She continued: “Why did you never come back?”

“It was no longer a place I could go back to and I had no reasons to either”

“That’s cold. Mom and Dad were always sad whenever we mentioned you…”

There was nothing he could say about that. It was a fact that what he did as a son was…There weren’t quite a way to put it into words. It was true that this was the kind of thing you would not wish even your enemies to experience. Losing one’s child…Regardless of how…It had to be painful beyond anything he could imagine.

He knew it.

He sinned.

But he had to. And he would do it again was he to be forced to make the choice once more.

Still, many would never be able to understand. And it was fine. He lived for himself and none other.

He turned to look at her. He could not help but ask: “What about you?”

She told him: “When I was little, our brothers told me stories of you. They were complete bullshit, of course. They told me you left home to go on the path of immortality, to become a legend known throughout the lands. Some days you were a dragon slaughterer and some others you were marrying a princess…It gave me dreams. You became like a goal, I guess? And so, I told Mom and Dad I wanted to follow on your footsteps, you see”

Jin nodded. He could guess how it went. And he guessed right considering what she said next: “They were against it at first. But then I told them I would leave home regardless and they got scared…They feared they would lose me like, well, you”

“I see”

“Mhm…So, yeah, they sent me to the Wind Slash Sect thinking I would fail the tests. I did not”

“Right”

“Yeah”

“And then?”

“Then?”

“What brought you all the way here?”

“We~ll… You see…That sect is a small and poor one and, to be honest, I don’t have much talent. At some point, they started offering positions to disciples to leave for other places to create branches. The rewards were great. Compared to what I had in the main sect…It can’t compare in fact”

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“You’re going to hit a cap if you remain here though”

“So would you” she chuckled before continuing: “But I plan to go back to the main sect before that. I won’t remain here much longer. I miss home too”

Jin nodded.

It was true. Compared to him, she could just leave the continent unhindered. She could go home.

Home…

Where was his home?

In the end, he lived longer here than anywhere else. Did that make this place his home? He did not think so. He only ever viewed it as a place he stopped at on his way further.

How sad it was to admit to oneself that you had no home…

But he did not feel sad about it. It was fine. He was used to it from even his previous life.

One spear in hand and two feet to roam the lands!

Or so his thoughts went.

But these days…Ever since discovering the happiness of settling down for a moment… He began to change.

All the lives he was forced to experience also added to it.

To his tiredness.

To his desires.

To who he was.

Who was he now?

He was brought back from his wandering thoughts by Ning: “How about going home with me?”

He looked at her incredulously before shaking his head sideways.

She nodded to herself as she muttered: “Right, you’re a wanted criminal after all…”

He smirked at the words.

A wanted criminal…How funny…When he never committed any crimes- Wait. He actually did. Never mind.

He could have asked about that home but he did not. Regardless of how things were, he would never go back there and never would he see this body’s parents and siblings.

She got up and dusted her robe.

She told him: “I’m going back, people are probably looking for me”

“Alright” he said simply.

Both of them knew that this was just an excuse.

The meeting was expected to happen from both parties yet it was unexpected in a few ways just the same.

They both needed to digest what happened today.

Ning left. Jin remained seated on the rooftop.

Nangua jumped up and sat down next to him. They remained silent.

Until Jin asked: “What do you think?”

Nangua stated: “She is most likely who she said she is. At the very least, I felt some similarities between the both of you”

Nangua did not mean similarities about characters but something more profound. Nangua could identify beings in different ways than humans. If he stated that they were related, Jin would believe it.

Jin sighed.

Nangua asked him: “How do you want to proceed with this situation?”

Jin sighed again as he spread his arms: “I don’t know”

Nangua nodded.

…

Ning wandered around the Palace grounds without looking where she went. She had too much in her mind.

To think it was really her big brother Jin.

He was…He was not what she expected.

He did not have three heads and six arms as some said nor was he a god of beauty like some other claimed.

He seemed so average.

But was he really?

She knew that they only talked a little and it was impossible for her to know that much from that exchange but…it felt disappointing in a way.

The brother she looked up to for so many years when she was young turned out to be…to be just another human being. Just like her and anyone else.

As for the answers he gave her about her questions on their home…She was really having a tough time with those. She could not quite decide whether they were what she expected or what she wanted or the opposite…

It was difficult.

Meeting her big brother…She imagined it so many times. Never ever had she thought it would be like this.

Then again, at least, and at last, she did meet him.