I know he had promised, yet still I sat on the edge of my seat.

Sitting a few feet behind Vim, I tried to ignore the sound of my tail and ears twitching and moving as I watched the man I loved glare at the woman I wanted to love too.

Elaine, being a saint in more than name, simply sat across from Vim in her own chair… smiling sweetly at him. Her glowing eyes had gone a little bright at the sight of him, upon their meeting, but they were now back to their slightly duller brightness. Like a moon that was hidden behind thin clouds.

We were alone in Elaine's house. Her daughter, Grenna, was outside with Cat. They were talking with hushed voices about me and Vim. They both had noticed Elaine's eyes grow bright at the mere sight of him, and he was now a heated topic.

I ignored their quiet gossip and wonder though, as I studied the way the man in question studied Elaine.

He was studying her as if she was a piece of metal to be forged. A leather strap to be fashioned. A block of wood to be shaped into a comb.

"I've heard of you, O' Great One," Elaine then spoke, for the first time since we met.

She had greeted and hugged me, but had done so strangely distantly. She had not been able to take her eyes off Vim the moment he had entered her vision. Supposedly, per Grenna and Cat's words, she had stood from the dining room table not long before we entered the village. She had stood mid-meal and stared wide-eyed at the nearby wall, as if stunned.

She had sensed our arrival. Though if she had sensed me, or Vim, was another question entirely.

I had thought Narli had said she couldn't see Vim. Or maybe she simply wasn't able to tell what he really was? Maybe they could see him, since even Vim admitted Celine had seen prophecies about him. Though he, and Lilly, claimed she had lied and manipulated those prophecies as to keep Vim close and control him.

"You'd do well to keep whatever you heard, or at least think you have heard, to yourself."

I sat up a little straighter at Vim's tone and choice of words. I was half tempted to stand up, as to step closer… just in case, as to put myself between him and her, but remained seated.

He had promised. He really had!

Elaine didn't look bothered at all. Especially not as much as I felt, as she tilted her head and studied Vim. "I'm told you killed my children. My Knight," she said, specifying.

"I had."

My ears fluttered at Vim's honesty. I really loved him for it, but I wished sometimes he wasn't so blunt with it!

When I and Cat had told her what had happened I had cried over it. He had just admitted to doing the deed without a blink of an eye! Where had that soft, gentle man go? The one I had just been walking and talking to? The one who had just opened his heart so dearly to me?

"I had heard it had been an accident. That it had bothered you so much, you had nearly wept. I'm starting to doubt these ears that hear only truth," Elaine said.

I gulped as Vim's frown deepened. He didn't glance at me, but I knew he likely wanted to.

He thought I had been the one to tell her such a thing, but in reality the culprit was outside. Still gossiping about him to Elaine's daughter. They were now talking about the way he had broke her hip.

"I'll admit I had felt bad… but more-so for myself than they," Vim said.

"Yourself?" the saint asked, just before I could.

Vim nodded and sighed, and then gestured towards me with a shrug of a shoulder. "She hasn't scorned me for it yet, but eventually she will. Regretfully not much can hurt or bother me anymore, but she has a distinct knack to know how to make me feel like a complete piece of shit when she wants to," he said.

I couldn't help but smile at that. I'd not really talked to him about what he'd done to the people Cat was with, except hearing his side of the story, but I knew better than to really fault or blame him for it. His strength was… unnatural. The kind that gave birth to such terrible accidents. And from what I'd been told, by him and Cat, was the situation had been rather peculiar. They had attacked Vim, and he had thought them involved with the fires at first. Just as they had thought him an enemy as well.

"Hm… She does seem to like the idea, by the looks of that smile," Elaine said, looking at me for the first time in a long while.

Shifting in my chair I grumbled. "Vim doesn't like killing people for no reason. I have no doubt had circumstances been just a little different, Vim would not have hurt them. And although he acts all indifferent… his actions afterward speak of his true self. He had cared for and delivered Cat to me, who was then able to bring her home here. Had he truly been evil I doubt he would have done such a thing," I said, giving my own opinion.

It was honestly the same one I had given her already. When I was here last time. But I had wanted to repeat it, word for word… and not just for her ears either.

"Hmph," Vim made one of his noises as he crossed his arms.

Elaine hummed at him, and me, and then she frowned and glanced at me. her eyes glowed brighter a bit for a moment, before settling back down into their dull natural color. "How strange," she mumbled.

"Hm…?" What? What'd she just see?

"I hear truth from you, Renn. Blatant truth. The same I hear from everyone, and anyone, else…" Elaine spoke gently, but had a serious tone hidden within it. She then glanced at Vim, her eyes growing brighter again. "So why do I not hear any at all from you?" she asked him.

Huh…? Was she saying Vim was lying?

I had such hard time believing that! Vim could, and would, lie if needed but this was not the time or place… and so far I'd not heard anything that implied such a thing at all!

"She means in general Renn, not that she's hearing me lie. She can't tell if I'm lying or not," Vim though said, before I could voice my own concerns.

"Huh!" I still made noise as I leaned forward, trying to understand.

Elaine nodded. "It's very strange. It's almost as if I'm not hearing a man speak at all, but something else… something…" she went quiet, and I noted the way her eyes grew brighter, and stayed brighter… almost as if she had just realized something dire.

"Many of your kind believe me to be a monarch," Vim said.

I nearly bit my tongue as I glanced at him.

"Yet you're not, are you?" Elaine asked with an odd voice. Was that awe…? Surely not, right?

"No. Tell me, what kind of monarch did you see? In the dream that caused you to send your people as to slay it?" Vim then asked, answering and ignoring her question all at once.

Elaine though still seemed calm, if now a little bothered, as she smiled at him. "Your wife warned me to not speak of prophecies to you."

I nodded, glad she remembered.

Vim ignored me, and her almost it seemed, as he uncrossed his arms and grabbed his right knee. As if it was stiff from the cold, and damp, but I knew that was impossible. "I don't want to hear them. But in this instance I need to know at least this. If you must know, I can and do bend my own rules when the lives of others are at stake. But as you noted, I did not ask what happened or how it happened. I don't want to know the past, or the future, just the reality. The things set in stone. Not the possibilities. I simply want to know what this creature appeared to look like. I don't even want to know what it was doing, just its appearance," Vim said.

Oh wow… I had not expected him to be so brunt, yet also so open too. Though I guess there was really no other way to ask about it. Even Lilly and I had asked in similar ways, though… we had heard the whole prophecy. Not just something like a description.

"What a wonderful loophole you've fashioned for yourself," Elaine though said, instead of answering.

"It is, isn't it?" I agreed happily.

Vim ignored the two of us as we smiled and nodded at each other, agreeing, and then Elaine looked back at him and opened her palms outward… then cupped them, as if to make a bowl.

"I saw a great circle. One of lights, that rose upward into the sky over the mountains and…" she began to tell him, and I was about to speak up and warn her, but Vim beat me to it.

"Wait!" Vim shouted as he stood, hurriedly.

I panicked too, standing up as my heart slammed up into my chest.

How would I stop him? Would covering her with my body work? He'd not hurt me, but…!

As I stepped forward, to latch onto Elaine in hopes of staying Vim's wrath, I went still as Vim did. He had stood, but hadn't stepped forward. The chair he had been sitting on had been knocked over from his quick motion, and it landed with a crunch.

I ignored the broken leg on the chair that rolled along the rug, and glared at Vim… who was staring strangely at saint Elaine.

Was… was that fear?

"Vim…?" I whispered worriedly, unsure what to say or do. Elaine thankfully hadn't seemed too distressed by his actions or outburst, but I knew it was likely simply because of how old she were. It wasn't like she'd be able to escape even if she tried.

A few heavy moments followed, and I felt my stiff shoulders creak as I glanced between Elaine and Vim. The two were staring into each other's eyes, and there was no doubt both of them were bothered. Her eyes were glowing brighter than ever before, and Vim looked almost as if he was in pain.

Was she doing something to him…? Or at least trying to? Surely not, right?

"Explain the lights," Vim then said.

My eyes narrowed at his cold tone. He had just given an order. One I hoped Elaine didn't scoff or laugh off, considering how serious it had sounded.

"Well… I don't really know how," Elaine started speaking, and strangely did so calmly. As if she couldn't see the bundle of tension a few feet from her. "I felt like I was staring down upon the world, like a bird on the wing. Then down below, amongst the great expanse of forests and mountains, I saw a huge wheel. A wheel of light. The world I had seen had been one of dusk, the type of dull light from the end of a day, and this wheel of light lit up the world beyond even the greatest summer sun," Elaine though went ahead and tried to anyway.

Shifting on a heel, I frowned as I listened in awe. She had told Lilly and I she had seen a bright light, before the birth of this monarch, but had not described it like this.

"The wheel of light then begun to spin. It spun around, while rising up into the air towards me, and as it did it spun faster and faster. Then from the center of the wheel of light, once it was high in the sky, a ball of blue flame fell to the world below. The wheel of light then shattered, like lots of tiny pieces of glass, and fell upon the world as if snow… and moments later the whole forest erupted into a blaze. The fires roared and grew, unquenched by the snow falling upon it, and without any sense of normalcy spread far beyond the limits of sight… covering the whole world without warning," Elaine said, eventually ending her explanation with a similar one she had given Lilly and I.

That ball of flame, the blue one, was supposedly the creature she had spoken of. The monarch, as Vim called them.

Although it had all happened quickly to her, she believed it had taken days if not weeks and months. She had believed if her people, her knight, had been able to find that ball of flame before it grew they would have been able to destroy it. Before it had burnt down the whole world.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Elaine huffed as she nodded, finishing. "Then right before I woke, I heard a great sound. One that at the time I hadn't recognized, but upon waking and hearing a rooster cawing at the morning sun, I recognized it. I believe the being of fire to be a giant chicken, or something like it, though I hadn't actually seen it other than its fire," Elaine finished telling him of the prophecy.

A prophecy told in full. Even though he had originally asked for only the description of the monarch.

But he hadn't stopped her. He had even asked her to describe the light.

Stepping forward, I didn't outright put myself between him and her, but I did draw close enough that I could do so in a moment's notice if needed. I stood a little to Vim's right, and Elaine's left, as I studied the man who looked suddenly lost.

His left eye was half closed, and his right was strained… as if he wanted to close it but couldn't. He looked similar to how some men got when really drunk, as if he was about to start tumbling around without control of his legs.

"Vim…?"

His eyes twitched and he returned to normal, and right as he did things broke again.

I flinched as two loud snaps filled the room, and I panicked for a brief moment as I hurriedly looked to Elaine.

She was fine. He hadn't hurt her, or killed her, in the blink of an eye as he had done Tim.

So what had he broken…?

"Fascinating," Elaine whispered as I found what he'd snapped. It had been the floorboards, beneath his feet.

Three, maybe four, were now broken and snapped. We were standing on a rug, so it was hard to see them, but I could see the indents beneath him and the rug was being pushed up in several places.

"Vim… don't keep breaking their home, it's rude," I said worriedly. Hopefully he'd fix it all for them before we left!

"I'm sorry…" Vim whispered an apology, but I could tell it had been for my ears not hers. He hadn't spoken loud enough for Elaine, a human, to hear.

"It is quite alright. I see though, now, this is how you killed Brave… this strength," Elaine spoke calmly, as usual, and I watched as she frowned and studied Vim's feet. His left foot was now half sunken into the floor. He really should lift it and move it, less he rips and breaks the rug he stood on.

"Vim, don't ruin their rug too," I warned him.

He shifted without a word, and stepped back a step… away from both Elaine and myself. The floor creaked a little as he did, but didn't snap or break anymore. The creaking may not be from his strange abilities but just the simple fact it was now broken nearby, and the rest of the floor was strained.

"How utterly wrong of you… How do you touch any of us without destroying us?" Elaine then asked him.

"Very carefully…" Vim answered with the same soft whisper.

"I bet… while you're startled, I'd like to ask you to not touch any of the rest of my furniture if you'd be so kind. Their loss is of no greatness, but our little village can't make such things so readily," Elaine asked of him.

I nodded alongside Vim, agreeing with her.

"He can help fix what he's broken, he's good at that," I offered for him. He seemed docile enough that I didn't think he'd find it offensive, for now at least.

In fact he simply nodded at my words.

"Well, living so long and breaking things so often would eventually grant you mastery over such crafts, I'm sure," Elaine said with a small chuckle.

Oh!

I blinked and felt oddly silly as I realized that was likely it. That was why he was so good at making stuff! It was because he was always breaking them!

Vim sighed, reached up to rub his face, and then once finished he stood up straighter and seemed… back to normal. Almost.

"Really Vim… Lilly and I had told you what she had said," I told him.

"You had not described it so perfectly," he said.

"We hadn't, but she hadn't really gone into that level of detail either," I defended all of us against his strange tone. Was he tired or annoyed? It sounded like a mix of both. For a few moments I studied him, but eventually realized something really was wrong. "What's wrong Vim…?" I asked. Something he had heard had obviously disturbed him, greatly.

"You are not upset that my prophecy had been a real one… nor are you upset over the type of creature I had seen, or the fires it terrorizes the world with… you became like this over those lights," Elaine said, noting.

I nodded. He had. He had shot up to his feet before she had even mentioned the fires, or the monarch.

"Have you had any similar dreams?" Vim asked, and I didn't like how I still couldn't hear any surety in his voice. Not like his usual self.

Vim always sounded calm. Sure of himself. Even when we were flirting, and he got all adorable and unsure of himself he still had a firm voice. It didn't crack or break, even when he hesitated. Yet here and now, he looked… and seemed, almost like a different man.

I'd not seen him like this before. It was as if he was now a Lughes, or a Windle, almost. Someone who would flinch and shy away at a loud noise.

"Recently I've only seen more dreams of the fires. I see them overtaking more places, more forests and lands… endlessly. But other than those dreams, those I'd consider prophecies have been simple. A nearby lake will flood during winter, a village nearby will suffer a terrible incident of violence…" Elaine slowly shook her head as she shrugged, implying she had not seen anything like it lately.

"And how about before? In your youth maybe?" Vim asked further.

"No. I've seen dreams of great creatures before, but they never come again and again like these fires. I once dreamt of a huge snake swallowing a giant bear, when I was but a child, but that dream never told me what I needed to do or why… and it never returned or showed itself again since," Elaine said.

Vim smirked at that.

Oh? He recognized that. Would he be bothered if I asked about it right now, or should I wait until later?

Elaine must not have noticed his smirk for she shrugged again. "Really the world has been quiet… as usually it is for me. I rarely get dreams of great importance or note, if you don't view the lives of the few humans around me importance enough," she said.

"You'd call the whole world being set aflame quiet?" I asked, smiling softly at her.

"It won't burn. The dreams I see are possibilities, yes, but not guaranteed outcomes. I expect many to suffer, many to burn from them, but I highly doubt those fires will genuinely engulf the world. Especially now that I've seen him. I'm much more confident now," Elaine said with a small gesture to Vim.

"Hm…? Just by looking at him you can tell he's going to handle it?" I asked, a little happy to hear such a thing. Maybe she had seen him dealing with the fires?

"Well, no. But I've heard of him. The Great One. Now that I've confirmed he really exists, I no longer need to worry too desperately and…" Elaine started to explain, but Vim sighed and stepped forward.

"Hey…!" I warned him as he approached Elaine. I stepped up next to him, staying with him, as he neared her.

Glaring at him, I studied his expression as he stopped in front of her. I didn't see any blood-lust or anger on his face, but I did see the exhaustion… the annoyance. There was a chance, even if I didn't want to believe it.

"My name is Vim. The Society's Protector," he introduced himself.

"Yes. So I've been told," Elaine nodded up at him, staying seated.

"I cannot invite you to the Society. Though… not because you are unworthy," Vim started as he glanced at me. I perked up as he continued, "But rather, instead, the opposite," he added.

"Vim?" I asked what he meant as he looked away from me and then knelt.

A little stunned, I hesitated as Vim kneeled in front of Elaine. She smiled at him, her eyes growing brighter as he stared into her eyes. With him kneeling, he was just a tad shorter than she, but now she didn't have to look up at him as he stood.

"Regretfully the Society is at ends with itself. There is internal conflict… a type that hasn't been seen in hundreds of years. One that just started, and may not end for many hundreds of years more… or at least not until the Society is destroyed," Vim told her.

"Then I do not wish to join it. I and my people are simple folk, Vim. We would not do well in such chaos, we would only suffer," Elaine said calmly.

He nodded, as I did too. I agreed fully there.

"I agree… but, all the same, I'd like to extend a branch to you. If you'd be willing to accept," he offered.

Oh…? Maybe I really hadn't needed to worry at all!

"What kind of branch?" Elaine asked, smiling gently as she did. Seemed she was as amused as I was.

"One of friendship. Friendship that comes with certain perks, and support, you'd never find elsewhere," he said.

Elaine chuckled and gestured to me. "I already have the friendship of your wife. She is my ancestor's sister. I could even claim family bonds if I wished to," she said, smirking as she did. Was she teasing me, and him, or was she trying to make a statement?

"Yes. You do, and can, claim her. She claims you, or at least she'd like to, anyway," Vim said with a small smirk of his own.

"So…?" Elaine asked, telling him to hurry up and tell her what he meant then.

He nodded as he reached out. She seemed to know what he wanted, and as such lifted her hand. He took it, gently, and cupped it as if she was the frailest thing in the world.

"I've taken your knight. I've taken Renn from you, who would have otherwise been your knight in any other scenario… so what I offer is simple. I cannot place you above the Society, but I can place you in my heart alongside her. From now on, whenever you have such prophecies… whenever you need to send someone to handle such chaos, do not send your people. Do not send Renn. Send me," he asked of her.

I shifted as my eyes shivered.

"Vim…" I whispered as I reached out and grabbed onto his shoulder. Both to keep myself from going weak in the legs, and also to let him know how deeply his words just now had affected me.

Had he been planning this the whole time? Really?

"You're offering to be our knight," Elaine said as she understood.

"I'm already hers. So she sending me off to aid you should not be that much of a shock," Vim said.

I sniffed as I nodded. Yes. That made perfect sense.

Elaine studied him for a moment, and then reached out with her other hand. She cupped her and his hand with the other, and I heard her frail old bones creak as she squeezed. "You really would do this, wouldn't you?" she asked.

"It was what I was made for," he said simply.

I squeezed his shoulder myself, noting the words he had just used. He had said similar before.

So it wasn't just a thing he believed in, was it?

He was being serious when he said such a thing.

"I've known many like you. I know your fates. I know how some of you fight them, and how some of you accept them. I also know the way the world tries to call out to you. What I offer, what I ask, is that when it does… you let me face it with you. I am very adept at handling such situations. And, alongside my assistance concerning these prophecies, I can also aid your people in more natural ways too. I can tell your village likely doesn't need much, being who you are, but if you ever find yourselves needing food, resources, or aid in more simple forms I can offer all of that as well. Renn wouldn't like it much if you all froze in the winter, or starved to death, anyway," Vim said.

"I wouldn't," I said.

Elaine sighed. "It almost feels like you're trying to feed me a poisoned apple."

I smirked at that. "Hear that Vim? You're more trouble than you're worth."

He huffed. "The only real downside to my assistance is that I travel so much. I may only visit once every few years, depending on need. I can give you ways to contact me, when in dire need, but it won't happen quickly. I have many duties," Vim said, honestly.

I nodded.

"I see. A problem of age. You suffer it too, Renn, we all know the stories," Elaine said with a sad smile. I shifted and tried not to start crying again. Why'd such a simple fact hurt so bad? "All the same… I accept your help in facing those monsters any day, Vim. I'd almost be willing to pay any price, if not for me and my own people but the whole world. We have a duty to stop such disasters," Elaine said, agreeing to accept Vim's offer.

He scoffed as he slowly stood, yet she still held his hand. "The only payment you need offer is your continued friendship with Renn. As I'm sure you know, or can see, she's a frail thing. Sometimes we need to force her to sit and enjoy life's simpler pleasures," Vim said to Elaine.

"Huh?"

Elaine chuckled as she nodded. "Yes. The poor girl wishes to stay and ask so many questions, but keeps them all in. I can only imagine what it's like for you, being her husband," she said.

"Hey," I wanted to complain about them talking about me in such a way, but couldn't help but smile all the same.

Vim chuckled, but then realized something. "Oh. Actually there is something I guess you could use to pay me, if you want," he then said.

"Hm?" Elaine and I both tilted our heads at him.

He smiled at her for a moment, and then glanced at me… and for the tiniest moment I felt warm. Happy. As if nothing was wrong with the world.

"I'd like to build a home. Here. If you're okay with it, too, of course," he said to me.

My heart skipped a beat as I stared into his eyes, and I almost didn't notice Elaine stand from her chair. She glanced at me, and with a strangely foggy head I heard her laugh.

"You wish for us to be a safe haven. For her," Elaine then said, speaking as if she saw something she shouldn't.

I gulped as I glanced at her, and found her staring at me too. Her eyes were glowing again.

"Keep proving why I hate your kind and you'll learn to regret it," Vim warned.

Elaine scoffed. "Such threats won't work anymore. She's now an official family member. Welcome Rennalee, as you always have and always will be. With warm and open arms," Elaine said as she reached over to grab my hand.

I barely registered anything as Elaine pulled me into a hug. I felt… strangely empty for a moment, of thoughts and emotions, as Elaine hugged me and I stared over her shoulder at Vim.

He had a sad smile on his face… and I knew it was because he was happy, but not.

He wanted me to have a home. All this time. Yet now that I had one… well…

While Elaine hugged me, he reached out. I reached out to grab his hand, and I squeezed it with all the warmth I could summon… as I returned Elaine's hug.

I felt like I wanted to cry, but instead all I could do was smile.

This explained his strangeness the last few weeks.

All those conversations.

He'd been planning for this.

When I had been worrying about what he'd say, or do, he instead had already decided.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded at him… thanking him.

For more than he knew.

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