Nebl was still asleep.

Sitting on a stump, I stared at the house and the buildings looming around it. The blast furnace was the only one burning, but that was to be expected. Its gray smoke went high up into the sky, telling me there wasn’t much wind down here or up there.

“Three days…” I whispered, wondering how much longer it’d take for him to wake.

He had been malnourished. Dehydrated. Weak.

Not a surprise, of course. Nearly three months he had spent buried in that mine. Even for our kind… even for Nebl, that was a testament to his tenacity and will.

A strong man… in many more ways than one.

It was probably time to start separating certain members. Not physically. At least in classification. There were those like Renn and Nebl, and then those like Jelti and Henrietta.

Those who could do what no human could and those who were nearly human themselves.

I’d bring it up with the chronicler the next time we were at the Cathedral… she probably already had such a system in place, no matter how accurate. It’d be hard to rely on hers though, since she’d be blinded by what she thought she saw and not what was actually there.

For now I had more pressing concerns.

Such as keeping my mouth shut.

I took a small breath and wished it didn’t irk me so much.

I should be happy. Thrilled. Beyond excited just as the rest of them were. Lellip had actually passed out from relief upon seeing her grandfather still alive. Pram had wept. She had knelt before me and wept for hours. Thanking me in such a way I had worried over her baby. Such prolonged emotions, and prostration, wasn’t too wise.

And Drandle kept a distance. He had only come to his wife's side after I had intentionally got up and left the house, to escape her groveling.

Squeezing my knee, I closed my eyes and did my best to forgive him. Or at least enough so as to not kill him.

My anger wasn’t justified after all. He had done nothing, as far as I could tell. Drandle had done nothing to cause the cave in. He had not endangered his family in any way, and had in fact done all he could to keep them safe. Even to the point of risking his daughter’s ire, by banning her from the mine and village for the foreseeable future.

Yet he had also not tried to save Nebl either.

My knee protested as I squeezed it tighter, but I ignored it.

Nebl had only woken for a few moments upon bringing him home. He had smiled at his family, said Pram’s name and then fallen back asleep. In relief. So I hadn’t been able to find out the exact turn of events that led us to here. But waiting was also something a protector needed to be efficient at.

A part of me had expected him to die there on the spot. Which would have… honestly been bad. To bring him back only for him to die in their arms. It would have been closure, but the wrong kind.

Luckily he still lived. And was growing stronger. We had bandaged his wounds, reset his broken leg, and his daughter had gotten some thin soup down his throat.

It’d not take long for him to wake and be back on his feet.

He’s sustained worse injuries… although maybe his body had never been taken to this level of neglect.

Honestly… other than myself, and a few of the Monarchs…. who could survive such a thing? Without damage, as well?

Shifting a little, I thought of my friend’s body. He had lost more than half his weight in that cavern. He had looked as thin as Renn, at least in the waist and legs.

Nebl had always been short, but never skinny. Never weak.

“Bastards…” I whispered, and realized I was getting angry again.

Focusing on my breathing, I groaned. I really should leave this place soon… but I knew I couldn’t. Not only could I not leave until Nebl woke up…

Glancing upward, to the west, I stared at the snowy peaks in the distance. I could cross those… but could Renn?

No, I knew she could. She was far more hardy than she seemed to be. Hardier than even the image I had of her in my mind.

I’d need to correct that. She deserved better than for me to judge her as I did the others.

She had worked a whole day in the mine with me, without rest or stop.

Once again proving herself to me, even if she didn’t realize it.

A little fox appeared to my left. It made a noise at me as it sniffed the air, probably wondering what I was.

It could see me, and knew I was real… yet couldn’t smell me.

Which was funny, since I still had stains from the mines all over my body.

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Looking at my forearm, where Nebl had grabbed me… I stared at the outline of his hand-print.

He had grabbed me desperately, as if in disbelief.

It was very likely he had not believed I was real, and probably hadn’t believed it even upon my touch.

The man hadn’t really believed he was safe until he had seen his family. Had heard them call his name.

“Yes… I should be happy,” I told myself.

With my voice the little fox squeaked and darted away, causing bushes to scatter as it ran away.

Glancing at it, I apologized lightly to the small animal. It wasn’t its fault I was so…

Wrong.

A door opened. My eyes scanned the house’s frame until I found the cause. A pair of pointed ears turned left and right… until they faced my way. The rest of the head followed, and Renn’s smile grew several times larger as she saw me.

She stepped out of the house and closed the door behind her. Barely. She broke out into a run, hurrying up to me.

It was obvious what news she was carrying, thanks to the tears on her face and the smile they fell upon. “He’s awake!” she shouted loudly as she got closer.

I nodded and allowed the relief to calm me down a little. “Good. That’s good,” I said, and meant it.

She nodded quickly as she came to a stop in front of me… and seemed suddenly unsure of herself. “Not going to go say hi?” she asked.

“I’ll let his family do the honors first,” I said.

Renn blinked a few times, and her tail twitched a little oddly as her smile softened. “I see,” she said gently.

Looking away from her strange gaze, I studied the house. Nebl’s room was on other side. Second floor, with an open access stairwell straight to the furnace. It was why I hadn’t heard or seen his wake myself.

“I assume he seems fine?” I asked. She’d not be so happy if he had woken in pain or with issue.

“Ah, seems so. Yes. He even sounded a little growly, he wanted supper,” she said with a smirk.

“Good,” I nodded. That was Nebl. The stubborn blacksmith.

The memory of him weeping for a moment upon my finding of him made me think of the only other time he had done such a thing.

He hadn’t wept for only a few moments then. But that had also been because of anger. Pure anger and sorrow.

The weeping the other night had been…

Glancing down to my shirt, I couldn’t make out anywhere that he could have cried upon, but I knew there should have been.

That was the first time I had heard my friend actually cry from relief. Pure relief.

A better reason, if any.

“Did… had there been another animal here?” Renn asked as she looked around.

“A small fox was here earlier,” I said.

“Oh. It smells funny,” she said.

Probably pissed itself as it ran away, startled by me.

“How are you Renn?” I asked, changing topics. Both for her and myself.

“Huh? Oh… I’m fine?” she glanced at herself, as if she thought I had actually seen something wrong with her.

There wasn’t, at least visibly. But I had heard her weeping last night. It had been some time since she had cried herself to sleep, so I had thought possibly it wasn’t from emotions or whatever troubled her soul but something else. Something physical.

Renn hopped around a bit, to stand a little more in front of me. She twirled for a moment, to make sure to display to me that she was in fact in good health.

“You’d tell me if you were hurt, I hope,” I said.

“Of course I would?” she said as if it was obvious.

Yes. She probably would. Renn had her own secrets, but stuff like that didn’t seem to be things she kept hidden. From anyone.

“How about you Vim? Why haven’t you cleaned yourself up yet? I know you like the idea of being stinky, but the rest are worried about you,” Renn said as she pointed at me.

I liked the idea of smelling bad? Me?

“I’m sure Nebl would prefer a bath first,” I said.

“They have two baths, Vim…” She said with a small smile.

Ah. True. They did. They had one in the house and one behind the smithy, heated by the blast furnace’s excess heat.

“Hm… I suppose I should. Don’t want to get him infected or anything,” I said as I stood from the stump.

She nodded quickly. “Right!”

“No you can’t join me,” I told her.

Renn hesitated, but her smile didn’t disappear. “Of course! I mean… I’m going to go help them prepare dinner in a moment. I think,” she said, as if suddenly unsure of herself.

Glancing at the house, I noticed that there was indeed now some smoke coming from one of the chimneys. The one that led to the kitchen.

“Oh uh… also,” Renn got my attention before I could step away and head for the smithy baths.

“Hm?”

“Are we uhm… going to start training again? It’s been a few days, Vim,” she said softly.

“We will. Tomorrow we’ll start again, I promise,” I said.

“Okay,” she nodded, and looked away. She seemed to have expected my answer it seems. Yet still it had made her happy to hear.

Sorry Renn… right now I’d be…

Glancing at my forearm, where Nebl’s print remained… I wondered why this was bothering me so much.

Nebl was a friend. I not only saw him as such, I openly said it aloud. Not just to Renn either.

Yet…

I wasn’t supposed to have friends.

“Vim?” Renn tilted her ears at me, seeming worried for me.

“Sorry. Actually, mind doing me a favor?” I asked her.

She blinked as she nodded quickly, expectant.

“Let me know when they… leave him be for a moment. So I can talk to him privately,” I said.

“Oh… okay…” she nodded gently. She had been hoping for something else but seemed more than willing to help me out.

“Sorry I didn’t invite you into the bath,” I said to her.

She smirked and laughed as she turned and darted off, her tail dancing in the air as she hurried back to the house.

Watching her return inside, I took a deep breath and felt a little better.

I’d thank her later. Even though there was no way she’d know that she had actually helped me calm down a little.

Glancing behind me, I quickly found the small gravestone Lellip had made.

She had pushed it over, but had still left it there. I knew the entire family would ignore it from this point on, until it got overcame by the forest and time. Disappearing forever, from sight and memory.

“Fools,” I stepped away and headed for the bath. Cursing them… and myself.