Oh, I could ask Namikka to cook me something afterwards...

There are so many narrow, winding streets. But even if you get lost, all you have to do is keep heading up, and you'll arrive at the palace eventually.

We saw a two-headed Mamool Ja on our way here. Another claimant in the rite of succession, according to Erenville.

The food is amazing. A passing Mamool Ja let us try a fruit called "cherimoya" and it was just sublime.

I've acquainted the twins with the city as best I could in a short time.

---

Their unbridled enthusiasm made it rather difficult. Invariably something would catch their eye, spurring them to run down an alley to investigate. 'Twas like herding a pair of unruly coeurls.

Heh, I understand all too well. Sharlayan had the same effect on me.

---

Right, then. Now it's time we saw the inside of the palace. Papa will want to know I'm home, and to meet the allies I've chosen.

---

Given how impulsive he is, though, there's no telling what we might be in for...

Estinien!? When did he get here...?

More to the point, why is he here?

Oh, you know this man?

---

Whenever my father spots a promising opponent, he invites them to Sunperch to duel. Pressing duties or no, he can't resist a good fight.

So the one Estinien is crossing blades with...

That will do, spearman. I would receive my darling daughter.

---

Know that you are the strongest I've fought in many a moon, if not longer. It is the privilege of a life long lived to face such a formidable soul!

If it's formidable you want, then look no further than that man there.

...I see you, warrior.

We had no idea you meant to visit Tural...

I've seen what lies east. This time I chose west.

And thus did our itinerant dragoon make his travel plans.

You witnessed our bout? If you thought he was fearsome, that was with one head dozing.

I'm not sure I understand...

The old man has been feeling his years.

---

The uncovered side is the Head of Resolve, and age has only deepened his love for combat...

---

But the Head of Reason, wiser of the two, sleeps more and more these days. As I understand it, the veil helps with the restoration of his magical energies.

Enough about me, Lamaty'i. I want to hear of your adventures.

"Lamaty'i"?

A term of endearment. It's what my family calls me.

When last did we see you in the palace? Greetings, Elene'sh─

It's "Erenville" now, Dawnservant.

---

I took the name while abroad, and have since grown accustomed to it...

Hm. Erenville, then.

---

And these others, I assume, are Lamaty'i's recruited allies.

---

Hah, all tempered steel. Yet as much as I'd enjoy testing their mettle, the hour of the rite is at hand. I will summon the other claimants at once.

Then I shall leave you to it.

---

Good fortune, my friends.

The claimants are assembled.

---

The First Promise, Zoraal Ja.

---

The Second Promise, Koana.

---

The Third Promise, Wuk Lamat.

---

And lastly, the chosen of Mamook, Bakool Ja Ja.

---

You four will compete in the rite of succession, the outcome of which will decide who takes my place as Dawnservant.

---

I am not the man I once was. My wiser half sleeps the days away, and it is time I yield my position.

---

But mine is a torch that has never been passed. Tuliyollal is young, and so I look to the old ways for inspiration.

---

The rite of succession─the means by which the Autarch of Mamook was chosen.

---

Only the two-headed were deemed fit for this contest, but the Tuliyollal I built is a nation of many peoples. Our leader needn't have two heads, nor be a Mamool Ja at all.

---

So I gave the right of claimant not only to the son I sired, but to my adopted children as well.

---

Yet the opportunity to rule was still not equal. That is why our recent tournament offered a place in the contest as the winning prize.

Now you have us to compete against!

---

Though it seems the one-head was already too afraid to face us in the tournament!

Our brother was in Xak Tural, leading the Landsguard on a campaign to eradicate a tural vidraal.

---

Anyone with sense would know he was too busy for games.

Now for the part you've been waiting to hear: the nature of the contest itself.

---

To triumph in the rite of succession and thereby claim our nation's throne, you must travel the lands of Yok Tural...

---

...and find the city of gold.

If I may, Father.

Speak, Koana.

The golden city is an ancient Turali legend... But after so many failed attempts to find it, the story has become more faerie tale than fact.

---

If you would charge us with such a quest, are we then to assume you have proof of the city's existence?

I offer as proof my unbroken word, for I have seen it with my own four eyes.

The city's real? All those years...

This was before the founding of Tuliyollal. I traveled the lands of Tural with my companions, and we ended our journey at the gates to the golden city.

---

I mean to have you do the same. But in order to achieve victory proper, you'll need to break the seal I put in place.

---

Bring them.

The Tuliyollal Saga...

You will retrace the path I walked to unite our peoples, step by step. Along the way, seven chosen electors will be waiting to measure your worth.

---

Earn their keystones by performing the feats they ask of you.

---

Once you've fitted each of the seven tablets with a keystone, you'll have the key to unlock the seal on the golden city's gates.

So the contest is in stages, none of which can be skipped by rushing to the ultimate objective.

Exactly. Exciting, isn't it?

Martial tournaments, hunting festivals, and now this... You do so love your contests, Papa.

Were I a few years younger I would've joined in myself. Given you a proper challenge!

---

You may think the rite is tedious, or nonsensical, or both. But I am yielding our nation's throne.

---

Let me have this final indulgence.

A waste of time. Just name Bakool Ja Ja successor and be done with it.

The rite of succession begins now! I'll be watching your progress with great interest...

---

And claimants! Remember to collect your tablets before you leave!

You are one of Lamaty'i's allies. Speak freely.

I am Krile Baldesion, representative of the Students of Baldesion. My name is perhaps familiar to you?

---

It would seem you sent this letter to my order some years ago. The ink has since faded and much of the writing is illegible...

---

Even so, we managed to determine the essence of it: a request to investigate the golden city, addressed to my grandfather Galuf.

---

Included with the correspondence was this earring.

---

A faerie tale and a piece of jewelry were enough to convince my grandfather to sail halfway across the world. So there is surely some greater mystery at work here.

---

On behalf of the Students, I've come to seek clarification on the matter. Have you any knowledge you might share with me?

No. Not at this time.

---

I have tasked the claimants with finding the golden city. To fulfill your request would afford one of them an unfair advantage in the rite of succession.

---

...But once the contest is decided, I plan to entrust the entire truth to my successor. If you want to hear it, then you had best help Lamaty'i win.

Very well, Dawnservant.

---

On my honor as a Student of Baldesion, I will find your golden city!

---

Thank you for hearing my petition.

How about that. She's grown into a remarkable young woman. You should be proud, Galuf...

Too late to change your mind now, I suppose, but are you sure you wish to be part of this?

---

Our Third Promise is not wont to take no for an answer. Though you may have agreed to help, I worry that you were swept up in her relentless enthusiasm.

---

Or perhaps you've been lured by the glory of the golden city... Either way, this contest for the throne will place you and yours at the heart of political turmoil.

---

If you are second-guessing your decision, tell me now. This may be my last chance to help you withdraw.

 G'raha Tia

Life is a series of journeys, my friend, and there's no telling what awaits us on the long road.

---

But what's important is to be true to yourself as you walk it.

---

Only then can we hope to be content when we arrive at the end of one─and step forward into another.

I will speak no more of it, then.

---

As for my own involvement, I can no longer conduct myself as a mere guide, I think. Not after the Dawnservant's revelation...

Such a fearsome mien... Make no mistake─there goes Tuliyollal's mightiest warrior.

First Promise. Our village needs aid! The cold weather stunts our crops, and the children of our village go hungry!

---

Once you ascend the throne, I beg of you, grant my people new lands! Please!

Sareel Ja.

Take heart, tiller of the soil. The Resilient Son, blood heir to the Dawnservant, has heard your pleas.

Zoraal Ja. The First Promise and commander of the Landsguard.

---

Sareel Ja, the palace seer. As he was so careful to remind the crowd, Zoraal Ja is indeed the natural child of Gulool Ja Ja.

And "Resilient Son"? Is that another title, like the First Promise?

After a fashion. Common knowledge has it that two-headed Mamool Ja cannot sire children...

---

Yet Zoraal Ja was born all the same, with the Head of Resolve's features and the Head of Reason's scales─an extraordinary example of life's unyielding resilience.

And a warrior's reticence. He says little, but the way he moves... I know a hardened soldier when I see one.

He's a natural swordsman─a gift he inherited from his father. Some even say that the son has already surpassed the sire.

---

Should he come to power, the First Promise means to employ that martial prowess in the conquest of foreign lands. For this, he and his supporters have been labeled expansionists.

---

This puts him in direct opposition to Wuk Lamat, who advocates for the preservation of peace.

---

You may recall that she spoke of a claimant who "cannot be allowed to rule." That is Zoraal Ja─the warmonger.

Krile? Are you all right?

The Echo... It gave me a glimpse into Zoraal Ja's ambitions.

---

Deep and unknowable, like an abyss, yet at the same time a roaring, unquenchable fire...

---

It was a trifle terrifying, to be frank.

Second Promise, you must bring us more marvelous conveniences! More dirigibles and trains and the like! We need you in charge to make trading easier!

The elders, they complain and complain about “abandoning tradition,” but we're not like them, afraid of everything foreign and new!

You have our wholehearted support! With your ingenuity and knowledge, you're sure to win the contest!

Forgive me, but the rite of succession is barely begun. I will hear your petitions if and when I am named Dawnservant.

---

If you will excuse me.

Plainspoken, as always.

That's our Koana, practical to a fault.

Here we have Koana, the Second Promise, who spent time as a pupil at Sharlayan's own Studium.

Now that you mention it, I think I did see him in the halls once or twice. There was nothing to suggest he was Turali, much less from a royal family.

That was by design. He forewent his usual garb and took an Eorzean name to avoid attention.

So it was Koana who introduced the dirigibles. And the railway, too, given what we just heard...?

In furtherance of his goal: to enrich Tuliyollal with every bright notion he learned of in Sharlayan. He is the hope of those who prize innovation.

---

As aloof as he may seem, Koana and Wuk Lamat actually get along rather well. They bicker and banter as only close siblings do.

How gracious of you all to cheer the lesser claimants!

---

Oh come now, what are you afraid of? I'm no different from your Dawnservant.

---

That my kind should reign is Mamool Ja tradition─and has been so since before there was a Tuliyollal!

---

I'll brush aside your feeble contenders, and then you'll see who deserves your fealty!

Well said, Brother!

The Mamool Ja have finally found peace in Tuliyollal. A pity those fanatics are intent on keeping that "tradition" alive...

The chosen of Mamook, Bakool Ja Ja. Winner of the recent martial tournament, and the only claimant not of the Dawn's Promise.

---

His strength is undeniable, but...you see how he is. A few devoted Mamool Ja are his only supporters.

What would he do with the throne should he win it?

His policies and so forth? I doubt he's thought much beyond winning the contest itself.

---

But one thing seems certain: if he does become Dawnservant, he will see the Mamool Ja exalted as the ruling class, and all others forced into subservience.

Sounds like another that "cannot be allowed to rule."

We wish for one thing, and one thing only, Third Promise: to abide together in harmony, with our neighbors whom we love in this land we share. It is our way─the Turali way.

Gulool Ja Ja built for us this peaceful nation, and we beg you to preserve it!

You have my word! I won't let your pleas go unanswered!

Until Tuliyollal was founded some eighty years ago, this continent was ravaged by war. The eldest among us remember that dark era, and they are Wuk Lamat's most ardent supporters.

Apologies─it's hard to get away!

---

This is Namikka, my childhood nursemaid. She's been like a mother to me my whole life!

---

I told her it wasn't necessary, but she insisted on seeing us off.

I place our precious Third Promise into your care.

Did you know Wuk Lamat was taking part in the rite of succession?

Of the Dawn's Promise, I thought it was only Zoraal Ja and Koana. If she has any accomplishments to her name, I've yet to hear them...

Compared to the two Mamool Ja, she pales in martial prowess. And then there's Koana, who's far and away the most educated of the bunch. I hate to say it, but it's hardly a competition.

It's fine. More than anyone, I understand how much better my brothers are than me.

Better? Wuk Lamat, I have never thought of you as the lesser sibling.

---

Your brothers may excel in their respective ways, but you boast qualities that both lack. A strength that is yours alone. Having cared for you so long, I should know.

...Thank you, Namikka.

---

Well, we ought to be on our way.

Yes, hurry along. I await word of your victory with bated breath.

I know not what drives Zoraal Ja, but it engulfs him like an inferno...

As you just witnessed, Wuk Lamat has no great army of supporters. Not yet, at least.

So Koana, the Second Promise, is intent on developing his country by means of Sharlayan innovations. Given his background, I suppose it should come as no surprise.

That two-head claimant, Bakool Ja Ja, treats everyone around him as lesser beings. No doubt he'd try to elevate the Mamool Ja above other races should he become Dawnservant─not unlike how the Garlean Empire afforded special status to pureblood Garleans.

Well, so much for the brief reunion I had in mind. Papa is not one to waste time when he decides to act.

---

I'm used to it by now, of course, but others are often caught off guard. In any case, we should talk about how we're going to find the city of gold.

---

All we have to work with are the seven tablets and their connection to the Tuliyollal Saga...

Might I suggest first comparing the tablets against the pillars? We could check for any discrepancies between them.

Good idea. Let's go and take a look!

Hm. At a glance, they seem much the same...

I won't give up until we find the golden city. For Wuk Lamat as well as myself.

The preparation of intricately carved tablets for every claimant must have taken considerable effort and forethought. We should consider them weighty reminders that this "contest" is no light-hearted matter.

I wasn't expecting events to progress that quickly, but I won't complain. The contest is the main reason we're here, after all.

That makes everyone.

---

Wuk Lamat─the tablets, if you would.

Of course!

Everyone has a tablet? Then let's compare them to their respective pillars. Keep an eye out for even the smallest differences...

Unless I'm missing something, the glyphs appear to be identical.

The only difference being that the tablets have hollows where the keystones are to be fitted.

So now that we've established that the scenes are the same, where do we go from here?

The Dawnservant said we were to retrace the path he walked in uniting Tural's peoples, and that we would encounter seven electors along the way...

Then we have the answer here in front of us: Papa's path is all laid out in the Tuliyollal Saga.

The events the glyphs portray─do we know the exact locations where they took place?

If one is close, we could go there and search for an elector. That would confirm we're on the right track.

Hm, let me think... The Lay of Reeds was in the nearby Hanuhanu settlement.

---

Papa took me there once. It was during festival season, and the whole village was alive with good cheer.

---

There's also the Lay of Gold. That one involved the Pelupelu village, which is about the same distance from here.

Before going anywhere, we should ask around about the road ahead.

---

I heard a lot of talk as we toured the city about that storm we passed through at sea. Apparently it ravaged Yok Tural several days ago.

---

Since our roads are not as well paved as Eorzea's, they're more susceptible to damage from natural disasters. If we want to avoid wasting time taking a dead-end trail, I suggest we spend a few moments making inquiries.

If it's information we need...

---

Just leave it to me! I'll bring the information to us!

...It would be prudent to ensure we're prepared for the journey. I'll guide you to the accommodations I've arranged.

Oh, such lovely little cottages, and they're on the water!

What a comfort to have our lodgings sorted in advance.

Wuk Lamat said she would "bring the information" to us. I wonder what she meant by that...

Welcome to the For'ard Cabins!

That's right, the reservation is under Wuk Lamat's name. If you don't mind, I'll leave my companions to you.

Certainly, sir.

I'll go and track down the Third Promise. Once you've finished organizing your gear, you can meet us outside Xbalyav Ty'e.

Greetings, visitors to Tuliyollal, and welcome to the For'ard Cabins!

---

Whenever you are ready, I will show you to your rooms.

Trust you to be the keenest to head out, Forename.

---

But where are Erenville and Wuk Lamat, I wonder...

Oh good, you're all here.

Who might your companions be?

Seeing as we needed information, I thought who better to get it from than the locals? These two hail from the villages we're thinking to visit.

I give you credit for taking initiative, at least.

What do you mean, "at least"!?

I am honored that the Third Promise would seek my advice.

I, too, am happy to answer your questions. Any encounter might be an opportunity to do business.

Thank you both for your help!

Ah, before we begin─there will doubtless be other occasions when we need to act independently, so I brought these for the two of you.

What's this?

'Tis called a linkpearl─a gemstone harvested from a special shell. When linked together, they allow people to communicate across great distances.

Is that so!? What a handy thing to have!

---

It'll be very useful on our travels. Speaking of which, I should get back to introducing my two new friends here!

Even up close, the Hanu are remarkably similar to the Vanu. Aside from those brilliant feathers, of course.

Is there a reason the Pelupelu all wear those masks...?

Who should we speak to first, do you think?

Wuk Lamat may not be as experienced or accomplished as her brothers, but she has an affinity for the people. For her, finding those willing to cooperate is as simple as asking.

Please, ask anything. I'll gladly tell you what I know.

What a stroke of luck to forge this connection to the palace. May it be the beginning of a profitable partnership...

The Tuliyollal Saga features a number of Tural's clans. Two of those, the Hanuhanu and the Pelupelu, have settlements relatively close to the city, so I brought a representative of each.

---

As I mentioned before, the Hanu are a cheerful people who love their festivals. They make their appearance in the Lay of Reeds, and their home village─Ok'hanu─is located in Kozama'uka.

---

The other, smaller fellow is one of the Pelu, a clan of business-minded folk from Urqopacha. They appear in the Lay of Gold, and craft all kinds of marvelous goods in Wachunpelo, their village.

---

Now, as for deciding which village to visit first...

---

Why don't you put that adventurer's instinct of yours to work for us, Forename? Pick our destination!

I trust your instincts!