Avuri

"Alright, it's time for bed." Avuri said to the expected chorus of groans and boo's.

"Mom, you're so mean!" Flyn whined. "Every time you tell us a story before bed, you stop right at all the good parts."

"I think she stopped at a fine part tonight." Ritz argued. "They got away from the city safely, and we more or less know what happens next, right Briar?"

Briar nodded. "Well, putting Ms. Risha and Mr. Fal aside, we're all here, aren't we?"

"That's true…" Flyn muttered.

"It's weird to hear about all that stuff now." Shara said. Avuri smiled at the little girl; she was the one that had asked about it, curious about how her older siblings had come to be part of the family.

"It's the same for all of us, I'd bet." Briar said. "I think a lot of us try not to think about the days that led us here, except maybe about meeting Mom and Momri."

The younger kids who had been listening all went quiet. Even with a few years between them and their own run-ins with the demonic Cultivators, the mental wounds were still fresh enough that they didn't like thinking about it. For Ritz and Shara, that had been nearly five years before, and they still avoided thinking about it.

For Flyn, Evin, and Astra, it was only barely coming up on two years, and they still seemed actively bothered whenever anyone mentioned their captivity. It was getting better, though, however slowly. Being surrounded nearly constantly by a supportive and understanding family no doubt helped.

Avuri was still somewhat skeptical over the whole thing, but a few of the kids insisted that hearing about how the older kids had gone through the same sort of ordeal helped. Avuri hadn't experienced the same sort of trauma, so while she wasn't sure about it all, she deferred to Emery who had much more similar experiences.

It had still taken until now for Flyn, Evin, and Astra to be interested though. Ritz and Shara tagged along, but they had been told this story once before as well. Avuri had been the one to ask Briar to sit in on it this time, as she wasn't sure what Briar wanted told as part of the story anymore. Their decision to not want to be referred to as a girl anymore was a more recent development, after the last time Avuri had told the story. She wanted to be sure that Briar had the chance to clarify anything to the kids if they asked, or to stop Avuri from continuing if they didn't like it.

There were a brief couple of questions about Avuri saying Briar had been a little girl, but the answers that followed from Briar were straightforward enough that the other children all took it at face value. They didn't need any more clarification than Briar was a girl before, but chose not to be anymore.

While the kids were lightly arguing about the story and asking Briar questions, Avuri slid Evin off her lap so she could stand. "Alright, off to bed with you six."

A second round of sighs followed along with some grumbling, but they all started getting up to run off to bed. Each of the younger children gave Avuri a hug and received a kiss on their forehead or in their hair before departing. Briar waited until last, then gave Avuri a tight hug, squeezing a little tighter than normal. Avuri felt a wry smile spread on her face as she squeezed back reassuringly.

"You sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeah." Briar said, then sniffled a little. "I suppose it doesn't matter how much time passes. That experience is still so seared in there that hearing about it drudges it all up."

"We're here if you need us."

"I know, Mom. I'll be fine." Briar finally released the hug, and despite the brief sniffling Avuri had heard, Briar's face looked clear and calm.

Avuri nodded. "Alright, then. Good night, Briar."

"Night, Mom."

Once Briar departed, Avuri headed back to the main house to prep for her own nighttime activities. Emery was waiting in their bedroom for her, already fully prepared for what had become their nighttime routine over the last couple weeks.

"You're late." Emery teased, sprawled out comfortably on the bed.

"Yeah, well, the kids wanted to hear more of the story."

Emery let out a massive sigh. "It's always you who they want to tell the stories…"

Avuri snickered as she got undressed and swapped over to sturdier, but cheaper clothing. "I guess I just tell it better?" she teased.

Emery whined as pitifully as she could manage while rolling around on the bed, which made Avuri chuckle. Once she was dressed, she moved to sit on the edge of the bed beside Emery, who immediately rolled half way into her lap. "Are you ready yet?"

"Yep, pretty much." Avuri said, running her fingers gently through Emery's hair. The other woman purred as the light touch slowly morphed into something just shy of an actual scratch, as Avuri dragged her nails over Emery's scalp.

Emery shivered as the nails trailed over her skin, but rolled from Avuri's grasp before she could repeat the motion for a fifth time. "If I let you keep doing that, we'll never leave."

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Avuri chuckled, but stood and then helped Emery off the bed. "Right, let's get moving then."

The two of them bounced between the kids' rooms in the house to say goodnight to everyone before they followed their newest evening ritual, taking a speedy stroll to just beyond the Basin's Arrays. They stepped outside the climate controlling barrier, setting themselves up on a cleared patch of ground that was situated midway between the northern and western Dragon Peaks - the Flowing Dragon Peak and the Iron Dragon Peak, respectively.

It was the best spot they could think of for the two of them to Cultivate and try to process the dragonblood. The area was well balanced between the metal and water elements, which worked well with the two of them naturally. And, just in case, they had actively cleared the land around their little spot for some distance - just in case their eventual assimilation of the dragonblood was as explosive as Kord's had been.

Ever since the night that Kord had finished refining the dragonblood, the pair had actively left the Basin to work on their own dragonblood. They had checked in with Vale regarding the explosion that Kord had caused, and he had affirmed that it was a possibility. The final step of incorporating the power could cause an explosion of Qi to erupt from the body when it adjusted to the new level of power.

The more concerning issue was that Vale had no idea what sort of effect the link between Emery and Avuri would have. They were all concerned that the feedback loop created could make the explosion exponentially larger. And they were already a full Realm and then some ahead of Kord when it came to strength, so it was anyone's guess what kind of chaos Emery and Avuri may cause. Thus, they decided to go a fair distance away from the Basin.

Avuri was pretty sure, even if they erupted with Qi in an area ten times the size of Kord's, they still wouldn't reach the Basin. They were both worried, however, that they would accidentally take a chunk out of the mountainside.

Either way, none of it mattered until they both finished processing the dragonblood. After their link was strengthened to the point that their Qi was basically the same, their bodies had also become weirdly connected. They could each feel the other pushing the dragonblood through their body as if it were their own.

Once they had settled in and begun Cultivating for the night, both women had immediately set to processing the dragonblood. At first, they were spending half the night on regular Cultivation - mostly to settle their new combined Qi - but had swapped to focusing on the dragonblood all night in the last week or so.

Avuri agreed with Emery's suspicion that they were both nearing the end of their sequestered nights. Avuri's little drop of dragonblood was getting noticeably smaller in her core as she spread the concentrated energy around her body. She could also feel the much denser core of the dragonblood as she scraped against it to gather the rest of the usable power.

Avuri slipped into her meditation, leaned up against Emery's back, and went to work quickly. Pushing the energy from the dragonblood out from her core felt like spiritually kneading and stretching a dough. She had to push it out and stretch it toward her extremities, fighting against its elasticity that wanted to pull it back toward her core. The process was slow, but also satisfying as she felt the power settle into her torso, then spread beyond it.

When she finally felt the last bit of workable energy peel from the dragonblood core, she felt her body quiver and tighten, as if preparing to pounce. Something deep in her soul told her to hold it back until Emery was ready to take that final step as well. It only felt like a few moments later that Avuri felt Emery tense for that same final step.

Together, they stretched the power one final time, kneading it into place. In the instant that it settled, there was a rush of Qi. Avuri felt like someone had blinded her with a flash of lightning. All of her Qi senses blanked out, completely overwhelmed by the flash of power as her body readjusted to the consolidation of new power.

It took her longer than she had expected to recover from the feeling. When Kord had blown off the top of their house, he had seemed mildly stunned, but that was all. In her case, Avuri felt functionally blind in all of her senses for several minutes. She wasn't sure how long it had been when she also realized that she couldn't feel Emery beside her - and it wasn't because Emery had gone anywhere, but rather that even her sense of touch had been blinded.

She felt like she was floating in a void, and she had to fight to remain calm. At least for a while. If something had actually gone wrong, there would no doubt be plenty of time to worry about it later once she was sure something was wrong.

She waited as patiently as she could, and then finally her senses started to clear up. She could feel Emery against her back, but it was like her body was numb, or perhaps distant somehow. Muted.

Then her spiritual awareness began to return, and she started to feel much better. The small twinge of fear that had begun to settle in dissipated, making room for a new sense of awe. And that was quickly followed by a desire to laugh out loud.

As her blinded eye sight returned, Avuri looked over herself. Her arms and legs were dusted with a smattering of shimmering white scales. Unlike Kord's, which looked and functioned more like armor, Avuri's were almost soft and flexible. They also didn't really cover her extremities, being scattered about more like freckles. She didn't dislike the effect, though.

There were two more prominent physical changes that she could feel that demanded her attention, though. Her head felt unusually heavy and top heavy, which prompted her to reach up to the top of her head with her hands, but she also tried to concentrate for a more third-person view using her Qi.

She had a set of antler-like horns on her head. They weren't too large, only extending 25 or 30 centimeters from her head. But both were shaped the same - a straight piece of horn that branched off two thirds of the way up in a shape resembling an upside down 'h'. They felt hard to the touch, similar to a normal antler, but also radiated a bit of cold.

And, finally, she had left the biggest addition to examine last. The sudden addition of two new appendages to her back felt incredibly strange. It wasn't anything like wearing a strapped on pack or the like because she had full control and feeling in them. Tentatively, trying to figure out how the new muscles worked, she tried to flex the new wings in different ways, but the only real thought she had about them was that she'd need lessons on how to use them and fly.

Once she figured out how to flex them forward, she grabbed one with a hand so she could hold it steady for inspection. The wing looked mostly normal, with the bones covered in the same white scales scattered over her body, and the thinner webbing made of a leather-like material. It felt much more durable to the touch than actual leather, though.

When she finally spun around to face her wife, who had undergone several physical changes herself, Avuri had to hold back her laughter once again.

Emery sat there, facing Avuri, while holding her new tail in her hands, staring down at it with a mixture of dismay and annoyance on her face. Thankfully, Avuri could feel her emotions through their link as well, and her wife wasn't as upset as she looked.

"Emery…? You okay?"

Emery took a deep breath, let it out, and squeezed her new appendage briefly before shoving it away. The tail swung back around to swish behind her as if it had a mind of its own. Or, more likely, Emery had no control over it.

There was a moment of silence as the two stared at one another before Emery finally shouted, "I can't believe I have a fucking tail!"

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