Black Body

"What happened here?" Zinnia frowned as the dark elf girl in front of him unwrapped her chocolate and began eating it.

"This is Marigold." Lycoris explained, "I...don't know what happened but it seems she simply woke up one day and discovered her skin had darkened to such an unusual color. It won't scrub off so it's not like paint or anything."

"Not even the other caretakers seem to know what's going on." Hyacinth added, "

"Is it some sort of malady?" Zinnia asked.

"That's what we thought of as well but there hasn't been any symptoms aside from the skin change. She's perfectly healthy. But people have been avoiding her as if she's infected with something bad and some of the kids were even bullying her."

"She started hiding herself and stopped talking to anybody. It took me a while to find her and almost just as long to get her to tell me what's wrong." Lycoris bit her lips, "I don't know what we can do."

"I see..."

A knock suddenly came from the front of the warehouse. Zinnia turned around, alarmed, but Hyacinth seemed to know what was going on. She casually walked back to the door, Zinnia following cautiously behind her as she opened the door to the appearance of the remaining royal guards.

"You explain everything yet?" Nasturtium asked, "Good. Now we can really start talking."

"You all knew about this already?" Zinnia frowned as the three elves pushed past Hyacinth and into the warehouse.

"Not all at once." Hyacinth explained, "Borage kind of forcibly involved himself like he always does and when we didn't know what to do, we looked for Scabius and eventually Nasturtium for their expertise."

"And now it's your turn." Scabius scoffed, "Try not to be too mad about that, we wanted to exhaust all possible options before coming to you."

"And frankly, the more we speculated the more dangerous talking to you became." Nasturtium added.

"You weren't that much of a safer option, let's be real." Scabius said.

"At least I was more helpful than you. I mean seriously, who calls a toxicologist for something like this?"

"Well it could have been poison!"

"Was it poison?" Zinnia frowned.

"No." Borage answered.

"Well it COULD have been!"

"All signs imply it's some sort of magic." Lycoris explained, "And magic of this scale can only be-"

"The cradle core." Zinnia crossed his arms.

"None of us wanted to believe it." Hyacinth bit her lip, "But a change to the cradle core was the only explanation any of us could come up with that made sense."

"You suspect the king?" Zinnia asked, "But you don't suspect me?"

"Well, we weren't sure about it at first." Nasturtium said, "Some of us didn't want to believe the king was behind it which meant the prime suspect naturally became you, Zinnia."

"What changed your minds?"

"The king is much harder to approach." Lycoris looked down, "Especially with accusations or insinuations like this."

"Plus, if it turns out you were the mastermind behind all this, we figured all three of us should be able to handle you if you attacked us!" Borage grinned.

"Can't argue with that." Zinnia shrugged.

"But given what we heard you say on the way here with Hyacinth, if you haven't been to the core since the initial installment, we can be sure it's not you behind this." Scabius said.

"Why?"

"If you were behind this, we'd see the effects of this phenomenon much earlier." Nasturtium explained, "This seems to have mostly emerged recently. Way after you were involved from the sounds of it. If you were responsible, we probably would've seen this happen earlier."

"I could've waited to employ this change." Zinnia said, "I could be working with the king on this phenomenon."

Lycoris giggled lightly at Zinnia's self-accusations, "If you were, you wouldn't tell us about it. No, from the sound of things, it seems like you have your own suspicions regarding the king."

"...I have my concerns that weren't answered." Zinnia replied, "That's all."

"That can't be all." Nasturtium scoffed, "You know as well as I do that the only way something like this can happen to an elf is through the cradle core. There is no natural explanation for this."

"Now now, there is always the chance that this was a glitch in the implementation and the king is working to fix it." Lycoris suggested.

"Without Zinnia's help?" Nasturtium scoffed again, "While trying to hide others from entering the cradle core?"

"M-Maybe he's just embarrassed?"

"Lycoris, please."

"At any rate." Borage nodded, "We need a plan of action. This...thing could spread and the idea of that is already starting a stir among the other elves and causing unrest."

"Even the caretakers are starting to use this as a way of keeping the other children in check." Hyacinth scowled bitterly, "'Behave or you'll end up like Marigold' and other disgusting sort of behavior."

"...I assume you need to get into the core then?" Zinnia said.

"Well, we all WANT to." Scabius sighed, "But..."

"We all know there's no way we'd even be able to understand it." Nasturtium shook her head, "The only one who could do anything about it is...well..."

"You." Hyacinth looked at Zinnia with great concern, "That's why, if you weren't responsible for everything, we needed your help in order to do anything more."

"...You trust me enough to investigate on your behalf?"

"Not like we have a choice, let's be honest." Scabius scoffed.

"But we DO trust you." Hyacinth jabbed an elbow into Scabius' side as she quickly gave a reassuring nod, "Your help would be greatly valued and appreciated."

Zinnia leaned against a wall of crates and closed his eyes in deep contemplation for a long moment, "The king has changed the security protocols for the core. I might be able to hack my way in but it might take a while."

"Didn't you say reckless access would cause severe backlash?" Nasturtium said.

"If you don't know what you're doing, sure." Zinnia shrugged, "Skilled archeomancers have methods to reduce that risk. Though even the most skilled ones would have trouble making their way into the core."

"...Unless…?" Scabius raised an eyebrow.

"Unless you're an elf with experience with its mechanics."

"Attaboy, Zinnia! I knew we could count on you!"

"You were the one saying we couldn't trust him the most." Hyacinth sighed.

"That's all in the past!"

"So what do WE do?" Borage asked.

"Keep finding a cure, I guess." Nasturtium sighed, "Though there's not much we can do to help in that regard. We don't even know what we're facing, nor do we have the expertise to effectively investigate."

"I can try and see if I can bring anybody with a qualification here to study her..." Hyacinth bit her lip, "But I don't know if I can sneak someone in without the king noticing. All races other than elves are strictly forbidden from setting foot on the Tree Cradle and I don't think I can find another elf that could possibly have knowledge about this."

"You could try sneaking Marigold away to be examined." Nasturtium suggested, "But that presents it's own sets of issues."

"I guess my best chance is to write up a report and present it to any remotely qualified individuals."

"Most medical professionals hate that kind of analysis."

"I know, but that's all I got!"

"Well, good luck with that." Nasturtium shrugged, "As the second most magically adept person, I can try reading up on relevant magical theories. God, it's going to be like a sailor learning how to build a ship."

"D-Do you best, Nasturtium! I'm cheering for you!" Lycoris tried to cheer up the grumpy elf.

"What do I do?" Borage asked.

"Uuuuuhhhh..." Everyone stared at the big elf uncertainly, "I...guess you can keep the peace."

"Keep the peace?"

"Yeah." Hyacinth said with a little more confidence, "You know, keep people from finding Marigold. Try and stop anybody from talking bad about her and her condition."

"And if anybody else shows up with that condition, hide them." Nasturtium added, "I don't know how aware the king is but the longer we can keep the stir to a minimum, the more time we can buy for Zinnia to get in."

"That sounds like a lot of work." Borage scratched his head.

"Don't worry big guy, I'll help out." Scabius said, "In between trying to find a cure. I'm not sure if alchemy can solve this situation but I can give it a try."

"And you, Lycoris?" Nasturtium asked, "What will you be doing? Though I can kind of guess."

"I'll be here taking care of Marigold." Lycoris nodded, "Well...I won't always be here but I'll be here when I can to sneak food and encouragement to her. And while I'm away, I'll do the same thing as Borage. Keeping the secret hidden and hiding away any more of the affected."

"You're so nice, Lycoris." Hyacinth smiled, "Marigold must mean a lot to you."

"Oh, no, Marigold used to bully me."

"OH." Everyone stared blankly,

"Yes, Marigold didn't really seem to like me for some reason and would bully me along with her friends. That only got worse when I started learning from the king. You might not be able to see it now but she used to be quite loud and ostentatious."

"She must've been jealous." Scabius nodded knowingly, "Typical behavior."

"I suppose so but that doesn't really explain why she bullied me in the past. Nor why this is happening to her."

"Hmmm...well we can't say with only one case study. Maybe we'll figure something out if this happens again."

"You really think it's going to spread?"

"If it's a disease then we'll just have to see if you get infected or not. With the amount of time you'll be spending with patient zero, you're going to be the most at risk." Nasturtium replied, "If it's not a disease then it's probably an effect of the core. In which case, if this does happen again, it might not have to be you. By following this pattern we can determine which is likely to be the root cause. If it's disease we might have a chance at finding a cure and dispelling the doubts around the king's name. If it's not, then the only way we'll be able to do anything is if Zinnia can get inside the core for us."

…

"Please! Zinnia!" Lycoris and Hyacinth pleaded, "We're counting on you!"

"I'll...try my best..." Zinnia replied, a bit unused to all the attention.

"Please don't betray us."

"You didn't have to say that, Nasturtium!"

The memory ended there and the clouds came to prepare for the next scene. Roko, Corissa and Kaguya were left suspended in mid air as the crates they were sitting on disappeared under the mist. Then there was Helena who had climbed to the tops of the crates just for fun while everyone else was trying to fit themselves into the warehouse with the memory folks. Thankfully, none of them fell immediately, though when they got off the crate, their seat was gone. Which left Helena up in the air with no way down until Enlil simply pulled her down from the sky.

"Okay." Helena said as she stood back up and dusted off her hands, "So the dark elves have shown up now."

"Yep." Kaguya and Momo agreed.

"Well then, then we've reached our first point of discussion." Helena took a deep breath, "Roland? Got any updates on your prediction?"

"Huh?!" Roland looked up, "Oh, uhhhh...gimme a moment."

"Take your time." Helena smirked, "Anybody else has anything to say? Get all our feelings out there in the open."

"Hmmm...there's no chance that modern ebonization actually is a disease like they're guessing right?" Kaguya asked.

"I would like to say a lot of tests were done to disprove it." Reaumur bit her lip, "But as you know, the two tribes of elves aren't really friendly enough to collaborate on medical studies."

"There's been outside research done by outside sources but nothing really conclusive." Brook added, "Gareth might know more but honestly, if we knew even that, we might've been able to solve the ebonization process without all this trouble."

"Fair point."

"That said, after leaning about that core, I'm almost certain that thing's responsible." Brook frowned, "I'm sure Gareth would agree if he was here. The question is where it is now. Where is this cradle? Why have we never heard of this? Why hasn't anybody tried to return to this gem to fix everything before it got forgotten?"

"Well...this is an enclosed space." Helena thought aloud, "Perhaps the entire dimension's been closed off and rendered inaccessible to everyone?"

"That would be the good ending." Roko said, "But I doubt a location like this could remain hidden for so long without anybody maintaining it."

"So...are you suggesting someone's still alive that's keeping it secret?" Helena raised an eyebrow.

"I'm saying we let the memory finish before we make any assumptions. The truth's not going anywhere right now."

"Well that's exactly what I'm saying!" Roland cried, "Someone's alive and keeping the cradle hidden from us!"

"For 700,000 years, it has to be more than one person doing it." Brook stated, "Way more than one person, it'd have to be some sort of civilization. Are you saying there's an entire third race of elves we don't know about?"

"I...plead the fifth."

"The fifth is for preventing self incrimination. Are you saying you have something to do with all this?" Roko rolled his eyes.

"Shut up! At least I came up with something instead of literally doing nothing!"

"Part of any skill is being aware of what you cannot do or what you can or do not know. I'm not making a prediction because I genuinely don't know and I have no interest in this weird contest you think you're on."

"Pfft. You're just a coward!"

"Well, I never said I wasn't." Roko sighed.

"Hey." Enlil spoke up, "So I was talking to all the spirits and they all have their little stories they want to tell about the coming days. I don't know if I have the energy to show them even if some of them overlap. So I just have to ask, are you guys cool with skipping a few side stories?"

"Hmmm...are you sure these won't be important later?" Helena asked.

"I mean, I don't know, I haven't watched them personally. But from what I can get out of the spirits they're memories to better express how difficult their work was. 'Important to understand what we went through.' is kind of what they're saying."

"I mean, if you don't think you have the energy to go through all of them then it's fine if you don't." Helena shrugged, "Honestly, I'm not sure if we have the energy for all that either."

"Cool, so I'm just going to skip to near the climax then?"

"Sure."

"Nice. This might be a bit jarring coming from where you just were though."

"Eh. I'm sure we'll be fine."

"If you say so. Alright. Pulling back the curtains in three...two...one..."

The misty veil lifted once more to bring them to the center of the cradle's town area. And immediately they were put into the middle of a large scale argument between a crowd of elves...and a small collection of dark elves cowering behind the royal guards.

"Stand aside, lady Hyacinth!" One of the caretakers shouted as she branded a sharp rake at the dark elves, "We must repel the dark skinned ones from our forest! They are a danger to us all!"

"How could you say that, Phlox?!" shouted one of the dark elves, a grown caretaker who had turned into a dark elf, "We were friends only days ago!"

"We were..." The one named Phlox said, her hand shakily holding the rake, "So why did you have to become one of those...things?!"

"We just want some food!" One of the sobbing dark elf children shouted.

"The king said to stay in your quarantined zone!" Another elf, an armored soldier shouted while brandishing his sword, "Don't come crawling to us if you can't even manage your own supplies!"

"Our population has grown too large! We need more if we want everyone to live comfortably!"

"We're not obligated to do anything for you! The king has already decided you were to get this much and deserve no more!"

"He made no such statement!"

"Everyone, please calm down!" Hyacinth cried in an ineffective attempt to calm the situation.

"Lady Hyacinth please step away from them! You do not need to defend them!" One of the soldiers shouted with his spear.

"Stop this violence right now!" Borage stomped up next to Hyacinth, broadsword hefted over his shoulder, "Do you not feel ashamed to bear weapons against innocent folk?!"

"We know you have former soldiers over there too!" The elves responded.

"You took away our weapons!" The dark elves protested.

"People please!" Hyacinth tried yelling again, "There is no need to bring weapons into this. Soldiers, remember you are to return to the frontline so please return to your quarters and await orders. Caretakers, if we can get a little more foo-"

"We cannot afford to feed you and all the returning soldiers at the same time! The soldiers are the ones fighting at the front line, do they not deserve a proper meal?!"

"I know but we can't let our fellow elves starve either!"

"They may be elves but you can't trust them! These dark elves aren't contributing anything to our cradle OR the war! Please think of the greater good!"

The arguments continued in what became a mess of yelling and arguments that never seemed to decrease in volume and chaos. Helena's head spun back and forth as she tried to catch everything everyone was saying before she just stopped and yelled,

"What the hell is going on?!"