There were many more unfamiliar faces than before… which was saying something, since there had been a lot last time too.

“And don’t even get me started on Glasses…!” Tundra complained as we walked deeper into the building. Or well, the church.

It was finally looking like a real church. Or rather, it was already looking like a real one. I had been a little… shocked on my approach earlier, from outside, at how quickly they were building this place. It was already looking like Telmik, what with spires and stuff already towering into the sky. It was almost scary how fast they were building this place, especially when considering they hadn’t been getting Vim’s help at all.

Odds are they had people here like Vim. People who were just… very good at it. Efficient and very experienced. And able, and strong, enough to work long and hard without breaks, too.

Kind of like this young wolf, who wouldn’t let go of my hand…

“They just want you to be safe, Tundra,” I said as I watched, and felt, the way her hand squeezed my own. She didn’t do so with enough strength to hurt me, and in fact was holding my hand gently enough to not even be a concern… but she had nails like I did. They were pointed, sharp, and although not hurting me they did occasionally poke me since she kept swinging our hands back and forth as we walked in excitement.

I was of course not bothered at all by us holding hands. Nor even would I have minded it even if her nails had hurt a little, or if she had squeezed a little rougher… Especially since I would have just scolded her and corrected her mistakes, and she would have readily fixed them. But rather, her utter joy over such a simple fact that we were walking while holding hands was… sad.

Odds are she didn’t get to do this. With anyone here.

Most of those here were those who were feeble. Or, like many in the Society, just outright scared of her. To the point that merely holding hands would be enough to give them a heart attack. And to make matters worse, if she accidentally did squeeze too hard or poke someone with a nail a little too harshly it would cause drama. The kind that this wolf didn’t endure well, at all.

“I know, but I’ve gotten real good at keeping it hidden! Really!” Tundra said as the thing in question began to wag wildly, causing her dress to flutter like mad.

“Accidents still happen, even when we try our best. It’s hard isn’t it, having such long tails?” I said with a sigh. I myself was lucky that nothing drastic had happened so far, but I knew it was only an inevitability. I just hoped when it did happen, that someone saw my tail or ears, that it happened in a situation that it was easily fixable… without too much bloodshed.

“Right! They don’t understand, being traitless after all!”

Traitless…? I frowned at the word, and wasn’t sure why. It made my jaw clench, but I wasn’t sure if it really should or not. After all… she wasn’t using it wrongly, was she? People without traits were just that, after all, right? But…

Passing an open door, I glanced in and saw some of the so-called traitless within the room. Four people, two dressed in the gray robes of the church, sat at a table and were talking as they worked on some kind of metal object. They didn’t notice Tundra and I as we walked past the room, but I did notice the obvious lack of any of their traits thanks to our previous topic.

It was a little odd, wasn’t it…? There were those like Tundra, or the ducks, who had very obvious traits… and even those like Saphra, then there was everyone else.

I wonder why it seemed that most of the people who came back from the other continent seemed even more human than not? Shouldn’t it be the other way around…? Why weren’t most of them like Tundra? Hadn’t I supposedly been told only a few humans had even gone with them at the time…? So then…

“Renn?” Tundra squeezed my hand, gently, as we rounded a corner. I smiled and nodded at her as we neared a door, the one I knew was our destination… since Less just walked out of it.

“Oh my…! Hello Renn,” Less paused in her greeting, with a slightly shocked expression on her face as she did.

“Less. How are you?” I asked as I glanced at the door she’d just come from. She had shut it upon leaving, but I could hear voices within. Ones that were talking about me, having likely heard my voice or my name said by Less just now.

“I’m… doing pretty good, honestly,” Less said, a little oddly as she did.

Oh…? I wonder if she was being odd because of my sudden arrival, or if instead because of another reason… “How’s Vim’s pirate doing?” I asked cheekily.

The taller woman broke out into a wry smile. “Pretty good, really. Ronalldo is doing just fine… he got sick a few months ago, but it came and went quickly. Was just something he ate, we think,” she said.

“She panicked and woke half of us up that night,” Tundra noted.

Shifting a little as I glanced at the wolf, then back at Less… I found her sheepishly smiling. “I uh… might have overreacted a little, yes,” she admitted.

I smiled at that. “Nothing wrong with that, Less. I do the same during such moments, to be honest,” I said.

“Somehow I doubt that…” Tundra said.

Less though seemed to believe me a little more readily as she smiled and nodded. “Can’t help it, can we?” she agreed.

I nodded back. “Not at all. So? Um… well…” I glanced down a little, and studied her… rather flat looking belly, and wondered how to ask. Could I even ask…? She had told me in confidence before, and I wasn’t sure yet if…

“Ah, still growing healthy. Light says he’ll be born not long after winter,” Less said as she patted her stomach.

Oh. Right. Saints… “Seems like cheating,” I said. What fun was that, to know everything already? Really?

“Says you?” Less said with a laugh.

For once I was glad my ears were still hidden under my hat as they fluttered at her comment. “Is Light in there?” I asked.

“Hm…” Less nodded, but did so a little unsurely…

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I glanced at the door again. I could no longer hear any voices, and not because they were talking too quietly for me to hear. Whoever was in there had simply gone quiet.

“I uh… was just wondering if I should go back in with you or not,” Less answered honestly.

“Am I in trouble or something?” I asked.

“Um… no. But… well…” Less crossed her arms and sighed, in a way that told me something was actually wrong. Or at least wrong enough to cause her concern.

“Who else is in there?” Tundra asked for me.

Less nodded slowly. “Exactly…” she mumbled as she kept pondering… whatever it was that was bothering her.

I sighed at her. “Is it Chancy…? She doesn’t bother me anymore,” I said. Unlike the wagon I’d been on, which had gone to the Animalia Guild, she and the other wagons had come here instead. Vim and I had escorted them here and then headed to the guild instead.

“Chancy…? No… Ah, well… I guess it was bound to happen eventually…” Less sighed as she stepped over to the door, and then after a couple knocks upon it she opened it before being told to enter.

A little excited to see whoever it was she seemed concerned over me meeting, I glanced at Tundra and smiled at her. The young wolf smiled back up at me, but did so in a way that told me she had no idea at all what was going on. She was just happy to be here.

“Come on in Renn,” I heard Light say from within the room as Less entered first.

Following Less into the room, I kept hold of Tundra’s hand as to give her permission to join me. I knew Light likely would have preferred Tundra to have not come in with me, but I planned to follow Vim’s guidance during moments like this… for now at least.

Tundra would give me a little bit of protection. To a point. Her presence would keep me or Light from saying certain things, and as such would give me a small bit of breathing room… and…

Slowly entering the room, I frowned as my eyes quickly found the unknown individual.

“Hello Renn,” Crane greeted me as she stood from her seat.

An odd chill ran down my spine as I spent a tiny moment to find my voice… and once I did, I found it to sound a lot warmer than I expected. “Crane…!” I greeted the very first member of the Society I’d met, or one of the first at least, and finally unhooked my hand from Tundra’s as I hurried over to greet her.

Approaching her was easy, and once close enough to hug her… I hesitated.

“It’s okay, Renn,” Crane said simply as she extended her arms, inviting me, and I sniffed as I stepped forward and hugged her.

I made sure to be as careful as I could, since I knew she was a frail being, and as I hugged her I felt tears well in my ears as I breathed in her scent.

Somehow she smelled like the Sleepy Artist. I smelled paint on her.

“It’s been so long…!” I whispered.

“Yes, it has,” Crane answered. As she spoke, I realized she was taking this far better than I was… and in general. She wasn’t even shaking over my touch! For someone who had once banished me over her fear of me… she was doing pretty good!

Releasing her, I smiled happily as I stepped back and glanced her up and down. She looked… fine? I had been worried this whole time that she had gotten hurt, when the human knights had broken into the Sleepy Artist and taken or killed Lughes I had thought this whole time that she might have gotten hurt too. And thus why she had chosen to spearhead the vote against me and Vim… but…

“I’m fine. I was not present during the event,” Crane said simply, likely knowing why I was studying her so intently.

“Ah…” I nodded as I sniffed and pulled my hands away from her shoulders. I didn’t want to make her more uncomfortable than I likely already had, so I forcefully kept myself to myself as I stepped back another step and glanced around. Less was not far, a few steps away…. Tundra was looking at us oddly from where I’d left her, and Light was sitting at a desk nearby. Though the desk was up against the wall, and thus she was turned around on the chair as to face us. It seemed this was an office, but it was a little odd… why were all the tables and desks against the walls?

“I told you she’d not do anything amiss,” Light said simply.

My ears perked up under my hat as Crane nodded. “I’m sure a comment or two is coming, but yes. She’d not harm me, you worried for nothing Less,” Crane said as she stepped back and sat back down in her chair. One that, like Light’s, was before a desk. One facing the wall.

It seemed she hadn’t just been sitting in it for no reason, either. There were papers littering the desk, ones that had recently been getting written on. Crane had been working, it seemed.

“I do have some things I want to say… but odds are I already know what actually happened,” I said simply.

“Do you?” Light asked with a smile.

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Taking a deep breath, I nodded as I reached up to wipe my eyes. They were wetter than I had thought. “You did it on purpose. By her orders,” I said to Crane with a point at Light.

Crane softly smiled, but didn’t nod or shake her head. Instead Light spoke up for her. “Does that mean I won’t get a hug too?” Light asked.

For a tiny moment I considered it, but only for a moment. “I’ll hug you, but only for a moment. Vim will be upset with me if I didn’t at least punish you a little for it,” I said as I stepped over to her.

She chuckled at me as she stood from her seat and stepped forward. Unlike my hug with Crane, I actually put a little effort into this one. Not because I wanted to squeeze her, but because I knew she could take it. Light was… more like me than not.

“It’s good to see you Renn. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to see you for a few more months,” Light said as we hugged.

“I’ll take that as proof I’m doing the right things, then,” I said as I tried to pull myself back and away from her… but wasn’t able to. She held me firmly, keeping me in her grasp.

Smiling gently at her, I decided to give her more than the few moments I had agreed on… I’d just not tell Vim I’d given in so readily.

“I didn’t get any hugs,” Less mumbled as she watched us.

“I’ll hug you!” Tundra offered.

“That’s not what I…” Less sighed as the young wolf stepped over to her and wrapped her arms around her waist, happily hugging her without hesitation.

Releasing Light, I laughed at Less’s annoyed expression as I offered to hug her too. She though quickly raised a hand to stop me. “I was just joking, thanks though,” she said quickly.

I nodded at that, especially since it was so funny that she and her sister were so… well… opposites. Landi was supposed to be some wild, mischievous and evil person, yet Landi would have run forward and hugged me on sight. Less though didn’t seem too keen on skin-ship… though she was letting Tundra hug her at the moment, even if she didn’t seem too happy to do so.

“I really am glad to see you Crane. I think we kind of circled each other a few times recently, I’m actually surprised it took this long for us to run into one another again,” I said as I looked over at the bird.

She nodded gently at me. “That had not been on purpose, but yes. On a few occasions we missed each other by mere days, I think,” she said.

We had. Nevi in particular. Once when I had visited Rapti we had arrived only a couple days after she had departed. “I figured it hadn’t been on purpose. With Vim always running around so sporadically it’s impossible to plan around him anyway,” I said with a smile.

“Speaking of that… might I ask why you’re here, Renn? You mean Vim’s here too? Right now?” Light then asked, shifting her weight a little next to me as she did.

I glanced at the one-eyed saint, and wondered if she had just thought about hugging me again or something. She had gotten a tad bit closer and… the way she had shifted her arms had made me kind of think she had been about to wrap them around me again. I would not have minded, much, but it would have been a little odd all the same.

“He’s here. We’re heading east, since he has requests he needs to handle. We also escorted Chancy and the others here too, as I’m sure by now you know,” I said. Actually…

“Chancellor is here? Already?” Light asked with a frown as she glanced at Less. I noted she did not use her nickname, though that might just be because of surprise over hearing of her arrival more than anything else.

“I’ll… go find out,” Less said quickly with a frown and a nod.

Oh…? They actually hadn’t known yet? That was… very surprising to hear. Not only would I have expected Chancy and the rest to have come straight to Light, for one reason or another, I would have also figured Light would have been able to sense Chancy’s arrival. Being a saint and all…

“We’re early, huh?” I said with a small smile as I watched Less gingerly reach down to unwrap the wolf’s arms that were firmly locked around her waist. Tundra didn’t seem to mind Less prying herself free of them, but she did seem to resist a little all the same. Odds are she was just glad for the opportunity to hug someone else, for the same reason she had been so happy over holding my hand earlier.

“I’ll go greet her too. Before you leave Renn, I think we should catch up…” Crane then stood and said, before I could say anything.

I nodded quickly. “Yeah…! I think we’ll be here a few days, at least, but yes. Either way. We’ll spend some time together,” I promised.

Crane nodded, agreeing, and stepped over to Less… and Tundra, whom she gently patted on the back. “Would you join me, young wolf?” Crane asked her.

“Huh? For what?” Tundra asked with a frown as Less finally escaped her clutches and stepped away.

“I feel they need a moment alone. And I’m still not fully accustomed to this maze, would you mind escorting me to the dorms?” Crane asked as she stepped towards the door, and did so with a hand on Tundra’s back as to further emphasize her meaning.

The young wolf let out a tiny whine, and did so while glancing over at me… but she still obediently followed Crane to the door.

“I’ll come find you in a bit Tundra,” I promised her.

Her tiny frown, and whine, instantly turned into a happy smile as she nodded excitedly and her tail began to wag beneath her dress again.

Gosh she was so cute… why were people here so mean with her, I wonder?

“I’ll go find Chancy,” Less said as she joined them. And before I knew it… the door shut, and I was left alone with Light.

Sighing softly, I turned to look at the woman who wanted to be my friend… but was frowning worriedly as if she wasn’t.

“Why do you look like you’re in trouble?” I asked her.

“Because I might be… Renn… you should be in Telmik right now. Why did you leave already?” she asked.

“Well, like I said… Vim has stuff to do, and I brought you some letters and stuff,” I said as I went to dig them out. I was glad to be rid of them, honestly, they weren’t heavy or anything but they were important… at least, to me.

“Yes, that explains why he had left early… but that does not explain why you had as well,” Light said as I handed her the batch of letters. She took them without even a glance at them, and then stepped over to her desk and placed them down upon it without a care. She was more focused on me and my answer, it seemed.

“Well… Vim’s gotten a little prickly about my leaving his side,” I said carefully.

He and I had already talked about this. About what I should say, or do, with her… and those like her, when they asked why he was being so stringent on my being near him. Our current plan was to use my pregnancy as an excuse, but…

Well…

Studying Light, I wondered if I should do it here and now… while I had a chance. While it was on my mind.

I had chosen not to tell the Chronicler. That I wasn’t actually pregnant, yet. But…

I wanted to tell her. At least her.

Not just so that she and the rest would stop using my pregnancy as an excuse to do things, and manipulate people’s futures… but also… well…

It was wrong. To lie. Especially about something like that. And… I really did want to be her friend. And friends didn’t lie about something as serious as childbirth. At least, in my perspective they didn’t.

Still…

Light then sighed. “So Vim’s just breaking the future again, is he…? I can’t even get mad over it, since it’s expected,” she then said as she went to sit back down in her seat.

I frowned at that, but was glad for the moment away from my thoughts as I went to grab the chair that Crane had been sitting in. I was about to pull it closer to Light, as to sit and talk with her… but realized I probably should grab another. So I stepped over to a different chair, one that didn’t have a cushion or anything special about it, and then dragged it over to Light’s area as to join her.

“Why’d you not just use Crane’s?” she asked as I sat down across from her.

“Crane’s the type to get bothered by my scent. I know no one can smell it anymore… but still,” I said.

“Ah… Renn, Crane’s not actually that feeble. She only acted so on purpose, by my request. It’s why she was so readily willing to hug you just now. Scent or no,” Light said with a small smile.

For a tiny moment I felt… unsure of what to think or say about that, but I decided I should be upset after a moment of considering it. That few heartbeats of anger though quickly faded into relief. “So… you mean from the beginning then…? Even their banishment?” I asked as my sight blurred and I thought of those letters. The ones I’d read so long ago, in that wagon, after Crane had banished me from the Sleepy Artist.

“Yes. Or… well, no. Lughes had not known anything about the future. He had genuinely been upset. Crane had just… used it to further our goals. She had allowed the banishment, because she had feared you staying there and not accompanying Vim.”

My throat felt hot all of a sudden. “And Amber’s death?”

Light blinked. “I… had not foreseen that. I had not known the girl, or her mother, but I hear she had been beautiful inside and out. A tragic loss,” she said.

I gulped and nodded. “So… you all really have known from the beginning,” I said.

“You knew that already, Renn,” Light said softly.

I had, but it still hurt to constantly find more proof of it. “So what… everyone just… knew that if I showed up, to get me as close to Vim right away? Or something?” I asked.

Light slowly nodded. “To a point. There actually weren’t as many who knew as you might think. Though I’ll not lie and say it was a small number either. For most though they had only known of your name and appearance, nothing else, so as to alert either I or my mother upon your arrival. Basically they had known of you not in detail, or who or what you’d become, but instead only to let us know of your arrival.”

That didn’t make it any better… but I suppose it was good to know most had only known the basics and nothing more. “So Crane started the vote… or whatever, for what? Because you told her to?”

“Mother told her to. It was meant to happen before we showed up, the vote that is, but now that we’re all back it is a moot point. Though it must still happen now that it has been called, it is no longer of any real concern. Now it’s more of an excuse for everyone to gather up and meet old friends than anything else,” Light said with a smile.

Great. I’m so glad that Vim and I have stressed over something that no longer had any meaning… “What had been the point? Originally, I mean?”

“It had been mother’s way to ensure you two settled. The original plan was to give Vim time alone with you, before we returned and the disaster happened, as to give opportunity.”

“For Nory to be born, you mean,” I whispered.

Light frowned at me. “You already know her name…?”

Gosh! “Don’t admit that so readily!” I said as I stood and flung my hat off. My ears fluttered wildly in annoyance as I huffed and stepped away, but didn’t go too far.

I wasn’t actually upset. I wanted to be… but deep down I wasn’t.

Because I knew she, and her mother, had not done any of this maliciously.

It wasn’t as if she, or any of them, had wanted to hurt me. Or Vim. In fact it was the opposite… they had wanted to ensure we got together, and were happy enough to have children. In essence… they had only been trying to help. And in fact wanted the same thing I did. But…

“Sorry Rennalee…” Light whispered softly.

I sniffed as I nodded. A tear slid down the side of my face, and I realized now why Crane had left. Odds are such emotions had already been visible on my face, and they had noticed.

Glancing around, for a distraction, I found nothing really worth focusing on. There were plenty of desks, and all of them had stuff on them… and there were some chairs and tables in the center, but the room itself was rather boring and bland. Nothing stood out… not enough to stop me from saying what I was about to, at least.

Finding a random chair to just… stare at, I studied the pink cushion upon it. It looked flat. Too flat to be useful. But it didn’t look old and worn… maybe whoever sat there on a constant basis didn’t like their cushions to be very thick?

“I’m not pregnant yet,” I admitted softly.

For a long moment there was silence… and it grew uncomfortably loud, so I turned to glance at the one-eyed saint for confirmation she had heard me… and found a single eye staring at me. A very wide, bright eye.

“Oh.”

Oh…? That’s it? I sniffed again as I nodded. “I wish I was, but I’m not. I… Vim convinced me to lie about it. I’m sorry. I was going to keep lying about it, but… I felt it was wrong and…” By Vim’s parents she was actually shocked…! I couldn’t really tell, since her eye was growing so brightly… but it actually looked like her face had gone pale! By several shades! “And I’m just not… Vim and I have been so busy, and there’s just been so much happening, and we just… well…” I stated to feel hot in the face, not just because I was telling the truth after lying for so long but… also because it really was embarrassing.

Again I was forced to admit something so stupid! Vim was such a jerk, why was I always in this situation! By now he really should…

“Renn…!”

I blinked and looked up, since my eyes had drifted down to my hands. To my tail, particularly. I had grabbed it and had started wringing it in shame and worry, when had I even slipped it out of my pants I wonder?

Light was now in front of me. She had stood from her seat and… grabbed me by my shoulders. She looked worried, but not so greatly that it made me panic. “Yeah…?” I asked with a sniff. Was she going to yell at me?

“Are you serious?” she asked harshly.

I gulped and nodded. “Yes…?”

“Then why are you glowing like…” Light then blinked, and her eye abruptly dimmed… then it grew in brightness again. “A heart…! You’ve absorbed a heart!” she shouted, to the point I flinched.

“Yes… my ancestor’s, actually,” I said. Gosh she could be loud when she wanted to!

Light’s hands left my shoulders as they slumped… and then I watched her step back and stare at me. Her wide, single eye, focused on my chest more than anything else. “By the gods that makes perfect sense,” she whispered.

Did it…? “Um…”

Light then raised a hand. “Wait. Okay. Thank you for telling me, Renn… and we’ll have to have a very serious conversation about that in a moment. But first, before we get off topic… I really need to say something.”

I nodded quickly.

“I need your help,” she then said.

“Hopefully you’re not going to ask me to have a baby real quick, because…” I started to say with a smirk, thinking of Vim’s expression if I told him such a request. Considering the moment, I wasn’t sure how he’d receive such a thing.

“What…? No. This is… well…” She then hesitated, and then she took in a deep breath and nodded. “This is serious. And I don’t know what to do about it,” she admitted.

Oh…? That wasn’t good. “Um… okay? Why bring it up now and not earlier?” I asked. If it was that dire, why joke around about hugs and stuff?

“Because we’re now being honest with one another. Truly honest. So it’s time.”

Were we…? “Okay…?”

Light nodded, rather seriously… and then glanced around. “I think there’s a god here. In town. A real one… and I’m hoping you can help me prove it.”

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