Rhea consciously held down her own excitement. Below her, the long wayward Jeralt had returned to Garreg Mach, staring up at her with his long missing child in tow. Far more exciting was the fact that the child had developed green hair and eyes in the twenty years since her birth. It wasn't the dark verdant green Rhea remembered of her mother, but the shift from the dark blue the child had in her infancy was an encouraging sign.

As Rhea looked closer, she could spot that the child hid her ears beneath her hair. Another hopeful sight. Rhea caught herself brushing her hand over her own ear, stopping just before she disturbed her extensive comb-work. These were promising signs of Sothis' blessing, but nothing to lose her composure over. As calmly as she could, she broke the pair's gaze as Jeralt leaned over to whisper something to Byleth. Walking away from the balcony, Rhea moved to find Seteth, who was hard at work in his office.

"Seteth."

"Hm?" Seteth looked up from whatever he was scribbling. "Rhea? What is it? If it's about the three heirs, I've already-"

"No, not that. It's about their rescuers."

"The Blade Breaker and his daughter the Ashen Demon, was it?" Seteth asked.

"Yes, them. I would like to speak with them both as soon as possible." After Rhea spoke, she wondered if she had let too much excitement into her voice. Seteth's brow had furrowed, confusion creeping onto his face.

His voice remained even. "I can rearrange your schedule and summon them now, if you like."

"Please do." Rhea fought off her giddiness before continuing. "I would also like you to be present for the meeting."

Seteth did an admirable job of hiding a groan in his sigh. "Rhea, I have work to do. Why is this important?"

"Seteth, please." His face remained unmoved. "I know Jeralt. The two will likely be here for some time." Still no reaction. "Seteth, this is important, I promise."

At last, he sighed. "As you wish, Lady Rhea."

Rhea smiled at her second. "Thank you, Seteth. I appreciate it."

After a few minutes, Rhea walked into her audience chamber with Seteth just behind her. Jeralt was speaking to Byleth, his shoulders tense and face worried. Rhea had hoped the years had sanded away at the rough edges of their last meeting, but perhaps not. Still, Rhea was confident that she could secure Jeralt and Sothis' vessel for at least a few months.

As she and Seteth took their places at the front of the room, Rhea's eyes turned to the child's face. She had the same mint green hair Rhea had seen from the distance. Her ears remained stubbornly hidden behind her hair in a straight, simple, almost messy style not unlike what Rhea would wear when she grew tired of weaving her hair together every morning.

More hope rose in Rhea when she looked at the vessel's eyes. They were a darker green then her hair, but in the lower light, Rhea could almost see a soft, subtle glow they produced, not unlike what Rhea saw in her own reflection when her power was bubbling forth. Surely, this was a very good sign, and Sothis' resurrection was at hand, if it had not already occurred. None of the other twelve had ever shown signs of Nabatean heritage.

Seteth was looking oddly at the child. Understandable. Rhea had yet to tell him about her experiments. He was undoubtedly confused about the vessel's resemblance to their lost kin.

Still, he remained professional. "Thank you for your patience, Jeralt. My name is Seteth. I am an advisor to the archbishop,"

"Right…" Jeralt still held half of his attention with his daughter. His voice tumbled slowly out of his mouth, just the way Rhea remembered how Jeralt spoke when he was dreading something. "…Hello."

Rhea was puzzled by Jeralt's tone. It didn't seem directed at her, or Seteth, but the child. Was their relationship so strained? What had caused it? Would it keep either of them away from Garreg Mach? Without missing a beat, she recited the introduction she had been silently rehearsing. "It has been a long time, Jeralt. I wonder…was it the will of the goddess that we have another chance meeting like this?"

Jeralt deflated a little as he looked at her. "You will have to forgive my silence over the years." He sighed, before looking over to the child. "Do you want to talk now?"

Rhea turned back to the vessel. Her green eyes were already level with Rhea's, as if she knew where Rhea's gaze would land beforehand. Languidly, the child turned to look at Seteth, who seemed almost unnerved when he met her stare.

"My name is Byleth." The vessel told him. There was something in her voice that gave Rhea pause. There was an age to it, a worn edge that shouldn't be in any twenty year old's voice, no matter how hard their life as a mercenary was.

"Jeralt is my father." Could this mean that the vessel had received at least some of Sothis' memories? It was a possibility. Rhea's mother had certainly seen many horrors. Such tragic recollections would scar anyone.

"Rhea is my grandmother."

The words slipped out of the child's mouth as easily as all those she had said before, but their weight forced the room into silence. Rhea looked at the child, waiting for a change in expression, some admission of a jest, for the child to continue on as if Rhea had misheard her, but the vessel's expression remained unchanged. Beside her, Jeralt looked utterly bewildered.

Rhea looked to Seteth. His face didn't show shock, but it wasn't far from it. He looked from Byleth to Jeralt, before finally landing on Rhea. Whatever answer Seteth was looking for couldn't be found on her face, so he turned back to Byleth. "What?" He asked for all three of them.

Rhea looked back at Byleth, who's expression remained unchanged. For the first time, Rhea began to pick up on the subtleties laid bare on the child's face. Byleth's expression might be described as blank, but Rhea's experienced eye could see the same age hidden in the child's voice. Byleth might have been looking at Rhea, but the subtle glow in her eyes almost hid an almost glossed over sheen. Rhea could not say whether Byleth was looking at her, or just in her direction. Rhea had seen it in many people over the centuries. In her Wilhelm's eyes when he realized his death had come to claim him, no matter what Seiros did to save the man. In Cichol's when Cethleann would not wake. In her own reflection the day after she killed Nemesis and realized her mother wasn't coming back.

"My mother was Sitri. Rhea was Sitri's mother. Rhea is my grandmother." Byleth remained calm as the three around her found they could do nothing but gape in shock.

After a few hour-long seconds, Rhea found her voice. "...Jeralt." It took him a moment, but he managed to break away from his stupor and face her. "From your reaction, you have never told her about…" Rhea couldn't find the strength to finish the question.

From Jeralt's reaction, she wasn't sure if he could find it in himself to hear it. "She's been telling me things she couldn't possibly know ever since we rescued those brats." His voice came out slowly, placing one word after the other. "She said she was going to explain it all when you and…Seteth were around to hear."

"You asked for me?" Seteth questioned. "And what else has she been saying?"

Byleth turned to face Seteth. "I know that you are far older then my father, who can measure his lifetime in centuries. I know the two of you have never met because you where standing vigil over something far more important then your own life."

If Rhea could tear her eyes away from the vessel's-no. Not the vessel. The woman standing before her was far more then that. Rhea could sense it. If Rhea could tear her eyes away from Byleth's unchanging expression, she was certain she would have seen Seteth frozen in shock.

Long after the silence had grown unbearable, Rhea broke it. "…How do you know these things? Why are you telling us this?"

Byleth's expression had not shifted in the long silence. Now, it softened ever so slightly as she let out a small sigh. Her voice gained a hint of levity. "I opened with things I could not possibly know so you would believe me when I told you something ridiculous."

"Ridiculous?" Jeralt asked.

"The answer to how I know things I cannot." Byleth turned to address Rhea. "Before you think it, that isn't the explanation."

Rhea blinked, before realizing she was about to ask if Sothis had gifted her some sort of power, and held her conjecture back. "…Then what is your explanation?"

"I have lived my life more times then I can count. I have seen it go by in seconds, millennia, and everything in-between." A brittleness crept into had seeped into Byleth's voice, even if her eyes remained fixed, as if they were placed in her head like stained glass.

"I have explored more possibilities then I can count, and caused more then I can remember. No matter what I do, I always return to this beginning. Now, after so long, I seek its end."

Time travel fics are popular for a game where a central mechanic is the ability to reverse time, no happy ending for everyone, and a new game plus feature? Who could have guessed?

I'm going to be trying to deviate from some of the more common paths (Byleth doesn't tell anyone, for instance) but we will be treading familiar ground, right up to the point we aren't. I'll hope to see you there, and along the way.

As always, reviews are appreciated.