Anxiously packing my bag… again, I wondered what to even say.

“I’m surprised she’s still alive… I’m glad to hear she is, though sad to learn this way,” Merit said.

Glancing at my friend, I watched her again read Berri’s letter. It was a little… humbling, to learn that there were so many different languages in this world… and that so many people I knew could speak and read most of them. It made me feel less-than-adequate since I could barely understand fully the ones I did know.

“Why do you think she didn’t go into detail?” I asked.

“Because she hadn’t known who would open and read it. Likely also why she had written it in this old scrawl. I’m surprised even I remember how to read it,” she said with a small smile. One that looked kind of sad.

“Did… did you know her well?” I asked as I stepped away from the bed and the bag I had been repacking upon it.

Vim had come as Merit and I were unpacking our bags and relaxing. I’d been doing it while we talked in depth, about many things, just as a way to keep my hands busy. He’d left to go confront Light, without me, but had said and promised to not do anything too drastic.

He was worried it seemed, about Narli. Enough so to justify leaving in the morning at first light, as long as his meeting with Light didn’t go too awry.

“Berri was one of the prominent figures in the Society. Back before I even joined. Properly, at least. She too tried to make something of a home, for those like her. She and I weren’t ever really close… but I’ve never had a problem with her. She had always seemed very level-headed and reliable. A few of my friends spoke very highly of her, always had. I honestly had thought she had died years ago with her husband, that dullard,” Merit said.

“Dullard…?” I asked. Horn was a… simple man, but was he really someone worth calling such a thing?

Merit ignored that as she lowered the letter and placed it down on the desk near her chair. She wasn’t really sitting at it, just near it. She had to stretch herself, almost to the point of falling off the chair, to put the letter upon it. “I’m not happy you might be leaving again so quickly, Renn. Why not stay here?” Merit asked me.

I shifted a little, suddenly feeling bad.

Yes. It was rude. Terrible even, of me to leave so quickly… I had so much to do here. So many people to see and talk to. The other members. I needed to spend more time with Merit. I needed to check on Lamp and her people. Roslyn and her group, and I also really wanted to meet Light and the rest of them too!

But…

“Narli’s a friend…” I said softly.

Merit’s face scrunched up a bit, and then she smiled at me. “That was lovely, Renn. And justifies it quite well. Hm…” Merit frowned a bit as she crossed her arms, going into thought.

Oh…? “Thinking of joining us?” I asked, somehow recognizing that look.

“Maybe… it’d be a good excuse to go visit Nasba. She’s near there,” she said honestly.

I kept myself from leaping forward in excitement, but my tail and ears fluttered and twitched wildly all the same. “I’d love to have you come, Merit! We can come right back after, too, since we have so much to do here,” I said, trying to reason it.

“Right…” Merit hummed softly as she sighed. “I guess I could…? Your humans have all adapted. Most of those eastern girls, the ones who joined, can all speak the language well enough now… Roslyn and the rest are happily adjusted too, not that they had much to adjust to…” Merit mumbled.

I wanted to groan at their names. “They’re really all doing so well?” I asked.

She nodded, though did so a little absentmindedly. She was still lost in thought, pondering if she should join me eastward or not.

Although I wanted to hear more about my friends, I knew better than to pry. We’d already spoken of them, and I had utterly enjoyed every moment of it. But every word spoken of them just made me want to run out of the room and go hunt them down, as to wrap them in hugs and speak to them myself.

Especially Lamp. Who was no longer pregnant because her child had been born already. A young boy.

It was too late, per Merit’s words, to bother them. It was now the middle of the night, and she said the humans went to bed early here. Since they all had to be up before sunrise to work.

Honestly I was glad to hear that everyone here was doing relatively fine. Other than Herra who had passed away from that sickness that had been running rampant in the south last year, no one else had any issues or troubles. Tosh was still fine; he’d not relapsed into his mind… Merit and the rest were now very busy, thanks to the city of Lumen declaring independence, but otherwise were all healthy and fine. Happy, even. Merit’s only real complaints, that I’ve heard so far, were that she was going to start charging me for every human I sent her way to be dealt with. I wasn’t sure yet what she planned on charging me, since I got the feeling it wasn’t in coins or money, but knew it had been said partly with a serious tone.

She seemed to enjoy having people to take care of. Even if she didn’t want to admit it aloud, not even to me.

“Well… let’s see what Vim says first. Don’t be too shocked if he decides to leave you here, Renn. He might need to hurry there,” Merit then said, deciding something internally.

I nodded softly. “I know,” I said. Vim hadn’t outright said I’d be joining him, after all. I had simply begun packing just in case.

“That might be for the best too. It’d let him go there, help Berri out, and come back swiftly. And while you’re here you can spend time with me and the rest of us,” Merit said, nodding as if it was the best idea she’s thought of in years.

Although I did like the idea… I also didn’t.

I hadn’t been lying when I had said earlier that Narli was a friend. I saw her as someone special. I’d hate to not help her if I could.

Though how I could help her, where her own family and Vim, couldn’t… was to be debated. But still.

Merit then sighed, rather heavily. “Oh well… I uh… well…” Merit then glanced past me, to the bed.

I turned, to see what was wrong, and found nothing amiss. The bag was still open, waiting to be finished packed… “Merit?” I asked as I looked back at her.

“You two uh… share rooms now?” Merit asked, her eyes not leaving the bags.

Oh. She was staring at the bags lining the wall near the bed.

Vim’s and mine. Together.

I nodded gently. “Yeah,” I answered softly.

She and I had already talked, while crying a bit, about my relationship with Vim.

Merit was happy for me. Really, she was. But it was rather obvious that it was still… well…

I gulped gently and gestured at the bed. “If it’s any consolation Merit… we share a bed, but that’s all we do,” I said, trying to lighten her heavy heart a little.

Her face immediately scrunched up. “What…?”

My ears went stiff as I nodded. “We’ve not uh… well… The Chronicler calls it consummated…? I guess? Yet?” I said.

My tiny white-haired friend got a little red in the face as she hopped off her chair. “Renn!” she shouted at me.

Oh no! I should have tried a different way! “I know, that was terrible…!” I groaned, going red in the face as well.

“Why the hell not! I was going to ask all about it! What’s the point in you being married to that idiot if I don’t get to at least hear the details!?” Merit shouted.

A little stunned, I watched Merit groan as she sat back down. She covered her face with her hands, groaning as if in pain as she did.

Smiling at her, I realized she hadn’t been angry at my bringing up such a sensitive topic… but was instead angry for the exact opposite reason.

She had wanted to hear the details. Of our trysts. And was now upset that she’d not get to hear them.

“Um… sorry…” I whispered, feeling a strange mix of cringing pain and odd joy. She was acting adorably, but at the same time it seemed I had actually upset her.

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“You should be! Gosh, Renn! You can’t be serious, are you? Really? You two haven’t done anything yet?” Merit asked, once again sliding off the chair. This time she had done so with such a brisk movement it had wobbled a bit as she stepped over to me.

I nodded quickly. “We haven’t… I uh… well…” I felt the blood rush back to my face as I gently lifted my hands as if to gesture an explanation with them. “Well, you see…!”

“Don’t mumble nothings! Renn, you got to be kidding me! Now I’m starting to worry something actually is wrong!” Merit said.

“Me too…! But, well…” I took a deep breath, since both of our voices had started to grow loud. The kind of loud that would be heard if we weren’t careful. And I didn’t want to say the next bit of stuff to anyone but her. I glanced at the door, confirmed it was still shut… and I didn’t hear anyone beyond it, and then gestured for Merit to get closer.

“What…? I’m upset with you, I’m not going to whisper about…” Merit complained but got closer. She leaned upward, on her tip-toes, as I bent a little to whisper into her ear.

“There’s a prophecy,” I whispered.

Merit immediately went still. She then glanced at me, then the door, and then back at me. “About…?” she whispered back.

I gulped. “Me. Or well, my daughter.”

Merit’s eyes, the beautifully tiny ones, narrowed and became even smaller. “One you are to have, you mean,” she said, understanding.

I nodded.

“And thus why you’ve not been able to get Vim in the mood. He knows of it, and won’t indulge it,” Merit then said, rather quickly. As if she had already known. But she hadn’t. I could tell by the look of pure rage on her face that this was all news to her.

“Well… I uh… maybe. I don’t know. I’ve not wanted to admit it nor say that aloud yet, to be honest Merit… do you really think he would do such a thing?” I asked, glad someone else had finally brought it up. We’d hinted at it, back at the smithy. About Vim trying to break the prophecy, as he called it. He had denied on the spot that he’d do so, or try to do so in that way, but he had been… a little odd about it… and…

“Vim? Hell yes he would. I’ve seen him do insane things because of prophecies, Renn, and half the time he does them to stop those said prophecies… not to stop the disasters they foretell or anything, but to simply stop them from coming true. He’s killed monarchs, brought low kingdoms, even killed a god once over one,” Merit said.

“A god…?” I asked as I shifted.

She nodded… then hesitated. “I uh… I’ll be honest Renn, I’m not sure if I should talk to you about that stuff. I want to; really I do, but…”

“He’s asked you to keep it secret,” I said knowingly.

Merit’s angry face morphed into one of sorrow. “No… not outright, at least,” she said softly.

Ah… so she was doing so out of respect to him. Likely further empowered thanks to her love.

“You met a god, Merit?” I asked softly.

She shifted and slightly shrugged. “Not really… I simply saw him from a distance, once. I was too scared to get any closer. He had settled down not far from my home, back then, my oasis. Vim dealt with him,” she said.

A little shocked to hear further confirmation of what I already knew, I nodded. “I’m… surprised. I had thought all that was long ago. Long before the Society,” I said.

“Yeah… well…” she shrugged. The two of us were silent for a moment, and Merit finally sighed and gave in. “Basically Renn, Vim’s… weird when it comes to gods and everything about them. Their creations, their prophecies, and so forth. So I could see him being… really weird about this. How much does he know?” she asked.

“He doesn’t know the whole prophecy. And he doesn’t know there are multiple ones. He only knows Light had one about me, that my daughter would eventually become someone important in the Society… and that she’d be a saint,” I said.

Merit immediately groaned as she reached up to cover her face again. This time not in anger, but something else. Maybe disgust…?

“And the others…?” she whispered, as if exhausted.

“Uh… well… Celine left me a few. She left a letter, before she died, for me. I got it a few months ago…” I said, a little embarrassed.

“Please tell me Vim hadn’t seen it,” she said, revealing a serious face as she lowered her hands.

I nodded. “He knows about it. But he hadn’t read it, and he doesn’t know the contents. I burnt it at his request,” I said.

“Yet you remember it clearly, thanks to your mind,” she said, understandingly.

I nodded.

“What was the one? I’ll want to hear all of them, but for now just tell me the one about your daughter,” she said.

“Well…” I shifted a little, and glanced at the door. I focused on it, and the hallway behind it, and once I made sure we were still alone I glanced back at Merit and bent down a bit, as to whisper again. “She warned me to not let my daughter touch the moon.”

Merit frowned. “Touch the moon…?”

“Right…? What do you think that means?”

“I’m… not sure… I’ll have to think about that. But that’s not too terrible, Renn. That just sounds like a typical warning. Celine gave such things out all the time. It was one of the reasons I never wanted to meet her face to face, because I hated hearing them. I liked to hear them, since it gave me warning, but it always scared me to know of upcoming danger,” Merit said as she pondered it.

Darn. Merit was the first I had told about that prophecy, and I had been kind of hoping she would have known its real meaning.

“Do… you think it’s literal, Merit? As in actually touching the moon?” I asked.

“I… don’t see how, Renn. But who am I to know…? It’s too bad Vim’s such a jerk about this stuff, he’d be perfect to ask…” Merit mumbled.

Right. And it was too bad Miss Beak was dead, because she would have been the second best to ask.

Merit sighed. “So… you’re going to have a daughter. She’s going to be a saint, and very important to the Society. I’m guessing the saint part is why Light and the rest would be so fixated on you then,” she said.

“Hm?”

Merit gestured around us, though didn’t seem to do so with any real intention. “They came here. I spoke to Light and Less, I saw Martin’s son too but I didn’t like his father so I didn’t talk to him. Less tried to tease me about my best friend stealing the love of my life, I threatened to cook her alive. She’s a jerk, I can’t believe she’s so holier than thou yet worse than her sister!” Merit complained, a little angrily.

I too now was upset, alongside her, but tried not to let it get too deep under my skin. “Martin?” I asked.

“Celine’s knight. Or at least, one of them. Anyway, while here Light approached me. She smiled all knowingly, like her mother always did, and said she was glad I had latched onto you before getting too lost in the mud. Gah! Their whole bloodline is poison, I swear!” Merit complained loudly, seemingly growing even more upset now than she had been over my telling her Vim and I hadn’t consummated our relationship yet.

Smilingly gently at her, I waited until she calmed down a bit before asking, “What was that supposed to mean though?”

Merit sighed, rather heavily. “She meant you saved me, somehow, or something. That I would have been doomed had I ignored you. She then said she looks forward to the day I sit with her at their table, the one they’re building or will be built in the future or whatever… typical saint speaking in riddles,” Merit said, a little grumpily.

I shifted a bit, and wished we’d been sitting. I felt oddly light-headed all of a sudden.

Merit was saying that Light had implied… we’d all be together. In the future. On the same side.

Working together.

Because of… my daughter…?

“If Vim hears all this, he’ll just further entrench himself in his stupid plan,” I groaned as I realized it was likely hopeless.

“What plan…?”

Oh. Right.

“Vim plans to step down. As protector. During, or after, the vote in Telmik. He feels he’s causing too much stress and conflict, and believes stepping down will stop the Society from fracturing even more than it has,” I said.

Merit was surprisingly not very surprised. She simply frowned. “Not a bad idea, really.”

“Merit!”

“What!? It’s true!” Merit defended herself, and Vim.

“Don’t agree with him just because you love him!” I said.

“Says you!” Merit said with a red face.

“Gah!” I too felt myself grow red, but I couldn’t help but smile anyway.

The two of us glared at each other, and then we both laughed. It felt good, to be so open and to shout with someone like this. I missed this! A lot!

Sighing softly, I studied my friend… and wondered how I was so blessed.

Lately I’ve had a lot of wonderful conversations. I’ve met so many wonderful people, and gotten close to quite a few. There were only a couple, like Lilly and Merit, that I was close enough to that I’d be so open with… but…

Each one was so precious. So valuable.

How I hoped and prayed, to Vim’s parents, that somehow this all ended well. I so desperately wanted to keep this. The Society was special, but it was they… these members, that I truly treasured. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if I lost them.

“What…? Don’t look at me like that. You look like Nasba does when she’s about to sneak away to her stupid husband,” Merit then said.

I blinked. “Oh…?”

Merit grinned a little. “Sorry. A bad joke. Basically you looked like a mischievous cat.”

“I had just been thinking how much I cherish everything, and everyone. Especially you,” I said honestly.

Merit opened her mouth, to say something… but she hesitated for some reason. She glanced down, made a funny noise as she tried to not smile too greatly, and then took a deep breath.

She let out a deep sigh, then calmed down and looked back up at me.

“Honestly Renn… the fact Vim’s still with you is proof of his love. The Vim I know would have separated from you the moment he learned of such a prophecy. Or even heard a hint of it. Yet he’s still with you? And willing to talk openly about it? Even with all this drama and all that stuff happening…?” Merit shook her head gently. “Then… you have nothing to fear. Not really.”

My face scrunched up as I started to cry. Before I could even contain it, Merit let out a tiny noise as I hurriedly bent down and wrapped her in another hug.

“Sheesh…” Merit groaned, but I felt her arms wiggle around me as to return the hug without hesitation.

“I love you, Merit,” I whispered as I held her close.

“Mhm… good. You better. After all these years without his love, it’s only fair I get something finally,” she said happily.

Smiling at her, I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll do my best to make up for it… though that’ll be hard…” I admitted.

“Not really. You’re doing just fine,” she whispered in my ear.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded… and squeezed her just a tiny bit tighter.

My tiny friend had a bigger heart than anyone else I knew.

Hopefully someday I could earn the space she’d given to me inside of it. Though huge, I knew how precious such space was. How rare it was, and how hard it was to come by.

I’d earn it. Somehow. Someway.

Someday.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep