Winter 4994, 18 Shinmoth
Breathe…
… In. Veon-Zih focused on the feeling of his breath. His diaphragm lowered, letting air into his lungs slowly, naturally, filling him with life-giving air and ki.
Breathe…
… Out. He exhaled, relaxing his belly, letting the air slip past his lips. A soft wind of breath merging with that of the woman beside him. Their movements in sync.
Breathe…
… In. The boards beneath him creaked as bare feet stepped onto the garden pagoda. He inhaled the sounds, paying them no more mind beyond the first acknowledgment of their existence.
Breathe…
… Out. He exhaled the sounds, letting them float from his consciousness along with his breath. All that mattered was the moment and in the moment was only his breath.
Breathe…
… In.
“How long do you think they've been at it?” a woman's voice.
... Out.
"Shhhhh," a deep, shushing, male voice. Veon-Zih's lip twitched, until...
Breathe...
... In. All that existed was the moment, and in the moment was only his breath...
Dong... Dong... Dong...
The gong used by the Kensai Monastery on the mountain outside their home floated down through the mild desert breeze. Veon-Zih let out his last breath in one long exhale, opening his eyes to turn in his seat and face their visitors.
Lily had at least waited until the gong to sit up on her knees, wrapping Velona in a tight hug from behind. Her teacher patted her arms fondly as she laughed, sliding around on her knees to give the woman a proper embrace. Shon sat in the same cross-legged position as Veon-Zih, his hands cupped together in his lap, thumbs touching at the tips. He took in one more long breath and exhaled before opening blue eyes to smile at his Master.
"That was fast!" Veon-Zih announced, reaching out to pat Shon on the shoulder and give him a little shake, "Miss us already, did you?"
"Fast?" Lily asked, letting go of Velona and sitting back on her heels, "It felt like it took foreeeevvver."
Shon shook his head and answered, "The moment you left, Master."
"Don't listen to him," Velona whispered loudly, "We knew you were done and on your way."
"How?" Lily asked, pouting and tilting her head to the side, "We wanted to surprise you." Ryuuko whistled from the roof of the pagoda, flying down to land on Veon-Zih's head and nuzzle his cheek, mirroring Lily's disappointment with angry little chitters.
Velona snickered, "We got letters for Shon a few weeks ago. They wouldn't have forwarded them here if they didn't know you were on your way."
Lily scoffed, reaching over to slap Shon in the chest with the back of her hand. A very Velona-esk move that had the lady Monk covering her grin with her hand. "You told them where we were going? You're supposed to be on leave!" Lily chastised him.
Shon shrugged, "It's standard procedure, and..."
"And?" Veon-Zih asked, surprised that Shon might have, let alone give, another reason for following the Temple's standard procedures. He eyed his usually stoic student more carefully. There was something different about him, something... warmer...
Ryuuko let out an excited twitter, sitting up on its hind legs and flapping its wings, creating a wind that blew Shon's hair back from his face, though it had grown long enough now that most of it was tied back anyway. Veon-Zih had never seen it grow that long. Shon shot a glare at the little dragon and ran his fingers through his bangs, a slight blush rising in his pale cheeks as he muttered, "We're waiting for a particular message."
He let his hand fall, but not before Veon-Zih caught sight of a glitter on his finger. "No..." The Monk breathed, lighting fast his hand snapped forward to grab Shon's. He brought the fist up to his face, and Lily giggled, covering her smile with her own ringed fingers.
Velona noticed, "Really?" she asked, grabbing Lily's hand and mirroring Veon-Zih as the two studied their student's matching rings. Lily beamed, and Shon's blush grew darker. "And you said yes?" Velona asked in shock, looking up at Lily.
"Of course I did," Lily sighed, rolling her eyes, "If you must know, I'm the one who bullied Shon into asking."
Shon pulled his hand from Veon-Zih's and used it to run through his hair again, looking away from all of them. "You didn't..." Ryuuko whistled.
Lily smacked his chest again, saying, "You wanted to make a one-sided oath, binding yourself to me without letting me do the same." Veon-Zih could only stare at the two of them, his jaw hanging open.
Velona reached over, resting her fingers on his chin, and closed his mouth for him. "I'd like to say it's fast, but... I find myself surprised it took this long."
Veon-Zih swallowed, feeling a tightness in his chest. Growing happiness for these two children of his and Velona. "That's what you're waiting for, isn't it? The letter of approval from the Temple?" Veon-Zih asked.
Shon nodded, finally looking back at him and adding, "We were hoping you two could perform the ceremony."
"You... But the Temple..." Veon-Zih stuttered, a lump growing in his throat.
"We aren't priests," Velona said more clearly.
Shon shook his head, and Lily waved a dismissive hand, "It doesn't need to be a priest. Hells, there doesn't even need to be a ceremony. All that matters is the paperwork. Once that comes back we're officially married. The gods are just a formality."
She reached over to grab Shon's hand, and the surprises kept coming as he smiled at her. Not just a glint in his eye but an actual tilt of the lips. A real smile, something Veon-Zih hadn't seen in years. "This is an oath between the two of us, and we agreed it would mean more if sworn before you two than anyone from the Temple or Church."
Veon-Zih shifted to sit on his knees then lunged forward. Dislodging Ryuuko, who jumped into the air to squawk in shock, he wrapped Shon in a tight hug, ignoring his cold even more thoroughly than he usually did, "We would be honored." He said, then continued in a whisper just for his son, "I'm so happy to see you so happy."
Lily jumped to her feet, "Let's go check that mail!"
She hadn't managed to take a step towards the Monks' small house before Velona grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back to the ground, "First, tell us about the mission."
Lily whined, and Ryuuko twittered its dragon giggles at her. Shon huffed out a chuckle and started the story, "It wasn't just the noble. All unsealed Sorcerers were being targeted..." He glanced at Lily, who took up the story with a flourish. Explaining all about how the Paladin of Horsa had discovered the unusual number of Sorcerers who'd been taken and their preliminary investigation. When she reached the part where she used herself as bait, Velona gasped and glared at Shon, but he just shrugged, and Lily continued, waving away her teacher's concerns.
She did falter a bit when she reached the part where she found out it was Warlocks who'd been doing the kidnapping, but quickly shook her head and continued on about how she'd fought a flesh golem and freed the surviving victims, at which point she mentioned that Shon and the Paladin Ragther had been captured.
"How'd you let that happen?" Veon-Zih interrupted.
Shon sighed but took up the story briefly, explaining their fight with the zombies and Warlock in the tower.
"He was the same one we fought?" Velona interrupted. Shon nodded and continued, describing the library and his own golem fight as well as the Warlock Archmage coming at the noise to find him and Ragther, at which point he nodded for Lily to take over again.
She told the story all the way to when she'd burned the zombie guards outside, and the tower collapsed. But Veon-Zih knew she'd left something out, something big. He exchanged looks with Velona. She'd noticed too.
"That sounds like quite the adventure..." Veon-Zih led, searching around for an excuse to get Shon alone, "I take it you popped the question after that?"
"On Winter Solstice!" Lily answered, nodding excitedly.
Veon-Zih stood, grinning down at her, then focused on Shon with a nod, "Walk with me. So the ladies can have their talk about that bit of your trip..."
Shon arched an eyebrow at his Master but stood, stepping into his boots left outside the pagoda and following the Monk to walk around their large yard. When they reached the point furthest away from the ladies and started to turn, he finally said, "You don't want to know about the proposal, do you?"
"Not unless you want to tell it." Veon-Zih answered, turning to circle one of his training dummies they'd erected around the yard, "I think Lily handled that well enough. What I'm interested in is what she left out of her story meeting the Warlocks again..." He glanced over at his student to see his sword pommel shifting from dark blue to robin's egg.
Shon stared across the yard, back to where Lily was speaking to Valona. She was far more subdued than she should've been if they were talking about the proposal, and Ryuuko's wings had dipped sadly on her shoulder. He sighed and looked away, meeting Veon-Zih's eyes and explaining, "We recovered a book of experiments. It said that Lily was created by the Warlocks. That she is a dragon. The Archmage herself told Lily that she had been polymorphed into what she is now."
Veon-Zih sucked in a sharp breath, looking back at the ladies. Lily rubbed her eyes with her hands in the distance, and Velona wrapped her in a hug. "That's not all... Is it?" Veon-Zih whispered.
Shon shook his head, "They said she was a cross between red and gold..."
"Just like you said," Veon-Zih pointed out, "But it still doesn't make sense, why would they continue-"
"She can't have children." Shon interrupted,
Veon-Zih's mouth snapped closed, and with it his eyes, "I'm sorry, Shon..." He opened his eyes again, but Shon just shrugged,
"I don't care," Shon stated.
That was cold even for him, and Veon-Zih glared at his student. Shon caught the look and hurried to add, "I care that she cares. That the possibility is denied her. But I didn't want kids anyway, Master. What if they inherited my ice? Or worse... if they didn't, and I couldn't hold them." Veon-Zih sighed, reaching out to grasp Shon's cold shoulder. Shon ran a hand through his hair, "She was afraid I would leave her. Because she isn't really human. And because she can't give me children..."
"And that's why you proposed so early?" Veon-Zih asked seriously.
Shon looked at the ladies, his eyes crinkling in one of his small smiles, "Maybe. She was right, though. I wasn't going to ask her to make the same promise. I didn't think she would want to bind herself to anyone. She won't even join an organization officially." He actually chuckled, "But she got so angry, Master. Said she wanted it to go both ways..."
Veon-Zih let go of his shoulder and reached up to pull his ponytail, "You should've known." Shon shrugged in answer, reaching back to run his hand through his hair again all the way back to the tie where his fingers got tangled, and he growled.
Veon-Zih chuckled, "That needs to be cut."
"Please!" Shon very nearly whined, or as close to a whine as the big man had ever let out. It made Veon-Zih laugh out loud. The ladies glanced over at them, Lily's head cocked in curiosity and Ryuuko twittering as it took flight to sweep towards Shon and further tangle his hair by landing on his head.
Veon-Zih shook his head and started back towards the house, "Come on then," then louder to Lily, he shouted, "Come on, my lovely bride, you'll need to learn how to do this now that I'm retired!"
***