Lunch proceeded very precariously. My family continued to snipe and offer nothing but backhanded complints and hidden insults, as they always did. Ery's family, who I was truly growing only more and more appreciative of, managed to continue to let them go unchallenged for the sake of peace for now.
But every ti Severa, my father, or my mother dropped another off-handed insult against Cultivators, I grew more and more fed up with the whole thing.
Every ti they said sothing, I could see a twitch from soone on Ery's side of the table. The three teenagers sat across from visibly winced more than once in regard to so of the inane vitriol that Severa let out of her mouth, weakly disguised as complints or innocuous statents.
"A city should obviously be run by rchants, even Flowing Dragon got at least that much right."
"Cultivators are so good at doing the manual labor, they were even nad for it!"
"It's nice to see that Avuri's rchant upbringing hasn't been wasted out here, given you are all clearly making good money now."
"This house really is quite nice, considering where you chose to put it. And the Array work…well, if you'd be willing to share so of those secrets…"
The hypocrisy and general hate she kept circulating the table was honestly shocking to . Even more so that she managed to do it in such a way that if soone exploded at her, she could conceivably turn it back on them.
Not that I was worrying about that toward the end of the lunch. Everyone had long since finished eating, but conversation had continued out of polite behavior alone. I could tell that Ery's family was simply being stubborn, not wanting to let my family have the last word. And I was feeling the sa way they were. I was pretty sure that Glenn, Cove, and Mica were just about ready to take our side as well.
And yet, everyone managed to remain mostly subdued. Ery was regularly changing focus from the conversation to dote on the girls to keep herself under control. She even had Stena in her lap now, rather than sat between us.
Her family mbers were clearly breaking into short asides with one another to diffuse so of their own tension. Every now and then, two of them would laugh at a joke before returning to the larger conversation a bit refreshed.
It was also the only laughter at the table for the entire al.
I was really hoping that the conversation would either die soon, or my family would relent and get up and walk away. But at least a few of them were clearly enjoying poking the taphorical dragon. Mostly Severa and Leon, aided occasionally by my father; they all kept sothing like a smirk on their face through most of the lunch as they continued to obtusely insult my new family.
I had been spacing out for a bit when I was forcefully dragged back to the conversation when Severa decided to pick a new fight out of seemingly nowhere as I went cold.
"Well, don't you want your girls to grow up smart like Avuri?" She had said.
I felt the chill co over as Ery's Qi moved of its own accord. Her family all went quiet and still when they felt it. I also had the urge to imdiately go on the offense when they ntioned the girls like that. It was an angle of attack that I don't think they realized was one likely to set off a bomb.
I noticed the teens across from also went pale. I imagined they had probably warned them not to ntion our girls like this and were beginning to regret having done so. Of course Severa wouldn't listen to warnings about touchy, dangerous subjects. And she was now choosing to play a very dangerous ga, knowingly or not.
When Ery spoke, her voice was dripping such intense sweet venom that I was sure everyone at the table heard it.
"Oh, I agree. Avuri is very smart. Her training as a child has saved us a lot of money on the wedding costs already. But I'm not sure what, exactly, you an?"
"Oh, of course, dear." Severa said, sounding pleasant. "I rely ant that you really should consider moving into a city. Perhaps even moving to Bouquet. The tutors are so much better than teaching them yourselves."
The thought of moving to Bouquet at this point nearly made sick to my stomach. I really wanted very little to do with my family, especially after spending this week being near them.
"I certainly don't regret the tutors I learned from growing up." I found myself saying. "Not that I'd want to put Cierra and Stena in those courses."
"And why not?" My father asked. "You clearly learned very well. Even when you went off to the Frozen Mountain, you were leaps and bounds ahead of the other students."
As my family spoke, I picked up Stena from Ery's lap, and placed her on her feet behind us. Ery seed to get the ssage, and turned to Cierra. I was glad we were on the sa page. And I think Ery was glad to see I was hitting my limit.
"You two should go play." She said, making a shooing motion. "You don't need to sit here talking with all the adults."
Cierra spun around and kicked off the bench. "Yeah, okay! Can we go draw?"
"Of course. I think we put the colored pens away in your room last ti." I said. Cierra nodded, grabbed Stena's hand, and ran off toward the house.
When I turned back to the table, most eyes were on us. Certainly, my father and Severa were both at least watching us for so kind of response.
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"Dain," I began, emphasizing his na instead of calling him father like I had mostly done since they arrived. "With all due respect, the courses you paid to put through were a waste of ti. I learned next to nothing, except how to brown nose to people 'better' than . Almost everything I learned about being a rchant was through reading on my own."
I stared down Leon. "Listening to those sycophants is how you end up with people like Leon. And I will not let my daughters be like that."
The atmosphere at the table went cold. Ery's family decided to stay out of it, looking away from everyone else while playing it cool. I appreciated that they didn't want to add to the fire, but I knew they would jump in if things got too heated.
My family, in contrast, seed to harden and close up. The teens looked like they wanted to run. Most of them were giving various looks of warning that I was on thin ice. Dain and Leon were glaring at as if I had slapped them; which, to be fair, I basically had. Severa looked on, almost amused, but was anything but happy.
"And what, exactly, do you an by that?" Leon asked, clearly trying to give a chance to recant what I said, despite his anger. I had to admit that I was impressed he didn't just fly off the handle, given how he had acted all week.
I took a breath. I was done. If they wanted to belittle, make fun, and just generally deride the people I had chosen as a new family, then I wasn't about to just sit quietly.
"Exactly what I said. Paying for expensive tutors that want nothing more than to suck up to the family employing them? Why would they even bother actually teaching when it's far more rewarding to teach the bare minimum and praise the kid as if they're a genius instead?" I said, only at about half volu. I was very careful not to yell, and maintain an even keel throughout my words.
"I had to learn most of what I did about business by studying alone. The one thing I learned well from my tutors was how to suck up to the people that think they're better than you."
My father narrowed his eyes at angrily. "Are you implying that we were lax with your education as a child, Ivory?"
I snorted. "I'm not implying anything, Dain." I said, trying to sound sweet. "I ant exactly what I said. You paid out the nose for the 'best tutors in the city'," I said, waving my hands in the air to show mock excitent, "but they were an absolute waste of money. I learned more reading on my own ti than I did from any of them." Then I added to clarify, "Well, except for how to brown nose, like I said."
Before he could respond, I turned to Leon. "Would you care to prove wrong, Leon?" I simpered. "I'm sure you were given probably even better, more expensive tutors than I was. Would you like to demonstrate so of what you learned?"
Leon turned an angry red, but my father responded before Leon could. "He runs several stores in Bouquet, and makes quite a profit. I think that speaks for itself." He said haughtily.
I almost laughed. "Ah, yes. 'Runs'. I assu each of those stores has an acting manager, accountant, and quite a robust group of employees. Oh, but probably not quite enough employees to let everyone work comfortably - they're always going to be a little bit short-handed on help. And they probably get paid just under what their work is actually worth, no doubt."
I watched as my father and brother got progressively more and more angry as I went on my little tirade, a slow smile spreading across my face.
"Yes, I'm sure that he 'runs' those businesses well. By hiring the right people for the job to do it for him, while schmoozing with either his friends or the people that control whatever type of business it is he's running." I turned directly to Leon and smiled at him as condescendingly as I could manage.
"Let's see, Leon. I imagine you were probably started on a grocery market, yes? Who's in charge of the beef supply for the city?" I asked.
Leon glared at , clearly not wanting to play my ga, but he answered imdiately without thinking. "Kiernan Brent."
My father looked over at him in an instant, clearly angry he responded.
"And what's the price for a pound of beef these days, roughly?" I asked.
Leon stared blankly at for a mont, before I prodded him again.
"Well? You're the owner and manager of a food market but can't tell what the going rate is on one of your main products? What about chicken? Tea? Anything?" I asked, still sounding sweet.
"What a farce." My father blurted out. "And what about you, hm? You left ho to be so kind of big shot Cultivator, didn't you?" He was clearly speaking in anger, but wasn't quite shouting. "Well? Looking around, you don't seem like such a big deal to , living in the middle of nowhere, completely secluded."
Demi let a chuckle slip at that, and Dain's eyes narrowed on her. "What's so funny, girl?"
"You clearly don't know Cultivators very well if you think living in seclusion is a sign of weakness." She responded clearly, leaning back with tea in her hand.
Dain huffed, and turned back to , his expression now clearly one of disdain. "And that's even assuming we believe that you're a Sky Realm. We've seen nothing to confirm that while we've been here. You're just playing around at being a family."
I felt Ery's Qi move at that insult, but I shook my head and put an arm in front of her. "If that's really what you think, you're welco to stay for the wedding, father. But after that, you're out of here. You're all out of here." I said seriously, eyeing each one of my relatives in turn, except for the teenagers.
When my eyes fell on Severa, she narrowed hers at , and scanned up and down. I felt like she was trying to get a read on , but then huffed as if she didn't see as worth anything.
"You're making a mistake, Ivory. Alienating one of the best families in the Floral Hills - one you're a part of, no less - isn't smart." She said, trying to make it sound threatening.
I scoffed. "I'm pretty sure that by the end of the wedding this weekend one of us would have cut off the other one way or another. At least this way I get to do it on my terms."
"Have it your way then." Severa said, and stood. As she did so, most of the family followed suit, except the teens who looked like they wanted to be anywhere else other than here.
Leon snickered. "What an idiot." He muttered under his breath.
"Oh, right! How silly of !" I said, and laughed. "You wanted proof I was a Sky Realm Cultivator, right? How could I forget?" I said loudly, then let my Domain flow out from . It covered over a hundred ters without directing it at all.
As my family mbers turned to look at with various expressions from disgust to anger, I flexed my Domain. With the exception of the area directly around , Ery, her family, and the teens, practically the entire basin beca an ice scape. Frost covered everything within seconds.
And I directed special care to my family. They were each encased in ice, about half an inch thick. I left the layer of frost on their heads thinner, so they wouldn't suffocate before it thawed.
I simply picked up my tableware and began to gather things from the table for cleaning up.
"Avuri?" Ery asked, only mildly concerned.
"They'll thaw. Ignore them." I said, going about my cleaning.
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