The Butterfly Effect

She hadn't really realized how natural hiding things from Zofie had been until she joined the Ravens. Philyra had feared, at first, she might do a bad job at it; that there'd be questions she wasn't able to answer, or signs she would give away that revealed just a bit too much. But Kadol applauded her for how well she was doing, despite how new she was. She supposed she already knew what to say in order to keep Zofie content—perhaps it only took a little more to keep any more conflicts from sprouting between them.

Soon enough, Philyra and Kadol also came up with a set of "codes." Before she knew it, she found herself "friends" with a group of musicians from the church, or others intending to help with schoolwork. They were real people, of course—it wouldn't fool Zofie for long if she'd never met them. It… still might not have been ideal, though. Philyra noticed right away that all of them were other Ravens. Exposing one of them could cause the whole thing to collapse.

Then again, maybe those were just the kinds of risks that came with their work.

That was the reason they were out now—Kadol had convinced Zofie that Philyra was meeting with these "friends," and he was all the supervision she needed. It honestly didn't draw too much attention, not when he'd generally kept an eye on her throughout her life.

"You know," he said casually as he opened the door to the Ravens' base, "I think there was someone who wanted to see you."

When he gestured her inside, she went in. "Who—"

Suddenly, she felt the full force of someone hugging her. Just as she realized it had been Jesper, she heard him cheerfully say, "Happy birthday!"

"I didn't think you'd realize," she said with a little laugh. She never quite realized how tense she'd been before until she saw him. He always seemed to make things better.

Jesper laughed. "Of course I did! I actually kinda knew already. But I wanted to make sure, so I asked Boss earlier." He stepped back. "I also asked him what you might like! So wait right there, I have to go get it from the other room. I didn't want anyone to mess with it, you know?"

Then, before she had a chance to respond, he'd darted off into another room.

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Philyra glanced at Kadol. "Do you know what it is?"

He let out a chuckle. "I won't spoil the surprise."

"You know, that just makes me more nervous…"

"I believe you'll like it. I daresay you might even think it's one of the best presents you've ever gotten."

When he said that, she immediately thought of all the instruments, music books, trinkets, and other rather expensive things she'd gotten over the years. So… she was at least able to deduce it wasn't special because Jesper had paid a lot for it. She was fairly confident he didn't have a coin to his name anyway.

Which meant that this had to be a more personal gift, which just left her more curious.

In another minute, Jesper returned, hiding whatever the gift was behind his back. "Okay, I have it! There's kind of a story to this one. See, I wanted to give you something great—I mean, you're great, so obviously your present needs to reflect that, right? But Boss told me about how you practically had everything you wanted. I wasn't going to admit defeat, though! And I realized… someone as amazing as you didn't need something fancy. So I want to make a promise instead."

He revealed what he'd been hiding—two little pins, each resembling a seashell. "I might've been raised in the Andrea Province, but I am still a Tylane Coast kid at my roots! And I learned from other Ravens that used to live there that they have this tradition of exchanging seashells with people they really care about. I didn't have access to real seashells and, besides, I wanted you to have something you could carry around with you, so I got these." He handed one of them to her. "One for you and one for me. It's a promise to stick together—to stand by each other and, if we have to split up, find each other again. I'd love to know I've got someone like you by my side, no matter what happens. So… will you accept it..?"

She smiled and gently picked up the pin. "Of course. We're friends—and I'm not going to take this promise lightly, either."

"Great!" Jesper was beaming as he put on his pin. "I already feel like there's nothing that can tear us apart!"

He motioned to the rest of the base. "I may or may not have also told some of the others about today. They were all willing to help me throw a small party for you, too! And the best part? Aravind got assigned somewhere else for a little while, so we don't have to worry about him!" He held out his hand. "I can show you right now, if you want!"

Philyra nodded. "To be honest, you've already made my day. I'm willing to see what else you have planned."

And she gave herself a moment to reflect how odd it was. How, not only was she more comfortable around heretics… but that they'd also give her a reason to look forward to her birthday after three years.

That, to think, she'd woken up reminded that today marked the cataclysm for Natheniel's disappearance… and, with the Ravens, didn't even think of her family or past troubles at all.