The blonde swordswoman hesitated to ask a question... the fragnt in the illusionist’s chest was clearly pulsing with ’uncertainty’. But the girl curled lazily onto her lap as her hair was stroked just sent back plenty of comfort and encouraging feelings.
"Will it always be like this? Being able to sense spirits so clearly? It’s... overwhelming."
"No. To be honest, right now the problem is that I am being open with you."
"But later on..."
"You’ll learn to filter. To dampen most of it. That’s one of the first things every spiritualist has to master to so degree or go insane. Watch."
She reached for Qat’s hand and placed it over her own heart. A wholly unnecessary addition to the traditional tutorial, but it was hard not to take little advantages where she could!
"Feel how I do it. It’s like... creating a hollow space around yourself, where only what you choose to let in can ever reach."
The swordswoman concentrated deeply. Following the subtle movents of Elua’s guiding spirit as it demonstrated the technique in slow motion and detail. Even in a relatively intimate mont like this, the cultivator’s thodical and precise teaching remained.
Where she had seen the vast gulf of loneliness earlier that she thought must have been her wife’s... Qatrand realized now that it was only this ’mastery’. A skill taken to the high degree of a Peak Demi-God. For the most part, she agreed that’s all it was.
’However, soone cannot simply build such an effective thing without knowing how it works, correct? She must have based that feeling... that forbidding aloneness on sothing true.’
When it ca to making sothing similar, Qat did have so ideas. But she wasn’t entirely eager to undertake them. So, another question from the blonde was spoken before she tried to practice it on her own.
"Should we tell the others?"
"Not yet. This is an advantage best kept private for now, I think. Though I’m not asking you to hide it if you do not want - or if you feel it would be best to reveal it at any given mont."
Tugging on the hand at her chest, she drew it to her lips and kissed the fingers softly. Already the lips had pressed more to her beloved this evening than in quite so ti, but the heiress could never get enough. Especially when it distracted the girl when she needed focus.
"Your spirit moves differently now. More purposefully, with greater density. Most will not notice... but there are those who pay careful attention that may if you don’t moderate it."
"Show how."
"I already did, dear. Did you really think I would show you a spiritual technique that was only good for a single thing at a ti? You must know by now that I am hardly so specialized."
For the next several minutes, Elua watched Qat exercise in refining spiritual control without interfering. Not directly with the energies, anyway. The swordswoman learned to layer her presence with ’nothing’ intentionally for a dozen seconds.
To hold back the full extent of her newfound strength through that discovery for an entire minute.
And finally to modulate the intensity with which her spirit interacted with the world around her. Fractionally, drawing it closer to how she used to sense... unless she stopped holding it back.
It was strange, like relearning sothing so fundantal. Yet Qat found herself adapting quickly. Quicker than most would and certainly quicker than Elua had with the sa number of years spent as a cultivator.
’The value of good foundations cannot be understated. I started with almost nothing, fought with nothing for so long. It’s a wonder I survived until now at all~’
"You’re a natural. Most cultivators in my ti took days to adjust after a breakthrough."
"Well, I’ve had a very good and patient teacher."
The brunette’s expression softened. Even with all she had just been through, Qat simply wouldn’t let that fact be slid under the rug. It was cute... but Elua didn’t want all the ’thanks’.
"Believe it or not, the fragnts we’ve shared also help. Through it, your spirit recognizes patterns from mine more easily."
Qat considered this revelation. Her wife did say that she had done this sort of thing with others before. It was easy to get distracted by the fact that they were a way of connecting at so distance and - this ti - a way of creating children in the future.
But as the reincarnator was fond of pointing out, she really did like accomplishing as much as possible with single choices. Which ant that the choice to share had to have been more than just a way to track, comfort, and flirt with her... past partners.
"Patterns... does that an I’ll eventually develop abilities similar to yours?"
"Oh, no. Not at all. The paths of Astralism are fixed when they manifest. In my case... and arguably in all cases, they may even be fixed right at birth."
There simply was not enough accumulation of spiritual energy to be able to tell what it would be, before a child was four or five. In the *usual* case, anyway.
"What you’re capable of will always be distinctly yours. The fragnt rely helps with the concepts of control. Your spirit will fumble less, recognizing successful ways of mine."
A furrow appeared between Qat’s brows as they pinched together.
"Then what did I just gain in the breakthrough, beyond a stronger spirit?"
"My ’fortress’... that’s not nothing all on its own. But as you settle there will be more clarity in all your actions. Not as obvious as the jump to Enchanter, but... well, lets look at it like math."
She raised her hand, pulling on so of the mories of creating the illusory training tool. El was sure she had a section on this sowhere in there already! Qat either had not touched on it for so reason or simply had too much on her mind to rember.
Either way, she was glad to oblige with an explanation right now!
"While this is just an example, we’ll say this is your spirit’s efficiency in relation to how it boosts your ntal state at Initial, Enchanter, and Primalist. You can see how it almost doubles between here, but it’s not nearly as much bigger than before here."
Three glowing rings of different sizes floated as she pointed at them, with ’old tongue’ text for further clarity.
"When you have twice as much of sothing, it’s going to be *very* obvious. When you only have say, a tenth more? Not as impressive feeling a leap... but it’s there, Qat."
"I see..."
"The ability to understand and influence spiritual interactions with that much greater finesse. Your Anchor will be more effective at rejecting unwanted intrusions. Your tendrils will reach further, hold onto other spirits more securely."
"And when I master your technique no one will know unless I reveal it."
"Exactly."
Elua’s lips curved into a smile that only a scher could have on hearing that sort of thinking. A snap like a twig breaking ca from nearby, making them both tense and sling their senses in the direction it ca from. The illusionist reached out first... but it was only a fox.
’Ugh, yippy little wedge-faced dog-cats. Though it’s strange one would be around and not hiding with Voidlings on the prowl...’
Distant voices from the camp which they had been ignoring reminded them of their precarious position. Even with the Goltbred’s abilities, it would still be strange if they never returned. Qat herself had let her indulgences toward the brunette go a little far after her breakthrough.
She wasn’t even sure how long they had kissed and kissed...
"We should return before they send soone to look."
"Oh, they already have. I sent her on a wild goose chase."
"...Kefa?"
"Who else would I do that to?"
A pointed look only made the mint-eyed girl beam brighter. It went without saying that both of them understood the answer was ’anyone that ca to interrupt’. Her Qat knew her so well!
A deep sigh, as much for her wife’s actions as for her own need to correct them this ti, ca out of the blonde as her hair slowly started its drift back towards raven black.
"If she’s outside of the camp still, can you retrieve her?"
"That does not sound half as pleasant as staying glued to your side, but I am always willing to do as you ask, my love."
The only blip in that agreent... was that the ancient cultivator felt she should probably not question that the Yecine heir indeed ant *alive*. Elua slid off the muscular thighs and straightened her silver dress.
A quick motion retrieved the obsidian mirror and her expression shifted. Her facade was further refined and employed - and now, Qat could better perceive the effort it truly took. The spiritual equivalent of constantly flexing a muscle... or pulling in a gut.
And the girl had been doing it for over ten years, regularly.
"We should make plans for you to report to your fort when we arrive at this one. Ah, mine is probably wondering where I went too... oh well."
The swordswoman stood and placed her hand on her wife’s shoulder. Before any words were said, small fingers gently reached and brushed Qatrand’s jaw in a gesture that conveyed more in spirit than it did physically. Without another word spoken, their spirits had intertwined in a final private promise.
’To eternity. Together.’
For the first ti since seeing her beloved almost sacrifice herself... Elua er Goltbred was going to have to go completely out of range of their fragnts. Because that silly twin-blade wielder really had found sothing while taking the false trail she had created.
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