Sandel/Plot

## Plot

### Jananda Island Arc

Lured by Tonari onto boarding a ship to Jananda, Fushi and Pioran find themselves isolated on the island. Pioran is branded imprisoned atop a cliff face, and Fushi attempts to scale the rocks to reach her. Sandel, along with the rest of Tonari's group, is taken aback when they meet Fushi for the first time as he regenerates from a fatal fall.

Tonari's group introduce themselves to Fushi after he passes the first round of the island tournament. They proceed to follow the immortal as he again resumes his attempts to scale the cliff wall, while Tonari details the geography, history, and customs of Jananda. Baffled and disturbed by the apparent dismissiveness with which the group regard the violence on the island, Fushi brushes off their company, ignoring Sandel, Mia, and Uroy's urges to remain together in a group.

During the first Nokker attack on the island, Sandel and Tonari's group rush to join the island residents' counterattack. Sandel and Uroy employ explosive arrowheads hurriedly assembled on the field by Mia and Oopa, but the Nokker, encased in boulders, proves resilient. Sandel lends Fushi a light bow, allowing Fushi to demonstrate striking gaps between the boulders. The Nokker is quickly destroyed under the withering arrow-fire of the Jananda residents.

At night, Fushi overcomes his initial hesitance and disdain towards Tonari's group, and in gratitude for their aid, joins a celebratory dinner. Sandel shares his dream of becoming a doctor before passing out from the drugged Yanome cuisine that Fushi replicates for a feast.

Sandel and his friends spectate the final round of the tournament the next day, cheering Fushi on as he battles Hayase. The group's initial enthusiasm progressively fades to uneasy dread to absolute shock when Hayase manages to defeat Fushi, injecting him with morning glory sedative. When Hayase unexpectedly announces that she will turn over her newly-won position of Island Chief to Tonari, Sandel and his friends flee the coliseum undetected in fear of being killed by the bewildered and riled crowd.

Sandel and Tonari's group then mount a rescue attempt at the island palace where Fushi is held prisoner by Hayase and her Yanome detachment. When Captain Skyfish knocks out Oopa, Sandel prepares a futile last stand against Hayase's Yanome guards with his companions. Fushi, thought to be transferred to a secure location, emerges from behind Hayase and holds her at sword-point. He then successfully trades himself in so Tonari's group can leave Jananda on Skyfish's ship. The children reluctantly leave Fushi, and board the ship, only to be drugged by the Yanome to ensure their compliance in leaving the island. Tonari alone wakes up soon after, leaves the ship, and rows back to Jananda to rescue Fushi again.

With Mia, Uroy, and Oopa, Sandel makes his way back to the island in the midst of the second Nokker attack originating from the corpse dumping grounds. The children resolve to defeat the Nokker infested corpses with Fushi. Fushi requests that Sandel escort him to the corpse dumping grounds, and the group prepares to move out when Oopa is killed by a Nokker in the ground. The children watch, horrified, as the now-infested Oopa stabs Mia in the abdomen with a spear. They flee, carrying Mia to a ruined house where Sandel urgently suggests they sew Mia's wound shut. Oopa arrives suddenly and Fushi in Parona's form charges at her but finds himself unable to stab the core inside Oopa. Parona's form is stolen from Fushi, and Uroy manages to throw Fushi in his mole form to Ligard before being killed when Mia becomes infested.

Sandel urges a despondent Tonari onwards to the corpse dumping grounds. With Oniguma, Fushi pins down Hayase, preventing her from killing Tonari with a throwing knife from afar. Sandel and Tonari are soon surrounded by Nokker corpses with no means to defend themselves when Sandel's supply of arrows runs out. Fushi releases Hayase to protect the two children, burning the corpse pile with Gugu's form and bringing an end to the Nokker assault. Hayase, however, knocks out Sandel and Tonari with sedatives, holding Tonari hostage above the burning corpse pit.

After laying to rest the fallen, Sandel, Tonari, and Fushi provide assistance to the survivors. Sandel and Tonari resolve to remain on the island, hoping to transform the prison colony into a "guidepost for changing destinies". The two bid Fushi goodbye as he tows away with a captive Hayase.

### The Guardians Arc

Forty years following the events on Jananda, Sandel and Tonari aid a village attacked by Nokker infested corpses. Sandel introduces himself as a doctor to Fushi and the Guardians, led by Hisame, who arrive a month after the attack. Neither the Guardians nor Fushi recognize Sandel and Tonari. At Tonari's insistence, the newly-met parties are prepared dinner at the local inn. Concerned about the Nokker inside Hisame's left arm, Fushi requests that Sandel perform surgically remove the Nokker, prompting Hisame to have morning-glory spiked tea served at the table. Sandel and Fushi, lacking the extraordinary toxin resistance Tonari had built up over the decades, collapse unconscious.

Sandel tends to Tonari until the following morning when it becomes clear the wounds inflicted by Hisame's Nokker will prove too grievous to recover from. In a final bid to alleviate her pain, Sandel pours Tonari her favorite liquor. As her dying wish, Tonari requests to "see the faces of the people [Fushi] has met", while Sandel reminds Fushi that grief is by no means unique to the immortal. Sandel and Tonari regard each of Fushi's forms, expressing shock at seeing Nand; wistful quietness at Uroy, Mia, and Oopa; and repressed mirth when Fushi finds himself unable to take Sandel and Tonari's own forms.

After Tonari passes, Sandel explains to Fushi that he will return to his hometown to inform of her death. In his parting words, Sandel consoles and urges Fushi to end his self-imposed isolation. Sandel then walks away crying, wondering out loud if Tonari's regrets have finally gone.