Sword and Snow

Vale carried Emery and I into the house like sacks of rice. Laughter echoed from every corner of the basin after our absolutely abysmal escape attempt - not that anyone thought we would actually get away from him.

Emery’s siblings made their way back to the house for now to see the result of the short lived game of tag, and were able to make it most of the way to the house by the time Vale was carrying us through the door.

“Nice try you two!” Demi called. “It was a pretty good effort!”

Emery, still being carried under one of Vale’s arms, gave her sister a thumbs up and a grin. “We made it a whole five seconds after his first attack.”

Kota whistled, impressed. “That’s pretty good.”

“Just wait,” Vale said, hefting both of us to reassert his grip, “if you two work on that new bond of yours, you’ll do better than that.”

We basically all cocked our heads in question. “You mentioned that before. You said we ‘Bonded our Domains’?” I asked.

“I did.” Vale said with a sigh as we were carried to the second floor and the dining room. Emery’s siblings followed, interested in whatever chat was about to happen.

“Mom!” Stena shouted as soon as we crested the top of the stairs.

“What happened?” Cierra said through a laugh. She was pointing at the way we were being carried.

“Uncle Vale beat us up.” Emery said, affecting a dour, defeated tone. “We can’t beat him. But maybe you can get revenge for us.”

I twisted in Vale’s grip to try to look limp. More like we really had lost a fight. “Please…” I croaked playfully. “Avenge…us…” I reached out a hand toward them, then went limp entirely, my hand smacking against the ground. I almost said ‘ow’ on instinct, but held back to keep up the charade.

Cierra and Stena both laughed and got to their feet. “Uncle Vale!” Stena pointed to him, as if declaring war. “We’re gonna get you!”

“Prepare yourself!” Cierra yelled and then they both shouted as they ran toward him to tackle the much bigger man.

Vale let the two of us drop to the ground, and we both fell with a very convincing thump and remained ‘dead’ on the floor as the girls tackled Vale.

As expected of any good guardian figure, Vale played around with them for a bit before allowing himself to be toppled dramatically. Cierra and Stena climbed over his prone body as he made a show of writhing in pain on the ground and dramatically complaining about how his ‘evil plan was thwarted’, and how they ‘got revenge for their mighty parents’.

After an award-worthy death throes performance, Vale lay flat on his back while Cierra put a foot on his stomach and posed dramatically over him with her hands on her hips.

Emery’s siblings clapped and cheered.

“The evil has been overthrown!” Rylie declared, while clapping.

Demi bowed before the girls, kowtowing with her forehead all the way to the floor. “Praise be to our heroes for defeating the great evil dragon!”

“Here, here.” Ieji added, raising a hand as if to toast - despite their empty hand and unenthusiastic tone.

“Thank you, O mighty heroes! How ever shall we repay you for your great deeds?” Kota asked, joining Demi on the ground in a kowtow.

“Chicken jerky!” Stena said, so suddenly it took everyone off-guard. “Momri made it once and it was so good.”

Demi shot forward from the ground and scooped Stena up in one swift motion, setting the girl on her shoulder. “To the kitchen then! We shall acquire jerky!” She glanced back at Emery and I on the ground and muttered under her breath, “There’s usable chicken in the kitchen, yeah?”

Emery gave her a stealthy thumbs up without getting up from her position on the ground.

Demi nodded and once again proudly declared, “To the kitchen!”

Rylie followed suit and scooped up Cierra, depositing the girl on her shoulder as well. “As for you, my hero, how about some ice cream?”

Cierra grinned. “Yeah! Let’s go!” She was shaking back and forth and kicking her legs while seated on her perch, and if it wasn’t for Rylie’s Cultivator strength, I was sure that she would’ve fallen.

“To the kitchen!” Rylie echoed Demi and marched off.

Ieji and Kota moved to sit at the table while Emery, Vale, and I waited an extra minute before hopping back to our feet. Vale motioned to the table and we all moved to sit.

“So.” Emery said as she swung a leg over her seat and plopped into it rather dramatically. “We Bonded our Domains.”

“I think we have some idea,” I offered, “given what’s happened to us in the last twelve hours. But we could probably use more specifics.”

“I’ve heard you mention it before, in passing.” Kota said, clearly interested in the whole thing. “I remember vague mentions of it being both good and bad, as well as a pretty significant power boost in the right hands, but also very risky.”

When Emery and I both looked at Kota to try to get him to elaborate, he merely shrugged. “I said ‘vague’, didn’t I?”

Vale leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. “Bonded Domains are powerful. And useful, and a great asset in the right hands.” He met our eyes seriously then, trying to force home the next bit. “But they can also absolutely ruin someone if they enter into the bond without thinking it through. It is absolutely something you typically don’t want to do in haste or recklessly. Emery.” He said, half laughing, while meeting his daughter's eyes very pointedly.

She looked appalled, and moved back in her chair with her hand over her chest as if she was hurt. “Father! How could you insinuate such a thing as me leaping before I look.”

“Bet he’s right, though.” Ieji muttered.

“He is.” I confirmed. When Emery glared at me, my eyes drifted away toward the ceiling. “...Mostly.”

“Hey.” Emery said flatly. “It took both of us to knock down that barrier thing. I couldn’t have done it on my own. We are equally to blame.”

“You say that,” I shot back, “but I would have left that rift thing well alone if not for you.” I stuck my tongue out at her playfully.

“Well, it doesn’t matter.” Vale said, pulling our wandering attention back. “What’s done is done, and the two of you have a Bonded Domain now. You’ll need to learn how to use it.”

Emery and I both decided it was time to listen more seriously. We shifted in our seats to more properly face the center of the table, and Vale as he was speaking.

“Right. So what do we need to know?” Emery asked. I nodded in agreement with the question.

Vale rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “What have you figured out so far?”

“Well…” I began, “We can communicate much more clearly through our Domain than before. It’s basically as clear as actually speaking.”

“We used each other’s Qi types by accident. I assume that’s something we could learn to control.” Emery offered.

“We shared a single Inner World while our Domains were melded. It was like a combination of our individual ones, with characteristics of each.” I added.

“And our spiritual selves were also altered.” Emery said suddenly, as if just remembering. “That one was weird.”

Vale nodded with each new thing we added. When Emery and I looked at each other, trying to remember anything else, Vale took over.

“Let me explain it to you this way. Bonded Domains functionally make one significant change that ripples into all of these other effects.” He paused for dramatic effect, to make sure everyone at the table was paying attention. “If you simplify everything to the simplest form, the two of you are essentially a single Cultivator now. Just with two bodies that can operate independently of one another - albeit in a reduced state.”

Emery and I shared a look, some mix of concern and confusion taking over our expressions.

“You’ll need to elaborate on that a bit, Dad.” Emery said. “You make it sound like we got weaker.”

“Not exactly.” Vale said, holding up a hand to forestall any complaints until he finished explaining. “Your individual ability hasn’t really changed. Well, not counting whatever you gained from Cultivating last night of course. But it’s more accurate to say that your ‘default state’ is acting as one. That’s how your bodies and spirit operate now.”

Emery and I shared another look, unsure what to make of that, exactly.

“Another way to look at it is like this. If you were to say that your abilities when separate are 100% for each of you, then when you operate while Bonded, your actual raw Qi output is probably more like 275% or 300%.”

Everyone at the table gaped at that. In that moment of silence, Cierra and Stena ran back around the corner from the kitchen, their treats in hand. In the midst of the stunned silence while everyone worked through the new information, the girls climbed into our laps. Stena settled in mine and spun to sit facing the table, her legs kicking lightly as she chewed on her jerky.

“Like I said, though.” Vale said, clearing his throat. “As far as your bodies and spirits are concerned, that ‘300%’ is your normal state. So when you act separately, you’re working with 35% of your true strength or so.”

“Does making that clarification mean anything?” I asked, curious. “Which option is our ‘default’ state, I mean.”

“For everyday life, no.” Vale said, his eyes watching Stena munch on her jerky, rather than meeting my eyes. “In battle, it will make a difference.”

Emery perked up at that. “How so?”

“You may not feel it right now, but your bodies and meridians have altered themselves to adjust to your new potential output. You shouldn’t have any issues when you fight together, but if you take any serious fights apart, if you’re not careful, your body could try to pull from strength that’s not there.”

“What you’re saying is that alone, they have access to roughly 35% of what their body thinks is available. So if they try to put too much into a technique, or push their body -”

“Right. It’ll overdraw itself.” Vale nodded at Ieji. “I’ve seen Cultivators accidentally do it, and the outcome is not pretty. Your body and meridians won’t recognize the limits of your strengths when apart, so you need to be very very careful not to overdo it.”

“That’s…interesting.” I said, thinking it over. I was trying to examine myself to see if I could feel anything different in regards to my available Qi but it all felt normal.

“That’s not even half of it.” Vale said, crossing his arms on the table. “There’s parts that are far more interesting, and very complex ways to use a Bonded Domain. For example, you can send your Qi to one another through the Domain. The transfer is instantaneous, and very useful if one of you needs a sudden burst of power for any reason.”

We both grinned at each other hearing that. It sounded cool.

“It’s also worth noting that you are intrinsically spiritually connected now. And that’s a very serious thing.” Vale snapped his fingers at us to make extra sure we listened as he added, “If one of you dies, the other will as well. Or, at least, you’ll end up severely crippled.”

“Okay…that’s intimidating.” Avuri said.

“Like I said, when it comes to Cultivation, the two of you are essentially one person now. That comes with all the expected up- and down-sides. Yes, you share a single spirit between you, so if one of you dies, the other will share similar consequences.” He spoke seriously, then suddenly swapped to a much lighter, happier tone. “But on the upside, together you’ll be monstrously strong for your level.”

Avuri and Emery shared a look as though they were clearly unsure about all this and Vale sighed. “Look,” He said, drawing their attention again, “if you had given me time to explain all of this before you just jumped off the proverbial cliff, you would have at least known what you were getting into. But what’s done is done. There’s no known way to reverse it, and it does have substantial upsides.” He smiled.

“And let’s be honest, you two would’ve done this sooner or later anyway.”