The embassy folks waved as their carriage started moving. The plain thing looked… out of place here, even though it shouldn’t. Fancy wagons did frequent our company… but on the other side. The bank section got fancy carriages, but that was the other side of the building. This road was usually the depot traffic. A place for hard work… not leisure and especially not to show off wealth. Yet for some reason the plain wagon, and the even plainer canopy carriage box upon it, looked misplaced. As if it was lost and they had only stopped because they were looking for somewhere else and needed directions.

Renn let loose a deep sigh as she watched the carriage roll away. She wasn’t crying, but her cheeks had tear-stains upon them. Stains from the hours before, they had started when she had watched and listened to Pram and her sister collapse in each other’s arms. The event had honestly been the kind I usually avoided… but I had wanted to see the embassy people who had come to meet Lamp and her people.

I had hoped Renn’s stalker would have been amongst them. Or her smell at least.

When neither had been, I had only grown more upset… and then of course, there was no head or tail of her now either. I was half tempted to invite Renn out, to spend the night out enjoying a date… just to bait that stalker out from wherever she was now hiding.

But that wasn’t something I should do. Not only was it… dangerous, since I wasn’t entirely sure what that stalker had been doing, it was also rude to Renn.

Who knows what she’d think if I told her I only wanted to go out with her so I could hunt another woman. The reason probably wouldn’t matter; she’d still likely get upset with me.

“Think they’ll be okay?” Renn asked me.

“Too late to worry about that now, Renn,” Brandy said.

I nodded.

Lamp and seven other eastern girls had gone back to the embassy on that carriage. They had gone to spend a few days… to see if it was something that would work. Something that was trustworthy, and real.

Oddly… Pram, the one whose sister was at the embassy, hadn’t gone with them. I wasn’t entirely sure of the reason, but something told me it was on purpose. Wonder whose idea that had been.

“Back inside, then,” Brandy said as she turned to head back into the depot.

Watching her go, I noticed the way she studied the crates and wagons around us. She had internally set aside the eastern girls and their needs, and now was going to go focus entirely on business. Real business.

“Should we follow them?” Renn asked me softly.

“What for?” I asked.

“To make sure they actually go to the Embassy?”

Staring at her, who glared at the carriage being drawn away… I wondered just what she thought could possibly happen to them.

If they didn’t actually take care of them, they’d be making an enemy out of the Animalia Guild. A company beyond not just them, but nearly their entire nations which they represented. And they knew it.

“We can, if you want,” I said… deciding it was probably better to not squish that strange over protectiveness Renn seemed to have.

“Really?” she looked at me with expectant eyes.

“Sure. It’ll give me a chance to maybe see that stalker again too,” I said.

“Oh. Right. That too,” she frowned, telling me she had forgotten all about it. She even glanced across the street, to the alleys nearby.

They were mostly empty right now.

“Let’s go then. Brom, let Brandy know what we’re doing,” I said to the man standing nearby, leaning up against one of the large depot’s doors.

“Sure… and what stalker you talking about?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about it. Yet,” I said as I stepped out onto the road.

“Great…” Brom sighed as I crossed the street. Renn hurried to keep up with me.

Glancing up at the dark sky, I knew we’d probably get stuck in the rain… but if I went back in to get umbrellas or better clothes for the storm, the carriage would be gone before we got ready.

“Thanks Vim,” Renn said as we headed into an alley.

“For?” I asked. We were walking quickly, but we weren’t running or anything. The carriage was moving slowly, after all. It was plain and cheap looking, but it was still something meant for comfort not speed.

“Letting me make sure they’ll be safe. I know you don’t really care,” she said.

“I do care. Just… not as much as you. Plus, in case you’ve forgotten, Lamp is a potential new member. That means I’ll protect her just as fiercely as I would any other,” I said.

“Potential. She’s not one yet,” she pointed out.

“I said that?” Hadn’t I?

“You did… but potential to me means you won’t care as much, just yet,” she said as we reached the end of the alley and took a left, to head towards the other city block. The one that the carriage should be turning onto any moment.

“Potential falls under those protected Renn. I’d not stand aside and let someone who had the qualities and fit the criteria to join the Society die or suffer just because they hadn’t gotten their names stamped into the tomes yet,” I told her.

“Hm… true… You are like that, aren’t you?” she wondered as I slowed our pace as we neared the end of the alley. Once we reached it, I kept Renn and I back a little, to stay out of sight. It helped the world was a little dark, thanks to the storm forming above us.

Sure enough, after a few moments… the eastern embassy carriage rolled by slowly, heading westward. Towards the embassy.

“Hm… it’s slow,” Renn said.

“And you wonder why we don’t ride one when traveling,” I said.

“It’d be fun though,” she argued, and after a few more moments… once the carriage was farther down the street, I stepped out of the alley and headed for another across the street.

Renn kept up with me, and as we walked down the new alley, I noticed a large rat chewing on something. It was sitting near a small drainage section, a few bricks away from a rickety looking wooden door.

“If I see that stalker Renn, I’ll be running after them. I’ll probably just run off without warning, so don’t be shocked if I do,” I said.

“Hm. I’ll just head back to the company if you do,” she said.

“Glad you understand,” I said, nodding.

“I do, don’t I?” she said with a small giggle as we walked out of the alley, onto the new road. This one was much smaller than the others, one that a carriage wouldn’t travel upon. I guided Renn to the right, and headed for the western block. The one that the carriage would be crossing, here soon.

Renn and I found a closed business, one that had tables and chairs outside, to use as cover. I sat in one of the tables, choosing one that let me stare into the dark windows of the closed… “Tea’bills,” Renn read the name of the store as she sat across from me, smiling happily.

“Dumb name,” I said, and out of the corner of my eye watched the main street not far from us. There were a few carts and wagons passing by, but so far the carriage hadn’t arrived.

“What’s the bills for?” she asked.

“Very likely the name of the owner. Bill,” I said. It couldn’t mean its literal play of words, since those didn’t exist here in Lumen.

“Oh…” Renn seemed very unimpressed, and she glanced down the street. I looked again, and watched as the embassy carriage slowly rolled past.

“Seems to be heading the right way, Renn. There are only a few more turns and it’ll be there,” I said.

“Still… just in case,” she said with a nod as she stood from her seat.

I sighed and nodded. This time Renn was the one who chose the alley, she took a left in the second to last alley to head across this block and to the next.

Oddly, it had been the one I would have chosen too.

Following her, I noticed the way she looked around as we chased after the carriage. She looked like she was enjoying herself.

“What will I do if Lamp chooses them over us?” Renn asked, slowing a little. Seems she was calmer now that we were already half way to the embassy, and the carriage was still on track.

Probably shouldn’t tell her that there was a chance that the embassy itself was where they’d kidnap or hurt them, if they wanted to. Was much easier to do it in-house than elsewhere.

“You respect her decision, Renn. It’s her will, not yours,” I said firmly.

I heard her ears brush against her heavy leather hat as she glanced at me, and she actually glared at me for a moment before looking away.

Smiling softly at her, I wondered if she’d always be like this. I hoped she would be… it was why I…

Blinking, I glanced around to make sure the stalker wasn’t around. She wasn’t, but I wish she had been. My thoughts were drifting, and that was dangerous. More dangerous than a stalker, at least.

Reaching the end of the alley, Renn peered her head out around the corner and nodded. “They’re turning right,” she said.

Oh? Either they had picked up their pace a little, likely to try to avoid the incoming rain, or we had walked a little slower than before. Odds were it was a little of both.

Stepping up behind Renn, I paused a moment… then stepped to the left, as to not get too close to her, as I too peered around the corner.

Sure enough, down the road and pass the next crossing was the carriage. It was indeed heading to the embassy. I could see one of their little embassy flags in the distance.

“Feeling better?” I asked her.

“Yes… but I still want to see them enter it,” she said as she stepped out of the alley.

I watched Renn hurry after it, even as she ignored the other people on the street who stared at her oddly.

Most people didn’t walk in the alleys here. Especially not someone wearing the clothes of a mercenary. Mercenaries didn’t like to be associated with actual thieves and hoodlums. It was a stigma they always had to fight against, so they became very prickly about it, usually.

Stepping out of the alley I went to follow after her. Renn had picked up her pace, since a few wagons had turned onto the road and were now blocking the line of sight we had on the carriage.

By the time we crossed the intersection, and got half way down the street… the carriage took a right. Turning onto the street that the embassy was situated upon.

“Hm…” Renn slowed as she stared at the alleys we passed, she was probably wondering how we’d sneak closer to get a look at them going into the building.

“This way,” I guided Renn into one of the alleys, and she hurried to follow me.

About half way into the alley, I found the right spot. A large warehouse, with a wooden ladder built into the wall.

“Hm?” Renn looked up at it, as I pointed at it.

“To the roof,” I told her.

Renn smiled and nodded, finding it a great idea. She hurried to climb up first, and I kept an eye on her as she went to climbing it.

Most warehouses had such ladders built into them, so that workers and others could get to their roofs with ease. But lately they had started falling out of fashion. More of the newer ones were being built like our own, where such ladders were inside and not outside.

Didn’t want strangers on your roof, after all.

Climbing up after Renn, I did so slowly. Renn seemed fine as she climbed, but she still paused every so often. By the looks of it she kept glancing at, or into, the windows we passed as we ascended.

The warehouse looked dark inside, and seemed… mostly empty, but I didn’t blame her for glancing into each window we passed. It gave me more time to stare at something too.

Reaching the top, Renn quickly climbed over the roof’s ledge. By the time I got up there, she was already on the other side of the… roof…

Frowning at the disheveled roof, I stepped gently onto the worn down and broken shingles and plates. It looked like it had suffered dozens of storms, and no one had come up here to clean or fix anything since it had been built. Probably hadn’t, by the looks of it.

They were lucky they had no windows up here; else there’d be holes and not simply a mess. Though it wouldn’t be long until they’d have them anyway, by the looks of it.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Heading over to the corner of the roof where Renn was, I made sure to look around at the surrounding roofs. This building wasn’t the tallest around, so I could only see onto a few of the buildings around us, but it seemed we were alone up here.

Stepping up next to Renn, I sighed as I watched the people below. There were carts and wagons… people walking around, and even a pair of children down one of the roads nearby running quickly. Probably hurrying back home.

“They’re heading inside,” Renn said gently.

I nodded as I turned my attention to the carriage. It was parked before the main entrance of the Eastern Embassy, and the girls were all clambering off and heading inside. They all seemed to be talking away to one another, excitedly.

After a few moments, they all headed inside… and the carriage then began to move again. Heading down the road, until it took a left and turned into a tiny alley next to the embassy. Probably where they stored it.

“See? Safely delivered,” I said.

“Hm… Wish I could sneak inside too,” she grumbled.

“And what? Watch them for months? Renn… at some point you must simply let go and hope for the best,” I said.

“I know… but that doesn’t mean I have to like it,” she said.

I nodded, willing to at least give her that.

The embassy door closed, and that was it. The carriage gone. The girls gone. The point of watching, gone.

Yet still Renn stared at it, as if expecting it to just… blow up.

Looking up, I smelled the incoming rain. I turned a little, to try and look out at the nearby port and sea… but the buildings between us and the sea were blocking most of it. Yet still, I could see the storm clouds in the distance. They were very dark, and thundering.

A heavy storm approached. One similar to the one that had sunk my nice boat. The one I had wanted instead of that still broken man-of-war.

“Hm… did you see my stalker?” Renn asked.

“No. And although I’d like to walk around town with you, to bait her out… it’s about to storm. Badly,” I said.

“I don’t mind a storm,” she said softly.

“The humans do. We’d look strange here in Lumen if we wandered around in the storm. The people here hole up, hiding away during bad storms,” I said.

“Sometimes I hate pretending to be what I’m not,” she said.

“You say that, yet if I curled up with you on a large chair, reading a book together you’d probably love every moment of it,” I said.

“Under warm blankets and near a fire?” she asked, smirking at me.

I shrugged and gestured for her to imagine her own fantasies.

Renn giggled as I stepped away, heading back to the ladder. “Let’s go Renn. You’ve done more than enough,” I said.

“I guess… even if it doesn’t feel like it,” she said.

“You’ll one day learn to let go. Until you do, I’ll let you cry on my shoulder,” I said, and went to descend the ladder. Kneeling down, I hopped off the roof’s ledge and held myself outward, holding onto the edge of the roof as I let my feet find the ladder.

“I’m allowed to cry on your shoulder?” she asked, pausing before the ladder and watching me as I begun to descend.

“Just once, each shoulder,” I said and looked up at her.

She smirked at me, then I watched as she… kind of clumsily replicated what I had done. She bumped her knee on the edge as she did so, and I heard her hiss a little as she quickly found the ladder and begun to climb down.

Had that hurt?

Reaching the ground, I stepped back a little… but not too far, just in case I needed to catch her if she fell. It didn’t take long for Renn to step down onto the ground, and then away from the ladder.

As she did… I noticed her right pant leg. It was now torn.

“You okay?” I asked her.

“Hm? Yes. I scraped it against the roof,” she said as she reached down to brush her knee off. She did seem to act like it hadn’t hurt her, nor was she hurting.

“Sorry,” I said as I stared at it. I saw tiny drops of blood seeping into the pant leg around the torn spots.

“Wasn’t your fault,” she said.

Yes it was.

A long moment went by, and then she coughed. I blinked, and realized I had been staring at her slowly blooding knee.

Smelling the incoming rainstorm, I nodded. “Let’s head back,” I said.

“To a bath?” she asked.

My eye twitched as I turned around, to head down the alley the opposite way we had entered. So that we’d exit closer to the company building, and be able to head towards it instead of the port. “Did you give Reatti her spear yet?” I asked.

“I did. Last night. Not long after you told me to,” she said.

Seriously? Already?

“I see,” I said.

“So… the bath?” she asked happily, stepping up beside me on my right. She leaned forward, smirking at me as if we were children.

“I made a promise,” I said.

“You did.”

“Before we leave,” I said.

“Well… yes…” She frowned, but nodded.

I nodded, happy with her admitting to it. “So we’ll have your bath… before we leave.”

Renn’s frown deepened and she stopped leaning forward and looked away from me. “I can see why Merit thinks you’re a coward,” she mumbled.

“Huh?” I stopped. A coward? Me?

Renn didn’t seem bothered as she stopped. “She said you’d find a way to get out of the bath, somehow. That you’re a coward when it counts,” she said with a nod.

“When’d she say this?” I asked.

“When we were in our bath. You promised it if I could beat Brom, but then you said I kind of did, and then she said that even if I really did beat Brom you would have still found a way to not have to bathe with me. That you’d fight through any and all hell for me, but won’t do anything like that willingly. She said I should give up on you, and sleep with someone else if that was what I wanted. She said you slept with no one, ever,” Renn said smoothly.

Staring at the woman who was talking without any hint of shame or worry, I wondered just what the hell she had done to become so close with Merit.

She hadn’t been kidding at all when she had said she and her had become friends.

“Merit thinks I’m a coward?” I asked.

“Out of all of that, that’s what you’re worried about?” Renn asked, smiling at me. So she had been aware of the odd things she had been saying aloud.

“That’s a shock to me,” I said. Which was funny, since she was usually shocking in other ways.

“Well… I was being a little mean. Plus Merit had laughed when she said it…” she said softly.

I sighed, and wondered what to say.

Renn then brought her hands forward, clasping them as she nodded and winked at me. “She doesn’t hate you, I don’t think. I think she just… doesn’t want me to expect anything from you. Doesn’t want me to fall in love with you,” she said.

Love.

My eye twitched at that word. I hated that word. Despised it.

“Coward,” I said.

Renn smirked, and then laughed. “She had said it!”

Smiling at her, I stepped forward. Let her think that was why I had said it. After a moment of quick laughs, Renn finally followed after me.

Off in the distance thunder roared, telling me we’d need to pick up our pace soon.

As we walked out of the hallway, we crossed the street which was quickly growing empty. What had been busy of people and carts was now… a little dead.

“How much longer will we be here, Vim?” Renn asked.

“Not much longer. Brandy has something she wants me to do… one of our members is delivering something via a ship soon. She wants me to pick whatever it is up and take it with me on our trip. I suspect a few more weeks, maybe a month,” I said.

“That’s all?” she asked softly.

“We’ve been here over a month already, Renn. Almost two, if you include the time I spent away,” I said.

“Well… yea… but we spent almost three at the smithy,” she said as we rounded a corner, we were walking on the actual roads now and not through alleys.

“To wait for the passes. And based off that bridge collapsing, it had been needed,” I said.

“Isn’t that the truth.”

Another roar of thunder rumbled the world, and I somewhat longed to head for the port. To watch the swells and tide as the storm hit.

I missed the old storms. The ones that no longer could form. Even if they had been dangerous.

“You have until that package arrives to decide, Renn,” I told her as we rounded another corner. A part of the Animalia Company building came into view. Just a corner of it, where the bank was located.

“To decide what? The bath? Let’s do it now,” she asked.

“If you want to stay here, or work with Brandy,” I said.

I got three paces away before I had to stop… since Renn had come to a stop too.

Turning around, I found the expected look on her face. The same one I had seen several times so far.

A troubled look of sorrow.

“You would ask that, wouldn’t you?” she asked me softly.

I nodded. “It is your choice,” I said. The only reason it had taken me this long to ask it, was because I feared her answer. Though I wasn’t sure which answer I feared the most. Her staying would… bother me. But her coming was even worse.

Right?

She sighed and stepped forward… but I didn’t return to walking, since it was obvious she didn’t want to either. Renn only walked up to me, to stand closer. To talk quietly with me.

“This place is wonderful,” she said.

“There’s really no where else like it,” I said. Not for us, anyway.

“I bet I’d never get bored. And I’d be able to accomplish a lot here too, for the Society,” she said.

“Very likely,” I agreed.

“But then you’d leave,” she whispered.

“I’d come back. I come back here and to Telmik the most,” I said. There were actually a couple other places I visited a little more frequently, but they weren’t places she’d be able to stay at. Not comfortably at least.

“I’d get to make real friends here, I think. So I’d… not be entirely lonely,” she said.

“Those are much more valuable than there are words to describe,” I said.

She nodded, agreeing with me. “Yet…”

Staring into her golden eyes, I wondered if they were the reason so many found themselves attracted to her. Many humans had such eyes around here, if not gold at least a burnt yellow, but hers were… a little special. A little brighter. With irises that had lots of designs and shades within. The kind of pools of gold that could make one lost within if one wasn’t careful.

“You can spend time to think about it Renn, you need not make a decision this moment,” I said softly.

“I know. I just… wish I could have both,” she said.

“Both…?” She wanted to go with me but stay here? To live here yet travel?

“It’s too bad our Society is so fractured,” she said softly.

Ah.

She wanted me to stay here. With her. Which I could only do if everyone was here. Only possible if there was nowhere else I was needed and no one else that needed me.

“Wait long enough and that day will come… sadly,” I said.

She nodded, understanding my meaning. Eventually there would be only a few of our kind left, and I’d not need to travel so much. The air shifted a little, and then the far off rumble of thunder made Renn look upward, to the sky that was quickly darkening above us.

“Your painting is done, by the way,” she said.

“Oh…?” I was a little surprised. She had mentioned she was almost done earlier, but that had only been a couple days ago. She’d been so busy lately; I’d not thought she’d finish so soon.

She nodded. “You can come see it when you come for the bath,” she smirked at me.

“Ah…” I narrowed my eyes at her. How sly…

Renn giggled at me, and stepped forward. To return us to walking.

Following her, I shook my head at her. I should have known she’d have said something like that.

The jaguar walked ahead of me, not too quickly… but she had a little bit of pip in her step. If her ears and tail were out, they’d probably be fluttering and swaying happily.

It was too bad she had to hide them.

It was too bad I wasn’t good enough of a man to have created a world where such a thing had been possible.

I had tried. And failed. Was still failing.

Walking around a corner, we headed for the road which would lead us back to our temporary home.

“Is Merit old Vim?” Renn asked, slowing a little to look at me.

I nodded. “The oldest here,” I said.

“Huh? Including you?” she slowed, a little surprised.

“Oh. No. I meant of those who live here,” I said.

“Hm… She acts it. She said she was old, but didn’t really tell me to what extent,” she said.

“Merit remembers not just the previous era, but the one before that. She’s older than Brandy,” I said. Though… honestly not by much. Brandy had been a child during that era, and secluded. Merit had been born in the middle of it, and had seen it at its height. In all its glory, and the horrible fall.

It was partly why she was so prickly. So… angry at the world and everyone that lived in it.

She had seen the best the world had to offer, and the worst. And found them all wanting.

Which was why it was such a surprise that she and Renn were getting along. Renn wasn’t… a child by no means, especially not so emotionally, but there was still an age factor. Plus in Merit’s eyes, and most others, Renn was… something similar to someone who was innocent.

She didn’t know of the wars, or the terrors that had been born from them.

Though that wasn’t to say she hadn’t endured terrors in her own way.

Maybe it was the fact one could tell she has suffered, and endured, yet still retained that innocence… that made those like myself and Merit attracted to her.

“Merit came here not long ago. She had been somewhere else. She’s only been here for…” I tried to think of when I had brought her here.

“Thirty-three years,” Renn nodded.

Oh? “She told you?” I asked. Another shock.

“She said you did everything you could to save her home. She hates you, but will always love you for that,” she said softly, while looking away from me.

My fingers twitched, and I wondered what to think first. About Merit’s comments, or the fact that she had said such things to Renn.

Merit hadn’t even told Brandy, or anyone else, as far as I was aware.

“What’d you do to earn her friendship?” I asked her.

“Merit’s?” Renn glanced at me, and I noticed that her eyes were watery. If I had been human, I probably wouldn’t have noticed such a thing in this dark. I could hear the thunders, not of the lightning but the rain out in the ocean. It was about to hit the port.

“She’s not one easily befriended Renn,” I said.

Renn slowed to a stop, in front of a still open shop. There were three people within it, and they were all workers it seemed. They were at the counter, talking to one another, so didn’t notice us standing before their window.

“We bathed together,” she said simply.

I nodded. That was amazing. Merit was… very self-conscious of her body. And not just her young appearance either. Yet that couldn’t have been what made them friends. They had to have become such things before Merit would have allowed it. “What’d you do before that though? To get to that point?” I asked her.

“Why?” Renn asked.

Blinking at her sudden defiance, I couldn’t help but smile at the way she stood up straighter and glared at me. As if she dared me to try and pry out information about her new friend.

How lovely. To be so fierce, even against me. Over this reason, especially.

“I worry you promised something desperate,” I told her gently.

Renn’s hard glare softened a little… then she smiled at me. “Oh. No… Vim we just… talked. Talked and spent time together,” she said.

“Time. A few days worth at most, and you earned the friendship of someone who hasn’t made a new friend in hundreds of years,” I said.

Renn shrugged, as if she wasn’t sure what to say to me. Or to herself.

Sighing, I decided to just nod and accept it. After all… there was a very good chance that really was all they did. Or she did.

Sometimes stuff like that… just happened. She and the Clothed Woman had been a little odd too. Maybe not friends, but…

But the Clothed Woman hadn’t ignored her. She had actually talked to Renn, and had done so happily.

Even if I only saw it happen a handful of times, in all these years, it did happen.

Maybe she was far more charismatic than I realized.

“It’s about to rain,” Renn warned.

I nodded. It was. I wished I could stand within it. To douse the weird embers within me. The ones that hadn’t been lit in over a millennia. Those weren’t supposed to exist anymore, yet here they were too.

Another oddity, because of her.

“We could get soaked, and then take our bath,” she suggested.

“Let’s hurry back,” I said as I grabbed her hand.

She laughed as I pulled her into a brisk run.