2001 The Children of Bottle/Chapter 3: JOY Anger Sorrow Fun

Synopsis
The next day, December 24, the temporary residents of the castle gather around the dining table, at which Elmer has spent the night tied up. He tries to cheer everyone up by shouting "Merry Christmas", but Sylvie and Nile chastise his recklessness in falling off the roof the previous night after Czes found him. Maiza guesses that there had been a different reason for how he'd ended up in that situation than what Elmer himself had said, since he'd claimed to have gotten surprised by Czes, but doesn't say anything. His purposeful silence leads Czes to assume everyone else also knows something had gone on between them, which annoys him.

He thinks back to the previous night and wonders if he could ever be so carefree if he was in a position of being devoured, a concept he quickly rejects. Thinking about it unsettles him, though, because he doubts that Elmer had put himself in that position thoughtlessly. As Czes is pondering Elmer's reasoning for putting Czes's hand on his head, Elmer calls out to him, urging him to smile. This makes Czes dismiss the thoughts he'd been stirring over as Nile urges Elmer to uphold his end of the bargain and explain everything, since they'd caught him. Maiza doubles down firmly, pressing to know what circumstances prompted Elmer to kidnap the girls he has with him in the castle. Elmer quickly clarifies that he'd asked for a sacrifice and that those girls had been offered up, then launches into the story of what happened when he had arrived in the village.

Three years prior, Elmer is escorted through the village by the first little girl he'd encountered, who leads him to a small shack. Though Elmer complains briefly about its size, she explains that this is her home, and Elmer sees several other girls looking at him through the darkness.

Maiza asks what happened after that, and Elmer continues that he'd kept trying to approach the villagers, but they refused to come out of their homes. Seeing no reason to chase after them, Elmer came across the castle while trying to look for a better place for all of the girls to live. Deciding it needed some decorations since Christmas was so close, he had all the girls help him create makeshift Christmas decorations for the castle in the span of a single night. The next morning, the villagers came to his doorstep with weapons demanding that he leave. After Elmer was injured by the village headman, the villagers witnessed him regenerate and killed him with a stake.

Figuring he would clear up the misunderstanding, Elmer went back to the village to announce he was alive, only to be set on fire by the horrified villagers. After making his way back to the castle, he decided to head to the village again, this time getting tossed into the river. This process carried on for days before he noticed that the girl who'd escorted him into the village was injured, and she told him that the village headman had done it. Upset, Elmer used some cheap magic tricks to scare the villagers a little, but the villagers started calling him a demon.

Though Sylvie interjects that it was odd that the villagers ganged up on him so easily when he hadn't done anything, Elmer recounts that mob mentality had been far worse during the witch hunts in Europe; he further tells everyone that what scares these sorts of people isn't the sort of thing that would scare everyone present in the castle, and that people tend to gang up on others to protect themselves.

Elmer continues on with his story; now being regarded as a demon, he demanded one sacrifice per year as a joke. To his surprise, they actually sent one of the girls to him, so he also demanded that they send enough food for her. Maiza attempts to address the situation of what those girls are, but Elmer's body begins to vibrate again, emitting smoke just like the previous time. When Nile jumps forward to see where he is, all he finds are empty ropes, and the group surmise that Elmer had dislocated his joints to escape his bindings. As they all stand around the now-empty chair, Elmer calls out that everything will become clear in February.

On the morning of December 26, Sylvie idly contemplates what could possibly be happening in February while decorating the castle for New Years. She notes that the four of them are getting their instructions from the girls, who are in turn getting instructions directly from Elmer, and that the girls still don't talk about themselves very much. However, Maiza had confirmed previously that the girls didn't seem to want to return to the village, so the group had at least stopped worrying about that part. However, Sylvie still wants to get to know the girls better, and stumbles into an opportunity while decorating.

One of the girls approaches Sylvie to tell her that Elmer is willing to prepare her a bath with boiled river water, but Sylvie tells her that Elmer should say things like that in person. Sylvie then introduces herself to the girl, asking her name in return, and the girl introduces herself as Fil. Sylvie then notices that Fil is surprisingly fluent in English, and Fil explains that Elmer had thought learning English might be useful. As Fil is about to leave, Sylvie calls out to her, explaining that she wants to get to know her more and inviting her on a walk. Fil replies that she's just recieved permission from Elmer, and the wording confuses Sylvie, but she brushes it off as Fil not having a perfect grasp on English yet.

Meanwhile, in the village, Feldt prepares to set off towards the castle, intending to find out more about the people currently living in it. Though the villagers protest, Feldt explains that he's the only one up to the task, and since he's the son of the headman, he may be able to negotiate with them. The villagers discuss how difficult it must be on Feldt for Dez to be as lazy and irresponsible as he is, but he shuts them up, uncaring.

From Fil's perspective, she considers the situation she's in now, reflecting that the other people who have come from outside the village are also being kind to her, and deciding that things will be alright if they leave despite that she wants them to stay with her forever. As she thinks about things like this, she stumbles into her oldest memory, which happened in a white room somewhere outside both the castle and the village. In the memory, someone strokes her hair, telling her that the forest is her glass bottle and that leaving it will kill her.

Fil is jolted out of her reminiscing by a voice. Feldt, on the outskirts of the village near a small shack, greets her, explaining that he's on his way to the castle. Feldt begins to ask her what she thinks, but dismisses the question, instead reassuring Fil that she won't have to be sacrificed, as he's going to run the demon out of the castle before February and then stand up to the villagers so she isn't bullied as much anymore. Fil is torn in two directions by his declaration, as both Feldt and Elmer have promised her a good life, but she ultimately chooses Elmer, since Feldt hadn't been able to smile at her. That having been dealt with, she returns to straightening the decorations she's putting up inside the castle.

Around noon, Sylvie and Fil are taking a walk through the garden. As they walk, Sylvie attempts to make conversation by asking Fil about herself and Elmer, though Fil doesn't give much in the way of answers about Elmer and seems to generally not know most answers to questions about herself. Towards the end of the conversation, Sylvie remarks that all the girls in the castle look alike, and so asks if they're all sisters, and Fil responds that she's the only one in the castle. Before Sylvie can think too deeply on this, she notices a figure in the garden and ushers Fil inside.

Meanwhile, Maiza and Nile occupy themselves with exploring the castle. Though they find a secret passage in the small library, they decide to take a look through the books in the library before leaving it. Upon examining them, they discover that all of the books are related to a particular aspect of alchemy.

Back in the garden, Feldt (who had been watching Sylvie and Fil talk) decides to stay still for a minute in case either of the people conversing in the garden had seen him. As he's examining the gaudy decorations on the outside of the castle, he's startled when a person calls out to him. Despite his strong reaction, the person---Sylvie---kindly invites him to come inside out of the cold.

In the drawing room of the castle, Sylvie and Czes talk to Feldt, having been unable to find Maiza and Nile. Sylvie introduces both herself and Czes to Feldt, and he meekly returns the favor. Czes asks him if he had been spying on them, though Sylvie quickly tells him not to worry and explains that only the one in the mask, Nile, is unable to understand the villagers' native language. Feldt is conflicted, since this doesn't seem like a good time to tell these people to leave the village or to negotiate for the sacrifices back, so he instead asks how Sylvie and Czes know Elmer.

Sylvie explains that everyone who's come to the village in their group is immortal, like Elmer. She prepares to tell him more about the circumstances of their immortality, but he asks about the demon that had been living in the castle before Elmer before she can get to the meat of the story. Sylvie muses that Elmer hadn't mentioned anything like a demon living here before, so Feldt mumbles that it must have just been a rumor. Having confirmed that, Feldt asks what Sylvie is, prompting her to actually tell the story of how the five of them became immortal.

In the secret passage they'd found, Maiza and Nile discuss what they know about the situation in the forest as a whole. Nile asks if Maiza is sure this land is private land, and Maiza reaffirms that it belongs to one of the wealthy citizens of the country officially. Nile remarks that, given the nature of their village, they will probably only be able to sustain three more generations of people. As Nile reflects on this, Maiza points out that there are things in the village that had to have been made outside the village, backing this up with the villagers' remarks about a "trader". In addition, he points out that although the village should be visible from satellites due to its size, it's not on any maps at all. Because of this, Maiza concludes that a public agency probably knows exactly how this land is being used.

Nile concludes what Maiza is alluding to---that someone is putting pressure on the government to keep quiet about the use of this land, since the attacks from the public would be overwhelming. Nile tangentially asks Maiza if he uses the internet at all, but Maiza admits that it scares him a little, despite some of the members of the Martillo family having grown addicted to it. Nile says Huey has probably mastered the use of it, and Maiza responds that Elmer would probably be happy to have a computer, too.

As they talk, the two of them reach the end of the passage and are made to climb, so each of them predicting where they'll end up; Nile bets they'll emerge from the passage in a graveyard, while Maiza thinks they'll surface near the well behind the castle. As Nile goes up the ladder towards the surface first, he announces his win, as the two of them have emerged in a small graveyars. Maiza observes five or six graves, though only one of them has an inscription, reading: 'Below sleeps one who could not become fully human.'

Nile, focused on something else, asks Maiza if he had noticed 'it' too. Maiza responds in the affirmative, verbalizing that he'd thought he was imagining 'it'---both of them had felt a presence besides the two of them while they were walking through the secret passage. However, they both laugh it off and begin making their way back towards the castle.

In the drawing room of the castle, Sylvie finishes telling the story of their immortality. Feldt pipes in with a question, clarifying why she'd decided to become an alchemist. Sylvie tells him that she'd wanted eternal beauty, and that even though the boy she loved had told her that she was already cute enough, she'd taken his desire to become immortal together as even more of a reason to want to refine herself before drinking the Grand Panacea. Feldt asks where the boy she loved is now, and Sylvie reminds him of Maiza, giving him a brief spark of hope before informing him that the boy she loved had been Maiza's younger brother, and had probably been the first to die when Szilard Quates attacked the alchemists on the ship. Sylvie quickly apologizes for getting melancholy over the past and suggests they talk about something else, and Feldt asks her about what the outside world is like.

From the doorway, Fil eavesdrops on the conversation between Sylvie and Feldt. Seeing the two of them able to talk without Feldt seeming wary of Sylvie gives Fil a sense of hope, and she reflects that she can now picture Feldt without remembering the pain his father inflicted on her. Though Fil knows she can't leave the forest, she begins to hope that Feldt might help the rest of them become connected to the outside world, and recognizes what she wants to feel as "joy".

It is revealed that the five girls had lived in the village ever since the rest of the villagers can remember, and that one of the girls would generally get replaced with a new one every couple of years after growing somewhat weaker. Though the villagers weren't frightened of the girls, everyone who had attempted to watch the girls get switched out would vanish and never return, causing the girls to gradually get shunned. Then, Dez had become the village headman and had begun abusing the girls, which made the rest of the villagers gradually begin to follow in his footsteps.

In the village's largest house, Dez sits alone, musing that it's time to say goodbye to the village, himself, and 'them'.

That evening, Sylvie sees Feldt off at the gates of the castle, and he thanks her profusely for spending time talking with him through the afternoon. She invites him to come again whenever he likes, but he mentions that the snow tends to get bad enough that he doubts he'll be able to return. Feldt promises to tell the villagers good things about him, but the previously silent Czes interjects to reason that if he comes on too strong in their defense, the villagers will probably assume he got possessed by the demon or something of that nature. Feldt agrees, but still insists he'll do his best to change the way the villagers see them before riding off. Sylvie comments on Czes' strange level of caution, and Czes himself rebukes his own cowardice before heading back inside.

Up on the roof of the castle, Elmer pauses his decorating to ask the girl next to him what everyone else is doing. She informs him that they're all in the drawing room discussing how to find him, and he resumes decorating. After several minutes have passed, Elmer asks her if they're still in the drawing room, and she tells him that they are. Hearing this, Elmer decides to relocate, but as soon as he steps inside the tower of the castle, Maiza and Nile leap out from the shadows to restrain him. Bewildered, Elmer asks how they managed to move so quickly, before addressing Fil, who apologizes to him.

Sylvie appears and says she has nothing to apologize for, and Elmer rebukes her for teaching people to lie like that. Sylvie counters that she'd only taught Fil that some lies are alright to tell, and had Fil practice on Elmer. At this, Elmer sighs, realizing they've all caught on to the situation, and bluntly states that all of the Fils are the same person.

After relocating to the dining hall, Maiza asks Elmer if the girls are homunculi. While he confirms this, he asks what had led Maiza to think so, and Maiza explains the conclusions they'd all come to: Sylvie and Czes had noticed that they shared the same mind, and would deliver messages from Elmer without appearing to contact him at all in between messages. Along with this, Elmer had to have been in possession of some kind of surveillance in order to continue moving around and doing work around the castle without accidentally running into anyone. Maiza then reveals his own piece of the puzzle: the books in the library he and Nile had found had all been particularly about the creation of homunculi.

Compiling this evidence, Maiza asks Elmer one final time to tell them the secret of the village, but Elmer tells them to wait until February, and explains that someone will come around in February who can tell them all a lot more about the village: the trader. Seeing everyone's generally satisfied reactions to that title, Elmer commends Maiza for coming to the conclusion of homunculi first even though genetic engineering has been on the rise lately. Maiza comments that he has a similar friend in New York; Czes smiles in recognition and Elmer seems to come to some sort of conclusion. Outside, it begins to snow.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Elmer C. Albatross
 * Sylvie Lumiere
 * Nile
 * Maiza Avaro
 * Czeslaw Meyer
 * Fil
 * Feldt Nibiru
 * Dez Nibiru