[ Tampering is a good way to put it. It's a thought that'd crossed his mind when he was the only one here and unaware of Byleth and Edelgard having been here previously from their own history incongruent with his own. It's a thought that'd solidified when Petra and Sylvain had arrived, and then again when Felix and Hilda had.

All of them with their lived events all mismatched, and the vast majority of them in conflict beyond that which had engulfed Fodlan in the same way regardless of what else came before or followed after. The step Viktor is talking about could answer those questions he has about what came to pass in Fodlan if the Summoning ritual had looked for them specifically in their respective presents. How they could be so different, and whether that's only true for them. ]

Petra was mostly as I remembered her, but there were certain things she'd lived that made it impossible for her to be the Petra I knew based on what she'd lived that was impossible with what I did. Sylvain is the same, and the same is true for what they both knew about me. I'm not the me they know in their... lifetimes.

[ But Hilda is from his - probably, as a voice reminds him in the back of his mind, because there's always the chance she isn't and they both want to believe that's not the case until it becomes apparent it is. He can't think about that now though as he pauses because he's searching for a way to complete those thoughts before abandoning it with the assumption Viktor will follow what he's saying anyway. Maybe he should be saying this is all a bad idea, but as always: curiosity wins out. ]

Is there a way to navigate that being a possibility for everywhere else?