The house was finally, relatively, quiet.

Somehow Lilly leaving had made it a tad louder. Fly and Renn had spent the day with Root, noisily distracting the baby from the fact her mother had once again disappeared. If Root had even noticed the last time, I’d not been able to tell.

In fact Root rarely seemed to cry. Since being here I think I’d only heard her do so three or four times. And even then those cries had only been for a few moments and not the very loud shrieks that babies usually wailed.

Root had inherited more than strength from her mother, it seemed. I looked forward to seeing what she’d accomplish. It was rare for such strong personalities to be born anymore in the Society, especially so to those with such strength and such parents.

Hopefully Windle will be able to keep too many rough edges from forming.

Slowly walking down the hallway, I listened to the soft snores from above. Fly seemed to snore, even when not exhausted. Not too uncommon a trait, but considering she was such a little thing it made her loud snores all the more unique.

Windle was awake. I heard him mumbling softly as he wrote at his desk. Root was likely asleep in the small crib-like bed I had helped make with him today. They already had several cribs throughout the house, but he hadn’t had one for his office. Usually it wasn’t that big a deal, since Lilly was normally here to help, and also because he usually didn’t have to visit his office as often as he did now. But the world was not as peaceful anymore… So instead of having to constantly move a crib, I had went ahead and made another for him. One that would let him spend the next week or two mostly in his office, while Lilly was gone.

It had also kept me occupied for the day. A strange thing that I had felt like I wanted and needed, yet the entire time I had been doing it I had felt… well…

As if I was wasting time. As if I was supposed to be elsewhere, doing something else. Something more important.

And in truth, I probably should be.

The Society was in a strange state at the moment. Even if I ignored the vote, and the Chronicler’s strange schemes, the Society had issues. It always had issues. Not to mention Meriah wanted to see me, which was usually a pressing matter on a normal day.

I really should return to my route. Renn would be a little upset with me, but it was time we left. I’d lingered too long as it was, and I still had to spend a few days out of my way going to that saint and speaking with her.

“Not looking forward to that either,” I mumbled. I hated saints.

And this saint… this Saint Elaine, was related to Renn. My wife. In more than just familial relations too.

Slowing a little, I noted a new sound in the house. One that was smooth, slow, and gentle.

At first I couldn’t place the sound, but after a few seconds I realized it was Renn.

Or rather, the sound what she was doing.

Reaching the end of the hallway, I paused before Renn’s bedroom door.

She was alone in her bedroom, thankfully. I had come here a few hours ago, to sit and talk with her, but had found she had been sitting on the bed with Root. Just… sitting there and talking to her. About everything and anything.

It had been adorable, but that was the problem. It had made me feel strangely awkward, so I had decided to leave her be. Even if the child would not have understood anything Renn and I would have talked about, I hadn’t wanted to do so in front of the child.

Which only made me feel even more awkward. As if I had planned to have weird conversations or something, when in reality I had simply wanted to talk about us leaving tomorrow.

Now, later in the night, Renn was alone. Fly was asleep. Root with her father, and he was busy writing letters.

And, to make the moment even more perfect… the outside world was growing noisy. A new storm had arrived, though right now it was all wind and no rain. Although the house was relatively quiet, thanks to how well built it was, I knew the wind would mask Renn’s and my voice. Windle, especially while lost in his letters and Fly’s snoring, would know we were talking but not what we were talking about. As long as we spoke softly.

Which meant for the first time… in a very long time, it felt, Renn and I had a chance to be alone.

This was a perfect time to have a conversation.

Taking a small moment to collect myself, I reached out to grab the door’s handle. I grabbed it slowly, quietly, and opened the door.

Renn didn’t seem to notice me at first. She was sitting on the bed, her tail wrapped around her waist and laying on her lap. She had the comb I had made her and she was slowly, methodically, combing her tail… with a rather serious expression on her face as she did so. As if what she was doing was very important and needed all of her focus.

For only a few seconds I stood there. Enjoying the scene before me. But then Renn’s ear twitched and she looked up, finally realizing I was here.

Without any hesitation a huge smile planted itself on her face, all because of the mere sight of me. It made my heart swell with pride, and so I turned as to close the door behind me. Turning away from her for a few moments, both to try and stop myself from smiling back at her with what I knew was a stupid grin of my own, and also to keep myself from just falling into her arms.

To receive such a welcome, without a word spoken, so instantly and purely made me feel unfathomably lucky. And it felt wrong somehow to be so.

“Hey Vim!” Renn finally greeted me as I turned back around after shutting the door. She still sat on the bed, but had paused in her combing. Instead she had sat up a little straighter, and her tail had gone to happily flapping on and around her lap, making her seem more like a dog than a cat.

“Rennalee,” I said, greeting her as I glanced around for a chair.

I knew this room. I had helped build it. But I’d not been in it for who knows how many years, so it took me a moment to find one of the chairs here. Every bedroom, the ones not claimed by Lilly’s family members at least, had three chairs. One for a desk, and two for a small table. This room though, Renn’s, seemed to have all three in odd places. One was on the other side of the bed, resting against it, which meant someone had been sitting in it before. Maybe Cat or Fly. Another was near the door to the bathroom, where Renn’s hat rested, and the last I was pulling out from under a desk. One that had a bunch of little things littering it, notably amongst it all the little blue box that held Renn’s nail stuff.

Renn giggled at me as I pulled the chair over near the bed, as to sit and face her. “Rennalee? Are we about to have a serious conversation?” she asked happily, as if excited for one.

“Hm…? Not really. I just felt like saying your whole name to you, for some reason,” I admitted.

Renn blinked at me, and then her grin turned into a strange smirk. “Really?”

I nodded.

She seemed to like that, since her smirk turned back into that lovely smile. The one that made my heart feel weird.

“Let me guess, you want us to leave tomorrow,” she said.

I nodded. “I’d like us to, if you’re okay with it.”

“If I’m okay with it?” she asked.

I shrugged slowly, unsure why she had responded with my own words. “Yeah…?”

Renn shifted a little, turning herself on the bed as to face me directly. Her tail disappeared from my sight for a moment as it hid behind her, then it reappeared in front of her. She grabbed at it without looking, and I noted she had almost missed it in the process. “If I asked to stay longer, you’d be okay with it?” she asked. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the way she was holding her tail. She was doing so as if nervous, and trying to keep it from squirming wildly.

“Well… I suppose so. But I really should get back on the road. Would you like to stay here while I do? I would prefer if you at least came with me to your saint, if you would, you could always come back here after if you’d like while I go check on everyone else around here,” I offered.

As I spoke though, I noticed an odd feeling. One in the back of my throat, almost.

I blinked as Renn hummed in thought as she returned to combing her tail. She tilted her head, flickering her ears as she did, and half-closed her eyes.

While she pondered my statement, I realized the feeling I couldn’t place was some kind of worry. Maybe even a fear.

It was almost more terrifying that I’d realized what the fear was, than the fear itself.

I was worried she’d say yes. That she wanted to return here. And not stay with me.

My eye twitched, but only for half a heartbeat, as I quickly got my own feelings and thoughts under control.

Don’t be so shamefully greedy, Vim. Don’t be cruel.

If being here instead of with me was what she wanted, it was what she’d get.

“Can I ask why you seem so bothered by the idea…?” Renn then asked.

Shit. She had noticed.

Of course she had. Just because I had allowed that strange fear to take over for a few moments. That was all it had taken for her to see it, even while she was lost in thought.

“I had been bothered, but more so for another reason,” I tried to fib.

Renn’s smile shifted a little, and I knew I had failed rather obviously. So I sighed and reached up to cup my face. I rubbed my face, as if to mold clay into a more bland shape.

“Vim?”

Nodding, I lowered my hand and smiled at the woman who looked amused. “I’d been upset. Over the idea of you not coming with me,” I told her honestly.

Renn blinked… and though I expected her to laugh at me… she instead stopped combing her tail and her shoulders lowered in a slump. Her smile remained, but it was now small. Tiny. Faint.

A little bothered by her sudden change in demeanor, I was about to say something but she beat me to it. “I love you too, Vim,” she whispered.

My back tightened, and I was glad I sitting on something I’d built myself. The chair creaked, but didn’t break, as I shifted ever so slightly.

“Well… yeah,” I mumbled, a little embarrassed.

Yes. I loved her. Thus my being upset over the idea of her not being with me. But that wasn’t really something to be proud of. I was not supposed to be a selfish man. Not like that. My parents had wanted me to, made me in fact , to be everything but selfish. Yet here I was, wanting to monopolize her, even at the cost of her own happiness and the good of the Society.

Renn giggled at me, looking happier than ever all of a sudden. I liked the way she grabbed her tail and shook it, as if it wasn’t attached to her. She wagged it at me, as if it was some kind of stick or toy. I enjoyed the sight, especially since just a few moments ago she had looked forlorn and worried. Not many people could be so vivid in their emotions, let alone such emotions one after another as she did. She was boisterously happy in one moment, then depressed and weeping the next… only to laugh and giggle half a moment later at something else entirely.

Some would see such a thing as a spark of insanity. Others would just frown and shake their heads, bothered by it but not so greatly that it forced their hand. I though…?

I fell even deeper in love because of it.

Who was worse I wonder? Her who was a pendulum of emotions, or me who was the cause of it? Or rather, I who felt weak and small over a single one? I wish I could face so many emotions at once like her without hesitation. It was rare for me to feel more than one at a time, and even then only distantly. A fault of not just my age, but my parents. They had raised me to be understanding and gentle, especially with those like Renn, but at the same time had made me… not as susceptible to such emotions, to say the least.

“I’m okay with leaving tomorrow Vim. We have a lot to do, don’t we? It’s best we didn’t dally too long,” Renn then said.

I nodded slowly, and did my best to not notice she hadn’t said if she’d keep going with me or come back after meeting her saint.

“We do… but there’s always a lot to do, Renn. So if you would like to rest here for a bit more, I can always come back and get you later. In a few months, if you’d like,” I offered anyway.

Renn smiled and shook her head. “No, Vim. I’ll go with you. As much as I’m enjoying this… in ways I can’t explain, not knowing the words, I’d rather be with you. Plus I’d like to see everyone else too. Crane and Rapti, Kaley, and everyone else. I’d also like to meet Tor this time, if I can. He’s a monarch right? One of the few in the Society? I’d like to meet him,” Renn said, revealing she’s actually been thinking about our upcoming venture rather deeply.

I nodded slowly. “I’m sure we can work that out,” I said. Silkie and the rest would throw a fit, but there were ways around that.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Plus…” Renn shifted again and leaned forward. She placed her hands on her ankles, and with her crossed legs she suddenly looked a little smaller than usual as she drew closer, as if to whisper. “I think I’ll not be able to leave, Vim, if I don’t soon,” she admitted.

I nodded slowly, again. “Yes… it is hard to leave, sometimes,” I agreed.

Her smile grew softer, sadder, as she nodded back. “I love it here. So desperately so. So if you don’t take me, you’ll have to drag me away and that’d be embarrassing,” she said.

“Only for you.”

She laughed at that. “Probably!”

“Still… all the same, consider it. It is… not often, Renn, that one can enjoy such an atmosphere as this. Especially in today’s era. Especially today,” I warned her.

Renn’s laughter faded away as she studied me, and then she scooted forward again. This time she reached the edge of the bed, and her legs unfurled so she could dangle them over the ledge. “I know Vim. I know… I really do. I’ve been traveling with you this whole time, utterly astounded at how lovely so many of our locations in the Society are. Even more so, the people at them… So I do know how precious this all is, I really do. But it’s exactly because of how precious this place is, these places are, that I need to go with you. So that we can keep protecting them… and if able, maybe, find a way to keep ourselves welcomed at them all too while we’re at it,” Renn said.

A little stunned, I hesitated as Renn smiled and nodded at me. She had spoken so well, so purely, that I was at a loss for words.

After a few moments of silence, I sighed at myself. “How are you able to say so easily what I can barely admit in my own heart?” I asked.

“Really Vim? You say sweet things all the time, don’t belittle yourself,” she teased.

I scoffed at her and noted the way her feet had started to danced a little in the air. As if swaying her feet like a kid, excited and full of wonder.

It was so rare for our kind, especially those at her age, to act like she did. Even more so those who had suffered.

Thank goodness she was still so lively. Hopefully I could keep such spirit safe, for as long as I could. For as long as possible, humanly and divine.

The wind outside was finally joined by rain, but it didn’t add much to the noise. This house had thick walls. The type that could withstand even the harshest winds, even from natural disasters. I had honestly gone a little overboard building this place, if one thought about it.

“Listening to the wind?” Renn asked, noticing where my attention had one. Away from her.

I nodded. “It’s that time of the year. Storms, aplenty.”

“There was a rather bad one. Last time I was here, before you showed up. The house didn’t even shake. I don’t think there’s a single place in this whole house that whistles even during the crazier winds,” Renn said.

“Soon it’ll be snow. Some years the snow is so bad here they walk out from the second or third floor balconies,” I said.

“Ah! That’s why some of them have little gates on them!” Renn said happily.

“Well… no. It was because originally Lilly and Windle had their wings, when we had first built this place. They had landed on those balconies using them like front porches when returning home.”

Renn’s happy joy diminished a little. “Oh…” Her feet stopped swaying, going still.

I didn’t like how I had made her sullen. I hadn’t meant to remind her of something that broke her heart so blatantly. Why did I do that so often?

It was strange, honestly. I felt as if I was so careful with Renn, so mindful of what I said and how I said… yet at the same time when speaking with her, I rarely put much thought into my offhanded comments and answers to her questions. As if I was just instinctively honest and open with her, to a fault. And that honesty, my honesty, was usually painful to hear. Not because I was brunt with it, or rude, but because of the implications behind it.

My honesty revealed the harsher truths to the world. Ones most people not only didn’t speak aloud of, but genuinely tried to avoid… sometimes even instinctively. Over the years I’ve lost many friends because of how callous I sounded sometimes. So usually I kept myself in check, yet like always here I was… not even thinking before speaking with her.

The sad thing is she’d likely prefer me to be honest with her like this. To her this was better than the alternative. Even when it made her sad.

“You know Renn…” I started to speak, as to try and bring that happy smile and demeanor back, but hesitated.

She tilted her head at me, and gave me a gentle smile. One that I recognized well. She wore it often when waiting for me to find my nerve, or at least attempt to. She somehow enjoyed it when I was struggling to be… better.

I shifted again, and leaned a little forward… as if to join her in whispering. But I had no plans to whisper lowly, since if I started doing that I would probably start whispering sweet nothings.

“I trust you, you know?” I told her carefully.

She blinked and nodded, rather slowly as if she was still in the middle of processing what I’d just said. But I knew that wasn’t the case. Renn had a far quicker mind than most people could imagine.

“I really do. Along our journey together… I’ve watched you. Studied you. I’ve seen how you are with our people. How you’ve kept their secrets. How you’ve wept for them, with and alongside them, while also staying strong when needed,” I went further into detail. Renn’s face contorted a little, becoming a mix of happiness and confusion. She remained quiet as I nodded and sighed. “I can’t properly explain it. I judge everyone. I watch how people act around those weaker than them. Or those stronger. A lot can be told about a person by the way they act and speak amongst strangers, or long time friends,” I added.

“Hm…” Renn softly nodded, only making a tiny noise as she did.

“Sometimes it’s something as little as how fast someone opens up to someone. How quickly they’ll reveal secrets, or speak about stuff that might seem… awkward to say to someone they’ve only recently met. I can’t properly explain how or why, but I do it for everyone,” I said, explaining further.

“For what purpose Vim?” she asked.

“None really. It’s a trait I picked up a long time ago… Back when I had been at war. There had been many people, people I needed or trusted, who had betrayed me. So I had just instinctively started studying people, always keeping an eye on those I deemed untrustworthy. As a way to protect myself and those around me,” I said.

“Oh…” she made another small noise again.

I nodded as I took a small breath. “Today, I do it more so as a way to keep tabs. To tell who may become a threat to the Society, even if hundreds of years down the line. One can usually tell by a person’s personality, or their desires. Basically I just… monitor certain people, and take notes on their finer personality traits over the years as I interact with them. As to better know who may one day cause problems, and those who won’t,” I said.

“And by leading this conversation with the fact you trust me, are you saying I’m one of those troublesome people?” Renn asked with a smirk.

I chuckled for a few moments and shook my head. “Not really. You are dangerous Renn, as I’ve said many times, but your danger is to me. Only me. You are no threat to anyone in the Society… or the world even, to be clear. The only way someone could become endangered, or a target of your wrath, is if they’ve earned such a thing. In which case odds are they’d have earned my wrath too,” I said.

Renn’s smile warmed a little as she nodded. “Then… what are you trying to say, Vim?”

I shrugged ever so gently. “I’m just saying… I’ve been watching you recently. When I can. From afar, it feels, thanks to how busy we’ve been. I watched you at Telmik with Cat, and others, like Angie. I watched you here with Fly and Root, and of course Lilly and Windle. I’m just… well…” I hesitated again, and felt… silly.

Just say it Vim.

Say it and get it over with.

I blinked, and found my eyes had wandered away from hers. I looked up from her knees, a strange place for me to have focused, and found her patiently waiting for me. Her smile grew a tad, upon our eyes meeting, but she remained silent… letting me once again gather my nerves.

Damn.

“Basically Renn… I’m saying you’re probably one of a handful of people I’ve ever known, in my long life, that… is genuinely a good person. I know without any doubt, beyond reason, that I could entrust you with…” I gestured lightly. “Practically anything! And not only would you not betray me, you’d likely do everything in your power… even go through hell itself, to accomplish whatever task I set you on.”

Renn slowly sat up a little straighter, and I noted the way her tail had gone still. Her smile remained, but it seemed a little empty all of a sudden as she simply stared at me. As if she was stunned.

“I have known countless people Renn. I’ve known the greatest people, who changed history, and I’ve known the simplest. I can’t really explain what I’m trying to say, since I know it doesn’t make much sense, but… well…”

“Are you saying you love me because of this trust? That you have in me?” Renn then asked, before I could find more words to say.

For the tiniest of heartbeats, I hesitated. Was that what I was trying to say…?

No. Maybe.

“Rather… I’m saying I love that I can trust you. That you are who you are. I would have loved you no matter what, but I’m… happy. To have someone I can rely on. For not just small things, but the most important things, stuff I’ve not relied on others for… in well… longer than I can remember, if ever,” I said.

Renn grabbed her knees and squeezed them, and I noted the way her tail started to twitch again. It was no longer doing it in joy, but apprehension… as if she was about to jump off the bed.

Likely was. She had likely wanted to hug me, thus her grabbing her own knees. In an attempt to stop herself.

Which was too bad. It’s been a long time since I’d hugged her.

“I don’t even know what to say to that Vim, other than thank you. And that I love you,” Renn then said, a little stiffly.

I smiled and nodded. “Mhm. I love you too. And you don’t need to read too deeply into it, I just… wanted to say it. I thought about it on the way here, with Fly. I… well…” I hesitated again, for a new reason, but knew I had to say it now. “I had been worrying about where to take her. Or who to take her to. The few options she has, are ones that all come with negatives. Tor’s village is full of prey. Nann and them are a danger to themselves. They’ve grown too large, and mingle too much with the surrounding villages. They will eventually suffer a tragedy. The Crypt would accept her, but I fear she’d just become a loner like Sharp. So… well…” I shrugged, as I pointed at her.

“Wait… you were thinking of me… For Fly?” Renn mumbled, realizing what I was saying.

I nodded. “You’re perfect Renn. You could live with Fly, protect her, guide her and teach her. And she would have been happy too, to boot. And that’s what bothered me. My very first instinct, upon realizing you’d work perfectly, was that I had grown upset. I had detested the idea. And… I shouldn’t have. There would have been absolutely nothing wrong with it, and,” I started to explain my feelings, and how I was trying to apologize for them, but before I could finish Renn rushed forward.

She wrapped her arms around my chest and shoulder, one arm under my own and another around my neck, and had ran into me with enough force to make the chair skid backward. I basically half-stood, as to keep the chair from simply shattering under both my weight and her violent movement.

Glad that the world outside had grown more noisy, with the storm; I sighed as I slowly sat back down and accepted Renn’s hug. She squeezed me with what felt all of her strength and then some… and it felt good.

For a very small moment, I felt the exhaustion tugging at the back of my mind take over. It rushed forward, making my eyelids suddenly feel very heavy. But as quickly as it came, it passed, as I blinked and took a small breath… a little shocked over the strange sensation.

I had nearly fallen asleep just now.

Holding Renn, I glared at her tail as it wiggled and thrashed in the air. She was making tiny noises as she hugged me, since she was squeezing me with such great effort, and it was all a good distraction for what had nearly just happened.

She’d probably laugh and enjoy my falling asleep in the middle of hugging her, but I’d never live it down. How awkward it would have been to do so.

Hopefully it was just the moment and this wouldn’t happen every time we hugged from now on.

“Windle and Lilly chose to adopt her,” Renn then mumbled in my ear.

I resisted the urge to shiver at the feeling, and nodded. “They have. A change I had not expected. I always hope, have many times, they’d do such a thing… but this is the first time they’ve ever done it,” I said.

Renn’s squeezing softened a bit, but she stayed in my embrace. “You’ve brought others before? To see if they would?” she asked, realizing my meaning.

I nodded again. “Yes. Children too, like Fly. And a few have been birds, and… like I said, I always hope, but never expect it. And so far they’ve never done such a thing. So I’m… a little shocked they decided to do so,” I said.

“Why?” she asked.

“Well, Lilly and Windle aren’t known for their gentle natures and—” I started to explain, but she giggled and leaned back a little, making me go quiet as I found our faces rather close. She still held me, but only gently.

“Why would it shock you Vim…? That they’d finally become better?” she asked, clarifying her question’s real meaning.

“Well…” I wasn’t sure what to say to that. And not just because I was lost in her eyes.

She had a lovely smile on her face, the type that made me feel jealous somehow. As if I wanted it for myself, even though I knew it was for me.

“Well what…?”

I sighed at her and looked away from her gaze. Why was she so darn happy?

For a few moments we were quiet, until she started to giggle. She laughed for a moment as she released me, a little slowly, and leaned back as to sit on the edge of the bed. Although no longer clinging to me… she hadn’t let me go. Not fully. Her hands had slid down my arms, finding my forearms, where she gently clasped… and I realized she was trying to imitate an old method of greeting. One she’d likely seen me use on a few of our members, like Lawrence.

I returned the handshake, grabbing her arms as well. It was a little awkward, since we were both sitting down and we weren’t clasping directly but instead on top of and under each other. But it was fine. Somehow it was fitting.

“I’m happy our friends are becoming nicer too, though… it may also simply be the fact the Society is now at a point where they have no choice, Vim. The other situations you speak of… back then, how many other locations had been available? Fly for instance, back in that time, how many more places could she have gone?” Renn then asked, sounding rather lovely as she spoke. Why’d her voice sound so nice all of a sudden…?

Nodding gently, I admitted and acknowledged what she was saying. “Yes. I know. I know back then they had not done so because there had been other, maybe even better options. There had been,” I said.

“Mhm,” Renn nodded, as if glad I was willing to accept that fact.

But of course I was. I wasn’t a fool. But… well…

“To be honest I don’t know what I was saying,” I said.

“I do. I think you were trying to imply somehow that my presence made Lilly and Windle more open-hearted. Or minded? Open-minded? But that’s a silly notion, Vim.”

I frowned at her and wondered if that was what I was trying to say. Surely not… right? I rarely expected anyone to change their ways, especially those who were old. Like Lilly and Windle. So…

Renn giggled again, and reached out with her feet. She pushed her feet against my shins, though only very gently. As if she just wanted to rest her feet against me. “I’m glad you thought of me though, for Fly. Even if it annoyed you,” she then said.

Shrugging, I kept my mouth shut as I focused on our touch instead. How did our hands and feet touching somehow feel more intimate than our earlier hug?

“And although I would have happily lived with Fly… I’m also glad Lilly and Windle kept us from having to do so. But that being said, I do have a question. Or well, I have many questions like usual, but this one might be a tad odd even for me,” Renn then said.

“Hm?”

“Do you think Lilly and Windle would be willing to let me build a home here? For us? Even just a small house?” she asked.

For once I didn’t know the answer to one of her silly little questions… though I suppose this one wasn’t silly in the slightest. “Honestly I don’t know. My first guess would be no. They’re private people. They don’t live here, away from everyone else, just because they’re banished and hated by most of the Society. They do it because they want to.”

Renn’s smile softened, but didn’t go out. She must have expected my answer. I’m glad she had asked me first.

“That being said, though,” I said, before she could speak up. “It would also not surprise me if they agreed to it. Lilly seems to really like you, and strangely enough so does Windle. He doesn’t even shy away from you when you two draw close,” I said.

“He did in the beginning. When I first visited, those years ago,” she said.

I nodded. “He’s a coward. A real one. Kind of like our other more skittish members. The fact he’s so calm around you is rather telling of his view of you. You should feel complimented,” I said.

“I do,” she said without missing a beat.

Good. I knew Lilly and Windle would never mention it so I wanted to make sure she knew. After all it wasn’t like anyone else would ever be able to tell Renn such a thing. There were only a couple people left who even spoke to them anymore, let alone spent time with them and knew them well. Merit was one of those few.

Glancing around the room, I felt my eyes get drawn to the bed. I suddenly felt like taking a nap.

How long had we been talking? I had come in here to say a few things, like us leaving and giving her the option to stay if she wished, but somehow I felt we’d been talking all night already.

Taking a small breath, I sighed a little and nodded. “Okay. No more weird topics for a bit please, I’m exhausted all of a sudden,” I said.

Renn found that hilarious.

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