Chapter Text
“Take it from me, Len, best revenge there is. Be yourself right in their smug faces.” Good advice from the Count that Woljif had taken to heart. “You’re a crusade hero, you’ve got the family connections, you’ve got the smarts. We need somebody like you.”
“As enticing as your offer is,” said Leonosa, “I have neither the inclination nor the capacity to return to Mendev. I have a life here in Absalom and studies to keep me busy. I am not about to throw it all away to go back home, where my mother can wear me down and undo all the healing I managed when I finally got away from all of this.”
“Nothin’ heals that kinda pain better than showin’ em what you’re really worth, trust me. What’s the worst they can do? If they try and make you look bad, they’ll just make themselves look bad. You’re a big Crusade hero. They’ll have to suck it up and carry your banner and that’s gonna be sweet revenge. Come on, Len, Mendev’s tieflings need you. You can’t just turn your back on us now, can you?”
Leonosa sighed. “I have to do a presentation for the Arcanamirium at the end of the week. It is a very complicated matter involving the study of time travel. I have devoted years of my life to this study, and I have to make absolute certain that–”
“Wait, your what?” Woljif jumped up from his perch on the windowsill of Leonosa’s library and tossed the book he was holding onto the wrong stack. “You know how to time travel, mess with stuff before it happens?”
Leonosa pinched the bridge of her nose. It was obvious that she’d had to explain this many times before. “No, time travel doesn’t actually work. It is a law that has been written into the very fabric of the universe and enforced by the Monad that only it and its agents can make actual changes to the timeline. Unless you’re an Aeon, all study into this field is purely theoretical.
“But if a non-Aeon could get around that,” she further explained, “my equations build a model of what it would look like.” She looked back at Woljif, making sure that he understood what she was saying. “What I am building is a purely hypothetical model of what mortals could achieve if that rule were not in place, but it has absolutely no chance of ever succeeding.”
Leonosa whirled around in alarm at a sudden brilliant flash of light—though she was certain she had extinguished the crucible before she came up to the library to talk with the Prince and it was not in her nature to be careless—but instead of a magical explosion she found another unexpected visitor: the Knight-Commander of the Fifth Crusade, whom Leonosa had served under but had never met face-to-face until now. He looked… colorful.
“Chief, this is Leonosa. Alias Lenarius.”
With a radiant smile Siavash clasped Leonosa’s hand warmly in both of his, and then half-sat on Leonosa’s reading table, scattering notes all over the library with his wings.
At first, Leonosa could only gape with the shock of seeing the Knight-Commander here in her study. How…what was he doing here? What could he possibly want with her?
The mess he made quickly brought Leonosa back to the present. “You be careful with all that,” she reprimanded him. “I spent weeks perfecting these formulas. If I hadn’t come up with a meticulous method of categorizing and labeling each page, it would take me hours to get them back in order. You are very lucky that these are just my notes and not an ancient and delicate scroll I was pouring over.”
“Oh. Apologies.” Siavash jumped up and made a grab for some of the fluttering papers, his wings stirring up even more notes and knocking over a precision-aligned planar quadrant in the process.
“Stop, stop…” Leonosa groaned. “Just…sit down and don’t move,” she said as she all but tried to force Siavash down on one of the chairs as she went off to collect her notes.
Folding his hands in his lap like a scolded child, Siavash took the offer of a seat, but on the table again. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. Woljif’s told me all about you. He says you’ve had it tough.”
“Yeah, never thought anybody could be worse than Gran, but the Viscountess takes the turd cake.”
“He also says you're brilliant, competent, fair-minded and respectable.” Although he started to reach for Leonosa’s arm he withdrew, perhaps sensing her discomfort with all the touching, but his easy, warm manners made the compliments sink in pleasantly. “I want you to know, whatever you decide, that if you do come back to Mendev you’ll have our full support.”
“And that’s worth your weight in gold, you better believe it,” said Woljif. “Demigod Squad’s got your back.”
Leonosa stopped for a moment, her arms laden with the papers and notes she gathered up. For a moment, her expression seemed sort of neutral, perhaps a little curious. It was probably the first time someone had ever…
“I…very much appreciate the sentiment,” she said. “I must ask, now that I have you here, what happened at the Worldwound? Where did your powers come from? I’ve heard the odd rumor back in Mendev, but not much seemed credible. Some of the stories I heard from my family seemed borderline…conspiratorial and inflammatory. What are your thoughts?”
The Lark and the Prince didn’t look at one another but Leonosa had the distinct impression something passed between them, perhaps telepathically.
“The mythic powers were a divine gift,” Siavash explained airily. “The more we used them to push back the forces of the Abyss, the more they began to resonate, you know, like a lutestring—”
“The more you get the more you get,” Woljif explained.
“Exponentially,” corrected Leonosa, peering at them intently over her glasses.
“Right. So that the moment we closed the Worldwound the power propelled us to ascension.”
“Cause we deserved it,” Woljif added.
Siavash served up another radiant smile.
Leonosa raised an eyebrow. The evasion was obvious (to her at least). She had a feeling that she wasn’t going to get much more out of them, but the “stand there and look very, very patient” posture worked well enough on her junior researchers.
It didn’t seem to work on Siavash. Brazenly he changed the subject. “Woljif tells me you may know something about time travel. You may be the answer to our prayers!”
“We have a mole problem,” said Woljif.
“A rogue Aeon, tunneling through timelines trying to upset them. We have no way of tracking her, let alone following.”
Leonosa blinked. “A rogue Aeon? What is she doing? Your wording implies that she has succeeded in going back in time. Do you know what her goals are?”
“Her name is Taurvi. I don’t know how, but she has some of the powers of both an Aeon and a psychopomp. Using those she was able to locate a convergence—a tipping point in my own timeline—and she attempted to annihilate me by killing my ancestor. Or, actually but luring me to kill my own ancestor. Anyway, when that didn’t work, she threatened to use the same interference to destroy other people—other Knight-Commanders in other timelines. I’m not sure why.”
Leonosa nearly dropped her papers. Did these two have any idea of the implications of what they were saying?
“You’re saying that this Taurvi actually succeeded in going back in time?” said Leonosa. “And you followed her? Do you have any idea what that means for the laws of our universe? Multiple timelines…”
Leonosa cleared everything off her desk and started putting notes together. “I have a side-project that I’ve been working on when I’m not busy doing my more reasonable research, but the existence of multiple timelines is fascinating to me. The idea that there can be an infinite number of overlapping existences with differences that range from subtle to wildly divergent, and yet every single one of them progresses along the same linear concept of time. You could have an entire world populated by sapient flying rabbits, and the progression of past, present, and future would still be the same. Of course, all of this is connected to the relative way in which every creature perceives time. As well all know, time is simply a mechanism for which we as creatures parse cause and effect. When event A happens because of event B, we perceive event B happening before event A, which of course…”
She looked over at the Knight Commander and the Prince. “Ah, forgive me. I get rather…immersed in this topic. When I was at a crucial moment in my life, I developed a fascination with the Monad. After that, research just came so naturally to me.” Even after all these years it sounded almost unthinkable. The vision Leonosa had received when she had been about to take that jump. The research that had proven far too close to what she had experienced to have been a coincidence, glimpses of herself living different lives. All of this would be too crazy to admit to anyone, let alone the Knight-Commander. “I even wrote up some of my own equations for how contact between them might theoretically be possible.”
Throughout this Siavash appeared attentive, even though Leonosa suspected he understood only a portion of what she was explaining.
“If you’re willing, I can give you copies of Nenio’s work,” he offered. “She’s uh, easily distracted, so I have the impression you would be able to make better progress. We would need to track Taurvi’s movements to pinpoint the convergences, and then find a way to follow and set things straight. Maybe your equations are the key.”
“See, I told you chief. Sharp as a tack.”
“Yes, I am very familiar with this Nenio.” Leonosa knew of the others in the Knight-Commander’s circle, if only by name. “If you could give me her research, I can see what I can do to fill in the gaps.”
* * *
Lenarius’ study was blessedly quiet until a burst of birdsong and the sudden scent of jasmine announced a pair of visitors.
“Hey Len, how’s the research goin’?”
Bent over Nenio’s four-dimensional map, Lenarius glanced up sharply. “Wings.”
Like scolded children, Woljif and Siavash both immediately polymorphed their wings away.
“My research would be going much faster if I hadn’t somehow misplaced my starmetal dimensional compass.”
Woljif gave a weak smile as he fished something out of a planar portal. “I thought you weren’t usin’ it.”
“I wasn’t,” said Lenarius with a tight-lipped frown, snatching it from his hand. “But I did waste valuable time questioning the cleaning staff about it.”
Totally unfazed by the theft, Siavash leaned his elbows on a bookstand and asked cheerfully, “So, did you manage to find a convergence in another timeline?”
“I have,” said Lenarius. “Mine. It’s just…what I am about to tell you…”
Lenarius took a deep breath. “Ever since the…incident that I am about to tell you, I have had very vivid dreams and visions of different versions of myself. The ones I seem to get more often of when I am the Knight Commander of the Fifth Crusade. No offense.” He looked at Siavash. “One of the reasons I got into study of the Monad was to make certain that these visions were real, and that I wasn’t crazy or delusional, but your friend’s work truly proves that I exist in at least one other timeline…”
He looked back at his two guests. “Unfortunately, this Taurvi has very deftly managed to pick a point in my life when I was…not in a good place. It was a very personal and traumatic moment in my life, and I need your word that you will treat it with all respect and seriousness.”
“Respect and seriousness are my middle names, Len, cross my heart,” Woljif piped up instantly.
Siavash gave Lenarius a much more sober nod. “Understood.” He rose from his relaxed posture and indicated the reading corner where they could sit. “If you’re sure you feel comfortable talking about it. I’m sorry it came to this.”
Lenarius—Knight-Commander in another timeline? He did not strike Siavash as the crazy or delusional sort at all, but it seemed absurd.
How d’you like them odds, chief? Or should I be callin’ him chief?
Yeah, it’s weird. Can it be a coincidence? Desna’s worked miracles before I suppose, but this must mean something.
Lenarius hid a grimace as he now realized how unbelievable he must have sounded. Sadly, he wasn’t sure that drawing up all his equations and proof on the chalkboard might make them understand.
“From your friend’s map...” Lenarius rolled up a chalkboard on which he had his new map of the multisphere drawn, along with his own annotations, equations, and pinpoints. “...I have pinpointed this rogue Aeon’s next destination to a separate timeline fifteen years in the past, in my family’s estate in Marhaven.
He winced. “If that is indeed where she is going, then I can tell you the most likely way she can attack. And you must promise me that you will never tell anyone what I am about to tell you.”
“Swear on my old Gran,” Woljif said a little too solemnly.
With a quick glance his way, Siavash corrected, “We understand, Len. You have our word.”
Lenarius steeled his nerves. “When I was fifteen, I got it into my head to end my own life. Just as I was about to step over, I received my first vision of all my other selves falling off the tower. It was enough to frighten me to step back from the edge, but years later I will learn that there aren’t many universes out there with me in them. I cannot help but think about my counterparts that did not survive…”
The look of alarm on Siavash’s face was so spontaneous it could not have been but genuine. First had come the shock of learning Lenarius was Knight-Commander in another timeline, and now the surprise that someone as competent and self-assured could have suffered so much pain and self-doubt, even as a teenager. The counterparts that did not survive. It was too tragic to think about. “Lenarius—I’m so sorry this has dredged up painful memories.”
He once again restrained the urge to give him a comforting squeeze on the shoulder. “It looks like Taurvi has no conscience at all if she’s capable of trying to destroy you in this way. Now I’m even more determined to stop her.”
“Yeah, that’s low, kickin’ a kid when he’s down like that.”
“Do you think there’s a way to send us to the convergence and prevent her from intervening?”
Lenarius turned back to the chalkboard. Woljif and Siavash were rather sweet in how concerned they were for him, but he did not want to break down crying in front of them.
“There is,” said Lenarius. “I could do something similar to what Nenio did and send you into the same tunnel Taurvi took to that point in that other world. I have made all the adjustments. We can begin on that very soon.
“In the other universes where I survive, either I don’t make the jump at all, or my own uncontrolled magic teleports me to safety. If my counterpart is to survive to become Knight Commander, he must be able to magic himself out of there.”
You gotta hand it to him, chief, he’s got a cool head and he gets things done. Didn’t I tell you we need this guy in Mendev?
Only if he feels ready, Siavash reminded him. Although something tells me he’s pretty resilient.
“Understood.” Siavash extended a hand. “Really remarkable work, Lenarius. It’s not much of a stretch to think you were Knight-Commander in another timeline. I’m sure you—you did an excellent job.” And for his part, Siavash did an excellent job of masking the cold wind of doubt that suddenly blew through his heart. It occurred to him at that moment that if there were other timelines and other Knight-Commanders, things might have gone much better with someone more structured at the helm. Someone more competent. This was likely to be an eye-opening ordeal, and potentially a large-scale tragedy, if he could not stop Taurvi rapidly.
“I don’t think I could ever do it,” said Lenarius. “I would just worry myself to death over every little thing. I don’t know how you did it.” But on the inside, Lenarius could not help the little spark of warmth from welling up within. Him. One of the Knight-Commanders. He had no doubt his mother would throw a fit if she ever imagined it.
“Well! That’s the hard part done! When can we go?” Siavash gave a bright smile.
“There is one more catch,” said Lenarius. “Well, two, actually. Firstly, interference must be kept to an absolute minimum. Making too many changes could wreak havoc on the timelines. Go back, make only the necessary changes to stop Taurvi, and come back.
“Two, the timelines will resist any changes made by a non-Aeon. You will only be able to make enough changes to stop Taurvi’s plans, but even then you will be greatly weakened. Tread carefully.”
“That means only one of us can go, I suppose,” Siavash said.
There was no disguising the look of alarm Woljif shot him. “Got that, chief? Tread carefully?”
“What’s the worst that could happen?”