Sword and Snow

I slumped back in my chair, glaring daggers at my sister. We had finished lunch a while ago, but as I had feared, the discussion around the table had turned to silly childhood stories. Talya, having finished her own lunch, had immediately asked Avuri if she'd like to hear about when I was a kid.

And Avuri, the cold hearted woman, had looked at me consolingly at first. But that look morphed fairly quickly into one of conspiratorial glee as she turned back toward Talya.

“Please. Do tell.”

And that had led us down an ongoing avalanche of stories ranging from mildly funny to horribly embarrassing that had been going on for nearly an hour by this point.

Cierra was the only one still picking at her meal, though it was clear she was pretty much done eating but still toying with her food while listening to the stories. I hoped she wasn't actually committing any of it to memory.

Vale had leaned back in his seat, relaxing as Talya told the stories, occasionally chiming in with an extra detail or two.

Avuri was sitting on the edge of her seat, her chin propped up in her hands with her elbows on the table, leaning in toward Talya with a wide grin.

I groaned aloud, but was ignored, as I had been for the last hour. Talya even stuck her tongue out at me in defiance.

“As I was saying, she decides to hide in the kitchen to practice this weird way of cutting potatoes -”

“It was just a spiral cut.” I muttered, mostly to myself.

“ - for literally hours. She’s barely seven at this point. Clumsy with her hands, and just can’t get the cut right. Kota, the eldest of our brothers, and I were meditating quietly in a room not too far from the kitchen. And all of sudden we hear the most impressive stream of cursing from down the hall. And I’m talking every single curse you’ve ever heard was probably in this tirade.” Talya said, trying very hard not to burst into laughter.

I saw Vale twitch and start to sit up, his mouth open; I could see in his eyes that he was about to spout off a similar list to nine-year-old me. I shot him such a glare that he stopped before speaking as I pointed at Cierra. Thankfully, he gravely nodded and leaned back again.

Despite stopping the almost example, there was nothing I could do to stop the retelling.

“With all the wailing and cursing, Kota and I thought for sure someone had been hurt or something, so we came running. Dad also came dashing down the hall and met us at the door to the kitchen.”

Avuri grinned, stifling a laugh. “What did she do? Cut herself?”

Talya just shook her head. “No. We find her standing in the back corner of the kitchen, surrounded by failed potatoes. It was an absolute massacre. They were everywhere. And then there’s Emery, standing in the middle, holding a singular potato, absolutely cursing its existence and screaming at the top of her lungs. We all got to her just in time to see her spike the potato into the ground in frustration.”

Having finished telling the majority of the story, Talya finally let go and laughed. Avuri followed suit, turning to look at me with tears in her eyes.

“You cursed at a potato?”

I sunk further into my seat and tried pointlessly to defend myself. “I kept cutting too deep and ruining the spiral cut I was going for. And then that last potato slipped and I cut it in half before I even got to try the cut I was practicing. So…” I rolled my eyes and sighed, then mimicked spiking an item to the floor.

After that, Vale cut in. “And, boy, was she covered in cuts and nicks after that too. When Talya says it was a massacre, she wasn’t joking. They were relatively minor cuts, but there were drops of blood all over the place.” He turned to face me as best as he could from his position. “You know, the cuts on your hands, and maybe even your arms I understood. But I never understood how you got the big gash on your knee that day.”

The laughing from Talya and Avuri subsided somewhat, as they suddenly turned to me, interested. I could feel my face and ears turn red under their scrutiny. Somehow I had managed to avoid this question directly for almost seventeen years, and here it was, thrown in my face in front of company.

“I don't remember.” I did. “Maybe the knife slipped or something?”

I think Vale saw my face turning red and chose to leave well enough alone.

“That’s a lie.” Talya said, eyeing me suspiciously. “No way you’re that embarrassed and you don’t remember.”

I stared daggers in her direction, but she ignored them. With a big sigh, I slumped. “I put the knife on the floor to get more potatoes to practice on, and slipped on one of the already dead ones.”

The snickering started up again before I heard the laughter from Talya and Avuri. I took several breaths to steady myself and maybe lose some of the red in my cheeks. I nearly jumped when I felt a small hand land on my thigh. Cierra looked at me, concerned. The sincerity in her look made Talya and Avuri’s laughter redouble.

“Okay?” Cierra asked me, in her scratchy voice. I could feel the table’s energy slide from making fun of me to a general ‘d’aww’ in response to Cierra. I ran my fingers through her hair and pulled her toward me a little for an almost hug and a gentle kiss on her head.

“I’m okay. Thank you, Cierra.”

She offered me a half-hearted smile, something more akin to just a quick of her lips, and I smiled back at her and ruffled her hair.

Avuri leaned on one of her arms, watching the exchange. “She’s very cute.” She murmured absently. I nodded in agreement. And then Avuri straightened up suddenly and turned to Talya.

“You know, you haven’t told me much about Emery when she was like Cierra’s age. Got any cute stories from…then…?”

As Avuri spoke, I suspected she could feel the atmosphere at the table darken as she trailed off toward the end.

I jumped in to curtail anyone from making it worse. “They wouldn’t, no.” I said lightly, trying to change the subject. “If you’re really curious, I can tell you a few later, perhaps.”

Avuri appeared to understand that I was actively trying to move the conversation away from the topic. She nodded, “Yeah, sure.”

But the damage to the mood had been done. Talya was the first to move, and she stood. “Right then, shall we be on our way? I think we’ve taken up this table long enough.” Without any time for anyone to respond, she shuffled around the table and gently coaxed Cierra along. Vale wasn’t far behind.

I stood from my seat, and Avuri followed me. As Talya led the way out the door with Cierra holding onto her hand, Vale fell into step alongside them. I made to catch up, worried Cierra may get upset if I didn’t stay near. She was usually okay with Talya, but it still varied.

Avuri pulled on my sleeve to hold me back a bit. I allowed her to do so without a fight. Being twenty or thirty feet from Vale and Talya wouldn’t actually stop them from hearing whatever she had to say, but I was sure she knew that too. It was more about the gesture.

And then I felt Avuri’s Qi leak out around us. The air grew a bit colder, but not uncomfortably so. I could see a few snowflakes flutter to the ground, appearing from thin air.

“Did I ask something I shouldn’t have?” Avuri looked concerned. “If I upset you, I really want to apologize.”

I shook my head. “Suffice to say our actual childhoods are a…messy topic. You couldn’t have known - not really. It just brings up lots of memories for all of us, and they won’t want to talk about it.”

I glanced at Talya and Vale. Vale was watching us with his head cocked curiously. I imagined that whatever Avuri had done shielded our talking from him, at least momentarily. I turned away from him so he couldn’t read my lips.

“If you really want to know, I can tell you at some point. I don’t make a point to hide it, or anything. But talking about it here in the city would be in poor taste, and Vale wouldn’t like it.” I said quietly. “We’ll see.”

Avuri made a grave face, and nodded with all the sincerity she could muster. “As you say. I’ll leave it up to you.” She let go of my sleeve, and I could feel her Qi stop swirling around us. “I am interested, though.” She said, right before the sound dampening effect fell away.

I turned back to my family and began walking in step with Avuri. Vale raised an eyebrow in question, but I returned a slight shrug to indicate I was fine. He merely nodded and turned to walk again.

We walked toward the City's exit together in relative silence. Cierra abandoned Talya in fairly short order and took up her position at my hip once more. I was beginning to worry about her getting too attached, but I still felt like helping her get through her trauma was more important. All I could do was hope that she wouldn't just replace one issue with another. Well, and maybe not condone her getting overly attached.

Eventually, we made our way out of the City. Despite the massive walls and numerous guards, they were never strict about those people leaving the city only who came in. Before us lay the massive Flowing Dragon Peak. Avuri looked up at it and whistled. I chuckled.

“It's really impressive, isn't it?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she responded, “A lot of land features kinda lose their majesty when you can travel like a Cultivator. But these peaks are something special.”

I nodded in agreement. The Flowing Dragon Peak spread out and up before us, completely taking up our vision. The base of the mountain immediately in front of us looked like a half-sparse forest of evergreen trees, lush with pine needles. But as you climbed higher on the mountain, the trees gave way to a messy labyrinth of waterways and small streams that criss-crossed the whole thing. Water Qi was particularly strong in the center stratum of the mountain, as well as inside, where there were huge cave systems replete with running waterways.

The top of the mountain was snow capped and looked incredibly majestic. Ice Qi ran rampant at that height, and many demonic beasts ran free in that area, all heavily adapted for the cold climate. The area would surely be perfect for Avuri to Cultivate in. And I imagined many of the beasts up there would help her hone her craft even further.

Vale looked up at the mountain and sighed. “We've got a trek ahead of us. It'll be a bit before I can take us the rest of the way.”

Avuri looked confused, but I ignored that and nodded. “We really need to make that footpath. I'm getting tired of requiring your damn wings.”

Avuri looked between the two of us, mouth agape.

“Wings?”