AEHU/Plot/Plot Sketch Chapter 19
From Chrono Compendium
"Flying High"</u>
- The Nocturne Festival has ended and Grishe acclimates to life in Zeal while scientists flock around him. Melchior houses both Grishe and Beck in his personal quarters because Seith has seized Beck's private property, the only legal means available to punish Beck absent an order from Queen Zeal to imprison him. Grishe mulls the pros and cons of making his children also Enlightened. Beck grooms Grishe for travels to Kajar, Enhasa, and Shikar, and Schala agrees to act as Grishe's interpreter. Seith is exasperated over Beck's grandstanding of this Earthbound-turned-Enlightened, but again, Queen Zeal's lack of cooperation stonewalls him.
- Schala undergoes another Frozen Flame trial, surprising the consciousness with renewed hopes now that Zealian citizens can see just how close they are to the Earthbound firsthand.
- However, storm clouds are brewing on the surface: Dalton has gathered intelligence (ironically made possible by Schala's Earthbound language classes) that some kind of mass action is imminent in Algetty, and Zeal's most elite military corps - the Nanashi - have been put on high alert. Now that Beck has been locked out of his own sky island, Dalton has assembled a scientific team struggling to complete the development of the bioweapons Seith had requested during the Midnight Waltz.
- Demeria hears that the Ganymede has been found on the surface and investigates. Despite her exhaustion after the latest connection experiment Schala accompanies Demeria for fear of how seeing the crashed Ganymede will affect her aunt; Demeria outwardly maintains that Derben was a complete fool, but Schala knows that Demeria really feels otherwise. Beck comes along to see if the skyship can be salvaged and allow him greater freedom of travel; Grishe is left in Melchior's care.
- Schala & co. find Ganymede undamaged whatsoever, Nanashi studying cockpit video records that show Derben jetissoning the Aethyrmorph over the ocean before making a soft landing and walking away. It is left ambiguous whether Derben had this planned all along or if the Aethyrmorph's stirring made the course of action necessary.
- Schala & co. check the situation erupting in Algetty: workers are halting energy production operations as a leaflet calling for the action circulates among them. The leaflet is unsigned, but its bilingual nature suggests that Po'hjol is behind it. Beck remarks that a crackdown could happen at any time and suggests bringing Masa, Mune, and Doreen back to Zeal to reunite them with their father. They take the Ganymede back to Zeal and Beck opens a window at low altitude, bringing Mune's simple dream of "becoming the wind" to fruition.
- Grishe and his younglings are reunited in Melchior's quarters. After the children wonder at Zeal for a bit Beck proceeds with his plan of showing off Grishe in Shikar. Schala & co. follow, Schala having promised to serve as Grishe's interpreter for interviews, Melchior watching over the children, and Demeria wanting to grill Governor General Lakshya for any information he might know about Derben's activities (Derben had been seen often in Shikar and meeting with Lakshya in an earlier chapter).
