====== II. Pity of Emptiness and Regrets ====== ---- ==== 2-1 ==== {{ :readable:saga:weaver.of.gold:aglaea2-1.png?200|Image of a city square inspired by Greco-Roman design, with people lining up at a shop.}} A long line stretched across the square.\\ Merchants, shopkeepers, and even high society elite...\\ All lined up together without distinction. At the head of the line...\\ was the path to Aglaea's abode. Is the holy city's fashion trendsetter...\\ going to reveal her newest masterpiece?\\ Hmm— //"She's about to get rid of her failed pieces!"// ---- ==== 2-2 ==== //"Now I see why the holy city is free of worries...//\\ //Even as the end nears, they're still obsessed with lavish clothing!"// New to Okhema,\\ a visitor from elsewhere ends up utterly bewildered at the sight. It is said that the family of priests who worship Mnestia,\\ go way back with the Weaver. But her impeccable gift for weaving isn't meant to serve\\ anyone's pursuit for pleasure. What was once a sacred duty...\\ was misunderstood by the beauty-obsessed,\\ who mistook fallen shreds for priceless treasures. ---- ==== 2-3 ==== //"Are flawed creations... really still worth the people's adoration?"//\\ The weaver shakes her head. She seems to have forgotten something.\\ It is precisely __the flawed hero__ who walks ahead of the crowd, who casts a long shadow over the world, and\\ who strides toward everlasting daylight. There are, nevertheless, people whom the Weaver is\\ willing to sew and tailor for. Her conditions are...\\ //"Beauty sharp as a blade, and the pursuit of beauty."// ---- ==== 2-4 ==== {{ :readable:saga:weaver.of.gold:aglaea2-4.png?200|Image of the back of an elegant woman at her market stall. Two children are before her, a little girl is sitting on the woman's chair and the boy stands next to her shyly asking a question.}} //Me! I want to be showered with a thunderous ovation!//\\ //And lots of flowers!//\\ A melodramatic poet speaks out. //I want to stir her emotions...//\\ The voice of a blushing young boy. //"Do I... fit the bill?//\\ //My sister and I are refugees from the Abyss. I want to//\\ //get a pair of shoes for her."// A seated child speaks up.\\ Next to him is a barefooted girl,\\ staying silent with her head kept low. ---- ==== 2-5 ==== Unfortunately, gold threads are willful things.\\ They are never swayed by sympathy or pity. A tense and worried look surfaces on the young child's countenance.\\ The specks of dirt on his face...\\ brought back memories of a past encounter. //"Go."//\\ The Weaver begins. //"Go to the three children in the city."// As messengers of Janus, they will bring him the shoes he hopes for.