Sword and Snow

Emery sat at the edge of the bath, lost in thought. As she idly kicked her feet around in the water, her mind jumped from memory to memory without ever really settling on any one thing to recall.

Avuri was nearly fully submerged in the bath, the water up to her shoulders. Her bright white hair floated around her, spread out and undulating like a nest of snakes in the water. Slowly, she moseyed her way over to Emery and placed her arms, crossed, over Emery’s knees. She leaned on her wife’s thighs cutely, looking up at her.

“What’s going through that head of yours?” Avuri asked, kicking her feet lightly to stay afloat horizontally in the water. Emery looked down at her with a warm smile, one of her hands landing on Avuri’s wet head affectionately.

“Truthfully, a lot, but also not much.”

Avuri responded with a confused look that was clearly asking for her to elaborate. Emery just hummed while thinking about how to explain.

“I guess I’m thinking about our past fights? But not really with any point.”

“And why’s that?” Avuri asked, her fingers toying with the water droplets on Emery’s skin. With a light application of Qi, she made the water dance around, forming various shapes.

“No real reason. We were talking about Domains and how they work today, which made me think of when we first unlocked ours, which made me think of our fight with that one sect in the Dying Lands.” Emery shrugged.

Avuri laughed. “‘That one sect’. We never did learn if they had a name, did we?”

Emery smiled and shook her head. “Nope. Didn’t really come up while we were fighting for our lives.”

“Hey, that’s not fair. We trashed that first group.”

Emery rolled her eyes. “Yes, sure. The group of three that they left behind and in charge of animals. How dare I forget about how easy they were to deal with?”

Avuri chuckled, shifting the water into the shape of a person. She made it run through a few simple martial art forms while standing on Emery’s leg. “Hey. We haven’t had a lot of easy fights in our lives. We should remember when things go that well, just to prove to ourselves that they can.”

“It’s hardly my fault that a lot of the important moments in our lives came alongside dangerous fights.”

Avuri seemed to consider that for a moment, tilting her head. The little water figure twirled endlessly as she lapsed in giving it new commands. “Were there that many?” She asked, finally. “I mean, sure, the big sect fight after that was very dangerous. But I think we’ve had more easy battles than tough ones, actually.”

Emery watched as the water figure stepped out of the spin and into a series of spinning kicks. “Maybe it’s just the difficult battles that are memorable.”

“Now that I can agree with. I probably only remember the fight against that small group because it was the first time we really fought together outside of training.”

Emery smiled, thinking back. “You know, fighting with you was something magical to me. I’m sure I’ve told you that before though.”

Avuri looked up to meet Emery’s eyes and smiled, her whole face lighting up. “You have. I’m not opposed to hearing you sing my praises again though.”

Emery chuckled, one of her hands moving to grab a handful of Avuri’s hair from the water. She toyed with the ends of it idly as she continued, “Other than fighting with Vale, I had never had that kind of support before.” Then after a pause, added hastily, “And Vale’s support was more like a ‘we win’ button than actual help.”

She leaned her head back to stare at the dark evening sky through the wisteria canopy above her as she continued wistfully. “And it wasn’t just being able to trust my back to someone. That was something I had plenty of times before. It was something more than that. More like just implicit trust that together we could make it through. That we were actually stronger than the sum of our parts.”

Avuri chuckled. “That’s something you and Vale have both said before.” She mimicked Vale’s tone as she said, “The two of you are exponential together, not additive.”

Emery nodded, more seriously than Avuri would have expected. “I still think that’s true. We are absolutely stronger together than we should be.”

Avuri crossed her arms over Emery’s thighs again, then laid her head on them. Her hair followed, tickling Emery’s legs. “It’s a known fact that Cultivators with Bonded Domains see exponential growth together.”

“You know that’s not what I mean.” Emery said, giving Avuri’s hair a light tug.

“I know.” Avuri responded, sighing happily. “You’re right, though. When we’re together, we can definitely fight above our Realm.”

“I don’t think I’d be here now if I had fought that sect with anyone else.”

“You could’ve brought Vale. Or anyone in the Heavenly Realm.” Avuri said, teasing.

Emery chopped her head lightly. “Jerk. It’s less romantic if I put qualifiers on it like that.” She continued, putting on a silly voice. “Oh, I don’t think I’d be here now if I had fought that sect with anyone else that was in the Sky Realm or below.” She added extra emphasis to the last bit, really selling her weird, silly voice.

Avuri laughed. Emery chuckled with her. And as the laughter died down, Emery spoke again, her voice on the serious side once more. “I’m glad it was you, Ri.”

Silence reigned for a moment. That moment stretched into two. Emery felt her ears growing hot as she slowly grew more embarrassed by what she said without Avuri responding. Avuri, for her part, was smiling contentedly as she rested on Emery’s lap.

Just as Emery took a breath to ask Avuri to say something, Avuri spoke. “You know, I actually don’t know if I ever told you this.” She said, a smile in her voice. As she paused for dramatic effect, Emery tilted her head questioningly.

“I’m pretty sure the moment I really fell in love with you was during that fight.” She said, finally, as if it were some big, dramatic reveal.

A moment passed before Emery responded with a nonchalant, “Oh, yeah?”

“Mhm.”

Emery twirled a bit of Avuri’s hair around her finger. “I would’ve thought for sure you loved me before that.”

Avuri couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. “I probably did. Those months of training were rough. I spent so much trying not to think about that stuff, that I’m pretty sure any feelings I had were smothered under layers and layers of…I dunno, denial? General avoidance?”

“That fight though?” Avuri’s smile became wistful as she thought back on it. “Something about it all just broke the dam. I dunno if it was the close calls, the high adrenaline, or just you. But by the time we were heading back I was completely smitten.”

“Oh, because I’m so attractive when I’m covered in blood.” Emery said sourly. Avuri just laughed. The light, carefree kind of laugh that Emery really loved.

“You say that as a joke, but watching you fight when you’re really in it? It’s absolute magic, Merri. You dance on the battlefield. It’s always breathtaking, and that was the first time I got to see it.”

Emery snorted. “Did you know that there was a brief period of time before I met you where I joined a large sect?”

“You’ve mentioned joining one while undercover with Vale before. I think you said it was…the Timeless Blade Sect?”

“Mhm, that’s the one. I was there for…I don’t remember, actually. A little over a year, maybe? And while I was there, they gave me the nickname ‘Steel Dancer’.” Emery said, just a little embarrassment tingeing her voice.

This time, it was Avuri’s turn to snort. “I’ve seen you fight. It’s fitting.” She smiled, and looked up at Emery from her lap. Emery turned away, just slightly, and Avuri’s smile grew predatory. “Oh no…you said you were there in your teens. You thought it was the coolest thing ever, didn’t you?”

Emery didn’t respond, but Avuri saw the tips of her ears turn red. Avuri gasped, delighted.

“You did!” She said, scandalized. “Emery ‘Steel Dancer’ Vale?”

Emery tugged on the bit of Avuri’s hair she was playing with, but Avuri’s hair was too long for her to really feel anything. “I swear, Ri, if you tell anyone about this, I’ll -”

“You’ll what, sweetie?” Avuri said, her voice absolutely saccharine.

Emery’s cheeks held a fair bit of color when she turned to meet Avuri’s eyes. She was clearly racking her brain, trying to find some ammunition to fight back with. Then, suddenly, there was a spark of genius there that Avuri did not like.

“I’ll tell everyone what the younger disciples in the Frozen Mountain called you.”

Avuri went still for just a second before she tried to play it cool. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about?” She said lightly. “I didn’t have a -”

Emery let go of Avuri’s hair to make a show of nonchalantly checking her nails. “You didn’t have an ‘official’ title, no. But I did hear a nickname for you during that tournament we were in together while walking the food stalls.”

Avuri put all of her focus into acting as if she didn’t care.

“I can’t remember which way they said it went?” Emery continued, her voice light and playful. “Did they start with ‘Snow Witch’ and make up the insult after? Or did the insult come first? I know those poor kids told me, but my old brain can’t seem to recall which came first.”

Avuri felt the heat behind her ears. Defeated, she gave up. She pushed off of Emery’s lap and threw her hands in the air in exasperation.

“Alright, alright!” She whined, then turned her best wounded animal expression on Emery. “Surely you wouldn’t use the name that my school bullies called me, would you?” She blinked rapidly, trying her best to stir up some tears.

“You keep Steel Dancer to yourself, and I won't say a word.”

Avuri made a face, but held out a hand. “Deal.”

Emery took her hand and firmly shook it once. “Deal.”

Before Emery could drop her hand, Avuri gripped her by the wrist and gave a firm tug, pulling her wife off her perch beside the bath.

Emery fully expected to find herself shoved under the water. Instead, she landed neatly in a hug, Avuri holding her close. With a big smile, Avuri gave Emery a big squeeze before repositioning her arms under Emery’s butt to hold her mostly above the water.

Avuri spun around in the water, as if dancing. They both laughed, simply enjoying the moment.

Eventually, Avuri set her wife down in the water nicely, but kept her arms around her. With their height difference, Avuri’s arms naturally settled around Emery’s neck, while Emery’s arms wound around Avuri’s waist. They each pulled each other close.

With content smiles, they leaned their foreheads against one another, still slowly swaying to music that wasn’t there.

“I love you, Ri.” Emery said, before slipping in for a short kiss. She felt Avuri’s lips turn up in a smile against her own.

“You better.” Avuri muttered, but followed it quickly with, “Because I love you too. Always will.”

And then she kissed her wife again.