The Butterfly Effect

Mathieu was simply staring at the window, jumping when he heard the slightly impatient prince call his name. “You’re up early this morning. Yesterday it took you a lot longer to decide you were going to get out and about.”

“You’re going to do me a favor and tell me where Idale is before I get frustrated.” Imre’s tone couldn’t have been harsher, enough to surprise anyone used to his usual calm voice. It was, at least, something that got a visible reaction out of Mathieu.

“My! Wake up on the wrong side of the bed..?”

He got a scowl in response, which should’ve told him everything he needed to know.

“So, about Idale… it kind of doesn’t exist on normal maps anymore,” Mathieu admitted, shrinking under the younger’s gaze. “You would’ve known as much if you cared to listen to those stories last night. I mean, someone probably knew where it used to be, but by now the whole area’s hardly recognizable now. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that it doesn’t exist at all.”

“There has to be an old map somewhere,” Imre insisted. “It’s somewhere in your territory, right? Then you should have a map marking its location. You would need it for accurate representations of everything you control. Even if it’s no longer accurate, you should still have all the old ones in an archive somewhere.”

“What if I don’t..?”

“Then it becomes a fact that you don’t have the proper documentation. If it turns out that you don’t, it’s a much bigger legal problem than I think you’re willing to pay for.”

That got a nervous chuckle out of Mathieu. “You know what, I think Father keeps them in his study. The door’s locked whenever he’s not in here, and I’m afraid he’s going to be away for a few months.” He carefully walked around Imre and closer to the only exit. “But if you’re really intent on finding it, I’m sure there’s a book in the library with a map in it. I’ll pull them out for you.”

Imre followed him to the library, then watched as he pulled the books out. There was something going on, but he couldn’t determine what and knew he wouldn’t be able to just ask. The only thing he could do was follow along.

“There you are.” With a great amount of effort, Mathieu sat all four of the books down at a nearby desk. “It’s been a while since I’ve looked through them myself. So, please refrain from coming to me if it doesn’t have what you’re looking for…” After that, he did the smart thing and left Imre alone.

He only planned on giving them all a quick glance at first; look for any maps that might allude to the location of the village. Then he got distracted reading half of one because of a single interesting (albeit ultimately pointless) piece of text. After that, another book caught his attention. It was written almost like a personal journal, though most of it seemed to be about observing someone else. The subject reminded him of whoever the letter first referred to, the “she” who had just turned five at the time of writing. At least, he doubted there was much of a coincidence between them. A certain entry stood out, due to having a different handwriting:

‘He has been dead for a week. I would like to say some of the others are helping us out, but they are not. Zenas and I are doing most of the work now. Those funds he left us, though plentiful, probably will not last us through the end of the year. I wonder if that is all he really had for us. Takane is making the trip to visit his sister in order to get her to help, though I cannot say I have very high hopes. What I am really concerned about is the secrets he left behind. I went to tell Takane but she admitted to already knowing; I will tell Zenas and Umber as soon as we can get a chance alone. I cannot tell Calli yet, though, she’s not old enough to understand it.

I… say that as if she is not figuring it out on her own. She is learning what it means to be her, but I would not call it a good thing. She asked me this morning what was so important that I would not tell her. She looked so hopeless when she asked those types of questions… I just told her what I knew was true: she was too young. That is not going to stop her. I am smarter than to think that it will. But I can hope, right?

Takane showed this journal to me after I talked to her. Apparently it used to belong to him, a way of seeing how the unique mix of all that she is affected her. I am going to keep working on this; get it ready for whoever the next person is to take care of her. I know I cannot keep her safe here forever. All birds have to be pushed out of the nest before they can learn to fly.

I am going to start this off by saying she is one of us. Now, what “us” means is something I am not going to go into. That’s a mess for another time.

But there is something else that sets her apart from the rest of us. She is not the same kind of “human” that the rest of us are (well, aside from Takane). I do not think anyone in this town is like her. She sees and hears things differently than we do; it does not just come from that little spirit’s voice in the back of her head. It goes deeper than that, like the nature of her own soul. The reason the gods decided to place her with us instead of anyone else.’

“Nokae.”

‘She can heal others, but she does not use magic—at least, not the usual type of magic. To say it is not magic at all would probably be a lie, but my experience on the matter is next to none. Whoever she is healing can get a full recovery in mere moments, no matter what it is. I have seen her do it for sprains, cuts, fevers… and then there was the catch.

Whatever it is that she heals, it comes back on her. She figured that part out on her own already—pretty hard to ignore. We all tried to urge her against it, but it never changed anything. I do not want to know what it is like to deal with her when she is actually a teen and starts falling in love. She is going to end up committing sacrificial suicide in the name of family. I am worried about everything she is going to do. She is not going to think about what it would do to her, just knowing what it does for others. If things turn out to go as poorly as Haris thought they would, then I am going to need to keep a close eye on her.’

“Nokae.”

The next page revealed a new day’s discoveries.

‘She is starting to get nightmares. I am not sure whether they are all related to our current situation or if something is really going on in her head right now. All I know is that it is not a Myaló. Takane could prove that much while Calli was sleeping.

It reminds me of last year. She had been having similar, yet more specific occurrences. She was dreaming of a time of revolution—the time of the Saint-King. I think that, then, Haris already understood why, but he did not tell her immediately. He went through the extensive process of paying for an adherent of the Lysha to check her for a spirit. She was found out to have a connection to one of the magisters that the first king was close to. She had looked so confused when we had to explain to her what exactly that meant.

Of course, she was first told “it is something really important, someone who will watch over you for your whole life” and “a dead dude.” Haris and I were able to find a happy medium between the two and explained it enough that she was able to understand it. It seemed like, until then, she had contributed the spirit’s presence to her imagination.

This is not the same only because there is not a reason behind it. I cannot get her to tell me about them. She used to be so reliant on me, ready to trust everything I said and know that I would keep her secrets. She is falling away from me, and it feels like there is nothing I can do to keep her from it. I do not know what the future holds for us, but it is not good.’

“Imre.”

Several pages after that were ripped out, leaving only a single entry set several years later.

‘I cannot do anything else for her. Since that day, she’s given up on me. After that fight with her “fiancé,” she has not talked to me at all. Is it so bad that I only want what is best for her? She only just turned eighteen! Then again, there’s not much else you can do to avoid a scandal… someone like him probably cannot afford them. He might just find himself getting poisoned in his sleep. I know he said she wants this, but I can’t help but believe he has been weaving lies from the very beginning.

I should be glad that she is clearly happier. Since Takane moved out, it has just been the two of us. There have been a few days where we got together like we used to—like siblings—but that is all gone now. I wish she would realize it is because he came along. If she had just left him to deal with his own issues, then there would not be a problem. They would both still be here and I could still see her smile… we could be the family that Haris hoped we would.

All of these new changes are catching up to her. She still has not recovered from their losses, yet she is giving herself more things to focus on. But of course I cannot say anything to her because it is “not something I should worry about.” She is leading herself to believe that this is going to solve everything—that after this, it is all going to make sense and she will not have to worry about anything anymore.

Our time is long over. I hope whoever is next has better luck than we did. This is the general map of Idale; mind the mistakes, it is just off of memory. Look for the willow in the town’s center… kind of out of place, you cannot miss it.’

“Imre Zamiel Siegmar von Mikkel III!”

Only then did he look up to see Samone standing in front of him. He coughed before muttering, “You smell like smoke.”

“Mind your own business,” she shot back. They all liked to pretend that they didn’t know why. “You’re the one too caught up in reading to notice I was talking to you.”

“You were talking to me?” Imre gave her a dumbfounded look, one she only seemed to get more annoyed at.

She sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I was going to leave you alone for a while since you were social and probably wanted some time alone. After not seeing you all morning, I figured I’d get your lazy ass out of bed before you laid there all day. I didn’t find you in your room so I went to Mathieu, the only other one I hadn’t seen. And here I find you, and you probably still thought you were only here for an hour or two. You would’ve spent the whole day here if no one came.”

To prove this, his next question was equally confused, “I’ve been here for that long..?” He wasn’t hungry, which really would’ve been his only indicator that he’d been there too long. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time that he was too busy focusing on something else to pay attention to his own needs…

“If we were back at the capital right now, you wouldn’t even think about staying cooped up inside,” she mused as she walked around behind him. “I don’t know if I should consider this an improvement or not. So, what is it that’s kept you occupied for so long?”

He tilted the book for her to see the map. “I think that’s where we need to go—the real reason we’re here. If you can get me a map of each section of Quennell’s territory, then I can figure out where this is.” It was one of the skills he never actually thought he’d use; that, and determining the time of day and general location of an area if he was only given a picture and a territory’s name.

“I think this is a waste of time,” she mumbled. “But I suppose I can’t deny you. I’ll find a map.”