It was a cart.
"Is it broken?" I asked Vim.
"Looks like the wheel broke off," he said.
It did indeed. The thing was lopsided, and stuck in the center of the road. It looked like there were a few people standing around it... but one was a little ways away from it too. Doing something... digging a hole maybe... was that a shovel?
Glancing behind us, I tried to calculate how long it'd take the wagon behind us to pass us. Not long now, base off the sound of the voices in the distance. There were two men sitting on the wagon's front, and by the sounds of their conversation... they pitied the people in front of them.
The cart for breaking. And Vim and I for walking.
"Do carts break often?" I asked as I returned to looking ahead of us.
"They break occasionally. Most can go years without issues, but at the same time most don't properly take care of them. I can't make the cart's contents out just yet but they look like furs. I bet they overloaded the cart, and the axle couldn't take the weight," Vim said.
Furs...
Trying to squint, I realized he really could see far better than I could. I could see the black... maybe brown, of the cart itself... but it was blurry still. I could see how Vim would think they were furs though, based off the colours and way it looked situated in the cart.
"Think the wagon behind us will stop to help?" I asked.
"Did any others?" Vim asked back.
I felt my ears droop a little underneath my hat.
No. They hadn't.
The midday sun was a little warm, but it was also humid. Rapti had offered to help me put on the headdress she had given me, but both she and Vim and mentioned that since the storm had passed it might be a little too sticky to comfortably wear.
And they had been right. I was glad for it now.
I was walking on the outer ridge of the road. It wasn't the widest road... but it was still big enough for the carts and wagons. The few others that had passed us recently had been able to squeeze by the broken cart, although some had looked like they struggled to do so.
Some of the wagons were huge after all.
"What if one of those road-wide ones come?" I asked, thinking of them. Those were similar to what we had ridden to Nevi. Those apple wagons had been huge.
"They'll break it down and move that cart off the road," Vim said.
"Oh... what will they do with the stuff? The furs?" I asked.
"Carry what they can. If they're smart they'll ask the carts passing by to buy them. They'll take a huge loss, but at least not a complete one," Vim said.
I frowned as I tried to imagine it. How much money could one... no, I kind of knew.
"That could devastate them, huh?"
Vim nodded. "Yes. Even the wealthy could suffer from it, and then of course so will their credit and reputation," he said.
"Reputation?" I asked. Credit I understood, since that meant they'd not be able to get loans or help.
"Most merchants, especially those who operate on their own, belong to guilds. Or companies. Those enable them with credit, and help, but accidents like this... well, they'll be blamed for not properly taking care of their tools. Their carts and wagons, basically," Vim explained.
"Oh. So even though they could be forgiven, or could pay off debts and survive the losses... they'd not survive their fellows judging them as being unwise," I said.
"Basically. They'll be seen as fools incapable of the basics of business. A death sentence for a common merchant," he said.
Seemed sad.
"Right-o!"
I turned my head to watch the wagon pass us. The two men on the front seat nodded and smiled as they passed, acting kind... even though they had been rudely commenting about us on their approach.
After they rolled away enough, Vim glanced at me. "Why'd you glare at them so much?" he asked.
"They're rude," I said simply.
"For having a wagon?" he asked, amused.
"For their comments," I said.
Vim frowned but nodded, understanding.
"Did you really not notice?" I asked which was impossible. He had better hearing than me... or at least, I thought he did.
"Well, honestly... I forgot you could hear them. Your ears are actually pretty strong..." he said with a small smile.
Proud of the compliment, my ears twitched in joy as I nodded. "They are pretty good, aren't they?"
He nodded. "Indeed they are. So was it their comment about your ass?" he asked as he glanced at what he spoke about.
It was his turn to get glared at. "Rather what they had said about you," I said stiffly.
He blinked, and quickly looked away... no longer teasing me. "I see," was all he said.
Smiling at his odd frown, I nodded. "I'd rather walk to be honest. I fear I'd grow fat and lazy riding carts all the time," I said.
Vim scoffed but said nothing.
Did he just not notice or care for insults directed at him, or had those ones simply been ineffective since they had been about me through him?
He didn't care to be offended, since most of their taunts had been about his inability to provide for me.
Maybe he didn't care enough for me to be bothered by such things.
"Oh?" I noticed commotion ahead, and covered my eyes to block the bright sun for a moment.
The wagon that had passed us was now passing the broken one... and...
"Are they arguing?" I asked. It looked like a man was shouting at the wagon, and the two men upon it.
"Probably asking for help, and being ignored," Vim said.
"Can you hear them?" I asked. I couldn't hear shouting at all yet. Though it was a little windy, which might be why?
"No."
"Will you tell me once you can? I'd like to find out how much better you are than I am at it," I said.
"Tell you?" he asked.
"When you hear them. I want to see how long it takes before I do," I pointed at them to make a point.
"Hmm..." he hummed, and I wondered if he was debating against it.
"Please? Surely that's not some secret so valuable that I can't know it?" I asked.
"Secret...? Not really... it's just..." he scratched the side of his neck, and I wondered if he actually felt itchy when he did such a thing. He seemed to perform that movement often when he was unsure of something, or wanted to change the topic.
We walked in silence for a moment and I tried to strain my ears. "Can I lift my hat for a moment? Just a tad?" I asked him.
"You can take it off. I'll let you know when you need to put it back on," Vim said.
Taking it off, I smiled in thanks at him and pointed my ears towards the people and cart.
The wagon was past it now, but not by much. And...
"Can you hear them?" he asked, watching me.
I shook my head. "I sometimes think I can hear a voice, but it might just be the wind," I said.
"Hm."
As we drew closer, I kept trying to make out their sounds. At first I heard nothing... then I heard, possibly, the sound of something metal being struck. "Is that a hammer?" I asked.
"It is. Good job. Rather surprised actually," Vim said.
Glancing at him, I found an odd smile on his face. "What... wait... you can hear them now, can't you?" I asked.
"Somewhat. I hear the child mostly. Her voice is higher pitched. The man is... I can hear him, but have no idea what he's saying. I can't hear the woman," he said.
I blinked as I tried to focus on the people.
Yes. That was what they were.
"A family..." I whispered.
Vim nodded. "A little odd. Merchants do often travel with their spouses, but it's rare for them to bring such little children along. It's dangerous, after all," he said.
"Sure they're merchants?"
"Those are undoubtedly furs. Either bears or moose ones to boot. Spendy stuff," he said.
For some reason I didn't like the way he had said that. Was he snidely mocking them?
Glancing behind us, I found the road behind us empty. No more carts or wagons were off in the distance. In fact, there even seemed to be sheep or something. Some kind of animal herd was crossing the road far behind us, slowly. Which meant no one was nearby.
"But mother!" a small voice filtered through the wind, and I smiled softly at the sound of the child.
A young girl.
I could see them. They were sitting a little farther from the broken car, on what looked to be boxes. Were they cooking something? I couldn't see the fire, nor the smoke, but... I did smell something on the wind.
"I hear them now," I told Vim. I couldn't hear everything, but enough.
"Oh? That's not bad at all. We're still a little under a league away," he said.
"Yet you heard them way back there," I complained. It had been several minutes' worth of difference.
"I'm not normal. For reference I can think of only a few people with hearing as well as you... maybe three off the top of my head. Congratulations," he said.
"Three?" I asked. Really? So few? Out of all of our kind?
Vim nodded. "Just three. And you might even be better than they, honestly... I've not made it much of a habit to actually test and give our members physicals or anything," he said lightly.
Physicals? What an odd statement.
Putting my hat back on my head, since what I had wanted to do was done... I sighed a little as suddenly it was now hard to hear them. The small family was now more muffled than not, making it hard to make out their conversation.
But honestly it was a good thing. They all sounded very...
"They're sad," I said softly.
"They should be. Their whole life might have just gotten uprooted," he said.
"You sound far too calm about it," I said.
"What? Should I weep alongside them?" he asked me.
"Well... no... But don't be mean about it, at least."
Vim sighed but nodded... and in fact had a small smile after he did so. Had he liked what I had said?
As we approached ever closer, the woman noticed us. She alerted the man, and the young girl even pointed at us.
"Hmm..." Vim huffed, and I smiled at him. I hadn't really heard what they had said, but it was easy to assume what he had heard.
"Think... Do you think we can help them?" I asked him.
"Help?" he asked.
My feet came to a stop.
Vim stopped too, and I flinched at the look in his eyes.
Uh-oh.
It's been awhile since I had seen that look.
"Well... I... I was just asking," I said softly.
Vim's eyes narrowed as he glared at me, and my tail went stiff. It was a good thing we were still a distance away from them, since they might have noticed it beneath my pants.
Looking away from Vim, I focused on the cart. It was big, even thought it only had two wheels.
There were probably dozens if not more full pelts on it. Each one bigger than us.
I could carry quite a bit of weight. I had done so many times before... and if one took into account Vim's strength...
"Helping them would make us seem strange, wouldn't it," I said gently as I realized why we couldn't.
We could carry all those pelts and furs. But by doing so, they'd questions us. Since no human should be able to lift them, let alone with ease.
"Indeed," he said simply.
I sighed and nodded.
We returned to walking, and I felt worse with each step I took.
I was going to have to walk past them, and not only ignore their looks of pain and worry but...
This was going to be hard for me... but I understood it.
It wasn't as if they were going to die because they couldn't get those pelts wherever they were headed. Nevi, likely, based on the fact it was pointed this way.
So not helping wasn't going to result in their death. Which meant...
Studying the three, I wondered how long they had been stuck here. The man didn't have a shirt on, and he was glistening in the sun. Sweat and mud was all over him and...
I see. He was digging for some reason, near the cart. I wasn't sure why, but...
As we approached, I felt horrible. One of the cart's wheels was laid up against the cart, but it wasn't connected. Vim had been correct, it had broken off.
Did that mean there was no way to fix it? I had no idea how they were even made in the first place, let alone how to fix one...
Of course, if it was something easily fixed... they would have done so already.
There were a few boxes sitting in a small circle near the cart. It was where the woman and child sat.
They had a fire, but it was only small embers. They had probably cooked long ago.
They've been stuck here for most the day it seemed.
Glancing at Vim, and his calm look on his face, I knew better than to ask him again if we could help them.
It was obvious that Vim had already made his decision, and it was probably the correct one.
After all if the cart was broken, there was nothing we could do. At least not without endangering the Society.
And Vim would never allow that.
Vim then paused again, even though we were close enough that they had obviously found it odd for him to do so.
"No matter what happens, don't help. Promise me," Vim said to me.
"I promise," I said... even though it hurt to do so.
"Just distract the kid and wife for me, that should be enough," he then said.
"Huh?"
Vim returned to walking, and ignored me as he headed for the cart.
Hurrying to follow him, I gulped a worried question as we drew near.
The young girl looked at her mother expectantly; as both the woman and man stood to greet us... both had expressions of desperation, yet hope.
It seemed I had misunderstood Vim's earlier comments about helping entirely.