Sword and Snow

Avuri

Our lives were steadily getting better. Kord, Briar, Karn, and Enrik were adjusting to life in the Basin as quickly as we could have ever hoped, despite the expected rough transition at first. Cierra and Stena were both welcoming to them, which helped immensely, and the six quickly started acting like siblings. Even with Cierra's new penchant for causing mild trouble, she almost never moved against her siblings, focusing her pranks squarely on Emery and me.

And the two of us were also working and learning what worked best for us. The success of taking that first night for ourselves ended up being the blueprint for many nights going forward. The kids sleeping through the night more often was proving to not be a fluke, and was becoming reliable. We still stayed nearby, just in case anyone had a rough night, but over the course of two weeks we had only been called back twice.

Once because Karn had had an awful dream that he had refused to talk about and wet the bed. The second time was Cierra calling us back herself because she couldn't sleep after taking a particularly long midday nap, leaving her just feeling lonely when we slipped out.

But even then, taking those nights we could manage to sneak away had done wonders for our general mood. I was feeling more refreshed most mornings after just spending hours cuddled up together, even compared to nights where we actually got real sleep.

I was feeling generally more like myself and overall just happier. I had learned while growing up that I needed to tightly control my emotions, and keep everything under wraps. It was always the 'proper' thing for Cultivators to do. But after becoming a part of Emery's family, I had learned to break that habit in a number of ways. I was often able to be unguarded around my new family in a way I never had before, but much of what I had been taught as a child was still so deeply ingrained in me that I was still often very well controlled.

The change in Emery was far more apparent - to the point that she was almost a different person. She had always been more wild and straightforward with her emotions, letting them guide her but not control her. The last several months had been detrimental to her in ways I hadn't noticed because it had been so gradual. She had been smiling less and grimacing more. Her laughs were often shorter and less all consuming.

Spending our nights together was revitalizing her in a way I hadn't realized she needed. Even more so than our talks with Vale, and now with each other, the effect on her was so obvious to me that I was stunned. It took all of two nights spent just huddled up together for Emery to be walking around the following day with an unapologetic smile on her face everywhere she went. Even the kids asked her if she was alright, worried that her sudden change in attitude was a sign of something bad on the way.

Apparently, she just needed some love and affection to thrive again. And I would have been lying if I didn't admit that seeing her glow so brightly didn't rub off on me, too. I was still the more controlled and measured of the two of us, but her constant bright attitude dragged everyone around her up with her like magic.

In fact, after she had assured the kids that everything was good and they started to believe it, the effect on the kids themselves became obvious as well.

In the same way that Emery and I had gotten caught in the downward spiral of negative emotions by feeding on one another through our bond, there seemed to be a positive updraft among all of us, starting with Emery's clearly improved mood. The atmosphere in Basin soared almost overnight, with the positivity creating a feedback loop that made us all happier.

And that newly found positivity was carried into every part of our lives. Situations that would have felt dour and depressive only weeks before were being approached with a much brighter outlook by all of us.

"Run that by me again?"

"I said, do you think if we went outside for a while, you could dry us off when we come back in to stop us all from getting sick?"

It was after dinner, and Emery was staring out our bedroom window while changing into more lounge-friendly clothing. She was staring out the window, and at the severe downpour and thunderstorm that was shaking the house.

"Em, it's a serious storm out there."

"I know, isn't it great? We so rarely get any real weather up here, between the natural barriers of the Peaks and our Array, it's always so calm…"

There was a bright flash of light and a massive crack of thunder with almost no delay. Neither of us flinched at the sound, but I wasn't so sure the kids would be as unbothered.

"And you want to just walk out in it?" I asked, incredulous.

Emery scoffed. "No, I don't want to just walk out in the storm." She said, sounding as if I suggested something crazy. "I was just thinking about taking a quick stroll over to the training pavilion and watching the storm from there."

I rolled my eyes. "That's barely a difference."

"Well, we're not going to just stand in the rain."

"But you're definitely going to get wet. The pavilion is entirely open."

"Yes, and that's why I asked if you could dry us off after, silly."

I rubbed my forehead. I wasn't actually against going outside to watch a thunderstorm. The issue I had was that up in the Basin, the danger of standing out in one was a little bit more significant than under an awning in a city. Eventually, though, I just sighed. "I can dry us off, yes."

Emery turned around to face me with a big grin. "I knew you could." She said as she hopped away from the window. "Let's go get the kids and go outside."

I followed her as we went to the kids' rooms to collect them. To my surprise, the massive rolling thunder didn't seem to be a problem for any of them. Briar and Karn, the youngest of them, were definitely flinching at the huge booming sounds, but in a startled way, not a scared-of-thunder way.

We had watched thunderstorms like this with Cierra and Stena before, so they knew what was coming. It was an 'event' that we only had a chance to really interact with a few times of year, and they were excited.

Apparently, they had told the younger kids, too, and their excitement had curbed most of the fear in the younger ones.

While I helped Briar and Karn change into slightly more appropriate clothing to go out in the wet, Emery dug around the kitchen for snacks and drinks to bring out with us. I wasn't sure exactly what she was choosing, but I was hoping it would at least be a hot beverage. It'd go a long way to keep everyone from feeling wet and cold.

It wasn't very long before the whole family was gathered at the door, putting on boots that were at least minimally water resistant.

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Emery posted up at the door to open it and peek outside, then turned back to the rest of us with a grin. "Ready?"

The kids nodded and cheered while I gave her a nod. We hadn't discussed it this time, but the last time we had gone out to watch a storm, Emery had yelled at me for keeping the water away from us the best I could. Which still got us wet, because I could only do so much in the middle of a huge storm, but she had said that running through the rain properly was part of the whole experience.

Emery nodded to all of us, then shoved the door open. Immediately, wind and rain blasted all of us in the face as the storm was let in.

"Go! Go!" Emery shouted, waving the kids out. And they wasted no time, covering their heads and faces the best they could, running headlong into the storm. Cierra and Stena had led the way, with me close behind them. Kord was right behind me, leading the others while Emery brought up the rear.

After the initial blast of the storm, I could hear the excited shouting of the kids as they ran toward the cover of the training pavilion. Cierra and Stena had long since given up covering themselves against the rain, throwing their arms up wide, even spinning every so often as we moved.

The younger kids seemed to catch on quickly enough. There really was little point in trying to cover your face against the storm, so it was better to enjoy the run and just accept being wet. We even lucked out that during our relatively short dash there were no lightning strikes to suddenly startle anyone. Instead, we made it safely to the cover of the pavilion's roof, although we were still getting buffeted by the wind and rain through the open walls.

It wasn't long after that Emery and I retrieved a few benches for us all to sit on. We placed ourselves just far enough under the cover to avoid the worst of the storm, but we still had a solid view of it all. Especially for the strikes of lightning that were lighting up the sky in stunning patterns.

"Mom, you got snacks, right?" Stena asked.

Emery nodded. "Of course I did." Leaning back, she produced a few woven baskets from her storage ring behind the benches. One was full of dried meat and jerky of various kinds, while another was dried fruit. The final basket was cheese and crackers. "Ri?"

"On it." I said, extending my Domain over the baskets. With them positioned behind our seats and under the pavilion's cover, it was easy enough for me to keep the food dry.

Stena excitedly grabbed some of the chicken jerky from the basket, while the other kids followed suit, grabbing whichever snacks they wanted.

"I've also got hot tea for everyone." Emery said, producing lidded cups with steam rising from the little holes in the top. They weren't exactly spill proof, but the lids did help avoid unfortunate accidents by keeping 'most' of the liquid inside when they were knocked about.

"What kind?" Briar asked.

"Nothing special, sorry, Briar. It's just jasmine today, but it's nice and warm." Emery said as she lined up the cups. Briar had taken to trying different combinations of floral and herbal teas after I had shown her some of the differences in the various tea leaves.

The girl drooped, but still accepted her cup, and like everyone else, huddled over the little ball of warmth in her hands while she held it. The entire family was half-way huddled together on the benches against the cold night air, watching the rain come down and listening to the consistent pitter patter of the rain on the roof of the pavilion.

Despite being cold outside, and a little wet in the rain, I couldn't help but feel relaxed.

At least between the sudden flashes and booms of the lightning and thunder.

"Whoa." Karn gaped as he watched a bolt radiate across the sky, the branching forks of the lightning creating a beautiful pattern against the sky.

"It's so pretty," Briar agreed, but held up one hand to cover her ear. "but loud."

I put an arm around the girl, pulling her in against me. "If you want to go back inside, we can."

She shook her head. "It's loud, but…I like it."

"Okay." I nodded with a smile as she turned her face back to the sky. Looking around, I could see each and every one of us had some variation of a happy expression on our faces. Even when they were flinching away from the booms of thunder, their faces were quickly taken by looks of awe again.

"I love a good storm." Emery muttered quietly. I didn't think anyone but me could hear her over the wind and rain, but I couldn't help but agree with the sentiment while we were literally in the middle of it.

For all the potential danger and destruction that a nasty thunderstorm could cause, it was just as much a thing of natural beauty, if you knew where or how to look at it.

Suddenly, Emery perked up. "Right! Who is okay getting a bit more wet?"

"Huh?"

"Mom, you're not going to make us run out there, are you?" Cierra asked.

Emery shook her head and then met my eyes. "If Momri is okay putting in a little extra work, I think we could do something a little special."

"Oh?" I asked, sliding Briar up and into my lap just because. "And what is this extra work, exactly?"

"Could you make us a little anti-rain bubble right on the edge of the cover? So we could poke out just past the awning." She said, pointing to the space right in front of us where it was wet.

"If it's stationary, I probably could keep it mostly dry, sure." I said. "Well, that and as long as the wind doesn't get too brutal."

Emery nodded. "That's fine."

So I got to work. It honestly wasn't that difficult to clear a space with my Domain to keep it mostly clear of the rain. It was a combination of skills that would evaporate some of the water when it entered the space, and a diverting pull that would pull the moisture of the other raindrops off to the side of the little bubble. As I had warned, it would mostly fail against any strong winds pushing the water in unexpected directions, but would otherwise keep it dry.

And then Emery produced a large mess of blankets and pillows. I had to extend the area of my bubble because I hadn't been aware of what she brought. It was a large pseudo-bed that we had made ages ago when we had first adopted Stena but rarely ever used. Essentially it was a large circular bed with many cushions sewn together with a mess of blankets on top. The edges of the bed also had built in pillows to craft a sort of wall to snuggle up against and keep everyone inside the bed.

When we had made it originally, it ended up being too large for the four of us, so we just stuck to the regular beds. But now…

"We might all just fit perfectly in that thing." I muttered.

"That's what I was thinking." Emery said with a grin as she produced another bundle of blankets, as well as a couple of water-resistant treated ones. "Now, everyone cuddle up."

I didn't hesitate at all to drag Briar with me into the nest of blankets. The other kids all followed, as did Emery, and we all positioned ourselves so that our heads were on the outside of the awning. I put in a little extra effort to keep our heads dry, while any water that snuck through elsewhere scattered on the water-resistant blanket that had been spread out neatly on top of everything else.

Emery and I had been pushed to the center, with the kids snuggled up around us. Emery rested her head against my shoulder while we all watched the rain pour down on us from above.

"Momri, your power makes it look all weird." Karn said.

"Can you make it less foggy?" Kord asked.

"Let's see…" I said, considering. A fair bit of the rain was being converted to steam as it got close, and trying to remove that foggy cloud above us may have caused us to get wet. But when I saw the otherwise joyous faces around me, I wasn't so sure that was a big problem.

So, I did my best to only redirect the rain away. And suddenly, we were all feeling raindrops here and there landing on our faces. Cierra squeaked at the sudden, cold raindrops, while Briar immediately rolled into my side.

"Momri!"

"Stop! Stop! I'm getting wet now!"

Emery was just laughing the whole time as she tried her best to cover Enrik and Stena, who had been on her side. Even in the dark of the stormy night, that smile had made everything worth it.

"Momri!" Briar shouted, muffled against my chest.

"Sorry, sorry!" I said, once again puffing some of the water away to steam.