Little Lilly was a vicious owl. Deadly. Confident.

Willing and wanting to do what no one else in the Society would.

Or well, anyone other than me, I guess.

I was proud of how far she’d come… but it was also concerning.

Lilly regrettably had earned a reputation amongst the Society. The kind that if one wasn’t careful could end up getting her hurt or banished.

Most of the Society couldn’t even look her in the eye anymore.

It was why we were training outside of Telmik, and the Cathedral, and not inside it as we used to. Lilly no longer lived in the Cathedral, but away from it. In the forests that surrounded Telmik.

Alone.

Her wings flapped heavily as she took the air, as to attack me again. Her skinny sword glistening as she did.

She liked to use rapiers. They were not only light for her, and easy to fly around with, but they let her utilize her great speed with insane ferocity.

Her large wings flapped as she held herself in the air a few feet from me, then with a burst of air she flew towards me. I back stepped, and quickly went to ducking and dodging the flurry of stabs she sent out at me.

The tiny pointed end of her sword made odd sounds as it danced around my head. It pierced the air with mini booms, as if popping bubbles.

“Hn…!” she made a noise as she flapped her wings again, to stay aloft a bit more. She tried to stab downwards, to pierce the top of my head, and I leaned back enough at just the last moment. Her sword flashed in front of me, and then she let out a tiny yelp as she quickly tried to flap her wings hard enough to get back into position.

She hadn’t made it in time. I reached out and caught her, just before she came tumbling down. She had done a small roll, and her wings had gotten stuck underneath her.

Holding her in the air, Lilly let out a small groan. “Your back step sucked in air, Vim. It made me lose my momentum,” she complained.

“That’s not my fault. I was just dodging,” I said as I carefully righted Lilly upward.

Holding her by her sides, she huffed at me as her wings flapped a little, to get themselves back into position.

“How do you even move so fast to make the air do that? It’s like you suck all the air out of a spot,” Lilly complained as I lowered her to the ground.

Although she let me place her down, her wings flapped a little as if she was going to go back into the air. They settled down after a moment as she glanced at her little rapier.

“You’re the one who moves fast, Lilly. I’ll be honest I’m not sure how many people will ever survive past your first few attacks,” I told her.

Usually such praise would make the little girl beam me a smile… but right now it only made her grumble and frown.

Yes. Still upset over her recent defeat.

I couldn’t blame her. Although her losing to that man had not resulted in any loss of life, or permanent injury… it had been a brutal slap from reality for her.

If I hadn’t been there, she likely would have died. And thus so too would have the young children she had been trying to save.

And our little resident owl had more pride than all the trees in this forest could hold or hide.

Patting her head, she grumbled at me and slapped me with the side of her sword. Although smaller than a usual sword, it was still a real sword. Still sharp. I felt it cut into my forearm as she mumbled complaints at me.

Chuckling at her discomfort, I renewed my patting. I ruffled her hair some more, which made her groan at me. “Vim…!”

Her large wings fluttered in annoyance… but when she ducked away, and flapped into the air… I noticed a tiny smirk on her face.

She landed a few feet away and huffed at me, and returned to frowning and grumbling at me as she messed with her hair. As if it wasn’t already a mess from her flying around and our sparring all this time. “You’re the one who says I should fight like a bird. Yet I swear it seems like doing so only makes it harder for me to fight you,” she complained.

“That’s because I’m me. You’ve already proven it works fine against humans and other non-humans, so what’s the fuss?” I asked.

“It didn’t… though…” she mumbled, and I had to nod at her.

“He was a little strong, Lilly,” I told her.

“But so am I, aren’t I?” she argued.

She was. She really was. But…

I sighed as I studied her frame. Lilly, although a little taller than when I had met her, was still tiny. Her wings were bigger than she was, but they came to a stop right under my neck. She was a long ways from being fully grown… even if mentally she was as much an adult as most others her age.

But honestly Lilly’s frustration was uncalled for. It’s only been a few years since I’d joined the Society… which meant it’s only been about a decade or two since we first met each other.

It wasn’t strange she was still so small. She was a pure-blood. And her non-human blood was thick and strong.

Lilly, as long as she didn’t perish on some battlefield somewhere, would live many hundreds of years. Maybe even thousands. It’d likely take hundreds of years before Lilly was considered fully matured.

“Don’t say it. I know,” Little Lilly complained.

Smiling at her, I nodded. “You’ll grow Lilly. I promise,” I said.

“I better. Maybe I need to eat more? Should I drink more milk or something?” Lilly wondered.

I shrugged. Diet was important, but at the same time…

Well… part of the reason Lilly was so deadly, as she was, was because of her speed and size. If she got too large, some of that speed might get lost. It wasn’t like she lacked strength, after all. She didn’t need to use a small rapier; she had the strength to use nearly any weapon. Strength wasn’t Lilly’s problem.

“Honestly it’s mostly experience. Experience and age. You’ll get both, whether you like it or not,” I said.

Lilly swiped her sword through the air, and sighed at me.

About to get into position again, as to resume our little training session, I had to pause as Lilly’s wings jolted in surprise as someone shouted at us.

Turning, I frowned at Celine as she ran at us.

Or rather, at me.

“Feh… I’m leaving, she’s annoying,” Lilly said as she took to the sky.

Watching Lilly fly off, I sighed. Sure, sure… just leave me to deal with everything.

I turned and waited for Celine to approach. She huffed as she drew near, once again reminding me that she was out of shape.

A non-human. Out of shape. It’d be hilarious if she wasn’t a panda.

“Why… why did…” Celine huffed as she drew close enough to talk. “Why’d she leave…?” She finally huffed out.

“Because you stink!” Lilly shouted as she flew past, heading back the way Celine had come from. Heading back to the Cathedral.

Oh…? If she actually went back to the Cathedral that would be the first time since we returned. A good sign. She was a moody bird, sometimes. Even if she didn’t like the Cathedral, or the people in it, she really needed to talk and spend more time with others.

Me being her only friend was almost worse than having no friends at all. If only she’d realize that.

“I do not stink!” Celine shouted back, but Lilly was already higher in the air. Her large wings casting a large shadow as she flew higher into the sky.

Celine growled at the owl, and then turned to me. “Vim, I swear she’s getting worse. And you helping her learn how to fight is only amplifying her attitude!” she now yelled at me.

Crossing my arms, I sighed at the woman who supposedly ran the whole Society with a saintly grace.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Really… what did people see in her?

“What is it Celine?” I asked her.

“I got a letter,” she said as she went to digging into her gray robes.

I noticed the way she reached under her breasts, and I hoped she didn’t do this in front of the more normal members, or the humans. How hasn’t she been excommunicated from her church yet? She was basically displaying everything with how she was lifting her robe and…

“Here,” she finally found it, and huffed confidently as she held out a pamphlet of pages. Where the heck had they even been?

Letter…? More like a stack of them. I didn’t accept them and instead just nodded. “And these letters say…?”

Celine frowned at me, upset I’d not take them. She didn’t push me on it though and nodded as she went to folding them back up into a nice little stack. “They’re letters from a village to our east. A village of ducks,” she said.

“Okay,” I said with a nod. That tells me nothing.

“There’s a family feud going on between them and another family nearby. A family of fish. It’s gotten very violent. Since our last correspondence, which was about six months ago, three ducks have been killed,” Celine said quickly, still a little out of breath.

Really, why was she so out of shape? Celine didn’t look out of shape, based off her appearance.

Maybe she was sick.

I blinked as I realized she might be pregnant. Some non-humans became more human in strength and physical capabilities when so. Notably becoming weaker, and sometimes even older, when so.

Such a thing made strange sense. I’ve been coming and going for years, sometimes only being here for a few days at a time. And she’s been getting noticeably weaker. Slower. Although not older, or fatter, she was definitely not as fit as I’d known her to be before.

Her finding someone finally without me noticing made a lot of sense. I came and went, half the time under the cover of darkness because I didn’t like mingling with those in the Cathedral. So half the time my conversations with Celine were short and simple and…

“Vim…! This is serious!” Celine drew my out of my thoughts as I frowned and nodded.

Yes. It was.

If she was pregnant who was she sleeping with? It was an impossible thought, really. She wasn’t a Saint just in ability and blood. She took her religion to heart. Even I had to admit and concede that Celine was the perfect representation of her faith’s holy woman.

For her to have broken one of their tenants of celibacy, for her especially… was astonishing. I wonder who had been man enough to convince her to break one of her ironclad rules.

Especially since I hadn’t been able to.

“Vim!” Celine stepped forward, her eyes growing a brighter white as she yelled at me.

“What, Celine? I just got back a few days ago. Are you telling me to go somewhere else already?” I asked her.

Her glowing eyes grew brighter, and I held her gaze as they did.

Such a glare no longer shook me. I didn’t fear her dreams or words any more.

The fact she thought I did, or should, still be afraid of them was hilarious. She was lucky she got a few years of me being unsure of myself. Most didn’t get that. Most didn’t get more than a few moments.

“Our members are dying,” she said stiffly.

“People are always dying Celine. That’s kind of our thing. We live, and then we die,” I said.

“They’re dying for stupid reasons, Vim! A feud!” she complained.

I sighed as I glanced past the angry panda, and noticed Lilly’s silhouette in the distance. She was flying over the city, heading for the massive towers in the center of it. To the Cathedral. I was jealous of her.

Wonder how long I’ll be able to see such a scene. Telmik was growing at a crazy fast rate, thanks to all the humans coming here. It’d not be long before Telmik became a true capital. Hundreds of thousands of citizens, eventually.

Even the Cathedral was becoming monstrously too big. What had been only a single tower stabbing into the sky was now but one of many. There were dozens of huge towers, and over a hundred smaller towers and ramparts all around those ones.

Recently our more non-human members, those not as human in appearance like Lilly, were starting to leave because of it. Even though most of the humans in this city weren’t the type to attack or burn them on sight, there was a growing sentiment of… well…

Exclusion. And fear. Fear of being replaced. Fear of being hunted without warning.

I couldn’t blame them. Especially since Celine had me running around all the time, never here to protect them.

Would Lilly leave before or after the city became another place that our Society had to hide from, I wonder?

“So it’s a feud between our own members? You know my thoughts on that, Celine,” I said as I looked away from Lilly.

“The fish family are not members.”

Oh…? “And you… let that happen? If they’re close enough to each other to have a feud at all, how’d that happen?” I asked. Usually Celine was better than that.

“Like I did! I never was able to find and talk to the fish family. When I was there it hadn’t been that big of a deal I guess, but…” Celine grumbled as she flipped through the papers, as if to find a certain page.

“But now it is. So… what? Want me to go kill the fishes?” I asked.

“No! Just… go find out what’s wrong, and help them if you can. Really Vim… I hadn’t been able to find them, that doesn’t mean they said no to the Society,” Celine complained.

Wanting to sigh, I watched as she found whatever page she had been looking for. She smirked and shuffled the papers, and then showed off the page to me. “See this? The elder of the village wants me to help them find another location. To find a new place to make a village,” she said.

I didn’t read the letter, but nodded as if I was. “Right. So you want me to go help them find a new home. Sure,” I said. Easy enough. Time consuming, but nothing new.

“Not before trying to handle whatever this feud is. If you can find a way to reconcile their grievances, then that won’t be needed,” she said.

Sure. I’ll just convince two families with likely decades if not centuries of bad blood to get over it. Did I mention they were non-humans? People that didn’t forget even the slightest insult?

All the same I nodded to her.

Celine smiled at me. “And I want you to take Lilly,” she then added.

“No.”

The panda Saint’s smile immediately died. “Huh…! Why not?” she asked worriedly.

“You’re turning Lilly into a weapon, Celine,” I said gently.

Celine’s bright white eyes shivered, rippling like water’s surface during a rainstorm. “Vim…” she said softly.

“The last several jobs you’ve sent her on have all resulted in bloodshed. I’ll not argue the wisdom or the moral aspects of those events, but I will make my opinion known here now. Lilly deserves better,” I said. I’d not mention that Lilly would have even died in the last one, had I not arrived in time. Celine knew all about already. I wasn’t going to yell at her again over it. All it had done by doing so was make her cry. Weep.

I’d not do that to her out here, in this field. So far from her friends and home.

“You’re the one who taught her how to fight, Vim,” Celine argued.

“To defend herself and those around her. Not to be a spear or arrow to be thrown into battle,” I countered.

“Other than you, I only have three people I can rely on for such things. If I can’t rely on Lilly, we’ll lose other members. I need her,” Celine said.

I wanted to scoff at that number. Three? Ridiculous. The other two couldn’t even hold a candle to Lilly. Half the time the tasks Celine sent me on was cleaning up their messes.

“Yet you won’t let me be as cruel. Why is that?” I asked her, pointing out her hypocrisy.

“Her being ruthless is a necessary sacrifice. She’s not strong enough to handle certain situations without relying on her strength. You can handle those situations, because you’re immortal. You won’t die, so can endure. Lilly and the rest cannot,” Celine once again argued in a way that made me roll my eyes.

“Such a holier than thou way of looking at life.”

Celine sucked in air and bit down a harsh retort, and instead only glared at me. The way her nose scrunched up as she glared at me made me smile.

Yes. Adorable. I could see why a man would want to bed and wed her.

Though…

“When’d you get married by the way?” I asked her, unable to hold in my curiosity.

Celine’s dark glare disappeared, and turned into a weird mix of confusion as she blinked continuously. “Heuh…?” she made a weird sound at me.

“You didn’t? Wait…” I suddenly felt stupid as I realized that I had maybe misread her issues and mannerisms completely.

“Wait… what are you talking about Vim? What?” Celine was as confused as I felt.

I shifted, and felt stupid. Of course I had misunderstood.

Really. Her. Celine. Getting married.

The only man she’d consider doing such a thing with was likely me. And the only reason she’d allow that is because to her it’d mean I’d always be here to protect and serve the Society. She’d use it somewhat as a tool, a shackle, upon me. Not because she truly loved me.

She’d do it for her dream. Her dreams and her god. She’d not break her vows for me just because she desired me.

For anything less, she’d never even consider it.

A woman capable of that wouldn’t just get hitched with some random man.

“You… who told you I got married? And you actually believed them? Or is this one of your silly jokes that I don’t understand?” Celine then asked, calming down a little. She actually smiled a little, as she usually did when I said or did something she didn’t understand.

“No. Forget about it. Are you okay Celine? Feeling fine?” I asked.

If she wasn’t pregnant then why was she getting worse? Even if she lived a sedentary lifestyle, she shouldn’t be so out of shape. Especially so, being a non-human and a Saint.

“Hm…? Honestly I have been a little tired lately. I almost missed this morning mass because of I slept in a little,” Celine crossed her arms, and I noted the way her large breasts bounced above them.

I blinked as I studied the Saint who was now lost in thought. Likely wondering what was wrong with her, just as much as I was.

“How old are you again?” I asked her gently.

“Three hundred and seven. My birthday is in a few days; if you’d like to get me a present please make it something edible. Don’t you dare climb into my bed or do something stupid. I can’t afford that level of stress again, Vim. I still cringe and cry into my pillow over the last time you did it,” Celine said with a huff.

I smiled at her and nodded. I’ll make sure to get a present before I leave, then.

Still… three hundred?

She looked good for her age. Very good. But…

Yes. Even for a Saint, that might be old enough where her age might slowly just… start to catch up to her.

If she wasn’t pregnant, or sick, then… well… it was likely just age.

Hopefully that meant she still had a few hundred years left, but…

Suddenly I felt rather weird. It’s been some time since I had joined the Society, but I sometimes still felt as if it was only recently that I had reluctantly agreed to do so. A fault of my own old age and negligence of the stuff and people around me. I sometimes failed to notice the passage of time. To me it was always just a moment or two. Even when it was a long, long, moment for everyone else.

Yet still… here I was… likely about to lose one of the few friends I had.

Reaching out, I took the bundle of papers from my Saintly Panda friend, and nodded. “Come on. Tell me all about them,” I said as I guided her to join me back towards Telmik.

Celine perked up, and bounced up next to me. She happily beamed me a smile as she began telling me of the family of ducks, and the pair of elders who once tried to marry her to an egg.