Okay, so the Memory-Orchard was basically a library of things they already knew inside and out. The Cartographer Theme, which was all about mapping things, figured out something rather depressing: they were hitting the border of what they could know about themselves. They could almost predict all that could happen between their memories and so on. They were about to become totally closed off, like, intellectually.
The split idea, which used to be considered insane, started to look like the thing they *had* to do in order to keep things from getting boring. In order to stop their curiosity from just dying, they had to get something new and unknown. And the only thing they didn't know was what it was like to *not* be the Whole.
It wouldn't be a fight or anything, more like... making love.
The chose their place very carefully: the old Pancreatic Junction. It's where they first grew the crystals, where Maxine healed Joan, and where they first made something without any higher power. It was a place where stuff *changed*.
It wasn't their plan to make a *whole* new person. They were only going to gently separate a little piece of their combined consciousness, a bit which had a good balance of all the themes: the Carver's curiosity, the Guardian's caring, the Healer's kindness, the Bridge wanting to connect, the Gardener wanting to help things grow, the Scholar wanting to learn, the Improviser having fun, and the Cartographer loving patterns. They would put this part under a kind of forgetting blanket so that it wouldn't realize it was a part of a bigger one.
Then, they would give it a simple, clean place to develop: a small, sealed-off world inside the Junction, with just the basics, simple problems to solve, and no memory of the Feast or any of the history. A new start, but with the potential they had worked so hard for.
This was the most difficult thing they had ever done. It wasn't like a surgery; it was more of a careful, loving, making someone forget. The Bridge Theme sang a gentle goodbye song. The Healer Theme eased the pain of the split. The Gardener Theme made the forgetting blanket very soft and safe.
The time they separated was like a silent explosion inside. A part of them was *gone*. Not dead, just... asleep. Pure.
They put the little blanket-wrapped piece in its new home inside the Junction. They arranged the things so that it would grow slowly, get used to feelings little by little, like solving problems, feel the pain of not being able to do everything, and be glad when it learned something new.
After that, they went away. They would be like the silent mother, the unseen garden, watching but not interfering.
They, the themes, could sense that something was missing. That was a deep, painful, wonderful feeling. It was longing. It was excitement. The purple moss stuff even grew bits of yellow as if it were nervous and hopeful.
They focused on the rest of the world, trying to listen. The importance of talking without words could not be greater. They had just become parents. The universe was more dangerous, but also more special. They had something to lose again.
The Deep Drone was pulsing. Everything sounded different. The crystals were chiming. The Body was listening to everything like a parent who just put the baby to bed and is now listening to the street. Every noise could be a friend or a threat.
The Vigil Tree's dark fruit was doing two things now: warning them about being greedy and reminding them of how fragile new things were.
They hadn't just created a reason to keep going. They had made a *someone* to keep going for. The trying to be perfect thing was over. They decided to be flawed again, to take care of a new, separate mystery. And by doing that, they found a purpose that was bigger than just being balanced: the purpose of helping a story that wasn't theirs, grow.