“Just a little more!” Karl strained as he tried to position the wheel back into place.

“You can do it father!” the young daughter cheered her support as I lowered the cart just a small amount in hopes of it being enough.

It wasn’t.

He simply wasn’t strong enough to lift the wheel high enough and onto the metal axle. It didn’t help that the wheel hub itself wasn’t the best of work, but...

Karl strained, grunting and panting as he tried to heft the wheel a little higher. The metal hub on the wheel made noises as it banged against the metal of the axle point, yet it didn’t slide on.

After a few more moments of strain Karl lowered the wheel back to the ground with a great huff of exhaustion.

When he did I also lowered the cart back onto the stack of boxes beneath it.

Although I made a show to also seem as if the task had been difficult, I still held onto the cart with one hand. To keep as much weight off the wooden boxes as possible.

This cart probably weighed a ton or more. It was a miracle that those boxes could support even a fraction of the weight.

“Just... just a moment. I need to catch my breath,” Karl said as he sagged against the wheel which now rested up against the cart.

I nodded, but didn’t say anything.

It wasn’t his fault of course. The man wasn’t that old, and had obviously done physical labor before. Yet before our arrival, he had been trying to dig out a stump from the field nearby to use as a prop to jack the cart up high enough.

Many hours of digging out a stump tired a man as it were. Let alone the many hours trying to fix the wheel itself.

Yet...

Glancing at the nearby women, I did my best to ignore the accusational glare of my companion. It was far more piercing since it was blended with the two looks of worry and hope from the daughter and wife next to her.

I didn’t need to ask why she was glaring at me like that.

After all, I knew she’d be able to lift the wheel with ease. She didn’t need to tell me that.

Though, odds were that glare wasn’t just because she was upset I wouldn’t let her help.

She knew I could put the wheel back on myself, without help from anyone.

I nodded, more so at myself than her.

Fine. Next time.

“How’s it so blasted heavy? I was moving it fine earlier,” Karl complained to himself.

“Just take a rest for a moment. It’s not going anywhere,” I said.

“Won’t ever if I can’t do this,” Karl said back.

The man sounded crass, but I knew he meant no ill-will.

He had cried upon my offer to help. Nearly fell to his knees in relief because of it.

They had been here since last night, and not only had other merchants and such passed by without helping... so had a small group of knights.

I didn’t recognize the name of the small band of knights the family had spoken of, but supposedly they were well known around this area. So it had been quite a shock to them that they’d not help.

I’d remember the Knights of Bleak Glory, at least for awhile.

Karl glanced back at his family, and I watched him study the two. They had retreated a little away, back to the small makeshift campsite. Karl’s wife, Mary, had asked her daughter and Renn to help her boil some water. Most likely for tea.

“This is my fault Vim. I begged her to come with me this time. I should have let her stay,” Karl whispered.

“So she would worry and panic even more? Trust me, this is the better outcome. We’ll fix this and all will be well,” I said to him.

Karl glanced at me, and I felt a little silly to be looked at with such a gaze from a sweaty man. Seemed I had just earned a life-long friend.

Kealla, their daughter, broke into a giggle at something Renn had said. Something about my shirt.

Glancing down, I realized my shirt had coiled upward, revealing my stomach. I let it be and ignored it as Karl wiped his face, and seized up the wheel before him.

Yes, I didn’t want to remove my shirt and jacket. It’d not look good to be without a drop of sweat or grime, while he was covered in the gunk.

I took a small breath and contained the sigh that wanted to escape.

My plan had been to try and help him until another group of travellers came by. Then request their help and aid, so that we could have four or five men trying to lift this and not two.

Four or five accomplishing a herculean task was believable... but two? Especially when one of them was so blasted tired already...

But no one had arrived. Nor was there anyone in the distance, either direction.

Which meant it was time to risk it.

“Focus on the bottom,” I said, pointing to the bottom spokes.

“Bottom?” he asked.

“Lift it from there. I’ll guide it. I can’t help you lift it, but I can guide it,” I said, grabbing the wheel by one of the center spokes.

“Are you sure?” Karl asked, worried.

I nodded. “If we don’t we won’t get this back on, I’ll get too tired. You too. So let’s do it,” I said, trying to give him a little confidence.

Karl held my gaze, and then nodded.

While he bent down, I glanced to the women. They weren’t looking over here, and were stuck in conversation.

Good. Finally.

“Ready?” Karl asked.

“Ready,” I said, and lifted the cart up off the boxes with a single hand.

I didn’t try to feign a struggle as I had been doing, and instead reached out with my other hand and helped him lift the wheel.

Unlike the cart, I did keep a check in how quickly and easily I lifted the wheel. Since Karl had basically wrapped his whole being around it in an effort to lift it, he’d notice if I took all the weight myself.

Karl grunted, and I aligned the wheel’s hub with the cart’s axle. Half a moment later, it slid on in.

“It’s in!” Karl shouted with relief, and quickly went to pull all the boxes out.

I returned my other hand to the cart, to renew the illusion of effort, and held it just high enough off the ground for Karl to pull back all the boxes we had stacked beneath it.

Once the boxes were tossed aside, Karl grabbed the wooden hammer and went to hitting the wheel just above the hub, to force it together with the axle as much as possible.

I kept an eye on the way he hammered, and where he did, and flinched when he missed. Luckily he stopped the hammer in time before breaking anything, but he glanced at me with worry.

“Let me,” I said as I lowered the cart.

The wheel was connected enough that I could lower it, but the axle wasn’t all the way through yet. Karl gave me the hammer and I gave it a few light taps.

“They did it!” Little Kealla shouted behind us as I finished reconnecting the wheel.

“We did!” Karl happily joined his daughter in a joyful bounce of a dance. He grabbed her hands and begun to spin around with her, causing her to laugh.

“Get the horse connected. See if it rolls fine,” I said, doing my best to stop them from growing too excited.

Not because I felt it wouldn’t work, but simply because I didn’t want to get caught up in it.

“Oh! Yes!” Karl nodded and hurried away, to grab their horse that had been allowed to graze nearby.

“Thank you so much!” Mary was shaking Renn’s hands, and I ignored Renn’s pleading look for help.

Bending down to inspect the wheel a little better, I realized it was actually salvageable. The hub was a little... worn. Not enough to have actually caused the original failure in the first place though. What was wrong was the hub, even originally, was that it had been the wrong size.

Either Karl had bought this from a newer, younger, blacksmith or the wheel itself was a replacement and he had simply purchased whatever had been available.

This wheel wasn’t the right size for this axle.

But that could be fixed.

Reaching into the hub, I firmly gripped the iron axle with my fingertips... and tugged it.

It quickly and easily slid all the way through the hub, and the wheel locked into place. Hefting the hammer, I then tapped the axle piece along the ridges, forcing the axle to conform and bend a little. Causing the axle itself to act as its own locking mechanism as to keep the wheel from sliding off again.

Once done the finished product looked a lot better. The wheel was a little wobbly, more than I’d like, but the odds of it falling off now were pretty nonexistent.

It’d probably creak loudly as it rolled around, but annoying noises was better than failure.

Before I stood back up and away from the wheel, I hesitated for a moment.

Looking to my right, I stared at the wide eyes of the daughter.

“You’re strong,” she said in awe.

“So is your father,” I said simply as I stood up and away from the wheel.

She kept her eyes on me as I looked around. Karl was securing the horse to the front of the cart. Mary was still holding Renn’s hands in thanks.

“Here,” I handed Kealla the hammer, which she happily took for some reason. Maybe her father normally never let her touch such stuff.

Walking around the cart, to the other wheel, I inspected its hub and axle.

Sure enough it too was a little... wrong. The axle was fine, but the hub was just a tad bit too big for it.

I pushed onto the wheel, and the axle easily slid all the way through.

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“Here!”

Right before using my own hand to replicate what I had done to the other wheel, I glanced to my left and found the hammer being offered.

“Thank you,” I said to the young girl as I took the hammer from her.

She nodded and then watched as I preemptively fixed this wheel too.

“Are you a blacksmith?” she asked after my last hammer strike.

“Used to be,” I said.

“Why’d you stop?” she asked, full of childish innocence.

“I found I wasn’t very good at fixing stuff,” I said as I checked the wheel. I gripped it by the felloes and spun it a little. It skidded along the packed dirt, spinning fine.

“Seem good to me,” Kealla said with a shrug.

“Alright I’m movin’er!” Karl shouted a warning, and I guided Kealla back a few steps as he ushered the horse forward.

The cart skidded a moment in place, thanks to all the grooves we had made messing with it, and then a moment later rolled forward. Karl had the horse pull it for a few moments, to make sure it wouldn’t get stuck again.

He hooped a happy holler as the cart moved, and Kealla clapped next to me.

“Wonderful!” Mary shouted, and hurried forward towards the cart as Karl brought it to a stop.

I ignored the married couple as Karl hopped off the cart and they wrapped each other in a happy hug.

Kealla giggled as she broke into a run to join her parents in their celebration.

While the family happily enjoyed their good fortune, I sighed and went to fixing my clothes. My shirt had gotten rolled up under my jacket, thanks to being up against the cart for so long.

“Is it fine now?”

Glancing at Renn, I nodded. “Should be. It’ll get them home, or to Nevi at least,” I said.

“Hm...” she nodded too as she watched the family hug and kiss one another.

“Get ready to go,” I told Renn.

“Huh... oh... yes,” she said with a nod, and hurried to go get her bag. She had left it at the small campsite.

Walking over to the family, Karl noticed me and separated himself.

I didn’t want his hug, but accepted it all the same as he wrapped me in a great embrace. “Thank you so much Vim!” he shouted.

“It’s all good Karl. I’m glad we were able to get it to work,” I said as he squeezed me.

He shook as I patted him on the back.

Being shirtless still, and although no longer straining... he was still covered in a layer of sweat and grime.

I ignored it as he finally let me go, and took my hand to shake it. “Really. Bless you. Thank you,” he said again.

Ignoring his tears, I pointed to the cart. “Get it fixed in Nevi. Or sell it. The wheels are the right size, but the hubs aren’t. Just get new wheels, or a new axle. Whichever is cheaper,” I told him.

“I’ll do so! My guild has a craftsman in Nevi who deals with wagons, I’ll use them,” he said.

“Good,” I nodded, glad to hear it.

He squeezed my hand one last time, and bowed his head. I let him make a small prayer of thanks, and smiled as he nodded one last time. “Blessed be,” he whispered as he finished his prayer.

“Thank you Karl,” I said, patting him on the shoulder.

“Thank you Vim, really!” Mary approached too, to shake my hand.

Shaking her hand, I then shook the little hands of Kealla.

“Thank you!” she happily shouted, a little too loudly.

“Please take a pelt, Vim,” Karl went to the cart, sounding excited.

“Oh no Karl, we have a long venture ahead of us. I appreciate the offer though,” I said quickly. I had expected this already, so knew how I was going to get out of it.

“Huh? No, really... I have a fine moose pelt that isn’t that big, so it would be easy to carry and,” Karl tried to point to it, the thing was only a few down from the top.

I raised my hand to slow him down. “It means a lot you’d offer such a valuable thing, Karl... but we really can’t accept. I’ll be honest I’d not be able to pay the tax of taking it into the town we’re headed to,” I said.

Karl’s face immediately went a little red, realizing he had just embarrassed me.

And embarrassing your savior was a horrible thing to do.

“Then... then uhm...” Karl quickly tried to think, but I knew there was nothing else he could offer me.

After all a merchant didn’t travel with much coin. Not during ventures like what he was doing. He had probably only a few coins left at all, which he’d desperately need upon reaching Nevi. They had travelled a long distance with those pelts, after all.

“It’s all fine Karl, really,” I said with a smile.

“No, it’s not! What... what about...” Karl hesitated, looking to his wife.

I flinched at the look shared between them.

They were going to offer the few coins they had.

“I got flowers!” Little Kealla then hopped around her parents and darted for the cart.

“Oh...” Mary made an odd sound as she watched her daughter jump up to the front of the cart, clambering up as to get something.

“Vim I,” Karl started to say something, most likely to offer his last few coins, but I raised my hand to silence him.

“It is all well, Karl. The Gods blessed us for our efforts, and that is more than enough of thanks for me. Please, let it be,” I said sternly.

The man’s face contorted a little, but he knew better than to argue what I had just said.

After all if he did, then he’d be vocally saying he didn’t believe his gods were justified in their actions.

“Here!” Kealla hopped off the cart, a little ungracefully, and then hurried over to me and Renn. She had a bundle of different colored flowers, some pretty and some not.

No flower fields were nearby so she must have plucked them elsewhere along their journey.

“Oh! They’re lovely!” Renn was the one who happily accepted them from the girl, which caused Kealla to beam a massive smile.

“Thank you!” Kealla thanked us as Renn accepted the flowers, she went to smelling them... and somehow seemed genuine in her happy pleasure.

Kealla’s mother approached to pat the girl on the back, and gave Renn and me a gentle smile.

Renn knelt down to offer Kealla a single flower. A purple one that matched her eyes.

While the women went to talking to one another, I stepped aside to give Karl one last handshake.

“I’ll repay this, Vim, I swear it on my name. When you return to Nevi please come to the Fellish Guild in the north of town, it’s a large red building,” Karl said quickly.

I nodded. “Next time. Take care of your family, Karl, and hold your head high,” I said to him.

He sniffed and nodded, blinking happy tears.

“Goodbye!” Kealla and her mother waved at me as I nodded and waved to them. With a look to Renn, she nodded and we turned to go.

Leaving the family behind, who continued to wave at Renn for a small distance, I sighed at the sight of the nearly setting sun.

That had taken far longer than it should have.

Renn turned around finally, to walk next to me. She held the bundle of flowers the little girl had given her closely, as if they were precious. “That was kind of you,” she said.

“It didn’t take too long, and was an easy task,” I said.

Her eye’s told me she knew better than to believe me, but also knew better than to say differently.

“Still... doesn’t change how kind it was. I’m glad you were able to fix it; Mary had been in quite a panic. Their house had been leveraged for those pelts,” Renn said.

“Their house?” I asked. Really?

She nodded. “Half of it, I guess,” she said.

Ah. Their equity. Probably meant he had needed more credit than his name alone allowed, and his guild asked for equal half of his home in exchange for it.

Which meant those pelts had actually been a little expensive...

While we walked I shifted a little to glance back at the family. They were packing up their cart and campsite as to return to the road.

“Kealla liked you,” Renn then said.

“Children like everyone,” I said.

“Little girls don’t,” she argued.

“What of it?” I asked her, wondering why she had even said such a thing in the first place.

She lifted the flowers to show me. “She wanted to give these to you, not me,” she said.

I frowned and wondered if she had been right. I honestly hadn’t paid much attention to most of the conversations that Renn had with them. Most of it had been upsetting. Not really depressing, Mary had just sounded sad. The kind of sad that made me feel guilty, as if it was my fault.

“I’m just saying I’ve noticed children like you. Kealla, Pelka, Lomi,” she gave examples.

“Lomi hated me.” She hadn’t even said goodbye.

“She loved you,” Renn whispered.

I said nothing, especially since Renn had sounded so hurt by my comment.

“I’m old. I may not look it, but children can sense it. Even human children. Sometimes the young are... astute,” I said carefully.

“How old is old?” she asked.

“I was born before the age of humans,” I said.

The sudden silence that followed made me realize what I had just said aloud.

Did I really just...?

Glancing at her, I had to look away. Luckily she wasn’t looking at me, but instead her flowers... but she had gone into deep thought.

I really should be far more careful with what I say...

“Then... how come you look so human?” Renn then asked.

My insides twisted and I wanted to groan.

Of course she had realized that obvious fact.

“Just happenstance,” I said as lightly as I could.

“Hmm...” Renn made an odd humming sound, but I knew better than to glance at her.

She had obviously heard the blatant lie.

Damn me.

For a short time we walked in silence, and I didn’t like it. Although I was glad she wasn’t pressing the matter, I knew that was simply because she was being respectful.

Somehow that made it worse for me. A part of me wanted to hate her... so when she was so obviously willing to abide and be so understanding... it made me feel like an absolute ass and hate myself instead.

“I’m glad you helped them Vim,” she then said.

Although glad for the change in conversation, I felt bad still as I nodded.

“Honestly I had thought you wouldn’t,” she added.

“Thought I wouldn’t?” I asked, wondering what she meant.

“You had told me not to help them. No matter what. I thought you planned to walk on by, ignoring them, originally,” she explained.

“Ah...” I nodded. Yes. I had phrased it that way. “I just didn’t want you doing anything physical. You look like a young woman, not much older than a teen. It wouldn’t do for you to be lifting hundreds of pounds with ease,” I said.

Renn nodded. “I know now. But... you glared at me when you warned me to not help, so I figured otherwise.”

I tried to remember our conversation before approaching Karl and his family. “I had glared at you?” I asked.

“You did. Rather strongly too,” she said.

“Hm...” I obviously did. Renn was not a liar. But, oddly, I didn’t remember it.

“I’m just glad, to be honest,” Renn then said.

“Of?”

“You. I was a little worried you hated humans as a whole,” she said.

I frowned and hesitated with my response, since it was probably one of more serious statements she’s made lately. “I am the Societies protector, but that doesn’t mean I view humans as simply an enemy to be destroyed,” I said.

“I know. I can tell. I just... Well... Hm...” she stopped talking, as if she wasn’t sure what to say.

“Many of our kind would have ignored them. But that is because they’d see enemies, not people. Yet don’t think I don’t see that too, Renn. Karl would burn either of us at the pyre if he knew what we were,” I said.

“Would he though?” she debated me.

“For his family, yes. For if he didn’t throw the stone, or light the match, it’d be them thrown into the flames next,” I said.

“Hm...” Renn nodded, but did so sadly.

“Yet until that happens, I’ll not treat them as enemies,” I said.

Not willingly at least.

“Lomi said you killed a man for just seeing her ears once,” Renn said.

I blinked at the reminder, and then nodded. “I did.”

“What if they had seen my ears?” Renn asked.

Glancing at her, I held her gaze as I nodded.

She blinked and came to a stop.

I nodded again as I also stopped walking. “I would have,” I said, to say it aloud.

“Even the little girl...?” she asked softly. She squeezed the flowers a little as she asked her question. They ruffled in protest.

“Are you worth her too?” I asked her.

Renn blinked and her back went straight. Suddenly she looked worried.

“Are you worth that little girl’s life, Renn?” I asked her again.

She opened her mouth, and her eyes shook as they wavered. Suddenly she was completely unsure of herself.

“To me you are,” I told her, before she could say otherwise.

Renn’s shaking came to an abrupt stop, and she stared at me with wide and pure eyes.

“I’d have killed all three of them. Without hesitation. For you,” I told her.

I’d do so for anyone. Any of our members.

Even the ones who didn’t outright deserve such sacrifices. Even the ones who didn’t realize what such devotion was worth.

That was part of my agreement. That was part of my promise.

For as long as our members didn’t break their promise. For as long as they upheld their pact...

So would I.

“Please don’t. Not for me,” she whispered, as if afraid to say it aloud.

Holding her gaze, I watched the tears well up in those gleaming jewels.

She took a deep breath and shook her head, to argue. To tell me no. To say I was wrong.

Yet I wouldn’t change my perspective. I’d not change my stance. Even if it bought me her ire and hate, I’d still follow through with my words.

And I decided so because of those tears she shed. Because of that look on her face. The despair in her realization to what lengths I’d go through.

It was precisely because she thought herself not worth it, which made her one of the few who were.

“I would,” I said again, vowed it.

She hung her head low, crying quietly as she nodded.

I would.

Even if it broke my heart to do so.

I would.