Chapter 14 - Happenings in Turning Leaf Town

"Complicated?" Ao Wen asked around a mouthful of congee. "You mean besides my Awakening taking nine whole days to finish?"

"Yes, besides that," Feng Xi said, nibbling at the plum bun. "You know I still expect you to make me plum buns she scallion cakes right?"

"I know," Ao Wen said smiling. She missed this from Feng Xi. Despite sharing a tent for three months, and all they went through together, Jun Xiang had never felt anywhere near as close to her as Feng Xi did. "But you have to cook for me too," she countered. "You know your father's recipe for hunter's stew don't you? You have to treat me sometime. Now stop stalling and tell me the news!"

"Bad news first then," Feng Xi said with a sigh and a furrowed brow. "Tang Jin and Mo Yan both managed to awaken as body cultivators. They're now early stage Brawlers and they've been strutting around town in fancy armor with expensive swords making trouble."

"Let them," Ao Wen said, voice thick with disdain. "A real warrior can cleave through stone with a wooden stick. Peacocks with expensive weapons aren't a problem. What about Zhang Bo, the city Lord's seventh son?" Ao Wen asked. Of everyone who could be trouble, Zhang Bo brought multiple kinds of trouble and he'd threatened to claim Feng Xi as his concubine.

"The bad news about Zhang Bo is that he didn't awaken," Feng Xi said. "He's been taking out his disappointment on common folk, hiding behind his father's name. He hasn't caused any trouble for your family yet, mostly because I've been nearby, but he's not happy about the way you stood up to him and his friends on the road that day." There were too many ways for a wealthy wastrel of a powerful family to make trouble for common folk like Ao Wen's parents. Feng Xi had made sure that people saw her entering and leaving the Ao household and had visited Ao Yang at his workshop several times to bring him lunch, just so people would know that the Ao family was under her protection.

"His father is a Master Scholar right? And several of his brothers are Brawlers?" Ao Wen asked. Before Awakening, the differences between one level of cultivation and the next barely mattered. To a mortal, it didn't matter if you were a mouse squashed by a horse or an elephant, the end result was a dead mouse. Now that she had awakened, the details suddenly became more relevant.

"City Lord Zhang is a master at formations," Feng Xi explained. "His ability to create large defensive barriers is what enabled him to be appointed as City Lord instead of Town Mayor. Otherwise, Turning Leaf town isn't big enough for a person to be titled as Lord. There are also a number of early and mid stage Soldiers that comprise his elite city guard." In theory, those Soldiers were protectors of the town, but threats requiring the attention of second stage cultivators were rare and City Lord Zhang tended to use them as a method of projecting his strength and suppressing the other cultivation families of the town. As a Scholar that cultivated his mind to it's limits and practiced the Art of Formations, City Lord Zhang used every means at his disposal to create the kind of orderly city that he desired.

"Hopefully no one causes any trouble," Ao Wen said, picking up her plum bun and placing it in Feng Xi's hand. "Too sweet," she said, vaguely missing the spicy rich flavors she'd become accustomed to in the desert. "Tell me there's good news. Did Little Tu awaken?"

"No," Feng Xi shook her head. "He's expecting you to make him honey cakes. I told him that he had to wait in line till I get my plum buns. I don't think he really cares but it bothered him that Tang Jin succeeded while he failed."

"Poor Little Tu," Ao Wen said. "Was there any good news? Did anyone else awaken besides those two flower pickers? I guess three in one year is already a lot."

"That's where things get complicated," Feng Xi said after a pause. "There was one woman before you, Su Liang from the Dark Moon Crow Su Clan but she seems to have vanished since then. It's the ones who awakened after you that make things complicated." Feng Xi drew a deep breath before continuing. "The seventeen young women seated closest to you during the ceremony all awakened right after you did."

Ao Wen nearly dropped her tea cup. "Seventeen you said?" First, it was shocking because it was more people awakening at once than had awakened in Turning Leaf town in the past ten years. Then, her mind caught up to the specific number. Seventeen. It couldn't be a coincidence, could it? Seventeen lives plus her. Seventeen women plus her. It was such an odd number, she was sure it couldn't be a coincidence. Had Wei Lien done something? Unlikely. Had she done something herself? She had no idea.

"They were trying to be quiet about it, but they all came to visit you. Before they left, they each left a gift for you. If I didn't know better, I'd think you had stolen their hearts but it seemed like… it was beyond gratitude the way they looked at you. It was more like… reverence." Feng Xi paused again seeing that Ao Wen was thinking deeply about it. "What's stranger is that they all went with the Honored Elder when he left three days later. They told me that they were seeking a sect in the wider world. If it was the two who are joining the Holy Light Temple, I'd understand the hurry to journey with the Honored Elder. Normally though, people who have awakened and are seeking a sect will take some time to put their affairs in order before setting out. After all, cultivators may not return home for a decade or more, so proper goodbyes are the norm. For these seventeen though, it felt like they couldn't leave fast enough. Like they were worried about something happening if they stayed."

"That is odd," Ao Wen mumbled. She was sure that it had something to do with her but what? She wished she could ask Mei Lien but she knew that wasn't possible. She'd just have to figure it out for herself. "I can't explain it, at least, not yet."

"But you know something, don't you?" Feng Xi asked, concern wrinkling her brow. She'd hesitated to bring this up at all, but now, Ao Wen's gaze had started to become distant again, like it was moments after she woke up. "What aren't you telling me, little sister? You know you can trust me with anything."

"I know," Ao Wen said, biting her lower lip. Images of staying up late at night with Feng Xi, gossiping and sharing their hopes and worries blended for a moment with memories of talking to Jun Xiang late at night to distract each other from their aches and pains until Ao Wen shoved it all into a corner of her mind. "I want to tell you about it, but not yet. I… I need to sort things out in my own mind first. Please. Whatever happens, whatever I do… don't leave me, okay?" Ao Wen asked, her dark amber eyes pleading.

"Never," Feng Xi said, holding Ao Wen's hand tightly. "We're going to be sisters aren't we? How could I leave my little sister!" Her words were confident and a smile rested on her lips but Feng Xi's heart trembled. Just what had her little sister experienced in her Awakening to shake her this much?

"There is one thing I can tell you now," Ao Wen said, trying to divert her elder sister's attention. "We should tell my parents too though, come on, I'm sure mom wants more help with the dumplings anyway. Father's a perfectionist and he's slow."

"Have you come to rescue me?" Hou Jia asked as the young women entered the kitchen. "Your father is still portioning out the pork filling, he hasn't stuffed a single dumpling yet!"

"Yes mother, we're here to help. Xi has the a delicate touch, she can help stuff dumplings. Mother, I'll take over the knives," Ao Wen said, tying on an apron.

"Good girl, thank you, and thank you for helping Fairy Feng," Ao Wen's mother said with a bright smile.

"Mother," Feng Xi said, surprising both of Ao Wen's parents with the form of address. "You can call me Xi'er if you'd like. Wen and I are going to be sworn sisters. Her parents will be my parents so please accept some help from this daughter," she said with a bright smile, dazzling both Ao Yang and Hou Jia.

"Wen, why didn't you tell us? We should have invited Xi'er's family to join us!" Becoming sworn siblings was a big enough deal to mortal families, but Feng Xi came from a family of cultivators. Taking each other as sworn family would create a bond that lasted for generations of the Ao family!

"We can wait till things are formal, mom," Ao Wen said, relaxing at last in the warm family environment. "Besides, I have another surprise for you both. During my Awakening, I found out what our bloodlines are," she said with a smile.

"Oh? Was Grandfather right about the Stone Lion? You know the way your mother pounces on me sometimes I'm sure she's more Flame Wolf than Ember Wolf," Ao Yang said, throwing a teasing look at his wife of many years.

"Yang! Say one more word and see how sharp this wolf's claws are," Hou Jia said, blushing brightly as he flirted shamelessly in front of their new daughter. "You're lucky Wen took over the knives!"

"Anyway," Feng Xi interrupted, trying to rescue her new mother. "What did you find out little sister?"

Ao Wen grinned looking at both her parents smiling. "No lions. No wolves either," she said, drawing out the answer. "Father truly is a dragon among men. An Earth Dragon!"

"Earth Dragon?" Everyone stopped their work in the kitchen, looking from father to daughter as Ao Yang's jaw hung in disbelief. "What about your mother? Don't tell me I found a Fire Dragon to warm my bed at night," he said with a grin.

"Keep it up husband," Hou Jia said, shaking a large radish at him. "We'll see how comfortable an Earth Dragon is sleeping on a Stone Floor!"

"Okay, okay, this dragon will be magnanimous and restrain himself," Ao Yang said, puffing up his chest. "But really, what is your mother's bloodline?"

"The Vermillion Bird," Ao Wen said with a touch of pride, matching the pride rapidly blooming on Hou Jia's face. These were her parents. Her gifts didn't have to be the legacy of some Immortal Empress. It was enough that she was the combination of their blood and the fruit of the love they showered on each other so freely in moments like these. For tonight, it was enough. Tomorrow she could face the rest.