The Butterfly Effect

"Alright!" She slid off her horse, then went over to pick up Tavin—he'd ridden with Imre. She sat him back on the ground just as she noticed Elena coming out to greet them. "How about you go greet Aunt Ellie and Uncle Witless?"

Tavin looked between her and Imre.

Slowly, Imre said, "Go on. It's alright."

So Tavin nodded, and went to talk with Elena. Lewis had come out now, too, along with some of Elena's kids. Lydia thought that might've been everyone that would come out, until Andrew walked around the others and to the two of them.

He waved and gave them both a welcome smile. "You're a little earlier than I expected! Everything going well?"

"Dad, I thought you'd be with Mom," Lydia pointed out. "You said she had that fancy thing with her old classmates."

"She does." He shrugged. "She didn't want me with her. In her words, it was a collection of historians, not 'whatever the hell' I do."

"Good. That's going to be a while, right?"

"The reunion is in Jaden territory. I think she'll be gone long enough."

That was exactly what Lydia wanted to hear. She didn't want Tavin to have to see her conflicts with Diana…

Andrew turned to Imre. "What you're doing can't be that time-sensitive, could it? I could get Lustris to make you a cup of tea or something, if you want it. You look like you could use a short break."

"N-no, I should probably be heading back to the castle…" Imre said, quiet. "I don't want to keep Natheniel waiting too long. Samone will be there for when he comes back from Qizar, but not for much longer, and Kiah should also be busy soon…"

Lydia sighed. "I'm pretty sure it'll be okay if you stay for at least ten minutes. Nothing serious is going to happen between then and now."

"I shouldn't stay. There's a lot that needs my attention." He gently tugged the reins back, getting the horse to slowly turn around. "I'll try to keep in touch through letters, but I can't promise I'll be able to visit. And I'll be sure to let you know when it's time to come back."

He'd already eased the horse into a walk, then a trot.

"Make sure to actually get some sleep!" Lydia called. "And eat something! No one wants you to pass out somewhere!"

She was fairly certain he mumbled something in response, but the time had passed for any proper assurance. She sighed.

"Why don't we head inside?" Andrew prompted. "It looks like the others might be staying out here for a little while longer, so we shouldn't have to worry about anyone overhearing. I'd like to be reminded of the details of the situation…"

Stolen story; please report.

Lydia nodded. "I don't suppose Lustris would like to get us some drinks while we're at it?"

"I don't see why not."

They walked back inside together, shortly separating; Andrew went to talk to Lustris, and Lydia gave Adrian—who must've just been there to quickly grab something—some instructions about Tavin. Then, assured that everything would be fine for a little while, she sat down and waited for her father's return.

Andrew came in with two cocktails, handing one to Lydia before sitting down himself. "I made sure Lustris knew to keep anyone from bothering us, so it should be fine to talk. All of this… it's about Natheniel, isn't it? As a dreamer?"

Lydia nodded. "It's all about the Nightmare's Heart. There's… a lot going on. We've all been pretty busy since the whole thing started."

"Is that why you and Tavin are staying with us? I can't say it completely stops him from wondering what's going on, but at least it's better than watching it all directly…"

"I guess? But also not really. There's a bit of that, yeah, but it also has to do with Natheniel. He's got to come back from Qizar and we're… pretty sure Tavin can sense that he's a dreamer. Being around Natheniel with his powers this strong is probably just going to make Tavin uncomfortable and we're trying to limit that."

"You both mention him coming back from Qizar. If a part of the issue was their conflicting senses, then wouldn't letting him stay there be better? It might even be safer, given that Qizar has the magic to defend itself against Skiá."

She shook her head. "We don't know how long this is going to last, or what else might need to be done. Besides, Zofie's got Philyra to take care of now, and we don't want Natheniel to keep bugging her about magic practice and stuff."

"So you're bringing the kid back to a castle where, it seems, everyone will be busy?"

"That's just what we have to do. We didn't really see any other options. At least someone will be there to keep an eye on him."

"Is there more to it that made Imre seem so solemn? He seems to get worse every time I see him."

"Dimas is with the group that's trying to find the Nightmare's Heart."

Andrew's frown deepened, but his tone remained relatively casual. "Well, that'll do it. If you needed someone experienced, though, couldn't you've gone? Or Kiah—she was a traveling mercenary before Casper hired her, wasn't she?"

"It's not just about experience. You know Hadar, right? Iris's husband. He's helping, along with two other mercs who could prove they knew what they were doing. So there's already a pretty capable team, but when they might be facing Skiá, being able to fight isn't all of it. Dimas has the best Life magic out of everyone Imre can contact. And that's the kind of thing that's going to make a difference between a success and a failure." She shrugged and took a sip from her drink. "I was definitely willing to go, but Imre didn't like the idea. I needed to stay with Tavin—if not just to keep him from getting too worried. Kiah probably would've gone, too, but she has other important stuff to take care of. It's not so much that this is the least of her problems as it's that she's too busy managing everything else involved with this problem."

He gave a wise nod. "I believe there's just one more thing, and then I'll be done. The Nightmare's Heart is supposed to control the Skiá, right? So you're hoping that, with it, you'll be able to tame his powers. But his powers are a part of him—you can't just lock them up and assume everything will be alright. I suppose that's just a lot of words to ask, you don't really know what's going to happen to him, do you?"

"We could give him a little piece and he'd be perfectly fine, or he'd get sick until he adjusted to it, or even a little bit could kill him. We don't know—and we're not going to until it happens. That's not even getting into whether or not we can actually get it to begin with…"

They were both quiet for a moment.

"Well, I hope it all goes well, then," Andrew eventually said.

"Not like there's much room for mistakes here…" Lydia mumbled.