"My Lady" Sonia greeted my mother outside the door to mother's chambers. Sonia was my mother's personal servant. She was an attractive woman who appeared to be in her twenties, but as a former outer discipline of the clan, her youthful looks shouldn't be trusted.
I didn't know her true age, but I knew her reasons for becoming my mother's servant. She comes from a family of craftsmen, and her family now works in one of my mother's workshops.
"Alma is bringing a Scarlet Blood Detoxification Pill from storage. You'll deliver it to the tearoom." My mother ordered.
"Yes, My Lady."
Mother and I entered the vestibule, where another far older-looking servant was waiting. I recognized her as Yolanda, the head servant for my mother's chambers.
"My son and I will be having tea in the tearoom." Mother informed Yolanda.
Yolanda acknowledged my mother's words with a bow of her head before leaving in the direction of the kitchen while mother and I went into the tearoom.
Mother's tearoom was beautiful. It had white granite floors, blue flower-pattern tiles on three of the walls, and windows looking out onto a garden on the fourth wall, which was curved into a crescent. The majority of the small room's floor was taken up by an oval white granite table.
"We'll have our talk after you've consumed the pill." Mother stated as she sat down on one of the redwood chairs that surrounded the table.
I chose the chair opposite hers and began to circulate my Qi as I waited.
Yolanda arrived with a tray a short while later. Two small loaves of bread, cheese, and a steaming teapot sat atop the tray. She set the meal at the center of the table before departing.
Mother poured herself some tea but ignored the food.
Some more time passed before Sonia entered. In her hand was a red pill that seemed to have an inner glow to it.
My mother motioned for Sonia to give the pill to me. I stopped circulating my Qi as Sonia approached and took the Scarlet Blood Detoxification Pill from her hand.
The Scarlet Blood Detoxification Pill wasn't just glowing internally but also had a spicy smell and a gentle warmth.
"Sonia, inform everyone not to enter the tearoom unless I call for them." Mother ordered Sonia.
"Yes, My Lady." Sonia said, then quickly left the tearoom.
The door closed behind Sonia.
I braced myself as I ate the Scarlet Blood Detoxification Pill.
I felt the warmth travel all the way down to my gut. I grunted in pain as that gentle warmth quickly became a raging fire that threatened to consume me. I circulated my Qi to control the direction the flames burned. Black sludge began to vacate my pores as the roaring flames purified my blood and seared the mangled flesh around my internal wounds.
The fire raged for several minutes, burning everything impure until the heat mercifully began to diminish.
As the final embers of the fire died, my mother's hand reached out and grabbed mine. Using Water Qi, mother covered me in a thin coating. Mixing it with the black sludge. The coating then vanished. Taking all the filth with it.
She then pushed her Qi into my hand and searched for my condition.
My mother made a sound of disapproval as she removed her Qi and released my hand.
"What should take a week will now take two, and what should heal in two weeks will now take a month.
"For What? Your father would've listened to your advice without the theatrics, but instead you infuriated him. Dragging our god and myself into it while costing yourself weeks more of pain. Why?" Mother asked me. Anger was evident in her voice.
"You speak of wounds and the time lost to them, but for the past seven decades, this family has been plagued with a festering wound that you and father have chosen to ignore." I said.
Mother's eyes narrowed.
"And how does your antics help us heal?"
"You and father think you're detached. Just like grandfather and great-grandfather did, yet how often do they write from their crypts? They keep asking for updates about our family, our clan, and the world at large, even after that world has rejected them.
"We're not detached. We're just forced to pretend that we are.
"Your anger was the point of my antics. To remind you and father that you haven't changed.
"Father is still a man who is easily angered when any member of his family is threatened, and you are still the woman who is prepared to face that anger if it means defending your child."
And a part of me is still that twelve-year-old boy who is shocked by the fact his parents no longer get along.
Mother digested my words before she asked in a calm tone.
"If we're still the same people then what's the point in talking?"
I sighed.
"You and father are so proud that you miss the obvious. Father's forgiveness was clear when he married Dido.
"For decades, the house elders and even the ancestors had been hounding him to marry another wife and make more heirs. When he finally caved to the pressure, who did he marry?
"Dido, a gentle woman from a failing house.
"She didn't bring a great bloodline to our house, nor did she bring a strong alliance.
"What she brought to this household was a complete inability to ever challenge your position and a willingness to not cause waves and storms."
Mother's amethyst eyes blinked.
"Your father married Dido so your position wouldn't be threatened by his next child. He didn't want to risk you suffering the same fate as your uncle."
My father wasn't the only one who had trauma surrounding Uncle Himet's death.
"Mother, I'm not uncle. I'm grandfather. Both father and I understand this.
"I'm only fifty years behind father's cultivation, and I don't plan on losing any more ground. When it's time for you and him to retreat to your crypt, I'll already be designing my own.
"The house deserves a head whose mind isn't filled with the thoughts of building his own tomb. The one who will take over after father will be a son of mine or another one of yours."
Mother was digesting my logic, but I decided to continue my assault. I wouldn't allow her to slip back into the logical fallacies caused by her pride and fear.
A daily family meal could no longer suffice. If necessary, I would dismantle everything until the two of them understood that.
"Now is the perfect time to talk and put the past to rest. Father will not misunderstand your intentions.
"It's been almost a decade since the alliance with House Kypir has become vital, yet you've made no attempts to drag father off his mountain.
"The marriage talk has also made it evident to father that the Clan Leader feels confident enough in his connection with me and our house that his greed has moved on to Hanno." I told mother.
Mother's amethyst eyes widen.
"Even Dido was ensnared by your antics."
I shrugged.
"She continues to be a gift to this family. I didn't expect her to bring up my marriage talks today, but it did provide me with the perfect opening to enact my plans."
Incredulous, my mother fell back into her chair.
"Leave. I'll hear no more of your scheming words."
I was hesitant to obey my mother's command, but I got up from my chair.
"If you won't heed my words then may I suggest you follow the advice I received from a High Priestess and ask yourself. Are you living by the teachings of Astaroth?"
My words were met with mother's cold stare.
I bowed my head towards my mother and bid farewell.
"May you receive Astaroth's Bounty."
A dark chuckle followed me as I exited the room.