Chương 328: Epilogue 2. I can't wait to get started

"Father! Father has returned!" Kite knew it was cheating, but still couldn't help it. As he heard the trample of many feet rushing up one of the nearby gravel pathways while yet out of sight, he leapt off the ground and used his gold-ranked speed to swiftly round the house the other way around to avoid capture. This was soon discovered, with sounds of frustration and laughter echoing out from near the gate of their family compound before the chase was on.

With aura senses and hearing far beyond mortal ken, it wasn't a fair contest, but fortunately all of the participants greatly enjoyed themselves for a minute of two before Kite swerved around the main building and onto one of the garden patios where the most simple and content of the auras currently at home sat playing with a set of colorful wooden blocks.

"Dada!"

"Oh no, little Mantis! You spotted me! Woe be unto your poor father," Kite laughed as he plopped down on the stone patio next to the toddler, the girl laughing and holding one of her little blocks up high as if to show it to the whole world, heavens included.

"Skyward Mantis indeed," Kite chuckled as he scooped up the girl while the other four finally caught up after having heard the call of their youngest sister, though it was not that many months until it was time to break child number six from the vat.

"Father!" Four other children - two boys and two girls - soon arrived in different ways. Wren, the oldest with his six years, threw himself into Kite's arms with complete trust that his father would catch him no matter what, and Moth - two and a half years old and number four in the flock of children Kite and Dragonfly were rearing - soon joined her brother while Cicada and Heron made for a more measured approach even as they too embraced him.

"I've missed you, father."

"Me too!"

"Dada!"

"Look, I found a beetle the other day but Mother said I couldn't keep it even though Auntie Dove and Raven said we could and–" A torrent of words assailed Kite, but fortunately a gold-ranked mind made it easy to actually keep up, Kite 'oooh-ing' and 'aah-ing' at the appropriate times while he formed various seats of barriers in the air upon which his children quickly clambered. Only after he had swirled them round and round for a few minutes did Cicada - his second-oldest daughter - manage to get a proper word in.

"Father, did you find what you were looking for?" the four-year-old asked in her usual, articulate manner that still seemed odd from such a young child, to the degree that Dragonfly often jokingly wondered if there had been a mixup at the temple for her to have such a calm and composed child.

"I did."

"Oh, can I see!"

"I want to hold it!"

"Da!"

"Now, now," Kite laughed, warding off the curious ones.

"This is a gift for your Auntie Raven. This is an important day for her, after all."

"I want essences too. Am I old enough?"

"Apologies, Wren, but you are at least ten years off."

"Aaaawww…"

"Now, now. Your time will come, I promise," Kite laughed.

"But tonight, we need to be happy for Raven. Absorbing essences is a big step in her life - one that many won't even have the opportunity to do. So we will all need to be there for her and support her as best we can, no?"

"Yeah!"

"I'm going to give her this nice stone I found."

"Father, I'm hungry."

"Oh, I can feel that. Run along to Auntie Dove then, all of you. I am sure she has already felt it and prepared a snack." This set all four of the children in motion instantly, even the more collected Cicada and Heron - the third child - hurrying somewhat as they moved off. Next to Kite, little Mantis also rose on wobbly legs and made to follow before he scooped her up, hugging the little girl close as he too followed.

"Welcome home, dear," Dragonfly called as she joined the little trail of children on their way to the treats, sidling up next to Kite and giving little Mantis a boop on her nose which caused the toddler to giggle.

"It had arrived, I presume?" Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"It had. It will make an excellent gift from us for Raven's awakening."

"Not like you haven't already hoarded many awakening stones for her over the years."

"Well… Is it wrong for an older brother to care for his only sister?"

"Heh. I suppose you are right. And she's a good kid, even though those first teenage years of hers leave me quaking when thinking of when our young lads and ladies reach that tender age."

"One hurdle at a time on the path towards the heavens, dear," Kite laughed, hugging her to him while Mantis clambered over to her mother's arms.

"I can't wait for tonight and the rituals of awakening. And given that I am not even the focus of this event, I am quite sure that I'm not the only one," he finished, sensing excitement, impatience and nervousness basically rolling in waves from Raven's room further off in the compound.

"... and there we have it, dear. Go on. Touch it," Auntie Crow gently urged her daughter, who in turn sat dazed in the center of the ritual circle which her mother had just enacted. At seventeen years old, Auspicious Winter Raven had grown up to become a true fusion of her mothers.

While Crow's celestine heritage - along with the fair features and onyx eyes and hair - had been the most dominant, adolescence had brought out more of Dove's height and curves, as well as a slight hint of curls to her previously straight hair. And now, the not-so-little Raven would become an iron-ranker, confirmed a moment later as she reached out and touched the confluence essence which had appeared in front of her.

As a gold-ranker, Kite could see the magic permeating his younger sister's body in keen detail, giving just a hint at how it meshed with her soul even though any further detail was beyond even his perception. The reactions of her aura were more obvious though, elation and power soon turning into dismay as the purge began.

It was nothing that a privacy screen and liberal use of crystal wash could not alleviate, but Kite still empathized with his sister as she eventually emerged, still shivering even though she was clean and wore a pristine set of clothes while Dove incinerated the now ruined set on the stone patio behind them.

Raven didn't have long though before she was swarmed by her nephews and nieces, Kite and Dragonfly's children demanding both attention and demonstration even though the smaller ones didn't truly understand what was happening yet were happy to take part either way.

"Patience, children, patience," Kite eventually called, bringing a bit of order to the happy madness as he used spectral arms and barriers to scoop them all up.

"Magic is wonderful, but it can be dangerous, and Auntie Raven needs to get a sense of what the heavens have bestowed upon her."

"Brother! I sound so old when you call me 'Auntie'," the freshly minted iron-ranker protested, only to be swept up in a hug.

"Is Little Raven more preferable then?"

"Ugh. Fine. Be like that," she grumbled at his teasing, even though her heart wasn't in it. It was Pom that eventually came to the rescue, the golden cat swooping in and starting to play with the children - mostly by letting them clamber all over his floofy form - which finally gave Raven some time to meditate.

"I believe that Honored Gleam will be proud that you incorporated her gift into your path, dear Sister," Kite said once Raven seemed to have properly centered herself.

"And I must admit that I am very curious what will come of it."

"How could I not? As the Mistress said; sharing part of my path with a Queen? How could I pass that up?" Raven replied with a smile.

"And besides, part of it feels a bit like what Mommy Crow has been doing, just different. We don't know that much about the technology essence, and especially not combined with the tree essence. It felt good to have something related to Mommy Dove in there as well."

"Add harmonic, and now you are left with the animate confluence," Kite confirmed.

"Any sense of what you have gained? If you can forgive your most curious older brother, that is."

"Oh, he's not the only one," Sprite added.

"Come on! Don't hold us in suspense!"

"Patience is a virtue and a skill both, you two. Which demands practice. I recommend that you try it," Raven retorted so smoothly that it felt like there were two Auntie Crows with them for a moment, but she soon relented.

"But I do really want to try them out. But…" she said, glancing at Dove.

"I might need one of your trees to do it, mother."

"Of course, dear," Dove replied.

"Come on. We'll pick one out." A few minutes of deliberation later, they found themselves next to a small tree which had grown a bit wayward in the otherwise harmonic garden, Raven stepping up to it after an encouraging nod from Dove.

"So…" she began.

"I believe that I can work this, somehow. I don't know the full extent of it yet, but…"

"Try it, dear. There is no perfection in a first attempt, only experience," Auntie Crow urged her, causing Raven to nod and lay her hand on the tree. Kite could see the mana start flowing between the tree and his sister, and then - eventually - it started to change. The young tree warped slightly here and there. Branches twisting, thickening, some leaves being shed while other pieces of the wood cracked and reformed into something looking more mechanical in nature.

The end result was that the tree had turned into an arm. Rough-looking and uneven, but an arm nonetheless. And even through the transformation, Kite still felt that it was alive an well. Simply changed. Then came another surge of mana as Raven held up her arm and flexed her fingers, the wood creaking as the tree-hand moved with her.

"Oh… My little girl… Grown up…" Dove sobbed while the others cheered, swooping in to wrap her daughter in yet another fierce hug.

"Mother, please!" the teenager protested, but to no avail.

"This does seem interesting, sister," Kite mused as he stepped close and looked at the now animate creation.

"I wonder what could be done if you had more time to work with it. What you could create… Because this does feel like a path that is at least in part that of a maker."

"I… think so too," Raven replied, unable to keep the smile from her lips even wrapped up in her mothers arms as she was.

"Perhaps Auntie Evergreen might be able to help me? And you too, Mommy Dove. I…" she trailed off for a moment, eyes distant as she no doubt imagined all this could mean and more.

"I can't wait to get started."

"Welcome to the world of magic, Sister," Kite replied with a laugh, even managing to shake hands with the now animated tree-arm after a few attempts.

"May your path take you to the heavens and beyond."