Despite all odds, we’d managed to keep the city relatively intact.
As I stood looking out over the spread of its buildings, what felt like half of them damaged or scorched, I recognized that this was something of an accomplishment. Jideia’s presence had not done the area around the temple any favors, especially when he charged out to chase us. Not to mention the storm.
Winter had come to this region. While the people were certainly used to blizzards, apparently, no one remembered one ever being as bad as that storm had been. Snow and ice still covered the city, making the streets hard to traverse. It didn’t feel that bad compared to the damage the fighting and everything else had wrought, but I knew we were in danger of losing more people to the cold and exposure than the spirits or the storm. It was a strain on the already busy army, trying to not only sort out the mess of the noble families who’d fought, but also protect and manage the city. But we had enough strong cultivators we should be able to keep the people reasonably safe and comfortable, and I didn’t care if they wanted to grumble about menial work.
I shivered slightly, turning away from the window in my dark bedroom. In recognition of the cold, I’d slept in a loose pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt, but now I felt like I wanted something warmer. That was probably psychological. But I paused as I looked at my bed and smiled.
Our quarters had been hastily arranged in one of the noble mansions in the city that remained most intact, and the bed was a little small for all of the people using it. Kajare and Yarani and I had pounced on each other as soon as we were alone. Tenira had joined us at some point after we were finished, obviously not to participate, but just to cuddle. I was certainly happy to share some comfort the way only a good group cuddle could. Right now, I saw her still curled up with Yarani. Tenira wore a nightshirt while Yarani and Kajare didn’t. I quietly pulled up the covers that had slipped over them.
It wasn’t quite dawn yet outside. I hadn’t slept much, which was a bit of a shame, since I couldn’t really fully sleep, anyway. But my dreams just hadn’t been as relaxed as usual. I sighed softly, crossing to the wardrobe and leafing through the clothes some servant had hung up. I only recognized most of them. If nothing else, that should show that our logistics were still working.
Once I was fully dressed, I debated going outside to cultivate, but I didn’t really want to meet people right now. Instead, I settled down on the floor, calming my breathing.
Before I could fully sink into my meditation and start proper cultivation, something roused me. I opened my eyes, blinked, and tried to find out what I’d sensed. Right now, I couldn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. At least, nothing I could put my finger on. But the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I knew there was something. Frowning, I stood up.
“Nari?” Tenira asked, rolling over on the bed and gently pulling her arm out from under Yarani. “You’re already up? What’s going on?”
“Probably nothing,” I replied. “You don’t need to get up yet.”
She looked at me for a moment, then started getting out of bed. Beside her, Yarani and Kajare stirred. I sighed, but clearly, no one was going back to sleep. At least they should all have gotten enough rest, considering our cultivation stages.
I turned my focus to our surroundings. I could sense Aston and a few other guards outside, guarding the room. They appeared alert, but that was their job. Imperial guards also secured the rest of the building, and there were a few soldiers and elites around, even at this hour. I couldn’t sense any of the eighth-stagers close by, which I didn’t mind at all. They and the rest of the nobles had mostly found other accommodations. Besides that, I could sense a few servants and some citizens outside the estate, most of them probably asleep. I could go back to sleep myself and check, but that didn’t seem necessary.
Tenira opened the door and we piled into the hallway. I noticed the way the others all followed my lead without question, probably trusting into my intuition. It made me feel a little warmer. But I focused my attention on my surroundings again and started slowly making my way through the building. More guards joined us on the way, presumably alerted that there might be trouble.
We finally exited the door into an outer courtyard that was sheltered from view by the walls of the main building and two side wings of the mansion. I frowned, then stopped, as I recognized what I sensed here. “Ceion?”
The presence I’d sensed grew clearer as the darkness affinity qi shrouding it was pulled back inside. Ceion smiled a touch sheepishly. “Sorry, my lady. I hope I didn’t alarm you.”
I shook my head and stepped closer, the others still following me. “It’s not a problem. What are you doing out at this time, though?”
He hesitated. “I couldn’t sleep and was feeling restless and on edge. I thought going for a walk might help. And I tried practicing my techniques a little.”
I frowned again, more deeply. Faint alarm bells were beginning to ring in the back of my mind. “You really thought creeping through the grounds here in a place like this without being watched was a smart idea?”
Ceion blinked. I could tell that he was startled. “Now that you mention it, that might not have been one of my better ideas, was it?” he said ruefully. “I’m lucky no one took me for an attacker or thought I was trying to sneak out.”
I cocked my head. “Where were you going, Ceion?”
“Nowhere in particular. I was just taking a walk.”
I suppressed another frown, then glanced around. Suddenly, something else I hadn’t quite noticed before hit me. “Tenira, aren’t we supposed to put up little shrines to the Moon on the corners of any grounds we set up camp in? Why don’t I sense anything like that here?”
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Tenira’s eyes widened slightly, and she bit off a curse. “You’re right, that should have been done. Someone must have forgotten.”
We exchanged a look, and I noticed that Aston had grown more tense. “Well, take care of that right away,” I said to him.
“Of course, my lady.” He nodded to two other guards, who sped off.
The place clearly wasn’t under attack. Jideia and his followers, like the Auditor, must have more subtle means of accomplishing something like that.
I turned back to Ceion and sharpened my focus. Now that I was looking for it, I was starting to see the faint lines of qi binding him to me, or more accurately, something going through me. They were so faint I could barely even tell they were there, and yet, they somehow felt strained to me.
“Ceion,” I started, in a relaxed and hopefully calming tone of voice, “I should check on you, make sure your protections are functioning properly. Alright?”
He frowned, looking a little puzzled. He shifted slightly, and I recognized the tension in his posture. “Sure…” he finally said, sounding doubtful and just a little less focused than before.
I smiled at him again, careful to keep my body language relaxed, and advanced closer towards him. My guards were good enough that they didn’t visibly tense, at least, as I saw out of the corner of my eyes. I felt in my companions’ auras that they were preparing for trouble, though. Hopefully Ceion wouldn’t notice or take it badly.
“Just stay still and relaxed and let me work,” I told him.
Gingerly, I placed a hand on his head, then, after a moment’s hesitation, a second one on the side of his neck. If it came down to it, I could channel a bit of darkness qi through it to really mess up his ability to take action against me, if he didn’t catch me off guard. I just hoped that wouldn’t be necessary. And if the Auditor managed to take him over, that would probably be the least of my worries.
I slowly channeled a bit of my qi into him, trying to guide it to wind itself around his aura, like the rest that I could dimly sense. Ceion shifted, but didn’t pull away. I breathed a little easier and closed my eyes, focusing on what I could make out in his qi presence.
I only had a moment’s warning. Suddenly, qi roared through him, qi that was other, but not quite foreign. On instinct, I snatched my hand from his forehead as if it had been burned, but I forced myself not to jump back.
Ceion’s hand came up and he grabbed my arm. At the same time, he shifted his weight and I could tell he was preparing for a kick. I moved inward and shifted my arm.
He was strong, but Ceion’s cultivation was on my level, the physical strength it gave him no higher than mine. Reinforced as my body's strength was with my shapeshifting, I overpowered him pretty easily. I managed to put him into a hold, my left hand still close enough to his spinal column to act. I pushed some darkness qi out, laying it across his skin, but didn’t let it eat into him.
Ceion snarled and tried to shove me. I could hear him breathing heavily, strained and with irregular jumps and hitches. He started to shiver slightly, and I knew it wasn’t because of the cold air. I grit my teeth, trying to make out what I could from his aura and the sudden changes. Clearly, the qi coming in was responsible for this. While I’d never had the opportunity to observe him using his bloodline’s ability up close, the similarity was obvious.
“Ceion,” I said calmly. “You’re still here. I’ve got you. We’re okay. I need you to fight this.”
Ceion snarled, but halfway through, the sound shifted into a whine.
I’m going to take this as a good thing. Obviously, he can’t get a full and smooth possession. I tightened my grip slightly and kept talking in a calm tone. “You’re being influenced or controlled. I think you can tell. I need you to fight this. I can help, but only if you do that.”
I paused, unsure how to continue. If he could, he would obviously be trying to fight this already. “Remember what your father has done to you,” I finally said. “Remember what you’ve been forced to do. This time, you can fight back. You’re not helpless, you’re free. Show him that. You’re no one’s victim.”
Ceion snarled again, but I could tell it wasn’t really directed at me. His aura shifted again slightly, and I could almost see the strain intensifying as his own mind redoubled its efforts to break free from the spirit’s qi.
“I don’t think this is working,” Tenira said from behind me. I could hear the concern in her voice. “Maybe we need something more.”
I nodded, then had to refocus as Ceion struggled again against my hold. He managed to get his elbow into my stomach and I felt the air driven out of me. My grip started to slip before I could tighten it again. I locked my joints in place and increased my weight.
“Aston, can you help?” I asked.
My guard captain was beside me in an instant, carefully catching Ceion’s arm and taking some of the pressure off me.
I felt his mind touch mine a second later and let him establish contact. Then I felt him reaching out to Ceion, bringing me along.
I sighed as I felt the turmoil engulfing the spirit-child’s mind. Like I’d been afraid of, it felt like parts of it were turned against itself. But I could also tell, looking at it more closely, that the impetus for that came from outside. Ceion’s defenses were actually pretty good, and Aston was skillfully wedging himself into the cracks and helping to pry off the spirit’s qi. Of anyone here, he had the most experience with something like this, and he’d even given Ceion a lesson or two in mental defense.
I frowned and took a deep breath. Then I drew on more of my darkness qi. Quickly, but with a deft touch, I moved it around Ceion’s mind, pushing and quashing his connection to the Auditor. His qi seemed to shake as I started to cut it off from its source.
The Auditor didn’t just let me do as I pleased, though. I felt like someone punched me as more qi surged towards Ceion, but I gritted my teeth and held on. My own connection to Rijoko opened more widely, and my father’s qi flowed into and reinforced me. My attempted blockade wavered, but it held.
Everything else faded from my awareness as I focused on what I was doing. For long moments, I struggled against the Auditor. At first, I felt like I could barely hold on, but then Ceion’s will gathered itself and reinforced my own. Slowly, inexorably, we drove the Auditor off. And in so doing, we cut off all of the qi he’d sent over the connection to his son.
Finally, I opened my eyes, breathing heavily. I let go of Ceion and staggered back, until Aston steadied me.
There were tears in Ceion’s eyes when I met them again. He blinked, then shook himself. “Thank you, Inaris,” he said, his voice a little hoarse. “That was ….” He ran a hand over his face. “Can we drive him off if this happens again?”
“Yes, I’m quite sure of that,” I answered, smiling slightly. “Now that you’ve fought him off once, he’s going to have a much harder time trying that again. Just to be safe, I’ll also reinforce Rijoko’s protection over you.”
Ceion nodded. He still looked a little pale.
I took a few steps back. The other crowded more closely around us, and Yarani took one of my hands. “Was that all of it?” she asked quietly.
I shook my head slowly, then smiled. “Oh, I don’t know. I know much more about the Auditor now. I think Jideia just made a significant blunder.”
The others looked a little skeptical, but no one spoke up. I glanced back at Ceion. I was starting to think that my decision with respect to him was really going to pay off.