The Butterfly Effect

He’d brought Muriel back to Lustris and stayed the night at their cottage. He didn’t really say anything to Samone when he got back to the estate. There was no use only asking her about it; he wanted to hear it from someone else. He wasn’t sure what kind of outcome he wanted more—if, somehow, his father could tell him it had been some sort of mistake, or if it was true without any particular reason as to why he didn’t know until now. Tavin hated all the time he’d been given to think it over, since they left to return to the castle a day after. With a ride that long, after all, there was hardly anything else to do.

They’d all kept secrets from Natheniel because they were afraid of what he would do. They didn’t want him to realize what he could do and end up hurting somebody. But what was meant to keep everyone safe ended up hurting him, along with the people around him. That whole thing might’ve been avoided if he’d known what he was so that he could control it. Instead, he almost killed her and created a false reality built on his paranoia.

For the longest time, Tavin was assured that Natheniel was the only special one—the only one they hid things from, the only one who might’ve played a bigger role in this. Apparently, though, there was a chance that he was wrong.

He wanted to hold on to the hope that what Lydia had described to him was nothing worth noting. Sensing Skiá and dreamers didn’t have too many practical uses. Sure, it might mean he can avoid a bit of danger, but there wasn’t anything else. There wasn’t a world-altering power hidden in it. He couldn’t really do anything with it, could he? But if that was the case, then why hadn’t someone mentioned it earlier? It wasn’t like he would’ve taken it any worse if he was younger. He found himself growing up rather quickly—maybe even quicker than they’d hoped—compared to normal kids. Did… they think of it as what separated him from the much larger problems they fought against..?

He barely spoke a word during the trip and the morning after they returned. He’d gone to breakfast and lunch but Imre wasn’t there; pretty much the only thing he did was reinstate that Uzoma was kind of a creep and gained the mutual agreement of whoever else was present. He didn’t actually hear his father’s voice until he came down from his room for dinner.

“You let him do what?” Imre’s tone perfectly mirrored what his expression probably was: something that was mostly concerned, possibly slightly disappointed, but definitely surprised.

“Well, last I checked, I’m not either of his parents,” Samone pointed out. “Besides, he mentioned it was something Lydia wanted him to do. He probably would’ve gone anyway, whether I gave him permission or not. I figured what was important was that he came back safely, and he did.”

“And if he didn’t? What then? We could hardly take the hit when Natheniel disappeared, and quite frankly, they thought of him as nothing more than a kid living in the castle. We’d lose whatever faith the northern territories still have if something happened to Tavin. You know that as much as I do.”

“Imre, I think you need to think on the bright side.” Dimas was there too, then, though it wasn’t much of a surprise. “Sure a bunch of bad things could have happened, but they didn’t. If you’re really that worried, you can ask him when he gets here. At this rate you’re going to worry yourself sick before you even eat anything.”

That was when Tavin opened the door. He was a bit hesitant at first, before he realized his company and saw that everyone was there—even Kiah, though perhaps because of a meeting earlier. He closed the door behind him again and wandered to his seat as the prince.

For a little while, he didn’t say anything and none of the adults engaged in a conversation. He figured it would be better to give them all some time to eat, in case the topic ended up being more sensitive than he assumed. It was only until they’d all finished and were discussing options for dessert that he decided it was time to bring it up.

“Was Grandmother an Ilethera?”

None of them gave an immediate response. Imre’s expression said enough, however; wherever this conversation would take them, it was one his father had feared. Then again, there were only so many clever ways of avoiding the truth of the matter as to why he didn’t like how Samone had let Tavin go.

Dimas was the first to answer: a simple nod. “Why do you ask..?”

“Do I… have her blood, as an Ilethera?”

This brought several quick responses, but all ones that were obviously meant to dodge the topic at hand.

“All five of us have the blood of Ilethera,” Samone recalled. “There’s nothing more about it, though.”

“She was your grandmother,” Kiah remarked. “Imre’s got just as much of that blood as you do.”

“I appreciate your trying to help, but I think we just need to be honest here,” Imre sighed. It was already confirmed as true by that alone, and he continued to make eye contact with Tavin to prove it. “Yes. More than just as someone you were related to. How should I put this… you’re more like us than you are like her, but you’re also more like Ihu than you’re like us. If any of that makes sense at all.”

“What do you mean, I’m like Ihu?” He knew what Lydia had told him; his abilities as an Ilethera had to do with recognizing Skiá and the dreamers. But he didn’t quite see how that compared to the bird. “They’re a Fos, aren’t they?”

“Dreamers can never be connected to Fos—at least none of the ones we have records of,” Imre explained. “They can have a Fos as a companion but, if they did, they also have a Skiá, so the two balance each other out. Since they’re naturally inclined to be more connected to shadows, then the power gap between Skiá and specific Ilethera is filled by the dreamers. With Fos, the gap still exists, but it’s… smaller. The Ilethera connected to the Fos are more powerful, meaning they might compare to a dreamer and still have the true title of an Ilethera. Just like how Natheniel was a step away from a Skiá, you’re almost at the same point with a Fos.”

“How long have you known..?” Tavin was quieter than he’d meant to be, but it still felt loud compared to the silence around him.

“In a general, ‘we knew you were an Ilethera but not what kind’ way? A couple months after you were born,” Imre admitted. “Everything else, we pieced together as you got older. Even then, we practically threw darts at a board, marked off whatever possibilities we could, and went with the most probable of what remained. We didn’t really know anything for certain until we realized you could sense dreamers, Fos, Skiá; having that ability of the Fos, we now have the guess that maybe you have the same kind of presence that they do. Of course, testing it is a terrible idea, and I’d rather not have anyone in the circumstances needed to figure out if it’s true…” He paused before giving the quiet comment, “Sometimes I wonder if Mother realized that and if it affected her judgment about what she did…”

“You know you don’t have to get this all out tonight…” Dimas mumbled, putting a hand on his husband’s shoulder. “A bit of it can wait until we’re all ready to talk about it.”

Imre’s smile was superficial. “We’ve kept telling those kinds of lies for the past eighteen years and see where that brought us. I think it’s about time there’s no secrets between us, don’t you think?”

“This isn’t just about the Ilethera anymore, is it..?” Tavin had prepared himself for them to confirm what Lydia had told him. He was still processing the entire Fos thing, but other than that, he thought he more or less had it all down. The idea that there was more, however, made him doubt that hold.

Samone glanced at Imre before beginning the explanation. It couldn’t have been much easier for her, though it did give him a few moments to mentally prepare himself. Somehow, she seemed to say it all in a single sentence: “You know what happened to Lydia’s twins.” But that wasn’t even where she stopped. “Sure, she was young and, honestly, who knows what kind of cursed object she was messing around with. But it doesn’t change the fact that both of them died in two days.”

“None of us thought anything of it,” Imre picked up after her. “Lydia didn’t bring it up, either, so we all mostly forgot about it. Mother saw past the mask that we took to be reality, though. Her abilities—“

“With all due respect, Father, I know,” Tavin interrupted. “Mother told me. She could heal others, but at the cost of her own health, right?”

Quickly getting past his surprise, Imre nodded. “I didn’t assume the two were connected until we cleaned out her room a few weeks later. She’d been leaving notes for a while. I think… she’d always been planning it, or at least knew about it, but needed the perfect moment to do it. She wanted it to look like she’d just… died in her sleep, and she did a pretty good job at it.”

“So, really, I shouldn’t be alive right now?” Tavin didn’t see much point in avoiding it.

“Technically, each of us did at least three things that we probably should’ve died from,” Kiah remarked casually. “It shouldn’t really be a surprise at this point.”

“For two Ilethera, I’d say we were all pretty lucky in that regard,” Dimas agreed. “Almost all of us are still alive and well. Even then, they were more avoidable oversights than things completely out of our control… It was never exactly obvious but it wasn’t the most discreet of things either.”

Imre’s attention was still unwaveringly on Tavin. “This isn’t… too much at once, is it? You look rather calm and that’s normally not a good thing…”

“I’m fine.” He knew it wouldn’t make them any less worried, but there were other things that would make it worse. It was better to simply give them the answer they knew he would give. Whatever he had yet to come to terms with were things he could contemplate in his room, where he could continue the impression that everything was fine.

No one stayed much later after they realized the time of realizations were over. Kiah called for another drink and, after downing it, announced she’d be returning to the stronghold and left. Samone was there long enough for some dessert but left before they started talking about Zofie and Philyra. Admittedly, only Dimas and Tavin were discussing the Qizarn queen and princess, though it was a much lighter atmosphere than before.

Imre suddenly changed the subject, however. “Tavin, did you come across the trinket Lydia found in that area? Spherical, glows a bit, can show things from the past..?”

“She showed me things with it,” Tavin said with a nod. “It also draws out spirits. I brought it back with me when I left. Why?”

“Just curious,” was the mumbled response. “I know the rest of the stuff she collected over the years are with Raisul, but hold on to that one, okay? You can keep it in your room or put it somewhere safer, as long as I know where it is.”

Dimas gave him a quizzical look. “What are you thinking of?”

“They say the past can show a path to the future.” Imre got up with a small smile. It was fake. “Trust me.” Then he left.