Lianhua took her grandmother into her tent to bathe her. Yingtao went as well, but Elder Long and Chi Yincang stood outside the entrance to the tent, waiting. Raff went ahead and started cooking another meal, even though it hadn’t been that long since breakfast, at least according to the movement of the sun. Kyla sat by the new fire, stroking Mei, with a contemplative look on her face.

When the three human females emerged, all clean and wearing fresh robes, Elder Long immediately went to his mate, wrapping her in an embrace as tears poured down his face. Everyone else looked away as the female began to stroke his hair gently, though Lianhua bit her lip fiercely as she clutched at Yingtao’s hand.

No one interrupted the reunion of the pair, simply moving away gradually as they found their own things to do. Eventually, Raff brought back a deer for their meal. They’d often startled the beasts from the brush as they passed, but Raff hadn’t hunted one before, so Kaz hadn’t been sure if they were good to eat. It turned out that they were, but they took longer to dress and cook than rabbits, so Raff had settled for the small and plentiful rabbits instead.

Eventually, when conversation had begun to fall back into its usual patterns, mainly led by Raff, who could joke even in the most serious of circumstances, Elder Long and his mate joined them all by the fire. The Elder held his mate’s hand, refusing to release it even when he bowed deeply to Kaz and Li. “I wish to introduce my wife, Lady Baihe Long. Baihe, these are Kaz and Li, who have returned you to me and freed us both to ascend at last.”

Kaz had known something like this was probably coming, and managed a bow in return, his fist against his chest. Li, however, spread her wings like human females spread their skirts, her long body curling into graceful arches that caught the rays of sunlight filtering in from the edge of the overhang. Kaz didn’t know how she always managed to be in the perfect spot to highlight the beauty of her scales and the grace of her form. Did she plan it out ahead of time, just in case it was needed?

Baihe gave a smile that was remarkably like Lianhua’s, when Lianhua was presented with an unknown rune or a new book. “It is my honor to meet you both,” she said, crossing her hands in front of her as she, too, bowed deeply. She glanced at her mate as she straightened, saying, “I hope that you will honor me with your story. Lianhua has told me a little, but I believe there is a great deal more to understand.”

When she met Kaz’s eyes, she looked so much like her granddaughter that he chuffed a laugh. “Do you also study runes?” he asked.

She smiled, a distinct twinkle visible in her eyes. “Oh, no. My granddaughter has always been a greater scholar than I. I am, however, fascinated by people. Everyone has a story, and no matter how common they may believe it, each and every one has something to teach. I believe yours may have more than most.”

Kaz generally didn’t like to talk about himself, but Li did, and Baihe quickly picked up on this. With only a few open-ended questions, she soon had Li rambling on about everything from first becoming aware of how disgusting Kaz’s backpack was, to the taste of red ki-crystals compared to black ones. Apparently the yellow ones were her favorite, which was something Kaz hadn’t known, but felt like he should have.

As Li spoke, everyone else began to as well, correcting or adding to the dragon’s comments. Soon they were all giggling over the description of Kaz tumbling head over tail as he learned to control how quickly he ran with ki-infused legs, or jumped too far and bashed his head against the ceiling.

This finally drew Kaz in as he defended his actions, and it wasn’t long before he was describing his experiences with Nucai, and his suspicions about the reasons his own family might have acted the way they had after leaving the Deep. His sister Katri was the only one left alive to ask, and somehow he found himself lingering over his conflicting feelings for her.

When he finished speaking, he looked up, finding gentle blue eyes resting on him. Baihe reached out and patted his hand. “You’re going to see her soon, aren’t you.” She wasn’t really asking, but he nodded, and she gave him a small smile as she said, “Then you can ask her yourself. There’s never anything to be gained by speculating about the motivations of others. We can only ask, and then do what we must.”

Kaz had managed to hold back a few very important things. He hadn’t told them he’d died at least twice, nor that he wasn’t sure he was exactly a kobold any longer. He definitely hadn’t mentioned the fact that Katri wasn’t actually his sister, at least not by birth, and he didn’t now. In every way that mattered to his tribe, he was Kaz, son of Oda and Ghazt, brother of Katri. And Baihe was right. Katri felt the way she felt, was who she was, and at this point, he didn’t think he could change that. All he could do was move on with his own life, with or without her.

Seeing his determination, Baihe patted his hand gently, then sat back, snuggling against her mate’s side. Elder Long had barely spoken or moved, simply watching his mate with wonder and love in his eyes. Kaz would never have guessed that someone so powerful could care for someone else so deeply, but there it was, and it gave him a little hope he barely dared to acknowledge.

“Now,” Baihe said, and something in her eyes shifted, becoming more focused as she looked at the dragon curled up beside Kaz. “Li, please tell me what you meant when you said I was a dragon. And how is it that that made me yours?”

Li twitched, and Kaz could feel her touch their bond as if for reassurance. He laid his hand on her shoulders, just above her wings, and she relaxed slightly, leaning into the touch. she said. They’d gone over this, so everyone nodded, but with varying degrees of understanding and belief.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Li went on,

Li paused, and all eyes turned to Kaz as he said, “I think what you humans call beast cores are where the ki of this world comes from. We…make it, somehow, and as we use it, however we use it, some enters the air, like water turning into clouds. Once there, it becomes mana, which is far less dense, and made of-” He struggled to find the right words before simply saying, “Everything.”

Li said, looking around. For a moment, their vision slipped a little further into the special sight that had once belonged to Kaz alone. The world lit up in a glory of power, the members of their group each shining in their own unique patterns, while all around them were plants and tiny animals. Some bore mana alone, while others had tiny sparks of ki, somehow refined by the simple process of living.

“But some humans have learned to intentionally pull apart mana into its component pieces, using what they can and casting off the rest,” Kaz said, looking at the humans from the Sheng Empire. “Lianhua said some of them could even condense a core from this ki, but until I met Elder Long, I didn’t understand what she meant.”

Now even Li was watching him, but Kaz was talking to himself as much as to them. “We know alien creatures sometimes come to this world through the Gate. I’ve only seen a few kinds, but some had mana, and some had cores and ki. Heishe - the Divine Snake - keeps talking about balance, and the Twelve, and their role in the world. And I don’t know what it means, not yet, but I think humans also came through the Gate, or at least something like a Gate, probably a very, very long time ago. And when they - you - take in ki and refine it, you also gather a tiny bit of whatever power came from that other world. That is what you make into a core, and it is…incompatible with the ki of this world.”

Lianhua’s eyes were huge. “Which is why humans who condense their own cores are eventually forced to ‘ascend’. But is ascension really just returning to the world where we originated?”

Kaz shook his head, letting his tail wag gently. “I don’t know, and I never will. I was born with a beast core, and I won’t give it up, even if I could.”

Baihe had her hand pressed to her abdomen now, and she said, “My mother was a daughter of the third wife of the previous emperor. My father’s family also claimed direct descent from the Diushi emperor, though their records were destroyed during the upheaval after the court vanished. You’re saying that I had enough dragon blood in me to have a dragon’s core?”

Li nodded.

“At least until you started trying to form a human core,” Kaz said. “The medicines you took forced that other power into your body, tearing you apart from the inside. Whatever you finally did allowed you to create the core you wanted, but there was nowhere for it to go, no way for it to meld with or replace the core that was already there. It shattered, and in doing so, broke you as well.”

Li said,

“As you did for me,” Baihe pointed out, as if it was simply a fascinating fact, and her life hadn’t been hanging in the balance.

Li admitted, though not without some reluctance.

“The pressure of our own ki prevents the mana from entering,” Kaz finished. “We have only what we can produce ourselves, which is why beasts are usually weaker than trained humans.” He thought about the brief time he had spent as Qiangde. The dragon had been incredibly powerful. There was no way Jianying could have beaten him if he hadn’t been so badly injured.

“I don’t think Qiangde could possibly have survived the process, even if he figured out how to do it. His core was simply too strong, too integral to his being.” Kaz told them.

Elder Long spoke for the first time since they’d sat down. “But Baihe can ascend now? She can form a core? A proper one?”

Li glared at him. she muttered.

Kaz stroked her neck. “I think so. The fact that she survived to this point is very promising. It’s also possible, however, that she will - what do you call it? - ‘stall’ in her cultivation.” Elder Long opened his mouth, but Kaz shook his head. “There’s nothing more we can do. You humans must handle it from here.”

Baihe laid her hand over his. “And that’s as it should be, Yufei-ai. Even with all the cultivation pills in the world, we must each earn our own power. You taught me that.” Elder Long’s jaw flexed as he gritted his teeth, but he nodded, then tensed as Kaz stood. Li stood as well, and together, they bowed toward the two aged humans.

“We’re going to go to the portal now,” Kaz said, looking toward his cousin. Kyla had definitely lost focus when they began talking about how cores and ki worked, and now she was tossing small chunks of deer meat to her fuergar. Kaz wouldn’t have thought it possible, but he would swear the creature was even rounder than she had been just the night before.

Kyla threw the last lump of meat to Mei, then stood, licking her greasy fingers. “Finally!” she exclaimed.

One of Kaz’s ears twitched, and he laughed softly. “Yes. I’ve been wondering what I should do when we get there, but this conversation has helped me decide.”

His cousin tilted her head as she scooped up her portly fuergar. “Decide? I’m going to tell the great chiefs that we’re waiting, and they’ll open the passage.” Her eyes lit up. “Unless you figure out how to open it without them?”

The look of admiration and absolute confidence she gave him was heart-warming, and Kaz regretted having to disappoint her. “You’re going to howl to the chiefs,” he told her. “Li and I are going back to the top of the mountain. Back to where our story began.”