Sword and Snow

Emery

I turned back to look over the kids, thinking over what came next. Every day, they managed to surprise me. Their ability to keep their heads down and focus and meditate was far greater than I would have ever thought possible for a kid.

Even when I was growing up, twisted by the demonic Qi and experiments, being taught by a dragon, I didn't have their focus. Looking back, it was probably half a miracle that I managed to put in as much effort as I did, because all I could remember of that time was the unsettled feelings of anger and sadness mixed with the absolute chaos me and my siblings caused.

Still, the six little boys and girls in front of me had managed to take whatever feelings, regrets, or grievances they had and channel them.

Though I had to assume that Karn and Briar were really just trying to mimic their older siblings. I really, truly hoped they were too young to really understand a lot of what had happened to them. But we had taken in Stena when she was around four as well, and she had clearly been affected by her own situation, so my hopes were not high.

Little kids were far more cognizant than anyone ever gave them credit for, even if they didn't exactly understand the events that well.

Avuri must have been able to feel my complex emotions, because she scooted over to me and placed her hand on my shoulder before I heard her soft voice in my head again. "Who would you like to take today?"

My eyes moved from Karn and Briar to Enrik, then Kord, then Stena and Cierra, each with their eyes closed and breathing evenly. They almost all looked like they were napping, but we could feel the Qi moving in and around each of them. Kids weren't really capable of hiding their Qi flow, after all.

"I'll take Cierra and Stena today." I sent.

"Giving me the easy job?"

I turned to Avuri and smiled, lightly bumping my forehead against hers. "You took them yesterday. Today is my turn."

"Alright, alright."

I pushed against her briefly before leaning back to stand and shuffle over to our two eldest girls while Avuri slid over to the younger group. As I settled in next to Cierra, she cracked one eye open to look at me and her Qi control shuddered. To her credit, she noticed pretty quickly and immediately moved to regain control over the Qi.

"It's okay, you can take a short break. You too, Stena."

They both let out a slightly longer breath, leaving their meditative state, their eyes fluttering open.

"How are we doing, Mom?" Stena asked, caught between excitement at her apparent growth and the mild exhaustion from the meditation.

"You're both doing well, for the most part." I said, reaching to ruffle both girls' hair. "Momri and I just had a long overdue talk about how to handle your training from here, so we're going to change a few things starting today, okay?"

That immediately put both of the girls on the defensive. I could see the worry etched in their expressions.

"Did…did we do something wrong?" Cierra asked.

"No." I said. "We're just worried that we might be letting both of you run a little wild. Too far, and too quickly. So we want to slow you both down a bit."

"Okay…"

They both sounded hesitant, but Stena looked more worried about it than Cierra did. It made me wonder whether or not even Stena knew that she was clearly rushing - probably to keep up with her older sister.

In either case, she was the one I was most worried about among all the kids. So, I started with Cierra first.

"Cici, you're already gathering so much Qi that you're getting pretty close to touching on the next stage."

She immediately broke out into a big grin, but I continued, "While we're very proud of you for that, we don't want you to go through that breakthrough yet. The Basin, where we live in the Peaks, is so full of Qi that you're rushing well ahead of what your body can probably handle without realizing it."

"I am?"

"You are. Most people don't reach the stage you're at until they're thirteen or fourteen years old."

"Oh." She said, looking down at the floor.

"So. Ri and I want you to wait until you turn ten, alright? I think at the rate you're going, you'll probably have the Qi you need in the next few weeks. But we're going to ask you to keep doing what you're doing for an extra six months or so, okay?"

Cierra looked back up, her expression determined, and nodded. "Okay."

"We'll show you how to take all that extra Qi you're gathering and put it to good use, too. You're not just getting held back, alright? You're still going to be getting stronger."

She nodded more. "Okay, but how?"

"We'll get to that in a bit." I said with a smile, then turned to Stena, who was looking caught somewhere between worried, scared, and sad. I placed a hand on the top of her head, rubbing lightly to reassure her. "As for you, Stena, we're also going to have you slow down."

The girl deflated at that. "But Cierra -"

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"I know." I said. "But Cierra is also a few years older than you. It's okay that she's ahead. You can always catch up later. Right now, you're trying to keep up, but hurting yourself to do it. Do you realize that you're seven years ahead of where you're supposed to be? You're trying to do something meant for teenagers."

Stena gave me an uncharacteristic blank look for her; she clearly didn't quite understand what I was saying, so I took her by the hand and tried to reword it. "Stena, you've made yourself a Core, just like your big sister. Right?"

She smiled and nodded.

"But what you can't quite see is what your Cores look like." I said, then mentally tagged Avuri. "A little help?"

"I've got you."

I held up my other hand, and Avuri created a ball of ice between my fingers. "Think of this like Cierra's Core, right?" I said, and both girls fixed their eyes on it. "It's a good Core. There are a few, small imperfections. See, like right here, or here?" I asked, pointing out little cracks that Avuri had done well to embed in the little ice sphere. "That's because she's doing things just a little too quickly. So, we're slowing things down a bit so she can patch it up - like this."

With another mental nudge, Avuri cleaned up the sphere. The cracks disappeared, and even the frosty ice cleared up, leaving a beautiful, practically see-through crystal of ice in my hand. Both girls appropriately 'ooh'd at the clear ice. I smiled at the sudden childish reaction.

"Right? But, Stena, you're trying to do this when your body is big enough for it quite yet. What do you think your core looks like?"

"...like Cierra's? With a few cracks?"

I poked Avuri again, but also sent a quick word, because I didn't want to scare Stena. We could easily make a statement and show her a cracked, barely held together ball of ice. But her Core wasn't in that bad of shape, and I didn't want to scare her away or make her feel bad for what she had done.

Avuri agreed, and her work was as perfect as I could have asked for. Once again, the ball of ice in my hand went cloudy. But unlike the even and clean look of when it represented Cierra, Avuri made this version a little more patchy. Some parts were weirdly clear while others were clouded. There were also a few more cracks than with Cierra's version, as well as ridges and edges that made the sphere a little unshapely.

Stena looked at the ball of ice and slumped. "I know it looks bad." I said, squeezing her hand in mine. "But you have time. We can spend the next couple years working on making your Core better until it's just as perfect as the last one, right?"

Stena clearly was not happy about it, but she murmured an 'okay'. "We're going to help you make your Core as good as it can be, I promise. Then, when you're ready, we'll help you with the next bit too. Like Cierra, you're so far ahead, Stena. So, we're going to take some of that winning you're doing and make your lead even better, okay?"

Stena still looked upset, but perhaps a little less so when she nodded. I just hoped that she understood as much of what I was saying as possible. "I want you both to know that Ri and I are so, so proud of you. Both of you. You're not in trouble for any of this, or anything like that, okay? This is not a punishment. We're just worried that if you both keep sprinting ahead like this that you're going to end up tired and hurt before you get to the next line, okay?"

Neither girl said anything. Stena was still staring at the ground, looking unhappy. Cierra, for her part, looked contemplative. I leaned forward, pulling them both into a hug. "I realize that after going so long without specific rules, this feels like you've gotten in trouble. I'm sorry for that. Momri and I should have thought through your training properly before we got to this point. That's our fault, not yours."

Both girls murmured an 'okay', but still seemed unsatisfied. Which was fine, because I would have been too, in their situation. But I also knew at least one way to pull them out of it a bit. I squeezed them tightly.

"I love you both a lot." I said, and gave them one more squeeze before letting them go. "Alright then, let's get to work, you two. We have a new direction, but you're still going to be growing. Cierra, for now, you keep Cultivating. Try to hold as much Qi in your core as you can manage. Keep it contained, like when you first formed your core, if you can."

The older girl nodded, and then I turned to her younger sister. "As for you, Stena - you and I are going to do a joint exercise, alright?"

She blinked. "A joint…what?"

I smiled brightly and took the girl's hands in mine. "We're going to meditate and Cultivate together." I saw a question on her face, and moved to answer it before she even asked. "Not quite like Momri and I do, okay? I'm going to guide you through a Cultivation technique, alright?"

Getting the chance to work directly with me seemed to reignite Stena's spirit. She didn't look overly excited like she would have at the same prospect any other day, but she at least looked determined, as opposed to the sadness moments ago. I nodded.

"Good. Now concentrate, and start to gather Qi again, like you did before."

Stena tried to focus. It took a little bit of time for her to truly enter a proper meditation, which would be expected of someone her age. But once she began to draw in the Qi again, I focused properly as well, using my Qi to sense hers as it moved through her body. Without the benefit of an Awakened Core, a child had no way to properly mask any of the Qi moving within their bodies. That lack of defense was precisely what made them such easy targets and tools for demonic Cultivators. But the flip side of that was that it also made it very easy to teach and direct them with a light touch as well.

"Feel the Qi moving through your body and meridians as it slowly moves inward toward your Core. As the energy settles there, hold it. Keep it there and let it build up, like you're filling a glass of water."

I heard Stena take a deep breath and exhale it in the closest approximation of a sigh she could make while properly meditating. "I know how to do that, Mom."

"I know. This is the new part, okay? Feel what I do."

With a featherlight touch, I guided some of the Qi within her Core using my own. Her Core wasn't literally deformed, scratched, or damaged in obvious ways like the ice ball had demonstrated. Instead, it was subtle things that had to be felt with Qi. Some parts of the Core's shell were thinner than others, or had patches of Qi that hadn't been properly processed to match the rest of the shell. Many minor issues that would have rippling effects later.

I had heard stories of such rushed Cores breaking early, forcing an Earth Realm Cultivator to attempt to break through to the Sky Realm without the necessary power accumulated, leading to all sorts of bad outcomes; Qi deviation, bodily damage, even death.

I wasn't going to let any of that happen to Stena. So, I showed her how to patch and clean her Core. Pushing more Qi against the thin spots until it condensed to fill them in. Using more processed Qi to filter out the detritus trapped in the poorly processed Qi already in the shell. Each technique would need to be applied who knew how many times to get her Core finished perfectly, but she had plenty of time.

The day's meditation ran far longer then normal. By the time Stena and I had gone over each of the techniques she'd need to fix her Core, and I was confident in her ability to perform them reliably, it was dark. Avuri had taken the other kids in for dinner at least several hours ago, leaving just Stena and I in the training pavilion.

Stena had pushed herself hard. She was coated in sweat from the exertion, and had bags under her eyes of a level that I wasn't used to seeing on children. But her effort had genuinely impressed me. Once she put her mind to something, she was stubborn. And despite her earlier misgivings, she had a strong forward direction now.

"Thanks, Mom." She said, almost sleepily.

"I promise, Stena. We'll get you there. Wherever 'there' is for you."

The girl nodded and slumped forward, collapsing into my lap, entirely exhausted. I brushed away some of the hair from her forehead, slick with sweat.

"You did well, sweetie."