Abyssal Road Trip - 665 - Family Time (Patreon)

Amdirlain’s PoV - New Golden Maze Sect Compound - Constructed Space

As dawn broke, Amdirlain sat propped up on pillows, watching Sarah sleep. Despite Gail’s plan to train at dawn, Livia was the only one up and about, fumbling as she tried to cook breakfast. Everyone else remained sprawled in their rooms, sound asleep, so Amdirlain relaxed and monitored the compound and its surroundings.

After a few attempts, Livia finally managed an unburnt breakfast after overheating the pan with qi flames, and by then Sarah began to stir. Her flesh, restored to a mortal state, was awash with dragon hormones for the first time in centuries. The urges scratched at her, inflaming the primary songs within her theme. Though Amdirlain didn’t truly need to hear her songs when rampaging desire scented the air and dilated Sarah’s pupils the moment she looked up.

“Why do I smell so much charcoal and ruined food?” Sarah wiggled closer and nuzzled Amdirlain’s shoulder.

“I’ll have to ask Livia if she ever learnt how to cook?”

“She used to adventure. Surely she must have,” Sarah grumbled, even as her hand caressed Amdirlain’s thigh.

“Perhaps the rest of the group took action to protect themselves from that fate.”

“Oh, that’s mean,” Sarah snickered, fingers digging in more urgently. “What a mean mummy.”

“Right now she’s torturing herself with burnt rice porridge and shell fragments in her eggs. I’ll have to provide the pills cultivators use instead of food.”

“That sounds boring,” Sarah said.

Amdirlain stole a kiss, then slipped out of bed.

“I see how it is,” Sarah huffed.

“Not quite. I have to ration myself, or you won’t get out of that bed for a year or more. Since Klipyl is very mortal, we need to progress people’s cultivation for the immediate future,” Amdirlain replied. “Shall we plan regular time for us in the evening when others are cultivating or sleeping? You should be able to reduce the amount of sleep you need.”

“I’d like that, sweetie.” Sarah rose and pulled on the robes that Amdirlain had given her. Their enchantment banished creases from sitting discarded on the floor overnight, which made Sarah snort with amusement. 

“You’ve got a dirty mind. No walk of shame here, my love.”

“True, I do,” Sarah said. “Where did Livia end up?”

“No need to go directly there,” Amdirlain said, holding out a hand. “Shall we go for a wander? Or would you like food first?”

“I’m a strange dragon but still a dragon beneath this form. Given the way I feel at present, I might need food in a week or two; I can’t say the same thing about other urges that demand my attention.”

They looped arms, and Amdirlain led her along an ambling path to a bamboo grove that hosted a meditation spot on the west side of the compound.

Along the way, Sarah’s nose twitched a few times, and she glanced at a compact two-story house farther west. Livia had picked that building since it was the closest to the westernmost square. Warm chestnut furnishings and wall panels lacquered and polished to a high sheen made up most of it, except for the stark stone bench tops in the kitchen area. Its upper balcony overlooked a bamboo grove on one side and the training field on the other.

At the grove’s centre, three steel rings spun above a stone pedestal, whose enchantment contained metal qi.

“The goal is to control the flows and move the rings into a nested sphere, with one hundred twenty degrees of separation in their facing.”

“Let me guess: the closer I get to that goal, the more resistance they’ll produce?”

“Will they?”

Sarah plucked the rings that were spinning on their ends in a line above the pedestal and confirmed their sizes. “At least they can nest.”

“Did you think I’d cheat?”

Sarah’s laughter bubbled from her, drawing chuckles from Amdirlain.

“From the woman who enjoys telling me if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying hard enough?”

“That’s in a fight. Training in the fundamentals is different.”

“I’ll give you that, but it might have needed me to shrink two of the rings so they’d fit,” Sarah huffed. “And we both know you’ll happily pull tricks to teach someone a lesson about assumptions.”

“After they’re past the basics,” Amdirlain huffed. “I don’t prank beginners.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that point.” Letting the rings go one by one, Sarah watched quietly as each returned to its original position.

Their shift in position rang through Sarah’s aura, but tracing her thoughts, Amdirlain found only the barest hint of recognition. The churn of physical differences and Sarah’s new species' instincts provided a fierce distraction.

“I haven’t even learnt any techniques yet,” Sarah added after a moment's consideration. “Care to give me a clue?”

“Techniques are ways to train your aura to execute particular energy manipulations.”

“Like the imagery used to activate psionic skills versus going direct to the power’s mental patterns?”

“Yes,” Amdirlain replied. “You’re a core rank cultivator and a dragon, so you have a stronger aura than a human. I want to see what you can do. Not from reflex, but if you stop and think it through and execute in an orderly pattern.”

“Now what is the part you aren’t saying?”

“You’ll have an innate understanding of qi aspects that aren’t in mortal cultivation manuals. Most cultivator techniques touch only on elemental aspects, and they only progress toward the conceptual when forming cores and nascent souls. You also remember your past lifetimes. You will need to figure out what in your personality the realm selected to form your core.”

Sarah’s body twitched towards Amdirlain, lips parted before regaining control. “What are you using for your techniques?” Sarah asked, her voice husky with desire.

A mating flight urge is rampaging through her brain.

“I can hear the music again. Not as detailed as when I was a child, but it’s getting clearer,” Amdirlain replied.

“Which of them are you?”

“All my assorted lives. Amdirlain leads, but Orhêthurin’s memories are the loudest, and her habits interfere. While they’ve all provided me with experience, they also gifted me with a lot of healing to do,” Amdirlain said, squeezing her hand.

“How are you handling that?”

“I’ve leeched away a lot of pain and consumed it with a variant of exorcising concerto. It’s just so much work.”

“Besides the broken memories, what else has changed?”

“It’s a constant effort to suppress the mask that I habitually wore as Ori,” Amdirlain said.

“Part of the habits?”

Amdirlain motioned to the pedestal. “Time to try it. A hint I received is that techniques don’t actually go past the aura; rather, they take it along.”

“What approach did you use to learn?”

“You’re not in the same situation. Various ki powers actually work here with qi, but you don’t have enough experience with ki,” Amdirlain replied.

“I got my shapeshifting working,” Sarah protested.

“Well, if you can’t get this working instinctively as shapeshifting, then we’ll take a step back and work on something easier.”

“No more hints?”

“A few. You are willing your aura to carry energy for a purpose. This realm is a training ground for primordials; it is building towards using primordial will. ”

“Thanks for the tips.” Sarah patted her forearm. “Can you leave me to it?”

“Am I distracting you?” Amdirlain asked with an innocent smile.

“Yes, and I’m sure you know I’ve been horny since I woke up. Right now, I’m torn between getting you pregnant or seeing if you can shapeshift enough to impregnate me. Let’s reduce the distraction while I take baby steps with this process.” Sarah exhaled slowly, and her heated gaze trailed across Amdirlain’s body.

Trailing fingertips along Sarah’s neck, Amdirlain kissed her cheek, then slipped away. Sarah’s gaze remained latched on until Amdirlain turned the first corner.

The closest occupied residence was Klipyl’s; her house sat amid a garden surrounded by a three-metre bamboo fence. The water feature next to the adjoining tea house swayed back and forth, letting water trickle into the pool below it.

The main house was a single-story dwelling with white screen doors, painted with scenery, and a stone heating system under the wooden floor. It formed a square loop around an inner courtyard, with verandas along the inner and outer edges.

Slipping through the house, Amdirlain honed in on the bedroom Klipyl had selected last night.

She found Klipyl sprawled on the low bed, limbs akimbo, covers tossed to the floor, and her robes draped over a nearby chair.

“Are you going to wake up, sleepyhead?” Amdirlain asked.

Klipyl cracked one eye open, then gave a bright, infectious grin. “I feel weird.”

Despite the pronouncement, she jumped to her feet. “Be right back, mortal things to tend to.”

While she clattered about, Amdirlain moved to the inner courtyard and knelt on the veranda facing towards the rising sun.

The previous night’s explorations had shown Klipyl where everything was, and she fortunately needed no prompting. Once she had dressed, she dropped to the ground beside Amdirlain.

“Now I know why some mortals complain so much. This is such a weird adventure.” Klipyl pushed unruly strands of hair from her eyes.

“Is that going to be your favourite word for a while?”

“Weird?! Absolutely. Tasting my mouth, feeling air move through my lungs, I can make dots dance before my eyes when I don’t breathe. An earthquake rumbling in my guts from hunger. Skin and nipples prickling from cold. My boobs actually bounce when I run. Mortal flesh is weird.”

“You’ll adjust. For breakfast, you can choose food, or a pill that keeps you full for a day. The second is more convenient, but you might enjoy eating food.”

“I’ll indulge when there is someone else to prepare it. Tell me about the pill?” Klipyl asked.

“It's a slow-release effect, but it avoids you having to eat and deal with the follow-on mortal necessities.”

“That lets the monk types here sit around meditating for days on end?”

“The yǎngfèn pills you can use at your rank only endure for a day. Once you hit core rank, you can draw qi from your surroundings and use it to sustain yourself.”

“Experiencing everything about being a mortal isn’t why I’m here.” Klipyl stuck out a hand, and Amdirlain handed over two jade bottles.

“One pill a day, and don’t open the second bottle until you finish the first. The pills degrade in the air, so keep the open bottle capped; it will keep the loose qi from diffusing too quickly.”

“One a day keeps starvation at bay,” Klipyl quipped.

“It’s more than just starvation, but I’ll let you study all the effects on organs if you’re interested in becoming an apothecary.”

“A type of healer?” Klipyl pursed her lips contemplatively. “I’m not sure if I’d want to do it full time, but I’d be interested in knowing more. It will give me something to talk to hubby about when we catch up to him.”

“I know enough to cheat, so I’ll leave teaching you to someone else,” Amdirlain said. “Here the apothecaries make medicinal pills and treat people, while alchemists can make the same pills and set effects in items but don’t have the medical knowledge.”

“Are there enchanters here?”

“For most things, they use alchemy and formations as the basis for their enchanting. Different specialties just learn to apply them to different materials and for particular purposes.” Amdirlain laid out a simple formation marker, and Klipyl’s gaze lit up at the calligraphy. “This is a ward token that keeps sound from carrying beyond a room; you touch it with qi, press it to a wall, and if you do it right, it adheres. When it falls off, you know the formation has burnt out.”

“That looks pretty. Do you know someone who can teach me that?”

“I know a formation master who feels they owe me,” Amdirlain admitted. “Once we get you cultivating qi properly, I’ll contact him.”

“Right, time for practice.”

“Pill first,” Amdirlain said. “Put it under your tongue, and it will dissolve. Try to circulate the warmth from your mouth, down through your torso and out along your limbs. It will radiate up through your head while you're doing that, so that area needs less focus.”

“Yes, sis.” Klipyl followed her instructions and, partway through, rested her head on Amdirlain’s shoulder; strands of wild black-and-red hair draped across her silver locks.

The bright, chiming notes within Klipyl’s theme broke through Orhêthurin’s habitual mask, without Amdirlain’s intervention.

Only once Klipyl opened her eyes did Amdirlain give in and ruffle her hair.

“Oi! I know I have bed hair.” Klipyl pressed her palms to her temples. “I couldn’t get it to settle.”

“It’s not too long. Can I do your hair?”

The shy smile that shifted Klipyl’s expression was answer enough. Sitting behind her, Amdirlain called up warm water and enfolded Klipyl’s locks. A memory dug at her, but Amdirlain brushed past the image of Ólneth’s gaze in a mirror as she tended her hair. Her innocent, cheerful look clashed with memories of the spite and hate she’d later continually emitted around Orhêthurin.

A silver comb appeared in Amdirlain’s hand with barely a flicker of will directing metal qi to create it; the wave pattern along its spine drawn from memory. A twisting knife of grief gouged at her thoughts and snapped the habitual mask back in place, freezing Amdirlain from the inside. It went past her self-control and locked her expression in Orhêthurin’s cold aloofness.

Klipyl stiffened at the shift. “Is something wrong?”

“Memories. Sometimes even nice memories can be painful when they remind you what you’ve lost.”

“You tightened up,” Klipyl murmured, reaching back awkwardly to pat Amdirlain’s knee.

“I’m a work in progress,” Amdirlain said. She exhaled slowly and wiggled the mask loose from her flesh.

The water lifted from Klipyl’s hair, and Amdirlain carefully tended it, watching for knots. Jade hair combs flickered into existence, and Amdirlain used them to secure the locks away from Klipyl’s face. Once everything was neat, a trio of watery mirrors appeared around Klipyl, letting her see the result.

“There is so much fun that shapeshifting into a form avoids.” Klipyl laughed.

“You might find it becomes tedious once the newness rubs off,” Amdirlain cautioned.

“What do you do to tend yours?”

Amdirlain smiled. “I control it with my will. Shall we go visit Livia?”

“It’s well past dawn. Have Gail and Rainith not stirred?”

“They’re still sound asleep. Their cultivation base is further along than yours, so I’ll give them a few days to adjust,” Amdirlain replied.

“I’ll show them how it’s done,” Klipyl said. Though she hopped to her feet briskly, she wobbled slightly. “Once I find my own feet.”

As the two drifted through the quiet compound, Klipyl linked arms with Amdirlain.

“If you are going to expand your sect, all the varied architecture you set up will confuse people,” Klipyl said.

“I wouldn’t want things to be too straightforward. I’ll see what house handles the weather best year-round and adjust when we expand.”

“That didn’t occur to me. Will it snow here like on our trip in the far north?”

“No idea. We’ll see.”

With Klipyl stopping to smell flowers opening to the morning sun, it took a while to reach Livia’s house.

A straight paved path cut through a broad herb garden that filled the front yard; the aromas delicately balanced, mingling rather than overwhelming. Klipyl eyed the dwelling's timber and stone walls as they headed for the front door. “She spent way too much time with the Norse to think this is the best house for her.”

Livia greeted them at the door with a wan smile.

“Are you finding your restored mortality tiring?” Amdirlain asked.

“My mind will take time to adjust. I kept starting awake, and this morning I felt exhausted. Things that are straightforward at home take forever.”

“Being mortal is weird,” Klipyl chirped.

Amdirlain laughed and patted her shoulder, drawing a mischievous giggle from Klipyl.

“We’ll expand on the lessons from yesterday. You’ll feel better once qi cycles through your meridians. Let’s go sit in the garden; it might be easier to connect to normal qi in that setting.”

“Instead of your primordial qi?” Livia asked.

“Yes, because who knows if I’m always going to be nearby? Cultivators need to balance the draw of the required qi type against its use in techniques. While you can build up reserves, being able to draw more qi while you’re using techniques increases survivability.”

The lesson proceeded through the morning; an illusion of floating notes drew Gail and Rainith to join them once they’d roused enough to face the day. The energies and powers the group was used to handling soon had them improving the qi handling they’d picked up yesterday. Each hour, they moved more qi freely through their assorted meridians.

Just before noon, Klipyl let out an explicit groan, and the energy looping through her leg meridians connected pathways to her bones, vibrating through her pelvis as it did.

“Oh, fuck me, that was good,” Klipyl moaned, pressing her hands between her thighs. “No one told me cultivation would do that. Don’t keep secrets; I would have been practising last night.”

“I think your curiosity about tantric practices might have influenced that,” Gail replied.

Sarah muttered from her grove. “I’ll have what she’s having.”

Not replying, Amdirlain ushered the others back to their practice.

Each time she checked on Drakon and Líng Xī, she suppressed a laugh.

Líng Xī needs to make her feelings clear. While Drakon understands biological urges, I think he is still dense about certain emotions.

♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

Drakon’s PoV - Jade Peak

By noon, Baiyan's heated need had finally calmed, and she settled into meditation. He took longer than he needed to catch his breath, caught up in admiring the beauty of the scales hidden beneath her gorgeous near-human form. So much so that it was nearly dusk when Drakon finally emerged from her manor and ventured along the slopes toward Bǎi Xǔ. The slopes were clear of granite scree and snow.

At his nephew’s trunk, Líng Xī sat cross-legged on an exposed tree root, but he didn’t assess her cultivation until he drew near. A stable fire burned in Líng Xī’s dantian. Eyes closed in meditation, she remained unmoving even after Drakon perched beside her.

“If you keep progressing at this rate, you’ll be looking to form a core soon,” Drakon said. “How was your trip to see your uncle?”

“His commanding officer is an arse. He and his lackeys interrupted our talk partway through the morning and then stuck around, trying to impress me with their tales of bravery. Amdirlain had some fun before she sent me here. You clearly had a vigorous morning. Aren’t you supposed to be resting and healing?”

What did Amdirlain get up to?

“Baiyan is delightful company,” Drakon replied, straight-faced.

“You two set off landslides with how loud you had Baiyan screaming. Is one of you going to clear the road?”

An embarrassed laugh burst from Drakon. “We weren’t that loud, and avalanches happen naturally.”

“You might be quiet, but Baiyan most certainly wasn’t. There isn’t a single loose rock left on the mountain’s slopes,” Líng Xī countered. “I had to dodge a rockslide with her scream echoing in my ears.”

“Good practice, and easier than evading cultivator attacks,” Drakon drawled.

“No care for endangering your apprentice,” Líng Xī sniffed.

“You could have just taken to the air if you were in danger on the ground.”

“Earlier, some of the human cultivators that the Jade Peak Sect hosts wondered about a dragon dying in agony. Maybe I should go calm them with the truth?”

A flush rose along his neck. “Please don’t exaggerate.”

“Fine, I’ll ask Baiyan for details to ensure accuracy.”

“First, you and Amdirlain gang up on me, and now this,” Drakon sniffed.

Líng Xī raised a single eyebrow, clearly imitating Amdirlain. The emboldened teasing made sense after her years of quietly pointing out normal people’s concerns to him.

“Why are you copying my sister?”

“She is the only person I’ve met who can really put you on your back foot,” Líng Xī replied. “We had a quick chat before she sent me here. She said plans had changed. She sent another message before dawn and insisted you rest, and that you should join her only once your aura has healed.”

“I hoped for time with her. Anything else?” Drakon grumbled. “Did she say how long it would be before she joined us?”

“Someone called Maker sent her wife and some friends here. However, they need to learn cultivation, so she’s going to set up a proper base for our sect and recruit people.”

“Sarah is here! I should go see them.” Drakon blinked when she tapped his nose.

“No. You’re to rest. Amdirlain’s message before dawn was clear. She told me to remind you that you’ll have years to talk and do things together while building up the sect. She doesn’t want your damaged aura leaking over the new arrivals before they can handle it.”

“Amdirlain could have told me herself.”

“You were busy trying to get Baiyan to scream a mountain apart,” Líng Xī said.

As he fought back the increasing blush, Drakon held out a hand. “Can I borrow your songbird figurine?”

“Nope. I’m told your priority is rest and healing your aura. Amdirlain already knows how thoroughly you’re probing the limits of the definition of rest.” Líng Xī patted his arm. “It’s good you didn’t just send a message yourself. Well done!”

Drakon groaned. “So mean.”