"Where are we going next?" Hesta asked.
"The next step is the last step. It may hurt a little." Chiba raised his right hand and gently wiped the inside of his wrist. "We will implant a numbered message into you at this location. chip, but don’t be afraid of the surgery itself, because there is local anesthesia, so you won’t feel——”
"No need for anesthesia."
"ah?"
"No need for anesthesia." Hesta repeated.
Chiba looked at Hesta, "...are you sure?"
"Um."
…
On the semi-open operating table, Hestad sat upright on the cushioned seat. She stretched her right hand behind the window, where the robotic arm was precisely cutting her thin flesh.
Chiba was also wearing sterile clothes, standing a few meters away from Hesta, looking at Hesta thoughtfully - there was a fine drop of sweat on the girl's forehead, and her face gradually turned pale. This was obviously It's all caused by pain.
After the operation, the two sat in another sterile room for observation.
"Why not use anesthesia?" Chiba asked.
"...I just don't want to."
Chiba looked at Hesta's hard-working and haggard face at the moment, and temporarily stopped asking questions. After a while, she suddenly said: "Have you heard the story of 'Hesta's Eagle'?"
Hesta stared at her wrist, "...I've heard a little bit."
"How much is a little?"
"The Hesta people... live in the north of District 14," Hesta whispered, "They use the eagle as their totem -"
"Hahaha, I knew it," Qianye interrupted with a smile, "This is a very typical misunderstanding of the Hesta people from the outside world. The eagle is the patron saint, not the totem, and their totem is the horse."
"Really?" Hesta's voice was almost whispering, "This is...the first time I know about it."
Chiba continued: "The Hesta people have a custom. Whenever their child reaches the age of twelve, they will tattoo an eagle on the child's wrist to indicate that the child has reached adulthood... How old are you this year? Coming?"
"Eleven," Hesta replied.
"That's a year early," Qianye said with a smile, "I just saw that you didn't want to go under anesthesia, so I thought it was because of this custom."
Hesta whispered: "Sister Gerdin once warned us that these medicines that enter the blood directly will make people's reactions... dull."
"Hurry up and forget what those old nuns taught you." Qianye crossed his arms and said, "Believe in modern science, Jane."
Hesta adjusted her breathing slightly, and she looked at Qianye: "Would you like to tell me the story of the 'Hesta Eagle' just now?"
Chiba did not answer immediately. Telling stories is not difficult in itself, but telling Hesta stories in this situation has the atmosphere of a mother taking care of her daughter, or an older sister taking care of her younger sister.
"Isn't it convenient?" Hesta asked again.
The observation room was empty. Chiba raised his head and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall in front of him - there were still twenty minutes left until the end of the observation.
"Okay," she replied bravely, "Anyway...it's nothing."
"'The Eagle of Hesta' is a story widely circulated in the snowy fields in the northern part of District 14," Chiba said softly. "It is said that a long time ago, in the snowy fields in the north, there was a huge eagle. The bird's beak is as big as a mountain peak and thousands of miles long. When the whole bird flies, its shadow is everywhere in the sky and the earth.
"The name of this eagle is 'Hesta'. Its shadow has some kind of magic power. All creatures in the world can obtain the highest happiness in the world as long as they stay under its shadow.
"Hesta's eagle will take off with the first ray of morning light at sunrise, flying from the south to the north of the sky and the earth, so every day, the new creatures on the earth will be bathed in the shadow of this eagle.
"Therefore, there was no fighting between heaven and earth at that time. Whether it was birds, animals, plants, trees or vines, everything was immersed in peace and happiness.
"However, the Hestad Eagle was slowly consumed in this process. Gradually, its beak changed from the size of mountains to the size of a solitary peak, and later to the size of a lake... During this period, its wings It also gradually shrank until it could no longer hold everything in the world under its wings.
“But even so, the Hestad Eagle will still take off every moment the sun rises.
"Until the last time, it was so old that it could no longer lift its wings, so it fell in the snowy fields of the north. Its wings turned into arms, its claws turned into feet, and it became a human baby. So on the grassland Herds of sheep and horses, as well as the creatures that had been taken care of before, all came one after another to nurture the child together.
"In the mythology of the Hesta tribe, this is how their ancestors came to be. Although it is a bit absurd, most mythology is like this... Do you like this story?"
"Very interesting." Hesta leaned back in her chair and whispered with her eyes closed, "Thank you."
…
At around three o'clock in the afternoon, Chiba left the reserve training base.
Before leaving, Hesta looked up at the lady who had rescued her from the convent and now became her guardian, and for a moment she didn't know what to say.
Chiba squatted down and held Hesta's shoulders with two strong hands.
"That's it."
Hesta stared into Qianye's gray pupils - at certain moments, such as now, when her eyes were reflected in bright light, her eyes seemed to have an almost silver sheen.
"...Do you have any other suggestions for me?" Hesta asked in a low voice.
Chiba frowned, obviously thinking about this issue very seriously. After a while, she stood up and touched Hesta's little head.
"It's nothing, if you have to say something..." Chiba reached out and pinched the tip of Hesta's nose, and suddenly laughed, "Don't fall in love prematurely? Train well. I will always pay attention to your news. Maybe we will soon We'll meet again, bye, Jane."
Hesta thought about the suggestions left by Chiba and nodded solemnly.
"Goodbye, Miss Chiba."
After Chiba left, Hesta stood alone behind the transparent window wall on the fourth floor and looked down. Her eyes were always fixed on the exit of the corridor until Chiba's figure appeared there. She watched Qianye walk all the way to the parking lot, watched her open the car door, get in the car and leave.
Valenti, who was delivering documents back and forth, soon discovered the little girl here.
"Miss Hesta?" She stepped forward, "You should take your information card and report to the dormitory."
"I know, thanks for reminding me."
Valenti looked out in the direction where Hestad was staring, but she could only see a few spots on the ground and a rather empty road in the distance. She squatted down and looked at the direction from a height slightly lower than Hestad. She said, "What are you looking at?"
"...Miss Chiba's car."
Hesta pointed to the convertible that had brought him here, which had just disappeared at the end of the road.
The girl stared at the place where the vehicle disappeared, and an unspeakable loneliness suddenly came to her mind.
