5 The Naming Ceremony

When Yang Qing woke up, he was in the gondola cabin. He was changed into a white cotton robe, with clouds hovering a pond design covering most of his robe. His sister wore a dress with the same design and fabric while his mother simply had clouds on her dress. They had already left their little cottage behind and he knew little of where he was going, perhaps the naming ceremony he had heard the maids whispering. They had not bothered to hide their little gossip in front of a child who could barely listen, let alone speak. Their were one part excited that Yang Qing was finally going to get a name today. Normally, everyone referred to him as "little one", but it change in Imaru, the second month, after his naming ceremony.

The sudden thought made him uncomfortable. No one knew his name - Yang Qing - but he was powerless to reject the naming ceremony. He could put those thoughts away earlier, but he would have to face it sooner or later. More sooner than later, now that his birthday had passed and he was in a gondola possibly well on his way to obtaining his new name.

Well, it wasn't like his previous parents had forced a name onto him, but he didn't have one yet. His mother didn't know any better and he never mentioned it. He was afraid. Afraid of what she might think if her son wasn't a baby but a baby with the soul of man old enough to be her grandfather. Afraid of being unable to stay with his mother and sister, or even remain alive, if anyone knew. The past morning meditations had help alleviate these fears, but in the back of his mind, he couldn't put them to rest. They came back again and again, at odd times. Being with his mother and sister abated that feeling a bit.

He wanted his father to visit more often, stay around, just like his previous father did, but he wished he stayed more than that. His father was an emperor, busy to no end and more wives and concubines he could count on his fingers. His father this time wasn't as rich, but more than wealthy to have a couple of wives himself - the two girls, Shea and Carla, and a woman, Elaine, where he first his sister at were his half-sisters and mother-in-law. Elaine was the first wife, a water shrine priestess, ex-shrine priestess. She had quit when she became pregnant.

Worst of all was his sense of powerlessness. He was a year old baby, powerlessness to the forces of nature and incapable of feeding and providing for himself. He had the security now, but once his mother and sister discovered it, would he still have it?

When he returned from his thoughts, they were standing in front of the water shrine. He had been here once before, for his birthday, to receive the blessings of Aquarius, the water god. There were two columns of pews, each with ten rows. While not packed, there were significant amounts of people, the families of the babies who would be named. His mother carried him while his sister walked beside her, with the two maids following. They took a spot at the front pew, where his other half-siblings and mother-in-laws sat.

His father stood at the podium of the stage with a woman he never seen before.He wore a white robe with a pond stretching from his waist down. He had short dark blue hair with brown pupils. He wore his trademark frown and he eyes looked like he could see into your very soul. He was tall, a bit over six feet, making the woman beside him look little more than a girl than the water priestess.

The woman wore a pale blue dress that stretched to her knees. Her dark blue hair was braided, reaching her chest. She wore a faint smile and, just by looking at her, he felt calmer. It was truly a bizarre juxtaposition between the two people.

His father stepped up to the podium, grabbed its edges as he looked around the room. "We are gathered here today to celebrate an important milestone of our lives: the day we obtain our first names. Everyone from the young to the old have all experienced this, except for the babies who are experiencing this for the first time. It's both a joyous and solemn day, where our children grow from being "little ones" to becoming members of our society."

He stepped back towards the table behind the podium, grabbing a scroll. The woman beside him stepped forth to the podium. "On behalf of the Water Shrine, I welcome you. Without further ado, let's start. May the son of Brian Aqua Allyn and Melissa Ether Rosenberg come up to the podium."

My mother, Melissa, brought me up to the podium while the audience started clapping.

The woman pulled a small bottle out of her dress and pour a few drops of water on Yang Qing's head. "May the goddess Imaru bless the son of Brian Aqua Allyn and Melissa Ether Rosenberg with a long and healthy life." She poured another few drops of water onto his head. "May the god Brahmu grant him tranquility in his worst times and humility in his best times." Once again, she poured a few drops onto his head."May the god Polaut make his soul rich and his body strong." She grabbed the scroll from his father's hands and opened it, reading the name inscribed onto it. "On the behalf the goddess Imaru, I grant him the name Louis."

Louis. His new name was Louis. It was different from his own name, more a mash of letters into a name than a combination of meanings, like his original name. It would be his last chance to voice his doubts, potentially change his name, change his fate. He looked into his mother's eyes, the joy and satisfaction within in it on full display. He swallowed his words. He couldn't betray her. Not his mother, not his sister. It was a name, just a name. A new name for a new world. His old self wouldn't disappear, his memories, that life, were all real, even if only he knew it. He was Yang Qing, the alchemy emperor, and now he is Louis, the baby, with a future unknown and a story unwritten.

His mother only looked at the shrine priestess this entire time, turning away from his father as she brought him back to the pew. The rest of the naming ceremony passed in the similarly fashion and Yang, no, Louis, had started cultivating again. He only needed to hide whenever he was breaking through due to the amount of qi required and the focus he could no longer use to monitor his surroundings.

Here, he only needed to gather his qi and complete a revolution. The Nine Revolution Spirit-Body technique got its name not only from the nine major revolutions to complete each realm, but the nine minor revolutions to complete each layer. He had water qi within his meridians and he started to revolve it through his meridians, once again starting from his middle dantian, to his head, then to the right side of his body, then legs up to his left half, before it once again returned to his dantian. The first revolution of the water elemental qi was much easier than the wind elemental qi, since his spirit and meridians were now stronger. Within the center of his meridians, the wind and water elemental qi began to fight for supremacy, but Louis' soul was strong enough to force the two into harmony. Still, he began to inhale water elemental qi and exhale wind elemental qi, so his meridians would reach harmony in amount and strength. Once an equilibrium, the outer layer of his meridians were once again clear, devoid of any element, and the inner layer made a cylinder into two halves: wind and water.

The naming ceremony ended when he was finished. Most of the people sitting at the people had disappeared, leaving only a baby and their mother. His sister had left, along with the two maids. She would have some free time to wreck havoc now, since their mother was busy looking after him while the two maids could only try to satisfy her impulses.

The water priestess removed the top of the podium, revealing an array engraved into the top, with a bright light flying out from the top. Qi fluctuated from around the podium and Louis understood that more arrays, the important ones, were carved into the column, hidden behind the wooden frame of the podium.

"Now, the elemental affinity test begins," the water priestess said. "May Louis come up and sit upon the podium." She placed a crystal orb into his hands when he sat down and started the array.

The array at his bottom poured a mellow but element less qi into his body, circulating through his meridians once, taking small samples of his elemental qi before bringing them into the orb. The orb took all of this foreign qi. Dark blue and silver dots began to proliferate within it, first fast, but gradually slowing down until the half of it was full. The element within his qi was at his lowest right now, just having complete their first revolutions and fighting each other to an equilibrium. Perhaps after a short rest, the orb would completely fill up with the orb.

"Talent: wind and water, medium rank." The priestess said, taking the crystal orb within his hands. "He shall join the elemental classes when he is seven." She placed a dull grey, clay orb within his hands and a small booklet into his mother's hands.

Louis looked into his father's eyes and thought his gave was a bit softer, with the tiniest tint of approval, but when he looked again, it was gone. His mother bowed to the priestess before taking him outside. She touched and prodded his body, with a vexed look on her face and her eyes questioning him for answers she knew he would never give. She sighed giving up, removing her qi around his body to allow the water elemental qi around them to his body. A minute passed without anything happening, so she sighed before finding his sister and maids.

Louis snuggled within her embrace. He didn't want to leave this family. This was his home now.