“I thought it was a fake name you gave that beast or something...” Aelene said. “So... it’s a nickname...?”

“Yea, basically.”

“But... how is that a nickname for Lilana...?” she asked.

“That story is a little complicated. Maybe I’ll tell it some other time.”

‘I just realized I have to tell everyone not to call me Lilly anymore after this... Or Miles... What a bother...’

“Miles... Doesn’t that sound more like a male name though...?” she kept asking.

“Like I said. Complicated.”

“Hm... Okay.”

I was thankful that Hati was apparently not able to hear Lilana, or that he at least hadn’t mentioned her yet. He said that he wasn’t able to feel anomalies though, so it was quite possible that our secret was safe for the time being.

I turned around one last time, but the guards at the gate had disappeared, so we would presumably be okay. I was still thinking about what exactly their plan had been, and I couldn’t quite figure it out. Leaving us outside might’ve been an inconvenience, but the gate wouldn’t have truly stopped us. They could’ve released the king and the High Priest, but that wouldn’t have really changed the situation overall. They had also just seen us fight, so they couldn’t seriously be thinking that they might be able to beat us. At least not with only a dozen guards. And to top it all off, Grym had apparently given the order to open the gate. Someone had either not thought this plan through, or I was missing something.

“By the way, Reurig, you’re on them, right?”

“Yes, two agents are following them as we speak.”

“All right,” I said, having expected the answer, though I was still wondering when or how that had happened.

I rarely knew how he did what he did though. He had also never told me how exactly he managed to hide outside a window on the second floor of the mayor’s house in Cerus, while it was monitored by guards. Curiously, Berla hadn’t been able to tell me either, indicating that Reurig knew a few tricks that she hadn’t been privy to yet. In any case, he would look into this group of suspected opposers, and with the beasts gone, minus one, we could return to our day.

Or so I thought, when I saw two women and a guard standing further up the street. It seemed like they were arguing, and after recognizing one of the women, I could guess that they probably wanted to go in the direction of the gate, but had been held back. The three didn’t notice us at first, but as we got a little closer, the eyes of one woman grew wide. When the other one noticed this, she looked in our direction as well and reacted the same way. Finally, confused by their behavior, the guard turned around and stared at us slack-jawed. Or rather, at the beast in our midst.

“Sis!” Riala called. “Go, Hati!”

“Stop!” I said. “Ria, you can’t just run up to people, not like that. Not yet. Understood? Especially not with a guard present.”

“Mough... Okay,” Riala said with a pout.

“What’s going on...? What’s ‘sis?’” Hati said in confusion.

“The woman on the right is Riala’s big sister,” I explained. “She wants to... introduce you to her.”

“Oh! Okay,” he said.

And the woman on the left... What is Fae doing here?

“Riala...!” Zara suddenly shouted. “You...! What are you doing on... Is that...!?”

While Fae looked on in surprise, the guard seemed unsure about what to do. He had a spear in hand, and he glanced between it and us, but he ended up not making a move. The bells had informed the citizens that it was safe to go out again a while ago, so there shouldn’t have been a reason to keep them away from the gate, but it was very possible that someone hadn’t wanted people to go there for a while.

“You,” I said, pointing at the guard, when we were only a couple meters away. “Why are you blocking the road?”

“I... I thought it might be s-safer if... Lilly... Did you really bring a beast into town!?” he said, his eyes fixed on Hati.

“No,” I said.

“Eh...? Then what...?”

“This is an animal. It’s called a wolf.”

“A wolf...?”

“That’s right. There will be an announcement soon. You can leave now, this area is safe,” I said.

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“I... a-alright...” he said, flustered.

After another look at Hati, the guard finally walked past us with quick steps, in the direction of the southern gate. I briefly looked at Reurig, who nodded in understanding. This was another guard we should keep an eye on.

When I looked back at the women, Zara was still somewhat frozen in shock, while Fae suddenly stood much closer to us and looked at Hati with fascination.

“A wolf...?” she asked. “Is that what you call a beast that’s not dangerous, Lilly?”

“No, it’s... an animal race. Imagine if a deer got black fur and red eyes. We would call it a beast, but it would also still be a deer. And this is Hati, a wolf,” I said, introducing him.

“I’m a wolf?” he asked.

“It really talks...” Fae said as she stepped closer.

“Sis!” Riala called. “Come here and touch him! You’ll see he‘s all fluffy!”

Zara finally broke out of her daze after being called. “Lilly! Please explain what’s going on here!”

And so, I gave my first explanation to two citizens about beasts not being as evil as they appeared. I hadn’t really prepared a lot for this discussion yet, but Fae in particular seemed way more intrigued than scared, while Zara was apparently mainly confused and apprehensive about her sister riding through town on a large, unknown creature. They had never seen anything like Hati, but neither of them seemed scared of him.

“I kind of wish I was a guard...” Fae said absentmindedly after I was done. “Being by your side seems like it would be very interesting.”

“Speaking of guards... Is Bren home?” I asked her.

“Yes. I don’t know what he was thinking, leaving like that,” she said, rolling her eyes. “While you were befriending a beast! Should I get him?”

“No, it’s fine. Let him rest.”

Apparently it was as I thought. The other guards were simply sent away, and Bren had headed home. I could see Fae’s point, and personally I would’ve probably tried to stick around as well, but then again, Bren and Brie had been at the end of a double shift, and they had been due for a break. If dismissed by the captain, it was probably natural for them to leave.

“See!? Fluffy!” Riala said meanwhile, as Zara finally relented and touched Hati’s fur.

“Yes, he is very soft...” she said with a sigh. “But I never said that beasts weren’t fluffy, Riala! I said that it didn’t matter and that you shouldn’t try to pet them!”

“Why not?” Hati said suddenly, and Zara hurriedly removed her hand, startled by him addressing her.

“Er... Because... beasts can be dangerous...” she said.

“Ah! Okay,” he said, understanding and readily accepting her reasoning.

Zara blinked in surprise at his casual acknowledgment. Hati’s way of thinking was interesting. He seemed immature, and he wasn’t overly knowledgeable by human standards, but he was very curious, and he was by no means stupid. He understood what people explained to him easily enough, it was just that many concepts were foreign to him. He seemed a little like someone with total amnesia, who needed to learn how the world worked from scratch, and given his origins, this might not be off the mark by too much. If souls had been transplanted into these beasts, similar to the Calling rituals, or to how I resided in other people’s minds, Hati might actually be a former human in a beast’s body.

As our brief discussion about Hati came to an end, I realized that, slowly but surely, a few passersby appeared and watched us. The area around the south gate wasn’t a frequently visited spot in town, especially on this day of the week, but there would always be a few people who had to pass through here, and of course Hati didn’t go unnoticed. They whispered, they pointed, but so far, nobody had run away screaming. I wasn’t keen on explaining the situation over and over though, to dozens of small groups, so I got ready to leave.

“We should probably get going,” I said. “Zara, is it okay if we take Riala for the afternoon? I’m guessing she would like to stay with Hati for a little bit.”

“Yes, please!” Riala said.

“Right... You’ll be there though, right...?” Zara asked me.

“Yes, please don’t worry.”

“Alright then. Riala, I’ll see you for dinner tonight, okay?”

“Okay!”

“And perhaps we can finish our talks about Riala’s future soon,” I said to Zara. “Maybe tomorrow?”

“Yes... Let’s do that. Thank you, Lilly.”

Zara said goodbye to everyone and then made her way back home, down the winding side-street, in the southeast of town.

I was hopeful that she would give her sister a little more freedom now, especially after she had also just allowed her to come with us to defend the town.

“I should probably get out of your hair as well...” Fae said. “But, Hati, would it be okay if I talked to you some time? I’d love to know what your life is like.”

“I think so,” he said, before he looked at me, maybe asking whether this was acceptable, to which I nodded.

“Thanks!” she said with a smile, and waved as she left, heading into a side street a little further up the road, into the western part of town.

“Hm... since we’re down here anyway...” Tomar said. “I could show you the house, Aelene. If you still want to stay there.”

“House...? Oh! I... I was so caught up in everything, I completely forgot about this morning...” she said, looking a little sad again. “Yes... I’d like that.”

“We’ll have to go this way then. Are you going back to the temple, Lilly?”

“I think so... I need to relax a little. See you later?”

“Okay,” he said, and started walking after Zara, with Aelene just behind him.

“Bye, Aelene. Thank you for your help,” I said.

“Of course. And thank you too, Lilly...” she said.

I briefly looked after them, and even though there were still some eyes on us, I breathed a sigh of relief, after our group was down to core members again, who I didn’t have to be careful around. Aside from Hati that was. I didn’t know how exactly he would fit into everything yet, but given that he already knew more about me than most humans, and since I wanted to discuss my existence even more with him, to find potential clues, I was planning to induct him sooner rather than later. For the time being though, all I wanted was to lie down for a little while.

“Let’s go,” I said, and the remaining members of our group kept walking up the main street, in the direction of the temple. Unfortunately, the eyes around us only grew in numbers the closer we got to the main square, up to a point where just ignoring them wasn’t an option anymore. At that moment, I really missed our guards, who usually tried to keep people away from us a little.

Ugh... I’ll have to make multiple speeches after all, don’t I?