Watching Vim check the bag at his side, ensuring it was firmly strapped in place, I felt oddly apprehensive.

He was leaving again. My side.

This time it was for good reason. Narli was sick and needed his help. So I wasn't upset with it, and in fact wanted him to hurry up and leave already… but…

"Lilly will find it. You'll need to find her a place to stay, I'm not sure how you will explain it… maybe a human friend or something. Maybe one of the eastern girls, or pirates, will be willing to help you out," Vim said, continuing his little lecture.

I nodded. "Why can't she just stay with them?" I asked. He wanted me to get Lilly her own house. Her own room, somewhere where she could stay without living with another member or a human.

"Because she's not supposed to be in the city. If one of the humans accidentally tells someone, even unintentionally, it'll cause issues. Plus Lilly has a distinct smell, and several here know it. So she won't be able to mingle with them, even for short times," Vim said.

Oh. Right. And I'd be able to, since like him no one could smell me anymore.

"I'll make sure to handle it. I promise," I said.

On the way back to the Animalia Guild building we had stopped and bought some cloth. Some red cloth. It turns out Vim and Lilly had a little system in place to exchange letters without anyone knowing. He was going to place it somewhere outside the city on his way to Narli, like a little flag of distress. Lilly would find it, read the note he'd leave attached to it, and then she'd sneak into the city as to meet me.

He wanted Lilly in the city. Near me. Keeping an eye on me, in-case things became… weird.

I had no problem with it at all, to be honest. I'd even let Lilly stay in this room with me, if I could, but I knew no one would allow it.

"Will you be long, Vim?" I asked as he finished messing with the bag at his side. It was a new one, full of stuff we'd gotten this morning. There was a bunch of different herbs, and other medicine style stuff. He wasn't sure what was wrong with Narli, so had grabbed a bunch of assorted things just in case.

"I can't say, Renn. I'll come back the moment I'm sure Narli is fine. It could be days, could be weeks," he said.

"How long will it take you to reach them?" I asked. I wasn't really sure how long it'd take me to reach them, since we had gone out of our way after leaving there and heading to the Summit. Then of course those fires…

"Just a few days at my pace. Since I'll not stop to check on anyone."

Right… "If um… if something bad happens, what do I do?" I asked.

"You mean where do you go? Just leave with Lilly. Go back to her home," he said.

Right…

Shifting a little, I felt like crying as I watched him smile down at me. I knew I probably looked like a mess, since my heart was being torn every which way.

My meeting with Light had not gone the way I had thought it would have, at all! And now Vim was leaving, and I had so much to say and do…

I wanted to talk more about the heart I'd absorbed. To find out what it meant, actually meant. I wanted to talk in depth about Light and her schemes… I still needed to go see Lamp and Rosyln, and so much more!

"It'll be okay Renn… no matter what, no matter what we do or how we do… we do it together," Vim then said.

I gulped and nodded. Yes. "I like that," I said.

He nodded back. "Me too. I'd take you with me Renn, usually… but I must hurry. Berri would not have sent such a request without damned good reason," he said.

"I know. It's okay. I um… I'll just see this as a vacation," I said, smirking a little as I did.

He groaned at me. "If I come back and find you've joined their cloth, and are happily dancing to their schemes I'll kidnap you," he threatened.

I giggled at him. "That's hardly a threat, Vim!" I said.

"I know. I need to get better at that. Now come here. Kiss me so I can think about it the whole way there," he said.

About to leap up at him, overjoyed he'd bring it up first, I was stopped when the door to my room made a loud bang.

Turning to look at it, I frowned as I heard a groan outside… and then I smiled sadly as I realized who had made the noise.

"Come on in, Merit," I invited.

For a small moment there was no movement. No noise. Or confirmation… and then the door slowly opened, revealing Merit.

Her head was hung low, with her trying to hide her face with her thick hair. I could see the shame, and the pure red face, beneath them.

"Wait… is that why you said that? You knew she was there? You're so mean!" I turned, a little angrily, as I slapped Vim's arm.

He chuckled at me as he stepped around me, gesturing for Merit to enter the room as he did.

She entered… slowly, and he glanced around the door's frame to make sure no one else was out there. Once he did, he shut the door.

"Merit, I'm leaving. Berri's got a problem. I'll be leaving Renn here while I handle it," Vim told her the situation.

"Yes, yes, I heard already," Merit finally looked up, and although her face was still a little red it wasn't as bad as it had been.

I nodded. "He needs to hurry," I said, before he could get distracted by teasing the two of us some more.

Merit happily nodded. "Yes he does! Get the hell out of here already. Shoo!" she waved him off, as if a bug.

Vim smiled and nodded… and then right before grabbing the door again he glanced at me.

I instantly recognized that look, and felt my heart swell a little.

He just thought of kissing me. And he was now regretting not doing so.

But…

Glancing at Merit, who sighed at Vim… I decided not to do it. Not in front of her. Not right now.

"Stand tall, Vim," I said in goodbye.

"Hm… If you keep her safe Merit I'll let you sleep with her while I'm gone," Vim said as he opened the door.

"I'd have done so anyway! I don't need your permission!" Merit shouted.

He laughed as he left the room… slowly closing the door behind him. Our eyes met one last time as the door shut, and I felt my tail squirm behind me because of it.

Maybe I should have kissed him anyway.

Merit sighed again. "You should have kissed him, Renn."

Gah! "I was trying to be nice!"

"Don't! I mean… please do, yes, but…! Ah!" Merit squirmed a bit as she shouted, as if unsure of what she herself wanted.

Laughing at her, and myself, I decided to just let it be. I knew Vim would already be down the hallway by now, so there was no point in trying to catch him.

"Good morning Merit," I said, greeting her for the first time today. Although Vim and I had been up for many hours already, it wasn't even midday yet. It made me feel a little tired, considering all that had happened already this morning.

"Mhm…" she calmed down a bit and sighed again. "How'd it go?" she asked.

"Meeting Light? Honestly I don't know… a part of me wants to say it went way better than I thought it would have, but at the same time I feel more confused and worried than before somehow," I said honestly.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Yeah. That's what saints do," she said as she nodded.

It did seem so, yes.

"Will you sit with me? Or do we need to do something?" I asked with a gesture to my bed.

"Hm? We can sit. I came to invite you to breakfast, and hear what happened, but we can sit for a bit too… in fact I'd like to. Does your bed smell?" Merit asked as she hurried over to check.

Watching her plant her face onto the bed and take a deep breath, my ears squirmed as I tried not to laugh.

"Dumb. Maybe it hasn't been long enough…?" Merit wondered as she stopped, having realized we hadn't left any smells on the bed at all.

I opened my mouth, to tell her of my recent revelation… of Vim's scent… but decided against it.

For now that'd be my own little secret. Something just for me. I'd tell her another day.

Walking over to the bed, I went ahead and took my shoes off as to clamber up onto it without getting it dirty. Merit climbed up onto it too, doing so in a way that made her look like a little child as she did.

"So?" Merit asked as we both sat in front of each other.

I nodded. "Light wants me and Vim to take a vacation," I said.

Merit frowned. "A what…? Why?"

I shrugged. "She said she plans on restructuring the Society. She wants us to step away, for five years, to give us time alone… for Vim to calm down, and for the Society to work its way through the drama," I said.

Merit shook her head. "She's scheming something else. That makes no sense. Five years isn't even long enough to squash rumors, let alone restructure the whole thing," she said.

Oh? "You don't think it could be done in five years?" I asked.

"No? Not at all? It takes longer than that to build a castle, Renn. How could you reform a whole organization such as ours in such a short amount of time? Even as small and disorganized we've become, we're still a society with over a thousand members scattered throughout the world at hundreds of locations," she said.

"I didn't realize it took that long to build a castle," I said.

"Well… it doesn't always. But it does. Does she still think you're pregnant?" Merit asked.

I nodded. "Vim thinks that's the main reason. She's hoping I'll step back, give birth and focus on the baby," I said.

"So weird…" Merit mumbled.

It was!

"Oh… they also have a lot more people than we thought. There's already more than five hundred of them here, with over a thousand to follow soon," I said.

Merit startled. "What…?"

I nodded. "That's part of the five year plan, or whatever. To prepare the Society for them, or something."

Merit frowned, rather deeply. "I'm… surprised. Not just that there's still that many of them, but that they all now want to come back..."

"Right…? Even Vim isn't really sure why they all had a sudden change in heart. He thinks something happened over there, to make them have to leave," I said. I omitted that he also thought their prophecies, the ones concerning me and my supposed future saintly daughter, were the main cause.

"Possibly. So they came back here where Vim and more support is, maybe. How did he act? With her?" Merit asked.

"Rather nicely, actually. He spoke to her, and even when he got obviously frustrated and upset he didn't lash out. Though he did end the conversation rather abruptly, making us leave before I wanted to," I said. Not that I blamed him, he had needed to leave. To go to Narli.

"Hm… he's being gentle. He had always been gentle with Celine too, even when she did things so stupid it made him want to kill her."

"Did that happen often?" I asked. Vim did speak of Celine, but I tried not to really talk much about her. I didn't like the look he got on his face when he spoke of her and remembered her, it made my heart hurt.

"A lot. All the time. There's a reason I kept trying to seduce him all those years, Renn, it's because even though there were plenty of rumors concerning them being together, or him with others, I always saw the opposite when they were together. I saw I had a chance, because he hadn't taken any of the ones she or the others gave him. I'd not have done so otherwise," Merit said.

Something told me she would have still done it anyway. "Makes me wonder why he puts up with them," I said.

"Because he's inept? He doesn't like how they operate, or their methods, but he's not willing to put a stop to them. Because he believes everyone has a right to be a failure if they want to be, or whatever," Merit said with a slight shrug.

I tried not to notice the way she spoke a little scornfully. She was including herself in that statement, and it was rather obvious too.

Brushing the bed beneath me with a hand, I smiled at how soft it felt.

It was too bad Vim hadn't slept in it. Now that I could smell him, that meant I could have likely smelled him even long after he had left.

Glancing at the nearby wall, where our bags were resting, I wondered if any of the clothes and cloths in them had his smell or not. If one did, maybe I could…

"What'd you think of Light, Renn?" Merit then asked.

Looking away from the bags, deciding to check later, I nodded. "She's… well, kind of like the saints I know, or knew. She smiles and speaks so confidently, even when squirming and unsure of herself. How'd she lose her eye, by the way?" I asked with a point to my face.

"Hm…? She's missing an eye?"

I nodded.

Merit frowned. "She hadn't. When she left she had both. I think?"

Oh…? But Vim hadn't mentioned that, or seemed surprised. "Vim had acted normally upon seeing her," I said.

"Vim's Vim. Knowing him he didn't even notice, or did and simply assumed he had forgotten she was missing an eye this whole time."

Right… that was a possibility, with Vim at least.

"She's got a scar around it. So it was obviously from a wound," I said.

"Good. Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll lose the other too," Merit said with a huff.

Smiling at her, I resisted the urge to lean over and pounce on her. I wanted to hug her, she looked adorable with the way she was crossing her arms and acting all angsty!

"Vim thinks I should play along. To keep the peace, at least until he gets back," I told her of his plan.

"Well duh…? I wouldn't pick a fight with them without him either, Renn. Less alone would be trouble, and they have saints. That's dangerous."

"I've never really considered saints to be dangerous," I said lightly. I had always seen Witch as someone frail. Weak. Someone who always needed help. Especially since her very powers ate away at her own body and lifespan.

"Don't think that. They're as dangerous as monarchs, if not more so in certain ways. Plus who knows who else they have with them, if they really brought that many back. Five hundred…? Are they all here? Seems like so many…" Merit mumbled.

I shrugged. "Vim didn't seem too concerned over them."

"Vim isn't even afraid of gods, Renn. Don't use him as a standard."

Nodding gently, I kept the fact I hadn't meant it in that way to myself. I had simply meant that Vim had seemed neither worried or happy that they were here. He had acted indifferent. He had been startled, surprised, but it had not seemed like he had cared much of them. Though one could argue that was part of the problem so many had with him... he had become, or was, indifferent when he shouldn't be.

Merit sighed a bit and slouched down some. She suddenly looked even tinier as she blew one of her thick locks out of her face.

She looked tired. But I knew it wasn't because she actually were. Unlike me she hadn't gotten too drunk last night.

Odds are she was just… like me. Overwhelmed. Or frustrated.

Should I tell her about Lilly…?

Deciding not to, for now, I relaxed a little and grabbed my tail. A part of it felt slightly itchy, so I checked it to see as to why.

It didn't take long to figure it there was nothing wrong with my tail, but I decided to brush it later anyway.

If I was going to be here for a while, resting, may as well make the most of it I guess.

"Well… can't say I'm sure what I expected, but I suppose a lack of bloodshed is the best option. Even if annoying," Merit mumbled.

"Mhm…! I'll be honest I feel almost like something should have happened too! But… now, after speaking with her… I think I'd be sad now if Vim had to do something drastic," I said.

"Possibly. The sad reality is Renn, if Vim did actually kill or banish Light it'd just split the Society right then and there. There are far more members who fully support her than you'd think. Some here even are glad she's back," Merit said.

"Like who?" I asked. None I'd talked to so far had even hinted at anything like that!

"Lawrence for one. His brother had been the one to go against Celine and Light, not him. And then of course Sofia, and I think Jasna and Liina too," Merit said.

"Sofia…? Really? She's your friend isn't she?" I asked.

"Sofia is. But she's also Brandy's friend. They're all members of that sister thing," she said.

Oh… I hadn't known that.

Which wasn't too surprising, really. It's not like I really knew everything about the Society and its members. In fact I really knew only a little, and only a few members rather well like Merit and Lilly… and even them I didn't know everything about.

"Don't look sad. Who knows… maybe this will all just blow over and be not a big deal or something. It happens," Merit said with a shrug.

"Vim said something similar… but he did it with that look," I said, as I remembered his expression as we talked about it and shopped.

"What look?"

I reached up, to furrow my brow and frown angrily. "The one he gets when he's being sarcastic."

"Ah… right!" Merit chuckled at me, though if she was laughing at Vim or me I couldn't tell.

Sighing softly, I smiled and nodded. "For now I've been told to stay out of trouble and rest. So I plan to do so," I said.

"Right… you still need to see Lamp and the rest, don't you?"

I nodded. "Let's do that today!"

Merit sighed too, but nodded with a smile. "Sure. We can also go to the port to check on the pirates."

"Yeah!"

Growing excited, I decided it was maybe a good thing I had stayed. I might need these few weeks of downtime just to properly spend time with everyone!

"So uh…"

"Hm?"

Merit glanced around, looking a little odd as she did.

She then coughed. "So… I'm a bad sleeper you know? I roll around a lot, and uh…" Merit started to twiddle her fingers, as if suddenly talking about something utterly embarrassing.

Smiling at her, I nodded. "This bed is more than big enough, Merit! Or we could sleep in yours, is yours bigger?" I asked.

"No… it's tinier…" she mumbled.

"Mine it is!"

Merit's gentle smile as she nodded almost made me forget about Vim having left. Almost.

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.