Oplar thumped the tombstone lightly. “This here’s my ma’,” she said. Then she stepped to the left, and patted the next stone. “And my pa’.”

I nodded as I studied the two graves. We were near one of the other buildings, the one that Sharp had her little insect cages in. The tombstones were about waist high to Oplar, and both were in the shape of stacks of books.

“So you inherited your passion of stories from them?” I asked.

“Aye. Though it was my idea to start delivering letters. They had been more interested in cataloguing family histories and stuff,” Oplar said as she stepped around her mother’s tombstone, and brushed some fallen leaves off the top of it. Thanks to their flat tops it seemed easy for stuff to accumulate on them. Especially out here, surrounded by the dense forest and winds.

“Family histories…” I said softly as I watched her pick each leaf off the stone one by one, carefully.

“Used to be important. Lotta’ folk don’t care much about it anymore though. Back in Telmik I have massive tomes, which go back hundreds if not thousands of years for some. It’s always very interesting to read about’em,” she said.

“Should put them with the paintings,” I said as I imagined a great room, full of paintings… with those very tomes lying underneath them, as to tell their story.

Oplar tilted her head, and then stood up. “Why… that’s a good idea,” she said seriously.

I nodded. I’d have enjoyed going through such a place. Just as I had spent days and days staring at all those paintings back at Ruvindale.

“I’ve heard you can paint well, actually,” Oplar said as she turned to look at me.

“I try. Though I’ve not had the opportunity to do so lately,” I said.

“Mhm… must be hard being tugged along by Vim all the time. Maybe we should get you an office at Telmik, so you can spend time there as he wanders around. Give you time to do such things,” Oplar said as she pondered it.

I smiled at the idea. “I might consider that one day,” I said honestly.

“Hm… you’ll probably need to do such a thing eventually anyway,” she seemed to conclude from her thoughts.

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“Well once you start having children. I doubt Vim would ever let anything happen to you, or them, but traveling around with him without rest might not be the best way to raise’em in the beginning, eh?” Oplar said as she smiled at the idea.

I frowned as I pondered her point.

She was right… wasn’t she? It took our kind a long time to mature. Any child I’d give birth to would take far longer than a human to grow large enough to tend to themselves. Which meant many years of needing full attention… The type of full attention that living on the road would make it difficult, if not even impossible.

Children...

“In Telmik you’ll have many to help you out too. Plus it’s safe. Beneath the Cathedral are many floors that humans don’t even know exist, safe to live in,” Oplar said.

Although still fascinated over the idea, I blinked and changed focus. “There were floors beneath the church?” I asked.

She nodded. “Aye. Celine had Vim and many others, like Hands’ father, make them. Originally they were meant to be a place for us to hide if we were attacked or something, now though they’re mostly just houses and rooms… though honestly most have been empty for some time now,” Oplar said.

“I do remember Vim mentioning tunnels… but he hadn’t said there were actual places to live or anything…” I said. I should have known though.

“Vim’s weird,” Oplar stated, as if that summarized Vim’s entire existence and strangeness up perfectly.

“He is…” I admitted and agreed softly.

Oplar stepped away from her parent’s graves and back onto the little stone path I was standing on.

“Can I ask something, Oplar?” I asked her.

She nodded.

“Are you the author? Of those books. The Queen’s Lament,” I asked.

Oplar grinned at me. “Me? No!” she laughed a bit, and then reached over to wrap her arm around my shoulder. Thanks to her being taller than me, she easily turned me as to make me join her in walking along the path, away from her parent’s graves. “I can see why you’d think so. But no. The stories I crave are not such made up drivel… No… What I’m fascinated by are the ones made by real people, in the real world. Which, surprisingly, ends up being more unbelievable sometimes than even the wildest of fiction!” Oplar added.

“Which is why you enjoy joining Vim on his travels,” I said as I understood.

Oplar tightened her grip around my neck and shoulder, as if hugging me. “Ha! No! Not at all! I’ll admit Vim is… a good source of stories and such, but he has a fatal flaw. One that ends up ruining the story more than not,” she said.

“He does…?”

She nodded and pointed at the church we were heading back towards. Though no one was in sight, so she was likely just pointing at nothing. “He’s too perfect. Basically Vim does encounter the strange and unusual often, but he… ends those stories too quickly. Too swiftly. If he had it his way, even the craziest moment would only last a few heartbeats, and no one would die, nothing drastic would happen, and he’d then simply go on about his day… as if nothing happened at all,” she said, as if it was something terrible.

“You’d… prefer he wasn’t so good at doing his job…?” I asked.

“Aye. I know. That’s horrible of me. I know. But it’s the truth. Take those Monarchs, or monsters, he sometimes fights. They should be natural disasters! Calamities! Stuff of fiction and legends…! Yet…” Oplar raised her hand, and made a fist… yet opened it and revealed her open palm, as if to display the thought in her head upon it.

“He defeats them before they can cause such chaos,” I said, understanding.

“Yeah… same with men, or armies, or genuine natural disasters even! He fixes them too easily, and does it all while being all calm and collected to boot. It’s no fun. Real stories have grief, heartache, disappointment… Vim doesn’t always end it happily, of course, but you see when he fails it’s not because he actually does so, but because it was impossible. An inevitability. So it’s not fun,” Oplar complained.

I wasn’t really sure I liked her viewpoint at all; especially since it didn’t sound like she was joking or teasing at all… but I did understand where she was coming from.

Sometimes Vim did treat even the serious stuff al little…

“He is sometimes a little nonplus about stuff,” I agreed.

“Aye? Right! Now don’t get me wrong… I’ll run to Vim the fastest the moment I, or anyone, needs him… but… well…” Oplar shrugged, bumping me as she did since we were walking so closely together.

She felt rather warm, oddly. As if she was sick. But she didn’t sound or feel sick. Maybe it was just her trait. She was a bear… so…

“I see where you’re coming from Oplar, but I’ve felt most of Vim’s stories have ended rather sadly in my experience…” I said softly.

“Aye. As I said, it happens… it just, even when it does, it doesn’t feel normal. As if he’s…” Oplar hesitated, and I realized she was about to say something very similar to what many were, and had. Particularly akin to the more recent vote. She instead shook her head, and squeezed me a little tighter. “But enough about me…! I want to talk about you,” she decided.

“I’m taken,” I warned her.

Oplar nearly tripped. I had to stand firm as the heavier woman leaned on me and guffawed, then burst out laughing as she stood back up. “Indeed you are!” she shouted happily.

I let her cling to me, as if her laughter was about to send her to her knees, and I wondered how heavy she actually were. I had actually needed to firm my footing, and strain a little, as to keep her upright just now.

She continued to laugh, until they turned into heavy giggles, which then turned into deep wheezes and huffs. “Ah… that was great. I’m going to enjoy you, Renn, I really am,” she said.

“Vim doesn’t like to share, but he begrudgingly allows it sometimes,” I said.

Oplar made a noise, then went right back to laughing. “Does he now! That’s good to know!”

Smiling at her, I enjoyed not just her boisterous attitude… but how touchy-feely she was. Brandy had been like her, but had only on a few times actually wrapped me in a hug or done what Oplar was doing. Landi had been similar, a little, but it had seemed she had always been scheming something… though half the time it felt like it was something silly, and of no consequence… but Oplar on the other hand…

Well…

She seemed to be just enjoying the moment. Which somehow made her personality all the more lovely.

Plus I kind of liked the way she thought… not so much about Vim’s supposed interference with her search for stories, but rather… well…

Stuff like her comment about children. Her being able to think in such a way told me she and I were going to be good friends.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“What would you like to know about me?” I asked her as she calmed down a little.

“Ah! Everything! But… for now I’d like to know something a little silly, that you might find weird,” Oplar said.

“Hm…?” We slowed a bit, and eventually came to a stop near another path. One that led to more graves.

Although we had stopped, Oplar kept her arm around me… and she coughed and nodded. “Well… uh… you wouldn’t happen to have a brother, or anything would you? One who needs a wife?” she then asked.

I blinked, and couldn’t help but smile… but kept myself from laughing, even though I kind of wanted to.

She had asked so seriously, after all. Just as seriously as Elisabell had asked, not too long ago. “My brothers are all dead. I’m sorry,” I said.

Well I wasn’t sorry, but she didn’t need to know that. For as much as I'd like to help Oplar, I'd never insult her by trying to set her up with one of my family members. She didn't deserve such a thing... and they wouldn't have deserved her, either.

“Ah… I see. The others had mentioned you had told them your kin were all gone, but…” she shrugged, smiling a little.

“So you’re looking for a mate too?” I asked, thinking of Landi.

“Aye. Have been for awhile now. As you know, I’m a bear… and well… lotta’ the men in the Society are either just not my type, or simply won’t entertain the idea of having me… so,” she shrugged again as we returned to walking.

Hm… “Are there no other bears?” I asked.

“None I know of,” she said.

“My father had a friend. He’d been a bear… but I’m not sure whatever happened to him,” I said.

“Oh…? Remember his name?” Oplar asked.

I shook my head. “I never got to learn it. I never met him, personally,” I said. I didn’t mention that such a thing had not only been intentional on my part, but a blessing. If that man had been a friend of such a bastard then… well…

He was likely not worth knowing.

“Huh… You came from the north, right? Just how far north?” Oplar asked.

“Well… from Ruvindale it’d take me several months to get there. You head north, but then west a bit,” I said.

“Oh. Wow. That’s farther than I thought,” she said as she thought of it.

I nodded. That had been the point. I had run as far from that place as I could.

Oplar grabbed my shoulder, gave it a squeeze… then released me. For the first time in a moment we weren’t touching as she stepped away, and crossed her arms before me.

I studied the bear, and noticed for the first time that she had a few scars beneath her right eye. Scattered around her cheekbone. They were tiny little marks, but thanks to the angle of the sun they were now readily visible.

“I’ll be honest, Renn… This vote worries me,” she then said.

Although a little surprised by such a massive leap in topics, I nodded… and was glad to hear it. I had wanted to know her opinion on it but hadn’t known how to ask.

“It worries me too. Particularly so because Vim doesn’t seem to be, at all,” I said.

“Vim’s like that. He’s the kind of man that even if they did vote to banish him completely… he’d likely not even blink. He might even still keep protecting most of us, at least those who ask him to. But it’s not really his outcome that worries me,” she said.

I frowned, and wondered if she was right. Sharp had also mentioned offhandedly that if Vim got removed as protector, or outright banished, she’d follow him… so maybe Oplar was on to something. Especially since Vim would likely keep protecting people all the same.

What did, or would happen, if they actually voted to remove him as protector...? Would that mean he'd no longer be a part of the Society at all? Or would he just lose his status?

“If not the outcome of the vote… what worries you?” I asked, trying not to let my mind wander too much.

“The discontent that birthed it. Whether Vim, or anyone else, wants to admit it or not… the fact is that there are many in the Society who are not happy. There are those who feel slighted, abandoned… those who are afraid, those who desire more… There are those like Lilly, and then there are those like Rapti. Basically… our Society is fractured. Divided,” she said.

“Hasn’t it always been?” I asked.

She nodded. “Aye, it has… but that was when there were enough of us to not matter. You could be anywhere on the board of desires, wants, or beliefs… and you weren’t alone. You had many who would and did stand alongside you. Now though…? We’re so few that there are many who are quite literally alone. Those who have no such allies or friends to share in their grievances, and as such feel even more as if the Society isn’t catering to their needs,” Oplar said.

My left ear fluttered as I thought of the many that I could see being used as such examples of such people. Like Landi, the Clothed Woman, or even someone like Sharp. Although she lived here, amongst many, she was practically alone. Her only real friend was Ursula and even they had their differences.

Oplar was right. Verily so.

“You know what I mean,” she said, likely noticing my thoughts.

I slowly nodded. “I do… I’ve thought of the same thing myself, especially lately,” I said.

“You feel alone?” she asked.

“Oh. No… not that. I have Vim, even if I was alone. I just meant I’ve also noticed there are many who are, although members of the Society… to a point also not,” I explained.

“You do have Vim,” Oplar said with a smirk.

I shifted, but didn’t argue or let her tiny little teasing comment bother me. It was the truth after all.

Even if the whole of the Society abandoned me… as long as I had him, I wasn’t too worried.

Plus it wasn’t as if I was some outcast myself. Even those who had banished me, like Crane and those in Lumen, I was on relatively good terms with. Herra had voted to not let me live amongst her, yet we had grown closer before separating back at her family.

“I personally think it’s not something any of us can fix, though, Oplar. The only method that would possibly work is to either find a bunch more members, or to force everyone to live together. As to form families, and bonds between them. One is obviously… impossible… while the other would likely just make it worse,” I said.

Oplar nodded and sighed. “That’s true. And the few locations with enough members to have such integration anymore have all but shut themselves off from the rest of us,” she said.

“Who do you mean?” I asked.

“There are those like Tor’s village, or the Summit. They have the most members of any location… some of them mixed very well, too, with lots of bloodlines and even with humans. Yet one won’t let anyone with a drop of predator blood in their veins in, and the others are either stuck in their religions or cultures to such a degree no one would want to go to them even if they could,” Oplar said.

I frowned. “The Summit?”

“It’s a village up north a little. We’ll be heading to it after we leave here, unless Vim plans to go to the Keep first. The Summit has banished Vim, but they actually have a request for him so he can go there,” Oplar said.

Oh! That village. Vim had mentioned it before… in fact he had planned to let me visit it while he stayed at a distance, as to check on them and…

“They have a request for him?” I asked.

She nodded. “It’s why I don’t care for them much. They won’t let him in, yet are always crying out for help whenever they get the chance,” she said.

My tail shifted as I nodded. I agreed with that, completely. “And Vim simply accepting it, as if it was normal,” I said.

“Hm…? Well that’s his job isn’t it?” Oplar asked.

I nodded, but didn’t tell her my true thoughts of the matter. I’d decided to not let anyone know, not yet, my personal feelings concerning their… abuse of his kindness.

“Oh! Let’s continue this later, Renn, I see Abel. He’s been avoiding me, and I want to hear his thoughts on the vote,” Oplar turned and hurried for one of the doors that led back into the Crypt.

Watching her hurry off, I felt slightly abandoned. She sure did change focus real fast. It felt like she was always in a hurry.

Although left behind, I wasn’t insulted. I knew Vim planned on us leaving at any moment. We had been planning to leave the day before, but he had wanted to let Oplar spend a few days resting and catching up with everyone… since she had letters for them, they also wanted to give everyone chances to write responses too and…

As Oplar entered the building, I noticed a new target of interest for myself. I stepped forward, and went to a different door. One that led to the eastern side of the building, where the church laid.

Tapping on one of the windows, I got Frett’s attention before heading to the door. Entering the Crypt, I shut the door behind me and stepped over to Frett… who smiled quietly at me.

Right. Although she had spoken the other day, in favor of Vim’s continued responsibilities… she’d returned to being mute.

“I know you’re getting ready to go pray, so I’ll not keep you long. I just wanted to ask if I could write you letters after I leave, Frett,” I asked her.

Frett blinked, and although she didn’t frown… she didn’t smile either.

Was that a no…?

“I know that you… won’t be able to respond. But that’s okay. I’m willing to wait until your moment of silence has passed for a response. Or would I just be a bother?” I asked.

Frett finally smiled, and did so in a way that told me it was okay.

Relaxing, I smiled and nodded back.

So it hadn’t been a bother that I’d send her letters, but rather she had simply not wanted to respond and break her vow.

The written word was as loud as the spoken one, after all.

“Okay. Thank you Frett,” I said as I nodded again.

She gave me the tiniest of nods ever, one that told me she had done so without meaning to, and then stepped away as to return to walking down the hallway. She headed for the church, quietly.

Watching her go, I sighed and wondered what it would be like to take such a vow.

I mean… it wasn’t too unrealistic of a thought for me. I’d gone years and years alone. Especially before Nory and after the siblings. Yet although I had been alone, I had still spoken. Especially when traveling through human towns… And even when completely alone, I was rarely that silent.

I hummed. I talked to myself. I even sang sometimes.

Yet back then… could I have done it? Stayed silent? For years? Without a sound…?

Yes.

Likely.

Maybe.

Today though…?

The mere idea of not talking right now was almost an impossibility to me. And not just because I had so many things I wanted to ask, and say, to those around me.

How hard would it be to not say anything to Vim…? For extended periods?

Sometimes I couldn’t contain myself. There were times I blurted out something the moment he came into view. As if I was some child or lost puppy, unable to contain my excitement when I saw him.

Crossing my arms, similar to the way Oplar did earlier, I tried to imagine it… as the man in question rounded the corner in front of me.

He noticed me, and tilted his head as he smiled at me. He must have just passed Frett, considering where he had come from. I wonder if he had heard me talking to her earlier, and thus why he was here now. He might have been in the church then.

As he approached… I wondered if this was the world’s way of giving me a chance to find out if I could do it or not.

Vim approached me… and came to a stop a few feet away.

Keeping my arms crossed, I stared up into his eyes… and knew my tail and ears were giving my thoughts away. My tail especially was wiggling around rather fiercely right now.

In a certain perspective… my tail alone had made me fail in my attempt. It may not be able to speak, or make much sound even when it swooshed and moved quickly… but…

It spoke all the same. It was my voice… especially to Vim’s eyes.

Still I kept my silence… and oddly, so did he.

Neither of us said anything for a long moment, and then Vim smirked at me… and simply nodded as he stepped away.

Without a word, Vim stepped around me and headed down the hall… leaving me be.

For a tiny moment I had to bite the inside of my cheek, as to stop myself from saying anything. After a few moments I turned, to look over my shoulder at him. Vim reached the end of the hall, and then promptly turned a corner… disappearing from view.

Releasing a tiny pent up breath, I sighed and felt ridiculous.

“That was hard,” I admitted.