So much for a simple visit.

Usually my stops here at the Crypt were… quiet. Even when there was a funeral. After all… the dead didn’t cause problems. Not the kind that usually ever bothered me at least.

Staring at the burning pyre which was becoming more of a smoldering pile than anything else, I sighed.

I hadn’t really known the man. I’d brought Tim here after his location had become compromised. It had actually been a place with several dozen people… and not a single person had died. I, and those involved, had been able to secure and help everyone escape. We had got them all out before the church which had sniffed them out had been able to do anything drastic.

Tim had been the only one from that location to come here. The rest had scattered elsewhere. The reason he had chosen this place was simple… he had wanted to find religion. He chose here instead of the other locations in the Society nearby and well…

After bringing him here… I really hadn’t paid much attention to him. He was a simple man. A typical male of the non-human variety. More emotional than not, and more coward than that.

So it was surprising he became so… strange all of a sudden. I had remembered him as a timid man. One who cowed and hid. I couldn’t remember a lot of details about those days of saving him and his fellows from the church, but I could remember him hiding with the rest when those knights had marched into the village.

Tim had been the kind of coward that such threats and violence should have been beyond him. Let alone killing a little baby… If he had actually done it, that is.

“So um… Vim…”

I turned to my companion whose tail was still flickering back and forth, as if agitated.

Renn pointed at the smoldering fires. “You really like burning bodies… is there a reason?” she asked.

Was that what she was annoyed over right now? Maybe it was the smell. He had smelled a little… off while his carcass had burnt. Likely something to do with his bloodline.

“Well, here it’s more of a symbolic thing than not. I can’t bury him in the cemetery, at the Crypt. He… well… not only had I killed him, he had been banished right before it had happened. So burning him allows me to dispose of his body without breaking any rules,” I said.

“So… you’d have buried him normally had we been elsewhere?” she asked.

“Well… likely not. I do prefer cremation,” I said.

“Cremation?” she asked.

“The burning of bodies. To fragments and dust. It breaks the body down without causing issues. It also eliminates possible diseases and pathogens… and well… it’s easier than digging a deep hole too,” I told her.

“So… we’re just being lazy, mostly,” Renn decoded my true meaning.

I nodded and smiled. “Basically.”

She sighed at me.

Looking around at the forest all around us, I wondered how long it had been since this region had a forest fire. Some of the underbrush was a little… thick.

When preparing this pyre for Tim’s body, I had to make a large berth around it as to keep the fire from spreading. I had dug what seemed like an almost foot deep trench in a large circle around the burning fire. It had helped start the fire and let it burn hot, since I had put all that debris into the stacks of wood and used it as kindling… but…

Most forests in this region had thicker detritus, but this area was definitely bad.

It was time this forest had a fire.

But what did I do about it? I could do a controlled burn, I guess, but…

The idea of burning this whole area, as a preventive measure, was a pain and a half. It’d cause a lot of issues… Rather I just trust those here to be aware and not get caught in it when it happens, eventually.

A small wind blew past, ruffling the leaves and branches around us… and causing the fire that had been about to die to reignite for a moment. It burned a little hotter thanks to the fresh air, restarting some embers that had gone out some time ago.

“Frett wasn’t as bothered as I had thought she would have been,” Renn then said gently.

“Mhm. She hadn’t loved him Renn, she had used him,” I said.

“Yeah… she made that clear. Such an odd thing… To me at least,” Renn said.

Was it…?

Glancing at her, I kept a few questions from leaking from my mouth. I knew that although Renn would likely answer them, she’d also either grow upset or sad over them.

I wanted to tease her a little, but I didn’t want her to be sad. Especially since she was having… issues already, as it was.

“I should have talked to him more. I feel shocked about this, but everyone else isn’t. That tells me he had likely been… problematic. But since I hadn’t known him, I feel like we made a mistake somehow,” Renn said.

Oh…? “Well, I did kind of just… kill him without giving him a chance to defend himself,” I told her.

“You did,” she stated.

I nodded. I did. I had.

Which was odd…

I got angry all the time. My people, those in the Society, frustrated me constantly.

They always gave me headaches. They always troubled me, and made my life harder than it had to be.

Yet…

Glancing again at my companion, who was obviously the reason I had been so emotional lately, I wondered what to say or do.

Me growing so frustrated that I’d actually act on it, without any hesitation, was rare. Very rare. Especially so for me.

It had been out of character. No one else here had really seemed to notice or realize it… but…

Looking away from Renn, I sighed and accepted that it was her fault.

After all she was the only thing new in my life. Any emotional or personality changes were… undoubtedly because of her. For better or worse.

Did she realize it? How could she…? There was no way for her to have known how I was before we had met. I had started getting affected by her presence from nearly the moment we had met, too, so It wasn’t like she could even compare the me of now to the one she had met. She’d never known the man I had been, before her. Likely wouldn’t ever.

I’d blame my exhaustion… but I’ve been tired before. I’ve been exhausted during such moments such as this, and hadn’t acted out so hastily. During the wars I’d been not only exhausted but frustrated. To my limits. And even back then I hadn’t just… outright killed people without a thought.

So it had to be her… right…?

Though whether it was or not didn’t matter. I wasn’t too apologetic or worried. I had no plans to separate myself from her. Or at least, I didn’t wish to.

Though I did admit I was worried about how bad I’d get. If it was already this bad now…

“So um… what happens now, Vim?” Renn asked as the fire started to die off again. I could tell this time no winds would be able to help it. The fuel, the wood and foliage, had all been burnt and used up.

“Well… nothing really. He had been banished. If they wanted to, they could raise a vote of complaint against me for what I had done… but from what I’ve heard so far from everyone, the odds of that happening is rather minuscule,” I said.

Although many of them had been startled, and worried, they hadn’t been worried for Tim. Or me. They had been worried over what he had done to deserve death and banishment.

Upon being told of what he had done and what had happened, not a one had seemed bothered at all.

There was supposedly a human woman he had been sleeping with, but I wasn’t sure which one. I had asked Abel to keep an eye on her, and find out more. He hadn’t come to let me know yet, but I wasn’t too worried over it.

Knowing humans, she’ll likely not throw a fuss or even mention it. Especially since she was supposedly married already. She’ll likely go the rest of her life without ever again mentioning Tim. She’ll take their secret to her grave.

Or she’ll go crazy over it, and cause issues.

Humans were usually one or the other. One extreme or the next. Rarely anything in-between.

“What would happen if they did cast a vote? If they filed a complaint against you?” Renn asked, interested.

“It usually results in an outsider coming in. Someone well respected. It’d probably be Nann, since she’s close. They’ll then decide my punishment. Usually it involves a lot of manual labor or something,” I said.

When had been the last one…?

“Manual labor…?”

I nodded. “Last time had been in Telmik. No idea how long ago it had been. Decades at least. I had broke something special. Something important. Some kind of holy artifact, or something. Half the community there at the time, which had been several times more than there are now, were very upset with me. They nearly banished me from the Cathedral over it. Instead they decided to make me build them a new church. Or well, several churches. Throughout the western section of the Nation of the Blind. They figured it was fitting punishment for me,” I said as I remembered it. Those debates and votes had been interesting to sit through.

“Huh. It actually was fitting. You broke a religious artifact… so building a bunch of places of worship is a fitting penance. Especially since you probably had to endure and deal with the religious the entire time. Who thought of that? They knew you well,” Renn asked, and I heard the happy amusement in her voice.

“The Chronicler at the time had a few sisters. Real ones. They all got together and suggested it. Took me half a year to build those damn churches I think,” I said as I remembered them.

Renn giggled at me. “That’s funny.”

No. It hadn’t been at the time… but now, today…?

Yes. I saw the humor in it.

Plus it had worked. I’ve not broken anything in the Cathedral since. At least, nothing that important.

“Here though who knows. That’s one of the problems Celine had with me. She had to give the Society a way to… as you say, punish me. But what could they actually do? The only real tool they have is either to order me to do something or to simply banish me from their location,” I said.

“So… have you been banished? Really?”

I nodded. “From several places. There’s actually one to the north, near the Keep. We’ve talked of it before. It’s called the Summit. That place is basically the largest congregation of our Society. Last I knew there were almost two hundred members there. I’ve not been allowed near it since its creation, and can only go to it when summoned,” I told her.

“Wait… wait, what? I don’t remember a place with that many on the map,” Renn stepped towards me, startled.

Map…? Oh right. The one in the Cathedral. Damn her memory.

“Well, yeah? They’re a part of the Society but not. They don’t want anyone to know about them, or their location,” I said.

“Ah… how did uh… how’d you get banished from there?” she asked.

“I killed the wrong people. Or rather… I killed the wrong people too brutally. At least from their perspective,” I said.

Renn sighed. “Of course you did…”

“What?” I glanced at the woman who was shaking her head at me.

“Nothing Vim… so… could I go there? I know you’re banished, but what about me?” she asked.

“You could. In fact if you’d like to we can stop there on the way north, if you’d like. Actually that might be smart to do… it’d let you check on them, and relay to me if they’ve had any issues or anything,” I said as I thought about it.

Why hadn’t I thought of that before?

“Oh? Then yes. Let’s do it.”

I nodded. We shall.

Her tail swayed close to me, likely with intent to bump me, but she had been just a tad too far away. She smirked at me, happily swaying a little in expectation of the moment she could see the place I was talking about.

“Don’t be too excited Renn, they’ll likely banish you once you tell them you’re my wife,” I said to her.

Her happy swaying stopped, and then she glared at me. “Right…” she said softly.

Smirking at her, I nodded. “So just don’t tell them, maybe?”

She groaned and her ears fluttered in annoyance. “Maybe…” she mumbled.

Huh… she was actually upset over it. To the point it’d not surprise me if she still told them, even if it did indeed get her banished.

Interesting. She’d rather tell people she was my wife than enjoy the presence and company of hundreds of potential friends.

Interesting indeed…

“How long have you been telling people you’re my wife anyway?” I asked her.

“Huh…!” Renn stood up straighter, her tail going still… then it started swaying again as she regained composure. “Well… since Landi, Vim,” Renn said.

Landi? “Not before?” I asked.

“No. I’ve wanted to, yes, but… though I suppose I did tell Roslyn and her people that you were my husband. Do they count?” she asked.

“Only if they made it to Lumen and were accepted,” I said as I thought of those damned pirates.

“Hmph,” Renn huffed at me.

Smiling at her, I stepped forward as to stomp out the last few embering charcoals.

Stepping onto the few glowing remnants of the fire, I made sure to put it out completely. Then I went to grab the shovel.

“You just stepped all over his ashes, Vim…” Renn said gently as I grabbed the shovel.

“I did,” I said, then went to digging a hole near the remnants of the fire.

The ground here was easy to dig into. And not just because I was strong, or the shovel sharp. The grass and soil was healthy and somewhat damp, thanks to the recent storm.

It didn’t take long at all for me to dig several feet down. It helped I didn’t need to dig a normal sized grave.

Renn watched me as I then went to filling the hole with the ashes and remnants of the fire. There were a few bone pieces left, notably of the larger bones, but nothing that didn’t easily get buried.

A couple small wisps of white smoke filtered through the dirt as I buried the hot ashes. Then the smoke disappeared as I finished refilling the hole, and finished burying Tim’s remains.

Once done I stomped the spot flat, both to pack it and to firmly put out any possible chance of a fire.

“So uh… should we say anything…?” Renn asked as I stepped back and admired my work.

“Say what?” I asked.

“He was religious right…? Shouldn’t you say a prayer or something?” Renn asked worriedly.

Should I? “We could just pretend I did,” I said to her.

Renn shifted, and for a tiny moment I thought she was actually going to make me say something… or maybe she was going to say something herself. Instead she just frowned and nodded. “I suppose you’re right,” she then said.

A little pleased to hear it, I wondered if maybe I was starting to corrupt her a little. Or well…

“He did kill the baby, Renn,” I said gently.

She nodded. “So he admitted, yes.”

“I’d think that’d bother you a lot,” I said as I studied her tail. It was fidgety again.

“It does. More than you can imagine. But what bothered me the most was… his weird attitude. He wasn’t a predator was he? Aren’t such men normally meek? Why had he acted so…” Renn gestured with her hands at the pile of dirt, since she couldn’t figure out the proper word to use to describe how he had acted.

“Just because a man’s meek doesn’t mean he can’t be an asshole, Renn,” I said. But she was right. I’d thought the same myself. He had been odd. But… The reality was Tim’s oddness was more of a thing of today than yesterday.

“Well… yeah… but,” Renn didn’t seem to think that was good enough.

I sighed as I stabbed the shovel into the grass, as to make it firm enough for me to lean against. “The underlying issue is he didn’t see anything wrong with what he did, or how he acted. Regretfully… most of our people are just like that, Renn. There used to be a lot of those types. They’ve mostly been banished, or removed from the Society. Or simply not invited in the first place… but they used to be very common,” I told her.

“So… most of our kind were just like my family? Really?” she asked.

The shovel I was using as a support pole creaked, and I immediately stopped using it. I had almost snapped it. “All I know of your family Renn, is what you’ve told me. But if they were similar enough to Tim that you’d make a statement such as that…” I stopped myself from telling her I’d pity her for it.

She’d not like that if I did, even if true.

Renn shifted, her tail coiling a little as she gave me an odd smile. “They were worse,” she told me.

“Ah… well… To be honest I had assumed. You’ve said you killed them yourself, after all,” I said.

“Speaking of that Vim… should I be banished too?” she asked.

“Hm…? What for…?” I asked. Where was this coming from?

“I heard from Frett that Yangli is banished because he killed his father. Well… I did too,” she said as she grabbed her arm, worriedly.

I smiled. “First Renn… your family had not been members of the Society. Secondly, I have little to no doubt you did what you did for good reason. I doubt anyone would find fault in your actions, if you told them the full story… And well…” I went quiet for a moment, as some leaves blew past us.

Renn’s ears fluttered in the wind, and then she frowned at me. She hadn’t wanted me to go quiet.

Nodding gently, I smiled to the woman who proudly proclaimed herself as my wife. “Yangli’s banishment, and those like him, were more than just simple murderers. They couldn’t be trusted. At all. You’re not a danger, Renn… other than to me, at least,” I told her.

Plus… here soon Renn would never get banished. By anyone.

Who’d banish the Protector’s wife, after all?

“So it’s just a matter of opinion,” she said softly.

“Isn’t everything?” I said.

She blinked a few times at me, and I knew she had just relived those moments.

She had just watched them die again.

Then she nodded softly.

I sighed as I pulled the shovel out and stepped forward, and up to her.

Looking down at the woman who before had looked angry and unsettled… yet now looked hurt and depressed, I wondered what I was going to do with myself.

“I should not have killed him. I should have questioned him. Collaborated with the others, and allowed them to make the decision. It wasn’t my place. There are times and places where I can be judge and executioner, but that hadn’t been one of them,” I told Renn, not so much to get her away from the topic of her family but to make my mistake clear.

She gulped, and her depression was quickly swallowed away by gentle concern. “I was shocked you had done it, Vim… but at the same time I’m glad you did,” she said.

“I killed a man without knowing if his words had been truth or just mere bluster,” I said.

She shook her head. “You killed a man who showed no remorse for breaking a cardinal rule of the Society. Even if he had not killed the child, or if the child would have died anyway without his actions, he had still threatened Frett. With death. A man such as that does not belong in our society,” she said.

“From your mouth to my parent’s ears,” I said.

Renn hesitated, and I blinked as I realized what I had just said to her.

“I’m saying them to your ears, Vim. No one else’s,” she said warmly.

I shook my head and gripped the shovel, and felt it crack in two.

Renn flinched, and ducked away a bit. She hadn’t needed to though, the moment I had felt it crack I had turned it away and put my body in-between her and the shovel.

The thing had snapped in two. Pieces had flown out, but they had been larger ones. They bounced off my arm and shoulder, and the two larger pieces of the shovel and its handle went to the ground. One landed on top of the grave hole I had just dug, the other near the remnants of the burnt pyre.

“Jeez Vim,” Renn complained.

“Sorry. You okay?” I asked.

“I think so…”

I rubbed my hands, and felt a few splinters. I went to picking them out with a fingernail as I studied the broken shovel.

It could be fixed. The shovel head was fine. I had just snapped the handle, the bar.

A pain to replace since it needed to be sturdy wood and most of the trees around here were the malleable type. The type that bent a lot even when cured.

Renn grumbled as she watched me bend down to pick up the piece that was connected to the shovel head still. “That had been rather loud,” she said.

Had it been? Probably. Especially so to her ears.

“Sorry,” I apologized again.

“Hmph… my point still stands Vim. And I bet no one would disagree with me, either. Frett hadn’t especially,” Renn said.

Tapping the shovel against my though, I met Renn’s eyes. “I don’t care of their opinions, Renn,” I said to her.

“What about mine?” she asked.

I blinked and hesitated.

She smiled gently at me. “Your expression just now told me how deeply you do care. Did you know when I startle you; you sometimes flinch and narrow your left eye but not your right?” Renn said as she pointed at her own left eye.

“I… I do?” I asked as I tried to remember if I had done such a thing or not.

“Vim… I know you often doubt yourself… but surely you realized what happened?” Renn asked.

I gripped the handle of the broken shovel, and heard it crack some more. It didn’t snap again though, as I waited for Renn to get to the point.

She smiled at me. “You’re… growing tired. Of them. Of their failures. Their…” Renn started to say the truth, and I quickly raised a hand to hush her. I had moved it so quickly, she nearly bit her tongue in surprise. Her ears pointed upward, startled and annoyed by my hand that had appeared in front of her face.

“Please… Renn… don’t say it. Not aloud,” I begged her.

Renn’s pupils narrowed, becoming more cat-like than I’ve seen in a long time. “Vim…” she complained.

I shook my head at her. “Please. Not now. Not yet,” I asked of her.

“If not now… when, Vim…? It’s a conversation we need to have,” she said.

“It is. But the moment we do…” I hesitated, as I realized she was about to get me to say it myself.

Looking away, I shook my head as I glanced to the hole and the dark stained section of earth where the fire had been. To verify that no fire would come back to life later.

It was common, after all. Even sometimes days later, a fire could restart. Even after a hard rain. I’d seen it happen before, many times.

It was a poor distraction.

Renn sighed at me, but I heard the gentle understanding in it. “I love you Vim… but sometimes you’re more timid than you should be,” she said softly.

“Some things shouldn’t be said aloud, Rennalee. Especially so by me,” I said to her.

The stained and bothered dirt lost its importance, and my eyes drifted back to my companion.

She had gone to grabbing her arm again. She was also now tilted a little, as if unsteady on her feet. Her ears drooped. Her tail low, and barely moving.

Renn looked fragile all of a sudden. Hurt.

It made me want to hold her.

“I promise. We’ll talk about it. Someday. But not now,” I promised her.

“Okay, Vim.”

I nodded, and glanced past her. Over her shoulder…

Frowning at Abel, I stepped forward. Renn turned, her ears fluttering as she searched for the cause of my actions.

Picking up my pace, I hurried over to Abel. The scarred man was huffing a little in exhaustion, and smiled as I approached.

His smile told me all was well. I slowed a little, and came to a stop in front of him.

“Abel?” I asked worriedly as I glanced past him. The forest behind him, which he had come from, looked fine… but it was too dense to see the Crypt. It wasn’t a surprise; we were actually quite a distance away.

He must have been searching for awhile, and had either smelled the fire or heard Renn and I talking. Or maybe had simply heard the shovel snapping in two.

“All’s well, Vim. All is well…” Abel coughed, and I gestured to his right. To a tree that had fallen.

Abel nodded as he stepped over to it, and promptly sat down to rest.

Renn hurried over as Abel sighed and took a few deep breaths. “I was lucky. I smelled the smoke on the wind, and headed this way first. Then I heard that loud noise. I’m glad now I didn’t mistake the source, else who knows how exhausted I’d be,” Abel said with a wheezy voice.

“We were about to return, Abel,” I said with a sigh.

He nodded. “I figured it’d be soon… but I wanted to talk to you before…” Abel coughed, and Renn stepped forward, but Abel waved her concern away.

Renn glanced at me, but I ignored her worried glare.

She wanted to help him. But she didn’t know that there was no helping him.

His body was simply… too broken.

“Easy Abel,” I warned him.

He nodded as he took some more breaths, and then relaxed a little. “I wanted to talk to you, before you returned,” he finally got out.

“Hm,” I nodded.

As Abel breathed, or did his best to at least, he glanced between Renn and I… likely to the mound of ash and dirt not too far away, where we had just been.

“Such a shame,” he said.

Renn’s ear fluttered.

“How is everyone, Abel?” I asked.

“Surprisingly calm. There’s a few who are stricken, but simply over seeing the gore. You know how they are, Vim… even I was shocked, and look at all the carnage I’ve born witness over the years!” Abel said with a small smirk.

I smiled back at him and nodded. “Right? Got the blood pumping at least, right?” I asked.

“Please, Vim,” Abel waved my comment aside, finding it in bad taste.

Funny. I had recently said the same to Nann. She had responded much the same. They were more similar than they’d like to admit.

“Most here have seen such violence. Though likely not in a long time… I apologize for that,” I said.

He nodded, accepting my apology. “I must say Vim I’ll never get used to your quick decision making. I don’t think any mortal can decide a soul’s fate with such swift surety as you did. I hadn’t even begun to comprehend what he had meant by his words, and his head was already in your hands!” Abel said.

I shifted, and tapped my knee with the broken shovel. “Well… you had been distracted a little,” I told him. I tried not to notice that he had basically just called me a god, or at least not a mortal.

“How so, indeed! But still…” Abel sighed as he rubbed his thigh, near his right knee. It was the same spot I had thumped the shovel against on my own leg. Had my actions made him feel his own internal pain more acutely? “Everyone has already voted. Your actions had been justified. As well as our decision to banish him… But there is a rather small issue, I’m afraid,” Abel then revealed, finally, what he had come searching me out for.

“What is it?” Renn asked quickly, before I could say anything.

Abel sat up a little straighter, and blinked at Renn… as if he had not realized she had been here the whole time.

“Well… it’s Frett,” Abel said.

“Oh?” I perked up a little. Maybe she had loved him after all?

He nodded and then took a deep breath… and then released it as a sigh, instead of telling me what was wrong.

“What’d she do?” Renn asked.

“Well…” Abel coughed again, but I could tell it had been one to prolong his discomfort. He flinched and nodded, deciding to get it over with. “She’s taken a vow of silence,” he told us.

Renn leaned back a little, and then frowned… and looked over at me in worry.

“A religious thing. She’ll not talk or speak aloud, for however long she’s decided on. A type of meditation. It’s a way to either pray to their god, to show respect and reverence, or used as a method of self discipline or punishment,” I explained to Renn.

“Huh…? Why would she do that?” Renn asked.

“To pay for her sins, Renn. Frett allowed herself to get involved in something that brought the end of not one soul, but two. And much more suffering and disruption, on top of those souls,” Abel told her.

Renn scowled, but luckily didn’t voice her thoughts on the matter.

“How long, Abel?” I asked.

“She didn’t say. She simply asked me to be the witness, and took the vow before our Gods,” Abel said, and then he made the quick gesture of a prayer before his chest.

I sighed. “You should have made her give a time limit,” I said.

“I’d do no such thing. Her vows are between her and her lords,” Abel defended Frett’s decision.

Rubbing my eyes, I felt tired all of a sudden.

“Wait so… she won’t talk again? Ever?” Renn asked us.

“Likely not forever. And technically in our faith, the hours of the waxen are moments she’s aloud to speak if she so wishes, or needs to,” Abel told her.

“Waxen…?” Renn looked to me again.

“Once a month, when the moon is a sliver in size. Basically she gets a few hours a month where she’s aloud to talk, but usually only for necessities. Like to ask for help, or food or something,” I told her.

Renn groaned.

“It’s a high honor, to receive such silence. It speaks highly of her devotion, and her intentions to pay for her misdeeds,” Abel added.

Renn shifted, and her tail spasmed in annoyance. She had not liked the way Abel had described it, at all.

“She could have at least waited until I spoke with her,” I said softly. I hadn’t gotten to speak with her yet. I had allowed Renn to, as I handled the body and that horse.

A mistake. Maybe if I had talked to her, I’d have been able to stop her from taking such a vow.

Frett, like Abel and many here, saw me as some type of holy deity. A divinity, if not one myself but at least a representative of them. She’d have taken my words to heart.

I might still be able to save her from such a vow. Though… Who knows how far I was going to be able to push in the attempt. I didn’t want her to suffer for who knows for how long without talking, to anyone… but if she firmly wished to do it, and believed it was what she needed to do…

Who was I to tell her not to? Who was I to play god? If I played the thing they all claimed me to be, while at the same time despising their misconceptions… I’d be nothing but a hypocrite.

Even if I was one, that didn’t mean I enjoyed proving it to myself.

Either way it was my fault.

I may have sentenced that poor woman to decades of loneliness and silence. All because I’d allowed my emotions to control me.

Damn me.

“Such vows come when they do without warning. You know how the Gods work, Vim,” Abel said with a frown, as if upset I’d forgotten.

I bit back a response that would have shattered the poor man’s foundation of understanding, and instead glanced back at the mound of ash and dirt.

Glaring at it, and wishing I had killed him out of sight and out of mind without anyone knowing, I decided I’d piss on his grave before I left.

I’d do it now if Renn and Abel weren’t here.

“Did you offer him prayers, Vim?” Abel then asked.

“He didn’t,” Renn said for me.

Abel sighed. “I figured. I’ll do so. Although banished and a sinner, his soul has been judged and his sins taxed by your hand Vim. You are the sword of the Gods, yet sometimes I wish you were also the voice,” Abel said as he stood from the tree.

I rolled my eyes as he stepped between me and Renn, and headed for the spot where I had buried Tim’s ashes.

Abel walked slowly, likely because he was still tired from his earlier exertion, but he reached the spot quickly enough. He immediately coughed, and went to praying. He spoke lowly, but strongly. No hint of his earlier wheezing or exhaustion could be heard as he offered a prayer of lament.

My companion stepped over to me, quietly, and her ear fluttered at me. “I don’t like this, Vim,” Renn whispered.

“He’s just giving a small prayer,” I said gently.

“Not that!” Renn hissed, and then flinched as she looked to Abel. He had likely heard her, but showed no signs of it as he continued praying.

She sighed, and grabbed my sleeve. “Poor Frett, Vim. Why must she suffer because of him? Because of what happened?” she asked.

“I know Renn. I know. But what do I do?” I asked her.

“Tell her it’s fine…? Convince her not to do this… vow thing?” she suggested.

“And force my will?” I asked.

She flinched and groaned, and released my sleeve as she stepped away. Disgusted with me.

“Maybe I should take a vow too,” she mumbled in annoyance.

I smiled softly at her. “You’re too wise for that.”

Thank goodness, too.

“Hmph…” she crossed her arms as she watched Abel.

Turning, I went to join her in watching Abel… as he prayed for a man who had not only betrayed the trust of the Society… but had caused issues even in his death, and after.

Hopefully when I died, I’d not be such a stain on this world that I’ll leave behind.

I was already a problem enough as it was.

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