The Butterfly Effect

{-Demery-}

“The curse of Feldr?” Demery prompted.

Slowly, Tandi nodded. “I presume, if you’re at the point where you want to seek me out, you’ve already encountered writings about… her. The old friend of Tyrus, Feldr, and Komaeda—the one directly responsible for all of this. Don’t ask me for a name, because I cannot give you one. I suppose it must be lost to time, where it’s meant to be.”

While she talked, Olle ushered Evelina to another one of the rooms, but kept the door open so they could still hear. “She was never meant to be with them. In fact, she was the kind of force that was never meant to have existed in the first place. What kind of being she was, to be considered that, was something I was never told—I don’t believe Master Tyrus knew himself. You’ve all heard of the Ilethera and what they’re said to do, haven’t you? They say they were born from the pieces of Saint Ilethera’s spirit that shattered when she drowned in the Lake. They’re thought to be magnets of misfortune, with Darkness drawn to them. The effect this unspoken person had on her friends—or at least, Tyrus and Feldr, since no one has been able to find Komaeda’s line—is somewhat similar to this.”

The longer Tandi spoke, the more it seemed like she was simply rewording the explanation she’d been told of the thing; the rattling off of facts, but without seeming to have any true understanding of it. “Being around her… they believe it did something to them. Since meeting her, many members of their bloodlines have fallen prey to misfortune. There are some things that are unique to an individual; then there are others which seem to affect many members of the family. One of such occurrences in the Feldr bloodline has been considered the full extent of their curse—a complete or gradual loss of magic, usually while the child was still young.”

“So this is something that runs in the family?” Olle asked after a moment.

“Master Tyrus used to write to your father, before sending Demery and Koyana away,” she mused. “If I remember correctly… your father, too, had lost his magic.”

“He never did use any around us,” Evelina mumbled. Even if she was somewhat close, it was still hard to hear her. “Even when it would’ve been more practical to do it himself, he always turned to someone else…”

Olle was quiet before, finally, commenting, “I suppose there’s just some things we might never know.”

Demery brought his attention back to Tandi. “You said that there’s some similarities between family members. If there’s a curse of Feldr, then what’s the curse of Tyrus?”

“It isn’t anything in particular—not really,” Tandi responded thoughtfully. “But my master always speaks of how misfortune seems to follow them. And, I’ll admit… things aren’t quite as at peace as they appear on the surface…”

“So, I’m guessing this is part of the thing that they left us for? How do they know it’s something they got from being around ‘her’ and not just a fanciful way of explaining something with completely mundane causes?”

Aither looked impressed that he’d thought to ask the question; Tandi was stuck trying to find an answer.

“You’re right,” she said slowly, “there’s nothing that can prove if there’s actually a correlation between them. But Master Tyrus mentioned to me that there were points when it was stronger, or weaker, depending on how close together the two families were. He said that communicating through letters helped a bit; completely cutting off communication helped a little more. But, it seems, it wasn’t something that carried over to the Feldr bloodline… so, no one can be certain yet—if you or my master is correct.”

…

Come morning, everyone but Olle and Evelina were downstairs. Olle had appeared for a moment, to say something to Aither, but so far Evelina had yet to emerge from her room. Demery didn’t pay much mind to it; he was involved in an important conversation of his own.

“We don’t know exactly when Jimar is going to visit the church,” he pointed out. “We need to make sure we’re somewhere we can see him. Who knows how long he’ll stay here before deciding to leave again.”

“He usually doesn’t stay for any more than a few days,” the old woman remarked from the kitchen. She was preparing breakfast for them—something she’d insisted on, however much Tandi tried convincing her out of. “If you’re looking for him, then you’d better find him quick.”

“Do you think we could try just standing by the church?” Koyana asked. “They’re probably not going to let us in, but maybe they won’t mind if we hang around for a little while…”

Aither shook his head. “If they had that kind of reaction, I doubt they’re going to like us being anywhere near the church. I’m honestly surprised it doesn’t seem like they told anyone else in the village about it…”

The old woman came in from the kitchen, quickly sat a bowl of fruit on the table, and darted back. “Are you talking about the nuns? They try to spread rumors all the time about things they don’t understand. Just last week they tried to keep me from attending service because they thought my son had stolen ichor from the church. He hadn’t—he wasn’t even at the church they said it happened in. They’re going to get someone accused of heresy one of these days…” It sounded like she continued mumbling about the matter.

Demery was tempted to ask her what she thought was actually going on with Evelina, then, if she didn’t believe the nuns. But he knew it was better not to push their luck—if they made it obvious what was going on, it would just make things worse.

“This is a small town,” Tandi mumbled. “I don’t think there’s many places we can be that don’t have the chance of running into him…” She was quiet for a little while, thinking it all over. “I believe I know a place he’s sure to pass by, aside from the church. But I think it would be best if one or two of you could come with me—to be proof of what’s going on, and let him know how important it is that he lets us see the box.”

“And to keep it from being awkward between you two,” the old woman called. “It’s been a long time since you’ve seen each other.”

Tandi’s sheepish chuckle was enough of a confirmation.

“I’ll check with Olle and make sure he doesn’t think he’ll need me, but I’ll go with you,” Aither offered. “I might be able to clear up any possible confusion on either side.”

Koyana looked about ready to say something before Demery said, “There’s no point in both of us going. Koyana, are you sure I’m going to be able to trust you on your own here?”

“Come on, you know you can trust me that much! There’s not even anything interesting to do here…”

The old woman walked back with a plate full of pancakes. “I could use the help cleaning up around here, if you’re desperate.”

Koyana nodded and smiled. “You’re letting us all stay here for so little, after all, it’s the least I could do!”

“Then I’ll come with you and Aither,” Demery decided, glancing back at Tandi.

“After you get something to eat, I assume?” the old woman prompted.

They all nodded and ate in silence—other than Aither having to explain to the confused old woman why he wasn’t eating.

They’d left as soon as they all finished eating. Tandi muttered what seemed to be a checklist of things under her breath, Aither looked similarly lost in thought, and Demery quite frankly didn’t care about anything. He was here for some form of answers, and he was going to do what he could to get them. One of them, at least, needed to be on the lookout for Jimar.

“Well, well, is that who I think it is?” A man walked up to them—who looked exactly like the one Ms. Siavax had been talking to. It was Jimar.

Tandi, pulled out of her thoughts, jumped and began a short, nervous greeting. Or, more accurately, ramble. “A—a while? Yes, it’s—it’s been, ah, some time. A long time. Practically sixteen years… N-not that I’ve been keeping track!”

Jimar laughed. “Come on now, we’re old friends, aren’t we? There’s no need to act like that. Nice to know you still haven’t seemed to have gotten over my charm, though.”

She blushed and kept her eyes on the ground.

He glanced at the other two. “You’re Demery, aren’t you? I know someone in the Tyrus family when I see one.” When Demery nodded, Jimar looked at Aither. “And what’s this kid trailing behind you for?”

“I’m a Fos, coming on behalf of Danai,” Aither replied. His solemn tone had an edge of slight fear to it, like he was already trying to figure out what he’d need to do if it didn’t work. “We were told you had a box that belonged to the Tyrus family. Koyana and the blood of Feldr are traveling with us—it’s time we see what’s inside the box.”