The tall woman peered around the door’s frame, out into the hallway.

“I don’t hear anyone,” I told Ursula.

She nodded; her thick headdress shifting as she turned her head to look the other way.

Patiently waiting, I was a little… unsure what to think of her. She was so timid it was worrying. But…

From what I had gathered, from Vim and Frett, this woman had a very good reason to be so on guard. I didn’t know her whole story, and honestly a part of me… didn’t want to know. It would likely break my heart. But I knew enough to not judge her, or grow impatient with her.

“Okay,” she whispered, and finally left the room.

Following her slowly, I watched as Ursula hurried to the side of the hallway. She basically clung to the wall, walking with a hand upon it as if in support. As if she had a limp leg or something. She didn’t, as far as I could tell, but it seemed she needed the support all the same.

“This way,” she turned to say to me, speaking quietly. Almost a whisper.

I nodded and followed her… though I didn’t hug the wall as she was doing. We headed for the end of the hallway, right as a door opened elsewhere.

Gulping, I listened to the footsteps and clothes of the person heading our way. Based off the sound of the robe, it was likely another sister… but…

Ursula hurried to the end of the hallway, and hugged the wall near the corner even harder. She even tried to somewhat hide behind the corner’s extended design. There was some kind of wooden decoration that had been installed in the corner. It not only made it look nicer, but it kept the sharp edges of the stones from being a problem.

The sister who had left the room appeared in front of us. It was Prasta. She paused in the middle of the intersection, and smirked at me and Ursula. “Hey guys!” she greeted us.

Ursula jumped, as if startled. Even though she had watched her walk out in front of her. “Prasta,” she said stiffly.

Oh…? At least she wasn’t running away.

“Where you headed?” Prasta asked Ursula.

“M-my, my room,” she answered.

“Ah… you should be fine. I just came from that way,” Prasta kindly told her.

Ursula nodded quickly. “Thank you.”

Prasta smiled and nodded back and then glanced at me. “Walking ahead of her, to let her know if any of the boys are nearby or headed her way, is what we usually do Renn,” she let me know.

I blinked and nodded. “Okay,” I said as I stepped forward, to do just that.

“Mhm…” Ursula nodded as I stepped past her, and around the corner.

Prasta giggled as she stepped away, going back to whatever she was doing.

Glancing down the hallway I assumed we were heading, I turned to Ursula. “I don’t hear or see anyone,” I told her.

“Mhm,” she nodded as she slowly peered around the corner, and then once confirming I had told the truth, she stepped around the corner and into the new hallway.

I strode forward, a little unsure if I was doing what was needed, and went to do as Prasta had recommended.

So her fear really wasn’t just people in general… but the men.

How sad.

“It’s a good thing there aren’t many men here huh,” I said as I kept myself in front of her. I actually had to pick up the pace a little, Ursula had began to hurry. Likely thanks to the fact she was relying on me to alert her if any neared.

“Too many,” she argued.

Well… maybe. As far as I was aware there were only five. And that included the young human boy and Father Abel… though maybe she was scared of them too. Likely was, since Vim had asked me to talk to her and find out what she wanted. Abel hadn’t felt confident he could get it out of her.

Reaching the end of the hallway, I glanced down the two new hallways it led to. Neither had anyone in them, nor did I hear or smell anyone nearby.

“Which way?” I asked her.

“Left,” she said as she hurried to hug the corner again.

Going down the new hallway, I realized this was one I’d not been in before. We were in the south west corner of the building, near the back exit. The one that led to the cemetery, and all the other buildings behind this one.

“What had you been reading Ursula?” I asked her. I had found her in what Frett had called the quiet library. Supposedly there were three libraries here, but… well…

What made one a quiet library? Weren’t they all usually a little quiet?

“A journal about insects,” Ursula said quietly as she hurried over to me.

I went a little still as she ran up behind me, and grabbed the back of my shirt.

Feeling very conscious, and suddenly very protective of the woman, I glanced back at her. “Everything okay?” I asked.

She nodded quickly. “So far?” she said.

Right…

I gulped and returned to walking, feeling rather strange as she clung to my back. I did my best to not let my tail bump or coil around her, even though it kept wanting to. It wanted to wrap around her waist.

“Left or right up here?” I asked as we neared the end of the hallway.

“Right. Then the stairs,” she guided.

I nodded, and was thankful that we didn’t run into anyone as we found the stairs and began to climb them.

She clung to me as we reached the second floor, and then she pointed over my shoulder. To a darker hallway not far from the stairs.

We hurried to it, and I realized she was much taller than me. She had easily pointed over my shoulder, even though she was scrunched up and trying to hide behind me.

“Last door,” she whispered in my human ear. She was crouching rather lowly…

Reaching the door, Ursula lightly pushed on me as we neared. Realizing what she wanted from me, I went ahead and opened the door for her.

Once it was open she hurried into her room, nearly tugging me in with her.

Following her in, Ursula quickly went to shut the door. Although she did so with haste, she made sure to close the door as quietly as possible.

It latched, and I was a little glad to see she had a lock on her door. It was a huge metal bar. A steel one, that was latched into not just the door itself but the stone walls on either side.

“Did Vim make this for you?” I asked as I watched her clank it shut.

She nodded quickly, and she breathed a sigh of relief once it was secured.

I smiled as I studied the steel bar, and the way it was obviously made to be useful. It wasn’t just something added on as an afterthought… it had been made to be effective.

The only way someone was breaking into this room, was either through the stone walls or tearing the thick wooden door apart piece by piece.

Vim had installed it seriously. Even though she likely did not need such a thing here at all. In fact as far as I was aware, none of the other rooms had locks at all.

The one Vim and I were sharing didn’t have one, at least.

The bar wasn’t a necessity. There was no one here that needed to be kept out… rather, it was for her own peace of mind.

I wonder if Vim had made it for her on request, or if he had simply done so.

It was that strange kindness that made me love him.

“Sorry Renn…” Ursula apologized as she turned to smile at me.

I smiled back at her and nodded. “It’s okay Ursula. Just let me know if I ever need to do anything to make you feel comfortable, okay?”

She nodded back, and gave me a pretty smile. One that was pretty enough that made me believe the small story Vim had told me about her.

About how she had been revered as a goddess. In the town that had kept her prisoner.

“Um… I have tea, if you like tea,” Ursula then offered as she stepped away from the door, and the huge lock upon it.

“I’d love some, thank you,” I said as I turned to watch her step deeper into her room.

It was about the size of the room Vim and I was staying in. Big enough to be a personal room, and not feel cramped… but not as big as some of the rooms I had seen at Lumen. It was about the size of the room I had been staying at in Lumen, in fact. She had a small single person sized bed in the corner of the room… and she had at least a dozen long curtains hanging from the ceiling all over the place. As if to partition off the room into smaller ones.

Most of the drapes were folded up, tied with bows, so I doubted their purpose. Maybe they weren’t to section off the room, but some weird design or fashion?

She had a few tables. Some bookshelves. She had a window in one corner, but she had completely and utterly sealed it away. A huge dresser was in front of it, and behind the dresser were planks of wood and drapes to cover it. The only reason I even knew it was a window at all, was because this room was a mirror image in layout as the one Vim and I were staying in. Her window was in the opposing side and…

Turning, I noted the missing door on the bathroom entry. She had removed it completely… yet hadn’t put drapes or anything up to replace it.

Strange. She didn’t want the window, yet didn’t have a door or drape for the bathroom.

Her room smelled like her. She smelled of paper and charcoal. As if she was always near a fire. Her room did have a fireplace, like mine did, which she was currently kneeling in front of. She smacked two stones together, and sparked a fire. Most likely to brew the tea she had spoken of.

As she hummed and went to putting a small kettle onto a tiny metal stand, I glanced over at the biggest table in the room.

There was a bunch of books on it. Most were open, as if so she could remember what page she had left them on. She also had papers, and ink-pots…

“You said you were researching insects?” I asked.

“Yeah…! Sharp’s started cultivating moths lately… but she’s struggling with it,” Ursula said as she stood from the small fire she had made.

I smiled at her. “I heard about her moths. I guess some got free not too long ago?” I asked. Several of the sisters had complained mighty fiercely about them. I guess they had been huge, and ugly.

She nodded. “Lunar Moths. Pretty things. The others had gotten upset, though,” Ursula said.

Usually I’d have made a tiny joke about how people hated pretty things, and it was common, but I kept my thoughts to myself.

“So um… shall we sit?” Ursula stepped over to one of the smaller tables. The one near the fireplace. It had a couple chairs, which she promptly went to pulling out so we could sit and talk with each other.

I nodded, and excitedly went to join her. I was looking forward to not just hearing what kind of request she had of Vim, but also to spend time with her.

I felt for her. She had a difficult past, like many of our members, but unlike most… she hasn’t been able to completely escape it. The fact we had basically had to sneak back to her room was proof enough over how traumatized she still was.

I wanted to be her friend. If I could. Especially since, based off the few things I had heard from others about her, she didn’t really have any. Even her fellow sisters seemed to ignore her a little, for some reason.

Before sitting, I paused to look at the little cushion on the chair. It was sewn with pretty flower designs. “Did you make these?” I asked.

“Huh…? Oh… no. Sharp did. She can’t sit on wood, so…” Ursula said.

Oh…? Can’t sit on wood…? I wonder if it had something to do with how her skin was coarse and rough.

Sitting down, I smiled as I watched Ursula happily sit down in the chair across from me. In this moment, she looked like any other woman here. A nun, dressed in holy garbs… but also happy and enjoying life. The timid, terrified woman, that had just been clinging to my back was nowhere to be found.

“I hear you’re not a sister, Renn?” Ursula asked.

“No… not officially. I’ve not subscribed to any of the religions I’ve met yet,” I said.

“Not officially…? Are you a pagan then, or still searching for your answers?” she asked.

“I think I’m still searching, yes. I… really enjoy some of the morals and ethics found in your bible, but…” I started to tell her what I thought of it.

Ursula nodded before I could continue. “Right! I agree! Those here don’t understand that though. So many here either think you’re either one of them, or a complete outsider. They don’t allow even the tiniest of doubts,” she said with a sigh.

Oh… “So you’re not a sister either,” I said, understanding.

She nodded. “I’d like to be… but I have a few grievances and disagreements with some of their teachings. So I’m not allowed to be,” she said gently.

I see. That was why they ostracized her then.

To them, she was as much a pagan as Elisabell.

Which also made sense as to why Sharp and her seemed to be friendly with one another… even though Sharp supposedly wasn’t friendly with anyone else here. Though that did not explain completely Frett’s supposed closeness with her. Though maybe Frett was more generous with her judgments.

It was a little… strange to me. This place was obviously meant to be a religious one. Not only was this place basically a church, it was where one could be laid to rest. A final resting place. A holy place.

Yet there were members who didn’t particularly belong to that said holy religion. And as such were… neglected, to a point.

How sad.

It almost made me wonder why she, and Sharp, stayed here. Why stay where they were treated almost like outcasts?

But I knew the truth. It wasn’t like there were many other places to go anymore… and… well…

Although they were likely not treated completely like fellow sisters, it wasn’t like they were abused or tormented. Like Prasta, or Frett. They both had been kind and looked out for Ursula. Their disagreements did affect them, but it didn’t make them enemies.

“Odds are you and I are rather similar then,” I said to her.

Ursula beamed me a smile and nodded. “I see…!”

The kettle began to make noise, so she stood and went to grab it. Before she did, she brought over a small platter of cups and placed it on the table. They were tiny wooden things… so small that I wondered if they held three gulps or four.

Maybe their small shape was related to this place. A place of worship. One was supposed to be humble and without gluttony, after all.

Yet as she prepared the tea, and went to fill one of the little cups for me… I found myself longing for Landi’s strangely shaped glasses.

They had been big.

“Thank you,” I thanked her all the same as I held the quickly growing warmer cup.

“The tea is grown here. There’s a few dozen species of plants we have… this should be a more minty flavor,” she said.

Minty…

Smelling it a little, I realized she was right. It did have such a smell.

“I’ve never had this tea before,” I said as I thought about it. I’d have remembered such a vivid smell.

“Hm. Depends on where you’re from, I suppose. It’s common farther east,” she said.

I nodded. “I’m from the northwest. Near the ocean,” I said.

She smiled at me as she sat back down, holding one of the little cups for herself. Although she was taller than me, she was just as thin as I was. Yet still the cup looked a little silly in her hands. Which meant it likely looked as silly in mine as it felt. “Your teas are more bold usually. Probably something to do with the cold,” she said.

Were they…? “Most likely,” I decided to agree after pondering it for a moment.

“I’d love to hear your story Renn… if you’d be okay with me not really sharing my own, at least,” Ursula said with a sad smile. She shifted as she smiled at me, turning her cup a little as if to warm her hands with it.

I smiled back at her. “I’d be okay with that. And I’d be okay with hearing even just what you’re willing to share, you know? Even the boring bits,” I said.

Ursula’s eyes softened and I found myself once again thinking she was pretty. Even when forlorn, and demure, she looked stunning. It was hard to tell, since she wore a heavy headdress, and her robes covered her whole body rather well… but it was very likely she was as beautiful as Kaley. If not maybe even more so. “Deal,” she said gently.

“Before we do though, since we might end up talking all day, want to tell me what you’d like to request of Vim?” I suggested.

She blinked, remembering that was the entire reason I was here. “Oh. Yes,” she nodded, and then gulped. She lifted the cup to her mouth, and most likely took the tiniest sip I’d ever seen someone do. And tiny it was. I doubted I’d ever taken such a small sip of anything before. As she did so, I realized she was now unsure of herself again. Worried.

Was it her nature? Was she embarrassed… or was it more?

Taking my own drink, as to not be rude and stare at her too much, I did my best to not drink as much either. Not because I didn’t want to or because the tea was nasty… but rather because it wasn’t. It was tasty. Tasty enough I wanted to drink it all in one gulp.

Even if she wouldn’t take offense, and would likely just laugh at me and fill the cup back up… I didn’t want to seem so greedy in front of someone who obviously was anything but.

Vim would likely laugh at me if he knew what I was feeling right now.

She took a small breath, and closed her eyes. I watched her gather her nerve… and then she finally nodded.

“I want… well…” Ursula shifted in her seat, and I held my breath. “I’d like to spend some time with Vim,” she then said.

I blinked, and released my pent up breath. “What?” I asked.

She nodded. “I… I can’t. I know the men here won’t hurt me… I know they’re good men. Abel especially. He’s suffered just as I have, in his own way… but…” she began to ramble, and started fidgeting with her hands.

“You… want to try to face your fears,” I whispered as I understood.

She nodded quickly. “Yes! Vim’s a man… but he’s also the Protector. He saved me. There’s no man better to try it with. I know it might not work, or make a difference, but…” Ursula spoke hurriedly, and although she sounded terrified… she had a tiny smile.

The sudden panic that had almost surged within me completely dissipated. For a moment there I thought I had just met another rival or something.

Still… Feeling completely humbled, I smiled at the woman who not only wanted to face her fears… but was doing so with a smile.

“I have no doubt Vim will be more than happy to help you try, Ursula,” I told her.

She nodded. “I know… But each time I go try to ask him, I panic and run away… and…” she groaned at herself, disappointed.

I see. So she’s had this desire for awhile. Likely the last few visits Vim’s been here.

Years. Maybe even decades.

I gulped, and wondered if that meant it was likely a… fruitless endeavor. If she’s been simply trying to ask Vim for such a favor, for decades, then… well…

It was likely she’d never get over her innate fears. They were likely ingrained in her. Written into her soul, even.

But that didn’t change the fact she wanted to try.

“I’ll let Vim know. I’ll even sit with you and help you too, if you’d like,” I offered.

“Oh please…! Yes!” Ursula sat forward and nodded heavily at me, sounding utterly relieved I’d offer.

So Vim had saved her huh…? Of course had.

Good job, Vim. Hopefully you… can somehow save her again, in a different way.

“Is it all men, Ursula? What about children?” I asked. There was a young boy here. Not much younger than Elisabell. But he was a tiny, scrawny kid. And quiet. He was a human child, from one of the few married couples here.

She shook her head. “Even little boys make me panic. I know… I know it’s so stupid and makes no sense but…” Ursula mumbled, trying to defend herself.

But there was no need to. Not with me. “It’s okay. I get it. My… dear friend was like you, Ursula,” I told her.

She lifted her head, and blinked at me.

“Her name was Nory. She… suffered. Like you, I think. She wasn’t able to live amongst men either. So we lived far away from human settlements. Alone,” I told her. I didn’t mention that her true fear wasn’t really men… but rather a specific type. Men of the cloth. Last thing I needed was for her to think the men here were more dangerous than they already were to her.

“Oh…? You lived with her?” she asked.

“Until the end, yes. She had been human… so…” I shrugged.

“Ah… yes. They fade quickly, don’t they? I try very hard to pay attention to the humans here, to spend time with the ones I can before they fade away… but sometimes it happens before I can even blink,” Ursula said.

Frowning, I nodded. She was right but…

Wait…

If to her a human faded that quickly… then maybe…

“How old are you, Ursula?” I asked.

“I just recently had my six hundredth year of passing,” she said.

Year of passing…?

Ursula must have noticed my confusion, for she smiled at me. “It’s a term we use for baptism. It was when I was saved… though if you promise not to tell anyone, it’s not when I received my actual baptism, but when Vim saved me. There had been quite a few years between the two,” she whispered.

Ah… I nodded gently, feeling rather warm at being told such a sweet secret. She grinned at me, happy to have told me.

Still…

That meant… maybe to her, these last few years where she’s been trying to ask Vim for a favor, and failing…

Maybe to her it hadn’t been that long. If she was the type to not notice the passage of years as deeply as I did.

Which meant to her… this new desire to face her fears was very fresh.

Maybe there was hope after all.

“I’m a little over two hundred,” I told her, since she had told me.

“I barely remember those years… but that’s a good thing for me, honestly,” Ursula said gently.

Right. Years spent as a captive.

Keeping back the shiver that wanted to run down my spine as I thought of spending centuries in such a predicament, I found myself respecting her more.

She had endured that. A genuine hell.

The fact she had endured it for that long and only was a little terrified of men… well…

Odds are she was doing better than I would have done.

“Oh. I do have another request, too,” Ursula then said.

“Hm?” I perked up and nodded.

“Next time he comes back, I’d like him to bring me a pair of dogs. A few years ago one wandered in from somewhere. It latched onto Sister Lena, and it was adorable… though I think everyone else would love them too. So maybe I should say many dogs? For all of us?” Ursula wondered.

Smiling, I nodded. “I’m sure we can figure something out.”

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