"Don't trust me anymore, do you?" Nebl asked as I lifted myself out of the hidden compartment beneath his smithy.

"Hardly, Nebl," I scoffed as I clambered out of the hole. Once out, I glanced back down into the dark compartment I'd just come from. It had no stairs or ladder into it, on purpose, but it was actually deeper than it looked. It was big enough that not only could I fit comfortably in it, so too could Nebl, but it was too deep for anyone but me to actually dare without proper preparation. Such as with a rope or something.

The only thing that had been down there was now in my hand. The small orb had a faint purple glow, and was a slight bit heavier than its fellows.

Nebl went to sealing the hole back up, first putting down the iron grate that sat in hardened cement blocks. The grate wasn't really to cover it, but to ensure if anyone did find it or fall into it somehow they'd get caught by it. Plus it made the hole kind of look like an old abandoned well, which was what we hoped it to be interpreted as if ever found.

I helped Nebl finish resealing the hole, putting back the layers of flooring that hid it. Once done, I handed Nebl the monarch's heart as I went to push one of the larger ore crates over the hole. It was half full, but it slid back into its slot near the other crates rather smoothly.

Sighing as I brushed my hands clean of soot and dirt, I glanced around for one of the brooms as to sweep up. Moving the crate had revealed a nice layer of dust and soot, which had been hidden under and behind it for decades.

"Society is splitting. Votes being called. Prophecies, and now you're gathering up all the hearts? What are you planning, Vim?" Nebl asked as he studied the orb in his hand. It looked comically tiny in it. It was one of the smaller ones, even though a tad heavier than usual.

"The only planning I'm doing is contingencies. I'm taking it so that if Light does come here, to further try and sway you and your family to her side, she won't notice it. Regrettably the girl is just as powerful as her mother had been, so even with it buried that deep and with the monarch leather lining the walls it might have been noticed," I said.

Nebl hummed at that as I procured one of the long thin brooms they used to clean up the soot. I went to sweeping, having to do so around Nebl because he stood still as he stared at the orb intently.

While I swept, I wondered if he was actually offended. I was taking it for his own sake, for his family. To protect them. To make sure they'd not become collateral damage somehow. But maybe he saw it a different way.

Wanting to sigh, I kept it in as I kept sweeping. "I'd not have left it here all this time had I not trusted you, Nebl. Plus if I had lost faith in you, I'd have taken it back without you knowing," I said, hoping to let my friend know his worries were baseless.

"Fancy words. Tell me… do you have more? On you?" he asked.

I noted the way he was trying not to smile. He had liked what I had said. "More? Hearts?" I asked.

He nodded. "I've had an idea for a long time, about putting a bunch together into a boiling furnace. Something really hot and liquid," he said.

My eye twitched. "And why would you want to do that?"

"To see if they explode or something. You, and so many others, tell me they're basically condensed energy. Yet no matter how I mess with them, there's no proof of it. No static, no conductivity, they're not magnetic or even able to get hot! Nothing! Figured a bunch of them bundled together and getting really hot might do something, maybe even get them to explode," he said.

"Don't be giving anyone else strange ideas like that. And it wouldn't work. They're indifferent to any outside variables. Heat, cold, pressure. Nothing bothers them," I said.

"Hm…"

Once I finished cleaning enough of the loose soot up for my liking, I put aside the broom and took the heart back from Nebl.

Staring into the darker ob, I tried to remember where I'd gotten it. "Which one was this?" I asked him. Maybe he remembered. I bet he had asked about it when I had brought it, as to hide it here.

"Some monarch in the west. One you had trouble luring from its nest," he said.

Ah! The one that Jelti's mother had helped with. How fascinating, I'd just talked with Renn about it not too long ago. She'd like this, then. I'll make sure to let her see it before we move on.

Nebl had been about to say something, but one of the outer doors to the smithy opened. Nebl turned, startling a moment, but I didn't. I head in the footsteps that it was Lilly.

She didn't take long to find us in the rear room of the smithy, where the ores were stored. "There's a snowstorm brewing. What are you two doing in…" Lilly started to ask, then went quiet as she saw what was in my hand.

Nebl sighed softly.

Lilly's eyes narrowed at it. "What are you scheming now? Don't we have enough schemes to deal with right now?" she asked, sounding a little angry.

"Why does everyone always thinks I'm scheming? Do I really seem like someone who does such things?" I asked, starting to feel offended. It felt like everyone lately has been accusing me of such things, but was it really warranted…? Well maybe.

"Because you do? Though if your schemes actually go into fruition or not is another matter," Nebl said as he stepped back a bit, to over to a nearby workbench. Not to start working on anything, but just so he could sit down in its chair.

I ignored him as I glanced at Lilly. "Snowstorm you said?" I asked.

She nodded, a little absentmindedly while still staring at the heart. "Yeah. I can smell it. Can't see it yet, but you'll be feeling it soon," she said.

Great. I had planned to have us leave in a few days, now that we'd finished making all the stuff. We'd made Lilly's son a full set of armor and weapons, a new set of leather armor and clothes for myself, Renn and Lilly, and I'd even helped Nebl out with a few of the little projects he'd been working on here at his home.

Renn had gotten a moment to rest. She's spent plenty of time with the baby, and the family, plus she got several days worth of training in with Lilly. It had been a good visit, but now it was time we moved on. Especially since I was itching to confront Light.

I wanted to get it over with now. I was tired of talking about it, or well… I was tired of talking about the prophecies, really.

More particularly a single one. One that made my wife so happy she hadn't even be able to really get any sleep. She was on cloud nine.

And of course I wanted to be happy for her. To share in her joy… but well…

Damn these things. Damn those who made them.

"We going to leave even if it's storming, Vim? How will she fare over the passes? Or will we round them? If it's a short one, it'd be faster just to wait for it to come and go than go that far south," Lilly asked, not noticing my internal discord.

"She'll be fine. We'll be careful, plus she's more accustomed to the cold than you think," I said. I worried for her, like I did all our members… and even more so because I loved her, but the reality was Renn was far from fragile.

Lilly sighed at me. "I'm not saying that, Vim. She's pregnant isn't she?"

My eye twitched as I glanced at her, and found her grinning at me.

"What? She is? I thought she said she wasn't yet," Nebl spoke up, not realizing that Lilly was just trying to tease me.

"Lilly's just getting me back for all the years I've teased her and Windle. Renn's not pregnant. Yet," I said.

"Yet," Lilly noted with a tiny giggle.

Nebl scoffed at us. "I'm too old for such jokes."

I'd thought I was too, but honestly I was enjoying it. Though I'd not admit it aloud.

"Speaking of children, I've heard of your little scheme, Vim," Lilly then said.

"Hm more schemes? Or is this just more teasing?" Nebl asked.

"Not sure. What do you mean, Lilly?" I asked.

She gestured behind her, to the hallway she'd just come from. "Renn. She asked me of about the town you're sending Randle to. Turns out it's the same one my son's at, or had been at, working for a noble. You're going to set up some kind of headquarters there, aren't you? An orphanage, and a home for Renn?" she asked.

Home for Renn…? I tried not to let my thoughts show on my face as I shifted a little and shrugged. "I thought we had talked about this already? Yes. Randle and Angie want to open a new orphanage. Away from the Church of Songs. I've promised to help them, yes. I figured doing so near you, up north, was better for them. It's a better climate, and the Nation of the Blind can be a buffer for them if the world becomes chaotic," I said.

"What's this…? You making a home without me?" Nebl asked.

I sighed at him. "I don't… well…" I hesitated, since I knew how Renn had likely come to such a conclusion.

She knew I had wanted to make several locations for her. And she wasn't wrong… if it worked out, and Randle and the rest set up camp there properly, a place there for Renn would be great. Or at least, nearby it. It was centralized, near Lilly and her saint friend, plus all the others around there. Like Twin Hills. Plus, thanks to being far enough north it allowed you to travel easily to the Summit or Lumen, and from there to the other locations, rounding this mountain range here. While also a quick access from the western coast.

It'd work. A little too well, honestly.

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"He hadn't known. Must have been a secret. Woops," Lilly said lightly to Nebl.

"His own fault. He gives her utter freedom, a wife shouldn't be so free roaming," Nebl said with a huff.

"Excuse me?" Lilly took offense to that, and I sighed too. I wasn't in the mood to listen to them argue again, since it was all centered around their children's future marriage.

"Do you have a problem with it, Lilly? If Randle sets up an orphanage near you?" I asked.

"Hm…? No? I told you before, I'm okay with it. That's a human thing. It won't bother me in any… well…" she went quiet a moment as she pondered it. Then she nodded. "Like I mentioned, I plan to get Crown involved. Renn agrees with me. I've told her how bad Crown is, and she thinks getting Crown involved, setting up the location with everyone, will be best for her. She said I should come with Windle to visit too while it happens. Plus I'd like her to be near Renn, I think."

Ah… how lovely, Renn. To so readily come to the same conclusion I had. Unlike me though, she was able to outright tell people her thoughts and ideas, and even try to influence others to them.

Well done, Rennalee.

"Wait, wait…" Nebl stood up from his seat, waving at us to calm down.

I glanced around, wondering if maybe someone had come into the smithy without me noticing. No one had, far as I could tell.

"What? Still lost? Maybe you are getting too old," Lilly teased.

"Shut it. No… you're making an actual location, Vim?" Nebl asked.

I nodded. Hadn't we talked about this before…? Well, we had. But I hadn't outright said I'd be staying there with Renn. Not like this. Though I hadn't planned to do such a thing either. Renn did, it seemed, though. "I guess? This is only under the condition I can't handle this drama with Light here soon. A lot could change, either way, once I do. For now though the plan is to step down after confronting Light and handling a few things, then heading north after winter with Randle and the rest to set it up," I said.

Nebl frowned, rather heavily, and suddenly went into deep thought. He turned away, and slowly walked past Lilly… then me…

Turning, I watched him head into the hallway, leaving us behind as he went to the main section of the smithy.

"Uh… Vim? Is he okay?" Lilly asked with a whisper.

"I'm not sure. I think so. Had I said something weird?" I asked her.

She shrugged lightly at me.

I turned, deciding to follow my friend. Hopefully I'd not hurt him somehow, or offended him. Was he upset that I had not told him right away my plans? I had basically done so the other day, the first day we'd arrived here. We had even talked about everything that led up to this point, and what could come after… even that damned prophecy…

Lilly hurried to follow, and we found Nebl near the exit of the smithy. He wasn't leaving though, and instead pulling something out of a box near the door. It was a piece of wood, looked like a cut piece of firewood though was likely not intended to be used for such a thing. It was likely going to become something he'd craft.

He turned, and stepped over to me and showed it off.

Looking down at the piece of cut wood, I frowned at the darkened blotches.

Rot.

Fungal rot.

"Disease," I said, recognizing it. It was likely the same stuff that Renn had noticed earlier. Half the trees around this area had thick, smelly, moss growing on them. Because they were decaying inside and rotting inward out.

"Noticed it not long after you two left. And lo' and behold, Light had too. She mentioned in her letter we should move to Lumen, that she'd make a place for us on the outskirts, because our home was going to rot away within a year," he said.

Oh.

Oh…

I groaned as I reached out to grab the piece of wood. I did so a little briskly, and a tad too strongly. My fingers sunk into the rotting wood as I picked it up.

"I'm so sorry Nebl. I had noticed the moss and the sickness, but didn't think it was anything but typical blight," I said. I had just thought it was something that came and went occasionally, like all forest had.

"Hm. Was meaning to talk to you about it. Was hoping you could stop it, what with your desire to go against prophecies and all. But maybe this is how it's meant to be?" Nebl said.

"Wait… you're not saying…" Lilly noticed immediately what Nebl was hinting at, and I almost didn't want to do the same.

He nodded. "Forest is dying. The Society no longer needs my furnace or anvil. And now my granddaughter plans to go off and marry into another forest? I say the world is speaking rather loudly and clearly. It is time," he said simply.

I sighed at him. "You're reading far too much into this."

"One monkey is already too much; you think I'll let the rest of you into my forest?" Lilly asked, speaking up a little as she did.

"Who says I'd want to live near you too? Figured Vim would let me know where to go," Nebl said stiffly, sounding strangely not offended by Lilly's comment.

"Nebl…" I groaned.

"What? If the forest dies, no lumber. No wood. No charcoal. And then no mine either, because the humans won't be pulling out ores without fuel! No point staying here then, is there?" Nebl asked angrily, as if more upset with me than he was with Lilly's comments.

Taking a deep breath, I shook my head at him.

He was serious. As a heart-attack.

Abandoning a home? That he's had for hundreds of years? He raised not just one generation here, but several… and possibly soon to be another with Lellip. So many years of sweat and memories… to just, give it up?

"Vim."

I blinked, glancing at my two friends… and realized what was wrong. I looked down, at the piece of wood in my hands, and found I had squeezed it so hard it had shattered. I only held a small clump of it; the rest was littering the floor.

"Sorry," I apologized, for both the mess and ignoring them.

They both sighed at me, but I knew they weren't too offended. They, like Renn, knew me. They knew what I was like, and that I didn't mean anything rude by it. Not intentionally, at least.

"It's not just because of the disease, Vim… I don't want my family associated with the chaos. Right now they're just trying to get me to wear their banner, but how long can I go without agreeing to it? How long until their gentle offers of honeyed words become veiled threats? And then actual ones?" Nebl asked.

"I'll be honest I'm not sure how far they'll take it. Randle outright attacked Light, and they didn't kill him. They didn't even banish him from the Society proper, just the Cathedral and their church. Hardly the act of someone truly intent on ending us all," Lilly said.

"What…? Then what's with all your talk of war and bloodshed?" Nebl asked.

I glanced at Lilly, wondering what she had said before we had shown up. Lilly had said such things to Nebl? She usually was vocal about her feelings and thoughts, but usually she kept her more… bloodshed ones to herself, per Nebl's term.

"It's what I think we should do. We should just destroy them all, so we can finally have peace and quiet for once. But even I know that there's more to it than that. Light is like Celine… I hated Celine, for many reasons, but one can't deny the fact she built a society of our kind in a world full of turmoil, and did it rather well," Lilly said.

"Okay, now I know something's wrong. You hearing this, Vim?" Nebl asked.

"I am. That's Windle talking," I said as I went to put away the wood I'd just destroyed, and then clean it up.

"Don't go telling him that," Lilly said.

I smiled at that. "Let me confront Light, Nebl. After I do I will know more, enough to make decisions and then act on them. Either way I'll return here and see if we can deal with the rot… though if it's as everywhere as it seems, short of burning the whole place down and re-growing the forest, there won't be much we can do," I said.

"Won't be able to stay here if that happens then, anyway. Forests return with a vengeance after a fire, but it could take years. Too long. Hm… I'll have the family start preparing, just in case either way," Nebl said with a nod.

"I'm not helping you carry all this ore north," Lilly said simply.

"I'll just get your son to help me," Nebl teased.

Lilly made an odd noise, a mix of a groan and a hiss, which made Nebl chuckle in victory.

Sighing gently, I wondered why so many things were happening at the same time. It wasn't just one or two things, but many.

As if the world was trying to distract me. From the thing I should be focusing on.

Brushing my hand against my thigh, as to clean it of wood scraps from the log I'd just accidentally crushed, I glanced again down at the orb in my hand.

I felt as if it was mocking me.

So I squeezed it.

While Nebl and Lilly argued over where he was going to move to, and who Branch was going to live with, I continued trying for a moment to breaking the monarch's heart.

Although I was upset and angry, I didn't put my all into it. I didn't want to endanger my two friends, or their families nearby, so I kept my full strength at bay.

Yet I still squeezed with enough force that had I been holding anything else, it would have shattered as easily as that rotted chunk of wood just now had done… but…

"Vim?"

After a tiny moment, I stopped trying to break the heart… which wasn't showing any signs of stress, and glanced up… to find my wife.

Frowning at Renn, I glanced around and wondered when she had snuck in. Lellip was standing a few feet away, near her grandfather and soon to be mother-in-law, and all of them were looking at me with looks of concern.

I shifted, and suddenly felt a little ashamed. Had I been so invested in breaking the heart that I had not noticed them all? Had they been talking to me? How long had I been trying? For both Renn and Lellip to be here it must have at least been a couple minutes…

And now there was this odd silence in the air. One that made me cringe.

"Were you… trying to break it, Vim?" Nebl asked softly, breaking the awkward silence finally.

Slowly nodding, I gestured with the heart and then held it out to Renn. She took it, a little excitedly. "I had been, yes," I said.

"Is that uh… possible?" Lilly asked. "I thought it wasn't. Thus why you hide them, or feed them to other monarchs," she added.

"It's not supposed to be, no," I said, as I thought of the heart I'd cracked down south. The one that Renn had given Landi.

Renn studied the dark heart, smiling happily at it as Lellip drew closer.

"That's a heart…?" Lellip whispered, in awe. Her expression told me this was the first time she'd ever seen one. Which meant Nebl had kept his promise all these years and never shown anyone else any I'd had him hold for me throughout the years.

"It's tinier than the other ones," Renn noted as she let Lellip take it. The young monkey was shocked at the thing's lack of weight, but only because she's never held one before. Otherwise she'd be surprised at how heavy it was instead.

Though… Tinier…? Right. Renn hadn't gotten to see the small one I'd taken from that little monarch back in Telmik, had she? It was in my bag, the one on my waist. I had put it there moments after Hands had given it to me, and he had done so in secret. Renn hadn't been around when I had gotten it, and I don't think I'd pulled it out since.

I'll show it to her later.

While a new conversation arose, centered on the heart and my odd attempt at breaking it, I decided to try again later.

Away from everyone else.

Maybe if I actually tried with all my strength, something would happen. I'd not tried again since I had cracked Landi's, out of fear of what'd happen…

But eventually I'll need to simply attempt it. Had that just been a fluke? Was I getting stronger? Or had that heart we'd given Landi been broken already, and I had simply enlarged the crack that was already there?

Sometimes I ignored things for far too long, didn't I?

Just another one of my many flaws, I guess…

"Vim!"

Blinking, I nodded as Renn turned to look at me. She had the heart again, and was smirking mischievously at me. "You're going to carry me through the snow, are you?" she asked.

Huh…? I glanced behind her, to the onlookers, and found them smiling gently at us. I had obviously missed a few changes in conversation, somehow. Hadn't they just been talking about the heart?

"Or you can carry me, if you'd like," I said.

Renn startled, and then she and others laughed… though I noted she was the only one who did so in a way that told me she had liked the idea. The rest had thought it purely a joke, Renn had seen it otherwise.

Smiling at that, I decided to put aside the heart and all the chaos for a moment. For tonight, at least.

We'd be leaving soon. Maybe even in the morning. So… it was only right I appreciated these moments.

There was a chance they'd soon be hard to come by, after all.

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