The mysterious thing sitting on the chair is revealed to be Nous Falaina, and if it dies then the Mud Whale will sink! Elder Hakuji arrives with a small team of archers, and he orders them to shoot the nous, which they do.
The Mud Whale immediately pitches and rocks in the sand ocean as the nous cries out in pain, and parts of the Mud Whale start to crumble. Deep within the ship Ouni and the mysterious guard captain continue their thymia fight, and when the latter’s eyepatch is knocked off we see that he’s affected by the curse which taints all Marked people eventually.
While trying to prevent one volley of arrows Lykos is shot in the leg, and this pushes Chakuro to his breaking point. He demands that the archers stop hurting Falaina, and he argues with Elder Hakuji over what the point of the suicide plot is. This fight highlights the whole issues with the Council of Elders’ idea: what right do they have to make the decision for everyone to die? Why was it not left up to the majority? Because the Council regarded the people of the Mud Whale as “sinners”, since that’s what their ancestors were condemned as, they felt that the only way to redeem themselves was through an honorable death.
In a nutshell, after hearing Chakuro’s pleas everyone turns on Elder Hakuji and Lykos is taken to the infirmary for treatment. Nous Falaina stabalizes (but no one removes the arrows??) and the Mud Whale is sailing in the sand ocean normally once more. The guard captain cancels his fight with Ouni, saying they will pick it up again later when the timing is better.
Nelli also merges herself with Nous Falaina, calling it “Mama.” I have all sorts of questions about this – is Nelli the literal offspring of the nous? Is she the human embodiment of the nous? Does she cease to exist once she’s been “absorbed” by the nous?
Elder Hakuji releases Suou from his cell, which is for the best because Nezu and Rou’s invention breaks before they can use it even once. Elder Hakuji confesses to Suou that he is at a loss, and asks him as the new Chief what they should do next.
In the infirmary Lykos is treated by two of the elders, then left to rest. After they are gone Lykos is joined by Chakuro, Nezu, Rou, Suou and all of Lady Taisha’s former aides. Lykos shares some of what we already know regarding Nous Falaina, and reveals that all of the Mainland’s battleships have a nous in them as well. Everyone is amazed that the Empire has so many battleships (almost 10), all of which have nous in them. Chakuro’s idea is for the people of the Mud Whale to sneak aboard Skylos and kill their nous in order to dispel the attack, but it will be difficult to put into action as one might imagine.
Lykos shares that the people of her ship were killed in an attack from an enemy country, and the knowledge that there are way more people than they ever realized is pretty mindblowing for everyone in the room. Remember that most of the people on the Mud Whale didn’t know about the existence of the Mainland, so they likely grew up thinking that they were the last of humanity. Now they’ve learned not only about the Empire and its ships (including Skylos), but that there are other countries and empires out in the world too! That’s a lot of people when you’ve only known about 500 people your entire life.
Suou asks a critical question: why is the Empire trying to kill Nous Falaina and all of its inhabitants? Lykos’ answer is that Falaina is different from all the other nous in that it can’t eat people’s emotions. A very long time ago, the ancestors of the people who first lived on the Mud Whale rejected the nous’ control and decided to live with their emotions. And so just as their descendents evolved over the generations, so did the nous that Falaina descended from. As a result, the Empire used Falaina instead to imprison the people of the Mud Whale out on the Sand Ocean.
The last crucial piece of the puzzle is important to understanding the motivation for the attack on the Mud Whale. Lykos says that because the Empire simply can’t accept the people of Falaina, people who are in touch with their emotions and accept them, they are willing to slaughter hundreds of innocent people rather than learn to deal with them. :/
Chakuro wants to search the world for people who will understand the people of Falaina, but this is a tedious process and time is not on their side. Suou asks Lykos if it’s possible to wait for such a time, but she points out that the people of the Mud Whale will need to withstand the Empire’s attacks until that time. Lykos says that she will put her life on the line to help the people of the Mud Whale.
The next day Suou makes a speech to the people of the Mud Whale to advise them of Falaina’s current situation. Naturally the people are shocked, but he does his best to reassure them. Ouni shows up and scolds Suou for being too showy, saying that if Suou simply orders the Marked to fight then they will fight. Suou asks Ouni if that includes himself, and Ouni says that it does. Everyone’s all pumped up and motivated to fight now. How will the preparations go? And who is the mysterious individual in the Viking-looking helmet?
My thoughts: Oh yay, Nelli is still alive! Her wings look even more beautiful too ~ 0 She looks different somehow, I just can’t tell in what way yet. Her connection to Nous Falaina, aside from allowing the nous to eat her emotions, really has me intrigued.
I like Chakuro’s ideal of wanting to wait until they meet people in the world who accept them for having emotions, but it’s really not that practical (IMHO). There are only roughly about 500 people on the Mud Whale, and even with using their thymia, there are only so many Marked people who can become soldiers. How long could they last against the Empire, even with Lykos’ help?