----------------------------------------

Chapter 12.5

----------------------------------------

A predator.

A woman.

One who looked strangely timid and worried.

The young looking woman fidgeted as she handed Lomi a dirty plate. The young girl didn’t notice the woman’s stiff unsurety as she went to cleaning it in the sink alongside the others. The feast Lughes and the rest had cooked up to welcome Lomi had left a mountain of dirty dishes, which Lomi had happily volunteered to clean… and Renn had wordlessly joined her.

Renn, although obviously worried and not sure what to think or do, still smiled as she went to ready the next dirty plate for Lomi.

The young fox had wanted to help clean after the feast, and it seemed our newest predator found the young child’s simple joy over helping to be something worth basking in… as if it was a warm fire during a cold night.

Crane was here in the kitchen too. She was over in the corner cleaning up the counter she had used to cut and clean the meats we had all just eaten. She was scrubbing rather strongly at a spot on the counter that must be giving her a hard time. She was a clean freak like always.

Lughes and Amber had long since gone to bed. The dirty dishes and the mess in the kitchen had gone mostly unattended for most of the night. They were all far more concerned with talking to one another, learning and experiencing each other’s newness than anything else.

I couldn’t blame them, but now it was very late… and the mess was now difficult to clean. Little Lomi was struggling as well, the plate made squeaky noises as she scrubbed at it.

Although late and although Lomi was a slow worker… the predator didn’t seem to mind at all. Her tail slowly swayed behind her, twitching occasionally, as she dutifully watched over Lomi and her task.

Maybe she was used to children. She did seem to treat Lomi well… so far, at least.

Other than the dirty plates and cups, and the counter Crane was cleaning, there wasn’t much else to do… not anymore. So I was standing against the wall and feeling a little out of place.

But what could I do about it…?

I’d only known this Renn for a few hours… and although I had already decided she was a member…

Well…

I shifted a little as I crossed my arms and watched as Renn giggled at Lomi who had slipped and dropped the plate she had been messing with. It had landed in the sink and all its water, so it hadn’t broken, but Lomi flinched and groaned all the same as if it had.

Renn stepped closer and then the two were suddenly cleaning the dishes together. Renn had been letting Lomi do it herself until now, which made me wonder if maybe she had gotten… impatient… but…

Studying the woman’s tail, and her ears, that fluttered and shifted excitedly as she helped Lomi… I realized I probably didn’t have anything to worry about.

The two were very close to one another. Standing next to each other without any room between them. The sink was rather large, yet the two girls were standing side by side as they scrubbed at the dirty dishes. They weren’t really talking, but I could tell by the way Lomi’s ears twitched in a similar way to Renn’s that the girl was enjoying the moment.

How interesting… some in our Society would call this fate. If not for the tail Renn would be rather similar to Lomi in appearance, at least. Though her ears were bigger, and seemed to have much more motor control and…

“Hey…!” Lomi giggled as she put a now clean bowl aside, to dry on the counter next to her. Renn had hurried to hand another dirty bowl to Lomi, before she had even finished with the first.

“Don’t slack now,” Renn teased the girl, who quickly went to cleaning the next one without a fuss.

“Only one person is slacking here,” Lomi said with a glance at me.

“Actually this is very hard work. Standing here like this, not many could do it,” I told her.

Renn turned to look at me too and as she did so… she became stiff again. As if she suddenly remembered I was here. Maybe she had forgotten about me in those few moments of washing dishes with Lomi.

She frowned at me, but a tiny smile was still visible at the corner of her mouth as she studied me.

It was obvious the woman was unsure of me. That it was me who was making her unsure of herself… but there was no denying the reason, or that the reason was not justified.

She was a predator. Trying to join our Society… and not only were the members here at the Sleepy Artist weak and frail beings, so too was Lomi.

I’d not let her hurt them… least of all Lomi. The poor girl had just lost her whole family and her home village… I’d die before I allowed a single drop of sadness from falling upon her.

So until I was truly sure…

“Hm… they seem to have that all under control,” Crane said as she stepped up towards me.

I glanced at the tall and lanky woman and nodded. “Lomi’s a good dishwasher. Born for it, I’d say,” I said.

“Hey!” Lomi shouted at me, but I could tell she herself didn’t know why she felt offended, or if she even should be.

“You’re right… Renn’s not bad either, so far only water and bubbles have been your victims,” I added.

Lomi groaned at me as she returned her attention to the sink, and Renn’s tail went still as she stared heavily at me.

I waited to hear what she’d say in response, but instead she simply turned back around to rejoin Lomi in the dish washing.

Hm… had she taken offense? I had meant to try and include her in the light joking and teasing. To make her relax a little and…

“Hmph. I’m going to bed. You can help her pick a room, I’m sure?” Crane asked me gently, as if to not be heard by Lomi or Renn… even though there was no way the two hadn’t heard her.

I nodded at Crane. “She snores loudly so I’ll make sure it’s next to yours,” I told her.

“I don’t!” Lomi’s shout had a tiny crack in it as she spun to deny my claim. Her little face was red in embarrassment as Crane giggled softly at her.

“Why! At least it’ll make sure I get up early and not sleep in, no?” Crane joined me in the teasing.

“Gah!” Lomi spun back around and went to furiously scrubbing a plate. One she’d been scrubbing for some time now. It was likely clean as could be already.

“I snore sometimes too,” Renn whispered to the young girl.

Lomi glanced up at her, one of her ears fluttered ever so stiffly, and then she sighed. “My dad snored so loudly it kept the whole house up. I don’t want to be like that,” she complained.

The predator went completely still for a moment, and I studied the side of her face that I could see from here. The look of pure shock and sadness upon it almost looked… fake and forced. But not because it was… but instead for the opposite reason.

She had just been stunned over the young girl’s statement. And it was obvious why. She, like the others here, had just learned Lomi’s terrible tragedy. How her whole village had been burnt and destroyed. So for Lomi to say such a thing right now was likely… well…

Troubling to say the least.

Yet her sudden heartbreak so visible on her face made even me hesitate.

There was no way those emotions were fake. They were too pure. Too real… which was what made her seem so strange to me.

She may be a predator… but maybe she wasn’t as pure-blooded as I had first assumed. There was no way a true predator could be so soft and gentle… right?

Crane stepped away from me and over to the two girls. The tall lanky woman looked old and wise compared to the two since they both looked so young as they washed dishes. They looked like a pair of young daughters and she the mother, somehow.

“Goodnight Lomi. It was a pleasure to meet you. Tomorrow we’ll find you some proper shoes,” Crane said to the young girl.

“Huh…? Oh…? Okay… goodnight Crane,” Lomi said with a small startle. She hadn’t noticed Crane approach. The young girl obviously wasn’t sure if Crane was being serious or not, but Crane definitely was. She, like most birds, took great care and attention to ones appearance and clothing. Odds are before we left Lomi would be re-outfitted completely if Crane had anything to say about it.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Which made the other girl’s appearance even stranger.

Renn still wore shabby clothes. Stuff that looked handmade from decades ago. Her pants looked so old and worn it wouldn’t surprise me if they were older than Lomi by far. I couldn’t believe they were old enough to bear the insignia of that old fallen nation from so long ago, but… well…

Staring down at her bare feet, at the ends of her pants which were frayed and worn… I studied the faded designs upon them. They looked like little seashells, with circular designs. It was the old crest of a nation that used to exist up here in the north. It had been a large one that had fallen and collapsed during all the wars with its capital on the shoreline. I of course couldn’t remember the exact year it had collapsed, but something told me it was at least a hundred years ago.

There was no way those pants were that old… but odds are they were still old, and she had likely made them herself and just used a design she was familiar with.

It told me a couple things… firstly, she was likely far older than she looked. Not a surprise for our kind at all… especially if she was as thick in the blood as she appeared to be… But it also told me something far more important.

This woman, even if a predator, even if a full-blooded one, had the temperament and the wisdom to keep herself alive all those years. It meant she was far smarter than most of our kind. Because strength wasn’t enough. Not against the humans. And not for decades and centuries. The only way someone could live so long thanks to pure strength alone… well…

They’d have to be as strong as me. And she was not a monarch, nor related to one.

Which meant she was a very rare type of predator. One who wasn’t controlled by emotions and instinct. She was one if maybe a dozen that I’ve known to exist.

And lastly… it told me that Crane had either offered to sew her new clothes, and Renn had denied the request, or Crane had simply not offered it.

Which meant Crane still wasn’t comfortable enough with Renn to do such a thing. Which honestly was not a surprise. Crane was a feeble, timid creature. Like Lughes and Shelldon she basically had no spine at all. In fact the only reason she likely offered to make clothes for Lomi so readily was simply thanks to her age, and what had recently transpired around her.

Crane simply felt pity for the poor young girl.

Renn and Crane bid each other goodnight and then Crane left the kitchen. She paid me no mind as she walked past me, entering the hallway and leaving for bed.

Lomi stared after Crane for a long moment, and Renn stared down at the young girl as she did so… and I stared at Renn.

“She’s a bird?” Lomi asked me.

I nodded, but Renn was the one who answered. “Crane’s a crane,” Renn said, smiling gently at the absurdity of it.

Lomi turned to look at Renn and frowned at her. “I don’t know what a crane is.”

Renn hesitated, and I smiled at her. “It’s a bird with a very long neck and long thin legs,” I explained.

“Oh. Like swans?” Lomi asked, excited.

“Huh…?” Renn hesitated, and I found myself smiling at her even more. Did she herself just hesitate and realize that the two birds were oddly similar?

“Cranes are taller and bigger than swans. They’re similar but if you saw them next to each other you’d see how different they are,” I said.

Both of the girls glanced at me, and although Lomi frowned at me Renn smiled. I spent a tiny moment to study the way she smiled warmly at me, and wondered what to think of that look. Was that adoration? Was she happy I explained it? Did she find it humorous that we were even talking about this…? Or was she just simply happy to be doing so in the first place. I hadn’t heard her whole story, but I didn’t need to. I have known thousands like her.

She very well might just be on cloud nine thanks to the fact she had found fellows to share her life with. There have been, and were many, like her.

Who knows how long she has spent living alone. I tried not to pity her more than the young girl next to her, since it wasn’t fair to weigh and compare their suffering in such a way. Both types of despair were horrible and traumatizing.

“What do you think Vim is?” Lomi asked Renn as the two went to finish the dishes.

“I uh… I don’t know. What are you?” Renn asked as she turned to look at me.

“A man tired of watching dishes get scrubbed, so please hurry and finish,” I said.

Lomi giggled. “Then come help if you’re bored!” she said.

Fine.

Stepping forward, I did my best to not pay attention to the way Renn went completely still and stiff again at my approach. I took position beside her, opposite of Lomi, and went to helping them with the dishes.

The sink was a large one… more than big enough for both Lomi and Renn to use without fuss, but adding me to the mix made it cramped and difficult. I had to stretch my arms out to dunk the dirty dishes and scrub at them, as to not bump into or interfere with Renn’s washing.

She continued to work, but very slowly and stiffly. It was so obvious that I was making her uncomfortable that it actually made me feel a little bad. Maybe I should have just stayed leaning against the wall.

“Did you enjoy the meal Lomi?” I asked, hoping some small talk would help ease Renn and make her not as conscious.

She likely knew full well why I was acting like a hawk around her and Lomi… but that didn’t mean I needed to make her feel any worse than she did. Even if my actions, and worries, were justified… it wasn’t a kind gesture to so obviously hate and doubt someone. Especially not someone who was very clearly trying her best to be welcomed and accepted.

“It was really good! But I noticed they don’t eat meat. Only we did,” Lomi said softly.

I nodded. “They can eat meat they just… don’t like it. Just means more for us, neat right?” I said.

Lomi paused a moment, one of the spoons she had been cleaning hung in the air a moment over the sink… and then she laughed. “Right! More for us!” she agreed happily.

I smiled at the young girl’s obvious joy over realizing such a simple fact. Yes. Things that were weird, and usually separated two different types of people, could easily be overlooked and forgotten if treated as simply as that.

There was no need to internally separate someone from yourself just because they didn’t eat what you did. Many in our Society suffered such a weird misconception, but there was little I could do about it. It was usually only when you mixed the young early that they were able to find common ground and not be bothered by such a thing.

“They don’t like meat but Crane still cooks it for me. There’s always a plate or two of it, every dinner,” Renn said gently.

I glanced at the woman who had spoken with a warm and lovely voice. She had genuinely been humbled by Crane’s actions, it seemed.

“We’ll need more than just a plate or two. Vim can eat a whole horse,” Lomi mumbled.

“Says you?” I responded.

Lomi made a noise, and I knew if I leaned forward a tad I’d be able to see her glare and fuss at me.

“Their salads and stuff aren’t bad at all, though. Amber likes to make this spicy stew, it’s good,” Renn said.

“Spicy…?” Lomi mumbled the word, telling me she likely didn’t like spicy stuff at all.

“Lughes doesn’t like it though. He complains, though he always finishes his whole bowl,” Renn added with a smile.

Handing her a clean plate, I watched how she grabbed it from me and then handed it to Lomi who then placed it on the nearby counter to dry.

She had grabbed it without hesitation or worry. Which was weird, since she was still standing up all stiffly. Maybe she wasn’t so much scared of me, but simply aware of my presence.

That was a good thing, I suppose…

The two girls talked about food and spices as we finished with the dishes, and once done I went to wiping down the counter and sink of all the water the two had gotten everywhere.

While I cleaned up, Lomi and Renn went to the nearby kitchen table. To sit and continue talking while drinking warm tea.

It was late enough that Lomi was likely tired. I could hear it in her voice, and see it in her mannerisms. She was exhausted… but she wasn’t ready to sleep just yet.

She was having the time of her life, at the moment, it seemed. And Renn seemed more than happy and willing to oblige her.

They talked of their favorites foods. How their ears itched during the summer. What Lomi’s parents did for work, and why she had always hated working in the fields with them. They talked of random things, and…

Well… I was glad to listen to it all, even if tiresome.

Every conversation. Every hour that passed. Every joke and giggle from the two only further confirmed my worries were unfounded and settled my mind.

If this Renn could so happily enjoy such a trifling conversation, enjoying it almost seemingly more than the young girl she was sharing it with… then… well…

Odds are she was likely not a threat at all. At least not immediately.

I was glad, honestly. Upon first seeing her, and the obvious predator traits upon her… I had worried I’d have to do something terrible so quickly again.

I really hated killing young looking women. Even if they were as old as any other, and could be just as cruel and diabolical… but it always left a bad taste in my mouth. It made me feel like a piece of shit… so…

Hopefully I’d not have to. Hopefully this strange, happy environment, here around her would continue to exist and I’d not have to fret. Hopefully all would be well, and this Renn would prove herself to be an upstanding new member to our Society.

Time will tell… and by law and personal ethos I could do nothing until she proved it. Right or wrong.

Pausing a moment, as I noticed a sudden lapse in talking. The room had suddenly gone rather quiet and…

Turning around, I smiled.

Lomi had fallen asleep. Mid-conversation. She was collapsed upon the table, and Renn was gently trying to grab her cup from her tiny hands. It was about to tip over and spill, thanks to her being dead asleep.

Putting down the rag I had been using to clean up the kitchen, I went over to the table. Renn went still again upon noticing my nearness, and she gave me a worried look as I studied her. She held Lomi’s cup close to her chest, as if to protect it from me.

She was pretty. Typical of our kind. A little too young looking for my taste, and I didn’t like that strange worry on her face. I was used to being looked at as if I was some kind of monster or enemy, but for some reason that look of unsure worry on her face bothered me. Maybe it was because of how young she appeared to be. I didn’t like it when children were scared of me; it made me feel like a terrible person.

“Um…” Renn mumbled, and hesitated. Obviously she was uncomfortable with me staring at her.

I sighed and nodded as I went to pick Lomi up.

The young fox didn’t move or wake at all by my lifting of her. I made sure to be gentle as I held her in my arms and then turned to look back at Renn.

I gave her a small nod. “Goodnight, Renn,” I said gently.

Her ears perked straight up, which made me blink. She could move them that drastically?

“Goodnight…!” she said stiffly, without a nod back.

Hm…

Stepping away from the table, I left the odd predator behind as I went for the nearest room. The one near the stairwell, the only bedroom on the bottom floor.

I’ll put Lomi to bed… and tomorrow I’ll take a small risk and give the girl some leeway. I’ll not suffer her my direct presence… and see if all will be well or not. I’ll watch from a distance from now on. Not so readily overshadowing her.

“Mhm…” Lomi mumbled and grabbed at me. She clung to me in her sleep, already deep in some dream.

If such a gentle woman could indulge this little bundle of worry and energy for hours on end… then maybe she was suitable for the Society after all.