The Butterfly Effect

{-Koyana-}

She could never understand how Demery was able to come up with his plans. While she was hardly able to sit down long enough to think about it, he already had the whole thing figured out. It was mildly annoying, yet, she didn’t bother to try to be like him. She knew she would never be able to do it, so she didn’t bother.

At least these people seemed rather friendly. They must’ve had a close community, judging by what she saw as she wandered around town. People were greeting each other, helping one another, holding casual conversations with plenty of laughs… it may have technically been her first time this far from her own town, but she didn’t feel like it was unfamiliar. She’d been told that most towns in Qizar were like this, to no surprise; after all, they were bound together by a common belief in the Commandments and what it taught.

“Good morning!” Koyana greeted when she was close enough to a friendlier-looking-than-most couple. “I’m not from around here and I’m looking for someone. Do you have some time to help?”

They both gave her welcoming smiles.

“Are they a friend of yours?” the woman asked.

“I don’t know them myself,” Koyana explained. “They’re more like a friend of a friend.”

“We know pretty much everyone who’s lived here, so maybe we’ll know who it is,” the man offered. “What’s their name?”

“So, my friend never really told me if it was their first or last name, but ‘Feldr’ is who he wanted me to ask about.” She wondered if she’d said something wrong with the way they both looked at her.

“Feldr? Are you sure..?” The woman—and everyone else in earshot, for that matter—frowned. “What could you possibly want to learn about them for..?”

Koyana let out a bit of nervous laughter. “I’ll, uh, go see if someone else knows anything… Thanks for your help!”

She left before she had to stay in that awkward conversation for any longer.

Maybe their families just hadn’t gotten along..?

She found another group of people and asked a similar question. “Hello! I was wondering if you knew anything about someone named Feldr?”

One mumbled something that sounded like a desperate prayer and walked away. Several more had the kind of expression that the couple did.

Only the oldest of the group was willing to give her a proper answer. “We don’t talk about them anymore. The past is left in the past—I think you can understand that.”

After a moment, another nodded. “Nothing good will ever come out of mentioning people like them.”

“A-alright…” Koyana mumbled. She waved goodbye and walked away again.

She kept asking around, with no better response. It seemed everyone she came across felt that way; not a single person, despite how close they must have been as a whole, claimed to have been close to Feldr. Once she’d asked a couple more people, she stopped bothering others and just wandered—wondering about why they might’ve had such a reaction. What could’ve happened to them to make them act like Feldr never existed?

Could… there have been something tragic behind it? Back home, they would often avoid mentioning a certain family because of what happened to them. Maybe whatever it was, it was too sad to think of.

No, that couldn’t be the case with Feldr. The way they talked about them suggested they thought them more of a nuisance they were glad to be rid of, instead of someone they missed. There wasn’t a single person who didn’t sound like that. So, then, what had Feldr done? What could have been so terrible that even the single mention of them caused people to act like that?

Had Feldr done something unspeakable? And, if they did, then what was the purpose of Aither asking them to try to get information on them..? A way to show them what would happen if they didn’t do something..?

She was drawn out of her thoughts when she passed by the church. A few members of the clergy were having a hushed conversation about something, but one thing stood out to her—they mentioned the name Feldr.

“Ah!” Koyana tried not to rush up to them or to seem excited. “Did you just mention Feldr? I’m looking for information about them! Do you have anything you’d be willing to tell me?”

“No,” one of the clergy members replied without hesitation. “There’s nothing we’re going to tell outsiders. You have no business prying about that wretched family.”

She immediately stepped back. “Sorry for bothering you, then…”

Maybe she should just go back to Aither. Nothing was going to get done at this rate. Besides, she was starting to feel like she may have outstayed her welcome here…

She had, admittedly, forgotten where exactly Aither ended up staying, though it didn’t take too long to find him. Demery was already there, from the looks of it just about to recount his own experience before noticing her.

“Good,” Aither said with a grin. “It’s a lot easier to go over everything when you’re both here. So, what did the two of you learn?”

Demery shrugged. “All I could find was a few records—it just said that the parents died at the same time, but there was nothing about what happened to the kids. When I tried to ask one of the nuns about it, she made me leave.”

“I tried asking around and no one really answered me either,” Koyana added. “They acted like Feldr had done something unforgivable…”

“Just as I thought,” Aither mumbled. He got a little louder to actually address the two of them. “I knew they wouldn’t tell you anything.”

“Then why did you make us go out there?” Demery questioned. “Couldn’t there have been something more productive to do with our time if you knew no one was going to talk to us?”

Koyana chose to ask a more hopeful question. “Was it all just part of an elaborate set up for you telling us about Feldr yourself?”

Aither shook his head. “I still can’t tell you that part yet, but you’ll be able to figure it out for yourself soon enough. As for how they reacted to their questions and what little they told you… keep that in mind for now, alright? It’s going to be important later.”

He then brought their attention to the small collection of things behind him; a few small jars of something reddish and a few freshly-picked ikretta. “While you were gone, I had a small mission of my own. I checked in with Day—”

“That’s your nickname for Danai, right?” Koyana asked without really thinking about it.

“Yes, it’s what most of us call her. Not many mortals piece it together, though, even when it’s really obvious…” Aither paused. “But you didn’t let me finish. I went back to Sanctuary and talked with Day. She let me know that we can start the next part of the plan now.”

“And what’s that?” It sounded like Demery was expecting to hear something bad—his expression proved it, too. He probably thought it would just be more “pointless” running around.

“Do you remember what I originally told you I came to give you? We’re going to go find those.”

“Are we going to have to guess where they are..?”

“It’s not quite as impossible as this one was, I promise. I don’t think you’ll have much of a problem once we get there.”

Demery mumbled his suspicions.

“Are we going to need those in order to find them?” Koyana prompted, gesturing to the odd jars.

Aither looked confused for a moment before realizing what she was talking about. “Oh, no, those don’t have anything to do with what I wanted to show you. It’s just what they could spare since there’s… someone else who takes a bit higher priority than me right now…”

“What’s the ikretta for, then?”

“It’s more or less for the same thing. Just what I found while I was waiting for you two…”

“What are they both supposed to do?”

“That’s… something we can talk about later, maybe. I swear, it’s nothing important—it’s probably not something you’d really be able to understand, either.”

“We don’t really understand any of this,” Demery remarked. “But we’re with you now, and there’s no point in heading back home. When are we going to leave for where you left those things?”

“Tomorrow morning,” Aither replied. “There’s a bit of walking involved, so I’d suggest you head back to the inn and rest.”

“Can’t,” Demery sighed, “our grandparents didn’t give us enough money for two nights.”

“Plus, I think I annoyed a lot of people,” Koyana said casually. “I have a feeling that, even if we had the money, they weren’t going to let us in…”

Aither thought about it for a moment, mumbling some things to himself. “Alright, this just calls for a slight change of plans. You can stay out here with me. It’s… not the most comfortable of places to sleep, but you’ll definitely be safe with me here.”