winter in greenland

Three days later, the helicopter landed at the base in Port Feringe on time.

August went straight back to the office, but Heath, Ian, and Newman surrounded Dan in the middle.

Listening to their chatter for a while, Dan raised his hand with a headache on his face: "Stop, stop, I just got hurt in an accident on the snowy mountain, it's not fatal—" After he saw the crowd, Heath had a sly smile on his face, and he understood: "Captain Heath, you should speak directly, anyway, Major Field has already left."

Heath stepped forward and put his hand on his shoulder: "Hey, I said Dan, can you stop tearing down my stage."

Dan rolled his eyes: "Isn't that obvious?"

Heath had a hippie smile on his face: "As for us, we are mainly thinking that you just arrived at Sirius this year, and you were injured before the official mission started, and you were sent to the headquarters to toss about it. I guess, it is likely that we are the ones to clean up the dust." There's something wrong with the job, and it's not good if it makes you have a bad impression of the place."

"so?"

"So we decided to go to Papa John for a drink tonight. On the one hand, we will celebrate you officially joining us, and on the other hand, we will also transfer luck for you."

Dan rolled his eyes almost to the sky. "I don't see how you believe that."

Heath winked at him: "Well, it's too early to make a conclusion. Although I'm an atheist, I quite believe in the term 'fate'."

Dan sighed. "Okay okay, I see."

"Then it's settled. See you at 8 o'clock tonight, Papa John."

After the crowd dispersed, Dan did not go back to the dormitory immediately, but glanced in the direction of the base office building across the wide playground.

Newman, who was behind the crowd, accidentally got a full view of the expression on his face, felt a sudden shock in his heart, and couldn't help but slow down.

Ian, who was walking in front of him, noticed the change in his expression and followed his line of sight, but only saw the back of Dan leaving.He asked with some doubts: "What's wrong?"

Newman shook his head: "Nothing, maybe I was wrong."

8 p.m., Papa John's Tavern.

The sky had long since sunk, and it was a clear night in Greenland's short autumn.There was a sweet smell of cake in the air at the entrance of the tavern, mixed with the smell of beer, which made people feel very comfortable.

When Dan pushed open the dilapidated wooden door of the tavern, Heath had been sitting inside with several other team members for a while. He walked to the bar and greeted everyone, and Heath ordered a glass of beer for him.

After the amber liquid was served, Dan raised his glass to touch the others, took a big sip, and turned to Heath: "The winter patrol will start soon, right?"

Heath also took a big sip of his own dark beer and sighed comfortably: "Yes. We have received a notice from the headquarters earlier that this year's patrol will be half a month earlier than usual. Now August is also returning to the team It is estimated that formal preparations will start in the next few days."

Dan nodded and said nothing.On the contrary, Heath turned his eyes around his face and said, "How about it, Auguste has been taking care of you in the hospital for half a month. You won't have zero communication other than daily greetings, right?"

Dan laughed: "How is it possible."

Heath raised his eyebrows: "So you get along well?"

Dan considered for a while: "It's okay, the major is actually not as difficult to get along with as he shows."

Heath breathed out: "Then I'm relieved. After all, you will have to run together for nearly 5 months on the next patrol. If you don't like each other, I really can't imagine..."

Dan smiled and shook his head, clinking glasses with him.

Newman next to him was attracted by the conversation between the two of them, and his eyes fell on Dan's face involuntarily, a little thoughtfully.

After drinking for about half an hour, everyone clamored and started to play cards. Dan had studied blackjack for a period of time before. When Heath proposed this idea, he gave him a meaningful look. Heath didn't understand what he meant. He also clamored that he would definitely win back the beer money tonight, but after 21 minutes, after the second round, he had completely lost his previous momentum, and looked at Dan deeply: "Dan, you were not professional before joining the army." Could it be some fucking math? Or were you lucky tonight?"

Dan suppressed a smile: "My major is not mathematics. In terms of luck, I'm probably the worst among you."

Heath put one foot on the bar chair and was about to speak when the door of the tavern was pushed open again, and the cold wind blew in.

Heath turned his head and was about to complain, but after seeing the person coming, he swallowed the words in his throat with a grunt.

Dan followed his gaze and turned his head, only to see August walking in in a crisp uniform.

August approached the bar and ordered a stout too.

Heath reacted after being stunned for a few seconds, and hugged August's arm like a howling ghost: "You are finally here, save me, Dan is about to win all my underwear away."

August raised his eyebrows and looked at him, then pulled his arm out of his hand, with a calm expression on his face: "I think you're well dressed."

Heath hugged him again unrelentingly: "I'm serious, come and play with me too, come and kill this kid's arrogance."

August sideways avoided him, took his own beer from Papa John, took a sip, and said, "I'll leave in five minutes."

Heath's eyes widened: "No, you, you still have to go today..." The second half of his words were swallowed by August with some warning eyes: "Okay, okay, when I didn't say it, you Drink it yourself."

Dan glanced at August casually, and couldn't help but think of the first night they came here.

On the other side, Heath has already yelled to start the third round.

Half of Dan's attention was on August, and he was a little absent-minded in the game. After losing two hands, he caught a glimpse of August putting the beer glass back on the bar, getting up and quietly walking out of the pub.

Guessing that he had walked two streets, Dan put down his cup: "I'm going to the bathroom."

Heath was in high spirits, and shook his hand at him to signal him to go easy.Dan put the glass back on the bar, turned and walked out of the tavern.

Among the people present, only Newman was still watching his back until the old wooden door was closed again.

"Hey, what's up with you tonight?" Ian jokingly bumped Newman's shoulder.

Newman withdrew his gaze from the door, frowned slightly, and whispered: "It's nothing, let's continue."

The air at night has already brought a little bitterness, heralding the approaching steps of winter.The street is covered with pale yellow halos, which are the lights from the windows of the residents on both sides.There was silence all around, which seemed a lot more deserted than in May.

Dan followed his memory to the alley near the port.As before, he heard a faint sound of a piano as soon as he walked near the entrance of the alley.

Tchaikovsky, "June Boat Song".

Different from Liszt's melancholy sigh before, the swaying rhythm seems to bring people to the quiet sea at night, rippling with the waves under the clear moonlight, and the poetic melody carries a touch of unspeakable sadness.

This time Dan didn't hide his figure anymore, but stood directly at the door of the small courtyard.

The curtains in the living room were still only half drawn, the old lady was still sitting in the armchair by the fireplace, and the familiar figure was sitting in front of the piano bench, the firelight from the fireplace cast a soft glow on his side face. contour.

During the interval between performances, he inadvertently glanced at the floor-to-ceiling windows of the living room, the rhythm under his hands slowed down by half a beat, his eyes widened slightly as if confirming something, and then his movements stopped, and he suddenly stood up from the piano stand up.

The old woman raised her head in surprise, and tremblingly wanted to stand up. Judging from her mouth shape, she seemed to be asking what happened to August. August made a comforting gesture to her, He said something in a low voice and walked straight outside.

Dan felt a little nervous for no reason, and straightened his back involuntarily.

With the sound of closing the door with a "bang", August strode down from the porch of the house with a gloomy face: "Why are you here?"

Dan shrugged: "I saw you coming out, and I wanted to come out, so..."

"So you followed me?" August cut him off rudely.

Dan's eyes widened in surprise: "That's not what I meant."

August also realized that he had made a slip of the tongue, let out a breath, and said bluntly, "Go back."

Dan was genuinely surprised. He thought that, as was customary, August would invite him in for a sit-down.

The embarrassment in the air permeated for a few seconds, and the old lady in the living room probably sensed something was wrong, and walked out after her, standing on the porch and greeting this side: "Are you friends with Arthur, Ozzie?"

August turned his head and replied, "You go back first, it's okay, I'll come in right away." He took Dan's arm and took him a few steps aside: "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you go back to the base after the party in your tavern?"

Only then did Dan realize that he might be a little reckless: "I'm just curious. I came here by chance in May this year and saw you playing the piano inside. I thought..."

"May?" August interrupted him again, his eyes sharp and cold: "Lieutenant Smithton, I have to wonder if your training intensity is lacking, and you still have time to wander around Ferringe? "

Dan tried to explain: "It was the day we first arrived at the base. I wanted to walk around the port and heard the sound of the piano before I found it."

August's eyes have completely sunk: "Okay, I don't want to hear any more explanations. I don't want to know how you found this place, and I don't want to know why you came here tonight. I'm telling you clearly now , you are not welcome here, you can go back." After that, he let go of Dan's arm, turned around and walked towards the courtyard gate.

Just two steps away, Dan's voice sounded behind him: "I don't mean any offense, I'm just from the perspective of a friend... If there is anything I can help..."

"Friend?" August turned around with an expression on his face as if he had heard something ridiculous.

Dan looked him straight in the eyes. "That's right. I thought we knew enough to qualify as friends."

August took two steps back, looked down at Dan condescendingly, and spoke after a while, with a cold and emotionless voice: "...What makes you think that we have known each other before?"

silence.

Dan never avoided August's gaze, and those gray-blue eyes were like a blizzard at the moment, engulfing the most complex emotions.

I don't know how long it took, a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and his voice was quiet: "I see. I'm sorry, Major, for disturbing your private time." After finishing speaking, he turned around neatly, without looking back all the way. Tall and proud like a black fir in winter.

The author says:

This is the official end of the first volume, and the following will probably be a part of a little abuse~