“They used to bicker something fierce, Renn,” Nasba said. “To the point a lot of people didn’t think she loved him either,” she added.

Following Nasba down the stairs and into the cellar, I ducked a little when I felt my ears brush against one of the lower hanging beams.

“They still fight. Or well, Merit does mostly. She’s very snippy with him,” I said.

Nasba giggled as I watched the way her tail feathers brushed against the stairs as she descended. Didn’t they get dirty when on the ground like that? “I know they do, but trust me it had been worse. She’s attacked him many times. Drawing blood, breaking bones, or shocking him. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard them fighting, rounded a corner to see what was going on, and finding Merit huffing as she stormed away… with Vim sighing as he wipes off blood or resets an arm or something,” Nasba said with a laugh.

Ah. They weren’t that bad now, then, no. “Was it just because he didn’t realize her feelings or…?” I asked.

“A combination. Merit was a little… well… rambunctious. She also really struggled with sharing her feelings. On any level. It took her a long time to comprehend how to even say thank you and stuff,” Nasba said as we left the stairs and headed for a door in the corner of the cellar.

I glanced around at the shelves and racks down here. There looked to be more than just simple food and stuff… were those bags of coins? Looked like them. They had the Animalia Guild symbol on them. They didn’t look like the bags used in the banks, but something told me that wasn’t because they weren’t… but that they were the old ones. The ones used years ago, likely.

Nasba opened the door, revealing a dark hallway. She stepped into the hallway and reached into a recess in the wall, and half a moment later a small lantern was lit and illuminated the area.

I noted it was similar to the one I had seen at the smithy. When Vim and I had gone into the mine.

“I used to feel so bad for her. Especially once it became obvious that Vim had no intention of even considering Merit. I once even begged him to just… indulge her, you know? Even if for a little bit? He outright denied me. I actually grew upset with him, and threatened to make him choke on my eggs. I never followed through with the threat, but I should have,” Nasba said as she headed down the hallway.

I followed her, but wasn’t sure what to think of what she had just said.

Indulge Merit… I knew what she was implying… but…

“You… and the others have mentioned it but… do you really lay eggs?” I asked, trying my best to focus on something else.

“Yes. Or well, I don’t anymore. I used to. And all of my children left are too mixed in the blood, or too old, to lay eggs anymore. The last one to lay any eggs was…” Nasba paused as she thought of it. “Was it Felicia? Surely not right…?” Nasba mumbled absentmindedly, and I smiled at her.

How neat. “So… were you born from an egg?” I asked.

Nasba giggled. “No. It’s funny everyone always asks that though. Our eggs weren’t ever fertile. But I have been told they had tasted good,” she said.

Wait… “You ate them…?” I asked, not believing it.

She nodded. “Well not me. But others have. Vim said they were good once,” she said as we reached a turn in the hallway. We took a left, and I noticed another recess in the wall. There were two other lamps in it, sitting in wait to be used one day.

“So Vim’s eaten them,” I said, and oddly I wasn’t as bothered by it as I should be.

“He never did so willingly. We used to tease him about it and…” Nasba went quiet as we neared another door. One made of odd looking wood. It was a strange reddish color.

She then turned and smiled at me. “Since we’re down here and alone, and he probably can’t hear us… can I ask something, Renn?” Nasba then asked.

Oh? I nodded, excited to hear what she wanted to know but didn’t want Vim knowing she was asking about it.

Nasba glanced past me, into the dark hallway behind me, and then stepped a little closer to me. She lowered the lantern, as if to shroud us in darkness a little more. She then nodded softly.

“Has Vim touched you?” she asked.

I blinked. “Touched me?” I asked.

“You know,” she gestured at me, and I knew full well what she meant.

“Regretfully… no. He hasn’t. Can I ask… why you don’t want him knowing you’re asking?” I asked.

Nasba’s eyes narrowed as she stood up a little straighter. “I’m wondering if maybe there’s something wrong with him. I’ve been teasing him, trying to find out how far you two have gone… since Merit asked me to find out. But now I’m actually worried. Has he really not done anything?” she asked a little too seriously.

I slowly shook my head. “Nothing too serious… But he does look. Sometimes he looks a little too much, really,” I said as I thought of a moment not too long before we had come down here. Right after dinner, I had noticed the way Vim had been staring at my neck. The back of it, at the nape. Though he might have just been staring at my hair. Nann had cut it for me.

The duck sighed. “Maybe he’s just… finally too old…? I know he’s not just able, but willing. So it’s not like he doesn’t have it in him…” Nasba wondered to herself.

“Hopefully that’s not because you’ve slept with him,” I said stiffly.

Nasba smirked and waved at me. “Please! By the time I was ready to have fun I’d already found my husband. Plus Merit would have killed me had I tried!”

I wanted to tell her that didn’t make me feel any better as she turned to open the door.

The new room was dark as well. I followed Nasba in, after waiting for her to enter far enough thanks to her feathers. I didn’t want to step on them accidentally in the dark.

“Maybe he’s just taking it slow. To treasure you. If you come back next time and he still hasn’t done something, you might want to consider just jumping on him Renn,” Nasba said as she went to the other side of the room.

I laughed softly, but even I heard the forcefulness of the laugh. “I’ve actually considered it already,” I admitted.

Nasba laughed, a real one, and then the room became a little brighter. She had lit a large torch.

It was situated in a metal holder, near another set of doors.

With the light, I turned to examine the room. This one was open. With a sunken floor and…

Staring down at the large thing, I shifted on a heel and wondered what to say.

“I thought you said no one laid eggs anymore,” I whispered at the sight of a huge egg. Sitting in the middle of a very obvious nest.

There was a massive nest, made of tiny twigs and branches. Big enough to house the mighty egg that sat in the center of the dark room. It was a white egg, but had distinct stain-looking marks all over it. Tiny blotches of browns and grays amongst the white.

Nasba giggled as she stepped over to me, still carrying the small lantern. She lifted it a little, to better illuminate the huge egg.

“It’s not ours, Renn. It’s the egg of a monarch,” she said.

Oh…? Oh. For some reason that made me feel a lot calmer. “Is it um… Where’s the mother?” I asked. This nest was huge, as was the egg, but the room wasn’t. I couldn’t imagine whatever had lain this egg had been able to fit in this room, here underneath the earth. We were several floors under the buildings.

“Dead. Vim killed it. Go ahead, you can touch it… if you’d like,” Nasba offered.

I blinked, and realized I did wish to. I was about to step forward, but noticed the nest a few feet from me. “Will I bother the nest? Walking on it?” I asked worriedly.

“Not really. Just be careful,” Nasba said as she stepped forward herself. I watched as she walked up onto the nest, and I heard the familiar sound of little twigs and leaves crunching as she did.

Gulping I decided to just follow her example. I stepped out onto the nest, and felt an oddly soft bundle of twigs beneath me. They didn’t feel dried out or dead at all… even though they kind of looked it.

So this was why Nasba had wanted us to take our shoes off earlier.

“So um… why do you have a monarch’s egg down here?” I asked as I stepped up next to her, up to the egg.

Drawing closer to it, I realized just how massive it was. It was lying on its side, not pointed upward where it’d be tallest… yet it was still bigger than me. It was higher than my waist, and it looked like it was longer than Vim would be lying down.

Reaching out to touch the egg, I wondered what it would feel like.

“Nann’s husband. His parents had been servants of a monarch. When Vim arrived to kill them, after doing so, he found this egg,” Nasba told me.

My hand hesitated, right before touching it.

Pulling my hand back, I shifted and felt suddenly uncomfortable. “I uh… need to hear more of that story,” I said uncertainly.

“It’s not that fancy of a story. They had been typical monarchs. Tyrants. Vim showed up, killed them, and freed their servants. Nann married one of them, and here we are,” Nasba explained as if it was obvious.

Feeling strangely cold, I sighed. “Why’d Vim uh…” I gestured to the egg.

“Not break it? I don’t know. Maybe he’s just… sentimental? Or maybe he knows it’ll never hatch? I mean it’s been down here for hundreds of years Renn. Though it has grown bigger. When I first married into the family, it had only been about half this size,” Nasba said.

I frowned. “It’s gotten bigger…? How? I thought eggs got smaller when they hatched,” I said. At least my pet hawk’s eggs had done that. It was how I knew it was time to watch them. They usually shrunk a little, and got colder.

“No idea Renn… but I mean… it is a monarch’s egg. It’s bound to be weird,” Nasba said with a shrug.

I sighed and nodded. Right. Monarch. Magic and other stuff…

Stepping forward, I reached out and finally touched it.

The egg felt like any other egg I’d felt. Smooth and a little cold. I ran my hand along it slowly, and felt tiny little bumps as I did so. So it wasn’t as smooth as it first seemed…

“It’s odd Vim’s letting it be,” I said.

“Isn’t it?” Nasba agreed.

As I felt it, I wondered if there was a heart inside the egg. I of course couldn’t sense it, but…

I wanted to ask, but decided not to. Just in case Nasba didn’t know anything about such things. Although she was one of the older members of the Society, I’d gleamed from all our conversations so far that she honestly didn’t know much about Vim. She knew him as a person, and a lot of stories about him… but nothing too specific. Or if she did, she hadn’t shared any of it.

“So uh… I’m guessing it doesn’t need to be kept warm?” I asked.

Nasba shrugged. “Hasn’t seemed to be bothered yet. Even when we have bad winters it’s usually warmer down here anyway,” she said.

Right. Underground…

“What uh… what if it hatches?” I asked as I stopped touching it.

“Well… We’re supposed to let Vim know, of course. I think the idea is when freshly born it won’t be able to escape this room on its own. Not right away. Or that we’ll notice it before it does, like we’ll start to see it move or something,” she said.

Sure… sure…

The idea of a monarch being normal enough to show signs, or give warning, before it hatched made me doubt that plan entirely.

Yet Vim obviously was letting it be.

I’ll need to ask him about it…

“Oh. Most of our family don’t know about this… so make sure not to mention it up there,” Nasba said as I stepped away, out of the nest.

I nodded. “Right.” That made plenty of sense. Most of their children were rather human. Too human to likely understand this.

Nasba sighed as she shook her head at the egg. “I couldn’t imagine laying something this size,” she said.

Smiling at her, I wanted to make a small joke about one of her grandchildren. One of the boys was already one of the biggest people here, even bigger than Vim, and he was supposedly only twelve years old.

The duck then stepped out of the nest as well, and went to the corner of the wall where the torch rested. She grabbed a thick, heavy, rag and went to smothering the torch’s fire. It sizzled loudly as it went out, sending us into slight darkness.

Nasba made sure the torch stayed dead, and then once sure the fire wouldn’t re-ignite she stepped back over to me and lifted the lantern. “Ready?” she asked.

I nodded and headed out of the room first.

Nasba shut the door, locking it once more, and then we headed back down the dark hallway. Back to the cellar room we had come from.

“Are all of the buildings connected down here?” I asked.

“They are. There are other levels too, deeper down. But they’re all mostly just storage rooms now. And most are empty,” Nasba said.

“What had they been for? Originally?” I asked?

“Places to hide and where we gave birth. Nann’s an odd one. She didn’t feel comfortable giving birth above ground, and so always came down here once in labor,” she said.

Oh. Right. I nodded, even though I wasn’t entirely sure what to think of that. Maybe it had something to do with whatever kind of bird she was. This weaver thing.

“When you eventually have children, go ahead and bring them here Renn. Maybe we can get some of our kids to latch onto each other. It’d be interesting to see what kind of creatures come from mixing cats and birds,” Nasba said, rather seriously, as we entered the cellar.

Laughing, I nodded. “Sure. Maybe someday,” I agreed.

Once in the cellar, the duck went to putting the lantern away and shutting the last door.

“Though… None of your descendants have shown any fox traits right?” I asked.

“A few had. Only two of Nann’s children ever showed traits of them. Regrettably both of their bloodlines died and faded. There’s a single branch that still has some fox blood, but we’ve not seen any of those traits in years,” she said.

Huh… So it wasn’t because of one bloodline overpowering the other. Interesting. Even more so interesting that it seemed the traits didn’t mix… Why hadn’t there been any children with both fox ears and duck feathers, I wonder.

Before I could ask about such things, Nasba paused and instead of heading back upstairs first, she stepped closer to me.

“So… you two really haven’t done anything yet?” she asked quietly.

Smiling at her, I nodded. “Nothing like what you’re thinking, no,” I said.

She frowned and sighed. “Too bad. Merit will be happy, but at the same time she won’t. Oh well, maybe by the time you see her again it’ll have happened,” Nasba said as she went for the stairs.

Sighing softly at her, I followed the long trail of feathers behind her.

Leaving the cellar, we entered the main house where Nasba and Nann lived. Then once in the main hallway, Nasba pointed back down the hall. “It’s about time I gave one of my lectures to the kids,” she said.

I nodded. It was. She did one in the morning, and one after dinner. It was long time for it. They were probably all waiting for her, by the sounds of their chatter from down the hallway. “Think Vim’s with Nann?” I asked.

“Likely. I got him to agree to do a lecture, but knowing him he’ll wait until the last day before he does it,” she said with a smirk.

“Oh? You actually got him to agree?” I asked. Hopefully I’d not miss it.

She nodded, happy. “It’s tradition. He gives at least one each time he’s here. He hates it, since I’ve raised all the kids to pester him with thousands of questions,” she said with a huge grin.

I grinned back at her. “I’ll make sure to add a few myself,” I said.

Nasba laughed and patted me on the arm as she stepped past me. Her tail feathers brushed against my shins as she walked past me, and headed down the hallway.

Watching her go, I wondered how heavy her tail was. I never noticed my tail’s weight, even though I probably should, and hers were pretty much all feathers if not entirely… but…

Surely they were heavy? They sounded heavy. Felt heavy. They sometimes also made loud noises when they fanned up and down, when she laughed or grew excited.

I’d yet to find a feather. Loose and left behind. From either her or anyone else. I had hoped to find one before leaving, just to feel them more properly… but knowing them, they plucked and dealt with any loose feathers long before they fell off.

Would it be weird to ask for one? They were okay with letting people eat their eggs… so maybe a feather wouldn’t be a big deal either?

Surely?

Stepping away, I headed for the door. Exiting the house, I found a setting sun and a pair of children. They ran past me and into the house with tiny apologies as they hurried. They were late for their family meeting.

Although Nasba’s stories and lectures were very interesting… I wanted to find Vim. I had a slew of questions for him, and I couldn’t contain my curiosity of them.

Plus…

Well…

Glancing up at the setting sun, I decided it was time to offer again. Even if Vim has yet to accept it. Even if he never would.

I’d always be there to offer my bed. Not just for the obvious reason, but for the more simple one too.

I had noticed he had looked a little tired earlier. While we had been in the human village. I was sure Nasba had seen it too, but she had likely just blamed Elisabell and her brother on it. Or maybe she was used to Vim finding our antics tiresome. But… I knew better.

That hadn’t been simple annoyance. That look in his eyes had been exhaustion. He was tired. He needed some sleep.

Heading for the Weaver’s Workshop, I picked up my pace when I heard the sound of a spinning wheel.

Opening the door quietly, I mentally kicked myself as the wheel slowed to a stop. It was completely still by the time I entered the room, and found the Weaver smiling at me patiently. Vim had his back to me, back at the workbench… working on some leather again.

“Nasba’s lectures over already…?” Nann asked.

I shook my head. “Just started, I think,” I said.

“Ah. You two must have been getting up to trouble then. What’d you do?” Nann asked with a knowing smile.

I shifted and felt a little silly. She really was perceptive. How’d she do that?

“She showed me that big egg,” I said.

Nann blinked, and Vim sighed. “Of course she did,” he mumbled.

Smirking at him, I stepped over to peer over his shoulder. I watched for a moment as he tied tiny little leather strips together, making tiny little ropes out of them.

“What’d you think of it, Renn?” Nann asked me.

“It’s fascinating. It’s bigger than I am… but um…” I hesitated, and realized I had kind of put myself in a corner.

I had questions. But I wasn’t sure how many I could ask in front of her.

“Why keep a monarch’s egg? Why is Vim allowing it? What will we do when it hatches?” Nann listed most of them for me.

I nodded. “I also wanted to know what kind of bird it is, too,” I said.

“A creature that no longer exists. They’re only fossils now,” Nann said.

“Ah…! Vim spoke of those before,” I said.

She smiled at me. “Did he?” she asked.

I nodded, and was rather glad to hear one of his words from someone else. How neat.

“Birds imprint. On the first creature they see. I wish to see if the same will happen to a monarch,” Vim then said.

“Oh…? I see,” I said as I understood. That was how I had raised my hawk too.

“My husband had been related to those who served its parents. We have a few ideas,” Nann added.

Turning to her, I frowned and wondered how much I could ask about that too. Would she take offense if I asked for more detail?

“They had been what you’d call slaves. Vim freed my husband’s family by slaying them,” Nann answered nearly all of them for me.

Smiling softly, I glanced over at Vim. He ignored what had been said, so I reached over to pat him on the back. “Good job, Vim,” I praised him.

He paused in his craftsmanship for a moment, and huffed at me.

The Weaver giggled lightly. “He had done a good job indeed.”

Keeping my hand on his back for a moment, I felt the way he breathed and his warmth. It felt steady. Normal. His typical self.

“I also got to hear more about you and Merit, Vim,” I said.

His shirt shifted a little, thanks to a lift of his shoulder. “Oh yeah?”

I nodded, grinning at the Weaver who grinned back at me. “I want you to know I’m fully on her side. If she ever wants to file a complaint against you, I’m going to be the first to sign it in agreement, too,” I told him.

Vim glanced at me, and I smirked at him. He sighed and nodded, accepting it as he went back to work.

“Also, Nann… are you not a duck too?” I asked.

“Me? No. I’m more related to a finch,” she said.

Finch… “Those pretty little birds,” I said as I thought of the ones I knew about.

She smiled at me. “Thank you for the compliment,” she said.

Ah… I hadn’t meant it that way, but smiled and nodded as if I had.

“I have a question too,” Vim then said.

“Hm…?” I leaned forward a little, to focus on him.

“How long are you going to rub my back?” he asked me.

Blinking, I smiled a little sheepishly as I realized he was right. My hand was still on his back, and had been going up and down.

Pulling my hand back, I coughed softly as I glanced at the Weaver… who was smirking broadly at me.

“Let me guess. Nasba said something,” Nann said.

“Huh…? Well…” I shifted, and didn’t want to admit it. She had… but…

Well…

What she had teased me about earlier hadn’t been why I had left my hand on his back. I hadn’t even realized I had been doing so…

“Ducks are weird when it comes to such things. Just ignore them,” Vim said.

Oh…? I wonder what he meant by that. “I’d usually disagree, as to defend my family… but he’s not wrong. There’s a reason I made them all build their own homes,” Nann said lightly.

“Hm… but you let Nasba live with you,” I pointed out.

“Her husband, like mine, is dead. I don’t need to worry about it anymore,” she said.

Oh. Right. Okay…

“And you’re a gentle soul indeed. How’d you get so sad over such a simple comment, dear?” Nann asked me, likely noticing my emotions just as easily as Vim did.

Shifting a little, I reached over again to put my hand on his back. “I felt bad. I had asked a question that made me feel rude and disrespectful. It reminded you of something sad,” I admitted.

“Yet I know you hadn’t meant it that way. I took no offense,” Nann said.

I nodded. “I know… I guess… but…” I wasn’t sure what to say. I knew she likely hadn’t. She hadn’t responded in such a way to make a point to me, but to simply state a fact.

“Don’t tease her Nann. You’re not the one who will have to hold her if she starts crying,” Vim said.

“On the contrary. I’d happily hold her. Though… at the same time I’d also like to see what kind of expression you’d make doing so as well. So this time I’ll let you hold her, and I’ll hold her next time,” Nann said as she thought about it, seriously.

I sighed at the two of them. “I really hope you guys didn’t tease Merit like this,” I said.

Vim shifted on his chair, and I felt his muscles coil on his back as he did so. Nann also shifted, and I heard the sound of feathers rustling.

“We didn’t tease Merit about her affection, no. Not even Nasba did that. It was too pitiful,” Nann then said.

“Ah…” I nodded, glad to hear it.

“They teased me plenty in place of it, don’t worry,” Vim said.

“You deserved it,” I said as I thumped his back with a fist.

He glanced at me, and I noted the tiny smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Then I felt his back shift again. He had tilted his head, and raised a shoulder… and it was an odd feeling since…

Stepping up closer, I peered over his shoulder again… and found him staring at his palm.

“Vim?” Nann asked, noticing the oddness too.

Vim sighed, and I watched as he dug into his palm, right under his thumb… and pulled out some kind of long needle.

“What’d you do Vim?” I asked as I watched a half-finger long needle get removed from his palm. He dropped it on the workbench, and went to making a fist. Likely to stop the flow of blood that was now dripping out of the hole in his palm.

“Broke a needle on accident,” Vim said.

“Hm,” Nann nodded, seemingly understanding completely… and not finding it odd at all.

Which… I mean… it wasn’t. Vim was strong. Too strong for his own good most of the time… but…

“Want me to bandage it?” I asked him. It didn’t look to be dripping much blood anymore, but he had also tightened his fist up quite a bit.

“It’ll stop bleeding in a second,” he said as he reached over to grab a cloth. It was a smaller one, and dirty, but he used it anyway. He first wiped up the blood that had spilled onto the workbench, and then he wiped it up his arm from his elbow where the blood had dripped down. Once done cleaning up he snuck it into his fist, and clenched harder. I heard the cloth strain and tear beneath his finger’s grip.

“Is it… because of what I said?” I asked.

“I think it happened when you hit him. Funny,” Nann said.

Oh? “Really Vim?” I asked, leaning forward a little more to look him eye to eye.

He glanced at me and then looked away. “I just poked too hard,” he said simply.

Poked. The leather. Too hard. With a needle. And sent it straight into his hand underneath. Maybe even through it, considering how long the needle had been.

“Sorry,” I apologized.

He sighed and waved me off, and then went to messing with the leather again. Though this time with only one hand.

Stepping away from him, as to not accidentally startle him again by touching him wrongly, I wondered if I had thumped him that harshly. I hadn’t thought I had… and honestly, hadn’t thought I even had the strength necessary to bother him to that degree. Yet…

“It’s very amusing how in tune he is to your presence, Renn. Every single movement you make must be loud in his ears,” Nann said.

“Loud?” I asked. Did she mean I was noisy…?

“I mean it figuratively. He’s just hyper aware of your presence and actions. He noticed you were approaching long before I did… and as far as I’m aware, my hearing isn’t much worse than his. Though maybe in my old age I’ve gotten worse?” Nann wondered.

“You are old,” Vim said.

“Don’t be mean,” I chastised him.

Nann giggled but nodded. “He’s likely right… but enough about that. I’d like to hear your opinion on something, Renn,” Nann said.

I nodded, and stepped another step from Vim. I went over to the chair I had been sitting in the other night, and moved it a little as to face her properly and sit in it.

“Do you think Vim’s attractive?” she asked me.

I frowned at her, and wondered why she and Nasba were so strangely fixated on this stuff. Maybe it was a bird thing.

“He’s rather plain, honestly,” I said.

Vim shifted on his seat and Nann smirked. “He is. Yet surely you at least don’t mind him? Otherwise you’d not find him so lovely?” she asked.

Shifting in my seat, I nodded. “I do… find him somewhat attractive, I guess. I like how he smiles. And I like the feel of his hair too, though I’m not sure why,” I said.

“His hair…?” Nann glanced at Vim, in a way that made me realize that she’d likely touch Vim’s hair before we left now. Just to see what I meant.

Expecting her to just get up and do so, I was a little surprised when instead she crossed her arms and hummed at me.

“Rather what I find really attractive… is well… when he does something astounding,” I said.

Nann titled her head, and glanced at me. “Astounding?”

“Yeah… not too long ago, before we met Landi, we had been given a baby. His mother had the plague. Been sick, really bad, and didn’t have anyone else to rely on. She begged us to take him, into Landi’s city, to save him. To get him to her family where he’d be safe. When Vim took the boy, and vowed to get him there safely… well…” I blushed a little as I relived the moment.

“I see. You find his heroism sexy,” Nann said.

“Sexy…?” I wondered if that was the right way to describe how I felt about it.

“Is it any moment of greatness? Do you feel the same when he’s fighting and killing? Or is it just those moments where he’s a better man than anyone else?” Nann asked.

I blinked, and quickly pondered her questions.

She was right. It wasn’t just when he was doing something amazing. It was… well… “Honestly no… I mean… it is interesting, and neat, to see him when he’s standing up to an enemy. Or a monster. But no… If you’d ask me what expression I liked the most, it’d definitely not be that weird grin or frown he gets right before he enters battle, but instead when he does something more… well…” I wasn’t sure how to explain it.

“Like when you watched him hold a little girl, as she wept from nightmares,” Nann said, understanding.

“Yeah. Like when he held Lomi. Or the baby. He gets all gentle and stuff, yet still retains a bit of his anger somehow. It’s a weird mix,” I explained.

“You two do realize I’m right here, right?” Vim asked.

We both ignored him as Nann reached up and tapped her lips with her finger. Not to imply silence, but instead to ponder deeply. “I know full well the expression you speak of. I’ve seen it many times. It’s usually during a moment of either great sorrow, or something simple. Like when he holds a newborn baby, or meets a new member for the first time,” Nann said.

I nodded quickly. “Yes. That’s it. That’s exactly it,” I said.

Vim sighed, and I smiled.

“A strange face to be attracted to… but it’s not surprising, nor is it really a bad thing. I worry though that means you might go extended periods without ever seeing it. You might even go years sometimes without it, depending on fate,” Nann said.

“In a certain perspective, that’s a good thing,” I said gently.

“It is…” Nann nodded with a sigh.

For a few moments she was silent, as Vim messed with his leather. I heard both of his hands moving around, which meant he had likely stopped bleeding already.

“Can I ask why you and Nasba are so interested in… well… our relationship? I understood at first, since it’s fun to tease him, and because Nasba wanted to fulfill Merit’s request… but…” I asked.

“Honestly it’s because I had not expected you. I had thought Vim would have chosen a different kind of woman. I’m not disappointed or anything… but I’m trying to understand how I had misunderstood him so deeply. Basically, you being chosen has insulted my intelligence. Not because of anything you’ve done, but because I wasn’t as perceptive as I had thought myself to be. It’s upsetting.”

I blinked, and wondered what to say.

“Nasba’s teasing and curiosity is just her being playful, don’t read too much into it. Nann is the one you need to be on guard against,” Vim told me.

“Ah… should I be on guard with you?” I asked her.

“Yes. Honestly it’s a little upsetting you’re so willingly answering my questions, and doing so without any hesitation. But I’m kind of enjoying your willingness to be an open book. It’s strangely refreshing. Especially since Vim is the complete opposite,” Nann said.

Oh… I turned a little, to glance at Vim. He was staring at a bundle of leather straps, frowning as he tried to tie one of them to another.

I smiled at him, and wondered if he was genuinely having trouble… or if he was that bothered by the conversation I was having with the Weaver.

“Need help Vim?” I asked him.

He finally glanced at me, and I noted the look in his eyes. It made my smile turn into a grin, then a smirk.

Then he blinked.

I blinked too, and watched Vim go from a man being teased… to a man alert and on guard.

I sat up straighter, as Vim stood.

Then I heard what he did.

Footsteps.

Which wasn’t uncommon here. There were plenty of people here. Plenty of children. They usually ran around, even later in the day or early night. But these were not the sounds of little duck feet.

These were footsteps in the distance. In the tall grass, that surrounded the fields around the houses.

And it wasn’t just human feet either. But horse’s hooves.

“Vim…” I said stiffly as I stood.

He turned, to me and the Weaver.

“Get to the main house. Alert your family. We have visitors.”

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