3 A Long Train Ride I

Mist Valley was a small town near the Great Barrier mountain range, which separates Sundan; Fiore's southern region, from Medina; Fiore's central region. The train ride from Mist Valley, Sundan, to the capital of Fiore, Linos, Medina, was about a day long.

Which for Yuliang was one day too long! Having been stuck with his brother in an enclosed space for hours, Yuliang felt like he was teetering on the brink of insanity. It was only his love for his sibling that prevented him from throttling the bitch.

Yuliang's patience for idle conversation was limited, and his tolerance for his brother's particular brand of it was currently nonexistent.

Yukio's excessive sex life was the last thing Yuliang or any blood sibling would ever want to know about!

He had already told his brother to shut up multiple times, and his glares were only returned with a smug smile and seen as an opportunity to engage Yuliang further in the discussion.

Yukio was getting into some particularly gritty details about the things he had gotten up to last night in the bathroom of their town's bar when Yuliang finally realized ignoring his brother was not an effective tactic to get his brother to stop talking. As he got to his feet, he tried to repeatedly assure himself that he was not running away. He just needed to stretch his legs and some fresh air, which isn't unreasonable. They had been seated for hours now, and the compartment was particularly stifling with how enclosed it was.

"I'm going out for a walk," Yuliang announced, firmly sliding their compartment door shut on his brother's pouting face and glimmering eyes.

They were economy class passengers, but the railways of Fiore have always been highly developed and internationally renowned, so the comforts and the services afforded to them were quite decent. Yuliang's only complaint was having to share two bathrooms with all the passengers of the car, but he supposed beggars couldn't be choosers.

There were no restrictions on their movement within the train, except for having entrance to the first-class car, so Yuliang took full advantage of it to explore it. It wasn't his first time on a train, but he was willing to do anything to distract himself from the disturbing images that had been forced into his head.

Yuliang had only managed to get halfway through the second car when a compartment door before him slammed open.

It was only Yuliang's years of experience that allowed him to react quickly and grab the shaking, hyperventilating man that burst out of it before his knees gave out below him, and he collapsed to the floor.

"What's wrong?" he immediately asked, scanning the distressed man for any signs of what may have triggered this response.

The man looked at him with terrified eyes, "Goddess, save us," he prayed. "Young man, I do not know what to do. It's my wife. She's gone into labor."

Yuliang glanced at the partially open door and then back at the man and felt his tensed muscles relax. His lips twitched up into a practiced polite smile, "It looks like it's your lucky day, sir. I'm a licensed Healer."

The man sobbed, "You are? Oh, the goddess must truly be smiling down on me today. Please help my wife. I don't care about the cost. I'll pay whatever you want. Please, please help us."

"What's your name, sir?"

"Anil."

"Your wife?"

"Rupa." Anil sounded a lot steadier now. His breathing slowly evening out, and his shaking had reduced to the slightest of tremor.

"Wonderful. Okay, I'm going to let go of you now, alright?"

The man offered him a shaky nod, and Yuliang slowly began to release his hold, only fully relaxing his grip once he was sure Anil's legs could bear his weight again.

"How about we go back to your wife now and have us introduced? I'll handle the situation from there."