The large bridge, the one from the era previous, was rather empty. Though only of people. The wind was surprisingly not as wild at the moment as it had been earlier, but there was a good layer of sleet and snow all over the place. Many of the trees weren't green anymore, but white from snow.

I was standing near the edge of bridge, since I was waiting for Lilly and Renn. They were both in the nearby cluster of trees, out of sight.

We had already crossed the bridge, since we had hurried across it. The thing wasn't too bad; thanks to the lighter wind than usual for this time of the year, but it was no pleasant crossing. Between the wind and the cold it was too rough to talk or anything while traversing it.

Thanks to the cloudy skies, and the snow falling, I couldn't see Lumen in the distance or any of the nearby villages either. I had been hoping to, and still did. I'd been wondering if the damage from those massive creatures had still been visible from a distance and above like this.

Maybe I'd be able to see it as we descended the mountain, once we got under and away from these storm flurries.

"Almost there," I whispered to the snow falling around me.

Two days. At most. And I'd be there. Before Light and the rest of her group.

A do or die moment, I guess.

I've had many of those, more than I could count, but this one felt a tad worrisome. I'd always known the Society, this little project of non-humans, would eventually fail or fall apart… but I'd honestly not thought it'd happen this way. I had thought it'd either go out with a bang, or with a quiet whimper. Not with me stepping away from it intentionally, in this way, without bloodshed.

Though I suppose there could still be bloodshed…

Taking a deep breath of the chill air, I breathed it out with such a huff that I should have made it hazy. But my body had already long adapted to the cold.

Renn wanted me to be angry at them. At Light.

Yet she also wanted me to find a way to not cause drama. To keep myself as protector, and keep the Society intact.

Lilly, although originally claimed she wanted me to simply go to war with them… was now saying the opposite too. I had originally thought it because of Renn's influence, but now I knew the real reason. It was because of her family. Her children. She's not said it aloud yet, at least to me, but I knew why she'd become a little more… understanding concerning the situation.

She worried if she took a stand against Light, alongside us, that she'd then lose her children. Because they'd choose Light and the Church, the Society, over her. Over us.

I couldn't blame Lilly if she decided to take their side too, against me, if it came to that. Children were that important.

"Children…"

I shifted, crunching frozen dirt and gravel, and tried to not think of the prophecy concerning Renn.

Hopefully that too was just a misunderstanding. Or some fluke, or scheme…

I wanted to deny its existence, but… how could I? What kind of evil bastard would I be to deny a life to be born like that? Especially a special one, Renn's daughter, for crying out loud…

To ruin that prophecy… would mean to ensure she never had a child. At least, my child. Doing such a thing would no doubt ruin our relationship. Renn was able to overlook a lot of my faults, but that would be something she'd never forgive me for. And I could understand why, of course.

What kind of man, a husband and partner, would think such a thing? There was no excuse valid enough to justify such thoughts.

My mother would be so ashamed of me for thinking such a thing. I couldn't even imagine the things she'd do in her fury. Whatever tribulation she cooked up as to punish me for such thoughts would have likely been worse than anything I'd endured so far in my life to date. That was how bad such a thought was.

Yet I couldn't help myself.

I hated prophecies. Beyond reason. And did so even more purely for those that concerned me.

Though in theory, the prophecy concerning Renn's daughter wasn't necessarily mine. I was simply associated by default, but that was just an assumption. No one has outright said it was to be my child yet, had they…?

Groaning a little, I reached up to rub my face. I wiped some snow off, pretending to care about it, as I tried to push aside the terrible thoughts.

"You okay Vim?"

I turned to find Renn. She had a happy smile on her face, half hidden by the fox scarf I had gotten for her while we had stayed at Nebl's. It was a tad smaller than I had wanted, but it seemed to be working for her.

Lilly wasn't in sight, yet, so I simply nodded. "Yes. You two ready to continue?" I asked.

Renn glanced behind her and right as she did Lilly emerged from the forest. "Yep. Are we going to stop at the Clothed Woman first? Like last time?" Renn asked happily.

Oh. "No. She moved locations, Renn."

Renn paused a moment, and gave me a frown as Lilly walked over. "What's this? That crazy woman moved somewhere else?" Lilly asked, having obviously overheard.

I nodded. "Last time I came through here, to pick up Fly, I stopped and checked on her and a few others nearby. She told me she was going to head north before winter started, as to avoid Light. Brandy told her about Light and the rest coming to Lumen," I explained.

Renn groaned as Lilly nodded. "Makes sense. They are like fire and water," Lilly said.

"North where, Vim?" Renn asked, sounding a little upset. Likely at me, for not telling her sooner.

"I'm not sure yet. She told me she'd let me know once she found a suitable home. I'll probably get a letter from her in a year or two once she settles down somewhere. She's done such things before," I said.

Lilly nodded. "Yeah. She's an odd one, Renn. And honestly not worth your worry. She's a cultist."

Renn glanced at her friend, and I noted the look of pain in her eyes as she did. She hadn't liked hearing Lilly speak bad of someone she considered a friend.

I kept my own thoughts to myself, and gestured for the two to join me back on our path. We headed away from the bridge we'd just crossed, towards the path that lead around the mountain pass and down the other side of the mountain. The one that led to Lumen.

"You know Vim, we really need to work on your communication skills," Renn said to me as we began down the path.

"How so?" I asked. I assumed she meant my lack of informing her of important details of our members, especially those she had an interest in, but I wanted to verify what she meant first.

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"You waited to tell me about Herra. Lamp. And now this? What else are you forgetting?" she asked, sounding a little upset.

"Vim only really cares when it's a matter of life and death. He's always been that way," Lilly said.

That didn't feel like she was defending me, but rather stating aloud how she found my lack of care a negative trait too.

"We've been busy…" I said lightly.

"A poor excuse Vim, really," Lilly said.

Renn nodded, glad that Lilly agreed.

I sighed at them. "And for some things, like Herra's death, I had assumed you had known already. Informed by Oplar for example," I said.

"I love the bear, and she is usually one for gossip, but lately our time together has been short. Too short to share such things, Vim," Renn pointed out.

"How come she gets the pass, thanks to being busy, but I don't?" I asked.

"She and I don't spend nearly every waking moment together, obviously!" Renn said.

Well that was true…

Lilly chuckled. "You're not going to win this one Vim. Especially since we've all had similar complaints over the years. Maybe you'll finally start listening now though, what with it coming from her," she said.

"I've been trying to be better," I said.

Renn stepped closer to me and nodded. "You have been! Just a little more and you'll be perfect," she said, excited.

"I'm not already perfect?" I asked.

She scoffed and laughed at me, making me smile in return.

A small gust of snow blew past, putting a pause on our conversation for a bit. We walked in silence for a mile or so, until we entered a more heavily forested section of the path. One that was dense enough to block more of the wind and snow. Between the forest, and our descent, the storm eased up enough for words to be exchanged again.

Lilly and Renn went to talking about Merit and Lumen, which I tried to ignore.

I'd forgotten about Merit.

There was nothing to worry about, I believed… Merit had sent letters to Lilly, telling Lilly that Renn was to be trusted and to watch over her. But this was Merit we were talking about. She was an odd one.

She'd not harm Renn, but she'd not hesitate to shock me with all her might once we met again.

I'd deserve it, I guess…

Lumen was starting to look like some dangerous dungeon or something, what with all the possible threats and traps within it.

Even if I ignored Light and the rest, I knew it'd be a mess. They were now likely fully involved with Thraxton and the rest of the merchant guilds, setting up the new nation-state. I'd heard a little of the news of it, they had officially declared their sovereignty and independence, and had invited dignitaries and whatnot… but I was honestly not paying as much attention to it as I should. And not just because we had so much drama already happening in the Society.

What they were doing was their own venture. They voted to do it. They could handle it… until they needed my help, at least. Then I'd handle it.

Or well…

"What are you thinking, Vim?"

I glanced to my right, and found Lilly. But she hadn't been the one to ask me that, so I turned and found Renn on my left.

Frowning at the two, who were both close enough to lock arms with me, I wondered what they were doing. The wind and snow had died down a bit more, so they weren't drawing near for warmth at least.

Probably some kind of joke or something.

"Just contemplating the headache I'm soon to endure. All the drama in Lumen," I said.

"Like what?" Lilly asked.

My frown deepened. Didn't she know full well…? "Well… Light. The Society. Their stupid schemes of making a new nation-state. I'll likely have to deal with Thraxton too, he's annoying. I hate dealing with kings. Plus, thanks to the previous chaos, I'll have to properly check the town and the ports. The boats too, and those humans Renn's gotten us involved with…" I said, starting the long list of things I'd soon have to deal with.

Renn groaned a little. "You saying it aloud like that makes me feel like I'm part of the problem…" she said.

"How so?" Lilly asked her.

"Most of those are my fault. It feels like, at least," Renn admitted.

"Are they?" Lilly asked me.

I shrugged. "She's likely trying to say that Light's schemes are somehow her fault, since she's involved in them. The nation-state shouldn't be attributed to her, but one could argue the rest of the chaos is. Renn's the one that got noticed by Fly and those other non-humans back then, and thus started the whole fiasco. Plus she's the one who invited Lamp and those pirates to the Society, too… though I had invited the pirate boy," I said.

"Pirate boy…? Pirates? What's all this now?" Lilly asked, sounding amused.

Glancing at Renn, I was a little surprised to see her sheepishly smile at me from behind her scarf. She hadn't told Lilly about them yet?

"Just humans we got involved with. You know how she is about them," I said for her.

"Ah. Humans. I love you Renn, but I'll never understand your fascination with them," Lilly said, sounding no longer interested.

"I can't help it…" Renn groaned.

Reaching over, I patted Renn gently on the shoulder. Her leather armor was not as thick as the last set, but still a tad heavier than a woman would usually wear.

She locked eyes with me for a moment, and I was glad to see her relax a little upon doing so. I wanted to tell her a secret, one that would likely shock her, but knew I couldn't. Not here and now, and especially not in front of Lilly.

I decided to do so the next chance I got. Which shouldn't be too long from now, since Lilly wouldn't be able to join us into Lumen.

Remembering such a thing, I frowned as I slowed a bit. They both noticed, and slowed to a pause as well.

Glancing around, I realized where we were.

"Vim?" Renn asked.

I nodded. "Mind doing me a favor, Lilly?" I asked her.

"Hm? What's up?" Lilly tilted her head at me, and reached up to take off the face covering she'd been wearing to protect herself from the chill of the air.

Her hair was a slight mess as she revealed it all, and I pointed farther down the path we were taking. "Not far from here is a bend. If I remember correctly from our last trip this way, the old path isn't really visible anymore. But there used to be a path here that led back up the other side of the mountain, heading towards that big plateau nearby," I explained.

Lilly slowly nodded. "I know where the plateau is. I used to fly over it a lot."

I nodded. I figured. Thus why I was about to ask her this favor. Out of everyone she was likely the only one really able to do it.

"Do you then also know where those waterfalls are? The ones that look like they're pouring from both sides when viewed from above?" I asked.

Lilly perked up. "I do! Used to wonder how that happened, since there's no river up there for them to sprout from!" she said happily.

Good. "Near those waterfalls, on the side that overlooks the limestone quarry in the distance, is a cave. One that you can only get to if you climb down from the top. It can't be seen from above, or below, thanks to how it recesses into the cliff face. If you'd be willing, while Renn and I go confront Light, I'd like you to get the item I left in that cavern for me," I said.

Renn stepped closer. "Wait what? She's not going to come with us to face Light?"

Lilly slowly shook her head. "I can't go into Lumen, Renn. I'm banished from there. The whole city, to boot," she said.

I nodded. "If it all goes sideways it won't matter. But until it does we still must play by the rules," I said.

Renn didn't like the sound of that. Her heavy hood shifted, thanks to her ears.

Looking back to Lilly, I gestured lightly at her. "You'll need to take a torch with you. It's a dark cave. You'll know it's the right one if the inside of it is full of square blocks, as if someone cut them all to shape. At the end of the cave, you'll find two very large blocks that have a gap between them. You'll understand what I mean when you see it. Slide your sword into the gap and wiggle it around until it catches the item inside. It might take a few tries, but you should be able to drag it out," I said.

Lilly frowned at that. "Something a normal person can actually get? Really Vim? here I thought you'd say I needed to break or move the blocks," she said with a smirk.

"Right?" Renn agreed.

"I actually hid this one with the intention of allowing another to grab it, if necessary. It's that type of thing. Anyway it should be a leather binder, with a bunch of flaps inside. They'll look like odd strips of paper," I said.

"A book, you mean?" Lilly asked with a grin.

"Well… it could look like one, I suppose," I admitted. It would, to someone who didn't know what they were looking at. It did look like a really odd leather bound book, with odd papers within its binding, I suppose.

"What is it?" Renn asked, sounding excited.

"The flaps are skin. The skin of a god," I said.

The two then went still… and groaned at me. They both shook their head, almost in sync with each other. "Shouldn't have asked," they both said together.

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