Approaching a Method
Notes:
The core purpose of this chapter is to put Nia's wisdom gathered from experience and her knowledge about her family on full display. She knows things. She knows many things. And she knows how to utilize those things to get what she wants or needs to get done taken care of (yes, I am once again taking advantage of the fact that she is an INFJ, because that's what you get to do when an adult version of them is on the scene. You can have them "read minds" and do whatever everyone else has been repeatedly failing to do).
*****
It seemed a bit…ruthless. Too ruthless, in fact. They had tortured Janner for almost a month, stabbed him and left him with a wound that would likely result in a permanent limp, and ruined his health. Surely that was enough? Tirge had thought it was enough, he thought that was the end of it. He thought the last pain Janner would receive in the immediate at their hands would come from the knife, and that was why he, of his own volition, had cut thrice instead of once.
Some part of his mind had thought the Overseer’s occasional talk about going after Janner and Sara at the same time once they had found each other was just fanciful imagining that took up boring bits of time. Some part of his mind had thought Chathan stayed at Torr so Anniera wouldn’t suspect anything.
Some part of his mind clearly hadn’t been thinking.
The Overseer was growing angry. Angrier, rather. Impatient. Explosive. What Tirge had once thought were fantasies and idle threats had become far more tangible, far more dangerous, far more real. He wanted to find Sara, now, hunt her down, hurt her as he’d hurt Janner, bring them together in a climatic, orchestral cacophony of grief and terror and understanding and anger, then end it for one of them. He’d toyed with both options, finishing Janner and leaving Sara to fall to pieces in grief, or ending Sara and sending Janner headlong into bitterness and anger. The real problem was the Overseer found both delightful, he couldn’t choose which was better.
Tirge had found himself at the point at which he wasn’t comfortable nodding in agreement towards that which the Overseer expected approval. He found himself hesitating and nodding slowly, or turning his head so he wouldn’t have to react, or staring off into the distance in horror.
He had always known the Overseer was an individual with a desire for vengeance who limped dangerously on the border between man and monster, and he quite often sat on the border, with a leg on each side. In Tirge’s eyes, he had already gotten his vengeance. He had already made both Janner and Sara suffer. In fact, they were still suffering, still believing the other was dead since they hadn’t found each other yet. But the Overseer wanted more, it wasn’t enough, and it seemed as though it would never be enough.
If the Overseer carried out his plots and schemes, Tirge worried he would plunge into an even deeper state of monsterdom, and for a man like him, from a place such as that there was no turning back.
*****
When Sara entered Janner’s room and saw Nia sitting in the armchair, sipping tea and staring off into the distance, she dropped her books.
That drew Nia’s attention, and so after she finished gathering the books from the floor, she found herself looking directly at her adoptive mother, who smiled lightly, or at the very least bore an atmosphere of strong contentment.
Sara knew she should say something, giving a greeting of some sort or ask by what method Nia had arrived, but she couldn’t convince her tongue to form the words buzzing around inside her head.
Nia ended up being the first one to speak. “So, he proposed to you?” she asked, smiling, gesturing toward the blue diamond ring, now wonderfully familiar to Sara’s finger.
She nodded.
“When?”
“On the ship,” Sara whispered. “Four days after we put out to sea.” Before everything had gone to pieces and the Overseer had kidnapped Janner and tortured him and they had searched and searched and eventually found him, before he had stopped telling her I love you.
Nia patted the armrest of the chair next to her. “Tell me everything,” she urged, her eyes twinkling with happiness. “Quietly, of course, but please tell me.”
Unable to keep from smiling at the thought of telling someone who truly cared, someone who would react to all the details, someone who would love every second of it, Sara sat down and obeyed with a thrill that she hadn’t felt in over a month.
It was so different from when she had detailed the events to Maraly, so much more rewarding. One can only conjure up so much excitement and giddiness on one’s own—it takes another to truly complete the experience. Maraly had reacted, yes, perhaps as much as she was able, but considering she’d never looked at a guy twice when she was told the story, she struggled to get on board with the happiness.
Nia, though, Nia concentrated and reacted and murmured and laughed and smiled and silently clapped and feasted in the fruits of such happiness with her. Perhaps it was to be expected, after all, the groom was her son and the bride was her adopted daughter, but still Sara loved every moment of it.
Once it was over, once words had stopped flowing, but Nia still grasped her hands like a schoolgirl, Sara let herself sigh with contentment and peace. She closed her eyes for a second before opening them again. “Oh, thank you,” she murmured, glad the smile hadn’t left her face. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“Sara, dear,” Nia whispered, placing one of her hands on Sara’s shoulder. “Considering the content of the letters I received and the fact that the senders were my children, I couldn’t exactly not come! But what exactly do you want me to do to help, tell me that. I’ll do whatever you need, as long as it’s moral and such.”
Smiling sadly, Sara took a deep breath before explaining, desperately hoping she wouldn’t begin crying in the middle of it. “He won’t talk to me. He won’t open up, he won’t share anything. And Artham’s not been met with success either.”
“Knowing Artham, he hasn’t even tried for fear of traumatizing Janner,” Nia stated witheringly.
Sara furrowed her brow. She had thought the same as Artham, held back for the same reason Artham had. “You fault him for that?”
Nia sighed deeply. “There is only so much a person can cope with before it drives them past their breaking point. Janner was quite obviously driven past it long ago. Once a person has passed their breaking point, coming back can be incredibly difficult.”
“And should be handled with care, yes?” Sara asked slowly, following Nia’s eyes as she cast her gaze upon Janner.
“Of course, and some people can work through what launched them past their breaking point inside their head and come out of it alright without the need to tell other people about it.”
Sara wondered if she imagined Nia very subtly turning toward her for a split second. What had just been described sounded quite a bit like what she had done after the Fork! Factory! And it also sounded suspiciously like what Artham had always done. “But…?” she finally asked when Nia didn’t continue.
“But,” Nia began again. “Simply letting a person wait until they’re ready to tell you doesn’t always work. Sometimes letting them work it out on their own doesn’t always work. Sometimes you must press, you must pry, you must use finesse to gently carve the truth and their fears and their torment from them. Then and only then will they be released.”
Sara closed her eyes and let herself fall back in her chair. “You’re saying Janner needs this, right?”
“Yes,” Nia replied quietly. “And I understand if you or Artham aren’t comfortable doing it. It isn’t exactly a thought I’ve been relishing.”
Shaking her head, Sara opened her eyes, finding tears in them. “It’s not that I’m not okay with the idea of doing it myself,” she whispered, her voice thickening from the tears, though in truth, she didn’t know if she could purposely cause Janner more pain, even if it was for a better outcome in the end. “I’d do anything to help Janner, anything. But I don’t think I can do it.”
“Because you’re afraid you’ll hurt him?” Nia asked gently, very nearly reading her mind.
Sara pursed her lips. “Yes, but not only that.”
Squeezing her hand in an effort to comfort her, Nia asked, “In what other ways, dear?”
Quickly wiping away the tear that escaped to her cheek, Sara simply said, “I’ve been compromised, tainted.”
Nia leaned forward, concern etched in her face. “What?”
“So has Artham,” she continued. “It’s because we couldn’t find him and spare him from…from everything. He doesn’t trust us anymore and he doesn’t think we love him and…and…” she swallowed, finding it nearly impossible to utter the last few words. “He doesn’t love me.”
Shock flashed into Nia’s eyes, and her mouth parted in surprise. “Sara, why would you say such a thing?”
“Because— because,” Sara stumbled over her words. “Because he hasn’t said, ‘I love you,’ or anything of the sort once since we saw each other again, and it’s been nearly two months since that happened.”
Something unfamiliar glimmered in Nia’s eyes for a minute, before she shook her head, smiled, and laid a hand on Sara’s, the one on which the ring rested.
“Has he been cruel to you?” she asked quietly.
Sara shook her head.
“Has he said anything unkind?”
Another shake of her head.
“Ignored you or argued with you or yelled at you or scorned you?”
Sara shook her head fervently at this. “He’s only ever complied and listened, but I’m afraid he’s doing it because he can’t think of another mask to put up!”
“Sara, dear,” Nia said gently. “If Janner hated you or truly blamed you, he wouldn’t put a mask on. He’d make it clear, he’d be angry, he would fight you. He wouldn’t care about protecting you from something.”
“Protecting me?” Sara questioned.
Nia sighed. “That’s the very nature of a mask, is it not? Oh, perhaps they’re used broadly for concealment, but the goal is protection of some sort, whether you’re trying to protect a person from your true self so you won’t hurt them, or whether you’re protecting your true self from a person because you want to con them. And I am guessing Janner’s goal isn’t to con you into doing something for him.”
“But,” Sara couldn’t help but feel slightly confused. “That means he’s hiding something from me because he thinks I won’t like it or it’s bad or something else—but what could it possibly be? What is there about him that I need protecting from?”
Her gaze on Janner, who had managed to remain asleep the entire time, Nia didn’t speak for a few minutes. “It’s what I’m hoping he’ll tell me soon,” she answered. “And once he’s told one person, the necessary others should follow with less difficulty.”
Sara couldn’t help but laugh oddly at the thought of being a “necessary other.” There was something so funny about the title, so anticlimactic. “I hope you’re right, Mama,” she whispered.
Nia shifted her gaze back toward her, clasped her hand, and smiled. “I hope so too.”
*****
Notes:
Woah Tirge is having second thoughts...... 0.0
Nia went ahead and started her conversation with Sara the way she did just to give her a bit of happy. She's nice like that^^
The logic that lies in Nia knowing what to do for Janner and Artham and Sara not knowing is grounded in their cognitive functions. Sara and Artham both use Introverted Sensing (Si). To put it simply, this is memory. It is fairly natural for both of them to resort to memory in some sense, and they're applying it to Janner. They're uncomfortable bringing up memories in Janner that might be painful, and they don't want to hurt him.
The issue with that is Janner doesn't actually have Si as one of his cognitive functions. It's one of his shadow functions, though, in fact, his lowest, therefore the one that torments him the most. What really needs to happen is those memories need to get out, they need to escape. Janner's not going to let that happen without help, and the help he has (Sara and Artham) aren't willing to risk hurting his Si (which he does not have and is only using improperly...)
Nia, on the other hand, has Introverted Intuition (just like Janner). She also has Si as her lowest shadow function (just like Janner). She knows Janner can't keep holding onto those horrid memories, but unlike Artham and Sara, she isn't afraid to draw them out to deal with them and then have it taken care of.
If you actually read my rant, here's a cookie: 🍪
Let me know if there's anything noncanonical^^
ToC for AToTA
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
(Why doesn't he like Janner?)
I saw! I need more Chathan! So many questions! (like is his cat okay?)
I didn't actually pick a type of cookie! I couldn't decide what kind was my favorite, so I figured the cookie would magically transform into whatever kind I was in the mood for when I was ready to eat it! 😂
Yes, Tirge, that was too ruthless!
I was wondering when the Overseer would show up again! He made this plans to let Janner go for a while, and then go after Sara, but then we didn't hear from him again! And he still doesn't know that Artham and Sara have found Janner? I've very glad that Artham is sticking around Glipwood and Janner and Sara more now! Unfortunately, if the Overseer sends Tirge to do something to Janner or Sara (and I think Tirge would be likely to do it because he doesn't feel like he has a choice anymore), neither Artham nor Sara would recognize him! Well, I guess Sara might, but I don't think she would...
Can you imagine if Janner woke up and heard that conversation?
Ooh! What kind of cookie?