Maybe I will get lucky and she’ll perish before we return.

It was a morbid hope, but it’d ease this headache that wanted to survive my body’s resilience.

I hated saints. They always brought trouble. If not for the world, or me, then at least their own selves. They never came and went without causing issues.

No matter.

Studying the tree, I decided it would do. It was the typical birch found in this region. A hardwood, suited for what I had in mind. Plus its bark was useful too, if I felt like gathering it and preparing it as well.

It was dying already, which meant the lumber would be aged and dried a little. For this damp cold region, it would do well.

Hefting the axe I had borrowed, I slowly circled the tree. I searched for the spot I wanted to cut it down at, while also checking the surroundings. The tree was likely sixty odd feet high, so I made sure there was nothing I could destroy on accident by felling it.

It was honestly far too much wood for what I needed, but I knew better. You always gathered more, not less. Just in case.

I sighed as I stopped studying the tree, and the area around it. I decided it was fine to fell, so went ahead and angled the axe.

“Timber,” I whispered as I swung it.

The axe-head hit the tree, breaking a thick layer of bark and getting stuck several inches in. I easily pulled it out, and checked the tool. Both the handle, and the axe-head, were stout and undamaged. I had correctly gauged how much strength to use with this thing.

Now that I was sure, I went ahead and finished the job. Less than a dozen swings later, the tree slowly began to tilt away from me. It didn’t make much sound as it fell, but upon landing it made a noisy boom as it fell on hardening ground, as the branches and canopy crushed and crunched beneath itself.

It bounced just once, and then came to a stop. The tree didn’t snap, nor did the layer of bark upon it splinter and shatter off. The way it settled easily, without any problem, told me I had picked the right tree.

The sound it had made, and the freshly cut section from where I had felled it, told me that it had indeed been dead already. Which meant the wood would be mostly dried, if not completely, and won’t require me to smoke or dry it.

“World’s gone crazy and I’m fixing floors and making chairs, for a saint no less,” I grumbled as I went to clean the tree.

Although I didn’t hurry, I still cut most of the branches and limbs off rather quickly. There hadn’t been many to remove in the first place. I piled the limbs aside, debating to use them for anything as I went to remove the bark.

The outer layer of bark was the kind that could be used for roofing, or other similar materials. Some people even used it to make cups, and buckets. But at the moment I had no plans for such things, so I just gathered it all up in a nice little pile near the branches.

I paused a moment, to study the under-layer of bark, and noted just a tiny bit of sap here and there. Enough to tell me that the tree had likely died sometime last year, but the bark had lived through the wet summer. I debated gathering a little up for Renn, but decided against it as I went to cleaning the rest of the tree.

“She has snacks already,” I told myself. After spending the morning with Cat, once the saint had awoken, we had gone to the saint’s house. So I could check out the floor and chair I had ruined. As I had examined the property damage I was responsible for, Renn had been lured into a breakfast of sweets by the saint and the rest. A breakfast that Renn had more than happily abandoned me to partake in.

Honestly it was fine. She was safe here. Enough so I had been willing to consider making her a house here, for her to stay at whenever she visited. Something similar to the mansio in Telmik maybe. But it had annoyed me all the same, to hear her giggle and laugh while talking with the saint.

“You’d think Renn would doubt the woman’s sight, since it is obvious the saint has no idea the fine line she was walking,” I mumbled as I finished taking off the bark.

I had not brought a saw with me, but I wasn’t a human. I didn’t need to carve this into proper pieces out here as to take it home. The only part I needed to trim was the top, which only took a couple swings of the axe since a part of it had broken and snapped in the fall anyway. I cut it down a dozen or so feet, to where most of the log was thick and straight, and then went to do a once over on it.

The tree itself, without its layers of bark and limbs, was probably twice my width in circumference. There were actually many around me that were far wider, but this was a good size. I knew it was too big and heavy for even several horses to drag, but I also knew if I had cut down a smaller one I would have regretted it.

The good wood was near the center. It’d be straighter, and not as porous.

“Well let’s get this over with,” I said as I dropped the axe and went to pick the freshly prepared tree up.

Instead of rolling it onto a shoulder I just picked one end up, and then once lifted I got myself under it and forced it along until I had a hold of it from the center.

My head, neck and shoulders, felt ticklish as the weight of the tree tried to crush me. It only took a couple heartbeats for that heaviness to disappear, and the tree to become almost as light to me as Renn was.

“Stupid,” I told myself as I bent down to grab the axe. I made an odd grunt as I grabbed it, not from exertion but annoyance.

I really didn’t want to fix that saints house. But I had broken it. My feet had done the deed, not anyone else’s.

It’d not take me long. A few hours once I got back, but I dreaded those hours. Even if Renn and the saint didn’t bug me or try to talk to me as I worked, I knew I’d be able to hear them the whole while. The saint seemed to spend most of her time in her house, likely thanks to her age. So I’d not be free of their conversations as I worked, since they’ll be within earshot as I toiled.

“My own fault,” I admitted as I headed back towards the village.

I left the pile of branches and the bark behind, deciding to let them know about it but not gather it myself.

It wasn’t like they didn’t have enough resources, after all. I had passed a few recently cut stumps on the way here, along my search for the perfect tree. They forested often, by the looks of it… though I wasn’t sure if they used the trees they chopped down for much more than firewood.

They didn’t have many buildings. Most were spread out, and more than not were single story and only a few rooms big. The large, multi-floored buildings like the one Renn and I were staying in or the saint’s house were the outliers.

The saint’s house made sense, but I wasn’t sure yet why Cat had such a huge home. She had mentioned she was the village’s doctor, but I found that a little hard to believe. She was young. Too young for such a position, really.

I allowed such thoughts to distract me as I carried the log back into view of the village. I noted the chimney and the smoke floating out of it, upon the saint’s home and verified my worries. Renn and the saint were indeed still there.

“You’d think a saint had duties, or something,” I complained.

As I approached the saint’s house, I ignored a pair of men in the distance. They had stopped walking along the village road to stare at me, likely for the obvious reason.

I was carrying a nearly fifty foot log, which was wider than my waist. To them it was likely an absurdity.

Reaching the saint’s house, I found a patch of grass that looked like it’d survive my laying the log down upon it as I worked. She had fields of flowers elsewhere, and although I hated saints I didn’t hate the world around them, so I didn’t wish to harm them. Plus Renn would yell at me if I had.

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“Uh… Okay Vim, you’re scaring the villagers.”

As I lowered the log to the ground, I paused a moment to glance behind me. I found Cat standing near the open fence of the saint’s house, looking at me with a defeated look.

“Something tells me they’re easy to scare,” I said as I finished putting it down.

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” Cat said as she approached.

Likely not.

I brushed my hands and arms off as I studied the freshly prepared log. It looked great, I could already tell I’d not have any trouble forming and shaping it to my needs.

“You only broke a few boards, and two legs of a chair, Vim. You could make half a house with this,” Cat said as she stepped up to the log.

“A foundation at least, I suppose,” I agreed.

“Hm…” Cat hummed as she bent down to touch the log. I ignored her for a moment as I glanced at the nearby house. I could see the front door from here, and it was still shut closed.

I had honestly expected Renn to come out upon hearing my return. I could hear soft voices coming from inside, so there was little doubt that Renn had heard me. If not my voice, at least my putting down the log.

“Prinma is visiting with her daughter,” Cat then said as she stepped away from the log.

“Hm?”

“The young girl who had been sick. She’s feeling all better and came to give thanks. They made Saint Elaine some food as a thank you,” Cat explained.

Ah. Renn had mentioned that the saint had been feeling weary thanks to using her abilities to heal a sick girl.

I suppose it was a testament to the saint’s nature. To be willing to give up her own vitality just to help a young child through what had likely just been a common sickness.

It did seem the old coot was good-natured, and well liked. I saw Cat and those like her as cultist, thanks to their fervent loyalty… but in reality it was just them returning the kindness and support they’d gotten throughout their lives from the saint. There was nothing inherently wrong with it, really.

I’d never admit that aloud though.

“So uh, Vim.”

Cat stepped forward, putting her hands behind her back. She smiled up at me in a way that made me want to take back all the praise I’d just thought, as I glared at her. “What is it?”

“Renn says you two plan to leave. Maybe even today,” she said.

I nodded. “We have many things to do. You know the chaos in the Society, you should have expected it,” I said.

“Well… to be honest I had expected Renn to stick around for a bit. Especially when I heard you asked to build a home here for the two of you,” she said.

Two of us…?

Oh. Renn might have phrased it that way.

I had not intended my request to be inferred that way, but I suppose it wasn’t wrong. After all I’d stay here too, when visiting at least.

Plus… Renn was my wife. So in a way her home would be mine too.

I wonder what she’d think if I told her that I’ve encountered a few cultures where partners slept separately. Sometimes they even had entire separately built houses, too.

What had happened to those cultures…? Are any still around? It’d be fun to take Renn there.

Maybe after the vote.

“So uh…”

Leaving my thoughts I glanced at Cat. She still stood there, hands awkwardly behind her back, and I realized she’d not yet asked whatever it was she wanted to.

“Out with it or I’ll tell Renn you’re trying to flirt with me,” I warned her.

Cat startled, her hands flapping forward as she waved them quickly. “No! Not at all! I know better!” she said quickly.

Sure you did.

“What is it then…?” I asked as I gestured for her to follow me. Behind the house was a small shed-like section. It was more of a lean-to really, but it was where the saint had their tools stored. I planned to get the rigid two-man saw I’d seen earlier. It was one of those big ones that usually took multiple people to properly use, but I didn’t need help.

“Well…!” Cat hurried to keep up, walking beside me as we rounded the house. As we did I heard a young girl’s voice from inside.

We reached the small shed, and I opened it to procure the tools I needed. It was actually rather clean inside, but that was mostly because there wasn’t much in it. Some iron tools, a few boxes, and some gardening equipment was all it had.

Cat watched as I pulled out the large saw, eyeing it as if it was dangerous. “You’re not human, right?” she asked.

Hm…? I paused after closing the shed’s door, and frowned at her. “Yeah…?”

Why’d she sound as if she didn’t believe it…? Hadn’t she just said my carrying this log had startled her fellow villagers? For acting oddly? For doing something no human was, or should, be capable of?

“Yet… you have humans in your society,” she said slowly, leading somewhere I was now realizing to be obvious.

I nodded at her, and shifted the large saw as to rest it on the ground. It wasn’t too big, really, a little longer than my outstretched arm, but it felt awkward to talk about something like this while holding it up. I placed its sharp edge downward, into the grass, and rested it against my shins. “We do. In fact we have more humans than not, numbers wise,” I said.

“What’s it cost…? To join?” she asked.

Ah… How lovely.

Cat’s eyes were a tad wobbly. She was emotional at the moment. Almost as if distressed. But I could see it wasn’t actually stress, just apprehension. She was nearly standing on her tiptoes, waiting for my answer.

Renn would have loved this. Why had she asked me and not her? Was it because I was a man? Some of these northern folks still had that strange mindset, where men made such decisions. I’d wonder if she had asked Renn already, but something told me she hadn’t. Renn would have brought it up to me if she had, I think.

“Well… to be honest the only cost is loyalty. To be trusted, you must trust. We demand no dues, no payment… in coin or blood. Only that you never betray, and understand that a betrayal means death. Death by my hands, usually,” I said with a small gesture.

Cat nodded quickly. “I believe it,” she said with a tiny whisper.

Hm. She would. Having seen what I can do, and even having felt it. I hadn’t forgotten that I’d dislocated this poor woman’s hip, on accident. She walked fine now, no longer seemingly suffering from it, but I wasn’t so cruel as to forget such a thing.

I owed her, since I’d honestly not repaid that debt yet. Would accepting her into the Society be something that would work?

“So there are no costs, other than one’s loyalty. Just like you and your people, with your saint. You are loyal to her, but not because of debts or coins. You serve her, protect her, and obey her because it’s simply the right thing to do,” I said. At least, the right thing in their eyes. Cat nodded though as I continued. “The Society is the same. Most humans who join do so because of blood. Their family was born into it, for one reason or another. But there have been plenty, thousands, over the years that have joined without any real connection. Some join because they become friends with our members, like Renn,” I said with a gesture behind me to the house.

Cat glanced past me, and I was half tempted to glance back with her. Had Renn peeked her head out of a window or something right as I mentioned her?

But no, I didn’t hear a door or window open, nor did Cat’s eyes linger on the house for long.

“Some also join for a reason. The Society can be very useful, honestly. Some join for wealth, or power, or knowledge. Because by joining they can get access to such things, rather easily. Many would argue the Society gives far more than most, if any, could ever return. So it just depends, I suppose,” I said, finishing up my little spiel.

Cat nodded slowly at me. “So it’s not uncommon,” she said.

“Not at all.”

For a few moments we only stared at each other, and I wondered if this was going to be another moment where the one trying to ask for permission simply… didn’t ask.

I couldn’t invite her.

No one could.

That was a rule.

One had to ask. They had to say the words.

Unless they were non-human, of course.

And Cat, although named similarly to our many members… was but human. Nothing more.

So she had to…

Cat took a small breath and nodded again, this time looking down. To my feet, or likely instead the saw resting against them.

Oh no.

“Okay. Thank you Vim,” Cat then said as she looked back up at me.

I made sure to not allow my emotions or thoughts onto my face as I nodded. “Hm. If you have any questions about it, just ask me or Renn,” I offered.

She nodded again. “Okay. I will. Thank you,” she said, a little absentmindedly as she turned and stepped away.

Cat walked away, heading for the nearby dirt road nearby. I watched her go, and recognized the gait she had. It was one distracted. She was lost in her thoughts.

I sighed gently as she left earshot, and I bent down to pick up the saw.

Hopefully she gathered her nerve and asked, be it me or Renn, before we left. It could be years before Renn and I returned here, dependent on what happens with the vote and the Society. For humans that was an eternity sometimes.

If she didn’t ask now, before I finished fixing what I’d broken and Renn’s conversations with the saint, she’d likely never get to ask again.

“It’s too bad, since to Renn they’re all members already,” I whispered as I headed back to the front garden, as to cut and prepare the log I’d fallen and get to work.

Time was ticking, for all of us. Even I, whose clock stood still.

Even Hands would agree with me there.

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