Slowing down, I huffed at the sight.

There was no way…

The giant bear shifted, raising its head to sniff the air.

It startled, and I growled as I rushed forward. To kill the thing.

The shadow-bear jolted, and jumped into the air. It jumped to the side, and then with all the strength it could muster it ran away.

At first I planned to chase after it… but I slowed to a stop as I realized it had left its kill.

A kill that looked… oddly…

“Oh gods,” I felt sick again as I hurried over to Lilly.

Skidding to a stop, I dropped to a knee next to one of her large wings. It and the other wing both looked… relatively fine, but…

“Lilly!” I shouted as I moved her wing and some of her hair out of the way. To see her face.

She grunted as she shifted, and then opened her eyes.

“Vim…?” she asked weakly.

A huge wave of relief rushed through me as I nodded and glanced around her. It was hard to tell, thanks to her huge wings covering most of her, but it didn’t seem like she was really hurt…

Glancing to the bear, I found it far away. It was still running off with all its might, in fear.

“What happened Lilly?” I asked worriedly. Had the bear just been… sniffing her? I didn’t smell any blood on her at all. And I saw no wounds, or bites…

“Yangli. Bastard tried to rape me,” Lilly groaned as she tried to sit up.

Her arms were wobbly. I reached over and grabbed her by the shoulders. I helped her up, and she weakly sat up and groaned as if stiff. Her wings remained low, slumped to the ground as if in exhaustion.

Not far from her wings were branches. Broken branches, fresh ones with green leaves. A stark contrast to the devoid forest around us. What little life there was here in this darkness was a far cry from a typical forests ground.

Looking up, I sighed as I realized what had happened.

She had been flying home. And had fell. Through the trees, to the ground.

“I… I smell the bear…” Lilly mumbled as she looked around.

“It had been sniffing you,” I said.

“Huh…? Really?” she perked up a little, likely in worry.

I took a deep breath and sighed in relief. She was fine. Her leg might be broken, based on the way it was angled, but she didn’t look too bad. Some bruises, on her neck and face… and…

“Vim… Yangli tried to rape me,” she then said again.

I nodded. “I heard. How’d it happen?” I asked.

“His father stopped him. We beat him back and he ran away… but…” she hesitated, and then frowned. “I ran away too. Yangli was hurt. Really badly. I was scared,” she said softly, sounding as if she was about to cry.

“It’s okay. How are you feeling, Lilly? You fell, I think,” I said.

“Ah… I think I did. Funny… I was almost home,” she said softly as she looked up at the trees. We couldn’t see the hole she had made upon breaching the treetops, but I was sure it was there.

“Come on. Let me carry you,” I said as I went to pick her up.

Lilly obliged. She made sure to keep her wings safe as I gently picked her up. As I hefted the very light woman, I relaxed a little upon feeling her warmth.

She was bruised and hurt, but not too badly.

“You lost to Yangli, did you?” I asked, teasing her a little.

She chuckled as she wrapped an arm around my neck. “I would have won, but he startled me,” she complained.

I’m sure he did. “He’s a coward.”

“He hit me over the head. While I was eating. I should have known he’d do something like that,” she said.

“Next time don’t give him the opportunity,” I said.

“Oh, I definitely wont.”

Glad to hear it, I stepped forward. The bear was long gone. We weren’t far from her home. Maybe an hour or so at this pace. I didn’t want to hurry too quickly, since she was hurt.

“Though… I’ll probably find him first. Sorry Lilly, but I’ll not save him for you,” I said.

She giggled as her wings folded a little. “It’s fine. I forgive you.”

Good.

“Vim… how is he?” she then asked.

“Yangli’s dead.”

Her arm around my neck gripped me tighter… and then her wings softened a little. They brushed against me as I walked, and I made sure to not accidentally step on the lower feathers. They were dragging on the ground near my feet.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s okay. He doesn’t blame you… didn’t blame you. He even asked me to beg you for forgiveness,” I said.

“I’m sure he did. But it’s still my fault. I’m the one his son desired,” she said.

“Well that’s what you get for being so beautiful,” I said, teasing her.

She giggled and rested her head against me. “Only you would say something like that to me.”

“Windle doesn’t call you beautiful…?” I asked. I’ll need to thump that man.

“Sometimes,” she said softly.

Huh… I had always thought of them as love-birds. Maybe I was wrong.

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Or maybe Windle was just not very romantic. Some men were like that.

Lilly sniffed as she drew closer to me. I allowed her to shift around in my arms, and realized she was likely able to walk on her own right now. I said nothing though as she wrapped her arms around my neck and went to rubbing her face against me.

“I’m sorry, Lilly,” I apologized to her gently.

“It’s okay. Just… don’t tell anyone I cried, okay?” she asked.

I chuckled. “This is one of the few times it’s okay to, Lilly.”

“No it’s not,” she said, as she cried anyway.

As Lilly quietly cried into my chest, I smiled. “Even I cry sometimes, Lilly.”

“I know. But you’re gentle. I’m not.”

Why’d everyone think I was so gentle…?

Maybe that was my problem. Maybe that was why all this was happening, and would continue doing so if I didn’t… well…

Become less so.

“Should I stop being gentle, Lilly?” I asked her.

“I don’t know,” she gave me an honest answer.

“Hm…” I nodded, and wondered if she would give it some thought for me.

I didn’t have many people I could talk to like her. Yangli had been one of them. He’s… well…

“How is Prasta?” Lilly asked.

“She wept more than you did. In my arms too,” I said. She had not blamed, or hated me, for ending her father’s life. She had even thanked me for it.

All that she had asked for was that I’d get revenge for her. Since she couldn’t do it herself.

“Poor girl. What am I going to say to her?” Lilly wondered.

“You’re both victims, Lilly. All you need to do is share that burden with her.”

She squeezed me. “Did… did you come here right after?” she asked.

I nodded. After ending Yangli, and giving my reports to the sisters… once I made sure there were no more pressing matters I ran here. To the Owl’s Nest.

My original purpose was of course to make sure Lilly was okay… but it was also to see if maybe Yangli had pursued after her.

He likely would, after all.

Men like him… bastards like him wouldn’t stop once they step over that line. If he was willing to kill his father for her, there was no doubting he’d continue to pursue her.

Unluckily for him, I’d be here waiting for him when he showed up.

“I love you, Vim,” Lilly whispered as she hugged me tighter.

“Hm. Don’t let Windle hear that, he’s the jealous type,” I said.

She giggled. “He knows. It’s okay.”

No… that just made it worse.

Stepping over a small log, I glanced around to make sure the bear was still gone. It was, but I knew it was likely still watching me. From a far distance.

It was funny that the thing was so scared of me.

Especially since…

I frowned as I remembered the way it had lifted its head and smelled the air. That was how it had noticed me. Not my approach, not by sounds or sight… but by smell.

It could smell me.

Very interesting indeed.

Not too surprising, really. It wasn’t a monarch, but it was the child of one. So it might have a few strange abilities and traits that a normal creature wouldn’t. But…

“I did hurt him, though,” Lilly then said.

“Hm?”

“Yangli. The bastard. I took his left eye. It’s in my pocket,” she said.

“You… kept it?” I asked. Why?

She nodded as she brushed her face against me, likely to wipe the tears she was now no longer shedding.

“Want me to preserve it?” I asked.

“Can you?”

I nodded. “I can put it in a jar of stuff that will keep it in tact. If you’d like.”

“Hm… I’ll think about it.”

I smiled and nodded. Funny girl.

“I’m surprised the two of you failed to kill him, honestly,” I said.

“I was all dizzy. I think cause' of the hit to my head. We broke his arms, I took his eye and… well…” Lilly sighed as she nodded. “I think Yangli spared him.”

“It was his son,” I reasoned.

“It makes me wonder if I could do that. Would I spare my child? If I found them doing something like that? Could I?” Lilly wondered.

Thinking of Lilly’s little daughter, I chuckled. “I can’t see her doing something like that.” Although little Leaf had inherited her mother’s wild side, she so far had seemed like a very typical and upbeat little girl. A far cry from the instinct driven Yangli.

“Really? I’ve thought of attacking you in your sleep a few times throughout the years,” Lilly said.

I stopped walking for a moment. “What…?”

She giggled. “You never realized? Funny.”

Feeling a little bothered, I sighed as I returned to walking. I had always thought our relationship something like a brother and sister. That was surprising to me.

Thank goodness she had found Windle then. After thumping him I’ll need to take him out for drinks.

Lilly giggled some more as she hugged me closer. Her giant wings lifted and wrapped around us a little, as if to keep us warm. “Thanks for coming, Vim.”

“Hm. Even if it wasn’t my job, I’ll always come for you and your family,” I promised.

She took a deep breath and sighed. “Stuff like that is why Merit fell for you.”

“But not you?” I asked.

“I see you as a father, I think,” she said.

You think? Yet you’d thought of assaulting me? I didn’t like how unsure she had sounded.

I kept such a thought inside, though, since I was glad to hear it.

Non-humans were weird sometimes.

“If you ever want a wife, pick one of my daughters, Vim,” Lilly suggested.

“Daughters…? You got more than one?” I asked. Had she had another without me knowing...?

“I’m pregnant right now.”

Hesitating, I found myself worrying for a new reason.

“It’s why I ran. I didn’t want to risk the baby,” she said softly.

Ah…

I nodded. “That’s a very good reason, Lilly.”

“No it isn’t. I could have saved him. I saw as I flew into the sky… my leaving allowed Yangli to get hurt,” Lilly said.

Now that wasn’t a good way to think at all. I shifted Lilly a little, to better position her. Now that I knew she was with child, I didn’t want her contorted too strongly. “You did the right thing, Lilly. Especially if you were dizzy and hurt. Had you not ran, you may have gotten as hurt as him,” I said.

“Mhm…” she nodded, but I knew she didn’t believe me… or at least, didn’t agree with me.

“Your duty now is to protect your children, Lilly. Yangli surely understood. His own parental desires is what kept him from killing his own child,” I explained.

She nodded softly.

Nearing the bright center of the forest, I sighed in relief. Soon I’d be able to hand her off to Windle.

I loved the girl, but my heart was very bruised right now. For many reasons. I didn’t want to hear any more personal secrets at the moment.

“What’s the plan, Vim?” Lilly asked as she too noticed we were nearing her home.

“I’ll stick around for a bit, if that’s okay.”

“In case he comes here,” she said, knowing full well the kind of man he is.

I nodded. “I promise you, Lilly. I’ll make him pay for his mistake.”

Lilly said nothing as I stepped past the boundary of darkness. The world suddenly got warmer as we entered the lit up area of the Owl’s Nest.

The huge tree in the center was dripping of leaves, being the season for them to fall. It made the whole area look colorful, what with all the different shades of red and green.

Past the huge tree, was a small house. One being built upward. I could see the sections they had added since the last time I was here, and the entire side of the building just being built. A truss was visible, as were scaffolding.

As I studied the house… I noticed movement. I couldn’t tell yet if it was Windle or her daughter, but someone had stepped out of the house. Likely noticing us.

About to point out that my carrying her home was a bad joke, Lilly sat up a little and then kissed me on the cheek, making me go quiet instead.

I frowned at her as she smiled at me. “Thank you, Vim,” she said again.

“Hm,” I nodded.

The fact she had kissed me on the cheek and not the lips was the very reason I’d help her anytime she needed it.

Anytime.