Gerald closed the door and nodded to himself, as if very proud of what had just happened.

“Why’d Herra volunteer?” I asked.

“She’s interested in her. Wants to know about her,” Gerald said.

Really…? Something told me she had a weirder reason.

“Merit and Sofia wanted to see her before saying yes. They’ll allow her entry, Vim. Merit just likes to act rude and Sofia does whatever Merit does,” Gerald said as he went to sit across from me, in the other chair. The one Renn hadn’t sat in.

“You heard from everyone else already?” I asked.

Gerald nodded. “Herra hurried around to ask everyone,” he said.

“How’d Pierre take it?”

“I heard he said she was pretty? He saw her as you two walked up the hallway. He had heard the commotion and came to see what was going on,” he said with a shrug.

I sighed. That was too bad. So far only a few members have actually dismissed or hated Renn, but none had done so too vocally.

She needed to experience outright disgust and hatred, to really learn that not everyone would like her.

“So uh… Well…” Gerald fidgeted, and I noticed the way his eyes danced to my left.

Glancing at whatever was bothering him, I realized what it was real quick. After all they gleamed, and were pointy.

“What?” I asked him.

Gerald coughed and sat straight up, and I watched the pretty man’s face go pale.

A part of me wanted to tease him, but I knew I shouldn’t do that. He, like most of our kind… weren’t like Renn. I couldn’t tease and joke about things like that with them. They were too sensitive. Too weak. Too scared.

“Should I uh… be worried Vim? Is something happening? I hadn’t heard any news of anything, or…” Gerald shifted and I noticed the sweat forming on his brow.

Oh. True.

Raising my hand, I gently smiled at the very worried bird. “Please Gerald, if something dangerous was happening by now I would tell you… you know that,” I said.

“Well, yes… but you’ve only been here for under an hour, so I was just thinking maybe you were waiting till she left or…” Gerald did seem to relax, but he was still worried. He looked at the weapons again, as if his eyes were drawn to them.

“They’re blunt. Or well, the swords are at least,” I told him.

“Oh, well that’s good. The swords are blunted. So it’s a good thing you’re not strong enough to not even need a sword… or that there’s a bunch of spears and other weapons there too, which are obviously sharpened,” Gerald said quickly.

I couldn’t help it; I had to let a smile reach my face. Although I had expected it to bother him, it instead made him relax a little. “I have a favor to ask you, Gerald. It’s a big one, too,” I said.

Gerald blinked and sat up, nodding quickly as he waited for me to ask it.

“I’m looking for a place for her. Renn. She’s a predator, a real one, but she’s gentle and very intelligent. You’ll realize this quick enough. I’d like you and the rest to see if she’d be able to work amongst you. Live amongst you, too,” I said.

Gerald was quiet for a moment, and I watched as his mind quickly began calculating. He was not just thinking of what to say, but everything. How much danger she’d bring. How much profit she’d allow. He was undoubtedly taking those weapons into account too.

“Gentle you say?” he asked softly.

I nodded. “She’s still a predator, Gerald… but you need not worry over her harming or eating anyone. Trust me; I’ve been watching her for a year. She’d die before hurting any of you,” I said. It was rather surprising how easily it was to promise such a thing.

He gulped and sat back against his chair, as if suddenly tired. “A genuine predator… at the very least it’d make us feel a little safer, in a way,” he considered.

“I plan to stay here until Brandy returns. By then we’ll all be able to figure out if she’d work out or not,” I said.

“Oh… speaking of that I do have a request. I’ll also go around and ask everyone else if they have any for you too, here over the next day or two,” he said as he remembered.

I gestured for him to continue.

“We have a commission. A buccaneer, the family you’ve dealt with before, is requesting your help. They submitted it a few weeks ago, twenty three days? I think? But if I remember correctly they don’t set sail until the end of this week so you could still accept it…” Gerald stood quickly and hurried to his desk. I watched as he opened a drawer and went to rummaging amongst his papers.

“The Yin family?” I asked.

Gerald nodded as he continued to look for their request. “Yes. The leader of their little mercenary crew is still that girl. The one who is always smoking. Even in my office!” Gerald complained. He made a happy “Aha!” upon finding her letter. He stepped around the desk to hand it to me.

Taking the little brown letter, I smiled at the scrawl on it. It was written in pirate speak. A silly joke amongst her family and me.

“I’ll accept it, unless you don’t want me to,” I said. I couldn’t believe she was still alive, but it would be pleasant to see her. I had made a promise with her great-grandfather to help them in return for them always being willing to serve our Society if we called upon them.

As far as I was aware we had only done so three times. And only for charter, never for anything too unreasonable.

“I’d like you to. They offered a rather tidy sum. A port entry permit for one of the Isles. Its value over the years will increase many fold,” Gerald said.

I sighed as I nodded and read the letter. It was a simple request. She just wanted help recapturing a ship they had lost to pirates. Real ones.

“Would you send someone to verify it all for me? To make sure I don’t miss their boat,” I said as I held out the letter to him. He’d put it into the archives eventually, once the job was done.

“Of course. I’ll send someone shortly,” he nodded.

“Thank you. And thank you Gerald, for remembering her and her family,” I said.

“How could I not? There aren’t many humans who we can call friends, Vim, I remember those not only who we do so, but have earned it,” he said proudly.

I nodded… but…

“They don’t really know who or what we are, Gerald,” I reminded him.

“Ah. True. I could tell by the conversation with her that she thinks you’re the only oddity here. That we’re just a front for you. Your soldiers, as she called us,” Gerald nodded as he put the letter back as he remembered his conversation.

“That means I’ll be leaving for a short time… will you and everyone be comfortable without me here?” I asked.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Gerald asked as he slowly slid his desk’s drawer closed. He had an odd frown, as he wondered what I meant.

“Renn, the predator. The new possible member?” I reminded him.

He realized it immediately and flinched. He slowly sat down and sighed. “Well… you had said she was trustworthy, yes? Then I suppose we shall just have to endure,” he said after a moment of pondering it.

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“Thanks.”

Gerald smiled a little abashedly as he slowly sat down into his chair. He drummed his fingers along the top of his desk and then coughed. “She uh… Is she a new member? Truly?” he asked.

“Yes. She had not known of the Society until a year ago,” I said.

“Fascinating. Where did you find her?”

I shook my head. “She found us. She found the Sleepy Artist by chance,” I said.

“Ah… I had heard of what happened. I hear there’s hope for them though?” Gerald asked.

I nodded. “Always.”

He nodded as well, growing solemn. “I’d never met them. Though we’ve received many of their paintings…” Gerald said.

“Then at least something of them will always remain,” I said.

Gerald shifted at my words, but neither agreed nor argued with me. He instead looked to his right, to something on his desk. He reached out to touch, and I noticed the way his fingers lingered on whatever it was. Paper it seemed, since I couldn’t see it from this angle. Maybe a letter or drawing.

“How have you been Gerald?” I asked him.

The man frowned but nodded. “Well. Busy, as always. I am glad Brandy will be staying here for a short time to help out, but she always brings… changes. Yet the world changes on its own anyway, so I suppose that’s just part of the life we live,” he said.

“In my experience most things don’t change at all,” I said.

“In your eyes nothing we do is new, so that’s not a fair judgment,” Gerald said with a small laugh.

Tapping the couch’s backrest I was resting against, I wondered if that was true. Was that why I felt like nothing was changing really? Was it just because I already…

Gerald then coughed, not just once but thrice. I raised an eyebrow at him as he shuffled the paper on his desk that he had been touching earlier. “I uh… don’t know how to say this Vim, but…”

“What?” I asked. What was wrong now?

“She’s new here, and I’m sure no one will say or mention it, and I surely won’t either! But uh…” Gerald hesitated.

Oh. Renn? What about her?

Gerald groaned and then went to rubbing the bridge of his nose, as if in pain.

“Out with it,” I said.

“You must have stopped at the sanctuary… with her… right?” he asked with a start.

“We had spent a few days there yes, and…” I started to speak, but then realized what it was.

Gerald still hadn’t look at me. He had gone a little red in the face, which didn’t suit his pretty appearance at all. “Renn… she uhh… Kind of brought the scent with her and…” Gerald stumbled over his words.

“Ah. I get it. Yes. I’ll make sure she bathes and washes her clothes,” I said with a wave.

Gerald breathed a sigh of relief, and nodded quickly. “Thank you. I didn’t know how to handle it and…” Gerald spoke fast as he sat back, looking as if he had just accomplished some kind of staggering task.

If he knew that she’d probably have gotten just as embarrassed as he was now upon being told she stunk, he might have gotten even redder in the face. I enjoyed the idea of it, but didn’t share it.

“It’s not her fault… and pretty much everyone knows what the scent is from, so will not judge her for it… but…” Gerald coughed as he nodded, and I waved his concerns away.

“I know. I’ll let her know,” I said.

“Thank you. Really. Truly.”

“How about me do I stink too?” I asked.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said with a sigh.

I hadn’t been…

Standing up from the couch, I glanced at the weapons lying against the wall. Renn had moved them, so they weren’t resting on the shelves themselves.

She was gentle. Even if no one else noticed it.

Too gentle, even.

“I’ll go grab her and toss her into the baths, then. Before the stink starts to linger,” I said.

“Ah… sure… I uh… is there anything you’d like tonight? For dinner? Or drinks?” Gerald stood from his desk, excited at the prospect of being able to get me something unique.

“How about something for her? She likes tender meats. I got her a honeyed pig once, she enjoyed that,” I said.

“Oh? Oh! Yes. Of course. I’ll have Magda prepare something. Just for her or…?” Gerald watched as I walked around the couch to grab the bundle of weapons. No point leaving them here, Gerald would just panic all day if I did.

“Sure, I’ll eat with her. Maybe if I do everyone will leave me be,” I said.

Gerald sighed. “That depends on how well their little meeting went,” he figured.

“Then might need to make enough for everyone. Oh… which room do you want to give her? It might become permanent, after all,” I asked.

Gerald paused a moment and went into thought. “Does she have a preference, maybe?” he asked me.

“Probably something with big windows,” I said. She liked to stare out of them, and liked to read. So something that got a lot of natural light.

“On the third floor near the end is a suite. It’s been empty for a few years. We let that one noble stay in it years ago and she seemed to like it,” Gerald offered.

I pulled the memories from the back of my mind to the front. “Years ago? Gerald that had been when Lumen was still a small port village,” I said.

He shrugged.

“That’ll do though. I’ll let her have that one. I’ll take the room across from her for now, then,” I said.

Gerald nodded as I hefted the weapons and turned to leave.

“Welcome back, by the way. I’m glad you’re here,” Gerald said as I opened the door.

“Thanks. I look forward to leaving again,” I said.

Gerald laughed as I left him in his office and went out into the hallway.

Closing the door behind me, I glanced up and down the hallway. It was empty… but warm. The sun was starting to set, and was now angled into this hallway. The many windows helped keep it warm.

Tapping the wall as I walked along it with a knuckle, I sighed and headed for the middle of the building. I knew Herra had probably taken Renn to the center community area. Where there were large rooms of tables, chairs and places to visit with one another.

Slowly walking, I studied the clean hallway once more. It was… mostly the same as I remembered it. The rug was new. It had been blue last time I had been here, like the color of the company’s logo. Were they planning to change it, or was it just a change to be different?

Rounding a corner, I reached an intersection. I stepped off the red rug and onto the decorated tiles, as to head down the hallway which led to where our members lived.

I was careful not to break the tiles beneath my feet. They were sturdy enough to support my weight, but if I didn’t step carefully… with a heel first, and not an even footing, then they’d crack.

As I walked down the hallway, it became more and more plain. Paintings became scarce, then non-existent. Windows went from big and fancy, to plain and eventually there weren’t any at all.

Reaching another crossroad, this time one of the hallways led to a door. A door that was metal.

Walking up to it, I opened it gently. It was supposed to be hard to open, so humans would struggle with it, but for me it was still a little too easy… and the spring mechanism they utilized for the handles on these doors was… fickle. If I moved the handle too quickly or with too much strength it’d break.

It was made for them, not me. I’d need to warn Renn to be careful when opening and closing these doors. She wasn’t as strong as me, but was closer to me in strength than she was them.

Closing the door behind me as I entered the section our Society called home here in Lumen, I noted the smell lingering in the hallway I entered.

Yes. Gerald had been correct.

I had simply not noticed, likely because I had been right next to her the whole time. I, like always, had adapted to the unnatural. Sometimes my bodies abilities were… too potent.

Sighing as I walked down the now decorated hallway, I noticed the colorful lamps lighting the windowless hallway. The lamps weren't the kinds that burnt with oil, and were using colored glass to give the hallway a colorful theme. Someone had too much time on their hands.

Although this giant building was huge, which was why Renn had confused it for a castle… the area which our members lived within was actually a little small. It was four levels, with the fourth level being an open rooftop for members to relax in the open air without having to hide their features. The first level was the community area, with a few kitchens and places to visit and linger without being in anyone’s way. Second and third floors were mostly rooms and storage areas.

I first went up a floor, to find the rooms we’d be using. I had to stand at one of the intersections for a moment to remember, but eventually found the corner Gerald had spoken of. It was the one in the southeast. Renn’s room would be a little… isolated. But I knew he had not done such a thing maliciously.

He kept her close to the community, but far enough away that no one would be worried. Hopefully Renn understood.

I opened the door to her room, and peeked inside. It was clean, like everything here. People spent a lot of time, since we had a lot of time, to do such tasks such as tidying up. It had a huge bed, one that was actually a little too big for a single person. There was a bathroom, with running water… which I was going to have to explain to Renn on how to utilize. Even the Cathedral didn’t have such features, thanks to the church being so against such progress.

Originally I had intended to start the bath for her before finding her, so she’d not stink up her room… but if I was going to teach her how to use them, then it’d be best to wait till she was here.

The room didn’t have a balcony, but it did have two large windows that she could open. One even had flower pots hanging on its railing, though most of the plants within them looked a little decrepit. One might be salvageable but the others didn’t look it.

Once I was sure the room was decent enough I left it and went right across the hall to mine. It, like most rooms that pointed inward and without windows, was small and bland. It didn’t have its own bathroom, and the bed was small. It was a room for visitors, not residents.

I tossed the bundle of weapons onto the bed and left the room as to go find Renn.

Maybe I would be lucky and I’d find her alone, since she had scared everyone else off… but the moment I stepped down to the first floor, I heard the truth.

There were many voices, and they all sounded very happy.

“Of course they’re happy,” I complained as I headed for the noise.