My return to Merit's Oasis had been an odd one.

I had felt… strangely tired. Empty, maybe, even. To the point I had not even realized how far I had traveled until I was walking through Merit's castle, and heading for her chambers.

It was the middle of the night, which told me it had been a few hours since I had left Carson's house, but it felt as if I had just watched it fade away moments ago.

Another god dead. Maybe even one of the last ones. If not the very last one.

I should be happy. Proud. Feeling accomplished.

Instead I felt…

Blinking, I found myself in front of a door. Merit's door. To her bedroom.

Hadn't I just been walking through the lower floor hallways?

Probably.

I sighed at myself, shook my head a little, and collected myself.

The god was dead, Vim. It was time to return your focus to those you had promised to give it to.

Pushing the door open, I frowned as I found a dark room. One that was dark and quiet, but being used.

Honestly I wasn't sure if I had expected to find Merit in her room. But it was where my feet had taken me, and it seemed like usual my instincts were correct. I walked up to the large bed, and my frown severely deepened as I stared down at two naked women.

"You two aren't a thing, are you?" I asked seriously, as I stared at Nasba's ass. Her feathers usually covered it, so I usually didn't get to ever see it. She was now lying in a way that revealed it, with her feathers spread out away from her. It was better than I had thought it would have been.

Merit scoffed at me as she slowly sat up. She had been lying next to Nasba, curled up in a ball. "You're dumb, Vim," Merit said dryly.

"Well I mean…" I gestured lightly at her, and the duck that was snoring away. "Wait. Wasn't she just telling me about some fox? One she was courting or being courted by?" I asked.

"She is indeed seeing him. That's why she's here, she's upset with him. She came to drink and complain about him," Merit said as she crawled towards me.

Ah. That made a lot more sense.

"Then why are you naked too?" I asked.

"Are you seriously asking me that?" she asked with another scoff as she rolled off the bed and to the ground next to me.

"Right…" I admitted my stupid mistake.

Merit hated clothes.

Why had I forgotten such a thing…? My mind was all a mess, wasn't it?

"Well…? Was it a god, Vim?" Merit asked as she walked to the edge of the huge bed, to grab a nightgown.

"Hm…" I wasn't paying much attention to her as I stared at Nasba's naked body. Had she always been so sexy…? I liked how she had some feathers on her lower back that sat flushed with her body. They blended so well against her body, lying so flat, that it was as if they were tattoos or something. It was sexy as hell.

"Vim…" Merit groaned at me, and I blinked and glanced at her… and then down at the thing in my hand.

"Here," I stepped over to Merit, who now wore a nightgown, and handed her the pitcher.

"What?" Merit grumbled at me as she took it. It was a tad too big for her, so she grabbed it with both hands. Likely to make sure she didn't break it.

"Careful with it. As long as you don't break that, you'll have booze for the rest of your life," I said.

Merit tilted her head at me as I glanced again at Nasba. She had shifted, and I couldn't help but smirk at her. Had she just heard me say booze?

Had she always been a booze-hound? I really should start paying more attention to our members, particularly the ones who deserved it. Nasba wasn't the smartest, greatest, or strongest… but her loyalty to Merit was second to none. And I respected that, a lot more than I was willing to admit aloud.

"What the heck…?" Merit made an odd noise so I turned and found her pouring the liquor from the pitcher. Onto the floor. There was already a nice sized puddle at her feet, to the point she was actually standing in it.

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"Merit…" I groaned at her. Really, what was wrong with her? Maybe I wasn't the only one who had gone all crazy all of a sudden.

"It won't stop!" Merit said happily, finding it hilarious.

"I just told you what it was," I said with a huff as I crossed my arms at her.

Merit turned the pitcher upright, as to stop pouring it all over the floor. "Nasba! Get up!" she shouted at her friend.

"What…?" Nasba pushed herself up quickly, as if in shock, and glanced around.

"Go get some glasses. Quickly."

Nasba frowned at her queen, then blinked in realization and nodded. "Right…!" Nasba shot up out of bed, her tail feathers flapping loudly as she ran off.

I shook my head at her as she ignored me completely and ran out of the room.

"What about those glasses?" I asked. There were some on the table nearby.

"Those are dirty," Merit said simply.

Right. They had been drinking, she had said.

While I fought a god. Hilarious.

Well…

I flinched as I realized I really hadn't fought him. At all.

He had not fought back, after all. In fact I had spent more time checking his house and the contents of it than I had actually doing the deed.

I had killed gods quickly before. But somehow this one had seemed too quick.

Merit stepped out of her puddle and walked over to a different table. One that was more of a desk, really. It was near one of the windows, and had a bunch of small plants upon it. She moved some of the plants aside as she put the pitcher upon it. "I'll keep it in my vault. Nasba will drop it otherwise, given enough time," she said as she studied it.

"I would…!" Nasba declared happily as she came back. She had a large platter in her hands, littered with cups and another pitcher. A pitcher of water.

For me, or her headache I wonder?

I was wrong for both. She placed the platter on the desk next to Merit, and then went to clean up the mess her queen had made. She poured water down into the puddle and then went to clean it up with her tail feathers.

"Really Nasba?" I asked. Her own feathers?

"What…? They're easier to clean."

"Water rolls off duck feathers," I said.

"Not mine, not entirely. The feathers underneath absorb water, the top ones don't," she explained as she stepped back, to reveal the spot she had been cleaning. It was now dry, barring a few tiny specks gleaming in the dark, likely between the tiny cracks in the floor.

I shook my head at her, saying nothing more about it as she hurried back over to Merit. To take a now full cup.

"Usually I'd not pour you any Vim, but since it's unlimited… may as well," Merit said happily as she poured one for me too.

Half tempted to turn her offer down, I decided not to. Not just because she was right… but also because I was in the mood for a drink too.

While Nasba took a drink from her own cup, Merit startled as she turned to face me. She gave me an odd smile as she grabbed the cup meant for me and offered it to me.

"Mhm." I raised the cup to her, since Nasba hadn't seemed willing to toast with her.

Merit quickly lifted her own cup, and I nodded down at her as we both took a drink.

It of course tasted good, but suddenly I no longer wanted to find out how to re-create it. Any interest I had in it was long gone. And not because an indefinite source now existed.

"Hm… this is definitely different," Merit mumbled as she stared at the cup.

"It's great!" Nasba shouted happily, her feathers dancing in joy.

"Mhm," I only made a small grunt again as I took another drink. I only had a few gulps left, since the cups were tiny. Nasba had only brought cups fitting Merit's hand, not my own.

It'd be the last cup I'd ever drink of this stuff, so a part of me wanted to enjoy it, but another wanted to just dump it aside as Merit had been doing earlier.

The taste would just remind me. And I hated such reminders.

There was no pride in what I'd done.

No joy.

No accomplishments.

I had killed nothing but an ill man. An ailing soul lost and confused in his own mind.

"Where'd you get this Vim? It's great!" Nasba asked as she poured herself some more.

"I stole it from a god," I said.

Merit twitched mid-drink, and her eyes hardened as Nasba laughed. "Right! Sure!" she laughed, not believing me.

But that was fine. That was better than the truth.

Holding Merit's hard gaze, I tried to ignore the strange tear about to slide out of my eye. It didn't belong in my eye, or on my face. Even if I pitied him. Even if I felt horrible.

He was still my enemy.

A god. An enemy.

Enemy of the world, not just my parents.

But he hadn't been one.

Not any longer.

Time had broken him. Long before I had been able to.

And although our meeting had been abrupt, and strange beyond reason…

I felt as if I had killed a friend. Again.

Nasba's cup clanked as she placed it down a little roughly. I glanced at the pitcher near it, glad to see it didn't shift or rattle thanks to her rough handling, and then flinched as I realized what I'd just given them.

A god's toy was not to be so haphazardly handed away. What was I thinking?

Well, that was just it. I hadn't been. My mind had been numb.

"Could make this a whole export," Merit said happily as she finished her cup and went to fill it up again.

My eye twitched, which released the single tear, and I couldn't help but smirk and laugh.

Oh well.

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