[Despite her objection, Hayame seems to Liem to be wearing the look of someone struggling quite profoundly with her life and her situation. She is still lying among the flowers of this strange wild field, but she is not at rest. Whether the pain delivered by her missing eye is physical or all in her mind, she's clearly suffering because of it, and he's willing to guess that she's struggling to find her feet in this new world, now for a second time.]

Forward, [he says.] Or maybe in circles, for now. I'm still unfamiliar with the territory.

[He's aware that this likely doesn't answer the question she'd been asking, but he can't rightly tell her his destination when he doesn't know it himself. Should he continue on as he had been in Horos, dreaming of a new world while mourning the one he'd left behind? He'd believed that it was kinder to let the dead rest, but what if that was just the weight of his despair speaking to him? He could chase the Meridian's promise and seek the resurrection of his native Creation, but who was he to make such a decision for an entire existence? In even the most conservative estimate, there were still countless souls there for whom a return to reality would be unmitigated anguish.]

Did you visit the Tree? I met the Meridian's leader there, and he showed me something I'm still mulling over.