Sword and Snow

Stena and Cierra were not happy with us.

In the few days following Avuri and I Bonding our Domains we were very busy. Vale had taken it upon himself to teach us as much of the basics regarding our new skillset as he could - and there was a lot to learn! But more than that, there was enough potential harm involved that we weren’t comfortable going without learning more about it either.

Between being able to accidentally hurt ourselves if we weren’t careful in addition to our lives being spiritually linked, this was no time to take chances. And so, for several days, we were in something akin to closed doors training with Vale while he made sure we wouldn’t accidentally hurt ourselves.

That also meant that the girls were getting bounced around between my siblings each day. Thankfully, they didn’t seem upset with any of them but rather just that they barely got to see us for a few days.

And then, why we finally appeared again, it was for a day full of chores. Most of the vital things like feeding animals and watering plants had been done, but there were plenty of less immediate things that had piled up. And while Avuri and I went around to take care of things, Cierra and Stena were all but attached to us.

Vale has suggested that we stick together for the day and see how our new Domain would act throughout a normal day, so while it took longer to get things done, we did stay together. That, at least, seemed to be a positive move for the girls as they were at least able to complain to both of us all day without needing to run between us.

It took most of the sunlight to get everything done. It had been a while since we had gone over the fields with a more intense inspection, and that alone took most of the day. By the time we finished dinner we only had a couple hours of sunlight left, and only one chore left to tackle. The laundry.

With my family still hanging around for now, there was a lot that needed washing. Significantly more towels and blankets were in the piles than normal, in addition to all of the extra clothes. With Vale pushing Avuri and I so hard during the week, we even had extra sweat stained clothing just from us, let alone what the rest of the family generated.

Thankfully, the laundry was also one job that we were actually very well equipped for, Cultivator wise. Cierra and Stena still insisted on helping, so the four of us had lined up a whole mess of large tubs of water on the bottom floor of the house to get the laundry rolling.

We made a game out of it, seeing who could throw a balled up bit of cloth into the furthest tub and with the best accuracy. Cierra and Stena had a blast as blankets and clothing went flying through the air. Once the clothing was all in the soapy water, I maintained a few metal rods in each tub to keep things circulating in the water.

Then Avuri took over. It was strange, knowing that I could feasibly do all of her water feats now, too, but I certainly would need practice first. Conveniently, I was able to watch and even feel what she did as she went around pulling various pieces of cloth from the tubs, snapping them out, then evaporating the water away.

Once each piece was dry, she’d hand it off to one of the girls, who were now acting as runners, to place things on a line just outside the house so we could fold everything at once. We had nearly everything out of the tubs when the girls didn’t come back from their most recent trip outside. Avuri and I picked out the last few bits of clothing and carried it with us as we moved to the clotheslines outside.

When they came into view, Avuri and I both laughed. Evidently, the girls had been busy. We had several clotheslines running parallel to one another, and they had taken it upon themselves to drape the larger blankets over them all to make a blanket fort. It wasn’t anything impressive, but they had successfully created draped walls and used a different colored towel to mark the entrance.

“Cierra? Stena? Where’d the rest of the clothes go?” Avuri asked as we approached the ‘door’. “You better not have left them anywhere.”

“We didn’t, Momri. We were gonna fold them in here.” Cierra responded. And sure enough, when we pulled back the blanket, Cierra and Stena were both seated with a few baskets between them, folding the clothing. All of the blankets had apparently gone into the fort, but they had sorted the clothing into baskets based on whose they were. Some were surely guesses, because even I wasn’t sure I would separate Demi and Rylie’s clothing perfectly, but they had tried.

When I ducked to enter their little fort, I clicked my tongue disapprovingly. Both girls looked at me, mildly worried they were about to be scolded. I looked around at their fort and shook my head. “If you two are my little girls, I’m going to need to teach you better than this. No middle supports, only one room, just a drape for a door…we need to have a building lesson.” I declared.

Cierra and Stena’s faces suddenly lit up with huge grins. “You can help us make a bigger one?”

I shot them a sly smile. “Not just bigger. Better, too.” I glanced at Avuri and asked, “How about you, Ri? Ever made a blanket fort?”

“I can’t believe you’d ask me that.” She said, her expression all mock outrage. “Of course I have. I bet I’m even better at it than you.”

“Oh? We’ll see about that.” I said, “Or maybe we should work together to show our girls just how awesome their Moms are?”

“Now you’re talking.” Avuri agreed, then turned toward Cierra and Stena. “Are you two okay if we take the blankets down? We’ll take everything inside and build a new one there so it can stay up for a while. What do you think?”

“Can it be in our rooms?” Stena asked, trying not to bounce up and down.

“Sure.” I said.

“We can get a bunch of the extra blankets and make it big enough to go between both your rooms. How about that?” Avuri prodded.

“Yes!” Both girls shouted and jumped to their feet.

“We need to fold the clothing first though.” Avuri said, and I laughed as the girls immediately drooped.

“Work first, play after.” I said as I settled onto the ground to fold. “It’ll be worth it, I promise.”

As Avuri settled beside me, Cierra and Stena plopped back to the ground and began shuffling through baskets to find things easier to fold that they could manage without help while leaving the rest for the adults.

“So, do you have some blueprints to work with?” Avuri asked through our connection.

“No, but I do have ideas.” I sent back. As we sat folding laundry, Avuri and I practiced sending non-verbal thoughts back and forth, sharing images back and forth of how we planned to absolutely floor our kids.

We ended up spending about ten minutes folding the clothing because there was a lot of it, even ignoring the blankets. Ten people generated a lot of laundry, apparently.

In the very instant that Cierra placed the last shirt in Ieji’s basket, the girls lept to their feet and began tearing down their fort to gather up the blankets. I suddenly found myself with an armful of rolled up blankets as they kept handing them off to me as they gathered each one up in turn. Before the pile managed to get too big, I sent them into my storage ring with a quick thought.

“Ri? Can you go get the other storage ring that has all the linens in it? I think we’re gonna need them.” As Cierra threw another blanket on top of my third quickly growing pile, I wobbled as if the blankets weighed too much and Stena laughed as she deliberately threw another blanket at me. It hit me square in the face.

As I did my best to shake my face free of the news blanket, I heard Avuri respond through her laughter. “Sure. I’ll meet you in Stena’s room.”

“Sounds good. How many more blankets we got out here, girls?” I asked, as I stowed the third pile.

“Four!” Stena said as they gathered the last couple blankets. Rather than hand them off to me though, Cierra and Stena both immediately just took off toward the house at a run. I followed them with a monstrous growl as I put my hands up in a claw shape and gave chase. They screamed and redoubled their pace as I playfully nipped at their heels.

We beat Avuri to the bedrooms as the girls nearly tripped over themselves to escape my grabbing hands behind them. When they tumbled through the door, I sank to my knees defeated. “No!” I whined, “My hugs…” I slumped against the ground sadly.

Cierra and Stena spun around and tackled me in retaliation. I tumbled backward, and the back of my head landed on Avuri’s feet. I leaned my head back to look up at her from the ground with a grin. “Hi.”

“Hi.” She said, waving the ring in her hand at me and the girls. “Ready?”

Cierra and Stena sat up on my lap and nodded fiercely. I felt Avuri poke the ring with her Qi and blankets flew out into the bedroom. With the huge pile of cloth deposited in the center of the room, she tucked the ring away again with a devious little smile. “Let’s get building!”

“The hell is going on up here?”

“No idea. I saw Avuri dash up the stairs earlier, but it was pretty quiet until just a bit…ago…”

I could hear Vale and Talya as they climbed the stairs. One of the large supports I had made with Qi had fallen over and the metal crash had echoed through the house. It was already repaired though.

Cierra and I poked our heads out of the flap we made for a door that faced the stairs at the end of the hallway to grin at Vale and Talya as they crested the top stair. The blanket fort had been built up to encompass both girls’ rooms, the entire hallway between them, and one of the bedrooms across the hall.

Thanks to well placed metal rods that I had created, the roof of the fort was about four feet off the ground - more than high enough to let the girls stand, but low enough to make the adults hunch a little.

Avuri had also grabbed some snacks that had been stashed in the pantry, and stocked a little corner of the fort in Stena’s room with them. Together, we had even made a little chest out of metal that was crafted with a core of ice to keep drinks cold.

In Cierra’s room, we had piled bedding and cushions to make a really nice hang out spot for everyone. Avuri and Stena were there now, playing a hand game.

Vale and Talya looked over the fort as I said, “Sorry about the noise. One of the metal support beams fell before I noticed it. It’s been repaired and reinforced.”

There was a moment where I could tell Cierra was worried how they would react to us making such a mess, but I wasn’t worried. I rubbed her back comfortingly to keep her calm.

Vale looked over the fort with his hands on his hip and an evaluating glint in his eye. “I think you could go bigger. Did you put anything in the rooms yet?” He asked, walking to the entrance and starting to crouch down to enter. “Maybe we could put a small Qi-based fire pit in one. Roast some treats over it.”

Talya followed suit as she added, “I’m sure I could make up an Array to keep it safe.” She glanced toward the window before she made it to the entrance of the fort. “Did you let the others know about this? I’m sure they would love to help.”

“I didn’t.” I said. “But I’m sure they’ll find out tomorrow at breakfast.”

Vale laughed as he passed me, crouch-walking his way through the hallway toward Avuri and Stena’s voices. “The whole house is going to be a blanket fort by tomorrow night.”

“Really?” Cierra said from behind him, glowing with excitement.

“Absolutely.” Talya and I said together.

“Assuming Demi and Rylie don’t start a war again.”

“Right.” I said, reminiscing. “Last time we built forts, it all ended with a big pillow fight.”

“We won.” Talya declared, sticking her chest out the best she could in the cramped space.

“No you didn’t!” I said. “Demi and I won! We took out Rylie’s main support beam first.”

“Sure, but we had the last section standing.” Talya bit back.

“Lies.”