The Butterfly Effect

{-Koyana-}

She couldn’t help but come up with dozens of questions during the walk that seemed to last an hour. Demery must’ve been the same, because the moment Tandi announced they were there and they all sat down, they were both asking questions.

“You serve our parents, right? What are they like?”

“Why did you seem so panicked when you saw us? What does our presence mean to them?”

“Are they nice?”

“Why did they leave us with our grandparents?”

Neither of them quite seemed to process how overwhelming it might have seen, or really consider the already-on-edge woman. Tandi shook her head, took a shaky breath, and said, “I have been instructed by my master not to answer any of your questions. I’m deeply sorry, but I can’t in good conscience disobey his orders. I hope you can understand.”

Demery stepped back, hiding his disappointment behind annoyance. “Of course he did…”

Koyana frowned at his tone. Why did he always make it sound like they never cared? Was it really too hard for him to at least pretend to have a little bit of optimism? She intended on calling him out on it—pointing out how what little evidence they had made it sound like it wasn’t out of lack of care—but Aither said something before she could.

“Tandi, do you have the box?” he asked, though it wasn’t nearly as calm as it was wary. “Or know where it is at all?”

Tandi took on another kind of panic, even if it was harder to spot. “Are you sure? There’s things in there that my master has decided was better lost to time. I know you have the blood of Tyrus and Feldr with you, but I don’t think it’s time…”

“I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t think they were capable of handling it,” he said.

“I’m afraid I still can’t tell you where it is.”

“Please, I know what your master may have told you, but this is extremely important. There’s a lot more people that this concerns than he realizes—“

“You misunderstand me. I believe what you say—that this is important, that you’ve come by Danai’s request. But I can’t tell you where the box is, because it isn’t something I’m in possession of, nor do I know who has it.”

“So, there’s an apparently-important box we need to find,” Demery remarked, in no way sounding surprised, “and the person who’s supposed to know where it is doesn’t.”

“Is it like the letters?” Evelina asked, though quieter and more like she was just thinking aloud. “Something they didn’t want anyone else to find..? If it were, it would make sense if only a few knew of where it was…”

“It isn’t… exactly that,” Tandi began. “Though I suppose it’s possible that your thought had been my master’s reasoning, he gave the box as a parting gift to one of the other servants.”

Olle must’ve picked up on something none of the others did because, carefully, he prompted, “Who was it?”

“An old friend of mine, though we haven’t been in touch since he left,” she responded slowly. The thought of him must’ve brought back good and bad memories alike, her expression turning softer yet mournful. “There were… disagreements, between our master and several of those under him. He gave any and all who saw his actions as rash or unnecessary the option to leave with any possible debts forgiven. Many of them took that opportunity…”

Demery didn’t share Olle’s care in approaching the subject. “This is a lot of talk but nothing about who he really is.”

Tandi sighed. “The current owner of the box—or at least, I presume he’s still the owner—is Jimar Reshay. Besides that, I don’t believe there’s much I can tell you. I haven’t talked with him in over a decade, almost two. I can’t even be sure that he still has the box or if he’s given it to someone else.”

Aither mumbled something that sounded like “Why did this kind of thing have to happen to me…” and then rattled off different scenarios under his breath. Koyana quickly realized they were all bad scenarios; what to do if he couldn’t find someone, if he ran into “her,” along with several others she couldn’t understand. She felt bad for him—this definitely didn’t seem to be the kind of thing he’d been expecting.

“Are you sure there’s nothing else you can tell us?” he eventually questioned, slowly, letting a vague sense of panic slip through. “Did he mention anything about where he might be going, or have you heard any travelers mention someone like him?”

When Tandi was initially silent, Koyana tried, “Is there a chance he’s still at our hometown, where Demery and Olle saw him?”

“He couldn’t be,” Demery decided quickly. “Ms. Siavax said he traveled and he’s probably long gone by now. It would take too long to wait for him to show up again.”

Still, there was a bit of silence.

And then Tandi spoke. “Before he left, Jimar did muse about traveling—seeing what the rest of Orestis’s creation looked like. But there was something else he said… a town that, I believe, he intended to make as his makeshift ‘base of operations.’”

“Do you remember what it’s called or where it is?” Koyana asked eagerly.

“I do, but I… feel as though I’ve already said too much. My master would want to know that you’re here, and asking for the box. You’ll need a guide, too—it’s rather tucked away and hard to find, even with a map. I hope you understand that I must speak with him before I can feel comfortable sharing anything else.” Tandi stepped back. It looked like she was just intending on leaving, before realizing a plan might be helpful. “I’ll speak with my master. Come here tomorrow at around this time. If he permits me to go with you, then I’ll come meet with you. If I don’t come after a few hours have passed, it’s safe to assume he’s forbidden me from speaking with you.”

…

Koyana knew it had actually only been about thirty minutes. But for all the questions she had, all the excitement she’d bottled up, and perhaps just because of impatience, it felt like hours. She didn’t think anything special about Tandi not being there yet, but it seemed like the others were.

“What do you think we should do if she doesn’t come..?” Evelina prompted quietly. “It seems like her master’s more likely to keep her from meeting with us than letting her go.”

“We’re just going to have to figure out where Jimar would be on our own,” Demery mumbled. “I don’t know how, though, since she didn’t even mention what the town’s name was…”

“Maybe we’ll be able to ask someone else,” Olle offered. “Even if Jimar left town years ago, if he was as well-liked as Tandi is, someone’s bound to have kept in touch with him.”

Aither shook his head. “Tandi will come back. I know she will.”

“That sounded a lot more confident than you usually are,” Koyana pointed out. “How can you be sure?”

“Even the most ignorant of people can see the truth when it’s right in front of them,” he said. “There’s no denying it now, with the four of you all together and with me being the one guiding you. It’s time, and even a fool wouldn’t dare to try to prevent the inevitable.”

It took a little while longer but, eventually, Tandi was walking towards them. No one had to ask her any questions; while she only stood there for a moment, she did eventually share what had happened.

“My master has permitted me to guide you to where the box is, and oversee any discoveries that are made with it,” she announced in a distant tone. “He was… reluctant, but ultimately willing. We should try to be as quick as possible. He’s gotten someone else to manage my work while I’m with you, but if I’m being honest, I fear what's going to happen without me…”

Aither let out a sigh of relief. “There’s still a chance that everything can go as planned…” Louder, he said, “Welcome to the group, Tandi. And, Demery and Koyana, I know you’ve probably still got a lot of questions and it may be tempting since someone who can answer them is right here. But please, try not to ask her too much if she’s not comfortable with it.”

“I don’t think I’m ready to answer any yet,” Tandi said. “While I’m now certain I have permission, I haven’t come up with the right answers. When the time comes, though, I will be willing to tell you all that I know… which, admittedly, still isn’t as much as I would like…”

“Just one thing. How confident are you that where you’re going to take us is where we’ll find Jimar?” Demery asked.

“Fairly confident,” she replied after a moment’s consideration. “He mentioned staying in the town before he left, musing about living there. I’ve tried to discern his whereabouts in the time since then, and several people claim to have seen him there. Since most of the letters for his parents come from that town’s church, I presume that’s where his ‘home’ is.”