Pulling the furnace’s bellow, I made sure to not do so too strongly. The room grew loud for a moment as the colder outside air rushed into the bottom airways of the nearby furnace. The massive pile of burning fuel grew rather bright thanks to the heat, and a loud hiss filled the room as the cold air was rapidly heated and fueled the fire of the blast furnace.

I released the leather coiled rope, knowing I only needed to feed the furnace once based off the sound of its flames.

“So… how are you going to properly set the armor, Nebl? Branches going to come here?” I asked as I watched the furnace for a moment. The heat it was radiating felt good. It was that very heat which had made me hang up the sunflowers to dry in here and not out in the sun or their greenery.

Other than the half dozen that Pram had tried to plant in their nearby garden, the ones Renn and I had uprooted in full, the sunflowers we’d gathered were now all hanging on a nearby rack. One that usually had leather work hanging from it, since it was quite literally a drying rack. There were enough hanging from it that I knew once dried properly I’d be able to make a few batches of different snacks. Not just for Renn, but everyone here. I’d roast some, salt others. I looked forward to it, since it turned out none of them had recognized them.

Which meant I’d gone all these years without ever bringing any here for anyone. I really was an ass.

Maybe I really have become neglectful… maybe I needed to sit down and confront the fact that possibly Light and the rest had a point. Maybe over the years I’ve become… even more distant than I used to be. Should be.

“Lellip will be going with Lilly, when it’s time. To visit them and when she does she can make any adjustments needed,” Nebl said from his nearby workbench, pulling me from my thoughts.

I frowned at that. “Lellip…?”

Turning to face him, I stepped over to him as I watched him nod and sigh. He put the sword down he had been working on, as to face me.

“My granddaughter has decided to go meet him,” he said.

A little stunned, I did my best to not smirk and laugh. Nebl’s descendant… Lellip… was going to go meet Lilly’s son, and not just any son but the one who was a mercenary? The only son to have inherited his mother’s backbone?

I should be shocked beyond belief, but the truth of it was right before me.

Nebl was making weapons and armor. And not for me.

That alone told me all I needed to know.

“Did… did Lilly ask for all this?” I asked. She had told me she had asked for a sword, but she had omitted that it hadn’t been for her. And that it hadn’t been all she had asked for.

Nebl shook his head. “She only asked for a sword for him. She worries for him, since the world is becoming dangerous. More dangerous than she can protect him from. Well… Lellip had been here with me, while we had been talking about it. I was doing my typical assessment, asking how tall he is and all that, and Lellip somehow just…” he shrugged, frowning in a way that told me he didn’t believe it either, but knew better than to try and reason it.

“So she heard about him, found him interesting and now wants to go meet him,” I said, quickly understanding.

Lellip wanted to meet him. To see if they would be compatible. And Nebl, being the overly doting grandparent… was now making a suitable set of armor and weapons for the man who might one day become his grandson.

He nodded. “I blame your girl, by the way.”

“What…? Renn? We weren’t even here,” I said, defending her.

“You hadn’t been, but ever since she came here she’s been more interested in love. At first I thought it was just a remnant emotion from that lad in the mines, but it’s too serious for that…” Nebl sighed as he crossed his mighty arms. “Honestly I should be happy. At least he’s one of us, even if he’s her child of all things.”

“Should I take offense to that?” Lilly asked as she entered the smithy.

“I would,” I said as I studied the door she had closed behind her.

She was alone…? Where was Renn?

Maybe with the rest of the monkeys then. Still fascinated with the baby.

Nebl scoffed at Lilly as she approached us, grabbing a chair as she did. She dragged it near Nebl and sat upon it.

“Would you really have, Vim?” Lilly asked with a small chuckle.

Shifting a little, I glanced to a nearby chair. I decided against grabbing it just yet and looked back at the two. “Honestly no. If I had a daughter vying for a man of my own nature I’d be against it too,” I said.

Nebl laughed at that, heartily. “So he admits it!”

Lilly grinned happily as she nodded quickly. “I always figured he did.”

My eye twitched since their reactions to my statement told me such a topic had been brought up before. Likely many times.

Just great.

“Hm… actually since this is being brought up and out in the open, I suppose I should say it…” Lilly then turned to look at Nebl… and the two stared each other in the eyes for a moment. I felt the air grow a tad colder, a hard thing to do in this hot smithy, as Lilly nodded to him. “Branches is my first born son. I raised him to be a soldier. To be able to protect himself in this world, and those he is meant to,” she said sternly.

“And Lellip is my pride and joy. You know how many descendants I had, Lilly. She’s not my last one, thank the gods, but she is the only one left that inherited the fire of the forge. Or will you try to claim your son’s sword arm is more important than my daughter’s hammer swinging one?” Nebl asked, just as sternly.

Feeling a little stuck, as if between two hard rocks, I smiled gently as I watched something I never imagined in a million years that I’d get to witness.

Bickering in-laws. Funny. Especially when one considered who they were.

“I’d never insult you or your family’s lifestyle. My life has been saved many times by your work, Nebl… but if you think your daughter is too good for my son then you have another thing coming. How about she tries for one of the other ones? Trunk would suit her better, I think,” Lilly said with a small shrug.

Nebl’s head lowered, his eye twitching a bit as it did. “Sure are acting all high and mighty! Isn’t this boy wingless? And just a mercenary? Not even the leader of them, or anything? Sounds like he’s more like Windle than anything else,” Nebl said.

Lilly flinched, opening her mouth as to say something… but nothing came out. She instead looked quickly over at me, with a look begging for support.

I smiled at her, since I could tell what had actually bothered her.

Normally one would have been offended over hearing their spouse being insulted, but instead Lilly had only heard one thing.

Wingless.

“Now Nebl… I’d not thought you the type to be so stern on the trait-less. And I’ll have you know Lilly told him to not make much of a name for himself. So him not acting out and staying away from the world’s attention is him fulfilling his duties as a son and member of the Society,” I said.

“Yeah!” Lilly quickly nodded, uncrossing her arms as to shake her fists at Nebl. Acting like a child all of a sudden.

“That doesn’t make it any better! I’m to just let my pride and joy go marry some random mercenary? Live a life like that? She’ll die on some nameless battlefield, surrounded by people who don’t know her or her skills? Feh!” Nebl’s voice grew louder, but not harsher. He looked away from me, and even Lilly, and over to the furnace as if to distract himself.

“She’d not die! She’d live with us!” Lilly said.

“She’d die without the heat of a furnace to keep her warm!” Nebl shouted, slapping his knee with enough force that it would have broken a normal person’s.

“Then we can just make one for her there too!” Lilly argued.

Frowning at the two, I realized that the two have likely been arguing like this for some time. Far longer than just a few days.

Though it was strangely adorable that Nebl was both trying to argue Lellip was perfect to be a wife, and more than good enough to go become one, while also trying to point out reasons she couldn’t and shouldn’t go.

As was it so with Lilly. She seemed oddly okay with the idea of taking Lellip with her to join her family… which I wasn’t sure yet how that had come to be, or why.

It wouldn’t have been that long ago that Lilly would have outright denied such a thing. Not because Lellip wasn’t a good enough person or something… but for a rather simple fact.

Lellip was not an owl.

But…

Lately she’s changed.

Not only had she invited Fly into her little nest, she’s had a daughter fall in love with a human… who had sub-sequentially died. And now she was seemingly open to the idea of letting her firstborn son marry Nebl’s granddaughter.

Her inclusion of Renn into her family was excusable and overlooked, thanks to her relationship with me, but this was beyond that.

“What does Lellip have to say about any of this, anyway?” I asked.

I’d not talked to Lellip yet. Renn and I had arrived this afternoon, I had sneaked away to get an update from Lilly, then we had dinner… and now we were out here. Nebl like always wanted to work off his dinner, so was working on Lilly’s sword and armor. Or well, Branches’.

The two calmed down a bit, and Nebl coughed. “She’s hoping you don’t need Lilly’s help for a bit. So she can hurry off to meet him,” he said quietly.

Lilly nodded. “She won’t shut up about it. I’m glad you’re here, if anything so Renn can distract her for a bit.”

Nebl chuckled at that. “Yes. My granddaughter may be a tad headstrong sometimes…”

“A tad? Don’t boast how she inherited all that you are and then try and say she didn’t inherit your bad traits too, you blockhead!” Lilly said.

“And I bet your son’s only inherited your good traits too? Not a single bad one?” Nebl defended his bloodline as the two got louder again.

“Branches has always seemed like he had a good head on his shoulders,” I said gently as I finally decided to just grab a chair. Odds are the two would be at this for years to come, so there was no point in trying to out-wait it or avoid it.

“Yeah you tell him!” Lilly happily said as I pulled a chair over.

“Is he at least of good build, Vim? I bet he’s like her or Windle, all twig and no meat!” Nebl said with a point at Lilly.

I smiled at that. Pram’s husband, Drandle, was a scrawny man too. I wonder if Nebl’s always been bothered by that. I’ve never heard him complain about such a thing before.

“Last I saw he wasn’t as bad as his father, and… wasn’t that tall?” I said as I frowned and wondered when the last time I’d seen him was. Years ago, maybe five or ten? He was always out and about lately, so he was never at the Owl’s Nest when I went there.

“He’s about my height, I think…” Lilly frowned at me, as if she couldn’t remember how tall he was either.

“Bah, will have a bunch of twigs for children, Lellip already inherited her mother’s scrawniness…! I swear!” Nebl began to mumble complaints, odd complaints at that.

“Still… Renn will be overjoyed to hear about this,” I said.

“Right? She was going on and on about trying to help people find mates before we separated. To be honest I’m surprised she’ll get the chance to test her skills so soon,” Lilly said.

“What’s this now?” Nebl asked, calming down quickly.

“My wife has got it in her head that she needs to help our more lonelier members find romance. She’s even got a list, growing quickly… most who have added their names themselves,” I said. I didn’t mention names, since I wasn’t sure how much of it was meant to be private.

Nebl hummed at that. “So… you’re saying she could possibly find Lellip someone else? Someone more suitable?” he asked, rather seriously.

Lilly stood from her chair, fast enough to make it wobble and nearly fall over. “You got a lot of nerve!” she shouted.

“I do! She deserves someone stout and firm, like an anvil! You owls are too fickle for such a life!” Nebl shouted back, though remained seated.

“He’s stout as a tall tree! That boy’s never broken; he stopped crying before he could even walk!” Lilly argued.

Shaking my head at the two, I felt pity for the two possible lovebirds.

With parents like these, what use were enemies?

Though… at least it was being done with love… I guess?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

While the two argued with each other, about why their children were suited perfectly for one another, I turned and glanced at the nearby furnaces. The only one lit at the moment was the big one, the main blast furnace, and it roared in its odd silence over in its corner of the room.

Maybe I should make something while I’m here.

Actually… maybe it was time Renn had a new set of clothes? Lellip and Nebl had made the current leather set she wore now, and although it was still usable there was no denying it was starting to show its wear. A few of the little hooks I’ve had to remove completely, since they had started to rip off… not to mention her broken sword.

She had my spear now, but one couldn’t always have that on them. A small sidearm, such as the hand-and-a-half sword I’d made her last time was perfect for scenarios where carrying a spear was either impossible or detrimental. Such as in tight corridors, or something.

“Vim!”

I flinched and turned, to frown at Lilly who had stepped closer to me. She pointed at Nebl as if he was a terrible fiend. “Do something about this idiot!” she complained with a strained voice.

What had I missed…? “If you two are this bad now, I fear the wedding,” I said.

They both stuttered at that, and Lilly actually reached over to grab my shoulder. She gripped it tightly as she stepped around me and my chair, as if to put me between her and Nebl… as if he some beast. Even though he looked utterly harmless, what with the pure desperation on his face over my comment.

“She’s taking my granddaughter from me, Vim!” Nebl said helplessly, looking defeated all of a sudden.

“You say that as if it’s already said and done. They’ve not even met yet,” I said.

“Who wouldn’t fall for my lovely spark!?” Nebl cried out.

“And who’s to say you’re not stealing my son! He’s my favorite one you know!” Lilly cried back.

Ah…

Feeling exhausted all of a sudden, I shook my head at the two. “A mother really shouldn’t say such things, Lilly, even if true,” I said.

“But Vim…!”

“Aye, makes you look bad!” Nebl teased her.

“You’re not any better Nebl. Do you know how many times you’ve told me how you wished your other children had the same passion for the forge as Lellip does? That’s the same thing Lilly’s guilty of,” I said.

Nebl shifted wildly, waving his hands around. “But… Vim!” he argued.

“If anything you two should be weeping in joy. Your families may have your differences, but I could think of no better mixture than yours. A firm, unyielding tree… and the mighty fires of the forge. In one sense one cannot exist without the other, why not look at it that way?” I suggested.

“In that sense I’m throwing my son into the flames, Vim,” Lilly mumbled worriedly a she squeezed my shoulder.

“Tis’ a fitting description!” Nebl agreed happily.

Lilly genuinely growled at Nebl, loudly enough to make him go stiff and still for a moment. I ignored it though as I reached up to pat her hand on my shoulder, gently.

“Would you rather he fall for a human like your one daughter, Lilly?” I asked her with as much kindness as I could.

Her grip on my shoulder tightened, her nails slightly digging into me as it did. “No…” she whispered.

Glancing to Nebl, I raised an eyebrow at him… waiting for his response.

He shifted on his chair, and after a moment begrudgingly nodded. “No… I had been okay with it, out of kindness, but now I hope it doesn’t happen again. It had broken her heart, rather deeply, when the lad got buried. Thus why I ran in. But reality is if it hadn’t have happened then, it would have only a handful of years later. If not the mines, then a harsh winter, or a disease or festering wound. Humans don’t even live long enough anymore to need sturdy houses for crying out loud,” Nebl said.

Hm…? “You talk as if humans used to live longer,” I said.

“Hadn’t they…? At least longer than they do now,” he said with a shrug.

“They had. Though it’s not like they had lived much longer. Though the ones that usually live the longest are the disgusting ones, like the saints,” Lilly said with a sigh as she finally released my shoulder and stepped back to her chair.

“Saints don’t count,” I said.

“Why not? They’re human,” Nebl asked.

“Because they’re wrong. Duh,” Lilly answered simply.

I nodded, glad Lilly understood.

Nebl huffed at us. “Says a pair of the ones most wrong in this world. It’s as if the two of ya’ never even look in the mirror,” he said with a shake of his head.

“Actually I just did. A few days ago,” I said, remembering the moment with Renn.

I had even stripped naked for her, at her request. Though odd, I had enjoyed her flushed face as she studied our reflections.

“You did…? Why?” Nebl asked, surprised.

“Probably something to do with Renn. Don’t question his oddness Nebl, you’ll not understand it. I told you she’s made him weird,” Lilly answered before I could say anything more.

“Rude,” I said.

“Hmph… well, better than the alternatives I suppose. So? When are you leaving then? There’s a snowstorm coming, I can feel it in my bones. If you don’t leave in the next couple days the peaks will be unpassable,” Nebl warned.

“Impassable,” I corrected him.

Nebl ignored me as he glanced at Lilly, obviously because he didn’t expect a straight answer from me in this moment.

She shrugged at him. “Whenever he’s ready to go? Though he’s kindly told me earlier that he might not end up going to war with Light and the rest… so I might be going home sooner than I thought,” Lilly said with a sigh.

“Oh…?” Nebl perked up at that, but strangely didn’t do so with joy. Instead…

“Is that regret…? Why do you feel regret over hearing that, Nebl? Because your precious spark might be taken soon?” I asked, wondering what was wrong.

“Hm…? Oh… yes. That’s sad too. In a way. But no… I’ll be honest Vim, I’ve been waiting a long time for this to happen. Ever since they told me we weren’t trusted enough to build their churches, I’ve been expecting this to come to pass. It was inevitable,” he said with a shrug.

“They… told you that centuries ago. You’re just now bringing that up?” Lilly asked angrily.

“Yeah?” Nebl frowned at her in a way that told me he didn’t see her utter disgust that was plain on her face.

She sighed deeply and looked at me with a look of pure regret. “I’m letting that into my bloodline, Vim?” she asked.

“You’ll be getting a damned good armorer and craftswoman. I’d be jealous if I didn’t already have Renn,” I said.

“Oh? So she’s been putting what I’ve taught her to use has she? Good!” Nebl grinned happily at my words, and I realized he had slightly misunderstood.

I hadn’t it meant it that way. But there was no point in correcting him if he actually felt that happy over it.

Lilly sighed, gesturing behind her to the door. To the exit. “Speaking of your wife, I have a question if you’ll answer it,” she said.

Gesturing for her to go ahead and ask it, I noted the cooler atmosphere. And not because people were getting upset or anything. It was time to work the bellows again.

It was cooling already…? Maybe before leaving I should take a look at it. That was too soon. It should take hours before it became noticeably cooler.

“Is she a monarch, Vim?”

I blinked and turned back to face Lilly… finding both her and Nebl apprehensively waiting for my answer.

“No? First off monarchs cannot be human in shape. Secondly she has no heart. Why are you asking such a thing so seriously?” I asked, a little disturbed she had done so. Lilly of all people should know fully well that Renn was not something so special. Not in that way, at least.

Lilly glanced at Nebl, and I noticed the look they exchanged. It told me a lot.

They hadn’t believed me.

“You two can’t be serious. She’s not. Even if she was, do you actually think I’d want to be with a monarch…?” I shivered a little. “See that? The mere thought of it made me nauseous,” I said.

The two didn’t laugh, and in fact seemed to grow more concerned. Nebl even squinted at me, studying me for some reason.

I held their gazes, waiting for whatever weird reasoning they had to ask such a thing. I mean really? Renn? A monarch? Such a question coming from someone else, I’d understand. But these two?

“Then… have you given her a heart?” Lilly asked carefully with a glance at Nebl.

Ah. Was that it? They thought I’d given her a heart. “No. I’ve considered it, or am considering it I should say. But no, she has no heart,” I said.

I calmed down a little, having realized that was all this was. They just were making assumptions, though why they were acting so strange about it was odd.

“Then why doesn’t she have a scent anymore?” Nebl asked.

“Because of me…? Things I touch, for extended periods, lose their scents. It’s just something I do. And in case you haven’t noticed, she and I have been together for a couple years now,” I said with a small smile.

“Is that really all it is…?” Nebl asked Lilly.

She shrugged at him. “It might be, Nebl.”

“Trust me, if my wife was something as unique as a monarch or a saint I’d know. She’s got some odd traits for a non-human, being so human in appearance but so strong is one example. But she’s no more special than you two,” I said. If anything she was likely not as strong as Nebl, physically, and not as swift as Lilly. So it wasn’t even like she was an outlier when it came to such things.

“So uh… since you seem willing to talk about it, what else do you change?” Lilly asked.

“Change?”

She gestured stiffly at me. “People. Bodies? Items? Other than smells, what else do you do?” she asked.

Oh…

“Truthfully I don’t know. I hadn’t even realized my whole smell thing would work on people in the first place, to be honest. She’s the first I’ve ever noticed it affect,” I said.

“Why hasn’t it worked on me…? We spent years together, traveling. Half the time when I was young I even rode your shoulders while we traveled, or slept on your back. Or is it only if you’re intimate?” Lilly asked.

Nebl frowned as he crossed his arms, apprehensively waiting for my answer.

“I… don’t know, Lilly. Maybe it’s a subconscious thing I do? You’re likely right; it’s probably a matter of intimacy. Are we sure you didn’t lose your smell at any point while we traveled? I can still smell Renn, as she can smell herself, so you’d not notice unless someone pointed it out,” I asked.

“Wait… have you two…?” Nebl pointed at me, looking a little bothered.

“Hm? No. He phrased that weird, but no. And I’d think someone would have noticed, Vim. Back then a lot more members had been more… well… like us. More astute. Plus more vocal, to say the least. Someone would have pointed it out,” Lilly said.

I shrugged at that. “Possibly. So why are you two even asking this…? Even if she was a monarch, why would it matter?” I asked, hoping to get off the topic a bit.

Especially since I knew Lilly was moments from outing me. I’d not actually confirmed it, but I had no doubt that she and Renn had talked in depth about my… certain failures. I wasn’t in the mood for them to be brought up here and now.

Nebl sighed. “My letter, Vim. From Light.”

Oh…? “I thought you said you weren’t told its details,” I said with a glance at Lilly.

“I hadn’t been. But I heard from Oplar something similar to what I expect was told to him. Plus we’ve been talking about it. Before you got here. I figured I’d just ask while we had a moment alone, and I know Nebl wants to hear the answer too, so,” Lilly said with a shrug.

Nebl gestured at me. “Light claims she is…” then he paused a moment, frowned and glanced at Lilly. “Wait… will he get upset if I tell him?”

“I don’t know what you want to tell him, but if it’s what I overheard then I’d recommend not saying it directly,” Lilly said, rather seriously.

“Wait a moment…” I groaned as I realized, rather abruptly what was happening.

Nebl nodded. “Light claims she is special, Vim. In a rather unique way, and I had not believed it. I mean… she is neat, and although I myself don’t find her very attractive I can see why you’d fall for her. But although a rarity, likely one of the last of her kind, I had not considered her to be special beyond those simple things. She’s a true predator, and she caught your eye. So, I just wanted to know if I had maybe missed something, and…” Nebl began to slightly ramble, and I knew it was because he was trying to speak around what was actually biting at the tip of his tongue.

My eyes twitched as I glared at him, and then turned to glare at Lilly. She sat up straighter, her eyes narrowing at me, though she said nothing.

I see.

So Light was telling people that Renn was special.

And not just in general.

Reaching up, I covered my eyes as I squeezed my head with my hand. I squeezed hard enough to make my bones creak, nearly even crack, as my mind went numb.

Further proof.

First there had been Celine’s letter to her.

But that could have been reasoned away, by our love. Celine might have just foresaw my wife, and had wanted to leave her a letter. Celine had been like that.

After that, or well before that, Narli had made a few odd comments too. As had Berri. They had not said it, knowing me better than most… but I had seen it. I had heard it in the way they had acted with Renn. They had known of her before she arrived. Narli had undoubtedly had prophecies about her. I too had reasoned them away, just a simple normal ones that saints sometimes had about those they encountered.

Then the little comments from that human saint, that Elaine. I’d not heard all the prophecies she had, on purpose I avoided them, but I had heard and knew enough. She had several about Renn, and quite a few had been rather momentous. One had even been about saving the world, supposedly. Not to even mention her original saint friend, Witch, that she had spent so much time with so long ago.

The Chronicler’s little quips and mannerisms back at the Cathedral had been telling too, but I had been able to somewhat ignore them. Since I knew she herself hadn’t received any prophecies concerning Renn. She had only been parroting and relying on information given to her by other, real, saints. But reality was… where there was smoke, there was fire.

And now this.

Nebl cleared his throat, rather worriedly. “Um… I didn’t say anything too bad, did I?” he whispered.

“You said enough,” Lilly flatly said.

He groaned, but it was I that wanted to weep.

I had no choice but to accept the fact that my Rennalee was involved. The world, fate, was tugging at her. I didn’t know yet if it had been all along, or if it was because I’d chosen her as my wife, but there was no denying the obvious. Not anymore. Not even my way of forcefully doing so, thanks to my rules.

Should I… just ask for the letter?

Should I read it?

Maybe I should just confront it.

Whatever it was, whatever it led to… maybe I had to. Needed to.

And maybe doing so through that letter, instead of from the saint herself, I might be able to control myself.

Maybe reading Light’s letter to Nebl, would grant me the mercy to spare her life.

But…

Lowering my hand, I ignored the feeling of something hot run down the side of my face. Leaking from the corner of my eye I felt the wetness slide down my face. Though similar to a tear… it tinged with a familiar pain that told me it wasn’t one.

“Vim…” Lilly whispered at the sight, as Nebl flinched upon seeing it too.

Ignoring the blood that ran down my cheek, to my chin, I shifted a little and debated just leaving. Getting up and walking out of the smithy.

To end this conversation here and now. To end these thoughts.

It was what I usually did when confronted with such things. If I didn’t just outright destroy the source of such discomfort, I ran from it. Sometimes that meant killing the people daring to speak of it in front of me. Other times that just meant walking away from a situation, or person, for good.

But I couldn’t do such a thing here. Because even if I did, they’d just confront me again. If not Nebl and Lilly, then someone else. Even if I kept doing it, avoiding the confrontation… Inevitably it’d just be Renn doing it, not them.

Plus doing so was rude. Because out of anyone in this world…

Glancing at the two people I considered friends, actual friends, I took a small breath and smiled at them. They looked worried, but not for their lives.

They knew better than to talk of prophecies with me. They knew better than to say certain things. That was why they had brought it up gently, without doing so directly… as to both play by my rules but also confront the reality we had to face. Whether I liked it or not.

Just like their earlier conversations about their children. They both were upset over the idea, but at the same time knew it was far better a result than anything else they could get today. And that was a form of compassion. Of friendship. Of love.

Because they loved me, they knew it needed to be asked. Even if it meant daring my wrath or disappointment.

They couldn’t comprehend how I saw such a thing. How much I cherished such loyalty. It was those same traits of love and loyalty that had drawn me to Renn.

I didn’t deserve such loyalty.

Last time I’d received such pure loyalty I had betrayed it.

So…

Coughing, I shifted a little in my chair as I felt the bloodstained tear start to dry on my face from the smithy’s heat.

Nodding carefully, I decided to just… talk about it.

To not run away. To not destroy them in pure rage as I recoiled in disgust.

Instead I’ll… be careful. And face this properly. As not just the protector of the Society, but as her husband.

As Vim Vitae.

Their son.

Time to Stand Tall.

“Tell me of the letter, Nebl. Before I realize I’m breaking my own rules,” I said gently.

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