An early summer was here.

Liora sighed in relief as I took her overcoat from her, glad to be free of it finally.

"We'll avoid roads for the next few days," I said gently to her as she went to tugging back her hair, it was slightly sticking to her thanks to her sweat.

"Mhm…" Liora only nodded as I watched her pull her hair back into a small tail, tying it in a way to keep it from bothering her further. I had not even realized her hair was that long to where she could do such a thing… showed how much I was really paying attention to her.

Not that I could blame her for being annoyed over it… We'd recently been on a road, one near the river we were following, and there had been enough humans traversing it that I had not allowed Liora to take off her coat and hood… which, under the currently hot sun, had been very discomforting.

I should make her some sunglasses. I'll do that once we got to Renn…

"Here," I offered Liora a waterskin, which she accepted happily.

As the young saint drank deeply, likely emptying the thing completely, I wondered if I even knew which city Renn was at.

I had an idea, of course. I'd talked to Randle about it, back when the plan had first been made… but I didn't actually know where the city was. In fact I didn't even remember its name… Silver something, I think. There was no reason to worry, since I knew its general location and knew we'd not have much trouble finding it… but I also knew it would likely add a few days to our travel time if we didn't happen upon it, or hear of it from passerbys as we traveled.

"How much farther?" Liora asked.

"We're about half way there, I think," I said.

"That far still…?" the young saint sounded annoyed, but I couldn't blame her. This was slow going, and even I was starting to…

Stop. Your anxiety is from fear, don't let it exist.

"Vim…?" Liora, the little saint who was proving to be wise beyond her years, noticed my discomfort. I turned to smile down at her, and took the now empty waterskin from her.

"Feel better?" I asked her.

She blinked her glowing eyes and nodded. "Yes. It's hot wearing all that," she said with a glance at the clothes I held.

"Yes… I actually have a small idea, if you're willing to hear it," I said.

"Hm? Swim in the river? Yes, we should," she said as she glanced to the nearby hill. Over it, and beyond a few trees, was a smaller river. one that connected to the large one we'd been walking along earlier. The one that led to Ruvindale.

I smiled at her and nodded. "Right? If we had time I'd let you. Rather, I was wondering if you'd be willing to dare a city with me," I said.

"Dare…?" she didn't seem to understand as she glanced back at me.

"Ruvindale is about a day that way, along the path we'd just been on," I said with a point to it.

"I… thought we were avoiding people? Plus then I'd have to wear all that again, right?" Liora asked with a bit of disdain. Seemed she didn't want to be hot again.

"We do. We will. But I'm planning on getting us a horse. And if I buy some supplies, I can make you some stuff to hide your eyes. We'd be able to travel easily with them; we'd just have to be very careful in town until I made them. You'd have to be willing to try really hard to not be noticed, like how we left Nevi," I said.

"Oh… sure? I don't mind. I don't know how to ride a horse though," Liora said as she tugged at her side, lifting her shirt a bit. It clung to her in defiance.

The poor girl just wasn't used to exertion. She was struggling to walk alongside me as it was, let alone under such heat.

Oddly it wasn't even that hot. It actually felt very nice… this was likely the first warm day this region's had in months. Though a part of it might be the humidity that was bothering her…

"We'll worry about that later. You okay with trying, then?" I asked.

"Why even ask…?" Liora asked me.

I frowned down at the young saint who huffed, though not at me. She was still overheating. "It's your life at stake, Liora," I said gently.

"Hm…" she frowned as she pondered that, but then slowly shrugged and shook her head. "You'll protect me, won't you?"

"Of course. But there's always the risk. Always the chance," I said.

"I trust you."

The young saint didn't hesitate to say such a thing as she went to smelling herself. She frowned in a way that told me she was surprised, but not because she stunk. Instead she was shocked that she didn't, or didn't as badly as she had expected.

Hours of walking under this sun while dressed in clothes meant for storms would do that, usually, but she was a saint. She likely didn't realize that she was… more than she seemed.

"Then let us do so. It'll also let you rest in a real bed, if at least for a day," I said. Plus it'd let me actually find out where we were going.

"And buy new shoes," Liora said swiftly.

Ah. Yes. "Of course," I nodded gently, a little embarrassed to have forgotten.

The poor girl had bad blisters, and it turned out it was because the shoes she wore were just a tad too big for her. I had helped fix them a little, tightening them and stuffing them with torn up cloth from socks, but it hadn't helped much.

It was my fault, really. I had gone with Kaley to shop for the girl before leaving Nevi… but we hadn't bought shoes. We had thought the two pairs she had brought with her from her home had been good enough. My fault for thinking the girl's mother, being wealthy, would have bought the best and most suited. I had failed to realize just how sheltered the girl was, and had been, her whole life.

She hadn't even realized her shoes weren't well-fitted until too late. Because she had never walked enough to even notice or care if they had been or not.

"Want me to carry you?" I asked. Now that we were off the main path, and alone, it'd not be weird for me to do so.

"And get hot again? No. Not yet," she said.

I smirked at that. The way she had answered so promptly with an annoyed tone had made her sound like Renn.

"Let's go then. Walking might sound painful, but will cool you off," I said as I went to put her clothes into a bag. I didn't tuck them too deeply into the bag, just in case I needed to dig them out real quick.

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"How's that work…?" she mumbled as she joined me.

Keeping us somewhat in-lined with the nearby river, as to follow it to Ruvindale, I finished putting her stuff away and gently gestured at the saint. "By the way you don't stink," I said.

The young girl glanced at me, but didn't blush. She instead just frowned at me. "You sure…?" she asked, and went to smell herself once more.

"I'm sure," I said to the oddly mature girl. Renn would have blushed and laughed at me, as would most young girls…

"Wonder why?" she said.

"You're a saint. You're not normal," I said.

"Oh… really?"

I nodded. "In fact the only reason you're struggling so much on this journey is simply because you've never done anything like it. I bet by the time we get to our destination you'll not even notice the strain of walking anymore," I said. She likely hadn't noticed, but she was already doing a lot better. She had gone to asking for a break, or for me to carry her, every couple hours to only once or twice a day.

Odds are if her feet weren't covered in blisters, which were already healing quickly, she'd not even complain as much as she did.

"Hm…" Liora hummed a bit as she stopped messing with her own clothes and self, and instead glanced at me. I patiently waited, and wondered if she'd bring up the fact I didn't smell either… or that I wasn't sweating, even though still wearing the baggy overcoat and outer layer she had so angrily discarded.

Instead Liora pointed at my bag. The one on my right. "Can I have some of that bread?" she asked.

Well… that's not what Renn would have said, but it would have been the second thing on her list, so not far off. I obliged her and pulled out one of the loaves of bread I carried, handing it off to her to let her eat.

"We only have one more waterskin, so keep that in mind," I said.

"But there's water right over there," she said between two huge bites.

"It's not safe to just drink such water. Especially downstream of a big city," I said.

"Oh…" Liora must have known what I meant for she simply nodded with a small look of disgust.

"We can boil water if we need to, but not far from here is a small spring. One we can rest at and I'll boil water there for us," I said.

"You've been this way a lot?" she asked.

"Yes. Hundreds of times," I said. Thousands, actually.

"Are you… usually alone? Or with Renn?" she asked as she took another big bite.

"Lately I've been alone a lot, which is odd. But yes, usually I have someone with me. Renn's common now, but usually I have others… Either people joining me as they travel to and fro, or me escorting someone somewhere," I said.

"Are there a lot of people where we're going?"

I was long used to her countless questions. Especially since they reminded me of Renn. "There might be… and if not, there will be in time. Renn and the rest are building a new church, a new orphanage, it won't be long until there's dozens of people there I think," I said.

"Dozens…? Is that a lot?"

I nodded. "For us it is… though at the same time, it isn't. Remember I told you about the ships returning from across the ocean? A lot of people are coming back, and they're bringing a lot of friends and family who are new… at least to me," I said.

Liora was about to take another bite of her bread, but paused before she did. "I… don't have to go there do I? To sail?" she asked worriedly.

Oh…? She had just sounded, and looked, genuinely worried. More worried now than she had about entering a city and risking her life. I wonder why she… Oh. Right. Her mother's fate while sailing. Maybe she feared the ocean, or at least sailing it, because of that. "No. They're all coming here, no point going where they're all leaving from," I said calmly.

"Mhm…!" Liora quickly nodded at that, seemingly very glad to hear so.

I see. So it had been what I had expected. Not too surprising, but still a sad sorrowful all the same.

Sailing the sea was wonderful. It should not be feared… but I suppose it wasn't really the ocean she was fearing, was it…?

For a good while Liora ate in silence, and I found myself thinking of my own.

A lot of our members have suffered such attacks. Regrettably violence, of all forms, was common in this era. Though non-humans were notably killed on sight more often than not… there were plenty who were not so lucky. There were even quite a few men in the Society who have been victims of such crimes…

I'd never really sat down and considered it on paper, but I knew a good portion of the Society has either endured such torment… or knew those who had, such as their relatives or friends. So to most it was a constant threat, or at least one they had to consider when surviving in this world.

I of course didn't fear such a fate. Never had, and never will… Though I did always stay on guard over such things, and dealt with them when needed… but I did now need to worry over it for a new reason.

It wasn't just myself, or the pitiful members I protected, that I needed to worry over anymore. And soon, if the world permitted, I'd have another. Maybe even multiple new reasons to worry…

Children…

Taking a deep breath, I sighed it out as I boxed away the sudden and very raw worry and anger. It made me feel a tad weird, and this wasn't the right place to have such thoughts or emotions, so I bottled them away.

"Vim…?" Liora said my name, but I knew I had not missed something she had said. She had simply noticed my disgruntled feelings.

"How's the bread?" I asked.

"Tasty. None for you," she said as she quickly took another bite of it, she only had a few more bites left.

I chuckled at her. "All yours, Liora. I don't need to eat as much as you do, and not just because I'm not growing anymore," I said.

"Hm… right, you don't really eat or drink much do you?" she said, likely only just noticing.

Some birds flew past overhead, distracting the both of us for a moment. I noted the large flock had a bunch of fledglings in it. Rare for birds to nest during winter…

Actually owls do, don't they? Wonder if that's why Lilly's children are always born during winter…?

"You said we'd get a horse?" Liora then asked.

"Yes. I plan to, if I can find one. Regrettably it'll be the start of planting season, so it might be difficult," I said. I wasn't going to spend days searching for a horse when in that same timeframe we can reach our destination.

"Planting season…" Liora whispered as she took the last bite of her bread, and then went to wiping her hands free of crumbs.

"Feel better?" I asked.

"I will after I have another drink," she said as she held her hand out.

Gosh. One moment she's nothing like Renn, then the next she's just like her…

Handing her the last waterskin, I wondered again about my own daughter.

A daughter. Mine.

A saint, no less…

Nory.

Renn had cried over me suggesting the name…

Would she be like Renn, or me, I wonder…?

What had I even been like when young…?

Had I been a pain in the ass…? Probably… Miss Beak used to always say I had been patient, but foolish. Hotheaded.

A hotheaded Renn…

Somehow I liked the idea.

But before I could allow it to become reality…

I needed to hunt down and kill the rest of the gods.

All of them.

The world wasn't, and wouldn't be safe until they were all gone. And screw letting them return home. I'd sooner die than allow that to happen.

"Pfa…" Liora released a sigh of content relief as she stopped drinking from the waterskin. She had a happy grin on her face, seemingly no longer disgruntled by her sweat and the heat.

Smiling softly at the girl I reached over and patted the young saint's head, causing her to groan at me as I ruffled her hair. "Jeez…!" she moaned as she went to tying the waterskin close.

The girl didn't know it, but I'd not let anything harm her. With far more surety than she could believe… and not just because she was now a member of the Society.

She was special. In a way a normal saint couldn't, shouldn't be.

Because she had been unexpected. At just the right moment.

No one had foreseen her. And she had arrived right after the gods had basically declared war.

Fate was on my side. Again.

"Okay, okay…!" Liora complained as she reached up to try and dislodge my hand. I chuckled at her as I rubbed a little more, for good measure. In doing so her small pony-tail dangled and twirled, and she giggled as she groaned and pretended to fight me off.

If I was to wage war, I needed soldiers.

Not actual ones, of course. I needed no army in the field. No spear throwers. No axe bearers, or sword maidens. I needed no war machines. No monarchs.

Just… support. From the rear.

Insight.

The kind only given by those connected to those I hunted.

Stay healthy and strong, little Liora…

You're my new ace in the hole, after all.