Welcome to Gaia! ::

When all was said and done, it was a far step up from the previous lodgings they had shared. While it was a small enough house to let the three of them to be aware of one another being closeby, it also allowed enough room for each of them to have their own private four walls.

While this was an amiable enough arrangement for Ryoua and Tenryuu, Flying Swords had found herself concerned that, perhaps, their mother was not in agreement. That though the Imperial Princess had insisted otherwise, Tenkyuu had felt as if she were being ushered out of Setsushi's immediate life.

But slowly....perhaps more slowly than she'd like, things were settling into a sort of normality once again.

And in this normality, new challenges presented themselves that required her to use her extensive training and combat experience...

....to try and pry open the #$%& kitchen window stressed

Tenryuu assures Tenkyuu, amid a fluster of mental curses and beestings of annoyance that hover about her, she can handle the window...

"Its this weather." she explains through gritted teeth. The frame has expanded and now it won't move on the tracks....

The window, offering its imput, gives a tiny protesting squeal of wood-on-metal, and the chattering of the pane in the frame. The young woman begins to think it might be very gratifying, after all, to put it out of its misery and, for a moment, her mind can clearly envision the satisfying sound of breaking glass, and the gust of summer breeze rushing into the kitchen in its wake.

At last, however, with a banshee-like shriek, the window surrenders its position, flying open under her applied force so quickly that Tenryuu stumbles forward, having to catch herself from falling into the sink, which she manages with some degree of grace.

.....

.... ..... ......

There is a vague hum behind Tenryuu's mental wall, which dams back the outpour of gonk and scream straining against it.

At last, turning to face her mother, drawing a deep breath and letting it out in a gust, she speaks. "It is my hope that it will be more agreeable come evening" she says at last. Insubordinates often turned their minds from rebellion after being given the day to reflect on their actions, after all.

Her frustration is betrayed, however, by the sparks that dance in the twin leaflets that are her eyes.

Crossing the kitchen, she sinks into a vacant chair at the table, reaching up to brush away one of the haphazard commas of red hair that clings to her cheek as she eyes her mother's iced drink out of the corner of her vision.

It seems, at least, that Tenkyuu has found a respite from the heat...

With a fleeting projection of thanks, Flying Swords contemplates the glass in front of her, and the half-melted cubes of ice that flounder in the opaque drink. While she has discovered for herself that, by and large, Gaia's foodstuffs are nothing to be wary of, this "coffee" her esteemed mother so enjoys was something she had declined to try.

Faced with it now, however and not one to back down in the Heavenly Bow's presence, Tenryuu takes it in-hand, the glass sweating its condensation onto her palm and draws off a swallow of it.

....

A curious expression passing over her face, perhaps not unlike a small child who's been introduced to a lemon wedge for the first time, she slides the glass back across the table to her mother.

Tenryuu values Tenkyuu's judgment above all others'....but she will stick to tea. xp

At this, Tenryuu's brows shoot up as she lifts her head to look at her mother properly. The passing breeze tousels between them as if the whisper of memory has become tangible.

And slowly...

slowly....

a smile tugs at the corners of her mouth, accompanied by an amused chuckle.

Tenryuu recalls. whee She had been so angry...! And Setsushi's version of tea had burned itself into her senses for the rest of the day, making her unable to taste anything but.

Tenryuu's look of amusement, too, dims as she raptly absorbs her mother's projected conversation.

....and then the breeze which seemed to have been dancing lightly between them dies, leaving only the arid air and silence for the moment.

"That...." she begins and then pauses, seeming to think over her words more carefully. "It was a long time ago." the fire-haired woman settles for, at last.

The Tenryuu of now knows far better than the Tenryuu of eleven years ago. It was, perhaps, just as much her own fault, after all. That she preferred to begrudge her mother's duties to the Empire that drew her away from home, rather than to respect that Tenkyuu was upholding her vow as a knight to protect them all.

For her part, Tenryuu fidgets in her seat. It is not often she sees Tenkyuu's finely-frosted countenance crack to expose the turmoil beneath it. Even after Ryouga's death, her mother had taken care to ensure that both she and her brother never knew the precise depths to which it had cut her.

It is a wrenching feeling....to know that she is someone who could possibly offer comfort to the elder woman in such a situation, and yet also knowing she has no idea where to begin.

The silence spans uncomfortably, until Flying Swords can no longer stand it and leans forward a bit, propping her elbows on the table.

"When you were away..." she says at last. "....Father used to tell us stories at night." Her words, to her, sound flat and dead in the quiet of the kitchen as she allows them to retreat within her, continuing the conversation between their minds.

Ryouga told Tenryuu and Ryoua tales about a great fiery dragon. One who's anger could stop armies, and who's sting could ice the hottest blaze. But this dragon, also, he had said....held her world lovingly in her coils and kept all who would harm it at bay. It was a world she desired to live in, but knew it was not meant for her. Not when so many still threatened it.

They were, maybe, too young to understand the meaning that hid behind it. Ryoua, she confides with a smirk, became frightened for a while of awakening to see an enormous eye peering in at him.

But....she knows now what Father was trying to say. That Tenkyuu would have been there if she were able.

The smile is returned, after her face had momentarily become a wince as she wondered if she had somehow made the situation worse. Flying Swords is skilled at many things, but soothing is not among them. Still, as it has brought an improvement in Tenkyuu's mood, it is a track that she pursues.

Ah, she was a frightening dragon at times, Tenryuu agrees, a slight impish twinkle in one eye. And especially so should she find muddy footprints in her lair, or her young daughter playing with sharp things after being expressly told NOT to.

....though in those cases, Tenryuu believes, Father was in agreement with the dragon. whee