Chet-chet!
Chet-chet-chet!
There you are.
Look what happened.
Look what I did.
Your story is over now.
All of you... I ended it.
But mine is just beginning.
Goodbye, Father.
I always loved you... even if you never did me.
Please, my queen.
God has abandoned us!
We are Payan. We are holy. We are chosen--
Come on, boy.
Okay. Good boy.
The beast has slept for too long.
And now it is awake.
Everything is ahead of us...
everything that matters.
Thank you.
What have I done?
You gave me some time alone.
Resisted the urge to push for answers you know I can't give.
What could be so important about some trinkets your father gave you
that you would risk your children's lives, your husband's life...
just to retrieve it?
I'm sure if there were more to that story than you've already divulged,
you would've told them before you would tell me.
I will say, though...
there is a different question...
I have spent the last little while...
unable to silence in my mind.
What question is that?
The day you arrived in our lives...
do you remember the last thing Jerlamarel said to me as he left?
I don't.
He said, "Be careful."
In that moment, and in every moment since,
I assumed he meant...
"Be careful with this woman I love, with the children she's soon to bear."
His words have been like a rock to me...
something solid to hang on to all these years.
But with all that has changed since we left the waterfall
and set off up this river...
I wonder if I misunderstood what he meant.
What else could he have meant?
Now your husband and children,
they have walked unarmed into grave danger because you said so.
They hardly hesitated.
Nor did you.
I feel something growing in you since we started upriver on this journey.
Something in your voice, in your way, Maghra.
Something formidable.
Something dark.
I am the same person you've known for almost a lifetime.
I understand your confusion, and I tolerate your curiosity.
But please do not suggest that my husband or my children are in grave danger
because of my sinister motives.
Or that I am indifferent to their welfare.
Hold my hand.
Pray with me...
that they'll all come back safe and unharmed.
These might be tracks here.
Where?
This is ridiculous.
What do you hear?
Nothing.
I hear humming.
Yes.
A bunch of people, and they're humming.
Coming from that way.
Humming? Who's humming?
Humming.
What is this?
Opayol. Scavengers.
There's no one down there. It looks deserted.
It isn't.
They're about by night, and they sleep by day.
They're the ones who took our things.
They're most definitely down there.
What I can't say is how many men.
I'm guessing there's a lot more of them than there are of us.
-Easily. -We're not turning back.
I'm also guessing they're a lot less unarmed than we are.
Whatever the significance of your mother's possessions,
I am certain she would not want either of you dead over it.
Me too.
But I can get in and out of there without them even knowing I was there.
No one's going anywhere alone.
I have to go alone.
I'm least likely to get caught that way.
I can slip in and out.
You said so yourself, they're probably asleep.
But if you wake one of 'em, the other ones will come out quickly.
Then I'll avoid them.
Mama knew how difficult it would be to find this,
and she's asked us anyway.
Are we saying that we don't trust her to understand what that means?
Are we saying we think she's incapable of making that kind of decision?
Okay.
You're both right here.
I'll call out if I need help.
But I have to try.
This is a terrible idea.
No, we should've stopped her.
How?
She would've done this for any one of us.
She would not have been stopped by any one of us.
Honestly, I don't think this has anything to do with us.
I think the moment that Mom mentioned her father,
her connection to him,
Haniwa's decision was made.
You know, there wasn't even a decision to be made. It was unavoidable.
The idea of an absent father,
the chance to reconnect,
it was just...
It was too much for her.
And I'm just afraid that there's not gonna be--
Oh, no.
Haniwa!
Haniwa. Haniwa.
-Is she still breathing? -Yeah.
-Where's she hurt? -I can't see.
Dad!
Wait. No. Wait. No, no!
No. Stop. Stop! You don't know who he is!
I don't care who he is!
His chest.
Look. Feel. Feel.
Get up. Get up.
He can see.
So empty here.
I was born into the sound of the engines...
thunder, power...
meaning.
I spent my entire life bathed in it.
Never ventured far enough from the capital that I couldn't hear it.
I always wondered what the world would sound like if I'd ventured a little...
further.
Turns out, sounds like nothing at all.
How unbelievably boring.
Listen to the water, my queen.
And the wind.
And perhaps if you listen, it might whisper its secrets to you.
There are no secrets here.
No information being bargained.
No stories being woven.
No strength, no fear.
Nothing.
Is this really how people go about their lives...
in the absence of anything of any importance?
I suppose so, Your Majesty.
This journey may require it,
but I don't think I'll be very good at being that person.
I don't believe there's even the smallest part of me that is built for it.
I'm hungry.
I'm hungry!
I'm ready to take my dinner.
Did you find eggs? 'Tis the season.
Driver?
I hear the fire dying. Did you find food?
Driver, where are you?
Save the fire. It's choking on its own smoke.
Driver?
Driver? Fucking answer me.
Nyrie!
Nyrie.
Nyrie!
I have whatever you want.
I have whatever you want. I have rings. I have God bone.
So soft.
Exquisite fingers.
No rings.
No God bone.
We take you.
Nyrie?
Nyrie!
Mama, it's us.
Haniwa.
Come.
Did you find it?
Thank you.
I count four.
Who is our new friend?
They call him Boots.
Raccoon hides.
This is the creature who took our things.
Yes.
But he didn't know who we were, and he didn't have a choice.
Let me explain, please.
All right.
When Jerlamarel left us,
left us to go to the House of Enlightenment as he promised...
it seems he didn't go there directly.
He made a stop for the winter.
He approached the Opayol.
He lived among them for a year.
A year?
But... once his child was born...
he resumed his journey.
Boots is that child.
Boots is Jerlamarel's son.
Our brother.
After Jerlamarel continued his journey...
the Opayol treated Boots like a slave.
Forced him to scavenge and steal for them.
Once word came that the Witchfinder was campaigning through this area,
the Opayol left to seek safety elsewhere.
And they abandoned him here to fend for himself.
Child! Child!
Are you suggesting we bring him along with us?
Yes.
Aside from offering him a way out of being treated like an animal...
aside from him being an asset to us, a skilled fighter...
He can see.
Can't he?
Yes, he can see.
You two, you are in agreement?
Why is everyone being like this?
He is family. We're not leaving him behind.
I've asked all the same questions you have.
I have expressed the same concerns.
And?
And if I was gonna forbid this from happening, Paris,
I imagine you would have heard me do it by now.
Don't you?
What else do you know about him?
Aside from his skill as a thief.
Do you trust him?
I have never had anyone to look after me as you do for each other.
To be a part of that,
I will do whatever it is you ask of me.
Then let him come.
Let us begin to build for ourselves an army of the sighted...
so long as its newest recruits are willing to swear their allegiance
to the only general we have amongst us.
I swear it.
No. Show us.
Such a perfect day.
Your total silence I find far more interesting than her total silence.
You know, I will be there when they slit your throats,
reminding you what a fucking mistake you made today.
Too many times separating from you...
and worrying it'll be our last.
Let's never do it again.
I never told you much about him...
about my father.
I never asked you to.
It's never mattered to me where you come from.
I know. Nor I you.
He gave this to me the day he died.
Been in his family for as long as he could remember.
Open it.
All of that for this.
Must've loved him very much.
He was a very good man.
Kind, wise.
I think he would've liked you.
Let's not get carried away.
I wish I'd known him.
Perhaps you can tell me more about him sometime.
I think I'd like that.
Kofun is right.
I should get moving.
Of course.
That boy, Boots...
you don't trust him, do you?
I haven't planned on trusting anyone new for a while.
I see.
Then why did you choose to allow it?
I'm flattered you thought I have any choice in the matter.
I'm being serious.
-I know. -Why didn't you forbid it?
'Cause at the end of this journey...
they will meet a new father.
And I can't give them any new reason to want one.
Kofun understands our choices.
He always has.
Doesn't take them personally.
But her...
I don't wanna lose her.
You won't.
Yes.
Love you.
They don't like me, do they?
They're scared...
and confused.
But they're good people. They'll come around.
Do they like you?
What did you say?
They yell at you.
They question you, make you feel small.
That is how my people always treated me.
Why did they make you wear the mask?
They said I was not like them.
Not a man, but something else.
They said the mask would remind me.
My family loves me.
They don't always understand.
But I have never doubted for one moment that they love me.
How you've been treated, it was wrong.
You deserve better than that.
But I promise...
you're one of us now.
You'll never be treated that way again.
Your mother.
Do you think she will have room to love another child
as she already loves you and your brother?
That may take some time.
This is complicated for her.
But...
my mother has the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met.
She does what's right.
She always does what's right.
-Why did you keep your secret for so long? -How do you do that?
Do what?
Sneak up on people who can see you sneaking up on people.
I wasn't trying to be sneaky. Maybe you just weren't paying attention.
Will you answer my question?
What are you talking about?
What secret?
You kept it for so long, you don't even know it's a secret anymore.
Why did no one in the Alkenny know...
that you could see?
Well, given how everyone else reacted when the Witchfinder turned up,
I think my parents were probably wise
to not trust them with that piece of information.
Baba and Maghra were stuck in the Alkenny.
And I guess they kept a secret to protect you two.
Something like that, yes.
Can I tell you what it's like to observe people
that don't know that you're observing them?
They are completely vulnerable to you.
You could keep their secrets.
You could spread them to their enemies.
You could strike at them...
without them ever knowing who did it,
or how, or why.
You could change their life.
Could end their life...
for any reason...
or no reason at all.
That is what gods do.
You might not know what this feels like
because you never made the choice to hold that power over others.
It was made for you by your parents.
But I know.
And I suspect Jerlamarel knew, too.
For me, it brought me closer to those I shadowed.
For Jerlamarel...
he fathered a child among them and abandoned him.
So, what does any of this have to do with you, anyway?
Maybe I find it amusing that you can see and still observe so little.
Where am I?
The City of Worms.
Where am I?
My friends.
What have you brought me?
I have a horse. It needs water.
And I'm tired. I need to sleep.
I've ridden all day.
I need oil for my ass and a maid to apply it.
After I've slept, I will speak to you.
You've made a mistake--
Exquisite fingers.
You have done well. Thank you for this. She will be... perfect.
A silkworm is a fascinating creature.
Would you like to know why?
She begins so small, so innocent, unassuming.
But in the course of her very short life,
she creates a substance of such beauty, such perfection,
that the wealthiest men in the world,
men who could dress themselves, their wives, their concubines,
in whatever they desire,
choose... this.
And when her life has run its course, her usefulness expired,
she spends her final days sadly grotesque.
A winged creature with the urge to fly
but denied that ability.
A husk of herself, used up,
eager for death.
You will come to know her well here.
You will come to understand her.
My friend, you do not want me in here.
I haven't met a worm in my life.
Yeah. Perhaps for a time, it'll amuse you.
But soon you will regret it!
Is that so?
I wonder who you might be to make such a claim.
Delicate hands unused to being worked.
An impudent mouth unused to being struck.
A woman of wealth...
accustomed to wielding authority or the authority of a husband, perhaps.
But from where?
The Witchfinder's campaign brought him through here not long ago.
When he was asking for information,
his accent reminded me of the time I spent in Kanzua,
selling our goods to the high-born with money to burn.
Your accent brings back those same memories.
You were a noblewoman, I presume.
Perhaps even a councilor to that bitch queen.
But no matter.
Here you will be the same as the rest, or even less so, perhaps,
as everything must be learned from the beginning.
If you work hard for me, you will live well.
If you try to escape, you will not get far, and the consequences will be...
unpleasant.
You are an interesting one.
I look forward to whatever time we are able to spend together here.
Hear me...
Jerlamarel.
Kofun?
Yeah. Here, Dad.
Is the boat free?
It's unmoored, but it's stuck.
What do you mean "stuck"? Stuck where?
Tide's gone out.
What are we gonna do?
We're gonna have to wait till morning.
Come.
Run.
Come.
Run.
They can't ride through this, can they?
They can. But it'll slow them down.
I hear them.
-Haniwa. -Yes.
Take your mother and Paris and find shelter for them.
I love you. Go. Go.
They're everywhere.
Dad, I'll stand with you.
Yes, you will, son.
Stay here.
Everything will be all right.
Maghra?
Baba Voss!
Where's Mama? What happened?
-She's gone. -Haniwa!
-Haniwa. -No.
Baba, I had her by the hand.
They took her?
No, she let go of my hand.
She whispered to me. She said, "Be careful."
Mama?
Mama!
Tamacti Jun!
Do you hear my voice, Witchfinder?
Do you hear me?
Speak.
Witchfinder...
can you hear me?
I hear the voice of a dead woman.
Then listen closer.
Take my hand.
And speak.
Hail...
Princess Maghra...
of the House... of Kane.
Give homage!