(Raina POV)
When Vale woke up, I was relieved as I turned my face to look directly into her eyes so that I would be the first thing that she saw when she woke up. When she opened her eyes and locked her gaze with mine, I was able to see the massive amount of pain that was in them. Then she lunged forward and hugged. I thought for a moment that something had gone wrong as she started crying into my shoulder. Doing a quick check of her body and soul showed that there was nothing wrong and that this might be caused by something else.
Hugging her back and taking moment to calm down and think I remember what Elinaria said earlier about emotional and memory blockers and that they were supposed to have released. If those blockers were truly gone then it meant that she was currently remembering or had already remembered the memories that had needed to be blocked. So I started to do what my mother used to and started to rub her back telling her that this was going to be alright and that nothing here could hurt her anymore. I was not certain if she could hear me as she was now, but she had started to calm down at least.
Eventually, the tears stopped flowing, and the cries stopped, but her shoulders were still shaking, and she was still holding me tightly. I kept trying to comfort her, and she only grabbed onto me tighter before slowly falling asleep. Not letting her go, I move her over to the middle of the bed and sit on the edge, laying her head down on my lap. Thankfully, the bed was far larger than it needed to be, as when I told the person who was originally building this mansion that it was being made for a sect master, he had taken that to mean that there would be a large harem. Not taking into account that the sect master might have been the woman he was talking to. Needless to say, I was quite amused when he found out that I was the sect master and frustrated that he would think that I was a man with a large harem.
After this short trip and a joyful trip down memory lane, unlike what it was for my little daughter, I decided to stay here all night with her as the day had gone by fairly quickly. There was still dinner that we needed to attend, so I made a temporary clone with an old technique I rarely use anymore, as the only reason I learned it was so that I could do paperwork faster, and sent it to go have dinner with the others. I myself did not need to go as I had already reached well into the transcendent immortal stage and no longer needed to eat food to sustain myself.
While petting the hair and tail of my daughter, I focus my attention on my clone and use it more like a second body than the autonomous entity that simply works off my instructions like they usually do. Walking out of the room, I was greeted by a maid who made their way over to the room and was about to open the door. Closing the door behind me with a finger to my lips to signal her to be quiet, I move a ways down the hall before asking why she was there. She then answered me that she was coming to inform us that dinner was ready and to help Vale get ready if need be, as she missed the morning meal due to being asleep.
Telling her that she would not be joining us today, I then asked her to lead us to the dining room so we could eat. This is the first time I have been here in a while, and it seems that the house has been remodeled since last I came. The dining hall used to be next to the bedrooms of the Xia family, but it was now next to the lounge that sits behind the entrance hall. The dining room itself was similar to the one I used to have, and it even used the same table I had made for the house. The walk was also interesting as they changed the main hallway from my wing of the house to one that runs along the back wall of the house with windows lining it looking out into the gardens. From the dining room, which also has windows lining the exterior walls, you can see the shrine that was placed out back.
Looking at the shrine, I could see that it appeared to have a gloomy atmosphere. It must have been caused by Elinaria's lingering feelings about what had happened. Turning away from the view of the shrine, I followed the guide and sat down with the Little boy that I used to know and his family. I sat there waiting for the meal to start, but nothing happened, as everyone seemed to be looking at me for some reason.
"Will Vale be joining us today?" asked the little boy Quan, most likely seeing through the clone technique I am using.
"No. Due to some things that occurred earlier, she is no longer awake, and I would rather not disturb her sleep as she needs it after what happened," I said in response. The boy seemed to have gotten my message as we returned to waiting for some reason. Confused by this, I ask, "Is there something I am missing?"
"Ah, sorry, master. No. It is just that we are used to Valaria giving a small prayer before eating that it seems weird when it does not happen." Said the little girl Yaling, who also used to be one of my disciples like her husband. It was actually how they met, now that I think about it.
"Oh, if that is the case, then why don't one of you do it?" I asked, causing both the little girl and her daughter to look out the window toward the shrine.
"I am not sure that is a good idea. The shrine to the goddess has been shrouded in that dark feeling since you visited it like it doesn't want anyone else to get near." said the little girl's daughter, Lou Xia, whom I entrusted the safety of my daughter too while she was in the sect.
"That would be because of a mistake that was made which almost cost someone's life. So it's not your fault, and it would be fine to pray to her if you wished." I answered, garnering a confused look from her and her parents.
"How could she have made a mistake? And what mistake did she make?" She asked with curiosity.
"Good question. The mistake she made was like when someone who made a formation that has a certain effect on a person but the miss wrote one of the runes. However, this one is on a much greater scale and is many times more complex than anything that we could possibly make. This is also a prototype and not a finished product, as well as not being a gift that falls within this goddess's preview. Thus, it is as if someone were to ask me, an immortal who specializes in blacksmithing, to make a formation. I would be able to, but it would not be perfect, and do not expect it to not have any flaws in the way a rune is written or placed." I explained as best I could with what little knowledge I had on the subject.
"So it is like how cultivators specialize, and the system, which I presume is what had broke from your description, is not a specialization of the goddess who blessed Vale. Meaning it is harder for her to make and is bound to have some issues." She resumed with ease, showing that she mostly understood what I was trying to say.
"That is ruffly what I meant, yes," I confirm for the girl as, surprisingly, it is her mother who takes the initiative to pray, allowing this meal to move on. What no one here is able to tell is that when the prayer is made, the food ends up getting blessed by whoever Yaling prayed to.
After her mother finished praying, Lou Xia said one last statement before we ate the meal. "I hope that she is fine." Referenceing Vale who was rest on my lap in the room.
"Don't worry. She's fine. She is just a little tried after what happened and needs some rest." I said reassuring the girl so that she would not worry about Vale tonight and be able to cultivate with peace of mind.
Though I did secretly pocket the food off the plate, I was given just in case a certain little fox woke up and got hungry in the middle of the night.