to experiment records with hardly any headway—yes, I even conducted experiments using samples taken from myself...

I spent a long, long time searching for it.

And then finally I found it. Where I thought I'd find the answers about my parents, my people, and myself.

...

I have to turn this glass house into the cleanest place in Terra. It must have the freshest air, the most hospitable climate, and the most nutritious soil...

It must have the richest ecosystem ever, for every kind of fragile life to freely thrive in.

...Including me.

And that's why I need those answers. I have to know why my life is so frail, why I'm so sensitive to Originium Zones.

I need to know what I am, what 'Elves' are. I need to know how I was born, if my kin still reside on this land, and where... my future lies.

...And you came back without an answer.

There was only a dilapidated mountain village, a patch of dying trees, and a simple and crude cemetery... Time has buried it all.

There's no way to even tell if those Elves buried in the Pale Conifers had the answers I've been looking for, or if they were looking for them just as hopelessly as me.

Muelsyse, are you alright?

You look exhausted. Here, you can lean on my trunk.

You were right, Sunflower.

The vivarium's snowy mountains aren't actually mountains, and the icefield isn't an icefield. I'll never be able to recreate a 'Sami,' ever.

Because how can I, when I myself don't even know what kind of land I'm looking for?

...

Stop crying.

It never rains like this in Sami. If you cry any more, you're going to destroy the Polar Area's ecology. And then the other plants will get sick, and you'll worry even more.

...

You know...

The life cycle of Icefield Cottongrass really isn't long at all. When the winter wind on the icefield is at its strongest, not even a single cotton clump can hold onto its branches.

Two days ago the Polar Area was practically smothered in white cotton wool. For a moment I really thought I was back on the Sami icefield.

...Thank you.

It's Cottongrass's fault anyway, for being too curious. She was sending her clumps everywhere while you were away the past few days. They were all over the Polar Area, the Plateau Area, and the Ocean Area. She probably got her wish.

She counted up all the plants in the entire vivarium... there's nearly a thousand species in here, and many of them should already be extinct from various ecological disasters.

You said you wanted to build an ideal habitat here, but what you're actually doing is much more than that... Erm, when I put it that way, you're pretty similar to those other guys.

Hmm?

I'm saying I've met people like you.

Actually, I realized it from the start. I just wasn't completely sure... All of you can 'feel' us. You're all doing something similar, except you're doing it in a lab while they're in a forest.

Plants are their bandages, while the rain and dew serve as their painkillers... I think they were mending Sami's wounds.

......!

Are you sure, Sunflower?

Of course, I even helped them out.

I conducted two comparative experiments and the results were consistent. Basically, my deductions from dissecting and screening your samples were right.

...

To date, the chemical composition of the seeds in your disc florets are unknown to academia, and they've proven to be decisive evidence for my conclusions.

You really are a super duper special plant. You have some kinda 'healing' property, we just don't know what exactly in nature you're meant to be healing.

...

But plants don't do that on their own.

In other words, someone's putting you to use. And those someones are also a part of Sami's natural sustainability systems.

Hey, Sami? Any of my people up there?

Thank you, my imaginary friends.

Director Muelsyse...

Um...

Uh, your... I'm so sorry for your loss!

Umm...?

You can talk to plants, right? The Icefield Cottongrass... I...

Kelly! That's crazier than the rumors I hear about the old goat turning himself into a super cyborg to have late night boxing matches with Saria!

...I-I apologize.

Ah, right. I came to hand you this letter.

They're invitations from the leading scientific journals. You know, 'The TIT Academic Journal', 'Biology Review', and 'Nature Communications.' They're all really interested in your recent research results.

Your plant information experiments have proven workable in the fields of both plant physiology and plant phylogenetics. This marks a major breakthrough in ecology.

Hey now, I don't deserve all the credit. You guys helped too!

So what should we do with the invitations?

We'll take their offers, but could you write back to the editors for me? The submissions might come a teensy bit late.

Are you taking some time off? You did just throw yourself back into your work right after that long trip.

Nope. I'm taking a little trip to Sami.