Sword and Snow

“Again!” Vale shouted. Avuri and I were both on the ground, completely drenched through with sweat. It had been a while since I had been pushed this hard on training, and it was more physically draining than I had recalled. Though I supposed that Vale was making it that way on purpose.

After we had gone to him early that morning to tell him that we were both on board with trying Paired Cultivation together, and asked him for help, our brutal training session began. He had said that, while Paired Cultivation was easy to do, if we wanted to get the most out of it, there would be steps to take and preparations to make.

Apparently that involved running both of us absolutely ragged.

I laid on my back for a moment longer taking some deeper breaths before moving to get up once again. “Vale! I know you said we had to take some steps to really get the most out of this, but how is running the two of us into the ground helping, exactly?”

Avuri turned her head toward me to glare at me from the floor, her long white hair splayed out around rather magnificently. “I wanted to ask that hours ago, and you just said to trust him.” She muttered under her breath. “Now, like thirteen hours later, suddenly you want to know?”

I looked at her, smiled, and shrugged. Then I did my best to whisper so quietly only she’d hear. “I’m trying to buy us a break.”

Vale chuckled. “I heard that. You can lay there for a minute.” He said, moving to stand over us both, arms crossed. “The main point of it is to get the two of you so exhausted that most of your Qi is spent. We want only your body’s natural Qi left in there, with most of your Core empty. It’ll make the Cultivation you do together significantly more effective, as well as make it much easier for the two of you to get in sync with one another.”

He glanced off to the side, where Cierra was sitting quietly, watching. Avuri and I both followed his gaze. I smiled at her. “If you were both in top condition, your aspected Qi would get in the way of your connection. Or at least make it more difficult than it would be without it, anyway.” Vale then turned to look out the window at the darkening sky and nodded toward it.

“It’s getting late. Clean up and get dinner ready.” He turned back to us then. “Do not Cultivate tonight. You both still have a fair bit of Qi left, and I don’t want you to recover fully before tomorrow. I know you’ll get something back naturally, but that had better be it. Physical recovery with a bath to relax your muscles is fine, though.”

He looked back and forth between us then nodded. “See you ladies in the morning.” With that, he walked out of the training room. Avuri and I both let out long breaths of air we had been holding as the tension of the training left us.

I started to slowly get to my feet. Even with a Cultivator’s body, spending nearly a full day training was physically draining. Especially when it was Vale’s training regimen. That dragon was brutal.

When I turned to Avuri to offer her a hand up, I found her still watching Cierra. The little girl had come in with Talya a couple hours ago, evidently to watch. Talya had left her here to go start prep for dinner. When Avuri finally noticed my extended hand, she took it, still watching Cierra.

“She’s been in here for a little over two hours, and has had roughly the same half-vacant expression the entire time.” Avuri said, a note of concern in her voice.

I looked at Cierra and nodded. “Yeah, I know. She’s like that a lot.”

Avuri’s face scrunched up in a combination of thought and worry. “I’m sorry if this is a weird question, but do you, Talya, or Vale have any training as a spiritual doctor?”

I cocked my head. “No, why do you ask?”

Avuri began to fiddle with a bit of her loose hair. “Have you had a spiritual doctor examine her since you brought her home, at all?”

I shook my head in answer.

“Would you mind very much if I took a look at her? Or do you think she’d mind an exam?” Avuri asked, hesitating.

I thought for a moment before responding. “I wouldn’t mind. And I don’t think she would either. Why?”

Avuri turned to me seriously, projecting a clear aura of earnestness. “I think there may be some spiritual damage within her,” She said. My eyebrows rose as she moved to explain. “I’ve seen it one other time. A Frozen Mountain student was being picked on by some older sect members, and during a spar took a spiritual attack poorly, without defending himself. The boy woke up a day later with missing memories and a similar empty expression to Cierra’s.”

My head snapped back toward Cierra, concern and worry blossoming deep in my stomach. “And?”

“And he recovered, eventually. With some help. It was apparently caused by a minor Qi deviation that wasn’t fatal, or even harmful, beyond the mental side effects.” I nodded as I listened, my eyes not leaving Cierra. “I’m not anything like a trained doctor, Emery. But I have a few techniques that are branched off from my more divination like ones that could at least scan her body for spiritual injury.”

I nodded. “Let’s do it. I didn’t think to get her checked by a spiritual doctor; I won’t make that mistake again.”

Not even an hour later, Avuri, Cierra, and I were in the bathhouse. Talya took over the night’s dinner prep entirely, after I profusely apologized and explained what we were up to. She shoved us out toward the bath, yelling that if Cierra may be hurt, we’d better get our asses in gear to help her.

Cierra was currently laying, relaxed, on a long comfortable bench in the bath house wearing a towel. I stood back to give Avuri room to work, but was still close enough to offer support to Cierra in case she needed it. For the moment, she looked relaxed though.

I could feel when what was left of Avuri’s Qi spun to life. There wasn’t a huge well to draw from after the day’s training, but she apparently had enough left for this. Her hands took on a pleasant, cool blue glow as she brought them to bear. Starting at Cierra’s little feet, her hands roamed over the girl’s body, hovering just out of touch.

After a pass over her full body, Avuri’s Qi settled for a moment. “There’s no actual damage to her meridians.” She said, as her Qi spun up again, this time in a different pattern. Avuri’s hands appeared to take on a similar cool blue glow once more, but this time they appeared to be lit from within.

As she began the second pass, Avuri’s hands glided smoothly over Cierra’s skin, in contact this time. Avuri was nodding to herself as she moved over Cierra’s legs, torso and arms. Her face clouded over as she reached Cierra’s upper body.

“Emery? There is something in her system. It’s concentrated around the base of her neck and shoulders.”

I immediately walked forward. Not that there was any way for me to really help. “Is Cierra alright? Can you tell what it is? Should I call for a fully trained doctor?”

Avuri let out a little snort. “Calm down, mom. She’s been alright for months, I’m sure it’s nothing life threatening at the moment.” Her hands traced lightly over Cierra’s neck. The girl looked as though she was receiving a gentle massage, her face calm and serene.

“Let me see if I can draw out whatever is in her system.”

“Wait. Is that safe?” I asked, gripping one of Avuri’s wrists.

She nodded. “It is. Imagine it like taking a little bit of skin to test for illness. It shouldn't disturb her at all.”

I took a deep breath to calm myself and let her wrist go. I watched, fascinated, as Avuri pinched her right thumb and index finger just above Cierra’s skin. As she raised her hand away, as if pulling something from Cierra’s neck, we were suddenly overwhelmed by the smell of wet animal.

My hackles rose immediately. Avuri made a disgusted face as she held a small bit of what looked like ichor between her fingers. Cierra still seemed nonplussed.

“Demonic Qi?” I spat, anger seeping into my voice.

Avuri just nodded. The ichor seemed to be clinging to her fingers, as if it wanted to seem in through her skin. Whatever Qi Avuri had running through her hands seemed to keep it at bay, and she held her hand out and away from all of us. “Emery? That technique you said you have for purifying demonic Qi? Does it work on contact?”

I was jolted out of my anger by the question. “I…don’t know. I know it burns away demonic Qi within a body’s meridians, but it requires me to cut deep to make contact with the meridians. And I’ve never seen physical demonic Qi like that before.” I said, already calling up the brilliant ivory blade. I used a touch of Qi to command the blade to levitate over and hover underneath Avuri’s hand, flat facing toward her fingers.

With a look of concentration, Avuri lowered her fingers to touch the flat of the blade. Immediately, the black ichor hissed and bubbled away, leaving her fingers clean. Keeping a small distance, she did her best to inspect them. With a thought, I melted the blade into a mercurial blob of liquid metal.

“Run your fingers through it. Play with it.” I said, motioning toward the metal. Avuri nodded, and took the liquid metal with her hand, playing with it like it was a toy. Here and there, a bit of sizzling could be heard as the metal ran over and around her fingers. Within twenty seconds, the noises stopped. Avuri continued to run the metal over her fingers for a bit more before we were satisfied there was no longer any danger.

Then we turned toward Cierra, who still looked relaxed on the bench.

“Did you…do something to her?” I asked, eyeing Cierra’s face. “She looks so calm and serene.”

“Nothing in particular. I’m told that because of my ice affinity, my medical techniques have a calm, cooling effect on the body. Maybe it’s just from that?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll take whatever wins we can get here.” My eyes roamed over the base of Cierra’s neck and her shoulders. “What do you think?”

“The Qi isn’t flowing through her meridians. It’s soaked into the body around the base of her head, neck, and shoulders.” Avuri reached up and grabbed the back of her own neck forcefully, as demonstration. “It feels like someone grabbed her like this and forcibly shoved demonic Qi into her body. To what end is anyone’s guess, but the Qi never reached her meridians.” She pointed to the base of her skull. “I do think it’s caused some damage to her spirit though. It could very well be the reason for her relatively dull emotions.”

I nodded. “Great, Doc. Now tell me what I should do. I don’t imagine stabbing my daughter with a knife is exactly the answer.” I said, getting antsy now that I knew there was actually something wrong.

“You said you have complete control over their shape, right?” Avuri asked. I nodded. “Acupuncture needles, then. They’ll have to be pretty long to get deep enough to get to the Qi, and you’ll need several of them to spread around but I think they’d be best. I can numb her body somewhat while you do your thing so she shouldn’t move.”

“Got it.” I said, and spread my arms wide. My Qi churned and fifteen long but incredibly thin needles appeared in the air between my outstretched hands. “Let me know when she’s numbed.”

Avuri nodded, and began to run her hands over Cierra’s neck and shoulders once more, the blue glow more intense than previously. Seconds later she gave me the go ahead.

I took in a deep breath to steady myself, and lowered my hands slowly, the needles following. As they descended, I reoriented them so they would be equally spaced among the contours of Cierra’s shoulders and neck. Slowly, they pierced her skin. She didn’t react to them much at all. I continued to lower the needles until they were about two and a half inches deep.

I could feel through my Qi when the needle points contacted the demonic Qi. I quickly focused, trying to draw the demonic Qi into the needles and up and out as it was purified. I had never been worried about the effect such a process had on the body before, but I was terrified now. Using the needles as a conduit, I managed to draw out at least as much of the Qi as I could manage. I had no idea how much that was, but I prayed it was enough to stop any potential damage.

I wasn’t sure how long had passed when I felt like the work was done. I let my concentration ebb and I pulled the needles from Cierra’s body. They puffed away to essence in the air. Avuri nodded, and passed over Cierra’s neck and body once more with her hands. The little wounds from the needles, already tiny, closed immediately. Then Avuri took a step back.

I stepped up into her place, and kneeled beside Cierra. I placed one hand on her back, and smiled at her as she blinked blearily, as if after a relaxing nap.

“Cierra, do you feel alright?” I asked, concerned.

She stared at me blankly for a moment, before it occurred to me that the expression was more out of shock than emptiness.

Then her face twisted up and she cried. The loudest I had ever heard from her.

“Mom!” Cierra nearly screamed as she practically leapt off the bench and threw herself at me.