The Valkyries gathered quietly around the fire, either as the flames erupted as they leaped, or as the heat grew in the pot.

They sat curled up on the floor, wrapped in thick clothes, huddled together to keep each other warm.

The burning black wood crackled, and the porridge in the pot became hotter and hotter, and finally, some small bubbles came out of the pot.

"It's okay, the porridge is already hot, let's eat a little first." Xiu stirred the porridge in the pot with a spoon, looked at the Valkyries who were staring at the pot tightly and smiled, "There is no bowl, the soup spoon will be ready." ”

But none of the Valkyries moved.

"What's the matter, aren't you hungry?" Xiu looked at them and said suspiciously.

The Valkyries glanced at each other, but still didn't move.

Xiu frowned.

He filled a large spoonful with a spoon and took a sip of it himself.

"It doesn't taste very good... But now is not the time for you picky eaters! Xiu shoved the spoon into Victoria's hand, "You're the captain, you eat first." ”

Victoria hesitated.

"Really... Is that okay..."

"Do you want me to feed you?" Xiu said with a smile.

"No... No need—" Victoria swallowed.

She brought the spoon closer to her pale lips, her hands trembling slightly, and the thick porridge was still steaming.

She took a small sip of porridge and chewed it softly for a while. Then he handed the large spoon to Niss beside him.

Ness took the spoon, took a small drink, and then handed it to her next companion.

They passed it down one by one, and when the last Valkyrie was there, there was still half a spoonful. She handed the spoon to Xiu with some fear.

Xiu looked at her helplessly, "There are still a lot of them in the pot, you don't have to be so..."

He was suddenly speechless.

The Valkyries all bowed their heads.

They chewed a little bit of food in their mouths, and their hands were tightly curled up with their legs.

As the warm porridge ran down their chapped mouths, little by little, and fell like running water into their hungry and cold stomachs, the warmth ignited something they had already realized almost instantly.

They didn't know what it was called, they just had a warm feeling that spread from their stomachs. It's comfortable, and...

I want to cry.

Finally, a Valkyrie couldn't help but wipe her already red eyes.

"It's delicious." Victoria whispered, "We... Can I eat it again..."

She couldn't help but whisper, because if it was louder...

She would be able to hold back her tears.

"Of course," Xiu said. Then he thought of something: "Did he give you such a little before..."

Victoria nodded, "The food he gave us was always a big portion... But it does allow a few of us to divide it together. The only food we can eat seems like a lot, but each of us can eat very little. ”

Xiu's eyes widened in disbelief.

Victoria didn't answer the question, she just said with a wist, "Can I eat more?" ”

Xiu handed the spoon in front of her. She took it and took a deep sip.

She chewed slowly with her eyes closed. Swallowed it quickly.

She didn't stop, but ate bite after bite until the spoonful of porridge was finished.

She handed the spoon to the next Valkyrie.

The Valkyrie did the same, taking a spoonful of porridge from the pot, eating it bit by bit, and then handing the spoon to her next companion.

When it was their turn to be the last Valkyrie, she didn't eat any more, but covered her mouth in some pain.

"Captain, mouth.. It hurts..."As she spoke, everyone smelled a faint smell of blood.

"Show me." Victoria told her to open her mouth.

When she opened her mouth, the smell of blood spurted out at once, and Victoria couldn't help but frown.

"Captain, Talia is so hungry that she can't help but eat some ice cubes, but... The ice had scratched all of her mouth," Ness said.

"Does it hurt?" Victoria gently stroked her face.

Talia shook her head, "It doesn't hurt. ”

"Can you eat?"

Talia thought for a moment and shook her head, "It hurts..."

Victoria touched her head and "went to the bed and lay down." ”

She obediently went to the bed next to her and lay down.

Victoria filled a spoonful of porridge, took a sip of it herself, and after chewing it carefully for a while, she kissed Taliya in Xiu's stunned eyes.

"It's... This... This!!!!!!! Xiu muttered in disbelief.

He hadn't been exposed to any of these things, but there were some things that didn't need to be taught!

"Women... And women? Xiu felt that his whole body was trembling. He felt his face swell hotly, uncomfortably. He was sure his face was red and purple!

"It's feeding." Ness said flatly, "There will always be times when we are too weak to eat on our own. The captain will feed us like this. It's not what you think. "Ness was calm, like she was talking about something very ordinary.

Xiu thought about it, and it seemed that he had begun to say that he was going to feed them...

Thinking of this, Xiu's face turned red again.

Ness didn't seem to sense Xiu's situation, and said to herself, "The captain has fed each of us like this. Because each of us has a time when we can't eat at all...", she said, bowing her head gloomily, "She has done a lot for us, but we have never done anything for her..."

Xiu knew he shouldn't say anything more.

"That's right..."

Xiu saw Victoria take another sip of porridge and continue to kiss Taliya on the lips.

But this time, Xiu felt a little familiar.

He thought about it for a long, long time, before a little bit of broken memories sounded.

Very early on, in the woods outside Kaslana Castle, there was a tree that grew farther out.

The tree. There was a bird's nest in that tree, and two small birds lived in the nest.

The room was facing the tree, and as long as you stood by the window, you could clearly see everything on the tree.

What kind of bird it was, Xiu didn't know, and he couldn't remember it for a long time. I just remember that it has a beautiful pure white feathers.

The two birds have lived there for a long time, and every day they can see them coming and going, or bringing back a decimal difference, or bringing back a small fish or two.

Finally, one day, there were three or four more birds in their nest.

Every day when the big bird feeds the small bird, the big bird grows its mouth, and then the small bird sticks its mouth into the big bird's mouth to eat.

"It's just the same," Xiu suddenly chuckled softly.

"It's exactly the same." Ness was puzzled.

"No... It's nothing. Just a few things came to mind. Xiu smiled.

Seeing that Xiu didn't want to say, Ness didn't ask again.

Xiu shrugged, and the rest, he couldn't remember.

There is a follow-up to this matter.

Later, the tree grew so prominently that it blocked the carriage from Kaslana, and the knights of the family decided to cut it down.

When the knights of the clan tried to find the axe the next day, they found it gone. The huge castle of Caslana could not find an axe, and the knights were puzzled.

If you don't have an axe, you can't cut down trees with your sword, right? No one wants it. So they postponed the schedule.

But every time it was like this, the new axes were always missing, and several times in a row, the knights felt that something was wrong.

This was later discovered by Francis. He led the knights straight into Xiu's room, only to find that there were axes hidden under Xiu's bed, in the wardrobe and even under the carpet.

The knights' first reaction when they saw the axe was that they wanted a coup d'état. But when I thought about it, I suddenly felt stupid.

It is impossible for such a child who is only a few years old to have this idea.

The knights eventually took all the axes, and the tree was cut down in the afternoon.

Xiu was punished by Francis to kneel in the room for a whole day.

But Xiu's eyes kept looking out the window.

When the tree fell, four or five white birds flew out of the nest. They flew far, far away and never looked back.

No one knew that the little young master, who was alone in the room, was watching a few birds. No one noticed that there was a bird's nest in the tree, and no one noticed that several of the birds had grown up during the months when the axe had been missing.

In my memory, that may have been the first time Xiu was laughing.