The Path of Ascension

PoA: Aster's Adventures Chapter 7

Aster rocked on her heels with anticipation as she watched the stream of young bonds.

Fen’s bonds were arriving in this batch, which was understandable but made her sad, as she wouldn’t get to spend much time with them before she graduated at the end of the year.

Still, she understood them wanting to wait for Azure to reach Tier 8, so they could go to the academy without having to worry about her and the two other youngest bonds Fen had acquired in the meantime. Though, understanding didn’t mean she was happy with only having a year to interact with them, as they were some of her oldest friends.

When she heard a crash of thunder, she knew her targets had arrived, and she was proven right when Bow and Arrow pushed their way to the edge of the crowd and started scanning for her.

Aster jumped forward, ignoring Cameron's glare digging into her back.

Really, the Otter should have expected this when she warned everyone she was going to say hello.

Fen had stepped off the Path immediately after reaching Tier 15, and along with him, the rest of his bonds. Aster most regularly talked with Arrow, who described the struggle they had in advancing at Path rates with such a large group, and how Fen had barely made it to immortality on the Path, only three months before his birthday. It was a little sad to hear that there was one less group on the Path with them, but they had little expectation of making it any further, especially with the bonds coming to the academy for a decade. Still, from the messages she received from Bow and Arrow, none of them were upset with the decision. Best of all it gave Fen more time to care for Azure and his other young bonds, letting them have a more traditional childhood.

She wished she could have seen the young dragon, but getting to see the others was still nice.

Seeing the wolves, golden mouse, porcupine, and oversized earthworm, Aster waved. “Hey, guys. It's so good to see you. I can’t linger, but we can talk in the coming months. You can take any seats you like, but I’d recommend you stick with the people who you met up with along the way.”

As she pointed to near where she and her pod had sat, she had a pang of sadness at the memories.

This was her last year at the Academy and the last year with her friends.

Not letting that get to her, she gave a few quick hugs to the group of bonds before returning to her place in line with the Student Council members.

Cameron ticked at her. “That was unprofessional, Aster.”

Aster waved her off with her tail as she straightened her uniform. “I know them, just like I said. I can’t say we're besties, but I spent a good amount of time with the wolves before we were sapient, and we've kept in touch. At our Tier 10 tournament, they got Azure, a baby dragon. I spent a good while with her when she was with the other bonds who weren't fighting. They are my closest beast friends from when I was young. I was going to say hi.”

Cameron just gave her a blank look at her explanation. “Everything you said is an excuse. And not even a good one. Stay in line so we don't give the Student Council a bad name. We are the example they should strive for.”

Aster set her face in a more neutral expression but sent Cameron a quick message with her blowing a raspberry.

She zoned out for the long speech by the Headmaster that she’d had to sit through for five years now, and only woke up when the students got assigned their rooms.

She had hoped all of Fen's bonds would get put together, but knew that was an impossibility. Like the lioness twins, Leia and Lauren, if a human had more than one, they were always separated as much as possible to foster more independence.

Bow and Arrow were sent to the water and air houses, respectively. Garnet, the porcupine, was sent to the earth house. Ruby, the earthworm, went to the water house, and Kenny got the air house.

Seeing that two of them would be in her house, Aster made a note to slip into their dorm area and say hello. She was Roc house but they were Eagle, and right next door, so it wouldn’t even be too hard.

After the Deans and the Prefects led the new students away, Aster quickly slipped away before the Headmaster could corner her. With the look in his eyes, she was sure she’d be getting a stern talking-to and would rather not.

Instead of that, she decided she’d rather get some of her actual work done.

As tenth years on the Student Council, they had more than their fair share of work on their plates. She also needed to finish up her little bargain with Alyssa in the next few months if she wanted to get a cut of the profits. Together, they had bought out a number of businesses in high-traffic locations through the Nest. Aster owned fifty-one percent of the shares, but as she wasn’t remaining here and couldn’t manage the businesses, Alyssa needed help keeping everyone in line.

Her own reputation for being willing to ice cube Frank had spread far and wide with a little push of the rumor mill, and no one pushed back against her orders. That, and her connection to Mara, but Aster liked to think it was just the ice cubing that kept them in line. Alyssa, who was a ‘simple’ Tier 13, and originally from a vassal kingdom, wasn't treated with nearly as much respect.

And Aster wasn’t willing to let her portion of the Feathers that those businesses earned slip out of her fingers with creative accounting. The Feathers could be converted to goods, but that wasn’t why she wanted them. No, she wanted to establish her ice cream business in a location with limited competition.

In the last two years, she had created over a hundred unique flavors of ice cream centered around bonds and those with a bloodline's unique tastes. The samples she and her now much larger ice cream club gave out were always in high demand, but Aster wasn’t in it for the money, and was selling at a loss just so more people could enjoy the deliciousness. That was why she couldn’t let even a single feather go.

Alyssa had the original idea to buy a business in the Nest and was willing to run it if Aster put up the capital, but Aster had wanted to be more aggressive, so they ended up buying a dozen shops. The peahen would be doing most of the work of running the day-to-day businesses, so Aster couldn't just let her get run roughshod over.

That didn’t mean she had a magic answer, though.

After she finished her paperwork, she went to her ice magic club to enjoy herself and chat with the others. Thankfully, Michael showed up despite looking like a kicked puppy, but Aster and Professor Adams were quite happy with that result.

It had taken him two years of therapy to even get a glimpse of what was wrong with his bond and their relationship, and he was taking it hard. Thankfully, those who knew him were rallying around him without any prompting from her or the others.

She had been told about the fallout by a weepy Michael, who had struggled with his bond's reaction to his suggestion that she join him for some joint therapy. Charlotte hadn’t seen the need for therapy, and when Michael hadn’t acquiesced to her rejection, she had sent him a message filled with vitriol about how she knew the academy would poison him against her.

Aster wanted to go and wring the woman's neck even just hearing the story secondhand, but that wasn’t necessary. The Academy was more than capable of handling such people, and slapped her with a five-planet restraining order that also included a number of restrictions on any messages.

They wouldn’t force Michael to break his bond, but Aster hoped he would do it on his own. That woman didn’t deserve him, but she also knew how hard that kind of decision could be. Losing Matt in one of her Folded Reflection lives, she knew the pain and emptiness that a broken bond could create and wished it on no one.

Still, she believed that that would be better than being tied to such a wicked person.

Beyond looking out for Michael, she watched Cynthia, who had started to take over for her in this little informal club of theirs. She would be a good replacement for guiding the newer bonds on elemental manipulation, but beyond that, she was a deft hand at interpersonal relationships. It gave her hope this club could last for a few centuries, if not longer.

Picking a good replacement was harder than she had ever considered, but she was happy with her choice.

She just hoped that the replacement for Vice President would be as good.

Personally, she wanted Damien, the current Scribe, to take over for Cameron, as he was the only lower-classman who had a good head on his shoulders. But she didn’t trust any of the others who weren’t graduating with them to take over her position.

Still, that wasn't her job. She couldn’t interfere in the elections despite knowing things would be rough if Tress was elected Vice President.

If the woman did make it, Aster knew she wouldn’t be elected for a second year, but it still galled her to have her mantle taken up by such a layabout.

But goodbyes were the name of the year.

After getting off work, she went to her ice cream club, where she got tearful at seeing the two dozen bonds goofing off and making truly awful ice creams. It was even better to try each one together. Whether they laughed or gagged at the taste, it was fun.

Bound by their love of sweets, the club had grown into something she wouldn’t have thought possible when it was just her pod that started it.

Once her club ended, she hurried to the movie club, where she was really hit with a bat of emotions.

Kelly had really come into her own as a director and had made a few short films that had gotten some traction in the nearby planets. She wasn’t making anything that would reach a movie theater yet, but Aster was sure she would get there eventually.

Her bird friend had an eye for artistic shots and had a way of captivating the viewer.

She wasn’t Talented in the craft, which hurt her mass market appeal, but Aster knew she could watch her films for hours without getting bored.

In fact, she was intending to open up her own studio with her human Alexa, who would be moving to help in her venture. Alexa was a delver by trade, but that was admittedly more a product of them not being able to advance without fighting than desire. She had already taken courses in business management so she could help run Kelly’s little studio, which Kelly was ecstatic about.

Juan and his human were both movie buffs, and the elephant had taken to being in front of a camera like it was a mud bath. While his bond, Adam, wasn’t as comfortable in performing, he had found his calling in cinematography, and would be joining the others. With four Tier 15s, even if Juan and Adam weren’t the best delvers, they had a surplus of money to give it a fair shot, and Aster was excited as to what they would produce.

She had already made inquiries about getting them the rights to one of the awful Quill and Torch movies that would be made in the coming years, but she was informed that they needed a significant track record, and far more people, in order to even have a chance at producing such a high value movie.

Roody, Leia, and Lauren were the friends who surprised her the most. The three of them intended to continue their relationship after graduation and wanted to advance to Tier 25 in the next two or three thousand years, which was quite the rush for most people. Still, they made a good team, and the twins’ bond was apparently willing to move to be closer to Roody's bond's harem as it was a t18 world and they could more easily advance there.

Aster still found it funny how the lionesses had so thoroughly tamed Roody. From a wanna-be playboy who talked about having a dozen women in his pride, he had settled into domestic life quite nicely. Beyond some teasing, everyone agreed it was a good look on him, and the three of them were an adorable throuple.

Katherine, on the other hand, was a partial success when compared to Michael. Her bond really had seemed to shape up in the last few years, and he was even willing to go to a therapist of his own to work through his own issues.

That said, they both agreed they needed more time apart, and Katherine wanted to have a career beyond delving, so she was going to secondary school to become a therapist, specializing in bonds and those with bloodlines. Aster was proud of her for coming through her ordeal so much stronger, but was also relieved that her human was truly changing for the better.

Being treated like a pet was not nice.

But seeing Katherine laugh with one of the younger club members with a tail and cat ears was like a success story of its own.

Though, it was still more change.

Cameron, who had joined the club as sort of an unofficial member last year, came over to her and bumped her side. “Why do you look like an ice pop left out in the sun?”

Aster sighed and gave the other woman a half-hearted glare. “It just hit me today that everyone is leaving at the end of the year, and we won't be able to just hang out like we do today. It makes me sad. We all agreed to keep in contact, but that's easy to say and hard to do.”

Cameron’s usually bright hair dimmed a little as she nodded. “Agreed. It hit me a few weeks ago when I was trying to sleep. It will be nice to see my human again, but I’ve made some good friends here. I’m going to be sad to say goodbye.”

Aster nodded. Her magma otter ‘frenemy’ hadn’t lost any of her ambition just because she was going to graduate. No, she had been taking extra classes on leadership and politics and intended to return to her hometown to run for its mayor position. Not that the place was badly run, but Cameron had a knack for making each mana stone go a little further and getting everyone what they needed, even if not all of what they wanted. She intended to run for a governorship after proving herself before getting accepted into a noble family as a retainer, where she would fight to get her own noble title.

For most, it was a long shot where they needed to beat the odds a dozen times, but Aster never doubted that Cameron could do it.

Cameron must have said something to the others, as that weekend, everyone got together and they went on a picnic in the woods. Once there, they transformed into their bloodline forms and just let loose.

Cameron burned down a dozen trees, Juan crushed a dozen more with his large body, and Kelly flew around everyone like a hummingbird. The three lions mostly lazed about until Roody made a comment about the women hunting for him, where they promptly jumped him and turned him into a pillow.

From the stupid grin on his face, that was his intention all along, and everyone knew it.

Aster stretched her legs before chasing Frank around with some spikes of ice and playing a sort of tag with him.

By the time the sun set, they had settled in and watched a small fire die down after they had eaten far too many smores.

It had been a good day, and it reinforced to Aster that just because they were going to separate physically, they didn’t have to lose their friendships. Not if they put in the work to keep each other involved.

And they had forever.

So what if they fell out of contact for a decade or two? It wouldn’t be ideal, but their friendships could survive that.

Once things got back into the grind, Aster’s melancholy faded to a tolerable state, helped along by being able to talk to Fen’s bonds after the six-month mark.

It was fun being able to see their new bodies and new names. Apparently, his bad naming sense had already faded to the point they were going by new unofficial names, even in beast form.

Fen had taken their choice to rename themselves with grace, which Aster was happy with. Having met the man and forming a good impression of him, she would have been disappointed if he had shown any red flags.

Bow and Arrow had officially chosen the names Bowyer and Arya, respectively, and Garnet had gone with Gavin. Ruby and Kenny on the other hand both chose to keep their original names.

She did get to hear about the adventures, or rather misadventures, that Azure, June, and Barry got up to as the youngest bonds in Fen's little pack. June and Barry were a Shadow Sparrow and a Light Butterfly, respectively, and their clashing elements put them at friendly odds all the time, forcing Azure to act as referee. Aster had needed to ask if Bowyer and Arya meant Azure stopped their bickering and fights, but no, Azure decided the winner of each bout, game, or prank that one pulled on the other.

She was a little jealous after hearing about the things they got into thanks to having so many other bonds near their age around.

It sounded fun.

Bowyer and Arya, just like their younger siblings, were quite the handful, as they caused heartbreak anywhere they went with their propensity for flirting with everyone. The Student Council had to break up five fights in as many months because one of the wolves seduced someone who was in a relationship already. On the plus side, they had seemingly taken another Lightning Wolf named Lydia under their wing, a girl who wore her trauma on her sleeve and had trouble making friends. Unfortunately, part of their improvised therapy included getting her to step out of her comfort zone which manifested as her choosing to ask out anyone who caught her eye. A decision that caused more than a few issues when she didn’t show up to the date, or would teleport out halfway through.

That was starting to become a pattern, and Aster wished the professors good luck in corralling the wolves in the coming years. That was exacerbated by the fact everyone and their mother wanted to court Azure. Some people were apparently playing the long game, and attempting to establish ties to Fen’s family long before Azure was ready to enter immortal society. There were a thousand and one noble families that had no bloodline, but would love to add one of the strongest Rank 2 bloodlines to their family. Not to mention the million and one families who were willing to add a bit of dragon's blood into their own mix.

While the union between two bloodlines usually resulted in one or the other being the singular bloodline, there was an infinitesimal chance that the bloodlines would find harmony and become their own stable bloodline. Dragon Turtles were one of the more famous examples, where they got most of the strengths of both bloodlines. Though the Dragon Turtles didn’t get the natural Talent set about bloodlines that dragons got, they did get the increased essence needed to Tier up, which made them slightly stronger than average. Also, their bloodline Talent set was about defensive shields and reinforcement, making them stupidly tough.

Thanks to the Dragon Turtles, everyone wanted the chance to become the founders of a new bloodline that was part dragon. As the days passed, she felt the pangs of sadness come back.

Thankfully, seniors had an abundance of free time, and despite her duties on the Student Council, she had carved out time to spend with her pod.

She had wanted to just go wander the city and do some shopping with Kelly, and the bird was always down to shop, which made it an easy go to activity for them.

“I’m going to miss you, Aster. Are you sure you can’t convince Matt and Liz to come join us in the movie business? It will be fun. That's our goal after all. Not to make money, but to have fun.”

Aster sighed. In other times she would have kept a more happy appearance. but she just wasn’t up to it today. “I wish. but we have other responsibilities.”

Finishing The Path.

“With Matt marrying into royalty and Liz being part of the royalty, there are now a bunch of things that she wasn’t doing while she was on The Path that we need to catch up on. And I can't just leave them to do it alone. You know how it is.”

Kelly ruffled through some clothes with a little more force than was necessary. “I know, but I’m going to miss you.”

Aster pulled the shorter girl into a hug from behind to earn a light elbow to the side. “You are too damn tall, Aster. Why is a fox six feet tall?! Damn genetics.”

Aster laughed as she blew a raspberry into Kelly’s feathers and got a light shock for her trouble.

Pulling away, Aster ruffled through a few more clothes and found one that she thought would match Kelly’s usual style.

“Look at this one. A nice blue jean dress with jumpers. It's cute and fits the munchkin thing you have going on.”

“Munchkin thing?”

Aster ignored the dangerous lilt to Kelly’s question. “Yeah, being all of five foot nothing and all. It fits.”

Kelly reached up and pulled Aster’s hair, causing her to yelp and hip bump the smaller girl into a rack of clothes where they started play fighting and laughing until the attendant cleared her throat.

Separating, Aster shoved the dress she had picked out back onto the rack, just to have Kelly pull it right back off with a humph.

It went onto the pile and they moved around until they each had two new outfits to get tailored to their exact sizes by the shop. The nice thing was that the dresses would make their way to their rooms within a week, so they didn’t even need to come back. Being Tier 15 helped there, as their sizes could be scanned by their AI, and they would be able to skip the need to meet with the tailor to get the clothes altered.

They ended their evening watching an up and coming chef put on a show at a decent restaurant before heading home with some nice ice cream.

It was a nice time and it reaffirmed their friendship, but it didn’t solve the larger issue.

Their time was running out.

All the tenth years seemed to have a perpetual cloud of sadness around them as the year neared its finale.

As the elections came in, Aster knew the Vice President position was doomed, but couldn't do anything more than shrug. Her time was over, and if the current students wanted an idiot to represent them, she had no control over that.

Kelly, Juan, Roody, and herself all made an effort to spend a lot of time together, which was like a balm to her spirit. They talked about their plans and tried to workshop their ideas and point out pitfalls in each one, but they had done this for years, and it was simply old familiar ground. That didn’t mean they didn’t enjoy it.

Aster was sad she had to lie to them, but knew they wouldn’t hold it against her. Officially, she was joining Matt and Liz in being royal layabouts, but in reality, she had a Path to complete, and with Luna, she knew relaxation would be the last thing possible.

That said, she wanted to show them how much she had grown and see how much they grew.

Despite all their attempts, time still passed. Even immortals couldn’t stop time, and even through all their efforts to keep things the same, their final day at the academy came. Aster stood with all the other bonds of her year in human forms in their formal robes in the greeting hall they had arrived in ten years ago.

She had to use her Concept to clear her watery eyes a half dozen times during the ceremony, just from standing with the rest of her year, even before the Headmaster came out.

“Ahh. It feels like yesterday when I remember you all standing in front of me in your beast forms. Now you are in your human forms and far more independent. You have had some fun in an environment built for that, but you have transitioned into self-reliant adults who I am sure will go on to do great things.”

Aster lost control over her tears but didn’t really mind; everyone else was crying, so why shouldn’t she join them?

“Do not be sad. You may be scattered through the Empire, but as immortals, you have all the time in the world. Travel. Delve. Get an office job. The Empire is your oyster, and you are now prepared to do whatever you want. But no matter what happens, I trust that you all will be successful. I know most of you are looking forward to returning to your humans, and I will not hold you up. Just remember that you are graduates of the Red Feather Bond Academy, and to do your best. I hereby pronounce you all graduates!”

With that, everyone threw their caps into the air with a shout.

Aster grabbed one that fell into her hands and tucked it away like everyone else after reading the name. Wexter Harrow. She had never met him, but knew his name and of him. He had been active in a lot of the physical sports the Academy offered and was a cougar of some kind.

She wondered who had gotten her cap, but didn’t have to look long as she felt a pair of familiar eyes bore a hole into her back. Cameron stamped over to her in a huff.

“Really? Out of everyone's caps, I get yours? Can’t you just not interfere in my life once, Ice Pop?”

Aster sniffled at Cameron's pout, but was happy her cap went to her friend.

She tried to speak, but choked up and just pulled the dumb otter into a hug which lasted long enough that Juan, Roody, Kelly, the twins, and Katherine joined in.

Once they had a good cry, everyone changed out of their robes, and after a round of promises to keep in touch, they all boarded the shuttles that would take them to the space station where they would all take connecting flights back to wherever they called home. She even had a small bag of rewards from graduation to look over on her trip back.

Aster looked out over the twinkling stars and lamented the passing of what was, but looked forward to what would be.

She would be able to join Matt and Liz on The Path, where they would all be able to advance to Tier 16, and before long, Tier 25.

War was on the horizon, even if everyone tried to ignore it or pretend it had nothing to do with them.

Light and Shadow were said to be almost at the peak of Tier 24, and the ambassadors of the other Great Powers would be declaring war the moment they finished The Path.

Scary times were ahead, but Aster hardened her heart to it.

If she wanted the friends she had made at the Academy to be safe, she needed to do her part and keep them safe. And to do that, she needed to be the best fox she could be.

As the ship she was on warped into chaotic space, she smiled at her reflection.

She was ok with that.

For all that she had loved her time away, her place was still with Matt and Liz. Pushing themselves every step of the way so when they joined the war, they could make a difference.

A journey was more than its starting or ending point.

It was a Path that was tread one step at a time.

Just like life.

It lived one step at a time.

She was just on her next step.

A step she couldn't wait for.