Leaning against the wall, I listened to the chatter of the three women.

“She’s trying her hardest Glanny,” Lamp said softly.

“It’s not fair, Lamp! She’s dead!” Glanny sobbed.

“I know she is, Glanny. We all do,” Lamp said, a little firmer this time. Though she was trying to be strong, I could hear her own emotions in her voice. I knew if I turned and leaned around the door frame I’d see that Lamp was just as distraught as Glanny.

Renn was sitting with the two crying women, and I didn’t need to look to know she was crying too. I could hear her sniffs and sobs. Crying over a woman she hadn’t even known. The woman had arrived here weak. Dying. They had probably not exchanged more than a few words before she passed in her sleep.

Yet…

That was why I was so fascinated with her, wasn’t it?

I squeezed my elbow, and had to squeeze harder when I didn’t feel anything. I relished the feeling of my elbow joint straining as I dug my fingers into it.

What are you doing Vim? What are you thinking?

You’re not allowed to think thoughts like that.

“What will they do with the body?” Glanny asked.

“Brandy said they’ll properly bury her. They have a graveyard outside of the city that they use. She said we can go watch them bury her if we want,” Lamp told her.

Glanny sobbed.

I wasn’t sure of the relationship between Glanny and the one who had died in the middle of the night… but out of all of them, she was the most distraught. Half the hallway was crying and sobbing, yet it was her who was being nearly frantic.

The sound of a charcoal pencil filled my ears as Renn wrote something. A few moments later I heard Lamp muttering as she read it.

“She wants us to check on everyone else. To make sure no one else gets sick,” Lamp said softly.

“More could die?” Glanny heaved her words.

“No, Glanny. She just wants us to keep an eye on everyone to make sure they don’t. Everyone else is able to get up and walk around, remember?” Lamp tried to reason with the girl.

Glanny took a deep breath, and then someone handed her something to blow her nose with. As she did I glanced down the hallway. Only half the rooms had lights on, little candlelight from only a few of them. The hallway ended and turned right at the end, where the rest of their rooms were… and I knew any moment someone would come out. It was late. Very late. In only a couple hours the sun would start rising. Most of them were awake already, woken by the commotion of Lamp finding the dead woman.

That commotion was what had brought me here. And then sent me to get Renn and Brandy.

To be honest me knocking on Renn’s door in the middle of the night had been… a mistake. I had avoided her all day yesterday after she had hit me… Then I go and knock on her door in the middle of the night? She had jumped out of bed and opened the door so happily and excitedly, that telling her the news had not just broken her own heart but nearly my own.

Watching that pure joy filled face, on a woman who was wearing nothing but a nightgown… full of expectations and excitement, die swiftly had been… Her expression had melted and turned into a gut wrenching expression that had nearly been enough to make even me crumble.

I squeezed my elbow tighter, and there was now pain. Real pain. Yet I still held my grip.

I wasn’t supposed to feel for her that deeply. I wasn’t supposed to allow her emotions affect me to such a degree.

Yet the honest truth was the moment I had seen that look on her face, I had been half tempted to dispose of these humans on the spot.

That was dangerous. She was dangerous, to me.

“Vim?” Renn called for me, and I realized I had missed some of their conversation. Lamp and Glanny were muttering something about Renn. About not understanding what she wanted.

Pushing all those thoughts away I stepped around the corner and into the room. It was a room to eat. There were tables and chairs everywhere, and another door on the other side of the room that led to a smaller kitchen. One almost too small for all of them.

Lamp and Glanny looked up at me from the bench they sat on, and sure enough both of them had tear stained faces.

“Sorry, Vim… but would you tell them that they need to go rest and that we’ll get together tomorrow? Brandy said tomorrow afternoon we’ll go to the cemetery, and they can come,” Renn said.

She spoke evenly, and kindly. A stark contrast to the way she had treated me earlier.

I looked at Lamp, who was waiting patiently for a translation. “The two of you need rest, Lamp. You two go sleep. Tomorrow you all can go with Brandy and Renn to the cemetery to bury your friend,” I told her.

“They’ll let us?” Lamp asked.

I nodded. “Of course they will. Renn is trustworthy, Lamp. If she promises you something… not only will she do it, but I’ll also do everything I can to make sure it happens as well,” I said.

Lamp smiled at me as the other woman wiped her face with her shirt. “I guess I can trust that love, if nothing else,” she said.

Love? Was it?

Maybe.

“I’ve taken the body to the depot. I promise you she will remain untouched until we lay her to rest,” I told them.

Glanny sobbed, renewing her efforts. Great.

Renn glared at me, as if she thought I had said something rude. I raised my hand to her as to calm her. Last thing I needed was for Renn to hit me in front of these women, they’d not understand why she’d do so. And something told me that they’d actually take Renn’s side, even though they couldn’t understand one another.

“Go sleep. Make sure everyone else does too. Tomorrow afternoon, a little before sundown, you all can go to the cemetery. I promise,” I told Lamp.

She nodded. Then she stood, pulling Glanny up with her. “Come on, Glanny. Let’s go get some sleep,” she said.

“Okay…” Glanny cried and nodded, allowing herself to be pulled out of the room.

Watching the two go, I sighed and looked back at Renn. She was staring at the door where the girls had left with a terribly sad expression.

“They’ll sleep. Tomorrow they’ll go with you to the cemetery,” I said.

“Thank you,” she said. She squeezed the little board she used to talk with Lamp. It was covered in words and scribbles. And not just that singular paper. There were other papers around, all likewise covered in charcoal stains.

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

“It happens Renn.”

“It shouldn’t,” she whispered.

“Maybe…” I stood there, waiting for her to say something.

After a moment of silence, I decided to just sit next to her. I sat down next to her on her right, where Lamp had been.

The bench was built into the wall. So it was uncomfortable. I leaned back, but all I could do was sit up straight thanks to the wall.

“I had thought she’d pass, but not so quickly,” Renn whispered.

“She gave up Renn. One cannot help anyone once that happens,” I said.

“I know… Glanny had been her sister. She had been there the whole time,” Renn said.

Ah. That explained why she was taking it the worst.

“I think she’s so distraught because they’re safe now. Or at least, in a way. I think she wonders why she died now, when they were finally safe,” Renn said softly.

“That’s usually when it happens,” I said.

Renn took a deep breath, and she and I went to sitting in silence. I had sat right next to her, but there was still a small gap between us. One that felt… too big.

Glancing around the room, I studied the way the chairs and tables were littered. They all probably spent most of their time in this room, since they had nowhere else to really go. There was the kitchens, their rooms, the bathrooms, and then here. We weren’t letting them go anywhere else.

One cage to another.

“Thank you Vim,” Renn then said.

“For?” I asked.

“Handling it. And getting me. You didn’t have to, yet you did,” she said.

I leaned forward, putting my elbows on my knees as I stared at her. Thanks to leaning forward, I could look at her face. It was mostly hidden by her hair, since her head was hung low.

She wasn’t crying, but she looked like she was about to.

“Our little spat is nothing when it comes to it Renn. I’d never let such a thing impede the important stuff,” I told her.

A tiny smile grew on her face. “Little spat…” she whispered.

“Wasn’t it? I admit I’m surprised it took this long for it to happen, but there you go,” I said.

“We’ve yelled at each other before, Vim,” she said.

“I didn’t yell?”

Renn twitched, and I heard her ears under her hat move the most. “I… I guess you didn’t,” she admitted.

I chuckled at her, and then tapped her on the knee. “Come on. Let the girls sleep,” I said as I stood.

She grumbled but obliged. I helped her collect all the little papers she had written on, and then we left the room.

Heading down the hallway to the main section, I glanced down at the leaflets in my hand.

Her handwriting was pretty. Even when full of emotion, she had a certain quality of penmanship rarely seen. Whoever had taught her had done well. That witch, maybe?

Most of the notes and things written were… simple. Simple yes or no questions. I could play out what had happened just by reading them. Her finding Lamp, and the rest. Calming them down. Talking with Lamp, as Brandy and I left to handle the body. Then of course, the end result. To where I had returned, and hid myself behind the door.

Renn had heard me though… which was unusual. Usually no one did.

“How’d you know I was there, Renn?” I asked as we rounded a corner, leaving the apartment section behind.

“I heard your leather. Were you clenching your fists?” she asked.

“Something like that.”

She glanced at me, and I handed her the papers. She took them with a gentle smile, as if they were precious to her.

Reaching the door to the main building, I reached out to open it for us… then stopped.

Renn shuffled her papers, and then looked at me as she wondered what was wrong.

Turning to her, I studied the woman who had somehow become precious to me.

“There are many things I should probably say… and likely a few things I should probably do, too.”

Renn shifted, and her eyes focused on me. She became fixated on me, and I relished in the attention. It had only been… what? How long?

“How long had I been gone?” I asked her.

She blinked. “Uhm… Well… Sixteen days, if you include yesterday,” she said.

“Why would you include yesterday? I was here,” I said.

“Yes… but you and I didn’t really…” she looked away, and in the dark of the night I saw her face flush.

“We met. We even touched,” I teased her.

“Well! I mean… That’s not the same and…” Her blush deepened.

Smiling at her, I shook my head and opened the door. Letting her pass through it first, I followed her out and closed the door behind us.

She and I hadn’t really spent time together. To her that was the same as me being gone.

Did she even realize how adorable that was?

“Sixteen days,” I said as I thought about it. It had felt longer than that, yet at the same time… not.

“Sixteen days,” she nodded. I was now walking behind her as we headed for the Societies households.

She usually didn’t walk in front of me like this. She was usually to my right… right beside me.

This wasn’t too bad either. It let me stare at her back, and her ass… and…

Her hat shifted, drawing my eyes to her head. It was shifting in a way that told me she had rushed, and probably hadn’t properly pinned it to her hair.

“Are you tired?” I asked her.

Both of her shoulders went up a little, and then down… as if she had gone stiff. “Not really,” she said softly.

“You look tired,” I said. She was walking a little… unnaturally. And not just because she was being overly conscious of me.

“You woke me up,” she whispered.

“Sorry about that,” I said.

“It’s okay… I hadn’t really been asleep,” she whispered.

True. She had leapt out of bed on my first knock. Meaning she had been waiting for it. Expecting it. Hoping for it.

My eyes wandered down her body again as we rounded a corner. I sighed as I realized what I was thinking about.

“Sixteen days for me is nothing. A blink of an eye,” I said.

She didn’t say anything.

“At least… it should have been,” I added.

Her hat shifted. “It had felt… longer than it was,” she finally said.

As we walked the hallway, I noticed she had slowed her pace. I had accidentally drawn closer to her, simply because she had halved her walking speed.

Did she not want to go back to her room yet?

My shoulders stretched as I thought about taking her back. The idea was wonderful, which was why I had to deny it the right to exist.

I wanted her. But I knew the moment I took her, our relationship would be over.

Plus something told me she’d not appreciate me trying such a thing after she had experienced something so sad.

What kind of man made a move on a woman when she just dealt with a death, especially of someone under her watch?

Not a good one, at least.

“Will you come with us?” Renn then asked.

Come with her? I’d go with her anywhere.

“To bury the girl? Yes. If you want me to,” I said.

She shifted oddly, and I noticed her tail peek out from under her dress. The tip of it twitched. I tried following it up her dress, to her rear. I could see its outline just barely, and was distracted before I could follow it to the end.

Renn came to a stop. As she did I worried about what she’d do or say next. What if she did something that made me break?

Then I realized why she had stopped. The door to the Societies’ rooms was before us. The metal door looked cold.

Reaching around her, I pushed it open for her. She smiled at me, and I realized she had made me open it for her on purpose.

It was such a silly little thing, but it made me smile at her.

She entered… then stopped as she turned to stare at me. She frowned, and I knew what she was wondering.

Why wasn’t I following her?

“I was going to ask if you’d let me sleep with you, but I think if I did I’d get in trouble,” I said.

Renn’s ears turned straight up, making her hat slide off her head. It landed near her feet and her eyes widened at me.

Before she could say anything, especially something that would make me change my mind, I reached out and tapped her on the chin. “Next time hit me there, it’s more effective,” I told her.

Her red face contorted into a wry smirk. “Mind if I test it now?” she asked.

Laughing at her I shook my head and went to closing the door. I planned to go find Gerald, or someone else, to distract me from the thoughts in my head.

“Goodnight Renn. I’ll see you later,” I said.

“You better.”