Kneeling down, I studied the rows of books on the shelf.

They weren’t too dusty, implying someone had cleaned them recently, but you could still see that no one had read or removed them from the shelf in a long time. Years maybe, even.

This shelf was one of the few with the white books. I randomly chose one, sliding it free from where it’d been for a long time and went ahead and opened it.

Celine’s writing was familiar, and easy to read. First I read the date on the top, and then the date on the opposing side of the page.

The date it was written told me it was one of the earliest prophecies I’d seen so far, and the date which she believed it to be fulfilled was a little over a hundred years ago. There was no mark upon it, no stamp of blue or red ink or wax, to tell me it had been fulfilled or avoided. But that might simply be because she had died before its fulfillment. It seemed only some of her books had been updated by anyone, though I wasn’t entirely sure why.

“During a solar eclipse, in the region of Timit, a landslide will displace a family of humans. Amongst them is a non-human in hiding, one who will die after having been found out as the family travels to a new location.”

I frowned at the prophecy, since like many I’ve read so far seemed… well…

“Not good enough,” I whispered as I turned the page. I had no idea where this Timit region was, but if it was a region and not a town or something more specific… how would one know where this supposed landslide would occur? And also, if the family is displaced enough to have to travel as to find a new home… how would one know which direction they went? I doubted even Vim would be able to reliably save the non-human who had been in hiding with this information.

The next prophecy had the stamp of red. The stamp was about as wide as my thumb, and had Celine’s symbol within it. It told me the prophecy written had either failed in being prevent or that no one had been able to solve or fix whatever issue it foretold. A failure.

Its date was a few months after the previous one, and the expected fulfilled date was a few years afterward.

It spoke of a member being shot with an arrow. Here in Telmik.

So they’d not been able to save them…? If it had simply not come to pass, if they had stopped it from happening or no arrow at all, they would have stamped it blue. Though the red stamp might also mean that the individual had died, just not in the way they she foretold.

Turning a few more pages, I skipped what seemed to be several years worth of prophecies and found one with a blue stamp. This one spoke of Vim.

“In the eastern plains, where marshland meets rivers, a village of ducks will be accosted by a group of fish. A monarch lives in a nearby lake, one that Vim will slay. Send him there earlier, else the whole area will be flooded and everything will die.”

Vim had told me of this. As had Merit. This was where he had met her. He and Lilly had gone there to settle a dispute and had encountered the monarch as they had done so. It was… interesting to read about something so close to me, or rather about people close to me. Especially when one considered how long ago it had been written.

I ran a few fingers along the blue wax stamp, and noted it felt a tad odd. It had likely been stamped many decades after the prophecy itself had been written.

Turning a few more pages, I found the next red stamp, near the end of the book.

It was a short prophecy. Dated a few hundred years ago.

“Vim finds a monarch beneath a bridge in the northern plateau near Oxfell. If he fights it on sight, the group alongside him dies from the chaos,” I read aloud.

My eyes narrowed at the red stamp, and my tail twitched wildly as I realized what it meant.

They had not been able to subvert said prophecy. The group had died.

Why…? Was it because of Vim’s rules concerning prophecies? Did they die because he had not been willing to hear it? Was the group just simply destined to die? Had Celine and the rest tried to avoid it, and in doing so inadvertently caused it to happen anyway?

If not for the occasional blue stamp, and the fact that these prophecies sometimes ended positively… I’d almost argue that they weren’t worth knowing at all. It seemed as if even the very accurate one’s ended terribly more often than not. This one had a date, a better possible location than most others, and had obvious inclinations. Vim should have had a very good idea where it would happen, and upon seeing any and all bridges at a distance while with a group of our members should have then taken as many precautions as possible.

It was hard to imagine Vim not doing so. If anything he should have scoured the area beforehand, alone, searching each and every bridge until he found the monarch. Vim would have done something like that without hesitation, if one just told him about it before it had happened.

So… why had it failed?

I closed the book and put it back on the shelf. Instead of grabbing another, I stood and stepped to a shelf a few paces down. This one didn’t have books, but scrolls.

Randomly choosing one, I stepped over to one of the nearby raised tables and placed the scroll upon it. Throughout this library were not just chairs and tables, but ones that were angled for scrolls. So one could easily lay them down and unroll them, and…

The scroll had a drawing. A rather detailed one. I paused a moment, in awe, as I stared at what could only be a monarch.

A giant monarch was looming over a forest. The thing looked like some kind of deer, but it had weird antlers and spikes on its sides and back not just on its head. It had its head raised up, as if howling into the night sky, and although looked beautiful… also looked strangely eerie. It was unsettling, almost, and made my tail feel itchy just looking at it. Whoever had drawn this had more skill than me. They had drawn it with what looked like charcoal or something like it, but had so masterfully done it that I felt as if I was staring at a painting with a myriad of colors.

There was nothing in the drawing to tell me where it was, when it was, or if it even was a prophecy… but I knew it was one.

It also had a blue stamp on the upper left edge, on the drawing but not.

Maybe Celine had drawn it…? Or maybe it had been a prophecy from another saint, one who had been artistic…? I examined the scroll, its sides and back, and couldn’t find any hint of its maker or any more information of it.

“Hm,” I hummed as I rolled it back up and went to grab another. Was the whole shelf drawings like this?

They were.

The next scroll was a drawing of a ship. Done in the same black charcoal, I studied a large ship with dozens of people upon it. It looked like they were getting ready to set sail, since a part of the drawing had a dock. One littered with boxes and barrels, and people ferrying them onto what looked like some kind of pulley system as to be loaded onto the ship with a crane.

I didn’t recognize anyone in the scene, but a few did have non-human traits. One had wings, similar to Sap’s, and another had a huge tail. A lizard one that was as thick and long as the bundle of sails or cloth he was carrying.

There was a blue stamp on this one too, though I wasn’t… really sure why.

I saw no chaos. No danger. No death. Just…a ship being loaded with goods.

I wonder what it had been about. What had been the importance? Maybe they needed to make sure the ship was properly loaded and set sail? Or maybe it needed to be kept from doing so…?

“Should have at least written a little about it…” I grumbled a complaint as I rolled it back up. There was more than enough room on the scrolls that whoever had made them could have at least given a little information about the scenes upon them.

The next scroll had a drawing that startled me.

For a small moment I stared, wide-eyed, at a drawing of two naked people. On a bed.

I didn’t recognize either of them, but they were drawn with such detail I would now always remember them. They both had non-human traits, patches of fur here and there with spots. And even more startling was the blue stamp upon it.

Rolling the scroll up, I sighed and smiled. “How silly,” I said. I wonder why and how such a thing had happened…! Was that a prophecy where they needed to ensure those two consummated their relationship or something…? I wonder how the saint who had the prophecy felt witnessing it, and how it had felt explaining it to everyone else afterward.

Thanks to that scroll, I now decided to check each and every one on the shelf. My curiosity couldn’t help it.

Each and every one on the shelf were drawings, all done seemingly by the same person. Pretty much all of them bar a few had a red or blue stamp, and most were like the first few. Scenes of… what I had assumed was just everyday life. A quaint village scene, in the middle of a market. A raging storm on a beach devoid of people. A castle, with a winged creature climbing up the side of it…

Regrettably, or thankfully, none of the other scrolls had been as risqué as the one earlier. And oddly as far as I was aware, none had been about Vim or anyone I knew. Many had very detailed drawings of people, obviously members of the Society, but not a one had been about anyone I recognized.

Eventually I ended up sliding back the last scroll back onto the shelf, and I sighed.

Turning around, I looked at the numerous shelves and chests in the room. There were likely thousands of books and scrolls, and this was just one room of many. Mapple had shown me not just the archive that I’d seen before, back when Vim and the rest had been tracking down that little monarch’s nest, but she had brought me here too. This was the second room of five, with a main room connecting all of them.

Not all of the books and scrolls were prophecies, of course. In fact only a few shelves had Celine’s white books, a handful out of hundreds. But there were, like the scrolls I’d just read, prophecies from other saints throughout the years.

There were also books considered special and important. Things written that held secrets. Some were journals of powerful or important people, while others were more about imparting knowledge than anything else. One of the first books I’d opened and looked at had been about building boats. How to properly make a ship that could sail even the roughest seas.

Personally I wanted to go through all of them. Each and every one. But I knew I didn’t have such luxury.

Randle wanted to leave in a few days. Four to be exact. Even though the Chronicler and the rest had offered to let him take his time, he was adamant in following the rules. His banishment began in eight days, officially, and he wanted to be gone before then.

I couldn’t blame him, of course. And I also wanted to hurry north too, to a point. Lilly was here, and she wasn’t supposed to be. Just like at Lumen. And she was worried for her family, for many reasons. Lellip too wanted to hurry and meet Branches, and Merit… well…

“She’s just already tired of traveling,” I said with a smile as I crossed my arms behind my back, grabbing my own hands as I started to walk randomly amongst the shelves.

Which to read next? Should I focus on Celine’s white books…? Or should I focus on the ones that are randomly in glass cases? I’d not really checked on any of those yet. Every so often, between shelves, there were books tucked away neatly behind glass. As if on display, or something. But this place was supposed to be private. Mapple had said most members didn’t even know this place existed. So just who were they on display for?

There were also too many. I bet even if I focused on them in full, spending whole days without rest reading them, it’d take me months if not years to go through them all. There was simply that many.

But… I didn’t really need to read them all, did I…?

Pausing before one of the shelves with a glass compartment, I studied the three books within it. They were all big, bigger than most others, and looked old. One was even opened to a random page in the middle, and it looked like it was crumbling away even now.

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I couldn’t read the open book. It was in a language I didn’t know, which made me assume the others were similar. It wasn’t a surprise at all to see such a thing, but it was annoying.

Where was Vim when I needed him?

Though maybe I didn’t need Vim. Mapple who had brought me here had lingered for a moment, talking with me. She had seemed capable of reading many language, since she had read me the names and words on the covers of some of the books I’d not recognized.

But would she be willing to sit here and read to me…? She seemed busy, all things considered. She had wanted to talk more, but had to go handle something for the Chronicler and had seemed sad over it. I half expected her to show back up, as to continue our conversation and…

Pausing in front of a section between two random shelves, I frowned at a painting hanging on the wall.

Was that… Celine?

The woman had glowing eyes, obviously a saint. She was standing at a large table, her hands on the table as she leaned forward and read something important. There was a large window behind her, which illuminated her in a fanciful way and… Yes. She beautiful black hair, which only made her glowing eyes all the more prominent and…

“You were beautiful,” I whispered at the woman I’d never met, yet felt as if was a long lost friend.

She was slim. Maybe my height. The way her face was furrowed in deep thought as she focused on whatever was on the table before her made her seem all the more adorable. Whoever had painted her had obviously done so as if to try and make her seem… well… mighty? Like a troubled queen, with glorified purpose, what with the way the sunlight adorned her. But instead all I saw was a beautiful woman who looked like she needed a snack. Not because she was scrawny, but because I knew a good snack helped one think during such times.

It was… kind of interesting to realize there were likely more paintings and drawings of her around here. I decided to walk around later and find them all, but for now I just… stared at the one before me.

Vim had once said he had found her adorable. Enough so that he might have entertained her had she not been a saint. I could see why.

Yet for as pretty as she was… she and I were definitely different. Enough so to tell me Vim hadn’t, or didn’t, find me attractive for the same reasons as he had her.

She looked so prim and proper. The church robe she wore was spotless. Made her seem pure, somehow. And her flawless black hair rolled down her back and sides like water in a stream. Of course her perfection might just be the artist’s rendition of her, and not how she had actually been, but…

I frowned as I thought of my own image. I had once again studied myself in front of the mirror, in the mansio, though I had not needed to. I’ve looked in that thing enough times to know full well what I looked like now, down to every freckle.

There was a reason people called me gentle. And it wasn’t just because I was. It was because I didn’t look like I would be.

My hair, even when kept and combed, was slightly unruly. My teeth were sharp and my eyes sharper. My ears, and the small tuft of fur between them, gave me a slightly rough look. My tail twitched in a way that made me seem as if I was going to pounce at any moment, and then of course I grinned and smirked more than not.

To many I looked as much like the full-blooded predator I was. A possible threat, even. And thus why my gentle nature was so noticeable. It was unexpected, and so thusly noticed when it appeared.

Celine though…? She looked like a gentle mother. Someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Someone who would cry and weep for the smallest of creatures.

Basically she looked like she gave wonderful hugs. The kind that made you feel all warm inside, and sigh in relief upon being given one.

Whereas I looked like I’d take a nibble out of you as we hugged instead.

I wouldn’t of course, not without good reason, but I knew better than to not know what I looked like. It was part of the reason so many had felt on guard around me, or did, especially back when I still had my scent. My scent, mixed with my appearance, had put people on edge.

Such a thing was silly, since once you took my traits out of the picture I looked like a typical young woman, one who looked small and scrawny enough to not be a threat in any way. But non-humans didn’t see it that way. They only saw my predator traits, nothing else.

I had to earn a person’s trust; this woman in this painting had it from the moment she was born.

“Rennalee.”

My ears fluttered as I turned my head and frowned. “Merit…?” I asked, shocked to hear her voice here. Had I misheard…? The voice had come from the room a few away, the entrance to the archive.

Half a moment later she appeared. The white-haired fish glanced around the room as she entered, as if to make sure we were alone. “Lost in the past are you?” she asked as she walked in.

I smirked at her. “Feels like it! What’re you doing here?” I asked. She had said earlier this morning she had decided to not come to the Cathedral, since Oplar wasn’t here. She was still traveling around.

“Hm…” Merit hummed as she walked over to me, studying the shelves of books as she did.

Resisting the urge to give her a hug, since for some reason I felt like doing so, I waited until she stepped up next to me and looked up at what I’d been focused on. Celine’s painting.

I smiled at her and gestured at it. “Is that Celine?” I asked to confirm it.

“Yes.”

“Is that actually what she had looked like?”

“Yeah…? That’s probably one of the better paintings of her.”

Huh… “She was pretty.”

“If you say so,” Merit said with a huff.

Right… Merit had not liked Celine. Like her resignations with Light, Merit faulted them for having not properly helped her save her kingdom from collapsing.

“Honestly I had expected her to be different. Not sure why though,” I said as I looked back to the painting. Wonder what she had smelled like? They said she was a panda, but I had no idea what that even was.

“Same could be said of you, Renn. So…? What are you doing here? Vim would throw a fit if he knew you were in here,” Merit asked.

I smirked at what she’d said, both of her statements, and nodded. “I’m looking for proof.”

“Proof…? Of what?”

“That I was supposed to be here a long time ago,” I said.

Although I had not been looking at Merit, I heard and felt her flinch. I turned to look at her, and found her looking down with… a rather sad look.

“Merit…?” I asked. Why did she look as if I’d just said something sad?

“And why does that matter, Renn?” Merit asked gently as she looked up at me.

“Well… I suppose in a way it doesn’t. Not like I can change it, or anything. But…”

“But?”

I shrugged softly as I stared into my friend’s eyes. They were heavy, looking pained even, as if my words were hurting her for some reason. “I fear I’ve been manipulated. Or am being so, in a way. I… want to make sure I don’t let such a thing happen, if so,” I said.

“In what way, Renn…? I know we’ve spoken of such things, such as your banishment from Lumen being likely from a prophecy, but…”

“I don’t mean anything too drastic…! I’d not claim my relationships, or even my actions, are because of such manipulation… But I fear if I’m not careful they could be,” I said.

Merit was quiet for a moment as my tail squirmed. Did she think I was being foolish? I mean, I probably was. It’s not like I’d really allow any mistakes or actions I made in the future to be blamed on so-called prophecies or anything. I’d own any action I took. But… I worried still, all the same.

Take for instance Vim’s rules. Vim refused to be involved in prophecies. He had rules that in a certain perspective caused more harm than good and everyone in the Society, by extension fearing his reaction to such things, enforced those dangerous rules.

I had chosen to take up the mantle of his middle-man, his interpreter in a way, to try and lessen the brunt of that. To hear the prophecies in place of Vim, as to try and stop disasters from coming because of his strange rules. Because I believed it would be beneficial, and save lives if I did so. But… what if by doing so I just made things worse? What if Vim was the one who was correct? Lately, with learning that people had done things concerning me with prophecies in mind… I’ve begun to wonder if maybe I should be more like Vim than not, even though deep down I didn’t want to be.

I didn’t want people to suffer and die just because I didn’t want to interfere in fate. Vim’s method made sense, on an emotional scale, but how often has it failed? Even Vim admitted people have died because of his rules. But to him it was a price he was willing to pay.

My goal here, outside of just learning as much as I could of the prophecies concerning and around me, was to see if I could find an answer to how I’m handling Vim. Through my conversations with Light, and overhearing whispers here and there, I’ve learned that many of them expect me to… well… control Vim. To make him do things he either hasn’t been doing, or hasn’t been willing to do. And they weren’t just expecting me to do such things because I was his wife, changing him the way a lover would, but instead in greater ways. In ways that made me feel uncomfortable.

“Light foresees me changing Vim’s way of life,” I said softly as I glanced at Celine’s picture. She had foreseen it too. In her letter to me, the one I’d burnt upon Vim’s request, she had mentioned that I’d change him for the better. Or at least, she hoped I did. That I’d lead him where others had not.

As much as I wanted to be that person, and as much as I wanted to believe it was the right thing to do… I also feared the fact I was just doing something expected of me. That I was nothing more than one of those little wooden pawns on a game board, being moved around and manipulated by someone or something else.

“More than you already have, you mean,” she said.

I nodded. “I’ve been wondering if my attempts to… circumvent his rules might be more trouble than it’s worth. And also if my doing so is not of my own design but another’s,” I said.

“Vim has his reasons for living his way, Renn…” Merit then said.

“I know… but what if people have died over,” I started to argue, and Merit scoffed at me.

“Over him not listening to the ramblings of idiots? Maybe, Renn, but that argument falls apart when you consider how many have gotten hurt or died by listening to them, too. It’s not a one way street.”

“I agree, Merit… but what of the times Vim’s been neglected?” I asked, finishing what I’d been about to say before she had interrupted me.

“Neglected…?” she asked with a shift of the heel.

I nodded. “Everyone knows his rules. And as such they try so hard to abide by them, in risk of angering him. What if those feelings, those emotions, have caused harm? What if certain prophecies have not been told to him, even though by his own rules he’d allow it? All because those who know them feared angering him?” I asked.

“You’re arguing that people haven’t been forthcoming with him, thanks to not understanding how far he’s willing to bend his rules,” she said slowly.

I nodded. “Yes. I myself have seen him listen to prophecies, full blown ones, because he thought the need dire. Yet then I see moments, like Light not telling him the details of the ship, where she acts as if it’s impossible to tell him the full details! I find it concerning. I think Vim would have found six hundred lives more than enough justification to hear the full story,” I said.

“And I think you’re blinded by love, Renn.”

“How so…?” I asked, a little bothered she seemed so readily to disagree.

Merit sighed at me. “He’s changed since you’ve arrived, Renn. His actions today, the ones you see and witness, are not the same ones we’ve all been experiencing all this time. Vim today is a different man compared to the Vim of yesterday. We tease and joke about it, but it’s not a joke at all. It’s the truth,” she argued.

My tail squirmed so much it bumped into a nearby shelf. “You’re saying his willingness to bend his rules is my fault…? That I’ve made such a thing possible?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yes. And in fact, I expect it to get worse. Or better…? Depending on how you want to look at it.”

I didn’t want to agree with her, but at the same time I knew I had to.

I’d not deny the fact that Vim’s changed because of me. But…

“Then is that not an argument that I should become more involved in such things? That if I’ve changed him, and will continue doing so, then should I not further push it? That I should hear all prophecies, and thus become more involved in them, to better keep Vim’s focus?” I asked.

Merit didn’t answer right away as her brows met together and she nodded. “I can see why you’d think so… And I can see why you’d then question it all. But is this not the life you’ve chosen, Renn? By choosing Vim, you’ve chosen this position. He’s the protector. A man akin to a god, or monarch is a better term… maybe. His great powers, and knowledge, will always make him both a target and one expected to cater to those beneath him. By becoming his wife you’ve latched yourself to that existence, prophecies or no. So why are you here? Really?”

I took in a breath and sighed it out as I shrugged gently at my friend. “I want to do what’s right, Merit. But I worry instead what I’m doing is something decided by someone else. Someone I’ve never even met or known. Celine had left me a letter. One that told me to guide Vim, to lead him and help him accomplish what the gods sent him forth to do. I fear those words, that message, has been instilled in many others and as such is manipulating how I’m being treated… and how Vim is too,” I said.

Merit gulped as she shifted. “Can’t outright say you’re wrong there…” she mumbled.

I nodded, since she’d already said similar things herself before. Especially concerning Light and her schemes. “Thus me being here, instead of spending time with people I’ll likely not see again for years. I want to find the rest of Celine’s prophecies concerning me, to see if my worries have weight behind them or if I’m just being paranoid,” I said.

“And if by seeing those prophecies you cause something worse to happen, Renn…? What if you learn something that changes everything?” she asked carefully.

“It’s a risk… yes. But right now it’s like I’m blind. Light herself has told me that she’s foreseen many things concerning me and my future, and she’s hinted at them being more than just simple things like a child being born. I want to make sure I’m not blindly following their plans, and in doing so causing harm to not just myself but Vim and all of you, too,” I said.

Plus I didn’t think I’d really change my lifestyle, or my beliefs, even if I did know something I wasn’t supposed to.

Take my learning of my daughter, for instance. Knowing of her possible future existence has not changed my plans at all, and in fact… I think it only furthered them. Even Vim had taken that knowledge well, since in doing so he had thought of a possible name for her and whatnot.

Knowing the future was dangerous, and I understood Vim’s and Merit’s reasons for wanting to avoid such knowledge… but that knowledge wasn’t cursed. Not outright, at least.

Merit stared up at me with narrowed eyes, and I gently nodded down at her. “I’m not really doing this to find out what will happen in the future, but instead to make sure I’m not doing exactly what they want. I want to do what is right, not what is expected of me,” I told her.

Merit sighed at me. “I’d advise against this… but I hear your conviction. Fine. May as well get in trouble together then,” Merit said as she nodded and stepped away.

“Huh…?” What’d she mean?

“Come on. I’ll show you where they are. Just don’t blame me when Vim throws a fit once he hears about this.”

I smiled happily as I hurried to join her. “We’ll just beg for forgiveness together!”

“Good luck with that.”

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