Ery opened her eyes slowly. It was still early, judging by the relative lack of light in the bedroom, and she blinked blearily trying to get her vision straight.
"Morning, love." Avuri said from her right. Ery turned toward her wife and blinked the sleep from her eyes. Avuri was propped up against her pillows and had been reading a book quietly before Ery awoke. Ery offered a goofy, half-lidded smile in her still sleepy state. She wiggled a bit to sit up more normally against her pillows, then scooted closer to Avuri.
Avuri placed her book on the small bedside table to resettle herself and she put an arm around Ery's shoulders, pulling her further in so that she rested more fully against Avuri. Avuri kissed Ery's head and then leaned her cheek against Ery.
Ery sighed, fully content to spend all day right there. She leaned into the cuddle, laying her head against Avuri's collarbone. She delighted in the feeling of Avuri running her fingers through her hair and massaging her scalp. Avuri would often do this, her fingers tracing the faint lines of the scars hidden under her hair.
Ery smiled happily. "You know, I had a dream about the night I told you about my scars." She shivered slightly under the gentle scratching. "Never would I have thought then that we'd be in this position now."
Avuri laughed. "No, I suppose not. I knew I was interested in you, but I'm pretty sure at the ti I thought it was more related to your interesting fighting skills." She paused. "Well, maybe. I do recall thinking you were attractive but that's just a Cultivator thing."
With a nod, Ery considered the line of thought. "Sa here, I think. I feel like Cultivator bodies make being attractive kinda cheap. I don't want to say sothing like 'when everyone is attractive, no one is,' but it feels that way a little bit."
Avuri moved to more fully embrace Ery in a hug as they cuddled, pulling Ery nearly into her lap. "I see what you're saying though. When everyone around you is gorgeous, you take note of physical beauty less. Unless soone is to your particular taste, I suppose."
"Yeah, that's more or less the idea. I do think you are beautiful, Ri. But so are so many other Cultivators, that the impact was a little lost on when we first t." Ery chuckled, lost in thought. "Honestly, I kinda regret it now. That we didn't have a mont where our eyes t at that tournant and we both were just stopped dead by each other."
Avuri snickered. "Maybe not, but I will say that our second eting left one hell of an impression on . Seeing you completely covered in blood and crying over a dying child…It was like a tragic painting. Beautiful but so forlorn and sad. I don't think I'll ever forget it."
Ery thumped the back of her head against Avuri's chest playfully. "You know, I barely even rember that day? It's all in snippets and flashes, despite being one of the most pivotal monts of my whole life."
"No, I can see how that's the case. You were really shaken up when I found you, and we barely ever talk about any of those days." Avuri responded. "I'm still not sure if talking about their mories with the kids would be better or worse than not."
"I'm not sure. I think we've been taking the right approach by varying it for each kid. I don't want to force anyone to relive the hell they went through and talk about it if they seem like they're adjusting well. And if they aren't adjusting well…well, everyone is different. We can only do our best to help everywhere we can."
"I know." Avuri said. "I think we've had a pretty good record so far. Everyone in the family at the mont is at least doing well."
"Yeah. I'm really proud of what we've managed to do so far." Ery murmured quietly, still relaxed. "Imagine what we could do with the hundreds or thousands of years of a Cultivator's lifeti."
They both went quiet at that, seemingly content to think about it as they cuddled together in bed in the dim light before sunrise.
A few minutes passed before Avuri spoke. "Where do you think we'd be if I chose not to co and see you after I got your letter?" Her voice carried the distinct lilt of soone curious and deep in thought.
"You'd probably still be a mber of the Frozen Mountain Sect, I imagine. And I would probably be doing this, just far less well without you." Ery said, matter-of-factly.
Avuri chuckled. "Ever the pragmatic one, you. I ant it though; where do you think we'd be?"
Ery snorted. "You say I'm just being pragmatic, but it's true. If you hadn't co to visit, I'd probably still be running this place. Maybe leaning on Uncle Vale and my brothers and sisters more, though. And you didn't have any real tangible plans to leave the Frozen Mountain until my letter, so there's no reason to expect you'd be anywhere else but there. Maybe even on your way to be a Master or an Elder." She paused for just a mont before adding, "Well, even you aren't that old yet," with a snicker.
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Avuri swatted her shoulder in retaliation. "Jerk. Be serious."
Ery smiled and settled into Avuri's hug again. "Okay, okay." She said, trying to settle Avuri down a little. Then she thought about it. "I really don't know. Obviously, I would be living here. I was before I sent you the letter after all." She made a face after that. "I don't think…" She took a breath. "I don't think I'd have the sa kids here. I can't speak to the number either way. But I…Well, we made it to Stena because of you, so…"
Avuri gave Ery a comforting caress, turning her wife's head toward her. "I'm sure even without around, you still would save any and all you could. But of course you'd have different leads without around." Avuri said as she bumped their foreheads together.
"I don't think you're right about , though." Avuri said thoughtfully. "When your letter arrived, I think I was looking for an excuse to travel. If it wasn't for you, I don't know that I would've left the Mountain so permanently, but I do think I would've taken a long trip. Who knows who I could've t if I went East instead of West."
Ery smiled, a little bit of danger glinted in her eyes. "You think you would've settled with soone else?"
"I don't think anyone else out there could have captivated quite the way you did," Avuri said without missing a beat.
"Good answer." Ery returned, laughter clear in her tone. "Even though I'm sure you would've found soone. You're wonderful and very easy to love, Ri."
Avuri gave her wife a kiss in response. "So are you. I was shocked at how easily you told all of that stuff when we first t. You barely knew , and there you were, just putting it all out there."
Ery nodded. "It was exactly like I told you then. I like being an open book when it cos to the core of who I am. I'm not ashad, and I'm not particularly secretive - at least to friends. But more than anything else, all of the stuff I told you that night is so critical to who I am as a person. It's never sat right with , holding that stuff back from people who are even remotely close to ."
She snickered. "Hell, I don't really hide it from anyone except those I might consider enemies. I've told watered down versions of it all to kids on the streets of cities if they ask about my scars."
Avuri looked down at her with mild disapproval. "I hope you -"
"I've never told any kid any version of it that would be even a little scary. Or at least nothing more so than 'I was kidnapped when I was little, so be good and listen to your parents,' anyway."
Avuri took that in and considered it. "I hope you didn't accidentally scar anyone's children by putting thoughts in their heads that they could just randomly be kidnapped."
"You know as well as I do that it's a very unfortunate and very real possibility, Ri. But I do agree. I don't think I've ever told anyone in a way that would be scarring." She paused, thinking about it a bit more. "This world is kinda shit, isn't it? With all the demonic bullshit."
Avuri muttered an affirmative. "If nothing else, whoever developed the techniques to influence and harm children should be well and truly punished. Though I imagine they probably weren't."
"Not sure anyone really knows. Most demonic techniques don't have their histories tracked the way most regular Cultivator techniques do. And when they can be traced back to soone or sowhere specific, it's usually either a random beast or so old asshole who's still out there being evil and bragging about it."
"Even knowing that, it would really be nice to have soone to direct all the disgust and anger at." Avuri said, with a bit of an edge to her voice. "Hunting demonic Cultivators is great, but it doesn't really change anything. Not really."
"You don't need to tell ." Ery said with a heavy sigh. "I know we're doing what we can. But there's too many demonic Cultivators out there that are way too strong for us to deal with. We'd need to get a lot stronger before we could deal with them. And that also ans leaving their underlings alone."
Avuri hugged Ery a bit tighter. "We'll keep doing what we can. And it's not like we've been slacking on our own Cultivation. We'll get there."
"I know. We can still do plenty while we're in the Sky Realm. We'll keep working on our Domain control and work toward the Heavenly Realm." Ery said, letting her Qi flow just a bit to reinforce her intent. Avuri's fingers trailing through her hair cald Ery quickly, lulling her back into relaxation.
"Follow your own advice, rri. Do what you can to improve. Don't let what you can't affect get you down. Don't get caught up in negativity. Choose happiness." Avuri said, repeating so of Ery's favorite little adages.
Ery burst out laughing then. Avuri looked down at her, confused, as Ery got her giggles under control. Once she did so, one of her hands reached up to tangle in Avuri's as of yet uncombed locks. With a big smile on her face, Ery pulled her wife down into a kiss.
"You're exactly right. And I just recently overheard Stena giving the exact sa advice to Arek." She said, by way of explanation. "It's so easy to give that sort of advice, and even to see the wisdom of it. It's so much harder to actually live it."
"You've done well so far, love." Avuri chuckled. "I think you're maybe the best of us when it cos to living out that advice. Well, maybe except for Vale and Stena. Stena in particular. That girl is sothing else."
"I know." Ery said. "One of the things about myself that I take the most pride in is my ability to endure a lot of bullshit and keep smiling and being happy. But Stena is such a ray of sunshine, there's just no way for to compete."
They both smiled for a mont before Ery suddenly flinched. It seed the sun had risen, and a bright ray of sunshine had made its way into their room and was currently landing squarely in Ery's eyes. With a grunt, she put an arm up to shield herself from the sudden brightness.
This all just made Avuri laugh. "Speaking of sunshine. I suppose we should get up."
"Nah." Ery said, leaning back and looking straight up at Avuri. "We can spare ten…twenty minutes." She grinned deviously.
"And just what do you plan to do for those twenty or so minutes?" Avuri asked, smiling back playfully.
"I'm gonna make you shine brighter than the sun." She said coolly.
Avuri's face went deadpan so fast that Ery could have sworn she heard the sound barrier break. "No. Just…no. That was bad, even for you."
"Sorry…" Ery apologized. "I was just trying to keep the whole sun the going."
"I know. Still wasn't good." Avuri said, playfully shoving Ery away.
And then Ery tackled her to the bed.
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