Renn looked far too happy as she licked her fingers. If she had been born a human she would have probably been far larger than she were, based off how much she enjoyed food. Honestly how was she so scrawny as it was? I’d never really noticed but she was, or at least looked, thin. It was one of the reasons she fit the church garb so well when she wore it. They usually were scrawny.

It was a good thing I had dressed her as a common traveling merchant and not of the devout. Although it would have fit her, it wouldn’t have right now. Not with that crazy smile as she stuffed her face of food.

And it wasn’t even delicious food either…

Staring at the cooked goose, or at least the remnants of what had been of one, I wondered why she found it so tasty. It had tasted rather bland and dry to me.

“Want another one?” I asked her.

“Hm… I think I’m fine,” she said as she turned her plate a little, to start eating the bread that had been served along with the goose.

“You think,” I noted.

She smiled at me as she took another bite.

The tavern we sat in was a little busy. It was full of fishermen and those who worked in the village. Renn and I were dressed the nicest, yet not so nice that we stood out. Odds were this tavern got many travelers, although right now it seemed we were the only ones here.

“Two ducks as always, Bram!” A large man teased one of his regular customers as he put a pair of large platters onto a nearby table.

“Two ducks and three beers, you mean!” the man laughed back.

The loud patrons made it easy for Renn and I to ignore them, and be ignored. We had gotten a few looks when we had ordered a whole goose for ourselves, but those looks had only been gentle envy, nothing more.

“Ducks…” Renn groaned at the word.

“They’re tasty,” I teased her.

“Think he ever eats any? He had meat in his house,” she said as she slowly took another bite.

“Why wouldn’t he?” I asked her.

“Crane didn’t eat meat.”

“Crane was weird,” I said.

“Rude,” she reached over to take one of my bread pieces.

Taking a drink, I watched as Renn happily ate. At moments like this she seemed to be as old as she looked. A young girl who had just entered womanhood, and was enjoying life and all its pleasures.

Which meant people saw me as the lucky guy who caught her eye, or maybe the weird one who she’d leave in the dust the moment she could.

Either worked.

Renn coughed as she swallowed. She quickly went to take a drink, and seemed to focus on her drinking for a moment. The bread must have gone down harshly.

“Bread, the mighty cat killer,” I said lightly.

“Almost,” she smirked at me as she went to take another bite.

“Worse ways to go,” I admitted as I reached out to take a bite of the stuff myself.

Sure enough the bread was rather dry. It had been left to sit in the hot pan a little too long.

“Can I ask something weird, Vim?” Renn then said.

“Half your questions are weird Renn,” I said.

She blinked, and then smiled at me. “Only half?” she asked.

“Give or take,” I said with a shrug. Honestly most of her questions weren’t weird at all. They were normal… and understandable. The few she asked that I didn’t wish to answer were more on me than her, honestly.

“Hm…” She brushed off her hands and then nodded. “Okay. Why didn’t you fix anything in Trek’s house? A lot of it could have used a little work,” she then asked.

“He doesn’t want me to mess with the house. That dock is really all he cares about,” I said.

“Oh… but you helped fix some of Kaley’s stuff,” she said.

“She’s… different. I can’t help her as an individual so I help in what little ways I’m allowed to. Trek would just tell me to stop and leave if I started working on his house. Kaley won’t notice what I did, but she’d say thank you if she saw me doing it,” I explained.

“Do you treat everyone that way?” she asked.

“I help where and when I can Renn, but I’m not a god. I can’t fix everything,” I said. Although lately it did seem like I was more of a common laborer than an actual protector.

“How do you know when to stop? How do you know when to choose to help and not? Is it just based off the individual’s personality?” she asked.

I shifted a little, and realized where the conversation was going. Although I knew this topic not only was inevitable… I knew it was needed. Yet I really didn’t feel like talking about it just yet.

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“You learn and adapt. You’ll help until you realize you can’t anymore, for one reason or another. Then others you’ll stop helping, only later to learn you should have helped just a tad bit more. That’s something only time will answer,” I told her.

Renn blinked a few times at me as she soaked up my words. She didn’t like them very much, based off the way she frowned unhappily. “That’s a sad way to learn,” she finally said after a moment.

“A painful way, too,” I agreed.

The sound of a table being knocked over made Renn startle, she leaned to the left to see past me and stared at the commotion behind me.

“No! Stop him!”

“Shit, Johnny!”

The tavern quickly became loud, this time with cries of anger and shock. The familiar sound of two men fighting filled the room shortly after. I heard tables being moved, chairs skidding and falling to the ground. Plates smashing, bottles and cups clanking as they bounced on the floor. I heard people running out of the tavern, and others hurrying to stand from their chairs.

With a sigh I ignored Renn’s very obvious look of concern as I slowly turned around. Not too far from us, about two table lengths away, were two men rolling on the ground. One was trying to strangle the other; the one being strangled kept punching the other.

“Get’em off him!” the tavern owner shouted as he pointed at the two. It was a funny sight, considering he was more than big enough to do the deed himself.

“Vim…?” Renn asked softly, but didn’t sound too worried.

For a small moment I studied the tavern and the occupants. Most were the same ones I had seen… but I didn’t recognize the two men on the ground that were fighting. Had either of them been in here? I didn’t remember the red haired one, or the broad shoulder man on top of him. Maybe one had run in here as to escape the other, and thus the scene now.

Either way, judging by how fiercely both the men were fighting… this wasn’t going to end well. Even if they stopped, there’d be more chaos. There’d be shouting, accusations, drama.

None of which I felt wanting to be a part of.

“Let’s go,” I told Renn. I drained the last bit of my cup as I stood.

“Ughh…” Renn made an odd noise as she nodded. She quickly stuffed her face with the rest of her bread and even reached over to grab the few pieces left on my plate.

I grabbed her cup for her, since it was still somewhat full. She stepped around the table, right as the two men rolled into the table near us. Plates clanged, and two cups fell. Luckily for them neither had been very full, and nothing had splashed Renn or I.

“By the Gods stop them already!” a woman shouted.

“Johnny, please!” a younger boy stepped forward and shouted. He tried to get close to the two men, but only ended up getting hit by a stray a foot. The boy shrunk back into the crowd, pulled back by some of the onlookers.

“Idiots!” another shouted.

“You stole her!” one of the men on the ground finally got on top of the other. He shouted wordless anger, and then began to punch the man in the face. Repeatedly.

“This way,” I guided Renn to the back of the crowd. We were being ignored by everyone, so it made it easy.

Renn studied the two men for a moment, until the situation changed.

Pulling Renn back, to get behind me, I watched as the man who had been on top of the other fell in front of us. The crowd gasped as he fell onto a table. It held up well, the table only moved a few inches as he rolled on it, moaning as he held his chest.

The man he had been punching had kicked him off, rather brutally.

And was now…

“Don’t do it Rob!” a woman cried out. A familiar voice, one I had heard shout before.

The man who had been getting pummeled had found his feet… and also a knife. One meant to cut meat from bone. One that most likely had just been used to serve someone’s dinner. Now it was pointed at his fellow man.

He held it with both hands, and stepped towards us. The man on the table was moaning as he rolled over a little, nearly falling off the table. He wasn’t very aware of what was about to happen.

“Vim…!” Renn stepped forward, stepping into my arm and side. I glared at her as I kept her in place. What was she thinking?

The man rushed forward, landing rather haphazardly on the man on the table. They both promptly fell off the table, rolling to the floor. The man with the knife ended up on top, and without any hesitation went to stabbing.

“Gods!” a woman screamed and a man hurried forward, but hesitated. The man was stabbing wildly, and the man being stabbed barely seemed to register what was happening to him. He only raised his hands and stared wildly up at his attacker. Either in complete shock or the earlier kick had done more damage than I had assumed.

Looking away from the carnage, I grabbed Renn’s arm and pulled her away. She resisted for a moment, but not because she was as stunned as the crowd around us.

“Leave it be,” I told her.

“But!” she frowned in worry, and then flinched. A woman screamed, and I looked away from Renn and found why she had been acting so.

A woman was getting in-between the two men. She had wrapped her arms around the one who was stabbing wildly, and was screaming for him to stop. The man was blinded by bloodlust, and didn’t notice her nor was his stabbing impeded. His arms were a bloody mess as he continued to stab the now still man beneath him.

The woman holding onto him was screaming, and the crowd had started to change. A few were hurrying away, in fear or shock… others were stepping forward, but were unsure of themselves. Too scared to intervene, even though they knew they should.

“Johnny!” the woman screamed as she tried once more to tug the man off the other, she still failed in the effort… but it succeeded in getting the man’s full attention.

He raised the knife again, this time towards her.

I sighed and stepped forward. Handing Renn her cup, I was thankful she had the keen awareness as to grab it without question.

Rounding a fallen chair, I stepped right up to the mess. Blood was splattered all over the floorboards, as was food and drink. Most the crowd didn’t even register my presence, until I kicked the man with the knife in the back.

My blow connected right before he brought the knife down on her head. The knife flew out of his hands, clattering to the floor.

The man flew off the… soon to be dead one, and tumbled forward wildly. His body crumpled against chairs and tables, causing the whole crowd to shout out in shock as they hurriedly moved to avoid his body.

He came to a stop halfway across the tavern, laying in a mangled mess of broken chairs and tables. His arms and legs were contorted oddly, implying they had all broken from the impact… and he was no longer moving.

A heavy silence filled the tavern as I studied the crowd. Most weren’t even looking at me, but the man who I had kicked. Their eyes were wide in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Taking one last glance to the woman, and the bloody man on the floor… I knew he would not make it. He had dozens of stab wounds, most on his chest and face. One solid deep one had seeping black blood, coming from the side of his neck.

I knew not who had been the instigator, but it had ended with both of their deaths.

At least the woman was fine… even if she was looking at me as if I was some kind of ghost.

Turning around, I found Renn already near the entrance. She nodded to me, implying she understood.

Stepping away, the crowd separated themselves to let me pass. No one said a word as Renn and I left the tavern.