"If I have one thing to say about the food here, I have to say it's quite a letdown" Nian stared at the Ursus' speciality in front of her in disgust, "Can't we go to another shop? No, I changed my mind. Another country? Come Gege! Let's leave!"

Lin Ye chuckled at the divine being whining at him, "Nian, did you forget why we are here already?"

The two of them were now at a bar at Sokk. As he said, they did not have the time to waste. Eyja was getting worse by the second so he needed to move fast. After the meeting, Lin Ye went to Nian and told her to get ready to move. She did not even ask as she happily tagged along him into the car. Kal'tsit was not kidding that Sokk was just a day away from them. Lin Ye did not sleep as he drove the two of them to the small town.

When they got there, not much had changed about the town from when he last came here. Luckily for them, Yelena told them to wait at a place that he knew. A bar. The said bar that Lin ye found Yelena almost dying.

Not really an easy thing to forget about.

The two of them were now sitting at a table in the said bar. Nian got hungry and Lin ye had to order some food for them. And from her reaction, she was not fond of it.

"Eh?" Nian looked at Lin Ye, who was sitting in front of her in confusion, "Is it not for the food?"

"Who told you that?" He let out another chuckle at her answer, "And don't you eat every day at Rhodes Island? Are you really that hungry?"

"It's not my fault that the food there and here is not something I like," Nian said with her arms crossed in dissatisfaction, "The food on Rhodes Island and here is really bad. Not only is there no taste, but there is no soul in them."

"Is that so? Wait a minute," Lin Ye caught something from what she said, "Soul? What do you mean by that? Do you need souls to survive or something?"

Lin Ye thought about this and the idea of this being true was not out of possibility. Nian was a being that could be considered a god by this world. Lin Ye did not know what their diet was. Maybe gods here eat souls? Did Messiah eat souls?

He needed to ask her that when they met again.

"It's not that Gege!" Nian looked at him like he was an idiot, "The spiciness Gege! The spiciness is the soul of a dish! Without that, the dish could be a corpse for all I know! I need the food to fight back every time I take a bite out of it!"

Hearing how passionate she was, Lin Ye knew Nian really loved her spicy food. He could understand that. He loved spicy food. Did that mean he couldn't eat anything that was not burning his tongue? No. He would gladly destroy a cake if someone offered him one.

As Lin Ye was thinking about this, Nian was far from finished ranting. Like a good brother, he gave his ears to her and listened.

"Little brother can make something way better than what Rhodes Island serves," Nian grumbled, "Although, his dishes are not the best I have ever eaten."

Little brother?

Lin ye almost forgot that she had more siblings. From what she told him, her siblings were all around Yan now. Not like Nian, who slept in a cave, they were all awake doing their own separate things.

Will he meet each and every one of them?

Based on how his luck was, Lin ye liked to think that chance of happening was quite high.

Lin Ye smiled and tapped on the table. He looked at his hands and saw the black gloves that he wore. He used them to hide the lightning-like scars that decorated both of his hands. Getting other people worried was not something that was needed now. They must focus on Eyja's condition and not his.

"Speaking of which, who are you waiting for?" Nian looked out the window. She saw snow falling from the sky above with little investment. She turned away from them and stared at him, "It must be one troublesome person to pull me here."

Lin Ye had to admit that her intuition was good.

"Not a word I would use on her," Lin ye sighed as he leaned back on his chair, "She's… complicated."

"Complicated?" She raises her brow at him, "How so?"

"The two of us have… a small misunderstanding," Lin Ye weakly explained.

Nian stared at him blankly. It seemed his answer was not enough to satisfy her.

Well.. he was not lying though. As he said their relationship was everything but simple. Why was everything in his life always so troublesome to deal with?'

As he was thinking about this, he realised that he broke the promise that he made to Skadi.

Not going to have any more adventure for a while, his ass.

Just a few days passed, and he broke that promise like it was nothing. He really needed to apologise to her when they met again.

But could she blame him? Trouble, trouble always seemed to find its way into his life no matter how hard he tried to get away from it.

He was actively trying to get fewer scars on his body. However, the world always seemed to love showing him the middle finger at him as it threw him into the fire of fate.

Like, give him a month of rest. Was that too much to ask for?

As Lin Ye was thinking about this, he was staring at the glass of water that he ordered. Then he noticed frosts forming around the glass. Nian perked up, noticing the air around them slowly getting colder.

Both of them heard the doors of the bar opening. They turned their gaze toward the sound and found a figure standing there.

Lin Ye sighed at the sight and stood up from his seat.

"Looks like she's here."

The sound of the wooden floor creaking with each step the woman took echoed in the empty bar.

Although the air was getting colder, Lin ye could feel Nian heating the area around the two of them to keep them warm. She might only be doing this for him more. Lin ye knew this cold did not bother Nian. The same went for him as well. But it still makes him smile at how kind Nian was, to care about his well-being.

This was not the time for loving thoughts for your little sister.

He shook his head and stared at the woman that was now standing not far from him now. Her blue eyes stared into his blacks. White locks dance in the cold breezes. Although her eyes showed so much emotion, Lin Ye still gave her a small smile her way.

"Yelena," He smiled, glad that she was here, "I see you're fine." he greeted her, she looked… better than he last saw her. Well… it was not that hard. She was dying after all.

But it did not take away the fact that she looked healthier now. Her skin had more colour to it. He couldn't see any black crystals on her face and arms. Although she was staring at him blankly, Lin Ye just smiled like how he always did with her.

Lin Ye always thinks about what they would have been like if what happened in Kjerag did not happen.

Like, would he and Yelena be on good terms with each other? Would she introduce her, smilingly huge family to him as he introduces her to Rhodes Island?

But…he did not want that.

Why?

Because that incident helped him meet with Messiah…

No.

Mira.

He met Mira.

As he said, this world was not going to give him a simple life.

So, the two stood, facing each other for a long time, but they didn't speak. It was probably because they didn't know what to say to each other.

The silence felt like it could last forever. That was until Nian, who was a little impatient, took the initiative to break the silence.

"Are you talking with your minds?" Nian huffed out a frustrated sigh, "Talk already."

Lin Ye looked at her. Then a laugh slipped through his mouth.

He was laughing alone though because both Nian and Yelena just looked at him confused. After chuckling with himself for a while, Lin Ye stopped and smiled at Nian.

Lin Ye reached out to her and rubbed her head before she could stop him.

"Thank you for that Nian," Lin Ye smiled gratefully at her and he patted her head, "You're the best."

Her eyes widened at his sudden act. Nian's mouth was about to say something but was stopped when she saw him smiling at her. With that, The best thing for her to do was to close her mouth and let him do what he pleased. Albeit, her cheeks were slightly warmer now.

Yelena watched this play out on the sideline passively. Tried at least. She could feel her brows twitching.

Lin Ye was ignorant of this. He was more focused on Nian's reaction instead. When he was done pampering her, he glanced away from her and stared at Yelena with a more relaxed expression on his face.

Nian still had a slight red hue on her face as he stared at him, but that was not of his concern at the moment.

All of his attention was on Yelena now.

"So, Yelena," He started, "Although I really want to catch up with you now, we both know that is not what you want, no?"

Yelena stared at him. Then she sighed at him, "You're right. Let's get on with it."

"Good to know," Lin Ye nodded, "So, as I told you on the call I need your help. Only you can help me with this. However, you still don't know what I am asking for. Let's start with that first, okay?"

"... I would like that," She nodded, "Thank you."

Seeing this, Lin Ye took a deep breath and exhaled it all out of his system.

He did not want to hide anything from her. They both knew Reunion and Rhodes Island did not have the best relationship with each other. From the records that Kal'tsit gave him about their interaction with Reunion, they had a fair share of battles with them because of various reasons.

So Lin Ye needed to show Yelena could trust Rhodes island.

Or at least him.

With that, he told Yelena all about their situation.

How a girl was in dire need of help. She was dying because of Oripathy and Yelena was able to help her. By getting a sample from her, Rhodes island would be able to make a cure that had a higher chance of survivability for any Infected when using it.

With her being the only person that survived using the cure, Yelena was the only person he could ask for help in this situation.

He promised her that nothing will harm her when she came to the Island.

After saying all that he needed to her, Lin Ye stopped and waited for Yelena's reply.

Yelena was quiet when she was listening to Lin Ye and when he was done telling her everything, she was still silent. Lin Ye understood that it was a lot of information to take in so he waited patiently for her response.

The surrounding started to get colder all of the sudden. However, it was back to normal when he heard something coughing beside him. He glanced to his side to see Nian looking at Yelena unimpressed.

Yelena's eyes widened and glanced at Nian on the side, not far from Lin Ye. From the glance that the girl was giving her, Yelena knew she was daring her to do that again.

She hummed at this unsaid challenge and looked back at Lin Ye. He was still waiting for her to say something.

"... From what I understand, you need a sample from my body to save someone, no?" She asked.

"Yes, you're right," Lin Ye nodded, "you are the only one that survives the usage of the cure. If we got a sample from you, we might be able to quicken our development of a better version of the cure. Something that has a higher rate of success while lower the chance of someone dying from using it."

"Since this is so," Yelena said slowly, "I also have a condition."

"Conditions? Okay," Lin Ye nodded, "Go ahead and tell me what it is. I will try my best to give it to you."

"If I go and give you a sample of my body. If the cure really saves that person," Yelena looked at Lin Ye, "I want you to give that cure to me."

Lin Ye's smile faltered a bit hearing this.

"I want to use it on the people on my side. I want my family to use it." She said, "If you agree, I will come along with you peacefully. However…"

Her eyes narrowed at him.

"If you don't, then we can pretend this meeting never happened."

{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}

Draft: Jaq

Proofread: Discord

Edit: Jaq