My wife was somehow the cleanest eater of the three…

I’d volunteered to clean up after their little dinner, so they could all go off and do… whatever it was they had been so eager to leave me behind for. Maybe a bath or something.

Honestly I was glad for it. I appreciated the moments alone as I cleaned up plates and cups, disposing of what little leftovers remained. It was odd to say so, but I had been feeling lately as if I wasn’t getting many chances to just… think in peace.

It wasn’t true, of course. Thanks to the fact I rarely slept I always got time alone, even when busy. But I just had so much on my mind lately that I still felt overwhelmed…

“Are you here?” I asked quietly as I paused, a few rags in my hand went still as I glanced around the empty room… and waited.

And then waited some more…

And got no response.

I sighed at myself, and wondered if Renka only showed up when she wished to. Or if she really was… busy.

What did she even do, anyway? I got that she oversaw Telmik, and other locations, as to keep an eye on me for her and the rest of them… but what did that entail exactly…?

After all, she could with a few swipes of her hand set up live feeds which could monitor me and those around me with ease. Especially since she was able to seemingly do so without me noticing any hint of divinity as she did. So… with that capability, what was it she actually needed to do?

Though maybe right now she was with Renn… watching over her instead. I highly doubted Renka would show herself, at least on purpose, to anyone but Renn or me but… stranger things did happen…

I could very easily see Renn simply inviting Renka… into the bath, or whatever they had all ran off to do, and the blasted rule-breaker might just have the gall to accept such an invitation without hesitation.

If she did it was my fault. I had played along with her the other day, to listen to her stupid schemes…

“Why had I done that, anyway…?” I wondered as I went to finish cleaning up. I wiped down the table we’d all been sitting at, since not only had Mapple spilled her drink there had been a few more accidents during the meal. Saphra had knocked over a, nearly empty but not so, pitcher with her tail when she had lifted it to show Renn something. Then my wife, not to be outdone by the snake, had done the same. She had crawled over the table as to let Saphra touch her tail in return, instead of just standing up and walking around the table instead. Renn had actually been the one to make the most mess of the three, thanks to that, since she had knocked over not only a few cups but a whole plate of food. Stuff that had been covered in honey and other things, which had made the table sticky.

“Our children better not be so messy,” I whispered as I scrubbed at a spot that was really bad.

The thought brought a smile to my face, even if it hurt a little as it arrived.

Children were meant to be messy… it was their privilege to be so. How many hundreds, if not thousands, of children over the years have I cleaned up after or cared for? Some had been spectacularly messy too. Was I saying my own children didn’t deserve the same patience? The same care? Of course they did, if not more… So… why would I say that?

Maybe I was just looking for something to complain over. Since I couldn’t, or was afraid, to complain over everything else…

“Ah, there you are!”

The frown which had grown on my face as I finished wiping the table deepened as I recognized the familiar voice. I glanced up, away from the table, and watched Oplar enter the room.

“Oplar…? Thought you were down south,” I said.

“Had been! Did you break another table or something?” she asked gleefully as she walked over.

“Ah, no. My wife has made friends with Saphra, and per typical snake custom she had invited Renn to a feast as to celebrate their friendship. Well… let’s just say they’re were a little messy and leave it at that,” I said. No point in saying that half the mess was my fault, for having startled Mapple in the first place with my unannounced arrival.

Oplar laughed at me. “The snake woman! I faintly remember her family members… or were they friends? But that’s all,” Oplar said.

I nodded. “Her family had never joined the Society. Not her immediate family, at least… You’re remembering the ones who had adopted her. They had been a little cruel to her though, so I’m not entirely sure if she sees them as family or not,” I said.

“Cruel…? How so?” Oplar asked.

“I’d not call that simple gossip, Oplar,” I said simply.

She sighed at me. “But who else would ever tell me?”

“Renn, maybe. They seem to be getting along well… but, I suppose I should say I kind of overstated it. They had not abused her or anything… they had simply neglected her. Opting to focus their attention and efforts on their own children, their own daughter and son, instead,” I said.

Oplar frowned but nodded. “Many of our kind do that Vim. My own parents would have done the same had I not been the firstborn,” she said.

Yes but that didn’t make it right. “How’re you Oplar…? I know we just saw each other not too long ago, but the world has been very active lately…” I said, choosing to both switch the topics a little as to avoid my own internal thoughts on the matter and also to make sure all really was well. Typically Oplar didn’t search me out without good reason, and I knew thanks to where we were… off the beaten path, a few hallways from the areas currently being used and lived in, that Oplar had indeed sought me out.

“Physically? Fine. Other than I’m being worn ragged with work… which is odd to say, since I want to snivel about them taking work from me. Gosh now I feel like a hypocrite! Why’d you make me say that?” Oplar asked, raising her voice a little as she did.

I accepted the blame and nodded. “It’s gotten worse has it?” I asked.

“Yes… less than half the letters being delivered right now are going through my channels, Vim. At this rate, within the year, I’ll not have enough to even keep myself occupied let alone busy!”

Sighing softly at that, I nodded as I tossed the towels I’d been using onto the table nearby. I still needed to give it a once over to finish, but it’d be fine for now. “I’ve been hearing that a lot lately,” I said.

“You might be okay with it, but I’m not! What am I going to do without work, Vim…? I’m not like that snake who can sleep their life away, I need action!”

Funny, since any real action you see makes you panic and run away. “Have you not tried to just… voice those concerns?” I asked.

“Duh…? But like I just admitted, it’s not because they don’t outright trust me… it’s because there’s just too much stuff happening. Do you know how many letters I had? Brought just back I mean?” she asked.

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I shrugged. “A few dozen?” I guessed. She had just recently been at SilverCreek… so basing that as a starting point, here as an endpoint, and how long it has been since then and all the locations I knew on the routes she had likely taken… I found a number and doubled it, just to be safe.

“Thirty-six.”

Oh my. That was well beyond even my imaginary doubled number. “Are these all still concerning the vote…?” I asked. The Chronicler had shown me the updated tally the other day, and had said it was mostly finished… I had not expected that many to be left to get.

The bear shook her head. “Right now the main focus is finding places for everyone to live. We have several dozen new locations, by the way. Ones they’d been building and preparing for some time without letting any of us know about. I’m very upset with that, and plan to file a complaint over it,” she added.

I nodded. “You and Renn both.”

Oplar scoffed at me, which told me she knew I had intentionally not included myself in that statement and she hadn’t liked it. “Yet even with all those new locations… we’re struggling. Your snake you mentioned is a part of that, by the way. The biggest issue so far are the ones like her who can’t go to most of our locations. A lot of the folks who came back have very obvious traits, like the ducks or the horned heads.”

Horned heads…? I’d not seen anyone lately with any obvious horns, at least on their heads, I wonder who she spoke of? “I’d expected as much… but so far I’ve yet to be involved in any of that. Not entirely sure why, but as of yet I’ve not been given the order to help with any of it,” I said. In fact even our upcoming escort of the ducks eastward wasn’t really associated with that. That had been their own desire, their own personal request… it had not come to me through the proper chain of command.

“Mostly because it’s not like anything can be done about it yet…? Right now we’re mostly just getting permission from locations, and people, more than anything. Plus I think a lot of them expect no one to really be moved around until after the vote… though I’m not really sure why. Traveling in winter is harder,” Oplar said with a frown.

“Probably because they plan to wait for the rest of the ships to arrive first,” I reasoned.

The bear blinked, rather blatantly. “Ah…!” Then her frown heavily deepened. “Why hadn’t I thought of that…?” she mumbled as she realized it was the most likely answer.

Because, like me, you are being kept in the dark and at arm’s length. Intentionally.

“Other than the upcoming housing crisis, how is everything else?” I asked. The more we talked about it the more likely I’d be forced to deal with it, and right now I wasn’t in the mood to do so.

Her frown remained as she kept pondering something, even as she shrugged and answered me. “All’s well, Vim. Landi is causing drama. Supposedly Light and the rest sent a group down there to meet her, to try and negotiate with her, and it isn’t going well. Some of the locations are still waiting for you, such as the Crypt, while others actually don’t need you anymore. I kind of forgot to mention it, in SilverCreek, but you don’t need to go pick up the camels anymore. They came up with me and the others, and…”

I nodded. “I encountered them already. I know.”

She nodded back. “Nevi’s really active now… and uh, there might be a problem with Rapti. I’m not sure… I have a letter for you and Renn, but it’s up in my room. She said it wasn’t very important, but you know how she does that weird eyebrow thing and tugs at her hair when annoyed? She was doing that the whole time,” Oplar said as she reached up to mess with a flock of her own hair as to showcase what Rapti had been doing.

“Is Kaley still there with her?” I asked. That meant Oplar had gone down that way, when she had left SilverCreek, and had not gone the eastern route… which was surprising since I had thought she had been going to do so.

“Yes. That’s not what’s wrong, I don’t think… those two get along great. Almost too good, in fact… by the way, do you think Rapti let’s her bring home men…? I just can’t imagine her letting that happen, but she’s been there so long there’s no chance she hasn’t at least…”

“Gossip about that stuff with Renn, Oplar. Not with me,” I said with a sigh.

She grinned and nodded. “I plan to! Where is she anyway…? And when do you plan on leaving? Which direction you headed?”

“Eastward. To Lumen, then beyond, tomorrow,” I said. If I can sneak out before something changed that. Divine or no.

“Ah… that’s too bad. I got to head back south, to see if I can find the group that went to Landi’s. They don’t like including me in such things, but the minute they need someone good at their job who is it they ask for? Seriously, the nerve!” Oplar tooted her own horn as she huffed.

“I’d offer to do it for you, but I’ll likely be heading straight east. I might not even circle down south and come back here instead,” I said. It all depended on… well…

A lot of factors, honestly…

“It’s fine, I have a few things I want to do down that way anyway… also, uh… Vim,” Oplar then stepped a few feet closer, and as she did she glanced around. There was no need for it… not only were we still alone in this room, not even a whisper had echoed down the dark and quiet hallway outside.

“Hm?”

“Is Renn pregnant yet…?”

For a small moment I wondered if she was just teasing me, but then I noticed the very serious look on her face.

This was not her tickling her itch for gossip… she was asking for a very real reason.

“No… why?” I answered honestly.

She noticeably flinched. “They’re convinced otherwise. Like… I’m talking super convinced. To the point they’re making decisions based off it,” she said, her voice still quiet though she was now talking faster… as if to say it as quick as possible before anyone had a chance to hear her do so.

“Weren’t they already doing such things…?” I asked. Renn hadn’t, so far, explained much in detail about it but I’d already long figured it out. Celine and the rest of the saints had, long ago, prophecies concerning our relationship. Children resulting from it included. And as such had… planned things, based on that fact.

“I mean… Yeah? But I’m talking about stuff today. Like I said, they’re not moving people yet right? That’s one of the reasons,” she said.

Huh…? “They’re… not letting people go to their homes… because they think Renn’s about to give birth…?” I asked, trying to understand. Both the logic and the possible meaning behind it.

She nodded, rather forcefully. “I’ve only heard whispers, Vim. You know they don’t include me in any of that stuff. Never have. But I’m sure of it. They’ve keeping certain people here, and others from coming here, until she… I uh… I mean until she gives birth,” Oplar quickly corrected herself at the end, and as she did she again visibly flinched.

“I already know it’s supposed to be a daughter. Renn told me,” I said.

“Wait what…? When!? And I wasn’t there to see her do so!?” Oplar got loud again.

My eye twitched. “You’re absolutely sure you’re not mistaken?” I asked, ignoring her outburst.

Oplar grumbled at me. In a way that told me she was going to, once our conversation was over, run off and search for Renn. Likely to hear all about it. “Yes. In Nevi I overheard Karma and some of the others whisper about it. One of the guys, someone named Karl, was complaining. They wanted to head north, to wherever they were told they could move to and settle down. But Karma and the other’s wouldn’t allow it. The exact phrase I overheard was,” Oplar stood up a bit straighter, and intentionally lowered her chin as to dry and deepen her voice. “Ain’t got no choice. Until the kid is born we can’t risk it, ya idiot!” she said.

I frowned at both her terrible imitation and the context of it. “Even if… she was born soon, what would that do? What difference would it make?” I wondered.

“You’re telling me? And that’s not the only time I’ve overheard such whispers, Vim… it was just the most blatant. I’m not the only one either, Coin and even Kaley said something about it.”

Coin I understood… but Kaley? “Kaley…?” I asked, unable to figure that out.

“She had overheard it, I mean. Someone probably told Rapti something and Kaley had simply heard it, Rapti’s not a full blown member of their cult, but they trust her.”

They did… to a point. “Would you mind… telling Renn all about this?” I asked.

“Hm…? I know you think I omit a lot of stuff when talking to you Vim, as to avoid making you upset, but I hadn’t done so just now. I told the truth, all of it,” Oplar said calmly, seemingly not offended and even a little amused.

“I figured, and I thank you for that… but all the same talk to her about it. Maybe she knows something I don’t, and can fill you in on stuff I’m unaware of,” I said. Or maybe Renn can wring out information from Oplar that even she doesn’t know is important, and I can’t find it myself since I don’t know what to look for either.

Oplar gently shrugged at me. “I would anyway, Vim. She’s family.”

Yes… she was…

And so were you, I guess. Since she put it that way.

I sighed at myself. “Do you want children, Oplar?” I asked.

“Huh…?” She shifted a little, and then gave me a weird smile. “Of course, Vim… kind of why I’ve been looking for a mate, you know?”

Ah. Right. “I’m still really unsure myself,” I said as I turned around and went to finish up cleaning the table. I wanted to finish quickly now, so I could get Oplar to give me the letters intended for me. Like the one from Rapti… before she ran off and occupied herself with Renn. Which she was undoubtedly going to do at any moment.

She scoffed at me. “You don’t have a choice, Vim, I’m afraid.”

I was starting to realize that.

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