Theater, rehearsal hall.
Odette lightly touched the ground with her toes, making a clean circle on the wooden floor, but her shoulders didn't fully relax when she finished.
"Stop." Columbina raised her hand, slowly walked to her side, and gently pressed her shoulder.
"That's it, I told you, the final beat, relax a little. You were tense again just now."
"Is this the place?" Odette tried again, just as she had suggested.
"Yes, much better."
Before she could finish speaking, Columbina's voice abruptly stopped.
She suddenly felt a very slight, needle-like burning sensation coming from the Kuuvahki within her body.
Columbina's fingers, hanging by her side, suddenly curled, and the gentleness in her light purple eyes vanished instantly.
The Kuuvahki silently spread through her mind.
It was a peculiar sensation, like moonlight falling on the person it wished to fall upon.
At this moment, this wisp of power became an invisible thread, allowing her to "see" the other end of the thread across half a Snezhnaya.
On the outskirts of the city, in a snowy plain, lies a beautiful seashell cave.
And, a powerful mass of energy was slowly converging towards that small figure.
" Columbina?" Odette noticed her unusual behavior and stopped moving. "What's wrong?"
Columbina didn't answer immediately. She closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them again, her voice was low, yet held a tension that Odette had never heard before.
"Bai You and Varesa are in danger."
Odette was taken aback at first.
Columbina didn't say that Bai You punched Tartaglia. With the newly appointed Twelfth Harbinger, what danger could there be?
But when she saw Columbina's expression, her relaxation vanished immediately—the " The Damselette " was frowning, and even her lips were paler; she was clearly not joking.
"Where?" Odette acted decisively, without even changing out of her practice clothes.
"It was in the cave that Varesa had taken her to." Columbina straightened up, the Kuuvahki following the wisp of energy.
"The opponent... is very strong."
She didn't say the name, but her heart sank.
In Snezhnaya City, there was only one person who could make even her Kuuvahki feel bone-chilling and who would attack Bai You.
"Let's go, let's go now." Columbina took the lead and walked quickly out of the rehearsal hall with light, agile steps.
" Odette, try sending a letter to the Snezhnaya Palace, in my name, to inform ' The Captain ' Capitano and ask him to come to me."
After saying this, Columbina fell into deep thought:
"A portion of my power is already with the Queen, and with the rest naturally lost, I don't know if I can still contend with the Doctor now."
"It's all my fault for giving part of the Kuuvahki to the Doctor for his experiments."
"The item Bai You gave me this morning did indeed help me recover some of my original power. The Doctor must have been trying to sense my power before he started targeting her."
"Okay." Seeing Columbina lost in thought, Odette nodded without saying a word.
Then, two figures hurriedly walked through the theater's corridor and exited the theater.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the city, the train was slowly exhaling its last puff of steam.
"We've arrived, you little sleepyhead, wake up." Varesa gently patted the person nestled in her arms.
Bai You couldn't actually sleep. Ever since the system's alarm, she had been on edge, only pretending to be asleep by leaning against Varesa with her eyes closed, while thinking of a solution in her mind.
"Are we there?" She looked up, rubbed her eyes at just the right moment, and pretended to be groggy from just waking up.
"Okay, let's get off the bus. We still have a short walk to go."
They stepped off the platform, and the passengers dispersed in twos and threes until only the two of them remained.
Varesa wrapped the Bai You scarf around her again, took her hand, and led her off the platform, walking through the snow into the woods.
Varesa crouched down, her fingertips brushing against her icy hands.
"Why are your hands so cold?"
She immediately wrapped Bai You's two little hands in her own palms, breathed warm air on them, and then gently rubbed them together.
Is this warm enough?
It's warm.
The woods I passed through were very quiet, so quiet that I could hear the snow falling softly from the branches.
Varesa knelt down, gently warming her hands with each touch, her expression focused and tender.
Bai You looked at her and quietly placed her other hand on top of hers.
She wished the road could be longer, much longer, so long that she would never see the Doctor again.
[Host, he's near the cave entrance. He's waiting for you.]
Bai You's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
"Let's go," Bai You gently withdrew her hand, grasped Varesa's hand in return, and tried to speak naturally.
"How about it?" Varesa opened her arms, her voice brimming with undisguised pride. "I told you, it was especially—"
" Varesa." Bai You suddenly interrupted her, her voice very soft, yet taut like a fully drawn string, "Stand behind me."
"Huh?"
"I'm serious." Bai You didn't turn around, her eyes fixed on the thick shadow near the cave entrance, her little hands already pulling Varesa back.
"No matter what you see or hear, stay behind me and don't make a sound, okay?"
Her tone was so serious that Varesa felt a sudden panic and instinctively took a half-step back behind her, following her lead.
Just then, the shadow near the cave entrance moved.
"Heh."
A disdainful laugh drifted out from the cave entrance, as jarring as a scalpel slicing through glass.
"No need to be so nervous, the twelfth seat Bai You."
"This is our first meeting. Since we're colleagues, let me introduce myself: ' The Doctor ' Dottore."
"And there's another Water Nymph that's barely surviving Snezhnaya —no, there are two! How interesting!"
Accompanied by that voice, a tall figure slowly emerged from the darkness and stepped into the snow-covered light slanting into the cave entrance.
He wore a long robe, a half-concealed metal mask, and the jawline revealed beneath the mask was cold and hard.
With each step he took, the sound of the pine trees outside the cave seemed to grow softer, and even the flow of the river seemed to freeze.
"... The second seat of the Fatui' Harbinger, ' The Doctor '?" Varesa's voice caught in her throat.
The moment Varesa saw him clearly, her intuition told her he was dangerous, and a chill ran down her spine.
Then Varesa gripped Bai You tightly, her whole body trembling slightly, and pulled Bai You behind her to block her out.
Even though she was so scared, her only thought was to protect her.
Looking at Varesa in front of her, Bai You felt as if her heart had been clenched tightly.
She pressed down on Varesa's outstretched hand, gently but firmly pulling her behind her, while taking a half-step forward herself, her small body steadily positioned at the front.
" Dottore." She raised her head, her voice calm.
Dottore leaned forward slightly, his gaze behind the mask falling on Bai You, as if he were examining a long-desired experimental subject.
He straightened up, his tone as casual as if he were talking about the weather.
"You, on the other hand, are calmer than I expected."
"Don't worry," Dottore chuckled softly, a laugh devoid of any warmth.
"Don't look like that. No, kid, I'm not here to fight you."
He slowly raised one hand.
He spoke in a voice so gentle it was almost seductive.
"Just come back to the lab with me and help me with a few small experiments, that'll be fine."