Hako Pital in Hiding

Knowing Jigo would return to pestering her at the end of his ban from Ji, Hako moved to Marti where her family lived. She made arrangements with Draska Bakein to continue working as an archivist for the GPO from there. Primarily, she would digitize, redact, edit, and organize Kwil's continued written and verbal reports for public consumption or for private storage in the GPO's vault. Draska suggested they request Jigo be permanently banned from Ji instead. Hako's sensitive work would be better kept within GPO's Headquarters. Hako didn't want Jigo punished for her crimes though. She knew Kwil would not want that either.

Two years into Kwil's exile, his deteriorating mental health--paranoia, anxiety, depression, and feelings of being sinful and tainted--finally pushed Hako into using her last resort. She decided to ask Jigo for help. She followed the latest rumors of the zarkis' whereabouts and used the nearest kasta center to go to him.

"Two years!?" Jigo exclaimed upon seeing her.

"Two years," Hako repeated. "You don't know when to quit. You never have."

For the sake of everyone on the planet he'd annoyed, Hako invited him to her remote home should he ever need to find her again. There, she kept her explanations vague but not for the sake of protecting the GPO or following the gods' will. She admitted Kwil was the last remaining researcher on Earth. Everyone else had lost faith. And rather than saying Kwil was exiled, she gave the excuse that Draska wanted him to suffer alone for his mistakes, which was true. He believed he was the last hope for their species to survive the gods' wrath, and Draska was all too willing to let him take the blame.

If Jigo wanted to know more, she wanted him to convince Kwil to talk. She suspected he was hiding things: things happening now, things that had happened over the past 20 years, and things he wouldn't admit even to her. The more she hid now, the more pressure Jigo could apply to him. She knew Kwil used to tell Jigo things he didn't know how to explain to her. Jigo understood him better than she ever could. She needed him to help Kwil again, convince him to talk about everything that was driving him... insane.

Jigo accepted Hako's vague explanations and excuses. He wanted to help but pointed out he lost his telepathic connection to Kwil almost two decades ago and Draska would never let him set foot on Earth to reconnect with him.

"I think I know how to get you there," Hako said. If she had become desperate enough to ask Jigo for help, Draska may be desperate, too. If Draska was still resistant, Hako would involve the pajas. She would listen to reason, and they all knew the gods kept Jigo alive for a reason.

She and Jigo would need to approach Kwil with more tact to coax him to talk. Sending Jigo to Earth with the explicit purpose of investigating the GPO and interrogating Kwil would surely do the opposite. Hako proposed Jigo pursue his interest in the raksha, a record of all knowledge in the universe. Among the literature Kwil had sent from Earth was information about Seth Rose, a psychic who may have direct access to the raksha. She proposed Jigo seek him out as a ruse. She withheld that Seth would also give him everything he needed to pressure Kwil into talking.

Jigo was already aware of Seth Rose. He reviewed everything the GPO published regarding humanity's theories on spirituality and the supernatural in his pursuit of the raksha. He doubted Kwil would believe Jigo hadn't come to investigate the GPO, but Seth Rose might be enough of a distraction to lower his defenses. For Jigo, seeking his unfinished business in the raksha's knowledge wasn't a ruse.

Before departing Hako's home, Jigo offered her a baltarik handshake. "Maintain a connection with me this time?"

Hako had to admit that despite her continued skepticism of Jigo, her refusal the first time had been a contributor to Kwil's deterioration. Hako agreed to Jigo's request this time.