Vim being late was normal… but this was one of the first times I’ve ever actually stressed over him being so.

Something had to have happened…! He’s been gone for hours, it was already so late most of the Society had gone quiet and went off to bed… I was now just walking around alone, unsure of what to do or think.

I had tried to go take a nap. I had spent the last several hours with the dog family handing out food to those who needed it, and afterward had even spent some time with Mapple and Fressi… so in truth, thanks to all the recent events especially, I was tired. Really tired. But…

I hadn’t been able to neither get comfortable or fall asleep. So now I was just… wandering around under the Cathedral. Looking at statues and other stuff I found as I did so.

“Place is really big…” I whispered as I entered a new hallway. One that was a bit smaller than normal, almost to the point I felt a bit uncomfortable… as if I was in a box, one that had a lid and was about to be forever shut and sealing me inside in the process.

I knew the sensation was just because of the stale air and general vibe of this underground area… but it still made me uncomfortable, to the point I picked up the pace as to get out of the hallway just a bit sooner.

Leaving the smaller hallway and stepping into a larger one, one that had doors lining one side of it, I sighed in relief as I glanced around for anything worth focusing on.

It had been a several hallways since I’d seen a statue, or a tomb, and it seemed as if this area was like the ones a couple floors above. A place of storerooms, or… maybe just empty rooms.

I opened one of the doors at random, and sure enough found a moderately sized empty room. I knew the many other doors lining the hallway in either direction of me would be similar, so I didn’t open them as I headed down the hall and looked for something else to distract me.

Shouldn’t there be stairs nearby…? I felt like there should be. Maybe down this hallway and around the bend?

I followed what I thought was an internal map I’d been making during my visits, and sure enough found the stairwell I had in mind. I didn’t recognize it, at least not from this floor, but I knew if I ascended it two floors I’d emerge near offices beneath the Cathedral. The ones used by our own members, and some special humans too. Randle’s old office was not far from this stairwell, at least a few floors up.

To the south of here were the statues and tombs… and then to the north of them was a living area. Somewhat alike the living quarters found at Lumen, there were two floors of several long hallways filled with bedrooms and other living areas such as kitchens and bathrooms. During my last visits they had been empty, so empty in fact that I had neglected them. They had been nearly just as empty as these rooms around me were now… but now they were full of life. Two whole hallways were now occupied by those who had come here, or rather back from, from the other continent. Those like the ducks, members who couldn’t comfortably live amongst the humans and others up on the main levels with the rest.

A few of them, like the ducks, hid their traits and ventured up above anyway… but I’d come to learn most of them didn’t wish to. Even the ones who were like me or Vim, those who had an easier time blending in, still chose not to take such risks at all… and not because they were scared or worried about doing so.

Many of the members who had returned from the other continent genuinely didn’t like humans. To the point it was actually… a tad concerning. It made me wonder if that was why so many had left originally. Maybe they had not wanted to live amongst humans anymore? Yet from what I had understood, some humans had gone with them and even returned with them too… so maybe that wasn’t as important a reason as I figured.

“Wonder how many ships have arrived by now…?” I wondered as I headed up the stairs. I didn’t climb all the way to the floor with the offices or living quarters, but instead emerged on the floor beneath them. The floor that had most of the statues and other objects scattered around.

Again I picked a random direction and just started walking that way. I had no destination or goal in mind… but it was better than tossing and turning on a bed I couldn’t enjoy.

Sighing softly at myself, I wondered if maybe I just felt exhausted thanks to all the happenings lately… but thanks to all the hearts I’ve absorbed I just simply didn’t need sleep anymore. Kind of like how when someone lost a limb they still felt the tingles and pains of it, even though it no longer existed… maybe I felt sleepy because I felt as if I should, yet I wasn’t actually tired at all.

Maybe that was Vim’s problem too. Or had been his problem… maybe he had simply believed he was tired even though he honestly hadn’t been.

“A silly idea,” I whispered as I rounded a corner… and found the hallway that led to the baths. The ones that Vim and I have used on occasion during our visits here.

A part of me considered going down that hall. To the baths, and then of course indulging in them… but I knew if I did…

Sighing again, I wondered if this was how Vim has felt lately.

Lost. Bewildered in a way I didn’t understand… as if I was supposed to be doing something so utterly important that it was ridiculous yet instead I had nothing to do, or at least felt like I had nothing to do.

Gods were causing problems. Renka had shown up, threw my world upside down it felt like, and then simply… disappeared? Left for a few days, as if going on a small trip? As if she just… put all that drama and chaos on hold? Like a snack half eaten, put aside for later? And I was supposed to just… keep going on normally?

That was what it felt like Vim was doing… he had gone to investigate Coin’s letter, and hadn’t returned… likely now involved in some menial task the Society had for him… even though gods were threatening us, and I was so utterly lost and confused that it made me want to scream and…

“Okay, just what are you doing, Renn?”

My ears fluttered as I turned and frowned as I watched Mapple walk into the hallway, emerging from the one I had just come from as well.

How had she found me…? Was this somewhere she frequented? I didn’t think, or smell or see any hint of, any such thing… “I’m just… pondering,” I admitted to her, and myself.

“Pondering…? You’re turning into Vim then, great,” Mapple said with a small laugh as she got closer.

I smiled at the woman who I wanted to be friends with, though wasn’t sure yet if I already was or not. “That would make sense, honestly. I’ve learned that many expect me to change Vim… yet I think he’s the one changing me the most,” I said.

The plain robed woman gave me an odd look as she stepped up to me and nodded. “They… do say such things, don’t they?” she said.

No. Or well, I’d only heard such things from distant whispers… from hints and from written words by people long dead. But I figured that was what everyone else was saying about me behind my back.

“What’cha doing Mapple?” I asked, hoping to change the topic ever so slightly. I was already tempting fate with Renka and the other issues, last thing I need was to risk its ire even more… especially with Vim not nearby.

She crossed her arms and sighed at me. “Was told to check up on you. Someone saw you walking around all aimlessly, alone, and word reached the old woman’s ears. So here I am.”

I smiled at her honesty. She had not been like this originally, yet now it seemed she was more open with me than anyone else… which I wasn’t yet sure why she was, to be honest. I liked it though. “At least someone’s looking out for me, I guess?” I said.

“Hm… is something actually wrong…?” Mapple asked, sounding a little worried as she did.

Yes. Very. But I wasn’t foolish enough to endanger this poor woman by telling her any of it. “Just… the typical stuff. To be honest I’m kind of just annoyed I’m not up north finishing my new home. I bet they’re all building more buildings and stuff right now, and the fact I’m not there to be a part of it is really upsetting,” I told her one of the things that was honestly bothering me, both as to not lie and to repay her own honesty from earlier.

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Mapple chuckle at that. “Yes… I can imagine how much such a thing is bothering you!”

It was…! Especially since I knew it was likely going to be some time before I returned up north at this rate… Renka had said she’d be back in a few days, but after that we were to head east… And although I was looking forward to seeing people I’d not seen in a while, I knew it’d be a hefty journey. The kind that took time. A lot of time. Maybe even months on the road…

I might not even get to go home before the snow starts to fall again… and by that time the vote will be called, and then I’ll be forced to come back here! Extending my time away even further!

“That upset, are you?” Mapple asked as I fumed a little.

“Yes… but I’ll get over it.” I hope. “How about you Mapple…? Can you retire yet?” I asked. We’d hung out a few times since my return, but whenever we had done so it had always been with company. Such as with Fizz or those from the other continent… so I hadn’t gotten to ask such a personal question yet. And considering now we were alone… really alone, likely more alone than we’d be anywhere else in the Cathedral, I decided to go ahead and ask it.

It was Mapple’s turn to sigh. “No. Far from it… I think we’re in the same boat, Renn, many leagues away from our destination,” she said, a little sadly.

Hm… that was too bad. “At least we have destinations to look forward to, right?” I suggested.

Mapple gave me a gentle smile and nodded. “Yes… that is actually true. Very much so. You have no idea how much such a future has kept me sane, really.”

Oh…? She had said that rather seriously… and I had really just meant my comment to be a light joke. Woops.

Though… that was interesting to note. So for Mapple, her future… whatever it was to be, was what kept her going? That sounded like something many people would share, but I knew for her it was likely very literal… she probably knew exactly the kind of future in store for her. What with her having spent most of her life around saints and all…

Wonder what kind of future it was…? And I also wonder if the only reason she had been told of it, was if to stave off an even worse one from occurring?

Choosing not to think of that, or linger on such a topic, I instead gestured lightly at myself. “Not to change subjects too awkwardly, Mapple… but do you mind if I ask something a little serious?” I asked.

Mapple frowned at me in a way that told me she was not bothered at all by my doing so as she nodded. “Yeah?”

“A few of our members have been… a little bothered lately. Feeling their jobs and positions in the Society have changed, what with all the new members and stuff. You mentioned before last time I was here something similar…” I said.

Her frown turned into a small smile. “Ah… yes. I’ve heard plenty of those complaints too, if you can call them such a thing. Yes I too have been getting different orders lately, at least compared to what I usually get. For me though I don’t mind, I prefer my new tasks over the old ones. But I know some of us aren’t as happy about it. Oplar has been pretty vocal about her mail system being co-opted, for one,” Mapple said.

“Copted…?” I asked. What’d that mean?

“Since we have so many new people showing up, and what with us having to ship them off all over the place so much, we’ve initiated a new communications system. One not too unalike what we used to have, back during the wars. It’s to let us have constant updates, so we can quickly handle any issues and stuff as people settle… basically it’s just a way for us to help Oplar and her human letter carriers who aren’t able to handle the extra workload. Well… she feels insulted over it. Honestly I see where she’s coming from, because they basically removed her from the chain of command… but it’s not like she could run the whole thing on her own anymore, not with letters needing to be sent daily every which way,” Mapple explained.

Ah… wow… seems like I needed to go back and talk to Nessa and the others again, as to hear more about this. Oplar had made a few comments about this, but obviously had not mentioned how dire it was… though it did make sense. I could only imagine how much more work there was now with so many new members, and as she pointed out many would need constant attention… just like how Fly had so readily needed Vim to pick her up from the Bell Church since she hadn’t been able to settle there peacefully. There was likely many like her throughout the Society right now…

And more importantly, it meant Vim was likely being left out of the loop too… or maybe he wasn’t, what with Light sending him off on quests and such. And even needing to send him orders via letters, such as with Tor…

“I guess I shouldn’t complain then, should I? All I need to do is handle Vim all day,” I said with small, playful, sigh as I crossed my arms and pretended to get upset.

Mapple chuckled at that. “You jest, but I highly doubt that’s as easy as you like to imply it is. There’s a reason all the old aunties and grandma’s used to argue and take bets on who was to talk to him and tell him of prophecies and whatnot. It had been that big of a headache for them,” Mapple said.

Oh…? How interesting! I’d never even thought of that before… there indeed had been many amongst Celine’s circle back then, those like the Chronicler and Mapple’s mother, who had been saints themselves… I wonder how that had all worked back then?

“It’s too bad I never got to meet any of them,” I said gently as I thought of them. I felt like I knew a few, better than I should, since I had read some of their journals. From the archives, but…

“Don’t worry about it. Most of them were not worth knowing. Imagine a bunch of people who made Celine look like a normal person. A bunch of Hyacinths, basically,” Mapple said with a small wave.

Hyacinth… “Why doesn’t she go by her name, Mapple?” I asked, figuring it was a good opportunity to do so.

Mapple frowned at that. “It’s one of the per-requisites to joining the Sisterhood. The Singing Sisters abandon their names and take up their positions as titles. Her job is to keep records, thus her title of chronicler. My mother had been the same, The Strategist.”

“Strategist…?” I asked, that was a far more serious and important title than Chronicler, wasn’t it?

She nodded. “Many considered her to be Celine’s right hand man? Or woman…? Nun…? Saint? However you phrase it, I mean,” Mapple said with a huff, as if annoyed she didn’t know how to properly explain it. Then she continued, “She was a wise woman, but even more a religious fanatic than even the Chronicler and Light are… if that tells you enough, at least.”

I see… “Are there… any other’s left? Or is it just her?” I asked.

“Actually one came back with Light. And Light’s one too, though I never really figured out if Light is her title or her actually name, to be honest. Same with Celine… others had claimed Celine had been a title too, but that never made much sense to me.”

Right… didn’t to me either. “Who came back with Light?” I asked. Was it someone I knew? Hadn’t the other saints been young…? Glasses and Mono had both been born on the other continent, hadn’t they?

“Don’t know, Renn. In fact the only reason I know of them is because I overheard Less talking to Light about her, back before they headed to Lumen. It had been something I likely wasn’t meant to overhear… so please don’t let anyone know I told you.”

“Well, I didn’t know either… which means I’m not supposed to know as well. We’ll keep it a secret together,” I said.

She smirked at that and nodded. “I can live with that.”

Me too… though I might tell Vim, he might find that to be interesting… “Have other ships arrived…? Other than the one that Vim just recently saved?” I asked.

“Yes. Most of them are in Nevi though, they’re making some kind of company or something… I’ve delivered a lot of letters there, and have escorted people back and forth a few times. But the journey is quick so I never need to get too involved. A few days by ship, is all it takes.”

“You can take a ship from here to Nevi…?” I asked. I knew there were plenty of rivers from here to there, but I had not realized they were all that well connected.

“Yep. We do it all the time.”

Huh… wonder why Vim never uses them…? I’d complain he had never mentioned them, but I think he has… after all Coin and her brother had such a ship, didn’t they?

Sighing softly, I nodded. “I feel like so much has happened and now I don’t know anything again. As if I just joined the Society for the first time or something,” I complained. It genuinely felt so, and that was before I even included all the personal drama too!

“You have no idea… but it’s fine. Speaking of that, and our newest members… have you met Saphra yet?”

I frowned and shook my head. “Nope…?”

Mapple gave me a grin. “Then let’s go introduce her to you, shall we…? I’d like to see you two meet if I can.”

“Right now…?” It was the middle of the night!

“She sleeps during the day so right now is the perfect time… unless you were busy?”

No. Yes. Maybe… I don’t know. “I wasn’t,” I decided to admit.

Mapple smiled and nodded. “She’s upstairs. She can’t mingle with humans, for obvious reasons as you’ll see,” Mapple said as she turned and gestured down the hallway… inviting me to join her.

For a tiny moment I considered turning her down… but I realized I would be foolish to do so.

Spending my time alone, stressing over what I had no control over and fretting about things beyond my understanding would just make me worse. There was no answers there. No solutions. Only sorrow and disgruntlement.

But… time with friends? People who were good? Who were worth enduring those very stressful situations I was brooding over…?

That was not just worth my time, it was the only thing worth spending it on at this moment… at least until Vim got back. And maybe even after then, too.

And at least, even if I was wrong… I could at least say I tried. And not even Vim could fault me for that, I think.

“Alright… but if she turns out to be an old lover of Vim’s or something I’m going to invite you to breakfast with Vim and I’m going to make you deal with his grumpiness,” I warned her, gently.

She flinched. “She’s not…! I think…? Uh… Yeah. I don’t think so…” She said worriedly.

I chuckled at that and nodded. “Good. Then I’ll just invite you for snacks or something more peaceful, instead.”

“Just don’t invite me to take a bath, please. I’ve heard of your odd rituals,” Mapple said.

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