“You’ve never offered to carry me through the mud, Vim,” Oplar said from behind us.

I smirked as I turned around, to look at Oplar… who was carrying Sillti on her shoulders much as Vim was me.

“You’ve never asked to be. Plus you’re tall enough to not have this gunk ruin your clothes Oplar, they aren’t,” Vim said from beneath me.

Patting his head, I smiled at Oplar and the unsettled Sillti. She looked like she wasn’t enjoying being carried by Oplar at all. “Sillti’s taller than me,” I reminded him.

He tilted his head in a way that told me he had either forgotten, or hadn’t realized at all.

“I’d get stuck, I think,” Sillti said.

“Aye this stuff is thick…” Oplar complained.

It was. Vim had called it a bog. I knew such places by the term swamp, but Vim had not used that term even though he’s done so before. It meant the two were different… though…

The slush and gunk that we were walking through, or rather Vim and Oplar, was indeed thick. It had a strange dark green color, and sounded more like mud than water. The oddest part though was that although a giant lake, at least in size… there didn’t to seem to be many bugs or creatures. An oddity, in my opinion. Usually such large amounts of stagnant waters were full of stuff like insects.

Though that might change once it got darker. Right now the sun was high overhead, beating down upon us.

“Though, Vim, you could carry all of us couldn’t you?” I asked.

“I could,” Vim answered.

I grinned at the idea, and wondered how it’d work. Maybe one of us in his arms, or one per arm and another on his shoulders as I was? Or maybe…

“I’m sorry Renn, but I’d rather not,” Oplar said loudly with a laugh.

“We could do it, I think. You on his shoulders, I yours and her mine,” I said, amused at the idea.

“Yeah. No,” Oplar said.

Sillti’s expression told me she didn’t like the idea either. Which was too bad. It’d have worked, I think. Oplar was strong, even if she didn’t admit it.

I shifted a little as Vim stepped upward. I turned to watch as he stepped out of the sludge and onto more solid ground. It was still mushy, and he still sunk into it more than not, but he only sunk to his ankles instead of almost his knees.

“Vim… you called this place a bog?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it just a swamp?” I asked as I glanced around.

“It is, I suppose. Swamps usually are more wooded though,” he said.

Oh. Right. There were trees, but not many. I could see for some distance. There were a few patches of trees here and there, but not so many that I’d classify this place as a forest or anything like it.

“I was told these places were called quagmires,” Sillti said.

“Fancy word,” Oplar said in a way that told me she too hadn’t heard it before.

“That’s basically what this place is. That word can also be used to describe a difficult situation. Which is what one is in when trying to cross a place like this,” Vim said.

“Difficult… but not very dangerous, I suppose,” I said. Really other than getting nasty, was there any real threat? It seemed even if the gunk was deep enough to sink into, it wasn’t thick enough to pose any threat.

“You could step on something dangerous. Or get bit by something. Or slip and drown, if clumsy,” Vim said.

“Bit by what?” Oplar asked loudly.

Turning to look at her, I smiled at her furrowed brows. She was suddenly upset.

“Have you ever ventured this way, Sillti?” I asked. Both to include her in the conversation, and to somewhat steer it away from something that Oplar seemed to dislike. Did she not like bugs…?

“No. I’ve only left the village to go north to the nearby human settlement. And I’ve only done that a couple times,” she said.

Huh…

“Most in the Society never leave their hometowns, Renn. We’re the odd ones,” Oplar said.

“Right…” I nodded gently. She was right, of course, I just hadn’t thought about it that way.

After all most I’ve met and spent time with seemed… older. The type of old that basically guaranteed they had traveled the world, at least once in their life.

But there were a few who were like Sillti, if I thought about it. Even Riz and Lellip, the younger members of my friends, were similar. They traveled to the nearby human towns, but no farther.

I wonder if it was because of desire or need, though.

Sillti for example was only leaving because of what had happened… not necessarily because she simply wanted to.

I did not fault Sillti for wanting to leave her home. I don’t think I could have stayed there myself. It was one thing to lose your husband… but to lose him that way? The whole village would likely never treat her the same again. She was right to leave, in my perspective.

Though, from what I had heard she had planned to leave the Society as a whole. Not just the village. It took Ollie, Oplar, myself, and even Vim surprisingly, to convince her otherwise. Vim seemed to be under the impression she would eventually leave it anyway, likely to just… disappear one day.

I hoped that wouldn’t be the case. I planned to spend as much time with her as we traveled, in hopes of making her feel comfortable. Maybe if she realized that the rest of the Society wouldn’t care, or likely even know, of what happened to her at her village… maybe she’d not run away.

“How many days is it to Telmik?” Sillti asked.

Oplar scoffed. “Girl it’s not even been one and you’re already asking?”

Leaning a little as to study Oplar and Sillti, since they were walking behind us, I smiled as I watched the way Sillti’s face contorted into worry and shame. She wanted to argue back, but was obviously afraid to and keeping silent.

“If we’re where I think we are, it’s a few weeks away. Though I don’t know how long to add for whatever stops we make,” I said.

Sillti looked at me as Oplar nodded beneath her and crossed her arms. By doing so she covered and wrapped Sillti’s legs, which dangled in front of Oplar’s chest. The guinea pig sat up straighter, as if startled by Oplar’s actions.

“It could take us a month or two. Depends on Vim’s route. There are three he can take from here to Telmik,” she informed us.

Vim neither nodded nor grunted an answer, like he usually did. So I responded for him. “It sounds like a long time but it’ll pass quickly. It’s fun,” I told Sillti.

“I’m not really doing this for fun…” Sillti mumbled as she continued to stare down at Oplar. Maybe by Oplar crossing her arms like that it was hurting her…? She didn’t look in pain though, just in discomfort. Maybe she was just not used to someone holding her legs. Though it wasn’t like Oplar was actually holding her legs on purpose, it was just that they were in the way.

Oplar liked to cross her arms, being so animated, and did it often. Even while walking through a bog it seemed.

Turning back around, I grinned as I leaned down a little as to whisper.

“Vim,” I got his attention and patted his head.

“Hm…?”

“Cross your arms.”

He tilted his head… and seemed to ponder my request for a moment. Then he went and did so.

Unlike Oplar though he had snuck his arms under my legs, forcing them outward.

I grabbed a handful of his hair, not to pull or hurt him but to make sure I didn’t accidentally fall backwards. My legs sticking out thanks to his arms being under them now made me feel weird. “I didn’t mean that way…” I grumbled.

Vim tilted his head some more, and then turned… to only glance at Oplar and Sillti for a few moments before looking back ahead.

“I see,” he said, and then adjusted his arms as to mimic Oplar.

Smiling as he crossed his arms around my shins, I felt my smile slowly die a little as he walked… and I felt…

Well…

Nothing much, really.

He wasn’t squeezing very hard, and thanks to my thick clothing and leather greaves, I barely felt his touch. Other than a little pressure, it wasn’t anything too special.

“What?” Vim asked after a moment.

“It’s not as fun as I thought it’d be,” I mumbled in defeat.

He sighed at me. “What’d you want me to do?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted.

“What are you two doing? Are you flirting without me?” Oplar asked loudly. She splashed a little as she picked up her pace.

Vim noticed and slowed his own to allow her to easily reach us. I smirked at them, particularly Sillti who had gone to grabbing Oplar’s shoulders desperately. She looked as if in a tiny panic, as if she was about to fall over. Maybe she had almost fallen off when Oplar originally rushed towards us. I hadn’t been looking or paying attention.

As Sillti calmed down, I patted Vim’s head. “Want to swap Sillti?” I asked.

“W-what…!?” Sillti startled, for a new reason.

I sat up a little straighter, and wondered if she had misunderstood me. “Want to ride Vim’s shoulders? We can swap if you want,” I offered again, speaking a little gentler just in case.

“She can’t be serious…” Sillti whispered.

Frowning, I glanced down to Oplar who had a huge grin. “Hear that Vim? She’d rather ride my shoulders than yours!” she teased me and Vim as she raised her voice.

Sillti’s face grew even more worried as Oplar chuckled and stepped even closer, maybe even to in fact trade us.

“She does like to experience new things. And I am boring. She just sighed at me because I hadn’t done something correct,” Vim said.

Oplar laughed, and Sillti had to once again grab Oplar’s shoulder in a desperate attempt to stay upright as Oplar leaned forward a little.

Watching Oplar laugh, and Sillti hang on for what to her was for dear life, I couldn’t help but smile at the pitiful woman.

Oplar was just too strong. She likely didn’t even notice Sillti’s weight upon her. Just as Vim likely didn’t notice mine. So her moving so naturally was a no-brainer for her… but for Sillti… well…

Poor girl. Maybe I should swap with her. Vim was actually a very stoic man, and rarely if ever made abrupt movements of any kind. He could walk calmly for days and days, always looking lazy as he did so. Plus he was rather adept at being gentle… maybe Oplar wasn’t.

“Please don’t!” Sillti shouted with her tiny voice.

Oh…? I waited apprehensively to see what Oplar would do. She had just been yelled at. To be told not to move around so much.

She hated confrontation, but Oplar still had a strange attitude. So maybe she’d…

“I’d like to tease them, but you’re right. Just because he’s all nice to her doesn’t mean he’d be nice to us,” Oplar said up to her burden.

Huh…?

Sillti nodded quickly down at her. “If not him, then her. I don’t need anymore jealousy in my life, please,” Sillti whispered rather forcefully.

Wait… “Hold on…!” I groaned as I realized I had misunderstood what was happening.

The two glanced at me, but only Oplar grinned at me. Sillti instead abruptly became red in the face and looked away.

Embarrassment or shame, I wonder?

“I’d not get jealous…! I just suggested it myself!” I defended myself.

“Now, now, Renn. It’s okay. No need to force yourself,” Oplar continued to tease me.

“Gah…!”

Oplar chuckled as she looked up at Sillti. “I like how you think though Sillti. You’re right, Vim being jealous sounds bad but it likely wouldn’t be. He’s too old to take his jealousy out on other people. But Renn? Poor girl can barely handle the thought of being away from him for a single meal, so…” Oplar continued, and I felt my face grow a little warmer.

“That’s not what I said!” I interrupted her before she could continue.

She ignored me. “See her tail? She even wraps it around him all the time to leave her scent on him and stuff it’s quite—”

“Oplar.”

The world suddenly got very quiet.

And still.

Vim had stopped walking.

Oplar came to an abrupt stop too, and Sillti’s red face went pale as she stared at me. Or rather… right below me.

Glancing down, I wondered what was wrong. Had he actually taken offense to Oplar’s teasing? He really shouldn’t have. I had been enjoying it splendidly. It felt so good to have someone acknowledge our relationship, and take it seriously enough that she could make such jokes and…

“W-what is it Vim…?” Oplar asked with a tiny stutter.

Seeing Oplar worried made me worry even more. Just what kind of expression was on his face? I wasn’t able to see it at this angle and…

Leaning forward, I relaxed a little as he pointed behind us… to a few feet behind Oplar, where some of the muddy muck was still re-settling from her footsteps.

Not far behind her was a small pouch. Slowly sinking.

“Oh shoot!” Oplar shouted as she spun around to grab at it.

As she did though Sillti almost slid off. She barely held on thanks to Oplar having the wherewithal to pay attention. She had held Sillti’s leg as she bent down to pick up the fallen pouch, and by doing so had kept Sillti on her shoulders.

“Dang. The snap broke,” Oplar said as she studied it.

“I’ll hold it,” I offered.

Vim stepped forward, sloshing through the gunk and over to Oplar. She handed it off to him and sighed. “That’s what I get for bouncing around I guess,” she said.

“It is…!” Sillti agreed.

I grinned at the two as I watched Vim shake the bag a little, as to clean it of the gunk clinging to it. Tiny little blotches of clumps of thick mud, with tiny leaves, sticks and other stuff were all over the bottom of the hand-sized pouch.

“I didn’t drop anything else did I Vim?” Oplar asked.

“Not yet, at least,” Vim said as he finished cleaning off the pouch… and then instead of handing it to me he shifted a little and went to putting it into one of our larger bags.

I grumbled, but said nothing. I had wanted to take care of it myself. It had little straps on it, which had snapped as Oplar had said, but I could have simply tied them around my waist or onto one of the many hooks on my leather outfit.

Now not only was I not going to be able to occupy my time with it, that bag was going to likely stink of this bog for some time.

Why didn’t he think of stuff like that?

Oh…

I frowned as I wondered if maybe our bags didn’t smell anymore either. I honestly hadn’t even noticed, or tried to. I had noticed that my clothes had started to… not stink as often, or as strongly. What used to be me cleaning and washing them all the time had turned into something I only did when they actually got nasty, from extended use or moments like these when traveling through a place so filthy.

“Also, Vim, don’t scare me like that. I thought you were going to yell at me for teasing our adorable cat,” Oplar said with a laugh.

Sillti nodded quickly at Oplar’s words.

“Your teasing wasn’t working. She was enjoying every moment of it,” Vim said as he returned to walking.

Oplar didn’t follow right away. She simply gawked at us, and I had to look away from her in shame.

It was true.

“But she got all red in the face and everything!” Oplar said as she hurried to join us.

I kept my neck turned, away from Oplar and Sillti. I was glad that the ears on top of my head were covered in fur, otherwise they’d be burning bright red right now too.

“I’m sure she did,” Vim answered blandly.

Grabbing his hair a little, I thumped him on the side with my tail. I couldn’t smack his back since it was mostly covered by all the bags he was carrying underneath my bum.

He ignored me, of course, as Oplar sighed.

“My mother told me she had seen him blush once. I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever get to see it or not,” Oplar said with a groan.

Turning to look at her, I stared wide-eyed at the bear who had just declared something so importantly precious. “She had?” I asked, excited to learn more.

Sillti too leaned forward, transfixed and waiting to hear more as Oplar nodded.

“Aye. She told me the whole story too,” she revealed.

Excited, I nodded and waited for her to continue.

What had it been? Where? For who? Would it bring a tear to my eye to hear about it, or will I grow upset? I couldn’t wait!

“She’s just ta—” I quickly covered Vim’s mouth, firmly stopping him from spoiling the story.

“Go ahead Oplar!” I said happily, and quickly.

Oplar paused a moment, staring at us… and then broke out into a laugh as she pointed at me. “Look at that!” she shouted.

Gah! She was going to laugh and distract herself and…!

“Stop laughing and tell the story already!” Sillti shouted down at Oplar, likewise getting upset.

Vim sighed, and I realized I could free his lips. Letting go, I patted his head apologetically.

“I feel bad now! I was just joking. Mother used the same joke on me, back then,” Oplar said as her laugh died down. Sillti and I both frowned in disappointment, and before I could say anything Oplar coughed and pointed at us… or rather Vim. “I guess not long before I was born Vim lost a bet. He allowed some of the kids to dress him all up. For some kind of festival. Basically that gave him a blush with makeup,” Oplar explained fully.

Ah…

“Really?” I asked Vim.

He nodded gently. “Yeah. But I can blush you know? It’s not like I’m some heartless machine,” he said.

“Machine?” Sillti asked.

“It’s the word he uses for complex systems. Like your waterwheels back at home,” I explained.

“Oh,” Sillti nodded, finding that to make perfect sense.

Oplar grinned at me as Sillti hummed in thought.

“What…?” I asked. Why was she staring at me like that all of a sudden? Was she going to tease me again?

“I’m just impressed. I look forward to this, Vim. Maybe I should stick with you for a few years,” she said.

I frowned at her, and wondered what she meant. Impressed by what…? What I had said? Surely she had known what the word meant too, right? It had seemed like Oplar knew of many of Vim’s odd words, from what I’d noticed… so…

“She’s teasing me now,” Vim told me.

Oplar chuckled and nodded.

“It does seem more effective,” Sillti agreed.

Did it…?

I grinned as I leaned forward to look at Vim. He glanced up at me with a tired expression, but I felt that tiredness was not from his actual exhaustion… but rather us.

Poor man. Now it wasn’t just me, it was Oplar and now also another. Sillti seemed quiet, but it seemed she was quickly growing comfortable with us. She had not only participated in our recent conversations, she had even made a few quips herself.

Gently patting his head once more, I smiled as I went to ask Oplar about this dressing up she spoke of. I wanted to find out both how far they had taken it… and if I could somehow replicate it.

The bog, for all its nastiness and stink, didn’t deter or stop us from enjoying our day. As we exchanged stories, and simply enjoyed the moment… I realized rather quickly that Oplar had the same intentions I did.

To do all she could to make Sillti feel as comfortable and safe as possible.

I was very glad to have realized it, and glad to know I hadn’t been the only one to worry over it. I was honestly tired of sad news, of any kind, and if I found out later that Sillti truly left the Society… I’d take it very badly. Because I’d see it as a personal failure on my part.

After all I was here right now. With her. Together.

If she ended up leaving the Society, after spending weeks on the road with us, with me, then… well…

It was the same as saying that we weren’t good enough. That in her eyes, we had been just as dangerous and annoying as her village had been.

And that was a very sad thought. Because that was the entire point of the Society. To be what the rest of the world couldn’t be. To be what our blood related family, our nations, our people even, couldn’t be.

Better.

As the day lingered, and then eventually grew old… the sky gradually became very dark. And not because it was night.

“A forest fire, maybe,” I said as I smelled a scent I’d not smelled in a very long time. Maybe even decades. Although the smell of burning trees was very thick in the air, it had only just become so. The wind had shifted a few moments ago, bringing both the smell… and a thick haze our way.

I could tell that soon my eyes would start to water in annoyance. It was that kind of haze.

“Yes. And it’s close,” Vim said.

“Not a surprise. Didn’t they have one at the Keep recently?” Oplar said from behind us.

We weren’t in the bog anymore. But I was still riding Vim’s shoulders, as was Sillti riding Oplar’s.

Vim had simply not asked if I wanted off yet or not, so I kept indulging in him. It was growing increasingly difficult though, since I really needed to find some trees and bushes to use.

“It is the season,” Sillti added.

I hummed as I wondered what that meant. Wasn’t it about to be winter? I knew we were still a month or so from it, but…

“The smells getting stronger,” Oplar complained.

And stronger it got, alongside the thicker haze in the air.

We eventually began to climb a steep hill. One that was so steep that Oplar had to put Sillti down, since she hadn’t been able to properly climb it without issues while with her on her back.

Vim however simply ascended it, even though he did so at an angle where I felt ridiculous. Vim had to grab my knees, covering them with his hands, to keep them from scraping against the thick grass. That was how steep it got at the top and…

Reaching the top of the hill, and finally returning to a normal stance… Vim stepped forward a few feet as I tightly gripped his head.

Vim went still as Oplar and Sillti stepped up next to us. I stared out at the wide world… and felt tiny somehow as I took in the sight of a giant cloud of black and orange.

Half the world looked like it was aflame. Thanks to how thick the smoke was, and how late in the day it was, it was a strange sight. It was as if half the world had been become murky and thick. The setting sun showed the world around me, the hills, the mountains, the forests… but the world in front of me, for miles and miles, was just a big black cloud of ash.

“That’s… a big one,” I groaned.

“The whole mountain range is on fire,” Sillti whispered.

Studying the fire, I noticed a section that wasn’t as covered in smoke. It was a small pocket of white amongst black, with dancing oranges and red within it. The fire.

It was worrying, somehow. We were far away but… I knew forests. I knew trees. I had grown up in them. I knew how big they were, and how many there could be in a small space. From this distance that fire looked huge, and yet I knew it was far bigger than it seemed.

Those blazes and flames were likely as big as the very trees they were burning.

Such natural threats were things no one could survive if not careful.

“Oplar.”

I shifted, and glanced down.

I had not liked his tone. At all.

“Aye Vim. We’ll head south to the port city. If Hornslo is on fire too we’ll head southwest, or round it until we can,” Oplar answered without missing a beat.

“Vim…!” I grabbed at his hair and leaned forward a tad, to glare at him.

Vim didn’t look at me. Instead his eyes stayed focus on the sight before him. Far off in the distance… dead center in the fire.

“Our next location is beyond the fire. And that inferno is large enough it may well be within it, too. I can’t afford to round it slowly,” he told me.

My stomach knotted in worry as I realized I hadn’t misheard, or misunderstood.

He reached up, and two gentle but firm hands grabbed me by the waist. I was lifted, and soon my feet touched the ground for the first time in many hours.

“Vim…” I groaned as he went to unbuckling and unfastening the many bags he carried.

“You’ll all be burdened. I’m sorry,” Vim apologized as he laid the many bags he had been carrying down next to us.

Uncaring for that, I stepped forward and grabbed his arm. “Vim,” I said his name again, and he finally looked at me.

“Hm?” he smiled in a way that told me he wasn’t sure why I was suddenly fretting.

Gulping, I felt a little silly all of a sudden.

Why was I worried…?

I felt distraught. As if something horrible had just happened.

But… why? What was this worry for?

For the village in the fire? Members I didn’t know?

Us?

For him? What for?

Vim… likely didn’t fear such a fire. At all.

Yet…

Letting his arm go, I stepped back a step… back to where he had placed me.

“Mhm…” Oplar hummed next to me, and I did my best to ignore her scrutinizing glare. She had leaned rather close, to study my face.

Oddly, Sillti had done the same on my other side.

“I’ll verify they’re safe. Once I do I’ll either meet you at that port city along that huge river to the west, or I’ll see you three again in Telmik when I can,” Vim said.

My toes curled and tail coiled as I realized why I had felt the panic earlier. I was feeling it again.

We were about to be separated. For an unknown amount of time.

As Oplar had said earlier today, Telmik was at least a month away. Even at our pace.

And…

When Vim spoke of making sure our members were safe… He didn’t just mean alive. He meant genuinely safe. For good.

Such things took time.

“Make sure you stay out of sight and mind. Sillti, please pay heed. It’s easier for us to hide during moments of turmoil like this, but such chaos also brings out the worst in humans. Stay alert. All of you,” Vim gently cautioned us, each of us, as he looked at all three of us. He spoke gently, but evenly. He didn’t sound as if he was in a hurry, but it was clear he was.

“We’re stout and hardy women, Vim! We’ll be fine! Get going,” Oplar said loudly, unafraid and unbothered.

She sounded so… very used to this.

“Mhm. I’ll stick with them, I promise,” Sillti too calmly answered. Even she, who had never traveled with Vim, didn’t find this odd or worrying at all.

After all… why would she?

This was the man who had killed not just her husband, but her god.

Frowning softly, I did my best to say something. To say something upbeat, and happy. A good farewell, just like they had just done.

If anyone should say it… it should be me.

Vim needed to hear it. From me. Because it was me.

Instead nothing came as I stared into Vim’s gentle eyes.

“Stand tall, Renn,” Vim then said.

I gulped as my eyes began to water, and I nodded. Before I could find it in me to say it back… Vim turned and darted down the hill. This side wasn’t as steep as the one we had just ascended, but he rushed down in such speed you’d have thought he was falling down it and not running.

“Sheesh he’s fast,” Sillti mumbled in awe.

“Aye, he’ll be in and through that fire before the nights even over. I’ve always longed for his speed,” Oplar commented.

Watching Vim run down the hill… I dedicated everything I had to not chase after him.

Why hadn’t I said goodbye? What if it’s months before we see one another again?

Why had he left so quickly and readily? Without… without…

“Renn…? Dear?”

I blinked, and realized I had allowed a few tears to leak. “I’m okay. The stuff in the air is burning my eyes,” I said as I turned to smile at Oplar.

The bear obviously didn’t believe me, but she nodded anyway. “Mighty strong aint’ it? Did your home forests not have fires?” she asked, kindly allowing me my tiny lie.

“Only a few times,” I answered honestly as I glanced again at Vim.

He was off this hill and already ascending the next. He was far enough away already that I doubted he’d hear me even if I screamed.

Or well… maybe he would.

“If it’s this bad here just imagine how bad it is there,” Sillti said.

“Aye it’s bad enough to kill, it is. Come on then. It’s so massive and far away that it don’t look it, but trust me that fire could be upon us before we know it if we aren’t careful,” Oplar said as she stepped over to grab some of the bags.

I nodded as I forced my eyes away from Vim’s small figure in the distance. I went to grab the two heavier bags first, before Oplar could. I knew she was strong, but just in case we needed to really hurry and Sillti needed to be carried I wanted her to be able to do so. I could carry the woman, but I wasn’t sure for how long when forced to it, nor how fast I could do so.

Sillti too accepted a few bags as we all readied to hurry away. We were mostly silent as we prepared… but my mind and heart were anything but silent.

I was upset. I was bothered by how quickly Vim had decided to act. I shouldn’t be, of course… Vim seemed slow and even-paced, but when it came to moments of seriousness… he was like this. Acting without a moment’s thought. He made momentous decisions just as easily as I smiled around him. As if it was the most obvious thing to do.

And it was. It was Vim’s job to ensure the safety of our members. And if there was a village of our people in that fire… then…

Glancing at the black blob in the distance, I groaned as I realized I could no longer see Vim. The world had gotten dark enough, the smoke thick enough, that not even I could make him out.

“We head west. To a large river. Hornslo,” Oplar told us.

“I’ve heard of it. Some of us go there occasionally, for one reason or another,” Sillti said, excited.

“The river’s big enough for small ships. So sometimes we use it for transportation,” Oplar explained as the two stepped forward, to head down the hill. Towards the same way Vim had ran.

I knew we weren’t going to follow him, but that it was simply the easiest and fastest way to the nearby road. I could see it even still, through the haze and darkness. But…

Usually I either followed after Vim, even if from a distance… or I simply waited for him to return.

Yet here I was… about to go a complete opposite direction. Away from him. Intentionally.

And it terrified me.

Following them, I forced myself to discard my worries.

Vim wasn’t mine alone.

Don’t be the jealous wife that Oplar had joked about, Renn.

Gripping one of the straps of the heavy bags, the one that was upon my back, I clenched my jaw and glared at the world around me.

Jealousy…? No. I had simply been startled.

I’ve become too comfortable with Vim’s presence. Too used to it. Taking it as a matter of fact.

Yet the truth was… this was something that had been bound to happen, and would happen a lot throughout my life.

After all I wasn’t fast enough to run alongside him. Even if I was strong enough to survive such a massive fire… I wouldn’t be able to keep up with him. I not only lacked the speed, I lacked the endurance. He could run like that for days and days.

I hadn’t even been strong enough to give him a smile and say goodbye.

Sighing at myself, I ignored the strange depression that tried to rise up in my heart.

Tried and failed.

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