Caspian inhaled and exhaled slowly. This was, hopefully, progress. From what he understood, all previous attempts at talking to Edmar were combative and centered solely around Brenna.
Fishing was a pursuit the three of them had shared for many years. The bonds forged through it had their days of strength, even if they were slightly estranged in spirit from one another now.
"Well," Edmar sat up. He still looked skeptical, but being recognized for an accomplishment was something that had always stroked his ego and garnered his attention. "I knew there could be some good to be gleaned from more intentional travel to other worlds. You think so too, now?"
"There are many things we've never seen in all the worlds," Haf's mouth flattened into a straight line, and Caspian tried to catch his eye. It was clear the man still disapproved of trying to manipulate the leviathans, but to say so would risk Edmar's withdrawal again.
"So many! And we can see them all!" Edmar declared. "I think there are even ways to predict, maybe even control, where we go!"
Caspian blinked at this new revelation.
"What makes you so sure, Ed?" He asked.
"I just have a feeling," Edmar began to backpedal. "After all, didn't the Rhone control what world they went to, before? It makes sense that we would be able to do something similar."
"Where did you learn that?" Haf asked. He had been part of Brenna's interrogation, but Edmar had not. Had the woman met with him somehow, outside of being supervised? What all had she told him?
"I don't know. It's common knowledge, I suppose," Edmar shrugged. "It's what gave me the idea for the herbs, like I told you before."
"If you wanted to try again, how would you do it?" Caspian asked. "You said you just gathered up random sea plant that washed ashore after a storm last time."
He had a fair amount of doubt that the original telling was accurate, but for the purposes of drawing Edmar out of his enchantment, he decided to operate under that assumption.
"Oh. Well, I have my guesses as to which were the more effective ones. Kinds that you wouldn't normally see. If any old seaweed could do the trick, I'm sure we'd be up to our ears in leviathan."
"Do you have any more, or would we need to await another storm to see if these same plants happened to wash ashore?" Haf asked, more interested than he had been previously. "And what gave you the idea to crush them and mix them with oil?"
Edmar hesitated. "I might have some leftover, I think. I'm not sure. The oil idea just came to me one day when I saw mother using rosemary-infused oil to make some bread."
"I'm interested in how to get specifically back to that world, if we happen to lure another leviathan," Caspian put in. One of the great dangers of using leviathan was the uncertainty of where they would be taken. Any theories about how to guide that process were surely worth hearing.
Edmar paused, eyeing both the other men as if considering whether to speak again. Caspian suppressed a cringe. It was obvious that their sudden interest in this subject after both being adamantly opposed to it before was rousing his suspicions as to their motives.
"I don't think you're really interested, Cas. It was nice of you to come visit. See you another time when you're not plotting with Father to make me forget about Brenna." Edmar laid down again, flipping towards the wall. No farewell was offered to Haf.
"I'm not plotting anything, Ed. I'll come back again soon." Caspian promised. As much as he didn't like his brother, it hurt to see him like this.
Haf sighed, and followed his younger son out. They walked in silence for a time before he spoke.
"Thank you for your attempt, Caspian. It did distract him for a while."
"I think there must be more to this than he's telling us." Caspian spoke hesitantly.
"What do you mean?" Haf asked.
"I mean, I started off just trying to distract him, but the more he said, the more I got the impression... Has he ever been a great thinker or innovator?" The younger man turned his thoughts into a question.
"I suppose not. He has his own ideas about things and doesn't listen, but it's never been anything particularly groundbreaking." Haf supplied.
"Thinking of the idea to use herbs to lure leviathan was already strange enough," Caspian said. "But these ideas about predicting and controlling them... I can't imagine he thought of them on his own."
"I want to disagree and say the ideas are without merit, and therefore we need not worry." Haf frowned. "But unfortunately I'm not sure they are ridiculous. The fact that they are plausible worries me far more than if they were the nonsensical ramblings of an enchanted man."
"So you think it's possible, then?" Caspian chewed the inside of his cheek. If put into use, that would change a lot.
"I do. Brenna, whether she was truthful or not, spoke of using the herbs from one world and an object from the other to travel between worlds. I've been pondering that deeply. When we want to come home, we release the leviathan during travel, and gravitate back to our world. Is it because our ship is an object from this world?
"The leviathan... perhaps it collects plants and things from many worlds, feeding on fish and plants we can't know. We've never even seen its whole body, how large it is nor how many limbs. It may be that it carries much within its grasp, or in its belly. However, I cannot readily discard the ideas that Brenna put forth. It is somewhat surprising that Edmar should have ideas of his own in this regard."
"Do you think she spoke to him?" Caspian questioned.
"His idea for the herbs predated her arrival." Haf's brow furrowed, "but can it truly be pure chance that he happened to gather one that would attract the leviathan?"
The younger man suppressed the urge to pout at his father. That's exactly the point he had been trying to make as soon as they arrived home from the voyage, but his parents refused to hear him. Haf sighed.
"I can see your thoughts across your face, Caspian. I'm sorry, for before. I did not want to believe ill of Edmar. It was nonetheless wrong of me to so easily dismiss your concerns." The Commodore swept his hand across his face, but his son couldn't tell whether it was to wipe away emotion or something the wind had tossed at him.
"I think I understand," Caspian tried to bridge the gap, but he still felt it between them. Edmar was the more important brother. Any concerns he had about the man would be accounted to jealousy instead of clarity. Still, he moved on. "Where do you think these ideas came from, if not Brenna?"
"The Klain have been hunting signs that the Void, the creature that terrorized the Rhone, has returned from its world and stalks ours. In my heart, I fear that somehow it has sent someone to influence Edmar. To what purpose, I cannot know." Haf closed his eyes for a moment.
"Is Brenna part of that? Do you think she was sent?"
"I think we must share our suspicions with Prince Roland and the Klain soldier who has been investigating. Perhaps Mayra as well, since she was the first to suspect the Void's return." Haf seemed as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Caspian nodded, but didn't know what to say.
"In my life, the way forward has never been crystal clear, but there was always a pull... some form of guidance to the best way. I have trusted that instinct to the prosperity of our people for many years. I cannot feel it now." Haf's admission cut Caspian rather deeply. Though he occasionally butted heads with the older man, his father had always acted as he thought best.
Yet, now that his own son was threatened, perhaps lost forever, to the siren call of a foreign woman, there was nothing either of them could do to fix it. The fact that they had no ideas with which to contradict each other was disheartening to both.
"That's too bad," Caspian finally said, "it's been a good instinct, even when I disagreed with it."
Haf squinted at his son. "That's not what I expected to hear from you today."
"I've been recently reminded of the fact that I strongly resisted your order to marry, and have come to realize how lucky I am that my efforts were thwarted."
The Commodore's mouth quirked upward, and Caspian could see he was sorting through several potential responses before landing on one he felt was appropriate.
"I am glad you are finding happiness with Naomi." He said, but there was more behind his words.
"And?" The younger man braced himself for whatever reply was hiding behind his father's smile.
"And I'm looking forward to a great many grandchildren." Haf clapped his son on the back with a hearty laugh.