"Glad that's no longer my room; because if it still was I'd be complaining it had been soiled!" Merit teased.

Lilly laughed, rather loudly. "I bet!"

My face was hot, but I had a smile on my face all the same. "It wasn't that bad…" I groaned. It had just been a kiss!

Merit shook her head as she lightly gestured at me. "I bet it wasn't. You should have seen her face, Lilly. Her ears had even stood on edge, every strand of hair was all stiff and sticking right up as if I'd just shocked her!" Merit said.

I groaned again, but said nothing in my defense since she hadn't lied. Merit's room had a mirror, one that I had glanced at not long after Vim had left after he had… well… kissed me. Even minutes after the act, I had still looked just as she described. So I could only imagine how I had looked immediately after, or during the act. I had probably looked stupidly silly. Hopefully Vim hadn't found me weird… but it had been his fault, I hadn't expected him to do such a thing at all!

"Okay, if I'm going to keep missing such things, I'm going to start breaking rules. It's not fair," Lilly said.

I smirked at that. "Well, won't have to worry about that here soon enough," I said. After Telmik, Lilly wouldn't have to live outside of the locations and keep a distance from us anymore. If anything it'd be the other way around, since we'd be building a location not far from her home. We'd be the outsiders, in that case.

Lilly nodded happily as she glanced at the horse she was guiding. She held the reins of a large, stout, horse. One that had most of Merit's stuff on its back. Another horse was following dutifully behind that one, but it only had a few small bags. One of mine and another of Vim's, and some supplies for the journey but not much else.

The idea had been to leave it enough room that one of us could ride it, if we needed to. I wasn't entirely sure why Lilly wanted such a thing, but I wasn't going to argue against it. It was likely for a good reason.

Though on one was riding it now. Lilly, Merit and I were all walking near one another, heading up the mountain pass that would lead us back west to Lellip's home. To pick her up and then head back to Telmik, where we'd then pick up Randle and Angie… and whoever else might happen along with us.

We'd left Lumen yesterday, and surprisingly I had done so with a heavy heart.

Not only had I been forced to once again say goodbye to friends, and even people I considered family such as Lamp and Roslyn, I had also been forced to watch a young girl weep. One I had been forced to forcefully push off me, since she had clung to me as if desperate to keep me from going.

Or rather, to get me to take her with me.

"So for sure he used his tongue, right?" Lilly asked Merit, likely to restart the teasing about me. Since they'd already talked about this, in full, and had been for several hours now.

I ignored them, even as I smirked and felt my face get hot again. Instead I thought of young Tundra, who had wanted to come with us.

Light and Less had not allowed it. Supposedly there was a reason Tundra couldn't go with us, not yet anyway. Light had mentioned that she could do so in time, but not today. Or well, not yesterday.

The wolf had not cared. She had cried rather fiercely, to the point even Merit had grown bothered by it. Which was saying something since Merit didn't seem to like the girl much.

It made me realize I had neither properly spent time with the girl, and also hadn't realized just how important the little time I had spent with her had been to her. To me the time I had spent with Tundra, and by extension Mono and the others, had been… short and sweet. Important, but not so important it had made me feel as if we'd gotten that close. At least, not close enough to justify such an emotional reaction.

Yet her tears and outburst had been very real. And very sad to see and hear. Somehow, without me even realizing it, I had made a bond with the wolf… and in her eyes I had just abandoned her.

It made me feel terrible, but I wasn't sure what to do or say about it. Especially since both Merit and Lilly didn't seem to care much. Or rather, seemed relieved we hadn't been forced to take her with us. As if she was some burden.

She might have been… but did that make her any less important…? It made me think of Fly. What if, like Fly, the poor girl was eventually banished? What if she had felt it, even if instinctively, and thus her reason for wanting to come with us?

Or maybe Merit was right. Maybe the girl simply was acting out, like supposedly all predators her age did. Getting emotional when they didn't get their way, just because they could.

"Renn."

I blinked, and my ears beneath my hat shifted as I turned and nodded to Merit, who I had accidentally just ignored. "Hm?"

"Was that the first time he's kissed you like that?" she asked.

"Gosh are we still talking about that?" I asked back, feeling my face grow hot again.

Lilly laughed. "That's a yes!"

"It was…" I admitted.

"Hm… wonder if he did it just to make a point, or if he's finally just paying attention to his own feelings…?" Merit wondered.

"Probably both. He seems to think there's a chance we, or someone else, can actually steal her from him. A silly notion, but he's actually scared of it," Lilly said.

I nodded, a little happy to do so. "He is! He's particularly scared of you two, and other pretty women," I said.

The two went quiet a moment as they glanced at me, then each other, and then they both smiled softly. As if I'd just given them a mighty complement, they both looked proud all of a sudden.

And I had. And I had meant it. Every word.

"So maybe getting him to act out is best done by abusing that jealousy?" Merit suggested.

"It's an idea. But I'm not sure if I want to be the one that pushes the line to such a point. Sure it'll work, but are you willing to risk your life to do so?" Lilly asked.

"Gosh you two…" I groaned at them, since they were basically saying they were planning on doing things that made Vim's worry, his jealousy over my affection towards them, get pushed to the brink as to get him to… Well, do more stuff like that kiss he'd just done. It was such a silly idea, and I knew was only being brought up as a way to tease me… but it still made me warm again to think of all the stuff they'd likely do, or try, to instigate such a reaction out of him. Not to mention the said reaction, as well. If Vim had really kissed me like that yesterday just to prove a point to Merit, what would he do if they took it that far?

"I still think she might just want to attack him herself. It's not like he'd push her off or anything, and once she's done it once or twice he'll likely never hesitate again," Merit said.

"Aye, he'd probably enjoy it. He always gets that silly smirk when he fights, he likes such roughhousing I bet," Lilly said.

I lifted my hand as to cover my face as it burnt even hotter. He did get that smirk when he fought! I knew exactly what she was talking about!

"What, Renn? Lilly and I have been talking about Vim's indifference for hundreds of years. You're not getting away from this that easily!" Merit said happily, noticing my turmoil.

"Right? I used to make bets with people back then, during the wars. If anything I'm owed a lot of money thanks to this, so it's only fair I start getting paid back!" Lilly agreed.

"Hm…? What do you mean?" I asked as I lowered my hand and glanced at her.

Lilly smirked at me and lightly pointed at herself. "I used to bet with Tosh and Feflo, and the rest. Whenever a new woman took her chance, trying her hand at wooing him, we used to bet on it. I lost. A lot," Lilly said.

Frowning at that, I glanced to Merit and found her knowingly nodding. "I'm not sure why but Lilly did in fact always bet on Vim indulging in them. Even though she knew Vim better than most, and knew he'd never do it. Never understood why," Merit said.

"Wait… you'd bet on if he'd what?" I asked, trying to understand.

"If he'd sleep with any of them," Lilly answered.

Oh. Right. "How come I'm not surprised such a thing used to happen?" I asked. And Tosh? Really? I suppose he did seem the type to do such a thing… I wonder who this Feflo had been.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Used to be a lot more than that, too. People used to bet on what he was, where he was from… even the names of his parents and stuff. Not much of that happening nowadays, people stopped trying, or caring, I think," Merit said.

Huh… "I've always wondered why everyone seems not too bothered over not knowing what he is," I said. So that was why. It wasn't that people weren't bothered, or didn't want to know, they had just stopped trying to figure it out. After hundreds of years I guess it was bound to happen eventually.

"The fact you don't know even now after all this tells me no one will ever know. Unless your children have traits of some kind that show it off, I guess," Lilly said.

I stopped for a moment, pausing as I realized what she'd just said.

My children! Right! "They could, huh!" I said excitedly.

Lilly and Merit both nodded. "It's a thought, at least. Most have assumed he used to have traits and just somehow removed them, after all," Merit said.

Yes! Of course…! "I wonder what the odds are…" I wondered. How many children would I have to give birth to, I wonder? To ensure at least one was born with his bloodline and not mine?

"I don't think strength matters. Look at Nasba. Ducks should have lost out to foxes, yet the ducks won," Merit noted.

I nodded, happily pondering it. "Yet a few foxes were there! That means if I have enough, at least one is bound to inherit his traits not mine!" I said happily.

"A whole litter, she's planning," Lilly said.

"Don't cats usually have multiple at once? Liina was one of four," Merit said.

"Huh…? Four?" I asked. Liina had siblings…? Never knew that.

Merit nodded. "Most pure-blooded cats typically have multiple children at once. Usually two or three, I think," Merit said.

Wait… "Really? My family wasn't like that," I said. As far as I was aware all of my siblings had been born alone. And that many at once…? I wonder how big one's belly got during such a pregnancy…

"She's a special kind of cat, Merit. Plus I'd not use that Liina as an example. Her mother had been very thick in the blood," Lilly said.

"Had she been? I never met her," Merit asked.

Lilly nodded as I frowned at that. Once again I was being forced to recognize, and accept, that I was… new. A new member of their family.

Even Lilly, someone banished by Lumen's Society, had known Liina. And had known her mother, it seemed. Well enough to know things like how many siblings she had and whatnot.

I can't wait until I knew everyone, even their whole family lines, as well as I did they and all the rest. I bet it felt… wonderful to just, know everyone. To know someone's parents, and possibly even grandparents. To see someone and think, oh that's my friend's kid or grand kid. I bet that felt wonderful…

Odds are Lilly's would be the first for me. I was her friend, her family, and had already met her youngest with Root. Which meant eventually… maybe even thanks to Lellip, I'd soon get to meet the next generation!

The idea of seeing Lellip's child, and thus Lilly's grandchild, made me grin ear to ear. What an absolutely lovely thought…!

"What are you grinning at?" Lilly asked with a huff.

"Probably that kiss. I bet she can still taste it," Merit teased.

"Merit!" I said, laughing a little. Not just because she had once again brought it up, but because she wasn't entirely wrong.

Merit chuckled and one of the horses breathed out heavily, as if sighing at us. I glanced at it, and studied its large eyes as it slowly followed Lilly. It looked bored.

"They don't like my smell, Renn," Lilly then said.

"Huh? They don't?" I asked. They didn't seem bothered, from what I could tell. I mean, Lilly was the one guiding them right now for crying out loud! They were walking behind her dutifully, as far as I could tell.

"You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who likes her smell, Renn," Merit said.

"Hey!" Lilly said, though had a smirk as she did.

"I like her smell," I said.

"You like everyone's smell, that doesn't count," Merit said.

Well… I mean… There were a few who I didn't particularly care for. In fact even Merit sometimes smelled a little, I had noticed it when sleeping with her for the first time.

She didn't stink, at all, but she had a very distinct smell. One that made me hungry.

Lilly smelled like home to me, or well the forests where I'd been born. It was interesting because her daughters, Root and Sap, both had the same smell too. Windle however didn't. His smell was similar, but different. He smelled more like a wheat field than a forest, though I wasn't sure why.

"Think she can smell him, Merit?" Lilly then asked.

My tail twitched beneath my pant leg, and I tried to not let my thoughts reach my face as Merit hummed in thought. "It's possible. She does seem to notice him before she should. I figured at first it was her hearing doing it, but she had yelped in shock alongside me when he had stepped back into the room yesterday. She had thought he had left too," Merit said.

Great! If they try to prod and ask me about it there was no way I'd be able to keep the truth hidden…!

"I've always wondered what he might smell like," Lilly said, a little absentmindedly.

"Probably stinks, so it's for the best," Merit said simply.

I smirked at that. "I've been meaning to ask… do you two find him attractive?" I asked.

Lilly and Merit both tilted their heads as they considered my question. "Vim?" Merit asked, as if to confirm who we were talking about.

I nodded.

Lilly chuckled. "Not at all. He's too human for my taste," Lilly said.

Oh…! I nodded at that, since I kind of agreed. The fact he had absolutely no trait at all was strangely upsetting, even to me, so I understood that perspective.

"I'd not outright say he's ugly, but I'd also never call him handsome either. But I mean… I grew up in a world where men were all my size; I think all of the normal men are weird looking. Never have been able to get over that," Merit said.

My smirk faded a little as I understood Merit's meaning. She meant her own kind, her fellow knife fish people. So… the men of her bloodline had been small like her, then? Almost looking like kids? Yet they had abused her, hadn't they…? And she still found them more preferable than others?

"But the reason we like him isn't his appearance, is it?" Lilly then said.

Merit nodded and sighed. "Yes. What matters is what counts, and it's he himself. Even if he's insufferable, he's still Vim," Merit said.

My smile returned as I nodded. "I've actually grown to like how he looks, but I remember thinking how boring and simple he looked when I had first met him," I said. Honestly I had been kind of disappointed. Lughes, Amber and Crane at the Sleepy Artist had all described him as some mystical protector. A defender of our Society, and people. So I had been expecting… well…

Honestly I'm not really sure what I had been expecting. But it hadn't been Vim, that's for sure.

"Not to change subjects but is it left or right? I've not been this way in decades," Merit asked as we neared a fork in the road.

"Left," I said, right as Lilly did.

Merit nodded and headed down the path, and then I and Lilly followed. The horses followed us, diligently, still not showing any signs of discomfort. Maybe Lilly had just been joking earlier about them not liking her smell.

"Still, decades? Really?" Lilly asked.

Merit nodded. "I went to Telmik a few times… visited Nasba and the Crypt a couple times… but otherwise I've not left Lumen at all since moving there," Merit said.

I wanted to ask how long ago that had been, but knew better. Because she had done so right after the fall of her kingdom, and Merit got sullen whenever that topic came up.

"And ever since Nebl's family had their accident, they've not been shipping anything off to Lumen in excess anymore. In fact does anyone really even use the Smithy much anymore?" Lilly asked.

My heart tinged with light pain as Lilly effortlessly brought up something sad, and did so in a way as if we were talking about the weather. "Just a few odds and ends occasionally, at least as far as I'm aware. Lumen mostly uses the forges in town nowadays. But they've not really needed anything special or fancy," Merit said.

"Why doesn't the new cathedral need such things?" I asked.

The two slowed for a moment and glanced at me. "That's… a good question," Merit said.

Lilly nodded. "A very good one. What was it like? Are they building something like what's at Telmik? Or just a typical church styled building?" Lilly asked.

Right. She hadn't gotten to see it, since she had been forced to hide the whole time we had been there.

"It's just like the Cathedral. Even has the same floor plan and everything," Merit said.

I nodded. "Pretty much," I said. As far as I was aware it had a few differences, particularly in the lower floors, but in general was a replica of the Cathedral in Telmik.

"Then… they should need steel and stuff, right…?" Lilly wondered.

Merit quickly nodded with a frown. "Had Vim said anything, Renn? Concerning it?"

"Not really. He checked it for them, since Light had asked him to. He said it should only take them four or five years to finish it at the rate they were going, but that's about it." In fact Vim had seemed slightly impressed by their progress, and skill, though he had also obviously not wanted to get involved.

"Maybe they had a stockpile…? Leftovers from Telmik or something? Or maybe Nebl's been supplying them this whole time and we just didn't realize it?" Lilly suggested.

"Won't we find out shortly…? No point fretting over it now is there?" Merit suggested.

"I'm not going to let you come live with us if you're going to be such a bore, Merit. Leave your boring parts in Lumen, that was the deal," Lilly said with a smirk.

"Bore!?" Merit turned to face Lilly, yet didn't stop walking. She kept walking backwards as she pointed at Lilly and scowled. "Rich talk coming from the one who once talked Vim to sleep!" she shouted.

Lilly's smirk disappeared with a flinch, as if she'd just had a feather plucked violently from her wing. "Wha!" she couldn't even say anything in response as Merit proudly smiled and nodded, crossing her arms while still walking backwards.

"Listen to this Renn! She's the only one I know whose put Vim to sleep with nothing but a story! It was so bad even I nearly fell asleep!" Merit said, as if about to tell me the story itself just to prove it to me.

"That's not what happened…!" Lilly defended herself, but rather poorly. She had a slightly red face as she did so, and had turned to look at me so harshly the reins of the horse she held had gone taught and made the horse huff in annoyance over it.

Smiling happily at the two as they started bickering, over something so silly, I found myself looking forward once again to this trip.

This was going to be a venture I'd remember the rest of my life, and not just because I would do so anyway. I could just tell, this was going to be… special.

In ways I'd likely not understand until it was too late.

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