The walk to the city gates was a quiet one. It seed like no one wanted to talk, so Ery and I just walked side by side and led my family from the front. Practically everyone had sour faces, presumably from the upcoming four hour trek. Well, except for Glenn and Cove, you were chatting amicably.
The two boys, both in their late teens, seed to be more than comfortable with the long walk. But if i wasn't mistaken, they both also looked like they had strong, in shape bodies. Perhaps they were even training as Cultivators, which was certainly unusual for my family. Unless my joining the Frozen Mountain Sect had changed sothing, but I sohow doubted that would be the case.
Mica, Glenn's younger sister, followed behind the two of them. She also looked surprisingly fit for my family, but not nearly as happy about all this. I suspected, given that she was wearing nice clothing, that it was more about getting her clothes dirty more so than the walk.
The adults, though, were all ranging from dour to borderline angry, with Severa being the worst. She didn't surprise though - Severa was always angry at everything that she didn't plan or create herself. Nothing to be done about her.
Leon also looked at with a pretty intense sneer, but that was also nothing new. He was younger than by five years, and seed to hold a grudge for simply existing. I thought maybe when I had essentially left the family, leaving him to inherit, he might have gotten over his practically blatant hatred of , but here we were.
I had to remind myself more than once not to hold anything against Glenn, Mica, and Cove. They were all less than ten years old when I had left, and we barely knew each other.
I took a deep breath to center myself. Then another. Ery shot a look, asking if I was okay and I nodded. One more deep breath and I broke off from Ery to fall back to the teenagers for a mont. Their conversation stopped as they stared at , confused.
"Sorry to interrupt." I said weakly and smiled. "Mica, did you want sothing to cover your clothes, or sothing else to change into for the hike? I feel bad asking you to hike a mountain when you're clearly wearing sothing really nice."
Her eyes sparked to life, and she seed shocked but pleased than I cared. "Do you have sothing like that? I'd love not to get this dress dirty." She said, holding out her skirt from her sides. I smiled.
"I have a larger robe you could throw over the top of the dress if you'd like. Or I think you and Ery are about the sa size if you'd like to borrow sothing."
Ery glanced back when I said her na, then smiled and gave Mica a thumbs up. Mica looked relieved and let her skirt go. The boys also resud their conversation, deciding that this wasn't worth their attention.
"A change of clothes would be perfect," she said.
"I don't mind lending sothing to you," Ery said as she fell into step with us, "but I don't have anything other than extra work out clothes on . Is that alright?"
"Not a problem at all. So long as you don't mind them getting dirty on the walk, I suppose."
"Not even a little." Ery said, and popped a set of clean but worn work out clothes from her storage ring. It was just a simple short sleeved top and loose but comfortable pants, but Mica took them excitedly. Her head swung back and forth looking for a place to change.
"Quick detour, everyone." I said, halting the group. "We're going to drop by a place for Mica to change really fast. If anyone else is worried about their clothing getting dirty, you may want to consider doing the sa."
I was t with the expected sour faces of the adults, but no one complained thankfully. We were nearing the city gate that led back to the Peaks, which put us squarely in the Cultivator section which included a multitude of restaurants serving quick lunches for those heading into the Peaks for the day as well as inns for Cultivators.
We were near a tea shop that Ery and I had gone to a few tis when we visited the city, and we knew the owners at this point well enough that I felt comfortable asking them to borrow a room for a mont.
"This way." I said, leading everyone toward it. It was a small shop, but well decorated. It may not be to the level my family was used to, but I wasn't afraid to bring them near it. When we got closer, Ava, the owner, waved to us. Ery and I waved back.
"Ery and Avuri!" She greeted us happily, "And with a whole retinue in tow, too! What can I do for you today?"
"Sorry, Ava, we're not actually here for any tea today. My cousin needs a place to change her clothes before we go out to the Peak. Would you mind her borrowing a room to change really quickly?" I asked, motioning toward Mica.
"No problem at all." Ava said, and waved Mica in. "There's a room to the left over there you can use. Take your ti."
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Mica hurried on by toward the room with a grateful nod to Ava as she passed.
"So what brings you to the city today? Weren't you just here a few days ago for your normal shopping?" Ava asked.
"Picking up my family," I said, waving in their general direction. "They ca to visit for the wedding."
"Oh, that's lovely." Ava responded as she turned back to her tea that was brewing and began to remove the leaves that steeped long enough. "You're getting the whole thing catered by the Celestial Dragon Pavilion, right? That should be a real treat." She leaned over to address my family directly as she said, "Best food in the whole city. Expensive too."
My mother smiled graciously. "We're looking forward to it. We're mostly from Bouquet, so we're interested to see the different foods."
"I'm sure you'll enjoy them. The Pavilion is well known for being expensive, but they're also able to serve food from all over the world. Sohow." Ava shrugged. "No one knows how they get it all shipped in, but the price is worth it."
"Interesting…" My father muttered to himself, then turned to . "And you said your caterer from this place is nad Lyn?"
I flinched as I heard a gasp from Ava. "Avuri, you're on a first na basis with one of the Elders?"
All of them, in fact. I thought to myself wryly. "Sort of. Ery and I t Lyn at the Pavilion one night and she was very friendly to us. I didn't realize until later that she was the Elder." I lied through my teeth. "She's really very nice."
Ava looked a bit shell-shocked at that as Mica hurried from the borrowed room and back to the group. As she did, I turned to everyone else.
"Does anyone else need to change or do anything else before we leave the city?" I asked seriously. No one responded, so I turned back to Ava.
"It was lovely to see you Ava. I'm looking forward to the next ti we're here and can get a cup of your tea. It really is so of the best in the city."
"I appreciate you saying so. You two are welco back here any ti. Not that I needed to tell you that." Ava said with a grin. "All of you travel safely now."
"We will." Ery said with a small hand wave. "See you soon!"
And then we were off.
It wasn't a surprise that the first stretch of the hike went about the sa as the walk through the city. The older adults said nothing but resolutely took step after step. They clearly were unhappy with the traveling, but refused to complain or otherwise say much of anything. I was beginning to think they were choosing to stay silent because they wouldn't be able to speak at this pace without sounding winded; and their pride wouldn't allow that.
The teenagers seed to be having a blast, though. They were taking the climb as a challenge and were trying to outdo one another with various running tricks, jumping and flipping over obstacles. I was actually shocked that the adults hadn't told them to stop, though I supposed that there wasn't any need out here for them to behave properly.
An hour into the hike, and I noticed Ery eyeing occasionally. She motioned to her storage ring questioningly. I minutely shook my head; I didn't want to literally carry my family back in the cart we rented. Not after how we were greeted. It may not be any big sort of revenge, but I still wanted to take it.
Ery nodded in agreent - or maybe even approval - as we continued on. With a group of fourteen people, we weren't even so much as looked at by any wildlife or beasts, so the trip was safe. Which ant that I didn't even feel all that bad about making them all walk.
Halfway up the Flowing Dragon Peak, I felt it was appropriate to call for a break. The adults were starting to look a little pale, and even the teens were finally starting to flag a little. And the whole trek was about to get a lot worse as we transitioned into the snowy upper half of the mountain.
"We'll break here." I called, landing lightly on my feet after a long jump. Ery landed beside as gracefully as ever, while my family sort of stumbled to a halt. Once I called for a break, the sturdiness of the adults seed to crumble. They put in an effort to look fine as they sat, but the exhaustion was pretty clearly shown on their faces.
Ery pulled out a waterskin, sat down, and took a healthy drink from it then offered it to . I took the few steps required to reach her and followed suit. Not that either of us were even remotely tired, but the cold water still felt good going down my throat.
"Okay." I said as I sat down to relax for a bit. "The later half of the trip is going to be a bit rougher. We're right on the cusp of hitting the snowy portion of the mountain. With fourteen of us, plus two Sky Realm Cultivators, we're not likely to get attacked by anything. It could happen, so be careful. But Ery and I can handle anything natural on the Peak."
I felt just a little smug as I caught small glimpses of worry on faces that quickly masked it again.
"But the terrain is going to get trickier. You all need to be careful that you don't trip or anything like that. I know you all have good reflexes and balance given you're all Cultivators, but icy terrain is still dangerous, so be mindful of it." I slowly t each pair of eyes, trying to ignore the vastly different expressions I was receiving.
"Avuri is right. If any of you get injured, one of us will have to carry you. And I'm sure none of us want that." Ery said with a wry grin.
I caught Cove rolling his eyes and I hid a smile. I didn't know them well, but I thought I might be able to get along with the teenagers, at least. My parent's expressions were still just as prideful as ever.
"We'll be fine." My father said dourly. "We're about half way there?"
"Yes. We just need to make it up and over the rim of the basin we live in. Once we're there, you'll have ti to rest." I said.
"Good. I'm looking forward to the anities you have waiting for us."
"Yeah, too." I said with an eye roll. I wasn't sure what they would think of our basin, but I was sure as hell not going to let them talk badly about it.
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