The night following Kaleth's conversation with Atunis about his father left him miserable and restless. Trying to sleep in particular proved to be a lost cause hours after he began his attempts to do so. So consumed was he with obsession over his family and the magic that seemed all the more mysterious in their absence that he couldn't find any peace in his mind. Whenever he tried to think of anything else, the disembodied voices of his father and mother would chime in with what he imagined were their own opinions of whatever he was thinking of. Nothing he did could distract him from the void his parents had left when the sai'mul came to claim their lives.
So he lied awake in his bed the whole night, turning frequently to readjust in his discomfort. His bed creaked with every movement and each time this happened, he could hear a sigh coming from Aennin's bed. After a dozen turns, Aennin got up wordlessly and sat down at the foot of Kaleth's bed. When Kaleth sat up to look at him, the elf sighed.
"Something on your mind?" he said loudly and pointedly.
With a sigh, Kaleth sat up and shook his head. "What if my parents are both dead after all?"
Aennin sighed and shook his head. "We'd have a lot more in common, for starters."
Kaleth froze awkwardly and said, "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it," Aennin said as he tilted his head to the ceiling. "I lost them a long time ago. I've had plenty of time to process my grief."
"How do you stop feeling so empty?"
Aennin sighed ironically. "It helps when one of them isn't the sort of parent you'd miss. But ultimately, you can't live the kind of life that I have without gaining some perspective on death. We are put on this world for only two things. We live to accumulate experience, then we die to pass that experience into another world that needs it. It hurts to lose your family, but when they die, they almost never suffer, but move on to the next step of our purpose."
Kaleth thought about Aennin's words, struggling to find any meaning to them. Finally he admitted, "I don't understand."
"Hardly anyone ever does," Aennin said as he locked his fingers behind his head and leaned against the wall. "The takeaway should be that your parents lived well, and if the Gods saw fit to take them away from you, it was because they were ready for them to be of use elsewhere. If it's any consolation, they're always going to live on in the things they did, you, and the things you'll do."
Kaleth found the mirth in him to smirk. "Somehow, I never pictured you being so religious."
Aennin nodded and slapped Kaleth's foot. "You would be too if you had a god speaking directly into your brain day in and day out."
Kaleth nodded and pulled off his blanket so he could turn his back to the wall. Sitting beside Aennin, he said, "What's it like to hear her voice?"
Aennin shook his head and said, "You don't want to know. It's not pleasant. At least not for me."
Kaleth sighed and stared into the darkness for a few more minutes. Then he said, "It doesn't really matter how you came to your conclusion about death, but it sounds like something they would have told me. Thank you."
Aennin stood up and pivoted back toward his own bed. "Don't mention it. I'm going to try to go back to sleep now. I have to be up in the morning to meet with the other Avatars so we can finally contain this violence."
"Right. Sorry to wake you. Good night."
Aennin fell asleep moments later and, so as not to wake him again, Kaleth readjusted himself gingerly. He put his head back onto his pillow and closed his eyes. Buoyed by Aennin's dark, but encouraging words, he managed to shut out the other voices in his head and focus on his newfound companion. He was still far from alright, but he was able to put his mind to rest for the moment and finally fell into sleep.
Kaleth woke up the next morning to the sound of Aennin shutting the door as he left. He sat up in his bed blearily for a few minutes before something occurred to him. Since he no longer thought he needed help finding his parents, he didn't really see the point to following Aennin's instructions to keep himself hidden away. Perhaps because his future was uncertain, his curiosity towards the Avatars and their plans to save the world overtook him. Compelled by this desire to know what was coming next, Kaleth threw some clothes on, locked the room and set out to find where Aennin had been.
Finding the Avatars wasn't as simple as he thought it would be. Whether they had chosen to meet somewhere secret or because the locals weren't inclined to tell him anything, he struggled to find a straight answer about their location. It would be an hour before an excited gossip had let slip that she had seen Atunis walking into a pub called The Deer's Fang. He thanked the girl and hastened to follow her instructions. Upon doing so, he found the people he was looking for grouped around the same table in a dark, secluded corner.
He crawled under one of the tables and, hidden from sight, began to think with the mind of a mouse. As he had done many times before, he then shrunk into the unimposing rodent he pictured. His transformation complete, he crept quietly across the floor to avoid making a sound. Upon reaching the underside of the nearest table to the Avatars, he looked up toward them and focused intently on listening to their conversation.
As the boy began to listen, he heard Aennin let out a pointed sigh "Time has been screwed up around Kaleth's person. That's what allowed us to cross two countries to get here before any of you. He thinks it must be because his father's still alive and I was perfectly fine with letting him believe that until things calmed down!"
"I understand, Aennin. I'm sorry," Atunis said in a tone of palpable sorrow. "I desperately want Kartal to be alive, but Lady Salica's responses to my prayers seem to imply otherwise, but..." He trailed off, his brow furrowing pensively.
"But what?" Tir said, peering searchingly at Atunis.
"I don't think any of this is meant to be," Atunis replied softly. "I opened my eyes one moment and everything was different."
Volt banged her tankard down on the table with a hint of clumsiness. "Atunis, I know it really hurts when you lose someone you love! It really does feel like the whole world changes around you, but we're here for you!"
Aennin put his head between his arms on the table and sighed. "I think everybody at this table knows how that feels by now."
Atunis released an exasperated sigh. "No, Volt, not..." He paused for a moment to rub his temples and let his head fall forward. "I don't mean like that. I mean it quite literally."
Aennin tilted his head upward and looked into Atunis' eyes. "Explain."
Tir leaned in as Atunis took a deep breath and began speaking. "I suppose I will just tell you what I told Kaleth. I had just returned from a long journey, and was spending some time with Jemah in my apartment. I closed my eyes one moment, and when they opened once more, he was gone, and the world around me had changed. I looked outside, and the street that had been tranquil and safe just an hour before was utterly destroyed, and teeming with violent sai'mul."
Aennin lifted his eyebrows. "You're not making any sense. Are you saying they just appeared on you?"
Aennin lifted his eyebrows. "You're not making any sense. Are you saying they just appeared on you?"
"Who's Jemah?" Volt asked curiously.
Atunis sighed. "Yes, they just appeared. And Jemah is my boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?!" Volt squeaked, scandalized. "You didn't even tell me you were seeing someone!"
Atunis leaned forward, putting his hands on the table. "Voltairine, you know him! You've met him several times!" He looked to Tir and tilted his head. "As have you. Do you remember?"
Tir shook her head, staring at the table in deep thought. "No. I don't."
Aennin shrugged and said, "I've never heard of him either, but I've never taken enough of an interest in your life to know who you're seeing."
Volt frowned at Aennin and smacked him in the chest with the back of her hand. "Ass."
Atunis sighed, looking pleadingly at Aennin. "You see what I am trying to tell you, right?"
Aennin shook his head in exasperation. "No, not really. All you've told us is that the world somehow changed while you were seeing someone you're quite certain everyone has met. What do you suppose that means, anyway?"
"That is not the only thing that changed," Atunis replied. "Where I came from, there is no Kaleth." He furrowed his brow uncomfortably and lowered his voice.
Aennin frowned and gave Atunis a peculiar stare. "So? Why would you suppose he didn't exist in this not-at-all-delusion of yours?"
"Because Kartal did not have a son, before! Adamora died before they could ever have children!" Atunis replied. "It isn't a delusion, it's my life, Aennin!"
Aennin shrugged and sat back upright. "Well your history is definitely far off. Either you're delusional or you're from another reality."
"Well, I'm not delusional!" Atunis replied, his brow furrowing sadly. "I really did come from somewhere else! Somewhere where Resta City is perfectly intact, and Kartal is still alive! Our only hope is to bring that world back!"
Tir shifted uncomfortably as she considered the man's words. She looked at Aennin somewhat pointedly before turning back to Atunis. "Atunis...listen. This is definitely worth looking into."
Aennin rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'll bite. Assuming what you're saying is true, maybe you should start by figuring out what else is different in this world you seem to know.
Atunis nodded, a small pout on his lips. "Right...well, I suppose you all could help me with that, since you all seem to be familiar with this awful place."
Volt looked at Atunis searchingly from her spot at the table, where she sat with her chin resting on the rim of her tankard. "What about Gyanda? Is he still okay where you come from?"
Tir placed her hand on the table in front of Volt. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."
Aennin nodded in agreement with Tir. "You said that Kartal's wife didn't make it this long as far as you were aware. How did she die, then?"
Atunis looked away uncomfortably, picking up his drink and fidgeting with the handle. "She...was murdered."
Aennin had a chill in his voice as he said, "So it seems. I might just be piecing this together, but you need to tell us all what you just held back."
Atunis sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Adamora was murdered. By...you, Aennin. You were the one who did it."
Kaleth suddenly felt sick to his stomach. They were far from done speaking, but he was far too stunned to care what else they had to say in that moment. What he heard made no sense, but it didn't stop him from picturing Aennin plunging one of his knives into his mother's torso.
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