Sword and Snow

It didn’t take all that long to travel from Bastion back to the Basin in the end. What Avuri had said was a nineteen day trip by caravan from Bastion to Flowing Dragon City took the three of us only four days. And that was being slowed down by having a small child along for the trip. If it had been just myself and Avuri, I figured we could have made the trip in two and some change.

Moving through Flowing Dragon City was easy enough, too. The guards at the gates were beginning to recognize both me and Avuri, so they didn’t give us too much trouble when we entered the city. They did ask about Stena, but showing them the writ of guardianship we had received in Bastion was enough to have us waved through.

We stopped for a bite to eat in the city, taking great pleasure in having something that wasn’t designed for travel consumption. Even with both Avuri and I packing good food in our storage rings, there was only so much we could reasonably do to cook on the road.

It also helped that the food in Flowing Dragon City was some of the best available in the province, easily.

With more travel to come, though, we kept it light. Soups and some bread was all we really wanted, but Avuri and I were delighted to see Stena so enamored with what was surely going to be one of the simpler meals she’d see for a while. I was planning to cook some pretty impressive feasts during my next few turns cooking, and I suspected Avuri would do the same. Especially after watching how Stena’s whole face lit up when she tasted the - admittedly high-quality - simple onion soup.

After lunch, we more or less made our way straight to the Basin. The trip up the Peak was a concern, but the wide reach of Avuri’s Qi and Domain was enough of a safety net that our climb went quickly. We weren’t really approached by any animals or spirit beasts at all. And those that did venture into Avuri’s net of Qi were easily avoided thanks to the wide area of her detection net.

We did have to put a little effort into keeping Stena comfortable as we climbed though. Avuri was able to keep the worst of the mountain’s chill at bay with her Qi, keeping the frosty air from actually freezing on us, but we still had to stop a few times to throw an extra couple blankets over the little kid carrier we had made. By the time we made it near the top of the Peak where we would start traveling around toward the Basin, Stena was under a decent mound of cloth held tightly to my chest.

Any time Avuri and I met eyes we’d glance down at Stena’s buried form and fight laughter.

And then, finally, warmth. We leapt over the stone outcroppings that marked the edges of the Basin and into the Array controlled environment and its pleasant warmth. As we crossed that barrier, I felt Avuri relax her Qi and let her Domain fall, for the first time in days. I glanced at her but said nothing for now. We had plenty of time to talk now that we were back.

The blankets covering Stena were thrown into my storage ring pretty quickly, allowing her little head a clean view of her new surroundings. And she took them in with huge, wide eyes.

“This is part of your new home, Stena.” I said, my hand ruffling her hair lightly.

Avuri stepped up beside me, smiling wide. “What do you think? Would you like to walk on your own with us?”

She nodded emphatically, still looking around wildly. I slowly unstrapped the carrier and helped Stena get her little feet on the ground. She teetered unsteadily a bit at first, but Avuri and I each took one of her hands and walked slowly alongside her.

“So, Stena, these purple trees that are everywhere are called wisteria trees.” I said, explaining things idly as we walked. “There’s a lot of them here, and they’re really good at protecting us. See how well they keep us covered and comfy in the shade?”

“Yeah.” She said, her eyes darting from tree to tree in wonder. “They’re pretty.”

“I like them too,” I said, “that’s why there are so many.”

“Do you live in the trees?” Stena asked innocently.

Avuri and I chuckled, but Avuri answered, “Kinda. We have a big wooden house made from the trees, and it’s right next to the biggest one.” She pointed in the direction of the main house, but it was still far enough to be obscured by other trees. “It’s where we’re walking to right now.”

Stena nodded and said “Okay.”

When we got closer to the main house, I had planned on pointing out the other buildings and things around, even if Stena wouldn’t really understand. I assumed she’d at least understand baths, because we all needed one.

However, my plans were interrupted almost the instant the house came into view. Vale, Talya, and Cierra were all waiting outside for us, and Cierra was already running toward us, clearly very excited.

She slowed down when she saw Stena, though, eventually ending up in a walk as she came to meet us. Vale and Talya were walking up behind her.

“Who’s she?” Cierra asked, her eyes showing both interest and worry as she looked at each of us.

Avuri crouched down to be eye level with Cierra when she responded. “Cierra, this is Stena. Hopefully, you two can be friends. In time, she may even be your sister, but she hasn’t decided that yet.”

Cierra regarded the new girl warily, but walked up to her, then stiffly offered her a hand to shake. “Hi, Stena. I’m Cierra.”

I watched as Stena slowly took her hand and held it, apparently not familiar with hand shakes. “Hi, Cierra. Nice to meet you.”

They both stood like that for an extended moment, then eventually their hands dropped. Stena also dropped the hand she was still holding mine with and both girls turned to look at me, though with different expressions. Stena’s expression said something akin to ‘what do I do now?’.

Cierra, however, tackled me around the waist with a big hug. “Welcome home, Mom.” She said, burying her face into my stomach. Then she turned toward Avuri who had stood back up straight, and leapt at her in turn, tackling her from the side. “You too, Momri.” She muttered something into Avuri’s side that sounded suspiciously like, “I’m glad you’re both safe.”

As she was wedging herself into Avuri’s side, she apparently found the knife wound, though. Avuri flinched, and Cierra jumped back, her eyes locked on Avuri’s side where there was still a cut in her outer robes. She looked up at Avuri in alarm. “Did you get hurt? Are you okay?”

Avuri smiled and crouched down again to give Cierra a hug. “I’m fine. I did get hurt, but it’s been looked at and treated. My side is just still a little sore. Your mother is also recovering from getting hurt too, so be careful hugging her too, okay?”

Her little head whipped around to me at lightning speed. “I thought you were okay! Are you hurt, Mom?” She asked.

I shook my head, “No, I’m okay. I was sore for a bit, but it’s mostly past now.”

“She’s lying. Be gentle with her.” Avuri whispered in Cierra’s ear. I raised an eyebrow at her, questioningly as she met my gaze. “You think I didn’t notice you wincing every time something touches you?”

“Oh.” I said, shocked she noticed. I thought I was hiding it well, but she was right. My body was still a little raw from the lightning strikes. “You must be watching me like a hawk.”

“I have been, yeah.” She said bluntly, and turned away to greet Vale and Talya before I could ask her anything further.

As the two girls talked to each other a little awkwardly, Vale and Talya both moved in for hugs for each of us.

“I see you’ve both made it back.” Vale said, with a huge sigh of relief. “I’m glad that you’re both in one piece.”

“I was really worried you weren’t going to.” Talya said, trying to hug us both tightly and gently all at once. Even as I felt the wave of pins and needles ripple from where she touched, I felt safe and at home with my family.

“Would you like to come inside and tell us what happened?” Vale asked. “Dinner will be ready soon, and there should be enough, even with another mouth to feed.” He said, smiling at Stena.

“Yeah, that would be nice.” I said, as Avuri threw an arm around Talya’s shoulders to walk toward the house. She gave my sister a gentle squeeze, and it made me smile to see them so at home with one another.

I turned toward Cierra and Stena, who were both falling in step behind us. My smile turned into a grin when I saw them holding hands. “You two got friendly nice and fast.”

They both nodded, then Cierra said, “Stena said she’d never had friends before, so I wanted to be first!” She smiled, swinging their arms as they walked.

Stena nodded. “I didn’t really get to leave my house before, so friends are new!” She said happily.

I shared a look with all the adults as we moved inside. It wasn’t the first time something Stena had said had left a foul taste in my mouth, and Avuri had similar concerns. We didn’t want to ask her outright about what her parents were like, but we had our suspicions.

Apparently that one sentence was enough to tip Vale and Talya in that direction too, as they both shared a look of mild concern.

Regardless, she was no longer under their care. If her parents were abusive, or even just borderline abusive, she was at least out of that situation now. I was confident that she would be safe and well taken care of with Avuri and I.

I offered a silent apology to the universe for thinking badly of Stena’s birth parents, but given the hints she had dropped, I found it difficult to sympathize with them. I truly hoped I was wrong and that she had been treated well.

As we walked up to the second floor, the smell of food hit me like a hammer. My stomach immediately set to growling. Considering our lunch had been small and light in the interest of easy travel, and the trek up the Peak was rather exhausting, I was quite hungry.

The answering stomach growls from both Avuri and Stena made me laugh.

“Seems like we’re all a little hungry, hm?” Talya asked as she hustled off to the kitchen. “I can plate everything now. Should be on the table in mere minutes.”

“I’ll help!” Cierra said, and she ran off after Talya. Stena looked after her, then followed with less speed.

As Vale was setting the table up for six, Avuri pulled me into the hallway leading toward the bedrooms by my sleeve.

When we were about as alone as we were going to get in here, she got close to me and whispered, “I want to talk to you. Alone. After dinner.”

“Uh, sure?” I said, confused.

But that was apparently all she wanted, or needed, to say as she brushed past me and back toward the table.

“Huh.”