The tents were being used again.

The Twins had arrived, bringing not just a bunch of needed supplies but also people. They’d come in a larger group of twenty-three, and a little over half of them were going to stay here in SilverCreek… though I was unsure how many were just staying as to help out and how many were planning to stay for good.

“This is all your fault sis,” Ledger complained, a bit loudly, as he picked up another box off the wagon.

“By the gods stop your whining! Vim! Smack him or something!” Coin shouted as she carried a box off herself.

I shook my head at the twins, especially since Coin had sounded utterly serious. She and her brother were usually arguing and bickering, but right now it seemed she was put up with him beyond the norm. And the reason for it was… well, a tad odd.

Why hadn’t Renn mentioned that she had snatched the lad’s heart on their first, and short, meeting? She had teased me quite a bit about the young duck, Fressi, finding a liking to me yet I had not been able to reciprocate since I’d not known…

Ah well, I’ll just tease her about it later.

“Did you already go see the others?” I asked Kapni as I picked up one of the larger crates. I had to hold it by wrapping my arms as much around it as I could, not because it was heavy but to evenly distribute its weight and my grip upon it. The wood it was made of felt a bit rickety.

“I plan to later. I’ve sent a letter, via that bear girl… I’ve been told it would be best if I waited for permission to visit,” Kapni said as he joined me in carrying a crate, though his smaller, and we headed for the storage building together.

Wonder who had suggested that…? “Well, we’re close enough that a response shouldn’t take too long to reach you,” I said. Twin Hills wasn’t far from here, he might even get it any day if Oplar had been the one to deliver it herself. She had left some time ago.

Kapni, the old fox, joined me into the storage warehouse right as Ledger and Coin left. The two were focused on the other, arguing now not about Renn and her lack of presence but instead the way Ledger had not carried the heavier box just now.

I placed the crate I carried over by the others like it, though didn’t stack it. They were heavy enough that if I did stack them, they’d likely topple and break and would also be difficult for others to unload and unpack them if I had to leave before being able to do so myself.

“Plus, I figured you could use some help… and glad I thought so. Not a single rug, Vim? really?” Kapni asked as he put his crate down as well.

Smirking at that, I nodded. “There’s a few… I guess,” I said. A few of those here had taken their rugs and stuff from their tents into their rooms, but Kapni was right. The dormitory was not well furnished at all.

“Hmph. I shall fix that while I’m here. And those beds, those mattresses are a joke and an insult to their frames,” Kapni added as we left the warehouse.

I chuckled at that. Did he even know I was the one who had made them…? He might, but also might not. “I’m sure everyone would be very thankful,” I said.

“Before that though, I think another house is in order. I do not mind such tents, but our younger fellows and the humans are not as weathered as we are, I fear,” Kapni said, a tad quieter, as he and I both glanced over at the nearby tents. They were noisy, for the first time in a couple weeks. Not only were the new members settling in, more tents were being made to join them… since the other half of the Twins’s caravan needed a place to rest for a few days before leaving again.

Kapni was right, of course… the twins had brought a few others like Kapni, real members of the Society, but they were younger. So young that I didn’t even know any of them. They were all from the other continent. The rest of the group were humans though, members of the cloth and church. Here to aid and assist Randle and the rest.

“Well, with you here we can have another dormitory up post-haste,” I said. Kapni was like me, not just good but quick and sure. He didn’t make mistakes, and could work for days straight without stop.

“As much as I’d like to offer to start immediately… where is she, Vim? I’d like to meet her,” Kapni then said.

Oh…? I glanced at my very old friend, and found him looking around impatiently… almost as if upset that I’d been hiding her from him or something.

Had he not heard…? Ledger had been whining about her absence for hours… Did Kapni just outright ignore the lad and his bemoaning or something? Likely did, he was like that.

“Renn isn’t here. She’s visiting Lilly and her family nearby, she should be back in a few days,” I said.

Kapni frowned at that. “Lilly…? The owl? She still lives…? And has a family to boot?”

Was Kapni growing senile in his old age…? Lilly and Windle had been paired up before he had left with the others, hadn’t they? Or… maybe they hadn’t. Hard to remember. “She ended up with Windle, one of the other owls. They’ve had several children since, in fact they just recently had another daughter. A beautiful one, with mighty wings,” I said.

Kapni glanced at me, and actually smiled. “Had they…? How wonderful. Bless the girl…”

“Root,” I told him.

Kapni nodded and made a tiny gesture in front of his face, though not in the way the church folk of this land did. It was an old, likely forgotten, gesture in today’s world. “Bless Root, may her wings always keep her aloft…” he finished his little prayer to his odd forest gods, and then nodded again. “I hope to meet them too, soon. They live nearby you said?”

“At your pace, a few days away, yes.”

“Hm… I suppose I’ll have to ask permission to visit her too, then. What has the world come to, Vim? Needing permission just to visit friends and family?”

“You’re telling me…” I said with a sigh. I had not even realized such a system had already been re-enacted. It had been like that during the wars… but such a thing had fallen out of practice. Though it seemed it was now back in play… I was half tempted to ask him who had brought it up, but didn’t want to grow angry so I was trying not to.

I stretched my jaw a bit, it popped… and I realized that I had an opportunity to ask a rather specific question. One I’d likely not get to ask anyone else, at least not without causing issues. “The others… the ones you returned with, are the children…?” I asked Kapni gently.

The old fox sighed and nodded. “Lacking traits, yes. I’m not sure why, but many born lately have lacked any and all traits… in fact many children lately have been growing old very quickly, or are weak and infirm. It’s one of the reasons so many rushed our return, they felt the land back there had been doing something to us,” Kapni said.

The land…? Doubtful… but… “Yet you have more saints than I figured you would,” I said. I didn’t know the full details, but there had been several on that single ship I’d met recently, and there had been several that had returned ahead of them with Light. Odds are there were more on the others too.

“Odd, isn’t it?” Kapni agreed.

No. Not when I knew what I now did.

Though…

An increased in activity from them would indeed cause more saints to be born… but it should have also…

“Vim?”

I blinked and glanced down a bit, and found Coin frowning at me. I squinted at her a moment, then glanced at Ledger and Kapni who were similarly staring at me with odd looks.

I’d gotten lost in thought again. Really, I was so bad when Renn wasn’t around…

“What is it?” I asked gently, did they need me to move something for them again or something?

“At least some things never change,” Kapni said with a sigh as he stepped away.

“Ah, hey…!” Ledger hurried after him, as if worried to be left alone with me and his sister.

I watched them walk away, heading back to the wagons nearby that were now being packed up. Most of the stuff had been unloaded, it seemed.

“Can we talk, Vim? Privately?” Coin then asked.

Hm…? I nodded and glanced around… and decided to just gesture for her to join me. Thanks to the new members, neither the tent encampment or the buildings were safe for a private conversation… especially since those like us were abundant now, those like Merit who could hear a mouse’s footsteps. I walked towards the river, Coin joined me in silence until we were nearly to the river itself… more than far enough to be out of earshot.

“Is all well, Coin?” I asked as we kept walking.

“Yes… or well, no. Maybe.”

That’s not good. Unlike her brother, Coin was the stoic of the pair. The type that was reliable. Such uncertainty from her was… odd.

“If it’s about your brother, worry not. I actually find it kind of adorable,” I said with a small smile. In fact I was looking forward to teasing Renn about it.

Coin flinched, but grinned. “I’m glad to hear that… but no, if the fool wants to do something so dangerous he can do so on his own. I’ll not protect him,” she said.

“As I said, I’d not harm him for such a thing… I mean really, why would I be offended another man found my wife lovely? He’s simply seeing and stating the obvious, is all,” I said.

Coin chuckled at that as she finally came to a stop. I did too, joining her at the bottom of a small hill that rested alongside the river. The sound of the fast flowing water was loud enough that I knew now for sure we’d not be listened in on. “I’m glad to hear you say so. So many men are the exact opposite, especially our kind… Just so you know he thinks everyone’s crazy,” she said.

“Crazy…?” I asked. What’d she mean?

“He’s stupid, Vim. He thinks everyone’s warnings are jokes or something. He genuinely thinks you and her will break up any day now, since it’s you we’re talking about. He thinks he can grab her heart after you break it,” Coin explained.

Ah… “Well… he can try if he wants, if it ever happens,” I said gently. It never would though.

Coin smirked softly as she nodded. “I’ll let him know that.”

I bet she would. She used to intentionally push him overboard form their ships, even out at sea, forcing him to have to swim to shore and catch back up to them later. Many always figured it was her way of intentionally trying to kill him, but I knew the truth… though I’m not sure she’s ever told me it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Coin wanted her brother to find his own path. To find his own way in the world… and in her opinion, him setting off on his own was the only way he’d ever do so. Yet no matter what she did, no matter how cruel or mean… he never left.

Because of that I had expected her to be supported of Ledger’s fascination with Renn… but it seemed like she was not too keen on it. Which was interesting, since it told me how serious my relationship with Renn seemed to her.

“I hear you met my wife in Telmik… I know your brother’s impression of her, but yours?” I asked, choosing to give her an option to ease into whatever topic she seemed intent to bring up.

Coin blinked, and then smiled. “I agree with my brother. She’s adorable. I had actually been looking forward to spend some time with her, I’m almost as disappointed as him that she’s not here.”

“If you linger long enough she’ll be back soon,” I said.

Coin shook her head. “I can’t wait that long, regretfully… which is actually why I asked for a moment of your time,” she said.

Oh?

She sighed and gestured behind her with a thumb over her shoulder. “I have some letters for her. From… well, people that expect them delivered post-haste.”

“Light and the rest,” I figured.

Coin nodded. “I was told to deliver them to her in private… and to do so above all else. I uh… well…” She glanced down, and suddenly got a tad unsure of herself.

“Prophecies,” I stated.

She nodded stiffly.

I sighed, but was not surprised over it. “Kind of figured I’d be the one getting orders,” I said.

“Oddly I don’t have any for you… which is kind of weird, now that I think about it,” she said.

Yes. It was… “So we need to get Renn those letters as soon as possible,” I said.

“Yeah… if I knew for a fact she’d be back in a couple days I would have left them with Randle, Vim… but…”

“We can’t rely on such a thing happening,” I said as I understood why she’d pulled me aside. She had likely been given strict orders to not let me know of the letters or their contents, out of worry of me destroying them before Renn got a chance to read them… yet Coin couldn’t linger here long, and also couldn’t trust the odds of Renn returning in time for her to read those letters.

Depending on their contents… if those letters weren’t read in time, people could die.

Should I just read them or…?

“What should I do, Vim? I can’t get to Lilly’s,” Coin asked softly.

For a tiny moment I thought of sending Kapni… but then I realized that odds are the letters or rather the prophecies, were although intended to be read by Renn… were likely for me too. Which meant Renn and Kapni would just have to come back here and get me anyway.

“I’ll deal with them… I’ll take them to Renn. I can get there pretty quick,” I said.

Coin sighed a bit in relief. “Thank you. I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault, Coin.” If anything it wasn’t even Light’s fault either. It was mine… for being the kind that they’d go through such lengths to just ensure the letters even survived.

Honestly if not for the gods return, I probably would have destroyed them. Now though… now I couldn’t.

Because the prophecies could lead me to figuring out where they were, or where they would next make their move.

I once again had no choice but to rely on them…

I’d brought Liora here for that reason, but by my parents did it upset me that such a reality was showing itself again so soon… and proving my worries right as it did.

“Also, can I ask something Vim…? Now that I got a moment of your time?” Coin then asked.

“Hm?” I nodded as I focused on her, and found her brow a bit furrowed.

“Should I be worried…?” she asked.

Another one…? “Of…?” I asked carefully.

“Being replaced?”

I blinked. “What?” Oh… “You mean Ledger and Renn…? Coin, I just said…”

Coin’s eyes scrunched up as she half scoffed and half laughed at me. “Not that…! I meant… well…” She hesitated a moment, and then glanced back at our new home. She studied it for a moment, and then sighed as she looked back at me. “The reason I’m here, we’re here… is because we lost our route, Vim.”

“Lost your route…?” I asked, a tad shocked to both hear so and to see the sad look on her face. I’d not seen her this disturbed or sad since… well… Since I had pulled her and her brother out of that gutter. Where they had hid as their family were massacred.

Coin groaned as she nodded. “Karma and the others took over! They’re setting up a new trade-base in Nevi, for whatever reason, and…” she started to raise her voice, but once she noticed she was doing so she forcefully stopped herself from continuing and closed her mouth so hard to shut herself up that I worried for her teeth. Had I just heard one crack?

“They… took your job from you?” I asked, unable to believe it. Them? The twins…? Not only were they one of the few willing to basically live entirely on the road, they were bloody good at what they did. They blended in perfectly with humans, and knew how to handle them. I couldn’t imagine them wasting their talents, especially for…

Coin though nodded again as she groaned, as if suddenly having a stomach ache. She even grabbed her shirt near her waist, as a child would during such moments. “Not completely… I guess… but I can see it coming…! They’re saying it’s because we now have more members, so we both need places for them to work and stuff but also to better supply everyone! But I’m not stupid, do you know what we’ve been doing lately, Vim? Me and Ledger…?” Coin asked, seemingly on the verge of tears.

I shifted a little. “I uh… don’t know,” I said honestly. Last I heard they were still just running back and forth, delivering goods and stuff.

“Delivering letters! Letters, Vim!”

I narrowed my eyes at that. “They’re making you take Oplar’s job?” I asked.

“Huh…? Oh… no. We’ve been shipping people mostly, but as we do we’re delivering the letters for the upcoming meeting. The one in the winter? We’re helping Oplar out with it,” Coin said.

Oh. That made sense… they were basically escorting all our new members everywhere throughout the Society. Maybe that was why so many were here… it wasn’t just to help us out, but because they had more people than they had places to put them.

“Are you sure they’re trying to depose you two? It could just be that they’re stretched thin and using you and…” I tried to find an alternative answer, but Coin wasn’t hearing it.

She immediately shook her head, rather harshly too. “I overheard them! In Telmik. They’re restructuring, Vim… they’re even imposing the old rules, like Kapni. He had wanted to go Twin Hills and he was told no, to wait until he got permission! He’s related to Porka, Vim, he doesn’t need permission!” Coin said with a wave to the encampment.

I frowned as I nodded softly. “He had mentioned that…” I said.

“And that’s just the start Vim… I don’t know if anyone’s told you, but the Society’s changing,” she said.

The world was changing, so that wasn’t shocking anymore. “How so…?” I dared to ask.

“The votes, for one.”

“Votes…? You mean the ones for me?” I asked. I wasn’t sure what else was being voted on at the moment. Had another vote been called, maybe?

Coin smirked at me. “You’re going to win now, Vim. People are changing their votes.”

“What do you mean…?” I asked. I was going to win what?

She gestured at me. “People are reverting their votes. Those who were going to vote against you, to change your contract, are now wanting to uphold it.”

“Why…?” I asked worriedly. That wasn’t good… how was I going to rightfully step down if the Society wasn’t split enough to justify it?

“Because of everyone coming back…! They’re worried now that something weird is happening. I can’t tell you who, but one of the most recent votes to change their mind basically told me they’d rather have you who they know than people they don’t,” Coin said.

Ah… that made sense. “Well, I’m glad to be the better evil at least,” I said with a small chuckle.

Coin groaned at me. “Don’t even joke like that Vim… I’m being serious here.”

“Sorry… I hear what you’re saying… and you’re not the first to bring it up, Coin,” I said, thinking of Brandy. She had also had similar worries, though it seemed Coin wasn’t willing to fight for it as hard as Brandy was.

“Oh…? Who else?”

“I can’t tell you that, Coin… just know you’re not alone. But, as you know, periods like this do cause such tribulations. Once people settle…” I stopped talking as I realized I didn’t even partly believe in what I was saying.

Sighing softly as Coin groaned at me and grabbed at her stomach again, I wondered if she really was so stressed out over this that she was genuinely that discomforted. Hopefully she didn’t have ulcers or something…

Reaching over, I grabbed the woman’s shoulder and gave it a very gently pat. “Would you like me to inquire for you, Coin?” I asked.

“Would you…? If they take my route from me, Vim, what will I have left…? Will I just be delivering letters and supplies?” Coin asked.

A part of me wanted to comment that in a certain aspect, that’s all she’s ever been doing. She and her brother ran trade routes, with the occasional transport of people for one reason or another if I was busy… but I knew what she was saying.

It wasn’t the route itself she was upset over losing… it was the trust.

The church, those like Light and the rest, had basically removed her because they felt they couldn’t trust her or her brother. The contents of their ship’s hold and wagons didn’t matter; the trust of who held the reins or manned the rudder was what mattered.

“I’ll find out what I can, Coin,” I said gently, though I already knew the answers I’d find.

If they couldn’t even trust Brandy, someone who was genuinely a member of their church and a member of the Singing Sisters… how could they trust these twins? They’d never officially joined the cloth, as far as I was aware.

Coin sighed in relief and nodded. “Thank you, Vim… I’m sorry I even have to ask.”

Yes. So am I. “If it’s any consolation, I’m being doubted too,” I said lightly.

The comment I made, meant to relieve the moment and tension… seemed to backfire as Coin actually furrowed her brow and scowled. “How disgusting… what’s happening to the Society, Vim…? What are we doing?” she asked, her voice thick with worry.

Wanting to sigh, I held it in as I decided to employ my old and sure tactic. “Hopefully it’s just a bumpy transition. I’ll find out what I can for you, Coin… though it might take me a moment. But speaking of worries, have you seen Meriah lately?” I asked.

Coin’s upset face calmed a little as she looked up and frowned at me, this time in confusion. “Meriah…?” she pondered for half a moment, then nodded. “Maybe half a year ago, I did? She met us on the Fifth River. Waved us down and boarded our ship and stayed with us a few days,” she said.

Half a year ago…? So before Renn and I had met her in Nevi. “Nothing since then?” I asked.

Coin shook her head. “Nope? Not even a letter. Why…? You said worry, is she okay?”

No. I don’t think she is. “She was to meet Renn and I recently… and never showed. Nor has anyone else heard from her lately, either,” I said. Oplar and the rest hadn’t heard from her lately either.

“That’s… hm…” Coin hesitated, and I knew it was because she was about to say that was normal for Meriah… since it was. Meriah going months without contact with anyone was typical, and expected… but…

Half a year or more, and not a single mention of her anywhere…?

Not normal at all.

“I… actually have a method to reach her. Would you like me to use it?” Coin then asked.

“Oh?” A method like one of mine, perhaps?

Coin nodded. “In Telmik there’s a human family, one she stays with occasionally. She and I meet there occasionally and leave our letters for each other with them.”

Huh… fascinating. “In Telmik?” I asked.

She nodded. “It’s over by the,” Coin started to give me directions but I raised a hand to stop her.

“I appreciate the offer, Coin… but I genuinely had not known of it, which means Meriah wants it that way,” I said, stopping her.

She blinked… and then smiled happily at me. “Right… sorry, Vim. I’ll go there right away, then, for you. We plan to head back straight to Telmik once we leave here,” she said.

“Thank you… I’ll write you a letter for her, if you’d deliver it for me,” I said.

She nodded happily. “Sure…!”

So she was upset over being delegated to courier yet was happy to deliver a letter for me was she…?

Though…

Studying the twin, I realized I really didn’t know her too well. I’ve of course spent plenty of time with her and her brother over the years, but like most members I’d kept my distance from them. We usually only interacted in small doses, such as now… so I really didn’t know them too well.

In the years past I would have known already of her and her brother’s issues. I might not have involved myself, but I would have at least been aware of their being upset over losing their positions in the Society… yet now I only hear of it during moments like this. Possibly months later, far after it was done and over.

Just like all the others. Like Brandy, or Oplar and Randle…

How pitiful. When had I become so neglectful of these people who deserved so much better?

Coin then sighed and glanced away from me. “I’ll go get the letters for Renn, then, before my brother spills something on them like the idiot he is,” she said.

“Thank you…” I said as I went to join her back… as I realized I likely now needed to leave shortly, to head to Renn.

Usually I’d be happy over that, but… considering the circumstances…

Ah well. The world wants to be noisy, so sometimes it was best to just go with the flow.

At least, until I broke it and quieted it for good.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep