“Is this the village you remember, Renn?” Lilly asked with a whisper.

  Studying the village in the distance, not far beyond the hill we stood upon, I shifted a little and wondered if it was.

  It was so hard to tell. There were now several buildings, less trees, and… well…

  Just more stuff in general. There were fences. Barrels and boxes scattered around. Proper roads and even lampposts lining them, though none were currently lit. None of the buildings, the remaining trees, or any of the area around us looked familiar to me. Which was shocking… yet…

  Glancing over to our right, I studied the distant path. One that led deeper into the forest. One that I somehow felt was familiar, and… well… “I think that path leads to the lakes. So… yes. I think I do remember this place. Though it obviously doesn’t look at all how I left it last time. Last time I’d been here there had only been a couple buildings, and they had been simple wood ones. With thatch roofs,” I said.

  Most of the buildings here were made of wood too, but they were fancy. Instead of roofs made of straw or leaves they had what looked to be wood with leather straps upon them. A few even had gutter-like attachments, which rolled down the sides of the houses and to the well kept grass lawns around them. They looked well made, almost too well made, for being out here in a deep forest all alone. Far from any other village or town.

  Not to mention there was no direct path or road to get here, either.

  “Well…” Lilly sighed at me, and I knew why.

  We had allowed Cat to enter the village first. Alone. Without us. Lilly and I stood up on a small hill, near some dense trees and foliage. Enough to be hidden from sight, but still overlooking the village to a certain degree. The hill wasn’t high enough to see the whole village, but we saw enough of it from this angle that Lilly felt comfortable enough to not feel in danger.

  “It likely is, Lilly. This is the area… and it does smell kind of familiar,” I said honestly.

  Lilly sighed again. “We should have not let her go alone. We should have gone by ourselves first,” Lilly said.

  “By ourselves…? Why?” I asked. She wanted us to leave Cat back and alone, without us? While her home was right here?

  “To verify the truth ourselves. Before she has a chance to speak to anyone, particularly this saint. Who knows what she’ll tell them, or warn them about,” Lillly said.

  “Ah… I don’t think Cat would do that, Lilly. If not out of respect to me, she knows what Vim is capable of. She’d likely be too scared of him to do anything like that,” I said.

  “Humans are surprisingly foolish when they’re full of fear, Renn,” Lilly whispered.

  That was likely true, but still…

  I wanted to believe in Cat. I really did. It’d break my heart if she betrayed me, or tried to.

  “I don’t think they’ll be able to do anything now, Lilly. We’re both here. They’ll not be able to escape us now,” I said.

  “It’s not them escaping I worry over, Renn,” Lilly said.

  “If they try to attack us we should just run. Let Vim deal with them,” I said.

  “Easy for you to say.”

  It was.

  “Plus what if it takes Vim months to get here? Sometimes his quests have him astray for long periods of time. In months they could all run away,” Lilly then said.

  I bit my lip a little and nodded. “I know, Lilly… but what else do we do? It’d be a lot easier to learn about this saint if we do it with friendship and not pain or violence,” I said.

  “I know Renn. I know. I just wish it was simpler,” Lilly said.

  Simpler…? To her simple must be simple violence. To kill or be killed. I understood it, but didn’t like it.

  Vim was like that too sometimes.

  “Do you really think Vim could take that long?” I asked worriedly.

  Lilly smirked at me and glanced my way. “It might. Surely you know as well as I do how hard it is to find a home for our people? I don’t know this Fly, but depending on her temperament it might take Vim several stops until he finds a place for her… if he finds one at all. There have been many who have traveled around with Vim, or others, for years before finding a place to settle down.”

  Great.

  “Fly’s a kind girl. A young bird without a mean bone in her body. I don’t understand why they’d banish her,” I said, worrying about her again.

  “They’re prunes Renn. Old hags who believe they know better than anyone else. What do you expect?”

  “I expect our people to be gentle with our weaker and fragile members,” I said simply.

  Lilly didn’t respond as I noticed someone leave one of the buildings. I studied the man as he walked away, heading the opposite direction of us. He didn’t seem to be in a rush, or acting oddly… he seemed to just be leisurely walking to wherever he was headed.

  “Well she’s not raised any alarm yet, at least,” Lilly said.

  “Will you be able to tell if she’s saint? Right away?” I asked.

  “If she has glowing eyes, then yes. If not it might take a little studying or questioning. They usually give themselves away, even when they try to hide it,” Lilly said.

  “How so?”

  “Saints always act as if they know something they shouldn’t. If you pay attention to the way they speak, it becomes rather obvious. Just pay attention to how they seem to ask questions offhandedly, or not ask them at all.”

  I nodded slowly. She was right. Witch, and Narli, both had spoken in ways that had made me pause sometimes. As if they had asked a question they already knew the answer to, but still felt they had to ask anyway.

  “If uh… if she does betray us… what will we do?” I asked, suddenly feeling like the very people I had just been thinking about.

  “To be honest I’d like to eliminate them if able. But I know better than to risk you, or myself, in the moment. We’ll simply retreat and wait for Vim,” Lilly said.

  I frowned at that. “I expected you to not be passive.”

  “I’m sure,” Lilly said with a grin. “But it’s the truth. Not only are you Vim’s wife, I’m a mother to a newborn. Vim would beat me senseless if I got either of us hurt or killed because of impatience or negligence,” she added.

  I smiled at her. How adorable! She didn’t feel herself was valuable, yet felt her being the mother of a newborn was what was valuable. And it was even more adorable that she was somewhat wrong.

  Vim would have felt horrible if she got hurt. Newborn baby or no.

  I kept that to myself though, since she wasn’t necessarily too off. Vim did value certain things in such ways. As did I.

  “Hopefully it won’t come to that,” I said gently.

  “As much as I hate to admit it… There’s little chance it will,” she said with a sigh.

  My smile grew at that, glad to hear her true feelings on the matter. Even if she was upset to both admit them, and the fact of her belief.

  She knew Cat was trustworthy. And it upset her, what with her being a human and all.

  Lilly was strangely adorable.

  “Though we do have another problem. Which I suppose this is a good time to address, being alone finally,” Lilly then said.

  “Oh…?” I glanced around. What was wrong?

  “You two had been followed.”

  I turned, no longer focused on the village. “What?”

  “You and Cat had been followed to my home. Whoever they are, they’re good. I’ve been watching and searching for them on our way here, and I’ve not seen or smelled hide or tail of them. Almost as if we’re not being followed at all,” Lilly said.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “Wait… are you serious?” I asked.

  She nodded, rather nonchalantly.

  “And you just mention this now?”

  She smirked at that. “I hadn’t wanted to say anything in front of the human. In case she was involved in it.”

  “That’d be even more reason to let me know!” I argued.

  “Possibly.”

  “Did you doubt me too or something…?” I asked. Why hadn’t she just told me? We would have had plenty of opportunities for such a conversation, Cat was a deep sleeper and slept far more than we did!

  “You? No. Not at all. You’re family. But I did worry over how you’d react upon finding out your friend might be a possible enemy. But now I know for sure it wasn’t her. Your friends had nothing to do with it,” she said.

  “And… how do you know that?” I asked, choosing to focus on that and not the worries she was actually very justified and right about worrying about.

  “Whoever had been following you… If they’re not related to the human, or this village, that means they’re likely someone else. If they started following you from Telmik, or around there, that means they’re most likely related to the church. The Chronicler and her people. It would explain why they followed you to my home, and possibly didn’t follow afterward. Or if they have, they’ve done it at a very far distance. Either because they knew I’m now with you, or because they’d only been told to monitor from a distance and nothing else,” Lilly said.

  I sighed. “Vim did mention someone might follow or want to know what we’re doing,” I said.

  “I’ll stay outside the village for the next night and day. After we meet the saint, and confirming she’s not a direct enemy. To keep an eye out for whoever may have followed us,” Lilly said.

  “Want my help…? I’ll admit I don’t have much experience in this stuff, but a second set of eyes and ears has to be worth something,” I offered.

  She smiled at me. “Maybe. For now just focus on the task Vim sent you on.”

  Great. Now I’ll need to do it while even more worried than I already was.

  After all…

  Looking back at the village, I sighed at myself and it.

  Witch’s home. Her family. Her descendants.

  They knew what had happened. That I had killed her. Yet they saw it as some kind of blessing. A mercy. They did not see me as a threat, or an enemy, but something akin to a legend.

  Yet… it still felt wrong.

  I had killed her. I had helped end her life. Just as Vim did for Trek and so many others.

  Unlike Vim though, I couldn’t bear the burden. I ran away when it happened. I panicked. It made it hard to breathe and…

  Shifting, I glanced down at my hands, and opened them to see my clammy palms.

  Yes. Even now I was sweating. Even though it was slightly cold, and not very damp, and I’d not been doing anything too extraneous. We’d only walked here, after all, we hadn’t ran or carried lots of luggage…

  “Oh there she is.”

  I looked up and found Cat walking away from one of the mid-sized buildings. She was heading our way, alone, and had a small pip in her step. After a few moments she increased her pace and even began to job a little, hurrying towards us. If not for the huge smile on her face I’d worry that something was wrong.

  “Looks like all’s well,” Lilly said with a sigh.

  “You’re too much like Vim, Lilly. I’m to assume you learned it from him,” I said.

  “Only some of it,” she admitted.

  Smiling at that I nodded as Cat hurried up the hill. She rounded some trees, and some thicker bushes, and then approached us a little slowly. She huffed a bit as she drew closer, likely thanks to the hill’s steepness, and then coughed.

  “Saint Elaine wants to meet you. But she asks for a few moments to ready herself,” Cat said between breaths.

  “Ready herself?” Lilly asked, sounding offended.

  “She was in a nightgown. She had been up late, praying and blessing little Lena. She’s been sick lately, some kind of fever and Saint Elaine is trying to help her break it,” Cat explained.

  I frowned at that, and wondered if that meant the sickness was a strong one, able to survive a saint’s miracles, or if this Elaine was simply not as strong as the saints I was used to. Or rather, Witch. Witch had been able to cure such things easily, even though it had been exhausting for her to do so later in her life.

  “Is it the plague?” Lilly then asked, and I startled.

  Oh. Right. Forgot about that.

  “I don’t think so. Elaine thinks it’s just a common fever. The poor girl is just sickly, has been since birth. She was born too early,” Cat said with a frown.

  Lilly nodded but said nothing more as I glanced at the building Cat had just came from.

  It wasn’t the same house Witch and I had lived in. But it somehow felt familiar. Maybe it was in the same position? In fact where was that house? Had it been torn down and rebuilt maybe? Had enough time passed for such a thing to be needed…?

  “You’d think she’d be more excited to see you, Renn. Being her ancestor, and all,” Lilly commented lightly.

  “Oh she is! But she knew we were coming. When I walked into her room she looked past me and asked where Renn was, as if she expected her to just walk in with me,” Cat said.

  Lilly sighed.

  “I probably would have… had you not been here,” I said to Lilly.

  “Yes. Very likely so. And if you had been with Vim, you would have too, what with him by your side and feeling safe. I wonder which was the better outcome?” Lilly wondered.

  “Uh…” Cat made a noise, the type that told me she wanted to say something but didn’t know how to or if she even should.

  “Yes Cat?” I asked, to keep her from feeling her voice wasn’t allowed to be heard.

  She gulped and smiled, nodding gently. “She only asked for a moment Renn. To get dressed. She’s likely ready, or will be, by the time we walk down there.”

  Ah. Right.

  I nodded and stepped forward. Lilly remained behind us, and for a moment I thought she’d not join… but she eventually followed. Walking silently, kind of like how Vim did on occasion.

  “Does she live alone?” I asked.

  “Saint Elaine? No. Her daughter lives with her, but only to help her out. The saint lives on the bottom floor, her daughter the second. Grenna is there, but she’ll leave if we… or you, asked,” Cat said as she took my side as we stepped down the hill.

  “Daughter but no husband?” I asked.

  Cat giggled for a moment. “No one knows who her husband is. She left one time, a long time ago, and came back alone a few months later and was pregnant. It’s a story we all kind of just ignore, but it makes sense you know?” Cat said.

  “Makes sense?”

  “She’s a saint! We’re all like children to her. So she probably left to meet someone she wasn’t related to, or saw as a son or brother or something.”

  “Hm…” I nodded slowly, that made sense. If she had been like Witch then she had likely seen the man she had gone to see, had known about him long before he came into her life. Though it was odd she hadn’t chosen to bring him back. Though maybe I shouldn’t dig too deep into such personal things.

  As we rounded a patch of thick briars, and then some trees, we finally reached the end of the hill. Lilly was still following us, but doing so at a farther distance… as if doing her best to not be noticed.

  While we approached the houses, Cat began to giggle excitedly. She even began to bounce a little in her steps as she walked.

  I grinned at her excitement, and wondered why I didn’t feel just as she did.

  I was excited, sure. But not as much as I should be. I felt strangely stressed. And nervous. A little queasy too, to be honest. As if I needed to eat desperately, even though I didn’t feel hungry at all. I bet I couldn’t swallow a single bite at the moment even if I had been.

  It really was too bad Vim wasn’t here.

  Cat had mentioned just now that he and I walking through the door with Cat, not hesitating and waiting back as Lilly had wanted us to, had likely been a possible future. One that this Saint Elaine had seen. Had expected.

  That made me wonder, and question a lot of things. Had we made the wrong choice? Should I have waited for Vim to come here, as to come here with him? Or maybe there was more at play than I thought. Maybe it was Vim who had made a mistake, or maybe I should have just waited at Telmik all along with Cat for him to return originally.

  Maybe Lilly wasn’t supposed to be here. Or maybe us being here, without Vim, was the proper outcome. What needed to happen, to stop something terrible or…

  I blinked as I realized I was standing in front of the house.

  Cat was stepping up to the door. She was grabbing the handle, as to open it. She still had that silly grin on her face. She was looking forward to my meeting Witch’s descendant. More than I was, somehow.

  I gulped a little as the door opened, and I was able to see inside the house. It looked warm. Cozy. The place looked clean, and rather full of stuff. Rugs, furniture, stuff hanging on the walls with all the tables and shelves full of items.

  There was a small smell coming from it. But it wasn’t a bad one. It was the scent of something being cooked. Some kind of bread, or pastry. There was the smell of clothes, wood, and a fireplace’s stink though I couldn’t hear or smell a burning fireplace. It was cold, but likely not so cold the residents of this dense northern forest needed a warm fire just yet. They’d likely wait until later in the day, near nightfall, before they lit the fires as to warm the house.

  “I’ve brought her!” Cat happily said, a little loudly, as she entered the house.

  Stepping forward to enter behind her, I took a small breath… to calm myself. Suddenly my heart was pounding.

  Entering the house, I felt a little dizzy. It didn’t last long, nor was it bad enough to worry me, but I made sure to pause a few feet into the house as to give myself a moment. To gather myself, my breath and my mind.

  Don’t panic. This isn’t the house. Witch didn’t die here. I hadn’t killed her here.

  Surely.

  Looking around, I compared this house to the one from my memories. The large room with tables and chairs. The hallway that led deeper in the house. The stairwell not far down the hall. The scent of the building, soaked into the wooden frames and boards… the floor…

  It wasn’t the same house. Surely. The hallway was different. The scent was a little off. Surely…

  “Saint, are you dressed?” Cat asked as I heard her knock lightly on a door. She had rounded the hallway at the end, so I couldn’t see her anymore.

  “Of course I am. Stop shouting Cat, you’re not living up to your name,” a calm, slightly deep, female voice responded to Cat. I heard the woman step out of the room and out into the hallway, but pause a moment. Maybe to look at Cat, or close the door behind her.

  A door then did close, but not one down the hallway. I turned a little to look at Lilly. She had shut the main door to the house, and was standing near it patiently. She looked alert, but a little bored.

  “She’s over here!” Cat happily guided the saint around the corner, and upon seeing her… my eyes went blurry.

  Saint Elaine looked just like Witch had, so long ago. Though a little older. A little more wrinkly. And with grayer hair.

  And with eyes that glowed just as strongly.

  “Hm. I had thought we would have met earlier, but it seems this is still the same. Go ahead, I’ve been waiting for these tears for most my life,” Saint Elaine said as she held her arms outward at me. It was hard to tell through my own blurry eyes, so I couldn’t see them… but I heard her own tears in her voice. It had whimpered a little, as if she too was about to cry.

  Stepping forward, I barely made it to the old woman before the tears began to fall.

  Wrapping her in a hug, I made sure to do it as gently as I could, as I held the old woman and wept alongside her.

  Patreon for early access to 16 chapters ahead!