Cassandra noticed that Andrew had been acting differently towards the teen who she suspected could be Varian.

It had been a blur of a week, with the hard work of cutting wood and trying to rebuild the beat up caravan while taking care of Diverion's needs and everyone else's.

Within all that work, Andrew had distanced himself from the kid, hardly checking up on him and when he did, his visits were incredibly short.

She could tell something was off.

And it seemed to all start from when she went into the trees and left him alone with the injured kid.

It was almost as if he were afraid of him.

Cass sighed and looked from the corner of her eye at Andrew as he rebuilt the wheels. His forehead was lined with concentration, but his eyes still seemed distracted as they held a strange strain to them.

Yes... if nothing else whatever was bothering him was affecting him and his work.

"Hey Hubert!", Cass called out, cupping her hands around her mouth, "You ready for a quick break?"

He looked up at her as he registered what she was saying, his mind still filled to the brim with thoughts, "Uhh, Yeah! Sounds like a good idea about now anyway."

He set down the hammer and wood spokes he had been working on and walked over to her, crossing his arms as his brow was still furrowed.

She sighed, "You're acting different.", she finally stated, gesturing at him, "You hardly seem to get any decent rest and you have a hard time actually paying attention to your work."

Andrew didn't bother denying it as he just looked at her, his brown eyes still, "Yeah, I haven't been doing as well as I should be... but I'm alright Cass."

"No. I don't think you are."

"I just have a lot of thoughts...", he trailed off.

She just stared at him.

Andrew felt himself get slightly red from embarrassment as he looked the other way, "I'll figure it out soon and get back to normal, I promise. It's just I'm probably tired of the constant work we've been doing nonstop for the past couple of days."

"Yeah, which is why you act like that kid in there has a virus.", she pointed out, "Why are you so afraid of him??"

Andrew gave her a hard stare, "If I told you... you'd think I was just being stupid or you wouldn't believe me.", he said flatly.

Cass felt offended.

And surprisingly a bit disappointed as well; he didn't think he could talk to her??

After all that time so far they shared together...

She dug her boot into the dirt before she finally spoke, "Well, if you don't tell me, I have a feeling it's gonna backfire on everyone. One teen shouldn't be causing a grown man so many problems. So whatever he did, you need to spit it out whether I believe you or not!!"

Andrew just stood there for a very awkward moment before he did a tiny smile.

"Always so straightforward...", he said quietly shaking his head.

Feeling a stab of annoyance, she crossed her arms, "Listen I'm trying to be a supportive friend here, so are you going to tell me what's wrong or not?"

"It was his eyes.", Andrew suddenly said, his eyes unfocusing as he thought about it, "They... they weren't ordinary."

Cass has to stop for a moment to think as she realized he was finally telling her the problem-

"Eyes??", she questioned.

"Yeah... they were a-amber.", he said his face going pale as he suddenly remembered what those eyes had reminded him of.

He could hear the distant echo of a once familiar laugh and saw those exact same bright amber eyes twinkling at him. A sharp stab of pain went through him as he found it hard to swallow.

She tried to search his face, what was going on in his head?

"How about we go take a look then.", Cass piped up, "So I can see what you're talking about here."

He shook his head and motioned to the caravan, which was already almost fixed, "Aren't you noticing the problem here?!? Diverion had BLUE eyes when we first saw him, like Varian!"

"...Oh crud... you're right.", she said as his alarm made a little bit more sense to her.

"And it wasn't like... like it was a trick of light, they really were amber instead of blue!"

Cass touched his shoulder, "Hey I believe you okay? We should check this out more..."

"That's invading his privacy Cass, which we've already done more then enough of. We've technically kidnapped him! And he's really sensitive about the whole mask thing... we can't just do whatever we want.", he argued, "And maybe it's for the best we don't try to figure this out."

"Are you chickening out over a teenager's chameleon eyes?"

He shifted, "No! It's not like that... I just have a bad feeling about this if we start trying to dig up his personal life. I'm getting bad vibes off this whole ordeal."

Cass bit her tongue.

Bad vibes? Really?
Andrew was starting to sound like some superstitious paranoid freak.

"Ok then... what do you suggest we do then Hubert?", she asked annoyed.

"Finish the caravan and get to The Spire so we can get answers and let that kid go.", he said looking up at the dark silhouette.

"If it's Varian I'm not letting him just go."

Andrew ran a hand over his face, "Whoever or whatever that kid is, he's not Varian!! How can you at this point still even try to convince yourself it could be?!"

Cass was alarmed at his outburst.

Fidella and Fiero both looked up from the grass they were grazing as Andrew raised his voice.

"Even if you say it's magic or something, that kid has an accent, different hair, different personality, just everything about him is not Varian!! He hasn't even mentioned alchemy once! He doesn't even know the name Varian either!
You're stretching the reality here to see what you want to see, grasping at straws that aren't there to even take in the first place!
Sure he came across the caravan, maybe that was fate's design by some chance, but whatever his role is he just doesn't feel like who you're looking for. He doesn't feel... feel.. great.
And... if I'm being completely honest...", he took a shaky breath, "I'm getting some dark magic vibes off of him alright?! And all magic is gone now! And even if I can just feel the stain of darkness or whatever, why does he feel that way!?
Why or how has that kid been able to manage feeling that way??
It doesn't make sense as it is and wouldn't even work if this is Varian 2.0 or something!!"

She felt her mouth slightly open in shock and anger as she listened to everything he just said.

Grasping at straws, was she?

Stretching the truth, huh?
It all seemed a major bad joke.

Cass wanted to yell right back at him, make her points on how the teen they had lying in the caravan right now, in fact could be Varian.

But she couldn't.

Because at least some of what Andrew said was true...

"Well, it's not like it's really gonna matter in the future, because a few days from now, we're going to find out the truth. So whether you're right or I'm right, it will be proven.", she then picked up a hammer and glared at him, "So let's stop wasting time and get back to work. The faster we work the faster we near the answer. This caravan won't build itself y'know."

"Whatever.", he said walking off back to his station, "Just don't crying to me about how you're crushed it isn't Varian."

That jerk!!

Cass grit her teeth as she watched him walk away before she started hammering away on the boards.

One way or the other she was going to prove that SHE was right.

If nothing else, she knew Varian was alive. And as long as she knew that fact, she would keep looking.