The Non-Human Society

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Six – Vim – Letters

Turning the paper around, I read the rest of the Chronicler’s letter.

“Next time you put pen to paper, do so with fiction,” she finished.

I smirked at that and folded her letter up. The four page thing, eight since she always wrote on both sides, had mostly been an ass chewing.

One well deserved, but sometimes I felt like she enjoyed the whole, I told you so, more than someone of the cloth should.

Sitting back, I sighed as I tapped the folded letters against my knee.

A vote.

Against me.

Against my protection. My service. My loyalties.

It’d be insulting if they didn’t have ground to stand upon.

Glancing at the fireplace, I stared at the stack of logs and kindling waiting to be lit.

I had gathered it up and prepared it already. In anticipation of burning the letters… but I wasn’t done yet.

I wanted to burn them already. To stop thinking about them, or their contents. But I still had…

My eyes left the unlit fireplace, and went to the table next to me. The three unopened letters, sitting amidst the four others already opened and read, made me itch.

Their contents were all the same, roughly. Like the Chronicler’s.

Telling me that I shouldn’t worry. That they’d help me. That they’d be the voices of reason, amongst the choir of dissent.

I’d be humbled by their generous support and readiness to come to my side… if not for the fact they were all being just as snarky about it as the Chronicler.

Yes. I was a hypocrite. I caused most of my own problems. My failures were usually my own fault, in one way or another.

But what did they want from me? What did they expect me to do?

Or well…

Lifting the Chronicler’s letter, I stared at some of the words written upon it. They told me exactly what she expected. What they all did.

“To be a tyrant,” I whispered.

They expected me to force people to obey me. They expected me to lead. To stop allowing our weakest and feeblest members to give me orders.

To break free from Celine’s contract.

I scoffed and tossed her letter onto the table.

Ridiculous.

They all forgot I wrote most of that contract. I forced most of those rules myself.

Why would I try to free myself from shackles I willingly locked upon my own soul?

Though maybe it would be for the best.

Maybe this would bring forth a needed change. Something that needed to happen. Something… something like…

I paused to remember Renn’s look. When she had heard of the vote, and who had called for it. When she had heard she was one of the many excuses they were using, to strike against me.

She had been as angry over it as she was hurt by it.

It had been a lovely sight on her face. She had been furious, yet welling with tears.

They were going to try to use her as an example. As proof of my inept handling of the Societies well being.

How little they knew.

They were in for a surprise beyond imagination if they thought it’d work.

A light knock made me sigh.

“Come in Oplar,” I said.

She opened the door slowly, smirking at me as she glanced around the room.

Watching her as she entered the room, and slowly shut the door behind her… she finally nodded with a knowing smile.

“What?” I asked.

“I’m just… enjoying this, Vim. I’ve seen you mingle before, but never anything like this…” Oplar paused a moment, then smirked as she stepped over to the bed.

I watched as she reached down and picked something up. Something tiny, yet long.

A strand of hair.

“You know I think she’s the first member you’ve slept with that I know of?” Oplar teased me as she showed me a strand of Renn’s hair.

Looking away from the bear, I strained my ears as I listened beyond the room. To the world outside, not just the hallway and floors below and above.

I didn’t hear Renn. She wasn’t near the courtyard, based on the fact I couldn't hear her at all.

“Though I’ve always thought Landi got to you too, though she’s never admitted it,” Oplar said as she tossed Renn’s hair back onto the bed and stepped away from it.

Rolling my eyes at the idea, I watched as Oplar pulled over the only other chair in the room. It was a much smaller, less comfortable, one compared to the one I was sitting in… but I wasn’t in the mood to offer her my own.

In fact I wasn’t really even the mood for her teasing or any jokes right now either, but I knew I needed to talk to her.

This was the first time we’ve had a moment alone since she’s arrived after all.

“Renn’s right now happily debating the rest. Though I use the term happily a little loosely… she can get rather fired up, it seems,” Oplar said as she took a seat across from me.

“She shouldn’t do that,” I said.

“What woman wouldn’t try to defend her man?” Oplar asked me.

“One who should know better,” I said.

Oplar tilted her head at me. “You expect her to… stand on the fringe? Like you do? Really?”

My left eye twitched, and I had to stop myself from giving her the first answer that came to mind.

After a tiny moment of calming down, I shook my head. “Of course not… but her fervor can be...” I gestured lightly instead of saying it aloud.

“Very forceful, especially to our lesser members. Yes. Luckily most here don’t seem too bothered by her. Though most here are used to those like Sharp, so it’s to be expected,” Oplar said.

I nodded.

“Yet still Vim… I’m a little surprised. You actually did for a moment there think she should be like you. I’m surprised you’d think so. It makes me wonder if your rules are more than just agreements, or if it’s simply a tell of how deeply you care for her,” Oplar then said as she thought about it.

My eye twitched again. Damn. She had noticed.

Why were the most perceptive members always so annoying?

Though… Renn was too. Yet she didn’t annoy me at all.

Or did she, just in different ways?

Oplar sighed as she glanced next to me, at the table. The letters upon it, specifically.

“You know… I’ve never really considered it before. But you have as many friends as you do foes, Vim,” Oplar said gently.

“I have no enemies within the Society,” I said.

“Right. Sure you don’t,” she said with a small nod of the head.

“I destroy my enemies. Whom are you expecting me to destroy?” I asked her further.

Oplar held my gaze for a small moment… only to frown and nod. “Fine… you don’t have enemies… you simply have many members with grudges and criticisms,” she corrected.

I nodded, glad to hear it.

She chuckled. “The Clothed Woman of course had no letter for you… but she did have a message, if you’d like to hear it.”

Closing my eyes, I felt a pain that didn’t exist for a moment. “What is it?”

“She warned you, she says. Devour them, then they’ll devour you,” Oplar told me of her warning.

I scoffed. “And do you know whom she speaks of, Oplar?”

“Well… no. But I’m enjoying seeing you react to it all the same,” Oplar admitted.

Right. Sure.

“How’s Lumen?” I asked.

“Hm? Fine. They were busy with Thraxton and all those merchants and lords. There were royalty and bishops from neighboring nations involved too. Brandy is having the time of her life,” Oplar said.

Good. Although it meant down the road I’d have pain and headache, at least right now all was well.

“Oh. Those pirates showed up too. ” Oplar remembered.

Frowning, I gestured for her to continue.

She nodded. “They're fine, last I heard. Merit took them under her wing, though I'm not sure what they're doing,” she told me.

Huh... I should be surprised, but honestly I wasn't. Renn would be very happy to hear the news, though. Even if it seemed Oplar either didn't know their full story, or simply didn't care.

“Telmik is fine. Everyone I know of is fine. I have a letter for Renn, from Twin Hills. Several in fact. I also have one for her from Crane, amongst others,” Oplar then said.

I frowned. “You speak as if you haven’t given them to her yet,” I said.

That wasn’t… shouldn’t be possible. She’d only been here a day, but…

“Because I haven’t,” Oplar said as she dug underneath her right arm, and pulled out a small bag. One she had hidden in her pants.

She stared at it for a moment, and then reached out to hand it to me.

I only stared at it.

“Why are you giving me her letters, Oplar…?” I asked softly.

“She’s yours Vim,” Oplar said simply.

My eye twitched again, and not because she was teasing me.

This was Oplar being very serious.

“Those are hers, Oplar,” I said.

Oplar blinked, but the small bag didn’t move. “They are?” she said, as if my statement made no sense to her.

I sighed, and decided to just let it be. I leaned forward and grabbed the bag.

It felt thick enough to be more than just a few letters. Or someone had written far more than a few pages.

Oplar smiled and nodded, glad to have delivered her task successfully.

Sitting back, I put the bag on my lap and stared at the bear that was… a little more animal than human, sometimes.

Really. You’d think someone without any actual traits wouldn’t be so… instinctual.

Sure. I had claimed Renn was my own… but was she not doing the same with me?

If anything I’d think she had more reins upon me than I her. If anyone should be given letters first it should be her.

Maybe in time Oplar would see the truth… if not… well…

“So um… Vim.”

“Hm?” I left my thoughts as Oplar shifted in her chair, and I noted the way her clear eyes glanced around. She was glancing around, as if in

She chuckled, her tail happily dancing as I nodded and admitted it.

Yes. That was true too.

It really was.