She was learning. Fast.

Although a somewhat regrettable outcome… what had just happened was also in the end, positive.

A good lesson for one such as her.

Yet like always… such lessons were painful, and left scars.

We had left the wagon of spice and the five women behind. I was a little surprised to have seen Renn be the one to run away first. She probably had no idea how relieved I was to see her leave on her own accord. I had been rather… worried, on how I was going to get her to leave after the event.

It was now the middle of the night. A sliver of a moon loomed over us, illuminating the thin clouds that flowed quickly above us. There wasn’t much wind down here on the ground, but up there seemed to be a windstorm based off the speed of the clouds.

Renn was walking next to me, and oddly… wasn’t crying. She had wept for a few minutes directly after the event, but had calmed herself rather quickly.

It made me wonder if maybe she had cried because of something they had said or did. If that was the reason, it would also explain why she had been the first to run away.

Though… there was also a chance she had simply ran in hopes of keeping me from taking their lives.

Honestly no matter the reason… I was glad she was capable of understanding such things. I was glad she had been able to make the decision herself, without me having to force it.

It meant she really could adapt to our society.

It meant she was now a little more trustworthy. A little more valuable.

A frog croaked to my left, and I glanced at the little creek we were walking next to. It was barely as wide as my foot, but it was flowing a little fast. Either there was a larger river nearby, or water was seeping up from the ground somewhere.

“Think they’ll be okay?” Renn asked.

“Yes. They’ll be taking the same path we are now Renn, and we’ve only passed two people. Both were merchants themselves,” I said.

She nodded, but didn’t seem that happy to hear it.

“I feel… defeated. As if I had made a horrible mistake,” Renn said.

“What mistake did you make?” I asked her carefully.

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. Did I… choose wrongly? Did I not say the right things back then? Did I misunderstand you?” She rambled some questions, but didn’t seem to know which one to really ask.

Yet it wasn’t my place to tell her which one she needed to ask. Nor did I plan to give answer to any of them either.

“Was giving up the boxes a better choice?” Renn asked, and did so with a glance at me. This was the first time she’s actually looked at me in several hours.

Fitting that she did so when she asked the right one.

“I would have preferred that option,” I said honestly.

Her face contorted into pain and she looked away. “I see.”

“But… at the same time, bending over for scum is never pleasant,” I said.

“But it wasn’t our choice. It was theirs. We took it from them,” Renn said.

“Who said we did? They made their choice Renn. They gave… or were willing to give the boxes. What happened afterward was not a result of their choice,” I said. I didn’t mention that it was her fault. That knight would not have gotten anywhere near me if she hadn’t acted so oddly in front of him.

He had been scared of me after all. He had even offered me a portion of the spoils.

It was probably best I kept such a thing from her, though.

“What would have happened? If they couldn’t pay their debts?” Renn asked.

“Depends on what they put up as collateral for the credit. It could have been their horses and wagon, their house… maybe even they themselves, although such creditors are hard to find in this nation. The church outlawed such things,” I said.

“Themselves? Their lives?” Renn paused, looking at me again.

“Their lives, yes. But they wouldn’t have been killed. They would have simply become slaves. For women it’s… not that pleasant. Yet as I said, I doubt it had been that. It was probably the wagon and the horses, based off what Melody had said. It would have put them out of business. However if it had also put them into debt then… well… it could have led to even worse results too,” I said honestly.

I didn’t want to hide the truth from someone who looked so devastated.

“Similar to that family we helped. The ones with the broken wagon,” I reminded her.

She hesitated a moment, and then nodded. She remembered them now.

Honestly… that hadn’t been that long ago. A month was all.

Renn seemed to calm down a little after my explanation, and she took a deep breath. “So we at least saved them from that,” she said.

“At the risk of our people, yes,” I said stiffly.

She flinched. “I…” she didn’t continue, obviously unable to say anything.

“They live in the capital. Or at least have a place of business there. That means there’s a chance they might see you or I there in the future. Maybe even years from now. Not a good predicament you put us in, Renn,” I said to her.

She closed her eyes and nodded, seemingly fully aware.

“But don’t feel too bad. I allowed it. They still live after all,” I said, and returned to walking.

Renn stayed where she stood for a moment, and then hurried to follow after me. Her shoes sounded odd as she hastily came up next to me. “How bad is it? Really?” she asked.

“Very. They just watched me kill a dozen men, bandits or no, with my bare hands. They’ll tell people. No one will believe them. Then they’ll either keep it quiet forever, afraid to be blamed or labeled as some kind of crazy wacko, or will confess their sins to the church. Either rumors, or the church, learning of it can cause issues. After all… they knew our names,” I said.

Renn covered her face as she groaned. “They do…”

“I know it upset you Renn, but I really wish you would have simply let it happen,” I said honestly.

“Hm…” she walked next to me, still hiding her face. Was she crying? I didn’t hear any sobs…

“I will always put you and the society over everything. And that’s not limited to humans, Renn. I would have done the same, had they been inhuman,” I told her.

“Even if they were a part of the society?” she asked.

“Oh. No. I’d not have even listened to his demands had it been our own people,” I said.

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“Then… why did you let them live?” she asked carefully.

“Is that why you ran?” I asked.

“From them? Well… no. Yes and no, actually. I ran because I saw how they were looking at you. I knew there would be no point trying to explain anything to them,” Renn said softly.

I nodded, and was glad to hear her admit it aloud. “I’m glad you understood at least. The reason they’re still alive Renn is for two reasons. I’ll tell you only one of them,” I said.

Renn slowed a little… and after she realized I had come to a stop, she did too.

“There is a very good chance they will not tell anyone what happened. After all he had claimed to be a knight. He very well could have been one, too. A bunch of women claiming the deaths of knights… would not be good. Especially when one takes into account in how those men had died,” I said.

“Is that why you killed them like that?” she asked.

I nodded. “Brutality such as that is unnatural to them. After all, humans aren’t strong enough to tear asunder their own kind like that,” I said.

She studied me for a moment, and then nodded. “So you are betting they’ll keep it a secret. To protect themselves,” she concluded.

“It’s a risk. They might still report it, but no one will believe them. Odds are they’ll report it, but will say that they simply found the bodies on the side of the road as they traveled. They’ll talk amongst themselves… and will decide that I was some kind of haunt. Either a monster in human guise or some kind of fairy. Whatever their religion calls demons, maybe,” I said, and tried to remember which one this one called our kind. For some reason I didn’t think it used demons as the term… something with a c…

“If they thought us demons, wouldn’t that make it more reason to tell the church?” Renn asked.

“No. You’d think so, but the church in this land is very strict. There’s a very good chance that they would be excommunicated, or even killed, just because they met a supposed demon,” I said.

“That… doesn’t sound like a good religion,” Renn complained.

“I’ve actually always been fond of the stricter ones myself,” I said.

Renn glared at me with an odd look, but I didn’t shy away from it. After all why should I? I had been honest.

“Killing their own people for just seeing a demon is indeed crazy. But sometimes a strict law is better than a lax one. Go to a land where thieves get their hands cut off, and you’ll find a place where you can carry your purse around openly without worry,” I said.

“Because people are too scared to even think of it,” Renn argued.

“Better to be terrified than to hurt others.”

Renn’s glare died a little, but didn’t disappear completely. “I guess it’s a good thing you’re such a firm believer in free-will then,” she said.

I nodded. “It is.”

Another frog croaked, and it drew Renn’s attention away from me. She smiled softly at it, and I knew it was because she had interpreted the noise as the world around us agreeing with her statement.

“It was fun, you know?” Renn then said.

“Traveling with them? I’m sure it was,” I said. For you.

“Now we don’t get paid either,” she grumbled.

I flinched. “That does suck.”

“How much would it have been by the way?” she asked.

“I’ll not answer,” I said. I didn’t want to say it aloud.

“Oh? Is that the other reason?” she asked, intrigued.

“Reason? Oh. For letting them live? No. I hadn’t let them live in hopes of getting paid. The reason I didn’t want to answer is because of how much we would have gotten. That wagon was a fortune, and we would have gotten ten percent of it,” I said.

Renn smirked at me, telling me she had known that wasn’t the real reason… and instead had only been trying to get me to say it.

This girl…

“Spices are worth that much?” she asked.

“Most are. Yes. Your little coin pouch, in your bag, if filled with certain spices would be more valuable than if it were full of Penk instead,” I explained.

“Huh…” Renn pondered my words as we began to descend a small hill.

The little creek we had been walking along diverted, leaving us. I’d miss the sounds of it and the creatures which lived by it.

“This land uses Scripts by the way,” I said.

“Scripts?”

I nodded. “I have none to show you. I’ll get some once we reach the capital. They’re little squares instead of circular coins. They have gospels written on them. Here, there’s no different type of coins. They’re all made of silver, and they’re all worth the same. Their value is manipulated and controlled by the church,” I explained.

“Hm… aren’t gospels long? How do they fit on the coins?” she asked.

“They print them very tiny-like,” I showed her the distance the words filled by squeezing my finger and thumb closely together.

“Does this land have a king or queen then? Or is it just all ran by the church?” she asked.

Heading back up a hill, I nodded. “They do. They have royalty, and nobles and such. But their power is limited. Most agree the church rules the land.”

“So… will it be a bunch of people like Rapti? If so that might not be too bad,” Renn said.

“For you maybe,” I said.

She giggled as we reached the top of the hill, and the mountains in the distance came into view. They were dark sillhoutes in the night, but even from here and during the night I could see the white peaks.

Renn must not be able to see them yet, since she looked around for a moment at the top of the hill. She didn’t mention or ask about them, and instead focused on some animals to our right. “What are those?” she asked.

“Elk… don’t you know what those are? You’re from the north and a forest animal yourself…” I said, wondering if she was serious. She had sounded like it.

“Elk? But they’re so small,” she said.

“Different breeds,” I said.

“Huh…” Renn stopped for a moment, to study them.

Watching her as she did, I wondered if…

“How much have you traveled Renn?” I asked her gently.

She didn’t take her eyes off the herd. “My home forest was in the north. I left it and found a human village, and then the witch not too long after… I guess not far, now that I realize it. I had thought I was well traveled but…” Renn went quiet as she blinked a few times, probably thinking of memories.

“There’s nothing wrong with it. There’s not a whole lot different, no matter how far you go. Different animals. Different fruits and colors of grass… But in the end it’s all the same. Same mountains. Same forests. Same deserts. Same seas,” I said.

“Are they? Really?” she finally looked away from the herd, and I shivered for some reason. She was now studying me as harshly as she had been doing the deer.

“Well… no. They’re the same, but there’s no denying their differences,” I said honestly.

She frowned, and I wondered if she thought I had lied to her on purpose.

“I meant in the grand scheme of things, Renn…” I said, worried she did indeed think so.

“I know. You speak like an old man,” she said.

“Well… I am one…”

Renn giggled as she nodded, and returned to walking.

“Rather you just think like one! I swear, it’s so hard to get you to laugh or smile… maybe there’s a trick to it?” Renn asked herself as we headed down another small hill.

“Rather nothing. You’re not some young kit either you know. Two hundred years… You could have over eighty children by now you know, that’s how old you are,” I teased her.

Renn’s hat shifted thanks to her ears. “Eighty…?” she grumbled as she tried to think of it.

“At least,” I nodded. If one really tried, it was probably possible for far more than that… but one always had to calculate with room for error.

“That’s a lot of food,” Renn said.

I chuckled and nodded. It would be.

“Ah! There… but that doesn’t count, you’re basically laughing at your own joke,” Renn complained.

A bright line of light crossed the sky, drawing Renn’s eyes to it. The falling star faded as quickly as it came, yet somehow the sky seemed… just a bit brighter now, thanks to it.

“Think they saw it too?” Renn asked softly.

“Hm?”

“Melody and them,” she reminded me.

“Maybe. They should be asleep, humans don’t do well without it,” I said.

Renn nodded, but didn’t smile. She kept staring upward, as if expecting more of a show in the sky.

“Let’s go Renn. Telmik will come into view as the sun does, and I’d like to reach it before it sets again. They close their gates at sundown here,” I said.

“Sundown…?”

Picking up our pace, I smiled softly at the woman who passed one of my many tests.

I’d not tell her that she had, of course. I never told anyone when they did or not.

But honestly… how long had it been since one had?

“What was the other reason, by the way?” she then asked.

“Did I not tell you that I’d say only one?” I asked her.

She smiled softly, and I realized she had hoped I had forgotten it amongst the conversation.

Sighing at her, I wondered if maybe I had passed her a little prematurely. But… no…

A woman was allowed to be a little mischievous.

And it was that very smile that kept my hand, after all.

It would have been lost to me. Maybe even forever… if I had killed them.

The risk those five women brought was worth the price to keep that smile alive.

A cost to earn her. A hefty one, in my eyes… yet a small one in other’s.

A cost I was willing to pay.

At least… for now.