Renn’s footfalls echoed in the silent hallway as we walked.

“That was fun,” she happily said.

“It was fun watching you scare a blind woman. She’s never seen anyone eat as much as you,” I said.

Renn glanced at me, but didn’t take offense. She only grinned at me as she laughed.

Her laugh joined the echoes of her steps, and I felt… oddly out of place. As if I suddenly needed to go somewhere, and fast. Yet I knew I had nowhere to go, and the feeling was just a mask for something else.

“Chronicler is very nice. I thought she was a little… bristly, but she’s just old. She’s lovely,” Renn said.

“Bristly,” I repeated the word she used to describe the woman who used to cry at the slightest worry or fear.

Renn nodded. “I enjoyed learning about her religion too. It’s actually very similar to Nory’s, although I’m not entirely sure what to think of the idea of sins being…” she paused and raised her hands, to try and find the right word as to describe it. She turned to me, and opened her palms as to raise and lower her hands… like a scale.

“They believe some sins can be paid for, yes. A little odd, but their hearts in the right place,” I said.

She shifted on her heels as she shrugged. She wore a commoner dress. A simple white and blue, without any frills or designs. It somehow suited her better than it should. She was the type of adorable that made the wealthy merchants and lower nobles fall without any grace.

If she had been born a human, she most likely would have ended up married to someone powerful… just because of how adorable she was.

“Says the man who doesn’t believe it,” she said with a small smirk.

I shrugged. “Even one who doesn’t believe can still see the reasoning behind it.”

“Still… for some reason I don’t like it,” she said as she returned to walking.

We weren’t far from the mansio, but we were walking slowly. Mostly because of her. She seemed to enjoy our conversations. Or… maybe she was afraid of getting back, and having to go to sleep.

Which was probably my fault. Per usual.

But what was I to do? I didn’t feel comfortable laying in the same bed with her anymore.

Even if it seemed to break her heart…

No… for that very reason.

“What bothers you about it?” I asked her, trying to understand her a little better.

“Well… it means some things can be written off, right? Pay a price. Do a deed. Sweat or bleed a little, and that evil you just committed is forgotten? I don’t like it.”

“There’s a price for everything. Why not sin as well?” I asked her.

She glanced at me, and I knew it was because she knew full well I didn’t believe in it either. Yet she humored me all the same, “A man had tortured Nory. A churchman. If I found out he got into his heaven, and forgiven by everyone else too… just because he put some stupid metal coins into a hat I’d be… well, I’d not be very happy, at all,” she said simply.

I nodded. “I agree. But remember they’re looking at it from a true spiritual perspective. One where they’re not supposed to be judging anyone, for anything. To them, judging someone… even a sinner, is a sin itself,” I told her.

“I know… but that doesn’t mean I can see it the same way. Doesn’t mean I agree with it,” she said.

“Didn’t say you had to,” I said.

She huffed and nodded, and I wondered if she realized how rare she was.

Our kind either despised the church… or loved it entirely.

She was a mix of both.

Very rare. Preciously rare.

It worried me to what degree she loved it… but I knew better than to try and reason her away from that attraction. After all, it was her right to believe what she wanted to. And out of all the things to believe in, to become a devotee to… such religions were the best of them. The safest. The purest. They had faults, but not enough to spoil them as a person.

“You could stay here, Renn. And become one of them. The chronicler would help you. She’d let you,” I said gently.

We were about to round a corner, but Renn stopped. She turned to look at me, and I almost flinched at the look she gave me.

Once again I had hurt her.

We stood in a strange silence for a moment as she rubbed her hands together, as if cold. “I… Um…” she looked down, and then back up at me, “Is that what you want me to do, Vim?” she asked softly.

I gulped and hesitated. Me?

I wanted many things. But I never told anyone what I wanted. I wasn’t supposed to.

“I was just suggesting it, Renn. After all… the entire point of your journey is to find a home, isn’t it?” I asked her.

Her eyebrows knotted as she stared at me for a moment, and I knew what she really wanted to say.

She didn’t want a home. At least not right now.

She wanted to stay with me.

At first I had hoped that desire was just because she wanted to be of service. To help the Society, if not to pay the debts she owed… at least simply just out of principle.

But lately…

“It was,” she whispered.

Her hands separated, and she ran them upward along her forearms. Until she held her elbows, hugging herself.

It reminded me of the woman I had seen in Ruvindale. When we had set fire to the Sleepy Artist. And the one I had seen before that, when she had found me at Twin Hills.

This was the same woman who woke up screaming from nightmares.

I needed to tread carefully here, for both our sakes.

“You have a few days to decide. We’ll be heading eastward, to a pond after,” I told her.

She blinked a few times, and her eyes focused a little. On me. I could see her mind whirling as her heart steadied itself. “A… a pond?” she asked.

I nodded. “The maps call them lakes, but they’re a little too small for that I think,” I said.

A small smile snuck its way onto her face as she nodded. “A few days. Alright. I’ll think about it, I promise,” she said.

“Promises hold weight here, Renn,” I warned her.

She nodded. “I know. It’s a good thing I can’t get drunk,” she said.

I nodded. I’d been testing it, a little, ever since she had told me she couldn’t. As far as I was aware… she really wasn’t able to. It was my belief that she had yet to simply drink anything that worked for her, though.

If she continued alongside me, I planned to test her tolerance in the east. There were a few drinks there that were… special.

“I’m glad you enjoyed the dinner by the way. I’ll not be doing that again, so I hope you got your fill,” I told her.

Renn giggled. “I figured. You always look so… annoyed, when we have to sit with other people,” she said as I stepped forward and gestured for her to follow me.

She wasn’t holding herself anymore, and was smiling and laughing again. I had somehow gotten through that little… moment, without any real stress.

Go me?

“I don’t mind eating with our members… But I’ve known most of them for hundreds of years. There’s little I wish to speak with them about anymore,” I said.

“Hm… does that mean you’d get bored of me too?” Renn asked as she stepped closer to me.

“Who said I’m not already?” I asked her.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Your face. You glare at me sometimes, but never when we’re just talking or alone,” Renn said.

I glared at her to make up for the obvious lack of it.

She laughed at me and drew closer, happily wrapping her arms around one of my own.

Slowing my pace, we both came to a stop as I stared down at her. She had an odd look on her face, and she quickly un-wrapped her arms and stepped away. She coughed, and… went red in the face, as if embarrassed.

“You clung to me the whole night the other night, yet that was enough to make you blush?” I asked her.

Honestly I was glad she had released me. It had been… a little odd, for her to have done that. Especially when we were alone and there was no point in her pretending to be something she wasn’t.

“Oh shush… it’s not the same!” she said as she turned and hurried away.

Following after her as we neared the mansio, I smiled at the sight of her dress. It was fluttering, thanks to her tail.

Renn hurried to the gate, and with ease pulled it open. Seeing her do so reminded me she was strong.

Closing the gate behind me as I followed her, I watched as Renn hurried to the front door. She paused in front of it and turned to wait for me, patiently.

Sometimes she was like a child.

She grinned at me as I walked calmly up to the porch and front door. “If anyone was watching they’d think you actually were drunk,” I told her.

“I can pretend to be, if you’d like,” she offered.

“You’re already drunk on me, there’s no need to pretend,” I said as I went to open the door.

As I opened the front door, I noticed the weird silence that followed. Glancing at her as I stepped back, to let her in first… I hesitated as I found her giving me an odd look.

She stared at me for a moment… and then blinked and looked away. She stepped past me and entered the house without a word, and I noticed her tail had stopped moving.

Had I upset her? I had thought it had been a rather light-hearted joke.

Closing the door behind us, I watched as she slowly came to a stop. Right before the open foyer, where the log book sat waiting for its next entry.

“I enjoy our time together, Vim,” she then said.

Glancing at the door, for the tiniest moment… I debated locking it. I never did, usually. In fact I usually never locked any door anywhere. After all, I never needed to. There was nothing in this world that could enter without me knowing first and then nothing that I couldn’t handle.

Yet here before me was a moment where even I didn’t want to be bothered.

“Can I be honest as well?” I asked her.

She turned briskly and nodded.

Stepping up to her I reached up and carefully undid the two pins that held her hat onto her head. I was careful to not tug free any hairs, especially since she always seemed to latch them onto the hair of her ears and not her head. Surely that hurt?

“I’ve enjoyed traveling with you too,” I told her as I handed her the hat.

Renn gulped, and I knew I shouldn’t allow it to go any further. Especially when I considered the gleam in her eyes.

“Maybe I am drunk…” she whispered, as if in disbelief.

“Ever had a hairball?” I asked her.

She blinked, and that beautifully dangerous gleam in her eyes disappeared. “Hairball…?” she asked, stepping back a step. She hadn’t expected my question at all.

I nodded.

After a few moments she then scoffed, and then she broke out into a huge smile. “A hairball!” she shouted, and started to laugh at me.

Smiling at her burst of laughter I turned and headed for the fireplace. It was a little chilly, it wasn’t as windy as it had been yesterday but that was only because the storm was just about to arrive. Here in a few hours the wind would be loud and strong, and the world cold and damp.

“Hairball… haha,” Renn snickered and giggled as I went to arranging a few logs into the fireplace.

“They’re dangerous you know,” I said.

“I’m sure! Though… now that I think about it, no, I never have had one. Probably a good thing… it’d probably be gross,” she said.

“Well… you don’t lick yourself clean, so of course you wouldn’t,” I said.

“Then why’d you ask?” she asked with a chuckle.

“Seemed the right time to do so, I’ve been thinking about it for awhile,” I said. Not a real lie, but it felt like one.

Renn stepped around the table, and bent down next to me as I went to striking a match. I glanced at her as I went to starting a fire.

She smiled as she watched the flame, and I wondered if maybe she was cold. Maybe she wanted to sit before the fire for awhile.

“I talked to Hands,” she then said.

I nodded. “I know… I took you to him, remember?”

Although I had not found her with him, but instead sitting outside of his office. Near it, actually, in one of the sitting areas of the cathedral.

“He… he’s a little odd, huh?” Renn wondered.

“He’s eccentric, but he’s harmless. He’s smart where it counts, though,” I said.

“Hm… Eccentric…” she pondered the word for a moment as the fire grew stronger, crackling and popping as it encompassed the untouched logs.

“Peculiar,” I added.

“He showed me the world, I guess. It was a big painted ball, he said it was the world,” she then said.

I paused as I reached for another piece of wood, to help feed the new fire. “He did?” I asked her.

She nodded as she held her hands out, to both warm them and showcase the shape of the ball. “It spun,” she said.

So he had…

Maybe that was why the chronicler had wanted her to meet him. Maybe she was supposed to have seen that. Or learn about it.

Still it wasn’t every day that Hands showed someone he really didn’t know stuff like that. Those were what he considered treasures.

They were treasures, of course, but he valued them in a little different way than purely monetary.

For him to have shown her on their first meeting…

What had he seen in her? What had she said?

“What else did he show you…?” I asked her, realizing that he very well might have.

“Lots of clocks?” she said with a shrug.

Tossing another piece of wood into the fire, I used the movement to hide my relief. Thank goodness.

Last thing I needed was for this woman to see those diagrams and maps in that attic of his.

“I’m surprised he didn’t give you one,” I said.

“One of the clocks…?” she clapped her hands together, and I knew she was mimicking what Hands usually did. “He treasures them too much,” she decided.

“That is true,” I said.

I’d not tell her that he gave clocks to those he knew he’d never see again. It was his way of saying goodbye, forever.

For him not to have done so meant he was not only okay with seeing her again, but planned to do so.

Putting one last log onto the fire, I decided it would now be fine for awhile. But before I could stand up, Renn shifted a little and rested against me.

Glancing at her, I stared at the way the fire reflected in her eyes.

For such a normal color, they were pretty.

“Cold?” I asked her.

“A little. I think I feel the storm coming too, I feel as if my body is aching but I know it’s not,” she said.

“Hm… Come on then, I’ll heat up a bath for you,” I said.

Her ears perked up as we both stood and I stepped around her as to head to the kitchen.

“Together?” she asked, sounding far too hopeful.

“You are more than welcome to help me prepare the bath together, yes,” I said as I headed down the hallway.

She giggled at me, and I relaxed a little. She had expected such a response.

Hopefully I’d be able to give such responses long enough before giving in.

“Who do I get to meet tomorrow?” Renn asked as I went into the bathroom.

It was dark, thanks to the thick clouds outside. But I had no plans to light any of the candles or lamps in here. The fire would light it up well enough for us.

“I’m going to meet Link, if you’d like to join me,” I said.

“Oh? The one who knows about the wars?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Neat. I don’t know war at all,” she said.

“Few do,” I said as I checked the little cubby beneath the stone bathtub. It was big enough for a few pieces of wood, but not entire logs.

“Here.” Renn had found the wood box and offered one to me. Seemed she had taken my earlier comment seriously.

Taking it from her, she seemed content watching me as I quickly started a fire.

This one popped and crackled more often, and was louder, than the fireplace out in the front. The wood was a little too dry.

But it was fine.

“Keep it fed, I’ll get the water,” I told her as I grabbed the two large buckets.

“Okay,” she nodded obediently as I headed out the large door to the backyard.

It didn’t take long to fill the two buckets, thanks to the well nearby. It was much fuller than usual, which told me it had probably stormed before we had gotten here.

Carrying the buckets back into the bathroom, I went to filling up the bathtub. Renn was kneeled in front of the fire, slowly feeding it.

On the third trip, Renn had reached in to splash the water. “Oh, it’s warming up fast,” she noted.

“Why wouldn’t it?” I asked her as I poured more in. It was about half way full now.

“It was freezing when you first started,” she said.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” I asked again and went to get another batch.

Upon returning I found her already in the bath. Her clothes and shoes were bundled up near the other door, the one that led to the hallway.

“Your… you’re going to get cold when I pour these in, you know?” I warned her.

“Go for it,” she grinned at me.

I sighed but obliged her. I made sure to pour them as far away from her as I could. Even though I did, she still squirmed a little.

Shaking my head at her, I wondered if she’d be fine. It wasn’t quite full yet, but….

“You can get it in too, there’s enough room,” she said with a gesture to the space across from her.

Glancing at it, I envisioned myself in there with her. “Yea… no there isn’t,” I said. Even while sitting her feet almost touched the other end, her tail did easily.

She giggled as I put the buckets away and closed the door. Before leaving though I grabbed some more wood and tossed them into the fire.

“You really can get in Vim. I promise not to do anything too weird,” she said as she watched me tender the fire.

“I believe you.”

She tilted her ears at me, then her head. “Then…?”

“It’s not you I worry about,” I said, and then with one last piece of wood I brushed my hands off and stepped away.

Bending down, I picked up her clothes, and then her shoes and hat. I tidied them up and put them on the counter near the door. Once done I nodded and left.

Renn stared at me as I left the bathroom, and after a few steps… once out of her line of sight, I heard her make an irritated noise and splash the water. By the sounds of it with both her fists and her tail.

I flinched and nodded.

Yea.

Me too, Renn.

Me too.