We weren’t far from Kaley’s home.

We were taking different routes than last time, which made sense since we were supposed to be checking on people we’d not done so last time… but it was a little odd to go to Kaley before Tor, when it seemed like we were going out of our way to do so. Like how we had gotten slightly north of Nevi compared to last time, visiting the family of moles after the elk family.

I didn’t mind of course. I was looking forward to seeing everyone again. Though, it was too bad the world was so nasty as we did so.

We were inside a large barn. One that was actually better made than the half-fallen apart hut we had stayed at last night. And it was a good thing too, since it was storming outside.

“Are you sure Vim?” Meriah asked once more as she folded up her robes nicely. A stark contrast to the mess of robes and clothes piled next to hers, my own.

“Yeah. She not only wants to learn, she needs to. Especially now,” Vim said.

I glanced at him, and wondered why he was staring at Meriah so closely. Like me, she had stripped to only her undergarments. So that we would not rip or dirty our clothes as we sparred. Since we weren’t going to fight with weapons, but fists.

“Well I suppose it’ll keep us warm, at least,” Meriah said as she stretched a little. I watched the way she pulled her arms behind her head, pulling on one and then the other.

She was… kind of scrawny. But she was a little taller than me, and she had little hairs all over her body. Ones that had the same silver and white sheen as her hair on her head and eyebrows. They were barely visible, until the light hit them just right.

It made me wonder why she seemed so sensitive to the cold. The reason, per Vim’s indirect way of saying so, that we’d been stopping so often and resting… was for her. It was getting really cold, and just like since yesterday the world was noisy. The wind was howling, as if in a storm, and on that wind wasn’t just rain but frigid ice. The type that hurt.

So I understood Vim having us stop occasionally, as to rest and warm up our bodies, but honestly I hadn’t needed to.

I’d not said anything, since I believed it was for Meriah’s sake and not my own, but although absolutely cold and annoying… it wasn’t so cold yet that I needed to spend hours warming up as she supposedly needed to.

But it was fine. It gave me the chance to have conversations, and moments like this, with Meriah and Vim. Since while walking and traveling, thanks to the harsh winds and elements, it was difficult to do so.

“What if the family comes, Vim?” I asked.

We were on the outskirts of a small human fishing village. The barn we were in didn’t even have any animals in it, but it had plenty of hay and fishing equipment. Even a boat was leaning up against one of the walls. Vim had knocked on their door, startling them a little, and paid them a few coins in exchange for letting us sleep in the barn tonight. They had actually been rather accommodating. They had even offered to give us blankets and food, but Vim had turned them down. Saying we had such things.

“They won’t. Not only because of the weather, but because of Meriah and you. The two of you are great at appearances. She is undoubtedly a nun, and you’re a mercenary. They’ll be too scared to bother us, especially after we kindly asked to borrow it and paid for it too,” Vim said.

I wanted to argue his point that they’d not bother us, since in my opinion a simple human family would instead be more inclined to bother us because we seemed less conspicuous than usual… but I didn’t. He was likely right, after all.

“You know… how come I don’t have any real features, but she does, yet I’m hairier than her?” Meriah asked as she studied me.

I shifted a little, and felt a little silly. I was nearly naked, as she was, and although we were both women and usually I didn’t mind… for some reason I felt very conscious. Maybe it was because we were both naked in front of Vim? “My family had fur all over. Covered their arms and bodies, and stuff, rather thickly. I didn’t inherit any of that, for some reason,” I said gently.

“Hm…” Meriah frowned at me as she crossed her arms. As she did, I noticed the way her thin undergarment shirt shifted. It looked worn, and had holes here and there upon it.

It made me feel even more conscious. My own undergarments were well made. The shirt even had little designs sewn into it, such as flowers and stuff. It made me feel like I was either a child compared to her, needing such pretty things, or someone who boasted and thought myself better.

The strange feelings didn’t belong here in this moment, especially since I knew neither Meriah or Vim thought such a thing of me. But it was bothering me that so many of our members seemed to… live so frugally. Even if they did so on purpose, because of their own desires and beliefs.

Yet I always seemed to have very well made clothes. Sometimes made by Vim’s own hand. It made me feel… special, but not in a good way.

I didn’t want to receive nicer things than our members. I wanted Vim’s love, but not his favoritism. Not like that.

“By the way, so it’ll be fair, I’m a type of weasel. I don’t know the exact species or whatever, but yea…” Meriah shrugged gently as she told me.

“Really…? That’s cute!” I said happily as I thought of the recent weasels and minks I’d seen, comparing them to her. One not long ago had even sat on Vim’s shoulder, when we had met Sap up north.

Meriah sighed and gestured at me. “Cute she says, Vim.”

“Hm…? Yes. She likes cute, and small, animals. It’s annoying.”

“What’s wrong with finding things cute?” I asked.

“Nothing at all. I just think you’re the only person who has ever called me cute. Makes me upset for some reason,” Meriah said.

Oh…? I glanced at Vim, who glanced at me gently without showing any emotion on his face.

That was sad. By what I’d gathered Meriah was about my age. Younger than Lilly, but not by much.

No one’s ever called her cute…? Ever? At all? Hopefully she was just joking, and not being serious.

But… I knew better than to assume that. Meriah did joke and laugh, but not like that in that way. Her beliefs, her religion, believed that lying was a sin. A terrible one. It was why she wasn’t able to lie or hide truths, which was why Vim sometimes didn’t want her help even though he could use it. Because he knew she’d tell others what she had seen or done, if they asked.

And… honestly I’d never been given such compliments either. Before joining the Society. But ever since joining, I’ve received far more than my fair share of them. Most of them not even from Vim. So it was sad to think that those same people who complimented me all these years hadn’t given any to her.

Did that mean the ones I’d gotten had been biased? Were people nicer to me because I was Vim’s partner, maybe? It was a terrifying thought, one that I didn’t want to think about right now. Especially since it made sense.

Anyone would be nicer than usual to the wife of the man who kept you alive…

“Just uh… so you two know, I really don’t know how this works. I’ve fought before, of course, but only to keep myself from dying,” I said as I glanced at my hands, to forcefully stop thinking of sad things. Luckily my nails weren’t sharp or long. I had cleaned them up before we left Elaine’s and although they were starting to grow out again it wasn’t enough to worry about hurting Meriah as we sparred.

“We’re wrestling, Renn. The idea is to pin your opponent down and put them in a position to make them give up. Basically overpower me to the point that I have no choice but admit I was defeated, that if we had been actually fighting to the death I’d have lost,” Meriah explained again.

I nodded and glanced at Vim. “She means like when we spar with swords, right? That the moment one of us could have died, had it been a real fight, is when we lose?” I asked.

“Yeah. Meriah will likely try to pin you down, getting her arm around your neck or something. Don’t let her,” he said.

Vim looked tired. Or bored. He wasn’t even smiling.

Yet he had been the one to ask Meriah if she’d be willing to do this with me, while we had the chance…

Plus…

I glanced down at my bare feet, and felt the straw and hay all under it. There was a thick layer of it, and I knew beneath it was likely the same sandy dirt that was all over this coastline.

It was actually a good type of floor to do this, if I was going to be rolling all over the ground and stuff. There’d be no sharp rocks or anything to dig at us as we did so.

Such a floor made me wish back when I had sparred with Brom on the roof of the Animalia Guild building that we had instead done so on grounds like this. Maybe then neither he or I would have gotten hurt the times we did.

“Just don’t stab out my eyes, or rip my throat out please,” Meriah said.

My heart fluttered as I shook my head. “No! Absolutely not!” I said worriedly.

Vim scoffed at that. “If you can pin her Renn, I’ll brush your hair for you,” Vim then said.

My eyes went wide and I felt my tail and ears go stiff as I hurriedly glanced at him. “What!?”

He nodded and smiled at me. “What? Want something else?”

“No! I want that! Yes!” I said quickly, feeling silly but not ashamed to be so.

“What do I get if I win?” Meriah asked with an odd tone.

“What… do you want?” Vim asked as he glanced at her.

Meriah frowned and thought about it for a moment, and I felt an odd squirm of worry slither up my tail. Hopefully she’d not ask for something similar…!

Honestly it hadn’t seemed like Meriah was infatuated with Vim like some of the others. She had seemed even a little wary of him, for some odd reason. Maybe because she didn’t like how he poked holes in her beliefs and faith. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have feelings for him, and I had just not noticed and…

“Can I know where Celine’s grave is?” Meriah asked suddenly.

All my worry vanished, like a bubble popping, as I shifted and felt stunned. What a request…!

“Can… I ask why?” Vim asked carefully.

“To spit on it, of course?” Meriah said.

“Just spit? Nothing else?” Vim clarified.

“Yeah…? I’d not destroy it or anything Vim. Just want to spit on it and say some curses and stuff, that’s all,” Meriah said with a nod, being serious.

Vim sighed and glanced at me. My ear twitched at the look he gave me. “I… I don’t know where it is. Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked.

Meriah giggled, drawing my eyes. “Because he knows you won’t win. He’s debating saying yes or not,” she said.

“What…? I mean it’s likely I won’t, since I’ve never done this before, but really Vim? Didn’t we do this with Brom?” I asked angrily.

“Oh shush. Fine. Yes Meriah, I’ll tell you where her tomb is,” he said to Meriah, and then looked to me. “And you. That wasn’t what I was thinking. I was admiring your thighs.”

My…? I glanced down, shifting a little and wondered what the heck he was talking about.

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Meriah snickered a laugh. “Vim! What the hell!”

Although I wasn’t sure what to really think just yet, I found myself smiling as I looked back at him. “Even during such a serious moment that’s what you focused on?” I asked.

“You’d be surprised of the things I focus on during such moments,” Vim said.

“I bet!” Meriah laughed.

Sighing at him, I shook my head and felt a little… calmer all of a sudden. As if all was suddenly right in the world.

I wasn’t sure why he thought my thighs of all things were worth ogling, but the fact he was doing so in the first place was very relieving.

He stared at me all the time… but it wasn’t often he actually admitted to it.

Still… my thighs…?

I glanced at Meriah, trying not to be obvious about where I was looking. Had he been looking at hers then, earlier? Had he compared the two of us, or something?

He had said admiring. Not studying, or looking at. He had used that word specifically… did that mean I had the better pair of thighs in his opinion? How so?

She was a little skinnier than me, but not by much. Plus she had those fine hairs all over her. But they weren’t so thick or bad it was an issue, in my opinion. Plus I knew, for a fact, that Vim was not bothered or off-put by non-human traits. In fact he’s even a few times mentioned he found them attractive… so…

Actually… she was kind of sexy. Her unique hair color alone made her neat. And even though she no longer dressed like a nun, being partly naked, her skinny and fit body still told any who looked that she lived a life without indulgence or strain. She honestly was a little plain, other than her hairs, but that very plainness made her attractive. Plus she had freckles here and there, far more than I did or most women I knew, which also added to her unique appearance and…

“Alright. You ready Renn?” Meriah asked as she tilted her neck, and then did so the other way.

“No… but yes,” I admitted as I snapped out of it and stopped ogling her.

I tried to stop thinking about my thighs, or hers, and shifted a shoulder.

Wrestling. Vim and Meriah had explained it. We could punch and kick, but the real point was to pin an opponent. To make them submit.

Animals did such things. They’d bite at the back of necks not to kill, but to make the other submit. Or push them down and over.

I’d seen men fight many times in such ways. Throughout the years I’ve not only seen men fight to the death, but for sport too. Sometimes at some villages or towns there were festivals, and occasionally there were times where knights and other men displayed feats of strength and skill as they fought or sparred. So I had an idea… but…

How did one pin someone else…?

How did I get her to admit defeat without actually hurting her?

Something told me I was going to find out, even if instinctively. Or maybe from experience.

“Try not to get too close to the walls or pillars,” Vim warned.

I nodded and glanced around real quick. There weren’t many pillars, but there were a couple. One was even a few dozen feet away.

The barn was actually rather big. Meriah and I had plenty of room for this. More than one would think, in such a building.

“Ready?” Meriah asked.

I nodded.

Then she tackled me.

Falling to the ground, I blinked in surprise. She was fast! Like Vim!

Landing on my back, I raised my arms in an attempt to figure out what to do next. Yet before I could even think about what to do, Meriah had rolled forward and suddenly I had a pair of knees pinning my arms to my own self. And one of those knees weren’t even mine.

“What the…” I grumbled as I tried to understand the position I was suddenly in.

Meriah was on top of me. She had a knee on my own knee, and they were pinning my arms. My other leg was free, but I could feel her other foot near it. I could tell she could push or step on my other leg, to stop me from getting momentum or twisting around. She had grabbed one of my wrists, and…

Staring up at the fist, she smirked at me. “I can feel your strength Renn. You could probably free yourself if you forced it, but…” she started to say.

“But I just lost, huh?” I said as I understood.

“Hm… By the way you’re lighter than you appear,” Meriah said as she gently got off me. I sat up as she stood and stepped back, and I glanced behind me to find the barn wall.

She had tackled me over here? Jeez…

“And you’re fast, too…” I said as I stood up and brushed myself off. I had hay all over my back.

“Says you? You nearly kicked me off the moment I tackled you, that’s why I had to pin that leg,” Meriah said as she pointed to the leg she had pushed upward and onto my chest.

Oh…? Had I? I hadn’t even realized I’d done so.

“Again,” Vim said.

I frowned and nodded as Meriah stepped away. She took the same position as she had before, so I slowly walked over to where I’d been too. I noticed a small gap of hay where I’d been standing originally. It had gotten all kicked up in the quick movements.

“I get the idea of pinning now,” I said. Basically it was the act of making someone completely vulnerable. I had almost felt like I couldn’t do anything even if I wanted to, as if she had full control over my own body.

Meriah smiled at that and nodded. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” I said, more confidently this time.

Like before I didn’t even have time to blink. One moment she was standing there, over a dozen feet away, the next she was tackling me.

The same way as before. Right into my midsection, underneath my arms. Pushing onto me, as to push me over and onto the ground.

Unlike last time, I wasn’t just ready… I comprehended what was she was doing. I spun, wrapping an arm around her own, and then pushed off her left thigh with my own left foot. The movement allowed me to spin farther around, and as we fell to the ground… instead of me falling onto my back, she did.

Landing on her hurt a little. Knees, elbows, and who knows what else poked and pushed, and in a flurry of movement… I went to get her on her side, and force her head and face into the hay. My idea was to put her at my mercy, by pinning her left arm and leg under her own body, and place her neck in such an exposed position she’d have no choice but to submit… yet right as I dodged a punch, and felt her tighten her muscles beneath me…

Blinking… I stared up at the ceiling and Vim’s face.

“Hm. How you feeling?” he asked with a smile.

I smiled back at him. “Lightheaded… what happened?” I asked as I lifted myself. Vim leaned back a little, not helping me as I sat up… and found it was not as noisy as it was before.

The wind outside wasn’t roaring. The world was still cold, frigid even, and there was now a small fire burning nearby. One that Meriah was sitting in front of… and…

Frowning at the way her arm was wrapped in cloth, I turned and looked around… and found I was still partly naked, but otherwise fine by the looks of it.

“You okay Renn?” Meriah asked.

“I… think so?” I said as I felt my ears and tail shift and twitch. I felt a little itchy, likely thanks to lying naked on the straw covered ground, but I didn’t feel any pain anywhere at all.

But it was obvious I had passed out. Or been knocked out. Even though I couldn’t remember how it had happened at all.

“Sorry Renn… you broke my arm, and I panicked a little because of it,” Meriah apologized as Vim reached out and patted my head.

I frowned at his odd action, and glanced at Meriah. So that arm was wrapped because it had been broken. “I’m sorry,” I said softly.

“Oh, I’ll be fine! Look, splinted already! It’ll heal in a few days, I’ll be okay,” Meriah said with a smile.

Although it was obvious she was being genuine in her words, I still felt horrible as I sighed and glanced at the man still rubbing my head, as if I was some child. “Everyone I spar with gets hurt, Vim,” I said softly.

He smiled gently and nodded. “People get hurt when they fight Renn. That’s nothing new. In time you will learn to better control your strength, but until then… we’ll just have to take our bruises and grin,” he said.

“Easy for you to say. This hurt!” Meriah said.

“I’m so sorry…” I groaned.

Meriah twitched, and then gave me a sheepish smile. “Look at you…! It’s okay. Really. I heal quickly, Renn. I’ll be out of this splint before we reach Tor’s Canyon, so it’s all well. Though I’ll not be able to spar with you again until it heals, sorry about that,” Meriah said.

Right… I fluttered my ears, and regretted doing so because Vim pulled his hand back upon my doing so. I glared at him as he stood away and stepped over to the fire.

Jerk. Why does he keep hesitating and pulling away like that? He’s been touching me more, even more openly like in front of others, yet the moment he accidentally touched my non-human traits he reverted back to his normal self. One who stepped away and pretended that he hadn’t been touching me at all in the first place.

You’d think my tail and ears were prickly or something. But I knew they weren’t… right?

They felt smooth to me… so…

Reaching up, I touched my ears and hair. I verified they felt fine, and sighed as I stood up.

“Come sit Renn. I brewed tea,” Vim said.

“How long was I out?” I asked as I stepped over to the fire. I did so carefully, just in case, but I didn’t feel dizzy or anything. In fact my earlier lightheadedness was now gone. I felt completely fine now.

“About twenty minutes or so?” Meriah wondered and asked Vim.

He nodded. “Not long. You started snoring a little after, so we knew you were fine,” he said.

My face become hot, and not because I sat in front of the fire. “Mhm…” I grumbled as Vim poured me some tea.

He handed me the cup, which I took thankfully, and spent a moment to listen to the wind and world outside as I took a drink. The wind had died down a little, but…

“Is it snowing? For real now?” I asked. It sounded like it was.

“Yes. It’ll pick up through the night by the looks of it,” Vim said.

A part of me was glad. If it stayed snowfall and not that nasty sleet and rain, maybe Meriah and I could have more comfortable conversations as we walked.

“Now, now! Cheers Renn!” Meriah said loudly, raising her cup as she did.

I joined her, but paused a moment as I noticed the way she was grinning.

“Are… are you drunk?” I asked, not able to believe it.

“She is. She’s utterly weak to alcohol, that’s her second cup and I just filled it up for her,” Vim said.

“Oh shut it! I’m in pain, I earned this!” Meriah complained as she took a drink.

Smiling at her, I nodded and wondered where she had gotten alcohol from. Vim and I didn’t carry any with us as we traveled, so odds are it was from her own bag. But her bag was smaller than mine was… did that mean in that small bag, in what little she carried around, she chose alcohol over other necessitates…? Or maybe had Vim gone to the nearby house and family we were borrowing this barn from to ask for some?

“No. You can’t have any!” Meriah then said, likely because I was staring at her.

“That’s okay. Enjoy Meriah,” I said.

“That’s no fun! Drink with me!” Meriah’s voice grew louder, though at least she didn’t try to hand me her cup.

“Ignore her Renn. Give it a few minutes, another cup or so, and she’ll literally just fall over and fall asleep mid-sentence. She can’t handle it at all,” Vim said.

“Nuh-uh! Or maybe, yeah!” Meriah laughed as she took another drink.

Unable to resist I couldn’t help but laugh. Gosh she was already slurring her words!

How fascinating! She had sounded normal when I had woken up… but maybe I had been slightly out of it. Or did it just happen that fast?

“Congratulations on your victory, Meriah! Can I come with you when you spit on her grave?” I asked.

“Grave…? Whose?” Meriah asked as she closed her left eye and looked not at me, but next to me.

Wow… “Celine’s, remember?”

“Oh… right… eh…” Meriah then shifted, took a very long blink with her one remaining eye… and then fell over.

She fell rather roughly. With a loud thud, causing hay to fling around. Some of it landed in the fire, to which Vim reached forward and made sure none of them were sticking out. So that the fire wouldn’t spread.

“Did she just fall asleep?” I asked softly as Vim dealt with the fire for a moment.

“Yep. Told you,” he said. He then grabbed her cup, which she had held upward and righted even as she fell. She mumbled in her sleep as he glanced at its contents. “A few drinks left. You want it, Renn?” he asked.

“I’d like to taste it. If it’s that strong maybe it’ll work on me too,” I said happily as he nodded and held it out. I took it carefully, since it might be precious.

I smelled it first, finding it rather dull smelling, and then took a small sip… and realized it was just some kind of wine.

“Doesn’t taste that strong at all,” I said, a little regretful.

“Because it’s not. She’s a true lightweight. She’s going to be mighty embarrassed in the morning,” he said with a small chuckle.

“Why? I’d not make fun of her for it,” I said.

“Because she had hoped you’d have slept the night away yourself, so would not have seen her get drunk. She seems to be really embarrassed over it, and as far as I’m aware… no one else knows other than Randle,” he said.

“Randle does?” I asked as I took another drink of the wine.

Vim nodded as he stepped away and went to our bags. He dug out a blanket, and kindly laid it over her. “After her godmother died he took her under his wing. You know how he is about orphans and those like them. They don’t get along much now, but I’ve been wondering if they’ll become friends again now that Randle and the rest of them are on the outs,” Vim said.

I hummed as I studied the taste of the wine some more. “Do you think Randle knows that Light and them destroyed Lomi’s village?” I asked.

“No. He would have told me. Or would have tried to stop it, at least. I’m confident in that,” Vim said stiffly as he stepped over to me and sat down.

Sitting up a little straighter as Vim took his place next to me, I noted how close he had sat. We were touching. “You sure you’re feeling alright Renn?” Vim asked.

“Yeah? Though now I want my smoothie,” I said with a sigh as I took the last drink of Meriah’s wine. No point wasting it.

He chuckled, and then took the now empty cup from me. I returned to my own cup, the one with tea, and licked my lips. I honestly didn’t care much for alcohol, did I? I was half tempted to gulp down my tea now just to wash out the taste.

I wonder why? So many people seemed to absolutely love it. Like Meriah.

Though… maybe I’d like it too, if it made me feel so calm and happy that I just fell asleep like that without warning…?

“Meriah feels bad. She knew you were strong from her first tackle. Yet you still startled her. What am I going to do with you?” Vim asked lightly.

“Teach me yourself, of course? You keep promising to, yet we haven’t,” I said as I glanced at him.

He was staring at the fire and had that bored look on his face again.

For a moment we were quiet, and I enjoyed the moment. The sound of the snow outside was gentle. The fire warm. Vim was right next to me… then Meriah started to snore. Rather loudly.

I chuckled at her, wondering if maybe it was so loud because of the way she was laying on her side. “She’s noisy!” I said happily as she snored the night away.

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