The chime of blades struck a crashing chord which echoed out into the garden, sweeping Song up into the rhythm of its melody.
The overture was a simple one, a hastily beaten retreat. Back step, slide, a hop, and a skip, her sabre circled purely in defense as she gave up ground before her foe. One stronger, faster, and more skilled than she, else she would not retreat so readily. There was no question about it, as she knew she was outmatched going in. Still, it was staggering to experience the vast gulf between them firsthand. In the space of a single breath, they exchanged fifteen moves and each one pushed her to the limit as he tested her defenses. A casual opening salvo which almost overwhelmed her in the first breath, she eked out every scrap of speed, strength, and cunning to merely survive. There was no rhyme or reason to follow, no pattern to be found and unravelled as his attacks came in fast and heavy from all angles, a brilliant combination she’d never seen before and would likely never see again, not in this exact order. Each move flowed seamlessly into the next to probe possible openings or lead her into making one, and it was all she could do to keep up, utilizing her sabre to block or parry the killing strikes she could not afford to duck or dodge.
So far, she was doing well, considering she was still in the fight. To the uninformed, the gap between Expert and Peak Expert seemed minor at best. The difference of a single word, but one which fell woefully short of encapsulating the staggering disparity between the two titles. The world of an Expert lay in the physical, one defined by the Movements of Forms and the infinite variations among them. Range, angle, and positioning, these were the core tenets of an Expert, the rules by which they lived and died, a doctrine she’d spent her life learning and still had yet to wholly comprehend. Rules her foe had mastered and subsequently discarded, for the world of a Peak Expert moved beyond the physical to incorporate the metaphysical, a blending of two rulesets that appeared contradictory or perhaps even antithetical at first glance, yet melded together in an almost familiar symphony of violence.
It was like when Rain directed Luo-Luo to play the same notes in a different manner, resulting in what felt like a completely new musical piece. Take for example the Killing Lunge her opponent was about to unleash, an unconventional and seemingly sub-optimal move. This was a Movement from the Tiger Forms she was so intimately aware of, one she’d performed countless times both in and out of battle, yet she’d never seen an overhand Killing Lunge delivered from on high yet angled so sharply downwards, targeting her belly as opposed to her neck, shoulder, heart, or chest. She could have easily dealt with a thrust to any one of those four areas by simply continuing her retreat, while her lower body was out of range for any such attack. When noting possible follow-ups to his feinted downward slash, this was not an option she would have ever considered, or even thought possible, yet his actions forced her to stop her retreat, stand her ground, shift her grip, pivot her hips, and twist her spine to get her sabre on course to parry what would have been a killing blow. If not for a subtle glance with his eyes, a shift of his foot, and a twitch in his shoulder, she would never have seen the attack coming, and even then it was a close thing.
That was the true threat of a Peak Expert. Not pure strength, speed, or any other physical attribute, but rather the near limitless options available to them, many of which seemed counterintuitive at first glance. While Martial Warriors were far more physically capable than commoners, the difference between Experts and Peak Experts was not so great. Elemental Blessings and signature moves aside, any Chi skill available to a Peak Expert was also available to an Expert, but a Peak Expert was a Warrior deemed to have mastered the basic eight, and it was this mastery which set them apart. A push-pull interaction of Deflection combined with an External Shroud of Reinforcement transformed her opponent’s swing into a thrust, a smooth transition that was all but impossible for the human body to execute by sheer force of muscle. A working of reversed Lightening to increase the weight of his sword operating in tandem with a Honed Domain to part the air before the tip enabled him to push the speed of his attack to its upper limits. Even her parry was taken into account; The Amplification of their impacting blades which left her fingers numbed was done by habit, but the Reverberations travelling down her sword and up her arms was a targeted attack, a supplementary tactic added to the wild thrust before the deadly feint even began, all on the off chance that she might see it coming and defend against it.
A dizzying combination of Chi skills so intertwined it was difficult to say where one started and the other ended. Add in the fluid transition from movement to movement, and Song felt as if she were playing chess with fewer pieces on the board and ten moves behind. To make matters worse, she knew full well her opponent had yet to go all out, but so far, neither had she.
With no choice but to halt her backward momentum, she reversed course and pushed forward on the offensive. Her first step brought her inside her opponent’s range, which also left her unable to bring her sabre to bear. Once she was certain her movements were obscured by their close proximity, she let her left hand drop free from her sabre’s hilt to grasp the sheath hanging from her belt. Her second Spiritual Weapon, a beautiful, wire-wrapped scabbard Papa crafted from the iridescent hide of what Rain affectionately named a rainbow dino rhino, a scintillating horned lizard of ponderous proportions native to the Southern Province. A flick of the wrist freed the scabbard from its clasp, and she continued that motion in a single-handed, reverse-grip, quick-draw attack, one that would have cut deep into her foe’s chest even with a glancing hit had he not danced away at the last moment. The Honed pane of Domain running along the wire edge of her scabbard still nicked his loose shirt however, slicing it open without touching the skin underneath, and she allowed herself a curled lip of frustration at how close she’d come to success before refocusing all her efforts on the battle at hand. A standard high-low-high exchange with her sabre and sheath allowed her to maintain her advantage, but they both knew her superior foe would soon reclaim it. Two weapons allowed for more attacks than one at the expense of precision and flexibility, and her strengths suited the latter more than the former. Still, she pressed on, attacking in a continuous left-left, right-right, criss-cross pattern to keep her foe on the back foot for as long as possible as she prepared for what she hoped would be a winning combination.
And as her sabre and sheath came crashing down against her opponent’s sword, she plated a pane of Domain a half step in front of her and used it to Cloud Step directly up. The added force was timed to coincide with the moment of impact, one Amplified by not just the twin downward swings, but also the Amplified momentum built up as she twirled her weapons about. The end result was a pair of strikes with more power than even the full-bodied quick draw attack she typically opened her fights with, yet built upon the same principles of the sum of the parts adding up to more than the whole. A feat of control and coordination resulting in pure, unadulterated power, and the results spoke for themselves as she forced open her foe’s guard and left him open to attack. Unfortunately, it also left her in no position to capitalize, as even arresting her upwards motion to vault over her foe delayed her long enough for him to recover. Her twin slashes, though delivered while still overhead, failed to connect as he tumbled backwards to keep her from taking his rear, so she Lightened for all she was worth and Cloud-Stepped a second time while still upside down. Their blades clashed, and with the weight of her swings buoyed by gravity, she rained down a flurry of blows from on high as they crossed the field in the blink of an eye. It was a matter of position. In order to face her, he had his weight on his heels and his spine wrenched back while she stood with what was more or less a normal posture, albeit one wherein her feet were using the sky as a ceiling to run across. Their roles would reverse if she ever fell too far down, but all she had to do was maintain her cloak of Lightening while utilizing her Plated Domain to keep her airborne and her body ‘upright’.
An atypical stance delivering familiar Movements from an unfamiliar angle, and all of this combined put her foe quite literally on the back foot. It wasn’t without cost however, as the lack of grounding was costing her dearly in terms of power and defense. Getting hit with your feet planted in the dirt was much less painful than getting hit while floating about, and her opponent hammered this point home time and time again even with his disadvantageous posture. The benefits of her Refined physique proved their worth here, because while her foe was similarly fortified, she suspected a normal Martial Warrior’s bones would have fractured or broken entirely beneath the repeated Reverberations delivered with every trade. She countered them as best she could, but her opponent was a wily and experienced foe who varied the speed and intensity of his reverberating strikes to keep her from nullifying them so easily.
A hundred and seven exchanges passed before her atypical stance proved too much to bear any longer. Driving her sabre down at her foe, she used the feedback to cartwheel aside and land facing him. A good thing too, as he launched his counter-offensive before her feet ever touched the ground, but she’d been expecting as much. Instead of waiting to land, she landed on a pane of Plated Domain at waist height and used it to find her balance and step back onto a second pane of Plated Domain, then a third as if retreating down a set of stairs. Blocking a whirlwind of attacks all the while mind you, as her foe chained one Movement into another in a superlative blend of grace and power. All imbued with the same suite of Chi Skills as before no less, the effort so ingrained into his actions that it seemed the next best thing to effortless.
While Zian was famed for utilizing his twin sabres to form a dizzying defense of steel, Song was not so well versed in dual-wielded defense, nor was she capable of harnessing the chiming notes of metals to create a Resonating symphony which tore her foes apart from within. It was all she could do to get sabre or sheath between her and her opponent’s blows, and though she gave it her best as she stepped and twirled away in a whirling retreat, she knew what lay waiting at the end of this exchange. A resounding defeat, one she refused to accept, so she took a page from Rain and did something she was loathe to do all too often.
She cheated.
Her cat’s tail twitched as it came free of her belt, where she’d recently taken to keeping it tucked in. Ostensibly so she wouldn’t have to pay close attention to where it swung while dangling down from her backside, as even so minor a distraction as moving her tail could spell the difference between life and death. In truth, she’d been training her tail in secret and learning how to control it as well as any other muscle in her body. Something she should’ve started doing so long ago, as it was a part of her the same as any limb or organ, yet she’d treated it like a useless protuberance that gave away her emotions far too often for her liking. Learning to keep it still had been difficult enough, but she found training it to move as she desired far more complicated than expected. Progress had been slow going, and she’d long since come to terms with how her tail would never be as dexterous as a hand, or even a foot. Nor would it ever possess the strength or coordination to swing a weapon with any real power or precision, even if she were to Amplify and Reinforce the strike. That had never been the goal of course, only a passing fancy, and she still had much training yet to do, but considering her defeat was all but set in stone, she supposed there was no harm in giving it her all and seeing how it went.
For the end of her tail was curled around her third Spiritual Weapon, one crafted by neither Papa or Sister Mila, but some no name Divine Blacksmith who was still in the process of developing his skills. The weapon was made from the smallest of Spiritual Hearts, a singular fang from some deep-sea fish Pong Pong dredged up from the depths of the Azure Sea during one of their many trips back to Central. No one had given the tiny Spiritual Heart a second thought, and Papa had passed it off to one of the many aspiring blacksmiths of the Saint’s Tribulations Mountains to use as practice, and the result was lacklustre to say the least. A blade so small, calling it a dagger would be generous, as it was barely longer than her palm and less than two fingers wide. Measuring just over fifteen centimetres from tip to tang, the double-edged Spiritual Weapon was no one’s first choice of armament, and it gathered dust on the Blacksmith’s shelf for three years before catching Song’s notice a little over twelve months ago. She bought it immediately, bound it an hour later, and now, she was ready to show the world what her third Spiritual Weapon could do.
With a flick of her tail, she Guided the hiltless blade hurtling out from between her legs and through her opponent’s knee. He stumbled as the Honed and Amplified weapon punched through skin, muscle, and bone before exiting out the back, but the small size of the incision allowed him to recover almost immediately as he stopped the bleeding and set to Healing with Panacea. It was almost as afterthought, as the lion’s share of his attention was fixed on Song as she resumed her offensive to rain a series of blows upon him. Sacrificing power and precision for speed once more, she knew she had little chance of breaking through his defense, but she wasn’t counting on her sabre or sheath to win the day. No, her third and most unimposing Spiritual Weapon was the key to victory, which was why she devoted most of her attention to it, rather than her offensive. Her tail curled and made a come-hither gesture, and the flying dagger, as Rain titled it, arrested its flight to flip end over end and point at her foe once more. A second, slower flick of her tail Guided the flying dagger down to rest on her opponent’s shoulder and threaten his exposed neck. The unexpected chill of steel caused him to stop in place, his hands and feet falling still as he turned his green-eyed gaze upon the tiny blade with a pursed lipped scowl, one she recognized as twin to her own.
“When did you bind a third Spiritual Weapon?” Kyung asked, sounding almost petulant as he lowered his sabre and reluctantly accepted his first defeat at her hands.
One of many to come, Song hoped, though she would’ve been happier if she’d secured victory through strength and skill rather than trickery and deceit. “More than a year ago,” she replied, sheathing her sabre and re-clipping her sheath to her belt before reaching out to retrieve her flying dagger. While capable of moving the weapon with Chi alone, her finer control was still lacking, and she had no desire to see her brother bleed any more than necessary. Giving the flying dagger a tiny flourish to send it twirling around her fingers like a pen, she added, “This was my first time using it in a spar.”
“An effective weapon when used from ambush,” he grumbled, wiping his much larger sabre with a cloth so as to have an excuse to avoid eye contact, though she felt his efforts would be better spent wiping the blood from his knee before it all soaked into his pants. “Take care to not rely on it too often. It can prove to be a powerful, life-saving move, but overuse could render you ineffective against an otherwise equally matched foe who is prepared for it.”
Song knew as much, having heard the same from Mama, Papa, Rain, and several others, but she nodded and accepted her older brother’s concern all the same. “Understood.”
“Weaklings, the both of you.” Though whispered, the disgruntled statement cut Song and her brother deeply as they turned to face the Speaker. A decade of good food and comfortable living had yet to repair the damage done over centuries of captivity, yet the gaunt woman’s gaze still striking to behold as she sat with knees raised, back hunched, and head tucked. “Scared prey thinking a fang or horn enough to keep them safe.” There was a ferocity in her piercing emerald eyes which struck a chord in Song, a mixture of anger, fear, and melancholy hidden deep within the woman’s feral gaze. This was the Ancestral Wildcat, Jini by name and their mother by blood, though she cared little for any of her children, if at all. Hardly surprising considering the circumstances of their births, as Jini had spent her entire life in captivity being treated as little more than a plaything and brood mare. Captured by a wealthy Central Family shortly after her Ascension to an Ancestral Beast, they crippled her physically and Spiritually using a process called acupuncture, wherein they jabbed her with silver needles coated in various toxins and left them embedded within her body and for months at a time. To hear her tell it, the needles pressed on her nerves at all times and left her in a muted haze of pain and torment, on top of robbing her of all strength until even sitting upright seemed a formidable task, much less standing up on two feet to walk about. Every half year, they’d use pliers to extract the old needles and insert new ones in different areas, supposedly so that the old wounds would have time to heal. This meant she had precious little time to get used to the pain before being assailed by a new set of torments and agonies, a cycle she endured for some two-hundred and fifty some odd years before Rain, Teacher Du, Madam Gam, and a number of other powerful political parties were able to secure Jini’s freedom.
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A most horrific tale indeed, one Song struggled to even read about, but it was merely one of many to be found. Jini wasn’t the only Ancestral Beast freed from such captivity, and most bore scars from similar such stories. A practice Rain suspected started with the Eternal Emperor, to ensure free Divinities understood the price of disobedience and also empower certain families or factions in the outer provinces so that their continued existence would impart stability upon the region. It made sense in retrospect, seeing how the Society of Heaven and Earth had fifteen such prisoners, and they’d operated in one form or another for thousands of years in the Northern Province. This was merely one such faction of course, and there were hundreds scattered across the Outer Provinces, many of whom were loathe to give up their prisoners, but Rain had sworn to personally destroy any faction found in defiance of the Emperor’s Decree, one which outlawed the capture and torture of any and all Divinities.
More importantly, the Savage Divinity acted swiftly and decisively the moment he received word of an enslaved Ancestral Beast, and few dared to face the wrath of the sole True Human Divinity in existence.
As for the freed captives, the vast majority had come here to the Saint’s Tribulation Mountains to recover from their ordeals, though few had any choice about it. Leaving traumatized Ancestral Beasts to their own devices was a recipe for disaster, so while Jini and the others like her were not technically free to come and go as they pleased, they were not treated as prisoners, but patients. Rain even discovered a method to suppress their Spiritual strength without pain, leaving them physically capable of tearing steel with their bare hands, but unable to destroy entire cities in a fit of pique. He kept the specifics vague for good reason, as he didn’t want it used against his people, but suffice it to say that this added yet another reason as to why the Emperor, Supreme Families, and various factions of the Outer Provinces all kowtowed to his demands.
Sitting beside Jini on the grass and looking all too captivating without her veil, Auntie Hua Lie reached out to stroke the Ancestral Wildcat’s ears. “Do you remember what we spoke of regarding unkind thoughts?” Jini’s ears flicked side to side in a display of joy that didn’t reach her face, but she said nothing, and a few seconds later, Auntie Hua Lie continued, “Even if true, they need not be shared.”
Jini said nothing in response, only looked away. Not in shame or disgrace, as she was simply breaking eye contact to end the conversation, but Kyung would have none of it. “True though it might be,” he began, speaking without making eye contact which Jini would see as a challenge, “My sister and I are committed to our pursuit of the Peak. There will come a day when our Paths bring us to such heights where you will no longer consider us weak.” That was all he said, and he made no promises of what would come next, but Song saw Jini raise her head ever so slightly in what she believed was hope. Kyung was a good son, and as the man who set all this in motion with a request to Teacher Du, he knew what Jini needed was hope more than anything. Though her instincts and experiences warned against familial connection, it seemed she still yearned for one all the same, which was promising to say the least.
Because even though Mama often said that where there is life, there is hope, Song knew the reverse was also true. Without hope, there is no life, not one worth living at least, and she hoped to one day welcome Jini into her growing family.
Utterly oblivious to the somber mood, Jimjam hopped down from his perch within the bamboo grove and butted his head against Jini’s before letting loose with a plaintive and dispirited mewl. Flopping over to show his belly, he wiggled about in the grass, and though no smile graced her lips, Jini set to rubbing the wildcat’s chest to elicit a happy rumbling growl. The animals were a core tenet of what Rain called the rehabilitation process, because he believed having a pet to love and be loved by was all the healing one could need. Seeing Aurie and Sarankho join their brother in ardent demand of affection, Song couldn’t agree more, though she also harbored some grievance over having to share the wildcats’ affections. It couldn’t be helped, as Rain had far too many pets, and animals were a practical sort. If they couldn’t secure enough attention from one person, they would happily move on to the next, and as the wildcats set to rubbing shoulders with Jini while their chests rumbled in delight, Song couldn’t blame them for it.
As if on cue, Princess ambled over with a hearty grunt and stood up on her hind legs to paw at Song’s leg, so she picked up the weasel-bear to cradle close while Auntie Hua Lie offered them a few words of guidance regarding their spar. Once dismissed, they strode off the sparring grounds together while Huushal and Wu Gam took their place and began trading blows without preamble. As the two titans of muscle and fury went head-to-head, Sister Da’in leaned in to elbow Song gently. “A clever adaptation, linking your tiny sword’s flight to the movements of your tail. I’ve still yet to master controlling my sword without waving my hands about, but with a tail, you could set up some highly effective combinations, especially if you were to mix feints in.”
Which was the idea, and Song nodded as she discussed her plans with the formidable Sword Queen of Central. Her marriage had done nothing to slow her progress, and she was poised to become the premier Peak Expert in existence once the oldest current generation retired. Assuming they ever would. Following the death of the Eternal Emperor, Shuai Jiao stepped down to join the Penitent Brotherhood as an initiate, but the various Peak Experts of the Empire had redoubled their efforts to progress after seeing the heights humanity could reach. Their endeavours were not without success, with many newly Ascended Human Divinities attributing their success to Rain’s personal Insights regarding the Path, which he shared freely in book form written by Bo Shui. The man had become something of a Martial Scholar, and even now was scribbling notes as he watched the spar unfolding before them. There was a time when he was considered one of the weakest talents in his generation, but now stood fourth among the younger generation gathered here today, after Song, Da’in, and Gerel.
And Rain of course, but he didn’t count, no more than Aunty Hua Lie.
A muffled woof caught her attention a split second before a furry mass impacted against her calf, and she looked down to see Buddy looking mighty pleased as he held a thorny vine between his clenched teeth and rubbed dirt all over her trousers. The silly little hound was covered in it, from the top of his head to the tips of his paws, but Song merely smiled and leaned over to pet his flanks. Looking up with a little doggie grin, he threw his head side to side in silent invitation to play, so she grabbed a hold of the vine and pulled. Gently, because even though Buddy was a Divine Beast, his physical abilities were abysmal the vast majority of the time. Though capable of shattering steel with a single bite, Buddy seemed content to go about his days as a regular hound, one no stronger or faster than necessary. Case in point, Song was certain Buddy could drag her clear across the field with little effort if he so desired to, but instead, he hunkered down and pulled as if she weighed more than a mountain. His big brown eyes opened wide as he growled in fake aggression, his paws slipping on the grass he tugged and jerked until Song ‘lost’ her grip on the vine. He then proceeded to fling his head from side to side as if he were killing a snake, though she suspected Buddy had never killed anything in this life, not even a fly. Once satisfied that his ‘foe’ was ‘subdued’, the hound trotted back over to begin the game anew, a cycle which continued for a good fifteen minutes before Buddy lost interest and turned to leave.
But not before glancing back to make sure Song followed him away, the strange, coiled stick still clenched between his teeth and his eyes bright and hopeful as ever.
Excusing herself from the crowd, Song brought Princess away to follow Buddy out of the sparring grounds and over to the bamboo grove, trailed by Aurie and Sarankho who were always eager to explore. The grove concealed Medical Saint Taduk’s Spiritual Plant garden, from which the hound was barred, but Buddy kept his distance and circled around to a thicket which Rakky had claimed as his own. The horse-sized tiger appeared fast asleep, but Song saw the tell-tale flick of his ears which told her he was awake and aware of their presence. The wildcats didn’t spot it however, or perhaps they did and it was all part of the game, but either way, they hunkered down to stalk their sleeping ‘prey’ alongside Buddy. The amount of noise the hound made was considerable to say the least, making no effort to quiet his steps or avoid smacking his strange stick against the bamboo poles. Even then, Rakky laid still as could be until Sarankho pounced upon his shoulders, at which point the tiger feigned surprise and leaped high up into the air.
This was how Rakky showed his affection, by teaching the wildcats how to hunt, but even after ten years of lessons, Aurie and Sarankho were utterly helpless on their own. Still, it warmed her heart to see the smaller wildcats play with the massive tiger, like a father and his tiny kittens and their strange dog of a friend. Of course, Buddy was more interested in stealing Rakky’s food and water, lapping up every last drop in the tiger’s bowl before curling up next to Song for a nap. His fitful snores were a delight to behold, and doubly so due to how he cradled his odd vine between his dirt-covered paws, but he did not sleep for long. Coming to a half-hour later, he stretched, yawned, and shook himself awake before taking up his prize in his jaws and setting out without so much as a second glance.
Or at least he would have had Song not grabbed a hold of the vine. “You should give this back,” she said, having recognized it for the Spiritual Heart that it was. “Whoever you stole this from will be looking for it.”
Though wholly capable of simply leaving with his prize, Buddy pawed at the grass and whined. His heartbreak was palpable to behold, and not solely due to his Aura. There was need in his eyes, real need, untainted by greed or desire yet suffused with desperation. Fear even, which was odd, because while Buddy was wary of a great many things, rarely was he genuinely afraid of something. Using her own Aura to convey her questions, Song tried to understand what the dog was going on about, but all she could glean from his pantomimed actions was that he needed the Spiritual Heart for some dire reason. It wasn’t for him, but for someone else, and though she wanted to follow him, Buddy thought it best if he went about this alone. Something to do with hiding, which Song suspected meant the dog wanted to bury the vine without anyone knowing where it would be, as he often did with his most prized possessions.
Either way, Song couldn’t bring herself to deny Buddy anything, not when his need was so genuine and pure, so she sent him off with a pat on the head and his vine in hand. If someone came looking for the Spiritual Heart, then Rain could retrieve it, as he always knew where Buddy was at all times. Or so she believed right up until a half hour later, when Rain found her pulling a feather on a string all about for Rakky, Aurie, and Sarankho to chase while Princess and Jimjam wrestled. His arrival set off a minor stampede as the wildcats pounced upon him from all sides, an aggressive greeting he met head on with open arms. “Hello my kittens,” he said, chortling from underneath a mountain of fur as if he couldn’t support the weight of a dozen wildcats, much less one. “Yes, I missed you too. I missed you so much.”
Anyone unfamiliar with the wildcats might think this a long-awaited reunion after a lengthy separation, but they went through this process at least twice daily. Still, Song found it heartwarming to watch as Rain showered Aurie and Sarankho with kisses before giving Rakky’s nose a big boop, to which the tiger responded by flopping over onto his back much like Jimjam had for Jini. This earned Rakky an enthusiastic belly rub which had him chuffing in pure contentment, a sight Song never would have expected to see from the fearsome, man-eating predator, but had become commonplace in the years since Rain had stolen him away from the Abbot on the grounds of ‘negligence’. As if leaving an apex predator to roam wild and free was negligence, but Rakky seemed happier without the mischievous Kukku to fixate on, to say nothing of how Kharuul kept the tiger in check.
Song could hardly blame Rakky for kowtowing before the fearsome Spiritual Roosequin, especially not when he had a veritable horde of chittering quins to back him.
“I can never get over these big ol’ murder mitts,” Rain exclaimed, seated on the ground with Rakky’s head in his lap and paw in hand. “Just look at the size of this thing.” They were impressively large, the hind pad almost as big as her whole hand, to say nothing of his toe beans, but Song merely smiled as she took a seat beside Rain. Craning his neck to watch her move, Rakky gave her a long, slow blink, which was his way of showing love and trust. In response, Song closed her eyes and leaned forward to press her forehead to his nose, and only opened her eyes again when she was upright. Settling in with a long and contented sigh, Rakky laid still as Aurie and Sarankho curled up beside him while Rain and Song stroked his chest and chin respectively. They sat in silence for long minutes to enjoy the company before she felt relaxed enough to rest her head on his shoulder, but he continued petting Rakky and the wildcats as if nothing had changed.
There was a time when this was part of the rules she’d laid out with regards to their courtship some seven years ago, rules he continued to abide by even two years after their marriage. There were a whole slew of them to remember, many of which she’d thrown in solely to dissuade him from pursuing her romantically, but his unyielding persistence and genuine affection had won her in the end. Still, some rules were necessary, and chief among them was the precedent that she always be the one to initiate any affectionate actions. A rule he found difficult to adhere to, yet still did all the same, keeping his hands busy by petting Rakky when he would much rather slip his arm around Song’s waist. Theirs was a difficult relationship, but one well worth it in her eyes as she fell into a relaxed trance and watched her husband play with their cats.
Her husband. The word still felt strange in her mind, much less when spoken out loud, but despite only having been married for two years, she recognized the ring of truth in the title, and even took comfort from it. Lifting her head to turn towards him, she kissed his cheek and nuzzled him gently while using her Aura to convey her love, and he responded in kind. Rather than lean in and kiss her, he turned to face her instead, and waited for her lips to meet his. The physical sensation was delightful as always, but even more intoxicating was how their Auras and emotions intermingled around them. While he kept his hands to himself, his passion and devotion wrapped around her like the warmth of a blazing fire on a cold winter’s day, both inviting and intimidating at the same time. When she broke off the kiss, she could still sense his hunger in his Aura and his gaze, but she denied him with hers with the addendum of a promise.
Not here, not now. Later, when they were home together in the safety and comfort of their bed.
An answer he accepted without complaint as he transitioned to asking about her day, but neither one of them cared much for idle conversation. They simply enjoyed each other’s company, the same way Rakky enjoyed spending time with the wildcats, solitary creatures who’d found comfort in being solitary around each other. Most people didn’t understand their relationship, and truth be told, Song didn’t entirely understand it either, but she loved him and he loved her, which was all she needed to know, so she settled in against his shoulder and listened as he idly narrated his day spent following in the wake of Buddy’s antics.
“He was here earlier, covered from head to toe in dirt,” Song said, in response to Rain’s long and lengthy prelude which culminated in asking if she’d seen Buddy. “He had the Spiritual Heart he stole from sister Mila, but no basket. Likely because he ate it all, the little glutton.” They shared a look between them that was halfway between resigned and amused, both silently hoping the silly dog regurgitated the leaves before retiring for the night, so that he might spare them the effort of cleaning his vomit from the carpets yet again. “We played tug of war for a time, and then he left to bury it.”
“Makes sense,” Rain replied. “Seems he’s finally found a chew toy he can’t destroy so easily, so I’ll see if I can talk Mila into giving it up.” Heaving a sigh, he added, “Guess I should hit up his favourite digging grounds and hope I get lucky. It’ll be easier to convince her if we show everyone how much he loves it. Bye Princess. Bye Li-Li.” He shared a small smile in farewell, and she returned one in kind, and they sat there for a few minutes more just lost in each others eyes. This was what the others didn’t understand, that even though she could go days without exchanging a word with Rain, they shared much more than mere words in these little moments of silence.
After carefully extricated himself from under Rakky’s head, Rain brushed the fur and dirt off of his pants before turning to leave, only to turn back and ask, “You have any idea why he showed up covered in dirt? When he left Mila’s, he was clean as a whistle, and he never buries his food. Only digging he does when it comes to food is – ”
Rain’s words broke off as Song arrived at the same conclusion, but her first instinct was to deny it. “He would not do such a thing,” she declared, even as she stood up and headed deeper into the bamboo grove to verify. “He knows better.” The tiger and wildcats followed close on her heels, while Princess snored fitfully in her arms, having grown lazy in her years of idle indulgence and all the happier for it. Rain kept pace with her, though he could easily overtake them and arrive in the blink of an eye, save for the fact that he was fearful of what they might find.
And right to be, for as the dim bamboo forest gave way to open fields under sunny skies, they were greeted by a scene of utter chaos and devastation unlike anything they’d ever seen. Large furrows had been dug throughout the Spiritual Garden, leaving empty scars where Spiritual Plants once thrived. The destruction had been carried out without rhyme or reason, the uprooted plants seemingly picked at random given how most were inedible and unenticing to Buddy’s palate. “He is a good dog,” Song stated, in contrast to the evidence before her. “He knows how important this garden is and never sneaks in to steal from it.”
“He’s never stolen a basket of berries from Tali either,” Rain said, sounding just as devastated as she. “Oh Buddy… What have you done?” After a long pause to let it all sink in, his voice took on a woeful tone as he added, “Taddy is going to be soooo upset.”
Which, in spite of the circumstances, warmed Song’s heart. There he stood, Falling Rain, the peerless and unmatched Savage Divinity, and yet even after ten years of standing at the pinnacle of strength, he was still the same man he’d always been, a kind and compassionate fool who always put others ahead of himself. That, more than anything was why she’d fallen in love with him. Here was a man who could have anything he wanted, take anything his heart desired and have more delivered to his feet, yet still he restrained himself for so many years just to win her affection, and never once pushed her for anything she was not ready to give. How could she not love him after all that? Reaching out to stroke his cheek and offer some comfort, Song met his amber eyes and smiled. There was no need to speak, but he knew her thoughts as well as she, if not better.
For he was her husband, and she his wife, and theirs a bond which transcended words.
“Love you,” he whispered, and though the words need not be said, Song warmed to hear them all the same.
“I love you too,” she replied, punctuating the statement with a kiss before he set off to find his hound and shelter him from the Medical Saint’s wrath. Turning to the upturned garden once more, Song sighed as she set Princess aside and Sent word to Hua Lie for help. The Ancestral Rabbit had been charged with keeping the garden safe and would not want her husband to return home to this mess, so she also had a vested interest in restoring order to this chaos before them.
Love made fools of them all it was said, but it was a foolishness Song cherished even as she rolled up her sleeves and set to work cleaning up Buddy’s latest and greatest mess.