Sword and Snow

The game didn’t last long after Mica was eliminated. Glenn tried to mount a counter attack, but Avuri dodged his throw easily enough and ended the game with a second cannon shot, backed by cheering from the family.

Afterward, Emery had floated the idea of having an early dinner as much of the food had already been prepped. Most of it was held inside preservation storage rings and simply needed to be dropped on a barbeque to finish cooking, or receive other finishing touches. But it was still early, and the kids complained about not being hungry yet. The cousins, and even Ray and Lyn, added their voices to the complaints, leaving Emery with no real choice but to relent.

That left a bit of a time vacuum for the whole group to fill. If dinner was being pushed out, entertainment was needed; and it didn’t take long for the Elders’ exhibition game to be suggested. The Elders seemed to be amenable to the idea, and the excitement was clearly there, so the playing field was prepared for a second game.

The Elders’ match lasted a single throw. Glenn had offered to referee with the same rules that they had used earlier - just without the Earth Realm stipulation. Once he had placed the ball in the center, walked off the field, and called the start of the match, the ground exploded. Eiry, Ray, and Vyne had all immediately tried to gain the upper hand with a technique to launch the ball to their respective team. The clashing techniques simply made the no man’s land in the middle erupt into a mess of plants, metal, and churned earth.

Ray had managed to win that toss up. Wasting little time, once the dust settled from the initial explosion he immediately transitioned into an attack. The ball glowed with the silver-white of pure metal Qi as he infused it, and grew in intensity fast. Seconds had gone by before the shine was nearly painful to look at.

And then suddenly it was gone. Thrown. The force he had used kicked up dust and dirt from the ground as the ball hurtled past, making a decent smokescreen, but it didn’t actually stop anyone from seeing anything.

The sudden eruption of techniques virtually destroying the playing field took care of that. Ray’s target team consisted of Vyne, Eiry, and Vale; and they did not hesitate to put some oomph into their defense. Stone erupted from the ground, full size trees sprouted in a blink, and a flame so concentrated that it felt like looking at the sun all fought against the blazing white star that was hurled in their direction.

Eiry's stone walls were shattered. The ball simply flew straight through Vale’s flames. The trees that had sprouted and bent to try to hinder the ball were likewise torn apart. They were uniformly wisteria trees, though, and Emery appreciated that, at least.

It was a massive wall of trees completely tangled in vines that eventually caught the ball in a netting and spun it around to release its momentum that finally stopped it. It happened so fast that Emery and Avuri didn’t even have time to contemplate how much damage Ray’s throw would have done if Vyne hadn’t managed to stop it. The kids and adults watching were all stunned into silence by the show of sheer force on display for a game.

And that was it. The entire match was called off because if that was the opening move before anyone got serious, this ‘exhibition match’ would no doubt kill somebody. Or, at the very least, seriously wreck the Basin.

When the Elders said they would control themselves and keep the damage contained, Emery and Avuri were having none of it. The Elders had honestly expected the kids to be on their side, and bug their mothers to allow the game to continue, but even the children seemed to recognize the potential natural disaster that might occur.

Truthfully, one look at the chaotic space of the playing field and the destroyed no man’s land was really all it took. And that was the Elders simply playing around. If they ended up pushing each other to get serious at any point during the match, the Basin would pay for it in uprooted trees, damaged land, and potentially even worse.

Seeing that, Emery and Avuri were both pretty adamant about the game stopping after that first throw.

The stunned family members were also very easy to talk into eating.

While the Elders - mostly Ray and Vyne - were set to clean up the mess they had made on the playing field, Emery rallied her workers to get the food cooking. They owned a few storage items that had built in preservation Arrays, and all those items were retrieved from the house. Emery had already worn her preservation ring that she had always reserved for food, and she started there, pulling out a variety of cuts of meat.

Even knowing that they were planning on feeding forty people, Emery was considering whether they went overboard on their prep. By the time she had cleared out the meat from her own ring, there were all kinds of cuts of beef, chicken, and pork sitting on wire racks over open fires. Fresh meat, brined meat, cured meat - they had readied so many varieties that if they had planned to truly make different dishes with it all, her head would spin. She thanked herself from a few days ago that she had decided to grill it all.

Avuri retrieved the other storage items with the rest of the food that had been prepared for the party. There was, of course, more meat; chopped beef that had been shaped into patties, more traditional cuts that had been smoked, and some shredded chicken and pork that had been slow cooked the day before. One storage ring had been stuffed full of fresh greens that had already been chopped and mixed for salads, as well as green vegetables like broccoli and asparagus.

Another was full of other vegetables; corn, carrots, and a whole variety of different peppers. Some of which were going to be grilled, but they had also planned to bake and boil some, too. Emery had prepared for variety, after all. The fourth ring was potatoes, some fresh fruit, and a mix of other miscellaneous foods that were loosely considered sides. That ring also held all of the spices, sauces, and pastes that would be used for flavoring the foods.

And the final ring - which wouldn’t be accessed for a while - held baked goods and other easy to eat desserts for after the main course. At their mothers’ request, Cierra, Stena, and Kord had gone a little crazy in the city, buying a huge array of different dessert pastries and treats - including a massive cake. Emery and Avuri, for their part, had made a large amount of sweet bread treats for everyone. Their sticky bread was always popular with their kids, and they had made a lot of it.

The adults began to congregate around the huge grills that Emery had set up to do the cooking on. With the amount they were making - even ignoring the food already prepared - Lyn, Cyril, Vale, Avuri, and Talya were all conscripted to assist with the cooking.

In the end, it didn’t take too long for the food to end up ready. The kids had taken to playing their own game of dodgeball at a much lower level. They used simpler balls without Qi. They also played with far less rules and far more chaos. While the game was very entertaining to watch, more than once one of the kids had gotten hit in the face and came running to one of their mothers looking for comfort.

Avuri snuck them some treats from the prepared desserts, and once the word got out that she was giving out treats suddenly everyone was trying to put their faces in the path of various dodgeballs. Avuri did stop giving out the treats when Cruz decided to be a smartass and came back for seconds.

“Game’s over, you little rascals.” Avuri declared, putting the dessert filled ring away. The chorus of whines came immediately and at full volume.

“Come on, Momri, I didn’t get anything yet!” Wulf whined. He had been next in line.

“Well, you can blame Cruz for ruining it for everyone. Besides, your actual dinner is ready now, so we may as well all actually eat.” Avuri said, and leaned out and around the line that had spawned before her. “Come on, everyone!” She called to the kids that were still playing, “Food’s ready.”

“Kay!”

Avuri took on the role of line keeper, as she did her utmost to keep everyone in line and flowing smoothly past the food. The rest of the adults, save the Elders, had taken up spots up and down the grills and tables laden with food to dish it out for everyone. Thankfully, the kids were mostly well behaved as they trotted past and picked their favorite options from among the huge selection of foods.

Once they had gotten their heaping plates taken care of, the adults served the Elders and themselves before the whole group went to sit at one of the long tables in the dining pavilion designed exactly for this sort of occurrence.

Emery and Avuri had taken up their spots on the end of the table and began eating with big smiles. Now that the game was over, they had reconnected their Domain and shared their thoughts and feelings of contentment with this whole situation.

While things had been precarious recently, they had muddled through. And not only that, but their family was together with friends, and eating and carrying on happily in the comfort of their home. Smiles and laughter were everywhere; even the Elders were in a great mood, joking with one another and still shit-talking because they didn’t get to finish their match.

Emery couldn’t help but feel satisfied by it all. Sure, things could be better. Things could always be better. But they could also be worse. So, so, so much worse. But things were good - great, even. Her family was happy and healthy. The kids were all growing up well. She had zero actual complaints.

And her wife was playing footsie with her under the table as they ate some damn good food.

Emery really struggled to keep herself from laughing at nothing. Or, rather, from laughing at her wife trying to flirt in the middle of the whole family discreetly.

“I know I can just flirt with you like this, too.” Avuri sent through their bond. “But where’s the fun in that?”

Avuri felt the girlish giggle that Emery couldn’t contain reverberate through their link. They exchanged something of a mental embrace as they physically continued to eat.

“I love you.”

“Love you too.”

“Mom! Cruz stole from my plate!”

Emery closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Cruz!” She shouted. “Why must you be such a pain in the neck all the time? There’s so much food, just go get some more!”

Emery did truly love her family. All of them. Even Cruz.

But just once, she’d love to make it through a huge family meal like this without someone being a nuisance.

And for Avuri to play footsie with her more often. It was nice.