Little Root sat on my lap, or well my leg, and I was holding her hands as she made noises at me.

She really was adorable. Even though it seemed she was trying to break my fingers, with the way she was twisting them around.

“How do you play with her Windle?” I asked as I started bouncing the little girl’s hands up and down, to distract her from trying to rip off a finger.

She didn’t have the strength to do so, I didn’t think at least, but I could tell she was gripping and pulling with a lot more force than should be possible for such a young child. Enough even to possibly threaten and endanger those who were weaker, like humans or Windle and Fly.

“Very carefully. And she doesn’t get that rough with me, or Fly. Only you and Lilly,” Windle said from his desk.

“Hm…? Wait? Really?” I asked as I glanced at him. He nodded as he continued writing on his desk, not bothering to look up at me.

I frowned at Root as she giggled at me, as if she completely understood the conversation happening about her right now.

“She’s not actually trying to hurt you. She’s playing with you. You just have the same strength as Lilly, and she instinctively notices it. So she knows she can play like that. With me, and those like Fly, she’ll play but not as roughly. Or if she starts to, I’ll simply tell her not to and pull my hands away. She gets the point and learns quickly,” he added.

“Hear that? You’re a gentle girl,” I said to Root.

She of course didn’t understand me as she tried to pull my left hand to her face. I could tell she wanted to stick my hand, or fingers, into her mouth. As to chew on me.

Vim let her do that, but I didn’t. I didn’t let her, which only made her try a little harder for a moment before giving up.

I’d allowed it once before, and although she hadn’t hurt me, it had not been pleasant. For whatever reason the few little teeth she had were sharp. Sharp enough to break skin if you weren’t careful.

Plus I figured letting her do it only further taught her it was okay. And I didn’t want to teach her a bad habit, even though Vim didn’t seem to care.

Glancing at Windle at his desk, as Root made noises while trying to push herself off my lap, I wondered if one day I’d be as nonchalant about a baby as he was.

He loved her, dearly, there was no doubt of that… but he and Lilly did sometimes seem to just… kind of ignore her. As if she was not the most precious thing in the world.

I blamed it on the fact she was their eighth child. After so many it must just feel normal. Natural. Something not to be too concerned over.

“Do you have any maps Windle? Of the Society?” I asked, finally bringing up the thing I had come here for.

It was morning, but late enough now that I knew it’d not be long until midday. I had spent the morning with Fly, Root and Lilly, but was now in Windle’s office. Fly had gone to take a bath, and Lilly and Vim had ran off somewhere. As much as I had wanted to bathe with Fly, I had felt a little bad to abandon Root so readily. Especially since it seemed Windle was in a hurry to do whatever he was doing. I think he was writing letters. Likely in preparation for Vim and I leaving.

“I do. Several in fact,” he said.

“Any more recent ones?” I asked.

Windle’s little pen didn’t stop as he wrote, even as he looked up from the paper and frowned at me. “Recent…? Yes. I update a general one every time I get new information, such as from Vim or a letter. That one is in the other room, on the table, that one,” Windle gestured with his chin to across the room. I followed it to a door, one in the corner of the room. On the same wall as the entrance to this office, but over in the corner and leading another direction.

Many of these rooms were not square like I was used to. Most were rounded. There were flat walls, of course, but they were only about half of them. The other half made circles. It was odd, but also somehow refreshing. It made me feel like we were genuinely living inside a large tree, which it wouldn’t surprise me if we were.

“Can I see it…? Or is there rule against that?” I asked.

“I see no reason as to why not. We do usually try to keep such full maps hidden, but you’re Vim’s wife. You’d likely visit each location eventually anyway,” Windle said plainly.

I hummed at his viewpoint, and liked how it was somewhat methodical. He had not answered based on emotion. He and Lilly were oddly not as emotional so many made them out to be. Although Lilly did have an obvious emotional side to her, it was still seemingly ruled by reason.

“I’ll look at it later,” I said gently, deciding.

Root made noises at me, as if to ask if she really was more interesting than something I wanted to genuinely see. I smiled and nodded to her, telling her she was.

She really was adorable…! Her wings would rise upward every time she tilted her head, showing her emotions as well as my ears or tail did.

Root wasn’t able to use them yet, of course, she couldn’t even flap them… but they did move and move often. They were actually far sturdier than I had thought them to be, even though I had been told to be mindful of them. She could lay on them. As she slept. Even while Root rolled around no one worried for her wings. They were that sturdy.

It made me wonder what her wings would look like once fully grown. Lilly and Windle of course no longer had theirs, so I had no idea what to expect. Based off the size of Root’s wings, it almost seemed like once she was Lilly’s height they’d be almost twice as big as her! I suppose they did have to be big, as to carry them when they flew, but it was such a strange thought.

But I guess my tail was as long as I was tall, so maybe it was just normal.

“Why do you think Fly doesn’t have wings?” I wondered.

“Her parents likely had them. It’s how we lose our traits. Slowly, piece by piece,” Windle said.

That’s too bad… “Does that mean your parents had feathers all over too?” I asked.

“Actually yes. My father even had a beak,” he said.

I blinked at that and glanced at Windle… wondering what he’d look like with a beak.

How did that work? Was it just where the nose was…? But wasn’t a beak a mouth? Then wouldn’t it mean it stuck out on the face?

I almost couldn’t imagine it as Windle paused in his writing to look up and smirk at me. “A trait I’m glad to not have inherited,” he said.

I smiled back at him. “My father had paws. Or well, pads on his palm. I don’t know if I’d have preferred that or not. They’d have been useful, but probably would have made it harder to blend in and wear gloves and stuff,” I said.

“You’d not have needed gloves then, though,” he pointed out.

I blinked and nodded at the obvious, and wondered why I’d never thought of that myself.

“Other than that most of my family had more fur too. All over them,” I said.

Honestly I was glad I had not inherited the fur. It would have been terribly hard to blend in while traveling with Vim if I had.

“No fur anywhere?” Windle asked.

Frowning I glanced away from Root and to her father. He had sat up straight and had crossed his arms, as if to ponder something. He looked as if he was talking about something rather important, even though we were just making small talk.

“No? A little around my tail, I guess, but not enough to even speak of,” I said.

He found that odd for some reason as he scratched at his chin. “I see.”

“Why do you find that so weird?” I asked, unable to not.

“You don’t smell. At all. Usually those with fur do, at least a little bit. I was just wondering if maybe it was your bloodline’s ability. Ours is flight, or was, so I figured being a cat… a large predator one at that, implied that yours was the ability to not be smelled by those you’d deem prey. Though I really thought I had smelled you when you visited the first time, maybe I had been mistaken,” Windle said.

I smiled at him. “Actually I’ve lost my scent, so I’m told. Like Vim,” I said.

Windle blinked at that and sat forward, as if to study me… and maybe even try to smell me too.

“You’re serious?” he asked.

I nodded. “Supposedly. I can still smell myself, actually, so I’m not sure yet if I believe it or not. But I’ve been told by a lot of people that I no longer have a scent. Though I don’t know exactly when it happened,” I said.

Windle said nothing as I returned my attention to Root. She was frowning at me, in a very peculiar way.

“Either she’s hungry, or about to do you know what,” I said as I stood.

“Ah. I’ll take her then,” Windle offered as he stood as well.

Although I’d not mind feeding her, or cleaning her, I still handed her off without reservation. She didn’t even smile or make noises upon seeing her father as he took her, meaning my assumption had been correct.

Windle stepped around his desk and headed for the door. I was about to follow him out of his study, but before I could he gestured at the other door. The one he had pointed at earlier. “There’s a shelf with scrolls on it. They’re the older maps, if you’d like to check those too,” Windle offered, and then he left the study… leaving me behind.

Standing still for a moment, I frowned at what had just happened. Had Windle wanted me to leave him be…? Or was he just… being his typical nice self? Likely the latter.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Deciding it was an opportune moment I went ahead and opened the door. I found another small room, similar to the study, but this one only had a couple tables in it and the walls were lined with shelves. Two tables sat in the center, with an extra set of smaller shelves on the other side of them. All the shelves, and tables, made the small room feel cramped… and there were no chairs in here.

Entering the room, I noted the lack of windows. Either there were none at all, or they were being blocked by the shelves. I left the study door open, and approached the nearest table.

It was a square table, and indeed had a map laid upon it. It covered the whole table, and looked as if it was even fastened to it… or maybe nailed to it. There was nothing else upon the table, just the map, and it was stunningly detailed.

I quickly recognized the detail in the artwork, and realized it was very similar to the one Hands had given me. In fact, it was so similar it was almost frightening.

How had Hands drawn in such detail, in such a degree, and yet be able to do so again and again? If this really was the same map Hands had drawn for me, then that meant he had likely made far more than just these two. Did he have memory similar to my own, or had he just diligently copied the first one he had made over and over again for all of us?

I could paint well, at least so I sometimes liked to think, but I wasn’t sure if I could draw such little details as well as this. It showed not just roads, forests and mountains… but cliffs, their angles, and the rivers had depth to them. One could tell which river was deeper than the others, thanks to how he had drawn them. It was more than just color and size, it was accomplished with shadows and angles.

But as fascinated as I was with the artwork, my eyes instead focused on the fancy writing of someone else. Someone who wasn’t Hands.

Windle had scribbled all over the map. Sometimes so much so that it blocked, or ruined, the fancy artwork beneath the notes. But I knew Hands would not be offended. This was the purpose of this map after all… to allow someone to write down a census, or a path, for themselves or others.

Reaching out, I ever so gently touched the map. It felt the same as the one Hands had given me, though maybe a tad bit older. It felt drier, somehow, even though mine wasn’t wet at all and dry too.

“Owl’s Nest… Home,” I read his small note that hovered on top of a large strangely shaped forest. One that had a hole in the center, a hole that had only a single large tree.

Windle had written the name, and then listed the names of him and his family. Root’s name was even here, and one could tell it had been recently added. The names of his other children were more faded than Roots, and his name, and Lilly’s, were a little more faded than even theirs.

Not far northwest was Twin Hills. It had everyone’s name too, and also something very interesting.

A set of numbers. And not a number to represent how many members lived there.

“Two ninety-seven…” I whispered and wondered what it represented.

It was far too big to be population, even if one included the humans… maybe how long it has existed? Or possibly the distance there?

Two hundred and ninety seven what though? Some people used leagues. Others a sparrow’s day’s flight. Vim used his miles…

I tried to imagine going to Twin Hills. I’d gone there, and returned though not to here, before… so I had a rough idea of the distance.

Two hundred and ninety seven thousand paces. Three hundred thousand of Vim’s steps.

Frowning gently, I realized it was likely not too far off. It would only take Vim and I a little over three days to get there. And that was with us not really rushing, just walking like usual. With us stopping to rest and even sleep, maybe at one of the towns between here and there.

Glancing over to Ruvindale, I hesitated for a moment as I read the number… and instead focused on the small note Windle had placed upon it.

Little marks were made next to every name. Every single one… but next to Crane’s, there was now a new word. “Survived. Moved to Nevi,” I read.

Although I had already known Crane had survived, of course, I still found it very… strangely relieving, to see it written upon such a map.

As if it was proof. Real proof, and not just words spoken by others.

“Notice anything odd?”

I jumped, my knee bumping the table as I turned to glare at Vim. He smiled apologetically at me as he stepped closer. “Sorry,” he said.

“Jeez Vim… you’re lucky I hadn’t been writing or anything,” I said, annoyed at him as I rubbed my knee.

My knee of course didn’t really hurt. I’d not hit it that hard. But still!

“Sorry,” he apologized again as he stepped up next to me, and looked down at the map alongside me.

I smiled at him, even though still a little upset with him. “Odd like what?” I asked.

“Hm… how long have you been looking at it?” he asked.

“A few moments. Are the numbers representing distance? To us?” I asked with a point to the numbers beneath Ruvindale. It was just a tad farther than Twin Hills from here.

“Yes. Though only the nearest locations are accurate. The rest are slight guesses, based off my own guesses mostly, or his own calculations. Honestly by the looks of it a few are rather off,” he said.

“Looks of it…? You don’t verify and check it for him?” I asked.

“Why would I?”

Because he was your friend. Or at least, the husband of your friend.

Instead of saying that though, I went ahead and started to scan the map… to find whatever he had said was odd about it.

There was obviously something odd about it… since he had brought it up, but I wasn’t sure what it was yet.

I checked around us. I memorized the names, locations, and distances of some of the northern locations I’d not known about until just now. Sap’s name was far north, almost to the edge of the map. She only had her name there, nothing more. It was near a bunch of snow-peaked mountains.

After checking out the north I scanned the coastline… and I noticed, strangely, that the coast was a different shape than I had thought it to be.

“I thought the coast was more… wavy, like this,” I said as I gently slid my fingers along the map, to display how I had envisioned it all this time.

“Nope. This is what it looks like. Hands and his father were sticklers about these maps. They’re more accurate than you can know,” he said.

Huh… so it was kind of like a half eaten moon. Interesting.

“Are those islands?” I asked, pointing at the cluster of them to the south of the coast. Some went so far they touched the edge of the map.

“Yep. Some are huge, too. Bigger than they look on this map at least.”

“Are those islands where they went? The other members who left?” I asked.

“No. That place is far, far away. Far beyond what this map shows, that way,” he said with a point to the far corner of the western part of the map.

I hummed at that and decided to continue along my original path. The one I’d taken with Vim.

I found Tor’s village. Then followed it to Telmik, and through a huge mountain range. I saw the smithy, the Clothed Woman’s Sanctuary, and Lumen. Then I followed it downward, ignoring the Bell Church and other locations above Lumen.

The Armadillo’s cave, as Windle called it. A bunch of rivers, one I knew I had met Roslyn and the pirates at. Secca, with Leval’s name crossed out. And another location between Secca and Landi’s Kingdom.

“Why didn’t we stop there Vim?” I asked as I pointed at the small location called the Solid Rock.

“The two people there don’t want me to visit unless they summon me. They’re just a pair of old fish who like to be left alone,” Vim said.

Oh… that’s too bad.

Following the rest of the path, I was a little surprised at how few members, or locations, were noted between Landi’s place and the Crypt. Just two, and they were both far out of the way.

“Why don’t many of our members live down south here?” I asked with a point in that area.

“It’s a harsh environment. And there are actually a couple, though Windle doesn’t know about them,” Vim said.

Ah. That made sense… though I wonder if that means there were many other locations not listed here in this region as well.

After I finished following the rest of our path back here, traveling through the Keep and Summit, I was a little surprised to see the many other locations near the western inland seas that Lumen rested upon. I had heard about a few of them, from Oplar and Vim, but hadn’t realized there were so many. I counted a quick twelve just along the inland sea, and there were a few near it but not upon it.

“Well… other than there being more places than I thought, I don’t see anything really odd Vim. What should I be looking for?” I asked as I continued to look.

“Hm…? Oh. I had just been teasing Renn. Sorry,” Vim apologized as I slowly glanced at him.

Woops. I had misunderstood him then. Great.

Sighing softly, more at myself than him, I went back to the map. This time to retrace my journey through the Society… though this time without rushing, or feeling like I was missing something.

“This is actually one of the most complete maps there is. The Chronicler has one too, but now I doubt its validity,” he said.

“Right…” I nodded as my eyes lingered on Lumen. Brom’s name was crossed out, with a little mark upon it… and strangely so was Herra’s.

And unlike all the other names where Windle had wrote where they had moved to, Herra’s had simple been crossed out and marked. With the same symbol used for Brom.

“Vim… why is Herra’s name crossed out?” I asked.

Vim didn’t answer right away, and I didn’t like what I found when I turned to look at him.

“I see. I’m sorry Renn, I thought you knew…”

My eyebrows met with each other as I glared at him and squeezed my hands. I was glad I had recently cut and filled my nails, else I may have drawn blood.

“Vim…?”

He nodded slowly. “On the way back to Lumen, delivering her family’s gems, she got sick. She died not long after getting back. Likely from the same plague that we had encountered down south,” he told me.

My eyes widened as my breathing increased, and I tried to believe what I was hearing.

“Herra’s dead?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes… I’m sorry, Renn. I had learned about it from Oplar, so I had figured you had heard too.”

I slowly shook my head. “I’d not heard. No…”

He nodded softly at me, and I was thankful for his gentle expression. He really did feel bad, even though it wasn’t his fault.

Someone else really should have told me. Oplar especially. Vim and I have been so busy lately… so…

Taking a deep breath, I reached over and grabbed Vim’s arm. More so his sleeve, as I thought about that strange woman.

We had traveled south. To meet her family. The family she had hated. At least on the surface.

“She’s dead…” I whispered.

“Mhm.”

How sad.

She had voted against me in Lumen. To not allow me to stay there… but she had never been rude. I had even almost considered her a type of friend, even. Just one I could visit, never linger near for long.

“I’m awful,” I whispered.

“Why?”

“I’m not crying,” I said. I felt like I should be, yet I could tell no tears were coming.

“Well… you two weren’t that close were you? Not like Merit, or anything,” he said.

I nodded slowly. He was right. We had traveled together, and been friendly, but not close. Not like that.

“Still… I had felt for her. Her situation with her family, and all. I… would she have lived, Vim? Had we returned to Lumen with her? Had she not traveled alone?” I asked.

“I can’t say Renn. Diseases are one thing I can’t kill on sight. Though… I’ll admit, had I been around her, I may have been able to notice early enough to help her fight against it. As I had with you,” he said.

I nodded. Yes. He had helped nurse me back to health when I had gotten sick too.

“But that’s a simple what-if, Renn. She had not been like you. She had been older. Weaker.”

I nodded again. “I know Vim… I just… hm…” I wasn’t sure what to say.

Another death. One that seemed… so needless, somehow.

“It happens, Renn. The one thing that is constant, no matter who or what you are… death will find you. One way or another,” he said.

“Mhm… I think I can cry now,” I said as I stepped closer to him.

He didn’t hesitate to lift the arm I clung to, as to let me wrap my arms around his waist. I didn’t cry harshly, nor did I weep terribly… but I still clung to him all the same.

The few tears that came did so easily as Vim patted my back, like always he was willing to indulge my me and my emotions.

I didn’t feel any shame in letting Vim indulge me. Nor did I feel any shame crying for Herra either.

It was the least I could do… since I knew her family may not shed any for her.

Everyone deserved at least a few tears, after all.

“Bad time to tell you Lamp’s pregnant too?”

My tears instantly dried up as I looked up at Vim, shocked.

“What!”

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