Heron Lake Plateau Have you ever heard of the Butterfly Effect?

Even as the words left her lips, she wondered if things were damaged beyond all repair. Could she extend the same amnesty to him again, after everything that had happened, not only yesterday but over the entire course of their history? As Towhee mulled over that, his lips moved and she saw his face crumble. She knew then that, at the very least, the physical danger had passed. She would get out of this with a few cuts and scrapes, nothing worse.

"I can't speak for anyone but myself," she began, voice now so sluggish that it might have been playing in slow motion, "but you have to earn my respect, and my affection, especially if you've broken my trust. You vanished. When I found you again, you denied being my brother. Then you vanished again, under very suspicious circumstances. Why would I defend you? Like you, much less love you?"

Somewhere in there, she'd come to squint at him, though she relaxed her face somewhat as she took a pause before continuing. "But I'm tired, we just lost the caldera, and I'm sick of fighting battles where everybody loses. I'm willing to give you another chance, just one more, but this is my final offer."