Sword and Snow

Emery

Getting all of the paperwork and official stuff taken care of turned out to be incredibly easy. I figured that was the natural consequence of having the leaders of a city on your side. They weren't all exactly friends yet, although I had definitely considered Lyn and Cyril to be friends of the family.

Eiry was definitely our ally, and even a benefactor. Ray and Vyne were still only really acquaintances, but I always figured that was because they weren't the kind to be outgoing. We simply had seen them often enough, but I couldn't deny that I felt like all five Elders supported our family.

And after the way they rushed all the paperwork through for now only Kord, Enrik, Briar, and Karn, but Risha and Fal, too? I simply couldn't ignore that we clearly had very powerful friends. Getting replacement identification paperwork usually took a week, and that was in a city that vouched for you. Getting new paperwork, even in a place with family members on record, often took a month or more.

Getting it done in three days was basically unheard of.

And yet, there we were, three days after our arrival with everything sorted out and identification papers in hand.

Our little group had been staying in a nice inn, courtesy of the Elders, while we waited on the papers to be finished. I was hardly about to abandon them in another city after what happened in Resin, and Avuri agreed with me. Even with Cierra and Stena a few hours away, I couldn't bring myself to leave. But as soon as the papers were finished, I could feel an itch in my legs wanting to run home.

"Thank you both so much." Risha said, bowing deeply. The whole group was standing in front of the Inn, ready to split up. "I…I genuinely don't know where we'd be without you both."

"Thank you." Fal echoed the older woman, also bowing deeply. "Risha is correct. I'd honestly rather not think about what may have happened, given I'm pretty sure I know how any other version of these events would've ended. You truly saved us."

"We're glad everything turned out well." Avuri said, a warm smile on her face. "And you both did the leg work while we were waiting, too."

"Are you both staying in the city?" I asked, only having heard the basics of both plans.

"I am." Risha said, "Miss Lyn put me in touch with one of the larger merchant families in the city, and they agreed to take me on as a housekeeper and for minor child care, so I will be around."

"I won't be staying permanently." Fal said. "Mister Cyril that helped us out put in a good for me with one of the travelling guard groups, so I'll be guarding caravans. Just only ones headed east - I'm not going anywhere near the Valley or Highlands again."

I snorted. Both Risha and Fal gave me a confused look, but I wasn't about to tell them outright that the nice restaurant owners they had met were City Elders. I knew that Lyn and Cyril rarely told anyone themselves, but a lot of people still figured it out anyway. "It's nothing. Best of luck to you both."

They both bowed again, bending far more than I felt was necessary. "Stay safe out there. Maybe we'll come across you again sometime in the city."

"Do you visit often?" Risha asked. "I know you mentioned you live outside the city, but you never said where or how far…"

Avuri and I shared a look, and I shrugged. "Don't go spreading it around, alright?" As both other adults just looked confused, I pointed toward the top of the massive Flowing Dragon Peak that loomed over the city. "We live up there. Not quite at the top, but…close enough."

Risha's mouth fell open while Fal just stared, stunned. "You…what?"

Avuri chuckled. "We live near the top of the Peaks, in a small little basin between the top of all four."

"You both said you're Sky Realm, right?" Fal asked, his voice shaking.

"We are."

"How do you manage to live up there? Aren't the Peaks supposed to be full of dangerous beasts?"

"Well…you're not exactly wrong. The city requires you to have a permit to pass through the southern gate that leads to the Peaks or otherwise wander around them. It's mostly for safety, but it also limits the hunting and gathering done around them." Avuri said.

I picked up the explanation. "But the Peaks aren't actually all that dangerous. The vast majority of the wildlife on them is in the Earth Realm, while the most powerful creatures near the tops are Sky Realm. So, as long as we're careful, there's little danger. Most of them aren't actively aggressive either. I don't think we've ever been attacked while moving around the Peaks as long as we had our Qi or Domains around us."

"Plus our home has several defensive formations to keep the critters out." Avuri added.

"I…see." Fal muttered, still not quite sure what to think. Risha still hadn't recovered either, her mouth remaining slack.

"We come down to the city fairly often, though, to answer your question Risha. We buy most of our supplies here, so we're in the city a few times each month."

"And the city is fine with that? Didn't you say they use the permits to limit access to the Peaks? They're fine with you living up there?" Fal blurted out.

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Avuri and I shared another glance, trying to hold back laughter. "Yeah, the city is fine with it. We, uh…we know the Elders. I'd even go as far to say that we're friends with a couple of them."

"Huh?" Fal just blanked out at the new information, but I could see the wheels turning in Risha's head.

"Oh. That explains a lot of this weird week, I suppose." She said, finally recovering somewhat.

"What do you mean?" Fal asked her.

"The speedy paperwork and everything. None of it really added up, but knowing that they have connections with the literal leaders of…the…city." As she raised her eyes to meet mine, she was clearly putting two and two together. I suspected that the wry smiles on my and Avuri's faces solidified it for her.

"You can't tell anyone, alright? They like their anonymity - it apparently helps their businesses to only act as a wealthy merchant family."

"What're you talking about?" Fal asked, clearly not putting it together.

"Miss Lyn and Mister Cyril are city elders. Oh, Miss Eiry must be, too, then, no?" Risha muttered quietly. I immediately tensed, ready to leap forward and cover Fal's mouth if he shouted anything.

"....what?" Thankfully, his stunned reaction was on the quieter side. He just blinked at the new information.

"Sorry. We're not really supposed to tell anyone outright, but since you figured it out…" I shrugged. "I don't think Lyn or Cyril will be mad about it though, so long as neither of you say anything about it. Eiry might be, though, so please never mention her."

"No talking about it. Understood." Risha said, and Fal quietly nodded quickly.

"Good." Avuri said. "Now, is there anything else either of you need before we part ways? We don't want to leave either of you with any trouble."

Risha shook her head. "You both have already done about as much as anyone could."

"She's right." Fal added. "Especially after that…experience in Resin, I honestly didn't think we'd ever be somewhere like this again. So, thank you." He bowed again, and Risha quickly did the same.

I chuckled. "Please, stop bowing already, you've done it enough."

They both straightened up, but even that was apparently too much for them, as both inclined their heads. I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, I think that's enough of that." Avuri said. "We've got a long walk ahead of us, and you two have been thanking us non-stop for days. We're glad we could help. Truly. Now please, stop groveling and be normal, alright?"

Despite her attempt to sound mostly neutral, I could hear the slight tone of both embarrassment and exhaustion tingeing her voice. I tried to hide a smile when she glanced over at me, but she could probably still feel my amusement through our link.

"Right…" Fal said.

"Alright. If you ever see me around the city, feel free to say hello." Risha said, clearly making an effort to remain upright.

"Same for me." Fal said. "I know I won't be here as often, but if you see me -"

"We'll say hello." I said. "Now, get going. Both of you. Shoo." I said, making the matching exaggerated shooing motions with my hands.

Fal turned to walk off, but Risha took the chance to scoot around us and take Karn's hands. She whispered a short goodbye to him that I actively avoided listening to. I didn't think it was my place. But she stood and quickly shuffled off not long after, so I didn't think it was a particularly emotional goodbye. Perhaps something more like her wishing him well. Karn didn't seem upset by her leaving either, so I didn't say anything more.

"Right then. How do we want to do this?" Avuri asked me, facing the four children.

"Heck if I know. What about you four? Would you like to walk for now, or rides?" I asked, addressing the kids.

"Rides." The answer came from everyone except Briar in an immediate chorus. Briar acted shy and looked away but still muttered "rides," quietly. I grinned and scooped her and Kord up.

"Alright! Rides, it is." I declared, as Avuri similarly slipped in to put Karn and Enrik on her shoulders.

"Shall we?"

"We shall!"

With that, we were off. We didn't move too quickly while still in the city, but we did take slightly longer, loping strides. After the days in the city, the kids' moods had improved quite a bit. They were enjoying the food and a walk through the market each day, although we never let them stray far from us. It seemed like the huge change in scenery and location had done wonders in helping their mentality recover, at least during the day.

Nights had been rough, but we honestly hadn't expected any less. Having seen what Cierra and Stena had been like after their own rescues, though, this was like night and day. I imagined it had to do with the fact that the kids were treated somewhat well, despite being caged. In this case, "well" meant not starved or beaten, which was about the lowest possible bar I could set. The whole thing still made me sick.

Still, they were mostly haunted by seeing the other child killed. Avuri and I had learned only a little about the boy. I knew that if we learned too much, it would only serve to make the regret worse. But I at least wanted to put a name to the face, and he had apparently been named "Luin". Like Enrik, he had been there before Karn and Risha, but Enrik didn't talk about him much.

Risha was at least reasonably certain that they weren't directly related or anything like that, so Avuri and I were desperately hoping that we hadn't allowed Enrik's brother to meet such a fate right in front of him. Given Enrik's disposition mostly matching the other kids, though, I didn't think that was the case. So long as he hadn't had his memories altered or suppressed in some way like we had been worried about originally, but I actively had to stop myself from going down that route.

"You said we're going to live up there, right?" Kord asked, pointing to the top of the Peak.

"Near the top, yep." I said.

"That's so high up."

"It doesn't feel that high when you're up there. Are you scared of heights?"

"Nope! But Briar is."

"Oh? Are you going to be okay Briar?" I asked, jostling the shoulder she was on a bit.

"I think so. I just can't look down, right?" She asked.

I smiled. "When we're up there, you can totally look down! We don't live on a cliff, so if you look down, you'll just see the ground."

"How?"

"How?" I asked, chuckling. "Well, the part of the mountain we live on is flat. So you don't have to be worried about falling or anything like that."

"Oh! Okay." Briar said, just accepting it. I couldn't help but smile to myself as I hefted them into a better position and kept moving toward the city's southern gate.