The largest of the waterwheels towered in the sky… which was a little whelming since I was standing on the dock it was attached to. The river that the waterwheel was in, and being spun by, was several feet below the dock. This wheel was likely as tall, if not taller, than the house Vim and I were staying in.

Yet as massive as it was… the thing was moving oddly quietly. The thing didn’t really creak, or even splash. I’d blame the river being so noisy, being a larger and fast flowing one, but… well…

My ears weren’t fooled so easily as that.

Plus there was another noisy device.

A rather well kept shack was made right next to the huge waterwheel. A part of it, even, by the looks of it. There were little sections where the dock extended outward, up to and against sections of the waterwheel. Likely so that it could be assessed and worked on, if needed be.

Inside the shack were not just supplies and tools… but two more intricate machines. The largest that took up most of the building was something I’d seen before. A wheel that was spun thanks to the force generated from the waterwheel. It was capable of grinding things. Grains and other stuff could be smelled even from out here.

The other device however was something I’d never seen before. And it was obvious that Vim had been the one to make it. It matched not just the design and smoothness of the waterwheel but also had the same wooden grains and tones in its material.

Not far from the shack, and the dock, was a rather deep irrigation channel. One that not only ran almost all around the village, but also supplied dozens of smaller water channels that fed and filled who knows how many fields and wells… even a few small ponds too.

Now a waterwheel being used to bring water out of a river constantly wasn’t new to me. I’d seen it before. Most villages had at least one, even if rickety and small… but…

Stepping over to the long, tube-like, mechanism… I frowned as I watched water pour out of its opening, filling the irrigation channel dutifully.

Seeing a pipe wasn’t new either… but this thing wasn’t some little spigot in one of the Societies' buildings. This thing shot out of the ground, and dock, upward at an angle towards the sky. It’s opening, where it ended, was above my head… and the whole thing was as wide as me.

The pipe was strangely not making much noise. Even the water flowing out of the pipe was doing so in such a calm and fluid manner that it wasn’t splashing at all. It was pouring out with such grace, even though in large volume, to not really splash much upon landing in the reservoir below.

There was a rather large square of water before it turned into an actual channel, like a small river, but it seemed to be flowing rather well.

Putting my hand on the large pipe-like thing… I felt the slight vibrations and trembling of the mechanism within it. It almost felt like it was spinning, somehow.

Turning, to look at the shack nearby, and the waterwheel which lay just behind it… I realized what was happening.

Unlike a normal waterwheel, that I knew, which had small buckets to lift and bring out the water… This wheel was instead just converting its entire purpose into force. And that force was then used to spin both the grinder, and this pipe thing which pulled water up and out of the river and to the aqueduct. It honestly at first thought seemed less efficient. Why power another machine to do the same job? Yet…

Stepping away, I furrowed my brow as I realized there was a lot I needed to learn.

This was obviously how water was brought upward. Like back at Lumen, or Landi’s palace. I had wondered how they had accomplished it. Water was heavy. Especially in great quantities. This must be one of the ways they moved the water. A similar design, at least.

With this tool, this machine… you could grow so much more food so easily. No wonder this place had such huge farms all over.

Some of the towns and villages I’d seen throughout my life had always been so poor. So small… but not because the people weren’t hard working, or because they didn’t have good soil or plentiful water and rivers nearby. It was rather because they simply couldn’t move enough water, or earth, fast enough to make a difference. One could only carry and pull so much at one time. I have even seen carts specifically made into large barrels just to store water. Just to water fields and crops. Or bring water to farm animals.

But this tool… It could move water so well, for what seemed to basically be forever. As long as one had flowing water, you had the ability to use this thing… as long as you made sure it didn’t break of course.

A good example would be the cabin I had lived in with Nory. There had been a stream nearby. We had constantly needed to carry water from it. We had made this large bucket we could both carry at the same time, as to do it one trip and not several.

If we had this thing instead… we could have just diverted the river that was a tad farther away instead. Adding to that stream, and then digging a similar trench like crevice…

We could have had fresh water right outside our door…

One could even have made it underground, surely. Why not? This irrigation system they had here was so smoothly built, you could even lay wood or metal over it… making a makeshift cover. A few re-enforced sections and you’d have something you could easily walk over. The water wouldn’t mind after all.

“Like always Vim’s handiwork is flawless. Not only this one, but the others he had tinkered with before have all been running smoothly. Those in charge of keeping an eye on them sometimes complain over the lack of anything to do,” Thrain said happily from the edge of the dock. He was rather proud of something he and his people hadn’t built.

He had accompanied Oplar and me here upon noticing we had left the house about an hour ago. It was midday, not long until when I’d expect Vim to start thinking about making lunch for me. His quick approach as we left told me he was watching us. Or rather, maybe Vim. I hadn’t noticed which building he had come out of, but I assumed if I asked Oplar I’d learn his house or office was not only near the place we were staying, but likely situated perfectly as to keep an eye on us.

I wasn’t too bothered by it, really. To these people Vim was basically a being of destruction. A calamity. They were getting ready to execute a man here for murder… what then would they do if Vim was someone they could enforce their rules upon?

I paused a moment to consider that. These folks had rules. Policies and laws. If Vim was just a normal, or more normal, man… then…

Yes. They’d have executed him too.

Yet they instead use him to build waterwheels and irrigation channels. They use him as the executioner. They hate him, banish him, yet still make him do all this…

Maybe Vim was right. Maybe this was his way of atoning for what he had done, and even these people recognized it.

“How long does something like this last? Before it breaks down, usually?” I asked as I stepped over to Thrain.

He hummed as he crossed his arms. “Well… There had been one about this size when I was younger. It broke during a bad storm and the flood that followed it. I’d argue that was not because of normal wear and tear, but in my experience it normally takes something like that to break something Vim makes. That or dozens of years,” Thrain said.

Stepping off the dock and onto the brick path that separated the dock and the nearby grassy field, I glanced over at Oplar. She was a ways away, near the irrigation ditch, talking to a pair of people. I could hear her voice on the wind, but not theirs… though I couldn’t hear the particulars of what she was saying.

Probably asking about the latest gossip. The people she was talking to looked dressed in typical sturdy farming clothes, though I wasn’t sure what they had been doing out here. The fields around us were mostly simply grass.

“So you don’t have any that Vim needs to check on?” I asked as I looked away from Oplar, and out over the distances. It was a little hard to see some of the other waterwheels, since some were blocked by tall fields of wheat or hills.

“No. Nothing we can’t handle. Everything is fine on our end… other than the matter with my nephew, of course,” Thrain said, a little sadly.

Was he saddened over the mere fact they needed to execute someone, or did he genuinely feel for his relative? It was hard to tell. The man sometimes seemed aloof, and then other times looked cold and calculating. I wonder how old he is.

Though…

Glancing back at the dock, and all the stuff around it… I wondered if I should have Vim teach me faster than he had been doing. Right now I had no way to tell if the wheel, or any of the devices connected to it, needed any attention at all. I couldn’t hear any creaks, or strains, in the mechanisms… but that didn’t mean much.

If I really wanted to be able to help Vim out, even just by checking on stuff like this to see if it needed his attention or not… I really needed to learn more about them. How they worked. How they were made. How to check for problems, and the common solutions needed to fix those that were found…

It wasn’t really Vim’s fault. He had already promised to teach me… we just were always busy. And his teachings were scattered and without focus. One day he’d teach me how to make a new type of bread snack, another he’d teach me how to properly make tombstones. Plus it wasn’t like I pushed him on the subject. I was happy to take it slow and easy… it made things feel more natural…

But maybe I should push a little harder. Maybe from now on I’d really stick with him when he built, fixed, or studied something. I have done so a few times, like that time at Secca while he made that vat. But usually I was distracted… by either other people, or the location we were at itself.

“Have you seen enough…? If so would you like to see something special?” Thrain asked a little wearily.

“Special…?” I asked. Although this place was neat, and massive, it was mostly just large buildings and plentiful farmland. I wonder what he meant.

Maybe something similar to the Keep or the Weaver’s Hut? A heart, or an egg…? Surely not right?

Thrain happily nodded as he turned and raised a hand. “Oplar!” he shouted. I flinched at his suddenly loud voice and stepped away in case he shouted again.

He could be as loud as he was big, it seemed.

Oplar turned towards us, moved in a way that told me she had just made a joke and laughed, then she bid farewell to those she was talking to and headed our way.

I shifted a little as Oplar drew near, and I wondered why he had shouted at her. Why not just have us walk over to her? Or simply wait for her to finish? It wasn’t like we were in some big hurry or anything. Maybe he didn’t like Oplar talking with others, or something. Or maybe I was just reading too much into it, and he simply wanted those farmers to get back to work.

As Oplar stepped into talking range, she smiled at me in a way that told me she hadn’t been offended at all. Which bothered me a little. Oplar seemed at first to be someone who would happily voice any complaints she had, but I knew her better now. She was the type of person to keep her personal feelings to herself. She hated confrontation of any kind.

“Oplar, would you mind showing Renn around? Particularly the cliff, if you would,” Thrain asked of her.

“Oh…? Sure. Done checking out the wheels?” she asked as she glanced at me.

I nodded, though was unsure if I had actually done anything or not. All I’d be able to tell Vim about them was that they were still spinning, seemingly fine, and that Thrain didn’t think they were worth the attention I had wasted on them.

Some help I was.

“I’ll leave you two to it then,” Thrain said a little happily as he stepped away.

“Hm!” Oplar nodded as he headed for the main path back to the village. His footsteps were oddly light upon the brick, yet sounded heavy on the dirt path.

As he left, I sighed a little and nodded to Oplar. “So… some kind of cliff?” I asked.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Aye. A great mural. Thrain tell you about it or someone else?” she asked.

“First I’ve heard of it. Thrain just asked if I wanted to see something special,” I said as I watched him leave. He walked a little slowly, and had that same slouch I had seen him with as the other night. He hadn’t walked so slumped with us here, so either that was his relaxed walking position or…

“Well, it’s this way. Honestly other than the fields, that cliff, and these waterwheels there isn’t much to see here. They’re a rather simple people, really, for all their rules,” Oplar said as she stepped towards the path as well. She however headed eastward, along the river.

Following her, I hummed a little as I thought of most of the Society locations I’d been to so far. Although each had their own… uniqueness… the reality was most were simple. The Crypt but a giant church. The Weaver’s Hut was similar to here. A bunch of buildings surrounded by farmland. Lumen a giant building for business. Telmik another church.

Of course each had something neat about them, that I’d never forget… like the Weaver’s Hut having that giant egg underneath it, and all those tunnels… or the Crypt’s graveyards… but…

“So… Oplar,” I said as I took my place next to her. “What do you think of uh… Vim’s…” I hesitated as I wondered what to call them. From what I could gather they weren’t his inventions. He had been taught about them. From his parents, if I’ve gleamed enough into him as I thought I had.

“His what…? I’m not attracted to him at all Renn, so you’re going to have ask someone else anything about his-” Oplar started to tease me, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her.

“Not that! I mean the stuff he makes. Like those things,” I said with a thumb over my shoulder, at the wheel we were leaving behind.

“Oh. Well… I mean he’s old, Renn. So it’s only to be expected he’d know a lot of stuff,” she said with a smirk, still enjoying her earlier joke.

Right… Hundreds if not thousands of years old. “How old do you think he is anyway?” I asked.

“Well… my father and Eyes, Hands’ father, tried to figure that out. They cross-referenced stuff, and even went on long journeys to figure it out. They eventually concluded that he’s older than current history, but likely not known history,” Oplar said.

I frowned. “What’s the difference?”

“Current is basically today. Think the last thousand or so years. Stuff we can verify if we looked hard enough to prove. Stuff we could find proof of if we needed to. Known history is of the legends and stories that we couldn’t prove even if we wanted to. For instance we can prove that this place used to be a massive city, with something called a god ruling over it, because there are records of it. But there was also supposedly a giant city over the Keep too… but I only have Vim’s words to prove that. As far as I’m aware there’s no proof of it. No ruins. No written history… you know?” Oplar explained.

My frown deepened, and I was about to bring up the underground castle like structure… but decided not to. Oplar likely knew of it, but as far as I was aware she wasn’t allowed into it. “So basically he’s so old we can’t figure it out even when we try,” I said, comprehending her words.

“Aye. They concluded that he was fully involved in the era of the gods… but honestly Renn, who knows how long ago that was? So many think it was thousands of years ago… but look at this place,” she said with a wave around us.

“Do they know how long ago it was? When Vim did what he did?” I asked.

“Five hundred and so years last I heard,” Oplar said with a nod.

Five hundred… It was a staggering time, yet…

I nodded. “That does seem not too long ago, compared to the legends,” I said.

“Right? So either our history isn’t as old as we think it is, or gods were around a lot longer than anyone realizes,” Oplar said.

Realizing something as the field of grass we were walking along turned into a field of wheat, I shook my head. “Just… how old is the Society then, Oplar?” I asked.

“Um… it’s nearing its millennia I think.”

“Oh!” I recognized one of Vim’s words and smiled. “So almost a thousand years,” I said happily.

She glanced at me, likely noticing my weird joy as she nodded. “I think it’s eight or nine hundred years to be clear… but yeah. Who is counting anymore, you know?” she said.

I wanted to.

Still…

A thousand years… and Vim was much older than that… he had told me he hadn’t joined the Society until after his little trip to those islands. And he hadn’t gone to them until after he had made his horrible mistake… which had to have been during all those wars he spoke of sometimes.

“It’s daunting isn’t it? I wish you luck Renn… Vim’s a special case, but all of the old folk like him usually have a screw loose. The kind that makes them kind of weird,” Oplar said.

Giggling at that I nodded. “Vim is weird, but it’s okay. I enjoy it.”

“You do don’t you? If anything it makes me jealous,” she said, then sighed.

Oplar happily continued to tease me as we talked about the Societies age, and little tidbits of history she found interesting

The two of us walked for about an hour until we I noticed we started to descend. What had been continuous flat-farmland with the occasional small hill in the distance, suddenly started to degrade. It didn’t take long until I realized we were basically walking down the side of a mountain.

At one point looking behind us had the path, and the ground, rising up high above us. It reminded me of all the mountains we had passed through on our way here. But what was surprising about it was how long it had taken me to notice the change in elevation.

One of the main reasons it took so long for me to notice was the fact we were still walking around and basically through, farmland. It had kind of just blended together…

“What’s wrong Renn?” Oplar asked.

“Nothing… I just hadn’t noticed us walking down such a hill until now,” I said.

“Huh…? Oh… Well it’s not that steep at first,” Oplar said as she glanced back at the path we had been walking upon.

Still… maybe I was distracted…

As we descended, one side of the hill became steeper and steeper… until it was a genuine cliff. One that we rounded, and at the bottom of was a large flat meadow with the occasional tree. Oplar led me down a path into the meadow, and it didn’t take long for me to realize both where and what our destination was.

Upon the cliff… overlooking the meadow, was a massive mural. Cut into the stone, seemingly the same stone found all over the village in the form of bricks, were statues and artwork… that genuinely dwarfed us in size.

“They don’t really have a name for it, though I think they should. It’s a little too fancy to just be called the cliff,” Oplar said as we slowly stopped in the middle of the meadow, as to look up at the side of the cliff.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to take in first. The people carved into it? The scenes? The center of the artwork was obviously the two people in the middle, bigger than even the trees around us, but there were hundreds if not thousands of smaller designs carved and chiseled all around them. Some were people. Some animals. But all of them were surrounded by fire.

Or at least… I think it was fire.

“Oh boy…” I groaned as I looked up at what was obviously Vim… with a spear in his hand, and a dying person under his boot.

It was quite obvious. It was Vim doing the deed. Killing their god… and the slaughter that had accompanied it. There were hundreds of other people, though much smaller in size to Vim and the one he was slaying, and now that I really studied them it became clear they were all dying too. Some were on fire. Others missing their heads, or limbs. There was a group of what was obviously women in one corner, all huddled together and visibly praying and pleading as they covered little children.

It was a giant remembrance of that fateful moment.

“Yeah. Quite a sight… makes one wonder, doesn’t it?” Oplar said as she crossed her arms.

Wonder…? Not at all.

I knew Vim was capable of such brutality. I’d seen it before. Though… maybe not used against women and children. But to him did it matter? He was so strong a mere blow from a foot or fist was enough to not just kill a person, but completely destroy them. Tearing off heads, limbs, and sundering their bodies in ways that shouldn’t be humanly possible.

But…

I gulped as I studied the woman beneath Vim’s heel. He had his spear in her chest, and she was grabbing at it… but it was obvious she was defeated and dead. They had carved and crafted her to be beautiful, but she had obvious wounds and injuries. Fingers were missing, and not from a broken rock of the cliff from age or wear. Her hair a matted mess, from what was supposed to be blood. A look of utter distraught and terror marred what would have likely been a beautiful expression, though her eyes were strangely calm and finely detailed. They were staring up at Vim… not as an enemy, but as if she pitied him.

And such a look was only further enriched by the way Vim looked troubled. They had given him a frown, and his brows were furrowed. This Vim was not some cruel diabolical enemy that I would have pictured in my head had they described this scene to me before seeing it. They portrayed him here as if he was as much a victim as the one beneath him.

“Is… is this um…” I shifted as I wondered what to say.

No wonder they didn’t want to name it. Why would they? It was crazy they had even made it in the first place. It was the scene that most represented their terrible past. The thing that had brought them low. Their god, being killed…

I’d seen similar statues and artwork before. Not just in the Keep either. I’d seen such sights in the churches. Particularly Telmik’s Cathedral. They had similar displays of their saints and gods being struck down, or their gods doing the deed themselves to what were considered evil beings.

Yet this one was affecting me far deeper than any of those ever could… for the obvious reason.

“I was once told… that Vim didn’t like being painted or drawn. That he destroyed such things,” I said softly. It had always made sense to me. Hands had been so worried about showing me that painting in the Cathedral. Vim hated people even knowing what he did let alone such things, for crying out loud. It was one of the reasons I’d not yet drawn or painted him, even though I so desperately wanted to.

“Hm? Yes. He doesn’t like it. He allows nearly anything else, but he hates being painted or anything. Though I don’t know if he actually destroys them or not,” Oplar said.

Amber and the rest at the Sleepy Artist had said so. They had even hid them… afraid he’d see them…

“So he allows this because he feels he made a mistake,” I said softly as I understood.

“Allows it…? Well…” Oplar hesitated and I glanced at her. She sighed and nodded. “He doesn’t know about it. If you’d… please keep it a secret, yeah?” she finally said.

Oh geez.

I slowly nodded and my tail shivered. “Yeah. Definitely,” I agreed.

“Thanks. I forgot to mention it. I’m glad you brought that up, I’d have forgotten to remind you… and knowing Thrain he likely hadn’t told you either. They’re rather ashamed of this, you know,” she said.

“Ashamed…? Why?” I asked. Although the scene was brutal, and made me sad, it was very finely done. I wanted to step closer to it, and maybe find some kind of ladder or something, as to inspect it closer. Some of the detail looked… very intricate.

“I can explain that.”

I startled, turning a bit as Oplar did. Since we had been standing so close, I bumped into Oplar’s elbow on accident.

Once I realized it was just a young woman, I calmed down and stepped back from Oplar. “Sorry,” I apologized to her, who ignored me and huffed at the woman who had suddenly appeared.

“Don’t scare us like that! Where’d you even come from?” she asked.

“I’d been sitting there,” the woman said with a point behind her. I tilted a tad to see past her, and sure enough found a small bench… with what looked to be a small bag next to it. Had she been doing something? Maybe having a meal?

“Sheesh. You’re lucky Renn’s so good-natured. Doing that to other predators would have gotten you eaten,” Oplar said with a laugh.

I frowned at her. Really Oplar? Even if it was possibly true, saying stuff like that was one of the reasons so many of our kind were so skittish and afraid of those like me.

“Either way… I feel like this is fate. I had kind of wondered if I should speak with you,” the woman said as she stepped a little closer.

As she did I noticed the strange look in her eyes. She didn’t look as if she’d been crying, or was weary… but…

Yes. Definitely some kind of exhaustion. Was she sick…? Or simply troubled?

“My name is Sillti… I’ve heard that you’re Vim’s wife,” Sillti introduced herself, and asked.

The moment she had said her name, Oplar had tensed up.

I nodded slowly. “My name is Renn,” I said.

“Hm…” Sillti nodded as she studied me.

Should I be worried? Oplar had uncrossed her arms, and hadn’t said a word… but I could feel her strange tension. She had only done so the moment the woman had said her name… so…

“Hm… can we talk? Wife to wife?” she asked with a gesture to the bench nearby.

Unsure a little, I glanced at Oplar who I was surprised had a weird frown on her face.

The woman noticed, and smiled a little gently at us. “It’s okay, Oplar. I swear by Vita’s name,” she said.

Vita… Thrain had said that name too. Was that the name of their god?

Oplar shifted, and I smiled too. “I’ll be okay, Oplar,” I said gently to her.

She glanced at me, and I appreciated that look of pure concern on her face. She didn’t say anything but she slowly nodded as she stepped back. As Oplar stepped away, slowly, I went to join Sillti on the bench.

As we walked over to the bench, I glanced around the area… and realized there were a few other places nearby with benches and tables too. How had I noticed them? Maybe something was wrong with me. Not noticing the slight decline earlier as we descended was one thing… but not noticing her, and all these items here in this field of flowers and grass? There were trees, but they weren’t dense enough to block such things from sight.

“I appreciate this, Renn… I really do,” Sillti said as she went to sit down on one side of the bench.

As she did I noticed the way she sat. She did so slowly… as if she was stiff or hurt.

Yet I didn’t smell, or see, any wounds on her. In fact she was kind of pretty. A little taller than me. Long flowing hair. Pretty red eyes, fair skin… her clothes were finely sewn too and… yes. Even her hands were free of stains or calluses. She had a feeling of calm stillness around her… as if she had never hurried before in her life, for any reason.

If we had been at a human town I’d think her some kind of noble. Like the many I’d seen in Lumen.

Sitting down next to her, since the bench wasn’t really that big, I nodded gently. “I…” I was about to speak, but then realized something.

Oplar had gone nervous the moment she said her name. She was still nearby, fidgeting a little in worry. Gentle Oplar who didn’t like confrontation was worried about me, and looked half a moment away from jumping at her as if ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

And that was the only reason she’d be so wary right now. Oplar was not a fighter. She despised violence. A self proclaimed coward. She loved to laugh, and talk to anyone. Although the whole village hated and were afraid of Vim, they weren’t necessarily so of us. Many had waved and spoke to Oplar and me as we walked around earlier. Although only usually giving greetings in passing… none had seemed dangerous at all…

She had even laughed earlier, making a joke… before Sillti had said her name and…

So…

Wait.

“You’re his wife…” I said as I realized it.

Sillti slowly smiled and nodded with her heavy eyes digging into my own. “Yes. Your husband is set to kill mine in three days.”