“Betty will love this, Vim. She’s been wanting a friend,” Elk said as I lifted up the log he had just felled.

He and I had cleared out a small area not far from his village. He had already made his quota, and then some, of lumber but wanted to build an extension to his house and so needed some extra for himself. So I was helping him. I planned to spend the rest of the day cutting and preparing a few of the logs we were gathering for him, so through the winter they’d properly dry and he’d be able to build his home come spring.

It was a tad odd to be cutting down trees again so quickly, but I wasn’t going to complain. I was much happier having to do such menial tasks when visiting locations, instead of finding heartbreak or chaos.

“Well, Renn’s a good friend to have. She may be a large forest cat, which are usually solitary creatures, but she acts more like a one of those savanna cats. She cherishes and goes out of her way to protect and care for those she considers a part of her pack,” I said.

“I know not what a savanna is Vim,” Elk reminded me as he picked up another log. One a little smaller than my own, but just as heavy.

“Larger cats from such a region form packs. Herds, like you elk, called prides. The female cats of such groups are usually highly protective and caring, sometimes even fighting harder and more often than the male dominate ones,” I said as I waited for him to walk first. We were going to carry them back to his home.

“Huh… she doesn’t look it, honestly. She’s tinnier than Betty!” Elk said with a laugh.

I didn’t comment on that since most people were.

Well, Betty used to be small too. I had met her in the south, at Merit’s Oasis, and she had been scrawny back then. Fitting for a doe. I wonder why she was larger now, was it just her having children over the years…? It can’t be their diet, Elk and them all basically ate leafy stuff with barely any meat.

Maybe that was why Elk wanted to add to his house…? He hasn’t had any new children lately, still had four children and his wife… and his house was already one of the largest in the village…

No matter.

“Think this winter will be a harsh one?” I asked, changing topics a little. It wasn’t snowing here yet, likely thanks to how close we were to the ocean, but I knew it was about to start. Renn and I had encountered snow, the early not very long lasting type, on our way here from the mountains after finding Sap.

“I think it will be, yes. The last couple years haven’t been that bad, and this summer was very oddly dry,” Elk said.

I nodded. I agreed with him. Renn and I had spent most of the summer down south, but even I had noticed the lack of monsoons and the strangely hot weather. Plus the rain season had been wet, but strangely warm too.

I’d yet to find a suitable fox for Renn. I had been keeping an eye out as we traveled through these dense forests, and although had seen a few none had been of suitable size. Even the villages we had passed through, the human ones, I had kept an eye out for any pelts too… since I worried Renn would get upset with me for killing a fox just for its pelt. But none had shown themselves yet.

Though maybe Renn wouldn’t be too bothered by it. She had no qualms when we killed animals for food during our travels, and she was of course a predator herself. It was nature. Foxes hunted and ate countless creatures in their life, and like cats, sometimes even did so not for sustenance but purely for the game and fun. And it wasn’t like I’d be killing it for no reason…

Smirking at myself, I wondered how long it had been since I’d worried over the weather, or the act of slaughtering a simple animal. It seemed like such… little and worthless worries to have at the moment, with so much happening in the world.

Why fret over a fox pelt when a god was possible walking this world, causing chaos?

Well. Because my wife might get cold this winter. That’s why.

“How’d that little fox end up anyway? The girl?” Elk then asked.

My smirk became an odd frown. Had I said my thoughts aloud or something…?

“She’s found a home with fellow foxes at Twin Hills. Porka and them,” I said.

“Ah. A ways away!” Elk said.

Right. Although Elk was well traveled, having traveled around with his parents during the wars as they helped the Society, he himself didn’t seem to like doing such a thing. To him even a week’s travel distance was a world away, and not worth even contemplating.

Speaking of other members, though…

“Did Meriah visit?” I asked.

“Meriah? No. Not recently I don’t think. Not since your last visit at least, only…” Elk then paused, so I had to stop too. He too was carrying a log, and we’d run into each other if I wasn’t careful.

“Elk?” I asked. What was wrong? He had gone completely still.

Elk then spun around, so I had to hurriedly arc and raise the log I carried so that his wouldn’t hit mine. I barely got it out of the way in time as Elk dropped the log he had just spun and hurried towards me.

I too put the log down, and frowned as I looked around. What had gotten him so riled up? I didn’t see, hear, or sense anything. At all. We were completely alone still, with quite a distance from his village.

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“Crane came!” Elk then shouted at me, sounding suddenly very upset.

Oh.

I nodded carefully. “I’m sure. She’s been…” I started to say it, realizing I had not yet told him of the vote. Not my fault really, Renn and I had arrived this morning. Just as Elk was setting out to work, before daybreak. I had simply joined him, without much thought.

Elk though cut me off. “They’re going to vote! Against you! To remove you!” he shouted worriedly, as if he was the first person to inform me.

Gently nodding, I did my best to not smile at the man who was a moment away from grabbing me by my arms, as if to shake some sense into me. “Yes. They are.”

He raised his hands, and at first I thought he was indeed going to grab me, but instead he just reached up and grabbed his head. “Those fools! You’ve got to be kidding me!” Elk shouted as he turned and groaned, huffing loudly as if under great stress.

Oh my. I’d not seem him like this before. Angry? Sure. His parents had been murdered, and I had arrived shortly after they had been so. He had begged me to help him get revenge, and he had been furious then… but that had been a different kind of anger. Not like this.

Elk began to stomp around, with very heavy steps. The soft ground, and the foot of grass upon it, barely cushioned his heavy footfalls as he left huge prints as he began to pace. The impacts were heavy enough to remind me that Elk, although a very passive man, was not weak at all. Maybe even as strong if not stronger than Renn. “The absolute fools! They’ll doom us!” he shouted.

I took a small breath and wondered how to handle this. He was suddenly furious, having remembered it. But honestly there was no need to be… yet at the same time, I was slightly humbled he was seemingly so troubled over it. Even if he was simply perceiving it as a threat to him and his family, and not really because I was his friend.

“It happens Elk. This is not the first time. Remember you and your parents helping me during the wars? It happened then too,” I said.

“They’re fools! Bastards! I oughta’ take my hammer to their heads!” Elk shouted angrily, as if he hadn’t even heard me.

Oh my. Maybe I had misjudged the man all these years. Maybe he did see us as friends.

Interesting. I felt a little bad now… since I’d always thought he had wanted me to stay at a slight distance. He had always been friendly to me, like his parents had been, but he has also always been distant. At least, so it had felt.

I watched with interest as Elk slowly stopped pacing, and with great huffs he looked up at the sky… and I noted the very faint haze of his hot breath. He was furious, wasn’t he…?

Still it didn’t take long for Elk to calm down. He took one last deep breath, and sighed. “I’ll need to think further about this Vim. Else I may do something I’ll regret. I can’t believe I had forgotten until you mentioned it! I had been so furious last time, too!” Elk said loudly.

“Mhm… don’t get too heated over it, my friend. Even if worse comes to worse and I get removed as protector, or even banished, I’ll always come to you and your families aid without hesitation,” I said gently.

“Oh, of that I know! But that is not the point, Vim! We’re a herd! A collective! Who do they think they are to remove our protector? Who would replace you? Who has your strength or knowledge? And more so who would not be tainted or biased about it? Not a one! Not any of them!” Elk said as he gestured at the world around us.

Oh my. He sounded like Renn.

“As you know, though, if that very herd does agree to such a thing Elk… it’d be against the herd to choose otherwise,” I said.

“Shut it Vim! That’s what Crane said! I nearly chased her off when she did!” Elk shouted at me.

Smiling at that, I wondered if he’d chase me off too if I kept it up.

Elk huffed again, and for a tiny moment looked as if he was going to start pacing angrily around again. Instead he shook his head and went to rubbing his face, as if suddenly exhausted and covered in sweat. We had fallen about dozen a trees, but we’d not done enough just yet for such a thing to be the case.

“Really Vim? What is their problem? At least the ones who left so long ago had some sense. They didn’t agree with us, yet still knew to trust you. They even had you escort them to their new home!” Elk said.

Surprised he remembered, I nodded. “Yes. They had. I’m hoping this time too the Society will see reason… but well…” I hesitated, and realized I hadn’t told him yet.

Of my intention.

To step down. No matter the result of the vote.

In fact, to do so before the vote even happens.

Frowning, I hesitated as I realized saying it now would likely cause problems. If he had gotten so furious over the mere thought of just my removal being voted on in a few years, what would he do if I simply told him I was stepping down either way?

“Bunch of fools…! But what do you expect? They build giant towers and cities, and then cry and whine when the world notices and brings them down. They’re all idiots!” Elk said as he stepped over to his log. It had rolled away a bit when he had tossed it.

Nodding gently, I kept myself from verbally agreeing outright. I too believed half of our problems stemmed from our own members getting themselves in trouble, such as painting huge targets on their backs by making the world notice them, but it wasn’t my position to dictate such things. Only to protect them when their own mistakes arrived to bite them in the tail.

“When did Crane come by, Elk?” I asked as he stared down at his log. He looked as if he was angry at it, not our members.

“Hm…? Oh… I don’t know. A few months ago maybe?” Elk said as he turned to look at me.

I nodded. That sounded about right. From what I’d gathered Crane has been traveling around, mostly up here in the north and the coast only going so far as Telmik a few times, to include as many as she could in her little scheme.

After leaving here, and stopping at a couple other places, we’d reach Nevi. Supposedly Crane had been staying with Rapti since the destruction of the Sleepy Artist, so that meant it’d not be long until Renn and I encountered her.

I wasn’t sure yet what to think of either of them. Or what I wanted to say to them, but I just hoped Renn didn’t get too emotional when we did meet them. Renn knew my stance on free-will, which meant I had to accept the fact that sometimes even the very people I protected were not on my side, but that didn’t mean she herself had to abide by such rules.

Even though I liked how Renn got defensive, and angry, over me… I also sometimes wished she wouldn’t.

“I’ll go vote Vim. I promise. I don’t know if Betty and the kids will come with me, but I at least will be there!” Elk vowed to me.

I slowly nodded. “Thank you Elk. Hopefully it won’t get to that point, honestly, though,” I said.

He shrugged as he went to pick up his log. He lifted it with an exasperated huff, as if it took him great effort to lift even though it obviously didn’t.

“Hmph! I feel like running into a tree! I swear!” Elk shouted angrily as I went to pick up the log I had put down too.

I smirked at that as we returned to walking back to his home.

Me too, sometimes.

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