"Renn."

I heard myself make some noises as I rolled over.

"Renn… come now," Vim said again, gently beckoning me from my slumber.

"Vim…?" I groaned at him as I forced an eye open. I noticed the slightly dark room first, and then finally saw him. He was leaning over me, gently shaking my shoulder.

"Sorry Renn. I tried to ask her to wait until morning, but she's being persistent," Vim said.

"Why don't I get an apology…?" Merit grumbled.

I blinked and woke up the rest of the way as I slowly lifted my head and turned to look for my friend. It was a little weird to hear her voice right now, since I'd fallen asleep with Vim and not her. For a moment I couldn't find her. Had I misheard? Maybe I was still dreaming…?

Wait. There she was. Her silver-white hair was rather noticeable even in the early morning darkness. She was standing over by the door.

Vim sighed as he gave my shoulder a very tiny squeeze. "Wake up. Splash some water on your face. Get dressed. Light and I will be downstairs near the main kitchen, waiting for you," he said as he released me and stepped away from the bed.

I yawned as I sat up, rubbing my eyes as I listened to Vim leave the room. Merit huffed at him as he did, as if annoyed at him.

"Merit…? What's going on?" I asked. I was awake now, but I felt the warm bed around me trying to lure me back into that happy slumber I'd just been in. I had been dreaming about a small river, one that Vim and I had been swimming in… I had been trying to drown him for some reason, and had been enjoying it.

"Light had a prophecy. One she feels needs to be shared immediately," Merit said, sounding annoyed.

I wanted to groan at that. "Again…?" I asked as I went to dig myself out of the heavy blankets.

Merit watched me leave the bed and head for the basin nearby. Vim must have filled it before trying to wake me, since it was full of warm water. The type that made it easy and comfortable to splash myself with.

"It's typical of saints, Renn. You should know by now. Anyway, it's one not important enough to tell Vim all the whole details, but it's still important enough to ruin our beauty sleep. Figure that one out," Merit said with voice seething with annoyance.

"Well… I had agreed to be the one to handle such things for Vim," I admitted. I had told Light that I was willing to hear any and all prophecies, and then relay them in a way to Vim that kept everyone happy. And safe.

"Regret it already, will you?" Merit asked of me as I went to get dressed.

"Mhm… maybe I will after this," I admitted as I slipped on some pants. I glanced at Merit as I did, and stopped myself from yawning again. "Should I dress to leave, or…?"

"I think you can just dress for here, for now. If it was something that pressing she would have just told one of us, or Vim, I think," she said.

I nodded, glad to hear it. I didn't need to hide my ears and tail, then.

Stretching after I finished dressing, I yawned a bit as Merit studied me.

"You were in rather deep sleep, Renn… were you having a good dream?" Merit asked.

I nodded as I finished yawning. "I was drowning Vim in a river," I said. I didn't add that I was doing so playfully, that we had been having fun, not actually fighting.

Merit laughed. I smiled happily as I watched, and listened, to my friend actually laugh with all her might. It was a rare thing to hear from her. "A delightful dream!" she said once she finished.

"It was!" I agreed as Merit opened the door, and we both stepped out of the room.

She giggled, but did so lightly, as we headed down the hallway towards the stairs. It was early in the morning, so neither of us made much noise as we headed downstairs to the ground floor. We found Light, and Vim, in one of the small lounging areas near the main kitchen. Light was dressed in her typical robe, sitting in a large and comfortable looking chair, but Less who was near a table near the wall gathering up a plate of food and drinks wore a thinner nightgown instead of a robe. It was the first time I'd seen her wearing something like it, and oddly found it suited her.

"Alright then," Vim said with a nod as I stepped into the room. He stepped around one of the couches and left, with only a small glance to me. I was going to glare at him, and ask what he was doing, but I knew better.

We were about to talk of prophecies. Of course he'd leave.

I sighed at him all the same, and glanced to Light as I went to sit down across from her in one of the couches. The one that Vim had just walked around. "How was your trip back, Light?" I asked as I did.

Light's eye grew a little brighter as she snickered and nodded. "It was quiet. Though wet," she said.

Right… it had stormed a bit, hadn't it?

Merit appeared next to me, climbing up onto the couch next to me with a huff. I smirked at my friend who took her seat right next to me as Less walked over and handed Light a cup that had some steam coming from it.

"Tea, Renn? Merit?" Less asked us.

"I'd take a cup if you'd be so kind," I said. I'd just woken, and somehow I knew I'd likely need something to wash down some words here in a moment.

"I'm fine," Merit said simply.

Less nodded and stepped back to the table she'd just been at. She picked me up a cup, and after handing it to me she went ahead and sat down in her own chair a little ways from us. As she did, she yawned rather mightily.

I wonder if she'd been with Ronalldo? Or did she neglect him for Light, now that she was back…?

"Sorry to wake you, Renn. But I'm glad for your presence. This one would be a tad hard to explain to Vim without angering him, no matter how I tried to slice and dice it," Light then said after she took a small sip of her tea.

I hummed at that as I held my warm up. I didn't take a drink from it yet as I nodded. "It's fine, I suppose. I'm sure it's important," I said.

Light gave me a sad smile as she nodded. "It is. One of the ships on the way here will be sunk. By what I can only think is a monarch," she said.

I sat up a little straighter, as did Merit. "One of our ships…? You mean like Ronalldo's?" I asked as I glanced at Less, and wondered why she didn't seem too worried. Maybe she figured Vim would handle it or something?

"Ah. No. I meant a ship from the other world. One of the groups is coming back, from the other continent," Light said quickly, waving her hand gently at me and my misunderstanding.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Oh…

Oh!

"You're kidding!" I said, a little loudly.

That'd be terrible! From what I had gathered, they had come over on a rather large ship. All five hundred of them had been on the same one. That meant if one of those same ships was to be sunk…

"Regrettably, no. In fact this isn't just any ship either, but the one that has the most women and children upon it," Light said.

Merit groaned as my tail squirmed. "Why… why can't we just tell Vim this? This seems like one of those instances that fits his rules, no? A life and death scenario? Especially with a monarch and all?" I asked.

"If anything you could just tell him one of the ships is danger and set him loose. He'd sense and find the monarch well enough," Merit added with a nod.

Light sighed and nodded. "Usually, yes. However there's a problem. One I can't understand," she said.

"Hm?"

"They're not meant to be arriving yet. They're supposed to wait until we send word, or five years from now if they don't hear from us. To give us time to prepare for their arrival. We're not ready yet for them," Light said.

I shifted a little, and wanted to ask why and how that meant Vim couldn't be told of this prophecy. But knew better than to ask, since I knew she was about to continue her explanation. She did so after taking another drink of her tea, though.

"To make matters worse, they're not only arriving before their set time… I actually saw Vim in the prophecy. Meaning he will indeed go and handle it, which means all will be well," Light said.

I frowned at that. "Huh…? So you saw Vim already dealing with it?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Then…" I was about to ask why we were even having this conversation, but Merit chuckled and gently nudged me with her elbow.

"She's not telling you the full story. She saw something else, something that makes her unable to tell Vim of what she saw," Merit said.

Glancing at my friend, and her knowing smirk, I looked back at Light and found her begrudgingly nodding. "Yes. If I inform Vim, maybe even of something just as simple as the event itself, it could result in the ship being lost. Over six hundred souls are on that ship. I will not risk it, not if I don't have to," Light said.

For a moment I pondered that, and realized what they meant. They were basically saying that if they told Vim of the prophecy, there was a chance something bad could happen. And that very something was likely what she had seen. Light had not just seen the monarch sink the ship, but had witnessed Vim there as well. Yet it still had sunk…

"So… Vim was already there, and it sunk anyway. Is what you're saying," I said carefully.

She nodded.

"So we need to get Vim there, and change that future. Without causing it to happen inadvertently," Merit said knowingly.

Light frowned but nodded again.

Gulping, I realized my mouth was dry so I went ahead and took a drink of my tea. It was still warm, but I couldn't taste it. My mind was focused on other things, things more important than tea.

"What I ask of you Renn, is to find a way to get Vim there. To get to the ship, before the monarch sinks it, and do so in a way that keeps him from…" Light then flinched, as if something had just bit her on her tongue.

"Light?" I asked, wondering what was wrong.

"She almost just admitted it. Vim sinks it, does he?" Merit asked.

It was my turn to flinch as I realized that was likely it.

"He doesn't. No. But there's no denying it happens while he's there. I'm… honestly not sure how it happens. It could just be an attack from the monarch itself, I'm not sure, but during the middle of the event the ship sinks. Rather spectacularly," Light said.

That wasn't good… "So… wouldn't it be best if we just avoided that scenario completely? Why not just send them word, or warning? Have them wait a year or something as to avoid it completely? Maybe even have Vim hunt the monarch first? Before it has a chance to do anything?" I asked. Wasn't that a better method?

Light shook her head, but it was Merit who spoke. "It's normally far worse to avoid fate in that way, Renn. Trust me. My kingdom can speak for that," Merit said with a stiff voice.

Glancing at my friend, and seeing her serious expression, I decided to take her word for it. Especially since Vim had said similar before. He had mentioned before that the only reason he dared doing such things, was because he was capable of surviving the repercussions. Although he and I had never really spoken in depth over such things, for obvious reasons, I knew better than to take his small little comments heedlessly. "So… we need to avoid this outcome, while also allowing the ship and all aboard it to risk their lives by encountering a monarch," I said.

"Yes. Thus my hope for you to fulfill your role as his wife, his partner. I'd like you to be the one to send him to the west coast, to interfere with the monarch's attack, and to do so in a way that is different than the future I foresaw," Light said.

Gosh… and how was I supposed to do that, exactly…?

"Is this why you knew they'd be here still? That you'd meet them before they left…? Why not tell Renn earlier, in case Vim made them leave before you could warn them?" Merit asked as I tried to grasp the new task before me.

"I had the prophecy last night, on the way back here. The reason I knew we'd see each other before they left is because I foresaw Renn teasing Less about something, as she picked up her bags and Vim ushered her out the door. Basically I foresaw something that should happen here in a few hours," Light said with a small gesture to Less.

Less perked up at being mentioned, and she glanced at me worriedly as I smiled. "I likely teased you over Ronalldo," I said.

"Renn!" Less groaned, and I frowned at the way she had done so. Why did she look like I had just slapped her…?

"Oh my! Is that the sailor's name? That one? Really?" Light perked up too, for a different reason as she hurriedly looked over at Less.

Less groaned some more and covered her face, and I realized I'd just ousted her and her relationship.

Oops. "Sorry…" I apologized as Merit chuckled.

Light giggled at Less's obvious embarrassment. "I've known for a long time, Less. You'd think you'd know that by now," Light said. Light had indeed told me of Less's romance, but she hadn't known his name. Since she had never met him before.

"Knowing it isn't the same as experiencing it!" Less complained as she wiggled in her chair.

"I agree there," I said with a hearty nod.

"I look forward to meeting him, Less. In fact I hope to do so today… though let me have a nap beforehand, please," Light said, and then yawned.

Smirking at that, and the way Less sheepishly smiled and nodded, I wondered if that meant Light hadn't slept at all yet. Odds are she hadn't, since this was that important.

And it was important. It really was. A ship full of our people were in danger… and most of them were women and children…? Yes. Important indeed…

Important enough that I probably shouldn't just be sitting here and giggling, at least.

"So… we're to head to the coast, are we? Where to exactly?" I asked Light, as to get back on topic.

Light nodded as she lifted her cup, preparing to take a drink. "Please. Vim will know the ship; it'll have our banner upon its sails. Its intended landfall is at a small cove not far south from Vorli. A few of our members should already be there, preparing for the ship's arrival. Vim should be able to calculate the ship's path, knowing its port of sail from there," Light said, then took a drink.

"Then we'll leave today. Do you know the exact day it will happen…?" I asked. We were a couple weeks from the western coast, even if we headed straight there without any stops. I didn't know where this Vorli was, but I assumed it was not far from where Kaley lived. It had to be south of her, since I knew most if not all of the port cities north of Nevi. I also couldn't imagine them docking too much farther from the Nation of the Blind than that. If this supposed monarch attack was to happen soon, I might not be able to accompany him the whole way. He might need to rush there.

Light slowly shook her head. "The only reason I know it's happening now, and not later as it should, is thanks to a… certain reason I can't explain right now. I can't say it will happen in the next few days, but I can for sure say it will happen in the next month or two at the latest," Light said.

Oh…? I wonder how she came to that conclusion… maybe something she had seen, or heard, during the prophecy…? Maybe someone on the ship, their presence or appearance, had helped her ascertain such a thing. The fact she wasn't bring it up here and now was likely for good reason, so I knew better than to press it.

"Then we should leave as soon as possible, and likely let Vim travel ahead on his own. I'd not risk dawdling, unless you foresaw Renn there as well," Merit said.

Glancing at Merit, since I'd noticed something she'd just said, Light cleared her throat and nodded. "I hadn't seen Renn, no. So yes… I'd recommend haste in this," she said.

"Merit…?" I said my friend's name gently, and wondered if I had misheard.

Merit slowly looked at me, and with a small frown shrugged. "What…? It's your fault, Renn. You've changed Vim so much he's become easier to manipulate. I got him to agree, so you're stuck with me now," she said.

Although not sure exactly what she meant, I didn't care. I excitedly leaned over and wrapped my friend in a hug. "You say that as if it's a threat!" I said happily.

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