The Non-Human Society

Chapter Twenty Seven - Renn - An Envelope

      The Sleepy Artist was cold.

Crane sat alone, at the counter. I could not hear Lughes, or Shelldon, but...

Closing the door behind me, I wondered if Crane would tell me to leave. If she would force me out.

Her soft smile as I approached gave me hope, but...

"She's dead?" Crane asked softly.

I nodded. Unsure of what to say.

"I see," she whispered.

The tall woman lowered her head. It drooped unnaturally low, thanks to her long neck. A little more and her forehead would hit the desk she sat at.

Although there was no storm, and it was the bright morning, there was no need to worry over anyone entering the building.

The streets I had just walked through had been rather empty. Thanks to the cold.

It wasn't snowing, nor storming, but it was frigid. Even the bright sun wasn't able to warm the world today.

Even I found the Sleepy Artist to be chilly. A fire needed to be started, and soon.

Yet I knew, somehow, that none would be lit.

Crane heaved a great sob, and reached up to cover her face. For a few long moments I listened to her crying, and wondered if I should be angry at her or not.

She'd weep so, yet had...

No... maybe it had been obvious.

They had been willing to accept the inevitable.

It was I who hadn't been.

Was that simply my nature, or... was it more?

Was this the difference between predator and prey?

Crane's crying didn't take long to come to a stop, but her sniffing continued. For a long while the world was quiet, only marred by her nose.

"Lughes?" I asked gently, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Crane shook her head. "He'll come back later."

I noted the way she said later.

"Why?" I asked her.

Crane looked up at me, and I found red eyes. Not just from crying either.

The long night must have been quite rough on her.

"You're right. We're cowards, Renn," she said.

"I... I apologize for saying that. I had been..." I started to speak, but she shook her head to stop me.

She took a deep breath and looked up, at the ceiling. To where faint cobwebs hid. "You're right. We should have done what you did. It would not have mattered. She would have died all the same... but..."

I didn't know what to say, so I stayed silent as Crane did her best to keep herself from weeping again.

"But she was family. I practically raised her... Lughes... Lughes and Shelldon won't be back until you leave, Renn," she then said.

"Leave," I whispered, and felt my heart... or at least, what was left of it, shatter.

Crane nodded. "I'm sorry. But..."

"But now I'm scary," I said, and knew it was the truth.

She flinched, but nodded. "Yes. Although we... although they know you'd not actual hurt us, you had bared your fangs. You had faced us down, and we..."