The light rain was making small puddles, and not just out on the brick road either.

  Turning a little, I glanced at the roof of this makeshift barn our horses were stabled in. There were leaks, and more than a few. None of the puddles in the barn were bad, yet, but I knew by the time we readied to leave in the morning they likely would be.

  “Sorry you two,” I apologized to our horses, since I wasn’t sure what to do for them. It felt bad to leave them in such a rickety, damp and cold place overnight… but the other inns hadn’t had stables or anywhere for us to leave them. And I didn’t want to risk them getting stolen in the middle of the night by leaving them out on the road itself.

  At least this barn could be closed and latched, and the road it was on was not the main road but instead an alley behind the inn we were staying at.

  Honestly I would have been fine continuing through the night, even with the light rainstorm, but Cat had grown tired. She had gone rather quiet, drifting in and out of half-sleep as we rode. She was still just a human, after all and they didn’t do well with a lack of sleep.

  Patting my horse one last time in goodbye and goodnight, I stepped away and left the barn. I closed the wooden gate behind me, but didn’t lock it since the owner of the inn would do it. Plus there might be other visitors for the inn soon, since it wasn’t just yet nightfall.

  Plus most of our important luggage we’d already taken to our room. If the horses were stolen, although regrettable, we’d be fine.

  Sighing as I shifted my shoulders a little, I hurried around the rickety barn to the inn nearby. The door leading into the building was propped open, letting some of the rain filter in, but I immediately began to feel warmer upon entering it all the same. The inn, unlike the stable, was well built. Warm. Comfy. It even smelled good, which was a very unusual thing for an inn. They usually stunk horribly, yet this one smelled nice and relaxing.

  Walking down the hallway towards the eating area, and the stairs to the upper floors, I paused to look at the source of the nice smells.

  Resting on little shelves, were tiny little elongated bowls. Ones with tiny little candle-like incense sticks, which were slowly burning.

  Such things were new to me. At least up here in the north. I’d seen plenty in the south, while traveling with Vim, but these were rare here. Rare enough to make me wonder how they had so many, and were willing to burn them without worry out in the open.

  I knew they were just dried herbs, mixed in strange powder and glue, but usually they were expensive. Not just the herbs, but the glue and resin to properly prepare them. A long time ago I had bought a few for Nory, the handful of sticks I’d purchased back then had been as expensive as all the supplies and clothes I had purchased that same day.

  The memory made me smile. Nory had enjoyed those smelly sticks, even though I hadn’t. It was interesting that these didn’t seem to bother me. And it was interesting to think on how different money was to me now.

  Back then money had been so strange to me. Not just because it was hard to earn enough, but also because what had been great wealth to me back then was now a passing thought today. I had enough coins in my little satchel to probably buy this whole inn outright if I wanted to and still have plenty to spare. I couldn’t have imagined such wealth in the past.

  Yet money didn’t matter anymore. Not really. Coins were now the same as just… supplies to me. Things I needed to properly travel, or buy the few little things I occasionally wanted. I paid so little attention to them sometimes that it’d not surprise me if one day I forgot or left the little pouches of coins somewhere on accident.

  Stepping around a small corner, I entered the open eating area of the inn. It was a large open room, with high ceilings. Usually these areas weren’t as fancy, since the higher ceilings and extra room took away from the bedrooms they could rent. This place though didn’t seem to mind, and in fact tried to make even the little details luxurious. This room had fireplaces, little racks and stands to hang coats and hats, tables and chairs aplenty for single people or large groups. It was honestly one of the nicest inns I’d ever stayed at, which was saying something since Vim sometimes had us stay at the nicer locations, such as at the noble’s districts.

  Cat was sitting alone at one of the tables in the corner. She wasn’t alone in this room, but it was still quiet. The two other tables with people at them barely had soft whispers, barely audible over the single fireplace that was burning with pops and cracks. It had likely been lit to stave off the light chill from the rainstorm, but there was also a small poncho looking coat hung near it from one of the coat racks. It glistened a little, implying it was soaked and being dried.

  Walking over to Cat, I slowly sat down next to her. The table was a little bigger than usual, so sitting across from her would have made me have to speak up a tad to comfortably speak with her. It would have been awkward.

  “How’re the horses?” Cat asked.

  “Fine. They’ll definitely get wet though, I’m honestly a little surprised this nice place has such a worn down barn,” I said.

  She shrugged lightly. “Horses will be fine. They sleep in the rain in the wild anyway,” she said.

  Although true, I still felt for the animals. Even in the wild they’d try to stay warm and dry, wouldn’t they?

  “I ordered us some warm drinks and meals. I’m not really sure what they’ll be bringing us though,” Cat said as I glanced around the room again. No one was looking at us, or nearby, but for some reason I felt on guard. Maybe it was the incense; there was one in this room too near the fireplace. Although they made the building smell good, it was still odd and unnatural.

  I should ask the innkeeper what kind of herbs the incense sticks were made of. It wasn’t often I found such things to smell good.

  Vim probably would have known.

  “How far are we from those forests?” Cat asked. She sounded tired, and a little bored. She was likely just asking questions to keep herself awake.

  “This town wasn’t on the map, but the next one is. I overheard a few people mention a smaller village, Nasko, while we searched for this inn. It’s a few days to the north. It can’t be too far from Parker, I bet,” I said. At least I hope it wasn’t. We’d already been on the road for over a week, and it really felt like we should have made it there already.

  It had felt like we had been traveling quickly, thanks to the horses. Yet I had a nagging feeling that I would already be having dinner with Lilly and Windle had I been traveling on foot with Vim and not with Cat. Though that might have just been my own personal feelings on the matter making me believe in the impossible.

  “Hm… I bet it’ll rain the whole way there,” Cat complained with a sigh.

  I nodded. It likely would. The rainstorm we had encountered since this morning didn’t seem like it had any intention to let up, though thankfully it didn’t seem like it was going to grow harsher either.

  One of the logs in the fireplace popped loudly, drawing not just my attention but a few of the other’s in the room.

  Conversations resumed, not bothered by the loud noise. “Hope they hurry, I’m starving,” Cat mumbled softly.

  I turned my head a little, to try and hear outside of the room. I heard mumbled voices, clanking metal, and the raindrops on the roof several floors above… but couldn’t hear or tell if any sounds I heard were coming from the nearby kitchens. I blamed my hat.

  Reaching up, I itched under my hat with a finger. Vim had made me a few new pins before we had left Telmik, but only a small handful. He had been busy, too busy to make much more for me. I hoped they lasted until I met him again. Having pins really was a necessity for me, really, and ever since constantly having them I had grown to rely upon them.

  In my youth I had worn hats without pins, and a few times it had gotten me into trouble. Sometimes accidents just happened, like me being bumped into, a hard gust of wind, or just simply a sneeze or cough was enough to dislodge it. So having a few pins to hold it in place, even just to a point, was valuable.

  I should have Vim teach me how to make them too, even if I preferred to use the ones he made.

  “How long did it take you and your group to get down here, Cat? To find that monster?” I asked.

  “Hm…? Months. Brave didn’t like us stopping at the towns, except when needed. So we usually camped in the woods when we could, or near streams,” Cat said.

  Right… They didn’t trust people, not like more normal folks. “What was Brave like?” I asked. She, and Vim, had told me about him. Their knight. The saint’s knight. A man who was the embodiment of his name, supposedly.

  “A strong, stoic man. But he was nice and gentle. It was like he was a saint too, since he was always concerned about everyone and seemed so insightful. I wasn’t too close with him, he was older, but I liked him. Vim reminds me of him, sometimes,” Cat said lightly as she turned to look at the nearby doorway. She must really be hungry.

  “What’s it mean? To be a saint’s knight?” I asked. Vim had called him that too.

  Cat looked at me and frowned. “You don’t know? I thought that was what you were, too,” she said.

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  Me…? “A knight?”

  She smiled gently. “Maybe you are, yet just don’t know it. Or maybe Vim’s your knight…?” she went to mumbling as she pondered it.

  I smiled at that. “I like that, but he’s not just mine… I can’t claim him like that,” I said. Not yet at least.

  “Hm. I don’t get your society thing, but I’m guessing it’s just a big family. Like us, all centered around Elaine…” Cat then released a huge sigh. “Still not sure how I’m going to explain what happened…”

  “I’ll help. As will Vim. Vim’s a lot of things but he’s not one to shirk responsibility. He’ll admit to it, all of it,” I said. We’d already talked about this, but it wasn’t surprising she was still fretting over it.

  She nodded right as movement drew my eyes behind us. I watched as a younger man entered, carrying a large circular platter on his hand and shoulder.

  He glanced around for a tiny moment, saw us in our corner, and then came over.

  I leaned back and smiled as he laid down the platter onto our table. It had cups, two pitchers, and four plates of food. A mix of meat, greens and bread.

  The sight of a familiar dinner made me really happy, even if regretful. It was the same, typical, plain meal one always had up here in the north. One lacking fancy spices, weird plants or vegetables I’d never seen, and thinner meat such as from deer and not ox or cows.

  “Thanks!” Cat happily thanked him as she quickly went to grabbing one of the pitchers, to start filling the cups.

  He didn’t stick around, hurrying back out of the room. Cat poured me a cup first, which I smiled at and accepted… and then frowned upon finding milk.

  Right. She wasn’t Vim.

  It wasn’t her fault though, so I did my best to not regret the lack of my favored smoothie and took a drink.

  “Finally. I’m going to eat, wipe down, and then sleep. I’m exhausted,” Cat quickly said as she went to stuffing her face.

  See? I knew she was tired. So her earlier annoyance to the slow service was from a lack of sleep.

  I’ll make sure to let her sleep in a little then. Unlike Vim who usually made us wake at the crack of dawn, I’ll give her a few hours past it just to be sure.

  Reaching for my own plate, I chose the green stuff first. It was a plate full of leaves, chopped vegetables and fruit. Very typical of the north, since such things grew well here. At least, they did until one got too far north and the land became harder as it grew colder.

  “I hate this kind of bread,” Cat mumbled as she took a big bite of it.

  “Oh…?” I glanced at the bread in her hands, and on our plates. She did? Wasn’t that the softer stuff? “Why?”

  “Not sure. I feel like it’s too soft, maybe?” Cat mumbled as she continued to eat.

  I see. So she was used to the harder northern breads, having likely grown up on them and thus the softer stuff was simply new or different to her.

  Strange. I’d prefer the soft stuff any day over the hard stuff.

  Since Cat went to eating quickly, our conversation died down as I hurried to keep up with her. She wasn’t like Vim, who seemed to always let me go at my own pace. No matter how crazy the world around us became.

  Though that might just be something human. Now that I thought about it, most of the humans I’d known were similar. Always in a hurry.

  Once Cat had her fill, I joined her upstairs to our room. We had ordered a bucket of hot water before our meal, and it was waiting for us in our room, but it was now lukewarm. Cat didn’t seem to care, or notice. She wiped herself down and mumbled a good-night as she crawled into one of the beds.

  As Cat shifted under the covers, getting comfortable, I glanced around our nice room. There were three beds, not two, and they were all rather large and comfy looking. Thick blankets and pillows, and there were rugs and decorations aplenty. There was even a small fireplace near the window, though I had no intention of lighting the logs waiting to be burnt within it. The room was actually a little warm, likely thanks to all the fireplaces already burning strongly in the building and the fact that the rainstorm wasn’t a cold one.

  Taking my hat off and putting down the pitcher of the remainder of the milk onto one of the tables, I stepped over to the only window in the room. It was a larger one, draped with thick curtains, and it had a large frame all around it. One that was recessed enough to be a small table, as if to put flowers or decorations upon it. There was nothing on it though, and was even rather clean. I wiped a finger along it, expecting dust but instead found it clean.

  Yes. A nice inn. The owners were proud of their home, their business. And should be.

  Oplar and others had mentioned some of our members have tried making such inns before. They informed me they never ended well. That such ventures usually ended in sadness.

  It was too bad, honestly… but…

  What if we made inns, yet not for the public?

  After all was that not the main issue? That humans noticed what they shouldn’t. That our members struggled to hide amongst the common customers for long. Could we not then just eliminate that threat? Subvert it?

  Why not just make an inn, or location like it, that only our people could use? Like that mansio at Telmik, or those housing sections in Lumen and other locations?

  I wanted to make a place our people could go to. I wanted to help people find family. Friends. Comrades. As hard as it was to imagine accomplishing such a task, since Vim never stayed in one location long enough to do so, I still liked the idea. I knew for a fact there were many like Sillti, who would happily travel to somewhere they could potentially find new lovers, friends or companions. What if there were dozens of people, if not hundreds, looking for such a thing?

  If I made a place like this, an inn or something like it which those people could come to… As to meet fellow like-minded people, searching for similar things, then… wouldn’t it work?

  As I pondered such an idea, liking it a lot, Cat began to snore. I stepped closer to the window, which was made out of dirty and stained glass. It was hard to see through it, especially so thanks to the layer of water and droplets upon it outside.

  Sitting down on the window’s extended frame, since there was enough room to do so, I made sure to not accidentally lean against the window itself. Although it looked thick, thus its blurry glass, I knew the window pane was likely frail. I didn’t want to break it, even if I could pay for it. Cat could get sick if the wind and rain was free to flow in all night long.

  While Cat snored away, I leaned up against the window’s frame… staring out through the cold, blurry, glass to the wet world outside.

  I felt oddly melancholic. I was going home. To lands familiar. To people I’d known for hundreds of years.

  I was even traveling with a friend! The descendant of someone I had once seen almost like a mother. My teacher. Witch.

  So I should feel at ease. As if I genuinely had returned home, since everything about this moment was in essence everything I was used to. It wasn’t foreign to me. It wasn’t strange, or unsettling… it wasn’t really new, or weird…

  Yet…

  “I feel lost,” I whispered ever so quietly.

  Lost and alone.

  Again.

  And the reason was obvious.

  Reaching down to my waist, I unfastened the little monarch leather pouch that hung upon it. The few letters within were pushed up against the ends thanks to the small leather wrapping. I pulled the wrapped item out, undid the tiny little strands of twine holding it all together, and lifted the monarch’s heart up to better study it.

  Glancing down at my heart, the Orb of Night, I ran my thumb along it and its warmth. It didn’t pulse as often as the other hearts had, but it still did it occasionally.

  I was still not sure what to think of this heart. Or its purpose. It was a strange reminder at how ridiculous the world was becoming. About how there were people, and had been people, scheming and planning even before I had even known about any of them. And somehow those schemes had included me.

  “Though maybe I could have been anyone. They’re more centered around Vim, really,” I whispered. After all Celine hadn’t written my name in her letters. She had simply called me Vim’s heart. That could have been anyone who had grabbed hold of it.

  But how did one explain this then?

  The heart in all its blackness shimmered, the eye within it glowing ever so distinctly. It almost looked like the eye itself was not a singular object but a huge group of tiny ones. Like a cluster of stars in a night sky.

  A grim reminder of my ancestry. And a strange question.

  Vim was right. Why hadn’t Witch done anything about the hearts? This one particularly, if it really was my uncle’s?

  Even if she hadn’t touched the bodies, the corpses of the monarchs we had hunted, after the deed out of faith or respect… she should have still known how dangerous these hearts were, right? She should have still known better than to leave them be.

  Maybe I had simply not noticed her cutting them out. But if she had procured this that day, why and how did Celine have this? If it really was my uncle’s heart, I couldn’t comprehend how they could have acquired it. I had been with Witch until her end, and had never seen another saint during that time with her. Had they gone to the family after I had left…? It made sense, I guess. They may have heard of Witch and sought her out, only to find the family after her death. Maybe while there, talking to the family, they had found this heart there. Vim has mentioned that saints can sense these things rather easily, supposedly.

  Though that didn't explain why they didn't know of the village now, and the saint who lived there today.

  Taking another breath, I sighed as I went to put the heart away. I wrapped it back up, tying the leather around it carefully.

  This was why Vim needed to stop leaving me. I still had so many questions. And it took so long to get answers out of him, and half the time I had to get them in pieces. He and I separating like this only made it that much harder to accomplish.

  But his lack of being here to answer my questions wasn’t all it was.

  I didn’t like being without Vim. I didn’t like the fact that the world was growing odd and dangerous. That there were nefarious plans and schemes all around me, around us, and I felt like I had little to no ability to even comprehend them let alone face them.

  Randle and the Chronicler. Light and those secretive members of the Society. Lumen and the church. Vim and his strange scheme of not telling anyone about Cat’s true purpose or my friend’s saintly descendant. Wars and plagues. The vote against Vim. Poor Fly needing to find a new home. And who knew what else the world was scheming or planning all alongside all of that.

  I felt like the world was pulling every each way, and it didn’t care that I was stretched thin already as it was.

  I knew there was always a problem to be solved. Issues to address. Always sadness and grief… but lately…

  Taking a deep breath, I sighed out the warm but still damp air. This room didn’t smell as badly as the incense, but it at least also didn’t stink too much either. It didn’t feel nasty to sigh so deeply in here as some inn-rooms did usually.

  The rain continued to pitter and patter against the window, and the world all around it. I listened intently to it all.

  I wasn’t tired enough to sleep. Not yet. Although strangely somber, I didn’t feel like crawling under the covers of the comfortable looking beds at all.

  Another thing Vim’s lack of presence caused.

  I hadn’t told him how tired I had gotten during his absence. He likely had realized it, but we hadn’t talked about it. I wonder if he’d laugh if he found out I shared in his strange exhaustion while he was gone. Tired and weary, yet unable to sleep.

  “I hope you’re nice to Fly, Vim,” I whispered as I stared out the window, watching the raindrops roll down the blurry glass.

  Be nice to her for me. Since it seemed no one else was willing to be.

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