The inevitable progression of things

[heirtothearcane]

There was nothing more that could be done to improve his chances of making this an easy conversation. He'd meditated, grounded himself, practiced in the mirror and bought in cakes. The cakes were likely to be the most helpful of all of these things, and were in no small part inspired by Verity who had reminded him of how influential delicious baked goods could be. They, however, did nothing to calm the low buzz his nerves had settled into. With the tea ready all he needed was for her to appear. It was a stressful wait.

It had become customary for her to beeline for the kitchen when she visited Viatorus and today was no exception. Her sigh as she entered was of someone who was ready for a break from a long day. As if he needed to feel more guilty about dropping this on her. She stalled as she caught sight of the picture perfect spread on the table. Her eyes slid from the cakes to the tea to rest a suspicious gaze on Viatorus. "What's going on?"

"I-I need to talk to you about something." He flitted over to one of the chairs. "To tell you about something."

Muscles twitched as she tried not to frown, endeavouring to keep calm and open in the face of her brother's cryptic half-answers. She set her bag on one of the chairs before sitting on another, Viatorus following her lead. "About...?"

"My research." A spark appeared in her eye and his stomach twisted as he recognised a hope that was about to get dashed across unwelcome truths.

"Go on," she prompted, eagerness slipping into her carefully controlled voice.

"I... I was working on the Explorer's ideas, as you know. Working with his theories and trying to adapt them to open up a portal to the dreamlands."

"Yes. You were having difficulty opening a stable portal because of their constantly shifting nature." She nodded, recalling the reports with ease even if some of the details had been skimmed over. "I know."

"Well." The fidgeting began in earnest. "I managed to open a portal. Not to the dreamlands," he was quick to elaborate. "But to somewhere else."

Instantaneously her restrained optimism was turned on its head to a tempered wariness. "To where?"

Deep breaths. "T-T-They call it the Nexus." Shaking hands pulled out one of the leaflets and slid it over. "It's a multiversal meeting point. A place where worlds meet. It's a stable dimension." His pounding heart started to steal his breath from his lungs while Isidor pulled the leaflet closer. "I-I-It's amazing. Full of... of amazing things. Amazing people... Amazing."

This was to be expected from a planeswalker. He was meant to stumble across other dimensions and planes. So Isidor attempted to control her reaction, to keep the shock from showing. She took a slow breath while she looked over the information in front of her. "And... you went to this place? Why didn't you call me immediately?"

Viatorus cringed and rubbed the back of his head, glancing to his hands, anything to avoid her gaze. "I... I was shocked at first, and then... then I was afraid you wouldn't let me go back. I made friends there and helped people and..."

Isidor blinked and looked up at him again. "Wait, what?" A slight tilt of the head and a hard stare locked onto him. "When did you discover this, Viatorus?"

He braced himself. "A... month or two ago..."

There was only the briefest of pauses before it began. The outpouring of horror, worry and hurt came as a torrent that shook him even though he'd prepared himself as best anyone could. She was insulted, he knew. The choice to keep it from Isidor had taken her role from her without her even knowing. Then there was the fear, the thoughts of what could have happened that manifested itself as a blind fury. It went on and on. He had to clutch at the fabric of his trousers to stop his nails from digging painfully into his hands. By the time her ranting was almost over, he was shaking. It didn't concern her more than the news did. He trembled a lot.

And then she brought up what he'd been dreading. "How am I going to tell the Archon about this?"

He swallowed hard and spoke softly. "Y-You could just tell him that I... I found another... another plane. That I'm exploring it."

"And that you're changing your focus from the dreamlands?"

"No, I..."

"That's what you'd be doing."

"But I..."

"You'd be changing it to explore this 'Nexus' and contributing... what?"

This time he sat up straight, confidence hesitantly slipping in. "I have an answer for that! It's full of knowledge. Of people and places and things that can contribute all sorts of things. Things beyond our wildest dreams."

"Things," Isidor repeated sceptically. "Things like what."

"A... casket of Fimbulwinter..."

She looked at him strangely. He hadn't expected her to recognise the term right away. "Fimbulwinter?"

"Yes. My friend Verity, her world is dying, so she offered our family the Casket of Ancient Winters which contains the Fimbulwinter of Ymir. A powerful winter from Norse myth." He watched her scepticism gradually morph into thoughtfulness. Encouraged by the pause, he pushed further. "She's offering us an object of ancient magical and divine power. Think of what we might learn from it."

It sounded too good to be true. "What's the catch?"

"She wanted to save some of her world, and she knew we'd be able to protect it." Viatorus hesitated. "She also wants me to be allowed to continue going to the Nexus."

"Why?"

Again, he faltered. Not because he didn't know the answer, but because the answer was still new to him. "Because... Because she's my friend."

The silence that settled seemed suffocating. The tension pulled Viatorus to the edge of his seat while his sister ran through what he'd told her. After her outburst he could still see how disturbed she was by this sudden confession and Isidor's dutiful streak could fuel an unrivalled stubborn steak if it was prompted to.

"Here's what we're going to do," she started, thinking aloud. "You are going to tell me everything I need to know about the Nexus. Then you are going to write a report on everything that has happened in, or because of, the Nexus and the people you've met there." She gave him a warning look. "And if I found out you've left out a single detail..."

"I won't!" He chimed in, hopefulness lifting his tone. "I promise."

"You'd better not. For all our sakes." The point hammered home, she continues. "You're going to write this very thorough, very detailed report and then you're going to send it to me. I'm going to go through it and send it with my notes to Stathis. We'll take this 'Casket of Ancient Winters' and bring it to the vault at home. We're going to act as if this is a perfectly normal progression of your research."

Viatorus nodded, sitting up to attention to show that he was listening to everything was saying. The result was a relief and one he was incredibly grateful for. It couldn't be about him, though. It couldn't be a decision driven by his own selfish desires. So he didn't thank her repeatedly like he wanted to.

Finally she took time to pour her tea, setting herself up and sitting back into her chair. She fixed him with her characteristically sharp gaze. "But right now you are going to tell me everything."

And he did. Cakes left for his sister, he recounted as much as he could remember, as chronologically as he could with the nervous excitement still shooting through his nerves. It was hard to tell what she thought. Isidor had long ago mastered the art of keeping his opinions hidden and she'd managed to calm down enough to do just that. Still, it was much better than being outright banned. All in all, it was a good start.