There was a strange… awkwardness in the air.

And it wasn’t because of me, for once.

Or well, maybe it was.

Since indirectly I was the cause of their… oddness.

“Here I was hoping their presence would… deter this kind of thing,” Gerald said lightly as he dabbed his pen into the ink pot.

“That’s your mistake. Even an idiot could have foreseen this,” Brandy said from the other side of the room. She too sat at a desk, and although also had a bunch of papers and reports upon it, she wasn’t writing anything. Nor was she reading. Instead she was just… staring straight ahead.

I turned a bit, to look at the thing she was focused on. The painting resting against the nearby shelf, having not been put up on a wall anywhere yet, was pretty… but also a little simple. It was just a painting of some quaint town, with a castle in the distance. It looked like it was heavily wooded, maybe somewhere farther north with its thicker trees, but otherwise looked…

Normal?

Not odd enough to make Brandy so odd, at least, on first glance. Maybe it was something special, or meant something, to her. Light had given it to her. Just a few moments ago.

A housewarming gift, she had called it. Which was funny, since I had thought it was supposed to be the other way around. Shouldn’t Brandy have given a gift instead?

Gerald sighed as he put aside the letter he had just finished writing. He leaned back in his chair, drawing my attention thanks to the way the chair had not made any noise as he had done so, and rested.

He looked defeated, for some reason. As if he’d just been handed a very large bill.

“So… should I leave or something?” I asked, tired of feeling awkward.

“You think Light would move back out if she left?” Gerald asked.

“Honestly who knows anymore,” Brandy said.

My tail twisted a bit, and I wondered if I should just feel offended… or simply stop caring.

They were bothered that Light had moved into the guild. From the church. Yet at the same time, I wasn’t really sure they actually had valid reasons for acting like this. Light was… odd, and obviously scheming many things, but from what I could tell so far she was only really concerned with her own group and the cathedral they were building.

Outside of spending time with me occasionally, Light basically stayed in her room while here. She did come out to have dinner with everyone, when she was here for it, but even when she did it was calm and quiet. People spoke normally, as she did, almost as if she’d been living here since the beginning. If anyone here was actually bothered by her presence, truly, they didn’t show it at all when speaking to her. Half the time I felt as if something was… off, because of how naturally Light had basically moved in. When I had first gotten here, the first time, and met everyone there had been… hesitations amongst the members. There had even been those like Liina who had outright avoided me, since I had supposedly made them uncomfortable. Yet Light didn’t seem to have that problem at all!

It was made weirder because I knew people were bothered. And not just Brandy and Gerald, either. Merit was annoyed too, though she had a good reason to dislike Light. And as far as I could tell Tosh didn’t like Light much either, though no one outright was rude to her or she them. Merit had even sat with me and Light last night and had dinner together, talking normally and calmly.

At this point I couldn’t tell if people were just… trying to keep the peace, and not cause issues, or if people just put on a fake façade when dealing with her.

It made me wonder if people put on such fronts in front of me too. The thought made my heart hurt, since it was likely true.

“It starts with one and two. Then another will show up. Then more. And before you know it…” Gerald said with a small shiver, speaking lowly.

“I know Gerald! What do you want me to do about it?” Brandy asked her voice not low at all.

My ears twitched, and I once again wanted to leave.

Brandy had asked if I’d spend some time with her, to talk to her about some things but honestly this just felt like we were tip-toeing around the main subject. All I had heard so far was that they just wanted to voice their displeasure. To anyone who would listen.

Yet it somehow felt as if I was the one they really wanted to blame for all this. As if it was my fault that Light and the rest of her people had returned from… well, wherever they had ran off to centuries ago. I knew they didn’t really think it was my fault, as Gerald had just said he had thought me and Vim being here would have kept Light and her people at bay. I understood why he had thought such a thing, but… well… Vim wasn’t here now. So that idea had kind of fallen apart.

Though who was to know if she’d leave if he returned. Light seemed to actually like Vim, even if he detested her. Half of our conversations when together were about Vim. To the point I was firmly under the belief that Light saw Vim as either a father-figure, or maybe an older brother. Something similar to what Lilly did.

Or well, maybe. Lilly, even if she didn’t ever voice it aloud, had a part of her that genuinely loved Vim. Enough so that it’s been bugging me, and I wanted to talk to her about it.

I sniffed, shifting a little in my seat… and noted Lilly’s scent. This morning I had gone to check up with her, since Light had left early to go deal with her church stuff. I had found her taking a bath, and oddly it had made her smell a little stronger than usual. I knew some creatures smelled differently or stronger when wet but hadn’t realized owls did such a thing too.

It worried me because I didn’t outright know if I eliminated smells upon me like Vim did. So far no one had mentioned it, but… what if they did, and they just assumed it was from before I arrived here? Would they then grow suspicious later on, once they realized it wasn’t fading? What about Merit? Did they smell Lilly on her too? Or were there simply too many smells here for anyone to outright notice?

Since I didn’t like such worries I instead for a small moment thought of the nubs on Lilly’s back instead, as she called them. It made me wonder if there was a way to heal them, somehow. I had once seen Witch heal a woman’s arm, one that she’d lost the use of. It had looked… decrepit. Boney and thin. Witch had used her power, and although it had not returned to normal it did heal enough that the woman had been able to use it afterward.

Could the same happen to Lilly? Could Light, a saint who was supposedly one of the most powerful to have ever existed, do something about Lilly’s wounds? What about someone like Berri?

I doubted it; since Lilly’s wings were long gone… and I’d think Vim would have gotten them healed already had he known how to do so, but…

“Renn.”

I blinked and nodded, leaving my own thoughts as I glanced to Gerald.

“Do you have any idea when Vim will return?” he asked.

Shaking my head, I shrugged. “He had said he’d hurry, but no. No idea.”

“Where does Berri live anyway?” Brandy asked.

Gerald glanced at her. “You know who she is?”

“The fact you don’t is what’s actually concerning, Gerald,” she said back.

“She lives far to the east, kind of near the Crypt,” is all I said.

Brandy didn’t know…? That was concerning too.

I mean… it was obvious why. Narli was there. A saint. And they didn’t want anyone to know. But it was very… telling, to learn who knew and who didn’t.

As far as I was aware the only one other than Vim who really knew was Oplar. And she’s known for a long time. The fact that she’s kept it secret this whole time really proved that she could be trusted.

Yet… Brandy was the bookkeeper. She in theory knew more secrets about the Society than anyone.

Yet she didn’t know of Narli. Or even where they lived.

It made me question a lot of things, since I could remember Berri’s home on the Chronicler’s map. It had said the Keep on it, though it hadn’t said anyone’s name…

The Chronicler had even said, alongside Vim at the time, that I could go there to be safe.

I wonder if that meant they didn’t know who actually lived there. I probably should have clarified with Vim before he left… Why’s he always in such a rush?

Brandy sighed. “Light returns, and now Berri is getting active again too…? I wonder if I should just start packing up,” she said.

“Hm? What’s this now?” Gerald asked.

“Berri had been the one to coordinate the five kingdoms. Basically she had been the archiver and bookkeeper back then,” Brandy said.

Oh! I had known that Berri had been very involved back then, but hadn’t known to what level!

And five kingdoms…? Merit seemed to not have known Berri, having only heard of her from others. That meant those five kingdoms hadn’t included Merit’s.

It was sad to think we used to be so big, so prominent. Maybe Light did have a point, to a degree…

“Ah… I never got to meet the archivers. Other than Oplar, I mean,” Gerald said.

“Hm?” I perked up at that, and Gerald noticed.

“Before taking over the mail system, Oplar and her family had been the ones to archive and protect all information for the Society. Stuff like census, religious texts, letters and whatnot,” he explained for me.

I see! Thus maybe why Oplar was trustworthy and knew, then! Berri and them were all related, in a way!

Finding that very understandable, and an enjoyable revelation, I squirmed a bit and wished I had gone with Vim. I’d have liked to see them again.

Hopefully all was well…

“Do you know where Oplar is, Renn?”

“Somewhere south. We returned to Telmik right as she left… she could be back there by now, though,” I said. It had been several weeks since then. More than enough time for her to have gone south and returned back already, she didn’t linger at places long like Vim and I usually did.

“She’s scheduled to be here before winter is over,” Gerald said.

Considering that last night snow had fallen and not rain that meant it could still be some time before Oplar showed up here.

Brandy sighed again, though not as heavily as before. She leaned forward, as if to lean and rest on the desk. You’d think her whole world was falling apart, from the way she was acting. But as far as I was aware, Light and her people hadn’t even done anything yet. They’ve not tried to take over Oplar’s company, or even ask for money yet.

Studying her for a moment, I glanced away right before she looked up at me.

“Have you decided yet, Renn?” Brandy asked.

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My tail went still. “Decided…?” I asked. What’d she mean?

She frowned at me, and then glanced over at Gerald. He sat up a bit straighter, and coughed, at her look. “Oh… um… I’d not said anything yet, Brandy.”

“And why not?” Brandy asked him, sounding upset.

“I’ve been busy!”

“You’re always busy!”

I smirked at them as they bickered again. It was almost as if they were married, or maybe siblings. I wonder if there was something between them…? As far as I was aware there wasn’t, but maybe there was? I’ve come to realize that many of our members sometimes acted indifferent to those they considered special to themselves.

“You… wanted to ask me something?” I asked.

The two glared at each other for a moment, but then looked back at me. Gerald nodded first. “Yes. I had already asked Vim, but knowing him he had forgotten to mention it. I’ve been told he plans to step down as protector, and that you two will likely be taking a break of sorts…” Gerald started, speaking as if we were now discussing a contract and not something far simpler.

I smirked a little as Brandy coughed, as to interrupt him before he could continue. “He wants you two to live here. Permanently,” she said.

Raising an eyebrow at that, I realized what he had meant earlier. When saying he had hoped us being here would have kept Light and her people at bay.

He had not meant just here and now. Not while we were here.

He had meant for good.

“Live here…?” I asked softly.

Gerald nodded quickly. “I mean… there aren’t many places anymore in the Society like ours. Telmik, the Summit… and well… both are not places I could see Vim sticking around, willingly, at least. Plus you have friends here, and your humans, and…” Gerald began to list his reasons, once again sounding like he was speaking of profit and loss.

Although he sounded a little… pushy about it, since he didn’t seem to be speaking with pure intentions, I still found myself tearing up a little at the offer.

“I was nearly banished last time,” I said softly. The only reason I hadn’t been, in my opinion, was because they hadn’t had the heart to do so outright. But to me…

“Well…” Brandy shifted in her seat, and unlike Gerald’s her chair made noise as she did so.

“It’s just an offer, Renn… you will always be welcome here. As I’m sure many have told you by now, we all regret what we’d done and how we had voted back then… we had been emotional and…” Gerald started to say, gesturing lightly at himself as if to apologize for a vote he himself had likely participated in.

I gulped a little, since I felt once again as if I wanted… maybe even needed, to run away and hide.

Honestly I hadn’t wanted to confront the fact that they all had nearly voted to banish me. Just as Lughes and Crane had done so long ago.

Yet here he was… forcing it…

Or well… they both were.

“Just consider it, Renn. I’m sure Merit would love to have you here. If anything just having you here to make that grumpy old fish happy would be worth it alone,” Brandy said.

I smiled at that. “She’s not been too bad lately,” I said. It was too bad I couldn’t tell them about Lilly. They’d have been very shocked to hear how… friendly Merit was with her. And Lilly her.

“I’ve personally never had much a problem with Merit,” Gerald noted.

“You’re too spineless, Gerald. She leaves alone the ones she considers weak,” Brandy said.

My ears fluttered a bit as I considered that. That wasn’t true, was it…? Merit seemed very friendly with many people. Sofia was one of them, and she wasn’t a predator or strong at all!

Maybe Brandy was just teasing, or maybe she and Merit had butted heads once or twice and I just hadn’t known of it. It’d not be too surprising; really, Brandy was sometimes a tad too… well… Brandy.

“Thank you for the offer… both of you. All of you. I’ll consider it. But honestly, until I know what Vim’s going to do… what he’s actually going to do…? Who knows?” I said with a shrug.

Brandy groaned a bit. “Isn’t that the truth.”

Gerald though shook his head. “I think you’ll all be surprised at what he does. So many think, and expect, him to act rashly but… he’s Vim. If this was enough to make him act rashly, he’d have done it thousands of times by now,” he said.

My eyebrows met as I frowned at his words. Not because he sounded far too sure of himself… but sadly because I believed him.

“You forget how much he and Celine went at it. Light is just like her. She grew up to be as annoying as…” Brandy was about to; once again, go on a tangent about Light and her people but someone knocked on the door.

I turned, and decided to stand and open the door for the two. I was closest to the door, and I made sure to put my hat back on before I did.

Smiling at Jasna, I stepped back as to let the taller woman into the room. I tried not to notice the pretty woman’s wink as she did. “Thanks Renn,” she said as she entered the room.

Shifting a little, I glanced out of Gerald’s office and was glad to not see anyone else. Not because I didn’t want anyone else to be here, but because I could once again take my hat off since there were no humans here.. Technically it was too early for any human, one not belonging to the Society, to be out and about but I shouldn’t be so sure. A few guards did still walk around at this time and their numbers would grow swiftly the closer we got to opening, and I knew if something odd had occurred there was a chance they’d have knocked on Gerald’s door.

I was about to close the door, but before I could Jasna reached over to lightly tap me on the shoulder. The kind of tap that made me strangely conscious of the distance between us. It was a very similar tap that Vim would have done. Jasna was not flirtatious, if anything she was whatever the opposite was. But ever since I’d lost my scent, she’s been far more comfortable with me. And it showed.

“Reatti was looking for you. I just passed her near the bank.”

Oh? I hesitated a moment, but only for a moment. “Thanks for telling me,” I said, nodding as I turned to leave… and then remembered why I was even here.

Turning to Brandy, I found her gently smiling at me. “We can talk later,” she said.

I was about to ask if she was sure, but I knew better than to doubt the look on her face. Maybe whatever she wanted to talk about was something she didn’t want to say in front of others, or well… someone other than Gerald.

“Later then. Gerald. Brandy, Jasna,” I bid them farewell as I left, tucking my ears better under my hat and getting them comfortable as I left the office.

Closing the door behind me, I sighed a little as I felt the chill of the hallway. Although Gerald’s office had a fireplace, it hadn’t been lit, but it had still been warmer. Warm enough that I hadn’t even noticed any kind of chill. Out here in the hallway though, I almost wanted to go grab a jacket or something.

“She’s still here.”

Pausing, I frowned as I glanced around. Whose voice had I just…?

“If only she’d stay forever.”

The hallway got a little colder… as I realized who I was hearing.

Turning a little, I glared at the door. The door I’d just closed.

“Shouldn’t have listened to the prophecies. Should have just let her stay here back then,” Brandy said softly.

My heart thumped as I slowly reached up, and felt the hat still on my head. My ears were even angled downward, like usual.

I had good hearing. Very good hearing. But the doors and walls here in this building were very well made. Too well made. I’d never been able to hear through them before. Not this clearly. I was almost able to hear them as clearly as if the door had been fully opened…

Gulping, I glanced up and down the hallway to make sure no one was around. Luckily there wasn’t.

“I warned you, Brandy,” Gerald said.

“How was I supposed to know Light would come back!” Brandy said, a little loudly.

My jaw clenched as I realized what I was doing.

I was snooping. Eavesdropping. I was listening into a conversation they thought private.

I should walk away.

Quickly.

Before I heard something I shouldn’t…

“Instead of blaming anyone, how about just admitting it? Before Light does?” Jasna asked.

Holding my breath, I kept my legs from moving. They wanted to step away. To run.

But I held firm.

I had to.

“Doing that now would just either make Light our enemy, or grant us Vim’s wrath. No. We just need to… wait, somehow,” Brandy said.

My stomach started to hurt, as I realized something terrible.

They were speaking about me. That was not too surprising. I had just left the room. I was a heavy topic lately, what with the prophecies and the way Light’s been acting around me.

But…

“Honestly, even if we had not voted to banish her it might have ended worse anyway. How could they have fallen in love had we kept them from each other?” Jasna asked.

My legs finally won. I stepped away, quickly, as my heart began to beat wildly.

“Because it was fated, obviously! And…!” Bandy’s voice still carried, thanks to how loud it was, but as I rounded a corner I finally got far enough away that it became drowned out. Faded.

Unrecognizable.

Breathing quickly, I leaned against the wall for a moment as my mind whirled.

The vote. My banishment.

They hadn’t done it because they had been scared of me.

They had done it on purpose.

Because of a prophecy.

Why…? How?

“To keep us together…?” I whispered as my mind made sense of it.

It was the only obvious answer. Brandy, even if at odds with Light right now, had been involved with them back in the day. She was a sister. A member of their church, and group. In the thick of it.

She knew of the prophecies about me. Had known them.

My memory of our first meeting, the last time I’d been here, came and went. I thought of how I had opened my bedroom door, to find Brandy who had then led me to Lamp and her people. She had teased me over them being Vim’s prize. His spoils from war. She had acted even from the first time we met as if Vim and I had been a pair. Even though back then we hadn’t been. Not officially. And definitely not as we are today. What had she said, even…? On our first meeting…?

“Well look at you. I must admit, you’re exactly what I expected,” I whispered, repeating what Brandy had said upon first seeing me. I thought of the look on her face, the one with that knowing smirk.

I had assumed back then she had simply meant from hearing about me through rumors and whispers. Since she had met Vim and others before meeting me back then since they had returned to Lumen together, and as such had heard about me. But in reality…

She likely hadn’t. She had returned with Vim, alone, after he had saved Lamp and her people on that pirate ship. There had been very little time between her return to the guild, and her meeting me. Lamp and her people had still been unloading themselves from the wagons they had ridden in on, when I had been taken to them!

Brandy had not been speaking of rumors about me, but instead prophecies.

Closing my eyes, I groaned as I both made sense of it… and hated it.

Vim was right.

Knowing wasn’t worth it.

All it did was make you angry. All it did was make you distrust people.

How could I trust Brandy or the rest of them again? Just like Light, they were playing with my life as if some game! Even if it was for the better, even if they had good intentions in mind…!

“Renn…?”

Looking up, I sniffed at the sight of Reatti. The meerkat shifted at the sight of me, and looked terribly worried.

“Reatti…” I said her name, and didn’t like how weak and sad I had sounded to my own ears.

“What’s wrong…? What happened?” she hurried over, glancing me up and down and all around us as if to find whatever was bothering me so she could rip it apart.

Did she know too…?

Was that why she had forgiven me…? Was that why she had so swiftly overlooked the fact that her brother had died for me? Because of long told prophecies, before we’d even met…?

Was… was that why Brom had done it? Without a second thought…? Had he… had he known? Had all of them?

No.

Don’t think like that Renn.

Because if you do…

“Renn, what happened?” Reatti asked as she grabbed my arm, as if to support me.

I didn’t need it, but I accepted it all the same as I wiped my right eye clean of tears. “Sorry. I just… heard something that hurt my heart a little,” I told her the truth.

“Heard…? From who?” she asked, and I nearly melted at the way she had sounded so offended. If someone had been here, and I had simply pointed at them, Reatti would have attacked without another word. She had sounded that offended for me.

Instead of telling her though, I shook my head. “It’s fine. It’s nothing… Jasna said you were looking for me?” I asked.

“Jasna…? Is she the one? I don’t believe it! She thinks you’re adorable!” Reatti went from offended to confused.

Laughing a little, I shook my head. “No! She’s not even here! It’s fine, really. It’s not what you think, I was just… sad for a moment is all.” Jasna thinks I’m adorable? Maybe I should read a little more into her little mannerisms.

Reatti gave me a look that told me she had simply assumed something, because she nodded knowingly. “I get that feeling. Sometimes I think I hear my stupid brother still, and when it happens…”

Great, now I wanted to cry for another reason!

“Please, Reatti. I’m already about to cry,” I begged.

“Ah! Sorry! Come on! I wanted to invite you out to see something with me… which now that I think about it, might make you just cry some more… so maybe not…” Reatti groaned in worry, looking utterly troubled.

Smirking at her adorable face of worry, I wondered what she meant. “What’d you mean? Why do you want me to see something that will make me cry?” I asked, trying to say it as lightheartedly as possible as to make her not worry.

Reatti groaned again. “Well… I found them,” she mumbled.

“Found who?”

“Found what,” she corrected, smiling sheepishly as she did. “You uh… remember those spears? The ones Vim made me and my brother…?” Reatti asked awkwardly. She stepped back and grabbed her own arm, looking stressed all of a sudden.

I stood up a little straighter and nodded. They had been lost during the chaos. Left behind in rubble… “Of course I do…? Wait…”

She nodded. “I found them. At a shop. I was wondering if you’d be willing to help me steal them back.”

“Let me go get a jacket!”

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