Little Root grabbed at my finger, cooing gently as she tried to pull it to her mouth as to gnaw on it.

  “I’m surprised, Vim,” Windle said from behind me.

  “About how such adorable things can come from you? Yes. Me too,” I said as I let the girl go about chewing on my finger. Her teeth were surprisingly a little sharp, but not to the point they’d be puncturing my skin.

  Windle laughed as I turned away from the window, to look at the owl sitting at his desk. He had been reading a letter from Porka that I had just delivered. I saw the other letters, that Renn had brought with her, on his desk too. Most notably was the one from Randle. It was still lying on top of the pile, telling me that Windle had likely kept grabbing it as to re-read it.

  He was a worrywart. A coward. So it wasn’t surprising he’d stress over Randle’s request.

  “Rather Vim, what I’m surprised about is the fact you’re being so calm,” he said.

  “Calm…?” What’d he mean…? Was there a reason I shouldn’t be?

  Fly was asleep. Windle was fine. His newborn baby in my arms, safe as can be, and happily chewing on my finger. What was wrong? What was so desperate that I needed to panic over?

  “Usually by now you’d rush away, to go join Lilly on her quest. I had figured what with their task, and the presence of your newfound wife, you’d be a little more… well…” Windle slightly gestured at me, as if unsure how to properly phrase the words in his heart.

  “You figured I’d worry over their safety,” I said as I understood.

  “Well… yes,” Windle nodded with a frown.

  I frowned back at him. “I do. They’ve ventured out into this world to search out, and possibly confront, a saint. A human one, with no allegiances to us. So yes, I do worry for them… but…” I stepped away from the window and went to sit into the chair in front of Windle’s desk. The young owl in my arms didn’t even notice her father as she continued to gnaw on my finger, with some rather harsh bites too. She wasn’t just gnawing on it; she was actually trying to chew it as to eat it.

  “But?”

  “But if I can’t trust and rely on those two… who can I?” I finished answering him.

  Windle blinked at me and then slowly smiled. “Lilly would have loved to hear that.”

  “She’s become sentimental again has she?” I asked with a small glance to the likely reason why. Root was now trying to turn my hand, as to bite not my fingertip but the middle of the finger. At the middle joint. I moved it enough to allow her to do so.

  “I feel it’s a combination. Lilly’s temperament hasn’t just changed because of Root, but the recent events,” he said.

  “Recent events?” I asked. Had something happened…? As far as I was aware, from what he’s told me and what I’ve heard from Porka and the rest, the Owl’s Nest has been relatively calm and quiet.

  “Renn. She likes her. Though I still don’t know if she likes Renn because of she herself, or because she’s yours,” Windle said with a frown.

  “Likely both.”

  He smiled and nodded, agreeing with me.

  “Also… I do plan to leave shortly. Likely here in a few hours. Lilly and Renn are stronger, and smarter, than most of our people… if not all of them… but I still worry. I always worry,” I said.

  Windle nodded as he tapped a letter on his desk. One of his own, that he had likely recently written. “I’ve requested my children to return home. If you encounter them on your ventures before my letters reach them, please inform them,” he said.

  “To meet Root?” I asked as the one in question started to slow in her chewing. A glance down at her told me she was slowly falling asleep. It was late. She had been asleep when Fly and I arrived, since we had arrived in the middle of the night. But Windle had wanted her to meet me, so had woken her. Even though I had argued against it, I’m still glad he had done so. It wasn’t often I got to meet something so precious, let alone hold it in my arms.

  “Rather to speak to them of the world they’ve seen. To hear of its current state,” Windle said.

  Watching the young girl slowly drift into slumber, her chewing coming to a complete stop, I nodded. “You mean the Society,” I noted.

  Windle sighed. “Yes. This vote… it’s…”

  “Not something we need to worry about just yet,” I pointed out.

  “Says you Vim. It’s to be held in a little over a year, and Randle himself has asked my wife for help. For support against his own people. I think I need to worry about this, right now, a lot,” Windle argued.

  Well… “Yes, but…”

  “I regret to inform you Vim the time to address this isn’t now, or in the future, but in the past. Decades ago, even,” Windle said without hesitation.

  I shifted a little in my chair, but made sure not to break it or cause issues. Root had fallen asleep so I was being careful. “That is very likely Windle… But if that’s the case then nothing I do or say now will change the result,” I said.

  Windle simply stared at me, and in his huge eyes I saw the truth. He was judging me at the moment, and likely not in a good way.

  I held his gaze, but only because I deserved it. He wasn’t wrong. He really wasn’t. But I had my own rules. And I had rules I had agreed to follow, per Celine’s contract.

  He then sighed and looked away. “What do you plan to do with the young bird?” he then asked, changing the topic.

  “She’s no owl.”

  “No. But she is a bird. And a like-minded individual as far as I can tell, and from what you’ve said. She reminds me of Leaf,” he said.

  I blinked at the mention of his firstborn. It was very rare that he spoke of her anymore.

  It seemed Lilly wasn’t the only one who had become more gentle and sentimental. Maybe it was just their age. They were getting old, even if they still didn’t look it.

  “You’re right. She does act like her… though she’s not as strong. Fly is weak. Fragile,” I said, hoping to remind him that even if similar… they weren’t the same.

  Leaf had inherited not just her mother’s wings or temperament, but her strength. Fly may not be as timid or weak-willed as most birds, like Windle, but she was a far cry from Lilly.

  “A better reason to leave her here, Vim,” Windle though said.

  Wiping my wet finger on my thigh, I nodded. “I’ll be honest… I had hoped you and Lilly would be willing to accept her here,” I admitted.

  “Of course we’ll need to see what Lilly thinks, Vim. But for now let’s just consider this her home, at least a temporary one. I don’t see why Lilly wouldn’t allow it, but well… you know her,” Windle said quickly, realizing he was about to make a decision he couldn’t.

  Lilly didn’t just wear the pants in this family, she ruled the roost. Windle sometimes forgot that.

  “I plan to send your wife home the moment I go find them,” I said gently.

  Windle sighed at me as he reached over and grabbed the letter from Randle. “Regretfully your failures have forced other’s hands, Vim. I must admit I’m glad people are finally picking up the slack, and taking matters into their own hands after all these years… but I worry the outcomes and the reasons for doing so,” Windle said as he waved Randle’s letter in the air as if it was an annoying pest.

  “All I know is he’s stuck between his loyalty and his own beliefs. He’s come to realize the Chronicler and her ilk are not acting in the best interest of the Society, or the religion they founded and support. I… fear he’s not wrong in seeking help, but I…” I hesitated, and went quiet as I realized I was about to vocalize my own opinion. One that would have inevitably caused problems.

  Windle noticed, of course, and his eyes narrowed at me. “He’s basically asking us to go to war,” he said softly.

  Root suddenly felt very heavy. As if I was holding a mountain. She didn’t budge, nor did I, and I knew Windle had not noticed anything… but I had.

  “Yes. He is,” I whispered as I held Windle’s eyes.

  “Sides are being chosen Vim. This vote is forcing us to. Do you not see these letters, Vim?” Windle asked as he placed Randle’s letter down and gestured at the dozens covering his desk. I nodded slowly as he reached over and grabbed another. “Lines are being drawn in the sand. Branches and trees are being scouted, and marks are being made,” he continued as he held up a light blue letter.

  “Merit…?” I asked softly, shocked to see it.

  “These are those asking similar requests to Lilly and I. A few are asking us to keep out of it, basically asking us to not take sides and to sit the vote out,” he said as he dropped Merit’s letter and picked up another. A normal, bland, gray one. I didn’t recognize it.

  My eyes shifted as I tried to scan the desk. To tell who had sent a letter and who hadn’t. I recognized a few, but most were foreign to me. Maybe some had simply sent letters with whatever they had? Usually we tried to give everyone their own color, their own style or design, so even if the letter is blank and empty we still knew who sent it and why.

  “Ah… how amusing.”

  I stopped looking at the desk and looked back up at Windle. He had a smirk on his face, and I realized I had just been caught.

  “You’re normally not so interested. Maybe your personal life will finally make you not so distant and indifferent to the struggles of us lesser-creatures,” Windle said with his smirk.

  “Windle…” I tried to warn him, and myself, but he didn’t seem to care. For a timid bird he suddenly looked very overconfident, and justly so.

  “Merit asked Lilly to keep Renn safe. She says she sees the upcoming chaos within the Society, and begs us to always keep our branches available for her to rest under if she needs such safety,” Windle then said.

  Humbled by Merit’s affection, I nodded slowly. Merit and Lilly have known each other for a very long time. In fact Lilly had been there when we had found Merit, and met her. The two have always been a strange mix of friends and enemies, acting like sisters, so it was very heartwarming to know even after all these years and all the chaos… Merit still trusted Lilly to that extent. That she was still someone with that level of worth and value, at least in Merit’s eyes.

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  “Honestly we were surprised. We’ve always gotten letters Vim. Even if outcasts, and even if we’re hated, we’ve always been included and or used as an outside source of insight. I can’t even count how many times Lilly or I have been used as a third party to alleviate issues in the Society, since we’re seen as not a part of any singular group or cluster. But usually the letters aren’t directed to her but through me. Most are too scared of my wife to reach outright to her, typically,” Windle said with a happy smile. He seemed to be enjoying the fact his wife was now being bombarded with letters. Even if it was for the wrong reasons. “Though, as worrying some of them are… some are wonderful and heartwarming too,” Windle said as he picked up another letter. This time it was a recognizable dull gray. The ones that came from the smithy. Likely was Nebl’s letter.

  “Nebl’s no poet,” I said.

  Windle scoffed a laugh. “No. He isn’t. But because of that when he does speak of lovely things, it feels all the more… real,” Windle said as he thought of a proper way to explain it.

  I understood his meaning, of course. I wasn’t sure what Nebl had said in his letter, but odds are it had been something a little personal. Maybe about the vote, or himself. Maybe he was telling the owls of his recent experience with death. It would explain Windle’s gentle smile at the moment, at least.

  “I’ve enjoyed reading about the two of you. It’s been a very interesting story. Though it was funny when I’d get a letter that was late, detailing your relationship only for its preceding letter to have expanded on it in greater detail,” Windle said with a smirk.

  Oh.

  I looked away from Windle and his stupid desk of letters.

  Seriously? Gossip? So most of those letters weren’t about the vote, or the upcoming rift in the Society and instead Renn and myself? Our relationship?

  Ridiculous. Maybe the Society should fall apart. Or, from another perspective, maybe the vote and the issues in the Society aren't as dire if our romance was more important than actual problems, and keeping people's attention so desperately.

  Windle chuckled, rather loudly. Little Root shifted, though didn’t wake at her father’s noises.

  “I want you to know most of them didn’t think you’d accept her. Several pointed out how odd the two of you were, but at first figured it was because she was annoying you. Sticking around you longer than you wanted, and you being the man you are not willing or able to just toss her away. Though one person did notice first, out of all of them, that you’d likely succumb to her,” Windle continued to tease me as he put Nebl’s letter down and leaned forward onto his desk, resting his arms upon it as to grin at me.

  “I’ll play along. Who?” I asked.

  “My wife, of course.”

  I frowned at him. Lilly…? She had only known Renn for a day or so. When Renn had been banished from Ruvindale, she had shown up here in search of me. Lilly had guided her out of the forest and to Twin Hills, since that was where I’d been at the time.

  Back then was the beginning. In fact it was far before… “You’re kidding,” I said as I tried to imagine how she had known. Had Lilly and Renn really even spent much time together? Knowing Lilly she had likely escorted Renn to me without even saying much.

  “Not at all. She returned home after she took Renn to you that day and told me if you didn’t kill her you’d end up sleeping with her. Though… maybe that’s not the same, is it?” Windle then realized it himself as he frowned and blinked a few times, pondering it.

  I sighed at him. Right. Lilly likely had said just that. That wasn’t Lilly saying I’d marry the woman, though.

  “Oh well. All that said I’m happy for you,” Windle said.

  “More like you’re just happy you can now tease me back,” I said.

  His grin widened greatly, and his head lifted a little. His long neck became longer, impossibly long for a normal body, as he chuckled. “Oh it hasn’t even begun,” he threatened.

  Great.

  I sighed as the wind outside picked up a bit. It seemed a storm was not just on the way, but had arrived. I could smell it in the air.

  It’d not be long until these storms went from rain to snow. Not long at all. A month or so maybe?

  Some moments passed as I stared out the nearby window. I was watching the little droplets of rain falling upon it. For a short time only one or two hit every so often and then eventually more and more raindrops fell. It didn’t take long the rain to pick up, making the world a little noisier.

  Renn liked the rain. Though, like most non-humans with acute senses, didn’t care much for the loud thunder or roars of the wind during such storms.

  Hopefully she was warm, wherever she was. Even if she could endure the cold and damp, I knew how uncomfortable it made her.

  “You know… Vim,” Windle spoke up, breaking what had been a growing silence. I looked away from the rain-covered window and found him giving me an odd look.

  “Hm?”

  “Renn. She’s older than she looks,” he said.

  I frowned at him and nodded. “Yes. She’s a few hundred years old, at least,” I said.

  “Seems more than that, in my opinion,” he said.

  I shrugged lightly. So? What were a few hundred years? After a certain age people pretty much… settled into who and what they were, in my experience.

  “When she was here. She held Root,” Windle said with a small point at us.

  Glancing down at the girl, confirming she was still asleep, I went ahead and nodded. “I figured,” I said. Odds are she had even cried while holding the girl. Renn was not a timid creature, like Windle, but she shared their sentimentalities. She was soft when it came to such things.

  Windle coughed and shifted a little in his chair. “Well… I mean…”

  “What? Did she drop her or something?” I asked, wondering what was wrong. I doubted that was the thing he was getting ready to tell me, but the odd heavy air made a light joke feel like it was needed.

  He smiled and shook his head. “No, Vim… she had wept.”

  Ah… “Yes. I figured. Renn has a soft spot for children. Or well… anyone she deems pitiable. Women and children are very high on that list for her, regretfully,” I said.

  “I’ve no doubt of that… but I more so meant… well…” Windle shifted again and it made me sigh.

  “What is it Windle? Out with it.”

  “Root is the first,” he answered quickly, revealing whatever had been worrying him.

  The first…?

  First what? “First?” I asked.

  “Baby.”

  I slowly shook my head, to tell him he was not making sense. Not too long ago she had held another baby, back south at the Nation of Stone. Yet as I thought of those moments… I rather quickly realized what he meant.

  “First non-human,” I whispered.

  He nodded without saying a word.

  I leaned back a little as I scoured my memories. I wasn’t as capable of doing it as Renn, of course, but most things concerning her came quickly to me. I remembered what she’d said during those days with that boy. I remembered some of the conversations afterward, and a few we’ve had in private since.

  “Root’s the first of us she’s ever held,” I said as I understood fully.

  “So it seems,” Windle said gently.

  I gulped at the severity of such a fact. It made me shiver, as if suddenly cold.

  Renn. Rennalee.

  Several hundreds of years old. A fierce protector and advocate of those downtrodden. Women. Children. And yet…

  She’s never held one of us.

  Human children? Probably have held several. But… I mean…

  Quickly I scoured my memories of our travels. All the places we’d visited. The people we saw.

  Surely at least one of them had a child? A newborn? Right?

  Hadn’t Pram been pregnant? So had Porka. And what about at the Weaver’s Hut? They always had kids running around and being popped out all the time…

  Or the Summit? What about there? They were guinea pigs for crying out loud! They multiplied like rabbits!

  Yet…

  “Vim?” Windle broke my train of thought, but not in a good way. I flinched and nodded.

  “It’s very likely that Root is the first non-human baby she’s ever held, or even met, yes,” I admitted to both him and myself.

  Windle was silent for a moment, but I didn’t care about his stare and the obvious gears turning in his head. I instead tried again to search my memories for another answer.

  Lumen. The Armadillos maybe? What about Tor’s village…?

  Yet no matter how much I searched my mind for another answer, I had no choice but admit the cruel truth.

  Somehow, through all of our stops… Renn had somehow missed out on some of the greater moments the Society had to offer.

  Instead of finding happiness, joy and new life, full of hope and wonder… she found chaos and pain. Discord. Drama.

  Ruvindale. Lumen. Bell Church. Our trip south had been no better. Then our more recent locations had been not just difficult, emotionally, but even physically.

  In fact lately Renn and I haven’t even been together. We’d been separated a lot lately, and when together we were forced to spend time on other things than each other. While in Telmik the few moments we had got to ourselves had been full of conversations about the Society, the world and its issues within it.

  “May I ask why you’re so troubled, Vim?” Windle asked with an odd tone.

  “I’m just realizing, again, how I’m always making mistakes,” I said.

  “What…? By not having her hold a baby sooner? Or more often? As much as I’d like to see your children Vim, I have to admit I don’t know if the world is ready for a bunch of little Vim’s running around just yet,” Windle said with a small chuckle.

  Glancing at him, I wondered if I should take offense or not. “Don’t you get started too,” I warned him.

  “Oh but I will. Don’t think I’ve forgotten all the times you and Lilly have teased and hidden stuff from me through the years. It’s time I got to return the favor!” he said excitedly.

  I huffed at him and decided it was time to go. The storm had fully arrived, so it would be the perfect time to leave. I liked running in such thunderstorms.

  Plus it’d cool my head, maybe. If I was lucky.

  Standing up, I made Windle startle at my sudden movement. He calmed down though as he understood and stood up as well. He stepped around his desk, and I looked down to the sleeping girl one last time.

  She really did look like Lilly. Wings and all.

  From what I could tell she’d take after her mother in more than just looks. She had sharp teeth. Was strong. Too strong for a baby, even. To the point that we’d have to be careful, or at least Windle and the rest will. A few of their children had hurt Windle as they grew up, before they had grown able to control their strength.

  Fly would be an issue too. If she stayed here. I’m sure Windle and Lilly will keep an eye on them, but it wouldn’t hurt to remind them.

  But more importantly…

  Windle in the corner of my eye shifted, and I knew he was patiently waiting for his baby. He knew I had meant to hand her off to him, yet here I was… staring at her as if falling in love.

  “I’ve endangered her, Windle. I’ve created a world where she’ll not be safe, a world that is already dangerous as is,” I said gently.

  Windle remained quiet, and I nodded as I reached over to gently touch the young girl’s cheek. She slept through my touch, which I was slightly thankful for, yet I wasn’t sure why I was thankful for such a thing.

  I felt as if I wanted to apologize to her. For putting her, and her family, in such a predicament.

  And it was only going to get worse… if I did what I knew I should do.

  “It’s not entirely your fault Vim,” Windle said.

  I nodded and smiled at Lilly’s husband. Ever the gentle soul. “Thanks for saying that Windle… even if you know it’s a lie,” I said.

  He smiled back at me. “I hadn’t lied Vim. You have many faults, and have failed in many ways… but I do not believe this is all your fault. I really don’t,” he said.

  Hmph. “You still have no backbone. So here, take one,” I said as I held his daughter out.

  He sighed, but smiled and chuckled he reached out for her.

  Handing Windle his daughter, I noted the way he basically melted upon her touch. His eyes became glossy, his smile softened to the point he looked like he was about to cry, and he released a strangely soft sigh. As if he had just become fully content and all was right in the world.

  Although a timid man… he was a good father. A great one.

  And a good husband. I don’t think most people realized how much his loyalty, and his affection and love, for Lilly meant. He was a timid man, barely able to look at his own shadow… yet he stood side-by-side with Lilly. A woman always wrapped up in chaos and danger. He may not go into battle with her, but he supported her through it all the same.

  It took a great man to sacrifice, and endure, all he did to stand by a wife such as her. To take care of his children, Lilly’s children on top of it, only made him all the more unique.

  Hopefully I could be as good a husband as he one day.

  “Choose a side Vim. You usually don’t… but that’s what got us all into this mess,” Windle said gently as he stared down at his daughter, not even glancing at me.

  Windle had indeed found his spine. Good for him.

  I shifted a bit, but knew better than to ignore his statement. It was the same thing Randle had been saying, before I left Telmik, but… coming from Windle it sounded more sincere.

  Randle’s been saying it his whole life. This might be the first time Windle’s ever said it to me, aloud at least.

  Talk about weight in ones words.

  Such a heartfelt statement deserved an honest answer. Or at least, a real one.

  “Well… to be honest Windle… Whether I like it or not,” I started to say, but paused as Windle looked up from his daughter.

  He stared at me with his huge eyes, and then slowly nodded as a wry smile grew on his face. “Yes. Odds are your wife will choose one for you. Welcome to my world.”

  Hmph.

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