Chapter 82: Jagged Teeth
"If you can't tell me, then don't," Taka said, his face placid. It was quite unlike what Paike expected. He still had the image of his brother in his mind that refused to let a question go unanswered. One who dragged him along on adventures, sneaking into parts of the family library that they were not allowed in, getting caught and talking their way out.
He remembered the few times that Taka had not gotten what he wanted. How angry that had left him. Petty and vindictive in a way that only a child could be. After he had awakened early, it had only gotten worse. That was when the real wedge between them had formed. It pushed away many of their childhood friends, or those younger than him, like Liming.
But him just accepting being told no? Even more so when Paike had left room in his refusal for negotiation. It hadn't even been a full rejection. Yet, Taka had backed off.
"Really?" Paike asked, his surprise and disbelief plain on his face. He didn't even try to hide it. It was a little use for Taka to hide his emotions from him. Even after all this time, they were so alike in some ways that reading their faces was trivial.
"Of course, brother. I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position if it's something you learned in confidence and can't share. I have to keep my fair share of secrets since I got here." Taka said in a too reasonable tone, but Paike didn't sense any of the schemes he expected to get the information from him later. Maybe his brother had gotten better at it since he left. Paike was sure he had, but he would still be able to tell. He just would.
"Not quite. A couple of elders have warned me about sharing the method I'm using. Apparently it can be dangerous for cultivators Emerald and under." Paike said.
"How is it that you are handling it then?" Taka asked instead of pressing for more information right away.
As much as it seemed that Taka had matured and was honestly a better person than when they had parted, Paike wasn't going to explain all the difficulties he had with his qi. Why he had taken so long to awaken, or how it might be something to do with a hidden qi factor making his qi....Different? It would be impossible to say what the effects precisely were until Elder Song's research was done. But that could take a very long time.
Paike was going to keep that to himself as much as he could. But what could he tell Taka? He seemed to be non-malicious, but there was still the doubt that he had just gotten so much better at lying. He had given Taka the benefit of the doubt too many times before.