The Non-Human Society

Chapter Ninety - Vim - To Settle a Mind

      She was still reading. Or rather, re-reading.

Lying in bed, the setting sun was starting to become too weak to light up the room. I knew her eyesight was good, far better than most, but I knew eventually she'd need to light the lamp next to the bed.

I was lying on the bed alongside her, but had lost one of the pillows that were mine. It was now stacked beneath Renn's head, helping support her up so she could read comfortably.

Renn flipped another page, slowly and carefully. It was the second to last.

It was a little odd. I hadn't read that book in over a hundred years, yet I could guess the exact word she was reading.

I could recite that book word for word, couldn't I?

The chronicler hadn't noticed which book I had laid in front of her. I knew she would after we left, or had by now, but she had not noticed this morning. It helped that her book used the same white leather as the others. Though she should have noticed that it was much smaller than usual. The one they gave to new members occasionally had thrice as many pages.

Jelti will also notice, when she comes in to clean up after we leave. Odds are she'd read it too, since she's probably never even seen such a thing.

A stupid worry, but one that bothered me all the same.

Maybe I should toss it into the fire before we leave, instead.

It was time that book got burnt anyway.

Renn turned another page, and I glanced at her.

I had to give her some kudos. She hadn't shed a single tear. Maybe the book wasn't as emotional as I remembered it.

"What's an oblation?" Renn suddenly asked.

Raising an eyebrow at her, I wondered why it had taken her this long to ask if she hadn't known. She's re-read that thing nearly a dozen times already.

"A sacrifice. To a god, basically," I said.

"Oh..." her ears drooped as she realized something dreadful.

"Yea, your god loves those things," I said with a tone that made even me flinch. I shouldn't say such things, or act in such a way. Why did I become so snippy around her? Usually I kept it in control.

Renn though didn't seem bothered as she slowly closed the book, finishing it. She let the book slowly down onto her chest, and held it there as if it was something too precious to part with.

"Usually an oblation is food or money. It's what you'd call most of the donations that happened during the festival," I said, trying my best to redeem myself for my previous comment.

"Yet for her it was something far more," was all Renn said.

I nodded. It had been.

Her tail danced near our feet, and if she was more cat than human I would have assumed she was upset. Maybe she was. Her tail even thumped into my feet occasionally.

"I feel as if you have a history beyond imagination," Renn then said.

"Just seems that way," I said.

She shook her head, and I knew she didn't believe me. None of them ever did.

"You were there when she wrote this?" Renn asked.

"No. But I was around. Most of them I agreed to long before she wrote that," I said.

"Some are... a little odd," she opened the book, and pointed to the middle of one of the pages. "Why do you have to oblige those who long for death?" she asked.