Sneaking down the hallway, I reached the front door of the house and made sure to open it as quietly as possible.

Luckily the door was well made, and I was able to escape the house without drawing any attention to myself. I sighed in relief as I stepped away from the building and out into the cold night.

I could smell rain in the air, but right now the world was calm. Not only wasn't it raining, there wasn't much wind either. We were a little high up, being halfway up a mountain, but not so high that the incoming rain I smelled would turn into snow.

There were half a dozen buildings here, but the Cloth family lived in only one. The large three storied building was reminiscent of many of the larger buildings many of our members lived in, with the only real difference being the grounds here had a large wall around it. One made of some kind of clay or stone. It was taller than even Vim, and completely encircled the whole area, not just the buildings but a large section of farmland too.

I wasn't really sure why they needed a wall, or why they were called the cloth family when they didn't deal with cloth at all, but what I did know for sure… was Sivra would be staying here.

Vim had thankfully helped convince her to come meet them. Sivra had done so as to apologize, so she could properly move on without causing any undue stress in the Society, yet…

Giggling happily as I remembered Sivra's brightly red face just now, as she ate snacks with the young man who had been just as nervous and embarrassed, I couldn't help but let my tail and ears wiggle happily.

How adorable! The man, like most of the family members here, had a lot of fur all over. His was a dark brown, covering most of his body it had seemed. Other than the fur he and the rest seemed entirely human in shape, but the fur had been rather striking since it wasn't common to meet such members anymore. It explained them living way out here alone in this mountain range, and maybe the wall too, to a point.

Sivra seemed to find animals adorable; maybe that was why she had utterly fallen for him on first glance? She had nearly melted into a puddle just on his hello. It made me jealous, since I hadn't done the same with Vim. It was starting to seem like some people just did such a thing. Sillti had done it too, with Link.

"What are you squirming about?"

I jumped, and thankfully didn't make too loud of a yelp as I turned to glare at Vim.

"Where were you!?" I angrily asked. I had been looking for him. I should have known he'd sneak up behind me!

Vim smiled at me. "Here I thought I'd have to drag you away from them. Did they ask for a moment alone finally or something?" he asked.

I grumbled for a moment as I glanced around to make sure we were alone. We were. "No… but yes, that's why I had stepped away. Luckily the rest of his family is giving them distance too," I said. The family here was actually wonderfully nice. They were all already acting as if Sivra was a daughter of theirs, a member from the beginning.

Plus… unlike Sivra's family, who were quiet and demure people, this family was noisy. Loud. Unafraid to laugh and talk all night long, happily.

It was the perfect place for her.

"She will hopefully choose to stay here, Vim. She's nearly drooling over that lad, even though he's half her age," I said.

"Still a grown man, Renn. It's not like it's weird," Vim said as he gestured for us to start walking. He wanted to go near the wall for some reason.

"Didn't mean it that way. I think…? Maybe I did? Why did I say that?" I asked as I walked towards the wall alongside Vim.

"Not sure. He's a grown man, Renn. Nearly thirty years old. Is that seen as too young for you? To me they may as well be the same age, being so close," Vim said.

I hummed as the wall drew closer. "I… don't know. You're right; it shouldn't bother me at all. Yet for some reason it had? I wonder why?" I wondered.

Vim shrugged, not seeming it worth much worry. But it bothered me, and the fact it did so worried me.

Really, what was wrong with it? Shouldn't I be happy? Even if he had been too young, actually too young, wasn't it still a good thing? After all with just a little time he'd grow up, and it'd be fine, wouldn't it?

"It's not that big a deal Renn," Vim said gently, likely noticing my internal strife thanks to my tail. It was squirming wildly at the moment.

"It bothers me now," I admitted.

"I can tell. Why is that?"

"Well… what really bothers me is the fact that it does in the first place. Why would I be offended over it?" I asked.

He shrugged again, but didn't dismiss it as he had earlier. "Maybe you saw him as younger than he is? He does act a little… young. I think it's his giggling," Vim said.

I smirked at that and nodded. Yes, the lad did have an odd giggle. "I think that was just him being embarrassed. He wanted to laugh, but is holding it back. He's very conscious of her," I said.

Vim nodded in a way that told me he understood where I was coming from, and likely agreed with me.

Reaching the wall, I glanced up at the little tiled roof on the thing. "Did you build this?" I asked.

"Most of it. I taught them how, they finished it. Years and years ago," he said.

Walking up to the wall, I placed a hand upon it and found it to be a little bumpy. Yet it almost looked as if it was one solid piece somehow. It wasn't made of bricks.

"Is it clay?" I asked.

"A type of it. Come on, let's check it all while the lovebirds get cozy," Vim said as he started walking along the wall.

"You haven't checked it yet? We've been here two days already," I said.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Nope. I checked other things first. They have a lake nearby with their well system they wanted me to check first," he said.

Ah. Right.

Like usual when distracted by the inhabitants here, I sometimes lost track of Vim.

"How long will we uh…" I continued running my hand along the wall as we walked, somewhat liking the feeling of its bumpy surface. It wasn't so bad it hurt or scraped, but it was also bumpy enough to feel interesting. As if it as scratching an itch I didn't know I had.

"Just a few days. Hopefully Sivra will decide quickly. I'll admit I had hoped for it, but hadn't expected it. Her home, her family, weren't abusive but it was lackluster and she seemed to have hated that environment. So I had expected her to desire to see the world, and all the fun stuff it holds. But after seeing her now I feel stupid for worrying," Vim said.

I nodded. "I stopped worrying the moment they met! Sivra basically turned into a puddle, it had been adorable," I said happily.

A small branch crunched under Vim's foot as we walked into a section of trees. "Hm. I don't know if it's proof our people are just becoming as simple as humans, or if it's just pure happenstance. I've never been able to tell when or who will act in such a way. Some people take years to find their mate, and then others just… fall in love on sight like her. If you ever actually open your little love-inn it might make you feel useless if all anyone ever does is just walk in and fall in love and then leave, happy," Vim said.

Laughing a little, I nodded. "I'd be more than happy with that, Vim!" And love-inn? What a phrase. He wasn't far off though.

"Figured. Well hopefully it goes well. We'll give them a few days, a lot can happen in such a short time during first meetings," Vim said.

"Hm… when you do this, usually, how often do they go bad? That quickly?" I asked.

Vim frowned and shrugged. "Usually if it does go sideways then it's usually real quick. Like within a day or so. Usually it's because one of them says or does something that goes against the other's nature. Remember Celine? The camel? While she was husband hunting there were a few times she almost chose someone else, but then they said they'd not return with her to Secca, or wouldn't be willing to live in the heat or something. Basically one of her qualifiers was whoever she chose had to be willing to return to Secca. She didn't want to join their location," Vim explained.

"Well we don't got to worry about that with Sivra. I bet she'd bite him if he suggested they return to her home," I said with a smirk.

Vim chuckled at that. "Right?"

Still…

While we left the small cluster of trees and approached a building, a smaller one that was likely some kind of storage building, I pondered my own self for a moment.

I admitted that I had likely fallen for Vim far before I was willing to admit. But I did not think I had fallen for him on mere sight alone. It wasn't until I had fully understood his lifestyle, his purpose, that I had fallen for him. It was likely correct to say I had fallen for the protector before I had fallen for Vim.

Yet… "Vim," I said his name as I found myself worrying for a new reason.

"Hm?"

"Do you have any? I know if you knew our relationship was from a prophecy or something you'd want to end it, or had would have before all this, but… is there anything else?" I asked.

"What's this? Worried I'll abandon you on the side of the road all of a sudden?" he asked, amused.

I shook my head. "You wouldn't do that. But… I just realized I have quite a few of things that would have made me abandon you. So I was just wondering if you had some too," I said.

He laughed a little, reaching over to pat me on the back. "I told you before Renn, in my perspective you weren't there… then you were. I don't have a greater reasoning behind it."

"Yeah, but, surely you have a few things? Would you not love me if I wasn't willing to join you on the road all the time? What if I hated humans? Or…" I began to ramble some things that just seemed to make sense in my perspective. Stuff that I thought would bother him.

Vim tilted his head a little, as if to look at me from a new angle. My ears fluttered as I waited for his response, which was joined by a soft smile. "You sure do get sentimental when you witness love," he teased me.

My tail wiggled. "Vim, we're having a nice moment don't ruin it," I warned him.

He smiled and nodded. "Well, ignoring the serious things like beliefs, ethos and morals and stuff… I guess yes. It'd be hard for me if you weren't willing to stay by my side all the time. I'd not mind it much if you had hated humans, but I suppose that would be related to our morals and the balance between them. Basically your hatred would have to be justified in my eyes; else I'd just be disappointed in you. Which… honestly could be said for many things. Honestly Renn we already have quite a bit of differences, don't we? Yet I think we're still a wonderful match all the same. The two of us disagree and debate on many things often, yet tease and flirt moments later without any problems," he said.

My face felt hot. "I suppose we do…" I admitted.

He was right of course. He didn't like religion. I did. He hated many members of the Society, to the point he was willing to step down and abandon them. I didn't want that at all. Just to name a few big ones.

"For me though my biggest thing is trust. I can trust you. With genuinely everything and anything. That's why it's so hard to keep secrets from you, because I don't want to. If you hadn't been so trustworthy it likely wouldn't have worked out in my opinion," Vim then said.

My ears fluttered a little. "Really…?" I asked happily.

He nodded.

The heat from my face quickly expanded to the rest of my body. The wall suddenly felt very cold to the touch.

It wasn't fair he could say such things so smoothly! Just who does he think he is? Being so adorable and…!

"Hm… Let's make a bet, shall we?" I asked, trying to control myself as I stopped walking.

Vim paused, frowning at me. "Bet?" I could tell he was shocked at how drastically I had changed topics.

But I had to! If I allowed him to keep rambling about such lovely things, who knows what I'd end up doing!

I nodded as I pushed all my embarrassment into my tail, letting it wiggle it all out. "On if Sivra decides to stay here or not," I said.

"Oh? Sure. What would you like to bet?" Vim asked, smirking at me. It was obvious he could read me like a book. He knew why I was being weird all of a sudden, and it only made me blush even harder.

"I bet you a kiss she'll end up staying here," I said.

He frowned, and then smirked. "Oh really? So if she stays here I get a kiss? Renn, you'd kiss me anyway I don't need to win that bet," he teased me.

Wanting to groan at him, I clenched my fists and shook them a little at him. "No! I mean if she stays here, you have to kiss me! Yourself!" I said.

Vim blinked, and I immediately saw the understanding on his face. His smirk softened a little, and then returned in force. "I see. You want me to initiate it," he said, understanding.

I nodded stiffly.

"That's still not a loss to me, I think," he then said.

"Vim!" I groaned at him. Don't admit it aloud! That made me want to cry!

He chuckled and nodded. "Sure, then. If she stays here I'll kiss you. What do I get if she doesn't?" he asked.

"I'll kiss you," I said simply.

He sighed.

"What! You should want one!" I complained.

"Why does a random group of street workers get more attention from my wife than I do?" he mumbled.

"Gosh Vim!" I laughed at him. What a thing to say during this moment! I had expected him to tease me about my time spent in that brothel, but to have taken days for it to appear!

Vim reached over, taking my hand, which was still clasped in a tight fist. I allowed him to wiggle his fingers into it as he and I went back to walking. "You know, instead of a kiss… or rather, how about alongside a kiss, we add a neat option to it too?" he asked.

"Neat option…?" I asked carefully. What was he saying?

He nodded. "That brothel. They had something called a neat trick for nine coins, and…" Vim didn't hesitate to tease me even further, making me groan and cover my face and laugh.

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