Chương 333: Epilogue 7. Sage advice

As Frost Among Morning Dew stepped out of her private chambers and onto the balcony overlooking the Fated Severance Sect in all its splendor, she couldn't help but treat herself to a smile. These had come more often during these last dozen years than during most of her previous life, and while she did enjoy the sensation of the winter and frost in her heart thawing a bit - as well as the actual insights these ebbs and flow of the chill had gifted her path - Dew also knew that she had a reputation to uphold.

For that reputation's sake, it was good that her quarters also had privacy enchantments that prevented people outside from peeking, because not long after Dew felt Rupert approaching.

"Aaaahhh, a fine morning," the leonid growled with contentment, stretching his rust-red body while - as was his way - completely naked.

"And you, my dear winter flower, feel most content."

"So you picked that up, hmm? My aura control must be slipping," she replied, long since past trying to reprimand her long-time lover for his lack of propriety. The two of them were alone after all, and this was just another thing which Dew had found that she liked treating herself to.

"Nope, your spiritual bulwark of ice is as impenetrable to this lowly silver as it always has been," Rupert quipped even as he fell into a mock rendition of the more formal speech he used in his official capacity as a deputy director.

"But by now, I would dare to claim that I know you. It was in the way you stood." His words caused yet another little surge of warmth inside Dew, and thus she did not protest in the slightest as he draped one of his warm arms around her.

"You've built something great here, Dew," Rupert eventually said.

"For so long, it felt like your sect was the most important example of how you could do your Hua-Xi thing while also being a lot more reasonable in your… Everything. But it does feel that others are finally catching on, especially after your showing in the annual tournaments."

"Queen Thousand Forms Unbroken might have her… Unique way of guiding this kingdom, but she has at least been very active in setting her examples," Dew mused, eyes a bit forlorn as she remembered some of the bouts that passed for holding court these days.

"But as it will be a few months yet until the next - where you might even be able to get back at young Kite for last year's showing - today does have something else in store for us, I believe. I wonder how the weather is up in Gilded? The trees do tend to look splendid there this time of the year."

"And you are set in your decision?"

"I am. You know that," Rupert stated, aura and voice equally certain.

"I do," Dew replied, with another faint smile.

"Then get dressed, Deputy Director. It is your last day of your tenure, after all. We would not want you emerging out of the portal like this."

"... and that is– Oh. Of course. You have seen quite a few of these after all," Kite said, smiling as the no-longer-so-young Emiloux reached out and touched the forming confluence essence without need for his prompting.

Her twin brother Amiteo already stood waiting impatiently nearby as it was the youngest pair of LanCaire children's turn to finally absorb their essences, the impatience only aggravated by the fact that they were soon turning nineteen years old and thus were considered quite late bloomers in the world of magic.

Still, the pair of rituals went off without complication, and as the twins - after the usual bout of cleaning necessary - charged off to one of the temple yards to start testing out their freshly minted paths where the mirror essence and one weapon essence each were common denominators, Jarvan, Fantina and Dragonfly joined Kite as they kept a watchful eye over the merriment.

"Thanks again, Kite. It's not everyone who can claim that most of their children had their essence rituals done by a local celebrity even after him reaching gold rank," Jarvan chuckled, clamping a hand to Kite's shoulder.

"It has become a bit of a tradition by now, so it would have been a shame to miss the last chance in a while, especially since we were already here in Gilded to see you off," Kite replied.

"And besides, the children can't really get enough of essence rituals it seems."

"Who can, really?" Dragonfly chimed in, watching their brood of seven all partaking in the impromptu festivities.

"It's always so exciting seeing someone's life change before your very eyes through the powers which the heavens provide for them. Just imagine, Husband. This could be Wren in just three years if he is an early one."

"Oh yes indeed. Quite hard to imagine," Kite agreed, glancing at his oldest, now twelve years old and in that endearingly awkward phase of early adolescence where everything became so very serious all of a sudden. Still, even Wren could not hide his fascination and longing as he saw the LanCaires celebrate their magic.

"The old adage holds true; they do grow up so fast."

"Emiloux and Amiteo will probably need some time getting all of this out of their system," Fantina remarked as the twins showed no signs of stopping.

"Why don't the three of you go ahead to the ceremony? I'll stay here and heal any potential scrapes."

"Thank you, dear. Best to go and get the formalities over with," Jarvan agreed, Kite and Dragonfly joining him as they set out from the temple of Fertility in Gilded. Neither Kite nor Dragonfly felt even a shadow of worry either, with Fantina and the local priestesses watching over seven children which was nowhere near the number that had been present in their quarters for so many years. Basically a vacation, as Fantina had said many times over the recent years when extending the same offer.

As they made their way back through Gilded, Kite was struck with how small the city felt compared to his current frame of reference. Once, the hustle and crowds had felt rather overwhelming, but now his aura senses easily covered the whole city and much beyond even while he kept his spirit close and under control. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

"The mana giving you any trouble?" Jarvan asked as they walked, Kite shaking his head.

"It's sparse beyond what we have at home, but I shall manage a few hours more."

"Another reason why golds are rarely seen in these parts. Otherwise it would have been so nice to have sent a gold-ranker here decades ago to wrangle the local sects with a bit more gravitas," Jarvan chuckled.

"But I guess it worked out in the end. The Victorious Sunset Sect still plays nice with the locals. Did you hear that one of their elders formed a sect of their own too?"

"No I hadn't. Any trouble?"

"Surprisingly little. The Victorious Sunset Sect has kept up the vows of Sect Leader Dusk even after her departure, and this new Moonlit Verdure Sect even get to send their students to the mirage chamber to train. The frequency of duels has risen, of course, but without actual malice, I don't think that's too bad a thing. Soul was onto something there, making sure to have plenty of legitimate and supervised ways to have the warriors blow off some steam."

Not long after, the trio reached the Seventh Peak, riding the familiar elevator up to the top of the cliff and the local Adventure Society campus. Plenty of people were already gathered, with City Lord Indomitable being the most notable among them alongside elders of the local sects and Whispering Wind, the local hall master of the Autumn Wanderer's guild who Kite had only met a scant few times.

There was a bit of a stir at the arrival of Jarvan, Kite and Dragonfly, and that increased when a portal appeared at the plaza, letting Deputy Director Rupert through, followed by Frost Among Morning Dew.

"Heh. It sure has been some time since not just one, but two gold-rankers graced this city with their presences," Jarvan muttered as they drew closer.

"Had he not known the two of you, Lord Indomitable might have been sweating quite a bit more. Come now though. It's my time to have part of the spotlight this time now that the changing of the guard is upon us."

"- and as such, it is with Gilded's deepest well-wishes that we bid farewell of Jarvan LanCaire and Rupert Versis, now former directors of the Adventure Society's Gilded branch," Lord Indomitable spoke, his deep voice easily carrying across the plaza as the regal elf was wrapping up his speech.

"While I have no say in the assignment of these positions, I still wish to convey my appreciation for the Adventure Society for having chosen two such excellent directors to oversee this region, as they have been able to bridge many cultural differences and found common ground with our ways whenever possible. That being said, I also wish to convey my pride that one of our locals will be one of those who fill their now vacant seats. Welcome, Branch Director Meandering Bloom.

May our future cooperation with you and your chosen deputy be as fruitful as with that of your predecessors." Kite had only heard of the woman who nodded in acknowledgement at the words of the city lord, but Walker and Spring seemed to find the choice a good one, and he trusted their judgement.

That it was a local rather than the many foreigners who had previously occupied the positions also spoke well for how the cooperation and coexistence between the Adventure Society and the local powers seemed to have become a lot smoother. From the grumblings of Anasta, they still had some ways to go, and Kite suspected that Hua-Xi would probably always be viewed as a bit on the extreme side by many of the other adventuring metropoli of the world.

Still, it was a step closer to some kind of unity where each party chose the path of acceptance and working around the lingering differences. It was not too long until Jarvan finally rejoined them, the blonde man seeming both relieved and a bit sentimental after having given over the formal pin of his station to his successor.

"There. Done. One long and most extended tenure is over. The family has grown and scattered across the world, with some of my children even having the audacity to pass Fantina and I on the way to gold rank," he chuckled.

"It shall be good to head out there again, even if we will sorely miss you, Rupert. I must admit that I had not expected you of all people to be the one staying behind."

"Surprise is definitely part of the wonders of life, Jarvan," Rupert agreed.

"But I do believe that you can share the sentiment. Some people are worth changing one's life for," he finished, glancing at Dew at his side whose blue-painted lips quirked upwards ever so slightly.

"They do have a nice guild in these parts of the world. I wonder if they're interested in someone with management experience?"

"Fertility's fantastic fanny, do I know that indeed," Jarvan laughed, clapping his friend on the shoulder.

"And we'll make sure to visit. More than one reason for that lingers in this kingdom, after all."

"Any idea of who you will have filling Rupert's spot in your team then?" Kite asked, with Jarvan shrugging.

"I believe that will sort itself out in time. With Fantina being a healer, we can probably pick and choose quite freely. At first we thought that we might consider imposing on a few of our children, but in the end I had to veto the idea. Just imagine having your parents hovering over your shoulders while out living the adventuring life. No, we'll be heading back to Estercost and sorting things out from there," he said, tapping the amulet hanging from his neck.

"Thanks to the adventure you brought my wife on, Kite, we'll always have a hint of where they are too."

"I will truly miss you, Jarvan," Kite replied, clasping arms with his friend and sometimes partial father-figure.

"You have been a steady and guiding presence in my life from when I first embarked upon my path. It will be… Odd… To not have you relatively close."

"Heh, you're a gold-ranker now, Kite. The whole world can be pretty close with the kind of funds you must be hauling in from those contracts of yours with the task group," Jarvan said.

"But it's good to hear that you've had the decency to appreciate all the sage advice I have been giving you over the years. And now see how far that has taken you. All thanks to me–" Jarvan's playful boasting was suddenly cut off as Rupert rolled his eyes and used his powers of sound manipulation to simply snuff out the other man's words. It took a few seconds for Jarvan to notice, and only when he had fallen silent to glare at Rupert did sound return.

"Well now you've gone and ruined a perfectly good boast," he muttered, but his tone sobered up quickly just afterwards.

"That being said though… I'll miss you too Kite. And you too, Dragonfly. The two of you were some of the best things to come out of the Autumn Lands during my stay here. Believe me when I say that my kids will grow so very tired of being constantly compared to you."

"Oh, Jarvan…" Dragonfly squealed before skipping over and wrapping the man in a fierce hug, which he returned in kind.

"Make sure to appreciate the years you still have with your children at home too," Jarvan continued once Dragonfly had let go.

"Time does fly, and I may have done it a few dozen more times than most, but… It is a precious time. Your lives have the potential to be so long, yet the moments with as much closeness to them as you have now will be fewer and much farther between. Treasure them while they are so readily available, you hear?"

"Another piece of sage advice," Kite replied, emotions torn between a chuckle and a sniffle. If there was one thing that parenthood had surprised him with, then it was the drastic increase in sentimentality.

"I shall do my best to keep them coming whenever we meet," Jarvan said, before seeming to realize something.

"Oh, and just to compensate for my creative use of Fertility's backside there before… I do also strongly encourage the two of you to have even more children. More sage advice; keep that goddess and her followers as happy as can be, okay? Understood? Great. Now then, I believe there shall be a small gathering, and then we are free to head back. And Fantina and I will finally be able to return to this climb towards the heavens you locals here are always going on about."