During the remaining part of the day Leyn had closed herself off in her room, and no matter what Quin tried, she did not even answer. Thus he decided to just go back to the lake and train like usual.

On the next day in the morning, he went to her room and knocked again. This time, there was an answer and Leyn let him in. She was obviously not the happiest, and her face had a serious expression on it.

Quin took a deep breath and said, “I’m really sorry about yesterday, but I did tell you the truth, look.” He lifted his right arm and showed her his pinky finger which was like it had been yesterday before he cut it off. Leyn’s serious expression turned to a surprised one. “I did tell you I wasn’t crazy, well, at least not in that regard.” He let out a small chuckle to which Leyn’s face turned to cold again with a hint of anger. “I know, I know. What I did was a bit excessive and even though you protested to the idea I still did it...” Quin stopped for a few moments to gather his thoughts. “You know the feeling when you find something interesting as a child and you really want to show it to your parents? Or when you get something cool and want to show it off to your friends?”

“I know that but still...” she said and shook her head.

“Yeah, it’s stupid and childish, but listen, a lot of things happened since I left Crows’ Road and I didn’t have anybody to talk with. A lot of those things were quite bad but on the other hand I finally managed to get back on my feet. I started training again and it had huge results, as you could see yesterday and now. I no longer have to worry every day whether that day will be my last or if I’ll have to live my entire life basically as a cripple, and that fills me with happiness and excitement. I no longer fear what tomorrow will bring, but look forward to it. I think that it’s only after seeing both sides of life when you can truly appreciate these things. So as I’ve said, during these months I was more than just happy, I was ecstatic, but then I realized that there was something missing.

“When I roamed around in the forest, when I trained and when I was happy and excited about my achievements I was alone. There was nobody I could tell these things to, nobody who would listen to them and nobody I could share my happiness with. Maybe it’s just that there’s something wrong with me, but sometimes these things just didn’t even feel real and I-- Alright, I think I said more than enough already and I know these aren’t excuses. What I did was stupid and I was a bit of a jerk, but I just wanted to tell you that I had at least some reasons behind it--”

Leyn tousled his hair and then pulled him into a hug.

“Alright, don’t worry about it, I get what you’re trying to say and I also missed seeing you. To be honest, I don’t have many friends back at home, so I understand what you’re saying,” she said.

It was a weird feeling to Quin at first, but it was then when he realized just how much he had missed the touch of another human and not in a romantical way. He hadn’t known the caress or the embrace of his family and friends, which made him aware that they were there for him, in a long time. A wide variety of emotions flooded him, as well as the previously pent up stress that was still lingering inside him. Quin embraced Leyn as well, and they stayed like that for a few minutes.

Although he was usually mostly calm, there was still a part of him that was often stressed out, no matter what he did. However, after their hug, he felt completely relieved, more so than he had in a long time. Quin did feel a bit awkward after they separated, especially after they shared a long moment of looking into each other’s eyes, so he quickly tried to change the subject.

“Oh, yeah, I haven’t told you about Faiyi yet, come I’ll introduce you to them,” Quin said but Leyn just stared at him confused. “I’ll fill you in during our walk, alright?” Leyn nodded and they started to walk toward where Faiyi, Xia, and Zhai lived.

They lived about fifteen minutes of walk away from the inn Quin stayed at, and he thought it would be more than enough time to tell her the story.

“I just can’t believe it... How could some people leave their kid in a place like that?” Leyn asked and shook her head.

“Yeah I know, I don’t understand it either,” Quin replied.

“Is what you said true? Growing that much in just months?”

“It’s definitely something unbelievable, but I’ve seen it with my very own eyes,” he said laughing, “But it’s just like her appetite. Honestly, for some time I even started to wonder whether she’s human, but except her abnormal growth, she looks just like an average human... Well, and except her ability to learn to speak.”

“Hm, what do you mean by that?” Leyn asked.

“Well, when I’ve found her she didn’t speak at all, but then after sometime she said her first word and then it only took her weeks until she was able to talk like a five or six years old kid would,” Quin explained. “Don’t give me that look, I’m not making things up.” He laughed. “I haven’t seen her in more than a week so maybe she’s speaking even better than us!” he joked.

“Here we are,” Quin said and knocked on the door.

Xia opened the door, but before she could greet them, loud footsteps could be heard, and in the next moment Quin saw that a girl was running toward him, lightning fast. She jumped at him and Quin caught and lifted her up. Then, without paying attention to anything else, she bit down on his arm, but of course Quin’s skin was tougher than her teeth. Man, those are some sharp teeth and her jaw strength is not something to joke about either. I think even if my body was the same as before I lost my cultivation, I’d have had trouble with her bites!

She only tried biting about once or twice, after which her expression suddenly changed as if she had realized something. Faiyi turned her head slowly to meet Quin’s gaze with a guilty expression on her face, but then took a quick peek at his exposed arm. Her eyes were darting back and forth, looking at his arm for a second and then at him for another, just like her expression which changed between one of guilt and one which obviously expressed a strong desire.

Quin was not too surprised, as he was used to her attacks, but Leyn was standing with her mouth almost agape.

“Are you starving her?” Quin asked Xia jokingly.

She sighed and replied smiling, “We aren’t, but a meal needs some time to be prepared and she can barely endure just ten minutes to wait for it when she becomes hungry. Honestly, it just looks like her appetite got even bigger. I have to tell you though that she got something like a sixth sense. For the past ten minutes or so she’s been jumping up and down and running back and forth saying that you’ll be here soon.”

Quin was a bit surprised, but did not think about it much, and looked back to Faiyi asking, “Why are you always trying to take a bite out of me, huh?”

“Food,” she answered without hesitation.

“And why do you think so? Do I really look like food?” he asked with a suppressed chuckle.

“It’s..” she said and paused for a moment, thinking. “Delicious!” She looked back to his arm and Quin was afraid that she would start biting once again.

“Well, I hate to disappoint you but I’m no food. I don’t even know why you’d think of me as delicious, but even if I really am, or if you find someone else who is, you can’t just eat another human.”

There was confusion in her eyes but then she seemed to accept what he had told her, even if it was with great reluctance.

“I guess I left out this part,” he said after turning back to Leyn who still did not understand what was going on. “Well, she’d never cried when she was hungry, just tried to chew on me.” He took a brief glance at Faiyi who had a guilty look on her face again. “Fortunately, she couldn’t do any damage so it wasn’t a big deal, and as time went on I thought that she had grown out of this, but I was mistaken apparently.” He chuckled. “Oh right, I nearly forgot to introduce you. Xia, she’s Leyn, my friend from Crows’ Road, and Leyn, she’s Xia, the one of whom I’ve told you about.”

After the introductions were done, they entered the house and talked about various things. The early-lunch was soon ready, and Xia invited them to eat with them.