Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Four – Vim – A Small Visit From An Otter

  Well this happened.

  Brushing my hands off, I stepped away from the fire I’d just fed again to keep alive. It was needed right now. To not just keep Fly warm, but to keep cooking the small strips of meat hanging over the flames. Pierced by pointy sticks, held by Fly and our guest at our little campsite.

  “Really Vim! You should have waited for me to get back!” Brandy said happily as she spun her little stick.

  “Knowing you Brandy that could have been months,” I said.

  She scoffed a laugh and nodded, completely agreeing with me.

  “Is it done yet?” Fly asked as she turned her own little stick of meat. She sounded excited, maybe more excited over the act of cooking than the food being cooked.

  “Not yet! You want it to sizzle a little first!” Brandy happily said as she stepped around the fire, as to stand next to Fly. Likely to keep an eye on the young bird’s cooking, to make sure she didn’t burn it.

  Picking the thickest log to sit upon, I slowly sat down and glanced at the horse nearby. It was grazing upon the wet grass not far from us and looked fat. Too fat for a horse used to travel quickly. Either Brandy had simply taken whichever horse she could grab first, or she had chosen the slowest horse on purpose. To give herself time on the road, to think or ponder.

  My bet was on the latter.

  “Ya’ looks like time to take a bite or two. Make sure to blow on it a moment to let it cool just enough,” Brandy then told Fly her food was ready. The young bird quickly pulled her stick out of the small campfire and went to blowing on the chunks of meat sizzling at the end of it.

  Brandy smiled and stepped away as Fly went to eating. She rounded the fire again, this time to stand before me.

  She seemed to be in a very good mood. But that might just be because he had happened upon me and Fly at seeming random happenstance.

  We had camped on the side of a lonely back-road a little after sundown. The rain hadn’t let up, and to make matters worse a small wind had arrived and seemed to be growing stronger as the night grew old.

  Fly was not as stout as Renn. She needed more rest. To travel slower. And with the cold rain, she also needed to warm up far more occasionally than most non-humans.

  We had camped not far off the road, since it was not one frequented or even used much by people at all around here. I hadn’t worried over us camping within sight of it. So after starting a fire, when I had seen a horse and a rider approaching from the distance I had been rather surprised.

  When Brandy had hopped off the horse, shouting happily in excitement as she wrapped Fly in a hug that surprise had turned into slight annoyance. But the good type of annoyance, that made me smile all the same.

  We had been heading north. She had been heading south, to the Bell Church.

  “I’m glad I ran into the two of you. I take it your visit to the Bell Church went well?” she asked.

  I nodded. “All was well. Considering,” I said lightly as Fly huffed a little mid-bite. The meat was still too hot, yet not hot enough to make her spit it out.

  Brandy noticed and smirked at the kid, then looked back at me. She pointed her own stick at me, and the meat sizzling upon it released light smoke. They too were ready to be eaten, though right now she was using them to accuse me for some reason.

  “You, Vim, are a distraction,” she then said.

  I frowned as I tilted my head at her. “How so? And to whom?”

  “Me,” Brandy stated as she took a bite from her stick.

  “I repeat myself. How so?” I asked again.

  Brandy smirked at me. “You’ve caused a stir. A terrible one! And usually I enjoy it when you do, since it allows me to do sneaky stuff under the watchful eyes of those around me more easily, but this time it has only made it harder! How am I supposed to pilfer coins from under Gerald’s eyes when he’s so focused out of fear and worry over you finding out what he’s doing himself!” Brandy asked, while laughing happily with a half-mouth full of meat.

  My enjoyment over this annoyance swiftly turned into a headache as I sighed. “I have my own headaches Brandy, why do I need more?” I asked.

  Brandy giggled as she stepped closer, and sat down onto the log next to me. I made sure to not shift too much, not just because I didn’t want to seem rude but also because I didn’t want to break the log.

  Glancing at Brandy for a moment, and her happy grin, I turned my head just enough to look at Fly. She was sticking more bits of meat onto her stick, as to cook more food. She was likely not paying much attention to the two of us at all.

  “Vim… did you marry Renn?” Brandy asked softly.

  “Technically? No. Not officially. But it’s bound to happen eventually, whether I want it to or not,” I told her the truth.

  Brandy didn’t laugh. She didn’t giggle. Instead she simply stared at me.

  “You should know this was true by now, Brandy. I’ve heard some of the rumors and stories,” I said. Oplar had excitedly told me of a few of them before we had left Telmik. A few had been downright ridiculous, even if laced with truth.

  “I thought I had. But maybe hearing it from you has made me realize how little I knew you all along,” she said with a strangely soft tone. A little too quiet for her.

  But although strange… I had heard this tone from her before. Though not in years. Decades.

  I smiled at the princess I had rescued so long ago. Back then, with Lilly. “You hadn’t believed I could fall in love?” I asked, understanding her meaning.

  “I… I don’t know Vim. Maybe. I guess. Yes? I’ve always known you weren’t just a heartless machine. You endure too much for us to be anything but. Yet… no. I don’t think I ever believed you would have actually fallen in love in such a way, and taken a wife of all things,” she said.

  “Surprise,” I said.

  She smiled at me and nodded as she looked away from me, and to Fly. She studied the young girl who happily held her stick of meat in the fire. “Was she banished?” Brandy asked quietly.

  “No. Not officially,” I said, though not as quiet as she. There was no point hiding it. Even if Fly was listening it didn’t matter.

  This was her life we were talking about. She deserved to hear it all anyway.

  Brandy took a deep breath and sighed. “Where will you go?” she asked after a moment.

  “Still debating it.”

  “Yet heading north…?” Brandy asked.

  “I just came from the south. Why would I go that way?” I asked.

  Brandy sighed at me, but nodded.

  Studying the otter, I wondered if her interest in Fly’s well-being was her genuine concern or something more serious.

  “I delivered Kevin an important letter. He had set sail from Lumen before I had a chance to give it to him. My fault for dallying, I suppose, but lately Gerald and the rest have had him going every which way without rest. If not for that pirate boy you picked up we’d be so stretched thin it’d actually cause problems,” Brandy then said.

  “Mhm… how is Kevin?” I asked.

  My true interest was of said pirate boy, but I knew she’d find that weird so I had asked about the next best thing.

  “He’s fine. He feels all important right now since the whole fleet is under his command. By the way, speaking of fleets… a rickety, barely floating, ship landed port in Lumen a few months ago. Wish to guess what was on board?” Brandy asked.

  “Oplar told me already they had landed and you had accepted them. How are they?” I asked.

  Brandy groaned a sigh. “That’s boring. I forgot about that stupid bear, of course she found you so quickly. How does she do that so easily?” Brandy wondered.

  “You can gripe about Oplar later. The pirates, how are they?” I asked. Renn would want to know.

  She smiled at me. “Well, they split. Half joined your pirate boy, the other half now work at the guild. Some are just typical workers, bankers or whatnot, but quite a few joined our security guards so we’re actually very happy and pleased with it. Thanks for that,” Brandy said.

  “Hm… and the leader?” I asked. Damn what was her name…? “One with a daughter,” I said.

  “Roslyn. She chose to lead the guards instead of sail. Likely because of her daughter. They’re all doing fine,” Brandy said.

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  I nodded, glad to hear it. Oplar had said the same but hearing further proof of it was good.

  “Hadn’t you passed through Lumen on the way here?” Brandy asked, finding it odd I’d ask of them.

  “I spent mere minutes at the guild. I spoke to Reatti and Tosh and then headed this way,” I said.

  “Ah,” Brandy nodded, understanding what I meant.

  “Shoot…” Fly mumbled a complaint as one of the pieces of meat she had tried to pull off her stick slipped from her grasp and onto the ground. Brandy and I watched the girl bend down and pick it up, and then after wiping it off a bit she went ahead and tossed it into her mouth.

  I shook my head at the girl, as Brandy giggled.

  For a few long moments we watched Fly cook and eat food, getting a little lost in the sight to the point that Brandy even forgot to finish eating the few pieces left on her own stick.

  Then, after some silence, she turned and leaned closer to me.

  “I thought they were all dead Vim,” Brandy whispered, nearly into my ear.

  My eyes narrowed a little, and not just because I was strangely uncomfortable over her whispering into my ear. It was a strangely intimate thing, and it was coming from someone I didn’t want to be intimate with. Though I knew she didn’t mean it that way at all.

  It was an odd thing to feel so uncomfortable over… but I knew the source of it.

  Renn was the one who should be whispering to me, not her.

  “Did you know?” Brandy whispered a little louder. As if to accuse me.

  “I assume you speak of Light and the rest,” I said. A firm hand grabbed my right thigh and squeezed. I frowned at the weird gesture as an answer, but nodded… and then shook my head. “Then no. I had thought them lost to us too, Brandy.”

  “So even you hadn’t known?” Brandy asked.

  “No… but it’s not like I’d ever asked, Brandy.”

  “Right… you being you,” Brandy said with a small scoff.

  I nodded.

  “Still… what should I think of it Vim? Does that mean there are other survivors? What if there are whole other groups out there still? If allies, then what of enemies? What am I supposed to believe now when I read a report, or census from now on?” Brandy asked, her voice growing louder as she spoke.

  I smiled at her. “How do you think I feel?”

  Brandy either hadn’t heard me, or just ignored me as she stood from the log, and began to pace. “Celine’s daughter, Vim! Less! Massie! They’re all alive, all this time, and I just hear of it now?” Brandy began to raise her voice, and I realized now why she had found us on the side of the road.

  She had likely been waiting for us. Maybe even riding the roads around here, back and forth, for days.

  All for this.

  “So I’ve been told. Less had been at Telmik but I hadn’t seen her,” I said. Massie…? Who had that been? Likely one of the sisters of songs, but I couldn’t put a face to the name.

  “Why not?” Brandy asked as she came to an abrupt stop.

  I ignored Fly’s stare, as she watched the two of us, and shrugged. “She hadn’t sought me out to say hello, I guess?” I said.

  “Which means they hadn’t wanted you to know they were there yet. What are they planning Vim?” Brandy asked as she stepped towards me.

  “Honestly I do not know. They’re very interested in this church you’ve secured for them. Enough to bring them all out of hiding all of a sudden. Was there anything special about the agreement you made with Thraxton and his people concerning it?” I asked.

  “No…? A typical abbey. A church. Maybe eventually a cathedral or basilica, but nothing…” Brandy went quiet as she pondered it for a moment, and then she took a deep breath and sighed. “What are they doing…? And why have I allowed them to do it?” she asked.

  “Allowed…?” I asked.

  “I gave them this church. I was the one who worked the deal. I had done it without even asking or telling anyone. I thought I had just done something nice for the Church of Songs, and so when I sent the letter telling the Chronicler what I’d done I had not expected to get such a response at all! And do you want to know what really infuriates me, Vim?” Brandy asked as she stepped even closer. Another step and she’d step on my feet.

  “What?”

  “It’s not my church!” she shouted.

  I blinked at that. “What…?”

  Brandy stepped away, huffing. “I’ve been told to give all authority to Plumb and Light! That I’m to remain at the Company! To not interfere, and to just give them whatever they need and let them handle everything! Them! In my own city! I built that city! I made it what it is! We did, all this time, all these years, and now that I finally get authority to build a place of worship what do they do? They take it from me! To claim it for their own stupid schemes!” Brandy had not just grown irate, she had grown furious. Fly even stepped back a step from the fire, holding her stick high like a sword as if to protect herself.

  Although she was upset, I could tell it’d not last. Brandy, after her tirade, had already calmed down. Her steps not as harsh. Her pacing not as quick. Her breathing, now more even.

  “They’re keeping you at a distance,” I said as I understood.

  “Why…? I’ve been devoted all this time. I had been told things even you hadn’t known, so I had thought I’d been in the Chronicler’s circle of trust. Yet look at me. As much a sheep as the rest!” Brandy said.

  While Brandy mumbled complaints about her feelings of betrayal, I pondered the reality before me.

  They had not included Brandy in their schemes.

  All this time I had always thought Brandy had been a part of them. If not a major player of them. Yet…

  Studying the otter that I now looked at in a new light, I suddenly felt bad about all the times I’d been abrupt or callous to her over the years. All those times I’d thought she had been against me, or working alongside the Chronicler against me, had instead just been me misreading her intentions. At least, to a point.

  Of course there was a chance Brandy was only acting at the moment, but I highly doubted it. That rage earlier had been very pure, and believable.

  Brandy was a terrifying merchant and negotiator, but when it came to her own personal beliefs… such as her faith, she was very open and honest. To a point it was almost worrying.

  “That is very interesting though,” I said as I realized something.

  “What?” Fly asked, since Brandy had kept on mumbling to herself.

  “Brandy is a very devout member. And rather well respected. There should be no reason for her not to be involved with the new church. Hell, having her involved would be something any smart person would want or do. She could run both the church and the company without rest or failure, and then some. Even just using her to build the church with all her knowledge and connections in the city… Or her finances, would make it a no-brainer. Then to think of all the ways she’d be helpful, and trustworthy, when it comes to the religious aspect?” I shook my head as I continued thinking of all the ways she’d be useful to them.

  For them to keep her at a distance, if not completely separate from them, was telling indeed.

  “Sheesh Vim you’re a smooth talker. I suppose Renn is to thank for that,” Brandy said, returning her focus to me.

  “He’s always sounded old,” Fly mumbled.

  I smiled at that. “It’s not normal for them to keep you at a distance Brandy. Have you gotten on their bad side? Had they asked you to do something, and you failed to do it?” I asked.

  “No…? I hadn’t thought so? Over the last decade or two I’ve done a lot for the Chronicler and her people. Funds, reports, curtailing certain information or gossip… Jeez, I even once bought a bunch of artifacts for them! Out of my own pocket money, because they had worried the humans would have gotten them!” Brandy said.

  “Artifacts?” I asked.

  “Some kind of bones. I thought they were monarch bones when I saw them, but I think they ended up just being whale bones or something. I sent them to Telmik years ago,” Brandy said.

  Huh…

  “Wait. Didn’t I escort a bunch fossils?” I asked.

  “You had. You and Lawrence.”

  Right. I had. They must not have been very important then, if I had been allowed to oversee their transfer. At least, not that kind of important.

  That meant Brandy hadn’t mentioned those bones to point out the odd requests, but instead it had been something she had disliked doing. She had said she had spent her own money on them. Likely hadn’t been re-reimbursed.

  Still…

  “What will you do then, Brandy?” I asked.

  “Hm…? Concerning the church? Stick my nose into it of course. I’ll be damned if I let them build a fancy new church right under my nose and not get to enjoy it with them. Nor will I let them profit from all the connections and power it’ll bring, either. I know Less and Light are older than me, but I’m not that little girl anymore Vim! I won’t let them walk all over me!” Brandy said happily.

  Ah. I see.

  I nodded and smiled, glad to hear it… though also a tad upset all the same.

  So Brandy just thought they were trying to keep all the glory, the religious conquest and financial wealth a church brought, to themselves. As to not share it with her.

  She hadn’t seen their schemes or ploys as anything too nefarious.

  Not yet, anyway.

  Brandy let out a large sigh, and then stepped over to the fire and tossed her stick into it. Seemed she had eaten the last few pieces as she had paced and mumbled angrily. She brushed her hands off and nodded, and then glanced up at the sky. Or at least, the treetops above us. What little of the sky could be seen was covered in clouds. Dark ones.

  “Well I best be off. If I’m not home in the next few days Gerald will send out a search party, and then I’ll have to be even more careful next time I want some time to myself!” Brandy said as she stepped away from our camp and over to her horse.

  “Be careful Brandy. If you ever need me don’t hesitate to call for me. No matter the reason,” I said in farewell.

  Brandy paused right before she hauled herself up onto her horse. She turned, gave me a sad smile and shook her head. “Vim… I’d never vote against you.”

  Oh. Woops. “I didn’t mean it that way, Brandy,” I said gently. So now was when she’d bring up the vote? I had thought she had been trying to ignore it on purpose.

  Her smile broadened. “I know you didn’t. You meant that genuinely, from your heart. You’re a good man…. And I know now, what with Renn, that you’re more than you seemed to be. But to be honest Vim… I hope I don’t need to call upon you. Because if I do it means something terrible is happening, and by our own no less,” she said.

  “All the same Brandy.”

  She nodded. “I know. Stay safe Fly. If you fail to find a new nest, return to Lumen,” Brandy said as she climbed up onto her horse.

  “Lumen…?” Fly perked up at being talked to, and turned to look at me as Brandy nodded one last time at us and then ushered her horse away.

  It didn’t take long for Brandy to leave earshot. She ushered her horse a little, as if suddenly in a hurry. Likely was, in a way. Brandy wasn’t like Oplar. She liked drama, in her own way, but not gossip. Brandy didn’t like it when her foundations crumbled.

  And odds are that was how she felt right now. That her whole world was falling apart, since she wasn’t sure who to trust. Even those she had trusted for centuries.

  Odds are I was one of those individuals, at least in a way.

  “Vim? What’d she mean by that? I thought I couldn’t live at Lumen,” Fly asked softly, drawing my eyes from the otter who was hurrying away.

  I smiled at the young bird and nodded. “It would be difficult for you to, yes. As you know, of course. But I think she was saying that if nowhere else works, for one reason or another… then go back there. To her and the rest. I think she’s saying they’d do all they could to give you as happy a home as they could give, and protect you as well as they can. If needed. She was basically being very, very kind,” I said.

  Kinder to you than they had been to Renn.

  “Oh… I see…” Fly nodded gently, and I could tell she was still wrapping her head around what I had said. It might take her a moment to comprehend it, fully.

  As she pondered it, she lifted her stick… and the now slightly charred meat, having forgotten it in the fire a moment, and went to munching on it.

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