Thirty-two people.
It seed like a big number… but it wasn't. Though such numbers sure did add up fast, especially without warning.
And in all truth, I should be happy that more and more people kept popping up. Not just those I used to know, from so many years ago who I had long thought dead or missing, but new faces too.
"Vims?" the young girl had a small slur as she spoke, though not completely thanks to her youth. She had a lot of teeth, not the pointy kind but just far more than usual. Enough so that she seed to struggle with certain syllables, though I expected as she grew up she'd learn to minimize the effect.
"Yes? What is it?" I asked as I paused and looked down at her. She was a small thing, not just short but scrawny. Like many of the more frail mbers she looked as if she was half-starved and fragile enough a strong gust could snap her in half. I knew though she was neither of those things, but she sure did look it.
"You knew my grandpa?" she asked .
I frowned, but nodded. "Very likely, yes," I said.
Of course I had no idea of whom she spoke of… but I wasn't going to doubt her assumption, or dispute it. Odds are she had heard such a thing from her parents, or maybe even from her grandpa himself.
She seed to be so kind of smaller animal. By her sll, I assud so kind of field creature. Either a smaller rodent or sothing like it. But there was no obvious trait, other than her more than normal teeth count, to tell what she actually was… so I had no clue of whom she could possibly be referring to.
"You don't look very old," she then said.
"One of my many talents. But I assure you, I'm very old," I said.
"Hm…" The young girl humd inquisitively at that as I glanced around for her parents… and didn't find them.
We were at a small village. Or at least… the makings of one. The one that the Chronicler had sent us to, as to pick up her sister and… others, it seed. As to escort them to Lun. We'd arrived in the early morning, before daybreak, and it was now almost dinner ti. I was busying myself, mostly just to avoid having to deal with the glowing eyed sister that I'd yet to see with my own two eyes, but occasionally so of the mbers ca over to talk to .
This place was hidden in the forest that surrounded the sa mountains that also hid the Smithy and a few other locations, though on the northern side of them. Near the lakes and rivers that separated this region from the north. It in fact wasn't too far from the outer rim of the burnt forests, where the fires had ravaged the land so ti ago. In fact they were… kind of lucky that the flas had never reached them here. They were close enough that by all rights the fires really should have. Though odds are that might have been by design and not luck, knowing who and what was here.
The Chronicler's sister, or one of them at least, was here. I hadn't known which one it was until a few hours ago when I had overheard soone say her na and title, or rather I had heard her nickna... Chancy.
The Chancellor was not just one of the original mbers of the Singing Sisters… she was also one of the oldest. I was kind of interested in seeing her, since she had always been a youthful looking woman with a good figure and so I wanted to see if she still sohow clung to such fake youth, but at the sa ti I kind of hoped I could sohow avoid her entirely… though I knew it wasn't possible.
For now I had been keeping myself busy by helping out around the small village. They had a few buildings, though only one was multiple levels, and they had a nice sized garden of food and large plot for grain. It was a place that if owned and lived in by humans I'd consider a small farming town. One with a few dozen families at best, and could either one day disappear or grow rapidly into a fully fledged village at any mont. Here though it was just a quaint little village… one about to be abandoned.
Everyone here was to leave with us. For Lun. Not a single person would remain. And that was how I had been able to keep myself busy… or rather, the why.
There were half a dozen wagons here. Ones that had been waiting for our arrival. I had spent a good portion of the day helping those here load those wagons, since they were all going to be moving to Lun, and now I was just doing random tasks that had no real aning or purpose. Though I doubted the horse I'd been brushing would agree with such a statent.
"Do you and Renny have any kids?" the young girl then asked.
Renny… "Not yet," I answered as I stopped brushing the horse as to focus on the girl instead.
I heard and saw out of the corner of my eye the horse's tail flick in annoyance, but it didn't do anything else. "Why not?" the young girl asked with a frown.
"Renn and I just recently got married. Such things take ti," I said.
"But you're already so old…?"
"Shouldn't that be even more of an explanation as to why we're so slow to do so?"
The young girl furrowed her brow with a frown as she thought about my statent… and then she smiled and showed her many teeth. "I guess you're right!" she then said happily, as if my words made perfect sense to her.
"Want to help finish brushing them?" I asked, hoping to get her onto a different topic as I lifted the brush of hard bristles. She was about to answer, likely in a positive way, but before she could a young but stern voice called out toward us.
"Sasha, co on! Leave the protector alone!"
Sasha flinched… and then looked up at with a sad look of defeat. "Um…"
I smiled and nodded. "You'll have plenty of chances to ask more questions on our trip to Lun. I'd not risk angering your mother over sothing that has such little value," I said.
Her little look of defeat turned into one of gentle confusion. "Huh…? Oh… sure. Okay. Bye bye…!" Sasha didn't seem to completely understand my aning, but got enough of it to not question it further as she nodded and then hurried away. She ran off, leaving and the horse behind as she hurried over to her mother. The young girl got yelled at, though not too harshly, and then the robe-wearing woman gave a small bow… then guided her daughter away and back over to the houses.
I sighed at them, and wondered if I was just going to have to get used to it again. Back before the wars there had been quite a few mbers who had acted that way towards … not with anger, or disgust or fear but instead reverence. They had not treated badly they had just been… well…
Distant. As if I was soone they shouldn't bother. Even when they should.
"Wonder if it's a religious thing," I wondered as I reached over and patted the horse I'd just been brushing. It ignored , opting to continue munching on the food in the little trough I'd filled earlier as to lure them all over and give them a once over, as to make sure they were all healthy enough for the upcoming journey ahead.
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They were. In fact a few were even a bit fat, and as such I knew would be eager to burn it off once hooked up to the wagons. Whoever had brought them here had known what they were doing, which told it likely had been Coin or soone like her.
Not far from was a barn. One that was honestly rather shoddy, having not been used to do much more than store tools and other things until recently. It did the job, but if they were going to actually use it to house horses or other livestock it would need so attention… but that wouldn't be needed since we were to be leaving in a few days.
It did though make wonder how they had co to be here, and who had been here before they had gotten here. Odds are only a few people had been living here before the group had arrived from the across the sea but… who had they been? This was not a place I had known about until now, and as such had never been here before. I was starting to realize that this was not anything new, but it was still a shock when it happened.
There had been mbers. All this ti… surviving without my aid. I was glad for it, in a way… since it was proof that it was even possible, but at the sa ti it was very alarming. Just how many have been lost over the years because of such secrecy, I wonder? We lost mbers even with all the precautions we could muster, so I could only imagine how many had been lost because of their locations and numbers being kept a secret from all the rest.
I knew deep down that if any of them had needed help, true help, they would have requested it… but at the sa ti I also knew how hard it was for such people who lived so separated from the rest of the Society to do so when the need called for it. Odds are these locations only got visitors, or sent correspondences, once only so many years. Decades maybe, even. That was a lot of ti for things to go wrong…
The horse I'd been brushing then glanced at , and did so with a rather obvious look. It seed there was no more food left in the trough, but I had no plans to give them any more. I had given them a little extra after their usual feeding as a way to gather them and check on them, any more than I'd already given them would be too much.
Patting the horse on the side, gently, I nodded. "You'll be fine. If anything you probably ate the most," I said. The other horses had only eaten for a short while and then had wandered off; only this one had remained and kept eating.
It huffed at , as if it understood, then turned and slowly walked away. I didn't care to stop it; they'd been letting them all free-range this whole ti and since none had seemingly even attempted to leave the area I knew there were no reason to worry about it. They were well trained. This place didn't even have one of those fake fences around it, the ones that basically only marked the boundaries and not much else. The type that animals, especially horses, usually paid zero heed to. Though it did seem there had once been a real fence around the property… not just surrounding it, but also sectioning it off into smaller parcels. Near where I stood now, not far from the barn, were wooden poles that had likely once been a fenced off area. One that had likely been for pigs or sothing similar, based off the way the grass in the area looked.
The place was annoying , though only because it was proof of my… well, if not their lack of trust in than at least my indifference and lack of paying attention. I should have known of this place. I should have known of all of them… if at least only distantly.
I an really, how long had they lived here? Even if just a few people, they had obviously needed so attention. The barn was a ss, the houses decrepit, the fields needed tending and had weeds… there were many days worth of work just on a glance, and that wasn't to ntion anything more serious such as a water-source or other important infrastructures.
By now I'd usually already be working on them. Hamring boards, cutting down trees or doing so other miscellaneous task… yet instead here I was, just simply waiting. Without much if nothing at all to do until we left. I couldn't even fix up the place just as a way to give sothing to do, since I'd been told they didn't want to . They intended to abandon this place, and as such didn't wish to waste resources or ti on it.
"Poor distractions…" I mumbled as I watched the horse walk over to another, one that was a hand or so bigger.
Sighing at myself, I glanced over to the only multi-floored building here. It looked a little old, but well kept… and I could sense Renn within it. As could I sense The Chancellor, or at least a saint. I figured it was her, based off the comnts by others I'd overheard, but honestly I didn't have confirmation yet. After all, the titles were inheritable.
Actually, when was the last ti anyone had inherited such titles…?
For a small mont I tried to rember, but seed to fall short of doing so. Which was odd… because I distinctly rembered it happening…
"Lost in thought are you?"
I ignored my mother's old friend for a long mont… and then turned to face her. Renka was sitting on a half broken fence-post, in such a way that defied reality. It was wobbly, broken and angled in a way that if she was actually sitting upon it then she would have promptly fell over or fallen off. Even with her smaller size.
"Now's not a good ti," I said simply.
Renka frowned at . "When's it ever?"
My eye twitched at that, since it was true. Especially when considering who and what she was… and who I was.
"Fine. What do you want? I'm busy," I asked.
"Busy doing mundane tasks, as always," she said with a glance at the trough I had just filled. It was empty now though.
"Maybe you'd have been rembered fondly and worshiped too if you were able to value such little things too," I said.
The many freckled god gave a glare. "I've never played god, Vim," she said, rather stiffly.
Had she not…? Maybe. "Your sister then?" I assud.
Renka's glare narrowed… and then softened a little. "Yes. She's who you likely are rembering," she said softly.
I see. "Had you two been twins?" I asked. They must have looked eerily similar. I'd always figured she had been dead, since I had torn her sister apart and seemingly had mistaken the two for each other.
"No, but we had looked similar enough to be mistaken as such."
"Hmph… so? What is it?" I asked, tired already of this conversation.
Renka didn't say anything… she just sat there, on that impossibly angled post, and stared at . For a small mont I waited to see or hear what she'd say or do, but then decided she was just testing my patience… which at first made want to snap and lose it, but I got over it quickly enough and cald down.
She wasn't here. Not really. She was projecting herself from afar, from elsewhere… and the longer I studied her the more proof I had of it.
There was a light breeze… and she wasn't being affected by it at all. Her hair had loose strands, ones long enough to be affected by even the light wind… and not once had I seen them move. And she wasn't protecting herself from the elents, at least as far as I could tell, so between that fact and her lack of weight on that rickety pole there was no doubt in my mind she wasn't here.
And as much pleasure as it would give to shatter her illusion, it'd do nothing to her physical body. All it'd do is break her spell, one she could recast with a flick of a wrist. Then she'd just smirk and make a snide comnt and then…
"You… did you just ignore ?"
I blinked, and realized I had. "I think I had, yes," I said.
"Not even going to apologize…?"
"Huh…? Why would I?" I asked. She looked offended.
Renka's freckles furrowed again. "You apologize to everyone else when they point it out," she noted.
"First off, stop so blatantly listening into our conversations. And secondly, the day I apologize to you or your kin is the day I burn in whatever hell I'm destined for. Actually, scratch that… I'll not do that then, either," I said, correcting myself.
The illusion sighed at . "Dealing with your wife is so much easier…"
"Speaking of that…" I was about to tell her to knock it off, that whatever she was attempting to gain by speaking to Renn was fruitless, but before I could my na was shouted at from behind.
I glared at Renka for a mont, who gave a small smirk… and then nodded as she faded away into a mist… and as she did, the fence post she'd been upon moved. It made a small creak of a sound as it shifted ever so slightly, and the back of my neck tightened as I realized what it ant.
She had not been an illusion at all…!
Furious over the missed opportunity, I shook my head and turned around, and watched Renn wave at from afar near the house. She was beckoning over for so reason, though it didn't look too urgent based off the smile I could see even from here.
"Even my distractions lately have been giving grief…" I grumbled… as I left behind the trough and the crooked post and all its taunting.
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