Sword and Snow

I stared down blankly at the girl in front of me. She was speaking absolute nonsense.

“Like I said. I want to find a place to make a home.” Emery’s eyes burned with a conviction I’d not seen in her in ages. That look combined with the little girl shaking like a leaf in her arms was enough to make me seriously consider her words.

“You want to ‘find a place to make a home’. I get that. But you’ll need to be more specific about what you want help with.” I said, crossing my arms. I wanted to look like I was taking her seriously. Which I was. But I was told while in my human form that I often looked like I didn’t take anything seriously.

“Uncle Vale. You know my background. You know what I was doing out there before I came back here. I’m sure you can guess what happened.” She motioned toward the girl with her chin.

“I can. But that doesn’t explain what you said. Why not buy a house in a city somewhere nice? Or one of the million farmsteads around the empire? There’s plenty o-” Emery was shaking her head before I even finished what I was saying.

“I’ve been wandering around enough. I’m tired of it, and I’m tired of putting children in orphanages or in the charge of random nearby villages.” Emery took a breath, maybe to calm herself? “I want to make a home for myself and the kids I find. Maybe not all of them, but some. Like her.” Her eyes lit up again with that same earlier fervor. “Most of the kids we’ve rescued don’t have homes or villages to return to. I want to take them in myself. And I would need a safe, secluded place to do that.”

To be fair, what she was saying made sense. If Emery wanted to just start an orphanage to look after orphaned children, that would be one thing, and would be easily done anywhere. But an orphanage for children that had been caught up in demonic Cultivator trouble would be far more difficult. Too many people believed that such kids brought bad luck or curses to those nearby. The average city would never allow them to live peacefully nearby.

Villages or farmsteads would likely be just as bad. Especially if Emery had planned to continue her hunting and leave the children she helped alone or under the protection of others on occasion; they could be harassed or worse.

“So you need a safe place away from people to be something of a secluded retreat.”

Emery nodded. “Yes, exactly. And I’m sure that you know of at least a place or two like that.”

She wasn’t wrong. I could think of several such places that could work. “How many children do you plan on taking in yourself, exactly?”

“As many as I can.”

Yeah, no surprise there. “A large, secluded place that could house a small army. Located near a town for supplies, but still far enough away to avoid being directly associated with them. Easily defensible, just in case. Hm.” I was pretty sure I knew of a perfect spot.

“You know a spot. I can see it on your face.”

“I might. But I want to make sure you know what you’re doing before we go any further with this.”

Emery lightly goaded the child in her arms down and placed her feet on the floor, making a point of taking in their surroundings. The large house they stood in had been their shared home on and off for nearly fifteen years. Emery may not be around now as much as she used to be, but would always be her home.

“Veilnyr. I grew up watching you father half a dozen kids - including myself - right here. Maybe I turned out a little…weird, but Natalya and the others all turned out pretty good! I may not have seen everything you did to keep us happy and healthy, but I saw a lot of it. And I’m confident I can do the same. More than that, even - I want to.”

I stared into Emery’s eyes sternly. While I understood what she was saying, she needed to understand the weight of her words. “Raising kids is backbreaking work, much of which you never saw. It’s a constant barrage of chores, problems, sudden emergencies, and all kinds of other nonsense. You’ve never had to deal with a kid that stuck a bug up their nose.” I chuckled, thinking back to Kota whining and freaking out over sticking a bug up his nose and being unable to get it out.

“Or,” I continued seriously, “trying to help a child who is crying because they are sick, or hurt, or just generally unable to do what they want for a reason you can’t do anything about.” As I spoke this time, I could see her expression darken somewhat. I gave her a warm smile. “Trust me, it’s all well and good when you can go out and fight the bad guys and solve the problem. But being unable to help your crying child is something else entirely. It’ll put a strain on you like nothing else.”

The fire in her gaze never faltered, though she did stop to look at the young girl briefly. When she did, the fire eased into a warmth I had rarely ever seen from Emery. That was good. At least she seemed to truly want to care for this girl. For better or worse, it would be a question of how long that feeling would last.

“I just want you to know,” I began again with a sigh, and her eyes snapped back to me. “This whole parenting thing? It starts easy. In a situation like you’re in now, it’s easy to look at that little girl and be completely consumed by the desire to shelter and protect her.”

Emery’s mouth opened to speak, but I held up a hand to stop her from interjecting. “I'm not saying you shouldn't do this. You just need to know what you're getting into. It's going to be hard and a whole lot of work. You're going to get mad. You're going to get upset. Kids are uniquely qualified when it comes to pissing off parents who are just trying their best.” I snickered again, thinking back, but quickly continued, wanting to get this out in full.

“But. The successes and what you gain can be worth so much more than the failures and aggravation.” I stepped a bit closer to Emery and placed a hand on her head, ruffling her hair a bit; an old habit that never really went away with any of my kids. “Trust me. If you really want to do this, and honestly think you’re ready, I’ll support you.”

Emery took a deep breath to center herself, and looked up at me, pushing my hand off her head. “I am. I’m ready.” She looked over at the girl, who was sitting quietly on a kitchen chair, knees up under her chin, with her arms tightly wound around her legs. “I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself if I didn’t at least try. She deserves better than whatever orphanage she would get thrown into.”

“No argument there,” I said, also turning to watch the girl. “But be that as it may, I guarantee you are not ready. No parent ever is.”

“This is the place.” I said, as we finally finally arrived on the far side of the mountains. Emery was riding near my shoulder as I flew us over the basin in my true body. It was nice, now and then, to stretch out the old bones. My natural form was massive, and covered in dark scales that looked as though a smoldering fire laid beneath. Two large wings carried us over the mountains, located toward the middle of my fairly long, serpent-like body.

Emery, making great use of her Cultivator strength and grip, held onto my right foreleg up by my shoulder. At this point, I was accustomed to giving my children a perch to ride on, and had my foreleg bent at an angle so she could stand on my arm as I flew.

In preparation for this visit, we called Talya back home and left Cierra in her care for a few days while we came out to scope out this potential new home. For better or worse, Cierra remained jumpy and mostly unresponsive still. Emery’s elder sister was more than happy to watch over the girl while we scouted for Emery’s new home. In fact, she nearly threw us out the door, after she heard what Emery was planning to do.

The area here was generally dominated by the Dragon Peaks; four huge, domineering mountains that were practically each their own biome. Each was dominated by one of the major elements, and had the appearance to match. We had flown up and over the Verdant Dragon Peak, as it was the safest and least complicated to ascend.

Coming up and over the peak gave us a clear shot of the basin. While the four major peaks dominated the skyline, the connecting smaller mountains surrounded a patch of land that was several square kilometers in size. It would easily match Emery’s size requirement for who knows how many children.

Even better, a little ways off to the side there was a natural spring. Fed by the Flowing Dragon Peak’s predominant water Qi, the water was clean and clear - perfect to drink. And with so much water Qi at the source, it would take an incredible natural disaster to interrupt the flow. With the addition of a few simple Arrays, this little basin would not only be livable, but practically a perfect compound for a large sect.

As I circled the basin and descended to land, Emery hopped off my shoulder to fall the last 25 meters or so. She landed gracefully on her feet as I shifted back into my human shape and landed beside her.

“I couldn’t really hear you up there,” I said, looking her way, “What do you think?”

Emery looked around the basin, a strange look on her face. Some strange combination of awe and concentration. “It’s amazing. There’s fresh water, plenty of space… and the land looks more fertile than I would’ve expected in the mountains, too. With some simplistic but large Spiritual Arrays, this place could easily be made into a huge farm.”

I nodded along. “It’ll take some work, but it’s doable. And something we can do ourselves without spending an inordinate amount of money.” I walked up beside Emery, took her by the shoulder and spun her to face the center of the basin. “We’ll set up a large farming Array in the center, then expand it as necessary. I can talk to an old wood Qi master friend of mine for help getting some trees planted and grown. We can use those to put buildings together.”

Emery laid her hand atop mine, patting it gratefully. “I’ll turn this place into a safe haven for everyone I can.” Continuing to look around, she eventually sighed. “I’m going to need help at first. Or maybe forever. I can’t always be here to keep an eye on things if I want to still get out there and try to hunt down more demonic sects.”

“I’m sure Talya would be willing to assist you for a while.”

“Especially if I pay her,” Emery chuckled. “Natalya may be able to make a survivable living as a calligraphy artist, but she really needs to finish learning how to make Spiritual Arrays already.”

“You could let her practice here, you know.” I said, goading. “I’m sure she’d appreciate that just as much as actual money.”

“True. I want you to take care of the important stuff like the main farming and habitation Arrays. But she can certainly take care of smaller ones around here once we get settled.” Emery gave me a sidelong glance. “She did learn all of the associated bathroom Arrays, right?”

“Most.” I confirmed. “I think her hot water production Array still needs work.”

“Then you can build our baths, because I’m not waiting on her to learn before I can have a hot bath.” We both lightly chuckled, still looking around the large area.

“Now, before anything else,” Emery began, squinting toward the edges of the basin. “How, exactly, do people without wings get out of here?”