winter in greenland

14 months later.

Iceland, Reykjavik, Old Harbour.

The climate in early June has warmed up, and the tourist season here is slowly entering.In addition, the annual Midsummer Festival is about to open, and there are more tourists coming and going from the port.

Near dusk, a small boat painted light green came from the sea not far away. Under the reflection of the setting sun, the sea water turned a jewel-like dark blue. The tail of the small boat drew two lines on the calm sea. Swallowtail-like ripples.When approaching the port, the boat made a sharp turn and parked firmly in the berth of the pier.A tall, lanky young man leaped neatly from the deck holding a longboard.

He was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, the legs of which were tucked into a pair of black low-cut boots on his feet, making him look taller and longer.He was wearing a light-colored shirt with only a jacket over his upper body, and a black scarf around his neck.

He yanked the cable over the bow and tied a knot on the pier's stakes, then strung the long plank between the boat and the pier, and let the passengers disembark one by one.

After the last passenger disembarked, he returned to the deck, pulled the water hose from the pier, rinsed the deck up and down, tidied up the cables and fishing rods on the deck, and then planned to leave.

"Hey, today's harvest is good, right? I see you have made two trips to sea." The grey-haired administrator at the port greeted him with a smile when he saw him coming.

The young man smiled, his green eyes reflected the waves of the sea, and his expression was gentle: "Uncle Sacco, are you still off work?"

The old man shook his head: "There are a lot of tourists these days, according to the old rules, we have to work the whole night shift."

"You have worked hard."

"Hey, I'm used to it. It's almost 8 o'clock, you go back quickly. Be careful on the road. By the way, the Midsummer Festival will open tomorrow, don't forget to come here to watch the fireworks."

He shook his hand at the old man to indicate that he understood, then turned and walked out along the main road of the port.

His bicycle was parked outside the port, and when he walked out, the sun was almost setting, and the afterglow coated the surrounding colorful houses with a layer of dazzling gold.

He had just crossed the intersection and was about to turn when another bicycle hit him.He held the brake in time, but the opponent was driving too fast, and the two cars inevitably collided. He landed with one foot ahead of time, and did not fall too embarrassingly. The opponent was not so lucky—— They were all lying on their sides on the ground, the wheels were spinning idly in front of them, and the baskets hanging from the handlebars fell to the ground, and the contents inside were scattered all over the ground, forming bunches of colorful flowers.

"I'm sorry, are you okay?" He apologized first.

The other party grinned and waved his hands to indicate that he was fine, rubbed his knees and stood up from the ground: "I should apologize, I was in a hurry and rode too fast."

The moment the man straightened up—

"Dan?"

"Ralph?"

The two recognized each other in unison.

"You boy, why are you here? Didn't I hear that you went to Sirius?" Ralph looked a few years older than him, with a beard, a hook nose, and very light gray eyes. The expression on his face was undisguised surprise.

Dan also showed a smile on his face: "I didn't expect to meet you here. I thought you were a hunter all the time."

Ralph waved his hand and bent down to pick up the bouquet from the ground: "I've retired a long time ago."

Dan also bent down to help him, teasing: "Why, you quit your old job now and start selling flowers?"

There was a suspicious red on the tip of Ralph's ear, and he said vaguely, "It doesn't matter, I just deliver goods for others. Are you okay tonight, come out for a drink?"

"Okay, tonight at 10 o'clock, Laugowig Street, Corena Bar waiting for you."

Ralph gave an OK gesture and stepped on the bicycle: "I have to leave first, see you tonight."

The owner of Corena's bar is British, to be precise, Asian-British, and his acquaintance with Dan is purely coincidental.

About 7 or 8 months ago, when Dan just came to Reykjavik and planned to settle here, he was looking for a job all over the street for a while, and he happened to see that this bar was recruiting musicians, and there happened to be a Take the cello.With the mentality of giving it a try, he went in and played a few songs.The interviewing manager told him that the boss wanted a jazz player, and that although his performance was great, they had to wait for the boss to come before they could make a decision.Dan also expected such a result. After all, in the current environment, there are almost no bars that perform classical music at night.As soon as he was about to leave, he saw two people walking in from the door of the store one after the other.

The person in front looked at most 23 or 4 years old, and looked at him with admiration: "Your performance just now was great. If you are willing to try other styles, we are very happy for you to stay and work."

Dan thought for a second: "The other style you mentioned probably refers to...?"

The young man looked back at the person behind him, and the person behind him nodded. He pulled Dan excitedly and walked towards the bar, where there was a microphone next to him.

"It's not exactly jazz. There are some songs I wrote myself. There are not too complicated technically. You can take a look first." He took out a stack of papers from his bag as he said.

Dan took it and flipped through it. The tunes are really not difficult, and some of them are even a little immature. It can be seen that they haven't finished all of them.He tried a few notes on the cello, and combined 3 or 4 bars of a certain song with that young man, which was surprisingly good. The young man had a good voice, and he was full of enthusiasm when he sang. force.

During this period, another person has been leaning on the bar, watching them quietly.

After the audition, the young man couldn't wait to pull him to sign a three-month contract on the spot.

After he wrote his name on the contract, the other man finally stepped forward and held out his hand: "Harvey Lee, the owner of this bar. Nice to meet you."

Dan raised his eyes in surprise for a moment and looked at the other party carefully: "You are the boss?"

Harvey shrugged: "Yes, but there is almost no difference. Joe has a high vision, and I believe there will be no problem with the musicians he can fall in love with."

The young man called "Joe" blushed and apologized: "Sorry, I was too impatient."

……

Although he has only worked in Corena for 3 months, he has become a good friend with Harvey, so much so that he spends most of the night there now, and if he is in a good mood occasionally, he will also cooperate with Joe a few tunes.

By the time Ralph got there at ten o'clock, Dan had finished his round with a fresh whiskey in front of him.

"Ralph, here." He was the first to see the person and waved to the door.

The bartender tonight happened to be Harvey. He looked at the door, turned to Dan, and raised his eyebrows: "It's so rare, I thought you didn't have any other friends here."

Dan smiled, with a little nostalgia in his eyes: "It's really not new friends, they are old acquaintances."

Harvey didn't ask any more questions. He watched Ralph walk over and smiled at him in a friendly way: "What do you want to drink?"

"Brandy, thank you."

Not too many guests tonight, only Dan and Ralph were sitting at the bar.There are two transparent glasses on the black marble tabletop, one transparent and one amber, shaking slightly under the blurred light.

"I thought you were a hunter all the time, but I didn't expect to see you here. You said you retired? When did it happen?" Dan spoke first.

Ralph took a sip of his wine and frowned slightly: "It's been a while, maybe after that accident happened back then."

"The higher authorities finally made a decision on punishment?" Dan raised his head sharply.

Ralph smiled bitterly: "That's not true. We have been comrades-in-arms for so many years. You should understand their way of doing things. In fact, after you applied to be transferred to Sirius, the headquarters planned to terminate that mission. "

Dan seemed to have expected this result a long time ago, and raised his glass to touch him: "It's within expectation, after all, we've been exposed."

"Actually... I came here because of her."

Dan was genuinely surprised now: "Mia is here too?"

Ralph nodded.

Dan's eyes turned around his face, and he figured out the reason for it in a flash of thought, and his eyes gradually changed into disbelief.

When they carried out the task of protecting Mia together, Ralph was another person in the team.He is in charge of being on the bright side, and Ralph has been hiding in the dark.Until the accident that finally led to Jason's death, their mission ended, and Mia didn't know Ralph's existence from beginning to end.But in fact, in those two years, it was impossible for Dan to be by Mia's side all the time. In the first few months, Ralph solved at least three assassins by himself.

"You think I'm stupid. It's just a mission goal, and maybe the headquarters has sent another team to carry out this mission. I was worried like a fool, and followed her all the way from Belfast to here."

The surprise in Dan's eyes slowly faded away, and after a few seconds of silence, he said, "Have you met her? I mean..."

Ralph shook his head: "She is now studying the organ in Hallgrims Cathedral, and I work on a farm on the outskirts of the city. Every day, I send a batch of flowers to several stores on that street. Almost You can see her having lunch in the square every day at noon. If that counts as acquaintance."

"Then what do you plan to do? Just go on like this?"

Ralph heaved a sigh of relief, looked up and drank the brandy in the glass: "Actually, after you left, the boss asked me if I wanted to be transferred to another operation team, and I insisted on leaving. I didn't know what to think at the time, but I feel worried about her being alone. In those two years, I looked at her every day, as if it had become a part of my life. I want to see her smile freely, like before, instead of showing such sadness at that funeral I want her to be a normal person, like other girls of the same age. All the troubles are just occasional quarrels with family members, unsatisfactory work, some unhappiness with friends, or quarrels with her boyfriend. But any A person who has experienced such a thing, knowing that she is under the protection of others all the time, can she become normal? I have watched her for so many years, and she was so cheerful before, but she became embracing to everyone Suspicious, suspecting that the people around her have other purposes, I really..."

Dan didn't say anything, and drank his drink in silence.

"Now she has no family and no lover. I also want to stand upright in front of her and not hide anything from her. But how can I do it? I can't jump out and run in front of her and tell her hello Ya, I've known you for a long time, and now that I'm no longer on that damn mission, would you let me stay by your side? How could I tear her scars open again. The only thing I can do, is be like before, Guard her in the dark, protect her." Ralph paused, and a strange smile appeared on his face: "Do you think I'm... paranoid, even paranoid...?" He compared made a gesture.

Dan's voice was soft: "Is it worth it? She doesn't even know you."

Ralph smiled. "When you love someone, you don't usually think about so many bloody questions."

Dan tilted his head, he didn't know what he remembered, his eyes flashed: "No, I don't think you are paranoid, on the contrary, I admire you."

"Actually, I envy you, Dan. You were right to leave the hunter. People like us, who have performed so many missions, carried so many secrets, and have so much blood on their hands, can find someone who can talk to us." My lover is already lucky enough, how can I expect this kind of thing to happen to the task target? It is enough to see her every day like now, even if it is just a distant glance."

……

In all fairy tales, the brave knight will always kill the dragon, rescue the princess, and live happily with her ever since.

But some people are destined to be shadow knights, they can only hide in the dark forever, guarding the princess silently, and the princess doesn't even know their existence.

I love you, but I can't get close to you.

Don't be afraid, I will always watch over you.

Goodnight, my princess.