I wonder if anyone would have thought Merit’s kingdom would be the last true one associated with the Society.

Of course I had hoped it would have lasted this long, and much longer of course. But I hoped that for any and all ventures of our people. Plus I liked Merit. I liked her friends, and I liked her way of thinking. She was human enough to be kind, yet nonhuman enough to be a realist. It made her a good queen, even if she always sniveled and worried about her rule when I was here visiting her.

Yet I remembered all the snide little comments so many had thrown her way back in the beginning. Even from some of those who were here now, singing a different tune. Most of the Society had not placed much faith in Merit, or those who had supported her. Even the kinder ones, those who had nothing bad to say, had not expected her kingdom to last long.

But look at her now.

Sitting on the edge of her castle’s roof, I stared out at the sea of sails. There had to be hundreds and hundreds of ships, and most of them were so big that I wondered how they even got through the river channels around here. A few were even sea fairing… which was problematic, really. I probably should tell her to ban such ships from docking into her lakes.

Sea ships shouldn’t mix with fresh water lakes. It was doable, of course, but eventually it would cause a problem. Either an invasive species would come from it or something worse.

For now though I simply enjoyed the peace and quiet. This was the first visit in… probably decades and decades that I’ve not had any pressing things to concern myself with.

No wars to be fought. No prophecies. No gods. No saints or schemes…

I didn’t even have to worry about her pipe systems, or canals. Or the lakes around us.

All was right in the world.

Which was so strange, since the rest of the world was falling apart around the seams.

Taking a deep breath, I felt a little guilty. It almost wasn’t right that I was sitting here, relaxing and enjoying the view of all the ships, while all the others suffered and stressed back up north.

Celine was dead. The Society fracturing. I’ve learned of more deaths in the last few moons than I had in years, and many of them had been good friends.

Some of them had hurt so badly it made me want to weep.

Which was why I was here, even if I’d never admit it aloud to anyone. Not even myself.

I wanted to make sure this place was still safe. And would continue being so. Since it might be one of the last sources of hope for our people.

A breeze flew past, and somehow it wasn’t a hot one. And not just because my body had adapted to the weather here. It actually felt cool on my skin, as if I was not in the middle of a desert but sitting on a dock at the ocean instead.

Closing my eyes, to enjoy the breeze, I took a deep breath… and noted the smell behind me.

Opening my eyes as I leaned back a bit, to look behind me, I smiled at Merit.

“Where’s your crown?” I asked. It was still the middle of the day, and she was all dressed up. She should be wearing it.

“I don’t like to wear it anymore,” she said simply as she stepped around me, and sat down next to me on the ledge of the roof.

“Hm… Heavy is the crown, as they say,” I said.

“I hate that saying. It’s not heavy, it’s just cold.”

I smiled and nodded. Cold. Heavy. Cumbersome. It didn’t matter the feeling, the sentiments behind the reasoning was what mattered.

“Did you see Pierre? He was just up here with me a moment ago,” I asked.

“I passed him. He’s grown into a fine man. Better than his father, at least,” Merit said.

“Klaus hadn’t been bad,” I said. I missed that weird old rat.

“No… I suppose he hadn’t been,” Merit whispered.

Glancing at her, I noted the sad look on her face.

She was depressed. Really depressed.

Why…?

Her kingdom was thriving. She now had hundreds of members living amongst her halls. Nasba was still with her, and her family had grown large. Happy. In fact… everyone here seemed happy. It was almost a sickening contrast to the cold halls back up north, like at Telmik.

Those hallowed halls hurt to walk through nowadays. All I ever heard was praying. The kind that made me feel responsible.

“What’s wrong Merit?” I asked as I sat forward a little, to try and make myself seem a little smaller.

Merit didn’t say, or do anything, for a moment as she stared out at the lake around us. I studied the way her eyes lingered on the horizon, and wondered if it was just age. She was old now, really old. Five or six hundred years old by now. Half a millennia. Even for our kind that was a long time. And the last few hundred years of that time had been with her as a queen. Ruling over a tiny nation, sure, but still one full of strife and its own problems.

It was hard to remember sometimes, since she appeared so young and was actually rather stable mentally… but Merit could very well just be exhausted. In many ways.

I knew I would be if I wasn’t so… well…

Me.

So I just waited. I returned to looking out at the lake around us, and all the sails and ships. I liked studying them, even if many of them looked… terribly thought out. Who built such haphazard things?

“You gave up rather quick this time,” Merit then said.

“Hm?” I had? About what?

“Asking what was wrong. Usually you try to make me laugh, or start telling me about some stupid story. To get me to open up,” Merit said as she finally looked away from her kingdom and to me. She side-glanced me, and I wondered how long it’d been since I’d seen her with her hair down. My last few visits she’s had her hair all bundled up properly, Nasba’s doing likely.

“Didn’t I just ask that?” I asked. Hadn’t I? A few moments ago…?

Merit gave me a sad smile. “We’ve been sitting here for at least an hour or two, Vim,” she told me.

Had we…? “Really?” I asked.

She nodded and sighed at me, but at least didn’t seem overly depressed anymore. “I heard Trish’s capital fell,” she said.

“Hm. A few months ago. While I was on the coast,” I said.

“Figured. And let me guess, none of them ran away in time?”

I shook my head.

Merit sighed again, but this time it was more of an exasperated huff. “I don’t know how you put up with us, Vim.”

I don’t. “How’s it feel proving them all wrong?” I asked her.

“Not good at all.”

I nodded. Exactly.

We sat in silence for a bit, though not as long as an hour as last time. Merit then sighed and gestured at one of the far off boats. “I don’t even recognize my oasis anymore,” she said softly.

“Really? It doesn’t look too different. Crowded now, sure, but it’s still the same lake in a desert,” I said.

“Only because you’re stupid. Look, Vim. Half the lake’s shore are covered in cities and docks. We used to be just a tiny island, with a few small little farmsteads in the distance. Now it’s just building after building, as far as I can see,” she said.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Hm… she wasn’t wrong. Most of the lake’s shores and edges were indeed now covered in buildings and docks. One of the nearby rivers, where it intersected and joined with another that fed the other nearby lake, had a whole city resting upon it. Nearly as big as the little island capital we were in now.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” I asked.

“It’s supposed to be…” she mumbled.

Glancing at the tiny fish being so melancholic, I wondered what she wanted me to say.

Actually… the last few visits have been like this, haven’t they? She’s been slowly getting worse. More depressed. Stressed, maybe.

I wonder why. Was it really just time? Was it really the tiring daily running’s of her kingdom…? Or was it something more?

Hopefully she wasn’t sick. I didn’t like sticking around her long, because it gave her funny ideas, but I actually enjoyed her friendship. Even more so I enjoyed listening to her and her friends bicker and tease one another. Particularly her newer addition.

“How’s Sharp been treating you?” I asked.

“She’s insufferable. Ever since she found out she can touch me and I’d be fine she won’t leave me alone. I want you to take her back to whatever hole you found her in,” Merit said with a cold tone.

I couldn’t help it I laughed at her. “Really now?”

“Yes! She’s worse than Nasba! I can barely handle her and now there’s two of them!” Merit complained, a little loudly. She almost sounded serious.

“Hm… funny. It’s your fault, for not bleeding and dying when she touches you like a normal person,” I said.

“The next time you try and bring me someone else I’m going to demand a night in bed with you. From now on. I’m serious,” Merit said stiffly at me.

Oh boy. “Uh…” I didn’t know what to say to that, since it had sounded utterly serious.

Merit looked away from me and sighed, and not because I had just ignored her flirting again. She had been serious indeed.

Was Sharp really that big of a pain…? I had found Sharp to actually be quite sweet. Especially when considering the poor girl’s life, and how she has had to endure it.

I had thought bringing her here had been the right choice. To let her find a semblance of normalcy. It was what the Society was meant for, even if Merit and so many others here claimed they weren’t a part of it.

“She’s fine, Vim. She’s happy. And she is good at making Nasba laugh, so that’s all that matters,” Merit then said.

Hm…? I smiled softly at her as I nodded. “Good.”

Yes. Very good indeed.

Merit’s tiny oasis was growing indeed. Growing mightily.

Wonderful.

I was glad someone was doing well, at least.

Merit then coughed, and then glanced at me again. I watched her for a moment, wondering what was wrong, and then she sighed at me.

“What?”

“So uh… how’re you feeling?” she then asked, a little awkwardly.

I frowned at her and wondered if she was actually blushing, or if that was just the sun playing tricks on her face thanks to the angle.

“I’m uh… feeling good? I guess?” I said. What’d she want from me?

Merit began to twirl her thumbs around each other, and I felt in danger all of a sudden. Please don’t tell me she was going to try and seduce me again…

“I uh… well… I’m sorry, Vim,” she then said, a little seriously.

“About…?” I asked. If she says something cheesy like, for this, and tries to kiss me I’m going to push her off the ledge.

“For Celine,” she said.

Oh.

Feeling horrible, for expecting something else, I softly smiled and nodded. “Me too. But not for the reasons you think. It’s become a mess with her gone. One I genuinely don’t want to deal with,” I said.

“I’m sure…” she said softly.

I sighed as I leaned back, resting back a little as to better look at Merit and not the world around me. “I’m fine Merit. Unlike you I don’t take a month sabbatical to weep in my bed each time a friend dies,” I said.

“What’s so wrong with being emotional?” she asked angrily.

“Nothing at all. In fact I’m jealous.”

She huffed at me, but I saw the smile she was trying to hide as she looked away from me. “Whose going to take her place, Vim? From what I’ve heard from everyone… it’s chaos up there in the more normal lands,” she said.

“I’d not call them normal. They’re definitely not anymore, even if they ever were. And I don’t know. The sisters have been doing a good job keeping most of the groups together… but there’s a vote coming up. About searching out a new home across the sea or something,” I said.

“Oh…? Do uh… do they want to come here? I’m sure we could fit most of everyone here if we had to,” Merit offered.

I smiled and nodded. “I’ll tell them of your kindly offer. But no, they seem serious about finding somewhere else. Without humans, supposedly. Good luck with that,” I said.

“Is there even a place like that left anymore…? I feel like it was only yesterday that half the nations around us had been nearly empty of them, thanks to the famine and wars, and yet now they’re full of them again. Half my court aren’t even us anymore, but humans,” she said.

“Right…? But who am I to convince them otherwise?”

She sighed at me. “You’re too gentle with them all, Vim. Why do you tell me to just cut the heads off the dissenters, yet you won’t even slap their butts?” she asked.

“Because that’s the job of those in charge. I’m not in charge… I’m just a soldier,” I said.

“A soldier capable of defeating entire armies.”

“Still just a soldier.”

She scoffed at me, but didn’t press it further, thankfully.

Honestly I was tired of hearing such accusations and arguments. I got enough of them up north; I didn’t need them here too. It was why I came running down here, to get away from all of that.

If I would have known Celine’s death would have gotten me into such a strange predicament I would have never gotten as involved in the Society as I had. Honestly.

My fault really. I had genuinely thought more of the more active members, such as those like Merit who tried to make entire kingdoms or organizations, would have taken more charge… but of those left, the survivors were like her. Willing to just… sit in their little corners, happy and content.

Or well, maybe not happy.

A small breeze blew past, this time a tad colder than before. I glanced up at the sky and noted that it was starting to get redder. The day was ending already. Hadn’t it just started…?

“Well… least this visit will be peaceful. But I guess that means I can’t linger long, can I? Even if the wars are over, and half the Society are dead, I still feel like I’m constantly late to wherever I gotta get to,” I said softly.

“I can… get you busy, if you’d like,” Merit offered gently.

“Was that an innuendo?” I asked.

Merit sat up straighter and then her hand darted out. She punched me in the arm, rather hard, and made a noise at me.

I chuckled at her and nodded. “I appreciate it. But it’s fine. I shouldn’t neglect our pitiful members just because I’m growing upset with them. Plus I’ve already gotten a few requests from others, like Pierre,” I said.

“Hm…? I see. Okay. Well… if you want what I offered to become an innuendo, just let me know,” she said, half mumbling as she did, as if she had something in her mouth.

Smirking at her, I shook my head. “How can you be so old and still so…” I hesitated, and stopped myself from calling her innocent, or a virgin. Not because she wasn’t one, but rather because there was a chance she was.

“Yeah. You better go quiet,” she said with a grin.

I nodded. “Right?”

Merit sighed, but then chuckled. It turned into a happy giggle… and then she laughed full on, rather loudly.

Watching her laugh, I wondered why she had found that so funny. But it was better than the alternative at least. It’s been a while since she’s shocked me with her electricity, so I had kind of figured it was time for such a thing.

Actually… how long had it been? Since she last tried to electrocute me to death?

Not last time. Or the time before… maybe that time when that saint had showed up? I felt like she’s shocked me more often than that, though.

Oh well.

As she finished laughing… we went quiet again, until she scooted a little closer.

Merit leaned over, plopping into me. She rested her whole body against me, and let out a deep sigh. One not of relief, but stress.

Usually I’d make a comment, or shift a little, as to stop such a thing… but for some reason I knew better than to do so.

If I pushed her away now, it might just push her away for good. From not just me, but everyone.

I had no idea what was actually wrong with her heart, but it didn’t matter. The reason was not an issue. All that mattered was Merit’s heart was heavy. Hurting. Broken, maybe. Even if she had just laughed like mad, I knew the truth. I had seen it moments ago. Heard it.

She was like me, almost. Maybe more than I wanted to admit.

Tired of it all.

So I just needed… to be here for her. Help her, even, if I could.

Hopefully it just didn’t take more than I was willing, and able, to give.

She then sniffed, and I went still as I realized she was crying. Thanks to how tiny she was I couldn’t see her, even though she was resting right up against me.

Unsure if I should say or do anything, I realized maybe it was a good thing she was leaning against my arm. Now I could use that as an excuse for not patting her on the back, or holding her. Even if it felt like the right thing to do at the moment.

It was such a hard line to walk sometimes. Since she was so odd. So… human, yet not.

What would my father have done in moments like this?

Something told me I didn’t want to know.

Some several minutes passed, and Merit seemed to calm down a little… and I wondered if maybe I had, if not intentionally, made the right choice. The sky grew redder, and then started to grow orange and then dark, and for a small moment I thought I had escaped an electrocution this time.

It wasn’t like I even really knew what was wrong with her. The Society was fracturing, and falling apart every which way… but Merit’s Oasis was doing fine. Growing strong. Steadily. Without any real threat to it. Plus her little family was growing. Nasba had children now. Newer additions like Sharp were not just good friends, but an extra layer of security and trust. They were reliable.

All was right here. At least, it felt like it should be.

Yet still Merit leaned against me… as if…

“You’re supposed to feel bad for me and at least pat my back, Vim,” Merit then said.

I winced. “I’d just been considering it…”

“Too late.”

She shocked me anyway.

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