The world had somewhat returned to a familiar setting.

The ground was still dry, and the soil was more… rock and clay than actual soil, but there was now green all around us. Trees. Bushes. Grass even!

Though most things, even if a lively green, did still look pointy.

“Right around this bend. If you ever have to get here without me for some reason, just follow the sea until these gorges. After a few hours of searching you should be able to find this path,” Vim explained how I would find this place while walking in front of me.

I nodded, and although dedicated his teachings to memory… I had absolutely no plans on ever going anywhere without him.

Even if he didn’t want to admit it yet… or ever would, my place was next to him.

“Is it a big family? Like Herra’s?” I asked, hopeful.

“Not really…” Vim then paused, coming to a stop in front of me.

I too came to a stop, and smiled at the sight of his face. He was lost in thought, and then he frowned as he remembered something.

“The Chronicler said the lad died, didn’t she?” he asked softly.

Ah. “Yes. The one who was infirm,” I said as I tried to remember what she had said.

Vim sighed and nodded. “Yes. Bound to a wheelchair. He had been born infirm. Unable to walk,” Vim said.

Unable to walk… maybe they had made him a chair that let him move around? Thus the wheel? That would have been very interesting to see. Probably another Vim invention.

He scratched behind his ear as he frowned. “So… should be six members. Plus just as many if not more human workers. Though here, they don’t see them as members. They’re employees, not members of the Society… so watch what you say and who you say it around,” Vim warned me.

I nodded. “Okay.”

Vim turned back forward and we returned to walking along the rocky path.

We were between two large… what were they called? There were these giant rocks all around us, but they somehow formed little cliffs. Large tree roots littered between the rocks, seemingly holding them in place. Off in the distance I could hear the sea crashing upon similar stones.

It has been three days since we left that port city. We hadn’t gone through, or seen, any other towns since leaving that port… but a few times in the distance I had seen buildings. Houses. Single solitary things out all on their lonesome. Some had been right along the sea-line, on beaches, while others had been hours away from the sea.

We hadn’t gone near any of them of course, but it was interesting that out here in this strange desolate place… there were still people all over the place. It reminded me of the north. One could go days without seeing a town, but hidden away there were usually homes and small communities.

“So they have human workers here?” I asked.

“Yes. I know. Weird. They’re hidden, but not like the armadillos. Most of their employees come work here for a few months then go home,” Vim explained.

“Huh…” That was interesting. “Isn’t that dangerous?” I asked.

“It is… but it is how they’ve operated forever. They’re just used to it. Set in their ways,” Vim said.

Hm… Places like Lumen I understood, it being in the center of a human’s capital. But out here…?

We were days from any real towns… and if that port city was the standard out here… well…

I shivered at the thought of that town. Its weird smell still lingered in my mind, and…

As Vim and I had run out of town, I had glanced back to the bodies. The ones Vim had left behind in his wake.

There had been people around them. Kneeling. At first I had thought they were weeping, but it became clear very quickly it was the opposite.

They had been scavenging from the bodies. Taking their clothes and items.

Such a weird thing. I distinctly remembered those men. Their thin arms. The sunken faces. The torn and dirty clothes.

One of the men hadn’t even had shoes.

Vim killing them had actually made me pity them. Even though I knew they had been fully intent on harming us, it was still… a little disappointing.

“And… here we are. Secca. The dye houses,” Vim’s voice brought me out of my thoughts.

Walking up next to Vim, we were suddenly standing on top of a small hill… overlooking a small canyon.

Inside the canyon, a short distance below us, were many buildings. Some were built into, or along, the rocky cliffs surrounding them… but there were a few standing solitarily away from the others. A few were large, several floors and wide, but others were small. Too small to be homes… and…

“What is that?” I asked Vim as I stared at colorful smoke bellowing out of a few chimneys.

“Steam. Come on, she’s waiting for us,” Vim said with a small tap on my arm.

She?

Hurrying after Vim as we rounded a large rock and found another path, we descended. This path was a little smaller… and we were now walking in a cramped section of rocks. I stepped a little to the right, as to not brush my shoulder against a large rock.

This felt weird. It was like walking between two very close trees… yet it continued forever.

After a few minutes of walking amongst giant stones, the rocks diverted away and we stepped onto a larger path. One that wasn’t as steep, and led straight down to the houses…

Peering around Vim, I smiled at a young girl.

So this was she. Had he seen her from up above? I hadn’t noticed her.

Which was very surprising… since her clothes were all bright colors. Her shirt was some kind of bright orange; it was almost blinding to look at in this sun.

The girl looked about my height, and appeared to be my age… but I knew better than to assume she was as young as she looked. She strolled up towards us, and Vim came to a gentle stop as he waited for her.

As the girl got closer, I noted the way she glared at Vim… and… Did she have something under her shirt? Her shoulders looked a little odd, as if she had large muscles.

Eventually the girl came to a stop before us, and she placed her hands on her hips and raised her chin at Vim. “Well?” she asked.

Oh? This was interesting. Very so. She looked upset with him! I wonder what she’ll say or do… and…

Vim then stepped aside, and gestured at me. “May I present you Renn, one who shall do what I don’t want to,” he said to her.

“Huh…?”

Standing up a little straighter at being introduced in such a way, I couldn’t help but smile expectantly. I had no idea what was going on but it seemed fun.

The girl shifted and then started to laugh. She nodded and stepped forward, crossing her arms as she studied me.

Going still, I patiently waited. She was cute, her clothes were a bunch of different colors, and although her hair was shorter it was still braided in a neat way. Her skin tone wasn’t as dark as I had expected to find out here, since so many of the humans were a tad darker than those I found in the north. But she did have a lot of freckles, and… was that paint on her cheek? It was a bright white in color, a blotch marring her smile.

“Well… I guess she’ll do,” the girl then said after a moment.

“Will I?” I asked happily.

The girl snorted loudly alongside a laugh, and I found myself smiling even more. Yes. I was going to like her.

She stepped forward, and didn’t even hesitate to wrap her arm around my shoulder and neck. “She will! My name’s Riz!” she introduced herself while smiling at me.

Smiling back at her, I returned the weird hug she was giving me. It was easier for me to do, since she wasn’t carrying a backpack, but upon my doing so I noticed her shoulders were a little… off. They felt a little harder than the rest of her. A little bumpier.

Most importantly though, with her this close… I was able to see her eyes. They definitely were not human. Not only were her pupils… oddly shaped, somewhat like a goat’s or sheep’s, she also had what looked to be another set of eyelashes? Maybe even two layers of eyelids?

“Renn. Nice to meet you Riz,” I greeted the camel.

Riz nodded happily and then tugged me along, taking the both of us down the path towards her home.

“Where you from Renn?” she asked as we stepped past Vim. He smiled at us as we left him behind, and I realized Riz was going to completely ignore him.

How interesting. I really was going to like her.

“The north. A mountain of snow,” I said.

“Snow? Never seen it. I’ve heard of it though, from my mother. I’m told it tastes good,” she said.

“Well… some snow does, I guess,” I admitted.

She giggled, and I liked how she let her joy fill her whole body. She was a delight.

“Come, come. Let Vim talk to the old humps while you and I become friends,” Riz said.

I nodded, agreeing with her. “Yes, let’s.”

It didn’t take long to reach the buildings, and upon reaching them I realized there were more than I had thought. Hidden behind, and sometimes under, large rock formations were other buildings. Some looked a little too… plain or out of place, but others were rather detailed and large. If Vim was telling the truth and there were only six of our members here, then each of them must have their own house it seemed.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

A dog barked at us, running out from behind a house. It paused a bit; studying me… then ran off behind us. I turned to watch it run at Vim, barking the whole time.

Before Riz and I entered a building, I saw Vim kneel down and greet the dog. He pet it happily as the dog rolled and danced around him.

“Here, put your bags here. They’ll get in the way otherwise,” Riz went to pulling off my backpack as we entered into a small room. One that seemed to be only used for putting shoes and other such things aside. Like my bag.

I let her take my bag off me, and I reached up to take off my hat… but paused.

“Uh… Riz?” I whispered softly. She tilted her head as she put my bag down. I stepped over to her, and leaned up against her as to whisper. “I heard there are humans here…?” I asked softly.

“Oh. Not right now. It’s the break month. It’s just us here, you’re fine,” Riz said calmly.

Oh. Good. Taking off my hat, I breathed out a sigh of relief. Honestly although I wasn’t too bothered by the heat… I was very glad to get the opportunity of taking my hat off. My ears relished the air and freedom, even if the air was warm.

“Wow!” Riz stepped closer, and I knelt a little to let her study my ears. “What the heck! How cool! Is this why Brom barked at you?” Riz asked as she reached up to pat my ears. I was thankful she did so gently.

My heart thumped a moment, before calming down. “Brom…?” I asked.

“The dog,” she said.

Oh. Okay. Sure…

Wait really…?

“Uh… maybe? I’m a cat,” I said.

Riz frowned at me as she leaned back, lowering her hand. “A cat…”

I could tell by the way she was in thought that she had no idea what that was. “A small animal. It’s… I guess it is kind of like a dog, in a way,” I said, even though it felt really weird to say that aloud. After all they really weren’t, but… how else did I explain it?

“I see. Neat. Well Brom’s a perv, so don’t let him get all weird on you. Just smack him if he does!” Riz laughed as she stepped away, heading deeper into the building.

Smiling at her as I hurried to follow, I wondered what to say to that.

Riz giggled a snort as I followed her into the building. Upon passing a cloth door… I had to cover my nose.

The smell in this place was… weird. It made my nose itch, but it wasn’t so bad that I wanted to run away or not breathe.

A large open room revealed itself… and in the floor, a sunken pool of water. A large pool of water that was littered with plants and planks of wood. And they were…

Stepping past Riz, who had gone to a large bucket near the wall, I stared down at the pool of water and boards.

“Snails…?” I asked as I tried to understand what I was seeing.

There were thousands. Maybe more. The massive pool of water was covered in them. I could barely see all the plant life strewn all over the place because of them.

“Hexaplex Trunculus! Yes. Snails. Here, it’s time we feed them,” Riz stepped over to me and held out a weird shovel looking tool. I took it carefully, since there was a… bucket type of thing at the end of the long pole, which was open. And within were what looked to be… grains or something.

“Just shake it over the pool. I’ll get this side, you do that side,” Riz pointed to my right, and she stepped away to grab her own bucket stick thing.

Frowning, I held the shovel bucket out over the pool… and shook it a little. Sure enough some of the stuff in the bucket fell out, scattering all over the pool of water and snails.

Ah. I see.

Feeding… the snails.

Smiling at the ridiculousness of it, I decided to just go along with it. Stepping around the pool, I mimicked Riz as we both went to spreading the food all over the pool.

“I thought this was a dye house,” I said as I watched the snails perk up and begin growing active with their food falling around, and upon them.

“It is! These snails are one of our pigments,” Riz said. She was nearly half way done already, more than twice outpacing me.

Picking up the pace a little, I did my best to not dump too much food in one place at a time.

Pigments… “I’m assuming that’s a color?” I asked her.

Riz grinned at me as she paused in her feeding, and shifted the shovel like tool under her arm. “I’ll explain it all to ya! Basically these little guys are how we make certain colors. We crush them and boil them. This is one of five nests,” she said.

Five…?

As I continued to feed the snails, I wondered how many snails were here. If there were five more of these pools… then…

“The pool is lined with a type of metal that they don’t like. Keeps them in. Sometimes we still find a few that sneak out, but it’s rare,” Riz continued to tell me about her families specialty… and I suddenly realized I was very jealous.

Herra’s family had gems.

Riz’s had… snails? Or rather colors?

Lumen had money.

Telmik had religion.

Twin Hills, where Lomi and her new family resided had wheat.

Lellip and her family had the smithy.

Tor’s village was a farming one.

Ruvindale had… or rather once had, paintings.

Blinking watery eyes as I continued feeding the snails, I did my best to focus.

I was jealous. Of them. All of them.

What I would have gave for my family to have been a part of the society from the beginning. What I would have gave to have been born amongst them.

Though… I suppose if I had, I’d never have joined Vim.

Riz finished first, and waited patiently for me with a smile as I distributed the last bit of food in the bucket.

“Four more,” she said to me once I was finished.

I nodded. Yes. Four more.

We put the shovel-bucket things away, and Riz led through the building… and into another. We passed outside only momentarily, entering another building that was so close there was barely any room to walk between them.

This building had two pools inside. Both roughly the same size as the first.

“You take that pool. You’ll need to refill once, make sure to do your best to spread the food evenly,” Riz guided me as we grabbed new shovel-buckets and went to work.

“How often do you feed them?” I asked as we both went to feeding the snails.

“Once a day. But once a week we need to pour some water in too.”

Water… “The water smells like the sea, or is that just the snails?” I asked.

Riz giggled at me. “It’s the sea. These things are sea creatures. Good thing too, would probably use up all our fresh water otherwise!”

Sea creatures…?

The sea had snails?

I have seen many weird animals and creatures in the sea. Thanks to spending so many years along one… but I didn’t think I had ever seen a sea-snail before.

Maybe it was a regional thing. This place was far hotter, after all.

“How old are you Renn?” Riz asked.

“I’m not sure. I’m over a hundred at least,” I said as I went to refill my bucket.

“Oh…? Wow. You look good. I’m only thirty,” Riz said.

Thirty…?

Glancing at Riz as I went back to my own pool, to return to feeding the snails, I wondered what age I’d place her by looks alone.

Maybe early twenties, by human standards. Maybe even younger. I had thought her a young girl, not a woman, upon first glance.

“I’m the oldest daughter. Or well, I am now. My older sister ran off years ago and never came back. So one day I’ll be the head of the family! I’ll be something, you’ll see!” Riz said proudly.

It was a little weird for her to be telling me so much so quickly… but I was starting to realize that this was… standard, for our kind.

Herra’s family had been the same. Happy to just talk and talk, sometimes telling me their whole life story without rest. Those in Lumen had done similar, before all the chaos had happened.

Maybe it was because I was with Vim. They knew we came and went, so…

“I don’t have any family… or a um… job?” I told her, and hesitated after doing so. Should I tell her I wanted to be like Vim? Some people found it interesting but others didn’t like the idea at all.

“Oh…? Well don’t worry; I’m sure you’ll find somewhere and something soon! That’s why you’re with Vim huh…? Must be fun. Mother has traveled with Vim before, she told me the stories,” Riz said.

“It is fun. Sometimes,” I said. Hopefully she’d not ask about Lumen.

Riz snorted as she giggled again. “I bet. Vim can be such a pain. I’m glad you’re here, at least now his visit won’t be wasted entirely,” she said.

“Wasted…?” I asked as I finished feeding my pool. Riz had finished long before me, and was patiently waiting near the door. I hurried to put the shovel thing away, and joined her out of the building. We walked around the building, passing a large well with colored wood and stone.

“Everyone is supposed to work. No work, no food. But Vim always runs off before helping, he’s such a pain,” Riz complained as we entered another building. This one was situated under a large outreach of rocks.

I frowned at the camel as we walked down a short hallway, and then entered a room with another set of pools. Two more. The last two, of snails at least.

“Vim… doesn’t help?” I asked. Surely not… I mean…Vim always helped. Even when no one asked for it. Was she making a weird joke that I didn’t understand?

Riz nodded as she went to fill up the buckets. She handed me mine, and I took the pool on the right this time. Just to change it up.

“I mean… he does. Don’t get me wrong. He also helps fix and build things when we need him to. Like right now I bet he’s being asked to build another vat, and move the rocks that fell down a year ago,” Riz said.

“Then…?” I paused in my spreading of the food, and Riz smiled at me as she nodded.

“I’ll show you what I mean. Once we’re done feeding the snails,” she said.

“Oh… okay,” I nodded and wondered what she was going to show me.

He didn’t help, she said… yet did. Must be something else then.

I knew Vim wouldn’t actually… not help. No matter how much he disliked or was bothered by someone, he’d never be so cruel to our members in such a way.

“You the only child Renn?” Riz then asked.

“Huh? Oh. No. I had several siblings. Though they’re all dead now,” I said.

“Oh… I’m sorry,” Riz paused a moment, to look at me with sorrow.

I smiled at her and shook my head. “It’s okay. It was a long time ago,” I said.

Riz shifted, and tapped the handle of her shovel-bucket for a moment. “I lost a brother recently,” she said.

Hesitating, I wondered if I should tell her I had heard of him. But decided against it upon seeing her scrunched up face.

She looked as if she was about to weep.

“He was… a poor boy. Born in pain. Lived in pain. Died in pain,” she said softly.

Gulping, I realized that Vim had… not been very good at explaining just how sickly the boy had been. I should have known better though. Vim sometimes didn’t mince words, but he also usually told more by his tone than the words he used. He had spoken curtly and short about the boy… but he had spoken gently, and with a sad expression. I should have read between the lines.

“My little sister had been the same. She too suffered,” I told Riz.

Riz looked up and sniffed, and then smiled and nodded. “Such is our fate huh?”

“Regrettably,” I agreed.

The camel nodded and returned to her work. I dutifully joined her, and hoped her happy demeanor would return soon. Such somber sadness didn’t suit her.

A little before we both finished, nearly at the same time thanks to Riz’s slowdown, she took a deep breath and waved to get my attention.

“It’s the snails, you see,” Riz then said.

“Hm?”

She bent down, and picked one of the larger snails up. Even from across the room I noticed it was wiggling something fierce. She smirked at me and turned the snail to show me. “Haven’t you noticed? They stink right?”

Ah. I nodded. “Yes. It’s not… too bad, but there is a smell to them,” I said.

“Vim hates it. So much so he refuses to enter these buildings unless absolutely necessary,” she explained.

Huh…?

Glancing down at the things I was feeding… I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Vim…? Hates the smell of these things? To the point that he refused to help feed them, or deal with them?

“You’re kidding,” I said. The smell was strong, but even I had grown accustomed to it swiftly. It wasn’t even that bad!

Vim… the stoic warrior, bothered by a smell? Such as this? It was almost so ridiculous I didn’t want to believe it.

Especially since I’d seen so many other smells do nothing to him before. From that weird well beneath the Animalia Guild building, to that pot of rancid meat he had cooked on our way here. He’d never even flinched…

Yet these? This smell? I think the sea water and plants had more of a stink than the snails did.

“You’re joking,” I said again, not believing her.

“Not at all! I don’t know why either… he doesn’t mind the smells of any of the other pigments or anything… but yep. The smell of these things? Makes him disgusted, I guess. Maybe one crawled up his butt once or something,” she said as she put the snail back down, and frowned in thought.

It was my turn to snort a laugh.