"Surprise," Yurie said happily, thinking Finn and Arrakis were friends, since that's what she had been told by her brother.

"If you touch her, I'll kill you," warned Finn, having pushed his body between the two all over again.

"Finn!" Yurie gasped, stumped by his behavior. "What's going on?"

"You'll pay for what you did to her," continued Finn, ignoring Yurie all together.

"Take a look at me! Then dare to tell me again that I have to pay!"

Finn's eyes examined Arrakis. He looked as enraged and annoyed as always, a little less arrogant, and fairly reserved compared to their previous encounter, but the most substantial difference resided at his legs. Or rather; his leg. One was missing.

A grin spread slowly over Finn's face. Lena, however, looked alarmed.

"I'll kill you!" Arrakis fought Finn to get to Lena, but his weakened health condition defeated him without the need of Finn's defense.

"'Kis! Stop it!" cried Yurie, trying to hold up her brother when he sank to the floor.

"Let me choke her! I want her dead! It's her fault that I lost my leg! "

"How is it my fault?" Lena asked, staring at the finger that pointed at her direction. She dared not to look further, to the eyes she so desperately tried to forget.

"I'm warning you," said Finn, holding up his left fist, his other hand holding Lena for solace. "Don't get close to her!"

"You can't protect her if you're dead!" Arrakis threatened Finn and slapped Yurie's hand when she tried to interfere.

"One leg wasn't enough for you to learn your lesson," Finn used his foot as a hook to pull Arrakis' right heel and wiped him off the ground. A pain-driven, loud wail followed.

"You and the gull will die!"

"Bite me!" said Finn, looking down at Arrakis.

"Guys!" yelled Lena, unheard by the grappling men.

Arrakis threw himself on Finn and briskly lost the upper hand.

"You will burn in hell," said Finn, ready to score the first punch.

"Hey!" Lena shouted, gaining both of their attention quicker than the impact of a comet. She pointed at Yurie, who held her bow with pride and aimed an arrow at Finn's frozen fist.

"No one will kill anyone! Understood?"

"Yurie," Arrakis said, impressed and yet terrified. "It's their fault that—"

"Understood?" she interrupted calmly with a dash of menace and threat.

The guys nodded.

"Now then," she said, keeping her bow stretched so far that the feathers of the arrow tickled her lips. With a tilt of the head, she gestured Finn to move. "Be so kind and step away from my injured brother."

Finn did, steadily, with his eyes fixed on the arrow's keen flint head. Yurie assisted Arrakis to get to the couch, and once the moment of unnerving silence had passed, she was curious to know where the hatred had its origin.

"Will someone please explain to me why apparently everyone deserves to die?"

"That girl is responsible for my amputation!"

"Not true," argued Lena, more shyly than she had hoped to sound.

"She manipulated my ship and nearly killed us both! By the time I found a boat, my leg was already frozen to death!"

"I did it because you were planning to murder Finn!"

"Don't forget to mention that he kidnapped and tortured you," added Finn.

"'Kis! Tell me that's not true," cried Yurie. Surprise, however, was not visible on her mien.

Arrakis shook his head. "It's not."

"Liar!" Lena now spoke with confidence and rage. She rolled up her sleeves to show her wounds. "This is what you did to me!"

"'Kis!"

"She deserved it!" Arrakis hissed at his sister. "On Pluviam she is well-known and broadly hated for her thefts."

"It's not her fault that she has to steal," Yurie looked at the photograph of her, Arrakis, and their mother. One person was absent in the picture. "You know whose fault it is. It's—"

"Don't!" Arrakis cut in. "Don't say his name in my presence!"

Yurie looked concerned and was curious to know, "how is he doing?"

"How would I know?"

"You live with him."

"So? I don't talk to him. I don't care how he's doing. I stopped caring a long time ago."

"Quit being so ill-tempered," said Yurie, annoyed.

"Are you actually kidding me? I had to battle death today because of that brat over there!"

"That makes us even!" Lena shot a baleful glance in his direction.

"Even? I'll slice off your leg, that'll make us even!"

"Enough already!" Yurie silenced the room anew. "For crying out loud! Can't you all just be in one room without wanting to kill each other?"

Arrakis, Finn, and Lena all shook their heads from side to side.

"Oy—" Yurie exhaled and tucked her hair behind both ears. "Get up Arrakis." With one quick tug, she helped him to stand on his leg. "Take your medicine and go to bed."

"I want them gone!"

"It'll be alright. Just go to bed."

After a few minutes, Yurie walked out of her bedroom and feebly closed the door behind her.

"Those painkillers work wonders," she giggled.

With crossed arms, Lena frowned at her own feet. "I'm not staying another minute with him next door."

"He's completely out of it. He won't hurt you," said Yurie.

"He locked me in a basement. I get that you're on your brother's side, but he's a horrible human being."

"I'm not taking any sides. However, I grew up with him and I know that 'Kis has a good heart, he just doesn't know any better."

Finn disagreed. "Anyone with common sense knows better."

"I'm sure you, too, have done some things wrong throughout your life. We've all made mistakes." Her eyes switched targets. "Don't mind me asking, Lena, but why did you commit theft on Pluviam? My guess is your parents taught you so."

Lena shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose."

"Well, our father taught us to handle problems with violence. Earn respect was his one rule, and if we couldn't make our servants fear us, we were called an embarrassment. We were raised to think that that's the way it's done. When you're born to be a ruler on Pluviam, you have to be tough and show everyone that you are the leader, otherwise, uncontrolled chaos will spread. When we were kids, 'Kis was the one locked in the basement. For misbehaving and the carry of dishonor."

"He probably didn't like that," said Lena, no sign of empathy.

"Of course not; it broke him. He'd scream for days until he'd lose his voice. Only when he'd be too angry to cry would our father let him out. He always believed that love, or any type of sensibility, was a weakness. Before Arrakis was born, our father was appointed to get Pluviam's criminals under control. And that's just how he treated us, too. Criminals. The bunker—only the worst of the worst go there. And Arrakis spent many weeks down there, embittering."

"The more reason not to do it to me!" Lena argued, "Why would Arrakis do that to someone else when he knows how traumatizing it is?"

"Besides, how come you didn't turn out a total maniac?" Finn was curious to know.

"I moved to Boreas when I was sixteen. I couldn't bear my father's upbringing. Or his methods in general."

"You moved here all by yourself?" Lena asked, unable to believe Yurie.

"Yes. But Pacu took me in for a while, so technically, I wasn't all by myself. Pacu has become somewhat of an uncle to me."

"And your father was fine with you going away?" Finn wanted to know.

"I left before I could find out. Thank the heavens. I think he would have shot me if he had been given the chance."

"Now we know where Arrakis got his temper from."

Yurie's hazel eyes gave the impression of a fret. "He is—very troubled."

"You think?" Lena asked rhetorically.

Yurie let her body down on the middle cushion of the couch. She chewed her cheek when she searched for a solution. "My brother needs rest and time to recover. This is his home now, and for as long as I have a say, this will never change. I'm not abandoning him, and though I can't force you to stay, you are more than welcome to. I'll make sure that he'll keep his distance and treat you right."

"No," Lena's head moved in a frantic quiver. "No way am I staying here with that lunatic."

"Lena—" Finn said with compassion and earned in return the peer of charged tension.

"Don't we have a ship to find?"

"A ship?" said Yurie. "You can take my boat to find it."

"It's in the mountains."

"What would a ship be doing in the mountains?"

"It's a spaceship," said Finn to clear the confusion. "I am in the possession of immensely accurate coordinates, to which we need to get as soon as anyhow possible."

"And you were just going to walk there? You wouldn't last ten hours."

"I don't see any other way. You don't seem to have any cars," replied Finn.

Yurie smirked, "No, no cars, but something even better."