"Ah. That's her."

I turned my head, following Vim's point… and down the road I saw a young girl, one who had a dutiful cat following right behind her. She was alone, other than her cat companion, and seemed to be heading in the direction of the sea. This port city wasn't very big, more a village than not. It was mostly just a place all the nearby farmers and fishers came to sell their goods at the port… so because of that the port and the market that fed and was fed by it were the biggest things here. There were only small neighborhoods throughout the rest of the village, reminding me of how most human towns used to be like back in my youth up north.

The girl, Mistle, looked like most humans in this region. Slightly poor, but otherwise healthy and fine. She was as scrawny as Vim had described her, but he had forgotten to mention that this so-called poor farm girl had what was likely the brightest red hair I'd ever seen on anyone before. It was so colorful that I had almost mistaken it for a hat or something like it at first.

Following the bright red-haired girl was her cat, Beetles, whose tail twitched as it followed its owner. It looked like any other cat you'd see anywhere, though probably not that much older than a kitten based off its appearance. Although one could argue it stood out thanks to how healthy and well-fed it looked. It wasn't really a fat cat; it just had that healthy weight and coat to it. The kind that no alley cat or stray could ever mimic. I knew Vim would say it likely was fed as well as I was, as to tease me, if he was to describe it.

Smiling at the sight, I picked up my pace and left Vim and Lilly behind. I didn't wait for them to catch up, because I knew there was no point. We had camped outside of the port city last night, since we had arrived too late to even use an inn if we wanted to, and had only recently entered the town. Vim hadn't wanted to bother the girl or her family during the early hours of the morning, opting for us to wander around the market for a few hours before heading this way to Mistle's home.

And it seemed we didn't need to go all the way to her home, since we'd find her already.

I caught up to the girl rather quickly since I had hurried and she was just leisurely walking, but as I approached her cat noticed me. Its tail flickered in annoyance at me as I neared and the girl turned to look at me with a worried look.

"Hey there… Mistle, right? My name is Renn," I greeted the girl, and was about to explain to her that I was Vim's wife, but she brightened up at the mention of my name and stepped towards me.

"Vim's cat!" she said excitedly.

I hesitated a moment, and then laughed as I nodded. "Yes! I am. Vim's over there," I said with a point behind me. He and Lilly were walking our way, though slowly. I'd think they both wanted to give me a moment alone with her, but I knew the real reason they were being lazy in their approach. Neither Vim nor Lilly really wanted to get involved with this girl. At least, no more than they needed to be.

"Oh my gods!" Mistle saw Vim and then ran off, leaving me behind. I, and her cat Beetles, stood in slight shock as we watched her run straight at Vim all excitedly.

Feeling a little ignored, I sighed and smiled as I watched the girl run right into Vim, wrapping him in a hug as she did.

Even Lilly smiled at the young girl as she greeted him, and he her. I glanced down at the cat, and found it lazily sitting and watching its owner with the typical indifference a cat usually had.

Walking over to them, I left Beetles behind. As I approached the girl who was happily talking to Vim, I glanced around and was glad to see we weren't drawing attention. This village seemed small enough that any outsiders would stand out, simply thanks to how few people lived in this city, but at the same time this place often got travelers and merchants. Odds are we'd not be too noticed until we really started acting odd.

"How've you been Mistle?" Vim asked as I stepped up over to them.

"Fine! Beetles doesn't like the ocean, but otherwise we've been good!" Mistle said happily.

"Cat's don't like water, typically," Lilly said with a nod.

Mistle glanced at her with a smile, and then frowned and looked over her shoulder at me. She studied me for a moment, and then looked up at Vim with an odd look, one that made Vim tilt his head at her in confusion.

"You're one of those who have multiple wives? That's not good, Vim, even if you're an angel," Mistle said to him.

I was a tad stunned, since she had said such a thing so seriously, so I didn't get to laugh as quickly as Lilly did. She happily chuckled at that and reached over and patted the girl on her head. "I'm not his wife, I'm… like a younger sister, or daughter, more than anything else," Lilly said to her.

While Lilly ruffled the girl's bright red hair, I wondered if I could reach out and touch it too. Did different colored hair feel the same? I'd never thought of it before, since this was the first time I'd seen someone with such a unique brightness to their hair.

Still… angel? Her calling him such a thing made sense, considering her circumstances and her age, but it was still a tad silly to hear it said so seriously. Though that might be not so much my own understanding and knowledge of Vim, but instead my bias. After all, all the churches I've ever been in throughout the world and Society, each and every one of them had a singular constant. All their statues and motifs of angels were typically of younger children, especially young girls. I don't think I'd seen a single statue or drawing before where a so called angel or divinity was depicted as a man.

The realization of such a thing made me kind of pause for a moment. Since I had never once ever even noticed, or questioned, such a thing before. How come I had never realized the faiths, at least the ones I've been exposed to, so heavily leaned on the idea that all holy figures were female? Even the motifs of the gods were typically of women, and Vim had just said the one he had just dealt with had been a man…

"What're you doing back here? You said I'd likely never see you again!"

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I blinked out of my thoughts, deciding to speak about them to Vim later, and focused on the task at hand. Or rather, the red-headed girl… who glanced down at our feet as her cat walked up to brush against her as it walked past. Beetles first rubbed against Mistle's feet and shins, and then headed for Vim's. It began to purr as it brushed against Vim's feet, though did so without meowing.

Although it shouldn't be too surprising of a thing to see, it still shocked me all the same. Animals, particularly the small kind, rarely interacted with Vim like this. If at all, even. Half the time they acted as if he didn't even exist, as if they couldn't see, smell, or sense him in any way. Yet here was obvious proof that not only did this cat sense Vim, it seemed to like him.

"Huh," Lilly was just as surprised as me it seemed over the sight, but we didn't get a chance to really dwell on it as Mistle then turned to look at me.

"Do cats just like him or something? Beetles doesn't purr for anyone, never has, rarely even does it for me," Mistle asked.

I smirked at that, since I knew the real meaning of her question. She wasn't just making small talk, or asking about how Vim is seen in general by cats… but instead the truth of the matter, since I myself was one too. And being one I should obviously know, right?

"Well… to be honest animals don't normally even notice him. I think your cat is just very smart," I said.

The girl beamed a smile at that, and then coughed and nodded. "Well, I've raised her well!"

Vim knelt down to pet the cat, and once it noticed he had done so Beetles actually raised up on its hind legs, playfully clawing at Vim's arms as he petted it. As if it wanted him to pick it up, and hold it or something.

Maybe it simply liked him so much because he had saved it and Mistle? The hawk I had raised had been the same. I felt it had only liked me, and stayed with me, because I'd rescued it when it was young.

"Where were you headed, Mistle?" Vim then asked.

"Hm…? Oh, to the fishery," the girl said with a point past me, down the road she'd just been heading.

"Fishery?" I asked.

She nodded. "Was going to go work. I'm allowed to work two days a week, today's my second."

I frowned at that, since it seemed odd to me. I mean, it was obvious she wasn't as young as Vim had claimed her to be… but she also wasn't old either. This girl was likely a handful of years from even being considered an adult by any measure, even the old human ways.

"Let me guess, family makes you earn your keep do they?" Vim asked.

My left ear twitched a bit under my hat as I watched the girl frown in a way that made it clear she wasn't sure why Vim would even ask such a thing. "We're poor after all," she said simply, as if it was obvious.

Was it though…? The girl was dressed simply, and did look a tad dirty… and now that I was actually focusing on her, I could indeed smell fish upon her. But I mean… this was a port city, a place where fish were caught in mass. I personally felt the whole place smelled like fish. So her smell, and her general appearance, didn't outright scream poverty to me. At least not the kind I expected so close to Lumen.

Though I suppose I shouldn't think that. Lumen had more than its fair share of beggars and homeless. One of the current dramas in Lumen, for the Society at least, was over a group of children that Gerald had taken in.

Like usual I simply didn't outright notice the harsher life many lived all around me, since I was surrounded by comfort.

"Well, then we shouldn't keep you. Come, we'll walk to the fishery together," Vim said as he stood. Beetles finally meowed at him, displaying its displeasure of his ceased affection. Vim ignored the cat though as he stepped forward, gesturing softly for Mistle to follow suit.

I was a little stunned to hear him so pointedly say such a thing. Did that mean he had already made the decision to not help her…? Why? Or was he just being cordial? It was odd, a little. I had expected him to just outright ask her, or let me do so.

She joined him, not finding it odd at all as she went to walk side-by-side with him. "Do you work too, Vim? Or do you just slay monsters and stuff?" Mistle asked as she happily smiled up at him.

I glanced at Lilly, who noticed my glanced and gave me a small smile and shrugged. I sighed a bit and went to follow them, but did so a few paces behind. Beetles the cat walked between me and them, once again with a twitchy tail. Maybe it liked to walk?

"I've honestly been doing a lot of slaying recently, which I'll not complain about. But no, I do indeed work. As my father would say: No work means no pay, and no pay means no say," Vim said.

I wasn't the only one who tilted their head at that. I even heard Lilly behind me do so, which told me she too had not understood his meaning.

"No say?" Mistle asked for us.

"Hm… my father favored jokes and riddles, and his mind worked oddly. But it makes sense, in a certain perspective to us. Without money in today's world, you really don't have much say in anything anymore," Vim said.

A little surprised to hear him talk of his father, especially here and now, I studied the way Vim glanced down to the girl as they walked and talked. He looked… a little too calm, even for him. The type of calm he normally had when he was in fact, not calm at all. As if forcing himself to be so.

I wonder why…?

"Ah…" Vim then came to a stop, as if he just remembered something important. Not only did I have to come to a stop, since he did and I had been walking behind him, but so even did Beetles.

"Vim?" I asked, wondering what was wrong. He suddenly seemed even odder as he frowned in a rather… dramatic way. He then sighed and turned to look at me.

"Renn, would you take her the rest of the way? I forgot to pay for our breakfast!" he said.

I blinked at that, since not only did we eat breakfast outside of the city, with food we ourselves had brought, but… Vim? Forgetting to pay someone something? Especially for something like a meal? That was impossible. Vim might not care for money himself, but he definitely cared about properly paying people what they were owed.

Which meant this obvious fib was on purpose.

One I wasn't sure I understood at all, but knew better than to question just yet.

"Sure. You can be so forgetful sometimes," I said with a smile as I stepped forward, to take my place opposing Vim on Mistle's other side.

The young girl frowned as she glanced at me, and then hurriedly looked back at Vim. "You're leaving already…?" she asked sadly.

"No, no. I'll see you later. After you're done working for the day. Don't get my cat and yours mixed up now, okay?" Vim said with a smirk.

My ears twitched again as I glared at him, but smirked alongside him. That had been a good one.

"How's that even possible!" Mistle said with a laugh as Vim gently patted the girl on the shoulder and then stepped away. He nodded at me, and then he and Lilly turned and headed back from whence we came, as if to actually go pay this supposed bill we'd forgotten to pay.

Mistle and I watched them go, as did Beetles, and then I sighed a bit on purpose, to get her attention back on me. I'd get to hear Vim's reason for this later. For now I'll just go ahead and do what I'd come here to do. "So? What do you do at this fishery? And how do you get away with letting Beetles join you as you do it?" I asked.

The girl grinned as she turned back around, and quickly went ahead and filled me in on how she cleaned the barrels and boxes all day near the docks. And all about the small pieces of fish she occasionally tossed to her cat as she did so.

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