Sword and Snow

Avuri

Despite all of the revelations that seemed to be coming to light, life went on. In the week that followed Vale's short little lesson on how, exactly, everyone should be expecting their draconic abilities to manifest, all of their training slowly morphed into something more and more tailored to the individuals involved.

And perhaps even more noteworthy than that, the Elders had apparently decided to stop asking their Bonded ones to train in their compound. Instead, they were visiting the Basin daily.

Secretly, Avuri wished they had done that from the start; the trip was much easier for them to make, given they could all fly and didn't need to rely on someone else for travel.

Vyne and Stena, on their first day working in the Basin, had even worked together to clear a section of the wisteria trees further from the house to lay the foundations for a new practice space. But when Emery had mentioned concerns about leaving a huge section of the Basin uncovered by trees, the two wood Cultivators changed tack, instead making the trees in the area much larger. In the end, they created a kind of woven canopy supported by the massive trees that left them all a huge space hidden underneath to train safely in.

Avuri found the space to be remarkably nice, if she were honest. And she could tell that Emery felt the same. It may have been essentially an entirely unnatural way for the trees to grow, but the pseudo building was perfect for their needs.

Avuri and Emery chose to mostly ignore the new space for their own training, though. They had taken to returning to the same spot on the Flowing Dragon Peak every day, for at least a few hours, to run through their new physical training. Spending a few hours each day in combat meditation and running physical drills was a new experience for them. Or, at least, an experience that they hadn't had since the middle of the Earth Realm, about.

The simple truth was that for most Cultivators, practicing physical activities at their level was generally too dangerous, both to those involved and their surroundings, that it usually wasn't done. Instead, the higher a Cultivator climbed, the more training they typically did spiritually; and what little 'physical' training they did mostly amounted to drills inside their Inner Worlds, utilizing their spiritual bodies. It was great for repetition training, but did little to actually train their bodies.

In that regard, it had similarly been a long time since they had been so totally exhausted. Regardless of how little 'thought' went into their current style of training, the base truth was that it was brutal on their bodies. Together, they spent hours utilizing their full strength against one another in mindless combat drills that would have looked like a dance to any onlookers. And utilizing their full bodily strength for hours at a time wasn't something that they were used to.

"Are you two sure you're okay?" Cierra asked, giggling. She was leaning on the back of the couch in the main house's living area, where Avuri had collapsed with her wife after returning from their own day's training. Emery had promptly wedged herself into a corner of the cushions, splayed out, and fallen asleep. Avuri had collapsed half on top of her wife, produced a bit of cloth from her storage ring, and dropped it on her face.

Without moving her body, she pulled on some of her Qi - which had barely been used for the day, yet - and soaked the cloth with cold water. In response to Cierra's question, she once again used her Qi to flip a corner of the rag down so she could eye her daughter with a single eye. She didn't bother to uncover her mouth when she spoke, though.

"We'll be alright."

Cierra grinned, and reached out to place the rag back over Avuri's eye. "If you say so. I've just never seen you two so exhausted."

"I won't lie, Cici. I'm not sure I've ever felt this exhausted." Avuri groaned out. "Even after battles that ran the risk of death, I don't ever remember being this physically drained. My arms feel like lead."

Cierra just laughed at that. "Never thought I'd see the day where my mothers collapsed on the couch from training, whining about their muscles." She teased.

"I'm not - Cici, I'm not whining."

"Sure, sure," she continued, then Avuri felt her presence lean over the back of the couch again. "What do you think? Should I poke your arms?"

"...If you do, I hold no responsibility for what might happen to you afterwards." Avuri said flatly.

"Is that any way to threaten your kid?" Cierra giggled.

"Well, I don't exactly have the physical energy to threaten you with being tickled or something, do I?" Avuri couldn't help but smile. "So, you'll have to settle for getting frozen solid."

"What's going on down here?" Stena asked curiously as she stepped off the stairs to enter the floor, coming down from her room, having finished cleaning up after her own training session with Vyne. She had been incredibly excited the last week or so, finally getting to truly focus on her physical training again. Working out the body worked surprisingly well for keeping your mood positive, and though she tried to hide it, it was obvious that Stena had been excited the last few days.

"Moms needed a break after their training, apparently." Cierra said. Avuri could hear the half-mocking tone clear in her voice, in the same way she and Emery had 'mocked' their girls after training on occasion. She had to admit, she didn't really ever expect to see it turned back on her this way, though.

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"Oh, really?" Stena said mischievously. "So I shouldn't jump on the pile for a cuddle?"

Avuri felt her desire to cuddle with her older children go to war with her body, who definitely wanted nothing more than to be alone.

"It's okay," Emery said, apparently having woken up along the way, "she wouldn't dare jump on her tired, sore, and exhausted mothers."

Avuri smiled beneath her face-covering cloth. Not only could she hear the taunt in the words, she could feel Emery's emotions behind it. They both knew that telling her outright that it was okay would ruin the fun. So, the equivalent of calling her a chicken would have to do.

"I know." Avuri said, shifting just enough that if either of their adult daughters leapt on top of them they would be able to catch them comfortably. "They're too scared of retribution," she sighed, "I can't believe we raised such timid children."

"Timid?" Emery picked up the train of thought easily enough, "Timid is too nice, Ri. Our children are cute little scaredy-cats."

"Oh, really?" Stena asked, having taken the bait. The annoyance - real or not - was audible in her tone.

Without actively trying to see in any way, between her covered eyes and inactive Qi, Avuri didn't have a clear picture of what was happening in the room. However, she was pretty sure she heard Stena's steps as she approached the couch. The sudden halt, she imagined, was Cierra holding her sister back.

"Don't give it to them, Stena." Cierra said, overacting the clearly faked line. "It's what they want."

"But they're calling us scaredy-cats!" Stena returned, unable to keep the fake tone out of her voice this time. They both knew their parents' ploy, so for Avuri only two questions remained; would they take the bait anyway, or could she and Emery actually get them riled enough to act regardless?

"Hm…" Avuri hummed musically. "Maybe you're right." She said, trying to figure out the best line of attack. Should she just continue to push the 'afraid' angle, or maybe try to set the girls against one another? This was all in good fun, so she didn't want to push any genuine drama or negativity, but perhaps a mild, insulting jab was the move? "Maybe scaredy-cat is too nice - in a different way?"

"Oh?" Emery prompted.

"Scaredy-cat implies a cute, little kitten. I think calling them 'chickens' might be more -"

Avuri didn't even get to finish her sentence. Both girls jumped straight over the back of the couch to land squarely on top of both her and Emery. It was a good thing they were all Cultivators, because average mortals would not have been able to remain on the cushions stacked four people high in such a precarious position. But between their combined strength and enhanced sense of balance, the four were able to wedge themselves in such a way that they remained steady.

Emery and Avuri both immediately swung their arms up and around the girls, trapping them in an embrace. Avuri let out a small grunt against the soreness in her arms, but honestly, it was all worth it.

"Oh, crap." Stena said, far, far too late.

"I did warn you." Cierra said flatly.

"And yet, you jumped with me."

"Never said I wasn't going to. I just said it was their plan all along."

"Jerk."

"Idiot."

Avuri rolled her eyes under the cool, damp cloth. Despite their bellyaching, both girls had settled into a comfortable snuggle quickly after their landing. And seemingly had zero desire to escape, either, given Stena was busy shifting around in an attempt to bury herself further into Avuri's hug.

Avuri wouldn't go as far as saying that she could feel the soreness washing away in the tangle, but she could certainly feel herself relaxing in a way that only that sort of closeness could provide. It was a balm for the soul that she truly adored. Even Emery, who was squished at the bottom of the pile under three other bodies, was more than happy to just enjoy the heavy cuddle.

They stayed that way longer than Avuri had expected their daughters to allow. They didn't exactly avoid being close with their mothers, but they didn't cuddle up to them the way they had when they were younger anymore, and Avuri had expected them to take a similar approach in that moment, too. Instead, the longer they all huddled together, the more it seemed like the girls were realizing how badly they missed it, and snuggled in tighter.

That was, of course, only until there was the quickened stomping of footsteps on the first floor of the house, followed by calls of "Mom!" and "Momri!".

The whole group on the couch groaned for a variety of reasons as they began disentangling themselves and did what they could to stand. Avuri secretly thought it was hilarious the way Emery groaned, stretched, and had to struggle to her feet the way an old woman would; it was a novel sight for Cultivators of their level.

On the other hand, Avuri chose to entirely ignore her own sounds of effort and pain from standing and called,"Wrynn?"

"What's going on?" Emery asked as they walked toward the stairs down to the first floor. Wrynn was already at the bottom, looking up at them. The poor girl was caked in mud and dirt in such a way that was unnatural. The left side of her body was basically covered in it, while her right was still partially clean - or, at least, the natural amount of dirty that would happen while at work or play.

She crossed her arms angrily, only to immediately uncross them when she felt the stickiness of the mud that coated her left arm, making a disgusted face. And it was at that moment that the smell made it up the stairs.

"Oh, gross." Stena said, walking away holding her nose.

"My idiot twin made a poop bomb." Wrynn said angrily. "And now there's poop literally everywhere in the barn. Including on the entire husbandry team."

Avuri fought the urge to cover her face with her hand, but Emery didn't bother. The facepalm quickly transitioned to her pinching the bridge of her nose, though.

"We'll be right there." Avuri said. Wrynn nodded seriously, before turning around and walking back out of the house. Avuri couldn't help but watch the tracks she left behind with each step.

"Oh Cruz…" Emery muttered to herself, which made Avuri smile. "Cierra, can you -"

"Clean up the tracks? Yeah, I got it."

"Thank you."