I'm never letting her hold a heart again. Ever.
Grinding my teeth as I bent down to give my hands sothing to do, by checking my boots laces, I wondered what I was going to do with her.
That wasn't just any heart she had absorbed! Far from it, in fact. That had been a firstborn heart. One of the most powerful ones left, in fact. Of all the hearts that still existed, that I knew of, which I could comfortably say held more divinity within them could be counted on one hand. Miss Beak's and the Blue One's heart were amongst them.
Obviously it was my fault. I had left it with her when confronting Tor… but by my parents I should have known. Because right now my life was one where if anything could go wrong, it bloody did!
"This will cause issues, Vim."
I ignored the woman talking to for a mont as I gave one last tug to my laces, and was glad I didn't just tear and rip them as I did. I was not in the mood at the mont, for anything, let alone this fake nun.
"Yepl, I already have issues. One's I can barely handle as it is. You're just going to have to bear the burden like the rest of us," I said as I went to ssing with my other boot.
The nun shifted a little, her silk robe sounding odd as she shuffled around. Was she wearing another layer underneath it…? Sounded like she was wearing leather underneath the silk. Which was odd, since unlike several others of her kind she didn't have a skin issue. Yepl, though a jellyfish, was as human in appearance and physically as one could be… though she did sowhat share in her sea-folk kind's size issue a tad.
"You were supposed to wait until the others showed up before confronting him! Light had been very clear about it!" Yepl whined at .
I sighed at her as I finished ssing with my other boot and then glanced up at her. I hadn't needed to glance far, she was taller than rit and Sharp but not by much. "And unless you give a genuine reason, or give it to my wife, that matters little to ," I said.
Yepl gave a worried frown. "It… doesn't cause any real problems, as far as I'm aware… but…"
"But nothing. I was given a letter, one that had been clear… and it turned out to be true. Tor had betrayed us. So I dealt with him, just as I do any monarch that breaks its agreent with the Society. As I always have and will. If I did so a few days or whatever before certain people were ant to show up, that's on them not ," I said.
"But Vim…" Yepl groaned softly as I stood up and brushed my hands off, as if my boots had been dirty or sothing. They hadn't been.
"We lingered two days already, Yepl. There are no more requests, and no more threats, at the mont… it'd be ill-suited for to linger longer," I said gently to the jellyfish.
Yepl gave a worried look as she begrudgingly nodded. "I know… and I know you need to report to Light as soon as possible, but still…!"
Usually this would be where I'd tease her for not having a spine, but Yepl had never seed to understand my joke when I said it. Not that she ever really took offense to it, but her lack of understanding it made feel bad. It made feel like I really was insulting her, even though I really wasn't.
I didn't bla her for her tendency of panicking, even over the smaller things. Especially right now, when I felt like I needed to panic too.
"Plus what if they arrive tonight, or tomorrow morning and…" Yepl kept on worrying as I glanced over her shoulder and down the path behind her.
A small ho was at the end of this path, one that Frerit and her younger brother lived in. They had been kind enough to welco Renn for the few nights we'd been here, and now were bidding Renn their farewells. The younger brother, a young man with a la leg, had a crutch that he relied on to move around. He reminded of that saint in Lun, the one with… Glasses. Yes, her na had been Glasses. She too had a leg like him.
It was a little odd for there to be so many children recently being born with such deformities… such children were born all the ti, but so many at once…?
Another odd thing to notice. I'd add it to the long list…
"And I don't even know what to do about the cave! Should we seal it, Vim? Or let it be? Is it cursed now?"
I blinked and bit back a sigh as I glanced back down at the jellyfish who looked as if about to cry. "The cave is fine, Yepl. It's not cursed or haunted or anything, no," I said calmly. Did she think so because of the rumors of ghosts at the Crypt…? Last night during dinner, since so many had joined us, I had overheard so of the current rumors amongst the Society. That one had been one of the biggest… and had been the source of many questions thrown my way. They all wanted to know when I was going to go and deal with the ghosts, as to keep them from spreading as if a disease.
If it wasn't the religious it was pagans. I swear.
"And the statue? They want to build an effigy, Vim! Should I allow it? What will Light say?" Yepl kept finding new things to worry over.
"Think of it as a grave, Yepl. A place to bury their grief and to honor his mory," I said simply.
The jellyfish's eyes shivered as she made a tiny noise of complaint as she nodded reluctantly. "I guess that makes sense… but what about!" she was about to continue, but Renn finally showed up.
My wife handed one of her larger bags as she smiled and turned to Yepl, who startled slightly upon noticing her. "Ah! All done saying goodbyes, Renn?" Yepl asked happily, as if no longer worried about anything.
Renn smiled and nodded. "Yes. Frerit is adorable, I almost want to take her ho with ."
Please don't.
"She is… it's too bad she's a pagan, huh?" Yepl said with a sigh.
Renn's ears fluttered as she glanced at , and I smirked. "So are you, Yepl," I said to the fake nun.
"Yes, but only you know that. No one else does!" Yepl said quickly.
"Well… I do too now, I guess…" Renn said, speaking a tad sheepishly.
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Yepl startled, then quickly glanced at with a huge look of worry… and then once she saw Renn's gentle and apologetic grin, she sighed in defeat. "At least it's you, I suppose…" Yepl said dejectedly.
"I won't tell anyone, promise…! Though I now wish you had told earlier, now I have a bunch of questions!" Renn said.
The jellyfish made a tiny groan as she shook her head. "Now I'm glad you are leaving, Vim," she said.
"Then I'll make sure to always tell Renn one of your secrets whenever I need to run away from now on," I said.
Renn laughed at that but Yepl's worried expression told she had not found it funny at all. "Goodbye then, Vim! Rennalee…! Please make sure Light gets my letter, if you will," Yepl said, deciding to end the conversation here and now. Finally.
"Of course… goodbye Yepl, see you again," Renn said as Yepl gave Renn a gentle bow and then stepped away.
"Farewell," I said simply.
The fake nun nodded and turned away. She headed back down the path Renn had just co from, back to the house we'd left. She had not stayed the night there while we had been here, but sothing told that had only been because Renn had taken the only free room available. Odds are Yepl had been staying there before we had arrived, and would now return to staying with the village priestess from now on.
Renn watched her go for a bit, then after a few monts she humd and glanced at . "Fake nun…?" she asked with a whisper.
"Yepl does not believe in the faith of the church. As far as I'm aware she's as much a pagan as those here are. She's from a village of sea-folk from one of the islands south of here, though they're not around anymore. They used to worship a huge squid," I explained.
"A monarch? Like how Tor was here?"
"No… their village might have at one ti been near such a monarch, but I'd never seen it. Or heard of such a thing. I think they just… worshiped the biggest creature they knew of, which in their region had been squids."
"What's a squid anyway?" Renn asked as she turned and started walking, allowing to do the sa.
I was glad to finally be leaving. We'd stayed these last couple days to handle a few issues, and to keep the village calm as much as we could considering I had just basically killed what they considered to be their guardian deity. It had strangely not been too big of an issue. There had been a few people shocked and, now understandably, concerned… but most of the village had simply shrugged and gone about their day after being told of the events. Odds are most had known this was coming for so ti, especially since Yepl and so of her fellows had been here for months already.
"Rember those dangly creatures with lots of limbs? The ones the cals were using to find new dyes and colors?" I reminded her. The cals, or rather the horse who had married into the cal family, had a penchant for fishing. And a desire to find new colors and dyes, and as such the two interests always combined with one another. Last ti Renn and I had been there he had been busying himself with squids and their inks, in hopes of making new colors. And as such had several caught and even preserved, alive, in a jar while we had been there. So Renn had gotten to see so.
Renn perked up at the mories. "Oh! Right, those!" she said happily as she giggled. "Those hadn't been big at all!"
"They get a lot bigger…" I said, as I realized I'd just made her misguidedly assu the size of the creature I was talking about.
"Hm…" she nodded, though didn't seem to really understand or care to. She just seed to be happy to have rembered sothing so interesting, from sothing so long ago.
I enjoyed her happy mont as we headed out of Tor's Canyon… which I now realized might not be called such a thing much longer. I wonder if they'd rena it or leave it be…?
"You were rather abrupt with her, Vim… what for?" Renn then asked.
I glanced at her, and she gently gestured behind us with her tail and a flutter of her ears. At those we just left behind, or rather soone particular. Yepl.
Renn had overheard then. Even as she had been a distance away, saying goodbyes to the others, she had been listening into my conversations with the jellyfish.
"Yepl is a worrywart. She'll stress over anything and everything. If it's not one thing it's another, endlessly. So there's no need to indulge in it."
Renn didn't seem to like that. She slowed a bit and glanced back behind us. "That's not nice, Vim… what is she worrying over?"
"The fact I had killed Tor too early. Whatever she had been told by Light, or relayed to her at least, had involved showing up after others did. People who aren't here yet. Well… that's their problem not mine. I wasn't going to wait to confront Tor for no reason," I said. Maybe she had not listened too closely? Or maybe, even with her better hearing, such a distance had been too great for her to make more than a few words out at a ti?
"Hm…" Renn humd at that. "What if it was for good reason though?"
"She herself said it likely didn't matter. She just worries she'll get in trouble over not properly controlling the process. But those like her, and Light, should know by now that I don't play by such rules. Never have."
Renn sighed at . "So you're just being an because you can, thanks to it involving prophecies," she realized.
I frowned at that, but couldn't really argue against it. After all, it was indeed one of the few tis I could specifically voice my own distaste and opinions on certain things and get away with it… so it wasn't a lie to say that sotis I did use such opportunities to vent a little…
But honestly I hadn't been doing that in this instance. My annoyances had not been over Yepl, the prophecies that led to this… or even Tor and his betrayal. Instead my source of discord was a bit more personal…
Glancing at my wife, who was frowning at still since she thought I was simply being an to soone for no real reason, I studied the feel of divinity that emitted from her.
It was steady. Strong. As it had been since her heart had ford. She felt much alike Tor did, and others like her… though unlike a monarch she didn't make feel uneasy. She did not leak divinity as they did. She simply radiated the heat they gave off. Like a hot coal.
At the mont I could not tell if there was any real difference between her now and this morning, before she had absorbed the heart of Tor's ancestor, but I knew soon it'd happen.
She'd likely be fine. If it was to be outright rejected, she'd not have absorbed it in the first place. And if she was to not be able to absorb it, and not be able to handle it, she'd also not be walking around all happy-go-lucky as she was. She'd by now be feeling off. She'd start slurring her words, tripping over nothing, or acting airheaded… as if sick or drunk.
Odds are Renn would absorb the heart, adapt to it, and beco stronger without worry. Which was… terrifying in a way.
That had been a firstborn heart. Akin to Miss Beak's. And…
"Vim? Are you listening?" Renn huffed at , and I realized I had not heard her say sothing. Likely a continuation of the earlier topic.
"I'm listening to your heart of hearts, Renn, yes," I said gently.
She slowed a bit, her frown deepening as she considered my words… and then she grinned at . "That's cute! And it actually makes sense!"
Yes. It did. And it was. As was she. "Do you feel okay?" I dared to ask.
"Yeah? I know you said to let you know the mont I felt anything off at all, but I've not felt weird at all. If anything I almost feel weird because I don't feel weird… I've been expecting sothing to happen you know? Like a tingle, or sothing," she said as she glanced down at the palms of her hands, as if it was there she'd find sothing odd happening.
"If it does happen, if anything happens, it'll happen suddenly and likely without you really noticing… I'll let you know if you suddenly grow weird whiskers or sothing," I said, teasing her a little.
Renn's ears fluttered as her eyes went wide. "Really!? Is it possible!?" she asked loudly, stepping closer as she did.
I narrowed my eyes at her as I realized her outburst was not from sudden shock or worry… but instead excitent. Utter glee was gleaming in her eyes as her ears fluttered and her tail wiggled behind her, expectantly.
Gosh my wife was weird…
But that was fine. Being weird was fine.
Far better than dead or transford, for sure.
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