Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Understandable," replied Jeremiah. It truly was, if only because he too had his moments of being done with the judgement of people who had no knowledge or understanding of what was going on.

"We'll work something out." One way or another, Jeremiah wanted to help her. Quiet once more, he studied her face before speaking again. "I do not know if this will come as a surprise to you or not but you did exist in the new world." A breath. "Or may still exist."

Hearing Ashdown referred to as otherworld was always odd but then- "Why do you refer to this as the real world?" Jeremiah had been nursing a theory for a while. "I know it is the only constant in all of this - between the cycles."

Granted, it felt more real here than it did in Ashdown sometimes and less like he was being smothered.

"Sometimes I think this world is all that's left of what came before. The world before."

"Yes," Jeremiah agreed. "It's only gotten more tiring as time has gone by." He meant being in Ashdown but then he assumed that that was due to the fact that he had formed a closer bond with the magic.

To hear it confirmed settled a few things.

"I often wonder if I will reach a point where it's better I am here than over there." Something else to worry about but not for now. "Though I did at least learn one thing I don't wonder so much about anymore. You're my sister, half-sister in any case." His lips twitched just a little.

"It is, at least, for this particular otherworld." Jeremiah tilted his head and studied her. "... but that is likely not always the case." He looked away, to the sky and only watching her out of the corner of his eye. "I do think you might've been my daughter but things change with the cycles."

After all, Ezra had been Eve's sister but was actually her son. Things did change.

"Theories," he said, "are all I have until you decide to tell me. Not that it particularly matters in the end, you're stuck with me wanting to help you- that does include getting your voice back."

Jeremiah reached for her then, hand going to rest gently on the top of her head. It was a soft touch, gentle. For a man who was hard to damage, it was obvious that the easiest place to hit him was his heart.

"I want to ask you a question, one that I truly want to know the answer to." A pause. "It's not how you're related to me." Though it might have been, who knew. "... though you're free to not answer." Jeremiah was not going to stoop to using his own talents to get the answer. It was potentially something he would not like the answer to.

His hand retreated, back to his side. It was behavior he had seen before.

It was what he was wanting to ask about. Perhaps he wouldn't have if she had responded differently. She hadn't and here he was. Jeremiah spoke with his hands this time. You flinched before. You freeze up now. Why?

Even if she controlled it, he knew it from more recent experience. Being regarded as a predator was something he found he did not like but-

The weight that settled into his stomach-

"Minerva- Mina-" Jeremiah started and then let out a breath. The idea that some other him would do such a thing was against everything he was. "Perhaps another me but I won't. I can't even- why would that even happen? Why strike you at all?" Emotion had crept into his voice.

... yet then hadn't she said it? How many times before had he taken a place as nobility by conquest. If he was willing to kill another noble, then he was capable of far worse.

Jeremiah closed his eyes, breathed deep and then opened them. "Then tell me later, after all of this Charter business is taken care of, what you're willing to tell." A pause. "Or point me to a direction to learn something that would make it easier for you share. Whatever it takes to see you not have to shoulder a burden alone anymore."