Reference:J'nanin observatory messages

Initial message

[Atrus]
My sons. I promised to teach you the secrets of my Ages. This world is the first step on your journey. Search the island and you'll find three Linking Books. Each connects to an Age in which you will—

[Saavedro]
Hello, Atrus. Been a long time. Sorry I'm not there to greet you personally, but I didn't think it was wise considering how long I've been stuck here. Trapped in these lesson Ages by two very greedy little boys. Your sons, Atrus. Sirrus and Achenar. Of course they're not so little anymore, not so innocent. I've thought a lot about innocence these last few years and what happens when it gets lost.

[Atrus's image flickers for a moment, but his message is indecipherable]

[Saavedro]
Worried about Releehsahn? I have it. Worried about friends, relatives, people you can't get back? I know just how you feel. But, if you want to do something about it, you're going to have to open this device, and there's just one problem: I've changed the three symbols that do that. So if you want to reclaim Releeshahn, you're going to have to take your own class. [laughs]

Find the three symbols, Atrus, and don't keep me waiting forever.

One symbol entered

[Saavedro]
Not so easy, is it, Atrus? Running like a rat through a maze, looking for some sign that'll help you save your world. Is it over here, is it over there, is it some place I can't find? Sirrus and Achenar didn't care about saving Narayan. All that talk about fixing instabilities, rewriting the Age so that we would be free to live our lives. That was just talk to hide the truth of why they had come.

But we believed their lies, Atrus. So we abandoned our traditions, forgetting that those traditions were keeping Narayan alive. And when the Lattice Tree started to die, I followed them here to tell them what they had done, and they laughed. They said they would never fix Narayan. They say they had already taken everything it had worth saving.

So, my dear old friend Atrus, I brought you to this place where your education begins. Find the remaining two symbols, and then come see what your boys did to Narayan.

Two symbols entered

[Saavedro]
This what you expected, Atrus, when you followed me here, hoping to reclaim Releeshahn? This classroom what you expected to find?

I read your journal, you know. In Tomahna, after I found your Linking Book abandoned outside this observatory. I read all about the D'ni. How you started their world again. Can you really do that, Atrus? After everything that's happened to Narayan, could you start their world over again?

I don't think so… I think there is too much blood on our hands, too many ghosts. Surely you can't change that with a pen stroke.

One more symbol, Atrus. Narayan is waiting.

Three symbols entered

[Atrus]
You've done well, my sons, but there's still one task ahead of you. The Linking Book you see here connects to an Age called Narayan. It's a very delicate Age. Civilization has emerged in response to the world's imbalances. It's also the first inhabited Age I'm sending you to alone, but don't be afraid. The knowledge you've acquired here will show you the way in. Use it, and see all that Narayan has to offer.