Ruvindale smelled a little.

It was not too much of a surprise, really. The city was partly on a large river and a lake that it merged into, one they fished heavily, and they had a large section of the city dedicated to farm animals such as pigs and whatnot. So it always stunk, in a way, as did most human settlements… but it was worse than usual right now. Likely thanks to the hot and humid day.

Which was maybe why I couldn't smell paints anymore.

"Are we going to buy the horse here?" Liora asked quietly.

"No… I just wanted to check on something, is all," I said as I studied the Sleepy Artist. Or at least, the building that it had once been.

Someone else owned it now. And they had rebuilt it. I and Renn had set it on fire last time we were here, as to destroy any potential evidence of our Society, but it of course was a stone building. One very well built, so it wasn't too surprising to see that it still stood and was mostly intact. Most of the outside looked as it did before I had set it on fire, but there were a few differences. It seemed it was not a shop anymore, but instead a home. All signage was gone, and the heavy wooden front door was now a thinner one. A cheaper one. And the large window in the front where there used to be displayed paintings was now replaced by a solid brick wall. Whoever had done it had likely done it in haste; the bricks were clashing with the rest of the building. Likely just a temporary measure, maybe done to keep the elements and riff-raff out since the window had likely broken during the fires.

I could hear people within it, but only to a point. A small family by the sounds of it. I heard a young child amongst adults.

"Hm…" Liora made a small noise as she reached up to mess with her wimple. I glanced at her for a moment to make sure all was well, and once I confirmed she was just itching at her hair under the covering I returned to studying the building that I had visited for decades.

Honestly I should be used to this by now. And in a way, I was… but it still hurt all the same.

The Sleepy Artist was gone. Forever. And the only survivor, Crane, was someone I'd not met since the failure that brought it ruin… and likely didn't want to meet ever again.

I wonder where she was, anyway. I'd not seen or heard of her in a long while. Likely involved in the church stuff…

All the same. There was no point lingering here now.

Walking away from the building, I wondered if I should look into its new owners or not.

Odds are the city had simply condemned it and sold it off at auction. Why wouldn't they? No point in allowing a building to go unused… but…

Had the Society not owned it? A part of me wanted to say it should have had ownership of the deed, but odds are it had simply been in Lughes' name. And he had been deemed a criminal, with his lack of paying taxes. Thus confiscated.

Maybe it was better to just leave it be.

Liora kept pace with me as we headed deeper into the town. I didn't know where I could actually purchase any horses, but the innkeeper this morning had given me a few ideas on where to get one. He had mentioned a transportation company in the north of the city that commonly had auctions selling horses and wagons, so he suggested I go there first.

We had thankfully arrived at Ruvindale in the early morning fog. We had no trouble getting to an inn, and getting a room, without any issues. And now, after checking on the Sleepy Artist, it was time for us to handle the few things that needed attention. I planned to get us a horse, for Liora, and I also wanted to verify the actual town and location we were headed to. My hope was the town wasn't too far away, and also was well known enough by now that it'd not be too difficult to learn about.

"You okay, Liora?" I asked as we rounded a corner, leaving the road that the Sleepy Artist was on.

"Hm? Yeah?" the young saint glanced up at me and nodded. I could see the faint glowing behind her veil, but I knew the glow was so dim that only I could do so. No human would be able to notice it.

I had made her a face covering, mimicking the wimple and head coverings of nuns and other religious women of this region's faithful. Beneath the thin veils that covered her face was another layer of darker cloth, one that she could see through but helped further hide her glowing eyes. It was working out here in the daytime, but I knew once the sun began to set it would likely grow less effective.

But I didn't plan on keeping her out too long. She needed rest. Our journey so far had been uneventful, but the poor girl was still adapting to her new lifestyle. She still had plenty of blisters, and even had a cramp in her leg this morning. One that had been bad enough to make her cry.

She was a mature girl, and had the makings of a strong one, but in the end she still was just a young child. So I needed to be mindful…

"Is the town we're heading to like this?" she asked as she rubbed her nose through her veil.

"Smelly? I don't know. It's supposedly a mining town… so it might be, in its own way," I said.

"Hmm…" she didn't seem to like the sound of that.

"Smells like this fade after a little time. For instance your home, Nevi, stinks too. It's not as bad thanks to being on the sea, thus getting the coastal winds and stuff, but it smells like rotting fish when one first arrives. It takes a day or two to stop noticing it," I said.

"Really…?" Liora sounded shock to hear so.

"Yes… One day when you return there you'll see what I mean," I said.

The young saint was quiet for a good moment, and then her hand found my own. I glanced at her as I accepted her hand, as to make sure I didn't hurt her on accident as I took it, and found her staring down at the ground. "I'll get to go back…?" Liora asked quietly.

"Why couldn't you? You will need to be mindful of how and when, but you're not banished from there. We have members there, Rapti for instance. If they can be there why can't you?" I asked. If anything from the sounds of it the Society's presence there was going to grow deeper… from my very short conversation with Karma it seemed that Light and the rest had plans with Nevi. Though to what length I didn't know. Hadn't wanted to know, honestly. Odds are they just planned on using it as a hub for the ships that would be returning from the other continent, since Vorli was seemingly being abandoned en-mass.

"I thought you said I'll never meet mother again…?" Liora asked with a soft voice. One that I bet wouldn't have been heard well enough to understand by a human.

"I never said that," I said.

"Yes you did. To mother," she said.

Oh. "I had said that to her as to verify her willingness of handing you over to us. To see if she really meant what she said. Think of it like a test," I said.

"But…!" Liora stopped walking, so I did too.

We were still in the district of noble houses and shops, so I wasn't too concerned over us doing so… but I didn't want to linger too long in these streets.

Liora looked like a young nun right now, but I didn't. I mean, I'd never be able to look like such a thing, but I more so right now didn't look like someone who would be associated with such a person. I looked more like a mercenary right now than a fellow churchman or something. So I didn't want to stand out anymore than I needed to, yet...

Staring down at the young saint's veil, I smiled softly as I gave her hand an ever-tiny squeeze. "Rapti plans on integrating your mother into the Society, Liora. In time she may be able to join you, or you her, if all works out well. We have… rules, on how this works, regretfully. And they must be adhered. But you and your mother are not permanently separated, Liora. We're not that cruel. If you two can be reunited without issue then you will be," I said simply.

"But… she gave you everything…!" she said.

I frowned at her. "Have you not foreseen it…? I had thought you had, thus your…" I stopped talking as I realized something rather worrying.

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She was shocked. Genuinely. To hear this.

That meant she had not seen her and her mother in the future, in her dreams and prophecies.

Which was alarming to me… because as far as I was aware Liora had not wept or panicked over leaving her mother behind. I had thought, and obviously wrongly assumed, that Liora had foreseen what had and will happen. That we'd verify the mother was trustworthy, and then invite her into the Society. Even to the point of giving her back authority and ownership of all she had handed over. Then she could either keep her businesses, running them herself, or relinquish them and return to her daughter. Reuniting the two had been a goal from the beginning. One Rapti and I had talked in length about.

Yet here was the little saint… seemingly shocked and confused to hear such a thing…

Which meant…

"I… I…" Liora hesitated as she shifted and tilted her head, likely going through her own memories of her dreams as she stuttered.

Great. That meant something must happen.

Just wonderful. I should have brought this up earlier, then. If this girl's mother ends up dying for some sad reason…

"Have you not foreseen you and your mother together again? Not once?" I asked.

"I… don't think so. No," she said softly.

Weird. "Well… before either of us panic over that, let us be sound of reason and remain calm," I said gently.

"I'm not panicking," she said simply.

Yes. She wasn't. She was shocked, but not about to burst into tears or anything… and it seemed she did at least comprehend the meaning of the moment and conversation, based off her tone. She realized that her not foreseeing her reuniting with her mother and my saying it should be guaranteed, was conflicting and thus meant something terrible.

"I promise to address this once I can. Right now though there is nothing you or I can do about it. Do know though, that the original plan was to be for her to join you eventually. At whatever location you end up settling in. It might be months, or even a few years from now, but it was meant to happen," I said.

"Mother thought otherwise. She… thinks we'll never see each other ever again," Liora said.

I nodded. "Yes. We make those like her think such a thing; believe it firmly, for multiple reasons. To test them, to protect you and others, and so forth. It's a tradition from hundreds of years of trial and error," I said.

"To make sure that both I'm safe, and so is she," she said, understanding.

"Yes. Basically."

Liora stared up at me for a moment, and then gently sighed and nodded. "Okay…" she said simply, and then returned to walking.

I joined her, glad that she had not started crying or anything, but…

Studying the way she walked beside me for a moment, I found myself feeling regretful.

Since we'd left the inn and had been walking around, Liora has had a bit of a pip to her step. She had been enjoying the sights, and the new experience of a new place. Even with the discomfort of having to wear the wimple I'd made her she had been enjoying herself.

Now though that excitement was gone. She now was walking with her head lowered, her shoulders slumped… her hand slightly limp in my own.

I held back a sigh as I looked away from her, and hoped that Rapti could handle any issues that arose before I could or needed to handle them.

If the mother did die or something before she could return to Liora, or she her, then it'd be on me. I had been the one to make sure that Liora joined alone without anyone else, since it was the commonly expected rule to be had for saints.

It existed for the saint. To protect them. Since usually saints were abused, or worse, by those they considered or called family. Usually it kept them safe. And the Society safe too. It was such an expected thing that even Rapti had immediately agreed to the method I'd chosen, since it was just… something we did. After all we didn't really know about the girl's mother, or her family. We had only base rumors and knowledge to go off of. So… we needed time to investigate. To verify. To make sure that by allowing them into the Society we didn't just shoot ourselves in the foot by bringing in people who would harm us in the end.

There were similar rules for non-humans too. I couldn't count how many times only a few families, or even only a single individual, joined the Society while the rest of their whole village didn't. It was why I had lingered here in Ruvindale a few years ago, to check to make sure Renn was someone we could actually accept and…

"Vim…?"

Glancing down, I found the young saint still had her head hung low. She was staring at the stone path we trod upon, not the fancy homes we were passing by that she had been so interested in moments ago.

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry."

I smirked and nodded. "Then we'll grab a bite to eat… hopefully after we get a horse," I said.

"Can you eat horses?" she asked.

"You can. Most don't, what with them being far more useful alive than for food. Some claim they're tasty while others say they don't taste much like anything at all," I said.

"So like all food," she pointed out.

I chuckled and nodded. "Yes. Like all food, there are those who like it and those who don't. Speaking of that, any food you'd like to eat? We can't eat at a restaurant, for obvious reasons, but we can probably order something to go if we ask nicely," I said. Rather as long as I gave a nice tip, one big enough to make whoever I asked not care about the few coins they'd waste on a basket or box they'd lose by giving it to us in such a way.

"I like apples," she said.

Apples…? That wasn't a full meal, but that was good to know. I'll make sure to get some for our trip; those would be good snacks for her.

"How about something a tad heavier? Meat maybe?"

"Hm…" Liora hummed as she pondered my suggestion as we walked. We passed a few people as we started entering a busier part of town, where shops started to become more frequent, but none seemed to give us much attention.

Maybe my worry for my appearance was a bit overblown. We were far enough north that they might just think I'm some general laborer or something, wearing leather clothes instead of on one of the more comfortable types.

It was too bad Renn wasn't here… We'd just appear as a typical family if she had been with us.

"How about horse?" Liora then suggested.

I flinched at that. "We'd be hard pressed to find such meat here; they value horses too much for other uses. Likely only eating them once they die," I said. I suppose her saying such a thing was my fault for having spoken about it. Usually a human, one born and raised here in this region, would have never asked such a thing. But she of course had been sheltered…

Honestly it was kind of interesting how similar she was to non-humans. Being a saint of course made her more like us than not, but it was still usually something human saints had difficulties with. There was a reason back during the wars I had been forced to eliminate so many of them, and not just because of my distaste for them. Many had seen non-humans as demons or the enemy, claiming non-humans were demons and whatnot. Such a thought process was actually pretty common amongst humans. At least the ones not born amongst us, that is.

"That's likely it," I said with a small point to a distant building. It was a little busy, with people coming and going from it. The large building was at the end of the road we were on, and it had a large two storied barn-looking building attached to it. One that was obviously being used as a warehouse of some kind. There were two large wagons before it, both being loaded with crates.

As we approached I slowed our pace a little, so I could study the building and the people around it. Most were workers, dressed lightly as they worked hard labor. I wasn't too surprised to see well-dressed men and women amongst them, talking or writing in ledgers. A few were obviously either nobles themselves, or at least the representatives or employees of one. Odds are one of them would be who I'd end up having to talk to.

I sighed softly as I glanced down at the young saint still holding my hand. Her face was of course hidden by her veil and wimple, but I could tell by her stance that she was studying the building with interest. Odds are, being the daughter of a merchant noble, she has known of such places since her birth. Yet this might be the first time she's ever actually seen one.

Usually I'd do this alone. As to not draw attention. But unlike Renn I couldn't leave this girl alone, at least not for long.

Saints drew attention. In ways beyond the normal, not just because of their glowing eyes. Some people just… felt them. As if called to them by instinct. It was why they usually couldn't live in large cities. They drew trouble simply by existing, as monarchs did.

Their divinity called out to the creatures that lacked it. Even if subconsciously. So even just leaving her alone back at the inn was dangerous, in a way.

Yet at the same time it was dangerous for her to mingle with people. If by accident her face coverings fell off, I'd be forced to do unspeakable things as to keep her safe.

I'd do those deeds without hesitation. Have many times. But…

Sometimes by saving and protecting people with such methods, all I did was cause more harm than good. We'd lost many members throughout the years because they had witnessed my brutality. Seeing me as more threat and danger than the things I was trying to protect them from.

In a way the portion of the Society that wanted to vote against me, to change how I was to be the protector, had the same feelings. Just… not as direct…

Clearing my throat, and my mind, I gently got Liora's attention by shaking her hand ever so gently with my own.

"Ready?" I asked her.

She glanced up and nodded without hesitation, rather firmly. "I'll negotiate!" she offered.

"Oh…?" I found myself smirking at her as I decided to let her go ahead and try. She was like Renn in odd ways, wasn't she? "Your mother taught you how to haggle did she?"

Liora nodded, again confident. "Yeah!"

"Then let's see it. Careful though, if you don't do well enough it'll cut into your snack budget," I warned.

"I have a budget…?" Liora mumbled as we headed for the building, to purchase a horse for our venture.

And surprisingly we got one. Liora got it for a fair price, too…

I'd never tell her it was because the woman we had purchased it from had obviously been a very devout woman herself, and as such had likely taken a liking to Liora, though.

Little victories were as important as a full belly sometimes.