Sword and Snow

Emery

"Vale!" Emery shouted as they returned to the Basin. "Hey, oh lovely father of mine, where are you?" Avuri snorted beside her, and Emery shot her a glare with no real heat behind it. "What?"

"Nothing. Just your choice of language." Avuri said with a slight smile. "Maybe your father is running for cover, with you calling for him like that?"

Emery narrowed her eyes at her wife then shouted again, "Dad! I know you're in the Basin. Just come here." She turned back to Avuri as if to ask, 'Better?'

Avuri's response was just a second snort of air through her nose as she was clearly amused.

It took almost no time after that for Vale to appear in front of them on the path they were walking back to the main house. They were still disheveled from their training, and Emery's clothing in particular had been shredded by Avuri's techniques. They hadn't bothered to change, choosing instead to return covered in their draconic forms.

Well, Avuri's clothing was still mostly in one piece, with just some frayed and damaged edges here and there. At that point, it would have been more accurate to say Emery's scales functioned more like clothing for her than the scraps of cloth that remained did.

Vale blinked when he first arrived, then steadied himself and cleared his throat. "Sorry. Still not used to your draconic forms."

Emery waved that away dismissively. "We need to talk."

Vale's eyes bounced between her and Avuri a few times. "We?" he asked, tilting his head in question.

"All of us." Emery clarified. "I don't know if you need the rest of the Elders involved or not. But we need to sit down and have a proper…lesson regarding our new abilities."

"That's what the training is-"

"No," Emery said flatly, interrupting him, "the training has been to learn control and get stronger." She sighed, letting the tension that still ran through her flee her body. "Dad, we need a better understanding of exactly what abilities we've gained." She briefly glanced at Avuri, mostly for Vale's benefit, given their mental connection, then added, "And the two of us, in particular, need to learn what we expect to gain from the Dragon-Kin Bond as opposed to our personal one."

Vale's eyes narrowed at that. "What happened?" He asked, suddenly taking the conversation more seriously.

Emery let out a dramatic sigh before moving to answer, only to find Avuri responding instead.

"Greatly increased healing," Avuri said. Vale nodded, unsurprised, before she followed with, "and…probably some kind of deep combat meditation."

Vale's eyes roved over their bodies, inspecting them. Emery could feel his intent on the parts he focused on. Their arms, where they had both drawn blood purposefully to test their suddenly boosted natural healing rates. The only slightly puffy red marks that had remained on Emery's right arm from where it had been mangled. She could even tell when he zeroed in on the smaller muscle spasms that were left over from what had been an unusually strenuous work out.

Eventually, he nodded. "That would explain your physical exhaustion, I suppose. I wouldn't expect your normal training to wear so much on your bodies these days."

Emery took a breath to ask a question that she had wondered for a while, given Vale's and the Elders' apparent desire to avoid the specifics of the topic. "Dad. You do know what abilities we're expected to gain from the Kin Bond, don't you? Beyond just…what was it you all said? The physical changes and gaining more physical strength and speed?"

"We did also say that your Cultivation techniques could change too." He added.

"Sure, which I expected was the case as soon as we mentioned the Bonds not all being one-to-one elemental affinity matches." Emery said. "But, beyond the obvious?"

Vale met Emery's eyes for what felt like a long moment before letting out a breath and shifting his weight into a more relaxed stance.

"It's still pretty early." He said. "Get everyone together, grab yourself some dinner, and meet me in the main house training room. We'll go over what we can tonight, but don't expect too much."

"Sure." Emery said, nodding. The mention of dinner made her stomach clench painfully, and she suddenly realized just how hungry she was.

"When you say everyone, you mean the Dragon-Kin, right?" Avuri asked, just for clarification.

"Yeah. I'll see you there in a bit."

"Alright."

Not even a half hour later, the 'class' had begun. They had gathered everyone up right as dinner was beginning, which left each and every person in attendance holding a plate of fried noodles with veggies and pork while Vale paced at the front of the room.

"So…what's going on, exactly?" Mica asked. It was a little strange to see her alone, but the training room in the main house wasn't all that large, and Cove and Glenn didn't really need to be in attendance for this. She was sat next to Avuri's right, while Emery was on her wife's left. Stena, Cierra, and Kord sat in a line behind them.

"Emery wanted a lesson in exactly what new abilities your Dragon-Kin bonds will offer because we've been a little vague on what you should all be expecting." Vale said, his eyes tracking over Mica, then Cierra, and Stena. "I know you three haven't finished processing the dragonblood quite yet, but there's no reason to have this talk twice."

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They all nodded seriously, focusing on what they all clearly hoped would be an enlightening discussion.

Vale finally stopped pacing in the middle of his side of the room before dropping heavily onto the floor in a crossed leg sitting position.

"Well, let's start with things some of you have already confirmed," he began. "Obviously, the physical changes. Your draconic forms are each likely to be somewhat distinct from each other. They are, to my knowledge, usually built from your spiritual selves, so they should compliment your personality or fighting style." His eyes ghosted over Emery briefly, as she had confided in him about how she felt about her draconic appearance despite Avuri's attempts to brighten her up on the subject. "You may not always like how you look, but they are meant to be a representation of your soul in the same way an Inner World is."

"In addition, as you've all surmised by now, your bodies will get stronger in a similar way to a breakthrough. Physical strength, speed, control, balance, all of that will go up. And more than that, the boost from the Bond will continue to strengthen your body as your body grows. Put simply, you'll each all be more than any other Cultivator of your level without the Bond."

"Third, and another obvious addition, is the potential changes to your Cultivation techniques and styles." Vale continued. "For a few of you, it's incredibly obvious. The addition of new elemental affinities to your Qi will irrevocably change your styles and techniques in some ways. But even for, say, Kord, who just added more metal Qi, there will be some new techniques that will come easy to you because of your Qi's link to Ray."

Kord nodded. He had indeed already seen those changes, in how easily he was suddenly able to control liquid metal Qi, which he had struggled with before. He had gone from a very rigid-, sturdy-type fighter to one that was far more flexible, both in fighting style and techniques.

"Beyond that…" Vale placed his hands on his knees, looking unusually well controlled as he continued. "Emery and Avuri have taken notice of increased natural healing."

When he nodded toward them, Emery took it upon herself to create a small knife and cut into her arm to show off the newly enhanced healing. While hers still wasn't as impressive as Avuri's for whatever reason, she watched as the cut knit itself back together.

"Whoa." Stena said, awed.

"Mom, how did you-?"

"Sparring." Emery said quickly, smirking at her wife. "Momri really did a number on me, suddenly deciding not to hold back. She basically ruined my arm…however briefly."

All eyes turned to Avuri, the expressions among them varying from surprise to even a little fearful. No one in the family usually managed to scratch Emery during sparring matches. Avuri just rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes. I caught her off-guard with a near full-power Blizzard Dragon. Somehow I doubt it will happen again."

"Still…" Cierra said, looking down. "Damn. I really need to get that technique figured out."

Avuri turned to her daughter. "You still haven't?"

Cierra shook her head. "It's getting close. But I still have to directly control its movements. And either way, it's not nearly as destructive as yours is."

"Well, you're just barely in the Sky Realm now, Cici."

"True, but still."

Vale clapped, drawing attention back onto him as he cleared his throat. "Let's stay on topic, shall we?"

A chorused 'sorry' passed through the room.

"There are a few other things that could be 'expected' to appear as you each acclimate to your Bond. And I suppose Emery isn't wrong to ask for information ahead of time."

"Of course I'm not." Emery said indignantly.

Vale snorted. "The issue is that you've already uncovered everything that would be considered…how shall I say this? Part of the basic package."

Blank stares were the only response, aside from Emery clearly telling him to continue with her eyes.

"Meaning…what, exactly?"

"Meaning that the way your individual bodies adapt and utilize both the dragonblood and the Bond itself can vary. Most recorded Dragon-Kin ended up developing some form of technique or skill that was uniquely theirs."

Vale quickly put a hand up to keep everyone quiet before any potential outbursts. "It's worth noting, however, that there wasn't much in the way of specifics to look at for those. Putting aside those that were clearly a result of their draconic forms, most of the unique skills and techniques they had could have been developed through work and Cultivation of a technique using their new abilities. It may not be something that awakens on its own."

While that did generally disperse the growing excitement among the group, especially from the young adults, Emery and Avuri were bounding ideas off one another silently, putting their minds to work together on the idea.

"That makes sense. I think." Avuri said.

"We've gained access to a much wider potential base of Qi to pull from than ever before. It makes sense that we could develop wholly new and unique techniques." Emery continued.

Vale nodded. "Exactly. I'm sorry for not saying anything sooner. The simple truth is that while we didn't want to get any of your hopes up about gaining some new, unusual abilities, we were also curious to see how things progressed without our input." He lowered his head in apology. "I'm sorry for not saying anything."

Emery shrugged. "Honestly? I suppose I can't speak for everyone, but I'm not that bothered by that. Is that it, though?"

Vale met his daughter's eyes seriously. "Yes. As far as we are aware, those are the only boons you should expect to see from the Bond."

"'Only'," Cierra snorted.

"Right?" Stena chuckled beside her sister. Even Kord and Mica joined in with the levity, helping to take off a bit of the mental load.

Emery and Avuri, however, were processing. That meant they had - yet again - done something weird thanks to their powerfully bonded Qi.

They were both growing rather tired of all the surprises they kept managing to stumble into. For once, it would be nice to train, practice, and Cultivate knowing exactly what they were getting themselves into like the vast, vast majority of everyone else.

"Emery. Avuri." Vale said, calling their attention back, "If you two want or need help with anything, I'm certainly here for it. The other Elders are likely happy to assist as well. Even if we don't quite know what's going on."

The statement got the attention of the other four people in the room, who looked between Vale and the women. Cierra was the first to sigh, but the feeling was echoed by everyone.

"Mom? Momri? What did you two do now?"