Rounding the corner, I headed for our room with a happy step.

Lunch had been a simple one. More fish, just as all the other meals had been… but this time at least there had been another snack too. I had a few on a plate in my hands, that Roslyn had kindly given to me and I was excited to share them with Vim.

He hadn’t eaten with me and Roslyn. Likely because of the captain’s daughter. The young girl was very sweet, but had seemed to taken a… rather odd liking to Vim. The type of liking that Vim didn’t seem to really enjoy.

Reaching our room, I found the door was open. Like usual, even here on a pirate’s ship, Vim never cared about privacy or security for himself. Not that it was that surprising anymore. Vim was not only… likely immune to any kind of thievery or physical assault, but he by now also knew we were in no danger here on Roslyn’s ship.

Although former pirates… Roslyn and her crew were not people we needed to fear. Especially now that I’ve spent time with them, and learned how poor they actually were. Most of this region was seemingly suffering from an economic collapse, thanks to the plague spreading and the war raging in the nation to the west.

Inside our little room, near the stairwell that led deeper into the ship, was my people’s protector. Lounging lazily.

Vim was lying on our bed, just barely sitting up on the few pillows we had, and was reading a little…

“Wait, is that what I think it is?” I asked as I recognized the familiar black cover.

“It is,” he said without taking his eyes off the page he was reading.

Entering the room, I felt oddly apprehensive. I hadn’t realized Vim was carrying around such a precious item. He should have told me, now I’d take extra care keeping an eye on our bags. I had thought his bag was now like mine. Only carrying basic stuff, like clothes.

“I have crackers,” I said as I stepped over to the bed.

Vim lazily looked away from his book and at the plate I had lowered to his eye level.

“So they are,” he said.

“Want some?” I asked.

He shook his head.

Smiling at him, I knew it wasn’t just because he didn’t desire tasty stuff… but also because he was kind.

There weren’t many on the plate. He wouldn’t eat any, so as to let me have them.

He usually ate what I offered him, after all. Even if he didn’t necessarily like to eat stuff like this.

“Is it any good?” I asked him as I put the plate of crackers onto the small table next to the bed. I had to place it carefully, since there was a small jug of water on it too. The table was barely big enough for both of them.

“The book? I guess,” he said.

“You guess…?” Sitting down onto the bed, I leaned back a little as to lean against Vim’s legs. They were arched upward a little, since the bed wasn’t big enough for him to lay completely flat, even with him sitting up a little.

The bed, and this room, was likely for one of the younger girls. I wondered whose it had been and where they were sleeping now.

“She’s preparing for an ending. Since I know the ending, it’s a little… boring, I guess,” Vim said.

“She?” I asked. So the author was a woman.

He nodded, though most of his head was hidden by the book from my angle.

“What’s her name?” I asked.

“Do you really want to know, Renn? You’ll meet her eventually, why not let it be a happy surprise?” he offered.

Ah. Right…

“True. Okay. Let’s do it that way,” I agreed.

“Mhm,” he seemed to agree… and then lowered the book onto his chest, as to look at me.

Smiling at him, I pointed to the book. “I… never got to read the first one. Even though I borrowed the second from the Bell Church, so I could read them all,” I said.

“I know,” he said.

“It’s regrettable. But… it’s okay. I’m sure I’ll get to read it someday,” I said.

I hadn’t been able to, for the obvious reason. We had left Lumen not long after Reatti and I had returned. And the few days in-between had been… hectic, to say the least.

“Can read it now if you’d like,” Vim said.

“Huh?”

He nodded and gestured to our bags. They were piled next to each other in-between the rickety dresser and wall. The only space available, if we didn’t want to trip on them.

“They’re all in there. Or well, the three others are. I got the fourth here,” Vim said as he tapped the book.

My eyes watered, and I looked back at him. He nodded, as if to tell me he was speaking the truth.

“Why…?” I asked softly.

“Brandy’s apology. She had asked me what she could give you, before we left. I suggested the books,” he said.

Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and basked in the world’s oddness.

Sometimes I was so shocked by the gentle thoughtfulness of others, especially when it showed up so randomly like this.

“I have a few other things too…” Vim grunted as he sat up, and pulled his legs out from behind me as to get off the bed.

With blurry eyes I watched the man I’d come to love put the book aside on the bed and go to the bags. He pulled the larger one, his bag, out from in-between the dresser and wall. He plopped it down on the bed next to me and opened it, and began to rummage in it.

Smiling at him, I patiently waited to see what else he’d shock me with.

“Merit gave me seeds. Wynn a pen. Lawrence gave a poem, which I think is in another language so I’ll need to translate it for you…” Vim rattled off the stuff he’d gotten, but he didn’t pull them out of the bag.

“Wait…” I sniffed as I turned, as to kneel on the bed next to the bag and look into it.

There was a bunch of stuff in his bag. Mixed between clothing, and other softer materials, were indeed objects not usually seen in Vim’s bag. The other little black books were there. Some kind of scroll rested next to them. A weird brown box beneath them… and…

“Not everyone gave you stuff, Renn. But… a few did,” he said after a moment. He had stopped moving the stuff around since I had peered into the bag myself.

Reaching into the bag, I grabbed the small brown box. Stuff inside it clanked as I lifted it out of the bag.

It had a familiar design on it, though I wasn’t sure why I recognized it. A bunch of little squares with different colors and…

“Who gave this?” I asked him.

Vim shifted, and he and I stared at one another for a moment… and I wondered if maybe this wasn’t a gift. But I couldn’t imagine Vim carrying something like this around, it was bulky and…

Turning it around, I found the same square symbols on the other side too. What was this? It looked like it opened…

“Let’s see…” Vim turned as he sighed. Then he stepped away from me and the bed. I sat up straighter as he went to moving some furniture around.

He pulled one of the trunks over to the center of the room, and then moved my plate of crackers and the water jug over to the dresser. Then he pulled the little table to the bed, or rather between the bed and the trunk… then Vim promptly sat down onto the trunk.

It creaked as he sat upon it, and he smiled and held his hand out.

Handing him the box, I wondered what it was. What was he going to do?

Then he opened the box… and a small bag fell out of it and onto the table. The bag wasn’t that big, but it sounded and looked like there was a bunch of…

Taking a deep breath, I realized what it was as Vim put the now opened box onto the table between us.

It was a game-board. That’s why I recognized the squares.

Vim opened the bag and began pulling out the little pieces, and putting them into their respective positions.

His were a darker gray, mine a lighter.

“Remember this?” he asked.

I nodded as I sniffed. “I do. I played it with Rapti,” I said.

“Of course you do,” Vim said gently.

“I even remember the rules,” I said as I stood as to sit back down on the edge of the bed. As to face Vim properly.

“Of course you do,” Vim said again.

As Vim readied the pieces, I wondered who had known I had enjoyed this little game.

“Who gave me this, Vim?” I asked.

“No one,” he said.

“No…” I frowned, and then realized the truth.

Vim hadn’t gotten this from anyone.

He had gotten it for me himself.

The final piece was placed, and Vim nodded. “All right. You’re white, go ahead,” he said.

“This is more grey than white,” I said happily as I grabbed my first piece.

Moving it slowly, I noted that thanks to the smaller board… It felt a little odd. The one Rapti had was much bigger. Probably bigger than the table this one sat upon, and barely took up half of.

For a few moments… we didn’t speak as we played the game.

Vim moved his pieces quickly. Very unlike Rapti had done. He sometimes even grabbed his pieces before I was even done moving my own.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

And… promptly… as quick as the game had began, I had lost.

“Vim…” I whispered his name as he gently took my Queen piece. The one that signified the end of the game.

“Hm?” He paused, his hand hovering over the board as he wondered what was wrong.

“How many moves had that been?” I asked.

“Eight.”

Taking a deep breath, I sighed.

“What?” Vim asked as he sat up straighter.

“When we left. The last game I played with Rapti. She beat me in eight moves too,” I said.

Vim frowned at me, and then shook his head. “Your memory is scary. Would you like to try again?” he asked.

“Of course I do,” I said as I held out my hand for my Queen.

He returned it, and we both went to rearranging the pieces.

Although the quick defeat was upsetting… I couldn’t stop smiling. Hopefully Vim didn’t find it too strange. I knew I was smiling crazily, since I could feel the strain in my cheeks.

“Try to pay attention to more than just the pieces you’re attacking. Think of it like a battlefield. Don’t just focus on the foe in front of you, always keep an eye on the enemies behind them. You’ll eventually be facing them, so you need to know how to address them too,” Vim said.

Blinking at his tutelage, I compared it to Rapti’s long ago. I had to ponder a moment, to remember the things she had said and how she had said them… but the memories made me only smile even more.

Moving the first piece again, I watched as he moved his own. This time he moved one of the ones on the edge of the board, not one in the middle.

Interesting, since I had moved the same piece as last time.

“In this case, I’m facing a whole army. Are you saying I should be able to know what a whole army is doing, at any moment? And plan ahead for it?” I asked him.

“You should be able to do that, and more. You’re the general. You should not only know what the enemy army is doing, but yours too,” he said.

Mine too…

Was he saying I wasn’t playing properly? Or rather, not the sense he deemed proper.

Maybe he was saying I focused too much on singular pieces and their moves…

“Is that how you look at life?” I asked. It made a lot of sense, honestly. Especially if you considered the Society, and the world we lived in, as two opposing armies.

Or maybe smaller ones, all working together.

“I was raised to be a soldier. So you can fault my upbringing,” Vim said as he moved one of his own pieces.

My hand stopped before it grabbed my next piece—the tallest piece, the King.

“What?” I asked.

Vim was staring at the board, so he likely didn’t notice my sudden lack of smile. “Hm?” he hummed as he scratched his jaw. Lately he had been scratching the spot where he had gotten cut in Lumen. The cut was long gone, of course, and there was not even a thin line for a scar… but he acted as if there was.

“You were raised to be a soldier?” I asked him carefully, and went to move my piece.

Careful. Slowly. Naturally.

He likely hadn’t noticed what he had said to me. So if I just… acted naturally… maybe…

Vim nodded as he went to move his own piece. He took one of my horse pieces, and put it on the table next to the board alongside the others he had taken already.

The board was quickly becoming darker, as my pieces dwindled.

“Well… to be honest maybe not a soldier but rather a general. But it’s nothing special. Back then all men were raised to be generals. It was up to us to prove we could be one, but all were given the tools to do so,” he said.

My mouth went dry as I tried to imagine his words.

A… culture, maybe, that raised their sons like that.

I had no clue who, what, or where such a thing could be found.

Did anyone…?

“Did you… become a general?” I asked as I moved another piece. The moment I did, and Vim moved his own piece, I realized I had messed up. I was focusing too much on our conversation, and not the game.

“The highest rank I ever achieved was praetor. In the sense yes, a general. I commanded legions. The title I held the longest, and if you were to ask for my personal opinion… the position I was the most competent at was instead more of a…” Vim went quiet as he frowned, and I panicked.

Did he realize he was telling me so much? Would he stop? Go quiet? End our happy little game?

But no, luckily he had just been pondering something. Maybe a word to use. Or a translation for me.

“A colonel…? Basically a commander for many knights. A squadron, a group, not the whole army,” Vim finished as he moved one last piece… and ended the game again.

This time he didn’t even pick up my Queen. He just smiled at me, confident.

“Ten moves,” I said to him.

“Hm,” he nodded.

We went to replacing the pieces again, and I wondered what to say to him.

Maybe the reason he was being so open right now was because he looked tired. He did seem to be moving a little slower than normal, and his eyes did look heavy.

Yet although a little cruel of me… I wanted to exploit this moment. Whether it be because he was tired, not paying attention, or just in a happy mood… I wanted to learn more about him. As much as I could. But what would be the best way to do it? What question could I ask, in what way, as to get an answer and not alert him to what he was mistakenly doing?

“You didn’t like being a general?” I asked… deciding that the best place to start.

“I was too good at it,” he said as he finished putting his pieces onto the board.

I slowed in my own placement, and frowned at him. “You say it as if that’s a bad thing,” I said.

“Because it is. I didn’t learn until later in my life how to… let go, as they say. I cared too much for those below me,” he explained.

Vim didn’t seem to mind that I hadn’t restarted our game yet. I squeezed the last piece in my hand as I stared at the man who didn’t seem very bothered by what he had just revealed.

“You mean… as in war, don’t you? As in you need to be willing to sacrifice when needed,” I said.

He nodded. “I was too good at it. I was able to wage grandiose wars without defeat. We had losses, of course. It’s impossible to not have them, but my losses were… minuscule compared to others. So when the times came where I did lose, or we lost far more than expected… well…” he shrugged.

“You blamed yourself. Letting it affect you,” I said for him.

Vim nodded. “A failure as a general. A leader can care, but they can’t let such emotions risk everyone else.”

Although I of course didn’t agree at all… I knew better than to voice those thoughts. Doing so would just be an insult to Vim… it would be like a young child chastising him for his beliefs, even though they had never even left their home. Their nest.

I didn’t know war, after all.

Putting my last piece onto the board, I coughed as I moved the same piece as last time and the time before.

Vim moved a different piece again. This time he moved the exact same piece as me, just on his side. My opposite.

Frowning at the move, I spent a few moments considering his move… and how to continue. I hadn’t expected him to mirror me like that.

“Did the Society raise you? I thought you had been born before the Society existed,” I asked as I finally made my decision. I moved a piece near the edge of the board.

“My own people raised me. I… think the Society did exist, in a form, before me. But it wasn’t really… complete. It was more of an ideal. A theory. People were trying, but no one had the…” he paused as he tilted his head, and grabbed a piece… seemingly at random. “Wisdom? To create it properly,” he finished as he put the piece down.

Moving another piece, I nodded. That made sense. “Was Celine like you? Or… from the same people? Or culture, or whatever?” I asked.

“No. My people are gone,” Vim said as he moved the same piece had moved in the beginning… which wasn’t good. It opened up a path for some pieces in his back row to now attack my front. Great.

“What were they called?” I asked.

Vim said nothing as I moved a piece… and then a few moments passed and the silence lingered.

Woops.

Staring at him, who stared at me, I smiled sheepishly at him.

He smiled back at me, and my heart nearly skipped a beat. I felt my face go red hot, and I had to actually look away from him.

What the heck?

“I’ll tell you another day,” he finally said.

Nodding, I felt silly. A part of me was upset. At both him and myself. Him for being such a weird man concerning his past, and me for not being smart enough to not ask such a question. The rest of me however was… well… falling in love. Again. Why had his smile at that moment made my heart skip a beat? He always smiled like that at me.

“I won, by the way,” Vim spoke up, to remind me.

Huh?

Looking at the board, I groaned as I realized he was right. He had moved one of his back pieces and slipped through my guard. I knew I should have worried over that.

I sighed as I studied the board for a moment. Vim was kind enough to let me; he patiently sat there as I even went to move the pieces back to their previous positions. I recreated the board a move before.

Then, I moved it to the positions just before that.

“Hm,” Vim smiled at me as I studied the board, and realized what I could have done.

“Three moves. Nothing I do after that could save me,” I said as I realized it.

“Well done. I’m… very impressed. I wonder if I could do that on a whim?” he said as he stared at the board.

“Do what? Replicate it?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Hm…” I tried to see if I could go back even further. I moved the pieces again.

“Which move was this?” he asked once I was done.

“Move four,” I said.

“Was it? Didn’t I open with that one?” Vim asked, pointing at an unmoved piece on his side.

“This is from our first game,” I said.

Vim’s hand fell to his lap, and he glared at me.

“What?” I asked.

“I would have hated to face you on the battlefield,” he said.

A huge smile planted itself on my face thanks to his kingly compliment. I don’t think he’s ever said something so high-praise to me before!

Vim sighed as I went to setting the board back up again. So we could play again.

He let me place his pieces back into their starting positions as he crossed his arms, as if to ponder.

“In exchange for not telling you about my people… how about I give you another question? Or answer, I guess? Anything you’d like to ask?” he offered.

Oh…?

My mind went blank for the tiniest of moments… then it went into chaos as I scoured my mind for a question.

Did I want to ask about Celine? What happened in Lumen? Monarchs? His past lovers? His favorite fruit…?

“Hm…” I too crossed my arms, as if to mimic him as he liked to do with our little board game, and I considered it deeply.

Should I play it off and ask something silly? He was being so kind to me lately. So gentle. Maybe I should return the favor. Although Vim seemed to be… willing to tell me stuff now, or be more open, that didn’t mean he actually liked to do so. It was obviously uncomfortable for him. So…

Vim smiled at me as I stared at him… and wondered which to pick. He was kind enough to let me sit in silence as I considered it.

“What does your name mean?” I asked after a long moment.

He blinked at me and frowned. “The meaning of my name?” he asked.

I nodded. “It’s clear you… speak another language. Or well, many languages. But you’ve made a point that your birth place spoke a certain language. One that’s odd. So I’m assuming your name is odd too, right?” I asked.

“Ah…” He sighed and nodded. “It means power. Energy. Force. My name is Vim Vitae. Basically I was given a name to represent my outstanding strength and resilience. Another term is vim and vigor, but that’s more a phrase than an actual name,” he said.

Vim Vitae.

“What’s the vitae mean?” I asked.

“Life. The name almost literally translates into powerful life. Vim can mean a few things, but it’s essentially just excessive vitality. I was basically named excessive liveliness, or spirit depending on how you wanted to view it,” he said.

Giggling at him, I nodded. “I see. So you were named for your strength,” I said.

“Yeah, I’m not very lively am I?” he smirked at me.

Nodding at him, I agreed. Vim although… forceful sometimes, was more of a stoic man than not. Though… he might have been rambunctious as a child.

Basking in the moment, I smiled at Vim who was smirking at me.

“My name is Rennalee,” I told him.

Vim’s smirk died a little as he blinked at me. “Is it now?” he asked.

I nodded.

He frowned and shifted on the trunk he sat on. It made an odd noise thanks to his movement, and I wondered if he was breaking it. He was heavy, sometimes. “Do you… prefer to not be called Rennalee?” he asked.

A tiny shiver ran down my tail at him saying my full name, and I smiled and shook my head. “I don’t honestly mind either way. Ginny, had lost several teeth thanks to the beating she got before I happened upon her and her brother. Before her proper teeth came in she was unable to say my name, so she shortened it. Ever since then… well… I’ve been Renn,” I said.

“I see.”

Thinking of the siblings, for the first time in a while, made me smile. I missed them.

Ginny would have liked Vim. She had always wanted a father.

“I miss them,” I said softly.

Vim said nothing. As usual he stayed quiet during the more somber moments. It was something I liked about him.

Reaching out as to make the first move, and start the game again… I enjoyed our gentle silence together. This was wonderful. I had enjoyed spending time with the pirates and their captain… and even though their lifestyle and personalities were intriguing to me… right now this was all I wanted. This felt wonderful. I felt at peace. No despair. No danger. No worry. Just Vim and me, relaxing.

I hadn’t realized I had been longing so deeply for this. But now that I knew it could be found, and attained, I wanted to never let it go. I wanted to enjoy this for as long as possible.

And it seemed Vim did too, which only made me enjoy it all the more.