“This isn’t right, Vim,” I said as I watched Thrain leave. He walked with a slight slouch, as if carrying a heavy burden.

“What isn’t?” Vim asked from the next room. The one that led to the kitchen.

“They’re using you. They don’t want to take his life themselves, so they’re making you do it,” I said as I stepped away from the window, as to enter the hallway and find him.

I followed his hum through the next room and into the kitchen. He was opening the smaller pantry door that led to the cold room. A room full of metal lined boxes with ice. He must be hungry? Or had he heard my stomach gurgle earlier as Thrain left, after he asked for permission to begin planning the execution?

Although I was a little peckish, I was honestly a little too upset right now to eat. Or maybe this would be a good time to have a snack, as to calm me down.

“They just want you to stain your hands, Vim, so they can sleep at night. It’s wrong,” I said as he dug out some slabs of meat from the ice boxes.

“That is one way of looking at it, I suppose,” he said without much care.

“Vim…” I groaned as he shut the ice-box and then left the cold room. He shut the pantry door firmly, and sighed at me. “Don’t sigh at me! This is important!”

He nodded as he stood there for a small moment, staring at me. “It is. But, Renn… there are many reasons why this isn’t as bad as you’re making it out to be,” he said.

“Name them.”

Vim tilted his head and nodded. “Firstly, I have no doubt the man did indeed murder him. Thrain and the rest here hold trials. They’ll ask witnesses, investigate, and will even allow the whole village to participate. They’ll debate and argue over the right or wrongdoings, and will then reach a census on what should be done about it. If they’re calling for his death, then that is the will of the village. And trust me… there are many here who are very, very, stringent and strange. They would not be allowing this if there was a modicum of doubt in his criminality,” Vim said.

“Vim there were several of your words there,” I warned him.

He flinched and nodded. “Basically Renn, this village has old, wise, and also very by the book individuals living in it. If they claim this man did the deed, and deserves death for it, then there is little doubt in my mind they’re right,” he simplified.

Grumbling a little, I nodded and gestured for him to continue. “Another reason?”

“Killing someone is hard. Especially when it’s someone you’ve known for a long time. Particularly family. They do not need to ask me to execute him, Renn… they’re asking me to do it out of mercy. They’re a religious people, although their religion is not like any you know. In their faith killing is a cardinal sin. Something that dooms their soul. Me taking up the mantle of executioner is simply a favor. A way to be kind to them. And he is not the first I’ve had to kill in this way, and will definitely not be the last,” Vim said.

I shifted a little and glared at him as he stepped over to the larger table. He placed the chunk of meat down, and went to light the nearby oven fireplace. It was a large, white brick layered thing built into the side of the wall. It took up nearly half the wall on its own.

“I’m not… arguing the man doesn’t deserve death. Just as you took Tim’s life… I get that it has to happen, sometimes. But that’s not the point,” I said as I watched him open the little iron gates of the oven furnace section.

“What is?” he asked.

“These people. They hate you. They’ve banished you. Yet they make you do their dirty work. Can’t you see the problem?” I asked.

“I can. I see where you’re coming from very well. But… I’ll counter your point with one of my own,” Vim said.

I waited as he lit the fire. He quickly shut the iron gates, and then turned around to face me.

“Hm…!” I nodded, waiting to hear it.

“I killed their god, Renn. I slaughtered their ancestors. This used to be a thriving community, thousands strong. They’ve grown since, but they’re still a shell of their former selves. I was the one who laid them low. Not time. Not the church. Not a Monarch. Me. I owe these people… and whether that is protecting them, playing along with their little rules, building waterwheels and farming tools, or yes… even playing executioner. That’s what I’ll do,” he said.

Biting my cheek, I felt my tail bump into a nearby table. I glared at Vim for a moment… and eventually had to sigh and look away from him.

Not only was he not wrong… he wasn’t going to budge. At all.

“You disagree…?” he asked softly.

“No. Not entirely. It still upsets me, however,” I said.

“And that’s okay. To a point Renn… I agree with you. But that’s because I believe a person should solve their own problems, if able. But really… Murder is cause for banishment in the Society anyway, Renn. In fact, death is the proper punishment for it. Most locations charge death for death… So in theory this shouldn’t even be something to debate,” he said.

“I know that, Vim… I get it. I just don’t like how they’ll actually summon you just to dirty your hands like this. It’s wrong,” she said.

“It’s wrong to me and you, because of our views of life. But Renn… I do remember you once mentioning you’d have asked me to kill your family members. Instead of using your own hands to do the deed. What’s happening here is similar, born from the same emotion,” he said as he turned to start preparing the meat.

My breath caught, and I shivered a tiny bit. “You remember that…?” I asked, surprised.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“You forget a lot of little things we talk about, Vim,” I said softly. He never seemed to forget the important bits, but…

“Hm… do I? Here I thought you were taking over my memories and thoughts, I hadn’t thought it possible to forget anything like that about you,” he said lightly as he went to cutting the meat into smaller slices.

Smiling at him, I wondered if he even realized how happy it had made me to hear that he had remembered such a thing.

It had been something said so long ago, and said quietly in passing…

Stepping forward, I carefully stepped up to him. He had his back to me, since he was focused on cutting the meat. I slid my arms around his waist, wrapping him in a hug.

“Renn…?” Vim didn’t turn, but he did pause in his cutting for a moment.

“Why’d you kill their god, Vim?” I asked.

For a few of his heartbeats… he said nothing. Then he chopped a piece of meat, a little loudly, as he returning to cutting.

At first I thought he’d ignore the question… as he had done last night. I was about to complain, since at least last night he had told me he wouldn’t answer it, and hadn’t outright ignored me… but before I could, he took in a small breath.

“Their god had been cruel, Renn. In… very disgusting ways. I’ll not get into it now and here. Ask Thrain and his wife if you’d like. They’ve kept good records of the past, and are not afraid to speak of it.”

I turned my head, as to put my right ears, both my human and my cat ones, against his back. To hear his heartbeat a little better. “If they’ll tell me, why can’t you just say it?” I asked.

“Some things you need to learn from others, not from me. If you have to know I feel what I did was justified. But… the method in how I did it was not. As I mentioned. I had been cruel. I had stopped cruelty with another form of it. And that is why I must now earn their forgiveness,” he said.

I gulped and squeezed him a little tighter.

Although it was… very sad to hear him speak of such things…

It was also this part of him that I loved.

He was a strange man. Capable of great feats, and could change the world in crazy ways… And I knew without a doubt, that if most other people had such knowledge and power as he… they’d not have been like him.

They would not have such remorse, or such piety. They would be cruel. Diabolical. Evil.

So in all truth it was… a good thing that Vim was like this. Otherwise we’d all be worse off for it.

But at the same time…

I really wished he didn’t have to be.

“Are you a god, Vim?” I asked softly.

He chuckled, making my whole body shudder. “No. Not at all. I’ve told you… if you really must have a term for what I am, I’m closer to a monarch than anything else. Though I lack the vital parts to be one,” he said.

Although it bothered me he had still not outright told me exactly he was… I also calmed down a little.

Not a god. And that small chuckle had been genuine. The kind of real laugh that told me he hadn’t been lying at all with his denial of it. He found it hilarious that I’d even think such a thing.

Feeling a little relieved, I smiled and closed my eyes. To listen to his heartbeat as he continued to prepare the meat.

He being so special that he could slaughter monarchs and gods was worrying… but as long as he wasn’t some higher power then at least I had a chance.

“I don’t like how you made me seem hypocritical by the way,” I teased him.

“I hadn’t meant to,” he said softly.

“You should have. You were right. It was rude of me. I’d like to be special to you, but… the reality is everyone’s special. That all of the Society is special to you. I shouldn’t be the only one who is allowed to lean on your kindness,” I said.

“Technically as my wife, you should have certain privileges that no one else does,” he said.

“Like what…?” I asked, excited to hear what they could be.

“Who knows…? How about for now, would you like minced stew or steak?” he asked.

“Minced, of course,” I said, as my stomach gurgled again.

He chuckled, and for a small moment I was pulled around the kitchen. He went to preparing the stew he had mentioned, gathering up other ingredients and finding a large pot. I clung to his back as he prepared what would be our lunch.

“Want me to fetch the water?” I asked. The well was behind the house. Oplar had drawn from it last night, and I assumed it was because Vim wasn’t allowed to go out and get it.

“Hm… you’d face your fears for me?” he asked.

Although I wanted to cling to him for a bit longer, I had no choice but to let him go as I stepped back. “I would,” I said sternly.

He really did remember the little things too, didn’t he? I wonder why he forgot some conversations and not others. Maybe he didn’t forget anything when it concerned me? Now that I considered it… usually when I had to remind him of something, it was about someone else. The name of a human we had met on our travels, for example.

If that really was the deciding factor for what he treasured in his memory then… well…

How could I then fault him?

He turned and smiled at me. “You sure? I’m allowed to draw water, Renn. There’s a fence back there, it mostly blocks me from sight,” he said.

Oh. I hadn’t known there was a fence back there…

“Hm… Is it a big well?” I asked worriedly.

“No. Plus it’s half covered in a wooden lid. There’s only a small slot for the bucket to come up and down through,” he said.

“Ah. I can do that then, yes,” I said, happy to hear it.

He smirked and nodded, and gestured to the other side of the kitchen.

I followed his point, and found the small stacks of buckets.

Nodding, I hurried off to help.

It took a few trips, to provide Vim enough water for his cooking… and on the last trip, I found Oplar in the kitchen.

“Now Renn, I trusted you. You were supposed to not let him cook,” she said happily.

“It doesn’t smell bad, so I think he’s just making a normal stew,” I said. It was already boiling and cooking, and had been for a long moment. If it was one of his other weird dishes it’d have begun to stink already.

“Yeah but he’s Vim. He can make it weird even with normal ingredients and under a watchful eye,” Oplar said as she groaned at him.

Vim ignored her as he stirred the large pot. The cooking oven was also hotter, and I could smell some kind of bread inside of it. When’d he even prepare it?

Putting the last bucket of water down onto a counter, I smiled at Oplar. She looked happy, somehow.

Maybe this friend of hers was a guy…? Didn’t Vim mention once she was on the hunt for a husband?

“If I had cooked what I wanted, you’d not have come home tonight,” Vim said lightly.

“More like I’d not have come home for a month!” Oplar said, laughing afterward.

I smiled and nodded. “Yes. It’s one thing when you cook in an open field or something, but who knows how bad it’d be in a house,” I said. It was interesting that I hadn’t realized he’s only ever cooked his strange meals out in the open as we traveled.

Maybe he didn’t want to be rude so he didn’t cook weird stuff in other people’s homes.

“Right? Might be wise to build a separate kitchen, Renn,” Oplar said.

“Hm?” I tilted my head at her. What’d she mean?

“When you settle? He’ll obviously want to cook sometimes, and you’re too kind to outright ban him from doing so… thus a separate kitchen. I suggest downwind, or over a hill,” Oplar grinned at me as she explained what she meant.

A little stunned, I couldn’t help but grin back at her. “You’re very right!” I agreed.

This was why I liked her so much. She had such a strange thought process, and it usually led to something cute.

Oplar chuckled as she nodded, agreeing with me.

Vim though just glanced at us, looking like his typical un-amused self.

I stepped over to Vim, and glanced into the large pot. It sure enough looked like it was starting to really cook. There was even a bit of froth at the top.

Watching him for a moment, I realized I really was hungry.

It was actually still a little early for lunch, but…

Glancing at Vim, I noted the soft smile on his face. He was staring at the pot he was stirring, but was doing so absentmindedly. He looked like he was just… happy to have nothing happening. Nothing serious, at least.

Though…

I turned to look at Oplar. “Have you heard about this uh… execution, Oplar?” I asked.

“Hm? Yes. I’ve not met the man himself yet, but I’ve heard the story. Let’s hope that Vim’s not the jealous type, Renn, else the world will tremble,” Oplar said, not missing a chance to tease us.

Although the idea of Vim killing other people just because I talked to them, or flirted or something, was a terrifying thought… it still brought a small smile to my face as I brushed his leg with my tail. “He seems to do fine, really. He grumbles, but he’s not stopped me yet, or hurt anyone just because I smiled at the wrong person,” I said as I thought of all the times he had teased me about flirting with our members. Particularly the female ones.

Oplar paused a moment, and then burst out into a loud laugh. “Has he now!” she shouted between her laughs.

My smile grew as I watched her happily enjoy herself.

“If you should worry about anyone, it’s her, honestly,” Vim said lightly.

My smile faltered, but didn’t die. I glared at the side of his face as Oplar renewed her laughing fit.

He wasn’t really wrong, was he? He often flirted with waitresses and stuff while we traveled… and when he did, even in the beginning before I’d even realized I’d fallen for him, it had annoyed me.

But it wasn’t my fault. Some women were just… very beautiful. Enough so to make me worry.

Plus he so rarely flirted with me as it was, so when I saw him do it to some random stranger it just made me worry and doubt myself.

“Ah, I’m jealous. My father used to get in mighty difficulty too! He was very attractive and it always got him in trouble,” Oplar said as her laughing died down.

“Oh…?” I found that very interesting. It wasn’t often men of our kind were attractive. There had been only a few I’ve seen I’d consider so, like Gerald, and honestly I myself hadn’t felt any attraction towards them. He was beautiful, though, there was no denying that.

Oplar nodded as she crossed her large arms. “Mother wasn’t bad either, had she been Vim?”

“Kathy was beautiful, yes. She was also a phenomenal card player,” he said.

I blinked. Vim had not just said that to be kind. He had meant it.

“Of course that’s what he remembers about her,” Oplar said with a small snicker.

“Card?” I asked.

“A game. Kind of like your little war board game,” Oplar said.

Oh my… “I’ve never seen that. Crane’s little journal had mentioned it, but I hadn’t ever gotten to play it,” I said as I remembered.

“Journal…?” Oplar tilted her head at me, and I kept myself from flinching.

Oops. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought that up.

“In Ruvindale. When we found they were gone, we had tried to find traces of them. Her journal had been on the floor, we read it to see if she had left a note or anything. She hadn’t. We burnt it, along the rest, with the building,” Vim explained for me.

“Ah. That makes sense. Sheesh Renn, your memory is scary,” Oplar noted.

Was it…?

Everyone always said so, but it just seemed normal. Why couldn’t others remember as well as I, I wonder? Maybe Vim knew why. He had called it something once. At the Smithy…

“I’m sure there’s a set of cards here somewhere. I think I remember Celine playing with them last time she was here,” Vim said.

My ear fluttered as I glanced at him.

Celine had come here with him too?

I had known of course that Celine had traveled and met with mostly everyone. She had been the one to invite and convince most of the Society to join, as well as the one to found it… but I think this might be the first time Vim’s outright spoken about those ventures.

They had likely traveled together a lot. Like we did now. Together…

Wonder if they had slept in the same bed, as we do.

If they had… was it the same bed? He had allowed me to pick which room, like usual, and I had chosen the only bedroom on the bottom floor. It was near the kitchen and bathroom, and also had the second largest bed in the house. I had not chosen the largest, because it had been just… a tad too big.

There was no point in sleeping together if Vim could squirm away from me with plenty of room to spare.

Oddly though he had mentioned that it was the same room he always slept in. He had found it humorous that I had chosen the one he used all the time.

Although I too found it neat… I knew the truth.

It was simply the first room in the hallway. Before the stairs, even. He simply chose it because it was easiest. The quickest to reach. Not for any other reason. Odds are he likely never even slept in it when he was here, alone or no.

But… if Celine was a factor…

“What’cha thinking about, Renn?”

I startled, and almost bumped into Vim as I turned to find Oplar right next to me. She was grinning down at me, amused.

“Uh… well…”

“Step back you two. I got to get the bread out,” Vim warned as he patted my back, as to tell me to step away.

I obliged, and coughed as Oplar and I stepped out of the kitchen and into the next room.

This room had a large rectangle table. With lots of chairs. An obvious dinner table. I grabbed hold of one of the chairs, and tugged it a little… but didn’t sit down yet.

Oplar sat down on the other side of the table, opposite of me, and I could tell she was anxiously waiting to hear my thoughts.

A part of me wanted to share them. Because I knew she’d laugh at them. And I liked to hear, and make, people laugh.

But… this thought…

“What do you think, Oplar? About them making Vim kill this man?” I asked.

“Hm?” she frowned, and I knew it was because she wasn’t happy to hear this topic. She had wanted something else to be shared. She accepted it though, and shrugged. “It’s fine isn’t it? Vim’s very good at killing. Plus it doesn’t bother him. I know this might seem weird to you, Renn, being a real predator and all… but taking a life is hard. It’s terrifying. I can understand why they don’t want to do so,” she said.

Oh. Right.

She was a coward.

Or well… was it really cowardice to not want to hurt someone?

Honestly it wasn’t. I shouldn’t use that word to describe her; even if it was the one she used herself.

Still…

Real predator…?

What a phrase. I’d think a bear was one of the greatest predators of them all, so…

Maybe she didn’t see herself as one, being unable, or unwilling, to hurt someone.

“And honestly Renn… Someone who would murder another for such petty reasons has no place in the Society. In my opinion, the world either. Just how cruel does one need to be for such a thing to even happen…? I couldn’t imagine being so jealous to actually kill another because of it. Though, granted… I’m not married nor ever have been, so maybe I’m simply unable to imagine it because of that reason. But still,” Oplar said.

“I’d get angry at Vim, but I couldn’t imagine killing the one he was flirting with either. Though I might be similarly unable to imagine it too, since the one I’d be more inclined to hurt is Vim… and it’s not like I can actually kill him. So…” I said as I thought about it.

Oplar chuckled at me. “See? That’s how I’d be too, I think. Even if another person really pushed and swarmed all over my mate, it’d not be them I’d be angry at. It’d be the one who didn’t properly refuse them,” Oplar nodded, agreeing with me.

Well… That was partly my reasoning, I suppose… Though not the whole of it.

The reality was I simply expected Vim to attract people. Even if he was plain looking… he was in my personal opinion quite a catch. So it was just to be expected that he’d get targeted and have interest. So to fault them for what was basically normal and natural was silly. It was like faulting a wild animal for hunting a small pet, or a monarch for hunting one of us. It’s not like they had true reason, they acted mostly on instinct.

“Speaking of mates… is your friend here one of the candidates?” I asked, hoping to find out more about her friend, and to slightly change topics. The current one was kind of depressing.

“Huh? Oh,” Oplar laughed a moment. “No, no! Kabbly is just a good friend. She’s older than my parents! She and I just get along well,” Oplar said as she waved the funny question out of the air.

“Ah.” I nodded, and found it interesting that for her it wasn’t the fact it was a woman that disqualified her from being a candidate but that she was simply too old.

Oplar then crossed her arms and hummed. “Actually I’ve started to consider maybe finding a human, to be honest. I really, really, don’t want to… but…” Oplar groaned as she spoke.

Feeling a little sad for her, I nodded. “That’d be rough. Even if you waited until closer to your end,” I said.

“Oh…? You’ve thought of it too then did you?” Oplar asked, surprised.

I nodded. “I had. After… well… after the children died, I vowed to not get close to a human again. I ended up doing it anyway, with Nory, but at the time my thought process was to wait until I was old before doing it again. So that as they aged and died, so would I. So it’d not be as painful,” I said.

“Many have done that,” Vim said from the kitchen.

Oplar hummed at us. “But how would I know when it was time? Most of us have no idea until we just… start rapidly aging. Some don’t even age at all, and just pass in their sleep. Looking nothing like the old farts they are,” Oplar said.

I smirked a little at her phrasing. “I’d always assumed I’d feel it in my bones… plus my grandparents had looked a little older, but you’re right… they weren’t all hunched over and wrinkly like the humans get,” I said.

“Wrinkly,” Oplar smiled at me.

What…? That’s what it looks like.

“Do you uh… have a specific thing you’re looking for? A type? Or well…” I hesitated, since I was unsure of how to properly phrase the question.

Oplar’s grin died a little, and at first I thought I had insulted her… but instead she leaned forward, clasped her hands on the table and nodded with a serious expression. “There are a few things, yes,” she said calmly.

“Oh…?” I nodded, and forced my ears not to flutter in anticipation.

“I’d… not be able to be with a religious individual. Or if they are one, they’d have to be willing to not force it on me, or even bring it up. Which is why I’d just simply rather not try with one, as to not cause problems. I… don’t want it, but I think it’d be rude to force someone to abandon or ignore their faith, so…” Oplar said. She spoke evenly, but I could tell she was taking this conversation very seriously.

I nodded slowly as she frowned and nodded back, but more so absentmindedly than at me.

“Plus I’d genuinely like someone not afraid to protect me. I… can’t do it. I run away. I hide. I even can faint under the right circumstances, so having someone else capable of handling those types of scenarios would just be for the best,” she reasoned.

“Right…” I nodded again.

So far it seemed somewhat reasonable. Wanting someone that could protect you was… well… genuinely understandable. Even I’d dreamt of such a thing when younger. Even when I had been with the kids, or Nory, I’d always wished I had someone else with me to ensure that next level of safety that I couldn’t provide on my own.

The religion aspect was also not that big of a deal, I’d think. There seemed to be many non-religious members in the Society as far as I could tell… Although I couldn’t see limiting myself over the religion thing had I to choose, but that was mostly because I didn’t mind it. If anything it kind of bugged me that Vim was so against it. Not because I wanted him to be religious, but rather it meant he had a legitimate reason to dislike it… and it worried me. I knew he disliked it because of his intense belief in free-will, but there was an obvious underlying reason too… and I worried over it. I feared the day he’d share it with me, even though I so desperately wanted to know it.

What if his reason for detesting religion would spur my own dislike of it? The thought kept me up at night sometimes.

“And… well…” Oplar coughed, and I allowed a tiny smirk to show as I realized she was suddenly embarrassed. “I’d really like someone shorter than me, too,” she mumbled.

I blinked, and was a little surprised. “Shorter?” I asked. Really? She was a little taller than Vim was! Vim wasn’t the tallest, of course, but he wasn’t short either. From all the talks and things I’ve seen, women usually wanted someone of similar height, or even taller, so…

Oplar nodded though, confirming it. “Yeah… Most men my size are real bulky. Muscular or fat. I just… well…” she shrugged, and I could tell she was genuinely a little embarrassed. She even looked like she had a small blush forming.

Huh… “So… you like men like Gerald?” I asked.

She flinched, and I heard Vim snicker in the kitchen behind me.

“Don’t laugh at her!” I shouted at Vim.

“No. He’s right. You’re right. I do… Though a little shorter, remember? He’s as tall as I am,” Oplar said.

Oh. “So Gerald is out just because of his height?” I asked, a little confused. From what I remembered he hadn’t been very religious, if at all. Though…

“He’s also like me, Renn. A coward,” Oplar added.

“Right…” I nodded. I had remembered that fact not a moment after saying it.

“Other than that… just someone whose kind I guess? Plus maybe someone willing to travel with me too. I’m always on the road after all,” she said.

Hm…

Shorter than her. Not muscular. Not religious, yet also willing to protect her if needed. Plus the traveling…

“See…? Not many to choose, are there?” Oplar asked with a tiny grin, noticing my thoughts.

“Well…” I hesitated. Why did it seem like there wasn’t?

Most of the men I could think of that even came close were either already a part of a family, or… well…

“Oplar’s main issue is she wants an actual husband. Not just someone to have children with,” Vim said as he peaked his head into the room. He stood in the doorway separating the kitchen from here, and leaned against it.

“Well yeah? I’m not Landi,” Oplar said with a huff.

I nodded. Yes. I’d not want that either. At all.

“Is that what you’d prefer, Vim?” I asked, wondering about how he had said that. It was almost as if he was saying it in a way that he found it ridiculous she wouldn’t be willing to consider options.

“Hm? Me? And miss out on all our little talks and your funny noises as we travel? Not likely,” Vim said.

Funny noises…?

Oplar made an odd noise before I could ask what he meant, almost like a scoff, and I turned to look at her. She was a little wide-eyed, and startled. Then she groaned and lowered her head to the table, thunking it down with enough force that it sounded like it had hurt.

“Oplar…?” I asked worriedly. Was she okay?

“I’m fine. My heart just filled with jealousy is all,” she mumbled, her face planted firmly on the table.

Oh…

Smiling gently at her, I decided to help her find someone. I… wasn’t sure at all how or where, but it had to be possible.

Honestly most men, especially our non-human ones, were scrawnier. There were a few like Link, but most were like Gerald or Windle… though I suppose most weren’t necessarily short. Plus most weren’t religious either… but at the same time most absolutely detested the idea of traveling let alone on a constant basis.

In all truth her real problem wasn’t so much their appearance or lack of interest in traveling but instead their fight or flight responses. They were mostly all like her… cowards.

Though… she wasn’t the only one in such a precarious situation, was she…?

I hesitated a moment as I realized that there were likely many people who were like her. Not too recently at the Crypt I’d even thought about it. Sharp was a romantic, and lonely. Frett’s issues. She had chosen Tim because she had no other choice… And even before that was Landi… though her desires weren’t very romantic.

It was almost concerning as I suddenly realized how lonely many of our people were. And how many of them were desperate, and looking… Riz had been so hurt by the news of Brom’s death because she had fallen for him. The first man she’d ever met her age, or near it, in the Society. As if it was some kind of instinctual thing to just… pick the first suitable partner you found.

Although at the time of joining the Society I had been so… star-struck… I had to admit I too had the hope, deep down, that I’d find someone as well. Though I’d not expected Vim to be the one I’d pick.

And the main reason so many were struggling was simple. They weren’t able to meet. To see one another. To talk, or give each other chances…

Fidgeting a little, I felt oddly excited as I quickly thought of a plan. One to set in motion, slowly, and carefully. One that Vim would likely roll his eyes over.

One that might help everyone… not just Oplar, but any who needed it.

“I’ll stay on the lookout for you, Oplar. Vim’s a jerk. He might know someone perfect for you, but simply forgets all about it when he sees them. I’ll keep you in mind as we travel around,” I said gently to her.

“Mhm,” she made a happy, yet sad, noise as she nodded.

Vim chuckled as he stepped back into the kitchen, to return to cooking.

Let him laugh. This was serious.

It might be one of the most important things I’d done yet.

As long as I didn’t overstep my welcome, of course…

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