||In the story she just finished reading, a Yanese chef grabs a fintail fresh off the stove, and thrusts the dagger hidden within into some prince's throat, fin flesh and bone included. Lyudmila closes the book, and places it back on the shelf in the reading room.||

It's obvious that I'm not going to be a navigator or politician anymore, Papa.

'Truth and Justice'.

Maestro!

You just managed to get a sneak attack off last time! Don't think you managed to scare me!

*sigh* I'm one ragazza sfortunata.

No... What happened with Sommer needs a proper ending. But of course, he wouldn't want to see you lose yourself either.

What're you delivering for the Venezias?

I found the girl with the bow. She's alive. You missed her vital organs.

||She was stick-thin before she died. Lyudmilla barely had to exert herself.||

What'd you come here for?

Listen up!

||She yanks off her seat belt and pushes open the truck door, falling from her seat as she does. As her face plants into the ground, she sees a familiar red silhouette fade down the intersection.||

Let's get back on the truck. Eirene's waiting for us.

Sure, I can take another, load 'em up.

||Lyudmila's hand brushes past her side, and she feels a damp spot in her pocket. It's the documents she folded up and stuffed in there, proof that she is now one of those idiots.||

Those wise guys only followed her with no intentions to harm her.

Guess Carnevale preparations aren't that hard after all.

Hope there's a hairdryer at my master's place...

Even the cause I believed in... was just somebody's tool. You all know, right? Talulah betrayed us. No matter what the deal is, Reunion is over.

You want me at your side to see if Rhodes Island can live up to the talk. Hmm... Alright then, so long as your security doesn't give me too much trouble.

I strike from the smoke.

Is this what your Kal'tsit taught you?

Alright, alright. Enough with the formalities already. I couldn't care less about your little medals and ribbons. Do you take me for some general or noble? Or, would you prefer I test my blade on them?

You stand there talking your mouth off... You're beyond saving. Are you so scared you can't even show it?

I just need some time to think... about what I should do next.

She learned her song by snow, she learned her blade by rain… She learned to show her courage, by fire that swept the plain… She learned to topple crowns, by all the silent pain... Oh, you're awake. No, it's nothing. Just a Siracusan nursery rhyme.

Oh, so you saved me... Thanks.

||She was stick-thin before she died. Lyudmilla barely had to exert herself.||

I've driven a truck in Ursus. Does that count?

Nggah!

So this is how life decides to repay the unfortunate..

I'll wander. I'll check on a few things. I'll think a bit.

Wait, you... I know you... I finally found you...!

*gasp*... *gasp*... You know she couldn't fight anymore, so why?!

||At that moment, she suddenly feels a chill. At first, Lyudmila assumes it is because she is nervous about facing her teacher again. But just as quickly, she realizes that she was wrong. She starts to shake uncontrollably, on the spot.||

||Many of her organs are heavily infected, and the organs between her oral cavity and throat also display hyperplasia. She reports no foreign body sensation, and staunchly refuses our suggestion of surgery.||

...Huh? What... what's that?

||”The red-headed lady has been all over the kitchen: kneading, chopping the meat, pouring the sauce, keeping an eye on the pizzas in the oven and occasionally dealing with people trying to rush her. She seems really into it.”||

So you're telling me, you want the Empire to know of your mines' service, ten years accident-free, accomplished by having everyone who knew of the disaster there buried in a collapsed shaft?

H- how? Your spine?! How...?

I'll kill you. I'm going to kill you!

A baby tooth?

||He starts the engine, but before he even closed the door, a figure was already sat in the passenger seat, seat belt fastened and all.||

I want to go back to Siracusa.

Look at this bonfire out here among the snow, friend. Once, it could ignite the anger of the Infected. It could spark the dream of Reunion. It could set all of Ursus ablaze. But now, all it does is keep us warm.