Book 2 Chapter 79

Willow was tired.

Her core hadn’t been strained to the point of injury, but the constant harmonization her grandmother had her doing as part of the training regimen she’d come up with was draining her considerably.

In the middle of teaching her techniques for earth her grandmother would call out an element and Willow was expected to switch and fire off an attack at a nearby indicated target. Initially she had to revert to her base form before harmonizing with a different bond, but Change had managed to impart a technique to make that part just a little bit easier, essentially letting her change which bond she was using on the fly without risk of harming herself from the suddenly shifted qi type.

It was the first technique the yang spirit had taught her since that incident in the forest on the day they’d first met. Willow hoped this was a sign that her friend was growing a bit more confident in figuring out more things that’d be safe to teach her.

Willow also wondered if she could use that initial technique safely now? Her core was far more developed and she was more used to processing large amounts of sensory information.

Something to test at a later point.

She was also being pushed more than she ever had been before on her physical training. The weight from Grandma Thea’s spirit steadily increased to the point that it was putting stress on her qi enhanced physique. Her body was now almost always sore as she pushed herself each day.

Something that continued to confuse and irritate her was that her girl form didn’t seem to gain muscle definition despite her strength being the same across both forms. The same couldn’t be said for her boy form, which had noticeable definition being added to its musculature.

It wasn’t fair, but she supposed that was the nature of her differing forms.

Willow had yet to complain about her grandmother’s training to the woman herself, content to just grouse to her friends in their internal spaces. She’d asked for the physical training after all, and the spiritual technique training was already showing results even if it was also running her ragged.

It didn’t help that she could feel the worry and fear in the older woman’s core, and she could tell it was that same cocktail of emotions that was driving her to train Willow in the way that she was. Even though Willow didn’t have any definitive reasons for why that was the case, she had many different theories.

Regardless, it all came to a head one day.

Willow was in the middle of her daily training session with her grandmother, and her willpower was all but spent already. The amount of focus she was exerting on creating projectiles of earth qi, or forcing the ground to move was proving too much after days of training at this intensity.

So when Grandma Thea called out “Wood.” and created a target nearby, Willow just shoved a bunch of wood qi in that direction without exerting the necessary amount of willpower to properly direct the growth. So instead of some ensnaring vinelike roots shooting from the ground enveloping the earthen statuette, those same roots simply latched on to the nearest available targets.

Which happened to include both Willow and her grandmother.

It was more of a source of inconvenience for the two rather than an overly dangerous attack. Willow was more affected than her grandmother as Thea was able to break the vines with minimal effort. Whereas Willow had to switch to her fire form and get free that way, being careful to not cause a brushfire in the surrounding hillside.

Grandma Thea looked over her grandchild with concern clear in her core. “Are you hurt?”

After checking Willow over and satisfying her worries she then asked how and why she’d lost control like that.

“Sorry, I-I’m just a little tired.”

And Willow began to cry, though she tried in vain to fight back the tears.

It was just a bit of training.

She was supposed to be better than this by now.

She needed to be stronger, for her friend’s sake.

Her grandmother stilled, before pulling her into a hug and muffling her increasing sobs.

Grandma Thea rubbed at her back while she cried, making gentle shushing noises as she did so.

After what felt like far too long, Willow was finally able to compose herself and pulled away from her grandmother.

Thea gave her a gentle but worried smile. “Feeling better?”

Willow nodded, quite embarrassed by the outburst. “I’m fine, don’t know what came over me.”

Grandma Thea sighed. “I seem to have been pushing you a bit too hard, and for that you have my apologies. We can take some time to rest for the next couple of days as I reevaluate my approach.”

“It’s fine! I can keep going!” Willow tried to protest.

Her grandmother shook her head with a light chuckle. “I’m sure you can, and that’s half the problem. I’m used to some pushback from those I teach, so the fact that you were going along with whatever I planned without complaint meant I didn’t notice how ragged I’ve been running you. Your physical ability combined with your hunger for knowledge meant you were pushing yourself far more than I ever expected you to.”

She tousled Willow’s slowly returning mop of curly hair. “You are just as stubborn as your mother, though you certainly choose to use that stubbornness quite differently.”

Willow felt inordinately pleased at the comparison, though she continued to try and convince her grandmother that she was fine to continue.

“Nonsense.” She chided her. “How about we get ourselves cleaned up and I’ll try and whip up a snack of some kind? Could try and make some jam out of those berries you helped gather yesterday, or would you prefer something a little more savory?”

Willow finally relented as her grandmother was all but dragging her back to the cave that was their home as she asked her questions.

“Something sweet sounds good.” She answered eventually, though a thought occurred to her. “Do you have any honey? Maple used to make these honey cakes that were really tasty.”

Grandma Thea hummed in thought. “I think I have a small jug of it somewhere. Though I don’t think I have the rest of the ingredients required for cakes. Would some roasted nuts coated in honey suffice?”

Willow smiled. “That sounds tasty.”

Her smile faltered, and a question that she’d been putting off came unbidden to her lips.

“Can you tell me stories about my Ma?”

Willow had been eager to hear about her, but had initially held off since Thea had seemed a tad unstable when they’d first met. Afterwards she’d been busy with her training and didn’t want to bother her grandma about such things.

Especially since she suspected it’d be a sore point like it was with her father, sister, and brother.

The smile on her grandmother’s face took on more of a wistful quality, and the qi in her core grew melancholy.

“Sure, I suppose I can share a story or two from her youth. Though I’d certainly prefer to have some food in my stomach before I begin.”

The two of them quickly washed up, and chatted about lighter topics as they roasted and coated some local nuts in a light coating of honey.

Afterwards, Willow listened attentively as her grandmother shared some stories of when her mother was around her age.

One story became two.

Two became four.

Until the night was filled with anecdotes about Willow’s mother.

Filling in more of the gaps of what Alexandra Petros was like as a person, and making her feel just that little bit closer to understanding the woman who left the world so soon after bringing her into it.