Skadi, My Wife

Unlike Lungmen, after all these years, the Wei Residence had not changed much. Following her childhood memories, Talulah made her way through it and successfully found the courtyard she remembered.

In the courtyard, Wei Yenwu stood alone beside the pool with its artificial rockery, smoking from a pipe. Beneath the starlight and moonlight, his figure gazing into the night sky looked exceptionally lonely.

"...Long time no see, Uncle."

After watching Wei Yenwu's back for a while, Talulah spoke.

Wei Yenwu paused. Turning around, he took a drag from his pipe and stared at Talulah with scrutiny in his eyes. "I thought you would call me by name, just like your sister does."

Talulah smiled faintly. "At first, I thought I would be unable to call you Uncle. But when I saw you just now, I realized that the word isn't so hard to say."

Wei Yenwu fell silent and took another puff.

He stared at Talulah for several seconds, then turned his back to her again and exhaled a cloud of white smoke.

Amid the curling smoke, he said indifferently, "When I learned that you would also be attending this Chernobog-Lungmen cooperation meeting, I guessed that you would come looking for me. And you did. But I do not know why you came, Talulah. Tell me, did you come tonight to avenge your father Edward, who died by my hand?"

"Since I still call you Uncle, why are you so wary of me? You can call me Little Tal, like you did when I was young."

Talulah said this, then slowly shook her head. "No. If this had been several years ago, even after learning the truth and ending up on the tundra, I would still have hated you. I would have wanted to kill you to avenge my father. But now, I no longer want revenge."

Wei Yenwu was taken aback. He turned back around, lowered his pipe, and frowned.

Talulah said calmly, "Not long after I ended up on the tundra, I joined the Reunion Movement. Several years later, with his help and the help of my companions, I led the Reunion Movement to seize Chernobog and founded today's Dawn. When I joined, the Reunion Movement was merely an unknown little organization. But now, I believe no Infected on Terra is unfamiliar with the name Dawn."

"I am not saying this to boast, nor am I trying to publicize my achievements. I only want to tell you that, in the days when the Reunion Movement became Dawn, I witnessed far too much suffering. And I came to understand something: behind killings and hatred that may seem simple, there are often reasons others do not wish to remember—reasons filled with pain and despair."

Talulah lowered her eyes, and her voice softened.

"I saw with my own eyes someone kill his own child, still in swaddling clothes, because that child had Oripathy."

"At first, I thought he had done it because he hated the Infected, because he had become utterly insane. I was furious over it. If not for his intervention, I would have been unable to stop myself from killing him with my own hands."

"At first, I did not understand why he stopped me. Later, I learned the reason."

"The man who had personally killed his child, the man I thought worse than a beast, had actually been a very decent person. He was gentle, hardworking, and had a happy family—once."

"But during a Catastrophe, he lost his beloved wife. He himself became Infected, was discriminated against, and driven out of the city. His child was the only reason he could continue living in this world."

"The reason he killed his own child was not because he hated the Infected. It was because he did not want her to grow up in misfortune, did not want her to be bullied and persecuted in the future, did not want her to live a life of suffering."

"I saw all of this in his suicide note. Not long after his child died, that father, who others said had always lived optimistically, killed himself. Out of guilt, and out of despair toward a world that, after taking away his beloved wife, wanted to persecute even his child."

"I have seen many things like that. I have also seen many things even more unfortunate."

Talulah looked at Wei Yenwu, who had resumed smoking with an expressionless face, and said seriously, "I did hate you. But later, I let it go. It is true that you killed my father with your own hands. But it is also true that you did so to protect Mother and me, and that you raised me afterward without ever mistreating me."

"I never met my father. But you truly did raise me as your daughter, Uncle."

"Even later, when you abandoned me for Lungmen's sake, I could not blame you. After all, if it had been me, forced to choose between most of Lungmen and one person, I would probably have chosen the former too. Besides, that situation only happened because of my own willfulness."

"So rest assured, Uncle. I did not come here tonight for revenge. I only came to see you, see Auntie, see my old home, and see my sister Huil, whom I have not seen in many years."

"Of course, there is one more thing I want to ask you. Your answer will determine whether I will still call you Uncle in the future, and whether I will still regard you as family."

Talulah drew a deep breath and asked in a low voice, "Uncle, after you killed my father all those years ago, what did you feel? Did you ever feel guilty?"

"Guilty?"

Savoring the word, Wei Yenwu suddenly gave a scornful laugh. His expression twisted, and his voice became chilling, filled with a terrifying presence that made the entire courtyard turn cold. "Why should I feel guilty? What use is guilt? Koschei—that sinister black snake who forced me to kill my like-minded brother and brother-in-law, that bastard who drove my sister to an early grave—if he had not kept hiding in Ursus, refusing to come out and face me openly, I would have slaughtered him with Chi Xiao long ago and twisted off his head as an offering to heaven."

Talulah fell silent. She looked seriously at Wei Yenwu, stared into his eyes full of terrifying fury, as if flames were burning within them, and suddenly smiled.

"After all these years, your terrible temper beneath that calm exterior has not changed one bit, Uncle."

She turned around. "I am glad you are like this, Uncle. I want to see Huil now. I think she must have guessed, just like you, that I would come here. She must be waiting for me at our old spot... Oh, and I have bad news for you. That black snake is already dead. The Originium Arts he placed on me, intending to take over my body, were discovered and removed by my friend, along with his lingering soul. So there is probably no one left for you to vent your anger on by twisting off his head."

That black snake was dead?!

Wei Yenwu's hand trembled. In the darkness, for the first time that night, his composure broke.

He doubted the truth of Talulah's words, but did not question her. Instead, just as she was about to leave the courtyard, he suddenly asked:

"Who is this 'he' you keep mentioning? Is he male or female? How old is he? Is he from Ursus?"

"That is a secret~ See you next time, Uncle. I am going to find Huil."

Like a child acting cute toward an elder, Talulah turned back, placed her index finger against her lips, and made a playful gesture at Wei Yenwu before walking away with light steps.

"Brat. You are already this grown, and yet you are still as troublesome as Huil."

Wei Yenwu snorted, his tone deeply displeased.

Smoking from his pipe, he looked up at the stars again.

After a long, long time, he suddenly murmured with relief, "I thought I would never see her again. I thought she was now... Edward, little sister, your child—Little Tal has grown up."

Sisters

On an old swing that swayed gently, Ch'en sat quietly with Chi Xiao in her arms.

Tap, tap—

A sudden disturbance came from the darkness.

Ch'en could distinguish it clearly. It was the sound of solid boot soles stepping on the bluestone path.

So she finally came?

Her eyes flashed, and she stood up.

Under the moonlight, a silver-haired girl in a black dress slowly emerged.

It was Talulah—her older sister, from whom she had been separated many years ago and whose whereabouts she had only learned half a year earlier.

"You finally came."

Gripping Chi Xiao's sheath tightly, Ch'en looked grave. "I knew you would come. I have been waiting for you here for a long time."

"I knew you would be waiting for me here too."

Talulah smiled, her eyes holding a gentleness that made Ch'en both sad and uneasy. "Long time no see, my dear little sister, Huil."

Ch'en said nothing. She lowered her eyes, pressed her lips tightly together, and gripped Chi Xiao harder and harder until veins bulged on the back of her hand.

"You have grown up."

Talulah carefully examined Ch'en, smiling as she spoke. "Valiant and dashing. Or should I say you are still as boyish as when you were little? Huil, you seem so different from when you were young, yet somehow you have not changed much at all... Hmm, can you satisfy a little curiosity of mine? Huil, do you still enjoy reading wuxia novels like you did as a child, dreaming of becoming one of those master martial artists from the books who right wrongs and upholds justice?"

"Martial artists disrupt the law with force. Society has laws now. If you see something unfair, you should go to the police."

Ch'en said, "And I am a police officer now."

Talulah froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Looks like you have not changed after all, Huil. I am sure your room is still stuffed with wuxia novels, just like when you were little."

Ch'en did not answer. In a voice carrying strange emotions, she asked, "And you, Talulah? Compared to when you were young, what are you like now? Are you filled with hatred, or are you still making those grand, righteous dreams of saving everyone all day?"

"What a sharp tongue, my dear sister. Was my old dream really so unbearable in your eyes?"

Talulah looked at Ch'en reproachfully and replied, "You have grown up, and so have I. I once believed everyone deserved saving, that everyone could be saved. I thought that even after joining the Reunion Movement. But later, I experienced many more things, and I realized that not everyone in this world deserves to be saved. Some people are beyond saving from the day they are born."

Ch'en opened her mouth, but her gaze dimmed.

Talulah continued, "But I am still willing to work to save those who are worth saving: the oppressed, the oppressed Infected, those whose homes were destroyed by Catastrophes and who have no choice but to wander this dangerous land. I am willing to save them, help them, and fight for their futures."

As though she had remembered something, her gaze became gentle, yet seemed to burn with roaring flames. Her voice was the same—gentle yet resolute.

"This is the ambition of my life, and the ambition of all the friends who share my ideals. There is already too much suffering across Terra. We may not be able to eliminate it all, but we are willing to fight to save those who suffer and deserve saving."

"Talulah..."

The hand gripping Chi Xiao loosened, then tightened, then loosened again. After repeating this several times, Ch'en finally relaxed her hand, and even her constantly tense body eased.

Turning her face aside, she snorted. "Looks like you have not changed one bit either. You are still that hot-blooded fool who thinks the world is sparkling bright and everything will get better."

"You are wrong, Huil."

Talulah said softly, "It is not that I have not changed. I have been disappointed in this world too. I have even thought that perhaps there is not much light or justice in it at all."

"Mr. Patriot, Yelena, Ino, Sasha... Everyone has suffered. Everyone has seen far too many infuriating things on that tundra. They had long been disappointed in this world. The reason they were willing to help me was only because they believed in me, and believed in him."

"Even I, who had always believed the future would be better and that people would be kind and grateful, became lost after seeing those things. After meeting those who accepted our help, yet still remained dissatisfied and repaid kindness with hatred, nearly hurting my dear friend Alina."

"Why were we always offering goodwill to this suffering world, yet the world still wanted to hurt us?"

"I could not understand it, and I was furious."

"I was only fortunate that, at the time, he was still by our side."

"He?"

Talulah's unbelievably gentle, trusting tone, along with the faint sweetness she could not conceal, made Ch'en curious despite herself.

She hesitated, but finally could not suppress her curiosity and asked, "Who is he? Talulah, do you have a lover?"

The way Talulah spoke of "him" made Ch'en feel as though she were looking at Skadi whenever Skadi mentioned Chen An. No matter how she looked at it, Talulah seemed to be thinking of someone she loved.

But... that was strange. The intelligence reports she had read said Talulah had always been single and had never been in a relationship.

"If only he could be my lover, that fool."

Talulah sighed mournfully, then clenched her teeth and snorted like a sulking young girl.

Ch'en grew even more curious, but Talulah did not explain. She apologized, "As sisters, I should not hide anything from you. But I am sorry. His existence is Dawn's secret. To keep him from being disturbed while traveling Terra, to ensure his safety, and because of his personality, after he left, everyone in Dawn agreed that we could not mention his name to others. Though I am the leader, I must abide by that agreement too."

"I can only tell you that he is extremely important not only to me, but to many of my companions, and even to all of Dawn and Chernobog. The Reunion Movement's journey to this point, and Chernobog's safety after the Catastrophe—he played a great... no, an indispensable role in both."

Ch'en remained outwardly calm, but inwardly, it felt as though a cat were scratching at her. She was unbearably curious.

Returning to the previous subject, Talulah said, "He is an incredible person. No matter what kind of predicament he faces, he can remain cheerful and meet it with a smile. He is also the wisest person I have ever met. Do you remember what I said earlier, about those people we helped who refused to appreciate it, repaid kindness with hatred, nearly hurt my dear friend, and made me doubt myself?"

Ch'en nodded. She had listened very carefully to everything Talulah said. Besides, Talulah had only mentioned it a few minutes ago. It was not as though she had amnesia—how could she forget so quickly?

"He saw from the beginning that those people we helped, who caused trouble because they were dissatisfied with their treatment and were expelled, still harbored resentment. He even anticipated what might happen in the future. But he did not stop me. He merely protected my companions whenever I could not watch over them, which was why Alina remained safe."

"At first, I did not know any of this. When I learned later, I... I was incredibly angry with him."

"He taught me many things. When I was stranded on the tundra, he even saved my life. Mr. Patriot is very stubborn. Once he makes up his mind, only Yelena can persuade him. I am actually the same, except the one who can persuade me is not Yelena, but him. He helped me formulate many of the Reunion Movement's policies."

"I trusted him—perhaps even more than I trusted myself. But at the time, my terror at nearly losing my dear friend clouded my mind, and I was furious that he had not warned me."

"So I got angry at him. That was the first time I had ever been angry with him."

Talulah sighed deeply. It was impossible to tell whether her tone held regret or something else. "In a moment of utter impulsiveness, I grabbed his clothes and demanded to know why he had not warned me when he knew something like this might happen. What if something had happened to Alina?"

"He should have been angry, because those people were the ones I wanted to save, and I was the one who ordered them expelled. Mr. Patriot had clearly told me to execute them at the time, but I did not listen. In the end, that result was caused by me."

"But he did not get angry. Instead, he calmly told me: there is no medicine for regret in this world. Once you make a decision, you must be prepared to bear its consequences. I was the leader of a faction now. Many people trusted me, and their futures rested on my shoulders."

"An individual can be kind, and a leader can be kind too. But a leader's kindness must only exist when it does not betray the trust of their subordinates and when the faction has the strength to spare."

"He was my friend, so he was willing to help me solve my problems. But he was only my friend. He could not remain at my side every moment, helping me solve every problem. In the end, the person one can rely on most is oneself."

"That was why he allowed it to happen and gave me no warning at all, even when Mr. Patriot, dissatisfied with my naivety after I made my decision, went to him and asked him to persuade me."

"He had only one purpose: while he could still cover for me, he wanted me to understand reality and learn my lesson. Because only after learning a lesson would someone remember those principles that everyone knows, that others repeat many times, yet that few truly take to heart."

"He was right. After that incident, I truly learned that lesson."

"So afterward, I was never softhearted toward those who caused trouble again. Nor did I cling to that naïve fantasy that everyone could and should be saved. Because I had to take responsibility for my friends and my subordinates."

"Huil, hearing this, do you think I have become cold-blooded?"

Ch'en kept her red lips tightly shut and did not speak rashly.

But she could understand Talulah's actions. She was a police officer and often dealt with difficult cases. At such times, for the safety of her subordinates, dealing harshly with criminals was necessary.

Talulah's treatment of rebels followed the same principle.

Talulah revealed a sunny smile. "Actually, no. I merely understood two things. First, I was never a savior and could not save everyone. Second, if I could not even save those who trusted me, those willing to save others alongside me, then how could I lead them to save anyone else?"

"And besides, do not let the realistic and harsh words he used to lecture me fool you. He is truly, without question, a good person."

"He not only taught me how to be a leader and helped me find my path forward, but also taught me many principles of life and how to face it."

"This world is neither as kind and just as we imagine, nor as hopeless and unfair as we imagine."

"How the world treats me is its business. How I choose to treat it is mine. Just like doing good deeds—I want to do them. What does it have to do with me what others think?"

"Being depressed is useless. It will only make things worse. Smile. You cannot smile right now? Really? Then let me teach you..."

Talulah walked toward Ch'en and eventually stopped in front of her.

As Ch'en grew slightly tense, Talulah raised both hands and tugged at her cheeks.