Landing onto the spire, I had to quickly grab one of the stone fixtures since the tile slates were smooth. The kind of smooth that made one slip even with day old rain on them.

Telmik had storms of course, but usually they came and went rather quickly. Judging by the chill in the air, and in my bones, this winter was being harsh to this town.

Or rather… was it still a town…?

Turning a bit, I looked out over Telmik. The Cathedral, or rather the spire I now stood on, was seemingly at the heart of it. Which was… weird to see, honestly.

This used to be just a small village. One that only took me a few short minutes to fly across in full. Now? Now it expanded nearly as far as the eye could see, even from up here. It was almost… daunting at how big the place had become.

What was bigger than a town? A town was bigger than a village, right…? What was bigger than a town? A city? A capital?

Honestly whatever was bigger than a town was still likely smaller than this place. There had to be tens of thousands of humans here, if not more… and the church itself, the Cathedral, had likewise grown beyond reason. The small church that used to house a few hundred at best now was big enough to be a village on its own. And what used to only be a couple towers and spires was now a forest of them. And a few of them, like the one I had just landed on, was so tall and big it was actually rather unbelievable. It was higher than pretty much any tree that I’d seen, and I knew most trees collapsed and fell over from their own weight when they reached such a height. Yet these spires didn’t even sway a little bit, even during the harshest winds.

“Stupid place,” I grumbled as I stopped caring about the ever growing city and made my way to my goal. A large, but plain, window. I had landed not at the top of the spire but a few dozen feet beneath the top, where there were real windows and not fake ones of simple mosaic colored glass.

It was surprisingly difficult to get one of the windows open, since I didn’t want to break it. But I eventually got one open enough that I could slip into it. I felt a mix of relief and discomfort as I entered the spire, stepping into a small room. One that I barely fit in thanks to my wings.

There was a circular stairwell, one that didn’t just lead down but higher up as well. I went to descend it, and as I did I noticed how thin it was. My wings brushed against the stone walls as I headed downward, making odd noises as they did.

The next floor was similar to the one I’d just left, but this one had no windows and had some boxes in it. I paid them no mind and kept going down.

“To think I used to find this fun,” I complained as I tried to tuck my wings in even more. They couldn’t be, and it wasn’t as if them brushing against the stone actually hurt. I was far from so fragile that such a thing would hurt me, even my wings. But the feeling made me want to shiver, and the sound was even worse. Odds are I had used to enjoy entering and leaving via these spires, because back then I had been small enough to not notice how cramped these spaces were.

As I descended the stairwell got a bit bigger, as did the rooms. They even started to grow more complex too, to the point I eventually descended straight into what could only be someone’s bedroom.

And it was occupied.

Slowing to a stop on the stairwell, I found myself staring at a woman. One who was lying on a small cot, snoring away while hugging a small pillow.

I didn’t recognize the woman, but she was wearing the familiar robes of those who lived here. Here in the Cathedral that is, not in Telmik. Plus it was obvious she was a non-human. This room was covered by her scent, and there was no way it was a human stink. She smelled kind of like Merit did, which told me she was either some kind of fish or creature that would be found on a beach or something.

She didn’t wake even as I stepped closer to her and the small cot she laid upon. The small room was likely half way up the spire, and large enough that if I wanted to I could probably extend a single wing in full… but not both at the same time. She had the cot set up opposing to the stairwell, a table… what looked like one of those ice chests that the Society made, and a few dirty plates and cups of dirty food resting next to it.

If this wasn’t her bedroom, it was likely just a place of refuge. Somewhere she could sneak away, maybe.

Couldn’t blame her honestly. I’d have done the same if I had been forced to live here.

Still… who was she? I didn’t recognize her, or her smell, at all.

The woman kept snoring, even as I stared down at her as she slept… only a few steps from her. Which told me she was no predator at least. She was too… unguarded.

She was even holding the pillow as if it was some kind of toy or pet, and she a little kid. Even though she was obviously my age, or at least old enough to act so… well…

Well what? What was I thinking?

Nothing smart, at least. If Vim was here he’d simply scoff and say I was acting out. That I was upset and I was simply lashing out at anything and anyone, unjustifiably.

I mean… it’d be true, if he said so, but that didn’t mean I wanted to accept it.

Sighing softly I turned away and continued my descent. There was no point in waking the woman, since I’d likely just scare her… or worse find she’s one of those weird ones who get all friendly for no reason.

It didn’t take me long to reach the main floor of the Cathedral. A large wooden door led me to a medium sized hallway… one that I had thought would have been distant from anything important, and thus empty… but it not only had people in it, it had the most important person here in it too.

“Guh…” I made a shameful noise upon seeing the glowing eyed Celine. I nearly ducked back through the door, to run back up the spire and fly away, but stopped myself.

This was why I was here, wasn’t it? To see her…?

Taking a deep breath, I sighed as I stared at her. She was down the hall, not far from where it turned and went left. She was talking with four other people, her church fellows. I didn’t recognize any of them, but knew better than to find that odd. I really only knew a few of them, such as Randle.

Celine’s glowing eyes glanced my way, and my wings shifted as I noticed her smile at me. She then said a few words to the group around her, and they all glanced my way too. They whispered amongst themselves a moment and then they all turned and walked away, leaving Celine alone… who after a moment started walking my way.

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Great. She had been waiting for me, hadn’t she? That meant she had some kind of prophecy or something about this…

What were the odds she’d just be… standing there? Had I not just taken into account how big the church had grown?

“Welcome Lilly,” Celine said as she reached me.

“Um…. Hey,” I awkwardly responded, and wanted to pluck a feather. One of my healthy ones, so it hurt a tad. Why did I suddenly feel like a kid again?

Celine gave me a gentle, and knowing, smile as she nodded. “You look very good. I bet you’re fully grown now, you’re taller than Vim I think!” Celine said happily.

Huh…? Was I? Maybe my wings were, but I didn’t think I myself was… No matter. “I was here a few years ago, you said the same thing,” I said. Barring the thing about Vim.

“Had I…?” Celine tilted her head and frowned at me in a way that told me she didn’t believe me. But that was fine. I knew she was so busy, so scatterbrained sometimes, that a small meeting with someone like me five or so years ago was not something worth remembering.

“Were you waiting for me…?” I asked, getting off that topic.

“Hm? Ah. Yes. But not because of a prophecy. Eyes saw you fly over, and he let me know. I took a bet that you’d land on the largest spire, you like doing that,” Celine said with a point to the door I’d just come from.

“I see.” That was better… maybe.

For a few moments there was a bit of silence between us, and it was rather alarming. The hallway was quiet… very quiet. Usually I heard whispers, voices and hymns, echoing all throughout this place. Yet here and now, I heard nothing. Not even the wind… which only further emphasized how big this place had become. We were likely far from anyone else at the moment.

“I’m glad you came, Lilly. Are you here to see someone specific? Or can we have a little conversation now?” Celine asked.

I flinched but nodded. “I’m here to see you,” I admitted. So she knew. Of course she did.

She nodded but didn’t smile. She gestured down the hallway, the opposite direction from whence she came. “My room isn’t far. Shall we go there?” she offered.

I nodded as she stepped away. Without another word I went to following her. She led me down the hall, around some corners, up a stairwell… and into another hallway. One much smaller than the one we’d just left, though just as empty and quiet.

“I don’t remember it being this quiet,” I said. Was something going on maybe?

“We’ve made new places of worship and sectioned off the Cathedral a bit better. We did it originally to make it more homey, but now we do it because otherwise we’d have a bunch of random people just walking around our home,” Celine said as she went to open her bedroom door. As she did, I noticed she unlocked it. With a key.

“You have to lock your rooms…?” I asked. They hadn’t needed to do that before.

She sighed and nodded. “Yes. This section can’t be accessed by anyone not a member, we had… an issue a few years ago,” she said.

An issue…? “What kind?” I asked.

“The kind that Vim had to handle.”

Oh.

Following her into her room, I paused before shutting the door… and glanced around.

Was this really her room? It was clean. There weren’t boxes and books all over. I could actually see the floor, in its entirety!

“What the…? When’d you get… clean?” I asked as I finally shut the door. It was definitely her room, it smelled like her, but… when or how did this happen? Celine’s room had always been full of clutter! Where’d it all go?

“This isn’t me. I’ve regrettably grown too important. There are those amongst the Society, and the church, that don’t much like the idea of me having a dirt room. They expect me to be prim and proper… and well…” Celine sighed as she gestured at the clean room, as if she was hurt and offended over it being so clean.

“They come in and clean it for you,” I said nodding, that made so much sense!

“Yes. It’s actually been annoying, but what do I do about it?” she said.

“Let them? This is good, now you won’t fall and hurt yourself on accident. Or start a fire,” I said. I was able to walk deeper into the room, and it felt weird to do so. Had it always been this big? I now noticed it wasn’t just one large room, but several. She had extra rooms on either side, and… was that a balcony…? I genuinely didn’t realize she had one. Though that might not be because of how messy her room used to be, but rather the fact I never really came in here because of its messiness.

“Hmph. Vim agrees with me at least,” she grumbled.

“Huh…? Vim agrees? He wants your room to be messy too?” I asked, what for? He always complained about it.

“Because he’s smart enough to know that forcing me to always be conscious of my room is very tiring! How am I supposed to relax when I’m always getting sighed at when people come in and find a book on the floor, or something?” Celine asked angrily as she led me to another room… one that had shelves of books, and two chairs sitting in its center.

Chairs opposing one another. As if…

She patted one of the chairs as she walked past it, and went to sit down in the other one.

“Do you… sit with people a lot and talk to them like this?” I asked. It wasn’t weird for someone to have extra chairs in the room, but these were obvious in their nature and meaning. This was a room where two people sat and talked, a lot.

Wait…

“Well, no. Not usually. I’d have taken you elsewhere, but… well…” Celine smiled softly at me as I sat down. I had to unfold my wings a little as I did, else the back of the chair would get in the way.

“But? Oh… right. The reason I’m being banished,” I said with a smile, glad to have it finally brought up.

Celine’s soft smile remained, but her shoulder slumped. “Yes. Just as I now have to lock my bedroom door, so too will those like you be forced to leave here,” she said softly.

Studying her, I wondered if what Vim had said was true. “You don’t like it, yet allow it?” I asked. He had said she had wept and hated the plan, but had no choice in the manner.

They were going to banish anyone with obvious non-human traits, like myself. Since the humans were growing too numerous to hide from. Too many to keep at a distance. Which meant we’d get noticed, and thus our Society and its members would be as well.

“If I don’t, then everyone will die Lilly.”

Right… “So much for the mighty halls of Telmik,” I said.

Lilly took my comment in stride, her glowing eyes held my own as she nodded. “Yes. Although we will continue to be a place of refuge for many, and support the Society for a long time… Telmik is indeed about to become one of the least safest places for our people, if it isn’t already,” Celine said.

“You surely had to have known this was going to happen, right? Why let it happen at all then?” I asked.

“I’d be happy to have that conversation with you Lilly of the Skies… but that’s not what you’re here for is it?”

I shifted a little, and didn’t like how she had basically called me out. I had indeed been trying to steer the conversation away from the very reason I was here…

“Stop reading my mind,” I warned.

Celine smirked at me. “I can’t do that, Lilly, you know that.”

No. I didn’t. Though Vim did say she couldn’t…

I sighed and reached over to brush an awry feather. It wasn’t ready to fall out, but it would soon. “I figured since I’ll be banished soon… I might as well come ask before I never get the chance again,” I said.

Celine nodded, waiting patiently for me to say it.

“You already know don’t you? Why not just answer for me?” I asked, a little upset over her oddness.

“Well, the issue is I’m not entirely sure what it is you wish to ask, Lilly. I can think of at least a dozen things you’d like to know, and I’d hate to just… answer one of the wrong ones, upsetting you in doing so.”

My wings twitched, since that meant I likely did really want a lot of questions answered. But I was really here for only one. A singular one.

Taking a deep breath, I sighed it out and nodded. “Fine. I want to know what Vim won’t tell me, or doesn’t know himself,” I said.

She tilted her head at me, waiting for the rest of the question.

“Are there any other owls? Anywhere?” I asked, hopeful.

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