I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Watching Merit walk through the wall of darkness, I frowned as she glanced around and studied my home.

She… was alone? Really? I waited patiently for someone else to join her. Vim, for instance. But no one else stepped beyond the wall of darkness.

Merit, the tiny fish, carried a small bag on her back and looked more like a lost child than she did a great adventurer. Yet she still strode right up to me, smirking proudly as she did. "I scared that bear away," she said with glee.

"I… I see…" I wasn't sure at all what to say to that. She had encountered that monarch's child? Really? I mean, it was a newborn, but still…!

I myself had only seen it twice. The first time after it had been born, after Vim had killed its mother. He had spent a few days nursing it and checking it, and then again I had seen it years later from afar. After I'd lost my wings, since I now needed to traverse the darkness to get here.

Merit ignored me for a moment a she looked around, and then frowned as she stared up at the huge tree in the center. "I thought your home was up there? In the tree? Not below it," she asked.

I shifted a little and gulped, and glanced behind me. To the small cottage not far from me. "I used to. I had Vim dismantle it for me, after I lost my wings," I said.

"Ah… right. Couldn't get to it no more huh? And even if you made stairs, that'd be a pain in the ass to climb them every single time wouldn't it?" Merit noted as she crossed her arms and nodded.

Wanting to say something snarky in return, such as the only reason she'd find it annoying would be because of her tiny legs, I decided to instead softly sigh and smile at her. "I'm kind of glad you haven't changed, Merit," I said in greeting.

So many others I've met since losing my wings have been… oddly gentle with me. Soft spoken, as if I was now maimed not just in the body but in the mind. As if I was pitiful. Yet here Merit was, making snide comments with ease. I kind of liked it.

It's been almost a year since I've lost my wings. I'll admit, maybe not to anyone but at least to myself and a certain few, that I was still not… adjusted to my new life. But I was better. I had even planned to leave the next time Vim came, to maybe go on a small trip with him just to give myself something to do.

"So? Are you going to invite me in and stuff? I'm thirsty," Merit asked as she stepped past me and headed for my house.

I smiled gently at her, feeling relieved at how frank she was being. Yes. I missed this. "You just get water. You should be happy with that, being a fish and all," I said.

"What? No tea? Well… better than alcohol at least. Vim said you've become a drunk," Merit said with a sigh.

"What!?" I startled at that. Vim had said that? Really!?

Merit smirked at me, in a way that told me she had just lied and teased me. I calmed down a bit, but my heart still thumped a little in shock. "I've been intentionally trying not to drink around him, thank you very much," I said with a groan.

"Oh? Why's that?"

"I fear I'll try to assault him if I do," I admitted as we entered my home.

Merit stumbled as she walked in, so badly that I instinctively reached out to grab her and help her keep her balance. I grabbed the small woman's arm, just as she went to laughing like mad. "What's with that!?" she shouted happily.

I felt my face go hot, and felt the back of my shoulder blades shift and move… in the way that would have made my wings flutter and shift annoyingly, had they still been there.

Vim had offered to remove the small nubs that remained, via surgery, but I didn't want him to. I wanted to keep them, as a reminder.

Releasing Merit as she regained her footing, she kept laughing and giggling at me as she shook her head and headed deeper into my house. She walked in as if this place wasn't my home, but hers. She took off her bag, dropping it randomly in the middle of the room as she looked around.

"Hm. Small, but not bad," Merit said as she finally stopped laughing.

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"What'd you think, I lived in squalor?" I asked. Granted my home was small, but it was nice. My home, on my request, was just two rooms. The main room, where I slept, cooked, and ate, and another room where I bathed and whatnot. Vim didn't like making such a small cottage for me, but I had convinced him to keep it simple.

I didn't want to feel like I was living in a huge empty home anymore. It made me feel stupid.

"Please. It's obvious Vim built this. Though it's interesting. You can always tell who he takes care of just off his handiwork," Merit said.

"Huh…? What do you mean?" I asked.

Merit pointed at my bed.

Staring at it, I couldn't see what she was trying to insinuate. I mean, it was likely she was just teasing me… but… what if she wasn't?

Merit sighed at me. "So? Were you serious just now?" she asked.

I was a little annoyed she'd just changed topics, but I figured I'd get the information out of her later. "About assaulting Vim? Yes," I admitted.

Merit stared up at me for a moment, and then sighed at me. "You think it'd actually work?" she asked.

"No? That's why I'm trying not to do it, obviously."

Merit slowly nodded. "I thought you didn't see him that way."

"I don't. That's the problem."

"Ah. So you're just being weird," Merit said, as if that made perfect sense.

Well… she wasn't wrong, probably.

Stepping deeper into my home I went to make some tea for my guest. I left the front door open, since the day was actually pretty nice.

"How about you? Haven't you ever thought about it?" I asked. She was more infatuated with him than I was, by a long shot.

"No? You must not actually love him, because if you did you'd not even think about it. Do you know what it would feel like to have him push you off and snarl at you? It'd shatter what little of my heart still exists," she said as she went to sit down at my table.

I hesitated a moment as I lit a fire, to boil water, and frowned.

Right… that would hurt, wouldn't it? It was one thing to be turned down, but for it to happen in such a way, in such a moment, likely hurt a lot.

"Before we get too enthralled by this wonderful conversation, I should probably tell you I'm here for a reason," Merit said.

I smiled at that, but not at her. I kept my back to her as I readied the tea. "I figured, Merit. I'm moping but I'm not so bad that even you have to come here to check on me."

Merit chuckled at that. "Funny. For the record I'd not come even if you were suicidal. Though I would come to your funeral," she said.

"Thanks," I said.

"I've come to let you know I'm heading south. I'm going to create a kingdom down near the whirlpools."

I blinked at that and turned, a little shocked to hear such a thing. "A kingdom…?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Why…? There's a bunch of wars going on. And they're going to get worse, so says Vim. Why build something that will just get swept up in war?" I asked.

"That's why I'm building it way down there. No wars down there, birdbrain. It's too desolate for armies to march across, let alone wage war in. I'll only have to deal with small bands of brigands at worst," Merit explained.

"Oh…" Right. It was that bad down there, yes. In some regions there was so little water, you could genuinely die from thirst if you wandered off in the wrong direction on accident. Nothing like up here, where there was so much rain and water it was almost annoying.

"I'm not inviting you, by the way. I'm just letting you know," Merit then said.

I smirked at that. "Figured. Either way, I wish you the best. Let me know if you ever need any help, I guess," I said. Wasn't sure what I could really do anymore, without my wings, but I could at least carry a sword or spear if I had to.

Merit stared at me for a moment, and then the tea kettle made noise to let me know the water was ready. I grabbed the little tin that had the nicer tea leaves in it and scooped some into the kettle as to let it seep.

"Actually… I had planned to invite you, Lilly. But Vim sent me with a request, if you'd like to hear it now," Merit then said.

"Hm?" I turned to look at her, and tried not to notice what she had just said. Honestly I'd probably go with her, if she really wanted me to. Didn't have much else going on, really.

"He sent me with a message. But…" Merit shifted a little in her seat, looking like a child as she squirmed.

"A message? Not a request?" I asked. Those were two different things, you know.

She sighed and nodded. "Oh shush. Listen I don't mind teasing you, but saying something that might actually hurt you is something even I won't do you know?"

Hurt me…? "I may be broken, Merit, but I'm not to the point a few words will do that much damage to me," I said as I took the kettle off the fire and went to stirring it. As I stirred I reached over to grab some honey. I added just a small bit to the tea, and then after some more stirring I finished up and stepped over to the table.

My little friend sighed at me as I went to pour some of the tea into her cup first. "You sure you want to know now? Might ruin our little tea date," she said.

I scoffed at that. "Sure, sure. So? What does he want from this bird who can no longer fly?" I asked as I poured a cup for myself.

Merit grabbed the cup, but didn't take a drink. Instead she just held my gaze as she nodded at me. "He doesn't want anything, Lilly. He just wanted me to tell you about their deaths," she said.

Deaths…? "Who's…?"

"The owls."

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