Work Text:
“Sunshine? Have you seen Kyren? I can’t find her.”
Veylan stood in the doorway, Jaxen tucked against her side, the toddler blinking sleepily and chewing on her shirt. Her voice was too calm — the kind of calm that meant she was holding panic by the throat.
Ollie set his pencil down. “Not since earlier. Did she wander off again?”
“She was supposed to stay in the workshop.” Veylan exhaled. “But she’s not there. Or in the loft. Or the greenhouse. Or the crawlspace she thinks I don’t know about.”
Ollie stood. “Alright. Let’s—”
A faint shimmer caught his eye.
Not a glow. Not a light. Just… a distortion. Like heat haze, but colder.
It hovered near the far wall — a thin ripple in the air, barely visible unless you were looking directly at it.
Veylan followed his gaze. “What is that?”
Ollie stepped closer. The ripple quivered, then stretched, like something on the other side was tugging at it.
A whisper drifted through. Not a voice. Not words. Just a soft, resonant hum — the kind Kyren always tilted her head toward, as if she could hear something no one else could.
Veylan’s breath hitched. “Sunshine… that’s server resonance.”
Ollie swallowed. “Queue56.”
The ripple widened for a heartbeat — just long enough for them to see a flash of gold light, a fractured staircase, and the silhouette of someone tall and shimmering.
Midas.
They stood at the threshold, one hand outstretched, expression unreadable through the distortion. Their voice reached through the fold like a vibration in the bones.
“Your child is safe.”
Veylan stepped forward. “Bring them back.”
Midas shook their head slowly.
“They followed a path only they could hear. I cannot force them to leave it.”
Ollie’s heart dropped. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” Midas said gently, “Kyren chose to stay.”
The ripple flickered. The image blurred. Midas’s outline wavered like a candle flame.
“They are not trapped,” Midas added. “They are exploring. Learning. They are… extraordinary.”
Veylan’s voice cracked. “They’re a child.”
“Yes,” Midas said. “A child who walked into a place even I cannot fully map.”
The distortion began to collapse, folding in on itself like fabric being gathered.
Veylan reached out. “Wait—!”
Midas’s voice softened, almost kind.
“When they wish to return, they will. But the path they took is theirs alone.”
The ripple snapped shut.
Silence.
Jaxen whimpered, sensing the tension.
Ollie wrapped an arm around Veylan’s shoulders as she stared at the empty air where the fold had been, her breath shaking.
“She’ll come back,” he murmured.
Veylan didn’t answer.
Because for the first time, neither of them knew if that was true.