The harsh wind wasn’t bothering us much here.

I was following Vim closely through the thick trees and bushes while, like him, carrying two large buckets… which were empty, and I wondered how he knew the land so well.

It made sense of course. Vim was old. And he’s been traveling around for… well… forever, almost. So him knowing where things are, even locations that are hard to get to or even outright hidden from the rest of the world, made sense because of his wealth of experience. Odds are Vim knew every rock and stream, at least within reason. So him knowing where a spring was, here so deep in the mountains and forest, some distance from any road or path was… not a shock.

But it was shocking that he was so adept at not getting lost. After all it’s not like he had my memory… he may have seen every rock and stream before, but the odds of him actually remembering even a small portion of them was unlikely. Especially lately with his mind losing focus so often…

“I’ve not been one to care much about such things,” Vim said, continuing our conversation.

“Well… I know, but I’d still like to hear your opinion on it,” I said as I angled the buckets I held as I walked between a pair of trees. Unlike Vim, who carried his buckets in his arms, I carried mine while they were hanging on a large and thick stick. One I had over my shoulders and back. I felt I had the strength nowadays to easily carry two large buckets, even when and if full of water, but I didn’t have the size to do so without spilling them like Vim did. They had handles, in a way, but they were thick leather rope ones. The kind that could support the weight, but not much else, and I’d not be able to heft both of them at the same time keep them away from my own body as I walked while carrying them as to not bump into them and spill their contents. So I needed the distance the stick they now hung and dangled from to properly carry them.

Though they weren’t full of water yet… which was why we were treading through these bushes in the first place.

“Usually I’d avoid such a topic… as you know, I don’t like giving such opinions about our members. It’s not my place to do so,” Vim said.

“Usually, yes. But now…?”

Vim sighed softly as he nodded. “It is upsetting, Renn. Yes. I don’t fault you for being offended by it… but everyone is entitled to their own opinions and beliefs. If they feel that non-believers are dangerous and or beneath them, whether right or wrong, it’s their right to think so. For so long as they don’t do anything based off that opinion that endangers, harms or causes problems for the Society then there’s nothing wrong with them holding such beliefs,” Vim said simply.

I had expected such an answer from him, of course, but… “What about your own standard, though?” I asked.

Vim glanced back at me. “What do you mean?”

“How come you accept your own hate for the gods as something negative, a hate so potent it has gotten people killed and worse, yet overlook or even accept it from others? Especially when you yourself fully admit it’s a negative trait, and admit you take it too far?” I asked. He’s told me on several occasions that even though he felt his hate was justified… he didn’t believe the consequences of it were.

“Hm… I’m not sure how you’re comparing my accepting someone’s… personal beliefs, even racism or phobias, to my hate Renn. They’re both separate things. It’s like comparing apples and oranges,” he said.

Him bringing up food annoyed me, especially since I had fruit in my small bag hanging on my back. I planned to eat one of them when we finally reached this spring where we’d fill our buckets up at, but now I wanted it sooner. “I’m more saying you admit it’s wrong. To hate. Yet you so willingly overlook everyone else’s hatred. Why is that?”

“Ah, a debate of belief. Well… I suppose in this case, my best response would be that my rules for myself are more stringent for others. Or do you want something more to it than that?” he asked.

Although he spoke in a way that made him sound annoyed over my inquiries, I could hear his smile. He liked it when I had such conversations with him… or well, he liked it when I tried to understand something beyond my own belief system. And this was one of them of those things.

“You believe that because you genuinely believe you’re better, right?” I asked, pointing out why.

“Better…? I suppose you could frame it that way. As you know my parents made me with… unique talents. So they expected me to honor and earn the gifts they had given me. So in a sense, yes… I believe what I do because I am better, but only because I am better built not because I am myself genuinely a better person,” he said.

I knew that already, but I had asked as to lead into my next point. “And me? Do you have those same standards for me?” I asked.

Vim was quiet for a few moments, we passed a weirdly dead looking bush as he was. Then he glanced back and gave me a small smile. “I do, but only because you already are better, Renn. So… when you do something that doesn’t suit your own standard, I find it odd… because it is uncharacteristic of you. Not because I expect better from you, but rather because you simply are better and so it is weird when you’re not so,” he said.

I felt a small blush as he looked back ahead, and did so right before he walked straight into a tree. He didn’t show any signs of hesitation or shock as he paused half a moment and corrected his own path, as if he had never even almost walked right into it.

Had he been so focused on me and his answer that he had lost his own sense of surroundings…? Or was that a genuine accident, I wonder?

“What of our children then…?” I then went ahead and asked, since it seemed it was a good moment to.

Vim didn’t show any signs of even hearing my question for a good many steps… and then he finally came to a stop. Right in the middle of a thick bush. One that I went to round, since I didn’t want to walk right through it as he was. Although I probably could, with my new found strength, I knew it’d likely scratch and poke and also rip and tear my clothes so I didn’t want to risk it… especially when I didn’t really need to.

“You’re asking if I’ll be as strict with our children as I am myself,” he said to me after a moment.

I nodded. “I’d be… honestly very upset. If Nory, or any of our children, acted or believed what they do. It’s one thing to hate someone because of something that happened to you, or your family, but… they hate people they’ve never met. People they don’t even know by name. Tressi and Fressi and their people have done nothing to them,” I said.

Vim frowned as he nodded at me. “It is sad, isn’t it? And it’s upsetting too. I agree,” he said.

“And Nory? How would you feel if she was like that? Hating someone she doesn’t even know?” I asked.

Several of Chancy’s people had been talking this morning… as we neared the bridge, the wind has gotten worse. The kind of worse that kept everyone in the wagons, under cover and where it was safe and warm. Because of that, there was nothing else to do but talk… and thanks to my ears, I had been able to not just partake in many of those conversations but also hear the ones I hadn’t been involved with. Well, one of them had been about the ducks.

It seemed many of them, although they acted cordial and fine while around them, did not think too highly of them. Or rather, not so much they themselves… but the ducks as a whole.

I had not known this, but it seemed many of the ducks from back in the day had been religious… but not the kind of religious that those who belonged to the Church of Songs agreed with. They had instead believed in some kind of lake spirit. A giant fish of some sort. And it seemed Tressi, though in theory a member of the church, was one of those believers… and…

“This is where I should say we need not worry over such a thing, since the ones in question will be ours. Nory, and any other children we raise, will… as said, be raised by us. So they should then, hopefully at least, inherit our good traits… and hopefully none of the bad,” Vim said carefully.

“But people don’t always turn out like their parents, Vim. Look at me,” I argued.

“And me,” he said with a sigh.

Oh…? That had been a rather serious statement from him just now, and that look on his face…

Before I could even really process his odd look, he suddenly smiled and nodded. “I’d be upset, Renn. If Nory, or any of our kids, turned out to be the kind of people to do such things. I’ll admit it,” he said.

“But… would you stop them? Or chastise them? If they become so?” I asked.

“That’s… a heavy question. You’re basically asking me to enforce my own will on someone, my child no less?”

I nodded. “Would you?”

“Would you?” he asked back.

My tail squirmed as I nodded. “I’d… try? Or well… I’d do my best to change their beliefs. To show them that their way of thinking was wrong, or is wrong,” I said.

“And if they didn’t ever see it your way? What then?”

Suddenly feeling like I was the one being put on the spot, I bit back a groan as I shifted the stick on my shoulders. “Then I’d… likely back off, and let it be… but only because I would not want to lose them. Much like how Lilly had chosen to change a little for her family, I would too. As to keep the family whole. I’d rather dislike a few parts of them than outright lose them in entirety,” I said.

“A wise answer. And usually the one chosen, in most cases at least,” he said.

“You say that as if you’d choose something different,” I said.

“Well… because I would, probably. At the end of the day, even though I’d like to think I’d confront my own children if they were making such mistakes or going down the wrong paths… the reality is I likely won’t.”

I was about to protest, but before I could Vim raised a bucket at me. “I mean, Renn… what I mean to say is the problem we’re speaking of is a personal one. We’re not talking about individuals who become murderers, or rapists, or something like that… we’re talking about people who simply look down on others, for one reason or another. What if Nory ends up hating humans? As so many of our kind do? What if she hates men, and only wants to be near women? What if she just absolutely detests meat and as such only eats greens and then because of that feels the same discomfort or distaste towards people who eat meat as well? My point is, although they’re negative traits they’re not the kind that warrant extreme responses. If Nory, for example, grows up to hate the religious… as long as her hate doesn’t result in pain or death, then it is of no concern of mine. Nory will be Nory. And who am I to make such decisions for her, or even blame or fault her for such choices…?”

“But doesn’t such hate corrupt? Doesn’t such hate inevitably lead to death and pain? What if one day one of them has to save one of the ducks? And they choose not to, because of their hate? Or they…”

“Purely hypothetical, Renn. Complete and utter what-ifs. Not things one should make life-changing decisions over,” he said, cutting me off before I could continue.

“I…” I felt my own ears droop as I ended up sighing and nodded. “I know… and I agree… I just…”

“Don’t want our children to grow up to be hateful bigots. Yes. I agree… but people will be people, Renn. Even you have such feelings in your heart, though I dare say you do better than nearly anyone else in hiding or ignoring them,” he said with a small chuckle as he returned to walking.

“I wasn’t saying I was perfect…!” I argued. “I was just… I’m just upset, Vim. Lately I’ve been meeting people, important people, and all this time I’d been expecting them to be… better, I guess… and…”

“And now that you’re finally meeting your heroes, and learning they’re pieces of shits, you feel terrible. Yes, I know that feeling,” Vim said, interrupting me again.

“Hero is such a funny word. You know that’s one of the words I didn’t know until you said it in front of me?” I said, reminding him of what he just reminded me of.

“Hm…? Why is it funny?”

Because it sounds funny when said aloud and ever since meeting you I can’t think of the word being used to describe anyone else. “Back to the important stuff, Vim… You’ve all this time complained about Celine and the rest… are they really all like that? Like Chancy? Like Light?”

“To one degree or another, yes. And as you know, Renn… it’s not that they’re outright bad people, they’re just annoying. To me. If not for your relationship with me, you’d likely see them in a much better light at this point. Hell, by now you’d most likely be fully wrapped up in their little schemes, running around wearing their robes without faking it and so forth,” he said.

If not for our relationship… “Are you saying you know of a prophecy where we hadn’t been mated? All the ones I know of are…”

Vim then came to a stop, and as I stepped up next to him I learned why.

Stolen story; please report.

We were at the spring.

A small pond, one that had multiple smaller streams of water pouring in and out of it, was before us. Surrounded by thick trees and bushes, and hidden so well I had genuinely not smelled or heard it until now. Though that might be thanks to both the heavy wind rustling the treetops, and the important conversation we had just been having. I had been distracted…

“There were no prophecies where you two didn’t get together.”

I flinched, startling, but not because of Renka’s sudden appearance. I had to step back a few steps as pieces of wood flew outward, hitting me as they did, since Vim had crushed one of the large buckets he’d been carrying under his arms.

For a long moment I just stood there, with half-closed eyes, as I stared at Vim… who stared down at the mess around us.

He had completely destroyed one of the buckets. Pieces were everywhere, and the spring was now rippling wildly thanks to all the pieces that had fallen into it. Many were now floating on its surface. One of the larger pieces bumped into Renka’s shoe… since she was standing right on the surface of the water in the dead center of the spring.

Renka whistled softly as she looked down at her feet… with a smile that told me she was silently praising herself for the chaos she had just caused.

“Vim…” I groaned at him. By now he really should be used to her just appearing out of nowhere like this!

“You owe me a bucket,” Vim said to Renka, rather angrily.

“Hm… I suppose I can admit I do,” Renka said with the same smile she had been wearing… then she lifted a hand and swiped it through the air. I stood up a bit straighter in apprehension, and focused with all my might as I watched her… and in doing so, regrettably missed it.

“Hmph,” Vim huffed as he nodded, not in thanks but instead glad his demand had been fulfilled, as my stomach sunk as I turned my head and watched him examine a new bucket. One that had not existed moments before. It was roughly the same size as the ones we’d been carrying, but made of a reddish wood… and looked far cleaner and nicer than any other bucket I’d ever seen. Even freshly made ones.

Darn it! I had been focused on the wrong spot! She had summoned it right in his hand, not near her!

Vastly annoyed over missing such an interesting thing, I quickly debated on if there was any way I could get her to summon another one… or get Vim to break one more…

“Hey Renka,” I greeted the many freckles as I lowered my stick and the buckets to the ground near the spring. I’d fill them in a moment.

“Renn. You’re the one who usually jumps, so it’s funny to see him do so,” she said, still smiling.

“I’d not really call that a jump, Renka,” I said with a small smile. I got where she was coming from… she had basically startled Vim, but… could you really call it that? I’d more so argue that he had just… twitched, if anything. If not for the bucket shattering into hundreds of pieces I doubted I’d have even noticed he had moved upon her arrival.

“It is in my book,” Renka said.

Vim sighed at us as he went to filling the buckets. I watched him for a small moment, since he was just dunking the buckets into the spring… but he had to make sure he get any of the wood splinters in the process, which was amusing. He had to pick them out from the bucket, and it was extra work he had given to himself.

“What do you want?” Vim then asked Renka as he put aside a now full bucket of water and went to grab the ones I’d been carrying.

Great. He was in a bad mood now. We’d been having such a nice little conversation, too…

“Fincy is in Lumen, Vim.”

The bucket went still, half dunked into the spring.

Glancing at Renka, I found her still smiling… though I could now see it had changed a little. Had she moved…? She looked like she was in the same spot, but… yes, it did look like she was a little farther away all of a sudden. Many of the pieces of wood floating on the surface of the water that had been near her feet, or even bumping up against them, were now a distance from her… though the water was flowing, and there was a bit of wind, I wasn’t sure if either were enough to have changed the surface of the water that much so quickly.

“Fincy…?” I asked. Was that another god? I wonder why some of their names seemed so silly, while others were neat like Renka’s.

“Why…?” Vim then asked, a little stiffly. I glanced at him and found him glaring at Renka, the kind of glare that made me worry for her life.

“I don’t know. I plan to go find out… but before I do, I wanted to let you two know.”

“Why?” I asked, before Vim could.

Renka frowned at me. “Depending on what she’s doing, I may not be able to make contact with either of you until after either she leaves Lumen or we do. I’m sure you remember how Fincy is, Vim… she’s the type, unless doing something particular, who will just stay near me the whole time. She gets clingy when not focused,” Renka said.

Clingy…

“And you can’t come near us while she’s with you, since it risks the illusions or her hearing or noticing Renn,” Vim said simply as he stood up.

I glanced down at the bucket he had left in the spring… and the way it floated a little. It was the one that Renka had made, and… yes, it really was floating. Even though mostly full. How was it…? Oh, right, a god made it.

“Exactly. Odds are she’s just being foolish, or focused on something that has caught her fancy, but always better to be safe than sorry,” Renka said.

“Fincy has a fancy,” I said, happy to say it.

“Depending on what that fancy is, Renn, you’ll not be so quick to smirk at the thought of it,” Vim said softly.

I blinked as I glanced at him, and his oddly sad looking frown… and then I looked back at Renka. Who was ignoring her bucket that was now bumping up into her left foot. “I’m glad you remember her well enough, Vim… though I can’t say that. Fincy has… changed a little, over the years. She’s become a little odd, as I’m sure most of us have. That being said, she’s not strong enough, or confident enough, to confront Vim in any direct way… but thanks to her oddness there’s no guarantee she won’t test something on him from a distance,” Renka said.

“Test…?” Was this related to those experiments Vim always spoke of…? Hopefully not…

Vim sighed. “Is it often you and your ilk are in the same towns I visit?” Vim asked, likely thinking of all the missed opportunities.

“No. In fact it’s so rare I’d dare say it only happens once every century or so… not including yours truly, at least,” Renka said with a small gesture at herself which was accompanied by a smile. She then knelt down… and at first I thought she was going to pick up the bucket, but instead she just slapped the water.

I frowned at her, since she had slapped the water so oddly it was funny almost, but then the reason became clear as to why she did it… as the water from the spring started to flow upward. Into the sky.

Biting the inside of my cheek as I held back a groan, I watched a huge swirl of water rise upward a few feet from Renka. It was twice as thick as Vim, and unnaturally made no sound at all as it flowed which made my hairs stand on edge. It was one thing for water to… flow upward, against all reason, it was another thing for it to do so without a sound!

Then the water shifted. It swirled some more, and bubbles within it appeared… and then in the next moment, after I blinked, a person was standing before us next to Renka. Right where the swirling water had been.

“This is what she looks like right now,” Renka said with a gesture to the person.

I groaned, and didn’t hide it at all, as I studied the person in front of me. They… looked real. Alive, even. I even felt as if I could see them breathing, with their chest moving up and down, but… it seemed it wasn’t. It instead was just like some of the statues beneath the Cathedral… though not made of solid stone, or all one color.

“She… looks kind of like Lamp,” I said after a moment. She was tall, blonde haired, and had the same kind of frame to her that Lamp and her people did. She even had a small scar looking mark on her forehead, though it was not nearly as big as the one Lamp had.

“She should, she’s the one who founded those nations,” Vim said simply.

Glancing at Vim, I wanted to groan again as I saw on his expression how serious he had just been.

Usually when he made off-handed little comments that shook me to my core it was followed by my face getting hot, or my heart swelling… this time though I just wanted to cry.

“If you see her, Renn, just do your best to not let her know who she is,” Renka said.

“Then… why even show me what she looks like?” I asked. Now that I knew, I’d never be able to forget!

“Because you’re smart enough to do what you must. All you ever need to do in such a situation is to get Vim’s attention… you know, now that I think about it… I probably should figure out how to let you two communicate from a distance, huh…?” Renka then frowned as she crossed her arms in thought.

“Don’t you dare,” Vim said, abruptly and almost through clenched teeth. I shifted a little, since I half expected something else to break and shatter into a bunch of pieces. If not one of the many trees around us, maybe even Renka herself… or Fincy. Or well, the… what? Illusion of Fincy? Wonder what the proper term was for something that was fake, yet made in the image of someone else?

Still… that was right, huh? They supposedly could talk to one another from a distance, huh? Since she had been speaking to Tor all that time, supposedly. I wonder how that worked?

Renka sighed at him. “Not like it’d work on you anyway, Vim.”

“I’ll be careful. And well, now with this information I doubt Vim will let me out of his sight while we’re there anyway,” I said. That was too bad; I had felt like he had eased up a bit recently… now his over-protectiveness would return with vigor. In a town where it would cause problems, too!

Smirking softly at the thought, I noticed again her bucket. It was now floating away… heading for one of the many streams that the spring fed. Should I go get it?

“Plus, I figured this would be a good chance to prove my sincerity,” Renka then said.

I shifted as I pulled my eyes away from the rule-breaking bucket. “Sincerity?” I asked, a little bothered at the way she had said it.

She had said that word rather seriously… and with a strange smile. One that looked a little too… real.

“Yes. I’ve promised Vim to meet him in the middle… well, this might be a good chance to test if such an accord is even feasible,” Renka said with a small gesture to him.

Accord…? “Accord?” I asked Vim.

“She offered to help me kill the rest of them, though has yet to even actually tell me what she wants in return for such a thing,” Vim said.

“Oh, so like an agreement,” I said, that made sense.

“Ah, how cute. She was not asking for the details but what the word meant. Really, Vim, what would your mother say about…” Before Renka could finish teasing him, something popped. Something loud… and not far away.

I glanced down at Vim’s left hand, which was now tightly balled into a fist. It looked… fine? Somehow? But…

Something had just broken. Inside his hand. The sound of it snapping had been so loud it had made me flinch.

“Sorry,” Renka gently apologized, and then coughed, then continued. “If the… opportunity is there, I’d like to take it. If you’re willing to try,” Renka then said.

“Almost ready to try here and now,” Vim said simply.

“Vim, please,” I said softly and reached over to grab his wrist. I wanted to check his hand, but he didn’t seem willing or able to let me. Even with a firm tug I couldn’t pull his hand or arm away from his side, he was still all stiff.

I knew he was probably fine… but still…

“Take it or don’t, Vim. I’d prefer you would, as to avoid discord and the… inevitable. But if not so be it,” Renka said, speaking calmly as she did.

For a long moment Vim didn’t say anything… and then he finally glanced over at me… right as I went to use both hands to try and pry his arm away from his side. “What are you doing, Renn?” he asked as he relaxed a little, and I was finally able to lift his arm and hand up as to get a better look at it.

“I wanted to check your hand,” I said as I got him to open his fist, and I found… nothing. At least, nothing visible, wrong with it. Maybe he had just… popped a knuckle or something? And just did so, really really loudly?

“He had snapped a tendon, Renn. Or something akin to it. Check the back of his hand,” Renka told me.

Vim sighed as he flipped his hand around for me on his own. And as he did he even pointed with his other hand at the spot where I should check. Sure enough, by feel, I found the injury… there was some kind of thick knot under his skin near his middle knuckle. The reason I had not noticed it originally was because with his palm spread open it kind of hid itself, yet when he balled his fist it became far more prominent.

“Uh… how would I fix this?” I asked him and her.

“You don’t. Leave it be, it’ll heal in moments anyway,” Renka said for Vim.

I mean… that was probably true, but…

“She likes to bandage me and stuff. Or well, tries to. I blame her desire to do so on her never getting the chance to,” Vim said.

“Ah, most likely,” Renka agreed.

I huffed at the two of them and went ahead and just held Vim’s hand. “So…? You plan to what…? Let Vim kill this woman?” I asked with a point at Fincy, or at least her image.

Renka glanced at it, and judging by the way her eyes narrowed she must have forgotten all about it… for she then snapped her fingers, and Fincy suddenly returned to being water. The water fell, loudly, and splashed back into the spring.

“If possible. I’d usually not doubt or question if Vim was willing or able, but…”

“Oh I’m willing. And able,” Vim said quickly.

Renka then smiled and nodded. “Good. If it does work out that way, we’ll discuss the details later. For now… just know I might not contact either of you until after you leave Lumen, or she does,” Renka said.

Huh… “Maybe you should show us the rest? While you can?” I suggested.

“Rest…?” Renka didn’t seem to understand, but Vim quickly did.

“Ah, yes. Why not do that, Renka? Show us who else still lives, go on then,” Vim said with a point at her, with the hand I still held.

Renka blinked as she realized our meaning, and then she smirked at us. “I see. Yes, I probably should. But not right now… I’m already ignoring her as it is, she noticed my coming and sent a message. I need to respond to it soon or she’ll find it odd.”

Message…? Like a letter? “Sounds like a copout,” Vim said.

I glanced at him as Renka chuckled. “It might be. Now here, you two return with your water and hurry to Lumen. Else we’ll all look out of place,” Renka then said as she snapped her fingers… and suddenly a bucket was floating in front of me.

I groaned as I reached out, and had to unhook my hand from Vim’s, to grab it. It was the bucket she made, full of water… but was now dry, completely. As if it hadn’t just spent the last few minutes floating in the spring.

Glancing around, to make sure this wasn’t just a completely new bucket… I was glad to find it wasn’t.

“Will the bucket disappear?” I asked as I hefted it. It at least felt real. Had real weight behind it and everything.

“No. Or well, not unless Vim breaks it again at least.”

Huh… yet that table and the chairs, and the tea set, had disappeared with her last time. I wonder if it was her intentionally getting rid of the stuff, or…?

“It won’t even break after she dies, strangely enough,” Vim said as he went to finish up the other buckets.

I frowned at him, and then glanced at Renka… and found her smiling. She had found his snide comment amusing, it seemed.

“Thank you for the warning, Renka,” I said gently, since I knew Vim would have never done so.

She stood there for a moment… but now had a weird look. She didn’t have a smile or a frown… but instead maybe a look of utter confusion. Then her expression softened a little, and she nodded… and then she disappeared.

“Don’t thank her for giving us more stress, Renn, that’s stupid,” Vim chastised me he finished filling the last bucket with water.

“You just got done telling me all about how you’d not impose your beliefs on our own children, yet here you are… doing it to me!”

“This and that are not the same!”

Happily smiling, I enjoyed our little… now light-hearted but also serious conversation as we returned to the caravan.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep