Frostnova feels a pair of hands grab her shoulders, saying something desperately. She feels fuzzy, like her head is spinning. Rain pouring hard almost blurred out all her senses. None of the words the man in front of her gets through her foggy mind, all she can perceive is the man's abnormal glowing eyes, and the sadness in it.

The man points his finger to the road ahead and withdraws, his figure vanishing into the rain, as if he had never been there from the start. Before she had the time to fathom anything, something surrounded her.

Although Frostnova hasn't engaged in battle for quite some time, it doesn't mean her senses have weakened.

Six persons,...no, not human.....

If anything, their malevolence is real, and that is enough for her.

Rain drops around her start to slow down, even water on her body and the ground starts to behave as well. In a very preposterous way, it begins to flow upward, forming a barrier of blades around her. There is no moon nor stars, her surroundings are too dark for anyone to witness anything, but the sudden drop in temperature is indubitable. The enemies must have noticed it too, as they avoid coming closer. They fall into a stalemate.

Well, they must be cripple if they can't detect such obvious changes.

As Frostnova considers whether to attack first, the ground beneath her shakes lightly, two faint orange-yellow lights can be seen from afar. Lantern?

As if fueled by this instance, the strange figures around her attack suddenly. She, who had never removed her attention from them, also acts. A clear swish resounded, the wind around her changes and sounds of heavy objects falling on the ground.

Frostnova exhales slightly, her temple throbbing.

--------

Crepus was on his way home from Mondstadt. The weather was exceptionally terrible that day, so they couldn't go fast. Suddenly, their carriage tilted sharply to one side, as if it had been forced to change direction. He was also hurled to the side, barely managing to protect his head. Luckily the carriage didn't overturn. Crepus calls for his employee:

"What's wrong !?"

"Master Crepus....look..."

Tunner's voice sounded shakily, as if he just saw something unbelievable. Crepus puts a cloak over his head and pokes out, only to see a scene he thought he would never have the chance to witness again.

Under the faint light stands a young child. The child looks very different from the one in his memory. But it's gazes and ice blades' shape are achingly familiar. Around its legs are six hilichurls, all cut very neatly, and with a method he couldn't be more familiar with.

No longer caring about the heavy rain nor the slippery road, Crepus jumps off the carriage to step towards the child.

"Sis...ter?"

Frostnova currently is in a bad state. Her mind for some reason can't stop spinning, rendering her almost unable to analyze anything. Everything she has done so far are completely by instinct. She knows someone is coming, no malice, but right now she doesn't think she can communicate with them now.

I better hide somewhere first....

But that intention vanished as soon as she heard what that person said.

"------er--------st-----sister Yelena!?"

There were only some people who called her this way. Frostnova managed to gather some of her energy to look at the man approaching her. Red hair, red hair and tall figure, he doesn't look similar to anyone she remembers. But then, how...

"You...who..." Her eyes widened.

Crepus, after a minute of impulsiveness, has regained his consciousness. He stumbled a bit, then decided to just say simply:

"I'm Ivan, the Yeti."

The Yetis.

But they are all dead.

Even though the child still looks astonished, its eyes turn icy and astutely. Just like hers.

"Prove yourself."

"Your name is Yelena, your father is Buldrokkas'tee, also known as Sir Patriot. You two were the last known pureblood Wendigo Sarkaz. After leaving Kazdel with Sir Patriot and his Shieldguards, you got separated and arrived at a small village on the Northwestern Tundra of Ursus. Here, you were infected with Oripathy and trigger your power to save us slave-miners from the overseers. Your infected..."

"That's enough." The child interrupted him.

Crepus gently look at the child, said:

"I know things are really bizarre, but I promise I will tell you later, now we need to take shelter from this rain."

Frostnova nods and steps forward, however apparently staying conscious just now took all her strength, her vision sways and then, everything turns black.

Crepus, on the other hand, didn't expect Frostnova to fall unconscious. He freaked out at first, then quickly took out all his raincoat, jacket and such until only his shirt was on. Luckily Frostnova's current body is very small, so that much cloth is enough. Even so, he still feels like he is hugging an iceberg.

Picking up the child, Crepus got back in the car as fast as he could.

"Elzer, we need to return to Dawn winery as fast as possible!"

--------

Diluc never thought that he would see his father bring a strange child home that night. Right when the door opened, unnatural freezing air swept through the hall, combined with Crepus's intense anxiety, almost anyone could sense an anomaly.

"Adelinde! Bring me a stretcher or something like that! Hurry! and prepare the large bath!"

Crepus temporarily puts the child down on the sofa. Under his frost-covered sleeves, his skin shows an evident white color. There is no doubt that if he continues to hold the child, his arms will suffer from necrosis.

This is bad.

Through the child's breath, Crepus can perceive that the cold is not just surrounding the child, but is either coming from within, or is seeping in. This is even worse than her past body.

Sister won't hold for long at this rate.

The stretcher arrives promptly, the maids follow their master's instructions, carefully lifting the child on the stretcher without touching their skin then bringing the child to the prepared bathroom.

The large bath in Dawn Winery is made from stone and is currently filled with hot steamy water. The temperature must have been adjusted to suit human body temperature, however it's definitely not enough in this situation. As when the child's body touches the water, the temperature of the water drops markedly, and quickly the layer of steam is halved.

Adeline notices this and immediately tells the maids to increase the water's temperature. The process was like a drop in the ocean, but they could only continue, even Crepus joined in the process, despite Adeline's objections.

Finally, their efforts paid off. By midnight, the child's body begins to warm up and gradually stabilizes, while the servants are finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. After cleaning up, Crepus puts the child on bed in one of his guestrooms. Next to him, a line consisting of Adelinde, Diluc, Ernest is waiting to ask. Crepus knows well what they want to know, so he has them sit down and start to fabricate.

In short, this is his friend's child and he was entrusted to him, however there were some situations in between and as a result, the kid's power was triggered.

"But then where is his vision?" Diluc asked.

Here it comes.

"I don't know, maybe it hasn't materialized yet?" Crepus answers sloppily, which he knows full well it wasn't the case. Luckily, none of the people around him know details about this problem, so they can only accept this explanation.

"Anyway, keep his power a secret, alright."