Hiraeth -- Eleceed FF

Chapter 6

"Cain, you have to see this," Nathalia said, gesturing from where she was sitting by the stove.

Lancelot stalked over first, and Nathalia reached to pet him. He made some halfhearted vocalisation and walked away. Cain laughed, coming over. "Sorry. I imagine you're not much of a cat lover by now." He sat down beside her. "What's that?"

"A letter from Jacob Eresby. I thought you might like to know what's been going on."

Cain took the thick cream-coloured paper. The handwriting was elegant and practiced, but clearly rushed, and the ink was smudged in places. It was dated three weeks ago.

Dear Nathalia,

I hope you are safe and well. The political scene has been in turmoil ever since the attack on the World Awakened Academy, and the Frame has been getting more daring than ever. It is good that you are isolated at this moment; in any case, if anyone still remembered that you existed, their attention will certainly have been taken up by more pressing matters at the moment. Given recent events in both our spheres, I have decided to move our plans forward: they were meant to be set in motion late next year, if you recall, but we are forced to begin, and indeed on the Eresbys' side we have already begun to take action. I will explain why very soon.

Before I continue– thank you for informing me about Cain Luterain. 

"You told them I was here?" Cain asked.

"I did."

"How did you know they wouldn't just tell my family?" He looked away. "Never mind. I'll continue reading this first."

He is one of the reasons for the change in our timeline. The fact that he is with you must not be overlooked, even if it is mostly unknown to the rest of the world. The likelihood that more people, especially his family and the Bryans, will come to know of it grows with each day. Already, as you told me in your last letter, you have faced an assassin sent by his family. This can mean one of two things: either the Luterains have people looking for him all over the world, which means that you will in some time be found again, and by a stronger opponent, or that they have pinpointed his location, in which case you will become collateral damage when they send someone more powerful over.

Cain remembered Seth and shuddered. Nathalia saw, but said nothing.

In either case, now that Luterain is with you, any attempt to find him is in effect an attempt to find you; and while the Bryans have in the past year (due to the attacks on the Academy and their fear of traitors within) scaled back on their efforts to find the remnants of Isidro Espinoza's family, the Luterains will now take over that job for them. When news gets back to his family about the strange water-controlling Awakener with him, they might make a connection to the Espinozas– and nothing would prevent them from colluding with the Bryans to destroy both of you.

That is one reason why we must move faster: we have to act before the Bryans and the Luterains manage to align their knowledge and their aims and both of you are placed in danger. They have far more resources than you, and their power is no match for yours as well, given your young age and inexperience. The only advantage you have is that they have far more to deal with and thus cannot coordinate things as easily as you and I can. By setting our plan in motion now, we avoid giving them time to marshal resources and thus make the situation as advantageous for you as possible.

"I'm sorry," Cain said suddenly. "If I hadn't come here, your plans wouldn't have had to be changed like this."

"It wasn't my choice, really, and anyway you didn't know about it." Nathalia smiled uncomfortably. "You should finish the letter; I want to call Jacob Eresby after this."