Lamp shook her head as she read my question. I frowned at her and turned the little clipboard over to write another.
She could read our language… but couldn't write it. It made communicating a little difficult, but not entirely impossible. I just needed to sometimes rephrase a question or comment, since she could really only answer me with a yes or no.
"Is there anyone among you that might know someone here?" I wrote a new question.
Showing it to Lamp, I watched as she slowly read it. I wasn't sure if she read so slowly because it wasn't a language she was familiar with, or if she was like most humans. Most were illiterate. Only able to read a few words at best. The few who could actually read rarely ever needed to, so sometimes struggled.
Lamp then said something and the pointed at the group of women at the tables nearby. She said someone's name, and a taller girl stood up.
Oh?
The woman walked over, and I did my best to remember her name. Lamp had called for a Bayley or something, hopefully that was her name and not just some random word she had used to get her attention.
The two talked for a moment and I did my best to follow their conversation. There was little point, honestly. I had no frame of reference for their language. Usually I was able to hear words I recognized, but in this case it was impossible. They even spoke with… a weird growl sometimes, making their words roll along the tongue.
Then Lamp looked at me and smiled and nodded.
Turning the paper around, I wrote another question.
"Does she know their name?"
Lamp read it aloud for the girl, who then looked at me and said, "Trinitak."
"Trinitak," I repeated the name and they both nodded, pleased with themselves.
I wrote it down, and showed it to Lamp and the girl. Both nodded and pointed at it as they spoke to one another, excited.
So they did know someone here… interesting. I'd need Vim or Brandy to come by later and talk to them about it.
We still planned to go to the embassy soon, but if they actually had family here that might be a better place to take them.
While the two talked to one another, I noticed the bruises on Bayley's arms and wrists. They weren't just from chains. They were fingers and hand prints. From men.
They were all smiles and joy right now… but it was very obvious they had just gone through a very peculiar type of hell.
I gulped as I realized I was staring, and then looked down to my notepad. Not to write upon it, but just to occupy my eyes and re-read the questions and stuff I had written.
Neither of them had noticed I had been staring, nor probably would have cared even if they had… but it still made me feel horrible. I should respect them by not making a big deal out of it. I bet they wanted to forget about it as well, as fast as possible.
Smiling at them, I wrote down a new sentence. This time not a question. A statement.
A promise.
Showing it to Lamp, she read it slowly… and then I noticed she read it again.
She blinked then looked up at me… and then pointed at the board and read it aloud to her friend.
Bayley shifted on her feet, looking a little troubled… but then gave me a smile. A kind one, that made me shiver.
Lamp then tapped my board, to get my attention. I looked up and she pointed at herself, then to table of her friends.
"Oh… you want to go eat with them. Yes. Okay," I nodded as I understood.
She smiled, and then reached out and wrapped me in a hug.
I went still at the sudden display of affection, and blinked watery eyes as she leaned back and then said something alongside my name. Then she stood from her seat and hurried away with Bayley.
Was that a thank you?
Taking a deep breath I did my best to control my emotions as I too stood. Stepping out of the small lunch room, I walked down the hall and peered into the rooms I passed. This section of the guild building was… different. It was basic. Empty. There were no doors where there should be, and everything was as plain as could be.
Most the small rooms now had beds in them. Beds that were now mostly full. Only a dozen of them were in the lunch room, the rest were all sleeping. Exhausted.
They had arrived three days ago. And in that time I had gotten, with the help from the Society, new clothes, these rooms, and of course food and aid. Many had been hurt. Not just the bruises either. There had been broken bones, broken teeth, and large cuts and gouges. The worst of them all was a very frail woman…
Walking over to her room, I peered in and watched her sleep. She was bundled up carefully, and looked… tiny. Like a child. But she wasn't. She was a grown woman. She was just shockingly skinny. Malnourished beyond measure. She had no strength now, after laying down yesterday.
I worried for her, as did the others. I was comfortable with leaving her alone, since every so often one of them would come check her… but something told me she wouldn't make it.
Her captors hadn't just abused her, she had also given up. Lamp said several others had died the same way… in their sleep, not from wounds or abuse.
Hearing her soft breathing, barely a snore, I nodded and stepped away. Heading to the hallway that led to the rest of the building.
I didn't like leaving them alone too long, but I knew they were relatively safe. There was only one entrance to this area from the outside, and it was locked tightly. Brandy had let me seal it with a chain and lock, and only she had the key. The other ways in and out of this section all led to the rest of the Animalia building. Which meant if one of them tried to leave, we'd notice… or if someone else tried to get in they'd first have to get through us too.
Considering we had guards stationed at all times, thanks to the bank and warehouses, I didn't really need to worry.
Yet I still did, of course.
Whether intentional or not, Brandy had given me full responsibility for them. I intended to take that to heart. If any of them suffered or died from this point forward… it was on me. No one else.
It's been a long time since I had been responsible for someone.
"Ah, there you are," Brandy rounded a corner in front of me and got my attention.
Glad she was here I picked up my pace to meet her.
"You look better," Brandy noticed.
I felt the shy smile plant itself on my face as I nodded.
After hitting Vim this morning… then seeing Brandy there staring wide-eyed at me, I had ran away in shame and utter embarrassment. Brandy, not Vim, had been the one to chase me down and talk to me and calm me down.
She realized quickly that most of my shame hadn't been the actual act of hitting Vim… but having been seen doing so. She was kind enough to let me know it was all okay, and that I had nothing to be ashamed of.
It had still taken most the day for me to get my heart under control, but spending time with Lamp and the rest of the women had helped.
"Where you headed?" I asked her.
"Was coming to find you. I need to drop this off at Gerald's office, and wanted to know if you'd walk and talk with me while I did so," she said as she lifted a little envelope. It was the size of a letter.
"I'll come," I nodded.
Hopefully Vim wasn't anywhere along the way… or at the office.
"Vim's not in his office, it's fine," Brandy said with a smirk.
"That obvious?" I asked with a laugh as we headed down the hallway she had come from.
"It was!" She smirked.
I moaned and wondered what to do with myself.
"It's okay, Renn. I find it adorable, I'm sure he does too," she said.
"Easy for you to say…" I said.
"It is!" she happily said.
"Has he uh…" I coughed. "Has Vim… said anything?" I asked her.
Brandy's smile widened into a huge smirk, and I immediately regretted saying anything.
"He hasn't. But I'd not worry, trust me. You know Nebl?" she asked me.
Surprised at Nebl being brought up, I nodded. "Yes."
"Nebl once tried to kill Vim. Very seriously too. He put a lot of thought into it. Should have seen it. He brought an entire mountainside down onto him," Brandy raised her hand, and brought it down heavily on the other… as if to mimic what had happened.
"You're kidding…?" I couldn't believe it. Nebl? Those two? They were friends!
She nodded. "Seriously. There's a whole back-story to it, and you can ask them for it. Not mine to tell. But the point is you saw that they were friends right?" she asked.
I nodded. Exactly.
"Exactly. My point is you just slapped him… twice… then hit him. You're fine," she waved it off as if it was no big deal.
"Did Nebl do it for no real reason, and just because in the stir of the moment he had been fighting a flurry of emotions and was blinded by them, and thus regrets it terribly?" I asked her.
Brandy slowed a little and her smile hesitatingly became smaller. "Well… No… Nebl had a good reason. But you're not entirely without reason, Renn. Your reason is just… not something we in the Society are used to understanding, or experiencing. Vim especially," she said.
I sighed and nodded. That was sure.
I knew Vim didn't see them as I did. He was kind to humans. But not to the level that he should be… that any of them should be.
Most of the Society hadn't been willing to help me with the girls, simply because they had been human. I had asked Brom and Reatti for help, and they… although kindly, had offered to only do the bare minimum and nothing more. They felt we shouldn't be wasting our time on them.
So far only Brandy, Pierre, and surprisingly Lawrence had offered to help in any real fashion. Pierre and Lawrence had especially been a surprise, since I had thought both hated humans. Pierre was… odd and skittish, being a mouse, and Lawrence had always seemed completely oblivious and ignorant of the humans he worked with.
Yet both had showed up unannounced, and without being asked, to help me. They had helped me prepare beds and the food for them.
Kind men.
"You seem to accept it," I said.
"I may be a merchant, but I'm also a sister of the Church of Songs, Renn," Brandy stated.
"Oh?" I hadn't realized that she was actually a member of the Cathedral. I mean, yes… she was a part of the Society… and an important member, being the bookkeeper… but…
She nodded. "And I'll be honest, you should be too… Though I think your actions alone make you one, I suppose," she said.
I wasn't sure what to say about that. Especially since I was already worried that Vim was upset with me… last thing I needed to do was add fuel to that fire.
Entering the main lobby area, I noticed that most lamps were out completely now. It was much later than I thought it was.
Climbing some stairs to the second floor, we entered the hallway that Gerald's office was in.
This hallway didn't have any lit lamps, but the windows let enough moonlight in to not need them.
Brandy then suddenly giggled, and I glanced at her. We had been walking in silence… what was she laughing at now?
"You actually hit him," She snickered.
"Brandy…" I groaned.
"Sorry, sorry… it's just…" She shook her head as she laughed.
Reaching Gerald's office, I knocked on the door… yet Brandy didn't wait. She opened it without waiting for Gerald's response.
And for good reason. Gerald was already at the door, waiting for us. He stood from the couch nearby and hurried up to me.
"I heard all about it! Well done!" Gerald happily patted my shoulders, looking almost as if he wanted to give me a hug. He didn't though, as he guided me into his office.
"Heard what?" I asked.
"You hit him! Right in the mouth! Quick, quick… sit! Tell me, did it feel good? Did you break his nose? Well?" Gerald quickly tossed a bunch of questions at me as he forced me into a chair in front of his desk.
I huffed at him as Brandy laughed maniacally behind me. I glanced at her, and watched as she struggled to close the office door. She was laughing too much.
"Well? Well?" Gerald asked as he sat in the chair. Not the one behind his desk, the one next to me. He was that interested. That serious.
Shaking my head at him, I looked back at Brandy. "Really Brandy?" I asked her.
"What! You can't expect me to keep something like that a secret, Renn. It's worth too much!" she said as she giggled and walked around the room, to Gerald's desk.
I glared at her as she went and took a seat into his chair, behind his desk. Upon sitting she slid the little envelope she had wanted to bring to him into one of his drawers, as if to keep it out of sight.
"I slapped him," I said.
"Yeah?" Gerald inched forward, his eyes wide and expectant.
"Then I did it again…" I said.
His smile broke into a huge grin as he nodded, waiting for more.
"Then I hit him…" I said with a sigh.
Gerald chuckled at first, and then started laughing. "Wonderful!" he barely got through his laughs.
No it wasn't!
I closed my eyes and groaned at myself. Great. The whole Society was going to know about what happened.
I'd forever be known as the crazy cat woman who hit the protector, without even explaining why.
"It was honestly even better than that Gerald. You should have seen Vim's face when it happened," Brandy said as she drummed her hands on the top of his desk, enjoying the moment.
"You were there!" Gerald turned to her, his eyes wide.
"I told you I had been!" she seemed insulted he hadn't remembered.
"You said you saw it, I thought maybe at a distance!" he then looked back at me. "What'd he do? What'd he say?" he asked.
"Uh…"
"Yeah, that's about what he said and did," Brandy laughed at me.
"Ha!" Gerald put his hand on his head, running his fingers through his hair as he leaned back in awe.
"Come on Brandy…" I groaned.
"What? Honey, I'm nearly six hundred years old. Do you know how many times I've seen Vim with a face like that in that time?" she asked me.
I shook my head. Six hundred years old…? She looked good.
"Twice."
Gerald whistled, and I felt a strange sweat cover my body.
"What… what am I going to do…?" I groaned as I lowered my head.
"You'll be fine, honey. Jeez that's what you're worried about?" Brandy giggled at me.
"She should be worried…" Gerald whispered.
"Oh shut up you. Go find a pigeon to peck at or something," Brandy tossed a pen at him, but I ignored them.
Two times? She had only seen Vim act like that twice in her long life…?
Great. Not only had I failed to beat Brom but I had just lost all the respect and friendship I had earned over this last year.
Maybe I should just go join the Clothed Woman and hide forever…
"He hasn't come talk to her yet…?" I heard Gerald whisper to Brandy.
"Seems not," she said.
"He hates me now," I whispered.
The two didn't say anything, and I thumped my head with my clipboard. It didn't hurt, but I wish it had.
"Hm… should I uh… tell her?" Gerald asked Brandy.
"If you do I'll pluck your feathers Gerald, I swear it," Brandy warned him with a fierce tone.
Looking up, I glanced at the two who were staring at me with odd smiles. Gentle smiles. Not ones from amusement, but actual joy.
"Tell me what?" I asked.
"Nothing. Don't worry about it," Brandy said.
Taking a deep breath I shook my head. "Don't be like that. What is it?" I asked.
"Sorry Renn… Brandy swore she'd hurt me if I told you, and like Vim she keeps her promises," Gerald said apologetically.
Looking at her she smiled with a weird wink. "You'll find out soon enough."
Sighing at them, I wondered if I should worry or not. I didn't feel as if I did… I mean… they'd not be smiling like this if it was something bad, like being banished or something… but…
Hopefully Vim didn't hate me now. He hadn't seemed that upset when I had slapped and hit him… in fact he had even smirked there for a moment…
"Did you see the smirk he gave? Before I punched him?" I asked Brandy.
"Oh yea. That was a weird one," Brandy snickered.
"He smirked?" Gerald asked.
I nodded and put my clipboard down to push my cheeks up, trying to mimic the weird angle he had at the time. "Like this?" I asked Brandy.
She guffawed a laugh and pointed at me. "Look'er!" she barely got the words out.
I stopped messing with my face and smiled at her. She really did laugh well. It sounded great… made me smile too, even when she was laughing at me.
Gerald started laughing again, but because of Brandy. He looked as if he couldn't believe the level she was heaving and laughing. She had even snorted mid-laugh.
Brandy leaned over and rested against the desk as she tried to stop laughing. She sounded as if she was struggling, and failing at it.
"Have you seen Vim since then?" I asked Gerald. I had slapped him this morning; it was dinner time now so…
"Oh? Yes. Just once. He was uh… well… Yeah," he nodded at himself, and coughed.
He was what?
Hopefully not furious.
But…
Although I was worried about it… I couldn't help but feel that it was a useless worry.
Vim? Angry that I slapped him? Knowing that man he had not even felt it.
I had hit him with everything. My ring and middle finger in my left hand had even started to swell. I had broken them in the punch.
Looking down at my left hand, I opened and closed my fist and noticed the way the two fingers looked… a little out of place.
"Did you break them?" Brandy asked. She finally got herself under control.
"I might have," I said.
"Want Herra to look at them?" Gerald asked as he stared at my hand.
I shook my head. "They'll heal in a few days. I've broken fingers before," I said.
"You sure? Bandaging you up might result in… some interesting results," Brandy paused mid-sentence, and I knew it was to rephrase what she had actually wanted to say.
"You mean to say he'll… treat me differently if I did?" I asked her.
"Oh heck yea he would," Gerald nodded.
"Really?" I asked.
Brandy nodded too. She leaned forward, which wasn't hard for her since she was already leaning onto the desk. I noticed the way her large breasts pushed papers and folders out of the way as she did so. "Vim has a severe weakness to those he hurts," she whispered.
Gerald nodded, telling me it was true.
Did he…?
"Hm…" Maybe I should have my fingers… maybe my whole hand bandaged.
"She's considering it," Brandy whispered to Gerald, excited.
"I should go get Herra," he whispered back.
"It's fine. Thank you though," I said, stopping him. He was actually about to stand to do so.
"Aww…" Brandy leaned back, upset.
"Maybe… maybe later. I have an idea I want to try first," I said.
"Oh…?"
I nodded, but wasn't going to tell them. After all… it was a long shot, and rather… well…
"Come on, what is it?" Brandy asked.
I shook my head. "Sorry. You two get to keep a secret today, and so do I," I said.
"Damn. See Brandy?" Gerald growled at her.
"How was I supposed to know she'd be this coy!" she shouted at him.
"That's your job! And I could have told you that! She's a cat, not a chicken!" he said.
"Liina's a cat too and she aint nothing like her!" Brandy argued.
"Huh!" I stood.
The two went still, and then Gerald coughed. "Oh… seems you didn't know. I apologize… and I uhh… think I'll leave now…" Gerald stood, wearily.
"Don't you dare. We're in this together," Brandy stopped him.
"You said it not me. Goodnight Renn! You can tell me the rest later. If you're going to punch him again please do it in front of me next time, okay?" Gerald said as he actually hurried to leave.
"Gerald!" Brandy yelled at him, but he ignored her as he actually left.
Watching him close the door, I looked back at Brandy and she groaned.
"Well?" I asked her.
She sighed and nodded, losing most of her earlier jubilant demeanor. "Liina's a cat. But she's not like you, Renn. She's… a smaller cat. A tiny desert cat. She's meek, and fickle. I'm sorry… if she hadn't introduced herself and told you that means she didn't want you to know. So uh…" Brandy gestured blindly, as if not sure what to say or do.
"She's been avoiding me…" I whispered. I had noticed it. After all no matter how busy she was, or I was… there still had been many opportunities to talk.
"So it seems. I'll ask her why, and find out for you. For now though please respect her wishes," she said.
I nodded.
Maybe she really was like me. Brandy said she was a desert cat… but…
Maybe her family had been like mine. So she was afraid of me. Scared of me. Like how I would be if I met another like myself too.
"I can't blame her," I said softly.
"Hm… I'll find out for you. I promise," Brandy said.
"Thanks."
Sitting back down, I took a deep breath.
"I know right? We go years and years without anything happening, then all of a sudden, boom! Action! Drama! Romance!" Brandy raised her hands and then spun in her chair, making it spin around.
I hadn't even realized Gerald's chair could spin like that.
"Not sure if it's a good thing or not," I said honestly.
"It's great, Renn. The reality is, even when bad things happen it's a good thing. Life is meant to be enjoyed, and suffered. Otherwise it's no life at all," Brandy said.
"That's a quote from the bible in the Cathedral," I recognized.
"Oh? So you really did read it in full," she said.
I nodded, and kept myself from reciting the whole verse, and the annotation that had been written next to it. Vim probably didn't want me letting people know I could remember things in such detail.
"Fascinating… you know it makes me wonder why he likes you so much. He usually hates the religious," Brandy said.
"Vim? He doesn't like it when I express interest in it," I said.
"See? Yet he overlooks it for you. Interesting," she smirked at me.
I shifted a little, and felt something at my feet. Looking down I realized I had dropped my clipboard upon standing earlier. I bent down to pick it up, so I'd not step on it and break it.
Looking down at the board, I read the thing I had written for Lamp. Before leaving her.
"I'll help you all. Vim saved you, so I'll help you," I read.
A silly promise. One that in any other context might not have made sense.
Yet she had understood. They both had.
Smiling at it and myself… I had a sudden urge to head back to the girls. To check on them and make sure they were all okay.
For their sake and my own.
"That's a good smile. What are you looking at?" Brandy asked.
Looking away from the note, I nodded to it. "Just all the scribbles I made talking to Lamp," I said.
"Hm… it is an interesting method. If you had time I bet you could use it to learn their language," she said.
"I probably could… but hopefully we can get them home before that's needed. Speaking of that, one of them knows someone here. I don't know if they're here in Lumen exactly, but they're here in this nation. On this side of the sea. I have their name here," I said.
"Oh? Here, tell me it. I'll get it to Lawrence and see if he can find them," she said as she reached over for a pen.
She had thrown one at Gerald hadn't she? Yes. There. Near the desk. I bent over to pick it up.
Putting it on the desk for them, I waited until she was ready to write before telling her. "Trinitak," I said.
"That's definitely an eastern name. If they're in our records he'll find that. Did any of them know anyone else?" she asked.
"Lamp only mentioned them, but when I asked her about it only a few of them were up. Most are sleeping right now," I said.
Brandy nodded. "I bet they're exhausted."
Hm…
"Do you pity them?" she asked as she tapped the pen on her paper.
I nodded.
"Really…?" she asked.
"Yes. I… I've never gone through what they have, of course. I was lucky to be born who… rather, what, I am. I don't need to worry about being chained, or overpowered. I don't need to fear the brutality of a man. I pity them, for having to live their whole lives while fearing such a thing," I told her.
Brandy sat back in the chair, staring at me.
Had I said something weird? She was a religious person wasn't she? Surely she understood? At least in a way? Or was, even while being religious, she so old and… non-human, that she couldn't comprehend it?
"You would have been a great asset in the last era, Renn," she then said.
"Hm? Last era?"
She nodded. "I'll not bore you with it now… but just know that your comment just now held a lot of weight with me. I think you and I really will get along well… if you haven't realized it, I am extremely overjoyed with you. I know I probably have an odd way of showing it, but…" she shrugged.
"I'm glad I make you laugh," I said.
She smiled. "You do. And that is a good thing, really."
"I know. I wasn't saying that sarcastically. I meant it," I said.
"Good. If the embassy doesn't work out, what then?" she asked.
"Well… I'm not sure. Something tells me the Society won't be too happy if I let them stay here forever… so I'll either find a way to get them home myself, or maybe… well…" I shrugged. Maybe Vim would let me beg him to help me.
"Vim won't help you do so. He'll not abandon the Society for humans," she said.
I hesitated. "That obvious…?" I asked with a hollow voice.
She nodded. "I'm sorry Renn… Vim is… in reality, a good man. But in this instance, he's not. He will not help them if it means abandoning the Society. He'll save them if he's there at that moment, but that is where his kindness ends," she said.
I nodded. I had experienced that a few times already. "That's too bad… but I suppose I understand the reason behind it," I said.
"I don't. But we can agree to disagree," she said stiffly.
"You don't?" I asked.
"I don't appreciate how he'll ignore the immediate, for those who don't even deserve it. But as I said, let's agree to disagree for now, please," she said.
Ah… that was a very serious statement. Especially from someone with so much power in the Society.
"Can I be honest?" I asked her.
She nodded.
"I don't disagree with you at all."
She blinked.
"You and I are definitely going to be good friends," she said.
"I don't disagree with that either," I said.
She smiled and I smiled back.