Stepping away, I backed out of the room quietly and without being noticed.

Closing the door ever so slowly, I breathed a tiny sigh of relief upon having escaped. The room behind the thick wooden door was noisy. Noisy of laughter and what seemed to be several conversations going on at once.

It had been one thing to sit with Link and Angie, hearing them talk about her family and sharing stories, but it was another thing entirely for me to sit with a large group.

Oplar, Link, Angie, Jelti and Sillti were just too much for me. Far too much all at once. Especially since more members were to show up at any moment.

I stepped away from the door and headed down the hallway. Towards the kitchens where I’d left the human.

It’s been a few hours since I left her with the dog family. I had no doubt that Cat was fine. She had fully agreed to keep her saint and her home a secret, and had seemingly been keeping that secret without fault. But it was a good excuse for me to sneak away from the noisy group, at least.

Still… I paused a tiny moment to glance back at the door, and the noise filtering out from it.

Where was Renn, I wonder? When Jelti and Sillti had arrived I had expected Renn to step through the door behind them. The fact she hadn’t kind of worried me. It wasn’t like her to miss out on such a gathering as that. One so full of her friends and those of our kind.

Hopefully she wasn’t sitting alone at the mansio… waiting for me.

I’ll go check to be sure. After making sure Cat was fine.

Dressed in the light grays of one of the temple’s workers, I was unbothered and unnoticed as I strode through the large hallways. They were a little more populated than normal, thanks to an upcoming sermon this afternoon. One of those larger once-a-month ones they did.

Hopefully Renn hasn’t been getting awestruck and honey-eyed by them again…

Smiling at the idea, I found myself to be in a good mood.

Very strange for me. Especially considering where I was.

I thanked my mood on Angie and Renn. To find the young bison here, picked up by Renn and the rest… even if unknowingly, was very heartwarming. It was sad to hear Klamma and Baren were gone now, but it was far better for a child to keep on living in place of her parents. There was no parent who would choose the opposite… or well, no good parent at least.

I’d not asked Angie for the details yet, but I would need to eventually. It’d make her cry, likely, but… well… it was my job. I needed to verify for sure they were all gone now and not just hurt somewhere and needing help. I’ll do it later tonight, after she spends the day with the rest of the members here. Maybe the time with friends and fellows would blunt the bitterness of me asking of their fates a little.

Other than the fires, I was glad to find no one else had been lost or needed immediate help. In fact, with Crane having resurfaced, by all counts the Society was doing well. Angie’s family being lost, Trek wanting to end his life, and this vote against me had all been the only bad news waiting for me here.

Even Lumen was going well, it seemed.

By all counts it was a good season. As good as we could get anymore, really… even if the vote was more dire than I had expected.

The vote was worse than I had thought. I still needed to talk to everyone about it, having only heard the finer details from Randle but what I’d heard so far made me sick to my stomach.

Crane and Rapti’s actions, their doubts and questions, had given birth to the idea that I was no longer needed.

They weren’t outright calling for my banishment, and really not even the removal of me being the protector… but rather to place new rules and expectations upon me.

My failures were not being called out as to punish me, but rather to imply that a new method of protection was needed.

They basically wanted to give each location the right to accept my help or not, and allow them to pre-set how I deal with certain locations and what methods I used to do so. To make it so that the only places I was allowed to assist, in any form, were the ones who allowed it to happen. And only by doing so in the method they wished. No matter the consequence.

In a certain form that was how the Society already functioned. There were after all several locations, like the Summit we had just gone to, that were structured in such a way… but there was a hidden poison in their demands. One that had not existed out in the open, until now.

Doubt.

Pure and simple doubt. Doubt over me. Who I was. What I was.

A part of their demand of creating new rules concerning my duties… was to hear the truth. For me to tell them what I was, in full.

They phrased it in a way that it made no sense for anyone to expect certain results from me without knowing what I was and wasn’t capable of.

“An honest request,” I mumbled regretfully.

It was honestly not something to be angry over. They had the right to know the man who was protecting them. They had a right to know his birth, his past, and especially his convictions. One needed to know such things as to entrust one’s life to someone. Even if their true purpose to finding out was nefarious in nature.

Whether anyone wanted to admit it or not didn’t matter… but this was all the result of not just my own failures but more-so my own secrets.

Everyone who had known more about me, who had trusted me, that had relieved and calmed everyone else down since they had been trusted and respected… were gone.

Celine was gone. Rungle was gone. Lawrence’s brother was gone. Mordo’s wife, Nann’s husband, Abel’s father… Even those who still lived, like Nebl or Berri, had become reclusive and were no longer as involved in the Society. So their voices were not as heard, or known. Even if they emerged to try and settle the Societies fears, it’d have little effect. Most of the Society didn’t even know who they were anymore. They didn't know what they had done, how they had done it, or how the Society only existed today thanks to their sacrifices.

Everyone who I had called friends were either dead or retired… so this result was not only to be expected but one that was a long time coming.

But what was I going to do about it…?

What could I do about it?

The vote was going to happen. No matter what. It was destined now. The whole of the Society would know of it within the year. Hundreds if not thousands of people will show up, or send their thoughts and votes via letters over the next two years. Especially since they were going to allow the humans to vote on it too. I would have praised them for such a thing, but the only reason they were allowing it was because they hoped the humans would overwhelmingly vote against me.

And I was going to do nothing but sit back and let it happen.

The world became noisy as I neared the kitchens, and I allowed the hubbub to distract me from my thoughts. I stepped into the large kitchens, passing through people hard at work. They were preparing for tonight’s sermon, since they’d then hand out food and alms afterward.

I smelled stew and freshly baked bread. I debated grabbing a few pieces for Renn, but decided against it as I walked past rows of tables stacked with loafs of bread.

Entering the main kitchens, I quickly found Henrietta. The small woman was standing next to Cat and Fizz, and all three of them were busy kneading dough.

The three were talking lightly, with smiles and calmness, and it made me want to not disturb them. They looked like they were having fun.

“Where’s John?” I asked as I stepped up behind the three.

A few of the human workers nearby glanced at me, but returned to their work shortly after. Henrietta spun around, holding a thick chunk of dough in her hands, as she gave me a huge grin. “Vim!”

I smiled in greeting and hoped she didn’t try to hug me. She was covered in flour and dough.

“Daddy’s in the next kitchen!” Fizz told me from over her shoulder. Unlike her mother she kept focused and continued kneading.

“Hm,” I nodded and glanced at the human standing next to Fizz. Cat’s unruly hair was tied into a tight bun behind her head, and she was smiling unsurely at me… or rather Henrietta.

“Are you hungry, Vim?” Henrietta asked as she lifted the dough in her hands, as if to offer it to me.

“Not yet,” I said.

Henrietta wasn’t fazed. “Thirsty?” she asked and stepped closer.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a portly woman pause in her kneading to look at us. She had a crazy look of shock on her face, and I did my best to ignore her.

“Not really. The rest are all getting together to have dinner together, will you be going?” I asked her.

“Are you going?” Henrietta asked.

“We’re going!” Fizz said, uncaring of what her mother had just asked.

“Good. Let your dad know too, don’t let him work the night away and forget,” I told the girl.

“He does that sometimes!” Fizz said with a laugh.

I smiled at her and glanced at Cat. “Would you like to go find Renn with me, Cat?” I asked her.

The human spun, almost as violently as Henrietta had just done earlier. “Really! Yes!” Cat shouted in excitement.

The whole kitchen went quiet for a few heartbeats, and I kept my smile even and ignorant of her outburst’s reaction. Cat noticed, glanced around, and went red in the face as she turned back around to try and return to her kneading.

“Vim. Snacks…?” Henrietta said softly in the awkward silence, breaking it.

I sighed at the two of them as Fizz giggled. “She’s been looking forward to meeting Renn. Won’t shut up about her,” Fizz told me, also ignoring her mother.

I’m sure. She’d been that way with me too along the way here yesterday. Once she realized my Renn was the same one from her legends, her Renn from her village’s legends she had become almost a different person. A fanatic, almost.

It worried me, but I was sure it’d be fine. I met humans like her sometimes. Those who worshiped us. Though I wasn’t sure yet if Cat’s fascination with Renn was faith or simple awe and excitement.

“Clean up and let’s go,” I told the human.

“Sure you don’t want snacks, Vim?” Henrietta asked again, as some of the dough in her hands dripped down to the floor. It fell from its own weight, since she had been rolling it before spinning around.

“Bring some to the dinner later, I’ll try one then,” I told her, feeling bad for her.

Henrietta’s eyes began to gleam as she nodded quickly. “Okay! Sure!” she said happily.

Fizz sighed as Cat hurried to take off the apron she wore. She wiped her hands and arms with it, and stepped away to put it on a nearby table. One with other aprons and napkins upon it.

“Thanks for watching her for me,” I said to the dogs.

“She’s fine. I feel sorry for Renn though, I think she’s like my mom,” Fizz said with a glance at her mother who was smiling up at me with a flushed face.

“Hopefully not…” I mumbled as I smiled to Henrietta, who smiled back at me. As if she hadn’t even realized we had been talking about her. Likely hadn’t.

I had honestly thought that with Renn going around telling everyone she was my wife Henrietta and those like her would have settled down… but somehow it looked as if it had only made her worse.

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Maybe I should kiss Renn in front of everyone later. Would that work…?

“Ready!” Cat returned, excitedly. She still had stains of flour and dough upon her, particularly on her cheek, but I wasn’t going to bother her over it.

Nodding, I looked back at Fizz and Henrietta. “Thanks again. Remember, don’t be late. They’re already all getting together,” I told them.

I didn’t need to tell them where everyone was. There were only a few places that they all gathered here in the Cathedral, at least in larger groups. It wasn’t like how it used to be, where the whole Cathedral was for non-humans. It was now a place of humans, which my people simply… existed within.

It was their home, yet wasn’t all the same.

“I’ll make sure we leave soon!” Fizz said, taking charge.

Nodding again I stepped away, and led Cat out of the kitchens.

“See you later Vim! I’ll bring treats!” Henrietta shouted at me as we left.

Waving gently at them, I ignored the stares from the other soup-kitchen workers. They were heavy and judgmental.

I’ll not return to the kitchens for a while…

“Uh… I think she loves you, Vim,” Cat whispered as we left the kitchens.

“She does. Weird isn’t it?” I said.

“Very. She’s married and has a kid. And this is a church. And you’re married too!” Cat spoke loudly and she sounded like she was having fun.

“Yes. Very annoying,” I agreed.

“You sound bored,” she said with a giggle.

“She’s been like that for longer than I can remember, so yes it has become boring,” I said with a sigh. And discomforting. She should at least not act like that in front of her husband and daughter. It made me feel like some kind of bastard, even though I didn’t reciprocate or support her misconceptions.

“Oh…?” Cat hummed at that, and I wondered if she had any idea how much time I was speaking of.

It was clear that Cat had started to put one and two together… especially since this morning she had sat and had breakfast with Jelti, Oplar, Angie and Sillti. They had spoken a bit, and had mentioned offhandedly a few things that would have normally made a human startle and panic… yet Cat had simply smiled through it all, unbothered.

It helped that although a member of a similar faith as the one here, she was still in the end a type of pagan. A member of a cult. One who lived amongst a genuine saint. One with divine powers. Her witnessing literal miracles helped in her making sense and not being startled or scared over us non-humans, I’m sure.

“This place is pretty nice, by the way,” Cat said as she stepped a little closer, since we were being approached by a group of robed sisters.

“In some ways, yes,” I agreed.

She hummed as we walked past the group of sisters. They said nothing to us, and kept their heads low. They were likely preparing to pray at the Steeple.

“I’d like to sit and listen to their sermon. Could I?” Cat asked.

“You can. It shouldn’t be too different than yours,” I said. Renn would probably enjoy going with her.

“Probably, but I’d like to hear it anyway. But… I’d like to meet Rennalee too… Mhm…” Cat groaned as she debated her inner desires.

Hmph. Though I couldn’t believe someone would actually place a sermon over meeting Renn… Renn would probably relate to her if she heard such a thing. It made me shake my head.

“Did anyone bother you while you were Fizz and the rest?” I asked.

“Huh…? Bother how?” she asked.

“Just… anyone? Did anyone come up to ask questions?” I asked.

“Oh. Yes, actually. Some woman. Fizz and Henrietta told her to not bother us while we cooked and shooed her away,” Cat said.

“Did you catch her name…?” I asked. A woman…?

Cat shook her head. “She wore the robes here though. And I think she was one of your people, based off how they acted,” Cat said.

Robes…? And my people…?

It wouldn’t have been Renn. Even if Renn wore the robes here, there was no way Henrietta and Fizz would have shooed Renn away like that. And…

Jelti, maybe. If not Jelti then it had to have been one of the Chronicler’s people.

Something told me it wasn’t Jelti. Jelti and Henrietta got along well.

I had asked the dogs to keep everyone away from her for me, but they wouldn’t have been abrupt and rude about it. Not like that. Not to their friend.

“Vim,” Cat drew closer and whispered.

“Hm…?” I slowed a bit to look at her.

“Renn… your wife… how should I address her?” she asked quietly.

“Address…?” I paused a moment and frowned at the human. “Oh… Just call her Renn, Cat. She was your ancestor’s friend, but she wasn’t and isn’t anything more than a normal person,” I said.

“Somehow I doubt that, Vim…” Cat mumbled.

I smiled at her. “She’s special in her own ways… and special to me… but she really is just a normal woman. You’ll see. Just… treat her normally. Or rather, treat her like a friend, since that’s what you are to her,” I said.

Cat studied me for a moment and then took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. I’ll try,” she said.

“Good. Also… If you steal her from me I’ll slaughter you and your village,” I warned her.

Turning forward, I returned to walking. Cat remained behind me, stunned… but eventually groaned and hurried to follow.

She giggled after catching up to me, telling me she had thought I had been joking.

Which was likely for the better, really.

“You said that so seriously…!” Cat said after her moment of giggling.

Yes. I had.

We rounded a corner, and I slowed upon noticing Hands.

Hands grew a huge smile at the sight of me and hurried towards us.

“Oh my! Vim! Returned? When? How've you been?” Hands spoke quickly, rambling his questions as he hurried over to me.

I smiled at the man as he clapped happily, as if to praise me for returning home safely. “Returned last night. Though not sure how long I’ll be here this time, I have something that needs to be dealt with in the north,” I said.

“Ah. Yes. The whole world, all corners, are troubled aren’t they? Such a pity,” Hands said with a sigh as he nodded.

“Heading to the get-together?” I asked.

“Indeed! Yet I see that you are not…? Assistance? Do you need some?” Hands asked, and offered, as he glanced to the woman next to me.

Like his father Hands was always willing to help in any way. Even at the cost of fun and socializing. It made it hard for me to hate him when he did stuff like that.

“No. Thank you though. I’m off to find Renn, they’re friends you see,” I said with a gesture to Cat.

Cat had been about to introduce herself but Hands just clapped quickly again and nodded. “Oh my! Precious things, aren’t they? Yes. To be treasured and enjoyed while they can. Time is not a waste when spent in such a way, right?” Hands said with a grin to the human woman.

She shifted a little and nodded, and I could tell she wasn’t sure now what to say. His strange personality and quick speaking was likely too much for her. Too odd.

Still he was not wrong, even if he had said it oddly. Spending time with friends, especially the human and short-lived ones, was a very good use of a resource we could never attain again.

He had basically said I should hurry to take her to Renn, since Cat didn’t have long left to live.

“Renn. Rennalee. You married her, yes?” Hands then turned his attention to me, as if forgetting all about Cat’s existence.

“Yes,” I said gently. So he had heard already?

Hands hummed at me. “A mercy?” he asked softly.

Ah…

I gulped and smiled at him. “I hope not,” I answered him truthfully.

Hands, like his father had been, was too smart for his own good. They had been blessed with the kind of brains that allowed them to comprehend things that others couldn’t. To comprehend things that most couldn’t even fathom. This was why I had hated his father, though. The way he had noticed things that bothered me. The way he had just outright said stuff I didn’t even allow my own heart to acknowledge. Especially since I knew deep down neither of them ever meant any ill-will behind their statements.

They kind of reminded me of my parents, somehow.

Hands hummed softly as he lowered his hands, a rarity for him. They hung at his sides for a moment as he shifted ever so slightly. “Ceremony?” he asked.

“Not yet,” I answered as my eye twitched.

“Shall I prepare one?” Hands asked, growing excited.

“Not yet. I’ll be busy for a time,” I said.

He frowned but nodded understandingly.

“Have you seen her?” I asked him.

“Rennalee? Yes. She is with Randle and Mapple, in his office,” Hands said with a gesture behind him… telling me that was where he had just come from.

“Mapple…” I put one and two together as I nodded. So she had been the one to bother Cat and the rest, then. She didn’t get along with Henrietta and had likely bothered them as to inspect Cat. To see if she was a threat to the church, or the Society.

And when the dogs had barked her away, she had gone to find Renn to get answers from her instead. Directly.

“Careful Vim,” Hands warned me gently.

I blinked and stood up a little straighter, and realized I had likely just showed my emotions on my face.

“Right… Sorry. Thank you. I’ll go save my wife then, and will see you later Hands, at the get together,” I said to the raccoon.

He nodded quickly. “Yes…! Yes, very good! Farewell, friend of Renn, may your time not linger!” Hands bid farewell as he hurried past, heading towards the meeting room everyone else was in.

Cat waved him goodbye as she watched him hurry away, and then she smirked at me. “Time not linger?” she asked me.

“He’s saying your time is precious and you shouldn’t waste it,” I translated for her as I stepped forward, to head for Randle’s office.

It was the one up here, and not down below. Hands would have pointed downward had it been the other one. So it was just a few hallways away.

“Huh… So he was being nice?” Cat asked as she followed by my side.

“Yes. In his own way,” I said.

“Did you just recently marry Rennalee?” Cat then asked.

“Basically, yes.”

“Huh…” Cat hummed at that, and I wondered how it had taken her this long to realize it. Surely all the others had mentioned such things by now? It seemed to be something most of them wouldn’t shut up about.

Though that was an interesting thought, wasn't it? How long had it been since Renn and I had met?

We'd met during the beginning of winter in the north. Spent a season or so traveling south, and then east through Lumen... We had waited at the Nebl's place for the passes to thaw a little, and then spent the rainy season in Lumen and then summer in the south. Yet along the way back north we had ran into the late summer and early autumn storms, those monsoons. Then the rainy season again, and now it was growing colder. The winter was back upon us.

This would be our second winter together then... wouldn't it? Right...? If one went ahead and included the winter we had met during?

Why did it feel like I'd known her longer than that? It usually took me a couple years to fully circle my northern and southern routes, so the timeline synced up rather well. I had spent a tad too long in Lumen compared to normal, thanks to what had happened, but that too also happened occasionally. Same with the few stops along the way during our route, like the quarantine checkpoint at the City of Stone, and the few days we had lingered in that one small village while Renn recovered from her sickness. They had been unnatural stops for me, but nothing more than normal. Every circuit I did through the Society had me always going to and fro, doing things here and there that took time out of simple necessity.

I'll need to ask Renn. She'd likely know exactly how long we'd been together, or at least known each other. Her memory would find the answer swiftly.

But that was interesting. That meant it had only taken a year or so for us to form a relationship. For me to have fallen for her. Though I doubted it had took that long. Even from the beginning I had noticed my eyes drawn to her, even though I had misunderstood as to the why.

Such a short time to grow so close. Especially for me. But it was honestly not a surprise. Throughout my long life, those I had called friends were always those who proved themselves to me quickly. Even if it took decades or centuries for me to truly learn about them, I usually began to trust them from one of our first meetings. I valued those who proved themselves honorable, and trustworthy. Like Lilly, or Lawrence. People who had proved from our first meeting that we had similar values, or at least similar enough beliefs in how the world functioned and how we should exist within it.

Two years...

It had to be at least two years. Eventful years, yes, full of drama and adventure... but somehow still normal and without much fuss.

Still…

Ceremony…? It was typical of Hands to ask about it. He was an odd man, but he actually really enjoyed such festivities. He particularly enjoyed setting them up, as if it was a game to him. I wonder if he had helped Jelti with her wedding. I'll need to make sure to congratulate her properly before we left again.

As we walked I pondered that for a moment. Although it had made my eye twitch to hear about such a foolish thing… Hands wasn’t wrong.

Renn would like such a thing. I bet she’d weep happily during such a festivity. Especially if we invited all of her friends.

But… just how would I do such a thing? What would the Society think if I allowed it? What issues would it cause? What drama would it give birth to?

I shouldn’t allow it. Especially right now during this vote. No matter how simple, how quick, we did it… all it would do was give Crane and the rest of the dissenters more ammunition against me. To hold a wedding, or any kind of ceremony, right now while they were claiming I did not properly tend to their needs would just be the final nail in the coffin for my position.

So I shouldn’t allow it to happen. I should make it clear to Renn that something like a wedding wasn’t feasible. At least not right now.

But... How was I going to be cruel enough to deny Renn such a simple pleasure?

“Vim…?” Cat’s voice broke through my thoughts, and I realized I was standing in front of a closed door.

Randle’s office. I could hear voices beyond the door, within. Renn’s was one of them. She didn’t sound too upset.

Cat shifted next to me, unsettled. I was likely being very odd to her, but she seemed used to it already. Our trip here had me getting lost in thought on many occasions, so she likely just thought I was weird and it was normal to her now.

“Not everyone will go. I expect the dogs to not show up,” Mapple said with her stiff tone. They must be talking about the little get-together going on.

Surprisingly for her, they would show up.

“Everything okay?” Cat asked quietly.

No. There were lots of problems. Ones I needed to face, but didn’t want to.

But that was my life. Since I was too strong for actual enemies, the world sent me problems I couldn’t face with my strength. They focused more on my heart, which was strangely feeble at the moment. When had I become so weak? I used to pride myself in being strong enough to endure what broke everyone else, physical and emotional. Yet here I was wavering just because I couldn’t stomach denying Renn something as silly as a wedding.

It was a foolish worry, especially since there was so much more to worry about. Things far more important, and far more dire. There were people in danger. People doubting me. The Society was fracturing again, and instead of worrying about it I was instead wondering what material I should use to make her rings out of.

“Want me to open it?” Cat asked gently.

Taking a small breath, I shook my head as I reached out to open the door.

Before I could Renn opened it, greeting me with a lovely smile that broke my heart… because it made me instantly forget about the rest of the Society upon the sight of it.