Berri lifted the spoon carefully and Narli ate from it just as carefully.

She was awake, but weak. As if recovering from a terrible sickness, she was barely able to keep upright and awake. She still laid in her bed, but her parents had stacked pillows and blankets behind her so she could sit up, since unable to do so herself.

I didn't think it was actually because she had been sick, but rather mere mental and physical exhaustion. She had been asleep in a certain sense during her prophecy, but like all prophecies her mind and body had been active. It wasn't as if she had actually been asleep. So what she was feeling now, her exhaustion, was in theory because of a lack of sleep. In a way.

Narli didn't look outright sick, but she did look… disheveled. She had terrible dark circles under her eyes, and she even looked a little gaunt in the face. Not too much of a surprise, since not only had she not really gotten sleep during her prophecy she'd not eaten much either. Her parents hadn't been able to get any food down her, since she had clenched her jaw the whole time as if under duress.

Although not sick at the moment, it'd not surprise me at all if she did get sick as she recovered. Even for a non-human, a saintly one, she looked that terrible.

But she was alive. Intact. And her mind as strong as before. And that was all that mattered.

Narli breathed a small sigh of relief after swallowing some of the stew her mother was feeding her. She'd nearly eaten all of her bowl, her second one, already. A good sign.

"I was hearing a discussion, Vim," Narli told me after she licked her lips and shook her head a bit, as to let her mother know she didn't want any more at the moment.

Berri frowned a bit, glancing at me as if I was some terrible bother as she put aside the bowl. I ignored her as I nodded to her daughter.

"About?" I asked.

"I… don't really know. It's hard to explain, Vim. The voices were distant, far away, and mumbled. As if echoing from down a long tunnel. Every so often I heard a word I recognized, but never enough to comprehend what was being said."

"Many voices or just one?" I asked as I watched Berri reach over to mess with the blanket laying over Narli. As if she needed such close attention.

"You know what…? I don't know. I want to say many but… yes, it could have just been one person speaking," Narli said as she frowned and thought about it.

So whatever she had heard had sounded so jumbled it was impossible to tell. Yet her first instinct was to describe it as a discussion. Usually that word was used for something between multiple people, but in theory it could mean a single person too. Many people debated with themselves.

It could have been her own voice she was hearing too, or maybe even her parent's. She had been half-awake after all.

"The words you were able to catch… any notable ones?" I asked.

Narli frowned a bit. "Friends. Help. Find me. Weak. And I heard, where, a lot too," she said.

"Sounds to me like someone was shouting for help, or lost," Berri says.

I nodded. Friends was the outlier word there, but that might just be interpreted in a way that they could be shouting for them. Or maybe crying out to say their friends were in trouble or hurt. "And this pool, explain that," I said, choosing to focus on a different part of the prophecy. Not the one she had heard, but the one she had seen.

"It was weird. I call it a pool of water because I don't know how else to describe it. Imagine a big circle, a perfect one, which rippled and had fuzzy waves. It sounded like water, like liquid, but looked hard to the touch. It was glowing dimly, not bright enough to make me feel safe in the darkness, but bright enough to make the stuff I saw inside it blurry," she said.

"Did you touch it?"

"No. I... don't know why. I just felt like I shouldn't," she said.

"What'd you see inside it?" I asked. I didn't put too much stock into the odd pool of water. It could represent anything.

"At the time I had thought it a window. A window to another place," Narli said.

A window…?

The young saint sighed a little, sounding as tired as she looked. "I'm sorry Vim. I felt like I saw a bunch of important things in it, but it was all blurry and stuff. There were times I even thought I was seeing a scene in the pool of water, as if another prophecy entirely, but I couldn't tell you anything about them," Narli apologized.

"It's fine dear, we're just glad you're okay," Berri said gently.

I nodded, even though it was disappointing in a way. Something had obviously happened to her, something unique and odd. For nothing to really come of it…? Made the whole thing stranger in my opinion.

"A pool of strange light, darkness all around, and echoes of strange voices all around as if from a long tunnel," I said, describing her prophecy.

She nodded. "Weird huh?"

Very. Prophecies could be many things, but usually not so… well… Broken? Muddled?

Pointless.

Odds are she simply hadn't understood it. Either being too young, or too scared to face it properly. Maybe being in the prophecy so long also caused issues…? Like how focusing too long on a small dot on a piece of paper made it disappear, or countless more appear?

"At the end… what happened?" I asked as I thought about it.

"End of the dream…? Nothing. I just woke up," Narli said with a frown.

Berri glanced at me, and I could tell she too was wondering what I was getting at… but I kept my thoughts to myself.

Odds are she had been supposed to get into that pool of water. Maybe jump into it, or stick her head in. Maybe even drink from it.

But Narli's fear of the moment had kept her from doing so. And thus her being stuck in it. The Prophecy had never gotten the chance to even begin, or do what it had meant to do.

It might not be the actual cause, but her lack of doing anything and just… sitting by the pool of water might have been why she had gotten stuck in it. Why it had taken so long to finish and play out.

Though that did not explain her waking up at the sound of my voice.

As if…

"You remember talking to me," I said. She'd already told me so. Supposedly she had heard my voice in the darkness, and not long after talking to me the prophetic dream had ended and she had drifted into actual dreams.

She nodded.

"Did the pool do anything? Or the voices? Did anything change during our conversation, or after?" I asked.

She slowly shook her head. "No? Not as far as I could tell."

"Why did she wake and hear you, though, Vim? Why not me?" Berri asked.

I was going to point out it might have just been coincidence, or simply a different voice that snapped her out of it… but knew better than to use just any old excuse. Especially with these two.

"There's been a few times that my presence has caused such a thing to happen. Usually saints have a prophecy right before I arrive and meet them, or shortly after," I said gently. I didn't want to admit it or say it aloud, but this was Narli we were talking about… plus it might be important.

"So you are special," Narli said with a small smile, as if glad to have it confirmed.

"That's not fair," Berri groaned.

It wasn't. But I ignored it anyway.

"But I'll admit I've never had a saint talk to me during their prophecy. Though usually they don't get much time to do so, to be fair," I said.

The young saint giggled at that. "Right…? Though to me it hadn't felt that long. Two months? Really mom?"

Berri nodded gravely. "Can't you feel the truth?" she asked with a light touch on Narli's leg, hidden beneath covers.

Right. She had lost weight. A lot of it, oddly.

"I guess…" Narli whispered as she glanced down at her hands and arms. She now wore a more proper nightgown, one not able to be seen-through, but it had very short sleeves. Her arms were not just thinner than Renn's, but to the point some of her bones were all pointy because of it. Too pointy.

How was it she even lost so much weight? Sure she might not have eaten, or gotten sleep, but she was still a non-human. Not even Nebl had been so affected by his stint in the mine.

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Narli then took a small breath, as if to sigh but she gave up half-way. As if she was too exhausted to even sigh.

"Why not rest. You can describe it to me again once you wake up," I suggested.

Berri nodded happily. "Yes! Get some sleep honey," she said.

"But…" Narli frowned at us as she glanced between us.

"It's fine. I'll be sticking around for a bit, no need to rush," I said as I went to help Berri. She was going to shift the blankets a bit and help Narli lay down.

"Quite right. You'll likely fall asleep the moment your head hits a pillow anyway. So go ahead," Berri said.

"I'm not that bad…" Narli said with a tiny giggle, as if enjoying her mother's doting.

We helped Narli lay down, and Berri re-adjusted some of the pillows and blankets around her as to make her more comfortable. Before Berri even finished, Narli began to snore lightly.

"See…?" Berri whispered gently as she tucked her daughter in.

I left the room, unsure if I should feel relieved or even more worried.

Narli was fine. Or at least, would be. She'd need time to recover, probably more than they realized, but she'd live.

And her prophecy, as odd as it were… didn't ring any weird alarms either.

But that was why I felt like I needed to worry.

Narli's odd prophecy, and the odd way she had lingered in it for months…

Something was wrong. But was it her, or the world?

"Vim! Is she still awake?" Horn appeared before me as I rounded a corner.

"just fell asleep," I said.

He relaxed a little. "That's great! She's going to be okay you think?"

I nodded. "I believe so. She'll need rest. Lots of it. But she'll be fine," I said.

Horn took a deep breath and nodded. He reached up to rub his face, as if to hide tears that wanted to leak. "Thank goodness."

Reaching out, I patted the man on the shoulder. "Hopefully this was all just… a terrible accident. From what I can gather her prophecy wasn't too dire either, so I think by all counts everything is well," I said.

"Honestly Vim I wouldn't care if her prophecy had been bad. I just want her to be safe," he said.

"I did not mean it that way, Horn. I meant instead that you need not worry over your daughter getting involved in anything weird either," I said.

He smirked and nodded. "Ah. Right. Why do I sometimes forget you're like me?"

"Not sure. Of all people you should know better," I said with a smirk myself.

He sighed and glanced past me, and I heard Berri slowly approach. She had finally left Narli's room.

"What are you two being so loud here for? Go elsewhere. Don't wake her," Berri said stiffly as she got close. She carried the empty bowls Narli had just emptied.

"Is she doing well?" Horn asked.

"She is. She's very exhausted. Just eating a few bowls of stew made her so tired she fell asleep," Berri said.

"Nothing time and love won't fix," I said.

"Will you stay, Vim? For a while? Just to be sure?" Horn then asked worriedly.

"Shush!" Berri chastised him, since he had spoken a little loudly. I didn't think it mattered, to be honest. She was likely already in a deep slumber.

I nodded. "I will, Horn," I said softly.

He visibly relaxed a bit, glad to hear it, and then nodded to his wife. He turned and left, heading off to… do whatever he did. He was like me. He didn't like to just sit. Always needing to do something. Was probably even worse for him right now.

Berri sighed at him. "He's scared to see her," she said quietly once he rounded a corner.

"Hm?" What'd she mean?

Berri nodded. "He's afraid. That she's dying, Vim. He doesn't want to watch her die."

I frowned at that. "She's not dying."

"You know what I mean, Vim. An emotional thing," she said as she gestured for me to follow her.

Berri led me to the front of the house, where there was a small table. She gestured for me to sit in it as she went to the nearby kitchen. Likely to put away the bowls.

I sat, even though I hadn't wanted to. Like Horn I kind of wanted to get busy. It wasn't raining right now, so I wanted to check their little greenhouse that they had been finishing. For their pumpkins.

Berri didn't take long. She returned with a few glasses and a large pitcher of something cold. I went ahead and poured it for her, filling the cups, as she sat down too.

"Smoothies…?" I asked as I watched the stuff fill up my cup.

"Renn's fault. Narli fell in love with them, now we make them all time. Almost all we drink anymore," Berri said.

I smirked at that, and wanted to make a small joke related to her name… but chose not to. Not yet anyway.

Berri sighed at me. "Don't you dare. I hear it enough from Narli and Horn," she warned.

"Figured," I said, a little worried I had been read so easily.

I raised my glass in toast to her as she picked hers up.

"To Narli's health," I said.

She hesitated a moment… and then nodded and smiled. "Yes. My poor daughter needs all the prayers she can get."

Wasn't a prayer.

"It was Vim. From you it may as well have been," she said as she then took a drink.

I sighed at her. "Stop reading my mind."

"Stop making it so easy to do so and maybe I will."

Whatever.

Drinking the berry smoothie, I suddenly felt a little rude. As if I was cheating on Renn or something.

I shouldn't though. She was in Lumen. With everyone. Odds are she was currently, and constantly, enjoying such lovely delicacies all day long.

"How is Renn?" Berri asked.

Had anyone else asked I would have scoffed and believed they had only done so as to avoid the current drama in their lives. But this was Berri. She was made of very strong stuff, and that strong stuff was kind and gentle in ways I couldn't understand.

"Doing better than me. She recently absorbed a heart," I said.

Berri paused a moment. "Really…? So it worked out?"

"Different heart. Not the one I wanted her to absorb," I said. My plan had been to return here on our next little circuit through the Society and have Renn try then. With Miss Beak's.

"Oh… still, isn't that a good thing? You wanted her to, didn't you? You even asked Narli to make sure it was okay," Berri said.

I nodded. "I'm glad. I am. But it's… started new worries. Ones that came at a moment that doesn't need them added to the rest," I said.

Berri sighed. "I know that feeling. Narli had been so excited to go to the vote, but now? Now I don't know…"

"She might not even recover in time, not fully. We'll assess when it comes," I said. We still had a year.

"And what are you doing about Light, Vim?" Berri asked.

"As I told you, I'm trying to handle it… politely. As to not cause more harm than not," I said.

"Be careful, Vim. Many back then argued your cruelty had been over the top, but being too passive can be just as bad," Berri warned.

"My cruelty?" I asked.

She sighed at me. "You know what I mean. The stuff Celine and the rest had you do."

I nodded. I had known what she meant.

Berri took a big gulp of her smoothie, and then sighed a bit as she licked the scarred part of her lip. "Horn's scared of what he doesn't comprehend. So he's afraid of addressing it," she then said.

Oh…? Here I had thought she had wanted to avoid this topic, or would have simply not brought it up again.

"Many are like that, Berri. In a certain perspective his fear and aversion could be read as love. It's too great for him to bear," I said gently as I glanced at my cup. It was still half full. The taste made me think of Renn and her kisses, so I honestly didn't want to drink it anymore.

"Don't give me that stupid spiel, Vim. I want to be upset with him right now, not forgive him," she said.

I shrugged lightly at that. "Then be upset? It's the man's job to endure the brunt of emotions from the family, so go have at it," I said as I went to take a drink.

"Easy for you to say, Vim. You're able to endure," Berri said as I drank the rest of my own smoothie down. Just to get it over with.

"I've known many who are able to endure, Berri. You're one of them," I said as I put the cup aside, enough away that Berri wouldn't get any wise ideas and fill it back up for me. Sometimes her gentle kindness was a burden.

She glanced at it, but luckily that was all she did. "He should be in there now as we speak, praying for her safety. To be there when she wakes and to tend to her every need," Berri said further.

"He's been there…? Before you brought back food he and I had been talking to her. He even moved around pillows for her," I said, defending the man who didn't seem to be doing as bad as Berri was making him out to be.

"And where is he now?" Berri asked as she glared at me.

"Where are you?" I asked back.

Her glare faltered a bit, and she looked down and sighed. "Thanks. I needed that."

"Really? It had been quite a bad way of handling it, almost made me flinch at how bad it'd been," I said with a smirk.

"Only because you find it so difficult to be cruel to me. Why is that? You're nice to everyone, but don't think I've never noticed it," she asked as she went to take another drink.

Because I find those like you, who have survived great grief and pain and came out better for it, the best of us.

"You're like Renn you know? She would have made a similar comment about Horn, if she had been in your situation," I told her.

Berri tilted her head ever so slightly. "Would she have?"

I nodded. "She points out my own faults like that all the time. And to her, like you, it's the little things like that which bug her the most."

"Hm…" Berri frowned at that as she tapped her cup with a dull nail. Unlike Renn, their nails weren't pointy and sharp even though longer than normal like hers.

"What'd you think of your daughter's prophecy, Berri?" I asked, to get her off her thoughts. I didn't want her to realize I'd basically just claimed I had found her attractive as I had and do Renn. It was the truth, but it was embarrassing.

"It's not a normal one," she said simply, and I could tell she was still pondering my earlier statement.

Damn.

"No. Not at all. I almost feel as if she had not been able to see the whole thing, or something," I said.

Berri nodded. "Right… or she had misunderstood it completely. As if seeing it from the wrong side, or something."

A very good way of putting it.

"There's a chance she will see it again, Berri," I said softly.

Berri took a deep breath and her eyes focused on me. She was no longer thinking of my earlier statement. "I know, Vim," she whispered.

"It doesn't always happen… but many saints see the same dreams many times over their lives. And do so until they're either fulfilled, or a new and more important one takes it place," I told her.

"Will it… lock her in sleep? Like that? Each time?" Berri asked worriedly.

"It shouldn't, but let's err on the side of caution and assume so." It was a sad thought, that the poor girl would have to suffer such a strain ailment… but it was the reality before them.

Berri sniffed and nodded, and I knew she was about to cry.

Reaching over across the table, I gently patted her scarred arm. It wasn't the nearest one to me, but it was the one that held her cup.

"Stand Tall, Berri. For her," I said softly.

"Always, Vim."

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