Avuri
As they walked around the familiar rooms and hallways of their house, Avuri's mind was combing through all of the scrolls and studies she had read about Inner Worlds. There were so many theories and ideas about how they functioned, how they were shaped and made, what affected them, and so on. But the truth was, no one really knew.
People had long connected the ideas of Qi, Domains, Inner Worlds, and the soul. It just felt natural that things that were clearly based upon your very nature would be connected to the very essence of a person, but there was no way to prove any of that true. There were just as many musings out there that it was the other way around - that Qi and the body's Inner World shaped the person's personality instead.
There were really just too few ways to make a determination of how it all worked together. Especially when even the idea of the soul itself wasn't exactly a forgone conclusion, just a fairly readily accepted one.
But this experience was still making Avuri question all of it. Their fused Inner World had basically constructed a near one-to-one copy of their physical ho. There were a few changes here and there, especially on the outside and in the decorations, but the layout was pretty much exactly the sa.
Sothing that had imdiately caught Avuri's attention was the invisible flows of Qi moving through the house, each of which seed to correlate with one of them or the activity in the space. They noted how Ery's tal Qi suffused the kitchen, for example, muddled with so fire Qi where the stove would be. Or how Avuri's water and ice Qi flowed through the ditation room on the lower floor, a spot that she often retreated to when she wanted more purposeful peace and quiet.
But for the most part, they could feel their combined Qi flowing together throughout the space, mingling all around them. The feeling of closeness and affection that it all forced up quickly had Avuri holding her wife's hand as they wandered through their house. It was a little strange, moving from room to room without the constant ambience of children being loud in and around the place, but there was so much around that kept drawing their interest that the lack of sounds quickly fell out of their minds.
The kitchen table that they typically ate smaller als at had two place settings already out, and Avuri ran her finger along the edge of her favorite plate as they passed. Ery giggled at her.
"Really? That's your favorite plate?" She asked, eyeing the old pewter-like piece of tableware. It was one that Ery had created in haste, and it had gotten pretty beat up over the years, with even a small crack through the edge on one side.
"It is." Avuri said, thinking of the first al she had ever eaten in the Basin with the people who would end up her new family. The al that had eaten from each of the pieces that were set out at her spot.
Ery's face flushed. There was sothing about being in their Inner World that made it nearly impossible to hide any sort of emotion on their faces. Even the smallest emotion could cause an uncontrolled, wide smile. "I see." She said, able to read Avuri's thoughts. And then she pointed to the singular cup that stood out alongside all of the cheap talware beside it. "And what about that one?"
"You don't rember?" Avuri asked, picking up the copy of the poorly shaped ceramic cup. Unlike the tal ones, this one was in pristine condition, despite the wobbly shape of it, clearly made by a child's hands.
"Honestly? No. I don't think I recognize it." Ery said, confused.
"I suppose that's fair. I hid it way in the back of the cupboard." Avuri said with a smile. "I don't rember exactly when, but Cierra and Stena made it for . We took them into the city for a day out and they sat through a kids' pottery class, rember?"
Avuri wasn't sure if Ery actually rembered, or was simply able to say she did because of Avuri's own mory of the event coming to the fore of her mind. That thought of doubt made Ery chuckle. "We really should figure out a way to separate our thoughts a bit more, huh."
"Yeah…" Avuri said, taking note of the tableware at Ery's place at the table. Most of the pieces were sowhat recent ones, but nothing Avuri could be mad at. A few years previous, they had bought a large quantity of pure white ceramic ware, and then had the kids each claim a set of their own, adding designs to their claid pieces with paint.
It had been no surprise when the kids had banded together to decorate Ery's and Avuri's tableware with handprints and nas under each one. And it was those that were set up at her spot at the table.
As they slid from room to room, it beca more and more clear that the whole place was set up with items that were like crystalized mories for each of them. There were significant little trinkets everywhere they looked, calling to mind very potent mories for one or both of them, quickly becoming a literal stroll down mory lane.
Avuri's heart just about lted when they made it to the third floor bedrooms. The floor had been unnaturally extended with a series of extra rooms that shouldn't have fit the visual floorplan from the outside. But the additions were there to highlight the sa sort of mory based importance that the rest of the house did.
The extra rooms were there to cover each kid that had ever stayed in the main house with them. Each one had their own room, from Cierra all the way to Astra, laid out just like they had it when they used it. Copies of favorite toys and clothing were laid out in each room in a fitting way, whether that be Stena's favorite clothes thrown around on the bed and chair, or Kord's neatly folded outfits stacked on the chest at the foot of the bed.
While the children's rooms were a definite treat that Avuri had a strong desire to revisit later, there was also a much larger situation that was demanding her attention.
The entire third floor, as it was, was practically consud with a mass of Qi. The entire house was positioned so that the main length of the hallway was positioned from one side of their Inner World to the other, with large windows facing each of the opposing mountains. Each window had a huge current of Qi flowing in through it toward the center of the hallway where they both turned in toward two different doors that led to what Avuri was sure must have been their bedroom, despite the extra rooms beyond it.
This book's true ho is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
"Well. That's subtle." Ery had said once they had put it all together.
Avuri laughed. "About as subtle as we are, I suppose."
Ery just snorted. "Right. Shall we go take a look?"
"After you." Avuri said, motioning Ery forward, despite the fact that they were still walking side-by-side and hand-in-hand.
Avuri actively tried to ignore the Qi swirling around the room when they first walked through the first doorway to take in everything else. Aside from the additional added doorway to creat two entrances to their room, the layout was nearly the sa as their current bedroom. Like with the kids' rooms, there were a few small alterations that called to mind earlier layouts of the room, and each and every change clearly designed to call to mind a specific mory.
Avuri's side table had a selection of her favorite combs throughout the years displayed neatly in a velvet-lined box. There were small tokens that Ery had gifted her throughout their marriage alongside it, with her favorite hairpins, accessories, and the like neatly lined up. Ery's side was much the sa, with little ice sculptures that Avuri had made for fun over the years displayed, frozen in ti, inured against lting.
Of course, the item in the room that had caught her attention the most was the wedding cord that was hung up over their bed. It was an item they both cherished, and normally stored in an Array to keep it safe. Seeing it so proudly displayed imdiately caused strong emotions to well up inside her, bringing tears with it.
"Wow." Ery said, clearly feeling the sa assault of emotions - probably not just because they were literally shared.
"Yeah." Avuri breathed. "I wonder if we could find a way to do that safely."
"I'm sure we could manage sothing." Ery said, staring at the wonderful red cord while blinking away tears.
They stood together, just staring at it for a long mont, shoulders pressed into one another, as mories ran through both their minds.
Eventually, though, the overwhelming amount of roiling Qi in the room demanded their attention. While the two apparently opposing forces filtered into the room from opposite sides - one all fire and steel, the other all ice and water - they mashed together in a chaotic ss in the bedroom, lding into one singular mass of Qi which then traveled out their balcony to flow over the rest of their Inner World, creating a calm lake that settled over the ground in their central glade area that was full of their combined, fused Qi.
Once her attention shifted to it, the flow of Qi was actually quite beautiful. It was unlike anything Avuri had ever encountered before, and had a wonderful sense of naturalness to it, as if it was exactly how everything there was supposed to be.
And yet, upon seeing it, like with so many pieces of a person's own Inner World, Avuri instinctively knew how it all functions and how to interact with it. She turned to Ery, completely in unison with her, and nodded.
"You feel it too, right?"
"Sure do."
"Then you know -"
"Yeah."
With Ery's affirmative, they both walked toward their associated doors, out into the hallway, then toward each window that matched their original Qi signature. The hallway was long, but not so much that Avuri couldn't see Ery when she nodded and pulled the window partially closed. Avuri followed suit, leaving the window open wide enough to still let a fair amount of Qi through, but it was enough to curb the absolute torrent it had been previously.
She watched as the lessened stream of Qi continued to flow down the hall and into their bedroom, where the two streams t each other. Almost as soon as she watched the smaller portion of Qi turn through the door, Avuri felt her connection to Ery thin out, becoming more like the bond they had shared for the last several years. Strong, but not overwhelming.
They both strolled back toward the bedroom, posting up against the empty wall between the two doors to watch the slightly more controlled tangle of Qi, their thoughts fully separate for the first ti in weeks.
"Inner Worlds are really…weird." Ery said eventually, prompting a laugh from Avuri.
"No kidding. But I guess all of this is ant to be spiritual representations of things, right?"
Ery turned to look back at the Qi flowing through the hallway. "I don't think that makes it less strange."
"No, I suppose not." Avuri allowed. "But seeing it laid out like this does make our bond much easier to visualize and control. Just like anything else you do in your Inner World." As if to demonstrate her point, Avuri focused for a mont, picturing the sight of their ho, the flow of Qi, and the window in her mind. Gently, she eased the window open, trying to strengthen their connection.
Right on cue, the window that she had just nearly closed swung back the other way, letting in more of the surging Qi. Ery squeaked suddenly, jumping as she was suddenly assaulted by Avuri's full thoughts again.
Avuri looked apologetic once she ntally closed the window again.
Ery just stared at her, unamused. "At least we know which direction that connection works. A little weird that we can choose to force connection, and not whether or not to receive it, but I guess it's what we're working with.
Avuri shrugged. "At least we don't have to be reading minds all day."
Ery sighed. "I guess we should take the win where we can get them. I'm worried those are going to be in short supply pretty soon."
Avuri stepped closer to Ery and wrapped her up in a comfortable embrace. "I don't think that's necessarily true. I understand the fear, though."
Ery laid her forehead on Avuri's shoulder the best she could at her height. "I just can't help but feel like there's going to be so sort of trap for us. Bouquet is a political and trade powerhouse, but if this cos to literal blows, I don't think there's a world where they stand a chance. Their Cultivators are too weak."
"If I know the phras, they'll absolutely have sothing to even the odds. They don't usually pick fights that they obviously can't win."
"Do they even pick fights that are 50-50?" Ery asked tentatively.
Avuri bit her lip. "No. They don't."
"That's what I thought. We must be missing sothing if we're still thinking this is an even fight."
"Or they're being misled by their new dragon friends." Avuri offered. It wasn't exactly a great option for their survival either, but if they were really just being led by the nose by Aysol, at least they might have so idea what to expect.
"I hope so."
Avuri laid her head against Ery's and sighed. "Yeah. too."
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