A few more nights and we’d be leaving the Summit.

I was honestly a little glad we were going to leave soon.

As much as I enjoyed these moments alone with him… I was ready to leave this strangely somber place. To head back towards lands I knew, and see people that I called friends. Supposedly there were only a few more stops after here, and we’d be heading back towards Telmik.

Honestly I was not as angry or upset over this village or its inhabitants anymore. Their way of treating Vim had… disturbed me greatly, especially at first, but now I was at least able to understand it. Plus Ollie and the rest had been very welcoming of me… and… well…

Smiling at the memory of listening to Ollie and the rest complaining about the vote against Vim’s position in the Society, I found myself respecting the people here a little more. They had their own grievances with Vim… but they were justified. And they didn’t allow their grievances to conflict with their trust in him. They hated what he did… but they knew he would protect them without question.

Like this house. If they truly hated Vim… they’d not have made it so nicely. Not have kept it so clean, and stocked full of food and supplies.

We were in our room since it was about to be night, and Oplar had left to visit her friend for the night so we were alone.

It felt good to be alone with him. It made me want to linger here in this place longer… almost. It was a little odd to think on how hard it was for us to have these moments alone lately. Oplar was now traveling with us, so our alone time while traveling was now gone. And while we were at locations, usually, Vim was busy. This place was unique in the way he didn’t really do much.

Being alone with him made my heart beat faster than usual. I wasn’t sure why, since it was something normal now. Even touching him didn’t really bother me anymore. It used to make me so self-conscious to even brush against him while we walked. Now I was able to lay on his lap for hours, uncaring of how silly or weird I looked or acted.

But… I knew these moments were still dangerous. For me especially.

Turning the page, I found myself unable to focus on the words. Which was surprising… since the book was almost over. This was the climax. The end. The big hurrah. The main character had just found out about the betrayal of her closest aid, her closest friend, and also the infidelity of the man she had almost convinced herself to marry and love. It was a tragic scene of her being forced to end the lives of people she had trusted, and had wanted to trust.

Yet instead of the book, and all its action…

Glancing up a little, over the top of the book… I as carefully as I could stared up at the man who looked half asleep.

I was lying on his lap, with a thick pillow beneath my head. It was comfortable, and had allowed me to keep him in my sight as I read. I enjoyed resting against him as I’d read, as I’d done lately, but tonight I had wanted to lay down and be a little more relaxed. Vim, being the man he was, had been more than willing to oblige me. Unlike the other nights though, he had nothing to occupy his time as I read. He had no book for himself. No piece of wood to whittle and carve…

Studying his half-closed eyes, I wondered how far he was from falling asleep. Had he been a normal person, I’d assume he’d fall into a deep slumber at any moment… but he wasn’t normal. Plus he’s had that look for several hours now, since almost a quarter of the book ago.

Vim’s head was slightly drooped, resting on a closed fist. His arm in turn was resting on an upturned knee, which was likely a little uncomfortable for him. I knew if anyone peeked into our room, they’d think he was asleep without question. But I knew better. I could tell by the way he was breathing. By the way his eyes sometimes glanced at me, focused.

He was trying to sleep… yet couldn’t do so.

And it wasn’t because I was talking to him, or being noisy. I was doing all I could to be as quiet and calm as possible.

His lack of sleep, or being unable to, was starting to really become a worry. Especially since I just couldn’t comprehend it.

If he was really as exhausted as he sometimes looked… why then couldn’t he just sleep? If anything going weeks without sleep should knock him out… whether he liked it or not. So for him to actually try and sleep, yet be unable… was… well…

Biting back a small whine of worry, I glanced away from his face and back to the book. To try and distract myself.

It didn’t work of course.

Was it nightmares? Was he in pain? Was there turmoil in his heart I couldn’t comprehend…?

Was he sick? Dying?

And why wouldn’t he talk to me about it?

The worst part was it wasn’t like I could ask others for advice. There were many in the Society who were older, wiser, and knew more about Vim than they let on. Yet I knew the moment I asked them about his lack of, or inability, to sleep… he’d grow upset with me.

He didn’t want them to know. For crying out loud, Vim rarely even slept at all at certain locations just to keep up a front that he didn’t need to. For as much as he didn’t seem to have pride for certain things, keeping up his almighty protector persona was something very serious and real to him.

Vim would not be happy with me if I even hinted to other people that he was struggling. In any form.

So…

I sighed gently as I tried again to read the new page. I got through a single sentence before my eyes started to glaze and the words blurred.

Why hadn’t Narli noticed anything…? She was some kind of powerful saint, able to see and know things us more normal creatures couldn’t. I had been hoping she would have. She hadn’t even hinted at Vim being odd… other than the same thing everyone in the Society noticed and talked about. Neither had Miss Beak… though I suppose she hadn’t been given much opportunity. Plus I couldn’t fault her… she had been dying…

Yet Nasba and Nann hadn’t noticed either. Even though we had stayed there for some time. And they were both not only very old, but had known a lot about Vim.

The only thing anyone ever noticed off about him was his affection for me. Nothing else.

Though… I suppose even if someone did notice that something was wrong with Vim…

What were the odds they’d say anything? Or bring it up? Let alone in front of me?

Just like me, they too might keep their worries and opinions to themselves. Out of respect for Vim.

I bit the inside of my cheek, and wanted to grumble. It made me happy to think that maybe others had noticed, like me, but saw Vim so favorably that they’d not say anything either. It meant he had more friends than I thought he did… even if it upset me all the same.

“What’s wrong, Renn?” Vim’s voice drew my attention to him, and I scowled at him.

“You.”

His eyebrow rose as he smirked, as if glad to hear it. He suddenly didn’t look tired anymore.

Sighing at him, I lowered the book to my chest and rested it there. “Do you want to lie down?” I asked him.

“It’s not that late yet, is it?” he asked as he glanced to the nearby window. The setting sun was still bright enough to not need to light the candles.

“Well… no… but…” I grumbled and once again was happy and mad at the same time. How was it he cared so little to notice his own issues, while at the same time being so gentle with me?

He knew I liked to stay up late with him. To talk. To spend time together. His worry hadn’t been if I was tired, but rather if I was upset for some reason.

To be more worried about my happiness than his health was really…

“Or are you hungry? Want me to go get you a snack?” he asked.

Closing my eyes, I groaned at him.

“What…? Don’t you dare say you’re worried about your weight. You said yourself you’ve not gained a pound,” he teased me.

Well… I didn’t feel like I had. “Have I though?” I asked. He’d know, since I was always clinging to him.

“No. If anything you may have shrunk,” he said.

“Shrunk…? How?” I asked. Really? What’d he mean?

He chuckled at me, and tapped the book on my chest. It was an odd feeling. “Aren’t you almost done…? Why stop?” he asked.

“I can’t focus on it,” I told him honestly.

“Hm…?” he hummed in a questionable way.

Taking a small breath, I nodded. “I’m worried about you. You look tired,” I decided to just tell him.

“Hm…” he hummed again, in a different way.

“I know… you’re fine. You’re dealing with it… but…” I carefully spoke, trying to sound as gentle and calm as I could. Even though I really wasn’t. I wanted to scream at him.

“Hm.”

Sighing at him, I heard and felt my tail slap the bed. “I’m being serious, Vim.”

“Mhm,” he nodded this time at least with his hum.

Glaring at him, I wondered why he was teasing me. Especially since I was serious, and…

But as I stared up at him, and his little smile on his face, I realized something a little sad.

“Do you not worry Vim?” I asked him.

He blinked. “Worry…?” he asked, finally saying a real word for once.

“About yourself. Your health. What if something really is wrong with you…? Aren’t you scared?” I asked.

“Not at all. Or well… I guess I do worry. I can tell something is wrong with me, but…” he shrugged a little, telling me that he genuinely didn’t mind much.

“What if you’re dying?” I asked softly.

He frowned at me. “I hope not. That means I’ll miss out on seeing all the different faces you make,” he said.

My face got hotter, since his words meant I had likely made an expression he’d not seen before just recently. But I ignored his teasing and coughed. “Please Vim, be more serious,” I mumbled.

He chuckled at me as he nodded and sat back a little. He was sitting too far from the edge of the bed to rest against the wooden board against the wall, which made me feel a little mean. I should have made sure he could have rested against it before lying down.

“We’ve talked about it before Renn,” he said.

“Not enough, Vim…”

He glanced away from me, and to the nearby window. “I promise to let you know if it gets worse. How about that?” he offered.

“Is it worse than before? Then since we last talked about it?” I asked.

“I don’t think it is,” he said, and sounded honest as he did.

Although for some reason I didn’t believe him… I did my best to do so anyway. “Okay… you promise, then?” I asked.

“I do. I’ll let you know right away,” he promised.

Staring up at him, and his stupid smile… I sighed and nodded. It was hard to tell with him. He seemed to keep his promises, but when it came to stuff about him… well…

Tapping the book, I grumbled a little about him. It was like all of his rules and beliefs went out the window the moment his own self came into account. Free will, his sharing of knowledge, his openness and honesty… It was as if none of those key character traits existed when it came to his personal existence. His past. His self. His thoughts and opinions on certain things… his health and worries…

“I really do promise to, Renn. If you must know I’ve actually got a few hours of sleep here,” he told me.

“Oh…? Really?” I asked. When? As far as I had been able to tell, he’d been awake nearly the whole time I’d been next to him. Even when I slept.

He nodded but didn’t specify.

Although a little relieved to hear it… I also knew the truth. A few hours. We’ve been here for over a week. And he was probably being very generous with how much he’d gotten. So maybe an hour or two at best…

I sighed and rolled a tad, to stare at the window instead of him. He still had that stupid smile on his face. It wasn’t fair that he could look so…

“By the way… I think this is the first place in some time that you’ve not been invited to, isn’t it?” Vim then said.

Frowning, I rolled back to look at him. “What…?”

“You usually get invited. In one form or another. I think the last place was… the Armadillo’s place?” he wondered.

“They asked me to marry into their family, Vim,” I reminded him.

He paused a moment, and his smile faltered. “Ah… they had, hadn’t they?” he remembered.

Smirking at him, I nodded. “I don’t think I got invited at the Weaver’s hut,” I said.

“You had been. Nann told me I could send you there whenever, they’d welcome you,” he said.

Oh…? I smiled at that. “Actually Nasba kind of offered too. Though she said I should send my sons to them, instead,” I said.

“Sons…? Oh. To mix bloodlines. Cats and birds. Funny,” he said.

Glancing at him, I wondered if he actually found it funny or not. Did he somehow think such sons wouldn’t be his too? He sometimes acted as if he wasn’t related or involved in such matters when we danced around such topics.

Though… maybe that tone wasn’t about my, or our, children but instead the bloodline stuff.

“You’ve mentioned your dislike over such things before,” I said. Was that maybe why he didn’t consider having any with me?

“Says who…? What I don’t like is the fact it dilutes the blood. Makes it more human. But there are benefits to it, too… plus it’s not like many have a choice anymore, really,” he said.

“Benefits?” I asked.

“Some benefit from it physically. They may become more human, thanks to how all of your traits are recessive, but it’d help in other ways. Take the ducks for example, with your blood mixed in they’d likely become stouter. Stronger. Healthier. Who knows maybe they’d get smarter too,” he said as he thought about it.

I giggled at him, and gently rolled my head back and forth. What a wonderful conversation! It was almost as sweet as the ones in that book! “So you think my children would be smart and strong, huh?” I asked.

“Well duh…” he huffed, and then I felt him shift a little. “Speaking of children… did that man have any? The one I killed?” he then asked.

My happy moment died a little as I stopped rolling and looked up at him. “Rollo…? No. Sillti and he didn’t have any children. Neither did Ivan,” I said.

“Right…” he sounded a little relieved.

I smiled at the gentle man and glanced at his hand nearby. He had tapped the book earlier, and afterwards had left it resting near my arm. It would be an odd angle, but I could grab it…

Or well…

Squirming my tail upward, I did my best to not look at it as to hide what I was doing.

Vim sighed as he shifted ever so slightly, and then he lifted his hand to scratch at the side of his head.

I glared up at him, and wondered if he had done that on purpose. Had he really noticed?

Looking away from him, I shifted a little which made the book slide off me. I grabbed it, to make sure I didn’t ruin any of the pages, and went to close it. There were only a few pages left, but I was in no mood to read them at the moment. I’ll do so later.

“Oh. Wait.” I opened the book and quickly found the page, and then the word. Sitting up a little, I turned to show it to Vim. “What’s this mean?” I asked as I pointed at it.

He lazily read the word and smiled. “Kismet basically means your lot in life. Think of it like another word for fate or destiny,” he explained.

Fate… “I figured, but wanted to make sure,” I said as I nodded and closed the book again. I hadn’t asked as I had been reading it since I had been trying to let him sleep, but he was awake now.

Putting the book aside, I smiled happily as I sat up fully next to him. I curled my legs under me and crossed them, and went ahead and grabbed the pillow off his lap for him. I put it to my side, so that I could grab it again if the opportunity presented itself.

“Speaking of fate… Can I ask something a little personal, Vim?” I asked.

“No.”

I startled, until I saw his smirk.

“Sorry. Yes. You can,” he said happily, amused at me.

Jeez… I did my best to frown at him, but a smile wouldn’t leave my face. “Why do you tease me like that?” I asked, doing my best to be upset.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t… I’ll feel really bad now if your question is actually something I don’t want to answer. So…? What is it?” he asked with a frown.

“Well… I assume you don’t believe in fate,” I said, doing my best to not notice the odd frown on his face. He looked troubled even before I had asked my question.

“Not in the way you’re asking, no.”

“You mention fate though. Sometimes. And do so seriously, when you do,” I pointed out. I’ve heard him speak of it before.

“It’s an easy word to use to describe things beyond our own control,” he said.

“Do you not like it because it insults free-will?” I asked.

“Something like that,” he nodded.

“Yet… you believe in a form of it,” I repeated what he had said.

He nodded again. “I do.”

“Care to explain?” I asked, since it seemed he wasn’t going to just do so.

He smirked at me. “Not really.”

I glared at him a moment, wondering if he was just teasing me again… but his smirk and the silence that followed told me he wasn’t. He was being serious.

My tail slapped the bed a few times, and I sighed. “Fine… can you at least then tell me if it’s real or not?” I asked.

“Fate…?” he asked as his smirk slowly died.

I nodded.

“Hm…” his smirk returned as he studied me, and I decided if he did fall asleep tonight I’d definitely mess with him. I’ll ruffle his hair, and…

Vim then sat up a little straighter and shifted enough to make the whole bed move. It didn’t break, but I paused a moment since it had almost sounded as if it would have.

“A long time ago, something very peculiar happened to me,” he then said.

My ear fluttered enough to shift my hair. I nodded as I brushed my longer bangs out of my eyes. I needed a haircut again.

“There was a man who I considered my enemy. A vile man. He was infuriating in ways I can’t really explain. But he was strong. Powerful. Enough so that it had been… difficult. To kill him. Anyway, he had a peculiar personality alongside many tics and traits that were… well… unique, to say the least,” Vim said.

I blinked and nodded slowly, enthralled by both what he was saying and the strange smile on his face as he talked. He was speaking about some kind of horrible person, yet looked as if he was talking about a friend.

“Anyway… after killing him… a long time later, I… well…” he hesitated, and my heart missed a beat.

Oh no. Was he going to stop? I hadn’t even said anything!

Before I could truly panic though, he sighed and continued. “I thought I met him again. I ran into a man who on our first meeting did something that reminded me completely about that terrible enemy,” he said.

Frowning, I tried to comprehend what he meant… “You mean… someone different, yet the same,” I said as I tried to understand.

“Yes. I met a completely different person, who looked completely different… yet reminded me of my enemy from the past. That religion you like calls it reincarnation,” he said.

My eyes went a little wide as I nodded quickly. So it was true? One could come back after death?

Vim took a small breath and shifted again, though this time the bed didn’t move. “So of course… I panicked. I’d never encountered it before. In all my long years, meeting all the people I’ve met… I have never once met the same person twice. You die, you’re gone. You don’t return. That is something I had been so confident in, that… well… when it happened I had nearly had a heart attack,” he said.

I gulped and nodded even though Vim wasn’t really even looking at me. His eyes were a tad dull… as if he was deep in thought.

“It was so startling that I hadn’t killed him on sight. I can’t explain it… It terrified me so much, the reality that people could come back… but also that of all beings it’d be him! You probably would have laughed your tail off if you had seen how frustrated and stressed I had been over it,” Vim said, smiling as he remembered. It made me smile back at him.

Vim raised his arms and held them out wide… almost as if he was inviting me into a hug. “So there I was. Dumbstruck. But being the man I am… I got it under control. So I waited. I watched. I tested. I contemplated,” he said.

“To see if he really was your enemy,” I said as I understood.

Fascinating. I wonder if his initial shock he speaks of had been the reason he had been able to keep his wrath in check.

He nodded. “At the time I had figured… well… if he was? Then it’d be quick and easy to tell. Then I’d just destroy him again. Hopefully for good. After all I’d done it once, I could do it again,” he said as he clasped a fist hard enough to make noises.

“And if it was… then you’d know it was possible,” I said softly.

Vim’s fist lowered to the bed, thumping it lightly. “Yes. As weird as it would be… it would be proof. And would then mean a lot of things would change for me. Plus… it would go against my beliefs if I just outright destroyed an innocent soul, just because I had assumptions I couldn’t properly explain,” he said.

Oh. Right. Without real proof… if Vim killed that man, he’d just be a murderer.

Vim smiled as he released a deep and heavy sigh. “So years passed. I came and went. Watching from a distance… saying and doing things strange on purpose, just to see his response… and although the similarities continued and the odd personality remained…” Vim went quiet and shook his head.

“It wasn’t him,” I said.

“No. Rungle was not that man at all. He was the complete opposite. He was a very good man, almost without any faults at all,” Vim said softly.

Rungle…! “Wait…” I leaned forward a little, shocked.

Vim nodded. “It became obvious after a few years… and even until his death; I still had that weird hesitation in the back of my mind. The what if? But no. Rungle was not an evil man. At all,” Vim said softly.

My eyes watered a little as I tried to imagine it. Vim had called him his friend. A genuine friend. A good man. Merit had said the same.

Vim had doubted him. For years… “Did… did you ever tell him…?” I asked softly.

“No. How could I? In fact… you’re the first person I’ve ever told,” he said as he frowned.

Uh oh. “So if… if he proved himself not to be your enemy reborn… why bring it up? How does fate have anything to do with that?” I asked, not so much because I wanted to know… but so that he’d not go all quiet on me, or simply leave the room.

Vim’s frown turned into a sad smile. “The idea of fate is that there are things beyond our control. Either by natural order or a higher power. My point of bringing Rungle’s odd personality up is… well… To both prove and disprove it,” he said.

“I uh… need you to explain that, then,” I said, a little embarrassed. Should it have clicked already for me? Maybe I wasn’t as smart as I’d hoped.

His smile grew a little. “Basically, Renn… if Rungle had not been the way he was… I would not have noticed him. He would have just been one of the thousands of members in the Society. I’d never have become his friend. I’d never have even remembered him, likely,” he said.

I slowly nodded. That made sense. Vim had taken an interest in him because of those similarities between Rungle and his enemy… so…

“Yet…” Vim raised both hands with them open-palmed on either side of him. As if to mimic scales. “His tragedy… his families tragedies,” he corrected himself softly. “Are because of my friendship. Because of the Society. Had I not gotten so involved with them, they may have not joined the Society at all in the first place. So… they might have lived much longer, more fruitful, lives. In fact… there are many who I could say the same about.”

My tail coiled around my foot worriedly. “You can’t say stuff like that Vim,” I said quickly.

“No. I shouldn’t. But we’re talking about fate. What I’m saying is… there are countless odd things that happen. That not even I can explain or comprehend. Yet, at the same time… some things make no sense. For instance, the very first time I met Celine… have I ever told you about it?” he asked.

I shook my head quickly, to the point my hair fluttered oddly.

He chuckled. “I had happened upon a village. Being attacked. At the time I was… honestly not in the best of mental states. I was wayward. Unsure of what to do. Caught between different promises and vows. So… I stepped away. I rounded the village being plundered and burnt, as to not get involved in it,” he said.

Grabbing the bedding beneath me as I stared at his sad expression, I did my best to not say anything and interrupt him. At any moment Vim would stop talking, like he always does… and I really, really, needed to hear the rest.

He gulped and sighed. “Anyway. As I was stepping away… I heard her name. Her fellow, her companion, had shouted her name. To tell her to run. To hurry. They were being chased by their enemies,” he said.

I nodded ever so slightly since Vim had glanced at me.

“Now that’s not odd… but you see, not long before this… I had been enjoying myself in a port town. I spent a few years there, I think. Hard to remember…” he paused a moment in thought, and then shrugged. “So while there… I met an adorable woman. A librarian.” He smirked. “Funny. I’ve not thought about her in so long I’d thought I forgot all about her,” he said gently.

Although very bothering to hear, once again, about another past lover of his… I kept my mouth shut and grabbed my tail so it’d not squirm too wildly and distract him from continuing.

“Her name just so happened to be Celine. Said the same way. So… when I had heard her name shouted like that, I had turned and focused. I firmly believe had Celine been named anything else… or if her name hadn’t been shouted as it had… I would have likely not joined the Society,” he finished.

“You wouldn’t have saved her…?” I asked softly.

“Oh. I would have,” he said and nodded. “But she had been a saint. A non-human one, yes, but a saint all the same. I don’t like saints, Renn. At all. And as I mentioned, at the time I had been… well… not in the best of mindsets to say the least. I likely would have abandoned her and Lilly after saving them, and then continued on my way,” he said.

I gulped.

So… “So how could you not believe in fate, Vim?” I asked, unable to comprehend his lack of it.

“Many women are named Celine, Renn. We have a few in our society as we speak,” he said with a smile.

I shook my head. “That’s not the same…!”

“Ah… but it is. There are many names that would have made me pause. My parent’s names for example. A few of my vassals. Friends. Yours, even, right now would make me hesitate if I heard it elsewhere, especially if from a voice I don’t recognize,” he pointed out.

“But…!” I wanted to argue, but didn’t know how to do so. He was of course correct. It could have not just been a name either… it could have been her appearance, his mood, a cloud in the sky…

“So my opinion on fate is damn her. I’ll kill her if I ever see her again. But I’ll… begrudgingly admit, I suppose, that there is an odd factor at play sometimes. Take you, yourself, Renn,” he said with a point at me.

“Me…!?” I startled.

He nodded. “What are the odds the first city you venture to after your lovely Nory’s death… is one with members of the Society? And what are the odds you find them, all based off a familiar painting you recognized?” he asked. “Especially so if fate was real, then the Sleepy Artist’s destruction was destined… so if you had been any later, you would have missed them completely,” he added.

My heart warmed so much my chest became hot. “You… you remember all that…?” I asked, completely shocked.

How…? That was such a tiny little detail… something I’d only said once in front of him! And even then only offhandedly…!

Vim gently smiled at me. “Why wouldn’t I, Renn…? It’s why we’re together now. I’ll remember it forever,” he said.

I wasn’t able to stop the tears that filled my eyes… so I looked downward, to try and hide my face as I tried not to cry. “Really…?” I whispered.

“Hm. The reasons and the whys are of course… sad and not impressive. A silly painting. The death of a loved one. Lomi’s village burning down… so on and so forth. Most are sad reasons, and the rest are… well… minuscule. But they’re all pieces to the puzzle. Each one a necessary step for us to have reached the spot we’re in now. Like little pebbles on our paths,” he said.

“Mhm…” I nodded, agreeing with him.

Vim chuckled at me, and I felt him shift a little. A moment later, I heard him reach over to light the candle. The room filled with a slightly annoying smell for a moment as the flames adjusted. A quick glance to the window told me it was now dark outside… I had just not noticed.

Which made sense. My face was burning hot right now and… well…

Really. I had wanted to learn more about his personal beliefs, yet instead all I had done is get my heart shaken and teary eyed…

Reaching up, I cupped my face and squished it… as if in an attempt to squeeze out all the hotness from it.

“You don’t like saints, Vim…?” I asked him after a moment of messing with my face.

“Not at all.”

“You didn’t seem to mind Narli,” I said.

He took a small breath and nodded. “I don’t mind her. I pity her, if anything. But… there will always be a part of me that wants nothing to do with her,” he said.

“Why?”

“For the same reason I hate monarchs, Renn,” he whispered.

Suddenly my face wasn’t hot anymore.

Looking up at him, I stared in awe at the sad smile on his face… as he nodded gently, to confirm I had heard him correctly.

“Why…?” I asked with a tiny voice. It had been so tiny I had been about to take another breath to ask again, in case he hadn’t heard me.

Yet he had. “Because of a reason I can’t properly tell you at the moment. But… know I don’t think that way now. I still hate them, yes, but… I’ll not kill a saint on sight anymore. Not without a damned good reason, at least,” he said.

Shivering a tad, since the room was suddenly very cold; I wondered how long ago he was speaking of.

It had to have been long before the Society. After all, Celine had been a saint… but…

Staring at the man who looked ashamed, I dared to ask it. “Is it related to your mistake…?”

Vim’s expression hardened a little, but only for a brief moment. It then softened again… and he gently nodded at me.

Ah…

Reaching over, I took Vim’s hand. Half a moment later his other hand reached out for my own, and then we were holding hands again.

For a long moment we sat there in silence, staring at each other. Thanks to the angle of the candle, small shadows danced on his face. It gave him a slightly tired look, which I was hoping was thanks to the shadows and not because he really were.

Squeezing his hand, I hesitated a moment… I didn’t want to break this happy silence we were sharing. I didn’t want to ruin this lovely moment.

But… at the same time, I had many questions.

It wasn’t fair. It was so hard to get answers out of him, and when I finally did they were half-answers and tidbits of information… and even then, on top of it all, they only gave birth to more questions.

So…

Staring at the man, who had a smile on his face, yet looked more exhausted than before… I decided to end my prodding here for the night. Even if he seemed willing to answer more, at least in part, I didn’t want to make him any more uncomfortable or bothered than he was.

I could be patient. I would be patient.

Shaking his hands a little, I smiled at him.

“So… you’ve had two Celine’s then? I suppose I can forgive you if I look at them like little pebbles on our paths, as you say,” I said, hoping to tease him.

He raised an eyebrow… and then a large grin slowly shaped into a wry smirk. “They had more than little pebbles, though, I’d say,” he said.

My face got hot again, and I shook his hands even harder as I groaned.

“I was trying to be nice…!”

“Any nicer and I’ll need to have you in small doses, and that’s no fun,” he said.

“Gah!” I tossed his hands up into the air, as if at his face. They of course didn’t fling out at all, remaining in the air where I had released them.

He chuckled at me. “Fate can have them, Renn. As long as I can have you,” he then said.

Squirming, I groaned as I grabbed my tail. “Maybe being alone with you really is dangerous,” I mumbled.

“Just now figuring that out…?”

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