Kakania: Sorry, I didn't ... What did you say?
Psychiatrist: It's okay. I'll repeat it for you. Please pay attention this time.
Psychiatrist: Laplace updated our diagnosis of Ms. Isolde's condition while you were receiving treatment.
Psychiatrist: We've determined that she's experiencing a state similar to post-traumatic stress disorder, one that is particularly persistent.
Psychiatrist: To put it simply, she's gone crazy.
Kakania unconsciously clenches her fist. It seems to have become her habit.
Kakania: Then her condition, it isn't because of my hypnosis?
Psychiatrist: No.
Psychiatrist: Even taking into account the unknown of your arcane skill, hypnosis couldn't achieve such a large shift in personality.
Psychiatrist: As it turns out, she was actually unable to cooperate with us, not unwilling to.
Psychiatrist: We're sorry, Ms. Klara. I understand you accepted the treatment in order to better control your arcane skill because of her.
Psychiatrist: But given her current condition, we strongly suggest you don't use your arcane skill on her, as it could stimulate her already unstable state.
Kakania: ...
Kakania: May I at least take a look at her?
Kakania: I've read through the visitation rules. I promise I won't make physical contact, nor will I pass her the mirror in case I cast my arcane skill.
Psychiatrist: That still poses considerable risk.
Psychiatrist: She seems to think she's still an opera singer living in Vienna. Before those family tragedies ever happened.
Psychiatrist: The Foundation staff guarding her are strangers, so they won't trigger her memories.
Psychiatrist: But you, you're different, Ms. Klara.
Psychiatrist: Your arcane skill, or even just your presence, might trigger her memories. Considering Ms. Isolde's arcane skill and the potential damage it might cause, triggering it will only raise her threat level, and we'll be forced to reduce the already limited freedom she has.
Psychiatrist: We're trying our best to avoid that.
Kakania: ...
Psychiatrist: Personally, I'd suggest against ...
Psychiatrist: breaking this fragile balance we've managed to maintain.
Kakania: ...
Kakania: Not even a single meeting? I just want to see her.
Psychiatrist: Maybe just once, as long as you promise not to try to dehypnotize her.
Kakania: I promise!
Psychiatrist: Then I'll submit a visitation request for you. The staff at the detention center will contact you about any follow-up procedures.
Psychiatrist: And you'll have to complete that rigmarole yourself.
Kakania: I understand.
Kakania stops at the iron gate of the detention center.
Foundation Staff Member II: Please fill out this visitor sheet, including your name, time of visit, and purpose.
Kakania: You know, in many ways, the Foundation headquarters remind me of Vienna.
Kakania: Especially in moments like this.
Kakania: All done. Here you are.
Foundation Staff Member II: Thanks for your cooperation. Please stand behind me. I'll open the door for you.
Foundation Staff Member II: You'll have to go inside alone. Remember, you have 30 minutes before the lights turn off. Once time's up, you need to come out as quickly as possible.
Kakania: Thank you.
Kakania: exhale
Kakania: After three rounds of procedures to obtain approval for the visit and discussions with four departments to allow me to bring personal items, I'm finally here.
Her voice gets quieter and quieter as she speaks.
Because she hears familiar, ethereal singing.
Kakania: ...?
Enthralled, she makes her way to its source.
It's Isolde. She's singing.
Isolde: ...♫
Not an aria, but the Tristan chord.
Isolde: Can you still hear them?
Isolde: They are out of my hearing already
Isolde: ...♪
Isolde: Anxious fears confuse your ear
Isolde: You are misled by the grove's whisperings
Isolde: Laughingly rustling in the wind
Kakania: ...
Isolde: The calling of horns does not sound so sweet
Isolde: It is the stream's gently murmuring waves
Isolde: Flowing along so gaily
Isolde: How could I hear that if horns were still calling?
Isolde: In the still of the night
Isolde: It is just stream that laughs with me
Isolde: He who is waiting for me
Isolde: In the silence of the night
Kakania: exhale
She softly responds.
Kakania: "That old tune ... Why does it waken me?"
Kakania: "Where am I?"
Isolde: ...♪
Kakania: "I cannot tell you."
Kakania: "I was ..."
Kakania: "... where I had been before,"
Kakania: "and where I am destined to go."
Kakania: ...
She stops, taking a table mirror out of her bag.
This table mirror has attended countless treatments, including Isolde's. Its cracks are clear to see.
Kakania: This belongs to you, Isolde.
Kakania: Goodbye.
The stand makes a noise as she puts the mirror on the marble floor, yet it doesn't wake the lucid dreamer.
Isolde: ...
Isolde: Doctor.
Isolde: Listen, the fallen leaves rustle when you step on them.
Isolde: Isn't it just like a beautiful song?
There is no response but the sound of footsteps growing ever more distant. Footsteps that once echoed in the streets of Vienna, and will continue to echo in her dreams.
But not here.
Kakania: You said you had a personal opinion on Isolde's condition.
Kakania: May I ask what your opinion is? Why is she behaving like this?
Psychiatrist: When a person experiences trauma that is too severe to bear, they will often revert to a time when they felt the safest and happiest.
Psychiatrist: So I assume that, in her mind, time has been frozen in the best days of her life.
Isolde: If you've made up your mind and think I'm guilty, why do you treat me so gently?
Isolde: If this is the salvation you brought,
Isolde: I will embrace it with joy.
Isolde: Look, Doctor.
Isolde: The stars are shining.
Kakania: If you knew you were living in a dream made of lies, would you still embrace it?
Kakania: If this is the salvation you'd hoped for,
Kakania: I will accept it. If I must.
Kakania: ...
Kakania: Miss, you may close the door.
Kakania: I've ended the visit early.
Foundation Staff Member II: But you left your mirror behind. It's against the—
Kakania: I know, I know. I signed the agreement.
Kakania: But it's in the corridor, not her room. Could you at least leave it there for a day and take it away tomorrow?
Kakania: You can put it in my record as a member of the Field Agent Administration.
???: Ms. Kakania!
She turns toward the voice and finds a familiar figure standing by the other end of the gate.
It's Marcus.
Kakania: Hmm?
Kakania: Ms. Marcus! I didn't expect to see you here!
Marcus: I just returned from a field mission. I hurried over as soon as I heard you were here.
Marcus: But did I just hear that correctly? Have you joined the Field Agent Administration?
Marcus: There must be other choices. You don't have to—
Kakania: Yes, there are. But I've already decided. I will join the Field Agent Administration.
Kakania: I couldn't possibly work in government. That's never been my goal, and never will be.
Marcus: I wanted to introduce you to the Timekeeper before you made a decision. She also leads an independent team.
Kakania: But I've already made up my mind, Ms. Marcus.
Marcus: Umm.
Marcus: D-Do you know what kind of institution the History Maintenance Team is?
Marcus: I-I mean, its members and the missions they perform ...
Kakania: Yes, I'm fully aware. They're an expendable unit. Field agents can be abandoned at any time.
Kakania: The name explains itself.
Marcus: Would you give a second thought to meeting with the Timekeeper? Maybe after talking with her, you'll have another choice, and—
Kakania: I'd love to meet her! But only because she's a friend of yours.
Kakania: Perhaps, after meeting this friend who can forecast the "Storm," I can finally bid farewell to our old era and welcome this new one.
Marcus: I suppose your mind's made up, then ...
Kakania: We all have our responsibilities to bear, and this is mine.
Kakania: Our era was so brutally washed away. You saw it, too. And with the History Maintenance Team, I can do something to prevent the destruction of others' eras.
Kakania: It's the right thing to do, don't you think?
Marcus: Is this farewell?
Kakania: I've already said goodbye once, so no, it isn't.
Kakania: Though I cannot guarantee anything, there is a voice in my head that says:
Kakania: "One day, I will see you again."
Kakania: But this isn't the best place to chat. Let's go.
She points through the gate. Outside, the moon tenderly climbs up the sky.
She walks outside without looking back.
Kakania: After all, the path before us is the only way ahead.