Lingering Warmth

Lingering Warmth is the first act of Nahida's Story Quest, the Sapientia Oromasdis Chapter. In order to unlock this quest line, the player needs a Story Key, must have completed , and reached Adventure Rank 40.
==List of Quests==
# Dream of Awakening
# Dream of Falling
# Dream of Farewell
==Summary==
;Dream of Awakening
Walking around Sumeru City, the Traveler and Paimon run into Pedrush, who asks them if they've heard about the "A Moment of Dreams". Paimon thinks that it's a drink before Pedrush corrects her, as it is an interest group in which people could share their dreams now that the people of Sumeru could dream again after the Akasha System was stopped. Pedrush states that there'll be drinks and snacks, convincing Paimon to join in, which he accepts as the group needs some dream experts.
Arriving at the meeting site, the members swarm them with questions about their dreams, which Paimon and the Traveler struggle to answer. Just as they think about how it would be good to have Nahida present but likely being too busy to do so, Pedrush conveniently states that they unexpectedly have a special guest, who is none other than Nahida herself. Nahida offers to help, but the people are initially hesitant to ask their archon questions, causing her to sulk. Paimon reassures the people that it's fine and that Nahida is a warm and open person, so they ask their questions to her for her perspective.
One of the members, Ilman, remarks about his deceased wife and that he could see her every day in his dreams and pick up their conversations from where they'd left off from the previous dream, something which surprises Nahida. Despite this, she suggests he think of something else, so he walks off and sulks at a nearby table. The Traveler checks up on him and offers their assistance to investigate, which he accepts alongside Nahida, who had just finished answering everyone's questions. As they head to the place he had dreamed of, Nahida tells Ilman that his circumstance is extremely rare, as dreams were much more fragile than people thought. Privately contemplating deceased loved ones and the erased Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, the Traveler decides it would be good that Nahida be made aware that Rukkhadevata did once exist, when they have the time to explain it properly.
After clearing the monsters at the place, Ilman sees his wife, Maynar, who walks away. He tries to catch up to her while sleepwalking and nearly falls off a cliff, but the Traveler is able to intercept him in time. When he wakes up, he apologizes to the trio for causing unnecessary worry. Nahida on the other hand, is extremely concerned now and warns him not to return to the spot for the time being. Rushing back to the dream group, they warn and inform Pedrush of the situation, who immediately orders a headcount when everyone arrives. However, Ata and Kathya are gone, the former heading home which is not cause for concern, but the latter having headed to Chatrakam Cave.
----
;Dream of Falling
Searching for Kathya, they find her near a group of fungi and specters, defeating them. As she wakes up, she's surprised to find herself outside again and informs them of her dream; Professor Aisha, an Amurta researcher and adventurer she looked up to, who was also extremely talented. She had gone to research the Abyss and gave Kathya the seed for the potted plant in front of her that, when bloomed, would be proof that she would come back regardless of the circumstances. However, despite her efforts, it never bloomed, so Nahida takes a look at it. The plant troubles her, so she and the Traveler step aside for a private discussion. Nahida reveals that the plant is not known to the academic world and that Aisha had cultivated it through special means, and it would in fact never bloom.
Nahida is worried about how to tell the truth to Kathya, but the Traveler and Paimon offer to break the ice instead. Kathya is initially shocked, but on talking it out further, accepts the inevitability that as a child, she would not have understood why Aisha had lied that she would be able to return as she does now as an adult. Nahida informs her of what was happening and warns her not to be tempted by her dreams. Returning to the dream group, they find more people in a slumber and that people were unwilling to accept the warning, as they wanted to say goodbye if that was the case. Due to the numerous cases, Nahida believes that someone is exploiting their desires and that they would have to see it themselves to get a better understanding. Pedrush brings them to Debbi. Nahida uses her powers to put themselves in Debbi's dream while lucid dreaming, although they find themselves in another area. Fortunately, they manage to realign themselves to enter Debbi's dream.
Debbi's dream takes them to Puspa Café, where she's seen with Gaspar and Basimah. Using her powers, Nahida confirms that only Debbi is in the dream and confronts her with its reality. Debbi is surprised to see her, but when Nahida questions the authenticity, Debbi admits that it isn't, as Gaspar and Basimah were on a ship that struck a reef and sank; she learned of it from a news article in The Steambird and she never heard from them again, causing her to assume they had perished in the accident. Debbi states that the dream allows her to escape the harsh reality, which Nahida does not refute but instead tells her to be careful not to blur between dreams and reality. Debbi also tells them that she had heard a voice trying to bring her deeper into the dream through a nearby entryway of some type, so they head there.
After navigating the realm, they find themselves in Ilmar's dream again, who introduces them to his wife Maynar and daughter Haydar. Nahida warns him that the dream is nefarious, although Ilmar expresses regret when he learns that he would be unable to see his wife again. Ilmar points them deeper into the dream, where Nahida realizes that someone might have turned the Akasha back on, as the Aranara did not have any malicious intent and humans were normally incapable of such a collective.
Once they navigate the realm again, they arrive at their final destination, where Nahida uses her powers and discovers that Moseis is the owner of the dream. After sending his wife Emira away, Nahida exposes him for his act, knowing that he gave up his ability to wake up in the real world to maintain the dream space, consisting of other dreamers and imaginary people he created. Moseis reveals that he uploaded his entire consciousness to the Akasha before Nahida had shut it off in his attempts to create a "hyper-realistic" person. As human models were complicated, Moseis used the Akasha's Jnana energy to power his dream; even a small amount was enough for him, and Emira was his first creation with it. He had grown close to Emira when they met in the Akademiya, although she perished as a result of Eleazar complications.
Using others under the pretense of treating mental health disorders, Moseis planted signaling devices into his subjects' bodies to network them so that Emira could feel their yearning, which resulted in him uploading his own consciousness into the dream to focus on his work. When Nahida shut the system off, Moseis lost access to the energy, causing him to be imprisoned in his own dream before realizing that he could use others' Jnana energy to survive. Nahida calls him out and that he has committed a cardinal sin, making the other dreamers realize they've been in the dream for too long and leave.
In retaliation, Moseis summons monsters to attack the group, which they quickly defeat. Fueled by desperation, he tries to make more powerful monsters, but this causes the dream to spiral out of control, which also turns Emira into a monster herself. After killing Emira, who transformed into a Rockfond Rifthound, Moseis becomes depressed, having lost what was precious to him and expresses an intent to die. However, Nahida refuses to let him escape accountability: she will use her knowledge of the Akasha to extract his consciousness into a Knowledge Capsule so it can be transferred back into his body, which she's fairly certain the Akademiya has looked after. Before she leaves, she spots something streaking through the sky and disappears just as fast as it appeared.
----
;Dream of Farewell
Returning to the waking world, Pedrush informs Nahida that the situation appears to be stabilized as the sleepers are all waking up and are hearing reports around the city of the same, so she tells him to prepare for an onslaught of people. She then heads to the Akademiya with the Traveler and meets with Sitt, asking for any record of an unconscious Kshahrewar scholar. Sitt reports back the status of one Beynuni, who became so after improper operation of the Akasha and has been cared for at Bimarstan ever since. Nahida gives her the Knowledge Capsule to pass on to the matra to import the consciousness back into his brain and briefly explains that he committed a crime. Once he reawakens, she'll fill Cyno in on all the details herself. Returning to the dream interest group, Nahida gives a speech in which she apologizes for crudely interrupting their dreams, but tells them to focus on the future as there are many other people like them, and they can affect the friends and family around them today in the same way as their lost ones had with them in the past.
The Traveler meets up with her outside the Akademiya after her speech, where she remarks on the dream Beynuni made, realizing that she is growing herself and has more to learn. While Beynuni had accused her of not knowing the pain of loss, she could tell that somehow that wasn't true. She also felt the comfortable pull, a "warmth" within the dream she once had experienced in her life and not wishing to wake from that feeling, but the warmth had ended the moment they exited the dream. She may not know the details of that warmth, but it's enough for her to know it supported and shaped her to become the person she is now, and it's important that she follow her own advice and move onward to the future. With this new insight, the Traveler realizes that Greater Lord Rukkhadevata had directly shaped Nahida, whose mind and willpower are proof that she did in fact once exist even if everyone had forgotten her. They thus decide to respect Rukkhadevata's choice to be forgotten, and Kusanali's to move on without needing to know.
==Characters==
==Soundtracks==
==Other Languages==
==Change History==
es:Calidez incesante
ja:温もりの名残
pt-br:Calor Remanescente
th:ความอบอุ่นที่หลงเหลือ
vi:Hơi Ấm Quẩn Quanh