The Book of Hibernation

Aldin stood at the door, gestured to the outside, and soon a group of people emerged from the forest, led by the two with black hair and red hair.

The black-haired man brought a few people into the house to take care of Ryan, and brought in some food that could be eaten directly.The red-haired one didn't come in, and was responsible for arranging possible carriages and so on.

Seeing these people, Dong Ji was not surprised.Just now Aldin said that he came alone, how could it be possible, Winter Thistle didn't believe it.

Seeing that Winter Thistle was almost busy, Aldin came to his side: "A large part of what I said to Ryan just now is true."

"Is it the 'Maida is well dead' part?" Winter Thistle asked.

Aldin knew that Winter Thistle's words were a little teasing, but he explained it tentatively: "No, Maida's death will bring a lot of trouble. Although he always wanted to deal with me when he was alive, killing him is not the best Solution. Anyway, I will solve this matter, you and Ryan don’t have to worry, I promise this matter has nothing to do with you.”

Winter Thistle sighed: "When Ryan recovers, he will definitely surrender."

"Then what do you say?"

"If you can buy us a certain amount of time, that's fine. As for half a year later, Ryan can go if he wants to."

Aldin asked: "You gave up on him?"

"Of course not," Winter Thistle said, "I have to contact some mages and doctors I know to see how to deal with Ryan's hand. The matter has come to this point, even if he can't use the sword in the future, he should at least be able to work and take care of himself , can live a good life. I can only do this for him. He said he still has half a year's "tour period". I promised to accompany him a long time ago, so I will accompany him. , is his own choice."

While talking, Winter Thistle and Aldin stood in the living room on the first floor, looking out the door.It happened that a gust of wind blew, and the scattered grass leaves on the side of the sea of ​​trees were swept up by the wind, crossed the creek, and fell on the road and fence near the hut, and a leaf was blown into the house.

The winter thistle picked up the leaf and twirled it in his hand.

He turned his back to Aldin and said: "Have you ever had this feeling that many things are completely right at first glance, they are all reasonable, and they even meet your expectations, but you just feel that something is wrong."

Aldin looked at his back and whispered, "I have. I have always felt this way."

"really?"

"Really," Aldin said, "it feels like going to a city that I have been longing for for a long time. I took out a map and looked at it. Every road is right and every building is my favorite style. I can't pick it out. Anything wrong, but I still feel like everything on the road isn't quite right, like...this isn't the place I was expecting."

Winter Thistle asked, "What do you do when you feel this way?"

"Continue to walk the way you should go, do what you want to do. If you can adapt to the best, if you can't... then don't. With that feeling of 'wrong', just continue to live like this."

Winter Thistle sighed, "I don't know if everyone is like this, or just you and me."

Instead of answering, Aldin asked, "Have you tried another method?"

"what way?"

"Going back to the 'city' at the beginning, this time I don't look at the map, just walk casually, not necessarily on the road I walked before. Walk casually, maybe you will have a different feeling."

"What if I'm still disappointed..."

"Then be disappointed. You can go, or you can leave at any time."

Winter Thistle smiled: "That's right."

After speaking, he gently threw the leaf out of the door, and at the same time untied the defensive magic circle.

The leaf passed smoothly through the door frame, just in time for another breeze, jumped first to the wooden steps, and then was carried further afield.

==============================

When he woke up again, Ryan was lying in a strange room.

He had been changed into soft clothing, and his armor and weapons were gone.The hand was re-bandaged, and the wound seemed to have been treated with some medicine. There was a tingling sensation, which was not very painful, but it was also uncomfortable.

He propped himself up with his left hand and sat up.There was water and some food on the small table beside the bed, and a half-folded paper was pressed under the plate.

Ryan unfolded the paper.It was a letter from Winter Thistle, unsigned, but Ryan could recognize his brother's handwriting.

"Ryan, we're in Workshop Town now. This is my rented house. The landlord is very nice. She might come in to deliver food or medicine. Don't be scared.

"You were very restless before, so I had to use some special methods to treat you. I hope you can understand. No matter what your thoughts are, I hope you can read this letter before speaking.

"You violated the knight's oath, so you punish yourself. This is based on your beliefs. I have no right to interfere. I don't interfere, but I can't stay out of it, because this matter is also related to me. You took an extreme response, but You did protect me, and at this point, I still have to thank you.

"But frankly, I don't want you to do this, and if I had been alert, I would have stopped you.

"Please don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming you for outsiders. I'm heartbroken and sorry for you, and sorry that you ruined your own future so easily. But the matter has come to this point, there is no point in blaming you, you have your own ideas , I can only offer advice, not make a decision for you.

"Only about the finger, I will stick to my own way. I will find someone to help you make a prosthetic limb and help you retain the sense of touch. As far as I know, the temple knight can receive treatment after being punished Yes, you can also accept constructing prosthetic limbs, these are not against your oath. Do you do everything to follow order? Or use order as an excuse to play willful? If you are really following the rules , you should understand that what I said is the truth. Even I know these regulations, and you must know them too. Therefore, I hope you will recuperate steadily, take medicine seriously, and cooperate with me and other mages.

"At the beginning, I wanted to accompany you through the tour period, but we couldn't do it. It was still half a year away. You said that you would make up for the half year, of course you can. But half a year can't be counted just by staying in the house of my hometown. I can accompany you, and I am willing to accept your protection and companionship, provided that we are going to live seriously, instead of doing naive things in a fit of anger.

"At that time, you insisted on tying me up, not allowing me to help you deal with your fingers, and you insisted on staying in your hometown. Now please calm down and think about it carefully. Do you really want to make up for the past six months? Or do you just want to make up for it? To vent anger and wish I was just as angry?

"You have a big misunderstanding of me, thinking that I have to choose between you and Aldin. In fact, I will not choose either, and there is no need to 'choose' at all.

"You are my only family member. This can never be changed, and I will not try to change it. After meeting Aldin, I have experienced various things. These memories are not false and will not disappear out of thin air. In the future, I will Maybe there will be an intersection with him, or maybe not, everything is possible. I didn't 'choose' him, but chose the path I want to take. As long as I don't deviate from the path, I will not deliberately reject his appearance.

"Speaking of which, Ryan, forgive me, I have to say something serious to you - you have no right to interfere with my life, just as I have no right to interfere with your knight oath. We are brothers, not each other Bondage. I have something I want to pursue, so you should too.

"Originally, I wanted to talk to you face to face, but after thinking about it, some of the words may be difficult to speak, so I wrote them down.

"As an elder brother, I'm actually not competent enough. When you were young, I couldn't provide you with a rich and happy life. When you grow up, I also often make you slighted and wronged because of pursuing what you want. Many unjust Zhou, please forgive me."

When he saw this, Ryan gradually couldn't see clearly.

He wiped away a handful of tears indiscriminately, habitually used his right hand, and poked his face with his right hand, the wound stabbed sharply, more and more tears were wiped away.

When he finally calmed down a bit and his vision became clear, he found that there were a few small creases on the paper here, like tear stains, but they were not wet—not from his tears, but from Winter Thistle’s writing. down.

The letter is not particularly long, and there are only a few lines after it.Ryan continued to read.

"When you get better, let's go to Hilda Academy together. Some mages there want to meet you. Out of selfishness, I also want to show you their library. There are not only arcane books, but also Lots of your favorite geography books, and ancient tomes about the beliefs of the Daywatchers. They don't lend out, but we can read them in the library.

"You have a good rest. If you need anything, you can go out and call someone, and someone will come to help you. I have a lot of work to do, so I can't accompany you for the time being. I will come back when I am done.

"There is water in the wooden cup on the table, and the yellowish one in the porcelain cup is the water in which the medicine has been dissolved. Eat something to cushion your stomach while drinking the medicine."

And then the last sentence of the letter:

"The medicine is only slightly bitter, it's not serious, it smells like sour bread, it's not spoiled, don't worry."

Lane drank some water, ate bread with pickles, and finally drank the medicine.For adults, this medicine is actually not too bad to drink.

In fact, Winter Thistle didn't need to specifically tell him about the medicine. Ryan had drunk this medicine before, when he was a child, and when he grew up, he drank it in the knight barracks.It is not a rare special potion, but an antipyretic and analgesic commonly used in every family. It is very popular in Shandonia. It is usually used when headaches, brain fever or toothaches are inflamed. It cannot cure serious illnesses, but it can make people feel more comfortable.

Ryan thought back to his childhood, when he first drank the drug.

He didn't remember what kind of illness he had that time, but he had a fever anyway.Winter Thistle is a mage, not a doctor or pharmacist. He doesn't know how to cure diseases. Fortunately, there is still some medicine left at home, which was brought by Lilana back then.

The medicine is a powder, just dissolve it in water.Winter Thistle decided to let Ryan eat something first, and if it didn't work, he would go a little further and find a doctor for him in a bigger town.

Ryan was still a child, and he hated the strange smell of the potion.Winter Ji coaxed and frightened Ryan to drink the medicine. Ryan was particularly wronged and anxious. Coupled with the discomfort of illness, he became very self-willed for a while, sometimes acting like a baby, sometimes losing his temper, and his usual well-behaved appearance was completely different. .

When Winter Thistle was about to go out, Leon was left alone at home, but Leon refused to let him go.

Winter Thistle explained that he had to go out, that he had to go to town to get the finished scroll to the buyer, and to buy some more medicine.But Ryan refused to listen to this. Anyway, he was holding on to Winter Thistle, and in the end he still hugged his waist and did not let go.

A child is a child.A winter thistle is already a grown-up, and it can easily pull a child off its body.

In short, he successfully got rid of Ryan and locked Ryan at home.

Ryan cried aggrievedly under the quilt, and finally gradually fell asleep.When he woke up again, Winter Thistle had already returned.Lane was still angry, and even more angry than before.

He deliberately ignored Winter Thistle.Winter Thistle brought food, but he was hungry, so he had to eat.

Later, he changed it to be able to treat winter thistle, but he didn't talk well, or cried.Or shout and lose your temper.

He said Winter Thistle left him on purpose and it was not good for him.Winter Thistle reached out to test the temperature of his forehead, but he avoided Winter Thistle's hand.

Winter Thistle asked him why he was angry, whether it was because he was forced to drink medicine, or because he was left to go out.

Ryan wiped his tears and said: "It's not because of the medicine, it's because you left me...I feel uncomfortable and scared. My mother said before...that you won't leave, that we will always do something..."

The child was sobbing and couldn't speak clearly, so Dong Ji spoke up for him: "Lilana told you before she passed away that you and I are each other's only relatives. She asked you to trust me and said that I am not Will leave you, we will be together forever."

"Yes!" Ryan pursed his lips.

In fact, at this moment, it is enough to comfort the child well, but Dong Ji doesn't have any experience in raising children. His experience comes from Jin Ye, and he treated Ryan as Jin Ye did to him.He is already much gentler than Jin Ye, after all he has learned something from Lilana.

Therefore, Winter Thistle looked at Ryan very calmly: "Indeed, we are each other's only relatives, you can trust me, but we will not be together forever."

Ryan was stunned.In fact, children are not stupid, they know that they are being willful on purpose.Once the adult's answer is not expected, the child will not know how to continue the performance.

Winter Thistle said: "This is true for all people. Even family members cannot be together forever. My parents are not together, neither is Lilana and your father. Lilana is your mother, maybe her heart I can be with you forever, but when people are born, old, sick and die, her body still leaves us."

Lane had stopped crying.Tears are not persuaded, but frightened.

Ordinarily speaking, Dong Ji can stop talking about this, don't go on, it might not be good for the child.But he saw that Ryan had calmed down, thinking that the child was listening to him carefully, and felt that this was an excellent opportunity to educate young children... So Winter Thistle continued.

He said: "You and I are the same, we can't be together forever. One day I will leave this place, and you will leave too. I have my pursuit, you have your path. And I am a half-elf, you It’s human. Did I tell you about the characteristics of elven blood? Under normal circumstances, you will be older than me and die first. But if I am like Jin Ye, if I do experiments and hurt my body, I will be weak when I get old. You may live as long as a human being, or you may die before you. Ryan, you have to understand and remember these things. You will grow up and do various things. It is impossible to be a child all your life..."

...and then Ryan burst into tears.

It's good now, little Ryan is indeed not angry anymore, he stopped yelling, instead he was heartbroken and crying.He hugged Dongji and cried for a long time, no matter how much he tried to persuade him, he couldn't persuade him well.

Winter Thistle really didn't intend to scare the children. When he spoke, he was soft and earnest, and he was explaining to Ryan very seriously.

As Ryan grows up day by day, Winter Thistle gradually accumulates experience and finds out a more appropriate way of communication, and will no longer engage in this kind of forced communication in the golden leaf style.

Growing up, Ryan always remembered being sick, being self-willed, and crying over thistles as a child.

But before today, he only vaguely remembered such an incident, but he couldn't quite remember the cause and effect.

Now that he drank this slightly bitter and sour medicine again, the night of that year suddenly became clear.

Dongji's bewildered look, every word she said, the tingling pain caused by every word... I vividly remember it, as if reappearing in the past.

===========

After sundown, the winter thistle returns.

At that time, Winter Ji hadn't entered the room, but just entered the door, and was talking to someone on the first floor of the house.Lane leaned against the door and heard his voice.

Before Winter Thistle went upstairs, Lane straightened her hair and clothes to look refreshed.

Winter Thistle's footsteps came to the door, and the door slowly opened.

Ryan wanted to greet his brother with a smile, but when he saw Winter Thistle, tears rushed out of his eyes uncontrollably.

Winter Thistle frowned, but said nothing.He came over and touched Ryan's forehead to test his temperature.

His figure overlapped with the past, making Ryan seem to have returned to the day when he fell ill many years ago.

After that illness, the childhood Ryan didn't say anything, but he quietly understood two things in his heart.

First, my brother didn't abandon him, didn't ignore him, he shouldn't cry and make a fuss, it doesn't make sense to do so.

Second, winter thistle is winter thistle, he is him.They won't be together forever.This is a fact that he will have to accept sooner or later.