The pressure receded gradually. Elua studied the scout’s face for any sign of further probing, then apparently decided the topic had been safely redirected. She sat down beside her, ’watching’ the essence condensers pulse in their timing sequence. Which *looked* like much of nothing bit a small glint in the crystals themselves, but did make any dust present dance in the air.
"In four more months you can go ho and tell people that I’m alive. Tell Qat that I chose to remain here... temporarily... and that I’ll return when I’m ready."
Sending Sevra ho safely was important, but the project also served as proof of concept for larger ambitions. The center could be used for the gateway, but the condensers would remain for her other projects. Becoming the power station that would fuel making everything else.
"Thank you. For all of this. I know you could probably find easier ways to get rid of ."
"Well, you’re lucky you had a use to , aren’t you? Otherwise... I might have just left you to fend for yourself as I... waited here."
"...You look sad. Because you’re staying here."
The woman observed without much surprise. She had studied the young-appearing cultivator’s profile countless tis since being trapped. Noting the way mint eyes focused intently on technical details but drooped the second she wasn’t in the middle of thinking about anything.
"Why are you doing that, exactly?"
"Because I feel that I need to."
"But why? I saw how you looked at the wedding. How they looked at you. That wasn’t... just so political arrangent. And I can admit now that I’m calr that it really was-"
"Love."
The brunette girl supplied for her, finally glancing over. When the thrum of essence in the area struck her field, the remaining thin bit of control around her spirit slipped and blanketed a portion of the Exclave in so much ’longing’ that so of the native insects began to keen.
"Genuine, overwhelming, incautious love."
"...Yes. Then why choose to stay away from them for years?"
The assassin-raised scout eventually continued to ask after the reincarnator got a handle on herself, which allowed her to be able to breathe and move more without such taphysical weight. She wasn’t sure she could take many more of those up close and was considering asking if there was any kind of ritual that could help them talk from a distance that would perhaps put her out of range of such blasts of Intent.
"Because my ntal mories are completely interfering with my youthful intimacy. They are like white phosphor on dry kindling. Experiences pressed against a teenage body that responds... violently inappropriate, sotis."
The admission ca out quite flat and clinical despite the taphor. Sevra wasn’t entirely sure she understood exactly what the reborn cultivator was getting at, though she knew it had sothing to do with adult relations.
"You’re afraid you’ll hurt them... because of your strength?"
"It’s not about the strength it’s... look, Guilds have considered a cultivator capable enough to operate as an adult after they are a re thirteen even as far back as my ti. This was arguably the fault of the Void Divinity."
It felt like half the conversations with Elua were hard to follow for the woman, if only because her brain liked to disconnect when such great concepts were talked about not only like it was a matter of course... but by soone who claid to have interacted with these ascended cultivators.
"Explain it to like I’m four again, please."
"An eighteen year cycle is not a lot of ti. Yet the average challenge of the next invasion is based on the scale of living cultivators and realm quality of them during the last defense. With so other caveats involved."
"The Void Defense Society has suspected sothing like this, but hearing you say it sounds more convincing."
"Well, thank you. The point is, the Voidlings do not just scan the quality of combatants alone, but the entire region they are sent to during the opening of the wars. This directly contrasts with accepted best cultivation practices... which is to say, starting as early as possible to build montum - and ingrain how things work with how a person acts and thinks from Youth."
Such was the very purpose of Youth Guilds. Affluent families did tend to take that further with specialized training starting around the age of four, but that only further contributed to the ’problem’.
"So on one side you have cultivators seeking strength quickly. Achieving Enchanter before thirteen and sotis even Primalist realm accumulation status in at least one field of energy by the ti they are eighteen. On the other side, you have an enemy that gets stronger when the region as a whole is considered stronger. What would you do?"
Like most, Sevra’s first instinct was to say slow down cultivation to make the wars less harsh. But then, like most, she thought about if she was the one who had to be forcefully slowed down and realized that was no option at all. Finally, she settled on the fact that the age of joining a Guild officially was thirteen.
"I guess I would split the difference. Allow as many people as may want to the chance to fight, but give them so years to grow accustod to it and how they fit into society. So that’s the reason..."
"That’s the reason. But the human body does not stop growing - and the spirit does not achieve a sense of real belonging until much later than that. Which leads to a concept known as Pri."
While it was not the first ti the heiress had offered a lecture on a topic to the scout, the majority of them had been given to Madrigil who was, at tis, an insatiable student. Elua went on to detail the whys, hows, and whens to the woman in much the sa way as she’d told Yatrel about it.
"...I’m afraid I’ll lose control entirely. Qat deserves better than soone fighting their own body just to share a kiss without... all of that complication. This Exclave is a good opportunity and a good excuse."
"I think I see now. As much as I can, anyway."
"Good. It’s helpful to if you know my stakes. You can tell Qat about everything I’ve told you... though I’ll also be sending you with a mountain of letters."
Sevra rembered her sleuthing, when she was delivering the Silversky packages to the heiress at the Coiled Serpent main branch. She’d discovered then just how often the girl sent back missives. Therefore, this ti she was sure that the girl was not exaggerating the amount at all if she had four months to write them.
"I’m not sure whether to call the Yecine you’ve bonded with lucky or not."
"My ’fortress’..."
Another blast of ’wistful’ spirit rocked the area, the soft facial expression much more awkward than so of the others she’d been practicing... because she had tried not letting herself feel this way. The illusionist let herself speak her feelings freely, knowing that Sevra already had co to the truth - and that Shadow Whisker mber had even called Qatrand a woman more than once as they talked.
"I’m sure she is growing stronger every day. Even without my constant... assistance."
Flopping onto her back, the brunette squird and rolled a bit side to side while holding onto her reddening cheeks. When the cloak wearing woman watched her for a dozen seconds, she felt it might be best to ask.
"What’s wrong...?"
"She’s likely developing even more specific definition and tone to those incredible muscles. Through real combat experience refining which of them are most engaged. Asymtric, just like her abdominals... ah, I just want to see them again~"
The shift in her tone was remarkable. Where not long before the ancient cultivator had *sounded* like one, now she sounded like... so far younger. And with a smile widened into sothing approaching giddiness that matched her ’innocent’ look.
"You really are fourteen in so ways, aren’t you?"
"In this body, yes. In my heart... the core of my spirit? It cos and goes. Which is probably where my biggest problem with my Physique lay at, if I’m being honest."
Her answer sounded more lucid and a bit less youthful, but not much. And she still kicked her legs with too much pent up energy. She’d been working for hours on end here and hadn’t left the area at all in four days. But now that she was talking about Qat, she might not go anywhere at all for however many hours the woman would listen.
"In particular, when I think about how proud I am of them, I’m my past age. But when I think about how I want them to be proud of , I’m a bit more... *now*, than not. Which makes sense?"
"How so?"
"Well, because I can only judge them by who I was this whole ti. Pretending to be soone a bit different can’t change my honest opinions. However, when I think of her approval of ... it’s affected the most at tis when I’ve reached out towards who I want to be going forward - which is the you can see growing before your eyes."
Sevra rose to her feet and stretched while looking down at the girl. Whether she had grown or not, whether anything she had been show was real or not... didn’t actually matter, like Madrigil once claid. But still, she found herself asking-
"You miss your..."
"Husband-wife."
"Yes, that. You miss them terribly. Don’t you?"
The agreent ca without any hesitation, just like a third strong pulse of spirit.... just like too much continued sharing. Pained mint eyes gained yet another chance to practice expressing her feelings on her face.
"Every mont we were apart, even before we ca here. But I can be patient. I have to. I’ve learned patience over my past life - and Qat is worth waiting for. I just hope she’ll feel the sa."
"That’s very... romantic."
"I am genuinely, hopelessly in love with soone remarkable. Soone who deserves all the good things in the cosmos and none of the bad. Romance, if you can call my selfishness that, is the very least I can offer."
The scout found herself smiling at the ancient cultivator’s unguarded ’affection’ laced with such inner worries. While the girl seed so concerned with that - and with ’looking cute’, which Sevra was sure was also mostly for the Yecine to enjoy... she was beginning to think sothing. Sothing that the her from months ago would have both shivered and approved of.
’Her na fits her, and the one who owns her love is quite lucky after all. I should share everything when I get back... and then stay as far away from getting involved again as possible!’
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