Gosh I was nervous.

People were walking out of the church rather slowly. It was raining, not hard enough to make people hurry, but hard enough to bring out the umbrellas they seemed to like here. I myself did not have one, but the cloak and hood I had on was more than enough to shield me from the falling rain.

I stood not far from the church's entrance, and gulped as I quickly looked at every person that passed. Not just for Rapti, but for anyone I recognized. Crane, even.

My heart thumped a little harshly as the church emptied… and once people stopped walking out of the church, I realized it was now time for me to go in.

Doing my best to not make any weird noises, I took a deep breath and collected myself… and then stepped towards the church. I entered through the large wooden doors, and out of the rain, and spent a few moments to look around before going in any deeper.

The place had a strange smell. One of burnt incense. But also a strange… smell of dirt. As if a lot of the people who had just been in here had been working in dirt all day. Maybe they had been.

It was the same church I remembered from my last visit, nothing really looked different... there had not been much change in the furniture or the placement of them, and there were still people within it. Some people still sat quietly upon the rows of benches, while a few still stood on the podium up front. There were even a couple people still kneeling in front of the small stage, before the little stairs up to the stage where there were small statues of varying shapes and forms.

A few of the people here were dressed in the familiar church gowns, but…

Hesitating a moment, I wondered why I didn't see Rapti. Vim had been so confident she'd be here… since she hadn't been at home. Maybe she was deeper into the church?

"Please don't be hiding from us…" I whispered gently as I stepped deeper into the church. It was worrying me terribly. We had knocked on her door, waiting for a response, and once none came Vim had told me to come here. He had gone off to do something else, and hadn't seemed too worried… but… What if she was going to be like Sheilla? Though instead of just outright telling us to leave, what if she just… hid herself? And didn't want to face us?

The thought that Vim and I were so horrible that someone didn't even want to speak with us broke my heart. I just couldn't imagine Rapti being that type of person. Even if we disagreed, even if she wanted to vote against Vim… I just could not imagine her going so far as to…

"Oh my! Renn?"

I turned, my blurry eyes went wide at the sight of Rapti. She had entered the church from another door. A hallway. And was carrying a small box… which she promptly dropped to the floor and rushed forward.

Before I could even comprehend what was happening Rapti had wrapped me in a hug.

"Renn!"

The moment I heard her say my name, I broke. I returned her hug in full, taking care to not squeeze too harshly since she was a bird, and started to cry.

"Rapti…!" I barely got her name out in greeting, and suddenly felt very relieved.

She hadn't been ignoring us!

Then I heard it. A tiny whimper. And not because she was crying in relief like I was.

Hurriedly releasing her, I began to panic. "I'm so sorry!" I apologized as I stepped back and glanced her up and down. Where had I hurt her?

Rapti gave me a gentle smile. "It's all well, Renn. I'm fine. I should have known you were strong!"

Feeling horrible, it was my turn to whimper. "I'm so sorry… Are you sure you're okay?" I asked worriedly.

"I am, Renn. I am. Can we hug again?" Rapti asked with a smile.

I sniffed and nodded. This time I made absolutely sure to be as gentle as possible.

Hopefully I really hadn't harmed her. But… we were in her church. A place she believed could not be lied in. So maybe I was lucky and she was being completely honest with me.

After a moment of hugging, we both seemed to calm down a little and then separated. I was rather relieved to see that I wasn't the only one who had to go and wipe my face after such an emotional moment… though a part of me wondered if maybe her tear stains had been from pain instead.

"I'm surprised you recognized me so quickly," I said. I still had my hood on, and it was a thick and heavy one. One that really blocked out my features.

"I'd recognize you anywhere, Renn," she said happily.

Feeling happy about that for some reason, I noted that she was likely wearing the exact same clothes I had seen her in last time. In fact, there was even a very small stain that was barely noticeable on her shoulder. And not from my tears from our hug, or wet droplets either from my rain soaked cloak. One that had been there last time.

She really was a pious woman.

"How have you been Rapti…?" I asked softly, suddenly not really caring about much else.

I did have a lot to ask. Like where was Crane. Why they were doing what they were doing. And how they slept peacefully while doing it… but right now…

All I cared about was that she was alive, and happy. If able.

"I've been better, Renn… and I'm glad we're here, because I have a confession to make," Rapti said.

Slowly nodding, I tried my best to not let my tail twitch and squirm in apprehension as Rapti clasped her hands before me, as if in prayer, and then lowered her head.

"By my gods above, upon my heart and soul, I have wronged you Renn."

I gulped, and did my best to ignore the fact that a couple people were staring at us. Luckily no one seemed to be heading our way, and Rapti and I weren't really talking loudly… but…

"Rapti…" I whispered her name, feeling self-conscious all of a sudden. I did want to talk to her about this, but to do it here? In front of all these people? There had to be at least fifteen people in here!

"I've helped a friend do something terrible. I've wronged you. And in doing so have no doubt caused you much grief and sorrow, and it is likely not to rectify itself anytime soon… and…"

"Rapti…!" I reached out and grabbed her wrist. Gently.

She gave me a frown as she only half-opened her eyes. "I'm confessing, Renn. It's rude to interrupt…"

"Here though?" I whispered.

Rapti then blinked, and then looked to her right… and then left…

Then she went pale in the face.

Someone giggled at the sight as Rapti hurriedly covered her face with both hands and groaned.

A little stunned at such a sight, I wondered if maybe this was what Vim felt when he watched me sometimes. Is this what he meant by adorable…? Because it was. Absolutely.

Rapti continued making an odd noise as I sighed and reached out to gently grab an arm. "Let's go talk elsewhere Rapti. Maybe your home?" I asked.

"Mhm…!" she only made a noise, so I went ahead and stepped towards the door. She seemed to let me guide her, even though she kept her face covered the whole time.

I paused at the exit… realizing it was still raining. And in fact, had increased in strength. "Uh… you wouldn't happen to have… an umbrella or something, would you?" I asked awkwardly, now wanting to cover my face myself.

Rapti lowered her hands, realized what I meant and then flinched. "Right… I'll be right back!" she turned and hurried off, running back into the church.

As she did a few people said things to her, such as asking what was wrong, but she seemed to ignore them. I though kept my back turned to the crowd, and felt my face grow hot.

Gosh now I really wanted to cover my face for real!

Rapti didn't take long. She returned after a few moments, now with a thin cloak and an umbrella. The cloak was so thin it almost looked useless, like it'd flap and fly away even from the lightest of gusts.

Someone's those like her took their religious devotion a little too far, I think. Why didn't they believe that their gods they so cherished would be sad if they got sick, or hurt, thanks to them not properly protecting themselves? It was odd to me.

"Ready?" Rapti asked as she unfolded her little umbrella and made it all big.

I nodded and joined her out of the church, and was glad to find she had calmed down a little. I still felt hot though, so I was glad for the rain and light breeze that it was brought in on.

"That was embarrassing huh?" I asked.

"Don't say it!" Rapti nearly shouted.

Smiling I nodded. "It's too bad Vim wasn't here. He would have enjoyed that."

"Oh…? Is he not here? I had heard you two were now inseparable," Rapti said.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"No, he is here. After we went to your home and found you gone he sent me to your church while he went somewhere else. I don't know why he just said he had something to do and that he'd be late," I said.

"He must have gone to see if Meriah is here," Rapti said knowingly as she nodded.

"Meriah?"

"Certain places she leaves letters for him. I don't know where in town, but there's one here. I've always offered to hold them for her, but she doesn't even trust me with them. Which is very sad, but that's just how Meriah is," Rapti said.

Oh! "Vim has been told she's looking for him," I said.

Rapti nodded. "Yes. She is. She's visited a few times recently, which is a rarity for her. She's been waiting for him for several months now," Rapti said.

Geez… it must be serious then. Vim has been worried about it, maybe he had a right to be so if she was this active in waiting for him. Especially since she was supposedly someone who absolutely hated to visit other members in the Society. She was like Lilly, supposedly, with how she liked to be alone.

We passed a small group of people who were waiting to enter a building. Some kind of restaurant maybe, based off the smells coming from it.

"It's become popular. People wait hours to get in when it's busy," Rapti told me.

"Really…? Is it good?" I asked. Maybe I could ask Vim to let us try it before we left.

"I've heard it is yes. They sell some kind of new dish, some kind of meat cooked in bread that people seem to like," Rapti said.

I knew better than to ask if she herself had tried it, or planned to. She wasn't the type to do so. But I had known she would have likely at least heard about it, being so active in the community as she was.

"It does smell good," I noted.

"Hm… it does… though, since we're speaking of scents, is the rain playing tricks on me Renn or are you now like Vim?" Rapti asked.

"Noticed already? Yes. I've lost my smell, so I'm told. I still smell myself though," I said. In fact I was actually a little glad to have finally arrived here at Nevi because I wanted a bath. Rapti was not one for materialistic items, but her home did at least have a bath.

"I see! How very interesting," Rapti seemed to find that strange based off her tone. She was now also side-glancing me in an odd way.

"And I'm sorry… by the way. For interrupting your confession. I know that had been rude, though I thought it uh… well…" I went quiet, since I wasn't sure how to phrase it.

"No, no. You were right to do so. I had been caught in emotion. I had been about to speak of things I shouldn't of in front of others… which for me would not be good at all. It's one thing to basically betray the Society as I have, it's another to do it in such a stupid way again so quickly after the first time," Rapti said.

Wait…? "Betray…?" I asked softly.

Rapti nodded, and did so so seriously her umbrella tilted forward and got me a little wet. I didn't mind it, since I still had my cloak and hood on, as Rapti slowed a little and looked me in the eye.

"I'm sorry Renn. I've betrayed not just your trust, but Vim's. And… even worse, my indiscretions have caused irreparable harm. To the Society as a whole. To the world, even. I do not even know how or where to begin to earn forgiveness, if it even can be… I've thought of flagellation, self-ending, and banishment but…"

Without hesitation I grabbed her arm. "No! Don't even think like that!" I shouted.

Rapti panicked, and actually dropped her umbrella. I thankfully was able to easily catch it, since it bumped and fell into my own arm that was holding hers. I lifted it back up over her, careful to not hit her with it as I drew closer and got her to look me in the eye.

"I don't care what you did, Rapti. Even if it is as bad as what you're alluding to… don't you dare do something as foolish as that. How would you hurting and leaving… or even killing yourself do anything to change what you did? All it would do is cost even more pain and stress, nothing more," I said.

Rapti blinked a few times, and then moved her mouth as to speak… but before she could find her voice new tears hit her eyes. Her face contorted and she began to cry again, though not as harshly as she had earlier. "I'm sorry…!" she said between her cries, sounding more like a child than the full grown nun she was.

Feeling bad all of a sudden, I released her arm and hoped that I hadn't hurt her again. I didn't think I had grabbed her too harshly, but I had done so in a burst of emotion… so…

"I… I didn't mean to yell, Rapti. I'm sorry." I apologized to the crying nun.

Thankfully it was raining enough that there weren't many people out and about. Otherwise this would likely be a scene… I was dressed somewhat like a mercenary again, and she but a nun. It was obvious what she was even with her cloak, since only someone like her would have such a thin and worn down thing covering them in such weather. Most of the time people kept a slight distance from me thanks to my appearance anyway, looking as a mercenary, so I could only imagine the uproar there would be if people thought I was being abusive to a nun.

"I'm sorry…! I helped Crane do something horrible…! All because I couldn't think beyond my feathers…!" Rapti cried, standing there and weeping in front of me.

Awkwardly shifting, I made sure to keep the umbrella over her. But thanks to the fact I was now holding it, some of the rain falling from its canopy was now falling onto my head. It made me feel weird.

Where was Vim when I needed him…?

"Come on Rapti… I'd rather have this conversation by a warm fire, and with something nice to drink," I said carefully, trying to mimic Vim in how he handles such situations. This is what he'd say to me, I think. Maybe it'd work for her too, since it would have for me.

"Mhm… Some tea sounds lovely…" Rapti nodded and sniffed, and I felt my ears twitch a little stiffly.

It had worked! Were we really all such simple creatures? Did men fall for such things too?

We returned to walking, though I still held the umbrella. Rapti went to wiping her face clean again, and as she did I noticed a lot of snot staining her sleeves. A little too much for just some crying. Hopefully she wasn't sick…

"Is Crane here, Rapti?" I asked.

"No. She's not welcome anymore… or well… she knows she's not. I've not actually banished her from my home. She's been my friend for so long, but…" Rapti's lips trembled, as if she was about to cry again.

"You… you and her aren't working together?" I asked.

"No…? Once I figured out what she's been claiming and calling for I confronted her over it. We got into a huge fight and she left, and I've only seen her once since, and that time she had only visited to spend the night and rest. We hadn't said more than a few words to each other, she simply slept for the night and left quietly the next morning," Rapti said.

Oh my…!

"I'm sorry I've ruined your friendship," I said softly.

"What…?" Rapti paused, making me stop again too. "Really Renn? Don't blame yourself! Crane is the one who has done it! She is angry, at the whole world it seems and is simply using her hate and anger as an excuse. You're just a convenient thing for her hate to latch onto. You did not make my friend go crazy, she did it herself," Rapti said.

My heart swelled upon hearing it, and the way Rapti sounded so serious about it. I resisted the urge to embrace her again, and simply nodded. "Mhm…!"

"Plus it's also Vim's fault. If anyone other than myself and Crane, and all the others who have latched onto her stupid schemes, have any blame it is him. He should just reveal what he is already and get it over with," Rapti said with a huff.

Wait…

Rapti started walking again, but I was so stunned I barely noticed. I hurried to keep pace with her, but she had gotten a little wet before I could do so.

"What do you mean? Reveal what?" I asked worriedly.

"That he's a god, Renn. Don't you know? You're married to one and you don't realize it?" Rapti asked.

Stunned, I couldn't help but try and mistake her very serious tone for one of jest. Yet I couldn't do it. Because Rapti was very obviously not joking around at all.

So… she really did believe Vim was a god.

Great.

"Oh don't look at me like that Renn. I'm not stupid. I'm not wrong, you're walking proof yourself," she said, likely noticing my own feelings on the matter.

"Wha…? How?"

"Your lack of scent? Your immense strength? You had just hugged me back there and nearly snapped me in half! How is that possible if you weren't the bride of a god?" Rapti asked with a small smile, though one of pure confidence not jest.

My stomach knotted and churned as I realized she was being absolutely serious. Impossibly so.

"Rapti…" I said her name carefully, and wondered where to even begin.

"Hm. That way Renn," Rapti pointed to our left. I nodded as we turned the street. I remembered how to get back to her home from the church, but in our conversation I had gotten lost in thought.

I mean… how could I not be lost! She was being crazy!

Or well… no. she wasn't.

I fully understood where she was coming from. I really did.

Vim being seen as a god was actually very understandable. Especially from the perspective of one like Rapti.

She was fully involved in her church. She knew her religion inside and out. And, being a non-human and more importantly a member of the Society… she knew people, maybe even personally, that had known gods. Actual ones. Like the ones who had ruled the Summit.

The ones Vim had killed.

Rapti was in a unique position to know for an undeniable fact that gods had once been real. If they weren't still real even as of now. And there were people alive, and the man himself who admitted to it aloud, that boldly claimed that he… that Vim had killed those very gods.

And by all counts and reason, only a god could kill a god.

Add his incredible strength, strange abilities, practical immortality and his unnatural knowledge about odd things… and well…

"It would really put an end to everything. Not just Crane's schemes, but all the schemes of the other fools acting out thanks to Crane's uproar. They're all basically calling for an audit of Vim's actions. His failures and successes. If he simply declared himself a god, and proved it, then none of this would matter. People would have no choice but to just accept that he's in the right, and return to normalcy. But knowing Vim he won't," Rapti said with a sigh. One of great sadness, too.

I gulped a dry mouth, and felt terrible.

An audit…? So Oplar and the rest had been right. They're going to try and place Vim's history, everything he's done and hasn't done, under scrutiny. And use those records to either denounce him… or even banish him. Yet he instead was going to do something outrageous. Something not even Rapti, in her crazy theories, could have imagined.

He was going to nip it all in the bud. To snuff it out like he would a candle, without even licking his fingers.

He was just going to step down. Maybe even completely.

Since he believed, and I was slowly starting to realize he was right to do so, that this vote… this audit of theirs, could cause another rift in the Society. One just like the one after the wars, where half the Society split and left these lands for another across the ocean.

"I'm so glad you're here though, Renn. We have so much to talk about…! Not just about Crane, and the terrible things I've helped cause… but you too!" Rapti then said, reaching out to grab at my forearm. She wrapped her hands around my wrist in a gentle way, which made me feel rather conscious of her as she happily giggled and pulled herself close to me. Close enough that we both were now sharing the umbrella.

"About me…?" I asked worriedly. She wasn't going to claim something insane like I was a god too, right?

Rapti smiled happily at me and nodded.

"You did something that as far as I'm aware, no other woman… or man, has ever done! I need to know all about it!" she said.

"I did…?"

What was she talking about…?

She nodded. "You captured Vim's heart, Renn."

Oh.

Oh…!

Feeling utterly relieved, I shyly smiled and nodded. "Right…!" I admitted I had, and was super glad that was all she had wanted to talk about.

I too had lots I wanted to talk about. The vote. Crane. That earlier comment about her wanting to kill herself, or banish herself, as penance for what she's done. I wanted to ask about Sharp, and if she'd accept the letter from her I had hidden in my little monarch pouch. And yes, even why she so firmly believed Vim was a god. Hopefully she still had that book he had given her, which had birthed all this nonsense. I wanted to read it too.

But talking about how I had fallen in love with Vim? And him me?

Out of all those important topics, it seemed so… inconsequential. Yet it was one I was more than happy to talk about first… and maybe even, the most.

Reaching Rapti's home, we found it was locked and empty. Vim had not returned yet. A part of me was kind of glad for it though as Rapti unlocked her house and happily opened the door for me.

"Come, come! Let's get warmed up, some tea heated, and let me hear all about it!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.