"I can bring Branches here instead, Lellip…" Lilly said softly.

"No… that's rude. I'll come, it's fine," Lellip said, speaking a tad stiffer than I'd likely ever heard her do so before.

Standing awkwardly near the front flap of the tent, I glanced at Lilly who glanced at me.

She looked worried. Not really hurt, or sad, just… concerned. And I understood why.

Lellip was upset.

She and Lilly were planning on leaving tomorrow morning. To go back home. To the Owl's Nest. Now that we were situated, and safe, Lilly felt it was time they could do so. And… well…

"I promise to visit the moment I can, Lellip," I said gently, hoping to calm her a little.

Lellip was busy packing a small crate. She wasn't going to take everything of hers to the Owl's Nest, but they were going to take several boxes worth. I wasn't entirely sure how they planned to get them all through the dark-forest, but knew better than to worry too much over it. I was sure Lilly had methods.

"I know… it's okay, Renn. I'll be fine," Lellip said softly as she turned to look at me.

My ear twitched at the sight of the girl's eyes. They weren't watery… but they were full of sadness.

She had thought I would have gone with her. To Lilly's home. To go with her, and meet Branches, with her together. As if I was some kind of… support or something.

Yet I wasn't going to. I was going to stay here, in SilverCreek, to help continue setting up our new home.

"It would only take me a few days to get him and bring him here, you know? And he can come here; he's fully capable of blending in and…" Lilly again tried to offer an alternative, but Lellip quickly shook her head and returned her focus to packing.

"I want to meet him in his comfort zone. At his home…" she said.

Gosh, I got where she was coming from but…

Wanting to sigh a little, I wondered why Lellip was being so… odd about this. She was basically throwing a small fit, acting like a child who wasn't getting her way, but yet at the same time wasn't willing to bend or adjust even a little bit with the rest of us.

Lilly was more than happy to bring Branches here. Yet to Lellip that was wrong. The wrong way to do it, for whatever reason…

Though maybe I did understand that perspective…

We'd set up camp on our parcel of land we'd purchased here in town. We basically had set up an enclosed circle of tents, all surrounding one bigger tent in the middle. Everyone got their own private tent, and then the communal tent in the middle where we all ate and hung out when not working. The tents had been propped up and set in a way that blocked sight into the encampment. We had hung material up between the tents, to form a makeshift wall as well. We were also behind the rundown building, away from the nearby road which ran alongside our property and the river nearby. It was private enough that I didn't even need to wear my hat while out and about, as long as I stayed in the encampment. Yet although it was private, hidden from prying eyes outside, it was still… well…

Not a real home. Not a real location. Not yet, at least.

"I… suppose you could wait until Renn…" Lilly brought up another idea, sounding a little un-confident as she did.

"No… I'll go now. I'm sorry, you two, for… acting up. Grandfather would have forced me to clean out the furnace if I had acted like this back home. I'm sorry…" Lellip then turned around and bowed her head at Lilly and I, and my tail squirmed as I felt horrible.

She sounded sincere, but I knew that was just her maturity speaking.

Maybe I should just go with them…? I could just go for a few days, maybe, and then come back…?

Glancing at Lilly, I found her softly smiling. She nodded gently and then gestured at me. "Mind giving us a moment, Renn?" she asked.

Oh…? "Of course."

I wasted no time. I stepped away, walking out of Lellip's tent and out into the middle clearing. I wasted no time in walking away, since I knew they both knew I could hear them full well… but I knew it wouldn't matter.

I could go to the other side of the encampment and still hear them talking, even whispering… a sad fact thanks to the tents being just tents in the end. Even if nice ones made of thick leather.

No one was around outside, even though the sun was high and warm. I heard snoring from Krass's tent, the old nun, and heard chatter in the main center tent. I also could smell tea being boiled.

Walking over to the center tent, I paused a moment before its entrance. The flaps were shut, not tied up and open like they usually were during the middle of the day.

I could hear Merit inside, alongside Angie and Nessa. I knew Randle and the two other men in our group, Folz his associate and Tristin the human, were in town. They had gone to purchase some supplies, and to check out the town.

We had a lot to do. It had taken us a whole day just to set up camp, mostly because Randle had wanted us to clean up the area first. We had cut some patches of taller grass, and gathered up rocks and other things too as to better make our camp area cleaner. Merit had complained over it, but I understood the meaning of it. We could be in these tents for a long time, maybe even months, so… every little bit made a difference.

The first goal was a place to comfortably live. Homes, basically. Randle's plan was to build a large building, one we could all live in comfortably, but there had been a few complaints over that. Mostly from Merit and Angie, but I wasn't really sure if I agreed with their complaints.

They basically didn't want to live in the same building that Randle was going to hear confessions and such in… and he planned to do those things the moment he could.

We've already had people visit. Yesterday six people, in three groups, had showed up to speak to Randle. To either speak of faith, or to find out if there was anything they could do to help us set up camp. I wasn't entirely sure how common such a thing was, but many in the group had not been surprised at all.

It made sense, I guess… if people really were devout, of course they'd come to help the one who came to preach their faith. But all the same it had shocked me, and worried me a little.

I didn't like the idea of random people just… walking up to our camp without purpose or reason. Yet it was to be expected, I guess…

"I want you feeling safe, and happy, Lellip. This won't go well otherwise."

My ears fluttered as I realized I'd just focused on the tent I'd just left. I shook my head, to stop myself from hearing the rest, and entered the center tent.

Focus Renn. That's private. Very private.

Think of other things…

Such as this land. It was nice land. Far nicer than I had ever expected it to be. It was mostly fields of grass, with scattered trees here and there. Plus it was on the river, on one side, and ran deeper northward until it hit the edge of a forest. One that by the looks of it had no other property markers upon it. From memory I had seen parcels in that direction, but hadn't seen any names or titles written upon them, which Randle had told me meant no one had purchased them yet. I had suggested to him we purchase a few more parcels, to back up into the forest, but he didn't seem too interested in the idea.

But it was fine. This place was huge. We could build dozens of very large buildings on it with room to spare… and it was flatter than I had expected too. There were a few hills here and there, but most of our land was flat. The kind that would make it very easy to build on… once we finally did, at least.

Perfect land for what we wanted, and needed, to do with it.

The large tent I entered made me smile. I liked how big it was, and how open it were. It was nearly big enough to be a building all on its own. There were already many tables, chairs, and even dressers and trunks too. There were two large pillars supporting the tent, in the center of it, that Lilly had helped fell and put up. I was glad she was here, because even though Randle had known how to do it… he was of course one arm short from being capable of such things. And although Merit was strong, she was tiny, so it had been left to me, Lellip and Lilly.

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It turned out Randle's associate, Folz the mute, was a weaker man. Not too surprising, since it turned out he was a half-blood. A mix, and not of different bloodlines… but of one of us and a human. He was half human.

Knowing such a thing made me feel a bit bad for feeling so off around him. I still kind of felt… odd concerning him. As if I should be on guard near him or something, though I knew I didn't need to be. If Randle trusted him, I knew I could too.

Still…

"What're you frowning over?" Merit asked as I walked over to the table she sat at. She was alone, Angie and Nessa were standing a few tables away near the center of the tent. Where a small cook station had been built, with a fireplace and a makeshift oven. They were fussing over a pot, that I could tell now was the source of boiling tea. Were they burning it? Maybe I should go help.

"Lellip's kind of upset," I said.

"She'll be fine. I heard it all. She's just upset because she thought she'd have you with her the whole time. She likely feels safe with you, and now doesn't feel as safe as she did. She'll get over it though, she knows Lilly isn't a threat," Merit said simply.

"Gosh is it really just that…?" I asked. How sad! No wonder Lilly had asked for a moment alone… she was going to tell, and likely promise, Lellip that nothing would happen to her. That she would be safe, no matter what happened.

I was humbled, of course, that Lellip felt such a thing concerning me… but it also made me feel bad for Lilly. Lilly really didn't deserve such distrust…

"It's the Society's fault. They all think Lilly's some bloodthirsty monster. She is, but not for that kind of blood," Merit said with a small smirk.

"Merit…" I groaned at her. No wonder Lellip had such hesitations! Especially since she's likely heard Merit say such things during our whole trip!

"Want some tea, Renn!?" Nessa shouted at me, to which I turned and nodded to her. She gave me a happy grin and a thumbs up as she returned her attention to their pot.

"They're burning it," Merit said simply.

"I can smell that. It's fine."

"No it's not. We'll have funding problems, Renn. We can use credit with the higher authorities here, but not the smaller shops. Not yet, at least, not until they realize who we are and what we are. Until then we'll need to be mindful of our supplies and how fast we go through them," Merit said.

Oh… right…

"Gosh…" I groaned as I realized how right Merit was. We actually had brought a lot of money with us, thanks to Vim, but I knew from personal experience how fast money could be spent and disappear when not careful.

"We don't have real money problems, of course, but we'll always have to wait for funds being in a town without any real bank or connection to the Society. So… just be mindful," Merit added.

I nodded and sighed. "Which is why Randle took over securing supplies," I said. I had offered this morning to go, since I had kind of wanted to check the town again, but he had been rather adamant that he and his group go instead. He must have worried I would have spent money needlessly.

Granted I probably would have, to be honest, so he was right to have done so.

"Randle likes such tasks. He's always been a miser."

"Miser…?" I asked.

"He's tight with money," Nessa said as she and Angie walked over, carrying the pot and some cups.

Oh. I nodded softly as I watched them place the stuff on the table Merit sat at, and then they both sat down with her.

"Won't he get busy…? Too busy for such things? Yesterday he had a bunch of people show up already, and we just got here," I asked.

"He'll spend a week or so letting anyone come to talk to him, but he'll eventually make it clear they should only come during certain days of the week. At least until the church is built," Merit said as she reached out to grab one of the empty cups that had been placed on the table. I smiled softly as I watched her basically crawl up onto the table as to reach it.

"I'm told once the temple is made others are to show up to help him, too," Nessa said.

"Temple…?" I asked. I had not heard it called that before.

"Just another term for a church. The old word, for this region," Merit said as she grunted, still trying to reach for her cup. Little Angie reached over, grabbed it, and then pushed it closer to Merit's hand. Merit huffed as she got her hand upon it, then while still stretched out as far as possible she tapped the cup against the table… hinting she wanted it filled up with tea.

Nessa obliged. She opened the pot's lid, then with a ladle she went ahead and filled Merit's cup up.

Without a thank you Merit sat back and sighed as she took a drink of her, likely very hot, tea.

"It's hot…" Nessa warned, but Merit didn't care or hesitate. She took a drink.

"It is," Merit then agreed, licking her lips.

"Is Lellip okay, Renn? She sounded a bit upset earlier," Nessa then asked, seemingly not bothered by Merit's attitude or neglect for her own safety. Nessa shouldn't have known Merit, but maybe she did…?

"She'll be okay. She just thought I was going to go with her, is all," I said.

Nessa frowned at me, and I could read the hundreds of questions on her mind, but she didn't ask any of them. Angie ignored us all as she went to readying tea for all of us, filling the cups one after another.

"They plan to leave in the morning… at least, last I heard," I said. I had a few moments ago overheard Lellip and Lilly agree to do so, but I was trying to ignore the fact that I had.

Come on, Renn… stop prying.

Maybe I should just wear my hat around here. Even if it was safe to not do so. It didn't block much, not anymore, but it did block a little bit of the world around me…

"I'll be honest I'm glad we're not going with them. I'm so tired of sitting on that stupid wagon," Nessa said with a sigh.

Angie nodded in agreement as Merit took another drink. I stepped closer to the table as Angie turned to offer me one of the now full cups of tea.

It was still really warm, so I didn't take a drink right away as Merit had done. Not because I would get hurt drinking it, but because I could smell that it was… well… The tea was diluted. They had burnt it, I hadn't been mistaken. Odds are it'd just taste like stale boiled water.

"I'm glad to finally be here too… though I think I had underestimated how much work it was to build a new home," I said as I glanced around our empty tent. It was big, which was nice, but its large openness made it all the more apparent how we'd just begun.

We had to ready the land. Then we had to build a foundation. Randle wanted to also start small gardens, not so much for food but just in general. Then we needed to build the buildings, fences, a barn for the horses and oxen, and so very much more…

This was going to take months. Months and months, years maybe even!

Although I was more than glad to be here, and not regretting my choice to join them all here… I had to admit that I had simply bitten off more than I had thought it would have been.

Merit chuckled at me. "You don't know anything yet, Renn. But you will."

Great.

"By the way, Renn, did you happen to see an orphanage on the city map thing?" Angie then asked.

Oh. "No. I hadn't. And I hadn't really seen anything that might be like it while walking around the other day either," I said. I had tried to mimic Vim yesterday, and had spent some time just… walking around the area. I had even walked around outside of the town proper, up and down the river and around some of the nearby forests. I still hadn't gone to check out the mine, but I figured I'd ask Merit to join me to do that… just in case.

All I'd really accomplished on doing so was find myself kind of disappointed in the town, yet also excited all the same. It was growing, seemingly very fast, but it was still small. Outside of a few shops there wasn't much to do here.

"It seems half the town's population are mercenaries. I can't imagine they'd have a bunch of kids to worry about," Nessa said.

"On the contrary, that means there will be a lot of orphans. Maybe not yet, but they'll pop up, just watch," Merit said.

Angie frowned in worry over Merit's comment, and Nessa looked as if she doubted Merit.

"I did hear though that prostitution is illegal here. Some people were complaining about it," I said. I'd overheard some men the other day say so.

"That doesn't mean there'll be less orphans, Renn, just that the ones who do it will be even sneaker about it. They might even just drown or abort the children outright instead, out of fear of being caught," Merit said.

"Sheesh…" Nessa whispered as she went to take a drink of her tea finally. It must have cooled down enough for she didn't flinch or hesitate to drink it.

"Why would it be illegal here? Isn't that something the religious towns do…? This place isn't religious yet, is it?" Angie asked.

"It's probably just whoever rules the town. Humans are controlling, in weird ways," Merit said.

I nodded softly at that. It was true; it might not have anything to do with religious reasons or morals but instead pure control or monetary reasons.

"Personally I'm fine with it… might make it easier for me to find someone then," Nessa said with a small smirk.

"Give up on Tristain already?" Merit asked.

"Tristin," I corrected her. Had she added the stain part to his name on purpose or had that been an actual mistake?

Merit shrugged me off as Nessa grumbled and went to focusing on her tea. "He's ignoring me," she mumbled.

Was he…? I hadn't noticed… though I guess I had been busy, and today I'd been focused on Lellip and Lilly instead.

"Tristin wants to become a priest. Might want to choose someone else," Angie said.

The rest of the group glanced at the young bison, and I sheepishly smiled as Nessa glanced at me with worry. "Really!?" she asked me.

How would I know!? "I uh…"

"Would explain why he's here. To learn from Randle," Merit added.

Nessa fell forward, wrapping her head with her hands on the table with a groan. "I've been trying to flirt with him this whole time…!" she whined into her arms.

"Yeah, it's been gross," Angie said.

Actually I had found it adorable. Nessa had indeed been trying, but she hadn't been doing very well at it. She was… well… a coward, I think. She locked up and got all weird when he got too close to her. As if she couldn't think around him.

Would explain why she still was unwed, to be honest. Nessa was, like her sisters and mother, beautiful. Plus she had a great head on her shoulders, thanks to Oplar's teachings and upbringing. There was honestly no reason for her to be unmarried…

"Thought I lucked out and found one already…" Nessa mumbled in her arms.

"You'll be fine. Especially once you walk around with your nun robes on. Mercenaries go crazy over women like you," Merit said.

"Can we go back to talking about burnt tea?" Angie asked with a dull tone as she took a sip of hers.

We laughed at her, I especially since we had actually not even started talking about it!