Cultivation Fever 17 Bonds

"Mhm," she looked at the fidgeting toddler leaning by her side, "Emilio was fifteen months when he took his first step, but he was a bit of a slow learner."

She turned her attention to the baby that was crawling towards me.

"Davide's ten months too. He's been crawling for a month now," she turned and leaned towards mother, "He even said 'mama' a few days ago!"

A smile crept across mother's face. Her back straightened, and she looked over to me.

"Oscar! Look!"

She pointed at Emilio, and I knew exactly what she wanted. My cover didn't seem to be blown… I guess I could show off a bit.

"Whodat mummy?"

I hadn't asked a 'who' question before but… I felt like playing along.

"That's Davide! He's Lucia's son, go and play with him for a bit."

"Ok mummy."

I stood up and walked over to Davide.

"Les go."

Lucia's jaw dropped.

I led Davide out the room, smiling to myself. From behind me, I heard Lucia stutter.

"Wow.. He's… um… so when did he… uh…"

Her voice trailed off as I walked with Davide to sit at the edge of the raised decking. Looking out at the garden, I heard a snippet of m.u.f.fled conversation from father's study.

"They really don't like us huh."

"Why else would we be sent all the way out here."

I couldn't tell the voices apart. Their pitches were similar and their voices too obscured.

"Well, at least he can go to the imperial academy…"

"Don't get me started on that place. There's no way I'm letting him turn into one of those brats."

"Come on… it's the best there is…"

"Did you forget how those f.u.c.kers treated us? It's an att.i.tude, a mindset. And it all comes from that b.l.o.o.d.y academy. Come here, look, I'll show you..."

Their voices trailed off, so I brought my attention back to Davide. I was startled a bit to see him staring directly at me.

When he saw my face, he giggled and clapped his hands. His happiness was so pure that I felt a tinge of sadness. I couldn't sound like that. All I could do was imitate it.

Davide seemed to sense my sadness and started pouting. He tugged on my arm and tried to crawl off the ledge. In a flash, I channelled qi to my arms and caught him before he could fall.

His little arms dangled, and he started laughing, squirming and flailing about. I heaved him back up onto the deck and sat back. He really was a handful. But I felt a strange, protective kins.h.i.+p with him.

I never had blood siblings, and always wished that I did. After my father remarried, I got a younger stepsister, but I never got to forge an early bond. That special kind of unconditional love with a healthy dose of hatred.

I dropped all facades and spoke to Davide from my heart.

"How about we become brothers?"

Davide tilted his head, then gave me a brilliant beaming smile. For all I knew that could be a yes, a no, or an 'I'm hungry' but I took it as a yes. I would protect this little bundle of joy.

I thought it was unwise to show him cultivation, but I could at least show him around the house.

I brought him around the garden, pointing out the names of all the flowers I knew. I made sure he only crawled on soft ground and stopped him whenever he tried to do something stupid.

Spending time with someone I could be honest with was comforting. I wanted it to last as long as possible, but as the day came to a close, Davide had to leave.

Father and Tony shared a parting hug and Tony offered some closing words.

"Remember, we're just down the road. You're welcome any time." He placed his hand firmly on father's shoulder, "We're family."

Mother and Lucia said their goodbyes and Lucia turned to Davide.

"Davide come here!"

Davide looked over to her, confused. Lucia sighed, then walked over and picked him up.

"Look how dirty you've gotten!" she exclaimed, looking him over.

Noticing my pristine clothes, she gave me a scathing glance, then left with the rest of the family.

We watched them follow the winding road, bathed in the warm evening glow.

"I don't like that woman," mother said with a venomous tone, "she gives me the creeps."

Father sighed and hugged mother from behind.

"Thanks for keeping her company. I know you hate it."

"Well, I didn't hate it too much this time," she gave me a cheeky grin, "you'll never guess what happened."

"What did our little monster do this time?" father asked playfully.

"Stop it!" She gave his arm a little punch. "Come on, I'll tell you inside," she turned to me, "Oscar, go to your room for a little bit. I'll come tuck you in later."

"Ok mummy."

I climbed up the steps to the nursery and pushed open my door. Today had been a good day. I found out that, while I was a little advanced, it was only by a few months. And, I had gotten a little brother.

I continued my cultivation in earnest. I was happy with my consistent progress, but I wanted to learn something new.

I knew that father had a few techniques in his collection, and I wanted to have a look at them. Not to practice. Just to have a little read. To do that, I needed to phrase a full question.

I had broken the seal on some of my language ability, but I still wanted to show a realistic learning process to my parents. Luckily, they had high expectations for me, so I could advance quickly.

Over the next four months, I built up to the big question. When they became comfortable with me asking questions, I knew it was time.

I timed it so father would be at his happiest, right after he finished lunch. I didn't usually knock before I went into the study, but I thought I would be polite for once.

I knocked on the door twice.

"Come in!"

I pushed open the door. Father kept writing for a second, then looked up.

"What is… oh! Oscar!" he frowned when he saw my puppy dog eyes. "What do you want…?"

"Daddy, can I look at that?"

I pointed at the sliding door.

"At my books?" He seemed a bit surprised. "Sure, one second."

He pulled out his chair, walked over and opened the doors.

"What do you want to have a look at?"

I pointed at the cultivation section.

Father sighed. A fleeting glimpse of pain crossed his face.

"Come here."

He led me out onto the patio and up to a newly built guardrail. We looked out over the ocean as a slight breeze rustled the trees.

"We need to have our first man-to-man chat."