Nautika: You don't want to go through that gate either, do you?
Her flickering form draws closer to the calf, trying to ignore the tender, urging calls whispering at the edge of her mind.
Nautika: Seems we have the same idea.
Nautika: But taking a different path is never easy, is it? Sometimes we can't even find our bearings.
The fog devours the river whole, stealing all vision.
Nautika: And ... I think we've walked this path too long.
Nautika: We share a faith passed down through generations. A faith that we will whisper with our dying breath in hopes that She will guide us even in death.
Nautika: ... I know we're on the right path.
Her voice, too, begins to fade. It is now heard only by the calf.
Nautika: But even without Her guidance, we still would've made this journey.
Rolf: Nautika, what do you think?
Nautika: It's beautiful, Áddjá.
Rolf: Yes, more than anything I've ever seen ...
Rolf: Breathtaking. So very ... beyond this world.
Koht: Eanu Rolf pulled off something incredible! We should finish the journey he started.
Nautika: You ... all believe in Áddjá?
Friele: We've never doubted him. Not for a moment.
Aase: We're not just going to sit around waiting for you to solve the mystery by yourself.
Friele: We're coming with you.
Nautika: Because ... there isn't really a "right path"—only the path we choose for ourselves.
Nautika: And if it's just what we choose, then reaching the end might not be—
Spirit I: Nautika ... Don't let those thoughts poison your heart ...
Spirit II: Nautika, your pursuit must have meaning ...
She scans the water's surface. The fog thins, yet everything else remains blurred.
Reindeer: ...
Nautika: Meaning ...
Nautika: But I never once wondered what She'd give me once I reached the end.
Nautika: Money? Knowledge? The power to defy all odds? We never prayed for anything like that.
Nautika: When Áddjá sketched that first wild daisy in his notebook for me, that was all I needed to feel joy.
She looks to the gate, its radiant glow cutting through the mist, but she can't bring herself to reach for it.
Nautika: I want to fill up my diary, to fill up my sketchbook, to find that strange stone and trace it back to its stratum.
Nautika: I've always dreamed of climbing mountains and crossing seas—I need to know if they match the visions in my head.
Nautika: The mysteries, the prophecies in old tales, all the things that draw us into the unknown. Of course, I know that path is longer, maybe endless, even ...
Nautika: And I know how lonely it is to be the last one standing.
Nautika: But ... but!
If her voice carried any sound at all, it would be booming.
Spirit III: Nautika, you're lost ...
Spirit I: Have you lost all sense of the meaning you hold dear?
Spirit II: You've strayed from the right path ... from your kin ...
Nautika: No, it was never the "right path"! Only "our path"!
Nautika: Its end was never the "right answer"—only "our answer."
Nautika: But if that answer belongs to us ... then I'll see for myself what it is.
Nautika: Whatever it may be!
Over the river, the fog lifts.
Reindeer: ...!
The water's edge becomes clear, and the calf leaps to the bank without hesitation.
Nautika: ...!
She jumps too, in whatever sense a jump has in such a place, hoping to chase after it.
Nautika: Ah!
But she is no agile forest creature. She plummets into the river.
The cold stabs her instantly, the endless, churning water chafing and tearing at her, as if washing away all impurities.
Nautika: Ugh ... I can't—
Rolf: Nautika!
Rolf: Keep your arms moving. Don't stop! Don't let the cold take you!
Nautika: Ugh ... I'm ... I'm sinking ...
Rolf: Don't panic! Steady, ráhkis. Don't let your fear win.
It emerges in her memory. This is the same river from all those years ago.
Rolf: I'm right here with you, Nautika.
Rolf: Fight through the chill. You can do it. We'll have to live with its bite for quite some time.
Rolf: Nautika, this is what we chose.
Nautika: Aah ... ah ...!
She surfaces from the black water—the illusion of home, the radiant gate, the calling voices, they've all left her now.
Nautika: A-Am I ... out? Did I really make it out ...?
Reindeer: ...
The silent calf remains, her guide back into the depths of darkness.
