Overlooking the small cart, I studied the three people upon it.

A man. A woman. A younger woman, likely either a daughter or younger sister. She had the same curly hair as the older one.

I’d been watching them since they entered the canyon. They were traveling a little slowly, but it was because the mule pulling their cart was old. Tired. Weathered. It wasn’t struggling it was just taking it slow.

Their cart was loaded with a little more luggage than seemed normal to me.

Here at the dye houses, the employees had living quarters. They came for six month periods, and worked while living here. So it wasn’t uncommon that the human employees brought supplies… but…

“Almost looks like everything they own,” I whispered.

The assumption was easy to validate. They looked… tired. Exhausted. Yet hopeful. Glad to be done with their journey.

I’d wonder if maybe they had been assaulted on the way here or something, if not for the fact their cart was half full of stuff.

Hopefully they weren’t hoping to find refuge here, away from the plague and the chaos it wrought.

Though…

I stood, and brushed off my knees. The edge of these cliffs were oddly dusty. They left a light red stain on anything that rubbed against them.

Renn was going to get upset with me. For some reason she kept on brushing and cleaning my clothes whenever she noticed such dirt or stains.

When… when had that started? I could remember a conversation with her concerning my attire, and how she didn’t really like how I let my clothes get so raggedy and dirty but…

Stepping away from the ledge, I decided to take her to the weaver on our way back west. She’d not only enjoy it, it was likely time I did get a new set of proper clothes.

Even if they rarely lasted long. Especially lately with all the stuff happening. That Monarch with Oplar, and then those beasts in Lumen…

It was too bad I couldn’t just wear my standard issue armor anymore. That had not only been durable, but there had always been plenty in the armory if I needed more. Even if those armorers had always whined and complained every time I needed a new piece, or entire set. You'd think they'd have worshiped me for the job security I gave them, not complained.

But if I walked around in such a uniform nowadays… all it’d do is draw attention.

Turning a little, I glanced out to the nearby horizon. I was up on one of the largest sections of the cliffs, and as such was able to overlook most of the surrounding area. To the north and east, there were endless flat-lands and crevices. The opposite was the expanse of the great blue ocean.

Though… that ocean wasn’t very pretty right now. Oddly, uncharacteristically for this time of the year, there was a massive storm brewing and heading towards us. Judging by the way the dark clouds looked, and the far off waves, the storm would make landfall in a day or two.

There was nothing wrong with a storm. Especially in a desert. But… here it could be problematic. Not for the dyes, or the camels, but rather the humans. If I remembered correctly, they had lost several workers before during such summer storms. These caverns and crevices flooded during them. And when the workers came and went, they weren’t able to keep themselves out of harm’s way.

And right now just happened to be when they were all arriving. Or should be, at least.

I’ll need to keep an eye on the surrounding areas during the storm. It was difficult for the camels to find trustworthy workers, so we couldn’t afford to lose them. Especially right now when there was a disease and that war going on. It’d be painfully difficult to replace any of the human worker families during a moment like this. If possible at all.

It was too bad Celine had been the only child of Mordo’s to survive. They could have used a few more hands here, like the Armadillo’s place.

Walking along the edge of the crevice, I stayed far enough away from it that my shadow wouldn’t get seen by the humans below. I was following them, but only absentmindedly.

I had no doubt they were workers of the camels. I couldn’t make out most of their conversations, thanks to being so far away and their voices echoing oddly in the canyon cracks, but I’d heard them mention familiar names and words. Like Celine, and Riz.

Plus…

What would humans be doing here otherwise? Especially so with all their stuff?

There were only two paths into this little canyon system. One couldn’t be used while on a cart, or horseback. Only foot. It had been the one Renn and I had used. The other was viable for carts and horses, but it was a system of twists and turns. The only reason the humans even knew how to use it without getting lost, is because they had been told what to look for.

The little red markings on the rocks. The ones that on first glance looked natural, and nondescript. It was only when someone pointed them out, and made it clear they were basically little arrows that anyone would care to realize it.

I sighed as picked up the pace. I wanted to get back before they arrived. Not because I was worried, but to make sure that Renn didn’t accidentally reveal herself to them.

The camels only had oddly shaped backs. Slight humps, as if having a third shoulder. And it was barely noticeable, honestly. Renn however was a different story entirely. And lately she’d been walking around without a hat or hiding her tail.

Not that it was an issue, when alone with our own people… but…

It didn’t take long for me to find a suitable section of a crevice to use. It was not the same crack the humans were using, but it was nearby. I knew if I was too loud, they’d likely hear me… but I doubted it mattered. They might just think it were rocks falling or something.

Stepping over the ledge of the crevice, I began to slide down the side of the wall. Most of the crevices were nearly straight drops, but a few were angled at just enough of a downgrade that I could more slide than straight on fall.

The issue with sliding though…

Hitting a loose rock, I had to push it out of the way as it dislodged from the cliff face and began to fall alongside me. I pushed it aside, and once I hit the ground… so did it. Only a few feet away from me.

The large rock caused dust and dirt to fly into the air, and dozens of other tiny rocks to shatter and bounce around. The impact of the rock echoed in the crevice I was in and then out and into other crevices around me.

Stepping over to the large rock, I patted it with a knuckle. It had had landed hard, and gone a few inches into the solid ground… and yet still was up to my thighs in size.

“Boulder O’ boulder,” I said to it as I glanced around and then up the side of the cliff, to make sure no other rocks were falling.

There was a lot of dust, and a few small pebbles bounced down the side of the cliff… but nothing else.

“Well, they definitely heard that,” I said as I stepped away from the rock.

And it seemed, so had Renn.

Exiting the connecting crevice, and stepping into the main crevice that led to the Dye Houses, I found Renn standing right at the opening. With her large ears pointed.

She visibly relaxed at the sight of me, and I was glad I had decided to beat the humans here.

Walking up to her, I kept myself from smiling too strongly. She had a huge grin on her face, as if seeing me for the first time in years.

Really, what was with her? What was I going to do with her?

“Was that you Vim? Did you trip and hit your head or something?” she asked.

“Yeah. I accidentally made a rock fall,” I said as I stepped over to her, then up next to her and around. She turned with me, but it took a small nudge on her back to get her to join me in walking towards the buildings.

“Hm. Maybe you really do like throwing rocks off cliffs,” she teased me.

“Sometimes. Some human workers are heading here. They’ll be here shortly,” I told her. My hand was still on her back as we headed for the main house.

“Oh? I’ll get my hat,” she said with a nod.

“Hm. The humans here know of the Society, but only distantly. They’re not real members, nor do they really know who or what we are. They only knew we’re special,” I explained.

She nodded. “I know. Riz told me about them. They’re employees,” she said, understanding.

“How is Riz?” I asked as I scanned the area. Brom was near the barn, sniffing around. A large rooster was pecking outside the pen, wandering freely. Yet I saw no one else.

“She’s in the snail-house. She said good morning to me today,” Renn said, excited.

Good. A good sign.

It had only taken her a week, but she had finally gotten out of bed. She was being distant, and quiet… but…

“She’ll be okay Vim. She just needs time,” Renn whispered.

“I hope you’re right Renn,” I wished.

Reaching the main house, I opened the door for Renn. She smirked at me, but didn’t go in right away. Instead she stepped up to me, so I bent a little so she could whisper whatever she wanted to say into my ear.

“She asked where you were. She wants to talk to you,” Renn said quietly.

Ah.

I nodded, and Renn nodded back. She gave me a sad smile as she did so, but her eyes looked excited. It was honestly a little peculiar. Like a smirk, that wanted to be something different. As if hopeful, at the prospect of something good possibly happening… yet full of sorrow all the same. She then stepped into the main house, leaving me behind. I shut the door behind her and sighed.

Hopefully she didn’t want to yell at me, or hear the whole story. I didn’t want to tell Riz how Brom died, or why he had died. But I’d long ago made the decision to never lie, or obfuscate the truth to any of our members… At least, concerning things such as this.

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My history? Sure. But their own? That history was theirs. I didn't own it, they did. I only protected it.

Stepping around the building, I hesitated as I remembered something.

Renn had said she was in the snail houses.

Great. Wonderful.

Maybe that was why she had been smiling so weirdly. Maybe it was some plan nefarious to get me to go into that building…

The dog noticed my presence as I rounded the house. It ran up to me, and barked. The thing was big enough I didn’t really need to bend down far to give its head a good pat and pet, but the damned thing immediately fell over and rolled onto its back.

“You’re namesake suits you,” I mumbled as I knelt a little as to give the dog a good belly rub.

It was some kind of mutt. Long haired, and honestly rather big. A little too big. Maybe some kind of wolf-breed. Which was very odd out here this far south. It was likely something that got thrown overboard a sailors ship, or sold in a port. I wonder how the camels came to have it.

The armadillos had some dogs too, now that I thought of it. When had they gotten them...? They've had dogs for the last few visits I've made.

Brom's large tail wagged like crazy for a moment as I pet him, and then I stood and nodded.

It rolled back onto its feet, and went to following me excitedly as I headed for the snail house.

As I walked past the other buildings, I listened intently for Riz. Maybe I’d get lucky and she was in another building or doing something else and…

But no. As I neared the largest snail-house, I heard her. I could hear her humming lightly as she made water splash. She was likely pouring more water into the pools. It had to be done carefully. With small buckets, and in small quantities at a time. Too much too quickly and the snails could actually drown or go into shock. They were fragile like that.

Brom’s snout bumped my hand and drew my attention to it. The dog was panting a little, but not because it was hot. It was just happy. And it was looking at me as if I it couldn’t understand why I wasn’t giving him my full undivided attention.

I went ahead and patted the animal’s head, and wanted to groan. “Riz?” I called for the girl.

A small foot squeaked inside the building. She was barefoot, and the stone slabs were slippery when wet. The kind of slick that made such sounds.

For a moment there was no more sounds… but then I heard the sound of a bucket being put away onto a shelf. It clunked on the metal.

A few moments later, and one of the large drapes that covered the wooden doors was pulled aside as Riz poked her head out.

“Are you really not going to come in? Even right now?” she asked me.

I crossed my arms, much to the dog’s annoyance. “Are you dying?” I asked her.

“Well… I am dyeing,” she said with a frown.

I couldn’t help it. I had to nod and accept defeat there. That had been a good one. Set myself right up for it.

Riz then stepped out from behind the drape, and out of the building. A few feet in front of the entrance were stone bricks, ones dug into the solid stone and dirt. It was actually the foundation of the buildings. I had made all of the buildings a few feet lower than the ground itself, as to make sure they’d never collapse over shifting rocks, and also to keep them slightly cooler during the summer.

“You’ll have help soon. One of the worker families is here,” I said.

Riz frowned, and peered around me. As she did Brom stepped over to her and snouted her hand as he had done mine. She went to petting him, but only absentmindedly. “Which one?” she asked.

“I have no idea. It’s one with a younger woman,” I said.

Riz smiled at me. “Three of the human families have daughters right now. So that doesn’t help me,” she said.

Figures. “They’re in the canyons still. They’ll be here before nightfall,” I said.

She nodded and then looked down to the dog, who was getting rather desperate for attention. He had even leapt up a little, to get her to focus on him.

“Yes, Brom. I know. It’s time I threw the stick,” Riz said with a sigh.

“Renn played with him, while you were in bed,” I said. It had been funny to watch her. She kept trying to throw that odd shaped stick he seemed to love with all her might. A few times she had thrown it so far, and hard, I had expected it to snap or break.

It hadn’t.

“She’s a kind one. For a predator,” Riz said with a small smile.

Yes. She was.

Riz then took a deep breath, and sighed.

Hopefully she’d not make me sigh like that. I was doing everything I could to not breathe right now.

Then she looked up at me, and her eyes locked onto my own. “Brom’s dead,” she whispered.

The dog, which had started to walk around and sniff since Riz had gotten lost in thought and had started ignoring him, perked up and looked at her.

“He is.”

“I… I honestly thought I’d marry him. So I didn’t think about any other possibilities. What am I going to do now?” she asked me.

“You mean… in the sense of having a husband?” I asked her, trying to understand.

She nodded. “I need one. Don’t I? Isn’t it time I got one? It won’t be long until I need to start having children,” she said.

I shifted a little, and wondered why some of my people were like this. So… odd.

Or well, was it odd? It was natural wasn’t it, to have children? To see it as a goal in life, and something to desire and expect?

Rather what I found odd was their strange sense of desiring it, yet not seeing it as anything more than a simple task to fulfill.

“You’re still young Riz. What are you? Thirty?” I asked.

“Thirty three, yes.”

“In human terms… yes. I suppose you could think, and should think, like you are. But you’re not human. You have hundreds of years ahead of you,” I said. Actually… excluding a horrible accident, she had much more than that. Mordo was well over a thousand, as far as I was aware. And although their bloodline was mixed, it hadn’t diluted that badly just yet.

Riz groaned. “My mother and grandpa won’t shut up about it. Though they might be quiet about it for awhile, thanks to… what happened…” Riz said softly. Then she sniffed.

My eye twitched as I studied her, and waited for her to start crying. Luckily… she didn’t.

She took another deep breath, but let it out quickly. As if she wanted to scream or something.

“What did Renn say? When you told her such a thing?” I asked her.

“Renn…? I haven’t told her. Or asked. Is she married? I thought that was why she was with you, to find a husband. Like how my mom did,” Riz asked.

“Renn’s looking for a home. A place to live and stay at. Not necessarily a husband, or a family,” I said carefully.

“Oh…?” Riz then frowned and thought for a moment.

Right as she made the decision in her head, I realized Riz was a far better person than I had given her credit for. Far wiser, and kinder, than most.

Riz nodded. “She can stay here? She’s fun. I can tell she’s older than me, so it’d be like having an older sister or something,” she offered.

I did my best to not let her confident offer worry me as I nodded. “You can offer it to her. But remember you need to get your families approval first. Don’t invite Renn before you do, it’s not kind to have to rescind such offers after giving them,” I warned her.

“Huh… true. That’d probably make me really sad. Okay, I’ll ask the herd,” she said with a smile.

Great.

“Still Vim… any ideas? Weren’t there other men in Lumen?” she asked me, returning to her topic.

Studying the woman who had just spent a week in bed, broken-hearted and sobbing her soul out, I wondered if this was some kind of… defensive mechanism, or her instead just… giving up.

“There are,” I answered honestly.

“Any that need a wife, I mean,” she specified.

“Well… a few I guess. Yes,” I answered honestly again.

She studied me for a moment, and then Brom barked at her… and then ran off. Heading for the house. Maybe it had heard something. Renn might have left the house, as to find us.

“What is it Vim?” Riz then asked me, likely noticing my concern. My unsettled worry.

Opening my mouth, to tell her… I realized I probably couldn’t. I shouldn’t.

I wasn’t supposed to give my real opinions. Not when they could change the course of a life.

If I told her that searching for a husband so quickly, after being so heart-broken, was odd to me… or wrong, even, she might actually take my words incorrectly. It could cause issues. And not just for her, but for the whole family. For the Society.

If her mother found out I had tried to dictate her decision to search for a husband…

But…

Riz was staring at me with a rather serious look. She was being genuine. Serious.

Was this… her way of fixing her broken heart? Or facing it? Or running from it?

Did I even have a right to question it? Did it even matter?

There were worse outcomes. There were far worse ways to deal with it.

But… did I want another Kaley to worry about?

Riz’s eyes narrowed and I realized she was noticing how long I was pondering it.

“Ask Renn. What she thinks of you needing a husband,” I said, after debating it.

Riz blinked, and then frowned. “Right. She’s been traveling with you. She might know,” she said.

I hadn’t meant it that way, but sure.

Maybe I’ll get lucky and Renn will set Riz on the right path. Or at least, a safer one.

Riz then sighed and crossed her arms, similar to as how I was doing. As if to mimic me, or mock me.

“Could I come with you? To find a husband?” she asked.

“That’s one of the things you could do, yes. Though if that’s the case, you’ll need to be prepared to journey for a long time,” I warned her.

Riz nodded. “I know. Mom tells me all the time that it took her forever to find dad. And he had been so close too, the idiot!” she smirked as she likely remembered the many stories and re-tellings of them.

I nodded. “He had been. If we had gone another route, she’d have found him in no time at all,” I said.

Though that might have also meant she may have never chosen him. Maybe her meeting him first would have made her choose another elsewhere. People were odd like that. Sometimes it took meeting many different people, and their many traits and personalities, as to overlook the few flaws one needed to truly find love.

No one was perfect, after all. One must simply find someone that they could love, flaws and all.

“Have you ever married, Vim?” Riz then asked.

“No. The last woman I had thought of marrying ended up trying to kill me, so I’ve actually made an effort to avoid such repeated mistakes,” I said.

Riz grinned and snickered. “I don’t blame her!”

Of course you didn’t.

“Me either.”

I kept a small smile on my face as I turned a little, to look at Renn. She now wore her hat, and her tail was hidden away. Brom was sniffing around Renn’s feet, wagging his tail happily.

“Oh… I see. You have to hide your ears huh? That sucks. I bet it gets hot,” Riz studied Renn as she spoke.

“It’s not that bad honestly. It does get hot, but usually when we’re traveling Vim let’s me take it off and only put it on when people get close. So I only have to endure for a short time,” Renn explained.

“Right…” Riz nodded and frowned, and I realized she was likely thinking of what we had spoken of earlier. Not marriage, or whatever, but rather her invitation for Renn. To stay here. To make this place her home.

She was now likely thinking of Renn having to suffer by hiding her non-human features for months at a time. Since the humans here didn’t know about us, not to that degree.

I could tell Riz was now having second thoughts.

Which for some reason, made me a little relieved.

“Why are we talking of marriage?” Renn then asked, returning us to the previous topic.

“Riz wants children,” I said.

“Well…!” Riz started to say something, as to argue… but stopped herself. “Well, I guess I do. Maybe…? Surely…” she began to mumble as she went into thought, pondering her own wants and desires.

Smirking at her, I turned to Renn. She was glancing at me with a raised eyebrow, concerned and confused.

“Why not give her some pointers?” I said to Renn.

Renn’s raised eyebrow became lowered, and pointed. “Me?” she asked me, with a stiff voice.

Oh that was cute. She was actually upset with me.

I nodded. “About those you’ve met. Potential… husband candidates?” I said, as I wondered how to phrase it.

Renn’s glare instantly flashed into surprise, and amusement. “Oh! Yeah!” she turned to Riz, excited.

Riz frowned and nodded, and grew excited too.

With a nod, I realized my job was done. For now, at least.

Turning away as Riz and Renn began to talk; I made a small noise with my tongue as to draw Brom’s attention. The dog startled, and then barked as it ran to follow me.

Heading for the main building, I decided to let them be as I overlooked the humans arriving. I could smell them, in the air. They weren’t far now.

With Brom following by my side, I left both the girl’s talk… and the terrible stink of those snails behind.