A farmer's life

Stepping out of her house Axilya stared at the sky for a moment. 'This is coming down heavier than I thought.' Putting a kick into her steps, she'd go around to the backside of the house and take a moment to stare in awe, letting out a small whistle. 'That's a lot of snow already on the fields.' Looking down the hill toward the field below, she clearly saw that already a decent few inches had coated the field.

Yet - luckily whether through divine intervention or something else, the grapes, apples, and oranges seemed fine and perfectly uncrushed. 'What about the peanuts and rice? How long will this storm last, and will it eventually affect our fruits?' Numerous concerns had grown from surveying from a distance, with quick steps she began to rush down the hill.

Not once did she trip or slow down because of the slick wet snow, instead it appeared as if she was perfectly in her element as she gracefully, yet swiftly descended the hills. Spotting figures off in the distance, she'd agilely move through the apple and orange trees, and come upon four figures huddled around some rice that had a pile of snow next to it. "Beldroth, Kaylessa, Eilauver, and oh! Elder Elroun. What's the damage?"

Kaylessa, as beautiful as any Elf had a small frown on her face as she looked up brushing her blonde hair out of the way, "It looks bad dear. It seems that if this continues the rice will end up being heavily reduced this season." A voice that usually could be described to be as smooth as honey was sadly marred with disappointment and worry.

Eilauver, the son of Kaylessa and Beldroth sighed heavily while staring at the rice. Beldroth, trying to see the best of it said, "At least the Oranges, Apples, and Grapes are fine! Besides, who knows? The peanuts could be okay too."

Elder Elroun with a stern harsh-looking face would stand up straight. "That is the best we can hope for." With his black hair still perfectly in place, he walked towards where they grew the peanuts. "I'll have to check the other household farms, but it appears that a few tough seasons are coming if a few more inches of snow fall."

Catching up to Elder Elroun Axilya would raise a question, "Do we have enough coin to hire hunters?"

His face softened slightly as he glanced towards her, and he nodded slightly. "As long as it's only a few months we'll be fine. But if the other farms are worse than this..." A sigh escaped from him as the lines on his face and wrinkles seemed to deepen. "I've only seen something strange like this happen once before, and that was the harshest time our village has experienced in my entire life."

'This is my fault... I'll have to do something about this. But what? Who knows how long it'll take me to step into Strength Training? From what I know, in every village that has hunters, and the towns as well all Hunters are either Strength Training or Flesh Training at the minimum. If I can't step into Flesh Training quickly then I'll just risk it anyway! I won't let my village starve because of my existence.' An ice-cold determination imprinted itself into Axilya's mind as she silently walked along with her adopted family and Elder.  'Then when work is over I'll start training.'

As they arrived at the peanut part of the farm, silence overtook them all. The worst possible scenario had come - already the peanuts were dying. Her fists tightly clenched Axilya stared heavily at the dying, sad little peanuts. 'I know what I have to do.' With a deep breath, her fists unclenched, and all the deep emotions faded away, leaving only the embers of determination and guilt.

As she regained clarity of mind, she spotted from the corner of her eye Eilauver with gritted teeth, eyes slightly watering. 'Although he's beginning to look like a man... Emotionally he's still too young. Elves physically mature fast, but emotionally are slow.' Approaching him, she'd look him into the eyes, before pulling him into a hug. "It'll be alright, we'll get through this." Although her voice was cold and lacking in emotion - Eilauver crumbled into her hug, his brown hair brushing against her shoulders. "It'll be alright. We can figure this out, the village always has."

Spotting the raised eyebrow of Elder Elroun she shrugged slightly, and he chuckled. "Yes, our new Elder in training is quite right. We've gone long periods without food before. If the worst comes, we can become indebted for a while to White Forest."

Large arms joined into the hug, as the muffled voice of Beldroth was heard. "The Elder and Axilya are right son. Now come on! We've got some shoveling to do."

-That Night-

After a long day of shoveling snow and tending to the crops as best as she could, by now usually Axilya would have already been preparing for bed. Tonight was not like usual, however. To the side of her house, in the snow that had only continued to fall, Axilya was doing push-ups with her eyes closed. Yet, every time she went down to the ground, chest barely grazing the ground, she would do something strange - swallow.

In fact - if one knew the Body of Frost technique, they would be amazed at the perfect conditions! She was training at night time when the 'Frosty Gaze' of the Moon was at its peak. It was snowing, it was cold out, and most of all - she was supremely talented! She had the Ice Phoenix bloodline, and was, in fact, Half Ice Phoenix herself - except that part was sealed. With the snow entering her throat, going down it, and resting inside of her belly - it seemed like every pushup caused her body to become more powerful. 

When her arms were shaking, and her breath came out in heavy pants, she slowly got into a meditative position, before piling some snow onto her legs, taking some into her mouth, and only then closing her eyes to begin meditation.

Time passed, and as snow fell, it soon seemed as if she was made out of snow, her hair and shoulders were completely covered by it. Then...

WOOSH! The snow exploded off of her as she moved out of nowhere! Standing up in seemingly the blink of an eye, there would be a small smile on her face. Ice-blue eyes shot open showing a hint of joy, and as her fists clenched one could hear a popping sound. 'I did it! In just a few hours I stepped into Strength Training.' As she slowly relaxed, the chill in her chest slowly faded away. 'Amazing! I suppose the Ice Phoenix bloodline truly lives up to its name. But this strength... doesn't it seem a bit much?'

Reaching down to the dirt, a simple light pat compressed it to the ground, leaving the visible sign of a handprint. Walking over to a tree, she reached her hand out and lightly pushed. The next moment the tree cracked slightly. 'When in Rome... I guess I'll use cultivation terms. So how many Jin of strength is this? Is this 1000 Jin like the average, or is it even more?' 

Axilya took another deep breath to calm herself. 'Alright. The best thing to do right now is to eat and sleep. Let my body recover from the changes. I can slowly figure this out - after all, I have weeks until I should start trying to hunt. That'll be more than enough...'