Faerieberry: Confronting Confusion

Chapter 5 | Faerieberry: Confronting Confusion is a story segment in Echoes of Mana.

Storyline
The protagonist recites their adventure in the Wind Kingdom of Laurent to their twin, who's trying to understand why Faerie told them they were not chosen to enter the Mana sanctum. She theorizes that they might need a faerie of their own, but is unaware of where they could find one. Baashear replies that the Mana Tree gives them all they need to find a the legendary blade, thus they don't need faeries. The fluffball then hurries the main character to pluck another mana fruit to gain access to a new world. The duo end up in a forest inhabited by faeries, with Baashear immediately catching their attention. The pair of faeries fly away, but the little sheep is excited to see the Mana Goddess putting them in the right path after they spoke about befriending faeries back in the sanctuary.

Faeriewood turns out to be quite difficult to navigate as Baashear tells the main character they must be extra careful to not get lost if they aren't paying attention.

Baashear has this weird feeling they've been here before, enven though the duo has been extra careful mapping the area. The fluffball shrugs and adds that they just need to be even more careful.

Baashear is getting incredibely convinced that the party has been walking in circles. Their conversation is cut short by a strange faerie named Mousseline, who seems to lack some social skills. After awkward introductions, the faerie asks the duo their business in these woods. Baashear replies they are on a mission for the Mana Goddess to retrieve the Mana Sword and save the world, which Mousseline finds fascinating. The tiny sheep adds that they are in need of some faerie assistance. Mousseline doesn't really understand it all, but decides that she should bring them to her friends and ask the party to follow her.

Mousseline explains that the Faeriewood has long been spellbound to easily lose one's way, as part of the idea was from keeping random people from entering the vicinity, but also simply from pranking and playing tricks on them. Since the forest started changing recently, faeries had to make landmarks to keep themselves from getting lost. She gives out the way to find the right path to their village to the protagonist and guide them along the way.

The party finally make their way through the forest maze and end up at the gates of the Faeries' village. One of the faerie locals who was present during the duo's landing in the echo recognizes the main character and is apprehensive on seeing them with Mousseline. The latter tries to reassure her, but the faerie still wants them to keep their distance. She then adds that the village is currently at war since the faerie world suddently went all mix up, with faeries from every corner of the earth starting gathering here in Faeriewood. They are now broken into three different groups, with each of them keeping watch on the other. The faerie then asks Mousseline to become a mediator between the clans since she is the most powerful faerie in all the forest, but Mousseline is a bit reluctant to do her bidding, saying instead that the protagonist swore to clear this up instead. She reasons that humans would not care if faeries would go to war and would be neutral in the conflict. On the flipside, the protagonist and Baashear gets the opportunity to talk to all the faeries about the Mana Sword.

While still thinking about their new role as mediators, Baashear comments on Honeycomb having wings resembling the one faeries have. Mousseline replies that when humans first started getting into faerie magic ages ago, they would dress up like them, so maybe Honeycomb just wanted to uphold the tradition.

While on their way to meet with the other faerie tribes, Baashear asks Mousseline how old is she, but she replies that she doesn't remember precisely. The protagonist is also said not to remember their age, but Baashear proudly states that he is a newborn.

The party make their way into Centralis, a village in-between the first town of Fringefields and Briarborough. Mousseline quickly leaves the team with Baashear complaining about the way she treats them. The fluffball decides to keep a low profile while they observe the vicinity, but the duo is quickly spotted by faerie locals who seem to be excited to have a human visitor. Turns out Centralis faeries are already on board with a truce since they didn't want to fight with the other groups anyway. One of them adds that it is the Briarborough faeries that shows aggressive behavior, and the Centralis faeries only retaliated in self-defense. While Baashear seems relieved the locals are easily persuaded, he takes the opportunity to ask them a few questions about the Mana Sword. The faeries answers back by telling one must belong to the Mana Clan to get the legendary blade. A familiar faeries irrupts to the scene, mentioning that only humans chosen by a faerie can have the Mana Sword, with Popoi quickly following after commenting on Randi just finding it. One Centralis Faerie tells of the way to use the Mana Sword which is to take the chosen girl and stab her with the pointy end. The conversation turns sour as it turns out none of the fairfolk are in agreement on how to find the Mana Sword, which prompts the tiny sheep and the protagonist to move on to the last village.

While on their way to the last faerie town, Baashear comments on Centralis being much more diverse in its inhabitants compared to Fringefields. According to Mousseline, the last village of Briarborough is covered with briars and the locals are cheerful but can be a bit aggressive.

Baashear is still confused about how to retrieve the Mana Sword after asking the Centralis faeries, especially about the stabing the Mana Goddess part. He is still willing to tag along to the end of the journey and assist the main character.

The party finally reaches Briarborough, with Baashear impatient to handle the war business and get on with the Mana Sword inquiries. They witness some locals trying to gear up before heading to war, and are quickly spotted by them. Both faeries starts getting confrontational, scaring Baashear off the premise. They summon their boss to give them a good lesson, with Mousseline saying she'll be cheering from afar while the protagonist is left alone to defeat the threat.

The faerie locals are intimidated by the protagonist's ability to defeat their leader, and Baashear resurfaces by claiming they should make a truce, which the faeries immediately accept. the fluff ball carries on by asking about the whereabouts of the Mana Sword since they haven't got clear answers from the Centralis faeries. On faerie says that this should depend on when they are from, as they must ask a faerie from their world to get the right answer. It is revealed that Mousseline is the last surviving faerie from the protagonist and Baashear's world, a detail she admits she omitted to share. She then turns to the protagonist and tells them that they will never be able to bring the fabled blade back to their world, as they and she are the only remnants of that world. She reveals that she's messing up with their heads and is certain they'll find the sword in no time with the Mana Goddess on their side. The protagonist is then immediately sent back to their world, with an annoyed Mousseline telling to herself that she'd wish they hurry up and figure out it's all pointless already.

Objectives
Note: All stats are under normal difficulty.

Trivia

 * Faerieberry probably comes from Faerie and Strawberry, given the shape of the harvested echo.
 * Despite this echo not being explicitly referencing a previous Mana entry, the main song heard during this chapter is "Don't Hunt The Fairy" from Lampbloom Woods, a similar location in Trials of Mana.
 * Almost all the story segment names contain the word Faerie.
 * The last story segment A Faerie of Your Own is a direct nod to this chapter's first segment A Faerie of My Own.